Joey's Baptism

It was a wonderful experience to see Joey baptized. He is a very sweet boy and has learned much of the gospel over the last year. We were proud of his thoughtful decision to choose to be baptized.

Dad helping Joey practice right before we left for the church

We were sooo HAPPY that grandma and grandpa Taylor came all the way out to be here for that special day!

It was a lot harder to pay attention during the baptism and confirmation when I was trying to keep our VERY talkative and loud little toddler Tionne quiet. The best part was right after the baptismal ordinance was finished and Joey was just getting out of the water; Tionne shouted, "Kimball's turn now!"

                             

                                           

We're so proud of you Joey and grateful for your willingness to study the scriptures!

This is the real reason Tionne likes to help in the kitchen--so he can lick all the yumminess off the beaters      

more birthday activities

After we dropped Tionne off to his parent visit, we took the boys to watch the airplanes take off on the airforce base while we aited for the air museum to open

We showed grandma and grandpa all the cool things in the museum

Then ended with a giant cookie

Then spent the evening with more presents--his white towel from grandma, dragon slayer's academy books, a dinosaur bone egg from Kimball.

A delicious breakfast dinner with cinnaon roll french bread

And ended with my favorite tradition of reading their baby story to them. Joey doesn't seem super interested :), but I love sharing with them of their birth and looking at their pictures and remembering what little angels they are.

Happy Birthday to our big 8 year old!  We love you Joey!  We are very proud of all your hard work. You were so dedicated and consistent on your reading of the book of Mormon. You have continued to grow and mature so much. You struggled a lot with your anger for a while, but you are doing so well at controlling it now. You also are a great biggest brother--you are a great helper and leader. You love to read, and go through books very quickly. You want to be a marine biologist when you grow up. You love studying about sea life (just like your mom). You love adventures, playing outside, riding your bike, spending time with Dad, making things, and just relaxing. You still are VERY silly, but also have a very mellow personality.  We love you!

Joey's Birthday

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor wanted to celebrate Joey's accomplishment of finishing the Book of Mormon, so they took him to a restaurant of his choice. He choose Golden Corral so he could eat as many deserts as he wanted--he got cupcakes, 2 kinds of ice cream, cotton candy, and a little bit of food for dinner :) He was in heaven, and loved the one-on-one time with his grandparents! 

We took the G-pa's on lots of walks around the lake. They liked all the desert scenery.

We also went one day to Saguaro National Forest to see the saguaros.

Playing chess with grandpa

The boys showing off their muscles

                                  

Joey's got lots of fun presents for his birthday. Both sets of grandparents got wonderful keepsakes to remember his special baptism day

One thing Joey loved was getting the movie E.T.  He wanted it for a long time and finally got it

And money is always a hit :)

Why I do it

Drip

Snip

Thrill

Spill

Words

An

Have

Of

September

Frame

Special

Memory

I,m    going   to    love     tomoro

The above are Kimball's spelling words that he typed up for practice. When I asked him why he wrote, "i'm going to love tomorrow" at the bottom, he said, "because you're going to come to my school and be my art teacher tomorrow!"

Aww, it made my heart happy that he's still so sweet and innocent and loves me to be there at school. The teacher asked if I could be the art helper on Thursday's, so I go to Joey's class and help out, and then go to art with Kimball's. I love seeing them at school and I love that they still want me there :)

Litlle boys playing, first haircut, and Father's Day

I just love to see these cuties playing together. One day they took turns getting pushed around in a box. One person would climb (or be lifted) into the box, then the other two would push them around the house. They loved it!

After Tionne's mom braided his hair at a visit, the braids quickly came out. I had just gotten approval from CPS and mom to cut his hair. When I took out the braids his hair was crazy and wayyy too long, so I cut it just a bit. Enough to clean it up, but not too much to cause any upheaval.  But he looked so cute with his wild, crazy hair.

                                     

We made breakfast in bed for Peter. It was cinnamon bread french toast--soooo yummy!

Peter got some cute, homemade gifts from the boys, a red lobster gift card, and an electric smoker

In order to break in his new smoker, I had gotten a smorgasbord of meats--sausage, steak and lobster. It was a yummy meal!

And a yummy father's day tie cookie cake

We love you Peter!  Thanks for being such a great Dad. Thanks for all the wrestling and playing you do, all the the great, thoughtful talks you have with the boys, patiently trying to teach them how to be great men. Thanks for driving back forth so much when you had to be in Phoenix so you could be with all of us. We love you and I don't know what I'd do without your help!