Pink or Blue?

This is old news, but I thought it warranted a post. Between sleeping, reading, refereeing the boys, and more sleeping (with maybe more reading thrown in), it was obvious that my schedule was just too hectic to post this when it was more current.

I took the boys to a stake activity a few weeks ago. This was when Erik still hadn't had a haircut (Kent's preference, not mine) for a while. A woman from our ward was asking how old Taylor was. Then she asked, "Is the other one a boy or a girl?" I felt very de-masculanized on Erik's behalf. Once I told Kent this, he finally agreed it was time to cut it.

Pre-cut:

Post-cut:

Okay, so not immediately post-cut. More like next-week-picking-blueberries post-cut. But you get the idea. And I know I'm not the most objective, but did he really look like a girl?

The Big 4

Wow. Amazing how time flies, isn't it? Taylor turned 4 years old on Saturday. I can't believe he's already 4, but at the same time I can't remember what life was like without him.

Here he is right after he woke up. He was so excited about all the balloons, as was Erik.

So we've been wanting to get a trampoline for a while. So we went ahead and got one for his birthday. Here he is when he first saw it-

They both love it!

Here he is blowing out the candles. I tried not to think about how much spit was ending up on the top of the cake.

During our little barbecue we had a surprise guest. A raccoon decided to climb up on all the blackberry bushes and help himself to some. He was cute and all, until he started getting a little too brave and started coming closer to our side of the fence. So we had to throw a few rocks to scare it away.

We couldn't ask for a better kid. He's such a great little boy. We love you, Taylor!

Caution: Highly Explosive

I always get nervous whenever Kent gets ideas that involve flames and explosives. Let's be honest- there's just something about combustible materials that drain any common sense and logic out of the male gender. So when we went to Michael's and he met me at the checkout counter with a rocket and the engines, you can imagine why I got a little nervous. Luckily there was no damage done to any small children, animals, or surrounding houses. Taylor LOVED watching the rockets launch, and now Erik is constantly making a "TSSSSSS" sound as a result of hearing them launch.

Here's Erik getting ready for take-off.

Here they are setting up the rocket.
After using all the engines for the smaller rocket, a couple days later Kent went back to Michael's and came home with a much larger rocket accompanied with more powerful engines. Much to his chagrin, they were out of the most powerful ones. Lucky us.

Tahoe For Now

So the boys and I went to Lake Tahoe with Kent's family... about a month ago. I've been lazy, I'll admit it. And I didn't even get that many pics, considering that I emptied my memory card for the trip- and then left it in the computer. We had a great time lounging by the pool and on the beach and all three of us are about 5 shades darker. Many thanks to Kent's parents for the trip! And to Nicole for flying out here to make the approximately 17-hour drive with us. She made the drive MUCH more enjoyable and bearable.

Here's Taylor getting ready to jump into the pool. The minute he had that life vest on he was fearless. He was doing front- and back-flips in the pool whenever we we were there.

Erik wouldn't get in the little kiddie pool until the last day, so most of the time he climbed all over the chairs while Taylor swam. Here he is, just checking things out.

Here's Taylor on a hike with his cousins, Derek and David.

That's all for now. I'll do more catch-up later. Don't want to overwhelm anyone (including myself).