cox family gossip

Capturing Moments

2012-01-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

I have many friends or just know many others who are very talented in photography. Something i've always envied I love photography but have never understood how to actually accomplish it. I recently took a class to sharpen up my skills not because i'm looking to do photography as a profession but like most parents I take thousands of photos of my children and I just wanted to be able to on our time capture some wonderful photos. I've become so excited about heading out with the kids and just letting them play in fun unique places while I practice my skills.

I thought it would be fun to take pictures of the boys on the beach in their christmas jammies.

I never got around to sending out Holiday Cards this year! So heres the Cox Family 2011

Christmas 2011

2012-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

We had a great holiday season this year with lots of fun holiday traditions.

Cookie decorating of course. Corbin just ate the frosting.

Christmas morning. We did two christmas reveals. One first thing in the morning with a few toys Santa left out and then one later after morning church with grandma and grandpa and the rest of the family.

Both boys were spoiled as usual and got a lot of fun things to hopefully last them till next year.

The Polar Express!

2012-01-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

This year the boys were so excited about Christmas. We talked about Santa all the time the boys had gifts picked out that Taygen told me were being made by the elves at the North Pole. I came home one night to find out CJ had planned a whole trip for us to go to Williams, AZ about a 3 hour drive away to spend the weekend riding on the Polar Express and seeing the Grand Canyon. Taygen who is at the very least OBSESSED with trains was over the moon to go ride a big train. Corbin was more excited about the possibility of seeing Santa than the train but excited too none the less.

It was very cold in Williams so us warm blooded Las Vegans had to bundle up. To keep with tradition though I had the boys wear their Christmas jammies on the train.

Daddy and Taygen on the Train

Crazy Corbin on the train

So the train rides along" through the distance warp" that way it can make it all the way to the North Pole in such little time. Then we arrived at the North Pole it was all decorated and there was Santa with his sleigh and a BIG bag full of toys outside. The train the turns around and Santa climbs aboard the train!

They have you sing christmas songs till finally

Santa makes it to your train car where he gives you your special christmas bell!

The boys had such a great time, it's so amazing to have children and experience christmas through their eyes.

After our exciting train ride we headed to the hotel to pass out. When we woke in the morning and looked outside there was lots of snow. It was so funny because when Taygen pulled the curtains back and looked outside he shouted at me "Mom look its christmas"! Kids have no sense of it being cold or hot they just want to play. So I bundled them up and let me go play out in the snow.

Then we headed up to the Grand Canyon to check it out. The boys were just excited to play in more snow:)

I love fun family weekends. Just creating memories with our kids.

Church Days

2011-11-26T19:23:00.001-08:00

Every Sunday as i'm hurrying to everyone ready for church i'm frustrated that I have no church clothes for the boys. I think I just forget about buying them when i'm out and then when I do buy some they trash them fairly quickly or grow right out of them so I am always in short supply. So I finally made a special shopping trip and bought a few church specific outfits for the boys. I found these shirt and tie sets it was so funny I thought i'd be fighting them to put on a tie but the opposite happened they were so excited about them and just strutted around the house with them on so I had to get a photo.

Halloween

2011-11-26T19:13:00.001-08:00

This year for halloween the boys were COWBOYS. They were so into halloween this year. Getting to put on there costumes and go get candy just put them over the top excited!

My little cowboys

Taygen with the pumpkin him and daddy carved

We went to visit a cute little ranch near our house that has lots of toys for kids to play on pony rides and animals to feed. The boys had a blast wondering around checking everything out. We didn't go on halloween but as soon as I said we were going to go somewhere to ride a horsie they both insisted they wear there cowboy costumes.

Happy Halloween Ya'll

Europe!!

2011-11-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Cj and I love Europe we are always planning trips to go over there and explore. This year just like all the others Cj got on a kick where he started looking up plans for going to europe. My response this year was, well if you want to go you better plan it because we are planning on having another baby soon and I said I wasn't going pregnant or leaving our newborn so if he wanted to go he better actually make plans. To my surprise he did! It was a long trip 13 days to be exact I was pretty nervous about being away from the kids for that long but they were safe in the hands of both grandparents who split the time taking them while we were gone. So grateful to have our parents so willing to take the kids. So off we went on our big trip. Our first stop was in London, then on to Budapest, Hungary ( this is were CJ served his mission it is his second home he loves it so much ) then off to romantic Paris.

The flight over is rough I don't love flying, especially 11 hours, and it was a red eye I assumed I would be able to get some sleep but no not a wink. CJ was able to get in 4 or 5 hours I was jealous. We arrived safely though got some food and some sleep and started off on exploring London.

LONDON, ENGLAND

Me in front of Buckingham Palace.

Cj facing the opposite direction from Buckingham getting a view of the Eye in the background

We stayed right by London Eye so every night as we would walk home we would get this pretty view. We actually got a good view of it from our hotel as well.

Westminster Abbey, this is the church Willie and Kate got married at. But it has a lot more history than that of course. A lot of royalty is buried there along with many famous authors and others.

This is the courtyard inside of the abbey

Me on a London street

Down in the London Tube, there was a lot of public transportation while we were gone. While its nice and convenient it does mean a lot of walking and after 2 weeks I missed my car.

CJ getting ready to go inside for the tour of Parliament. Thats Big Ben in the background.

Don't mind my facial expression sometimes CJ would catch me off guard. but this is one of the only pictures we had of Tower Bridge.

The view from the top of St. Pauls Cathedral. They let you climb up to the top of the dome and it was a hike. Hundreds and Hundreds of stairs. Side note this is the church where Princess Diana was married. It was very gorgeous inside but they did not allow photos.

We have a lot of photos like this but it's nice to have some photos with both of us in it.

Inside Harrods department store. That place is unreal its so huge and seriously has everything. Even a food market, restaurants, bakeries, every clothing brand you name it they have it. We took this for Corbin.

So some notes about London. We were able to go see Wicked while we were there i've always wanted to see it and since we were going to be in London I told CJ we were seeing one show while we were there and they just happened to have Wicked. Cj is not into plays or musicals but he actually really enjoyed it. We ate a lot of indian food it's very popular over there and we love it. We actually went to one restaurant two nights in a row it was so good.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

So a two hour flight and we had made it to CJ's second home. He was so exited to get there, this is Hero's Square. this is where they have their memorial to the unknown solider.

This is the Hungarian Parliament. If you look closely you can she the building over to the right is all nice and clean and the building over on the left is all dirty. They were cleaning it while we were there it was funny to see the difference. We were able to take a tour inside.

A view of Parliament and the river from up at Buda Castle which I apparently got no photos of only photos of the view from it.

Parliament at night

This bridge is shown in a lot of the movies that are filmed here. The one I can think of off the top of my head is I SPY with Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy.

This is a tram thing that you can take from down by the bridge shown above to get up the hill to the Castle.

This is Vaci Street. It's like the main street with a lot of the shopping and restaurants.

Inside the Subway

Kristina in Hungarian

We were able to spend some time with Gabor a friends of ours from over there. Gabor was nice enough to drive us around and show us some sights out of town. He also took CJ to go go-cart racing.

Us at a little town outside of Budapest

Hungary's countryside

Side notes on Hungary, The food was really good there some of my favorite meals of the trip were there surprising enough. They have my favorite paprika chips im missing them already. CJ got to visit old places he lived and work on his Hungarian again. We had a great time.

PARIS, FRANCE

The most recognizable thing in France i'm sure the Eiffel Tower of course.

Side note, In all of our pictures it seems like we are wearing the same thing everyday, we aren't really just the same jackets. Had to pack light:)

Cj and I in front of the Eiffel Tower

Seriously CJ got this picture on his phone. Thats a good picture I was shocked.

Night Photo

Standing underneath it

The Palace of Versailles

Versailles is one of my favorites in France, it's just so amazing and so huge! If your wondering about the weird rusted steal in the front, the french select an artist I think each year to do some kind of installation. They apparently like to pick things that will be controversial. If it didn't looked all rusted maybe it would be so bad but the color was so out of no where.

