Taylor 2008

Update

I've been a little bit of a slacker. It seems when life gets busy things get neglected; like my blog! Oh well, we only got a few pictures anyway. We went to Duchesne on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and stayed until Sunday. It was a wonderful vacation! All of Jared's siblings were there, so we had a house full! Thursday we had a yummy turkey feast and that night all the girls and Mason went and saw Twilight. It was actually better than I expected. They followed the book pretty closely I thought. Friday we went up to the mountains and cut down a Christmas tree. We've done this every year since we've been married. It is so fun, especially when there is snow. Saturday, my sister-in-law had a Mary Kay party, so we all got pampered. It was a great weekend and Mason was such a good baby. He is so mellow, I can't complain!

So, now I've got that out of the way. I've been trying to get a picture of the kids for a Christmas card.....and it is turning out to be very difficult. It seems that Mason is always asleep and when he is awake then Garet doesn't want to cooperate and when he does then Camille is gone, etc. etc. I think I got an ok one. It will have to be good enough.

I couldn't resist this cute one of Mason!

Sweet Prayer

Tonight for family prayers it was Garet's turn to say it. He usually needs help, but tonight he wanted to do it by himself. So he started out, "Heavenly Father, help me go on the potty next time." It was so sweet. Yesterday, he decided he was going to wear underwear and he did surprisingly well. Today, he had one accident while Mia was over (he gets so excited when she is here). Anyway, I got a little upset and he was mad his pants were wet, so he was sweet enough to pray about it, without any prompts from Mom and Dad. That makes everything all worth it!

A Day at the Dairy Farm!!

A couple weekends ago Jared had to go to Gunnison for work, so we decided to take the whole fam and visit my cousin DeLynne and her husband Dustin. They have four boys!! Ezra - 3 yrs and triplet boys, Cael, Ross, and Von - 23 months. I know, she has her hands full!!! She is wonder woman to say the least. Dustin works on the family dairy farm. We were able to take a tour and see the process of running a huge farm. They have 2200 cows, I think. It is incredible. The kids had a great time and the highlight was watching a calf be born. Thanks DeLynne and Dustin for the spontaneous visit. We had such a great time and hope to visit again soon.

Garet loved playing with all those boys!! In our family he is definitely outnumbered by the girls, so it was a nice change for him. Mason was such a trooper and Camille had a great time playing with Ezra.
Best Friends!

Boutique

As many of you know we have a vinyl lettering business that we do on the side. This weekend we will be at this boutique along with several other vendors. We will also be doing a silent auction for a baby boy who has a muscular atrophy disease. Please pass the word along and come get some great ideas for the Holidays. Hope to see you there!!

Mountains

Last Saturday we drove up to Mueller Park in Bountiful and took some pictures. The weather was gorgeous and so were the leaves. After we tried to drive over the skyline into Farmington Canyon, but the snow got a little too deep and treacherous. Anyway, the kids got to play in the snow and we had a great time enjoying the mountains. So, here are a couple pictures. Taking family pictures is quite the ordeal with 3 kids. I don't think any of them turned out exactly how we were thinking:) Oh well, we'll try again another time.

Splish Splash just taking a bath!

Mason - Three Weeks old

Baby Tag

Baby Tag
1- Where​ were you when you first​ found​ out you were pregn​ant?​
#1- At home
#2- At home
#3 - At Home

2- Who was with you?
#1- Jared
#2- Nobody
#3 - Nobody

3- How did you find out that you were pregn​ant?
#1- Home pregnancy test
#2- Home pregnancy test
#3- Home pregnancy test

4- What was your first​ react​ion to findi​ng out you were pregn​ant?
#1- Very excited!!
#2- Excited, and a little nervous to have 2.
#3- Surprised!

5- Your Husba​nds react​on?​
He was just as excited as I was! On number 3 he was more excited than I was:)

6- Who was the first​ perso​n you told?​
#1- My parents (we were so excited to tell both of our parents because this was the first grandchild on both sides!)
#2- Jared
#3- Jared

7- Did you plan to get pregn​ant?​
#1- Yes
#2- Yes
#3- no, not quite so soon, but it was fine.

8- Was every​body happy​ for you?
Of Course!

9- Did you go out and celeb​rate?
​#1-We went sledding with some friends down Old Main Hill in Logan.
#2- I don't think so
#3- No

10- Did you want to find out the sex?
#1- Yes
#2- Yes
#3- Yes

11- What was the sex?
#1- Girl
#2- Boy
#3- Boy

12- Did anyon​e throw​ you a baby showe​r?
#1- Yes, I had 2.
#2- No
#3- No

13- If yes, who?
The first was some friends from high school. The second was thrown by my visiting teachers in Logan, Abby and Leslie. They were wonderful, and we still keep in touch through our blogs.

