Today with a Two year old

My little monster continues to bring me joy and frustration constantly throughout the day. I do love the cute things that he does and says and can feel this toddler stage slipping away so fast! Each day I especially notice the "growing up" he is doing as he learns to talk better. When we went the the Ranch last January, my Grandma and Grandpa Taylor got a kick out of him trying to say "cotton-picker". The kids have laughed and laughed getting him to say it the past two months. He can now say it almost perfectly.

In this picture he insisted taking his food outside to eat and I let him go, then went back inside to get his drink, thinking he'd by sitting at the table or on the porch. But no, he had dumped his mac and chesse and cherry tomatoes in a more portable place, so he could continue with his favorite activity. He loves riding and will try to bring the trike from the backyard, over the carpet and ride in the kitchen and on into the garage. He is so good on that trike that he can keep up with me as we walk down the street to the park.

We got rid of Thomas's pacifier last week. My kids have all been consistant with taking a pacifier since birth, and I definately encourage it at the beginning. Then when they are about 10 months we keep it only in their bed to use at bed/nap time (we may pull it out occasionally for sacrament mtg). We let them put it under the pillow, then I have to quickly put it up higher. We have gotten rid of it between two and two and a half. So it was time for Thomas. Nap times have gotten a little tricky adjusting to not wanting to be in his bed. I have to share our attempt at nap time today.

We have dentist appts at 3pm today, so I needed Thomas to take a little earlier nap, so I layed down on the floor, by his little bed hoping to help him get to sleep. I pretended to be asleep and these were the things he did while I peeked at him:

He got his pillow from his bed and layed it next to mine.

Threw the first blanket in my face, then tried to spread it over me.

Did the same with his second blanket.

Layed down by me and gave me lots of kisses.

Said "eyebrow" and poked at my eyebrows.

Tried to put his finger in my nose.

Sat up and read five books, mumbling about them- saying either "firetruck", "go potty", "basketball", "Elmo", and "spider".

Leaped over his pillow a few times.

Opened his drawer and tried for at least a minute to put another shirt on-

when he gave up he put the shirt back in the drawer.

Threw a ball in my face.

Layed down by me trying to snuggle up, but gave me a fat lip with his head.

Pulled some toys out of the toy box to play with saying, "What-the-heck".

Said nigh-night to his monkey and teddy bear and layed them on his bed.

Stuffed the teddy bear's head into a cup.

Crawled under his bed to get something, hitting his head as he came out.

Sat on top of me and saying "Gitty-up".

Looking at the owie on his foot, saying owie, owie, owie........

Put his foot in my face-probably so I could kiss it better!

I threatened to leave if he didn't lay down, but then I was enjoying just seeing what he did! After about 40 minutes I left. He cried for five minutes having to stay in his room, then feel asleep.

Our Grand Canyon Adventure

In January 2008, my parents came to us saying that they wanted to take all the adults and maybe Jarom down into the Grand Canyon to hike/ride the mules March of 2009- it has to be reserved a year in advance. Ben and I were very excited to go, we love being outdoors, and a chance to go all together seemed like a blast. The girls would be riding the mules and all the guys would hike.

My dad loves to hike. In fact for the past few years (I don't know how many) he has hiked Squaw Peak 52 times each calendar year- once a week. Ben and Jarom join him occasionally. The past 5 months my dad has been helping Ben, Jarom and my brothers train for hiking the Canyon by planning hikes to Peralta Trail/Squaw Peak almost every Saturday. (We won't talk about how many hikes my brothers actually participated in.) About six weeks ago my dad, Ben, and Jarom were hiking Squaw Peak and Ben turned his ankle pretty bad on the way down. With doing just everyday activites plus Saturday chores, it took weeks for the swelling in his ankle to go down and he was still having to wrap it at the beginning of March. After seeing the doctor, we came to the realization that there was no way he could trust his ankle to get him back out of the grand canyon even if he made it down. (And, the emergency helicopter ride would be $5000.)

As I was packing Jarom and I to go last week, I was so sad Ben wasn't going to be there! I felt better when we decided that I will go back with him to hike another time.

