Good Times

Taj is Brannon's little clone to the T. Like his dad, he is always babbling on about something and like his daddy, Taj loves anything with wheels (trucks, strollers, vacuums, shopping carts). He also loves animals, especially dogs. He has no fear of animals or going down the stairs head first, which yes, can be a bad thing. Taj is probably the pickiest eater on the planet and the only things I can get him to eat are Macaroni and Cheese Spirals, Shapes Spaghettios, yogurt, chocolate pudding, pasta with red sauce, pizza, and crackers. That is seriously all he will eat, so we are still doing food therapy to get him to eat more so that we can finally stop buying formula, which will save us like $50 bucks a month! Taj loves to laugh and rough house with his daddy and his grandpas and uncles. He really is all boy. The newest things he likes to do are empy out his dresser drawers into the trash can in his room, tip over the trash can in the kitchen, take all the shoes out the shoe basket and then put them back in, clean out the tupperware cabinent, and playing at the play ground. He has yet to be walking, but he has taken his first steps, he's just a little chicken liver. Anyway, we feel so lucky to have him and he really does inspire us to be better people. Kids really are the epitome of joy.

This is Taj's little cousin Alivia. She is so sweet:) Brannon definitely handled her a lot more gently than he does Taj. Taj loved sticking his finger in her mouth so that she could knaw on it. Yeah I think they hit it off real well:)

This is the worst dog in the whole world. My mom would disagree, but Pappy really is a naughty dog. This dog jumps through screen doors, notice the screen is gone off this window (yep, that was her too), has been known for eating entire plates of cookies of the counter at night and your dinner if your not careful, has been caught dragging unknown animal parts onto the back porch, tearing up newly planted gardens, and the list goes on and on. I would go nuts if she were my dog, thank goodness she's not my problem to worry about...

This is where we took the pictures of Taj and I do have to say that there is a creepy factor going on here...you never know who or what you might run in to....

Is that Cruella Deville??? See you never know who you will run into in the forest...this is actually my sister and I didn't even know that I took this shot, but that huge coat really made her look like Cruella, yeah we had a good laugh over this:)

This is me and my sister trying to do our own special effects with the leaves...

I love this picture...I've been wanting to get one like this for a few months now. Taj absolutely loved the leaves. He loved the crunch noise they made and getting him back out of here was a nightmare. It took me and my sister to carry him back to the car because he was throwing such a huge fit.

This kid laughed himself out of breath...wish we could all have this much fun in the leaves, who needs toys?

Instead of carving pumpkins, my mom thought it would be a good idea to paint a pumpkin. This was part II of our craft fest in Monticello. Taj sat and stared at this for like five minutes straight and then he tried to pull off the cute sparkly spiders, so I had to put this witch up a bit higher.

This was part I of our craft fest in Monticello. This was actually really fun and super simple to make. We will probably do something similar for Christmas, minus the spiders and the webs. Every time my mom gets all of her kids at home on the same weekend, she always breaks out the crafts.

October has honestly flown by so dang fast! I've been at all ends of the state the last two weeks. I spent a week in Monticello and then a few days in Tropic, and now I am back in the city, back to real life again. Is anyone else excited to see some snow? I guess I have mixed feelings about it. I love looking at the snow when it's white and clean and everything looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting. I don't like driving in it or walking in it...I'm too accident prone. I'm bound to fall at least a dozen times this winter and maybe even slide off the road once or twice. Like last year I was driving down a nice plowed road and noticed too late that some moron was snowblowing all the snow off his driveway and into a big pile on the road. I hit the brakes mid-pile and slid off into the curb. I got out to assess the damage and seeing no harm done, hit the road again. Upon further inspection, Brannon found that I bent the rim on the tire...all I can say is that it could've been worse and it was plenty scary. To make matters worse, I now live the at the top of one of the steepest hills in Holladay. Cars go down this hill like tobbogans when there is snow and ice on it. SO I'm panicked already...my guardian angels are going to be working overtime this winter.

Family Pics, Taj's Birthday, Locks for Love

Taj's cake and presents

Taj's uncle Easton was more than happy to help open Taj's presents:)

Grandma spoiling Taj...I don't let him guzzle pop!

My new "do" My good friend Danielle did an excellent job. If any of you are ever up north and need your hair done, she's the one the call!

I'm donating my 10 in braid to Locks for Love...makes cutting all my hair off worth it:)

My mom and dad got Taj a radio flyer rocking horse, which he is still trying to figure out, but he loves it so far, thanks mom and dad!

Taj had way more fun playing with his cake than eating it

Grandpa Clint gave Taj his first real cell phone, which he loves, and thank goodness because I don't think Brannon's blackberry could take anymore abuse from one kid.

