Daddy and Reece

Daddy and Reece have a special bond. She looks like Mom and acts like Dad :)

Now, at 18 months, she pretty much only chills and cuddles with Daddy (especially if he's watching soccer :) She likes to be with Mom, but the calmness Daddy imparts to her is second only to her blanket and thumb.

I put the middle picture up on Reece's wall, and a couple weeks ago I was giving her bedtime a go (usually Daddy's job). She kept pointing towards the door and making her nice "I want that" sound. As I got close to the door it became evident that she wasn't pointing at the door itself, but at Daddy in the picture, hanging up next to the door! I asked, "Do you want Daddy?" and of course she gave her sweet nod and I put Tagg to bed instead ;)

Daddy and his girls... (the picture at the top is Gabriela, the baby on the bottom is Reece.)

Daddy & Taggert

Light Saber fights, yard work,
fire, frogs... what more could you ask for in a daddy?

Little boys need a daddy-- To teach them magic tricks, guitar skills, martial arts, love for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, how to properly remove a lizard gizzard... Taggert loves his Daddy and can't get enough of him!

The Daddy

Taggert loves having the same Star Wars toys as his Daddy. They can occasionally be found lovingly setting up the guys and talking about how Tagg's are the "Same! Same! Same!"

The Catch-Up: Halloween, Love, Jedi Knights, etc.

For Jed's birthday, we picked up some sweet Culture Passes and spent the day at the Arizona Science Center! It rocked! The most memorable part was playing the mind game you see on the right. There's a ball inbetween the two competitors and each person puts a brain wave sensor thing on their head. Calm brainwaves cause the ball to roll towards you, and whoever gets the ball all the way over to their side wins. I thought I had this in the bag, but Jed put his mind to work and me to shame! Another family was milling about in this area and we decided to pit our kids against each other. Tagg had that ball rolling to him in no time :) ...I thought you got to keep the genes you shared with your kids, but apparently you actually do "pass them on!" ;)
This momentum ride was REALLY really fast! Tagg had a blast holding on for dear life as Jed spun him good :) Can you spot the two pictures of Taggert losing his balance?

After our day at the museum, we went out to eat! Of course the company was the best, but I must mention that their Cheerios were superb (especially when eaten with a knife and fork), and the evening was topped off with a fun, musical birthday call from Grandma and Grandpa!

My birthday present to Jed was planned-out dates for the rest of our time in AZ. This is one of the invitations I made for him. Our favorite of our outings was going to Westgate to people watch. We made a list of things to look for and got points for finding stuff like a couple holding hands, someone wearing a hat, someone with a wallet chain, or someone dealing illegal substances... (we actually added that last one after Jed saw it happen. Although we didn't have the forsight to include it initially, we figured he deserved some extra points for witnessing such a spectacle ;) As a side note, that was the first night I suspected I was pregnant; I got so tired I couldn't stand up anymore and we had to finish our people watching from a bench. Sweet Jed is always so accommodating! :)

Jenna and Cody drove all the way over from Yuma to take us out to the Cheesecake Factory for Jed's birthday dinner! It was great to spend time with them!

Yes, we did celebrate Halloween! Thought we could use a little of the undead around this time of year, so here we go! Tagg donned a Spiderman costume and went parading around Rovey Farms with his friends Derek and Morgan (the dinosaurs above)! I loved it that he was cool with wearing the mask (it really topped off those huge guns!) but couldn't blame him for removing it when he realized that there was no mouth hole for his beloved Twix! (See pictures in top-left corner) Grandma Kim and Packi sent Tagg a bunch of Halloween stickers, which soon ended up in their rightful places on our faces!

Jedediah made his own costume this year--he spent about an hour creating all these wounds from makeup and tissue. It looked real enough to earn him some serious stares and gasps when he had to abandon his post at the creepily decorated front porch to pick up his mom from the airport. I'm surprised nobody called an ambulance!

This is the sweet good-bye playground date Taggert had with Derek. We met him and his mom, sister, and dog at the neighborhood playground one day and exchanged numbers so we could meet up there more often! Derek is just a couple days younger than Tagg and it was fun to see them play together! We miss you guys!

