Taylor has been very big into unloading things lately. My diaper bag, the toy bin, her cookie jar toy, (which she puts everything inside of, she's hidden my cell phone in it several times) basically anything she can get her hands on. I put Taylor on the floor to play while I made a batch of banana bread so that our bananas won't go to waste while we're gone on vacation. I put the bread in the oven and came into the living room to play with Taylor. I caught her in the act unloading the bottom two shelves of the armoire. What a mess to pick up, but as long as she's entertained, who cares. It sure is fun watching her play and explore new things.

Taylor is always so giggly after her baths. She cracks up at everything. I always want to record her laughing so I can remember it when she's outgrown her baby laugh, but I always forget. I finally remembered at the dead end of it last night. She wasn't being as silly as she usually is, but I still got a couple of good laughs. I'll have to try again later. She's so much fun. I love being a mommy. Especially to this sweet little girl.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a pretty good one. My daddy had to do a job in American Fork yesterday and he stopped by and saw me for a few minutes before he headed back home. I was pretty surprised, he usually is in such a hurry to get home, I really didn't think he'd stop by. My sister, Deb and her family also stopped by for a few minutes on their way home from Salt Lake yesterday, and my little nephew, Brandon, sang "Happy Birthday" to me. He's so stinkin' cute. Derek got me a super cute apron and "Marley & Me".

Derek's mom also was out yesterday because she is going up to Idaho today to pick up Kendall from school. She took us out to eat at Chili's (yum) and got me two cute shirts. After dinner we came home and got Taylor ready for bed and then Derek's mom watched Taylor for us so we could go to "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". It was pretty good. I think that they spent too much time on the teen romance part of the book, but it was still good. I {heart} Harry Potter.

Oh, and I got a birthday card in the mail from my Grandpa & Grandma Roberts. They are so sweet. I love them both so much. Thanks for the card. I really appreciate it.

Taylor is Sixteen Months old today on the Sixteenth. My little niece, Tylee, will my nineteen months old on the Nineteenth. Just thought that was interesting that it happened on the same month. Taylor has learned a lot in the last month. Here is what she is doing.

• She is starting to sit herself back up when she is laying down on the floor.
• She learned to clap. She now claps every time she hears music. Whether it's a toy, the TV, my cell phone, the primary kids. She loves music. She also claps when she thinks she is being funny.
• She is learning how to play pat-a-cake. She can do "pat it" and "roll it". (She learned how to "roll it" yesterday.)
• She loves to hear people talk to her on the phone. Especially my Grandma Roberts. She grins and laughs and gets so excited she starts flapping her arms. She is so funny. Whenever I try to take the phone away from her so she won't hang up on people, she gets so mad at me.
• She is starting to pick up food and feed it to herself. (She knew how to do this a long time ago, but got the flu and for some reason decided she wasn't going to do it any more. It was like she totally forgot she knew how to do it. But, she is starting to do it again.)

Here is a cute video of Taylor I took tonight. She was playing with her cookie jar and hiding the shapes behind the pillows on the couch and then putting them back in her cookie jar. She is so much fun to watch. She is also clapping for herself in this video, so those who haven't seen her do it yet, can. (Also, I have a cold so I am losing my voice, please excuse the singing at the end. Thank you.)

I decided to go out to Roosevelt this week and spend some time with my mom, since Derek is gone working so much. My mom had my cute niece, Caitlin, since Saturday and so it also made it so I could take her home so my mom wouldn't have to drive all the way out to the Wasatch Front. We went swimming at the recreation center in Vernal yesterday. Well, I was going to. Apparently they don't let you swim AT ALL unless you shower from head to toe first. All I wanted to do was wade on the side of the pool with Taylor, but they told me I still had to go shower my whole body. So, since the water was freezing cold and I am trying to fight off a cold, I decided to just sit on the side with my mom instead. Taylor had plenty of fun just playing with the blow up toys and eating snacks, so she didn't care she was in the water anyway.
My sister, Crystal, was sneaky and went down the big water slide all by herself. We were worried at first, because usually she can't get up very well on her own. But since the water slide comes down into the the same pool everyone swims in, there isn't as much suction and she got up just fine on her own. She thought she was hot stuff. She did it over and over and over. She was so cute to watch. I love her to death.This morning, Deb and her boys came over to hang out for a little while. Parker was being super smiley. I put him on his belly on the chair so I could get a better picture of him, and he thought that it was so funny. He laughed so hard about it. Silly boy. He's sure a cutie.Taylor took an amazingly long nap today, so we didn't leave until 4:45 pm. I was trying to leave my 3:00 pm, because my brother was working in Orem today, so he could have taken Caitlin home with him. But, oh well. Such is life. Taylor did really well until we almost got to Heber. She was hungry and so was Caitlin, so we stopped at KFC and got something to eat. Taylor was having so much fun playing with Caitlin. Those two love each other so much. Caitlin would flap her arms and Taylor would copy her and then they both would laugh. So cute.

Last Saturday I went to Draper to my Timothy/Angus family reunion. Derek had to work, so Taylor and I went alone. I had a lot of fun seeing people I hadn't seen in such a long time. It was so windy and cold when we first got there and it made Taylor's eyes water like crazy. I felt so bad for her. It warmed up after a while but then it got pretty hot. I had my camera with me, but didn't take very many pictures.