Taj fell in his cake while he was trying to push the dump truck around...after that, nobody really wanted any cake because while he was stuck in it, he drooled all over on it:)

This cake was my mom's idea. I thought it was way cute and Taj loved it, thanks mom!

So a lot has happened in the past month, or at least a few events that are noteworthy. The first is that we took our first family pictures a couple weeks ago and lucky for us, Brannon has a friend who is an excellent photographer, so we were able to get some really nice pics. Taj absolutely loved our photographer and his camera. The whole 60s theme look turned out pretty nice too, thankfully, because it was a lot of work to get all the right clothes put together.

After family pictures, I decided it was time to cut my hair. I've been contemplating doing it for a couple months, so I decided to chop it last week. It is so much lighter and so fun to style. I don't know why I do drastic things to keep my life interesting, but it's fun!

Finally, we celebrated my dad and Taj's birthday in Monticello with my family last weeked. We had a lot of fun and Taj loved being the center of attention. Taj is so so close to walking now and I know my life is going to get even more hectic than it already is. Taj is fascinated with wheels, dogs, cell phones, and learning how to use a spoon to eat. He can clap his hands, give high five, dance, point at things he's interested in, say mama, dada, baba, baby, and mimi (he calls me this sometimes). He loves to push his trucks and cars around on the floor while making truck noises. He also still loves his swing that is wayyy too small for him and he likes a good story before bed. Anyway, I can't believe my baby is already 1 year old. He is growing so fast and I'm so thankful that I get to stay home and watch him grow up.

Farewell Summer

For Labor Day weekend we decided to take advantage of the last of the warm weather granted us and we headed up to the Uintah mountains, which by the way are fabulous for outdoor getaways! My brother Matt and his wife Ali joined us in our excursion. Again we drove around for about an hour staking out our territority and we finally found a really good spot. The ground was a lot softer here than at our last camp site, but that didn't help me sleep better at all. This time we didn't have noisy neighbors next to us, thus I could hear all the little critters running over our tent and I just knew that there was a bear meandering around the campsite. I woke Brannon up once to let him know that there was "something" walking around on the rocks. I got the usual grumpy answer of "there' nothing out there," and then he was back to sleep. I spent the rest of the night wide-eyed and jumpy, clutching onto Taj to protect him from whatever it was that was outside our tent. I've never been so happy to see daylight.

Fun at the Zoo

My little sis on the train...we went on it too, not too bad a ride for a buck

These little guys were so cute, but man the stench from that water was not! I held my breath long enough to get a pic and get out!

Taj like the button on Brannon's hat more than he like the bears in this exhibit:)

I can't remember what was behind this glass, but man it must have been exciting!

My sister and I found the most ridiculous hats...I don't know what moved us to actually put them on our heads, but we thought a picture was a swell idea

Brannon soaked Taj under the misty things, but Taj loved it. He kept raising both hands in the air, giving thanks to the heavens for the rain...

Pound that glass baby...There was actually a little sign that tells you not to tap on the glass, but we figured since Taj is a baby we could bend the rules a bit. Actually when Taj was pounding on the glass a lady thought it was her kids and yelled at them...oops!

This is one of the most vile things I've ever seen...wanna take a ride?

There was a scale to weigh yourself by this exhibit, so we all jumped on and I swear it weighed heavy because when Brannon got on the scale, red lights started blinking and it was like "Congratulations! You weigh as much as a baby elephant!" Congratulations??? There must be something wrong with that scale...

Taj and his daddy taking a ride on the carousel (I can't believe they charge you two bucks to go around in a few circles on this thing!)

Taj did like the elephant; he kept pointing his little finger at it and spouting off all kinds of baby babble.........

This is the monkey checking out Taj and he too wasn't very impressed...

This is Taj checking out the monkey above...he really wasn't too impressed with this fellow...

We decided to take Taj to the zoo since he's already very keen on animals. We had the usual zoo experience: hot, humid, crowded, and stinky, but Taj enjoyed it, so it was worth it. It really is a cool experience to want to see your child learning something new and finding joy in that. I don't believe there is any other calling in life like parenthood that will inspire one to better.

Out of Diapers!

