twinks, twinkie, twinkler: 1998-2010

we gathered in the vet's office with twinkie bundled in a blanket. her old eyes glancing around at us as we sat trying not to cry yet. we chatted about all the great times she had- like when she would do wilbur flips or when she managed to eat my entire 18th birthday cake. we laughed about how she would protect us from any outsider or how she ran the house like an old spinster. we recalled how she was such a part of the family that she knew when something was wrong. she would take care of anyone who was sick or injured and stay by their side until they were better. i remembered how she would cuddle into bed with me (when dad's door was closed, of course) and how she would get mad at me if i moved in the night. we remembered her fat stage with fondness (she was just big boned) and we laughed about her cranky dieting years. we thought about how she suddenly became a young buck when gertie, the puppy, was brought home and how she taught that puppy all her grape-eating tricks. we watched her age and gray but i think we all still saw her as the little runt puppy we brought home years ago. now our little runt puppy was sick and we were sad.

she had lived a life full of love- maybe a life too long, but we did everything possible to keep her here as long as we could. a few weeks before christmas, it was time to say goodbye to the best dog i have ever known. we laid her in the blanket, gathered around her and put our hands on her to let her know we were there for her. and then she passed.

it was a very difficult experience for our family- far more difficult than i would have imagined, but we are slowly moving on. as the vet offered his condolences, he reassured us that she was finally back to her running self wherever she may be. i can't imagine it any different. i am sure she is begging for heavenly dog treats and lounging on a comfy cloud- barking if the angels' parties get too loud. after all, as cade was sure to remind me, all dogs go to heaven.

we love you, twinks.

christmas train

cade's dad sure knows a lot of people, and all that networking comes with some perks. this christmas, these perks came in the form of a train ride. One of ray's friends has a train that runs through his property. for various holidays, he dresses up his yard and runs the train through it for the kids to come and see. it is fabulous. all of cade's siblings and their kids gathered to ride the train this year to the north pole. upon arriving at the north pole, santa spoke with the children, let them sit on his lap and then explained the tru meaning of christmas. it was fun to see all the kids hanging on every word santa said.

even vi got to sit on his lap! she was very calm about the experience- she loves santa already.

after the north pole, we boarded the train again and winded through a series of paintings depicting Christ's life from birth to death. it was very moving to see so many moments of His life in sequence. truly a great experience for christmas.

thanks for the train ride, grandpa!

the ol gang christmas party

for the holidays, cade and i hosted his old college gang for some good eats and some around the world ping pong. there were great gifts to exchange and the food turned out fabulous- ham bone even brought a ham to share. here is part of the party...


around the world ping pong was a rush. you had to really bring your game to win with all the rules we had. in the end, here were the winners:

an announcement worthy of a video

let the holiday parties begin!

the day after thanksgiving, granny woolf hosts a celebration to kick of the christmas season. it is so fun to start out the celebrations like this... and this year was even MORE fun because the party had a surprise twist.

we ate a great meal while we played some games abby had prepared for all of us. after the meal, we all gathered for the white elephant gift exchange. the first gift was opened... a money tree- with REAL MONEY! the second gift was opened- a crock pot! the third gift was a giant cockroach, so that didn't really follow the theme but when the fourth gift turned out to be a nice set of mixing bowls, the theme was back on track. instead of the traditional white elephant gifts we usually bring, we decided to throw dylan and mal a SURPRISE WEDDING PARTY!

a few months back, the lovely couple was married without much notice for a shower or celebration. they didn't have a formal reception or party so we decided to surprise them with gifts at the christmas party. the whole group was in on the fun except for the newlyweds and it was fun to watch them try and figure out what was going on. gift after gift was opened and they were all far from white elephants... except the cockroach, of course. finally, cade was chosen to open the last gift and inside was a paper that read:

'happy wedding to you! happy wedding to you!
dylan and mallory get married
and these gifts are for yooooooou!'

we all joined in signing the song while the nieces showered the couple with silly string. it was a fabulous surprise. after the gifts, we ate scrumptious wedding cake that cade's aunt had prepared. the nieces even decorated their car! it was a fun celebration to honor such a great couple. this is the best picture we got of them...

