I love to see the Temple

Jay has recently become very interested in the temple. It started one day when I went to the temple and Grandma told Jay over and over, "Mommy's at the temple." They even drove by it and talked about how I was there. Since then whenever we see the temple Jay says, "Oh, mommy goes to the temple!" He also loves to sing the song, I love to see the Temple. It's pretty dang cute when he sings it. We recently took a walk up to the Provo temple for family home evening. Jay loves the fountains there. I love the temple just like my little boy. It is such a blessing to be so near it right now.

Little Jay growing up so big!

My little boy is getting so big. He'll be 2 years 8 months this month. He is so much fun to be around. In this house he is spoiled beyond belief and the center of attention :) He's enjoying himself very much. Currently Jay knows all his letters and most of their sounds. He also knows all of his colors and most shapes too. He is talking so much and curious about everything. He still loves marbles, but cars and trains are now his first choice. Actually, going outside is his very favorite thing to do. He loves to swing, slide, walk, run and jump on the trampoline. He loves balls and pushing his stroller. He also enjoys playing in water.
His favorite thing to eat is M&Ms. He loves them! The other day we were talking to Mike on the phone and I said, "Jay tell daddy about how you're eating candy," to which Jay replied, "Daddy, I eating num nums!" He can't get enough of those num nums. We really have to be careful around him! Another one of Jay's favorite things is grahms and milk. One of the first days he ever asked me for grahms and milk, I didn't know what he wanted. I didn't even know he knew about grahms and milk. He said to me, "Mommy, I have some crackers." So I brought him out some wheat thins. "No mommy! I have some BIG crackers," was his reply. I looked where we was pointing and realized he wanted grahms. I told him that was okay and as I was getting them out he said, "Big crackers and milk mommy?" I said, "Oh, you want some grahms and milk. Okay Jay." As I was pouring the milk he smiled up at me so big and said, "I'm so excited!" I laughed pretty hard at that. Now, he is always pleading with me to have some grahms and milk. He asks so sweetly, and when I give in he gives me the cutest little grin I've ever seen. I'd say it's worth it! Jay loves to take his grahm and break it up into several pieces and then eat them one at a time. He's very good at sharing them too, if you ask.

Check out that concentration.

Just like any boy, Jay also loves ice cream! Here he is digging into a Wendy's frosty.

Jay loves to try on Mimi's cowboy hat.

Happily, my boy is still not too old to snuggle. In fact, he is one of the snuggliest kids I know. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He'll snuggle right up to you and whimper like a little doggie. It's pretty cute. At night, before bed time he goes around the house and happily gives kisses to everyone and tells them good night. There are usually about 7 of us to find. It's one of Jay's favorite times of the day.

Recently Jay discovered a new game: hiding in grandma's hamper. He thinks it is so funny to hide in there while we "try" to find him. When he finally pops up to scare us we act very surprised and he giggles at his cleverness.

Here's Jay's cool new Honduras jersey. He is such a cutie.

There is no doubt that our little guy is loved. He is probably the most hugged, kissed, played with, loved child in the world! It's no wonder since he's the only grandchild on both sides (although that's soon to change!) and he has the best grandparents ever.
What a sweet little guy. We sure love him! Here are some of the funny things he's been saying lately:

- I was asking Jay what he wanted for lunch. He's a very picky eater. Sandwich? no. Eggie? No. Pasta? NO. Quesadilla? Suddenly I get an excited, "NO WAY!?!! :)" Really mom? He was so excited about that quesadilla.

- Some of Jay's favorite phrases to use are "Oh my goodness!" and "What's that noise?" Also, "I have some milk." My boy is obsessed with milk.

- One morning Jay and Grandma were up at the cabin looking out the window all the animals. Grandma was saying, "Jay, I see a birdie! Oh, I see a squirrel. And there's a buggie!" Suddenly Jay got very excited and said, "Dama, I see a dinosaur!"

- Out at the park, Jay was climbing up a slide when suddenly he put his arms out and shouted, "I'm flying!"

- I was reading a book to Jay one night when he noticed a fake can of peas sitting by his foot (from his collection of groceries). He picked it up, studied the picture and said to me, "That's not M&Ms mommy, that's peas."

- Of course Jay isn't always sweet. He has the toddler whine down. The other day he was whining to me to bring him something while he was eating his breakfast. I said to him, "Say it nicely Jay," to which he replied, "nicely." Well... not exactly what I was looking for :)

- For some odd reason Jay is obsessed with hangnails. He asks us to cut off his hangnails about 3 times a day. He knows the word hangnail and everything, although he doesn't always use it exaclty right. The other day he was picking at a scab on his nose and said to me, "Nose has a hangnail mommy." A couple days later he noticed a box with a rip in it. He pointed to the rip part and said, "Box has a hangnail mommy." Well, I suppose you could call it that, right?

