After dinner activity with dad

Well, we've all been out of town about the last 2 weeks and just got back on Sunday. Sonny went to the Ukraine for a mission trip and Taylor and I went with my mom up to the bay area to visit my grandma. We call her Grandma Rosa because she lives in Santa Rosa. The remainder of the time Sonny was gone, we stayed with my family in Glendora. I hate sleeping at night here at the house without Sonny. But I will talk about that trip as soon as I get the pictures and I'll have Sonny do a blog about his awesome trip. Anyways, since the summer is ending and swimming time is almost over, Taylor will be doing some of his last after dinner hose swims for the year. Ya, after dinner, yep, while I'm cleaning up dinner etc, Sonny takes Taylor into the front yard to play with the hose. He likes this a lot better than swimming in a pool. Maybe because he nearly almost drowns every time he goes if I don't watch him like a hawk. So he prefers the hose and just getting everything wet on our front porch and stuff. He loves to over water my so far tomato-less tomato plant, which I've been trying to keep alive. Since frogs love water, we have a lot of frogs that come to join the fun too. I think all kids love water and I'm glad that he does too. As all moms know, it's easy entertainment. Who knows, maybe Taylor will be a swimmer like me!

Snowing in California

Last weekend my family and us went to the Los Angeles County Fair. It was Taylor's second time to go but we thought that he would enjoy seeing the farm animals a lot more this time. Of course, as you can see in the picture, he had to bring a skull along with him! But he did enjoy seeing the cows and pigs and also a new edition to the fair, the bark park. He already loves dogs, especially Ringo, Grandma Glendora's dog, so he enjoyed seeing them up close. Tay and I are both big dog fans. The garden section of the fair was also lovely, with a Hawaiian themed exhibit. But his most favorite part was the Winter Wonderland. It was his first time in snow! Sonny had to help him walk most of the time but he loved eating it and playing in it. He'll have another chance to play in the snow when we go up to Idaho for Christmas.

Back to Disneyland

Like everybody else, our Disneyland annual passes are finally usable again. Yep, the whole summer was blacked out. So about 2 weeks ago, we returned to the happiest place on earth. "Pirates of the Carribean" is always our first ride, it's a tradition. We push the stroller as fast as we can all the way there, while Taylor repeats "Arrrrr" the whole way there. That's one of his new things. He decided that he just loves Pirates! Everything Pirates... actually it's more like everything that has a skull and crossbones or a skeleton face. I don't know if that's a good thing or what... that he is obsessed with skulls and skeleton's and stuff... but we get a kick out of it. So we had a good time there, went on the carousel a few times... he loves that ride too. A few trips ago, we found a gold mine. There are two little fountain areas in the "A Bug's Life" part of California Adventure that Taylor loves to play in. Both Sonny and Taylor usually get soaked. But it's the perfect thing for a really tired and cranky baby combined with a very hot day.

Taylor's Hilarious Evil Laugh

I found the video of Taylor's crazy laugh! This was the very first time he did it. I think it happened around October of last year (he's wearing his Halloween bib) eating one of his first doses of sweet potatoes. I guess it means that he really liked them! Sonny tried to hold our laughter back so that you could here every little giggle but we just couldn't help it. Anyways, hope you all enjoy it!

Watermelon and Ice Cream

Well, Taylor's two most favorite things in the whole wide world is watermelon and ice cream. As far as the watermelon goes, his dad is responsible for that and yep, grandma Glendora takes the honors for the delicious frozen treat. Taylor used to do a really funny laugh when he was younger (about 6 months or so) and then quit doing it for a while. The last little while he has started doing it again but only when he sees food that he likes. For example, he loves syrup on his french toast in the morning and has a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch. I slowly take them out of the cupboard and just show them to him and he does the laugh. It's so funny!