The front of the palace

This is the famous hall of mirrors it's very extravagant. Notice all the people! France was very busy everywhere we went.

This is the Queen's Suite

Us listening to our audioguide overlooking some of the gardens.

The gardens at Versailles are almost more spectacular than the palace. You even have to buy a whole separate ticket to go the gardens. It's never ending and very well maintained. We sent hours out there walking around. We were lucky to be there because this time a year they will actually turn on the fountains for two hours it was cool to see them all on.

Down in the gardens and way in the back thats the palace

The famous Louvre pyramid. Now CJ is not into art and even the Louvre didn't get him in the art mood. You can't go to Paris though and not go the Louvre to see the David or Mona Lisa.

Just us standing on one of the bridges. Every bridge is different and some are actually super modern it's a weird juxtaposition to the very historical feel of Paris.

Notre Dame

That's Notre Dame in the background. The bridge had all these padlocks locked onto it, I guess when you want to show a sign of commitment to you significant other you can head down to the bridge and lock your love together and then throw the key into the river.

This is a church that had these amazing stained glass window lining the whole nave. You can tell the ones are the right have been restored the ones on the left have not yet.

In Paris and in London, they had these little racks of bike all over the place and you could just rent one and return it to another one somewhere else. It was a little crazy in the Paris traffic but a nice relief from all the walking.

On our last day we booked a scooter tour. It was SO much fun! We now know this is the way to get around Paris. I sat on the back of CJ there is no way I would be any good at driving in the crazy paris traffic. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip we had this great guide who would drive us to all the sights and then stop and give us cool information. Highly recommend this to anyone.

The Arc de Triomphe

There is a crazy roundabout that goes around this notice how no one is in lanes or anything of the sort. It's just like a free for all and people are not driving slow.

So much fun

One of our favorite bridges thats our guide in front of us.

This one shocked me. On the big street below the Arc de Triomphe is a very popular shopping area. All the big names are there. As we were scootering past we noticed this huge line, we asked our guide and he said it was the line to get into Abercrombie and Fitch! Seriously! there were security guards in front and everything. The line was 3 times size of the one going into Luis Vuitton. Our guide says it's hugely popular and all the wealthy kids wear it. This surprised me I mean I remember Abercrombie being popular here and maybe it still is but not that popular.

So in France we had a great time it was very easy to get around really every country we went to a lot of people could speak english so it wasn't to hard to get around. It was really nice to be back in the states though and hear English again. All and all it was a great trip! We were happy to get home to the kids though we missed them so much and we were very tired after two weeks of traveling.

Back to School

2011-10-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Another year of Pre-School for Taygen. He is still in the program at the Elementary school and since this is his second year there it was fun to go back to school because it just meant getting to see the friends he had in his class last year and his same teacher Ms. Mcdonald. Yay for school starting!

California

2011-10-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

California always means a good time for the kids nana and papa always entertain them with fun tractor rides, fishing in the pond, a new cute little row boat, and papas fun train set.

This time when we went down I found out they had a thomas the train even going on down by Santa Cruz. So we headed down for a night and enjoyed spending time with uncle Brandon and going down to ride the rides at the boardwalk. And of course visiting the real Thomas the Train.

July 4th

2011-10-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Brotherly Love

2011-10-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

We had a kind of disastrous 4th of July weekend. We headed up to Brianhead to enjoy the cool mountain air. After being up there for one night Taygen suddenly came down with a stomach flu of some sort and was very sick. So sick we decided it was best to head down the hill and go home after only 24 hours of being there. Thankfully he was only sick for a couple of days but it wasn't a very fun holiday weekend for us. Just how it goes sometimes.

It was cute to see Corbin so concerned about his sick brother. He was so sweet to him laying next to him making sure he was okay.

Birthday Party

2011-07-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Corbin turned two years old, i'm feeling happy about it because Taygen and him have really become those " brothers" loving causing trouble and playing pretend together and sometimes fighting non-stop together. It's fun to see there little relationship grow now that Corbin can really keep up. At the same time I am so sad that my little baby is gone and a little boy has taken his place. We had a simple family party for him since we have so much family in town.

My kids are oh so shy Corbin had to hide while we sang happy birthday to him.

Me getting crafty with my sillouette

My fun new business idea of creating custom nursery artwork

Corbin will always accept something sweet to eat he has such a sweet tooth. Lately to curb his craving i've started to give him a couple squirts of hershey syrup into his mouth so he can get his chocolate fix:)

cute birthday shirt mommy made

and of course he made out with lots of fun loot!

Birthday Shoot

2011-07-12T12:51:00.001-07:00

My little bean turned two and being the mother I am I had to have some photos of the event! I like having nice photos to keep records of the kids. Now i'm still working on my photography skills but I think I got a couple good ones.

I got him to play peek a boo with me and happened upon this shot.

The original plan was to have him sit on that chair but he would have nothing to do with it.

Honestly most of the time this is what I got from him. He is not into taking photos and the fact that I even got the two above is a little bit of a miracle. With kids thats just how it goes for every one good shot you have about a hundred bad ones:)

Horses and Tractors

2011-07-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

A visit down to my parents is always a wonderful vacation for us. There's lots for the boys to do I get a lot of relaxation with my family around helping with the kids. The boys really love going and they hate to leave and as soon as they get home they are excited to go back.

A cowboy set up this little cowboy town right next to a strawberry stand and had little pony rides. The boys loved it.

My dad tried to take Taygen earlier in the day but Taygen refused to ride the horse without his cowboy boots and new woody cowboy hat that we acquired at disneyland a few weeks before.

My parents have this little play tractor for the boys to ride around at their house. We spend a lot of time riding around on that tractor. Of course now that Corbin is older we also spend a lot of time refereeing the boys on who gets to drive. ( notice the cowboy hat..i'm so glad he's over that thing )

Just having some fun at home

2011-07-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

As most of you know not everyday is all that exciting and as mother's we are always trying to do something to get the kids interested in something other than fighting with each other, whining or causing trouble.

Like painting!

or making cookies with daddy

sandy feet

2011-05-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

mickey mouse

2011-05-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

We had another trip to disneyland with some good friends a little while ago. Everyone had lots of fun. Even CJ. They boys did great with the long day of fun. It was unfortunately very busy that day but we were still able to make it on a good amount of rides. Corbin was a trooper, he was running a fever that day with what we found out a few days later was another ear infection. He still had fun though and didn't let it get him too down. I barely took any photos though! ( whats wrong with me!) so these are the only ones that I took that also turned out.

bunnies

2011-05-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Once again I told myself make sure this year you do a little photo shoot with the boys and get a nice photo of them together in their Sunday outfits. Once again I did not do this and am left with just a couple photos of them finding eggs. They both were very into the egg hunting process though, it was fun and of course seeing that there was candy inside didn't hurt.

Hike

2011-05-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

One lovely weekend we decided to go on a quick hike with some good friends. With 5 kids in tow we headed out to find this waterfall. The hike was really easy just a flat trail that meandered along. The only thing was they didn't have the part the led to the waterfall marked so it was a bit of a challenge to find but we did eventually find it. The questions is could we find it again? The kids and parents had a blast and it was nice getting outside into nature.

As Corbin says 50-100 times a day.. MOTORCYCLES!

2011-05-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

This is our boys new hobby. When I say boys I mean Taygen, Corbin and CJ of course. Corbin wants only motorcycle toys and he has to bring them along everywhere we go. Most fights between the boys are over the motorcycle toys. Every time we walk in the garage to go somewhere Corbin has to point out the motorcycles " mama, dadas cycles, ride ". I don't mind it it's fun to see the boys so excited about something.

Our motorcycles have to have riders on them as well or they aren't good enough. I usually put the little guys back on the bikes 50 times per day.

This is the first time we actually got Taygen on one of the bikes. This is a smaller bike that i'm sure one day he will be able to ride on his own.

Corbin loves just sitting on them even though he asks for rides everyday, once it's on he is no longer interested.