My awesome cousin, Shari, tagged me. I haven't done a tag in such a long time.

1. First thing you wash in the shower? My hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? Grey

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Sure would.

4. Do you plan outfits? Sometimes, depends on my mood, or how much time I have.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? Tired, but happy.

6. Whats the closest thing to you that's red? "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" on CD.

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? Umm, I honestly don't remember.

8. Did you meet anybody new today? Nope.

9. What are you craving right now? Chili's.

10. Do you floss? Once in a blue moon. (Horrible. I know)

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Cabbage Patch Dolls

12. Are you emotional? Yep.

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? Maybe, I don't know.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? I do both.

15. Do you like your hair? I love it. Courtney always makes it look super cute. Thanks Court! :)

16. Do you like yourself? I do.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? Sure, why not. Especially if we were going to Chili's.

18. What are you listening to right now? Derek playing an xbox game.

19. Were your parents strict? Most of the time, yeah.

20. Would you go sky diving? Probably not.

21. Do you like cottage cheese? Sure do. Especially with sour cream and onion chips. Yum.

22. Have you ever met a celebrity? Yeah. It's really not that exciting.

23. Do you rent movies often? Not as much as I used to, but I still love movies. I miss my 5 free rentals a week from working at Blockbuster.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? No.

25. How many countries have you visited? 2, Canada and Mexico.

26. Have you made a prank phone call? Duh.

27. Ever been on a train? Sure have.

28. Brown or white eggs? Doesn't matter.

29.Do you have a cell-phone? Of course.

30. Do you use chapstick? Every single day.

31. Do you own a gun? No way.

32. Can you use chop sticks? Seeing how I don't like Asian food, at all, I've never even tried to use them.

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? Derek and Taylor.

34. Are you too forgiving? Probably.

35. Ever been in love? I am in love now.

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? I don't know. Possibly working.

37. Ever have cream puffs? Lots.

38. Last time you cried? When Eric went to the MTC.

39. What was the last question you asked? Did Taylor wake up while I was gone to the gym?

40. Favorite time of the year? Summer or Fall

41. Do you have any tattoos? Heck no.

42. Are you sarcastic? Me? All the time.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? Nope.

44. Ever walked into a wall? A couple of times.

45. Favorite color? Green and brown.

46. Have you ever slapped someone? I don't think so.

47. Is your hair curly? It's more wavy than curly.

48. What was the last CD you bought? Umm... I think All-American Rejects.

49. Do looks matter? A little bit.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater? Depends. But most likely.

51. Is your phone bill sky high? No. But it's higher than I'd like it to be. But we're at the lowest minutes, so not much I can do about it.

52. Do you like your life right now? I LOVE my life!

53. Do you sleep with the TV on? Not often.

54. Can you handle the truth? Usually.

55. Do you have good vision? Yes, thank goodness.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? Probably not.

57. How often do you talk on the phone? Um, a lot.

58. The last person you held hands with? Derek.

59. What are you wearing? Sweat capris and a t-shirt.

60.What is your favorite animal? Puppies.

61. Where was your profile picture taken? April, I think.

62. Can you hula hoop? Not well.

63. Do you have a job? I'm a stay at home mom.

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? Oatmeal.

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? Who hasn't?

Umm... I guess I tag Britt and Deb.

We went to Las Vegas to spend the weekend with Derek's family. We had so much fun. We got there Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday. Grandma gave Taylor her first oreo cookie, and she loved it. She kept licking it and then banging it on the high chair tray and repeating. It was too cute.
Derek and I took Taylor swimming in their pool that night. Taylor also loved that. I set her on the first step after I swam with her for a little while, and she thought she was the coolest thing. She played there for quite a while and WOULD NOT let anyone take her off the step. Anytime Derek or I tried she yelled at us and pushed us away. It was so funny.

We had to say good bye to my little brother yesterday as he entered the MTC to begin his mission. Can I just say that it's not an easy thing to do. We went to eat with him at Chuck-A-Rama yesterday right before he had to be dropped off. Because of the new rules because of the Swine Flu, we weren't able to go to the MTC with him. We had to say goodbye to him at the restaurant. It was pretty hard. I know he's doing the right thing, and he is where he needs to be, and I am so proud of him. But not being able to see my little buddy for two years is not going to be an easy task. I tried to hold it together the best I could when I hugged him goodbye, but when he left I broke down. My little niece, Caitlin, who is almost 8, sobbed for quite a while. I felt so bad for her. She loves Eric SO much. My baby is going to be 3, THREE when he gets back. My heart breaks for him that he doesn't get to see his cute nieces and nephews grow up during thier super cute years. I know it will all be okay, and that we will all be blessed, but it's going to take a while to adjust to him not being around anymore.

After we said our goodbyes, my entire family headed up to South Jordan to go to the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It is so beautiful. It is the third time I have gone. I went once with Eric last week, becuase he wanted to go before his mission, and once on Tuesday with Derek's sisters, Courtney and Alyson and Courtney's fiance, Eric.

Today I got an email from my mom with pictures of Eric in the MTC. A guy in my parents ward teaches Institute in Roosevelt, and he has a friend who works in the MTC bookstore, and he had him take his picture when he was getting his packet and then he sent it to us. It was a treat to get today. I needed it.