Taylor Graduates

It is so hard to believe that my little sister graduated 8th grade last night! I know its not as big of a deal as highschool graduation but it still is so weird!

When my mom moved us to St. Johns Taylor was only a baby when we moved here. She is the youngest of the 18 Stradling grandkids and so the last one to graduate 8th grade. It was kinda bittersweet to watch her graduate and not have our grandpa there.

Taylor is known for being quite the tomboy. She is awesome at sports, and especially at basketball. She is not a fan of girly colors such as purple and pink, and she definitely likes dressing in more of a "sporty" type way. It was pretty out of the norm to see her dressed up and looking so elegant and pretty. She had her hair done and I even did her makeup.

We love you and are proud of you!!! Way to make it in the top 12 of your class!!! You are awesome and we can't wait to watch you grow even more into your own self as you enter highschool!

Bathroom Vocab

I always always swore that I would not have more than 1 kid in diapers at a time. It looks like I was wrong. Brody will barely be 2 when his baby brother, Ryder arrives and I just don't know if it will happen. I bought a book called Pottywise (same writers as the best book ever, babywise) and now we have a baby potty, but that is the extent of my trying to potty training. However, there have been a few promising moments lately....or at least thats what I tell myself....

Scene 1:

Since there is no privacy in our house because Brody knows how to open doors, he followed closely behind Trevor as he went into the bathroom. Pretty soon Brody comes back out and stands right in front of me. He cocks his head slightly, points to the door behind him, and tells me with his knowing little eyes as if he's my personal informant, "Da-ee (daddy), Da-ee....pee. Da-ee pee." Well, yes actually that is what daddy was doing.

Scene 2:

I get up to leave the room and Brody starts to follow and I tell him, "Brody, Mommy will be right back. I have to go potty." Brody looks up at me and says very seriously, "Poo." Hmmm...not exactly, "No, mommy go potty." And he then starts to say, "Mommy poo, Mommy poo."

Scene 3:

Brody gets out his teddy bear and lays him down on the coffee table. He points to the bear's bottom and looks at us and says, "Poo. Poo. Ew. yuck." Then he gets a piece of material and begins to wipe the bear's behind.

I don't love the fact that my kid is saying poo and pee, but as a consulation I tell myself that maybe its a good thing after all. Maybe the more he knows and is interested the easier it'll be to actually potty train. Thats what I keep telling myself......

Easter Weekend 2010

During Easter weekend we were lucky enough to go to the valley. It was such a fun trip with lots and lots to do. I always feel like when we go to the valley we are rushed in about 50 million directions. We always have family to visit, and friends we would like to see, but its just too hard to get to everyone. We also usually come with an agenda. There are always things we need to shop for that we either can't get here in our little town or we have to pay way too much for it. And of course there are always things we want to do that we can't do here....this weekend was no exception to any of the above mentioned!

The things we needed to shop for were summer clothes for Brody, and as always more diapers. Yes, both things can be bought in SJ, but there aren't many options and its expensive. We always have Wal-mart 45 minutes away, but even that is limited so shopping we went! Lucky for us we hit some great sales and our first "valley thing" to get done was checked off our list.

Then as far as places we wanted to go we did hit 2 out of the 3 things. We weren't able to make it to the Easter pageant at the temple, and that was a bummer because neither Trevor or I have seen it before. Maybe next year.....

We did get to the zoo, as I have posted but the other place we got to take Brody to was Chuck E. Cheese!!! I know that Peter Piper Pizza is probably better, but as a kid that is where my parents took us and I was bound and determined to take Brody. He LOVED it! This Chuck E. Cheese didn't have as many things as the one I remember going too, but it made no difference to Brody. He loved all of the rides and could even play a few of the games. Pizza is always good and Brody ate a ton of it. As a kid you think its great pizza simply because of where you are but as an adult you really can tell that Chuck E. Cheese is more about the fun than the food!!! Eventually Chuck E. Cheese himself came out and I was really curious to see Brody's reaction. Brody surprised us by holding out his arms and wanting to give him a hug!! He couldn't stop smiling and giggling at Chuck E. Cheese. It was probably the highlight of dinner.

Lastly we did get to visit some of our families!!! We spent time with my brother and Stormy when we first got there. Then Trevor's brother, Mike, met up with us at lunchtime. Trevor's parents ended up at the hotel the same weekend we were there because it was Trev'r mom's bday and so we saw them even though we see them all the time. The most exciting was getting to see my Aunt Shelley. We haven't seen her and her family in about 3 years and so she had never met Brody in person! It was so fun to visit with her and her kids. Everyone is so grown up and since they are in Utah we just don't get the opportunity to visit. We also saw my grandparents and were able to visit with them too.

Easter morning came and we had decided that the Easter bunny was probably going to visit us at the hotel instead of waiting until we got home. Brody was pleasantly surprised to find a basket filled with goodies. He didn't get a whole lot because Trevor and I just don't think its necessary to go overboard even if we would like to because he isn't going to remember it anyway (besides he was excited for the little he got!). He loves mini m&m's and spilled them on the ground more times than we could count and we finally gave up and just let him eat them off the ground....he's eaten worse we figured. Last year Brody crawled to his basket and pulled out the eggs and grass and had tons of fun but this year he got to eat the candy and open and close the eggs all by himself. I can only imagine how fun it'll be when he can hunt for Easter eggs.

Overall, it was such a fun weekend! We went, got things done, had fun....but as always....were so grateful to come home.