I love that Taygen will actually pose for me now with that cute little squinty smile of his.

Cleaning the bike with daddy

This picture is a little out of order. CJ and a group of his buddies all signed up for a race at Lake Havasu. They are a lot older now then they used to be but I think they all still had a lot of fun. It was fun for us too the kids got to just play and we got to hang out and chat. When I say kids I meant Taygen, Corbin was UNBELIEVABLY grumpy the whole trip. We later found out he had ear infections so it's hard to blame the guy but he pretty much looked like ( above ) this the whole time. It was a fun but very frustrating day for me. It started with no sleep a really grumpy 2 year old and a car that dies twice and had to be jumped. Still I look back on the trip fondly and we will probably have more of them in our future.

This is acutally after the race. CJ was exhausted. It was a really hard course.

That's him cruising by

They boys or I guess now we can call them MEN!. They all did a great job and no one got hurt. That was the main goal of the weekend, no one get hurt!

Working at the Car Wash

2011-04-09T13:36:00.001-07:00

One warm saturday morning we were just hanging outside and I decided we should have a little car wash. The boys had a blast soaping up their little cars and give them a good shine.

Just for Fun

2011-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here a a few random photos from the last month or so. I figured I would just post them together since they aren't really post worthy by themselves. Enjoy.

Taygen showing off his boots! These boots have become the only footwear Taygen will wear. I bought them just for fun during a " woody " stage and he hated them for months. Then one day he spotted them in his closet and it was suddenly love at first sight.

Corbin's new best friends

It so fun to see the differences in your children. While Taygen tends to be more on the scared side Corbin is more fearless. I went and got some ladybugs for my garden and Taygen while very interested just stood back and watched. Corbin though wanted me to keep putting them on him so he could watch them crawl all over his arms.

The one picture I got of the boys on St. Patricks Day. At least Corbin looks happy

Taygen loves for us to build him a house that he can hang out in and eat popcorn or watch a movie. Take note those boots stay on all day we can't even take them off when we are at home.

Garden Blog

2011-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

I LOVE gardening! It's a fairly new hobby of mine but I have just soaked up information and constantly learning new techniques and skills. Having a successful garden somewhere like Las Vegas comes as kind of a surprise to a lot of people, so I thought with as many questions as I get I would start a little blog about my garden what I do, tips i've learned to help others who maybe need some local advice so..... Here it is

http://gettingfreshgardening.blogspot.com

Nostalgia

2011-03-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Remember when you were a kid and you popped popcorn in a popper. How fun it was to put those homely looking popcorn kernels in there and turn it on and within a minute it was exploding with perfectly fluffy popcorn. I had the urge the other day to experience this childhood memory and to have my boys experience it. They were absolutely mesmerized and the popcorn was delicious!

Four

2011-02-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

We went from this ....

to this..in the blink of an eye

Taygen turned four years old a few weeks ago. Taygen has come very far in four years and especially far in the past year. I always say Taygen is my hard child, mostly because this poor kid has been unlucky enough to have to deal with some unexpected bumps in the road. From finding out when he was just a few months old that he had a milk allergy to being a toddler with lots of painful ear infections, then to having them cause a delay in his speech. Even with all this he still has such a sweet spirit that brings so much joy to our families life. Taygen is our cautious one being afraid of most things. Just tonight he thought a filter in the pool at his swim lessons was a snake. He is a ball of energy! and like most four year olds has his stubborn and impatient moments. But no matter what this little boy does he still is one of the greatest blessings any parent could ask for. Happy Birthday Taygen We LOVE you!

Busy Busy

2011-01-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

This holiday season was very busy for us we did a lot of traveling and a lot of different fun activities with the kids.

Taygen and Corbin enjoying the little train ride down at the outdoor mall in Roseville.

Popcorn and a movie!

Building Ginger-Train houses. It's not hard to guess we are all about trains. The boys really enjoyed eating all the candy before Nana and I could stick it to the Trains.

Keeping with our train addiction. We headed down to sacramento for California State Train Museum. It was actually really cool and I would definitely recommend it.

We also got to go visit the Fire Station. Taygen was pretty apprehensive when we first got there Corbin on the other hand immediately wanted to climb in and up everything.

It was a busy month there but we had a blast!

Merry Christmas on December 4th

2010-12-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

We are traveling a lot this year and seeing how we are still a young family we tend to still do a lot of the holidays with our families. I really wanted our little family CJ, Taygen Corbin and I to start making some of our own holiday traditions too. I always hate how you buy holiday specific jammies and then wait till the holiday to give it to them. Then they end up wearing christmas jammies in april because you waited till the end of december to give them to them. So my new traditions will be to do the jammy giving the first week of december! This year with all thats going on I even went a step futher and we did our whole christmas celebration the first week of december. I wanted the kids to have time to play with the cool toys we had gotten them and I wanted to do it before the stress of everything else started so Dec. 4th it was! We had a great time and did all the regular christmas day stuff and we loved it! My only problem was convincing Taygen of what was going on. So I told him santa was stopping by our house on his was to everyone else's and he had to come early:) It worked like a charm.

Our Christmas Eve night they boys have really gotten into hugging each other no complaints here huggin instead of constant fighting is always good!

This was the big present of the year a train table dedicated to trains. We had it all set up before they came downstairs they played with this for a while before we even made it to any of the other presents.

Our mini tree. I didn't want to put up our big tree this year so I did a mini one. It had all our eclectic ornaments on it it was fun and very easy to put up.

Merry Christmas to All!

Soccer!

2010-12-12T12:45:00.001-08:00

This year Taygen got to have his first try at a team sport! He was a little apprehensive about the whole thing but at the end he started to really like it. I don't know that he kicked the ball but a handful of times during the games but my goal for him was to let him burn a little energy and be involved with a team. Also to just have fun!

This was the first practice, it took us a while to even get him to go out onto the field

The games were so funny to watch, little kids having no real idea what the were doing and parents on the sidelines trying to give them direction.

We had a good time and I will definitely sign him up again next year. Not because I think he is actually learning the game but just for him to have fun and RUN!

BOO!

2010-11-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween season this year. I finally decorated the house a little this year to get us all in the spirit and we did all the regular traditions. Pumpkin carving went well Corbin loved it wanted to dig around in there to help clean it out. Taygen on the other hand didn't want to get dirty I suppose so he was very careful about it.

Of course it did make a nice echo if you yelled inside it:)

Traditional costume picture. Scary Pirate Taygen and the Hungry Shark Corbin

We also had matching glow in the dark skeleton jammies Taygen thought these were awesome and Corbin liked it when they glowed.

Just the Boys

2010-11-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pictures of the boys

California Fun

2010-10-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

We always like to make frequent trips down to Huntington Beach to get out of the heat. The kids love playing down there and we always have a good relaxing time.

It's always so nice that you need a sweater down there for the chilly mornings and evenings.

Taygen is obsessed with wearing this Thomas hat

There are a lot of airplanes flying around down there, they have the planes with the flags behind them with ads all day long. Corbin has an obsession with airplanes every time he hears or spots one he starts yelling and pointing " oss, oss! ( this is his word for airplane )

This is always a favorite down at the beach house. Riding all the cars trucks and trains along the porch wall. Taygen spends hours doing it and Corbin has starting to join in too.

No more baby

2010-09-11T16:42:00.001-07:00

Everyday more and more I realize I no longer have my sweet cuddly little baby but rather a mischievous, loud, rambunctious little boy. He still loves his mommy and gives me nice cuddles but I also get crying demands, little foot stomping temper tantrums when he isn't getting his way and his own little opinion on things. He is still tons of fun and all the new words he learns and all his cute little mannerisms still melt my heart. I will say though seeing him get so big makes me want another cute little infant and then I spend the day breaking up arguments between Taygen and him and I realize for sanity sakes we better wait a little while till number 3.

at 15 months Corbin :

Loves anything round, basballs, ballons footballs. He has mastered the word ball pretty good

Has a mouth full of teeth

Loves to pretend he is talking on the phone

Makes fun car and train noises just like his brother

Can spot or hear an airplane with astounding accuracy, and screams and yells "oss,oss,oss" till I acknowledge him saying airplane yes I see it.

