Christmas with the Taylors

We had a great Chistmas at my parents house. It's getter harder to get everyone together at once as our families continue to expand. My family and Jeff's were there for Christmas, Clark and David's families the few days after Christmas, and Andy & Rachel will come this week for New Year's. The kids were able to perform "the nativity" this year, complete with a real baby Jesus and a stable animal! Char is so good she even has a complete set of homemade costumes! My mom, of course, stuffed us with fabulous food, and Tige deep-fried us a delicious turkey.

Clark's kids & Kason-----------------------Jeff's son, the stable cow

Train table/set from Santa!

(He never mentioned the "orange jet that transforms into any kind of shark I want" again!)

Abby, David's daughter, and Clark's daughter. These two love their Barbies and dolls. You can imagine how much they loved Abby!

Grandma and her 3 girls.

Snow!

We got a little bit of snow a few days ago, a rare treat for us. Have you ever seen such a sad little tree in your life? We have 7 palm trees, plus a few palm bushes and they seriously did not like the snow. I went out with a broom to try and clean them off and perk them up. Kason took the opportunity to pelt me with snowballs at point-blank range while I was busy. He loved it!

Sweet angel baby. 11 weeks old.

Eleventh Anniversary

I've known Tige for 21 years and loved him for 16 years. It's our 11th Anniversary today. 9 1/2 years of school and 6 moves later, we're settled and as happy as can be. Tige continues to be my best friend and the man of my dreams.

I love you so, babe. Happy Anniversary!

Our Naughty Doggie

We have a very naughty doggie.
She drives me nuts sometimes.
Here's a little glimpse.

O Christmas Tree

We had our ward party last night, where Kason got to see Santa. He asked for "an orange jet that transforms into any kind of shark I want." Good luck finding that Santa!

A man from church came up to Kason and told him how cute Abby is and how all of his kids are grown up and could he take Abby home so they'll have a baby again. Kason said "do you have a mommy? Well, maybe she could have a baby in a few weeks." We all thought this was hysterical--pretty much, no way, get your own!

We have a gorgeous tree in our living room. I love it! Almost all of the decorations are from my wedding reception--the only perk of getting married at Christmas time.

Thanksgiving Highlights

We had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving in Monticello. I was able to read 2 books and we all had fun playing with Tige's family. Tige wanted to deep-fry the turkey this year. It turned out great and was soooo good--he actually ended up doing 3 turkeys over the 5 days we were there. Who would have thought that 10 adults plus Kason could down 3 whole turkeys! We took the opportunity to take Kason to the "Polar Express" train in Durango, CO. He was so excited and loved every minute of it. Kason was also great at entertaining his 2 little cousins--he'd fall down and they'd laugh at his antics as well as chase each other. The time flew by, and we sure had a great time. Thanks Hazletons.

Preparing the bird
Kason & I helping grandma roll out the rolls. He was such a good and eager helper.

Oreo turkeys Kason and I made for each table place setting.

Precious smile!

Polar Express -- Durango, Colorado

Not easy to get a "cousins" picture with this bunch--here's the best I had.

"A" she's adorable, "B" she's so beautiful

Abby is 8 weeks old today. Is that possible? Wow! She's adorable and is just the best baby. This past week she's been sleeping about 7-9 hours straight at night, so I'm one happy mommy. I must thank my cousin Melissa (and Cynthia too) for the tip about the book "Baby Wise" on training your baby to sleep. I did it and it worked. Kason didn't sleep like this until more like 12 or 14 weeks. Anyway, to my blog readers who are pregnant (and there are several of you), I highly recommend the book "Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo. You won't be sorry. (I got it on e-bay for $3).

Our little sweetie:
Smiles all the time
Coos at us
Adores her big brother
Loves being in the bath, but HATES getting dressed and undressed
Can be quite a spitter after eating. Yuck!
Melts our hearts

I smile everytime I watch this video and listen to myself talk to Abby because on Halloween I was holding and talking to Abby on the couch with my niece, Paige, and she said "why are you talking in that voice?" Now that I can hear it myself, it is a pretty funny (annoying) "baby talk" voice.

New Flip Video

Yes! I got a Flip Video for my b-day! So excited.

Isn't it cool looking? We customized the front of it with a picture of the boys hiking at Zion in the narrows.

Here's a test to see if I can actually record and get it up on my blog.

