Front Runner

My dad wanted to take all the grandkids on a train ride on FrontRunner. Sam and I (and other family members) rode FrontRunner the first day it was running back in 2008, but this was the first time for Chris. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

We rode from Bountiful to Ogden, and then had some of our nieces and nephews join us in Layton and ended up in Bountiful again. If I counted right, we started with 8 adults and 5 kids, and then picked up 1 more adult and 8 more kids.

Frites and Waffles

A huge thanks to my cute sisters for sharing some of their pictures from our Utah trip. We took our camera, and didn't get many pictures. Oops! The next few posts will be about our trip to Utah we took in March. (And just so you know, we had a ton of fun with the Taylor side too, but no one got any pictures other than our family pictures).

We went to a little frite shop that's owned by a guy from Belgium for some authentic Belgian fries and waffles. Yum!
Chris and my brother-in-law Paul both served in the Belgium, Brussels mission, so they really enjoyed this. My mission (Switzerland, Geneva mission) included a tiny corner of Belgium. My companion and I took a train there one afternoon on a preparation day when I was serving in Luxembourg just to say that I had been there.

Here's my proof! See the flag?

Anyway, we got lots of tasty frites and wafflesAnd for those of you who know Belgium, you'll recognize this, Manneken Pis (I like the little University of Utah hat that was put on him! Go Utes!):

Family Pictures

During our short trip to Utah, we took family pictures with the Taylors. The last time we took family pictures with them, I was just a couple weeks pregnant with Sam--over four years ago. There have been a few changes in the family since then, so it was time for an updated picture.

It was super cold and windy outside, plus Sam was tired, so I'm really impressed our photographer was able to get a couple good shots. Thanks Amanda!

Another Hike--Barlow Pass

Here are more pictures to prove how beautiful Washington is--another effort in my campaign to get everyone to move up here!

Valentine's Day/Chinese New Years

February 14th this year we celebrated two holidays. We decorated Sam's bed with hearts while he slept, and he was so excited to see his valentines! It was so cute!

We had heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.
That evening we had a Valentine's Day/Chinese New Years party at our friend Lisa's house.

This is July and her husband Dave

This is Glen (who sold us his Great Harvest), and our friend Tanya

This is me and Glen's wife Julee. They are amazing people!

At the end of the evening, the kids put together a Chinese dragon parade. Sam is under there somewhere. We had two dragons so everyone could fit.Fun was had by all! Happy Valentine's Day and Chinese New Years!

Hiking with Troy

Here are some pictures of a hike Troy took Chris and Sam on in January. We had a nice warm month last month--I think I heard somewhere that it was the warmest January on record in 80 years. Anyway, they hiked around Fort Ebey on Whidbey Island. Enjoy the pictures!

Sam's First Few Weeks in Primary

I am the Primary chorister at church. Sam is now old enough to be a brand new sunbeam in Primary. I knew it wasn't going to be any easy transition since he used to climb all over me while trying to do music time with the nursery classes. Take away all the toys, and make a large group of three year olds sit still through 50 minutes in one place is very difficult. Now add to that the fact that one of those three year old's moms is sitting up front, and he's not allowed to sit with her, climb all over her, and have her hold him... Yeah, it's not easy.

Sam's first week was awful. Chris was home sick, so I had to wrestle with him all by myself. He refused to sit with his class, so after lots of lip quivering, clinging, and crying I let him sit with me, until I had to start doing music time. While I try to teach jr. primary their new song, Sam and his little partners in crime decide to try jumping off of the chairs making shooting noises as they fight with their pretend finger guns. They are loud, and running all over the place. Our primary has 20 new sunbeams on the rolls--about 14 that come regularly, split between two classes. The first Sunday of the year is always chaotic, but knowing my kid was one who was causing some of the chaos was stressful. At class time, he left ok, but was later brought back to me sobbing his little heart out--right when it was my turn to do singing time with the senior primary. He refused to sit next to me, but insisted that I hold him. Holding a whimpering little boy while trying to teach a song was practically impossible.

Chris has had to sit with him during parts of opening exercises and class time but each week since then has progressively gotten better. This week was the first time he didn't need Chris at all. He was still loud and disruptive with his partner in crime, but he didn't have any emotional breakdowns at any time. I think we're headed in the right direction!

Here is a picture of Sam with his two teachers, Sis. Music and Sis. Shurtz.

Belated Christmas Celebration

Chris' family came to visit the week after Christmas, so we decided to postpone having our Christmas morning until they arrived. We had our Christmas Eve on New Year's Eve, and our Christmas morning on New Year's morning. Sam had no idea. We made a little Christmas count-down paper chain, and we just adjusted it to count down to the adjusted date. When we'd be out running errands after December 25th, people would ask Sam if Santa had come to visit him, and he'd say no, not yet. We got a few weird looks, so I would have to explain.

Anyway, we had such a good Christmas and were so happy that the Taylors could come celebrate with us. Here are a couple videos from our Christmas and visit with Chris' family.

This first clip is of our Christmas Eve which we celebrated December 31st. Chris was sick during the whole time his family was here (he gets sick at this time every year from exhaustion and lack of sleep). This also shows Sam decorating cookies for Santa.


This second clip is of our Christmas morning which we celebrated on January 1st.


This last video is of an afternoon we spent in Seattle. We ate at a Crab Pot, then Sam rode on a little carousel. While the rest of us went to Pike Market Place, Chris' dad and Sam went to the aquarium. We spent the evening swimming at the hotel and eating Great Harvest sandwiches.


Here are some more pictures of the fun we had during Chris' family's visit.

The Holidays

From the week of Thanksgiving through the end of December, we at the Taylor home worked our little tails off. Both Chris and I were each working 60-80 hour weeks between my full time job in the leasing office, his regular work hours at the bakery, and both of us working at our little kiosk at the mall. Chris has worked every holiday season like since 2004, but this was a first for me. Blegh! We were so happy for Christmas to come and be over with!

Here is a picture of our kiosk we had at the mall for the holiday season


A friend of ours asked if some people from his single's ward could use our bakery to make a gingerbread house. Apparently there was a competition between the Elder's Quorum and the Relief Society, or something. In any case, some people came, and Chris helped them bake TONS of gingerbread. They later brought the finished product back to our bakery to display (and yes, they won).


We put up our little Christmas tree at the bakery (my favorite was the cute little loaves of bread tied up in ribbons and bows under the tree), and then picked it up Christmas Day and took it back home for our Christmas celebration which started later than most people's. I'll talk more about our Christmas/New Year's in my next post.