Is a picky eater which drives me crazy

Says, mama, dada, tay tay, up, ball, uh oh, this, out and maybe a few more

Loves his brother to pieces and on those rare occasions they play so well together I just want to jump for joy!

we love you baby bean

Another First Day

2010-09-11T16:34:00.001-07:00

Taygen headed back to school the other week. I was pretty excited for him to go back not too nervous since his teacher from last year had moved over to the new school that was just built in our neighborhood. So it kinda felt a little like our old school routine with just a few changes. None of his friends for last year ended up in his class so new friends will be made i'm sure. The first day was a little rough but after that no problems. I love the opportunity to have him at school it has helped him so much and having a few hours to get things done with just one is also a nice treat for mom.

Nana and Papa's House

2010-08-16T14:47:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of posts on here about visiting my parents house it's like a going to an amusement park for my kids there are so many fun things for them to do! This year was extra special because Taygen got to stay at nana's and papa's house an extra week without the rest of us. There is kind of a lot of photos but there are just that many fun things to do!

One of those rare moments when the kids found something to do together without fighting!

( and yes it's a pink stroller bought for the boys! I'm sorry but they just don't make them in manly colors and kids whether boys or girls love playing push something around )

A classic Taygen getting a ride on some machinery with Papa.

There is an outdoor shopping mall with this fun train that takes the kids on rides around the mall obviously a hit with the Thomas the Train obsessed Taygen.

They also had a fun water park there too.

They have this small zoo in Folsom by my parents house. It's pretty unique because it's actually like a refuge for hurt or abandon animals, animals that could no longer probably survive out in the wild. They had a wide variety of things there and one of the fun parts were the chickens and peacocks that just walked around the facility.

Corbin threw up on his clothes on the car ride there totally randomly! so he was a little ghetto sporting just a diaper and shirt:)

Enjoying the view out Nana's window

Duke the cat was great with the kids most cats Taygen has come into contact with have at one point bitten or scratched him but not duke he loved the kids. I guess to him any attention is good attention.

My parents have this pond that my dad has stocked with fish. Papa was excited for Taygen to have his first fishing experience, something I myself did a lot as a kid I still like fishing to this day:) My dad goes up and feeds the fish every night so it only took about a minute for Taygen to catch his first fish.

A nice little catfish

Reel it in!

Of course it was catch and release:)

We always have a blast going to California although I think Taygen might be a little sad getting home and not having nearly as much things to do around our house. I guess that will just make Nana and Papa's house that much more special.

Turning 1!

2010-06-17T13:19:00.001-07:00

My sweet little baby Corbin is no longer a little baby. He turning into a little boy full of energy and personality.

At 1: Corbin is

Walking 100% of the time he has really mastered it at this point and is no longer tenative about getting around he is on the move and picking up speed very fast.

He is a picky little eater and I often find myself frustrated with him when it comes to meal time. He is at the stage too of no longer wanting me to feed him things like applesauce or yogurt. Instead he wants control of the spoon and the bowl in front of him. This of course causing large messes at each meal something i'm not enjoying.

He is a great sleeper for naps and bed time you just put him in his bed and he'll chat or putter around and then fall asleep no help needed. It's nice too because even when he wakes up he just patiently waits for someone to come get him.

He loves playing with Taygen if you can call it playing it's usually a battle over toys or Corbin just follwing Taygen around place to place.

He's becoming quite the troublemaker, getting into things pushing buttons and giving quite the sob act when he doesn't get what he wants.

He absolutely hates me cooking dinner! If I head into the kitchen and start fixing dinner he sit on the floor and cries and cries nothing distracts him or pleases him other than me holding him which with hot and sharp things isn't a option.

He doesn't like driving around in the car, he isn't distracted with a movie or toys or even food he just hates being strapped in the little car seat.

He doesn't like Taygen getting the love if Taygen comes over and sits on my lap, Corbin will head righ tover and claw at my legs to get up too.

He always have to have something in his had whether a toothbrush or measuring cup which are his usual favorites.

He loves balls and enjoys a good game of bringing you the ball you throwing it and him going and getting it and bringing it back. ( yes fetch I know, but the kid loves it! )

Mom is still his favorite but he is taking to other people more and more.

He knows how to play pattycake and peek-a-boo

He says ma ma and dada

He is a great little addition to our family and we love him beyond words. we can't help but smile watching this cute little boy learning new things everyday. Happy 1 year Corbin Love, Mom, Dad & Tay Tay

1 week old

1 year old

Our little Family of Four

Beach Babes

2010-06-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

I love going to California and so do my kids, there's always good food, great weather and lots of good times to be had. We headed down to Huntington Beach for Memorial Day with the family and had to have some fun down on the beach. My husband claims to hate sand! party pooper! My kids though love it !

Of course as all kids do on their first beach trip Corbin did eat a little sand. He had a blast playing in it but he did take a few nibbles of it too.

Taygen got right in the water and loved it even with it being freezing as the ocean always is. Of course after a while he was freezing and stayed wrapped in this towel sitting in the chair for probably 30 minutes.

Things actually do grow in the DESERT!

2010-05-22T12:43:00.001-07:00

Here is a little garden update. The picture below is from about a month ago ( i'm just now getting it blogged ) the garden has grown a lot more as the weather starts heating up. The garden is my new pastime and I am loving it, I usually spend just a few minutes everyday walking out and around it to see all the new things growing and check for any bugs. I will say it has taken a little getting used to watching all the different bugs that live in a garden and crawl one your food not something you usually experience just heading to the grocery store. Everything is doing really well though I was worried about being here in vegas but as you can see with the right soil everything is happy and healthy:)

These are potatoes straight out of the garden and I got this amount of potatoes from only harvesting about 1/3 of my plants. I was looking to make some room, otherwise you can leave them in and they just continue to grow more and more.

These are my first 3 ripe tomatoes! My tomatoes plants are growing like weeds and there are plenty more coming and lots of different varieties of tomatoes to come these are just my first ones and let me tell you they were delicious!

10 months

2010-04-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Our little bean is 10 months old and growing up fast. At 10 months

He is a crawling machine

Stands up on everything and anything

Will walk along everything as long as he has a hand on something, he will let go of the say coffee table and just stand there giving you a look like i'm gonna go for it mom, and then gives up and just crawls instead.

He isn't really into baby food anymore he would prefer to eat anything you are eating.

He is sleeping really well and is better at taking naps

He wants to be like his brother so bad, he will just follow Taygen around with this longing look.

He LOVES mama the best! ( gotta love that )

He babbles mama and dada

He loves to play outside and the second the door opens he is on his way out. He just crawls all around the backyard grass, cement or rocks won't keep him back. His favorite is to make his way over to mama's garden and try and play in the dirt.

He hates feeling left out down on the floor so he will follow me around whining to get picked up so he can be apart of everything going on.

He loves the dishwasher it's one of his favorite places to play ( not my favorite of course )

His favorite toy right now is a ballon

He is a dancing fool and any sign of music he is bouncing around getting his groove on

He is just the happiest go with the flow baby and we are loving every minute of him:)

He does this finger thing all the time it's super cute

He makes the funniest noises and faces I don't think I could ever capture all of them

the kiddies

2010-04-13T13:30:00.001-07:00

A few pics that have been sitting in my camera

This is sweet baby lola and corbin, one of my best friends stopped in town and we got to watch lola for a few hours these two loved having another baby around

This is all to familiar. I have lots of pictures of Taygen doing the same thing

It's getting to be that time of year for the water table!

Taygen has become the hiding master it seems, he crawls and hides in the cupboards all the time

long awaited garden

2010-04-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

I grew up with a garden it's something I have wanted to do for a while. Last year I was research and got books and read up and was all ready to do it but then with a baby on the way I didn't think it was quite the right time but a month ago my parents were down and we spotted some box frames at Sams Club and now here we are! I have planted about everything you can think of for this particular season at least at everything is growing great! I am very excited about having it and being able to eat from it. It's a fun project and a hobby I am really enjoying i'll post some more recent picks later it's already growing away:)

a bunny visited our house!

