Thursday, July 24, 2014

My baby is Four!

Taylor turns four today.  I love four year birthdays because it means we have survived three and I finally get a little bit of my sweet, obedient child back.  Taylor is not exception.  She has been defiant and a tease for the past year.  Lately, I have seen her become more complacent and kind, which I think is her true form. 

 I have said before that we have mold A and mold B kids.  Taylor and Sydney are my mold B.  This is true with looks and temperament.  Taylor is typically thoughtful, calm, and easy to play with. She is happy to let others have what they want, and doesn't mind sharing.  She loves all girly things, especially dress ups.  She will put on something fancy and then walk around with her hands bent at the wrist like a dainty girl and speaking in a high tone.  She will then grant you a wish or leave you a present.  Its pretty adorable.  She also loves to play with dolls, barbies and our pretend kitchen.

As girly as she is, Taylor is happy to switch gears and play guns or swords too.  She will go fight monsters and bad guys.   She loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates (hence her cake), and My Little Ponies.

She is pretty social and loves her friends.  She is always having playdates and sending her friends letters in the mail.  Preschool starts in a few week, which she will really enjoy.  Her teacher's name is Miss Nichole and Taylor can't stop calling her Mr. Cool.  She has some imaginary friends called Cub-a, and Sub-i-da.  She will talk to them or sometimes buckle them in the car next to her.  She also has a family of squirrels living in her tummy and will tell me detailed stories about what they're doing or what they would like to eat.  Obviously, imagination is easy and fun for her. 

Maybe it's because she's my youngest, but I think Taylor is the cutest thing ever.  In many ways, she has her dad and I wrapped around her finger.  I'm glad she is too sweet to take advantage of it too much. She has one dimple and beatiful dark eyes that sparkle when she's happy.  She's also the tannest one in our family by far.  I'm already dreading all the boys who will surely be coming around in 10 years.

 What a blessing this little girl has been to our family.  Everyone adores her and I you could call our family the "Taylor fan club."  She still loves to be my cuddle bug and is often my shadow while the big kids are gone.  I am going to miss her so much next year when she starts school.  

The only pictures I could scrounge up for now were ones on my phone.  Most of these were taken this summer while we lived at my mom's house in Utah.  What fun we had!  

Happy Birthday my sweet Taylor!  I thank Heavenly Father everyday that I get to be your mother.  I love you!













Wednesday, July 23, 2014

One of the big kids

This girl has been more excited for preschool than she was for Christmas or her birthday. Me, on the other hand felt super sad last night thinking about her growing up.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Summer at Grandma's with Grandmas

I have decided to write my Grandma Madge's life history.  That's a whole blog post in itself.  As part of that process, we spent our whole summer in Utah at Grandma Robertson's house.  Grandma Madge came and stayed there too.  So, I spent several hours each day interviewing her about her life.  It was an amazing experience.  I know I will look back over her stories and the time we spent together with gratitude.  I love her so much!



It was also an awesome chance to spend a summer at Grandma's house.  I spent a lot of time planning fun things for my kids to do.  We got passes for Seven Peaks Water Park.  Each kid got to pick a class/activity to do.

Taylor chose swim lessons.


Aiden chose a karate class, which he took with Max and Sam.
Sydney took horse riding lessons. Emma took a performing arts class at the Scera theater in Provo.  Unfortunately, no photos of those.


We had lots of fun around grandma's fire pit.





 The big girls participated in a cake decorating contest. Thanks to lots of help from Aunt Shanlee.
  






Amelia and her family came to visit while we were there.  We went to a local fish hatchery.


And spent a night camping up Hobble Creek Canyon.


We went to the Thanksgiving Point children's museum several times.


We loved all the great cousin and grandma time we got to have.


And I got some quality sister time too.






It was a really fun summer.  Brent did come visit us for the July 4th weekend, so we were only away from him for about 4 weeks at a time.  We drove home just in time for school to start.