TAUBS

New Years in the sun?

2012-01-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

Nwq Years eve was a very warm day. So, we spent it sweating and hiking around.

Sam made sure the trail was clean of rocks. He probably picked up 100 and showed us each one before he tossed it aside.

pictures

2012-01-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

My pretty awesome friend, Jackie, turned my parents basement into a studio over Christmas break and took some great pictures of the Balling family.

We finally got Sam to sit on the char and smile by clapping and saying, "Yay!"

this picture just makes me laugh.
a

Sleigh bells ring...

2012-01-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas vacation in Utah. Our time filled up wuick with family and friend parties.
The Canfield Christmas party:

Breakfast with cousins:

MAUD party/ baby shower:

We had so much fun visiting with my sister and her adorable new twins (this is Olivia)

Sam LOVED playing with Nate & Paul.

Gingerbread houses:

I got to see my college roommate, Nicole!

Christmas was a blast! Well, at least for Sam & Paul who were the only ones not throwing up :(

The days after we made up for lost time though.

We went to the dinosaur & Bean museums

Then visited more family - Grandy & Grandpa Jack.

It's the most Wonderful time...

2012-01-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

We started this December with a good ole trip to Mission Inn to look at some Christmas lights, eat good treats at the Gingerbread shoppe, and do some carriage riding.

Then our awesome friend the McIntosh's did some family pictures for us!

mmmmmm Turkey!

2011-11-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for my FAMILY

This Thanksgiving was a week packed full of food, birthday parties, food, baby blessing, food, game playing, food, & just some good ole hanging out with family family family!
Thanks for the good times, we love you ALL!

SNOW

2011-11-19T11:31:00.003-08:00

Baby Powder + 2 year old = winter wonderland

It's normal to find ALL Sam's toys & books out when we first go in his room in the morning, but today he decided to frost it all.

My dad called and said it snowed in Utah last night. I said,"Hey it snowed here too!"

SCARY daddy

2011-11-07T10:40:00.001-08:00

Taylor = Zombie Sam = Pirate Aubree = Banshee

Halloween was so much fun this year! We started off with a party at the cousins with hay rides, smore making, and around the house trick-or-treating.

Then, Sam had a blast trick-or-treating with the cousins!

a Hitchin'

2011-10-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

We got to go to a beautiful wedding at the Newport temple! Taylor's brother, Matt, married a beautiful Marie, and it was a perfect day!

2

2011-10-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Even though we had soo much fun celebrating Sams 2nd Birthday, I am still sad because I don't have a little baby boy anymore. He's a toddler!

This sweet, silly, crazy, handsome boy has seriously brought so much joy into my life, I just hope he has enjoyed the past two years as much as I have!

Happy Birthday!

Sam

2011-09-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." - ee cummings

2011-08-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Since school started and Taylor is soo busy teaching, I have been hanging out with this little hooligan a lot. He really livens things up with all the things he does to crack me up.

We went to an outdoor movie and every time I tried to get a picture Sam would either turn his head or pull a face! haha I wonder where he got that from?

also, the movie was despicable me, and when he shrank the moon, Sam yelled out for everyone to hear, "UhOh! Fall! Moon!"

I don't know what he was doing in this one, but everytime I see it I can't stop laughing.

One day Sam did this acrobatic stunt over and over purely for my entertainment. He would climb up and do that pike thing on the couch arm then give me a smile before he jumped for an enthusiastic landing.

Kern

2011-08-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

We got to ride some white water on the Kern river, and it was a Blast! We even got to bring Sam with us.... no, not down the river, he just got to hang out at the campground, and I'm pretty sure he loved swimming in the river too.

It's Summer!

2011-07-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

It had been pretty much soo hot outside so I was reluctant to take Sam for a walk yesterday, but soon after we left we ran into sprinklers! Sam started yelling 1-2-3 go go go! and how how could I resist. So we were soaked by the end cause we went through so many sprinklers, and it felt great! Thank goodness for the need to water grass!