after the wedding fun, it was time to get busy playing warball. this is long standing tradition at the woolf party and it is always a great time. both cade and i were too busy playing to get many pictures but we did get a few...



i truly love and admire granny woolf. she recently made a book of all her writings that she kept over the years for all of the children and grandchildren. i sat down to glance over the book one day and an hour later i was still sitting with the book in my hands and tears rolling down my face. it is a beautiful book where she describes the moments of her life in poems and prose. i never met grandpa woolf, so this book offers a glimpse at what a great man he was. granny was so cute as she described their love as "yummy" and how they couldn't wait to see one another. i could picture them so in love as i read her poems. i also loved reading about her struggles to raise two handicapped children who have now passed. she is such a strong mother and so full of faith in Christ. i love having this peek into her past through this book. here is granny with her children:

thanksgiving 2010

thanksgiving highlights (sans photos):

the cat rescue

as we pulled up to grammy's in anticipation of our feast, the air was full of delectable smells... and...the howlings of a cat. we looked around and found a little kitty trapped high up in a pine tree across the street from grammy's house. the cat had been there for two days and couldn't get down and the neighbors were worried that it wouldn't survive another day. with cat lovers like mandy and cade in the crowd, it wasn't long before a plan was made and the rescue mission was on. korbin, the family parkour expert, was enlisted to climb the 40+ foot tree. it wasn't a requirement, but korbin decided to do the rescue in a short sleeved shirt. this proved to be a bad idea...after scratching and clawing his way to the top, the cat scratched and clawed korbin's arms, head and hands raw as it fearfully gripped the branches. it was not going down the tree without a fight. korbin climbed higher and higher as the cat tried to escape and soon he was up to the very tippy top of the pine tree- you know, the part where it gets really flimsy and floppy. korbin was desperate to get the cat down at this point, so he took to trying to talk him into the idea. he told the cat that he was just trying to save it. he was there to help. the cat needed to cooperate. finally, korbin was able to grab the protesting cat and slither down the tree, gathering a new set of scratches along the way. the owners of the cat had arrived by this point and were very happy to have their little kitty cat back in their arms. a success! a thanksgiving miracle!

big feast

grammy was sure to roll out the red carpet this year. we feasted on the most delicious eats... it. was. heaven. if i am ever in the situation to order a 'last meal,' i think grammy would have to be involved in preparing it.

violet's smorgasbord

vi was in heaven, she gobbled up rolls, mashed potatoes, yams and peas like the rest of us. she truly has a large appetite for such a petite, little girl. she is an EATER. and we like it that way.

plumbing problem

i am reluctant to document this but it was such a big part of the evening. let's just say that the feast was so good, the plumbing stopped working at grammy's. nuff said.

shopping extravaganza

it has always been a tradition for the women to go shopping for all the black friday sales. we have been going for years and years. we sit down after the meal, make lists and map out our shopping routes for the next day. unfortunately (or fortunately, if you like it like this), the sales have become more extreme which means that many stores now open as early as midnight. that's right MIDNIGHT. i heard of others opening earlier, but i refuse to even acknowledge them. anyway, the early opening times meant that we would have to start the shopping at an absurd hour. by the time we had finished our shopping plans, it was 10 pm... only 2 hours to show time. with not enough time for even a nap, the long night/morning had begun.

grammy, my mom, mandy and i set out to hit the following stores:

12:00 am- old navy
1:00 am- walmart
3:00 am- kohls
4:00 am- walmart again....
5:00 am- macy's
6:00 am- bed, bath and beyond

it was madness. at one point in the spree, my mom emerged from a crowd of shoppers with 2 big boxes in her arms. all smiles, she explains, "i don't even know what these are but everyone started swarming over them so i grabbed two!" i love my mom...

we got most of what we were after. we were a little late to one of the walmart sales and i missed out on some sheets i was drooling over. i didn't feel too bad when an employee told me they were gone withing seconds. figures. overall, another thanksgiving miracle!

