Happy Mother's Day

I know it's only Halloween, but really, when it's been one of those days and it's only 10am, you need a poem like this. Plus, every day should be Mother's Day.

Dear Lord, it's such a hectic day
With little time to stop and pray
For life's been anything but calm
Since You called on me to be a mom
Running errands, matching socks
Building dreams with building blocks
Cooking, cleaning, and finding shoes
And other stuff that children lose
Fitting lids on bottled bugs
Wiping tears and giving hugs
A stack of last weeks mail to read
So where's the quiet time I need?
Yet when I steal a minute, Lord
Just at the sink or ironing board
To ask the blessings of Your grace
I see then, in my small one's face
That you have blessed me
All the while
And I stop to kiss
That precious smile

Getting Around

Gideon likes to pull on anything....Too bad I have no storage space to baby proof. I'm just going to have to get used to cleaning up after him.

First Ouchie

Gideon got his first baby goose egg last week. (Is baby goose egg redundant?) I was so sad! Probably more so than he.

Us

Our Cutie-patootie after bath time.


Snuggling with daddy before bed.


Helping mommy fold the clean laundry. He sucks on each piece to make sure it's dry before I fold it. What a helper.

Caption This!

I randomly picked a picture from my photo album. What would you title under this?

My last post had lots of pictures but no description. You can guess which line goes to which picture.
a- "Quick, while mom's not looking!"
b- Trick or treat, smell my cute candy corn feet. (This one is dedicated to Jake and Jen for the cute onesie. Gideon's first gift!)
c- What smell?
d- "What's a nap? Hey! Look what I can do!!............ MOM!! I'M STUCK!!"
e- All I need is a cowboy hat.

No Words, Just Pics

Chalk Another one up for, uh...whoever you want to blame

On CNN I came across this article about high school students in Oklahoma. 77% could not name the first president of the United States. Yes, you can read it again...77% of high school students could not name the first president of the United States. How sad is that? I went through the questions on the list they gave these students. I missed one...dang.

Here's a link to the story:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/279410

Here are the questions they asked...see how well you can do.

What is the supreme law of the land?
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?
What are the two major political parities in the United States?
We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
Who was the first President of the United States?
Who is in charge of the executive branch?

"Peas, please."

Gideon has really taken to solid foods. The only problem is that he loves "helping" mommy. So the food ends up just about everywhere. This video is quiet since Tristan was sleeping, but really, you just need to see, not hear. :)


Gideon loves his cowboy boots. I mean, just look at that grin!

Pics of Gideon

There has been a lack of Baby G's pictures lately, so here are some recent ones I uploaded form our camera....finally.


Gideon's security Lion...he always falls asleep holding onto him.


Gdeon's first taste of rice cereal. He really took to it (after the first two bites). However, I wonder how much he actually ate. It all ended up on his face and chest.


He's trying to roll from back to side. He uses the monkey mat to help him over. Mostly I think he just wanted to do ANYTHING to suck on the monkey's ear.


Gideon loves the fish at the zoo. They are the only ones that move slow enough for him to watch.


He LOVES his baths, especially when joined by his ducks.


Our first football game together! Gideon couldn't tell if daddy was angry or excited when he was yelling at the tv. It was all so loud and he would get the biggest eyes. But daddy would make him feel better after. Turns out daddy was angry...and then excited and then angry...this went on all night. But we really enjoyed the game.

Bingham Miners

Two days after my former college, BYU, played at the new Cowboys Stadium in Texas, my former high school, Bingham, had the chance to be the first high school team to play there. They played against Euless Trinity from Texas. Sadly the outcome wasn't as good. They lost 42-21. But how cool that they were chosen from South Jordan, UT out of all the other teams in America to play?! And on top of that, in front of 30,000 people.

Go BYU!!!!

I can't believe BYU won!!! I am SO excited! I'm an OU fan, and a UofU fan...but when they play BYU, they mean nothing!! YAY!!! I'm going to lose 10 points on my ESPN Pick'em because I was so sure OU would win, but I don't even care!

Sometimes a pat on the back...sometimes a kick in the pants

I think sometimes I'm pretty smart. Like when I play Mad Gab or yell answers to Cash Cab on tv...but then there are sometimes where I'm pretty, uh, dumb, and the worst is when there's a witness.
In January the plugs on both sides of our kitchen sink went out. We had several friends/family look at them, we flipped the circuit breakers in the box in our closet...nothing. No power. Finally we thought we could afford an electrician. He came this morning...I cleared all the counters to give him room and sprayed the house with scented Febreeze to make it smell cleaner than it looked. He went to the kitchen while I kept cleaning the rest of the house. Not 5 minutes later he came to find me. "Ma'am, do you know you have a circuit breaker in the back yard?" "WHAT?!!" DUH!!! Come to think of it, usually there is a breaker box outside at most houses. You should have seen the look on his face. I asked if I could pay him anyways and he said, "Well, I'll ask my boss, but if it was up to me I wouldn't charge you." Meanwhile I'm sure he's thinking, "Poor soul. She's losing her mind. She needs all that money to give to the institution."
I'm glad to have working plugs after almost 9 months.