Sam is growing up way too fast! He started talking a ton more, he grew so tall, and he is even trying to swim without his floaties!
Sam loves having daddy around for the summer
and playing with cousins... Ashlyn took Sam & Jaxon for a walk.
They were a little freaked out by her method of pushing though. We found them upside down on the grass cause Ashlyn said they were taking a break.
Then, we went to the beach!
yeah we bought that chair for 89 cents
A cool cave

So Sam thinks he is old enough to dress himself now... yes, that is a shirt around his waist.

Bear Lake

2011-07-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Bear Lake and see a bunch of cousins and play play play! we love riding in Pheobe(Grandy's painted bug) then go for 4-wheeler rides. vroom vroom!
Boating
Even though the water was freezing Sam jumped right off the boat to swim with daddy.
I love how my hair is standing straight up!
Since the water was so high there was pretty much no beach left so we cleared some rock and pulled some weeds so we would have a place to play.
Taylor wake boarding

Sam loved the wave cutter, even though he was pretty squished
Rick on his air chair
the loft
I love my cousins!
Driving the boat with Grandpa Rick or, "Grock."
The 4th of July was a pretty overcast and cold day, but we still went for a boat ride...
and a 4-wheeler ride
We drove back to my parents house that night and I was a little bumbed cause I thought I would miss all the fireworks, but we actually had the best seat in the house in our car driving down the freeway. We saw firework show after show all the way back.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

2011-07-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

So on his actual birthday we went out for dinner at the bombay house and had quite the Indian experience.
Then we had this most delicious ice cream pie!

Yellowstone

2011-07-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

We ventured up to Island Park, Idaho where we spent the night at my brother's in-laws, the Skenendors, and Sam LOVED their dog, Harley.
We got to do some four wheeling there too.
After my dad got his mounted fish in Idaho we headed over to Yellowstone.
We saw lots of cool waterfalls...
some small gysers...
and some big ones like Old Faithful.
There we buffalo everywhere, or horsies as Sam would say.
hot pools
Marshmallows

this gyser is actually way bigger than all the rest, but it isn't faithful and goes off between five years and a month.
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
With all the high water the falls were pretty powerful & we got to look right over this one.

That waterfall from a distance
The top of the other falls in that canyon.
Looking out at Yellowstone Lake
more hot springs & mud pots.

Grand Prismatic Spring: It was like a steam room!

Sam reading on our long drive to Bear Lake. What a good kid!

Pool, Park, and Zoo

2011-07-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah we decided to cool off at the pool.

Sam LOVED the little slide and went down it probably 50 times

Flying in for a kiss :)

We got to go to the zoo with Dave & Mandee's family too!
I don't think Sam was a big fan of the merry go round - something about fake animals moving!

Bike Ride

2011-07-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

We rode my parent's tandom recumbant bike with Sam as our fifth wheel up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was so beautiful!

At first when I saw this picture I thought, "where is Sam?" Then, I zoomed in and there he is peekn' out :)

Help!

2011-06-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

I cannot get the font color to change no matter how many time I change it on the editing page. How do I fix it?

To the best dad in the world

2011-06-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Taylor really is the best dad. He takes care of Sam WHENEVER he is needed, he playes with Sam and can make him laugh harder than anyone else, and hugs and kisses Sam so much his skin is red all over from Taylors wiskers.

When Taylor left for a scout campout last weekend Sam missed him so much he had to look at his picture on my phone every few minutes. I even had to prop up the phone in front of his high chair so he could look at it while he ate.

Taylor and I went to 6 flags together to celebrate Taylors birthday. It's pretty early, but we will be in Utah on his actual birthday.

2011-06-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Taylor and I went to 6 flags together to celebrate Taylors birthday. It's pretty early, but we will be in Utah on his actual birthday.

Turkey leg... yum yum!

The X2
Funnel cake... yum yum, with ice cream... yum yum yum!

Superman

Fun pics and vid

2011-06-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

2011-05-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

I finally got our family picture from the cruise so... here is everyone that went.

