It's been hacked...

...Amy left for the morning, so the boys took over the house.

The bath that lead to crazy hair night

 Hair like this is no laughing matter.

My latest excuse

My latest excuse for not posting is brilliant. I have another blog. When I think about this, it makes me laugh. I can't put all of the posts on this one that I want. Somehow another blog is going to help that problem? I know, weird. I don't think it will help. But, it is very entertaining to me nonetheless. So in truth, I have been updating the blog associated with my part time venture of taking pictures for people. I have also taken a challenge upon myself of posting one picture there a day that I was pleased with. So, it doesn't have writing and doesn't leak secrets of what Jon said in his sleep. Sleep talking is unprofessional. What it does have is a very steadily, albeit slowly, growing archive of my growth in the field of button pushing on my camera. It wouldn't take long to keep up with it if you are interested. It is challenging to me to actually totally love one picture a day. What if I fail? Then I may repost a picture there that you have already seen over here. GASP. Don't tell anyone if it comes down to that, ok?

check it out if you'd like:

www.amytaylorimages.blogspot.com

Thanks :)

By the way, there is now a whiteboard in my kitchen that has random questions on it. If you ever stop by, you should definitely join the game. This was the inaugural short answer. I hope it makes you laugh. Feel free to add your ridiculous list of wishful outlaws in the comments.

A month ago...

Kudos to the Minneapolis airport for having a really cool play area right across from our next departure gate. Kudos also for the Starbucks that was four moving walkways away from the play place. Come to think of it, kudos for the moving walkways too. We left Kansas City at 6:54 am. A crazy time for a flight with infants. Ugh. However, we were seasoned for "what not to pack" and I felt like I had just won a golden medal once I sat down in our seats for the first flight, with a quiet baby, and my hair was still in place. A far cry from the first time we flew with just Jack.

On our second flight we even had an empty seat between us and all got to sit on the same row! Jack miraculously fell asleep for about 40 minutes after carefully reading the emergency exit paper and skymall magazine.

 

 We met Rachel in Minneapolis and Tricia in Spokane. That completed our merry band until we met another half dozen people at the luggage claim.

 Jon and Rachel stayed with the CollegePlus! crew in Moses Lake while Chush and I took off cross country for Chelan to visit my brother's family. At this point I feel it necessary to clarify that I didn't win a raffle or anything, Tricia actually chose on her own free will to fly to Washington just to cruise around in a rental car with me and the boys and eventually get to see the friends in Moses Lake again too if we made it back alive. Incredible.

 So we took 4 hours to drive the 3 hour trip, stopping often out of shear glee at the beauty on the route. These pictures truly don't even hint at how breathtaking it is, but we tried.

 Remember very carefully what this rocky road looks like.

 We took this "primitive road C" as part of the route we thought google designed especially for us. It was really cool.

 Until we wondered if we'd make it to the next road before we were driving through rows of wheat.

 See?

 Just when we were laughing so hard I was glad we could go no faster than 12 mph we spotted a paved road again.

Now, look closely.

 See the picture below? 

A few minutes after finding the paved road, we realized that we had gone in one large circle. See that bumpy gravel road straight ahead? Wanna go around again?

So did we. You may notice in the post before this that it looks like Tricia is standing in the same field of wheat. She is. We laughed so hard on our way to Chelan that we couldn't wait to drive the same route on the way back. It was glorious doing it on purpose.

Classifieds

Dear World, 

I lost my Chush. If found please send to Kansas via overnight mail. We will make it worth your time, she is very valuable to us. 

Thanks!

Bits of Jack

 The poem of Jack

Look at the skies, he might stand still

Find his blanket, he might snuggle

Offer to tickle, he might run

but he will always come back for more

The afternoon that found us

Last time youth group met at our house Jon lost his wedding ring playing moonlight starlight. I looked. He looked. Jack looked. No luck. But, I did find the flip flop that was lost 4 months ago last time we played moonlight starlight after youth group. So, we went to the jewelry store and ordered a new ring. It came in this weekend and we decided to go pick it up after the baby shower which was after church which was after sunday school which was after biscotti and coffee for breakfast. I just learned how to make biscotti from my friend Faith this weekend. The pictures below are a smattering of how the Taylors pick up one ring from a store. It was a quick errand.

 I never notice London's eye until I take a picture. I think I just always see the sparkles and remember the shape of his right eye. He was especially happy this afternoon.

 

Jack was not especially happy this afternoon despite the smile in this picture. I don't blame him. After he did not get biscotti and coffee for breakfast, he enjoyed a bowl of equally homemade applesauce which I learned ten years ago how to make from my mother and yogurt which I learned how to make two weeks ago from my mother in law, then made it through church and the baby shower where he didn't eat much for lunch because he is too interested in people over food when there are more people than there is food, then he only slept 20 minutes on the way to the store and then he woke up to his infant brother crying to get out when the car stopped. Do you blame him for not being especially happy?

 I'm learning how to control my focal point in the new camera. This is Jon.

 This is Jack. He wants you to know that London has a nose.

 I love the camera that can come up with this when I am thinking "snapshot" and I love the guy that can look like this without trying.

 There is an awesome fountain at the shopping center.

 We got the ring. We got a pretzel. We played in a fountain. We played in the grass. We watched Jack throw away trash. That is one of his very favorite hobbies right now. By the way, Jonathan Tate found the original ring in the grass last Thursday evening after only looking for three minutes. Daniel looked too. Now Jon is married on both hands. Thanks for listening!

It's a Blue Plaid Fall

 Hello, gorgeous.

Yes, they planned this the night before.

Round and round..

 I'm trying to be clever and would like to rewrite the Round and Round the Garden poem. But, nothing fits right. 

Round and Round the Daddy goes the Jack..see what I mean?

At least you get the picture, Jack went round and round till he couldn't spin anymore and was giggling. Jon and London just watched.

Battle scars

 

He earned the fat lip and cut when he didn't fully step up onto the porch step. I had to watch helplessly or drop London to catch him. So sad. He has been running on turbo speed until yesterday though so he got over it quickly. Yesterday he suddenly remembered that he likes to sit and read and try to use a screwdriver or sort beads for hours. I was ready for the breakneck speed to pause! 

Upclose update

 I realized today that it has been a while since you've seen London very up close. Here he is in his chubby cuteness!

She practically dared me

 So, I have to post this picture because my sister said I better not. Really though I have to. It so perfectly captures my sister's definition of "being a blessing." She loves to bless me by making me laugh, by eating my cookie dough, putting hotpocket dough on my nose, singing opera at the top of her lungs, and freezing my Jack in his tracks wondering what in the world she is doing. Besides, I love Jack's eyelashes in this shot.

So it turns out that I really love this kid. This is also a picture with my new camera. The first one from it any of you have seen yet. What do you think?

Canada is great at sunsets. I made Jon promise to take me back to this lookout point during the day so I could really see the view.

So the next day we walked out together. First we had to snag Jack from being Uncle Nathe's shadow. I am thinking we could get a saddle for Molly, Jack would love it.

It wasn't hard once he realized that green beans are better cooked.

This was the opinion of raw green beans.

The view in the daylight. Gorgeous. Canada does more than sunsets.

From the boulder we spotted an apple tree. From the apple tree started Jack's love for carrying an apple all day long. Apples deserve a whole post on their own. More to come.