Posts

As many of you know I have been on bed rest since June 2nd when I was (thankfully) released from the hospital after having a steroid shot (for the baby), an IV to help with any dehydration and 2 Terbutaline shots! Believe me…I wasn’t a happy camper! Since then I had to return to the hospital 24 hours later for the 2nd steroid shot and go to the Dr.’s office and do a 3 hour glucose test (since I didn’t pass the first one). All that in one week and for someone who doesn’t like needles, shots or anything being close to that kind of stuff. However, I made it with a lot tears to spare for the labor part!

(more…)

Well…guess it’s time for the “official” announcement: as of Monday, March 3rd Drew, Lisa and Justin have made it 16 weeks into their pregnancy! We had an ultrasound done in early February for Down Syndrome and the results came back clear. We passed the big test with flying colors. We have a Level 2 ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday, March 18th which they will do some further measuring and we should hopefully find out the sex of the baby. Justin is still hoping for a girl and isn’t sure what he will do if it is a boy. I think he will be a great big brother no matter what GOD gives up. We are still asking for prayers that the next ultrasound will go well and that we will have a very healthy baby. Our due date is in August (hopefully before Heather and Clay’s wedding so that we can come out), so we have a ways to go, but will keep you updated with any new events!! Keep watching to find out the sex of the baby around the 18th of this month!!

Some of you have already received an email about this direct from Justin, but I wanted to post it up here as well to provide an easy link. Justin is participating in a fund-raising activity where he will jumprope to raise money to fight heart disease and stroke. His goal is to reach $300 in online donations…an ambitious goal to say the least! However, I’m sure he can do it!
Lisa and Justin built a website just for him on the fundraiser’s site that facilitates online donations and tracks his status. To view the site and see how close he is, click HERE.
Giving is completely optional, so there’s no pressure. Should you choose to donate, there is a $25 minimum to give online. However, we’d love to have you partner with Justin in this cause!

The last of the group flew home yesterday morning, bringing a bitter end to the very sweet 8th Annual Taylor New Year’s Bash. From last Saturday (very, very early on Saturday) to yesterday morning Lisa and I had the opportunity to enjoy the company of 11 of my closest college friends…9 of whom spent that time camped out in the 1,500 sq ft we call home! Events included hiking Camelback Mountain, lounging in the hot tub, shopping, mass trampoline jumping, running Indy until he collapsed, and even a trip up to enjoy one of God’s most beautiful creations, the Grand Canyon.
While it was tight quarters, we managed to find a bed/sofa for everyone and resulted in a relaxing, enjoyable, warm (most of the time) reunion with our closest friends. So to Lynn, Suz, Renee, Heather, Clay, Chris, Janelle, Becca, the Mikes, Sarah, and our honorary attendees via phone from the other side of the world, I thank you for an absolutely wonderful time that will not soon be forgotten!

Above: Justin and his tumbling coach

This past weekend, Justin had his very first gymnastics competition. While more of a “recital” than a competition, we all showed up Saturday afternoon to see Justin perform all of the things he’s learned over the last year to year and a half of tumbling lessons.
Having not seen him practice in a while, I must say that I was VERY impressed! Despite the long…and I mean LONG…waits between his performances, it was worth every minute to see him do his bar routine, trampoline routine, spring board routine and floor routine. And he even got a trophy at the end!
And it just so happens that Lisa had her handy little camera to get some video of Justin doing his floor routine. Apparently he felt pretty good about it, as evidenced by his little dance at the end 😉
To view the video, click this link: Floor Routine Video. It should open up the video in a separate window for you, though it may prompt you to “save” or “open” it…try “open”. Please mention in the comments if it doesn’t work.
Here’s a link to the photo album with a few other pictures: Justin’s Album
Should you like to leave any comments for Justin I’ll be sure to forward them on!

The deck……it is finally completed and it didn’t take us a year! The deck was mostly completed in time for the wedding, with only the top slats missing (the “shade” part of the “shaded” deck). So, in order for us to completely finish the deck, we decided to order the remaining lumber to complete the deck the beginning of August.
Continue reading to read the rest of the story and see more pictures of the finished deck!

(more…)

Well, for Justin they do! Justin has been working really hard on earning quads bucks to buy his first and very own quad. We started the reward program back in April/May; Drew created a thermometer which went to $2000. At the top was a picture of Justin on a quad and every $500 was a picture of what Justin could earn. At $500 was a new helmet, $1000 was new gloves and at $1500 is a pair of riding boots!! Well, Justin has to still earn the boots, but he has already acquired the quad!! Keep reading to hear all about it!

(more…)

Ok…it’s been awhile! Soooo…to start off on the right track again we decided to start with a BIG bang and let everyone know our very special and exciting news!
Are you all ready??? Are you sure???? Well then…here is goes!!
Justin just…are you sure you’re really ready??? He just lost his first tooth, yep you heard it right! We were at our first annual Edu-Prize get together at Jeanne’s house and Justin’s favorite girl friend, Yvonne (a very special friend and one of my co-workers) was playing around with Justin’s tooth. She then said that she needed to pull it out and you guessed it…she got it! A little twist and a pull and Justin’s tooth just came out with a lot of excitement from all around.
It was an emotional moment for Justin (when he saw all the blood) and then when all the other kids at the party asked what happened, Justin was excited to say…”I just lost my tooth!” Not only did he loose a tooth, but you can now see the one coming in from behind.
We are now inviting the tooth fairy over and pray that the rates for baby teeth aren’t too expensive!!

Ok, mom, here are the Hawaii pictures. You can stop asking now!
For the rest of you, Lisa and I had the opportunity to head to Hawaii for a week with our good friends Jen and Eric. Jen and Eric were celebrating their 10 year wedding annivarsary and asked if we’d join them. Not ones to disappoint, we eagerly agreed! We ended up having a wonderful time and Eric even got his Mai Tai with a little umbrella to show the guys back home.
Check out the pictures in our album here or at the photo album link on the right!

The deck is primed and ready for paint! We started last night by putting the rest of the hurricane straps up on the rafters and then quickly got to work getting the paint sprayer working. We finally finished spraying the primer on the deck around 8:30…at which point we also realized we were both covered in white paint. It was in our hair, on our clothes and on every inch of exposed skin. Plus, it then took another hour just to clean the sprayer and get it ready for the actual paint tonight.
Continue reading to see more pictures from the past two nights.

(more…)