Papa Nana House with Cousins

Melissa and Chad went to LA for their Anniversary, so Michelle and I went down to help my Mom watch them over the weekend. All the kids had a lot of fun. We made marshmallow ghosts, masks, play dough, played at the park everyday and watched some movies. We all made it through the weekend and Melissa and Chad had a great time. The three girls had a ball together as long as the boys didn't bug them or the other way around.The girls had me running back and forth to keep them all swinging! It looks like there may have been a little argument going on by the looks of Addy! Taylyn just wanted to play with the sticks. She was trying hard to break them but didn't have much luck. They were too wet! I got Aiden hooked on Baby Einstein. What a wonderful invention to help mother during fussy times of day. He loved them! Here is Kaeden and Brandon with their Marshmallow Ghosts! All the kids made Halloween masks out of paper plates. They all turned out really cute.

10 Year Reunion

Class of '98 with Families On October 4th I had my 10 year class reunion. Only about a fourth of our graduating class showed up, but it was still fun to see everyone that came and catch up on what everyone is doing with their lives. Cody couldn't come with me because he had to work so Tay and I drove down and back on Saturday. I can't believe that many years have gone by since graduation, which means I am actually that old!! Kylie, Adriana, me and Monica

Quick Up-Date!

I am still trying to get caught up with everything so here are a bunch of different things thrown together on one post. This has all happened over the last couple of months.

Cody had gone with his Dad and didn't come back for a while. I finally called and he said he would be home in a minute and that he had bought a scooter. I was not amused, but he did come home with one and it is Taylyn's new favorite thing to do with Cody. He drives her to Nana's (Cody's mom) and back. She knows how to put in the key, start the engine and honk the horn. A little scary!!

The funniest part about the whole thing.... is how much fun Cody has on it. Linda also bought her a plasma bike. I think I had as much fun as she did on it. She is a little to small to be able to make it work but together we have a blast. Roxie hates it and chases us which makes it all the more fun for Taylyn. Cody tried to ride it with her but couldn't make it work very well so for once there is something Taylyn wants to do with me more than Daddy. That puts me 1 Cody 100!!!! (Sometimes it not all bad because she always wants him to change her diaper, which I won't complain about!!!!)

The weekend I left for my Sister's weekend Cody and Taylyn found Cody's skateboard. When I got home they both looked a little beat up. While attempting to ride together they had a small crash, however, it didn't stop Taylyn from wanted to ride on it. I am not brave enough to do it standing up so if Daddy isn't home I just push her while she sits on it.

And they are off!!!I was at my Mom's house and Taylyn asked her for a snack. My mom got her some strawberries and let her set the bowl on the ice chest that I had brought. Apparently that meant she had to eat like a dog. She ate the entire bowl with only her mouth and no hands. She thought it was the funnest thing in the world. I was just glad to see that I haven't completely scarred her with the idea of every once in a while it is OK to get dirty. I tried to get her to wear sunglasses when she was little because she hates the sun in her eyes so bad, but she never would leave them on. Lately she has been wearing a pair of my old ones because she didn't have some and I was tired of her crying every time we got in the car. I finally went and let her pick out a pair and she loves to wear them. She will take them in stores with her and when she gets inside she puts them on her forehead. It has definitely made a big difference when we are traveling in the car. Taylyn's new obsession Sticker and Coloring Books. She wants to play with it at least a couple times a day. She actually used up all of her stickers from her two sticker books and we had to get new ones (they work wonderful for church). Whenever she is using one or the other she wants someone to do it with her. She is growing up so fast! I bought her a new dress and I just thought she looked so cute I had to take a picture. Cody is not a fan of the big fancy dresses but as soon as she put it on there was nothing he could say but how cute. Taylyn was so funny with it. She kept twirling around in circles holding the edges.

Bathing routine at our house is quite interesting. She plays and plays and then we get washed up. She has to have either her puppy or elephant towel to wrap up in, and then she runs to find Cody. She loves for him to hold her while I get her ommeonmies (pajamas- she had a pair with cats on them and that is what she calls cats (her version of meow) so now all pajamas are called that). It is cute how excited she gets each night to have one of her towels. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all satisfied which such a simple belonging. Cody and Taylyn love to look at the pictures on the computer. They will do it for 30 minutes at a time. Cody is such a good sport to look at the pictures over and over again. If no one will help her look at them she tries to push the buttons herself to find them. Luckily nothing has happened to the computer with the buttons she pushes.

Cody has started playing basketball once a week with my brother-in-law and some of his friends. The first time he went he decided he better shoot some baskets before going because it had been so long since he had even picked up a basketball. He is really enjoying it and it is good way for him to get exercise. He prefers playing sports rather than going to the gym so he like going each week!
She has found suckers, much to my disappointment. They always make such a mess but she loves them. She got a lot at Halloween and asks for one at least 10 times a day. I distract her and get her thoughts on something else because I limit her to one a day and two on a special day!! She knows when we go to the Drive Thru at the Bank that they have sucker and starts asking before we even pull in the line, and that is the first thing she goes for when we get to Cody's Office.

Our First Snow!

Yes this is a little late but this picture was taken the first week of October and it was freezing cold and snowing. Cody came home from work and told me to call the moving company we were moving back to Florida. Taylyn agreed!! We thought she would love the snow because she loved it last year when we came and to visit. That was not the case this time. She basically stood by the window and cried "no snow, no play in snow." I got some on my foot and she started to cry until I cleaned it off. She wouldn't even walk near it on the grass. Cody kept teasing her asking if she wanted to play in the snow. She would run crying to me saying," Mommy no snow Daddy!" It took a lot of convincing to get her outside to take a picture. If you look closely we are not standing very close to the snow!!!