We left early Thursday morning to Flagstaff. I dropped Evan at my sis-in-laws Melissa's, who couldn't go because she is expecting a baby boy in May, and Camille and Thomas went to Grandma Skinners. We drove up to check in at the Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon. When the mule riders checked in we were weighed, (can't be over 200lbs to ride a mule) received our water bottle to use, got our 12x18 inch bag to pack our clothes in (perfect size to fit in a saddle bag), and string to tie our glasses/camera/hat to us, so they wouldn't fall down the canyon. After checking in we walked around a little on top.

A view from the top of some mules returning from a day trip up the Bright Angel trail.

We stayed in Tucayon that night, woke up early to pack what we would need to take with us and checked out of the hotel. I need to mention, that most of us were sick with either a cold/allergies or sinus issues. Our group was very medicated on Afrin, Sudafed and Advil and everyone was handing out kleenexs. Jarom had a bad runny nose and we never found any medicine that helped, I felt bad for him.

Mule riders had to be at the coral by the Bright Angel Trail at 8am for an orientation/what to expect, so the hikers came with us and listened too.

Notice the stylish string we used!

Before we saddled up on Cephas, Tank and Mister.

The hikers left us to catch a bus to the South Kaibab Trail they would be hiking.

It was about 32 degrees on top when we started down the trail. There was snow along the shaded spots on the trail near the top. It warmed up as we went down. Bright Angel is 9.3 miles long and it took us about 5 hours.

This was the short sighted view I saw for two days, Allison and Mister's backside, with our trail guide leading the five in our group. But the views of the canyon were incredible!! Seeing the Grand Canyon from the top doesn't do it justice. From every corner we turned it was a different scene. I loved being in the middle of one of the most beautiful places on earth! Our mules hugged the outside of the trail, to let the hikers pass on the inside. It was usually a huge drop off over the edge, at times we would tell ourselves that we were on a really long rollercoaster ride. For some reason that made me feel better. Our mules are trained to follow each other as long as we keep them within 3-5 feet of the one in front. I quickly learned that my mule, Cephas, was very lazy and I had to use my switch frequently to get him to keep up. Whip it, Whip it good!

The half way point was Indian Gardens, where we stopped for lunch. It was cool to see green trees and hear water running.

After lunch we passed through some pretty steep rock canyons- some of the trail names were Devil's Gate and The Furnace. That is where it hit me that the next day Jarom will have to hike up this same trail. I was seriously regretting bringing him, maybe this was child abuse making him hike up this trail! The scenery looked so long, steep and desolate before we hit the River Walk Trail along the Colorado River.

When we came to the steel bridge our trail guide was calling to some hikers to hurry across so we could go. They were our hikers! The two trails met up just before the bridge, we thought they would beat us down, so we didn't expect to see them.

You can see our six hikers on the far right of the picture.

We reached Phantom Ranch at the bottom and enjoyed seeing the river, taking showers, and playing Uno that afternoon. My dad and brothers stayed in a male dorm and my mom, Allison, Jarom and I stayed in a little cabin. We had a wonderful steak dinner at the lodge. The hikers seemed to have had a great day, although they moved around pretty slowly that night. Scott and Derek had sore knees, but Jarom did great going down. That was good news to me. Dad said he had to remind him just once to hike away from the edge. He did get some sunscreen in one eye and it was bright red and bothering him pretty bad. (He did it again the next day!)

The next morning Jarom and the guys woke up at 5:30am and had breakfast at the lodge. Jarom came back to the cabin complaining that his stomach hurt. He often gets sick in the mornings, and doesn't eat much breakfast. So he sits for a minute, then throws up the water and what little he had for breakfast all over the cabin floor including Allisons shoes. He felt much better after that and was ready to go! He did have to suffer through some teasing though.

Jarom with Allison's wet shoes! Yuck!

We wished the hikers luck and they left on the Bright Angel trail about 6:15 am, we expected them to maybe be out of the canyon at 4pm or so. We ate our breakfast at the lodge then got on the mules at 8am. We were going on the South Kaibab Trail which is 6.3 miles. We stopped frequently to give the mules a break from climbing. The lazy part of me was very glad that I was letting the mule do all the hard work, but I did fell like I was cheating just a little bit.

When we stopped my mule liked to go to the very edge of the trail, so I would try not to look where I would roll down to if he took a wrong step.

