GROSS!!!

I woke up this morning, and was getting the kids breakfast. I went to get out a plate and noticed some special little droppings in my drawers. YUCK. I called Steve and told him about it and he said he'd take care of it when he got home. I spent the rest of the morning hand washing all of my dishes. I have never missed a dishwasher so much. When Steve got home he went about setting some more traps, and checking the old ones. And this is what he found...

Hopefully it is the same little guy who decided to defecate on my plates. We tried to feed it to the cat (who won't even eat the food we put out for it). She didn't want it. Oh well.... I'm still totally grossed out.

Ethan's Birthday and Santa

Ethan wanted a yellow dragon cake for his birthday... this is my attempt. It was very tricky to frost, so we just say that it looks scaly. The main thing is that Ethan loved it. Here he is blowing out his three candles.This is one of his presents; Grandma Davis made this really cool batman cape for him. The kids also got to go and sit on Santa's lap, this is their second time. Ethan always asks for the same thing, a red rocket ship with a red astronaut. I have no idea where he came up with this, but he has it stuck in his head. Chloe was a little nervous, but she made it through the picture :)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year in St. George with Steve's family. We had a wonderful dinner and then decided to go work off all that extra pie we ate. I don't know the name of this place, but it's up by the Dixie on the mountain and Ethan just had a ball climbing on all the rocks.

To crawl or not to crawl... NOT to crawl

Just thought I'd share Chloe's funny scoot :) She doesn't just do this on the wood floor, she does it EVERYWHERE. The carpet all through our house, the grass... she's pretty good at what she does.

ROOAARRR!!!

Sometimes I wish that blogging came with the option of sound effects because E's dragon costume made it so he couldn't stop roaring like a dragon. Now, to some of you this might look like a dinosaur, and that's because it probably is, but to Ethan it's a dragon, there is no telling him otherwise. Chloe was a giraffe, and in this particular instance, she was trying to eat like a giraffe. We had a lot of fun Halloween festivities, but I think the costume part was the most blog worthy, so that's all you get :) Maybe I'll toss in a couple of pumpkins for good measure.

Cute Kids and Fall Foliage

I just thought I'd show how cute my little baby is! And my big boy too :) Steve says that the picture of Ethan looks like he is in a third world country... it's really just our front porch. We also got to go four wheeling to see the pretty changing leaves. We brought Ethan with us, he went in the side-by-side with Grandma and Grandpa, and he LOVED it... I somehow failed to get a picture of just how much he loved it, so you'll have to imagine. I did get some pictures of the leaves though, and Jon and Cami, who came with us. I love fall, it is one of my favorite times of year, because of the leaves and all of the soup I get to eat :) Hope you'll all enjoying the change of seasons!

Calf Creek Falls

We had a wonderful time taking the kids camping before it got too cold. This was Chloe's first time and she LOVED it. By the time we got home she was covered in sunscreen which was covered in sand and had leaves coming out of her mouth... she really was one with nature :) We camped at the bottom of the trail head. We spent Friday playing in the creek, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and trying to get all of us comfortably in our small backpacking tent to sleep. Saturday morning we got up and hiked to Calf Creek Falls. I had Chloe on my back in the baby carrier. Ethan walked the first half mile and spent the rest of the trip on Daddy's shoulders. The waterfall was beautiful, and cool after a tiring hike. I can't wait to take the kids camping again... next stop: Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon :)

Steve's Attempt at Blogging

Hello all,
This is Steve, I decided to try my hand at blogging. :)














Here is Chloe getting ready to go for her first bike ride.














Ethan enjoying the carnival and fiesta days!














Chloe in all of her chubby cuteness.

Evil Eye or Blue Steel?

Chloe has the giggles!

Yes, we are alive...

I know it has been a long time since I posted, and according to our blog we still live in Idaho. Turns out that we moved (one of the reasons that I haven't posted in a really long time). When we finally got settled and all of our boxes unpacked and got back from our trip to Bear Lake, I realized I had no idea where the camera was (the second reason for no posting). I looked for weeks, through all of the storage through every nook and cranny and there was no camera to be found. I was bemoaning the fact to Steve, when he asked if I had looked in the suitcases... no... I hadn't, and so that's where it was. Now that I have my camera back, I'm all ready to update :)
Here is a picture of the beautiful 150 year plus home that we are living in. We share the house with a number of God's other creations (namely; mice, beetles, earwigs, spiders, mosquitoes, and more flies than you can imagine, even if you just moved from Jerome.) We also share the house with Mildred, who is the Ghost who inhabits the upstairs. I only put that in so that those of you who have lived in haunted houses can swap stories with us.