Happy Birthday!!

Today my Amazing Other Half is celebrating his 28th birthday!
Happy Birthday, Love!
Here are 28 reasons I love you...in no particular order.

1-You work so hard in school for me and Gideon
2-You are SO strong!
3-I always feel small next to you, even at 9 months pregnant
4-You sing in the shower before school and I like to lay in bed listening
5-You love sports so much that I got hooked...and I watch ESPN when I miss you
6-You care about us more than anything
7-You care so much about other people that you will go out of your way to do nice things for them
8-You have the memory of 40 elephants
9-You put up with me
10-You love black pepper on almost everything
11-You know most constellations in the sky
12-You are ticklish and if I tickle you in just the right spot it freezes you up!
13-You love Halloween and Christmas and decorating for them
14-When Gideon was born you helped me SO much
15-I can talk to you about absolutely anything and feel safe
16-You like puzzles as much as I do
17-You can't help yourself when it comes to sugar cookies
18-You are so good with Gideon and get excited when he learns something new
19-You'll watch chick flicks at least once with me
20-You cuddle with me when I'm cold even though you're so hot
21-When you are playing sports with your friends and I'm watching, you'll always take time to come be with me
22-You'll sometimes dress to match what I'm wearing
23-You always drive when we are in the car
24-You defend me against mean neighbors
25-You sing Gideon's favorite song to him over and over when he's grumpy
26-(from Gideon) "Pbbblaaaath"
27-(from Gideon) You sneak me yummy foods when mommy is not watching
28-(from Gideon) You give me airplane rides

Munchkin on the Loose

Grandpa's Home

I received a phone call from my dad this morning telling me that Grandpa had died. It didn't really come as a surprise as I had been told that he was doing poorly. It was interesting talking to my dad because we both didn't know how to feel really. This wasn't the first time that this had happened. In fact this was supposed to happen last Christmas. He was only given days to live, but then came out of it and lived for another 8 months. I feel sad that he is gone and emotion is there but it is a mixture of emotions. Sadness that he is gone, regret that I didn't see him as much as I should have or could have, but also happiness that this trial called life was over and that he had passed. Also he was my last grandparent. Gideon never got to meet any of them during their time here. It's strange moving into this phase of life where you have no grandparents and your parents are being called grammy and grampy. I am saddened that he never got the chance to know such wonderful loving people in his youth.

Grandpa's name was Bacle Don Taylor. Bacle (pronounced Basil) being a family name one passed on for several generations. As you can imagine he went by Don, as did the majority of the Bacle Don's of recent years. It was a name that was supposed to be passed on to all the 1st born male Taylor's. I know what you are thinking and yes you are right I am the first born male in my family. And to answer your second question, yes the tradition stopped with me. This was decided on by my parents after my dad saw the struggles his eldest brother had with the name. I must admit that I am not terribly disappointed about it either. Grandpa I love you but Bacle? really?
He was a kind and gentle soul. He lived in many different places but lived most his life in St George in the only house in the US that I have seen painted Pepto BIsmol pink. The Dominicans would have been proud. I don't know why they never changed the house color, but it sure made it easy to know which house was Grandpa's. He was an educated man and even taught at Dixie College. He served his country during WWII, but never had the chance to serve a mission in his youth.

It was always fun to go see grandpa as a kid because all the things to do.....well not so much at his house as the only game they owned was chinese checkers.... but because of his farm. Grandpa kept a small ranch next to the river that was always full of animals. Mostly cows and horses but occasionally goats, chickens, mules and even ostriches at one point. Grandpa did occasionally bring the animals to market but mostly he had them for pets.

Grandpa loved the church and made sure we all knew how important it was. Later in life he was able to serve two missions, one to Australia and the second to Albania where he played a major role in opening it up to the Gospel. Grandpa loved family history and was doing Genealogy constantly. He is really the reason why the Taylor lines go back as far as they do. He always said he had two goals in life one was to out live his father, who lived till 90, and second to finish his genealogy work. Grandpa did finish one of those goals, he lived to be 92 , 93 in February. This goal did prove to be a problem because he lost his wife over twenty years ago. He did get remarried but she died several years ago as well. He struggled with this often saying he was ready to go see Grandma. Which is another reason why I am happy because now he is back in the loving embrace of Grandma and others waiting on the other side that he loved to know so well. I love and miss you Grandpa.

Tristan 8/14/09