recap in pictures

What a whirlwind! June really was the craziest month ever. It started out with Jalene and Lincoln's wedding. (Which was a blast by the way, what a great couple!) The next few weeks were spent packing up the Taylor's house, packing up our apartment, cleaning cleaning  cleaning, and moving all our stuff. I am SO sick of moving. 

Here are a few picture recaps

Lincoln and Jalene got married on June 5.  It was a party!

The handsome brothers

Leah, Beck, Quinn, Preston, Abby

Happy family at the wedding dinner

just being cute

My wonderful in-laws and brother Preston and Quinn left for Oklahoma City, OK to serve as mission presidents at the end of June.  They will be greatly missed over the next three years. 

photo by Jalene

Beck is gonna really miss his uncles. (and so are we!!)

Here are all the missionary tags from the Taylor side. What a great family tradition to serve missions of God!

Left to right descriptions:

Nolan served in Belguim when he was 19 years old. 

Nolan served as a State Missionary as an adult

Chase served in Venezueala at age 19

Lincoln served in Poland at age 19

Currently Nolan and Rhonda are presiding over a group of about 110 full time missionaries  in Oklahoma City, OK

The mini missionary nametag says "Future missionary" (that one is for Beck)

best pals

The 4th of July weekend was TONS of fun.  My parents, Kaela, Kyle, Jade and Tayler all came to vist. Oh yes, and their dogs.  I was too busy trying to be a good host that I didn't get any pictures of the weekend.  Not to mention that my camera charger is packed up in a box somewhere and my camera is almost out of battery. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful weekend filled with BBQ's, kite flying (or trying), cousins playing, family games, and of course fireworks.

A tale of woe and warning

Once upon a time there was a boy and girl who got married and had a really cute baby boy.  They loved him so much.  He was so cute that his mom took pictures of him all day long. Pictures laying on the ground kicking, sleeping pictures, making silly faces, smiling, giggling, pictures of how he grew and changed every day, and esspecially pictures with those who love him who live (and are going to live) far away...etc. etc. One day her computer froze.  The next day she was told that her hard drive crashed.  She was in denial that this meant anything that bad.  Until he told her all the data on the computer is lost and that it would be about $1500-$3000 to recover it.  (...something about a "circuit" crash, rather than a regular crash) This is when she started to cry- a lot.  LOST.  All the pictures of their baby.  LOST.  All the pictures of their last couple years of marriage. LOST. 

Moral of the story.  BACK UP YOUR PICTURES!!! I am talking to YOU!  It WILL happen to you so do it.  NOW! 

3 months old!

photos by Jalene

I can't believe its been 3 months since this little guy came into our lives, although I hardly remember life before him! This picture is how I will always remember my baby.  Huge grin, lit up eyes, and kicking his feet and waving his arms.  Beck is such a fun little man.  He LOVES bathtime.  He kicks and kicks until he splashes all the water out of his little tub.  His first laugh was at abut 11 weeks and it was in the tub.  It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard! Chase and I were SO excited to hear that giggle.  It took a few days before he did it again but he's gradually laughing more and more over the last few weeks. 

Beck still loves to cuddle.  He loves morning naps with his Mom and afternoon naps with Daddy.  Besides snuggle naps, he doesn't like napping at all.  It takes me an hour to get him to go to sleep on his own and by the time he's finally out for good he wakes up soon after because he's ready to eat again!

We are pretty lucky at nighttime.  He sleeps until 6:30 most mornings and then goes to sleep for another 3-4 hours after eating.  Beck is fascinated with the world around him.  He loves shopping because he gets to see new things. 

I have this little magic trick that works like a charm with Beck.  It doesn't matter how mad or upset he is.  He instantly changes from  full-on screaming to happy with his eyes closed if I let him suck on my thumb. I don't know what it is.  A binky doesn't do the same trick. I try to only use it if he is super upset though because I hate the thought of my germy thumb being in his mouth.  It normally only takes 5 seconds of him sucking on it that I can pull it out and pop in a binky or start feeding him-or he falls asleep like in the picture.

