Week of Celebration

This is what I saw tonight when I looked out my kitchen window. Taj is going through another phase where he loves to help with everything, like mowing the lawn and doing the laundry. Like today he followed me into the laundry room and opened the dryer and then he wanted me to hand him the clothes from the washer, which he then put in the dryer. You know he's watched me do it a hundred times, but I never thought he would get the concept yet. I guess it just goes to show they know a lot more than we think they do:)

Brannon's alway telling me how he burns once and then gets tan, but here's proof that he's a lightweight in the sun. He burns every, single time if he doesn't have sunscreen...Sorry love, better keep some Aloe handy!

Taj caught on really quick this year to picking up candy off the ground at the parade...the only part he didn't get was that you have to take the wrapper off first. He would just shove it in his mouth and upon tasting the wrapper would deem it unworthy and he spit it out and throw it:)

What would summer be without an inflatable kiddie pool? We've spent the last two days in the yard in the kiddie pool. Notice there are no toys in the pool. I tried, but this kid likes his pool clean. He told me "No, No, No" every time I tried to give him something to play with. I guess all he needs is a little water to have some fun:)

Seen here is Brannon demonstrating how they used poles for the ski lift and not chairs. I don't think he has any idea I took this picture...haha, he's totally a kid at heart!

Taj at the old ski lift in Monticello telling us his take on the place in Swaheeli, which I am now starting to understand....is that a bad sign?

How cute is this car?! It's like the movie Cars come to life!

There is so much construction in Utah that it has now become a part of our daily lives....we even put it in our parades.

This boy and this dog were inseparable. Taj loved wrapping his little arms around her neck and giving her kisses. He nearly fell asleep on her. Usually he rubs his blankie, but this night he rubbed her soft, fur coat. He even crawled under the bed the hangout with her and got stuck. I pulled him out to find dog hair matted to his lips and face, oh I love animal hair, especially when it gets in your mouth...

By a raise of hands, who has a grandma that can play the accordian? Am I the only one with my hand raised? She got that thing when she was like 12 years old and it still works! It only weighs like 50 lbs., but she still knows how to work some magic on that thing. She had us all slappin our legs in beat (but not too loudly, otherwise it got her off rythym:))

This is my sister's Marci's birthday cake. She thought 19 was "gross" and couldn't fathom the thought of 20, thus we have all been asked to refer to her age as 19+1.

This boy was born to ride. We even found a spider web infested helmet for him to wear. I wasn't brave enough to clean it out, so Brannon did. I just want my baby safe!

Taj getting a lesson from grandma on the art of dunking an Oreo, which he mastered in about two seconds.

This picture is so flattering that I just had to put it on the blog for everyone to see. We got rained on so hard the night we camped. It was just me, Taj, my mom, and my sister Marci. In that one night we managed to: turn the umberella inside out in the storm, drive off in the night to the bathroom with the water cooler (our only source of water) on the tail gate and come back to find it lying in the middle of the road empty, enjoy half-cooked hobo dinners garnished with ashes and dirt, and to be stinked out of the trailer because someone left something putrid in the trash can the last time they camped in there. It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Women campers rock!

Taj had a great time camping. He loved the flashlight (obviously) and the picnic table, which we ended up sleeping on...best night of sleep he ever had, worst night I've had in a long time, but it was worth it:)

This kid is one hard core big-wheel rider, even if he can't reach the pedals yet.

For the sake of not boring people to tears, I'm just going to put this week's post in pictures since we've done so much in the last week. You know, it's like one of those posts where you want it for journaling purposes, but you don't want to have to write a novel to accompany the pictures. I'm taking the easy way out this time...sometimes pictures say so much more anyway!