2010-04-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

This year the easter bunny visited our house and Taygen couldn't be more excited! Of course the fact that it was a bunny visiting didn't go over especially when he ran to the window to peek at grandpa putting the eggs in the yard. We started the day off by taking the kids down to the Bellagio to see all the pretty flowers and watch the fountain show then it was home for egg hunting and a yummy dinner.

Taygen finding the loot

Corbin wasn't super pumped he refused to take a nap so egg hunting was no fun to him

The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-03-22T12:47:00.001-07:00

We had the idea since Taygen can still be a little oblivious to the idea that it's his birthday we would instead just take him to Disneyland. It turned out to be great we got to spend fun time with the family and Taygen loved every minute of it. We also tried to strategically plan a day to go when it wouldn't be very busy and the weather would be good.

Starting the day off everyone is ready to go

This picture is a little out of order but Corbin took a little nap on Grandpa on the train ride

Corbin was great all day enjoy the view from the stroller

Grandma and Taygen riding the train over to the park

This might have been Taygens favorite what a shock the car ride. Grandpa took him on it twice

This was the first ride we went on

Corbin and I enjoying the nice weather

Corbin was enjoying a little biscuit in his stroller a mess but oh well

This is inside it's a small world Taygen and Corbin loved this one apparently so did Aunt Kylie

Enjoying a little ride on mom

Corbin was still all smiles even heading out of the park

Taygen as expected fell asleep as soon as he hit the car and stayed asleep even when we stopped for dinner.

Little Corbin

2010-02-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Our little Corbin is 8 months old now I am a little behind on his updates. At 8 months he is crawling like a mad man and pulling up on everything he can. He's eating little crackers and puffs. He is such a happy little baby who loves his brother and wants to run around with him so bad. Taygen has started to play with his brother more like peek-a-boo and telling him your okay whenever Corbin cries. Corbin just provides a nice ease in our life because he just goes with the flow.

A face only a mother could love

Taygen wanted to make sure his brother had plenty of toys to play with so he stacked them neatly on brothers lap so he could have his pick of the bunch.

First Day of School

2010-02-05T18:40:00.001-08:00

Taygen has started preschool! Because he is still having some trouble with his speech they put him in the school district preschool. The first week was pretty rough on him. Taygen was not happy about being dropped off without mommy. We talked about it for weeks leading up to the big day and he was very excited but when the day arrived and we were at the school not so much. Each day we make improvements though and everyday but the first he is all smiles when I pick him up. He is able to get away from regular old mommy for a few hours and meet some new friends and play and learn. I think it will be great for him and know that soon he'll just run right in no problem:)

Christmas Time ( Oh yes I am that behind )

2010-02-03T08:34:00.001-08:00

Christmas time was great this year we were a little busier than normal with Cj opening the new store so not all our decorations got up and there were no lights on the outside of the house but that didn't stop us from enjoying the christmas spirit. There was lots of good fun, lots of time to spend with family and lots of new activities for Taygen.

This year we made christmas cookies something I don;'t normally do seeing as I don't have a sweet tooth and until now my kiddies have been to young to be interested. This year Taygen and I had at it.

The decorating part was more Daddy and Taygen would decorate a cookie and then eat it, and so on and so forth. So we didn't end up with many finished at the end.

My kids as always made out like bandits in the present department both grandparents love to spoil these little kiddies:)

Family Photos

2009-12-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

These are some our family photos for this year. I wasn't able to use my favorite friend photog because I was dying to take them at my mom's house, so I tried to do them myself. I got a few good shots everyone knows with kids it's really hard but I think a few turned out pretty good.

The only shots I could get of Corbin were either him looking down or profile he doesn't enjoy sunlight at all something he got from his daddy.

I was able to get a few of Taygen but again to actually get him to smile and look at the camera is quite a feat. So I had to settle for action shots.

Kinda cheese I know but I have about 1000 photos of the kids and maybe 40 of CJ & I we are always behind the camera instead of in front of it.

Our favorite family photo was saved for our holiday card but these are a few runners up

Birdie Experience

2009-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

We have a park in town that has a man made pond with lots of birdies in it so for a little outing we decided to head on down and feed the birds.

Daddy and Taygen walking the trail

We had so much fun the first time we had to take some friends back with us to enjoy it too

Bowling

2009-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to take Taygen bowling for a while and we finally got around to it. Cj and I used to bowl all the time and we can get a little competitive. We had a good time with friends and the kids had a blast! We will defiantly be heading back.

If you didn't watch him he would quickly grab and ball and go throw it so you had to keep your eye on him

Taygen and Evan waiting for the balls to come back

Daddy helping Taygen score some points

BOO!

2009-11-08T14:39:00.001-08:00

This Halloween was lots of fun, if you can't tell Taygen was a surfer dude ( since last year he wouldn't wear an elaborate costume this year I had to think of something I knew we could keep on him ) and Corbin was a crab to go along with his brother. We had lots of fun trick or treating with friends Taygen picked up the concept very quick and had a blast going door to door. Corbin as always was great and was just content to go along with the group.

month 5

2009-11-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

Corbin is 5 months old, and time just keeps flying by. He is rolling onto both of his sides but has yet to make any effort to get to his stomach but if you put him on his stomach he rolls to his back, goes to show you how much he dislikes being on his stomach. He can sit up by himself pretty well which is how he wants to be all the time. He loves to be up and able to see everything going on around him. The little jumper entertainer is by far his favorite thing to hang out in although he has already got throwing his toys off it so I have to be constantly picking them back up. His sleeping is getting a tiny bit better he's just pretty erratic when it comes to a schedule. He is eating cereal now and loves it and we have moved on to a couple foods too all big hits. He is still a wonderful easy going kid who is pretty content with just going with the flow ( my genes of course ).

Beach Days

2009-10-29T16:13:00.001-07:00

To enjoy some relaxation we have headed down to Huntington Beach a couple times to enjoy nice weather and plenty of entertainment for Taygen.

This is at Crab Cooker a favorite of ours Taygen was diggin the breadsticks they have on the table

Daddy's idea of a good time digging a big hole and then putting Taygen in it. He didn't mind either he would just play with the sand around him, I think he actually liked it because one morning he headed down to the beach with grandma and grandpa and tried burying himself:)

Enjoying the wagon ride to the beach

The Kids

2009-10-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

I know I have been a little behind in blogging lately but here are a few random photos from the past month or so....

Corbin is eating cereal now and lovin it most the time it took a while for him to get used to he was giving me a nasty face each time I would give it to him but now we are all smiles

In the tub

Taygen is in a BIG BOY bed now he loves it we haven't really had any problems HOORAY!