Kite at Park

We took Taylyn's Kite to the park so we could fly it without keeping it from catching stuff at our house. There were some really cute pictures so I wanted to put them on. It is now too cold to fly the kite so we put it away until it warms up.

Praying

Taylyn has progressed from just folding her arms to actually saying the prayers. We have to help her and she repeats everything we say. It is so cute and I can't believe she is that old. She knows how we start the prayer with Dear Heavenly Father, so she doesn't bother to say that she just wants until we say the next thing. My favorite is when we ask to be healthy and strong, and her healthy sounds kind of like "felte!. I am amazed at how much she can say and that she loves to say them. Cody and I don't say it very often because she always says, " Baby say it, Daddy help." Every now and then I do get to have the privilege of her wanting my help.

Like Father Like Daughter

Need I say more!!

Cody was standing talking to me and Taylyn walked up next to him and stood just like he was.

Bucket with Dogs

Linda has a bucket at her house that she keeps toys in. Taylyn loves to empty it and get inside to play. Cody drags her around and gives her rides. This day she decided it would be a blast to make the dogs get inside as well. They didn't think it was as much fun but the tolerated it for a little while. They even shared a kiss!!!

SUU Football

The first SUU game of the year all my family came up to see Brittney (my niece) dance at the game. We went to the tailgate party to eat dinner and listen to Lance's (Cody's uncle) band. It was a lot of fun and Taylyn thought it was pretty cool. She had to have a SUU T-Bird tattoo because all of my nieces and nephews that were there had one. The sun was bright and she hates it in her eyes so she wore Cody's glasses most of the time we were at the tailgate party. I couldn't get it all off that night and she ended up going to church with it on her cheek.We also went to the Homecoming Parade and Game We could only stay until after half-time so I could see my niece dance because Taylyn wouldn't keep a jacket on and it was freezing!!!!! She was tired of waiting for the parade to start so she decided it would be fun to play with sticks in the ditch water. Willie even took off her shoes and socks so she could get wet. Then Willie let her sit on Maile's scooter and she thought that was awesome!

Cute Things

Taylyn has been saying and doing some on the cutest things lately. She has a little lisp when she talks so that makes things even funnier.

She is obsessed with calling Nana Papa (my parents) on the phone. She has a couple of play phones that she uses and I can hear her having a conversation with Nana Papa. One day she was playing with my phone and talking to Nana Papa. I thought she was just pretending until she handed me the phone and I could hear my Mom on the other line. She had somehow got my mom's number dialed and was just chatting away. She loves to talk and always ends it with a yuv u (love you).

"Openthis"is all one word in her vocabulary. It sounds like obindis. We think it is so funny we make her ask it often just so we can hear her say it. I know I am a dork, but I think it is adorable!

Dipping! She wants to dip everything in ranch. She even asked me is she could have some ranch with her cookies. I did draw the line with that one. She will have ketchup if ranch isn't a choice but she prefers ranch all the way!Melissa's little boy is Baby Aiden to Taylyn and she thinks he is the coolest thing and loves to help. She is going to drive me crazy with the new baby. Melissa was watching her one night for us and told her that Aiden loved her. So she started to stay Baby (pause) Aiden (pause) yuv (pause) me. After we got home she continued to say it my put in My Daddy and My Mommy. When Melissa first had Aiden Taylyn wanted him to sit by her but she wouldn't touch him. Now she wants to help feed him, change him and decide what and when he needs something.We taught Taylyn how to say Hang Loose and Rock On. When we are leaving somewhere she will either give the the hang loose sign or rock on sign. She can't quite get the fingers in the right place but she sure tries hard.

Daddy's Work

Taylyn loves to go to "Daddy work." When we get there she goes right for the candy drawer to pick out the kind she know she is allowed to have. Then she goes to the drinking fountain for a little cup so she can fill up the water, but sometimes she just uses her mouth! There is also this little horse with teeth and braces, the assistants use it to explain how to brush correctly with braces, that she loves to brush it's teeth and make sure they are clean. She just marches around like she is the queen and loves all the attention she gets from everyone.

Dancing Lessons

Cody and I are taking dancing lessons with his family. It has been so much fun. So far we have learned to Salsa and are currently working on the Fox Trot. It has been so much fun, but I have been reminded how uncoordinated I am. Oh well at least we could struggle through a dance if we had to. I wanted to take pictures but Cody told me I was being ridiculous and didn't need to take pictures of us. I will try to sneak a few before we are finished but at least I documented that we are doing it!!!!!

Big News!

Taylyn is going to be a big sister to a baby brother. I am almost 5 months and we just had an ultrasound yesterday and he is all boy. He was all curled up with his feet touching his head and he even sucked his fingers for a minute. We got a few facial pictures as well. He was not pleased with all the pushing and picture taking and kicked the camera (I not sure what they call it) quite a few times and surprised the girl doing to ultrasound. She said she usually doesn't feel the kick that early. The technician was trying to get some 3D pictures and he decided to turn his face away but he was very willing to show off his parts. We are extremely excited and are trying to prepare Taylyn. She loves to hold and take care of Melissa's baby whom she calls Baby Aiden. We keep asking her what is in my belly and she tells us it is Baby Aiden. We will have to keep working on it.

I am finally feeling better. I was so sick the first 3 1/2 months. I felt nauseous every minute of every day and threw up quite a few times. I wasn't sure how to handle it because Taylyn was the easiest pregnancy from start to finish. I was never sick with her so I felt sorry for Cody because I think I was kind of whinny this time. He was a great sport and was always asking what he could do to help.