Finished at Last! Well for now anyway.

The paint crew finally finished painting our house almost two weeks ago. They said it would take them two days, but it ended up being five days, profuse amounts of dust everywhere, paint chips on the bottoms of our feet, and camping out in the basement with Taj for days on end, not to mention that I had to cover and re-cover our furniture with plastic a bazillion times. I thought I would go crazy. Renovating a house is a lot more work than one would think. It's mentally and physically taxing. It's also taxing on a marriage--that's why we hired someone, otherwise we probably would've been divorced by now. I've only posted a couple "after" pics since Taj is taking a nap and I have to take advantage of my precious opportunity to blog. More pics will surface soon of the rest of the house. We are finally starting to feel like it is ours and it doesn't smell like "Dennis and Betty" (as Brannon would say) anymore. We feel so blessed to be able to have a home to call our own and to live in a fabulous neighborhood. I can't wait to let Taj play outside in our backyard. I know there are some good times ahead of us in our little home on Larkin Lane.

This is the flavor of "Dennis & Betty,"....the smell: stale cigarette smoke, but that too is gone now!

I tried moving this pic down, but failed many times, so here it is, right in the middle. Taj loves to push the cushions up on these chairs and then he climbs up and sits there like he's a stud because he's sitting all by himself. Taj is seriously out of control wild now. See the corner shelf in this pic, right behind the chair? Last night he pulled it down on top of himself. I freaked out, Brannon said I swore, but I don't remember that. I just remember hearing my baby cry and not seeing him because he was pinned underneath this thing. He got a pretty good goosegg from the whole ordeal, thank goodness that was it. Next, he pulled the wood molding off the wall, the whole strip! He's already dinged the new paint on our walls too. Good thing we don't have nice stuff because it's going to be trashed by this kid!

Some things about Taj (for memories' sake): His favorite words are "No!" and "Don't!". He says this whenever we try to get him out of the bath, make him eat, change his diaper, etc. Yes, we already have a disobedient child. He also says "doggie," "cracker," "uh-oh," and a certain grunt that means he wants something. If you take the time, he'll sit down and tell you his life story. All you have to do is knod and say "yes." I swear, he's just like his dad. He loves to be pushed around on his Radio Flyer, in his Cozy Coupe, and in his over-sized toy dump truck. He loves to play with cars and his boat and he makes the noises to go with it. His favorite book right now is "Doggies," which is way cute. He likes to watch Super Why in the mornings and his favorite show right now has to be Matilda, the kid is enthralled with it. It's the only movie he'll actually sit down and watch for at least 45 min. straight. He also gives real kisses now because he tries to pucker his lips (the only bad thing is that he won't give me any, just his daddy-we'll have to work on that).
I broke down yesterday and bought Taj a leash. It looks like a doggie backpack, but it's really a harness with a leash on it. I'll have to post a pic soon; it's sooo cute. Some of you may think it's child abuse, but you don't know my kid. He's half my size and he loves to cruze in all the wrong places. It's nearly impossible for me to contain him when he wants to get down and run, so now he can run, just not too far!

We are so thankful to have our little guy in our family. He really is the light of our lives and we feel so lucky to be his parents. He's teaching two people who thought they knew it all, that they don't know anything at all. We love him so much! Being parents is the best!

Wedding, Christmas, New Year, New House

Poor Taj...in this shot his lower back is covered in hives because after falling and hitting his head on the coffee table, he got up and stumbled into the real blue spruce christmas tree, and yes he was naked. Poor guy, looks like he's going to take after his dad. I've never seen so much crack in my life:)

Taj is obsessed with Alivia's carseart. I don't know why because he always screams when he has to get in his own.

Taj and Livy are good buddies. Taj already knows to be gentle with her.

Our little niece Alivia, so sweet:) So fun to have a girl in the family!

Taj trying out his brand spankin new Radio Flyer from Grandpa Clint. He can't reach the peddles yet, but he's mastered crashing it already. He mostly resorts to pushing it around now.

These are my lovely young women who I had to sadly leave because we moved. I've never cried when I left a calling until now. They were so much fun and so inspiring...sigh, I'll miss them so much!

Taj loves his great uncle McClain...I don't know, but I think it may be the hat.

These are the best little boys to travel with ever!

Taj's new cousin, who is so cute by the way and twice as big as Taj even though Taj is older. We're going to have to increase the whole milk uptake with Taj.

Clint and Tad, Brannon's dad's new wife, who we love. We are so happy for the both of them. I thought meshing families would be hard, but I found that it wasn't hard, just new and a bit awkward. I'm sure we'll all adjust as time goes on.

