Polar Express '08

This is a Taylor Family Tradition. We all trek out to Park City, do some shopping at the great outlet stores and then Grandma Taylor gets all the grandkids new pajama's and we all go on the Heber Creeper Train. During the Christmas season the theme is the Polar Express. During the train ride they bring you a cookie and some hot cocoa. The conductor, who Cole loved, and Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus all come through the train at some point. Santa brings everyone a bell so for the rest of time until Christmas when someone would ask Cole what Santa was bringing him, he would answer "belt" which was his way of saying bell.

Here's the kids with the PJ's, they all sat still for a half second and we were lucky enough to get a picture of it!

This is what the train station looks like. It was beautiful at night!

This was what the train cars looked like.

Cole absolutely loved it. Mom, dad, grandparents, cousins, and a big train, what more is there to life when you are two.

Oh, so cute!

Oh, so cute again!

Cole didn't mind Santa as long as mom or dad was between him and Santa.

The Grandparents got into the fun as well!

This is everyone with our bells. It was so much fun and we are so grateful for the Taylor's making it happen for us all. It really helped us to get in the spirit of Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving in California. Cole LOVED wrestling and playing with his cousins.

We went to the park and played, and played, and played with John and Whitney.

We celebrated an early birthday with our family in California. Stacey made Cole an Elmo cake, he thought it was great.

We went through the temple with our family. This is the Newport Beach Temple.

And we got sealed together in the San Diego Temple.

And we played some more with our cousins.

Whitney is just silly!

Halloween 2008

Colie and I had a good time carving pumpkins. He would not touch the guts, but he got a little knife and stabbed it everywhere, such a great help! He was very careful not to stab himself though!

He could even say Superman in his cute almost 2 way. Cole really got the hang of Trick or Treating. He would follow all his cousins up to the door, push his way through the crowd and say, "Twick o Tweet" and then take a piece or two of candy and then push his way back through the crowd to get back to mom and dad. He loved being superman and loved wearing his superman hat most of all. He did not like people in costumes unless he could see their faces. Mostly I think he just liked hanging out with all his cousins feeling like a big kid.

Kevin and I got to dress up and go to a Halloween party too. After this Halloween Cole is scared of clowns.

St. George

We finally made it up to see Sheila's parents house in St. George. It is sure beautiful, with some beautiful scenery.
This is the view at night.

And this is the view during the day!

And incase you were wondering, this is the front of their house.

And the back!

We had a great time seeing the sites of St. George, playing at the nearby parks, hitting a few golf balls, and enjoying my dad's new theatre room. We can't wait to get back down there this winter. I am hoping to see green grass again and not just snow!

Fun in Plain City

People from California always want to know what we do for fun out here in Plain City, well, here is an example. This was actually one of my favorite young men/young women activities. Mud Football!

We got one of the local volunteer Fireman to bring the truck out and water the field, now where else can you get that kind of service from the Fire Department!?!

We had a great time and got REALLY dirty! I'm on the top right with the sun glasses. I left before the real mud wars began!

This is one of our young women who got picked on by the boys!

And to clean off, well, a hose worked, or some just jumped right into the irrigation ditch!

Now you can't beat that for fun in Plain City!

August, Really?

Alright, back by popular demand, new photo's not that we need it or anything!

Cole decided he wanted to wear his diaper, but he had another idea from mom and dad about how to wear it!

Already taking after Dad!

Here are my pride and joy flowers from this summer (Hibiscus). I love them, I am really hoping they will grow back this next year!

The Mosquito's in Plain City are nasty ones! Cole's eye got infected from a bite this summer.

Our two favorite games...

So, I have been inspired by many friends who have pointed out that you don't have to do pictures every time in order to update the blog. So, here is just a short and simple story to continue our obsession with our son! Cole's new favorite game is steam-roller. He can't quite say it yet, but he is trying. He will start out on one side of the room and come rolling towards me (or dad) giggling like crazy, when he gets to you, he stops and waits for you to help roll him on top of you and then he continues rolling to the other side of the room, for a variation, we will hold on to him and roll with him, working hard not to squash him, which the closer he comes to getting sqashed, the more he will laugh. This has now become part of our bedtime routine, I don't think it is as effective in calming him as a nice book, but we go for it anyways, we can't resist the giggle.

The other game he started this morning is what we now call, "possum." We found him laying ever so still in his crib, sideways of course, and under his pillow (except for his feet.) He lays still until he knows we are going to grab the pillow and then he giggles and kicks. When we pull the pillow away and say "Boo" he just cracks up. Then he will grab the pillow again and wrap his arms and legs around it and hide under it and just laugh. If we walk out, or pretend to, he will lay real still until he hears us come back, and then he will giggle again.

It's hard to believe this is the same kid that stayed awake screaming all night and was fussy all day when he was a baby!