2011-05-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Utah
We all drove up to Utah and went to a wedding brunch for my friend Jessie. Sam and I stayed and Taylor drove home, and ever since we got here Sam has been on this toy horse pretty much all the time.

since we were in Logan we had to try the famous Aggie ice cream, and it was delicoius!

The Park

2011-05-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the park for a picnic the other day...
and I got Sam to say cheese for the camera

but I think he got sick of saying cheese pretty quick :)
Then we got to watch a tree being cut down right next to us!

2011-04-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

The cruise: The whole balling family went onn a Mexican Cruise and this is how it went...
We packed
Mandee, Dave, Nate, & Paul slept over the night before we Embarked
We're on a BOAT!

A blury pic of our room
Sams reaction to the food
playing on the boat

Ice cream!
We couldn't get Sam away from the shuffel board

He's a natural

Puerto Vallarta
Sam got to ride a Mexican donkey
Cousins playing in the taxi
Shopping
At the beach

Beach entertainment

Sand Sculptures

Cabo San Lucas
We rode a ferry to the beach
The kids loved playing on the rocks
Divorce beach: You can't really tell but on the Pacific side of the pennisula the waves break and crash right on the beach and then there is a super powerful current that will suck you out to sea. Just a few days previous to our trip an older couple died that very way. So, there were signs everywhere saying, "No Swimming" At that far rock there is a cool arch and cace, but they won't let you walk to it cause it's too dangerous.

We crossed to the other side to Lovers beach where the water is calm and perfect for swimming and snorkeling

My dad packed the inflatable kyak and all the men kyaked out to that neat arch aand cave on the safe side.
Sam is so refined!
We loved the unique dishes, like the pumkin curry soup.

They had a thetre where we watched the dancing, singing, comedians, and other entertainment
We had a blast at the pool
Our favorite was lettting the water pull you back and forth as the ship rocked causing all the water to swish around

The spaccious hall we walked through everyday to get to our stateroom
Sam loved the fancy meals especially since he could eat all the bananas he wanted! He also loved playing with his cousins during meals.

This was our last fancy breakfast before we disembarked.

He cracks me up!

2011-04-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through pictures in an attempt to do a post on our cruise, which will take a while since we have pretty much a BILLION pictures, and I came across this one and it made me laugh so I thought I would share.

2011-04-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

So this year I tried my hand at making some Easter egg- cake balls :) It was my first time making them and it didn't really turned out how I planned. First of all I made them way too big, and decorating them turned into a mess of frosting! Needless to say they were delicious!

Sam loved getting a basket full of candy and toys on Easter morning!

Saturday, we went to David and Mary Ellen's for the Horspool Hunt. We all had fun hunting for eggs and pigging out on candy!

Once Sam figured out how to open the eggs he was done hunting

The cousins had so much fun playing together!

After the Hunt we all packed up and went to The Crab Cooker for dinner!

My wall o' jewelry

2011-04-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

So, I collect jewelry from all the places I go. I mostly try to get a pair of earrings, but I have lost or broken a few of them so I thought I would show off my collection before I lose more. I love it when people say, "cute earrings, where did you get them?" and I can say some country instead of a store :)

Beach Camping

2011-03-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

We went camping with some family and had a gay ole time!

the kids loved playing in the tents & sitting by the fire.

We knew when Sam was ready for bed :) We woke up to flashing light! Sam & Brooklyn are morning people...

Ashlyn is not :)

Then we played at the beach!

2011-03-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

I love this guy!

Family Pictures by Amber Horspool

2011-03-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's that time again!

2011-03-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

sniff sniff sniff.... mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

This is why I love California! When the orange trees start to blossom - the smell is incredible. My walks with Sam take forever because I have to stop every few steps to smell the blossoms!

2011-03-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

A birthday card...

Sleeping in the Hooligan

2011-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

So we bought this new tent called the "hooligan." and wanted to test it out. So we camped next to Horspool pond (my in-laws backyard pool) and it turned out the tent works great! I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard Sam moving around & when I opened my eyes I saw this picture and I could not stop laughing! Taylor snoozing peacefully while Sam chills on his head!