14- Did you get any outfi​ts at the baby showe​r that you just knew you weren​'​t going​ to put on your baby?
No, I think I liked all of them.

15- How much weigh​t did you gain?
​#1- about 20 lbs
#2- about 25 lbs
#3- 28 lbs

16- Did you loose​ all of the weigh​t that you gaine​d?
​#1- Instantly
#2- Yes, but it took several months
#3- I just had the baby 3 weeks ago and I've got a ways to go! Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

17- Did you get a lot of stret​ch marks​?
NONE - I guess I'm just lucky

18- What did you crave​ the most?​
#1- Nothing that I remember
#2- Nothing, but I was always hungry
#3- Nothing, but I was always hungry

19- Did you crave​ anyth​ing crazy​?​
Not that I remember, but I did like weird smells, like sawdust. Weird, I know!!

20- Who or what got on your nerve​s the most?
I was constantly tired and had no energy.

21- Were you marri​ed at the time?
Of Course!!

22- Did you have any compl​icati​ons durin​g your pregnancy?
#1- No
#2- My cervix tore during my delivery with #1, so I had to get a cervical cerclage when I was 14 weeks.
#3- Cervical Cerclage again.

23- Where​ were you when you went into labor​?​
#1- At church and then home.
#2- At home
#3- At home

24- Did your water​ break​?​
#1- At the hospital
#2- No
#3- No

25- Who drove​ you to the hospi​tal?
#1- Jared
#2- Jared
#3 - Jared

26- Did you go early​ or late?​
#1- Was 3 days late
#2- 1 week early
#3- 4 days early

27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth​?​
#1- Jared, Doctor, and a whole bunch of nurses in training; at that point I didn't care, I just wanted to have the baby.
#2- Jared, and the nurses delivered the baby because the doctor didn't make it in time.
#3- Jared and midwife because my doctor was out of town.

28- Was it video​ taped​?
Heavens No!

29- Did you have any drugs​ for the pain?
#1- Yes, after several hours of pain I was exhausted.
#2- No, we had an awesome nurse and were able to do it with no epidural.
#3- No, I don't know how in the world I did it again, but I made it.

30- Did you go Natur​al or have a c-​secti​on?​
#1- Natural
#2- Natural
#3- Natural

31- What was your first​ react​ion after​ givin​g birth​?​
#1- Wow, I can't believe we have a baby!
#2- Wow, that was extremely painful, and Look at all his hair!

32- How big was the baby?​​
#1- 7lb. 6oz.
#2- 7 lb. 3 oz.
#3- 7lb. 1 oz.

33- Did your Husba​nd cry?
#1- Yes, we both did
#2 - No, it was crazy.
#3 - No, just pure smiles and giggles. For some reason he laughs when I am in labor and screaming:)

34- What did you name the baby?
#1- Camille
#2- Garet
#3- Mason

35- Did the baby have any compl​icati​ons?
​#1- No, a little jaundice, but not enough to be in the lights.
#2- No, a little jaundice, but not enough to be in the lights.
#3- No, not even jaundice

36- How old is the baby today​?​
#1- 5 years 1 month
#2- 2 years 8 months
#3- 3 weeks

37- When is the next one comin​g?
Not for a long time!!!

​38-​If you could​,​ would​ you do it all over again​?
Yes!! Almost every minute of it. Some days they drive me crazy, but I couldn't live without them. They are my greatest joy and my greatest challenge!

Two weeks old and Happy Halloween

Mason is two weeks old!! The kids just love him and get so excited when he is awake. Camille especially likes to hold him and she is great at helping me. We love him!!

We had a great Halloween this year. First of all we had a ward trunk or treat/carnival/chili cook off at the church. The kids thought it was great! Then we headed over to Grandma's house for some homemade doughnuts and root beer! Yummy! This tradition has been in the family for years and my mom decided to take it over this year. Usually my Grandma does this at her house and she makes all the kids come in and do a trick/talent for her before she'll give them any candy. The whole neighborhood knows that the Homer's make doughnuts and so everyone comes to there house. It is a lot of fun. Anyway, my sister Kaydi took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood and then we headed back home so we wouldn't miss the Bowers and Felkins full-sized candy bars! This was Jared's idea of course:)

We got these costumes from Jared's mom. She made them years ago for her kids! Garet is batman and Camille is a witch and little Mason has a pumpkin hat on.

The whole story...

