We took the boys for their first bowling adventure Thanksgiving weekend. It was fun. i think the boys got a little bored by the time their balls made it down the lane. But it was a fun time beig together. They also learned the story of how Grandma taylor broke her ankle bowling--always a great childhood memoty of mine :)

Thanksgiving Dinner

My sweet hubby cleaning the turkey for me--yuck!

Joey peeling sweet potatoes. He even made an H!

Grandma Jo's famous turkey treats

Caleb, Joey and Kimball at the kids table

All the yummy desserts

It was great to spend Thanksgiving with family! We have many wonderful blessings in our lives and we are grateful to Heavenly Father for all He's given to us.

Articles of Faith--Joey and Kimball style

We have been trying to teach the boys the articles of Faith and just a couple of weeks ago, Kimball started to say them along with us. I guess all these things are really getting in to his little head! it was so fun to have him say them with us!
I love how silly Joey is after he says #1 and 2. If you can't quite understand, he says "Shamu" right after he swipes his mouth. They just crack me up. Little boys are crazy and adorable! And then Kimball shouts "gospel" right at the end of the clip. Gotta love it!

Snuggle Buddy

It is so nice to have my little Kimball snuggle with me in the morning. This normally super hyper little boy will actually lay peacefully next to me and just snuggle or rub my face. It is so cute to see him so tender and sweet. I love those calm little morning moments!

Melissa's Visit

We had a wonderful time having Melissa here to visit after her coming home from a mission in Nashville Tennessee. We first went tot he Witte Museum for free Tuesday afternoon fun.

Next we went to the zoo

Then we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk

On Melissa's last night we had an all night party at our house. We ate, put the kids to bed, and then started the fun with a round of Bang.

The the real fun started with a roast fest. First we did marshmallows and s'mores...

Then we did starbursts...

And my favorite--peeps. They were so good!

We miss you Meliss! When Sally came over a few days after you left, Kimball ran outside yelling, "Wissa?" He looked for you out there for a few minutes. Feel free to come back anytime!

5+ Years!!

I just wanted to take up some blog space with a tribute to the MVP in my life.

Lindsay, you are amazing! You let me take you away from a a great job you loved and all your friends, to spend four years in one of the coldest places in the country while I spent 60+ hours a week and drummed up an insane amount of debt pursuing my goals and dreams. And now we have found a break in what seemed to be an endless winter. I am so grateful to have had your love and support through these years; and your patience and willingness to sacrifice your time and and give of yourself completely so that we could start a family through it all. Our two crazy boys are as lucky to have you as I am.

Thank you for supporting me as I tried to further pursue my goals two years in a row, spending money and time applying to residencies, only to have nothing to show for it in the end but an ugly suit.

I am convinced that Heavenly Father sent you to be an example to me. You have amazed me with how well you rebound from trials and you inspire me with how efficient you are at identifying and making corrections by relying on the Savior and his guidance. If only I could emulate your example then we could probably have a perfect marriage. Again, thank you for your patience.

You are the funnest person I know! I love going on dates with you, whether we go out or stay at home or have little getaways, I can't get enough of you! You are so adventurous and you always make me smile and feel like I can do anything!

It is hard for me to have you gone, like this weekend, but it gives me a strong reminder of what an amazing mommy you are with these two energetic boys--and that is an understatement! You not only keep them busy--and away from the TV--but you teach them so much and you put so much thought into everything they need, from the healthy meals you prepare for them to the places you take them each day. You really put your whole self into being an angel mother.

Thank you for being that angel. The one I need and the one our boys need. You truly are heaven-sent. I love you so much!! I can't wait to see what the next 5 years are going to bring!!

Overnight Getaway to Gulf of Mexico!

A few weeks ago Peter and I had our babysitter volunteer to spend the night so we could have a little get away. We drove and hour and a half to Corpus Christi-- the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. It was amazing! We realized that we definitely need to have these little getaways much more often. it is so nice to feel like newlyweds again (even for a brief 24 hours). It makes you realize again how much you love your spouse!

We stayed in a hotel that overlooked the Marina and we woke to this beautiful view of sailboats floating back and forth. We laid in bed relishing the beautiful peaceful moments with out children. The we went to the top floor of the hotel and ate a delicious breakfast overlooking the bay.

