Happy Happy Birthday Party!

Beck's birthday is one day after my brother Kyle's,
so we had a combined party for them the Sunday before.   

I wanted to do something inexpensive, but focus on making it actually fun for the birthday boys.

I think I can safely say that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the balloon room. 
There is something magical about all those colors and the way balloons make you feel lighter than air.

Most of these pictures were taken by my wonderful sister-in-law Jalene.
 Check her out at J. Taylor Photography.
She also happens to be doing a pretty great wedding special right now!  

All the decor was fun to make and I spent less than twenty bucks on everything!

On Beck's actual birthday, my Mom and I just made the day all about him! 

We took Beck ride the Carousel at the mall. I love all the funky animals on this carousel! 

I think he enjoyed watching it go round and round better than actually being on it. 

We also let him ride a few coin machine rides.  This was the same story as the carousel.  He liked playing on it just as much as when the ride was moving.  He is easy to please I guess! 

I remember that the first warm day of the year was the day I brought Beck home from the hospital.  His birthday was just the same!  We still had snow on the ground but the park was warm and sunny.

Beck had a BLAST climbing the slide with Mimi and exploring the playground with his cousin. 

Honestly I can't believe how fast his first year of life went. 
It scares me because now I actually believe people when they say
"You'll blink you're eyes and you'll be sending him off to college!" 

This kid has brought Chase and me more happiness than we could have fathomed. 
Here's to another great year, Beck!!

{Almost} FREE LOOT!

Lets play a game, shall we? 

The Price is Right.

Look at this group of  items here, and take a gander at what you think we paid for it all. 

1.  XBOX with Kinect   2.  Dance Central for Kinect  3.  Alpha Omega Car Convertable Car Seat
If you know your stuff, you probaby guessed around $450.00.

Wanna know how much we actually paid for it all? 

a whopping $45!

You can call it good planning, or blessings, or the Luck o' the Irish, but all I know is, we are happy about it!

Just for fun, here is how we did it. 
Xbox kinect:  We sold our Ninendo Wii for $225, had a $50 Visa Gift card from Christmas, and spent $25 of our own money.  (we got the Wii for free doing summer sales 3 years ago)
(Side note, have you heard of the kinect? YOU are the controller, Its amazing!)
I went to the dentist (for free with insurance) and got a $50 Gift Card to Walmart.  Dance Central= FREE
Car Seat:  US Bank was holding a special on Checking accounts.  If you opened a new one, you get $75 .  no catches.  thus, a new car seat costs us $20 for the difference since it was on sale!

$450=$45!!!

I am happy because I think I am dancing, but really I'm working out. 
Chase is happy because he gets to play NCAA football on the xbox.
Beck is happy because he is forward facing in the car.

Win. Win. WIN!!

Hermana Taylor

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to our sister Abby. She is on her way to a wonderful adventure in Santiago Chile! Although the goodbye's were hard, I know she is right where she is supposed to be.  She will be sharing her  testimony of the gospel with the good people of Chile for 18 months.  That seems like a long time, but when thought of in terms of how fast Beck's first year went, I know she'll be back before we know it. 

The night before we took her to the MTC we had a rousing game of Curses. 

That one is always good for a laugh.

Jalene had to dance with her arms every time she spoke. 

Chase had to pretend he had teeny tiny arms

and here is Abby giving her Miss America acceptance speech

On our way down to Provo to drop her off,

we stopped at PF Changs for some good eats and last minute mission advice.

Beck looked like such a big boy in his booster seat!



We all miss her like crazy around here, especially this little tyke.

We know she is going to be an amazing missionary.

March 1, 2010

February 28, 2010 12:00:00 AM 

I was driving with Chase down the empty Salt Lake Avenues towards the hospital to be induced. 
It was almost two weeks before my due date because of Pre-eclampsia. 
It was a quiet night, and I didn't even notice the rush of cold that usually happens when I go outside
I was so nervous.  So scared.  not for the baby part, just the unknown of being medically induced.

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Fast forward 10 hours exactly


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10:00:00 AM.  I looked into this angelic little creature's eyes for the very first time and to be cliche',
it WAS love at first sight. 

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One year later.  I don't know how time passed so quickly.  but I'm still in love. 
...but my angelic creature is not the same teeny tiny newborn that he was a year ago. 
he has grown, a lot.

We had a family party for Beck and Kyle on Sunday, and today we are just making the day all about fun for Beck.  Here are a few sneak peaks of Beck at his party.  He LOVED these balloons.  They entertained him for a whole thirty minutes ;-)

Guess who took these great photos?  You got it! Jalene!