- One day, after determining that Jay knew all his colors, I decided it would be interesting to see what would happen if I asked him what color his skin was. I pointed to his hand and said, "Jay, what's that color?" He thought really hard and said, "That's, that's, that's, that's... hmmm... that's..." he wasn't very sure. Then suddenly he got a big smile on his face and he shouted, "That's Jay!"

- Grandpa loves to tell long stories to Jay while they snuggle in bed. The other morning Jay had a little stuffed Alaskan dog with him so Grandpa told him a long story all about this doggie, using the dog as a little prop. After the end of the story Jay turned to Grandpa and said, "Grandpa, that's a kitty!"

- Later that day grandpa came up to Jay and smelling a poopy diaper he said to Jay, pointing to the diaper, "What's in there?" Jay replied solemnly, "poopies." Then grandpa asked, "Should we get them out or leave them in?" Jay thought for a minute then said matter of factly, "leave them in." Hmmm... not really sure why he arrived at that conclusion! I can't believe how long kids can sit in a poopy diaper!

We sure love having Jay around. He makes us laugh and he teaches us all the time. We read scriptures every night, which basically consists of us looking at the gospel art kit and me telling Jay about scripture stories. I'm always amazed at how quickly he picks up on names. He knows all about Jesus, Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Shadrach, Meeshach and Abednego. The other day he came up to me when I was reading out of the Book of Mormon and he looked at the words on the page and said to me, "That's Isaac mommy." I guess Isaac is one of his favorites :) I love you Jay! Keep learning little one.

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. We came up with pretty much the coolest presents ever for our moms. I made my mom a poem and made a scrapbook page with it and some pictures of us, then I framed it for her. I don't have a picture, but I'll get one. Jill's present was awesome too. Melissa came up with an idea to make a book for her. Each one of the kids wrote a poem for her (including Jay and soon to be born baby Garza). Then we found pictures of everyone with Jill and added them to the poem pages. Some of the pictures were of the kids when they were babies and some are from older years. We had to scan in a lot of old ones, but it turned out SO well! We put the book together on Shutterfly and presented it to Jill on Sunday morning. She was SO touched, so say the least. Any of you who know Jill know she is a very sentimental person. She also loves to write poems, so this book is really special to her. She cried and cried about it all day (tears of joy of course). We were all so glad we put it together for her. She does so much for us! Here's the succession of Jill opening her present:


Later that day we had a nice picnic at the park with the Taylor side of the family. A lot of us showed up and it was really nice to see everyone.

Happy 6th Anniversary my love!

Six wonderful years have passed since Mike and I made eternal covenants in the Salt Lake Temple. What a perfect starting point it was for our marriage! Unfortunately, this is the 3rd (or 4th?) anniversary we've spent apart due to work, but we get to celebrate together in FIVE MORE WEEKS!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!! I can't wait for my husband to finally be home. I love you sweetie. Thank you for working so hard for our family. You are amazing, the very best husband in the world.

Nona and Papa come for a visit to Utah

Nona and Papa came last week to visit us and we really had a fun time. The first day they were here we headed up to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. We found out that it is the biggest dinosaur museum in the world. Pretty cool! Jay was a little nervous about the dinosaurs at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly when he realized they weren't real.

By far, Jay's favorite part of the museum was the sand table. It is so fun! Jay spent about half an hour playing with the dinosaurs in the water and sand.

Jay also liked "digging" for dinosaur bones.

On Tuesday mom, dad and I went up to Salt Lake to Temple Square. My great grandpa and my great great uncles were pioneers and we heard the first general store in Salt Lake was owned and operated by one of my uncles. It used to sit somewhere near Temple Square so we went to find it, but it has been moved. My dad remembers visiting it when he was younger. We enjoyed looking around anyway. We went to the Church History Museum and saw a beautiful display on the history of the Church. It is amazing to me what the early saints suffered for our Savior, Jesus Christ. They had such faith. We also went to the Family History Library and did a little research there. By the way, if you are a member outside of Utah or Idaho, you have to go to new.familysearch.org and sign up (using your membership number and baptism date). It is an incredible new program the Church is now using. Unfortunately, the program is still in the works which means members in Utah and Idaho cannot access it yet. Too many people online would crash the system. So soon though, everyone should be able to use it. I have been up to the Family History Library twice since I went with my parents working on genealogy (thanks Jill!) and I have had some awesome experiences finding my family on my mom's side in Italy. I have been looking through microfilm of very old Catholic Church records that come from the two specific towns my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa are from in the Trento region. It is so amazing! What a blessing that they kept records. A historian at the library told me that many European countries kept excellent records during Napoleon's time because he was very strict about having detailed records of his conquered peoples. He wanted to know who he could tax and enlist into his army. Not so good for those people, but awesome for genealogists! After Napoleon died, many countries continued with the tradition of keeping detailed records, especially Italy, and specifically Northern Italy/Austria. Yea for me!!! Anyway, back to my parents visit.Up at Temple Square we also went to lunch at the Sky Room (SO YUMMY!) and we saw the 2009 International Art Competition. There are some amazing pieces in the Conference Center right now. I definitely recommend going if you can and you haven't. One of my mom's favorites was a statue of Mary and Martha back to back entitled, "Duet, Mary and Martha" done by Annette Everett. "The sculpture refers to the Biblical figures of Mary, representing the spiritual and creative self, and Martha, symbolic of daily cares and responsibilities. She says each of us is both Mary and Martha and if one side is neglected we are incomplete and unhappy."

