Catching up before things get crazy!

Taylor is now 15 months old, almost 16 months. She weighs what JJ did at 8 months.  She still is off the charts for her height and her head size is not far behind.

She is extremely social but still very shy at first. She is just a very happy child.  Not sure how Joe and I got so lucky.  Taylor does whine a little bit more than her brother and that is probably our fault....I was overly cautious and willing to give into every little whimper....

She uses sign language to communicate and has a few select words ....like Mom, Mom, Mom...never uses it just once.  Dadda, Banana, Lanie, and JJ are her other favorites.  She also says Uh-oh when she drops something on the ground, usually on purpose.

Taylor has a fake cry....just like her brother.  It is comical to watch. She also loves skype and gets very excited to she her Grandparents' faces.

She doesn't walk but did take 5 steps several times over the past few weeks. She loves to stand by herself, so any day now and my life will be a little harder.  With her brother, we had to do very little to baby proof our home.  Taylor likes to get into everything and can find the one cabinet I have not secured and just yesterday she had fun with her hand in the toilet.

Our kids love when Daddy walks in the door after his day at work.  JJ is usually at the door the moment the garage door goes up.  Below is a video of Taylor and her excitement!

Jayden is getting smarter each day.  He now listens to every conversation even if you think he isn't paying attention.  He loves birds.  He loves animals.  He has loved Star Wars for a while but now loves Star Wars legos.  I think his dad is a little excited to share the new Star Wars movie with him. Jayden loves to read ....more memorizing but he tries every day to sound out words.  He misses Hawaii and his friends.  Luckily one of his friends from Hawaii has moved to SLC and he loves her. We were very fortunate to share Thanksgiving with her and her family.

We had some photos taken of our family in Park City this fall and JJ stole the show. But we also did get a couple cute ones of T.

And T

Thank you to all the visitors we have had too.  We have been very lucky to have so much of our family out here to visit and even share in some of the holidays.  Can't wait for more.

Halloween 2014

So it wasn't a nice Hawaiian 85 degrees outside but I will take mid 70s and crisp leaves falling from the trees.

JJ had been saying that he wanted to be Darth Vader again but once he tried on the costume, he decided he wanted to be yoda.  JJ wore the same costume when he was 1 (the exact same one)  He had a large head when he was little :)
We were originally planning on having Taylor wear Yoda (she can't talk yet, so she can't say no) but since JJ wanted to wear it, I realized yesterday morning I needed something for her.  We ran to the store and what was staring me in the face C-3PO.  Poor girl, that is what she got.

JJ was excited to wear his costume to school today.  And when he got home we talked about going trick or treating.  He told me that he no longer wanted to go.  I asked him probably about a million times if he was sure.  I didn't want to push it but I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't wake up tomorrow and want to go. Even my husband offered to take him to the neighbors.  He just wanted to put on his ears and hand out the treats.  He had a blast.  He didn't stop jumping and moving around.  He loved it.  So much more fun that walking around the block.  We all sat on the porch and met some of our neighbors. Perfect night!

I was also surprised that older kids liked pencils and every one loved vampire teeth!

Happy Halloween!

We have a 4 year old

JJ turned 4 this year!  4! ...I just can't believe it.

I asked him what type of birthday he wanted this year and he said Thomas the Train....not too shocked by that.

He was so excited for his birthday but understood he had to wait until it was his turn to celebrate. It was also a great lesson to talk about the months and day's of the week.  He now knows the order of everyone in our family has a birthday--grandmas, grandpas, aunts & uncles included.

This was a big year for Jayden.