2011-03-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Growing up:
I feel like everyday my baby grows up a little more. He looks so mature all dressed up for church, and he prefers to sit at the table when he eats and won't let you hold his sandwich or whatever we are eating. He even likes to drink from a normal cup all by himself. Even though he tries to act grown up he is still goofy as ever, and will always be my little samburger!

2011-03-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Park Day

Since the weather was exceptionally nice today we went to the park and I think Sams favorite thing to do is swing! He just laughs and laughs and says, "Weeee," and even claps!

2011-02-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't get to deliver them to anyone on the big day...

2011-02-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

Taylor & Aubree

Married February 2008

We have been married 3 years! woohoo!

And I still know that my husband is the sweetest best looking guy ever!

We celebrated by pigging out at a buffet,

and we had a picnic at the same place we got enganged! Cresccent bay

I Loooooove You Taylor!!!!

2011-01-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Mandee & Dave

My sister married Dave Hardie in April 2004, and she just gave me all of her beautiful pictures so I can make a picture book for her. I am so excited to do it cause I think my sister is sooo georgeous in these pictures, and her and Dave look so perfect together! It was such a fun time and I love looking at these pictures!

Here are some of my favorites!

Yes, she had 9 bridesmaids!

Jammin Sam

2011-01-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

We set him on the bench and he just goes nuts with the buttons!

Growing up!

2011-01-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm so proud of my son - he is already stepping into his fathers shoes!

2011-01-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

We stayed up late playing games with the Horspools, Tangs, Winklemans, and others, and we got so carried awway we almost missed the final countdown! :) It took some frantic uncorking, but we made it with sparkling cider in hand by 12:05.

We even managed to wake up and make a crepe breakfast the next morning! Brooke found his Scare Crow mask.

Sams first time riding a bike!

2010-12-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas in Utah this year and I took a ton of pictures before I even got my new hot pink camera! Well our trip consisted of: getting Mandee's new dog, Bells, Visiting a plethera of friends, doing a Nativity scene with all the grandkids, playing in the snow & making a leaning snowman, playing with cousins and their new toys, visiting Santa, & building a sweet puzzle!

2010-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

We got a new memory card and I dug out my old camera so now, even though they aren't very high quality, I can take pictures of my Samburger all the time again!

No Camera?!

2010-12-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

The reason I never post without pictures is cause I can't write and I am lost without pictures. I lost my camera over a very fun thanksgiving break, and now I feel like I can't post about it because I don't have any fun pictures to show :(

Well my parents, sister & brother-in-law, and their kids all came down for a Thanksgiving dinner with the Horspools. Then we went to Carlsbad beach campground for a night. We all slept in one trailer! I can't believe none of the kids woke up or anything!

Well that's the picture-less post of our Thanksgiving

I WANT MY CAMERA!

Camping

2010-11-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

We ventured to Joshua tree last week for some good 'ole camping. And boy was it cold! Nevertheless, we found an awesome camp site!

We also stayed warm by hiking around a bit.

Then my handy husband built us a right nice and warm fire.

Sam was mesmorized by it

Then was bundled up in our tent with pretty much a billion blankets!

BRIGHT FLASH!

Sam woke up bright eyed as always!

2010-11-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Sam Walks!!

October

2010-11-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

So this is what we did last month:

We got Sam's one year pictures...

Then we cut off his hair...

Before

After

We met up with my brother, Josh, & his fam at the beach...

& Sam fed Marshall some soup at the Crab Cooker!

Then we dressed up for HALLOWEEN!

Taylor & Sam = Lumberjacks

Aubree = Tree

We had fun on a haunted hay ride!

2010-09-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Samburger!!
I can't beleive my little baby is already grown into a rambunctious hooligan!
He: is so close to walking
is always tipping stuff over or dropping stuff and saying, "uh-oh"
empties every drawer he can open and shakes his head and says,"no" while doing it.
has hair that sticks straight up no matter how long it gets
loves his toys so much he will scream at you if you take them away
loves to body slam his dad in the morning
always brightening my day with his adorable laugh and smile!