We just love this little guy and can't believe how much he changes every day.  He is pretty interactive at this age and will give anyone who looks at him huge grins.  He also makes the funniest expressions.  We just love him to death!!!

photos ranging from 10 weeks to 12 weeks old

memory lane

My little automatic photo slideshow on my computer was flipping through these old pictures and it took me right down memory lane. So I decided to put a few up. Most of these are from Senior year I think, but there are some older ones here too. I sure did love high school. Yeah there were hard times and drama sometimes, but I had a bunch of AWESOME friends who I still love dearly, even the ones I don't stay in regular contact with.

                                       

after my 16th B-day party

Remember hanging out at break in the cafeteria? This was Junior year.

This one was at Nicole's house...although I'm not sure why she wasn't in this picture

We were such cool seniors...

Doesn't it just look like we love being around eachother?  Everyone has such big smiles

Last day of High School, before the Senior picnic.

Senior picnic

The famous picture of all "The Girls" Can you tell I was bawling my eyes out?

(Sorry Amanda, I don't have the copy with you in it)

A day to remember

Me and my Mom's
Not only was this weekend my first Mother's Day, but it was also the day my sweet husband blessed my baby. What a fabulous weekend it was. I do want to say real quick-I'm really sorry to the Mom's for having to work so much on Mother's Day. The lunch after church would have fallen apart without your help. Thanks, and sorry :)

The weekend was a special one. My brother Kyle, Jade and unborn baby girl, and favorite neice Tayler got into town on Thursday. We had lots of fun playing games and watching Tayler sing and dance for us. Beck just loved his cousin. Tayler was so cute. She walked around all day talking about "Baby Beck". Saturday Mom, Dad, and Kaela got into town. We met up with the Taylors and saw Preston perform in "Crazy for You". Man that boy has talent! The show was hilarious and we were all amazed at the talent for a Junior High group.
Beck was rarely put down the whole weekend. He loved getting cuddled by his Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles.

Kyle, Tayler, and Beck

Taylor Family
Enzler Family

Chase and his little buddy

Chase gave a beautiful blessing. The spirit was strong and I was so happy to see my husband blessing Beck with what we and his Father in Heaven hope for his life. Beck was an angel during the blessing. He was sound asleep until 30 seconds before the blessing. For the actual blessing he was wide eyed and quiet.

He had even more impeccable timing when he had a MAJOR blowout seconds after Chase put him back in my arms. I'm talking ALL over his blessing outfit and Mommy's skirt.

Gotta love that :) I rushed out to change him. It was pure luck that moments before church started someone gave us a gift of "onesies" that were just his size. Mimi (My mom) also happened to have an outfit in the car. I guess I'll know to plan better next time! Sadly, we didn't get pictures in his adorable blessing outfit. Rhonda got the stains out for me so I'll take some pictures soon and put them up.

Four generation picture

It was a very special Mother's Day for me. One that I will always remember because we blessed Beck on the same day. This picture is cute-the women were all talking in the living room when all of the sudden the guys came marching in military style. They didn't say a word until they lined up in front of us and sang a song they made up..."We wish you a Happy Mother's Day" It was an adorable surprise!

Thanks to you

Mom,

Thanks to you I love the gospel, I know who I am, I know how to work. Thanks to you "I can do hard things". I look for the best in others, I see the best in every situation. You taught me to look for the magic in life, to BE who I want to be. You taught me to love others, to be a good wife, to be a loving Mom. I love you, thanks for being my Mom.

Love, Leah

stitched with love

Can I brag about my wonderful Mother-in-law, Rhonda, for a minute? Believe me, I'm not just sucking up. There is no need, I'm already the favorite in-law. [Just kiddin Jalene ;-) ] This woman is such a great example to me. What a woman of God! Even though she is a very busy woman, she helped me take on the big project of making Beck's crib bedding. (And when I say "helped me take on" I mean, there's no way I could have done this without her) We had TONS of fun picking out the fabric and pattern, cutting everything out, sewing, and just spending time together. I am seriously going to miss her when they leave in July. Those missionaries in Oklahoma don't know how lucky they are yet!

The quilt and bedding set turned out so so cute. I just love how vibrant and fun the colors are. I hope the colorful animals help Beck to have sweet, adventurous dreams!

This is Beck's first time in the crib with the new set. Honestly, he was mesmerized by the animals, he loved it!

The quilt could not have turned out any cuter! It has lots of super soft fabrics on it which is another bonus.

Check out the back, we had it quilted into lions, elephants, and frogs. adorable huh?!
Thanks again Rhonda. I love you!