Light sabers, always a hit around our place, took on a new form of excitement for me when I realized what a slower shutter speed could do for the photography experience! I love how you can see their cute faces in the big one :)

The fate of the empire lies in the hands of a ruthless, telescoping-light-saber-wielding Jedi. The force is strong in this one...

The Daddy

There are lots of reasons why Taggert loves the Daddy! It has been more than amazing to have you home all the time, Jed. You are such an important, huge part of both my life and Tagg's. We love you!

Gettin a back rub from Daddy... Oh, the sweetness!

Having your beloved Daddy teach you to dip your beloved Oreos in milk... Oh, the sweetness! ;)

Jed, our resident ping pong master, taught Taggert how to hit the ball (occasionally, at least) with the paddle. Jed's enthusiasm for teaching our son new skills is so fun to watch!

Speaking of new skills... Taggert is picking up on Daddy's skills of a magician... in the picture above, he's helping Daddy with a magic trick by putting something or other down his shirt and looking for it again. He's gotten pretty good at trying to imitate Jed's tricks: He even uses the same fingers Jed does to stuff things into his fist... I think the next step is actually making them disappear instead of telling me where they are :)

This boy is a water baby! He jumps off things almost as tall as he is into the pool (well, I catch him, but still!) with almost no hesitation. He also likes chillin in the water with his favorite guy!

Star Wars stuff never gets old around here :) In fact, it only gets "cool"er!"

Same with soccer :)

Hmm... looks like Tagg's soccer skills have eclipsed my own. (Yes, I was actually trying in that video. I know that's hard to believe.)

I love how he acts like he's upset as a joke :)

Listen for Tagg's manly laugh... He only did that for a while, but man was it funny!

Oh, the things you can learn from such a suave daddy! Ooh la la!

Tagg & I practiced this "Daddy Song" one day and sang it for the song's namesake at bedtime that night. If two versions of it are a bit too much for you :) we recommend watching the first one. But for the sake of Grandparents and our little family in the future, we just gotta have them both!

Daddy

Here's yet another unpublished post I found in the depths of my archives!

This post was created in December to honor how much Tagg (and Jessica) love the Daddy!

(The aforementioned day when Jed tried to go to Barnes & Noble by himself ;)

The LOVE of my Life!

Jedediah is a hunk--

He's smart and handsome, too!

He's never ever stunk and rocks

All he tries to do!

My favorite thing about this lad

Is how he shows he cares--

He makes me laugh and reads to me

And carries me down the stairs!

So when you wonder if I'm glad

To be "stuck" with this chap--

Just think about these last few words:

We're one, and that's a fact!

Daddy's the Best!

I would like to dedicate this Mother's Day post to the man who made me a mother!

Love you so much, Jedediah!!!!

While we were watching General Conference in April, Jed had the brilliant idea to bounce Tagg up and down on this yoga ball my sweet mom left here one time. He loved it, and it kept him so quiet and happy!
We've taught him to fold his hands during prayers, but sometimes he does it on his own just to be sweet or--I don't really know why! He did it as soon as Jed popped him on the yoga ball. Maybe he realized we were hoping he would have some silent fun so we could hear the talks :)

Taggert has such a good daddy!

And here's the undeniable PROOF! I'm so glad I've always got this camera on hand--it's great to capture this priceless stuff!

Daddy March 2009

After our Day at the Ranch, little Tagg was really wiped out and just wanted to cuddle with an equally wiped-out Daddy!


These two and their Star Wars figures... you should see Tagg's face light up when Jed brings out anything Star Wars for him to play with!


Speaking of Star Wars, here's Tagg not letting anything stop him from singing the theme song :)


Tagg's skills of a soccer player (anybody catch the Strongbad reference? ;) are improving all the time!

Daddy!!

You'll have to forgive me for the lack of creative captions... I just feel quite void of them!

So, just enjoy the sweet pictures and ADORABLE video!

Kisses...

...Smiles...

...Great tunes...

...Nose picking...

...Dizziness...

These are my favorite boys' favorite things :)

Daddy

Tagg & his daddy have so many good times together that I've decided to have a blog post at the beginning of every month of all the Daddy pictures from the previous month.

When Tagg and Daddy are together, Tagg likes to...

Surf on Daddy's tummy...

Sit on Daddy's neck...

Hide from Daddy (while sitting on Daddy's tummy)...

Hide with Daddy...

And give Daddy kisses!