Family Pictures

Abby was blessed at church on November 2, but most of the pictures I took of her that day were blurry (dang camera! We may spurge for another one this Christmas. Any thoughts on brands?) So the other day we went and had a picture taken of her in her beautiful dress, and had some of the rest of us too. This post ruins the Christmas card you're getting this year, but that's ok.

Kason turns 5!

Kason turned 5 yesterday! I can't believe he's 5. My parents came down on Saturday to watch his soccer game and go to lunch at Kason's favorite restaurant (Red Lobster so he can see the lobsters in the tank and eat shrimp scampi!) Then we came home and ate birthday cake. Kason, of course, wanted a shark cake and I did my best to oblidge. Am I good or what?

My parents gave Kason a set of Kid K'Nex, which he can make underwater creatures with. He absolutely loves them! Here are a few of the animals we've made.

We threw Kason a birthday party at Jumpin Jacks! 2 friends from primary came as well as his 2 cousins. They had a blast running around and jumping on all the huge inflatables, and when we paused for cupcakes and a drink, they were all sweaty and flushed. Kason quickly ripped his presents open, they all took a drink and licked the frosting off the cupcakes, and were off to jump again.

We sure love our sweet boy, and we're glad he finally has a sibling since he's so big now. But he informed me today that even though he' s growing up, he'll always be my snuggle-bug, even when he's 15. I think I'd better get that in writing.

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween. We started the day before by carving pumpkins. My husband brought home 4 pumpkins (did he really think Abby was going to carve one?) So we started carving, and Kason didn't like getting his hands dirty, so he didn't last long at it. So Tige and I had to carve 4 ourselves. Of course, we can't do simple ones with faces, we have to carve intricate, awesome pumpkins which necessitated Tige using his drill on his. Too funny. Anyway, we have 4 pumpkins that turned out so great we didn't want to leave them outside to get busted up.

Since we're blessing Abby at church this Sunday, all my family came to town this weekend. So Kason got to go trick-or-treating with his 4 cousins, and they had lots of fun and got tons of candy. Now if I can only get my family to throw the candy wrappers away after they sneak a piece . . .

Some of my nieces and newphews with Kason for trick-or-treating

My parents on their way to a Halloween/birthday party. They looked fabulous!

Abby's smiley face, Tige's dancing ghosts, Kason's spider web/spider, & my skull/crossbones

At first he wouldn't put his hand in "eeewww," but notice the smile when he pulled the guts out successfully!

Today we went over to my sister-in-law's house to frost Halloween sugar cookies. Boy does Char make make good sugar cookies! (Sugar cookies aren't my favorite--they have to be darn good for me to eat them!) Kason is very excited for Halloween. He's been wearing his costume for 3 days (Spiderman). Tomorrow he gets to wear it to preschool for a party. Last night we went to see Odyssey Dance Company's "Thriller" at the Tuacahn (which was awesome), and Kason wore his costume to that too.

I cracked up at the cookies Kason decorated.

Could there be any more candy on them?

And yes, he ate all 3 cookies within the hour.

My little angels (or devils depending on the day). Aren't they cute? Abby is now 1 month old and Kason will be 5 in less than 2 weeks. Time flies.

Today I actually got up, took a shower, put on real clothes, did my hair, and put on make-up. So we had to take a picture of this momentous day! Since some of you complain that I never put pictures of myself on my blog, here you go!

Abby Growing

Abby is 3 weeks old now and is growing so fast. She is what the books refer to as an "effecient eater" and already has little rolls on her arms, legs, and chin. (What can I say--she takes after her mom!) She's adorable and is so strong, holding her head up with ease. We can't believe how fast she is changing.

My Grandma Taylor, Uncle Dennis, & Aunt Margene stopped by yesterday for a visit on their way from California. They brought me 2 huge garbage bags full of baby girl clothes from my cousin Melissa. Needless to say, Abby will be the best dressed little girl ever and won't have to wear anything twice. We're so spoiled. Thanks Melissa!

First Bath

Abby's umbilical cord is off now, so we gave her the first bath. She fussed a little at first, and then tried to fall asleep. She's so funny. My favorite thing is the picture above when she curls up on my chest while I'm burping her and falls asleep. She's so precious.

We're doing pretty well. Yesterday marked the first day without one of our moms here, and today is the first day I'm here alone with Tige at work, so I've been a little stressed out, but so far so good. Abby is eating pretty much every 3 hours now and is settling into a more predictible routine. Last week I ran a bad fever for about 3 days, had to go to the Dr., go for blood work, etc, but I'm feeling better now. I'm coming out of my haze and starting to remember how things were with Kason and what to do.