Hot Air

2010-09-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun spending the day at the park and riding a sweet hot air balloon!

Cowboy

2010-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sam & I got to go to Snowflake to visit my cousins the Flakes. Sam had so much fun riding my uncle Scott's horse, he's a natural!

New trick

2010-08-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Sam surprized us the other day with his new trick!

We're so proud!

2010-08-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our good friends, the McIntosh's, did a family photo shoot for us at the beach!

We love the pictures, and we are soo glad we have such awsome friends!

Here are just a few of them.

Big Bear Lake

2010-08-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

We got to go up to Big Bear Lake twice in the past couple weeks & we all had fun playing hard!
Taylor took Sam for a ride on the jet ski!
Sam got to play with his cousins

hot babes :)

Sam is getting so strong!

Father & son rafting

jet skiing

ALOHA

2010-08-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

Luckily, we have an awesome family who put on Luau's for everyone with yummy food, great company, & awesome entertainment!

Our Hawaiian fam

Even the guys did some entertaining

Fire Dancng

Sam

2010-08-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

O Lord it's hard to be humble

when I'm perfect in every way!

Each time I look in the mirror

I get better looking each day!

Some say that I'm egotistical,

but heck, I don't know what that means!

Maybe it has something to do...

with how I look in skin tight blue jeans?

even though Sam doesn't really fit into skin tight blue jeans yet, I just think my baby is the cutest most cuddly baby ever and we LOVE him soo much!

I have to show him off!

would you say I have a PLETHERA?

2010-08-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, I take pictures of EVERYTHING, and I haven't posted any of them in a while so here is what we have been doing starting with our move from Knoxville to Johnson City, TN.

Of course Sam was perfect and adorable on the drive:)

but as soon as bed time came...

his mood changed :(

(Sam liked this hotel room about as much as we did)

We found ways to have fun though

the wall made a great drum!

After a few days my face started distorting?

So we got out and went to some caves where Sam touched the wishing rock!

I got to go out to lunch with all the other wives!

And we all went to a water park

Sam LOVES the water!

Then we had a couple more days in the hotel....

before we spent all day in the airport waiting to fly to Utah!

As soon as we got to Utah we headed up to pretty much my favorite place on earth: Bear Lake!

Nate & Paul got to ride up with us.

We played in the sand,

Wake boarded & water skied,

rode on the boat,

Jet skied,

hung out in the cool water,

video of 4- wheeling:

4-wheeled,

went swimming,

Went for an exciting water weenie ride that put Sam right to sleep :)

and then we parasailed!

Taylor went first & when he got up in the air the rope broke!

Luckily he had a parachute so he just floated down to the water!

then we just tied a knot and did it again with no problems with the rope after that.

After returning to Orem I got to Rendezvous with some of my High School friends.

and I got to see my brother bless his beautiful baby, Sadie.

Almost my whole family was there!

2010-07-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sam crawls...

2010-07-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

Tubing down the river

we even took little Samburger!

We went with Josh & Heidi, Maddy, Gracey, Marshall, Macey, & Teal

We floated by a sweet rope swing!
Taylor swinging

Josh did it too & this is him entering the water

(no, he cannot jump out of the water like a dolpohin!)

Graduations

2010-06-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

My adorably cute son is 9 months old!

My adorably handsome husband is 28 yrs old!

to celebrate we went out for sushi at this place where we sat on the floor with our shoes off & the red lighting made our pictures look cool!

This picture cracks me up!

We went to the pool with the cousins & I wanted to get a picture of them all together. So in this one: Marshall just straight up ran off, Heidi made a comment about maddy's hair so Maddy told Gracey to hold Sam while she felt it, & Sam is looking at Gracey like,"what do you think you're doing?" Then, to top it off there's the pot belly in the background :)

I got to go to my restaurant!

