Lately:

1) I was supposed to attend jury duty last week and miraculously got out of going. My badge number was excused. I was pretty relieved. Wahoo.
2) Taylor Trent's youngest sibling is getting hitched. He is marrying the wonderful Meagan  and we are all delighted.
3) Our chickens are all set up in their new home, but our new hens are like two old lazy women. They don't lay eggs and just want to sit around all day. Needless to say, we are getting four baby chicks in a few days who I know will be great layers someday. lol
4) Sat. I turned 29.....tis true. The age change wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I went to Mesquite and we ate at a great Italian place. My new favorite. The girls actually ate. We went bowling and I got a call from my brother Isaac to wish me a happy bday. It was really loud in the bowling area. After we discussed my bday he asked if I had heard about Christy? And I could barely hear him. I could not think of a Christy really that he knew too. He said hold on and never got back on the phone with me. So I hung up....But I kept wondering Christy....Christy something bad had to have happened to someone named that.
After we ran to Walmart with the girls I called Kendra and wished her a happy bday. She then told me about Christy Clark who lost her little girl on our bday. She got Meningitis suddenly and her parents had no idea. What???? How could that be possible? (Christy was Kendra's roomate in college and then was close with my brother Isaac's family while they lived in Cedar. She is super nice and I knew her pretty well too).
It put a differnt mood into our birthday....it was all I thought about for the rest of the night. What they are going through. Losing one of my girls. All of it playing out in my head for hours. I think it really hit me because this is a girl my age with 3 kids and she just lost one suddenly. That can really happen to me. Life is so short and we need to spend every day like it is our last. We never know when Heavenly Father will allow a member of my family or even me to join him in the ranks of Heaven. We just don't know. It has been a very heartfelt few days.
People are truly amazing they set up a fundraiser for baby Jane's family and since Sat. have raised over more than $10,700 for them. How remarkable!
5) I am getting released from my first counselor primary position next Sunday. This makes me smile only because I have been in there for 2 1/2 years and am ready for a change. Plus Lyla is coming in this next Jan. They have been bringing in the nursery kids to get them ready for the Sunbeams. And Lyla wants me to be by her every second. It is a blessing I am being removed from her sight...lol. No new calling yet.
6) Trent and I are so excited for the weekend we are heading out to Vegas to go see Michael Buble and spending the night, we haven't done that in such a long time. It is really needed. My mom is going to come stay with my girls. I love her and don't know what I would do without her. Plus it is really easy when she comes to our house and is willing to sleep here.
7) Trent and I have been looking at house plans and I love to dream about our dream house. We have a plan we have fallen in love with but we don't love the outside but think we can change it to our liking. We hope to get going on our house building process by the new year. Seeing what steps we need to take and what not. It may still be a year or so away until it even begins. We shall see.
8) I miss the temple and hope to go soon with my honey. It is calling my name.

Life is hard.....

-Right now I am up while the rest of my house sleeps peacefully while I stay up to edit a photo shoot....Life is hard.
-Today I offended a friend in the wrong way, I feel horrible about it....Life is hard.
-I feel I am the only one in the world that isn't pregnant having no luck in that department myself....Life is hard.
-I want to build a house now....with lots of space, a laundry room, and most importantly more than one bathroom, the economy still sucks....Life is hard.
-I am turning 29 on Sat.........ehh Life is hard.
-We all have trials we never expect will happen to us nor do we plan for them.....Life is very hard.
-My Pilates class has had on average 2-4 people for the last few months....Life is hard.
-Lyla pooped in the potty 2 days in a row.....LIFE IS GLORIOUS....LOL. I will end on a good note:)

Lately;

One of my favorite things about the morning is my girls climb into bed with me. Lyla was sleeping in when Evelyn crawled into bed with me and we talked and laughed. That girl is getting so smart. And very grown up. She already has had boys try to kiss her and chase her. Plus when her neighbor Weston left from playing she said I love you  Weston..lol. I told her that she probably shouldn't say that at her young age. And she asked.. "Well can I say it when I am six then"? Wow that blew me away.
That same boy gave Evelyn her first kiss. At age five which I wasn't expecting. Haha They are really good friends;) Today he told Evelyn he always brushes his girlfriend's hair and he has 17 of them.
Here is some recent things Lyla has said:
1)Mom Evelyn and I are the prettiest. ..but your not the prettiest just us are the prettiest, but not you. Ok got it Lyla...lol
2)Mom..Is your name Tara Leavitt? Yes it is Lyla. I knew that;) lol
3)Mom I need a treat....Mom I need a treat.....but Mom I really need juice. It never ends...lol
We recently headed to Williams AZ to ride on The Polar Express train. We went with our neighbors the Ruiz family. We also went to a place called Bearizona where you get to see live bears and other animals we haven't been in a trip that fun in a while. The girls got to see Santa and he gave them a bell and we got to sing Christmas carols and see the north pole. Awesome awesome; )
Young Women's 2 nd counselor bis keeping me really busy. But I love it and the ladies I get to work with.
I had to have my neighbor help me out with my old chickens that realky didn't di anything useful...and stopped sleeping in their coop and kept sleeping close to the house and pooping on everything we owned. I felt bad about until I talked to any other chicken owner. I also moved our baby chicks to their outdoor fence. They are getting really big now, and really love it in there. I can't wait for their eggs. I have missed my fresh eggs more than I thought I would.