I also loved this piece entitled "They did not doubt" by Joseph Brickey. I pray every day to have the strength and faith of a stripling warrior mother now that I have my own little man running around.
We had a great day together and enjoyed spending time in such a beautiful place.

The next day we went on a beautiful hike up to bridal vale falls and had a picnic. Jay enjoyed running around outside.
Jay and grandma also "fished" in the Provo river. They didn't catch anything though :)

Later that night we saw our wonderful cousin's Jeff and Sara and their beautiful kids James and Mei. Zina came with us as well. The kids love her! We only caught a few pictures.

On Thursday and Friday my mom and I went to Women's Conference. It was wonderful! So uplifting. I loved being with my mom on campus, learning together. It really was a great experience and I am so glad she was willing to come with me. Dad hung out at home and helped watch Jay. He also worked on crocheting the blanket he's making for Melissa and Reed's baby. One day we walked all the way to the dollar movie theaters to watch the movie Push.
One of my favorite sessions at women's conference was entitled Children of the Promised Day. One of the speakers, Linda H. Christensen, who is on the Primary General Board shared with us an experience Elder Nelson told in one of the Primary General Board meetings. He gave her permission to share it with us. Elder Nelson had asked the board if there were any questions for him. One sister raised her hand and asked him, "How do you teach children to feel and recognize the spirit?" Elder Nelson's first response was to tell them to not be quick to answer a child's questions. Most questions are behavioral. Children want to know why they can't do something or why they have to act a certain way or do things their parents want them to. Elder Nelson said, when these questions are raised we must stop and say to them, "What do you think?" He then told a story about an experience he had with one of his daughters. It was Sunday and it had just snowed. His daughter came to him and said, "Dad, can I go out sledding with the Bishop's son?" Elder Nelson stopped and asked his daughter to go get the family Bible. Together they read Ezekial 20:20 which says, "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." After reading this scripture they spent a few moments talking together about how our actions are a sign to God of our love and obedience. His daughter felt the spirit. She was taught by the Holy Ghost and then made her own decision to stay inside instead of sledding with the Bishop's son that day. Never again did she ask about Sabbath day activities again. What a beautiful story! My only hope is that I can know the scriptures well enough to turn my children to them in times of need (needless to say, I'm no where near where Elder Nelson is :) In that same session a quote from Elder Eyring was given. It comes from the First Presidency article in the recent April 2009 Ensign entitled Teaching True Doctrine.

"A wise parent would never miss a chance to gather children together to learn of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Such moments are so rare in comparison with the efforts of the enemy. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child’s life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths.

"The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it would be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child is beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?” The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone.

"The years pass, we teach the doctrine the best we can, and yet some still do not respond. There is sorrow in that. But there is hope in the scriptural record of families. Think of Alma the Younger and Enos. In their moments of crisis, they remembered the words of their fathers, words of the doctrine of Jesus Christ (see Enos 1:1–4; Alma 36:16–19). It saved them. Your teaching of that sacred doctrine will be remembered."

The conference was awesome and the best part was spending time with my mom. We hope to go back again another year.

On the Friday after Women's Conference we all headed up to the Connelly's cabin. It was very rainy but we still enjoyed ourselves. It is so beautiful up there! On Saturday morning we tried to go up to Provo Falls which is out near Kamis, but the road was not plowed and we couldn't make it all the way up. We still enjoyed the drive though. Here are my dad and I on the way up.

We stopped by a little park on the way home. Jay loves to play on the play ground and feed the duckies there.

We also went to a farm and saw some cows being milked. Jay was a little scared.

One day my mom, dad and I went out to Midway and Heber to see the town. One of my Great Grampas and a Great Great Uncle helped settle the towns of Heber and Kamas. They both ran mills in the two towns. On our way back from Heber, my dad noticed a sign in front of bed and breakfast that said, "Johnson Mill." We stopped to find out if it might be the mill his Great Uncle ran. Turns out a family by the name of Johnson bought the mill 10 years back because it was once called the Johnson Mill and turned it into a B&B. Lo and behold, it was my Great Great Uncle's mill which ran until the 1950s.

Here I am in front of the mill.

Here is one of the sacs the flour was stored in.

It was pretty cool seeing the old mill. We were so surprised to find it so easily! We had so much fun up at the cabin. My parents left early Monday morning. We were sad to see them go but I am so glad they could come. Jay certainly loved having both sets of grandparents around. We love you guys!