Taylor Times

Monday, January 19, 2009

Rock climbing in St. George

Skip

Aubrie, Halen, Wyatt, Dallin, Jayden and Cameron and Sadie are hidden

Here are some of the pictures from the rock park we went to in St George. These pictures are of the slot canyon that we found and it was barely wide enough to walk sideways. The kids enjoyed it and Ty and Skip helped all seven of the kids go through it, not once but twice. Grandma, Grandpa, Barb and I decided not to go through this narrow opening.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Draper Temple Open House

We had a busy but great weekend. Jayden and Dallin went on the Klondike camp out on Friday night with the ward scout group. I think they nearly froze since the night was probably around 20 degrees or lower. They had a blast sledding and drinking hot chocolate. They barely got home Saturday afternoon just in time for their basketball game and they only had enough time to scarf down a sandwich before the game. After the game our family got ready to go with our ward to the Draper temple open house. The temple was absolutely beautiful and I was amazed at how they had the tour set up. The tour started at a chapel right off the Draper exit where we waited for a short film with information about the temple, then we were shuttled up to the temple grounds in a bus. When we arrived they had tent hallways set up leading all the way to the temple doors, the tents were heated to keep us warm. My kids were amazed at the beautiful chandeliers inside the temple. Afterwards we were directed to another nearby chapel building all while being sheltered by tent hallways where we were served refreshments while we waited for the bus to take us back to our cars. It was a super neat trip, it took a lot of patience from my kids who were so tired by the time we were finished we left at 6:15 pm and arrived home at 11:00 pm. Way too late! My Aubrie declares it was all worth it! This picture is not my photography and I wish I had the opportunity to take a picture of it all lit up at night time but we were sheltered from the cold the entire time.

Sunday morning came fast after the late evening and we had another event to get to. Jayden accepted his first calling as 2nd counselor in the Deacon quorum. We are so proud of him being willing to serve.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Some favorite old pictures

Oh man, How time fly's. I have been scanning some of my older pictures that were not digital. I love these pictures and they bring back old memories. Good memories, of a simpler time, a crazy busy time. If I only knew back then what I know now, that time goes by way to quickly. I had five kids under five years old, and I thought life was never going to get easier, and boy was I right. Life is never easy, now I know that, you just enjoy the crazy busy times because they never go away they just change.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Afraid of Snowmen?

Have you ever heard of a dog who is afraid of snowmen. I took Titan for a walk yesterday and we passed two snowmen with hats and scarves but no faces. Titan immediately went crazy the moment he saw them. He barked and growled and did not want to pass them. For a hundred pound pup who has not been afraid of anything before, I thought this was kind of funny. We have nicknamed him polar bear. His big black nose and eyes remind me of a polar bear and he loves to go sledding. He even slides down the hill on his belly. I don't know if this nickname can stick if he is afraid of snowmen!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Basketball Season is here!

Basketball season started for Jayden and Dallin and this is their 4th year playing. I think that it is becoming their favorite sport to play. Football is still one of their favorite sports to watch. The one thing that I noticed this year was that they were not the shortest on the team. Last year there were kids their same height but this year there are actually kids who are shorter than them and they are in the medium catagory. Yeah! There is hope for them that they will get some of my families height. We can hope anyway. Ty and I love to watch the boys play any sport and it is something we look forward to. (Looks like in this picture that Jayden has about an inch on Dallin, this changes all the time though). In August at their 12 year check up they both measured the same height 5 ft even and even weighed in within a couple of ounces from each other. I took both the boys this weeked to buy some basketball shoes. In September I bought them school shoes but they were not quite what they needed for basketball and of course the tread was a little worn down. What an eye opener on how much they are growing, I bought them a size 6 1/2 for Dallin and a 7 for Jayden back in September. This weekend we tried on shoes and they both went with a Men's 8. Holy cow! They are getting close to their dad's shoe size! They are such great kids, I am so proud of them. Their math teacher commented to me "These young men are definately cream of the crop." Now this is one of the times that you feel like you have done something right when it comes to parenting.

Monday, January 5, 2009

More Christmas?

Our family went to celebrate Christmas and New Years in St. George. Ty's parents live there, and every year we camp out at their house to celebrate Christmas with the Taylor clan. We have so much fun, the kids get to play with their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. Of course the weather is always so great and it is a good time to get away from the snow in Spanish Fork. This year we opened gifts, had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, enjoyed Grandma's christmas candy, and celebrated New Years Eve together. Ty and I contributed to the cooking with some outdoor barbequing. We barbequed pizza on the grill for the whole crew, it was so great to be able to do it outside without freezing to death. Here is a bunch of pictures.

Grandma Taylor handing out gifts for everyone.

Grandpa Taylor, just happy that he is surounded by all the family.

Skip, Wendy, Tamsen, Ty
Ty's brother and sisters , minus one more brother (we missed Shane this year)

Lots of cousins, Skips kids are the youngest - Cameron and Wyatt

Tamsen's kids are Britt, Mkaul, Peyton
the rest belong to me and Ty.

Peyton & Aubrie - 9 yrs.

Aubrie and Peyton have this unique bond as best of friends and cousins. They were both born the same day and they are only a couple of hours apart. We joke that they are twin cousins. Peyton lives in Arizona and they do not get to see each other very often, but they amazingly pickup their friendship just like they have never been apart.

