Scenes of Summer

Ok, we have had a very busy June and I don't feel like I have time to blog it all in detail. So here are some snapshots to show what we have been up to. If I get time to do more, great. If not, you can imagine the details yourselves!
Sports already run a good portion of our lives, and June was no different. I'm a little scared to think how much worse it is going to get in the next few years!
We spent the beginning days of our summer at the BYU Soccer Camp, which Cole always thinks is so cool.
Then, we would rush home and change Cole so he could go to his teeball games.
Cole showing us his "Rrrraptor" position.
Then, a few weeks later, we repeated the rushing around, but this time with BYU Basketball Camp. This was the first year that Cole could do the basketball camp and he loved it! He thought it was even better than soccer camp. (I can't remember if he has 1 or 2 more camps in July! Chad loves that perk of his job! I'm pretty Cole does too.)
Maybe by next year he will grow into his jersey!The next few weeks it was Emily's turn to rush from sport to sport. She started gymnastics (I don't have any pictures of that yet.) about the same time as she and Cole started swim lessons.
Emily proudly waits by her number for her class to begin.
Although, who needs to learn to swim when your teacher gives you rides!
Cole is becoming quite the swimmer on his stomach ...
And on his back.
He even jumped off the diving board and swam to the side all by himself!
Somewhere in the middle of June, we attended the Taylor Reunion.
Chad and one of the few remaining Taylor siblings.
Emily and her loot
Chad was untouchable at horseshoes!
Also somewhere in the middle of June, we attended the Manti Pageant,
Where we had Cotton Candy,
And got to see how beautiful the temple was at night!
Then, thanks to Uncle Allen and Aunt Shelly, we spent the night in a cabin not too far from Manti. The next day we got to do lots of fun stuff in the woods, like
Ride 4-Wheelers
Shoot BB guns
I'm really not sure who had the most fun with this part of the trip!
After practicing shooting at targets, the mighty hunters were ready to go shoot bears, or wolves, or deer, or more likely lizards and spiders!
While Emily likes to get down and dirty, she is also elegant and refined! She found a tree house that had a kitchen cupboard in it. So of course she talked Aunt Shelly into having a real tea party in the treehouse with real snacks that she organized on the kitchen shelves. (It could have been the most organized tea party in the woods ever! She had to put the plates and napkins in the drawers and the drinks and snacks on the shelves before anyone could take anything.)
She had lemonade and root beer, chips and fruit snacks, and plates and napkins, just to name a few. (I have to say that it reminded me of the popcorn commercial where the dad and brother dress up for the sister's tea party just so they can eat the food. When Cole and cousin Hunter heard Emily was having a tea party, they rolled their eyes and said that it sounded boring. But as soon as Emily started pulling the actual snacks out, they were suddenly very interested in participating! I was cracking up!)
We also found time to visit Grandma Sweetpea,
And to make several trips to Seven Peaks with family and friends.
Chad used to only be able to go on the big, fun rides with other kids.
But this time, Cole went on Boomerang for the first time with only minimal hyperventilating! This gave Chad great hope that he will have a riding buddy in the near future.
Emily and Kira enjoy a Fruit by the Foot snack in Lady and the Tramp style.
And I don't even know what to say about this. Maybe she had been in the sun too long. Or maybe going down the slides slightly warped her brain. Or maybe this is just Addy and her defiant personality! She loved to lean over and put her head in the water on the ground.
We also had fun going to the park to swing, slide, ...
And to eat so many chips that we broke the bench!
We also played ball.
I'm not sure if Emily is the Umpire or the Catcher here. I'm guessing she probably doesn't know either!
While, we took the kids lots of fun places and had them do lots of fun stuff, my kids also had plenty of fun just playing around the house.
June finally got warm enough that it was fun to just play in the yard with water.
The blue plastic pool that we bought when Cole was this age could be our greatest investment ever!
"You run, you slide, you hit the bump and take a dive!"
And saving possibly the best for last. I've discovered that my kids have an abundance of creativity. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes, well not so much. This picture shows a prime example of that. One day, I came in from mowing the yard to a kitchenful of kids, cups, and pans of ice and water. Little did I know that the pans also contained plenty of salt! While I was out, the kids had decided that they were going to sell, not lemonade, but salted, ice water. I'm not sure why or how they came up with this idea, but they thought it was a winner! After I told them they couldn't ask total strangers to buy their salt water, they proceeded to go and ask all their friends on the block to come try it out. I'm pretty sure they ended up giving it all away and didn't sell any, but they had a great time!
Wow, after rereading all of that, I can better understand why I'm exhausted and have gotten nothing productive done this summer! Oh well. Maybe July will be less intense.