I know that this post is a long time coming, but things have seriously been out of control the last three weeks. We kicked it off by closing on our home on Dec. 23rd, which afterwards we booked it to Tropic because his dad Clint got married on Christmas Eve. It was so nice to be able to go and be a part of that special day for his dad. Christmas was a busy day too. We woke up early to open presents, sure that Taj was going to love it, but he just ended up crying through nearly the entire experience...fun times. We really were spoiled this year by our families, thanks you guys, but seriously, next year we're going to do home-made gifts:) When we got back home, we started packing like crazy (the same day we signed on our house, a young couple came and decided to rent our apartment, seriously a huge blessing for us) We had one week to get all our stuff packed and moved and have our apartment cleaned. We moved New Year's Day and it literally took us two weeks to get everything put away. We moved up to Kaysville, which we really like so far. We went to the wrong ward again on Sunday, but next Sunday, we'll get the right one for sure, we hope:) Kaysville kinda feels like Cedar City, but shopping is only 15 min. away! Our home was built in 1959, so yeah it's old, but we love it. It is a cute brick home with original hardwood floors throughout the top and the only carpet is in the basement. It does need some upgrades to say the least, but those will come in time. We are going to paint the entire house though starting this weekend. I will post pics as soon as I can. Hope you all are doing well and that you enjoyed the holidays and time spent with family.

p.s. Brannon turned 27 last week. I can't believe that he is almost 30! He always tells me he is "wayyy" older than me; this year I am starting to believe it. I feel bad because I didn't really spend time planning his birthday because our house looked like a construction zone. Next year will be better babe, I promise!

Diaper R'us

I was slaving over the stove tonight when I heard a wicked little giggle coming from the living room. I figured Taj was entertaining himself; he was happy, so why bother him? That wicked little laugh rolled on and I knew that none of his toys made him laugh for so long, so I went to take a look and this is what I found: an entire jumbo box of diapers strung out all over the floor. How could I be mad at a boy with a face like this?

Grillz

All you moms out there, this is a great idea for a stocking stuffer. Your kids will love flashing their "Grillz" not only for you, but for anyone else that may come their path. "Grillz" features lovely gold teeth, perfect for the holidays. Not only are the teeth golden, they also look like dice, which makes them educational because your kids can practice counting every time they smile. You can find these exclusively in Rose Park and the Dollar store.

Thanksgiving

High-end carolers at the Gateway

This is what I waited in line for at three in the morning in the freezing cold on Black Friay...it was worth it though and so much fun! My little sis Marci waited with me and helped me score this dual screen dvd player for the car and these dirt cheap dvds. I know it doesn't look like a lot, but Black Friday is knowing exactly what items you want before you go to the store in a mad rush.

The two loves of my life

We did go and see the lights at temple square, but it was way too packed and dark to get a pic. We took this at the Gateway mall.

My brother and his wife, my dad, my baby brother, and my mum

This year we had Thanksgiving up north with my dad's family. It was so much fun to have everyone up here. Taj has never been more spoiled. There was heck to pay when everyone went home and Taj didn't get held all the time. It really is a blessing to be with family. It's always hard when everyone has to go back home. Family is what's so great about the holidays:)

My little cowboy

Brannon and Taj play bucking broncos on this horse that my mom gave Taj for his birthday. Sometimes I feel like I'm looking after two kids. I have to tell them both to settle down, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Taj is lucky to have a daddy that loves him and takes the time to play with him. It seems like Taj is growing up so fast now. He's still not really saying anything coherent, but he babbles all the time just like his dad. He may live up to his dad's nickname: Gabby. He is so close to walking on his own now. He's burned a ring in our carpet walking around and around our coffee table. He travels around the house by holding onto walls and crawls less and less, so hopefully he'll get it in the next week or so. He also loves to go shopping with me. I have to put him in the big part of the cart because he crawls out of the seat. So now he stands up in the big basket and tears things off of the shelves when I'm not looking. Usually he ends up breaking something before we leave. He's made shopping a lot more interesting for me though:) My life has changed in more ways than one since I had Taj, but I'm finding out how rewarding motherhood is. There really is no other job in the world that will bring you more happiness.

Where the Wild Things Are

This wild thing was inseperable from this car...he loves loves anything with wheels. I think I know what we'll get him for Christmas.

I don't get this costume...the arms were way too long and the legs were too short...maybe that's why it was at Kid to Kid....

We only took Taj to one door since he doesn't really understand what trick or treating is all about...now that I think about it, we could've scored some big time candy had we taken him to every door...dang it!

Brannon going back for seconds

A bumble bee, Tinkerbell, and a lion, what a combination:) We went trick or treating with our friends and their little girls. It was so much fun watching them go door to door...next year hopefully Taj will love doing the same.

As you can see, Taj was loving his costume....

My little wild thing

I hope everyone else enjoyed taking their kids trick or treating as much as we did. Even though Taj is still too young to understand, we still had a good time. Brannon is stoked about taking Taj around next year, probably because he has a major sweet tooth;)