Sacrifice, Self-Esteem and a Sunset

We are trying to squeeze in every last bit of enjoyment out of this incredible fall weather.   So this past weekend we loaded the kids, bikes, fishing poles and dog into the car for a day trip up to Harriman State Park with Nanny and Papa.

The bike ride was a beautiful 7 miles, part of it single track and most of it quite bumpy and sandy. It was hard for the girls to get through, in fact, Paige just pretty much refused to go on for the second half.  In her defense, she had the wrong kind of bike for this ride.  I ended up putting her on my bike seat on the way back and Papa Red carried her (very heavy) bike while he rode his own bike.  I peddled either standing or partially sitting on the very, very tip of my seat for a good 3+ miles while she rode holding on to me.  Ouch - is all I have to say today.  I think I've got bruises in places where the sun don't shine if you know what I mean.  

Not only was Paige upset about the difficulty of the bike ride, she was yelling and screaming at me while I was hauling her back to the car, that I was only wearing a sports bra and that she was embarrassed (even though we never saw anyone else) and that I was being "inappropriate."  I mean, I guess I don't blame her for being embarrassed, it's not like I enjoy exposing my wrinkled, post-three-baby stomach with a herniated belly button (part of which she contributed to while in utero, mind you).  What she forgot so easily was that the reason why I only had a sports bra on was because she had decided to walk across a stream and had gotten herself soaking wet and in the midst of her whining about being wet and cold, I took off my t-shirt and let her wear it in place of her own sopping wet one.

The Paige Saga went on, and on.  I'll leave out the details about the potty situation that I helped her with but it involved running, gagging, wiping and lots of hand sanitizer.  The things we do in the name of our children!

We stopped along the way to pet some horses.  I can't believe how brave the kids are to just walk up and pet these huge animals!

It was hard to notice how the other two children were doing in the wake of Paige but we were really proud of Hailey and I think she was really proud of herself.  It was a difficult ride and she did do her fair share of complaining but in the end, she finished it all on her own.

Marianna (Nanny) is always talking about how kids gain self-esteem by what they "do."  She and Red (Papa) are always creating situations for them to learn and accomplish things.  When we got back to the car, Nanny traced out on the map how far we had gone and I could see the look of pride on Hailey's face.  She took the map to school to show her friends how she had gone on a "7 mile bike ride!"

Crew did great, just riding along attached to the back of Jim's bike.  I'm so glad we're getting so much use out of this purchase!  Crew and I have been enjoying our own daily bike rides around the neighborhood with it.

I forget that at some point in life I must've liked spreading dirt all over myself too.  

After the bike ride, we stopped to fish.  I really shouldn't say "we" because I let everyone else go while I curled up in the car and listened to a book on my iPhone.  I did get out at the end to snap a few shots though.

If you look closely, you can see Jim's shoes are filled with moss.

No one caught anything, not even Indie.

After fishing, Nanny and Papa took us all out to a delicious dinner where we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

Crew the Viking Warrior

The other day I was with Crew at Target in the dollar section.  He loves hats and this one spoke to him and he had to have it.  I could tell he was envisioning lots of sword fights with this hat on.

I wish we had taken more pictures of him over the weekend...he wore it everywhere!  Jim humored me and went to a bunch of open houses in Salt Lake with me, Crew tagged along and wore it all day.

We took him out to dinner that night with some friends (he was in no mood to stay with the sitter) and he wore it in the Bombay House where all the waiters had quite a fun time comparing their hats with his.

Good Times with Grandpa

My dad is really into water fights.  We used to have them ALL the time.  Indoors, outdoors, whenever we felt the urge, it was pretty much always fair game.  It was not uncommon to be walking unsuspectingly down the driveway and to suddenly be soaked by a glass of water thrown through the kitchen window.  It kept us on our toes.  It brought a bit of absurdity, jocularity and distraction to the seemingly endless, boring summer days.

As I started to get older, it was frustrating to have a pint of water thrown in my face, especially after spending an hour fixing my permed hair to just the right height and my make up applied, getting all of my pimples covered and eyelashes coated, only to have it all running down my face a few minutes later.  It was more like living with a prankster older brother than it was a father at times.

But, it was fun.  We laughed a lot.  And, looking back, I think that laughter was like therapy for Wil and me.  Life was not always perfect and worry-free for us, but we always knew how to laugh, and my dad was (and still is) someone that could always make you laugh.

So, when Grandpa was up visiting last week, he took advantage of one of the last warm days of summer, and started a water fight (thankfully, outdoors)!  I'm so glad my kids get a dose of that prankster every once in a while.

Crazy Mis-Matched Outfit Day

This week the girls have had "crazy" days at school.  Tuesday was pajama day, Wednesday was crazy hair and sock day, and today was mis-matched outfit day.  I thought they did particularly well picking them out, it almost hurt my eyes to look at them.  I had to take a picture.

Fishing

We took the kids fishing the other night with Nanny, Papa, Bryn and Luke.

Jim really gets into a zone when he's fishing and is very intense.  The only thing I'm this intense about is maybe.....shopping???  How shallow, I need a new hobby.

Indie loves it.  All I can think about is that all that money we just paid to get her groomed is down the drain.  She always gets so dirty!

Crew fished for about 2 minutes and then spent the rest of the time playing with his worm.  We named him "Jerry."  Crew wanted to know if he could build a little bed of dirt next to his own bed that Jerry could live in.  He wanted to keep him "forever and ever and ever."

Jim caught a couple of fish and let the kids bring them in.  All I could think about was the poor, slimy, fish with that hook piercing it's mouth, struggling to breath outside of the water, terrified it would never see it's little fish family again.  Can you tell I'm not much of a fisherwoman?

Hailey, on the other hand, is a total fisherwoman.  She's got a great cast and stuck with it the whole time, she definitely takes after her dad.  Here she is when she thought she had caught a fish.  It was actually Aunt Bryn she had hooked, but it was fun to see how excited she was.

It was a nice night.  Good to be out in nature.  I love the weather here this time of year.

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

Today after school Hailey decided she was going to go running and invited Paige along.  They put on their work out clothes, running shoes and headphones and were off!  I think they made it around the block at least four times!  

I love their faces in this picture.  Hailey is so serious, Paige, maybe a little worn out.

So in sync, these two.  I wonder if they'll be running partners when they get older.  How I would've LOVED to have a sister to run with!  Luckily, I've had some pretty awesome friends who were great surrogate sisters and running partners.

Poor little brother, left in the dust.