I finally have a chance to sit down and tell you all how the labor and delivery went. Things have been a little crazy this week.
I started having contractions Friday morning (October 17th), but they were pretty far apart and then kind of died down. At about lunch time they started picking up again and were getting pretty strong. I just relaxed and went for a walk and had Camille fix my hair (my favorite thing in the world). Finally, I told Jared that we needed to go to the hospital soon. Of course, just like with Garet, he wasn't hurrying fast enough. He was trying to stall and it was driving me nuts!! He was too worried about eating some chips and salsa, which I wouldn't recommend because the smell of his breath was making me sick later:) Anyway, I was in quite a bit of pain and definitely had to concentrate during contractions. Camille was so excited. She was running around getting her stuff cleaned up and putting her shoes on. She couldn't believe the day had finally arrived that her brother was "coming out"! We finally headed over to my mom's to drop the kids off and then to the hospital. We arrived at about 4:00p.m. and of course the nurse's were not taking me very serious and were taking their sweet time. They finally got the paper work done and checked me and I was at a 7! This is about 5:00p.m. Yippee, that was great news! I told them with my last one I went pretty fast and I wanted the doctor to come and break my water so we could get this over with, and again they were just taking their time doing more paper work and trying to get a hold of my doctor. So, they finally got me to a birthing room and still hadn't gotten a hold of Dr. Marriott, so they asked me if I wanted Cathy Jones, midwife who works for Dr. Marriott or Dr. Hartman, the doctor on call to deliver the baby. I told them at this point it didn't matter because I was going to have this baby anytime and I was in a lot of pain. At about 6:00 the nurse is frantically trying to get the IV in me and I'm spurting blood all over because she can't get it right. She finally put it in the other hand. They start setting up all the equipment and still everyone is taking their time. At this point I don't know if I can last any longer. Jared was so great during all this. Finally at about 6:15 the nurse checked me again and said, "Oh, you are ready, wow!" So Cathy Jones came in and broke my water and I pushed about 4 times with lots of yelling and screaming and voila, Mason Jared is here! So he was born at 6:30p.m. Good thing my water didn't break on it's own or I would've had him a lot sooner. It all worked out fine, but I was definitely disappointed with the nurses compared to when I had Garet. I was pretty mad at Dr. Marriott because he missed the birth of Garet also:) I definitely gave him a hard time when he came to see me. Oh well, I guess you can't count on the Doctor being their if you're not induced or scheduled, right?! So that is the whole story and here are some pictures of our beautiful baby boy and the two very proud siblings! He is so perfect and we love him to death. All the pain was somehow worth it, but I still don't know if I could do it again!

Camille and Garet love him to pieces!

Coming home.

The proud Daddy!

My big sister.

A couple hours after he was born. Wow, isn't he amazing! Look at his little fingers.

Grandma Taylor and Garet.

Don't I look like I've been through the war! The kids loved going up and down in the bed with me. I can't believe I have three kids now. Where did the time go? I remember being in the hospital with Camille almost exactly 5 years ago, her birthday is the 13th.

Our sweet brother.

Happy Birthday Mason

Mason Jared Taylor

October 17, 2008
7lb. 1oz
19 inches long

Princess Party!

Camille and all her "Princess Friends" at the party. We had a great turn out, and they all were so good. I thought it might be a little crazy with 11 girls, but they were so cute and followed directions very well. Camille had a blast. Thank you to everyone for coming and for the very nice gifts. She is in heaven.

The spoils from her party. Wow, it looks like Christmas. Garet was pretty excited about the barbie with the dogs. He thought the dogs were pretty cool. He didn't care much about the princess, girly stuff! He's always telling us that he likes blue because, "I'm a boy!" So funny!

Now that Camille's birthday is over and I'm done teaching piano for a few months we can have the baby anytime! I was dilated to a three on Monday (13th), so hopefully in the next few days we'll have this baby. My due date is Oct 21st, which is next Tuesday. Anyway, wish me luck! We'll let you know when it happens.

Camille's Birthday!

Camille is officially 5 years old now! I can hardly believe I have a 5 year old. That means I'm getting old. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Wow, time flies! We had a Taylor family party in Duchesne over General Conference weekend and she had a friend "princess party" last Friday. She is partied out for sure! Today I took her to get pictures taken with the pink cowgirl hat she got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. She thinks she is a true farmer now! She is a sweetie! Anyway, here are some pictures of her.

Camille's Questions!

Two of my friends have had this on their blogs, and I thought it was so cute, so I have to do it! I asked Camille all these questions and put exactly how she responded! Kids are hilarious. I didn't know I was such a talented painter:)

1. What is something mom always says to you? I Love You!!
2. What makes mom happy? When I give you hugs.
3. What makes mom sad? When we leave without you to get ice cream.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? By telling me funny things and teasing me.
5. What was your mom like as a child? I don't know cuz I didn't see you. I wasn't born yet.
6. How tall is your mom? 8 inches
7. What is your mom's favorite thing to do? Go to your book club.
8. How old is your mom? 55
9. What does your mom do when you are not around? Make dinner and read your boring book.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Painting.
11. What is your mom really good at? Making dinner and mopping the floor.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Dancing.
13. What does your mom do for her job? You don't do any job, oh, but you teach piano.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Healthy stuff.
15. What makes you proud of your mom? When you clean my room for me as a surprise.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Emmy, on Dragon Tales.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Play games or make play dough.
18. How are you and your mom the same? We have the same hair and sometimes we wear the same color of pants.
19. How are you and your mom different? I paint my finger nails and you don't.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because you give me hugs and kisses when I wake up in the morning.

