My mom was nice enough to drive from Salt Lake, stop in Denver, and drive a trailer full of furniture my aunt was kind enough to donate to us, all the way to Michigan. She stayed about a week and the boys LOVED having her here. True to form, I have no pictures. Sorry Mom...you were here for a couple of these!
It has been time for Cole to get a haircut for awhile now...curly and shaggy in back, long and straight on top...very odd. But hey, at least he has hair...that seems to be rare among the Taylor children at this age. He wasn't so sure about the clippers, but did pretty well. He looks so much more grown up to me! (not the greatest pictures, sorry)
Before...

After...We've been going to Dow gardens a lot lately (it's kind of like Red Butte). Jack loves these steps and insists on going up to the top "and right back down" all by himself on our way out every time.
Jack got into the Desitin, the pic doesn't do it justice...7 washes later he was still greasy. I'm really glad he isn't a kid that does this all the time (I know there are some out there)....but I definitely wasn't prepared.

Cole's new trick..."so big!"

"but my cousins said..."

This was Jack's mantra for awhile. (it's now changed to "but the monsters are coming right now!", but that's another story) Matt's brother, Preston and his wife, Rebecca, and their four kids came to visit a couple weeks ago. Jack (and the rest of us, but especially Jack) absolutely loved it! Cole went from crying at the sight of anyone new to being happy with everyone. We tried to do something fun everyday, and then get naps in for the younger kids (and parents) in the afternoon. We went swimming, to a baseball game, to the local science and art museum, blueberry picking, played at various parks and ate lots of good food (and I ate a few too many cookies). Matt had to work (of course) for a lot of the time, but was able to come for some of the best stuff. "Aunt Babecca" was kind enough to put her photography skills to work and take pictures the whole week. (I, knowing she had superior skills and equipment, didn't take a single one) Thanks for coming guys, you can come back any time. Jack keeps telling me "my cousins are coming back tomorrow". He also can't decide whether to call you all cousins, friends, or brothers.

I just love these pictures of Jack and William. Aren't they just too cute? They really did play amazingly well together!

Cole has always liked to swing pretty well, but this day it gave him the giggles. We need to swing more often, I think.
And another fave...Rebecca just needs to follow us around so I have good pictures!

The Dow Museum of Science and Art. Not a huge museum (that's not a dinosaur, just a mastadon), but fun for the kids. They have some fun temporary exhibits throughout the year.
The museum had a Lego exhibit going and, at the end, about a thousand sets of legos to play with. The giant ones were the biggest hit and the kids had fun building little forts.
Cole was there, too, but he just watched. He has a little orange carrot nose because I got a little carried away making carrot baby food and he'd been eating some with every meal. At least it goes with his hair! (we did run out that week and I haven't made them again yet)
Little Preston told me that blueberry picking was his favorite thing we did all week because he learned that he likes blueberries. Sorry we never got around to making blueberry coffee cake...next time.

Look! Cole isn't in the stroller! We went to a local splash park, ate lunch and got wet.Rebecca claims she is not a photographer. But we are definitely not models, and half of us are under three. So, if she isn't a photographer, I really don't know how these pictures came about. Thanks so much for being willing to shoot these! I so understand why you don't love doing family portraits, but I love how they turned out... there is an 8x10 hanging on the wall that looks fantastic.
Is it safe to let Matt throw him that high?

Touch a Truck Day

Our awesome local library has "touch a truck" day every year. They bring in all sorts of cool trucks for the kids to climb on and "drive". They had a fire truck, a garbage truck, a cherry picker, a roller, various tractors and diggers and police vehicles.
They gave all the kids a "hard" hat...Cole didn't care much about the trucks, but was totally entertained destroying his.
I told Jack, on the way there, that he could get in a real firetruck. He asked me excitedly "Can I touch the wheel?" I told him he could, but that he could probably pretend to drive. He promptly told me "I think I'll just touch the wheel." He did sit in the seat, but the wheel was the bigger draw. Go figure. The cherry picker guys let the kids try on their gear. I must say he looks like a pretty cool dude!
Jack wanted to drive every tractor they had, but had to settle for 3 or 4...the lines were just too long!
It was hot, but Jack absolutely loved it. We will definitely be back next year when Cole will like it too. (if we're still here!)