My mom had a little of issue with butter fingers and her water bottle. It was hung on our saddle horn and when we stopped we put our mule in "park" with the reigns also on the saddle horn. Once on the way down, and once on the way back she dropped her water bottle, so our trail guide had to get off his mule, go behind the rest of the mules, crawl under hers to hand her back her water bottle. She felt awful, but really it wasn't that big a deal. My favorite was listening to her behind me trying to get her mule, named Tank, to do what she wanted using her always quiet, calm voice. I did feel bad for her and the mule she got who wouldn't lift his feet high enough and kept slipping, once he even went to his knees- scary!

The last mile or two was the scariest to me. There were so many hikers that could spook our mules, the trail was so narrow and in one place trail crews were resurfacing a trail and it wasn't done, just loose stones. I got exhausted for being scared for my life. But we made it, we were done around 12:30pm! As we were walking back to the car to drop off our stuff and maybe get some lunch, we saw Scott coming out of the canyon. He said he, Jared and Brian were done, and the rest would be up in about fifteen minutes. They hiked those 9.3 miles, with a ten year old boy in about six hours. We couldn't believe it.

I am so proud of Jarom! Even with a cold he could keep up with my dad and brothers! My dad said that he was a pleasure to hike with and was no problem at all. I think some of the beauty of the canyon was lost on him, but I am so impressed that he could do it.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great, memorable trip! Love you!

Swimming!!

At the beginning of spring break we headed over to my mom's for a pizza/hot tub party. Jared had flown in from SF so we all met and hung out together. It was almost 90 degrees and sunny outside so the hot tub was a little too hot. Camille has no fear when it comes to cold swimming pools. She was in and out of the 72 degree swimming pool, but played for at least 20 minutes before running to the hot tub to warm up. Evan played around in the pool a little and even Jarom jumped into his waist once.

It is hard for me to understand how I can get cold so easily and Camille would much rather wear shorts all year round. When she was young, Camille would sneak away from me to peel off her warm layers. Come to think of it, even now going to her room to change is usually the first thing Camille does after school!

Happy Birthday Mom!

For my mom's birthday all of the Taylor girls went to BJ's for a great lunch! (Shhh- don't tell Camille we went without her, she says we do all the fun stuff while she is in school!) We shared our usual BBQ Pizza and Chopped BBQ Salad- loved the food but especially the company!

We also got together for a birthday dinner/FHE at my parent's house that night. Fahitas and Key Lime Pie where her favorites this year.

My mom loves her kids, but would do anything for her grandkids!

Love you MOM!

Thomas is Two!!

My baby is already two years old! We feel so blessed to have Thomas in our family.

When I learned that we were expecting, I "joined the club" of all the other women in our ward having babies spring and summer of 2007. We were very excited. Ben was contimplating taking a new job, and I had just been put in Young Womens. We had a surprise at my first doctors appt. when I was really three months along instead of the two months I thought I was. I wish I could say that it was an easier pregnancy, but it wasn't. Camille and I had to come to terms with having another boy, but all went well. Thomas, like all my others, came two weeks early. Just in time for having all the kids home for spring break- thoughtful family and friends offered to keep the older kids busy.

It is so fun to have older kids that find as much joy in watching Thomas grow up as Ben and I do. Jarom, Camille and Evan have constantly prayed for Thomas ever since he was born to "grow up and be healthy and strong" or "help him learn to walk" or whatever is the next milestone. Just this morning Evan prayed for Thomas to "hurry up and turn three."

I love having another brown eyed boy! Thomas loves his dad and a quick phone call to talk to him can stop any tantrum. He loves to swing outside and go to the park. He copies the last few words of everything we say, but for the first time this week Thomas actually answered "Yes" to a question. He loves all his grandparents and cries to see them. He knows the names of all his and his siblings friends. He knows he can do anything that he sees the older kids do. Thomas is addicted to chocolate milk and is very demanding about getting food when he wants it. He can be pretty rough with everyone, but is quick to say he's sorry and give a love.Thomas has been watching the Elmo's World about Birthdays. We have been singing the Happy Birthday song and has been singing it to himself for a couple of days. I laughed on Sunday morning when he was in the shower and he was singing it over and over!
We were pretty low key for his birthday. Sunday lunch was at my parent's house with a candle stuck in his chocolate chip cookie. Grandma and Grandpa gave Thomas a scooter, so he can keep up with the big kids.

At Skinner's for dinner we had brownies and ice cream and Thomas is loving the bath toys he opened from them.