Then it was off to the beach! We spotted these fun fan powered hang gliders.

Peter's first jellyfish encounter. it was so cute to see him get so excited over a jelly fish. I guess that's the beauty of a western mountain boy marrying a beachy east coast girl--we get to share our childhood marvels with each other.

These were the most amazingly beautiful little snail clams thingies. We had a lot of fun watching them dig back into the sand after the waves washed away.

Oh, we ate and ate. Peter had his gynormous portion of crab legs and I had lots of bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with cream cheese and peppers. The night before we had delicious salmon and fresh gulf shrimp.

Joey enjoying the new pets we brought home and wearing his new shark tooth necklace.

Jesus or Grandpa Taylor?

Apparently to Kimball, every one with gray hair is Jesus, and everyone with white hair is grandpa Taylor (I guess that's a good sign for Grandpa Gurr--he's still got enough dark hair left to not be confused)

2 weeks ago we were driving to the store and there was a homeless man walking along the cars begging for money. Kimball saw his long gray hair and started pointing at him and screaming, "Jesus, mom, Jesus!"

A few days later we had a nice older man as a checker in the store who gave Kimball a balloon as we were leaving. The whole way home Kimball kept repeating, "Gank you, Jesus, boon!" (Thank you Jesus for the Balloon).

Then last week we were at the neighborhood playground and a man with very white hair passed by, talked to us for a minute, and then walked on. After he got out of sight Kimball screamed, "Grampa Taylor, come back. Come Back, talk Grampa Taylor! Are you Grandpa Taylor? (Where are you?) This search for Grandpa Taylor went on for 5 minutes, the entire time of which I was hysterically laughing to myself. This sweet little boy who firmly believes that Jesus gave him a balloon at HEB and that Grandpa Taylor suddenly appeared at the playground. Oh, how I love my crazy Kimball!

This is why I love the South and sandboxes

I have been wanting a big sandbox for the boys to get into and Peter built them a nice 5 X 8 ft. box in the backyard. the boys love it! I love that they are entertained for hours playing in it.
With the current daily highs ranging from 70 - 80 degrees, I just sit and think to myself what a blessing this is. It's November and the temperature is perfect! This was what the short 2 month long summers were like in Buffalo. Aaahhhhh, I love winter time in Texas! My winter anxiety is now gone. I no longer have heart palpitations and soaring blood pressure levels when I feel those first cold winds of fall blow in. I no longer feel the need to hunker down and prepare for the long, cold, depressing winter ahead. Instead, I can do yoga outside in a T-shirt with the warm sun on my back while my boys play happily in the sand. Ahhhh, I love vitamin D!

World's largest caterpillar

The other day as we were walking in the house, the boys and I spotted this huge guy on our front steps. I had never seen anything that big. It was a struggle to keep Kimball from squashing him, but Joey and I persuaded him to let the poor little bug live. Then, 2 days later I accidentally stepped on him as I went out to get the groceries.

Joey trying to get Kimball to touch the bug because he (joey) was too afraid. After a few minutes, and seeing mom touch it, they both got brave enough

The joys of being outside

The boys played in the van for an hour one morning (without causing destruction to anything). Joey was a good helper to Kimball, teaching him how to buckle up.

Lately I have really developed a love for yard work. Probably because the weather is perfect, but mostly because it is one of the only times I have some peaceful moments to myself when the boys are still around. As long as I am busy working they seem to play well together and have fun playing and riding their bikes all over the cul-de-sac.

Tomato

Apparently tomato is a funny word

Butterfly Migration

We have been amazed the since the beginning of October by the huge number of butterflies we have seen flying overhead and fluttering through our yard. One day we were at the pool and a group of hundreds of butterflies flew right over us. I have never seen so many in my life. It is really amazing to see the delicate butterflies and know they are flying hundreds of miles!

Happy Halloween!

Because we live right next to Shamu, this year Joey desperately wanted to be Shamu for Halloween. Luckily there is a company that makes Shamu costumes (thank goodness)! In an effort to coordinate with Joey, I tried to make Kimball an octopus costume. He ended up looking more like a spider than anything else, but he was still really cute.Kimball loved to twilr his tentacles at the ward trunk-or-treat.