Enjoying some popcorn and a movie

The pumpkin patch was a huge hit this year Taygen probably went down the giant slide 20 times at least

Sweet baby Corbin so easy going he just hangs out in his seat while everyone eats dinner

would rather sit up more than anything else he likes to be able to get the best view of everything going on around him

We are at the everything must go into his mouth stage it's cute that he's playing but making sure he's putting the right things in his mouth not so much

Daddy with the boys

Month 4

2009-10-08T18:49:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little baby Corbin is 4 months old. He is still a great little baby, but all his newborness is gone he is a full fledge baby now. He loves his mommy of course I provide all things good like food, clean diapers, the lovin' and most entertainment. Taygen provides a lot of entertainment for him as well but then Taygen provides entertainment for all of us. He can be a little shy and sometimes doesn't really enjoy others taking him but he will warm up after a minute. He has starting rolling over on to his sides but hasn't made it to his tummy yet though I am convinced he may never since he hates it on his tummy. He would like to sit up instead he is always scrunching his little body into a crunch. We still have some trouble with him sleeping he has a hard time actually staying alseep but we are working on it. He is just a happy and content little boy and we are grateful for his sweet little presence in our home. Happy 4 month mark Corbin:)

Super Tay

2009-09-17T14:06:00.001-07:00

This is the reward of my newest project. With my mom in town I always try to get all my little projects going and this one turned out so cute! I saw the idea and my mom and I made our own little copy. It was super easy to sew and now Taygen has his own super hero cape.

summertime

2009-09-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Summertime is on it's way out finally! mornings and evening have started to be a little cooler allowing some play time outside. This year I bought one of those old school sprinklers for Tay to play in the water with we had lots of fun with it and it brought a lot of memories back from my childhood

another month gone by

2009-09-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

My little Corbin is already 3 months old and changing by the day. I just love every morning waking up to his cute little smile looking up at me from his crib. Corbin is a sweet little baby who is so easy going. He loves his mommy the most and isn't really too happy when anyone else has him. He is all giggly and smiley at this age and will just talk to you as long as you will listen. He is getting better at being on a schedule and rarely is in a bad mood unless he is tired then he turns into a monster. He loves his big brother and always watches him as he runs around the house. He hates being set down and always lets out a little whine but will concede a few seconds later. He hates being on his tummy and doesn't really love being flat on his back either he prefers to be sitting up so he can see what is going on. I can't believe another month has gone by we are just trying to enjoy every sweet moment we can get.

Free Bike! I want one

2009-08-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

click on the pic to find out more info

My little man

2009-08-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's bound to happen they have to grow up it only becomes even more apparent when I spend all day taking care of a new baby how big my little guy is now. Even with all his crazy antics we love him more everyday

No A/C!

2009-08-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

A week ago our upstairs a/c decided it would take a crapper. Irony that this happens on a friday night when there is nothing we can do about it. Thankfully our downstairs was still working so we had a little camp out downstairs.

I can't wait for them to be best buds

2009-08-20T10:18:00.001-07:00

My only consolation for being okay with having another boy was that someday they would grow up and be best buds, we are getting there

My not so brilliant idea

2009-08-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Taygen is pretty obsessed with these dirt bikes we have two that haven't been ridden in forever but we hate to get rid of them since in a few years Taygen will be able to ride them. So every in and out of our garage Taygen asks to go play on them which be wouldn't to be to big of a deal if it wasn't so darn hot right now and you sweat standing in our garage for even 5 minutes. So on this particular day after telling him no once again and dragging him inside crying I thought why don't I just bring it inside:) Not a bad idea except the bliss only lasted about 20 minutes and then it tipped onto the ground and completely scratched our concrete floor opps!

Finally

2009-08-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Only 2 months later Taygen finally showed some interest in giving his baby brother a little physical attention. While he will get in his face and talk and poke him ( gently) with his finger or quickly give him his pacifier when he makes a peep he has yet to want to actually hold him. Till now...

It started out like this me gently putting Corbin to merely lean on Taygen

After a few minutes of the lean I asked if he would like to hold him he gave me a indecisive look so I took my chance and laid Corbin on his lap. You can tell by the smile he enjoyed it.

Of course like any man he had to have something to play with while he was holding the baby I mean just enjoying him is not enough.

Corbin is such a great baby which is a pretty stark contrast to how Taygen was. At 2 months he is....

Sleeping through the night from about 10 till about 5 ish

He holds his head up great which he has been doing pretty much since birth but he has now mastered it quite well.

We are finally getting giggles and smiles from him that are genuine instead of randomly while he was probably passing gas.

He is so calm and easy and will just go with the flow all day ( a trait that definitely came from his mother)

He is a great little boy and we are just enjoying almost every minute.

p.s. Yes Tay is naked in most pictures I have we are really working on the potty training.

Nana's House

2009-08-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

Before we headed up to Washington for the reunion the kids and I got to go spend some time at my parents house we had lots of fun staying cool in the pool and just enjoying being in California other than it really wasn't too much cooler there.

Vacay

2009-08-01T14:13:00.001-07:00

This past week we had a family reunion up in Washington. The weather was nice and cold just how we like it since it's 110 in vegas. We had lots of fun seeing all our cousins and letting all our kids play together.

Poor mom earned a gold star that day we weren't expecting Taygen to run in the water quite so fast and mom had to go in after him.

The water wasn't to cold but after he preceded to get completely soaked he started to get a little chilly of course this didn't make him want to get out.

The beach had this long trail that just went all the way down where all these pretty grasses grew I thought it would make a good photo.

Corbin was a good little traveler getting lots of love and attention from everyone.

4th of July

2009-07-16T10:08:00.001-07:00

For the 4th this year we thought we would switch it up from our normal ( going to the beach ) and head up to the mountains. The weather was great the kids both traveled well and Taygen got to have his first real 4-Wheeler ride. I have a little tykes play 4 wheeler for him that I brought up but the sight of these large machine brought out the true boy in him. I couldn't even believe he allowed us to put a helmet on without any fight. He even went on a big long ride and did great. I had him with me and although it was new having a little guy in tow while I was driving it was fun to have him and see how much he was enjoying it.

The big boy with Daddy

Enjoying a quick jaunt with Grandpa

Baby Corbin's Photo Shoot

2009-07-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

These are the rewards of Corbin's first photo shoot. Hooray to my mom who came through for me with the crocheted hat . My very talented friend Karin took them and was nice enough to let me post some. Visit her photography blog @ http://littlebeanstudios.blogspot.com/

Blessing of Corbin

2009-07-08T13:11:00.001-07:00

We blessed the baby a couple sundays ago it was fun to have all the family here to help celebrate. Cj did a great job and Corbin slept the entire time Hooray!

Finally a little Lovin'

2009-07-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

Taygen is finally showing more brotherly love to his new baby brother while he still refuses to hold him he will give him his pacifier to soothe him or sometimes to just give it to him he pretty much thinks he always needs it so Tay is always offering it to him. He will also give him soft hugs and kisses. What a good big brother.

One eyed jack

2009-07-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Corbin is already one month old it seems like yesterday we had just brought him home. I can't believe I have been getting up throughout the night for a whole month! Corbin is still a good little baby he is starting to outgrow his newborn-ness becoming a little bit more demanding we have a little bit of colic but nothing like Tay ever was. He takes some medicine to help him with a little reflux which has seemed to really help. All I keep thinking is please please please don't have a milk allergy like Tay but so far so good. He loves to keep just one eye open so thats why he gets called one eyed jack. He loves to just hang out be held and eat from the mommy food source pretty much like every one month old. His brothers antics are starting to keep him up a little while he tries to nap but I am sure one day he will pay him back. We are all just enjoying our life as a foursome.

One day my kid will really hate me for this

2009-07-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

I mean who doesn't love a little naked run around the backyard with just galoshes on.

One week old

2009-06-11T17:02:00.001-07:00

Our little wiggle is one week old, I have decided to call him wiggle because when he is awake he is a total wiggle worm just boppin his head around and wiggling his little body. So far Corbin is a great little baby just content and happy to be doing about anything. He is already sleeping pretty well through out the night giving us nice 4 hour stretches between feedings when I say we I mean me of course since I am the food source. He doesn't mind the crazy noises his older brother provides in the house just hangs outs in his swing or sleeps quietly. Taygen is showing more and more interest in him but not enough to want to hold him or really get too close he prefers to just observe. No problems with jealously though he just goes about his business and lets the wiggle worm do the same.

Introducing

2009-06-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is our newest little bundle of joy it's taking me forever to get organized enough to get photos plug the camera in and get on here so just one quick one to hold you over till I get more organized in my new chaos.