There was a baby in a high chair at the table next to us & for some reason Sam thought it was hillarious Every time I looked over at the baby he was just staring at Sam.

Laughing Sam:

This Week

2010-06-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sam learned how to clap!

And he still loves to roll under the funiture...

and bite stuff!

We had fun at he science museum

And Sam is getting soo close to crawling!

And he is looking more and more like Edward Cullen everyday!

Dinner goal

2010-06-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

So every week Taylor and his fellow sales reps set a goal and if they reach that goal the company treats everyone to dinner!

One night after a long hard day or work we all went out for steak.

We also went to a park for a BBQ.

I kind of feel like it's a family gathering because I have two cousins, two brothers, one brother-in-law, and three neices/nephew all out here with us!

My cute little neice and nephew

Silly Sam!

2010-06-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

No matter what this little guy can make me smile :)

He dicided to do some face painting with his green beans!

He is always playing with my goggles so we put them on him and he loved it!

Almost every time we let sam roll around he rolls under something! He thinks it's hillarious cause he always starts laughing!

We love litstening to music!

2010-05-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

8 Months!
I can't believe my little guy is already 8 months old, but he is still as adorable as the day he was born! for the record: he had his first fever, he started dancing and singing, he's an excellent roller, and he is in LOVE with his reflection!

what Sam is like at 8 months

Living in Tennessee

2010-05-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

So the first few weeks here in Tennessee I have been hanging out with my favorite little boy a lot!

I watch him bite stuff...

We watch the crazy thunderstorms together...

Then dad comes home and they play together

and we all go to the pool

then we read books together

"Wha!?!"

2010-05-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

Who's that Man in the Mirror?

The Latest

2010-05-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Back to posts full of Sam pictures :)
Well Sam is 7 months old now and his new thing is sinking those two bottom teeth into everything! (his blankets, toys, the edge of tables, and even his own clothes!)

On Sams 7 month Day we drove from California to Utah where we saw a cousin get married and Sam got to play with his cousins: Nate and Paul. Can you guess wich of those two is almost two years younger than the other!?

Then we flew out to Tennessee, and Sam LOVED the plane ride. We even slept while he played with the plastic cups and gazed at the lights!

and Sam loves his new - way to big - room.

he had so much fun with the kids menu when his uncle Josh took him out to breakfast!

Cruisen

2010-05-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

We got to go on a super fun vacation with my parents and Dave & Mandee
The super fun vacation was cruisen through the Caribbean!
DAY 1 started with the emergency drill to the muster station.

DAY 2 was a day at sea so we spent the day exploring the ship and doing some fun activities

DAY 3 we stopped at Cayman Islands where we did some SCUBA at Sting Ray City and Tarpan alley.

DAY 4 we had a most excellent breakfast then headed off to Fantasy Island resort in Honduras.

this crazy monkey kept threatening to bite me when I tried to pass to look at the parrots with Dave.

Mandee and Dave celebrated their anniversary that day!

DAY 5 we taxied and ferried over to Hidden Worlds resort in Cosumel

We got to do some sweet zip lines...

go on the bumpiest jeep ride ever...

and explore awesome caves!

snorkeling in a cave?

DAY 6 doing king of the world shots on another at sea day

DAY 7 we snorkeled and the guys fished at the beach in the Bahamas

Florida fun with Sean after the Cruise.
we went for an airboat tour through the everglades and saw some real live alligators!

Miami beach

We came home to find our baby had grown two teeth!

2010-04-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

Sam got his first Easter basket

and he had a ball with it!

Mostly pulling everything out

and playing with the basket :)

Grandma Kathy got to hang out with Sam while we got SCUBA certified!

thanks for watching him Matt, Jason, Heather, Ashlyn, & Grandma!

Sam enjoyed the hunt too.

We love our baby soo much, especially his chub!

Happy Half Birthday!

2010-03-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

6 Months

I can't believe my baby is 6 months old!