Halloween-ween (Neighbors show lol) 2013

This year we got to start our Halloween off with a neighborhood party. Tim and Shannon hosted it and we ate yummy food and the kids played games. Then we all piled on for a trick or treating hayride. It was so much fun and we can't wait to do it next year. When we first moved back to the valley we were the youngest in our neighborhood and now, there are some really fun young families. The kids all get along great too. We are so happy here and are convinced we can never leave this area of Moapa Valley.
After riding around with our neighborhood for a while. We hopped off, walked home, and got in the truck to do some family trick or treating. First we stopped by Grammy and Papa's house, then to Aunt Taryn and Uncle Shane's, Grandma & Grandpa Leavitt, and then Great Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt. Fun, fun, night.

Chicken Drama...lol

We have had 4 of our chickens get killed in the last few months.
The first two got killed early one morning when they came out of the coop. Then we got two more chickens from my neighbor. They kept walking back to her house to sleep. Even if I kept them cooped up for a few days.  I had to catch them to bring them back to my house one night. I caught one but lost the other one. Then it got dark and I lost the other one. That night we heard a coyote and I knew it got that chicken. A few days ago I looked outside Lyla's window and saw the other one dead. Yep....something got it in the chicken coop. I was really annoyed. And the night before 2 chickens had died...uhh really. Our husbands need to go hunting.  So now we are chicken-less. We bought a chain link fence today and I am getting chicks tomorrow that we will one day put in the fence. I like chickens and need them for eggs and more importantly bug control. I will post pics if the chicks soon.

J/k we went to pic up the chicks and they were out of them....oh so funny. It seems I am not meant to have chickens at this time. ha ha 

I love my girls cause...

-I asked Lyla what I would do without her. She said " have another baby or take a nap. Ahhh
-Tonight Evelyn was eating dinner and said I just was talking and not meaning too. Lol. It was so funny cause she was whispering lol. I just had to write about it.
-I love them more every day. Lyla is my cuddle bug and usually attached to my hip. I don't know hiw many times I kiss her a day. She is spoiled and I like giving into my baby. She still lets me rock her and is my buddy while Evelyn is at school. I think my Heavenly Father made her cling to me cause he knew I would need that now in my life.
He also sent me Evelyn to me to just make life fun. I am so proud of my kindergartner and how she is growing. She looks like me and reminds me so much of my Grandma Jackie.  She is best friends with Lyla and such a nice sister.
-I love to dress them and do their hair.
-They like to stay clean most of the time. I love them after a bath and I get to cuddle them and hold them close.
-I got to name them girly pretty old fashioned names. I got the name Evelyn from the movie Pearl Harbor and I got the name Lyla from August Rush.
-I see Trent and I in both of them every day...and it is so neat.

Us...lately

1) I am a lazy blogger.  It is true.
2) I got a jury duty summons this week. I am nervous to go. At least its not on my bday right? Blah
3) I feel like Evelyn is getting smarter every day. School is great but it is hard to see her grow up so much. I get to go walk her class to the lumpkin patch this year. It will be the first volunteering I do this year.
4) our primary program is next Sunday and I can't wait to get it over with. It really is stressful for me to come up with it all myself. I want this to be the last time I have to do it for years. I love my calling but I could use a change too.
5) We had our 10th high school reunion yesterday. So. Much. Fun!! I think our class rocks and we had a pretty good turnout. I was sad to see it end.
6) Lyla has been awesome at pooping her panties this week. Gah..so over that she is all of the sudden scared to go in the potty. I hope that improves this week. Wish me luck.
7) My class was sooo small this week. It is hard to go when nobody goes. I need to put another add in the paper. I hope my class is still wanted by others...sometimes I wonder?? Here's to another week of it.
8) It was also Homecoming week. We took the girls to the first half of the game. They liked it and it was fun going. It also made me feel old. Lol
9) I miss my brother Ty on mission. He is doing soo good. I can't believe he gets home in May. He is a stud of a missionary.
10) I actually feel like I have clothes to wear... is my card payed off yet for those clothes ? Nope
7)