Mia & Garet/It's Gourd Time

We can sure grow gourds in our garden. I didn't even plant one gourd seed this year. They were only volunteer and we got an entire wheelbarrow full! The kids think they are so fun! We decided to take them to the Syracuse Farmer's Market and sell some of them. The night before we went, Camille said to Jared, "Dad can you show me how to be a farmer at the farmer's market?" It was so cute. She had to get dressed in her cowgirl boots and pants because she thought she was going to be a real farmer! We stayed for an hour or so and sold a few. Camille and Garet loved it and we took them to get icecream with the money they made. They were so proud of themselves.

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the finished bunk beds! Here they are. We love them and the kids sleep great. Jared is such a great hubby; he is so talented! He never ceases to amaze me with all the things he can do.

These two have become the best of friends! We get to tend Mia every Tuesday and Thursday, and Garet constantly asks when she is coming again. They are so silly together and play so great. They come up with the funniest things to play. We have this purple slimy thing that Camille got for her birthday last year and Garet was telling Mia it was a spider. They were both stomping on it as hard as they could and yelling at it. They also love to run around and around the table in circles. Funny kids!!!

Preschool/Playmates

Camille finally started preschool a couple weeks ago. She has been dying to go all sumer long:) She loves it, and wishes she could go everyday. It is so weird to think I have a preschooler. Whatever happened to my baby Camille? They grow up so fast. My good friend Penny is her teacher and I watch her little girl, Mia while she teaches. She is Garet's age and they play so well together. I was a little worried, because you know how 2 year olds can be... but they are so great! I get so much done, and it's good for Garet to play with someone else while Camille isn't here to entertain him. So, no worries Penny, things are going great:)

The other day Camille and Garet were playing so good together. They dressed up the stuffed dog and horse and Camille informed me that they were getting blessed today. They play so good together and Garet is pretty much excited to do whatever Camille's latest adventure is. They are also getting so excited for our new baby brother to come. Every night Camille prays that baby brother can come out of mommy's tummy. A week ago Garet said, "Get baby brother OUT!!" It will be fun to see his reaction to such a small little baby. He talks about playing hammers and trucks with him, but it might be a little different when he actually comes. I am due in about 4 weeks, so hopefully I can get everything done in time! This is a crazy time of year with the garden. It would also be nice to have Camille's b-day before he is born. We'll see what happens, but I am in no rush!

Summer Fun!

The past three weeks have been full of doing fun summer things. We are soooo sad that summer is coming to a close. It is our favorite time of year. Our corn crop was extra plentiful this year! As many of you know Jared has another garden a few blocks from our house where he grows tons of corn and of course a few other things. It keeps us very busy, but we love to eat and freeze it for the winter. Garet really loved it! I think he ate more corn than I did. We probably had corn about 10 days in a row. Yummy! The kids have nick named Daddy the "Corn Machine". His family will eat straight corn for dinner, so Jared can eat 5 or 6 ears at a time! Wow, I was a little shocked when I first married into the family:)

We were able to go to the Davis and Weber County fairs and the horse pull. The kids loved all the animals and Camille thought she had to dress up as a cowgirl for the horse pull. She has some white cowgirl boots that she just loves. All she needs is a hat and she'll be set!

Jared was in the Xterra triathlon again this year. It is a 750K swim, 12K mountiain bike, and a 5K trail run. He did great and beat his time last year. The night before the race, Xterra has a bunch of family activities down in Ogden, so Camille decided she wanted to run in the "Kid's race". Our friends, the Button's, have a litttle girl, Breelyn, about the same age as Camille, so she was in it also. She was so excited and even got a number and a medal at the end. It was great fun to watch her.

Jared has been building bunk beds for Camille and Garet the past couple months. It has taken quite a while due to the busy summer, but they are finally finished. Here are some pictures of the work in progress. He is so very talented. I feel so lucky to have such a great guy as MY hubby! We are going to move them in tonight, yippee!

Last night while I was mowing the lawn and Jared was working on the bunk beds, the kids were playing on the swing and slide that Jared also built. Anyway, they played for over an hour just doing silly things together. Here are some cute picts of them being superman, and having fun!

Camille and Garet love to sit at the piano and play. Camille pretends like she is the teacher and teaches Garet about a song. It is pretty hilarious to listen to them. They are such good friends and I love it!