A Baby Story

2009-06-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mommy with her new little guy

Proud Daddy of his new little boy

So for those of you who are interested in the tale of our newest edition being born read on:

Once again I was induced not something I was hoping for since with this pregnancy I was already having consistent contractions at 24 weeks. For some reason my body freaks when I am pregnant and then by month nine it just decides oh well I guess I don't mind this lets just stay pregnant. Anyways even with my anxiety about having another induction ( Taygen took a while and I was not pumped about having to hang out in the hospital for so long again ). My doctor was kind enough to schedule me on my due date so the torture of the last weeks of pregnancy could be over. So on Cj and I went to the hospital early in the morning the got me all hooked up to pitocin which thankfully I was already having lots of contractions so the meds just pumped those up and we were on our way. So after a about 7 hours of waiting all filled with steady dilation and an epidural of course we were ready for the event. Now with Tay the pushing was a good hour anyone who has seen his large noggin may have a guess why. So to say the least I was praying for a smaller head on this kid. So the nurse asks me to push and about half way through the push yells "stop stop stop! The baby is going to come out stop let me run and get the doctor" Sweet I thought to myself:) that was way easier than last time. Doc comes in 2 quick pushes and out pops our little Corbin. Needless to say the easy and quick delivery and realitivly quick labor provided a way easier recovery. So we are all doing good healthy and working out our system. We are very happy to have such a precious little one to add to our already great little family.

Baby Cox

2009-06-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Our little bundle arrived Corbin Cox on June 3rd at 5:29 pm. He was 8lbs just like Tay and 19.5 inches long. Labor and delivery went really well. Last night was the first night we actually got a little bit of sleep so pictures and story to follow.

Guests Beware

2009-05-02T16:38:00.001-07:00

Yes I know I may be a tad crazy but can't deny anymore that potty training Taygen may be possible. Even though a month from now I will be sleep deprived and struggling to work out the new way of life that our sweet little bundle of joy will bring I have to try since one in diapers instead of two would be a dream. Taygen has been showing interest in potty training and we have had some mild success so we decided we should a least try and just see how it goes. So as the title explains guests beware there just may be a pant-less 2 year old running around our house.

It's That Time of Year Again

2009-05-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's heating up here in vegas which is good and bad. Good because Taygen finds a lot more enjoyment in his days playing outside with water, finding bugs, and running around. Bad because I HATE the heat and being preggo is not improving my ability to enjoy the warmth of the approaching summer. As with last year water is Taygen's favorite thing he wants to play in it all day long.

We are too deprived to have a pool so Taygen makes due and just fills up the lid to his water table so he can hop in.

Rain Showers and Galoshes

2009-04-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

The weather here took a sudden cold front and yesterday evening we had a little rain shower. Taygen absolutely had to go out and play in it and you would assume that is why he has the galoshes on but no. Taygen has grown to have a little obsession with said galoshes he wants to wear them all the time which surprises me since I bought them months ago and he refused to even let me get them near his feet. But one day he found them and wanted them on and now he always wants them on ( this very moment he is wearing them over his jammies ).

Mommies Little Helper

2009-04-15T08:16:00.001-07:00

Taygen is very into helping with things now a days which I hope continues with the rapidly approaching babies arrival. His latest is washing dishes there is a lot of water involved and only plastic dishes that cannot be broken if dropped. I have to say though it pretty cute to watch and hey what ever keeps him entertained. I would hate to discouraged my little guy from helping around the house someday he will have a wife who appreciates me letting him enjoy a little house work.

Happy Easter

2009-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

I thought Taygen would be old enough to be a little interested in this holiday and I was right in one respect he loved the candy that came out of the little eggs. As for walking around and finding them he took his usual position and just let my dad do that for him.

Something Fun

2009-04-01T09:00:00.001-07:00

Since it's getting warmer outside I was trying to get fun activities to do that I wouldn't attempt with Taygen inside. So we decided to paint rocks, at first it wasn't much of a success he kinda watched me painting them and just gave me the " really mom" look but he later realized it could be some fun. He ended up painting 2 rocks both turned out kinda brown since he just mixed all the colors together.

It's either motherhood or pregnancy? ( I hope )

2009-03-12T13:02:00.001-07:00

So today is close to most days with a few added twists. At 3 am the fire alarm out of battery beep starts going off ( why this always occurs in the middle of the night I don't know ). Of course it is located at the highest point of our house so Cj on the absolute top of our ladder reaching as high as he can, can just barley reach it to change the battery. 1st problem solved. Taygen though has now woken up from the commotion and stupid me let him out of his crib. Needless to say to a two year old the excitement of getting out of your crib at 3:30 does not wear off so quickly. So from 3:30 till 5 I try and persuade him to return to sleep. Finally giving up and just putting him back in his bed to cry it out a little. Everyone sleeps, Taygen of course since he got up and played in the middle of the night decides to sleep in till 9 ( normally would be excited for ) which destroys nap for the day. So why am I going on this long tale I think it is in hopes of somehow defending my later mind blank. So here I was now driving late to a class Tay has at henderson rec when I suddenly realize I am not wearing a bra. Yes I got completely dressed and everything and yet no bra. No this isn't completely tragic as I am not that well endowed in the top half but still. So I am blaming it on the rough night and following day combined with the fact that I am pregnant in my last trimester. Apparently common dressing abilities is lost in the last months of pregnancy.

Visiting the Fishes

2009-03-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

Those of you who reside in vegas probably recognize the fish tank pictured above at the Silverton. Taygen loves to go visit the fishes there and we do it quite often. It's free and close to the house so we pop in a gaze at those fishes for a little while. I guess I must admit it's the benefit to living in Las Vegas they do have some fun things around.

Seriously People!

2009-03-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

So since my pregnant belly is finally starting to look like a baby is in there instead of a tummy that could use a few sit ups people in public feel the need to make their comments. Everyone seems to feel the need to say " you must be having a girl I can tell by the way you are carrying" for which my quick response is "nope it's a boy". I mean I am completely happy with our new baby boy addition but I will say I was hoping for a little girl just to take that pressure off ( I have a fear of us only having all boys ). So needless to say I don't particularly enjoy this comment.

Taygen turns 2!

2009-02-20T09:54:00.001-08:00

It has just occurred to me that I no longer have a little baby. Instead I have this little man like overnight. Taygen turned 2 the end of January and we had a small celebration. I was all geared up to do something a little extravagant but instead decided to do a small family celebration. Taygen was in a pretty horrible mood, of course right. We had a good time though.

I went and got a little bouquet of balloons they were a huge hit with Tay.

Mommy thought about making cupcakes but then my pregnancy hormones kicked in and the love I have for Freed's Bakery cakes took over any other idea.

Of course as with most kids after opening the first toy he was set and didn't care about any of the other ones.

The expression on his face describes the night not too excited about anything.

Breakfast food

2009-02-09T10:00:00.003-08:00

He must get this from his mommy, I have never been a breakfast person I always eat un-conventional food for my morning meal apparently I passed this along. Taygen absolutely loves popcorn and his favorite time of day to indulge is for breakfast, some days he will almost eat the whole bowl.

Typical Boy

2009-02-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

This morning I had to get a few e-mails out before Taygen and I headed off to a playgroup so I got him some breakfast so he could eat while I typed. I had the motherly foresight to put on a bib which I almost never do but since I was letting him wheeled the spoon without intense supervision I put it on. Good thing I did because I finished my e-mail and look around the corner to see me little man abandoned the useless spoon and went for the easier method, just drink the yogurt right out of the cup! It's innovative I will give him that.

Wagon Fun

2009-02-04T08:35:00.001-08:00

This is one of Taygen's new loves. He got a wagon for christmas and knowing daddy would take a lot of asking to put it together mommy went ahead and dragged it into the house to attempt it. It was not a hard project except Taygen was so territorial about the thing the moment it came out of the box it was all I could do to put it together with him climbing in and out and pulling it around with just 2 wheels on. We have christened it with a few rides already, though I don't think contraction happy mommy will be able to pull it much longer so it will have to be a family activity with big strong daddy pulling it along.

Announcing!

2009-01-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that we will be having another baby boy!

Jingle Bells!

2009-01-02T19:09:00.001-08:00

We always are lucky enough to do christmas 3 times each year one for ourselves at home and then one with each set of parents. This year we got to head down to California with my parents for the actual christmas day celebration. It was filled with lots of fun and Taygen was definitely excited with all his bounty.

