Train Weekend

If there is a toy machine that wants money to operate it, Taj will find it. Unfortunately for Taj, I almost never have change, so I'm always glad that he's content with just pretending that he's actually going for a ride.


We were the "caboose" on this mini train. Notice the seat is only like three inches wide? Talk about fanny seat sandwich! Most parents had to waddle away groaning after this ride. I of course being 40 pounds over my normal weight had no problem with this seat;)
Brannon grabbing Taj out of the out of bounds area. Taj was so excited to get on a train he ran around the fence and hopped on one of the mini trains sitting there. That boy is super quick!




On the first Saturday of the month, there is a man in Farmington, UT who operates his mini trains for little kids and their parents to ride on. Apparently, it is a family hobby and the man builds most of the trains himself, including the laying down of all the track. That, I'm sure is a time consuming and expensive hobby! Brannon told me after we'd ridden the trains that he would like to do the same thing as a hobby someday. I told him to count me out, but more power to him:) Obviously a lot of work goes into what this man does, but you should have seen the smiles on all the kids faces and the huge line of people waiting to ride these trains. The kids are probably why this man works so hard to do what he does with these trains. I'm sure you have to be a kid at heart to choose this as a hobby! Taj and Brannon enjoyed it a lot more than I did, but I'm sure that's just because I am pregnant and hot all the time:)

Primary Pizza Party

Taj taking advantage of the Bingo treats. I had to hide the bowl from him! He's got a major sweet tooth just like his dad:)

I teach the CTR 5 primary class in my ward, which includes 5 & 6 year olds. To help them be "reverent" in class and sharing time, I let them earn stars or reverent bears. Once they earn so many, they get to choose a prize. This time around, they wanted to earn a pizza party. Pizza party? No big deal right? These guys are WAY more mature than Sunbeams right? I had no idea what I was getting myself in to! In the space of one hour, one boy managed to spend 20 minutes in my bathroom going poo and using an entire roll of toilet paper, which clogged our toilet (thank goodness he didn't try to flush it, but cleaning it up was absolutely disgusting!), I had not one, but TWO rootbeer floats spilled all over my feet and on one of my only pairs of NICE sandals, and Taj's sandbox sand ended up all over the yard! Thank goodness my teaching partner was there to help me because I couldn't wait for that ONE hour to be over with! As you can see from the picture, I think at least they were having a good time, which is what really matters anyway right? I think this may be the last pizza party we do in awhile!

Dennis The Menace

Taj checking to see if the lock still works after the middle of the door knob was hollowed out.


Today I thought we were actually going to be on time for church. I got up a little earlier, showered, did my hair, and even had Sunday dinner in the crockpot a half hour before church started. Taj however had other plans. Lately he has been locking himself in the bathrooms or our bedroom. He knows how to unlock the doors and we can get him to come out when we tell him we're leaving to go "bye bye." Today was different though. I was coming down the hall towards our room right as Taj bolted out of our room and slammed the door on his way out. I knew what he did before I got to our door. This time he locked our door with nobody inside our room. The other bad part was that my church clothes were locked inside, so we had to deal with the locked door if I wanted to go to church. No key, butter knife, paper clip, or hanger would loosen that stupid lock, so Brannon broke out the power drill and drilled the middle right out of the door knob. About three piles of metal shavings and 20 minutes later, we finally got into the room. We were only 30 minutes late to church, which my primary kids notified me of as soon as I walked in the room:) I just have to remind myself that someday these kind of things will be funny and I'd rather have a little excitement every day than the same old dull routine!

The Zoo is Hot!

Brannon and Taj with Wyatt (his brother) and Taj's cousin Alivia (who Taj absolutely loves by the way! He can't stop hugging her when she's around:))


This is the only picture we got of Taj with an animal and it was the first one we saw. I almost crossed the fence to share some shade with the camel!
Great minds think alike. Child harnesses are the best and Taj actually didn't mind his this time.



Every time Brannon and I take Taj to the zoo, we always leave saying, "I'd be just fine if I never went there again!" I have to admit I didn't have the best attitude from the beginning. My reasons: a) It was 95 degrees outside. b) It smells like ish even worse when it's hot at the zoo, especially the monkeys. c) I'm 30 weeks pregnant. d) I had to wait in line for half an hour just to get a drink. I thought I would die before it was my turn to order. e) Did I mention it was freakin hot?! We didn't even get to see very many animals while we were there, but we did manage to let the kids ride the carousel once. I think that I was crankier than the kids were. I don't tolerate heat well when I'm not pregnant, so when I am pregnant AND hot, I'm pretty much a pregnazilla. If there is a next time at the zoo in the near future, it will be either in the fall or the early spring. I think going to the zoo is a personal sacrifice because I think most parents don't enjoy it, but their kids do so that's why they go. Taj actually liked it this time, so I'm sure we'll be making more miserably hot trips to the zoo. Only watching him enjoy the animals made our trip worth it!

The Week in Monticello in Pictures

There are only four of these left in the world and one of them belongs to little ol' Monticello, UT. I used to play on this tractor when I was a little girl and it sat at the town park. On hot days my best friend and I would climb between the spokes on the wheel and rest in the shade of the giant wheel. We like to pretend we were driving it. I never thought this old tractor would move on its own again, but I was wrong!
The other coolest part of the parade. Isn't this miniature pony adorable?!
Taj bummed snow cone off of his Uncle Brian and....
His uncle Easton. Only Taj could get away with that. Apparently 2 year olds don't have cooties...if they only knew!

Enjoying the first spoils of the parade.
Besides not wanting to leave the four wheeler, Taj never strayed far from grandma's Diet Dr. Pepper.
He pretty much watched the entire parade from the four wheeler. Even though it was blazing hot, he refused to get off for more than five minutes at a time.
My dad on grill duty at Miss Marci's birthday.
Aren't they (AKA mom and grandma) hilarious? They think they are!
Easton was the only one with hips narrow enough to take Taj down the slide. Obviously Taj was loving it:)
My brother Matt and his wife Ali.
The centerpiece for my sister's tables at her birthday party. We made a handful of paper flowers under the birthday girl's direction and then drank almond punch with vintage paper straws out of mason jars.
The birthday girl and her hubby Brian.
Miss Marci's 21st birthday party. It was pure Americana: family, lots of food, lots of friends, even more kids, and a lot of fun!

Father/Son Bonding

Brannon's new weight loss plan: A 10 speed Huffy, circa 1980 something, extra large seat, fanny pack, bell on the handle bars, and 30 pound child on the back. They love going for bike rides together and I love that I have some time to myself at night. Not only do I get a kiss from Brannon before they leave, but when Brannon is home Taj does everything his daddy does, so I get one from Taj too:)
He did not want his picture taken, nor did he want me encroaching on his time with daddy!

Never mind all the grease from the bike chain down the front of his shirt and up his arms. He saw his daddy fixing the bike chain and decided he would give it a try as soon as daddy walked away. He looks like a little mechanic! Looking at this picture reminds me, sadly, that he is growing up way too fast!

Did I mention...

Before
Before
After
After
I didn't realize I smurfitized myself until after the fact. Good thing I was wearing old sandals!

Did I mention that I love KSL Classifieds? We needed another dresser for the baby's room so I hit the classifieds. We bought it for about $30 dollars and I spent about another $30 to shine it up a bit and I love how it turned out!