We decided the boys didn't need very much candy so after a few cars we had them help us pass out the candy which they seemed to enjoy more than getting it.

Since I am going sugar free, I had to get creative on how to make those delicious holiday frosted sugar cookies. I used our standard Taylor family sugar cookie recipe and substituted raw homey for the sugar. I then used the following recipe for the frosting and it was amazing! I was not missing that sugar one bit. Although I do miss sprinkles, but the dried fruit was super yummy too!
Buttery Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup butter (room temp)
4 oz. cream cheese (room temp)
1/4 cup raw honey
1/8 tsp vanilla (I actually used a ton of almond extract instead)
1 tsp orange zest

Joey's preschool did a little Halloween parade to show off their costumes for all the parents. It was my first activity where I had to come to school and support my son. It made me feel so good to be the smiling face in the crowd that's always there for him. It was nice to have my mom at all my swim meets, softball and basketball games, and averything else i did. i hope Joey will feel that same love and support from me.

Kimball was dying to get in that parade and stand with other kids. As they started back to the classroom, Kimball quickly ran up to walk with Joey.

We made delicious mummy pizzas the night before Halloween

On Halloween we had a party with a few other families. Here are the ghoulish goodies we ate

Pukin Pumpkin

Mini Draculas

Ghouls in the graveyard

Sally's amazing veggie skeleton

Then we took all the kids trick-or-treating

Halloween is so much fun! I love every Holiday. it's so fun to have an excuse to play and have a party!

Camping at Canyon Lake

Mid October we went with the ward to canyon lake for the annual camping trip. It is always a lot of fun to be with everyone and see how those little boys get so excited.Loving the glow sticks

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You can just see the hyperness on their faces. Way too many marshmallows!!! Kimball cannot be around anyone when he's falling asleep--he gets too excited. So we all weren't able to fall asleep until after 11pm. And then we were repeatedly woken up by Kimball falling out of his bed. After midnight Peter and I had him come sleep with us so none of us got much sleep.

Glow stick sword fight

Peter and I put the boys down and watched the stars and saw 5 shooting stars. I love camping starry skies! We tried to get a picture but the flash was sooo blinding compared to the lightless night.

Joey, Abby, Kimball exploring the lake

Effects of not sleeping all night

Treasures of the sea

What?

Fiesta farms

I have been really missing Fall here, so my friend Holly and I took the kids to a little farm close by and we had a great time. the kids loved seeing all the animals. The baby goat was by far the winner. They feed goats, cows, went on a pony ride and hay ride and were in Heaven.

Joey and his new best friend Abby laughing hysterically at the goats

Kimball tried to feed his car to the donkey

All the kids got to feed the baby goat from his bottle. It was so cute!

Then they all got to go on a pony ride.

Kimball looks so huge to me!

Kimball doesn't look too happy to be on the hayride, but he really was enjoying it

Pet Peeve

For some reason, it drives Kimball nuts when I come home from the gym and have my socks and sneakers on. This poor, distraught boy will follow me around whining for my to take my shoes off and as soon as I stop he'll immediately get down and take the shoes and socks off. I guess to him it's not really mom unless he can see my feet :)

Ever seen a hippo swim?

This still continues to be one of my all time favorite animal exhibits at the San Antonio Zoo. It is so amazing to see a 2 ton hippo pressed up to the glass right in front of you or gliding gracefully through the water!

National Night Out

I really love our neighborhood! On Oct. 12th we had a big neighboorhood icecream social by the pool. The boys were in heaven eating icecream with loads of sprinkles and playing with all the little kids. It was just so fun to be with all the poeple around here--it felt like a church gathering. Everyone was so nice and friendly.

It was a hot day and all of us parents tried to keep the kids away from the pool, but once the first little guy jumped in it was all over. There were 15 kids splashing around in the wadding pool all completely clothed. It was great. I wish I would have brought my camera. But as soon as I dragged them home I got a picture of those crazy boys (to show to Dad who was at mutual during the party). The camera just dosen't do justice to the sweet little tan lines and cute white bums poking out of the droopy drawers.