He finished his first year of preschool and started his second
He fell in love with Birds (thanks auntie Sarah)
He fell in love with all wildlife (thanks uncle Casey)
His favorite books are the night before anything...and any book on birds or nature (adult editions)
He has an amazing memory and can remember everything....I mean everything
He loves Star Wars and wants to be Darth Vader again for Halloween
He loves his new friends and misses his Hawaii friends a lot
He doesn't really want to share his baby toys with his baby sister
He loves to talk about States and wants to visit all of them.  For a while, his favorite state was Maine
He learned to count in Spanish
His favorite thing to do at the beach was to run and look at crabs
He went on his first road trip and it was without mommy or daddy.  He still talks about Colorado and wants to go back :)
He could live at the Tracy Aviary in Utah or become a tour guide
He remembers how to get anywhere---and corrects you if you go the wrong way
He says his prayers every night before bed
He gets so excited when Daddy gets home from work
He loves to go on rides like the ferris wheel, helicopters, boats and he can't wait until he is big enough to go on bumper cars. He can spend a whole day at Bay Beach (WI) or Lagoon (UT).
He loves to bake and gather all the ingredients.

JJ wanted to spend the day at the zoo and loved visiting all of his favorite animals.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Happy Birthday JJ!  We love watching you grow up!

A Big 1st

We now have a 1 year old in our house.  The year started a little differently than we had anticipated but we now have a healthy, happy 1 year old.

This year has been many firsts for our little lady.

First time meeting daddy & mommy
First time meeting big brother Jayden

First smile
First giggle
First cuddles
First meeting grandmas, grandpa's, aunties, uncles and friends.
First tooth ( now has 8)
First time crawling (still loves the army crawl)
First airplane ride (8 hours)
First time in the pacific ocean
First time meeting Mickey & Minnie
First time at the zoo (she has been to 3 different zoos)
First bites of food (this girl can eat and will eat anything)
First word (I will have to give this one to DADA....she said MAMA too but she says Dada a lot more.  She also says banana)
First time on a swing and giggled the whole time
First time pulling up into a standing position (done right before 1st birthday)
Favorite books are touch and feel books

So many other memories....baptism, meeting her first cousin and moving from Hawaii to Utah


Last 12 months.

Her first official photo

Happy Birthday!

Thank you to everyone who helped make her birthday special.  

Happy 1st Birthday Miss T!

Missing Hawaii

This morning we saw a commercial for Aulani (the Disney Resort on Oahu).  JJ stood up on the couch and said, "Mommy that is our island".

He followed it with "Mommy, when are we going back", "Do you think they are worried about me?", "Sophia is worried about me, so are Mickey and Minnie"

I told him we would be planning a trip there next year.

He asked "Are we going there for good?"

My response "No we live in Utah"

JJ "I want to live in Hawaii, they have a better zoo"

At least he worries about the important things.  Also have to add....the zoo in SLC is actually pretty good.  It isn't next to the ocean with a view of  Diamond Head but it is still a very nice zoo.

2nd big day for Mommy and T

I am very excited to update you on the last several months of Miss Taylor and share fun memories from her 1st Birthday yesterday.  But today we are celebrating another day.....

Today was the first day I got to meet and hold Taylor.  I had a big surgery to deliver this little lady and I didn't wake up until the following day.  Thankfully, Joe was able to be with her (Poor guy was running back & forth to make sure we were both okay) You dream of what it will be like to meet your child and with Taylor, I was thankful she was alive.

I will celebrate this day forever and hopefully it will be a time that Taylor and I can share together.  Today we will probably just play toys and giggle but the whole time I will be so thankful for these moments.

Happy 1st day I met you Taylor.

JJ update---bird museum, 1st day of preschool and some adorable quotes!

I thought I would get in an update about Jayden before I start celebrating Taylor for the next week or so. (Yep, baby girl is 1 tomorrow)

Jayden is hilarious and even though you may think he isn't listening....oh boy he is.

Grocery Helper-

I finally asked Jayden if he wanted to use the kids version of the cart at Whole Foods.  He was very excited.
He walked through the store and asked about a lot of items and if we needed it, if I said yes, he placed it in his cart.  He had so much fun.

The best part was when we were almost done and he looked in his cart and said the following.

JJ-"Mommy we need one more ingredient"
Mommy-"What would that be?"
JJ-"Hmm (as he scratches his finger to his temple), ice cream".