Stuff about Cole

So, I thought I would just write some cute stories about Cole and the fun things he is doing at this time of his life. He is talking up a storm and willing to say just about anything. Some of his favorites and our translations are...
First words were...
Mama, Dada, Ball, and Dog, then PaPa.
Now, he knows…
Animals and their sounds and he is learning their Spanish names at his daycare…
Cow and Moo and in Spanish (Vaca)
Dog and Woof (perro)
Cat and Meow (gato)
Horse and Neigh
Duck and quack
Lion and Roar, he has a cute little roar!
Hello and hola
Bye, bye and chow

Translations:
Track-tur = tractor and thank goodness we live in Plain City and there is about one on every corner for him to see or I don't know what we'd do
Eat = I’m hungry, usually followed by him grabbing your fingers and pulling you to his high chair
Wat-ur = Water, and he repeats it until you find his sippy and give him a drink
Day-zhe = Daisy (Grandma and Grandpa Whitney’s dog and our friend Amy’s dog)
Sicka = Siska (Grandpa Taylor’s Dog)
Deck-er=Dexter (Kevin’s brother’s dog)
Doo don = shoes on, which we usually hear within 5 minutes of him being awake and then he goes to find his shoes and will bring them to us, and if we wait to long to take him outside, he finds our shoes and brings them to us and repeats emphatically, Do don, do don!!!!
Out dide = outside, and he runs to the back door
Lee la = Sheila, which he uses interchangeably with Mom
Eby = Kevy, but he will usually call him dada
Ride = he wants a ride on the 4 wheeler with grandpa
He haw = ye-haw, used when he wants to go faster on the 4 wheeler or when he wants Kevin to give him a horsey ride
Mit Mow = Mickey Mouse (we went to Disneyland the last time we were home)
Hot = hot and is followed by him blowing, sometimes he does it when we go outside, or whenever he decides something is hot
WOW!!! = whenever he sees a big truck or hears a loud truck going by
Bee-ngie = Binkie and or Blankie, we have to figure out which, although he is usually pointing to tell you before you have to guess.
Uh Oh = always means something has fallen, that phrase saved his tractor from being forever lost in Disneyland, every time he dropped it, he let us know.
Wat = he wants to watch tv, he will follow it up with Bob or Choo Choo, so he decides between Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train for his shows
Am-Ma = grandma, which is usually followed by him pulling her fingers to take him somewhere he wants to be
Eaw-pane = Airplane, usually precedented by a complete halt to walking or moving and repeating it until he can find the airplane in the sky. (I showed him an airplane at night and the next night we were driving and he saw a bright star and called that an airplane)
esh-lie = flashlight, which we use often as a distractor when he is fussing about getting his diaper changed, although the other night he saw a full moon for the first time and called that a flashlight.
Donny = we have no idea what it means but he uses it when he points to objects he doesn't know the name for

So, i'm sure it's obvious he is a first child and we dote on all that he does. We love him so much and are so grateful everyday for the smiles and laughter and love he has added to our home. Cole has such a lighthearted personality, he loves to laugh and play and giggle. It is so fun watching him start to want some independence and be so proud of himself when he accomplishes something new. Kevin and I think we are so lucky to have the family and friends we have and are so grateful for all the love and support we continually get from everyone.

4th of July

Stacey and Dan came up to Plain City for our 4th of July Celebration. We all had so much fun. The twins slept in the same bedroom as Cole did. We had no idea if Whitney would just climb right into his bed or not, but she never did. The second Cole was awake he was calling for Whitney. We decorated the 4 wheeler so the grandkids and John and Whitney could all be in the parade.


from the left: Hunter, Whitney, John, Jayden, and Shaylee is on top.



Everyone seemed to have a great time. Stac and Dan were clearly impressed with the small town way of celebrating the holiday, although they were disappointed that there was no fish scramble this year. (They set up hay bails in a square, fill it in with plastic and then fill it with water from the ditch. Then the local hatchery fills it full of fish and the kids can come and grab them with their bare hands).

More random pictures of Cole

Cole loves to snuggle his pillow when he sleeps and scrunch up between the narrow sides of the bed. He is so silly when he sleeps. Usually one foot is stuck through the bars of the crib and resting on the pads.

This has been the best pool this summer. Cole goes down that slide so many times whenever we pull it out. He's even learning to take turns, of course he was much nicer than usual with this friend, I'm pretty sure it's because she is a cute little girl.

Grandpa Whitney got Cole this Harley Bear chair. Cole loves it. When he is watching a show he always wants to have a pillow behind him to lean against, or he has to have the bear chair. He can even say "bear chair."

Such a goofball.

Already trying to wear his dad's shoes!

This was from a mosquito bite he got underneath his eye. It turned into a nasty infection, he had to get a shot for and then he was put on 2 antibiotics to fight off the infection. We are a bit paranoid of mosquito's after this.

Cole loves to sit piggy-back, usually on mom or dad, but today his cousins Jayden and Shaylee were the receivers! He will then start jumping up and down and says Ride! He definitely knows what he wants and how to get it!