This is Cole attempting to crawl. He does this a LOT. He can get pretty mad....I think he gets frustrated that he isn't getting anywhere. Once he gets the hang of it, he is going to be one fast little dude.

Sandbox!

I've wanted to get a sandbox for awhile and finally just did it. It sat in the living room for a day or two while the weather was bad, and the boys thought that was pretty great.
This is Jack's "silly face". I'm not sure where he got it, but he loves to make silly faces (and grab our cheeks to make us have "silly face".

Once we got it out in the yard and filled with sand, it was a hit! Jack's played out there everyday and thinks it is wonderful. I have to agree!Cole is still working hard on learning to crawl...he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, usually moving himself backward. Lately he's been straightening his legs so he's on his hands and feet with his little butt up in the air. It's pretty cute. He's plenty strong, just hasn't quite figured it out yet. He actually gets around great rolling and pivoting on his tummy. I think he might just skip the crawling and start pulling up.
Cole doesn't just laugh he...chirps? Whatever you call it, it's pretty adorable! (not that I'm at all biased...) Sorry it's blurry(?!?)...but sound is good.

Summer Fun

I'm a bit behind here, but I'll do my best to do some catching up...

Matt turned 30 at the end of May. Doesn't he look thrilled? I was pretty excited since now he can't tease me about being in a different decade than him. Happy Birthday! Hope it was a good one! We love you!
Cole really got into the celebration.
A week or so later Matt's parents came for a visit. Jack warmed right up even though it had been a whole year since we'd seen them. We weren't very exciting, but it was sure fun to have them here!A few days after they left, we headed to Utah for my family's trip up to the Reid Ranch. It was fun to see all my cousins and their families...we sure are getting big! Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture! I guess we were just having too much fun.
We went to my parents house for a few days and got to play with Lindsey and Tom and Liam.
Matt went back to work while I stayed for a few more days with the boys. We had a great time! One of the highlights was the dinosaur museum.Even Cole had a good time there!
On the Fourth of July we had our own little fireworks show complete with poppers and sparklers. (Jack did four whole boxes of poppers almost all by himself!)
We went to the church later for a local fireworks display. You can see really well from the lawn, but don't have to fight crowds or traffic and you know almost everyone there. It's a pretty perfect way to see fireworks, especially with little kids!

Florida....Again!

Matt went to a conference in Sarasota, so we headed back to Florida (we were home a whole 3 weeks :-) ) Jack had a great time at the beach playing in the water and sand and looking for shells...he also did a little "flying".
Cole got to go in the ocean for the first time...he didn't love it, but did fine.
He mostly liked laying in his little tent by grandma...something kept cracking him up...he kept bursting into giggles.
At dinner at the Olive Garden one night we randomly started talking to some guys at a table next to us. (they stopped us on our way out to say our kids were the best behaved they'd ever seen...they probably aren't around kids much?) But...they told us they raised mini horses and invited us to come out and see them. When we heard they had two baby mini horses, we decided we had to go. They were adorable!! They weren't quite as small as that 7 pounder that was all over the news a while back, but every bit as cute.
The baby horse is the same size as Jack!! I love this picture even if it is a little blurry.
Cole wasn't so sure about the whole thing. (the lighter one is the baby and the dark one in the mama)It was a pretty low-key trip, we swam, we hung out at the condo and we ate. We're so glad my mom could come play nanny, Matt and I actually got to go out a couple times!

Cole is loving water lately and can entertain himself with a bottle or sippy for a pretty good stretch...he gets so excited!
We've been hanging out at the park quite a bit. I like it when both boys are happy to swing...unfortunately that lasts about 30 seconds. We're going to keep working on it.
Cole is Mr. Mellow...just happy to hang out and observe...perfectly content the majority of the time. I thought Jack was a pretty laid back baby, he's got nothing on Cole!