Just before we moved, we took a trip down to Las Vegas for a seminar for Steve. We moved in the middle of June and were in our new place for about a week, then we were off to Bear Lake for the Davis family reunion. When we got back from that Steve went full tilt in getting his new business set up, and I am proud to say he is finally to the point where he is treating patients... yes, it takes that long! This is Ethan at the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. He was too little for most of the rides, but he sure liked the kind you put the quarters in. We also spent a good amount of time swimming in the Lazy River at the Monte Carlo where we stayed.

We got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Ethan was so excited to go and kept asking when we were going to Oquirrh Mountain to touch the temple. He loved being in the temple and was surprisingly well behaved. He only attempted a couple of times to put his feet on the carpet that hadn't been covered. :) And little Chloe? She just keeps growing and growing and growing. When she grows she gets taller and chubbier and cuter :) Hopefully I'll be better about posting now that I have my camera back. Here is a funny video of Ethan. He has reverted to baby talk, especially around Chloe, and he has started making up his own songs, which is a weird Taylor trait. I'm pretty sure Lauren taught him this one :)

City of Rocks and Rockin' Ethan

We decided to go on an adventure Saturday, so we made our way out the the City of Rocks. It was so beautiful, but cold and windy. We would go climb on some rocks, and then Ethan would get cold, so we'd spend some time warming up in the car, then we'd climb on more rocks. Ethan really liked the rocks :) Whenever I finish teaching piano lessons, Ethan wants me to sit in the chair while he has a turn playing the piano. This week he decided to sing and play. What a cutie.

Zoo Boise

This week we decided to tag along with Steve. He had a seminar in Boise so I took the kids to the zoo while he was in class. I was pulling out the car pillows for the ride and Ethan thought he needed to wear both. Steve's class started at 8:30 and the zoo didn't open until ten so we had some time to kill. We went and had breakfast at McDonald's and let Ethan play at the playplace. He was fascinated with Ronald and kept calling him "daddy." Personally I don't think Ronald and Steve look that much alike.The zoo was pretty fun, although much smaller than I thought it would be. We saw all of the animals after about an hour and a half. They did have a neat area for little kids though, so we spent a lot of time there. They had a sandbox where Ethan dug for dinosaur bones for about a half hour. They also had a couple of slides and animals to climb on, and an exhibit where you could pop your head up into the ground hog display (Ethan didn't get to do this because of his vertical deficiency.) After four hours it started pouring so we hopped in the car and drove over to the outlet mall. I was hoping the kids would be asleep by the time we got there... they weren't, so we shopped. The shopping did the trick though, and they fell asleep the second we left the parking lot. We really enjoyed spending the day in Boise, though we probably won't make a habit of it. The double stroller we ended up getting made that day LOADS easier. And just so you can remember how cute Chloe is:

Vinyl Anyone??

Why am I blogging at 9:30 in the morning? Because by some miracle, both of my children are asleep right now! Here is some proof (Yes, Chloe sleeps with her eyes open):

I thought I would blog about my home's new 70's look. It isn't because I like the seventies, but Ethan finally thrashed the fabric on my kitchen chairs, so it was time for new fabric, and I thought I would go kid friendly way with a little vinyl covering. This way I can just wipe the messes away. With the extra fabric I decided that some matching curtains were in order.
I really like the way that the curtains turned out. The chairs are alright, but reupholstering was a little more difficult that I thought it would be. I had harbored thoughts about reupholstering my wing back armchair... not any more :) It is just nice to have kitchen chairs that don't have huge juice stains on them.

To totally change the subject, we are in the market for a double stroller and are thinking about this Sit n' Stand. The back part has a seat that can be removed when the kids are older and is just a bench or a place where they can stand. The car seat can be attached in the front or in the back. I just thought I'd ask all those experienced double-stroller-mothers what they thought and what type of double stroller they prefer before we go make the purchase. Any thoughts?

Chloe & Ethan

Thanks so much Lucinda, they turned out beautiful! And I know that my wiggly children didn't make it easy on you. You can check out her photo blog at: http://photographybylucinda.blogspot.com/

Baby Blessing & A Trip

Our families came up for Chloe's Blessing, it was so nice to have them come and to bless Chloe. She is such a wonderful, happy baby!
Later that week that kids and I drove down to Utah to hang out with Ann for a few days. It was a really great trip, and Chloe and Ethan got to see all of their Great Grandparents that are still living. This is Chloe with Grandma Davis This is Chloe with Grandpa WarnickEthan with Grandpa Warnick's wife Althea. She was so sweet to show Ethan the dog.Chloe with Grandma Taylor.Ethan and Grandpa Taylor. They had a great time playing dominoes and other fun things.Chloe with Grandma and Grandpa Bastian, who we were lucky to see right before we left to come home. Not only did we get to see our wonderful grandparents, but I got to hang out with some of my friends from High school. (Since I know you guys read my blog, can you believe how much good-lookingness there is going on in this picture??? I blame it on the timer. It was so great to see you guys!!)