He is: laughing and dancing to music or tongue clicks

rolling around and scooting

loving to slobber all over his toys

LOVING bananas

So cute and loving to anyone willing to hold him and give him attention!

Ha Ha Ha

2010-03-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

2010-03-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Camping

We had so much fun getting stinky & dirty roasting hot dogs and marshmallows with Mike & Amber's fam, and sleeping in our nice cozy tent this weekend!

Sam got a little scared for part of the night, but overall he did pretty good for his first time sleeping out.

Sam looked so cute in his beenie that our good friend made for him. Thanks Jess!

2010-03-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's

I celebrated the day by making this Lucky cookie for Taylor.

Yes, I made one for myself too, but it didn't last long enough for a picture. :)

And Sam got to wear his Elvin archer outfit!

1,2,3... SCUBA!

2010-03-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks we have been doing our SCUBA certification!

It has been so fun to get all decked out in all the equipment and swim around a pool.

We can't wait to go in the ocean, then to the Caribbean.

2010-03-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

5 Months!

Sam is growing like crazy! He is getting more and more interactive and eating EVERYTHING! His toy, hands, and feet are his favorite. He started eating rice cereal and he love to grab the spoon and feed himself!

2010-02-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Cookies!

I know I know it's way late, but I had these pictures of all my nieces and their valentines cookies, and I thought I should post them. We had fun on Valentines day decorating and eating these yummy cookies & celebrating the Chinese New Year!

happy anniversary!

2010-02-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

2 YEARS!

Taylor, being the sweetie that he is, ditched out on school for the evening so we could celebrate our two year anniversary by stuffing our faces with way too much food at the Casino Mirango buffet!

2010-01-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

4 months

Sam is already 4 months old & he is still cute as ever! He brings so much love and joy to our home/apt. He can always make us smile and laugh with his crazy babbles! It is so fun to watch him grow and discover new things everyday!

First time swimming

he's a natural!

videos of Sam

2010-01-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Sam has been super talkative lately and smiley, but whenever I put the camera in front of him he stops being cute. So I finally got him to make some noise for the camera - so here it is!

(remember to pause the music)

Here is a video of Sam doing his exercises before bed.

cute pictures

2010-01-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

2010-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

It all started at 4 in the morning when our journey ro Utah began.

We made it just in time to see my friend Carrie at her reception!
It was so beautiful!

Then we spent the rest of the week playing with our Utah fam!
Mandee's boys are quite the duo!

The Fort

The Nickelcade

Chistmas morning
Nate was soo excited to get his "crashing cars" set!

We got lots of phat lewts and we got to visit with the Hardies

Taylor had fun playing with Nate's new toys too!

The cousins at Grandy's

It's always a white Christmas in Utah!

Katelyn just LOVES her new cousin!

I sure love Sam's new-found chub!

Playing goofy games at Gramma Canfields party.

Make room for my bicepts!

2009-12-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of weeks...
Sam has been building up his muscles,

looking good,

and chilin with his dad.

And I got a new du!

Thanksgiving break

2009-12-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

We journeyed to utah for our Thanksgiving break and had a jolly ole time visiting with friends and family!
What a good lookin pair of dudes!

We had fun taking my parents tandom tri-cumbant bike for some rides! we even pulled my nephew nate behind us!

My sister Mandee and her crazy fun boys stayed with us for the week.

Sam loved hangin out with his grandpa!

We ate lots of good food on the big day and visited with lots of family!

Sam met some more cousins!

We also got to visit friends!

Taylor went hunting with all the boys.

Then we drove home to california where we ran into SNOW?! and TRAFFIC!

After driving for 12 1/2 hours we started to go a little crazy!

But Sam was a champ and was happy almost the whole time!

A Blessing

2009-11-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Taylor gave Sam an excellent blessing on Sunday & Sam loved getting all dressed up for the occation!

Halloween

2009-11-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

For Halloween we went to the pumpkin patch, carved some pumpkins, and did some trick-or-treating!

The cousins at the pumpkin patch!

Instead of a cabbage patch kid, he's a pumpkin patch kid!