Knott's Berry Farm

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I ventured off to Knott's Berry Farm
for my dad's 58th birthday. Knowing how much he loves amusement parks and adores waiting in lines, he was excited to go. It was also the last big trip before my brother returned to school at BYU. Taylor went on a few rides in Camp Snoopy and saw a Carousel at the end of the night that he had to go on. He found a fountain that he could put his feet in too. We had lots of fun and I even got to go on some of the big rides. We all got really jacked on "The Accelerator." It't this insane ride that is super short and is sort of constructed oddly so it was it was just "wrong," as Kyle said it was. At one point you are almost upside down but they don't have a shoulder strappy thing on you so you have to hold on for dear life. Sarah, my sister, and I actually got really nervous before hand and at one point, wished we weren't there. At the end of the ride, because of the craziness of it, Sarah's loop earring had made in around her ear. But before we went on that ride, we first did "Ghostrider." I told my parents before hand that they were going to love it when in reality, I knew they were going to hate it. I just wanted them to experience it and feel messed up afterwards. It was pretty funny to watch their terrified faces during it. Ha! Ha! Ha! Anyways, here are a couple of pictures.

Across the U.S.

The farthest Taylor has ever gone has been Washington, D.C. Sonny did a second externship this last summer to that busy city back east. We didn't stay on a base this time but decided to stay in a small town in Maryland, I forget what it was called. To give you an idea, it was near the second largest cathedral in the U.S., the National Cathedral. That glorious piece of architecture was my favorite part of the trip, go figure. Anyways, our transportation was the subway, which is fun when your single and working in the city, but the pits with a little one and a bulky stroller. We were there for 10 days and Sonny worked the majority of them. While he was working, we explored the city. I figured out how to use the subway etc and got to visit all the Smithsonian museums. The art museums were fantastic! I tried to fit those in while Taylor was sleeping but it didn't work out so well. I was in the midst of enjoying a Raphael painting when he awoke and noticed a fountain nearby. Naturally, because he loves water, he wanted to go in. You can imagine what happened next, and don't forget how museums tend to echo really well. The museum of American Art had some amazing Rembrandts and the Modern art museum had some not so amazing wire hangers hanging from the ceiling. Art? No way. Taylor enjoyed chasing the city pigeons and the yummy ice cream stands all over the city. We also visited the Capital Building, the Library of Congress, the many memorials, but missed the White House and seeing the Declaration of Independence. The line to see it was so long and it was waaayyy tooo hot to wait. Me and humidity are not friends. But we had a good time. We were glad to get home after being away for that long.

Taylor's many trips and adventures

The next big place Taylor flew to was Tacoma, Washington. Sonny did an externship there at the military hospital during Christmas vacation last year. We stayed on the Air Force base there in three different rooms. At one point, we put his pack n' play in the bathroom during the night. I am a very light sleeper and in order for me to sleep, he has to physically be in a separate room. Sonny drove the rental car everyday so Taylor and I wandered the base during the day. It is really cold there in December and of course, rains a lot. His hours at the hospital were pretty light so he had a few days off. We drove into the city, Seattle, and checked out a huge farmers market there down at the pier. On the way home, we visited my aunt and uncle Jill and Andy up on the island Anacortes. It was very beautiful up there. They took us out on there boat and Taylor loved it.

Wow, two posts in one day! Amazing eh?

For such a young little guy, Taylor, my little boy, has done a lot of traveling in the last year a half. Here are a few pictures of the places he has visited and the adventures he has been on. His first trip was to Boise, Idaho for Thanksgiving in 2007. That is his cousin Hailey in the background. The flight was pretty good. He didn't even realize he was in the air I don't think. He actually slept about 1/2 the time too. Good thing we brought the car seat on the plane with us. It helped out a lot.

I finally have a blog!

Well, I have finally decided that it was about time that I started a blog. I know, it's about time. I'm not really a huge computer person but I guess I really need to be in order to keep up with everybody else. I won't be doing a blog everyday though, probably more like once a week. Anyways, hope you enjoy it.