Summer So Far - A Hodge Podge

A trip to Grandmommy's.
It's not a trip to Grandmommy's lately without checking out what new Angry Birds game she's got on her iPad.

A walk in the rain

Some carnival rides at Liberty Park

Some creative cooking experiments:  Chocolate Mousse and Key Lime Pie

Really tasty if I do say so myself!

Homemade bagels (I made doughnuts too but didn't take a picture).

A trip to Island Park over Memorial Day weekend with some family where we celebrated cousin Ty's birthday!

A little Wii playing

Jim and Josh got some fishing in (it was snowing).

Paige and I drove back home for church on Sunday so she could give her talk in primary.  She did a great job/  She drew this picture after we heard a lovely violin piece.  I love it.  I need to get her started on the violin.

Some new haircuts

A bunch of yard work, really un-doing yard work.  Jim ripped out the bushes we had here because we hated them.  I'll post after pictures, it's starting to look great but we're not done.

Nanny and Papa helping in their nice work clothes

We found an injured bird in our window well one day.  We tried to set it free but I don't think it could fly.   Paige took it on as her new "pet."  I made her wear rubber gloves.

Indie was surprisingly gentle with the little guy...I think she wanted to play, don't really think the bird was too excited about it.  It was either really calm or paralyzed with fear because it just sat there.

I don't think Indie would make a very good hunting dog.  She's too nice.

A bike ride/run around the riverfront with some very frequent stops to look at the mommy ducks and their cute baby ducklings

A very rare moment of sibling love.  We have to document it because the summer fighting, bickering, punching, yelling, screaming and torturing is in full swing.
Help me.

Extreme Make-Over - Taylor Edition

I think Labor Day was originally created to give union workers a day of rest from work (I could be wrong and I'm too lazy to look it up right now).  However this past Labor Day weekend for us, literally honored the name, not the tradition of rest and family parties.  We labored a lot.  But, it was fun, we were with family and I think, the end result was worth it.

We arrived in Boise last Friday and got right to work on Jim's brother, Josh's house along with Nanny & Papa (Jim's parents),  and Anneliese & Zach (Jim's sister and her husband). 

We painted and did some rearranging in the living room.

I don't have a before shot from this angle but I really liked this picture.  

We were really too busy to take many pictures.  Anneliese and I worked mostly on the living room.

This was on Monday when we finally wrapped things up.  The kids had a good time playing while we worked.  Anneliese and I took them to Roaring Springs one afternoon but I don't think I had my camera.

Josh has a garden gnome.  If you remember a few weeks back, Paige in a fit of frustration yelled out "Garden gnome!" thinking she was saying something really bad.  A couple days later asked me what a garden gnome was.  I vaguely remember telling her it was a little statue that crazy people kept in their gardens.  I'm not sure why I told her that, I think I had been asked too many questions that day of the sort, i.e. "Why do they call scissors scissors?" Or, "Why can't I make bubble soup and eat it?" (one of Crew's favorite things to do in the bathroom sink with the soap lately), and I was tired of answering questions that really don't have answers.  Anyway, I sometimes forget how literally kids take things.  Soon after we got to Josh's Paige pulled me aside and whispered, "Is Josh a crazy person?"  I answered, "No, why wold you ask that?"  And of course she replied, "HE HAS A GARDEN GNOME!!!"  

Here we all are on Monday after we wrapped things up.

Pictured left to right:  Josh Taylor, Jim Taylor, Elisa Taylor, Crew Taylor, Paige Taylor, Marianna Blake Taylor, Red Taylor, Hailey Taylor, Ty Haws, Anneliese Taylor Haws, Bryton Haws, Zach Haws