My parents were down for the weekend!

What a fierce lion!

visitors

2009-10-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

This last weekend my FAVORITE cousin, Diane, and BEST friend, Jessie, came to visit me and my new addition. I wasn't the best hostess, but I really enjoyed having them around. We just played and swam at the Horspool home and hung out at our apartment playing games and going for walks.

bath time!

2009-10-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sam is not your typical new born... he has an unusually large amount of hair that we love to play with after his baths. On top of that he is super wiggly and at just three weeks he did a full roll from back to belly!

And of course he is just so darn adorable!

I AM SAM

2009-10-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't get the info we named our good lookin baby Samuel Taylor Horspool. He is so sweet & I have had so much fun just hanging out with my baby. He is two weeks old today and I am proud to say he is still living and healthy - it's hard to believe Taylor and I are really parents now!

The Pictures!

2009-10-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

A day and a half before!

The Story...

2009-10-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

So it's been a crazy couple days! Aub and I were up at Mom's on Sunday night playing games with everyone when Aub got up to get some milk because she wasn't feeling well. Suddenly, her hand was over her mouth and she was booking it towards the toilet. She *almost* made it. But she did give a good show for everyone around the kitchen table... Poor kid. It was weird because it was the first time Aubree had gotten sick the entire pregnancy. I had a sinking suspicion that it was the nefarious Swine Flu. Anyways, that night she continued to feel sick and attempted to void her innards on several occasions well into the night. Finally around 2:00, she started feeling better, but started feeling contractions. She's had them before, but after relaxing and lying down, they tended to go away. So she just laid down again and tried to relax. When 3:30 rolled around, they were still coming pretty regularly and were building up a bit, so she woke me up and asked me to call the doctor or something. I told her that we might as well go to the hospital if the pain was so regular. She was worried about being turned away and being called a wuss. It was funny how hesitant she was. Everyone told her that when it would be time to go to the hospital, she would definitely know. Between contractions, she would tell me how she felt fine, and we probably didn't need to go, but then she'd get one, and not be able to walk for a second. Anyways, we got to the hospital and started getting checked in, and the nurses kind of looked at her and weren't sure she was in labor because she was so calm and her water hadn't broken. But they directed us to a room anyways, and the resident came in and checked her.

She was at a four.

My wife is tough.

At that point the pain was getting pretty intense and she wanted the epidural. They told her she needed to get a bag of IV in her first before the anesthesiologist would come, so she had to wait. Eventually she came and stuck her needle in Aub's back, but it only really worked on the right side of her. And shortly after she left, the resident came back and checked Aubree again.

She was at a nine.

Needless to say, things were moving pretty quick. We got to the hospital at 4. By this time it was about 5:45 or so. Everyone had left the room and Aub and I were by ourselves for a few minutes, when Aubree had a strong urge to push. I told her to resist, and just breathe and all that. But she had me page the nurse, and the resident came in and checked her again, and said her water still hadn't broken, and that we just needed to wait, and she left again. And things just got more intense for Aub. The urge to push got stronger and more uncontrollable, and finally the doctor and the resident came in and the doctor said it was time. Then about 10 people poured into the room and chaos unleashed. They cut her bag with a hook needle thing and then everyone just started yelling to push. It was intense. It was the first time I was nervous throughout the whole thing. It's unsettling when a room full of medical people are all yelling and screaming anxiously for someone to do something with that much fervor. But it worked. At 6:16 in the morning, Aubree gave birth to our son.

What we've been up to...

2009-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well first Taylor ditched me for a weekend in Catalina with the boys...

then Make & Amber let us in on some of their anniversary fun at the Angels game.

We had AMAZING seats - third row - & the fireworks show at the end was awesome!

2009-08-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last week my parents came to visit! They helped us A LOT to get moved into our new apartment & then we did lots of fun stuff! We went to Venice Beach, Lagoona Beach, Forest Falls, and Big Bear! It has been a very eventful month pretty much, and now all the visitors have gone home :(

32 weeks!