Our Whole Foods makes their own ice cream and has a little shop right in the store....dangerous.

We love Daddy-

JJ had a fun Sunday this past weekend  with Daddy while I traveled with Taylor.  He looked at his daddy and said "I want to be like you when I grow up"  When Joe told me....the smile on his face said it all.  Then , JJ climbed into bed with me today and we talked about how Daddy went to work.  He then said to me " I want to like daddy when I grow up"  Oh my goodness, makes me melt. I wonder what else is in that little head.

Birds, Birds, Birds-

JJ loves birds.  It reminds me of when he started to like Thomas the Train.  He memorized all the train names and organized them.  He does the same with birds.  We have two adult versions of bird books and we go to multiple sites online to talk about birds....are they male/female, where do they live, and other features.

We have a place called the Tracy Aviary (or bird museum as JJ calls it) and we go at least once every two weeks.  He loves it.  He has memorized most of them and loves to see them.

Below is a video I was able to take.  Usually we move so fast from one exhibit to another but in this wetlands area, they provide a sheet of the bird information, so we always discuss it.  He also uses the adult version, they provide a kids one but he does not like it.

Silly JJ-
JJ found a scarf in my car....I went to get him out of the car and this is what I found.  Always making me laugh and smile.

Thomas-

JJ loves Thomas and his grandparents got him a subscription to a Thomas magazine.  This is a frequent sight in our car. Joe and I always laugh because we don't know where the leg cross came from.

First Day-

JJ had a big day on Monday.  His first day of  4K.  He loves to learn and I hope that continues. I got that smile on the first shot!  He was ready to go.

Love you JJ and are so proud of you!

Wisconsin Holiday 2013

More catching up :)

I forgot to mention in my last blog that we actually had to delay our trip to Wisconsin by 1 day because of a canceled flight....almost was 2 days but I spent several hours on the phone just waiting for something to open up and it did.  Sad part was the flight was canceled at about 2 am.  JJ briefly woke up while we were waiting for Joe to get the car and he started to cry because he realized he was not going on a plane to Wisconsin.  It was very hard to explain that to a sleepy 3 year old.

Our friends the Judkins have a party every year and we were so happy that we made it!  It was so great to see some friends.  

The boys below in their pretty sweaters.

 And the Ladies.

Christmas Celebration!

JJ making cookies with Grandma

Christmas Eve

                                                       Taylor's 1st Christmas (2013)                                                     

JJ's First Christmas (2010) They look related :)

Christmas Day

Taylor's first Christmas

Santa always finds him at Grandma & Grandpa's House

Visited Great Grandma

1st time Taylor met Great Grandma

Christmas with Grandma Mojo and Grandpa Royer

Christmas with Grandma G and Grandpa Pete

Taylor and her Godfather, my brother Ben

JJ played the Wii for the first time.  I think he loved it. Thanks to his step-cousin Reese for showing how to play! 

We were very grateful to have Taylor baptized while we were in Wisconsin.  Thank you to everyone who celebrated this special day with us.

Taylor's Godparents

Taylor's Godmother--Aunt Debbi

Taylor's Godfather-Uncle Ben

Love this one! With Joe's Aunt Lauren

Joe's parents built a new house and we knew this would be the last time we could be together at the old house.

JJ went sledding with Daddy and Aunt Debbi

Sledding in Aunt Becky and Uncle Tim's front yard

JJ and his annual pancake from Schreiner's in Fond du Lac

Visiting our friends and their kids

Visiting Reagan, Quinn and meeting baby Reese

They taught JJ how to slide down the stairs.  He loved it!

We got to visit the botanical gardens in Green Bay.

Packer Game!

Joe and his Dad

My step dad Pete and step nephew Gavin

We were so grateful to not only see family this trip but many friends.  Thank you to everyone who made a special trip to visit or opened their home (or business) for us. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, especially of all the kids.  We love you all and miss you!