So I just thought I'd share one of my worst baby experiences to date that I had today. I had an appointment with the lady doctor today and I brought Taj along, thinking it would be a quick appointment...I was so wrong! It started in the waiting room with a stinky vapor, which I found to be coming from my own child! The best part is that when I checked him, I got poo on my finger (it was up the back bad)....the best part actually is that I was out of diapers and I only had two wipees left!!! I prayed that Taj would be able to make it until the appointment was over, but he started screaming because his bum was hurting while we were still in the waiting room. At my wits end, I knew I had to improvise and I was kindly directed to an empty exam room to change Taj (much to the relief of the other people in the waiting room). With Taj still screaming, I looked around the room frantically for anything that I could made into a diaper... no dice, only giant q-tips, a tissue box, and paper towels. Then I thought I could just line the dirty diaper with paper towels, but the diaper was beyond salvagable, so that was out of the question! I ended up throwing the dirty diaper in the trash can in the room, which was unkind to those who would enter, but I didn't know what else to do with it. I pulled like 20 paper towels out of the dispenser and folded them in half and lined Taj's shorts with them. When I picked Taj up, the white paper over the bed was covered in poo, Taj's snot, and his tears...I left that too because I didn't know how to pull clean paper over the bed (I know, I feel really bad about it, but I was honestly going to have a nervous breakdown). I put Taj back in his stroller, so no one would be able to tell that he wasn't wearing a diaper if he decided to pee. I was seriously sweating by the time we settled back in the waiting room. I got this appointment by chance and I thought if anything else went wrong, I would just have to reschedule and wait two months to get back in, but thank heavens the rest of the appointment went okay. By the time we got home, Taj had peed, but at least we were home and he really didn't make that big of a mess thanks to those handy paper towels. I know some of you are probably laughing and saying that I have worse than this to come, but the Lord knows I can only handle so much!

Camping in the Uintas

The remnants of a night filled with smores and idle campfire chatter

This was taken on our "hike" through mounds of oak brush and over grown sage brush. When I complained about there not being a trail Brannon told me "I make my own trails, I always have." I reminded him that that doesn't always get you good things in life. We miraculously made it back to camp with shoes full of stickers after being bushwacked and scatched by the surrounding vegetation. Brannon said he knew where we were the whole time...I had my doubts, but I suppose that's because I couldn't see over the shrubbery to get a feel for where we were at...anyway...

Bran carved our names in this tree...who knows, maybe we will see it someday again....

The boys enjoying the campfire light...Taj trying to escape the confines of the stroller in hopes of roaming the forest floor

Our little homestead

On a whim (yes we were spontaneous for the first time in a long time since having Taj) we decided to go camping in the Uintas when Brannon got off work. Once we actually got to the mountains, we spent nearly an hour looking for a "primitive" camp spot as Brannon wouldn't have it any other way. And once we found that spot, we drove in circles to find the perfectly strategic parking spot (much to my extreme annoyance:)) Finally we parked and moved on to arguing over where to put the tent. Then we got settled in and I cooked dinner.

We were sure that we'd see nobody else remotely close to us, but at about 9:30 that night a car came rolling into our territory and a couple of hippies started pitching a tent a few hundred feet away. We didn't really take further notice of them until later that night once we finally got Taj to sleep. We slept in a tiny, little two man tent and Taj went nuts when we put him down in it. He went wall to wall as fast as he could and loved scratching the sides of tent because of the zip zip noise it made. Anyway, once he fell asleep the hippie party began. I'm pretty sure they drank the night away and I didn't know it was possible for one person to laugh for hours on end...I shudder when I hear the echoes of that laugh in my head today. The worst part about these people is that they used a five gallon water cooler as a toilet, complete with a roll of toilet paper and wet wipes sitting next to it....talk about disgusting! What sleep we were able to get was disrupted by the pine cones Brannon was sleeping on and the pile of sticks wedged under my back. We forgot a foam pad (as if that really would have helped:)) Taj slept like a champ though and that's what really counts because that makes for a better day for all of us.

In the morning I cooked breakfast and we went on a hike before packing up and heading home. We really did have a lot of fun despite the minor disturbances. I was so proud that we made it a whole night under the stars. I usually get really scared because of all the animal noises and we end up spending the night in the car, but I'm sure the hippies scared the animals away and for that I'm glad that they were there....

Villians

There are two villians in my home: 1) the moaning toilet and 2) a creaky door hinge. Both live every waking hour to destroy nap time with their horrendous squeaks, squalls, and obnoxious whining and to obliterate the sanity that naptime gives me. Every time someone flushes the toilet, the toilet whines and moans in protest for about the next five minutes and the noise is obnoxiously loud enough to wake up Taj from his nap. As for the door, it is the very door to Taj's bedroom and every time I open it, there is a certain hinge that lets out a hair-bristling CrEAk! The said creak will effectively wake Taj up as well. I've tried opening the door really fast, opening it just a bit to wedge my head in, but to no avail the creak is both predictable and spontaneous. Everyone knows that waking a sleeping baby can and will ruin the rest of the day, or at least the next three hours...