Secret Confessions of Addison

Alright, so it's been a while for me. I've been pretty busy growing up. I don't have much time to sit on the computer these days. I have to watch Cole and Emily's every move and try to copy it. If they are sitting on the couch, I want to get up there too. If they go outside, I'm banging on the door until someone let's me out. If someone tries to make me sit in my high chair instead of at the table like everyone else, I move my plate to the table when my Mom and Dad aren't looking.
Maybe I'll learn to read by age 2. I have lots of good examples to follow!
I love to copy Cole and Em so much that when they have to get their pj's on, I bang my chest and say "Pj's" until someone puts them on me. My Mom thinks it's because I'm ready for bed, but really it's so...
I can lay in bed and watch "non" (Noggin) with Em. (I even make my Mom get my milk cup for me, so I can be just like Em.)
Or, if Em goes straight to bed, I like to climb in bed with Cole. He hides me from Mom and Dad!
Once Mom got wise to that trick, I learned to pretend I was sleeping. It would make my Mom and Dad laugh so hard that I would get to stay up at least 15 minutes longer!
In my spare time (when I'm not bugging Cole and Em of course), I love to dress up.
Whether it be in my Mom's shoes, Or, my hat and purse.
I know I look sweet and innocent, but I do have to admit that sometimes I do stuff that I probably shouldn't.
I really like the color purple. So when Emily left out her purple lip gloss, I really had no choice but to see how I would look in it. The only problem is, sometimes I get my lips and cheeks confused.
Then, since I looked so cute with purple on my cheeks, a few days later I decided I needed to try again. This time, I couldn't get a hold of Emily's makeup. But she did leave a marker down where I could reach it. (My Mom thinks that maybe this is better than on the walls. But as much trouble as I got in for this one, I would hate to see what would happen when I draw on the walls!)
Every time Mom catches me doing things like this, she shakes her head and tells me she is afraid I might be the first one to break a bone. But what's a kid to do, I needed a seat and a table for my goldfish. I thought I was quite inventive! As I get a little older, I'm rapidly learning to communicate better. One day, our friend Jami was here cutting Cole and Em's hair. I really wanted my hair cut too because it was always getting in my eyes. I finally whacked my head and grunted enough times that my Mom finally got the hint that I wanted my hair cut also. If only she could understand my grunts when I want a cookie or don't want to go to bed. Oh well, I guess I still have a little work a head of me to train her.
See, a little long.
Because I watched Cole and Em go first, I knew all I had to do was hold still and close my eyes.
I winced once or twice when she was getting a little close, but it wasn't too bad.
Don't I look even cuter now?!!?
Have I mentioned that I love Cole and Em! I can even say their names and the names of any of their friends that come over. I've found they are more likely to pay attention to me if I shout their names at the top of my lungs!
Uhoh, here comes my Mom. I guess I'd better go pretend I'm asleep so I can stay up for a while longer. I'll be back sometime though. I have plenty more of my cuteness to share!

Preschool Fun

Not to be outdone by Cole finishing kindergarten, Emily also finished her first year of preschool. To celebrate, her teacher invited all of the parents over so the kids could show us what they learned this year.
They learned to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
They learned their shapes, letters, colors, and numbers.
Their favorite book to read was Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. In fact, they read it so much that Emily has it memorized now.
Emily loved her preschool and is so excited for next year. She had a great teacher who taught her so much! (There was one boy in the class, but he had already left.)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Daddy!
We didn't get to sing to you today, but we wanted to (or at least Mom wanted us too). So, here is the Father's Day song we were supposed to sing.

You are a great Dad and we love you very much.
Have a good trip.
We miss you!

He's Ready for First Grade!

Well, he finally did it! Cole has managed to graduate from Kindergarten. It was quite the year and quite an adventure.
But he had a great teacher and he made lots of friends.
Cole and Miss Harris
Cole and his best buddies
Cole's Original Preschool Class. Thank goodness they all made it through Kindergarten!
Now, he is ready to take on First Grade!
After they swarm their poor teacher, of course!
Here are a few tidbits from Cole's Graduation Program. (These are especially for Weston and Tabitha who like to hear Cole sing!) I hope you enjoy the back of the heads that I managed to film as well.
Cole learned a lot in Kindergarten this year.
Starting with a respect for our nation and the flag.


Cole also learned to sing his ABC's, kindergarten-style.


His teacher taught him to count, by more than just 1 at a time.


They learned how to spell (and sign), but not everything. They have to save some things for first grade! (Does this song sound familiar anyone?)


They also learned an assortment of other things.


Now it is time for the Baby Eagles to leave their nests and spread their wings in all day school!


So, start spreading the news, Cole and his buddies are off to First Grade!


Cole, I am very proud of you. You are so smart and you are going to do great in First Grade!

Happy Birthday Chad!

Although I'm a little late getting this post in, I don't want to leave my loving husband out of the birthday party blogs. So, Happy Birthday Chad!! You are a great husband and father.

Opening presents is not nearly as exciting when you are getting older, although the kids still think it's fun!
Except for Emily, who didn't really want to be bothered.
Until we made her show interest, and then she carried her book over to look, carefully so as not to lose her place, just long enough to get credit for paying attention.
He was very excited about this new yard toy. In fact, I think he likes to work out in the yard just so he can use it. Of course, he also likes to see if it has enough power to blow the kids over. So far, no luck! But, Addy won't really get close enough for him to try blowing her down!
This is the "You are in big trouble because I'm pretty sure this is not on the approved present list" look.
This is the, "Well, since I really want to skydive, I guess it will be ok" look.
While his cake is a little boring compared to the kids, I did make cream cheese frosting from scratch. I think he liked that better than a fancy cake!
Chad, we love you and can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!