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, we love having them come to visit, they are so much fun. They host a Christmas dinner every year for all of those who can make it, and they shop all year round for Christmas gifts for all the kids, grandkids, great grand kids. I can't remember how many they said they have now but it is impressive. They make the trip to St. George every year to celebrate with us. Grandpa is just amazing he turned 91 in October and is still running, I mean that literally, he "runs" races like the Turkey Trot in November.

Snow at our house, I have to admit it is beautiful when you are looking at it from inside your warm house, otherwise it is yuck!

Jayden and Dallin

Sadie and her new doll house.

Mkaul and Aunt Tamsen
Jason and Tamsen
Mkaul- 13 had lots of fun putting make up on all the girls. She has some talent! They were gorgeous. Thanks Mkaul!
Aunt Wendy

Life is never dull when Wendy is around. She is just one of the kids, and I caught her licking the beaters. (At least it wasn't the serrated knife this time.)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Elk

Ty and I like to watch for the elk that come down the mountain every winter. Sometimes we take a short drive and leave the kids home to watch a movie while we have a short break of peace and quiet. We have seen 3 bull elk come down to the farmers fields behind our neighborhood and they seem to return each winter. This year we happened to see the 3 bull elk plus some. There were about 15 bulls that we could count and some cows. This is the largest herd I have seen in long time. We enjoyed watching them and we were wow'd by their size and beauty. These pictures hardly do them justice, but Ty went to some trouble to take them. I felt bad that the kids had missed out and took them the very next day for the short drive to see them but they had returned to higher ground.

Soccer

Funny things my Kids say

Ok I have said that I would write down the funny things my kids have said for years. I am finally going to do it. Some of these things are recent and some are from long ago but they are just too funny to forget.

6/09- Halen's answer to the question of what he wants to be when he grows up was "I want to be a hobo when I grow up and live in Hobo park in Salt Lake" That lasted quite awhile but recently when Ty asked him what he wanted to be while we were surrounded by friends his answer changed to " a Boob doctor" I do not know where he came up with this and no I do not watch shows about plastic surgery. I think Ty is guilty on this one.

6/09- Halen was not doing what Ty had asked to him to do so Ty told him "quit dinkin around" Halen responded "I am not playin with my dinkin"

5/09- Sadie had gone to a princess party at a friends house across the street. Halen told Sadie after she arrived home that the princess Sleeping Beauty was a fake. Sadie asked me if I thought the princess was a fake and I told her no she was a princess alright. I asked Halen what made her fake. He said "Mom, I saw her take her wig off, scratch her head and slap it back on. She's a fake! Mom."

Halen- 6yrs. Ty got a new guitar for his graduation and after playing for many years on an older guitar he was pretty excited about it. He said "I love this guitar!" Halen replied "Dad you better not marry it or I am moving out."

1/09 We went to Jayden and Dallin's basketball game and Ty left to use the restroom, when he came back Halen asked Ty where he had gone. Ty answered him and so Halen then asked "did you see a hotdog in the bathroom?" Ty thought for a second and said "Yea, I guess I did" Halen was grinning the entire time. Oh man! Where did he get this sense of humor? His sense of humor is definately not of a typical 7 year old. I do not know how he thought of this bathroom humor.

1/09 Sadie and I were in the car and she was asking me when Jayden and Dallin were going to turn 13. I told her they would turn 13 this summer. She exclaimed "Oh no! then they will be evil twin teenagers!"

1/09- Our family went to a park in St. George where you could climb around on the red sandstone rocks. Dallin found a small tunnel in the rocks and went straight to trying to get through it, when I discovered what he was doing I said to him "Do not get stuck" He said, "Its ok, Skipper is a firefighter" I told him "Oh really, do you think that he is carrying his rock cutting tools around with him today?"

Dallin- (4 yrs) Ty had taken the boys to the nearby Hostess bread store while Dallin was looking around he shouted out "Hey dad, can we buy some wheat bread so that we do not get constipated?" Everyone in the store was chuckling.

Halen- (7 yrs) Our family went to Temple square to see the christmas lights and happened to walk right past Elder L. Tom Perry one of the twelve apostles. I informed the kids who he was and Halen shouted "Where's the possum?" immediately all five of my children were looking up into the tree tops to see where the possum was because he heard "possum" instead of "apostle".

Sadie- 4 (yrs) For quite some time while listening to Sadie's prayer before bedtime Ty and I had to try not to laugh because she blessed every thing she could see through her squinted eyes that she was trying hard to keep closed. The prayers would last forever and at the end of each prayer instead of "say these things in the name of" Sadie interpetted it as "Sadie's things" she would then list everyone's things "Aubrie's things, Dallin's things.... "

Aubrie- 1 1/2 yrs. One day Grandma had taken the kids and I out for lunch, and I took Aubrie with me into the ladies room. She was in the bathroom stall talking to me and soon asking questions about my huge belly ( pregnant with Sadie & Halen) she went on and on with comments about how my belly looked and how big it was. The stalls next to me were occupied and I could hear giggles coming from them.

Jayden- 3 yrs. I heard Jayden in the other room talking to someone so I went in to check on him. I found him standing next to the coat closet door talking to my Santa decoration. He was telling Santa that he was sorry for being mean to his brother.