Happy Birthday Little guy!  You are LOVED!!!

I have my cake and eat it too.





I was extra lucky this Valentine's Day.  I had not one, but TWO Valentines. 

The littlest one spent the day with me, and the handsomist one spent the evening.

This year I had a new kind of love to add to my Valentine's Celebration, thanks to this little man. 

One that includes someone needing me for survival, although I feel like that need is reciprocal. 

      

The Mister and I had a delightful evening enjoying Pei Wei Shrimp and watching this girl in Hairspray. 
(What a great show!)
After sending the babysitter home we reminised about how we fell in love-
and there was some tickling and giggling involved.
I love this guy so much.
We also talked about how we are so happy.  In our marriage, in general with life. 
Happy Valentines Day Tom Love!

this little guy...

...is ELEVEN months old!

and I can't even believe it.

What is even crazier- is that he'll be a YEAR in one month. 

 I am frantically trying to figure out how to freeze him so he can be my baby forever.  so far, no luck. 

It feels like every day he learns so much more, looks so much older. 

His latest tricks are dancing when he hears music, and smacking his lips for kisses.  We love it.

He tries to stand on his own every now and then, but only lasts a few seconds. 

I'm fine with him taking his time to walk honestly!

His little personality (and attitude!) is coming out a lot more lately.  I think he will be a tease.

The kid still loves all food, and is slowly weening himself. 

He still nurses twice a day but I can tell its all business for him and then he wants to get to exploring. 

He really has developed into a great little sleeper. 

 He has learned to put himself back to sleep if he wakes in the night. 

This has also made naptime much easier on Momma, which historically he has not been very good at. 

Happy Eleven months little man.  Your parents sure LOVE you!!!!

'round here

Five days now.  It started out with a severe headache, morphed into a cactus throat, and now I spend my days voiceless and my nights up coughing.  I don't get sick often, but when I do, its bad.  The worst part is, my little buddy has it too, albeit a much milder version (thank heaven).

Chase is watching a movie about "Pistol Pete", so I brewed up some hot honey-lemon water and decided to take the plunge.  Into the blog that is.  I'm so far behind, but I'll make an attempt. 

It sounds cliche, but my my we have been blessed.  Chase accepted a job offer at Orbit Medical.  It is a much better fit for him than his old job.  He's been there for almost a month and loves it already.  The only downside is that if/WHEN he has been successful for a few months, there is a good chance they will promote him and ask us to relocate to somewhere like Spokane, Portland, or Pheonix.  While the adventure sounds great for a couple of years, I haven't come to terms with the fact that we'd be moving away from family.  I guess we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it. 

We had a magical holiday season.   It sounds cheesey, but coming from me its not that weird, right?

Christmas in B-Town

Every part of Christmas was more fun with a little man to enjoy it with us. 

Jalene and Lincoln organized a temple lights date with us and Kyle and Jade.

 Next year we'll remember that it closes at 9:00 so we'll be sure to get there earlier.  ;)

gotta love cousins in matching Pj's. 

We spent Christmas in Boise with some of our favorite people

Reindeer fighting? no, just "Minute to Win it" Christmas Eve Party.  My mom plans the best parties!

Happy first Christmas to these newlyweds!

Tayler was at the perfect age for the magic of Christmas. 

We had lots of fun watching her get so excited with each present.

The first thing we do on Christmas morning is admire baby Jesus in his manger. 
One of our favorite Christmas gifts this year was our own manger to begin our Christmas good deed tradition. 

This little guy didn't really know the difference between a present and wrapping paper,
 but he sure loves this hat that Mimi made him!

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New Years in the field

The older siblings hopped on a plane to join the rest of the fam in Oklahoma City for New Years. 
It was great to reconnect with them and see what their missionary life is like. 

Beck was definetely the favorite person all week. 

I loved that he got to spend some quality time with his Grandma and Grandpa.

One of my favorite memories of the trip was the day we spent exploring Oklahoma University's campus. 

We spent literally HOURS taking pictures of the silliest things. 

We laughed our heads off taking these jumping pictures over and over and over again.

This is what the Taylor boys call "Tackling for loss of Yardage"

Every night we would stay up until wee hours of the morn. 

 It was like we just wanted to soak in every min we had with these guys. 

has it been three years yet?

This is the very picture taken moments after Beck officially said "BALL!!"  He got such a reaction from us that he repeated the word over and over again. 

He definitely understood the concept of throwing the ball and chasing after it

-and Chase could not be more proud

We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas season! 

Now if only I could get over this blasted cough!