This was the hit of christmas a cute train set my dad pick out Taygen saw that and pretty much wouldn't look at anything else for a good 2 hours.

The next hour he played with a new kid friendly laptop. My mom found him the cutest Pj's for christmas he looked like such a little man.

It took him a full day to even get through everything else to realize he had a new fancy bike for him. He can't quite reach the pedals yet but he knows how to scoot until then.

Papa even found him the adorable little airplane to go with his train set he was just a little boy in heaven.

Continuing in his bliss was the rides that my Dad would take him on the tractor he was so excited I had to be the bad guy and pull him off eventually so he could go take a nap you mothers can imagine how that went over.

Those of you who keep up on us might remember the last time we went to visit the chickens and turkeys my grandpa has well they are huge now and we couldn't resist taking Taygen out there to enjoy again, he just loves to watch them. Don't worry I made sure and ask my grandpa that none of these turkey or chickens were planned for eating purposes he said no they are strickly fun pets. The chickens lay really good eggs though I had the pleasure of enjoying some.

Snow in Vegas What a Dream Come True!

2009-01-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows I love cold weather which makes living in Vegas interesting considering I don't really believe we see a winter it's more like a summer and a fall. Well this year we got a happy surprise! A very good amount of snow!

Cj got up early in the morning since most of the snow came and actually stuck when it was dark out and made Taygen a snowman so he could enjoy it when he got up. What a good Daddy.

Taygen of course enjoyed playing out in the backyard with the snow. We weren't really prepared with any type a snow clothing as stated above we live in Vegas but we made due.

Even though the slide was all wet and a big pile of snow waited at the bottom Taygen couldn't resist enjoying some snow sliding.

Snow fun

2008-12-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

I know I have been a total lag lately on the blogging to be honest I finally jumped on the twilight train and found myself completely obsessed! I read all four books in one week! Anyone who hasn't read them yet I definitely recommend them, who can pass up a good love story. In addition to the normal pregnancy things like morning sickness which is thankfully gone and the exhaustion which isn't as bad a before but definitely lingering. I just haven't found myself with pictures and stories to blog. Till now of course:)

This past weekend we were able to head up to the snow for the weekend with our good friends it was tons of fun the kids adored the snow and we got to do some family photos.

This was too cute for me Taygen wanted to pull Evan around, what good little buddies

Thankfully this day the weather was nice and warm so even though the kids were without snow clothes they didn't freeze, of course Taygen was trying everything he could. This is where the water was running off after melting off the roof. Taygen enjoyed the fun little shower.

I was a little surprised how much he loved the snow he hoped right in and would jump in the deep snow up to his little waist no problem. Needless to say it took a little bit of trying to get the kids to finally go back inside.

Drum Roll Please

2008-11-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

Baby Number 2 is on IT"S way

We are very please to announce that we are adding a new addition to the family! We are all very excited well if Tay had any idea I bet he would be excited. Today was the big first ultrasound I waited to announce till now because I just don't always believe it till I see it. Of course as soon as we can announce whether we are having a he or she we will, until then we are still in the IT stage. Today the tech speculated it was a boy and then the doctor came in and speculated a girl. So we will have to wait some more weeks till we know for sure. Otherwise we are just enjoying the peace that comes with still only having one child as he sits next to me on the floor screaming because he can't stand it when I do anything else but hang out with him:)

Halloween Fun

2008-11-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween this year since Taygen understood more of what was actually going on. We had a little pre-halloween fun at Cj's parents ward trunk or treat which went really well so I knew the real show would go pretty well too.

This was our pre-halloween party I didn't even attempt to try and get Taygen into his real costume because I knew it was going to be a battle. So instead I let him wear some skeleton Pj's.

This is the real costume I loved and tried to get him to like. As you can tell from the above picture it was a hard sell. Even with candy as a bribe he was not having it.

So we ended up in this costume which has a odd story behind it. Cj;s mom had gotten it for us back in the day before children when the dogs were like your children and we used to buy them sweaters to wear outside in the winter snow. I thought it was so cute I kept it and when digging in a box to find my own halloween costume I came upon it. Tay actually would wear it without any fight so we gave in.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today we went and visited a pumpkin patch here in vegas. Tay wasn't very interested in the rides put he did enjoy playing around on the pumpkins:)

Wrapping up Summertime

2008-10-02T15:27:00.001-07:00

Well summertime might be slowing down in vegas. We have had a few days that it threatened to finally start to cool down and then we jumped back up again to the nasty heat. Since is is starting to finally cool down in the evenings Taygen has definitely pushed more and more to go and play outside.

Taygen loves to kick around the ball I don't know maybe he is meant to be a great soccer star

Our other favorite thing to do is drag the dog around on the leash. Tay goes and gets the leash and brings it to me to put on the dog poor dog he is so nice he lets Tay just drag him around.

Sometimes outside isn't so fun this is Taygens I am not happy face

Happy Birthday Daddy

2008-09-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Cj's birthday this year I planned a quick getaway for us. Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to watch our suddenly sick child for a night while Cj and I got to enjoy a night to ourselves with a fancy dinner and stay at Red Rock Hotel. We had a great time as short as our little getaway was both of us said how nice it was to just have those moments together even still missing our little guy. Happy Birthday Daddy:)

Car Rides

2008-09-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Taygen is one of those children that unless completely entertained while having to ride around in the car he screams and screams which is something mommy learned about Tay when he was very young. To keep my sanity I insisted on having a dvd player in our next car which has become my lifesaver on long car trips or long days of running errands. Taygens favorite new thing is to listen to the headphones while his favorite show plays:)

Cooling Off

2008-09-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

We were able to make a little trip up to the mountains this past holiday weekend to enjoy the nice cool weather. When you have an 19 month old you start to really long for that good weather so that your little one can burn energy up outside exploring.

This was a perfect opportunity to bring Taygen's little 4-wheeler up so he could just drive around all over the place. Going back and forth across our family room doesn't really do it for him.

I know the outfit is a little ghetto but hey when in the mountains anything goes especially when your getting dirty so often mommy quickly runs out of clean things to wear.

Running in the Rain

2008-08-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got to enjoy a wonderful summer rain shower. There was lots of rain and lots of thunder the later Taygen did not enjoy. Once the monsoon like rains stopped and it was just sprinkling I finally let Taygen run loose which made him a very happy boy. Him and the dog enjoyed a nice run around through the puddles and wet grass, it's so nice to see your kids enjoy something as simple as rain.

All Done

2008-08-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was the big day for Tay. Everything went well the surgery is very quick like 10 minutes so it was over in no time. The hardest part is they of course have to take him from us to bring him into the OR and this terrifies him, he screams and just reaches back for us it definitely tug at Cj and I's heart strings but we knew of course this was going to make him feel better. Then as we were warned the are taken to recovery where they wake up in a strange place with strange people and they are dizzy from the drugs so he was not happy. After about 30 minutes of Cj and I trying to calm him down they finally let us leave which I knew would solve the problem he was just so scared at that point to have all the strange people near him checking this that and the other. As soon as we walked out he started calming down and after getting home and being able to eat and get a good fix of mickey mouse clubhouse he was pretty much back to normal. So everything went well he is still I am sure adjusting so there is a bit of irritability but we are more than happy to just keep comforting him till he is back to his old self:)

Hospital gowns are always so sad looking

Showing a little diaper out the back:)

Ear Infections

2008-08-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

So today it became official Taygen is getting tubes put in his ears. We are pretty happy with this decision since he has been fighting the same ear infection for the past 3 months and with 3 rounds of antibiotics and no healing in sight. As you might have guessed this ailment does not help his mood. Poor guy wants to be comforted all the time and on top of his usual passionate personality comes the pain of having your ears hurt. We are hoping this also helps with his lack of vocabulary since they say he basically can only hear you as if you were talking under water. They told me it takes only 6 minutes for them to put the tubes in and they don't use an IV or anything to put him to sleep they use a mask with special gas. So although anything that requires you to go to the hospital makes me a little nervous I am happy that he will be getting some relief.