sick recovery

i was sick going into thanksgiving and the all-night shopping only made it worse. along with shopping bags filled with goodies, i toted pockets stuffed full of kleenex and water bottles to soothe my throat. i was even on the verge of fainting a few times- but i pressed on...
when i finally got home around 7:30am, i collapsed into bed. cade realized how sick i was and took violet with him to play basketball so i could catch up on some sleep. i finally rolled out of bed at 3 pm and felt MUCH better. i love cade.


even if i didn't have my camera at all that day (oops) i hope this paints a picture descriptive enough of our fabulous thanksgiving.

penny

a while back cade was helping a family clean out their home as part of a united way project with work. as they were tossing mass amounts of old treasures/junk into dumpster bins, cade spotted an old, yellow bike. if you know cade, you know that there are a few things he can't stand to see hurt: cats, violet and old bicycles. without a second thought, cade saved that bike from the demise of the dumpster and brought it home where it could be safe.

it wasn't much to look at, but cade knew that rusty bike had an inner beauty just waiting to show itself. plus, we have been looking for a "big girl" bike for me to ride since i have been on the bmx for so long. determined to help this lost soul- and delight mine, cade went to work...


he sanded, cleaned, tightened and painted until this little ugly duckling was at her prime. i got to choose the name, so i tried to think of a name that i LOVE but couldn't name any future children. so i picked:

it was the name of my childhood dog. i will always think that is the cutest name for a girl- but i just can't name a little girl after my family's dog.

anyway, here she is:


doesn't she look great?

lucky for cade, he had some help as he worked on her. vi was right there by his side. (you can tell how far behind i am in my blogging by looking at vi's clothes. short sleeves seem like dream in this frigid world!)


we took her on an inaugural ride. a little heavy, i won't lie, but cute nonetheless. welcome to the fam, penny!

wedding bells are ringing again!

it is strange to say that my youngest brother is getting married next week. a "little brother" will always seem "little" so watching him grow up and get married is very surreal. as he and his bride-to-be, stephanie, were getting all their plans together, they asked mandy and i to take their engagement pictures. we aren't professionals (we fully know that...) but the photo shoot turned out pretty cute! we made sure to dress super artsy and use very technical photo-jargon just to make the whole experience feel legit. in the end, we got some great shots of the happy couple. i am no seasoned photographer, but i imagine engagement shots are pretty easy to take because the subjects are so happy and lovey. plus they know when to look at the camera-they are MUCH easier to photograph than vi...

congratulations are in order (but not until next week!)

helping with head start

my fabulous sister is over a community action program which deals with head start preschools. this past fall, she was busy planning events all over the state to help get parents involved in their child's education. when mandy plans an event- it is always a full-scale, grandiose production. as she was in the thick of plans, she mentioned she needed volunteers for the events so cade and i gladly volunteered to help out. cade was excited because he was the photographer for the salt lake event. this was right up his alley. he loves taking pictures of EVERYTHING and he was also able to get all sorts of people to pose for him. i was excited because i love promoting literacy and my job was to read to all the kids as they cycled through my station.


at the end of the event, we gave each child a book to take home. it was so rewarding to see their faces light up when they realized that they would have their VERY OWN book to read at home. my sister explained that many of the children grow up in homes that do not have any children's books and these books would be a beginning for them.

i was glad we were able to participate in this event. afterward, cade made a movie to show donors and potential sponsors what this program is doing for the community. so far, the movie has already helped them raise three thousand dollars for future events!

to help volunteer for head start, visit this link. they could really use your help!

a little violet update...

i have been out and about for two months now without being able to blog about anything going on in the taylor home. well, i am back and ready to document it all. things change everyday with a baby. i never knew that a baby's stages and interests would change on an hourly basis like they seemingly do here. i wonder if one day i will look back to read these entries and wish that i had added in more details or taken more pictures... i wonder that mostly because two short months have passed and as i review what i have done to document that time i find myself already wishing i had more pictures of violet the mountain goat or more video of her growling at her food. right when i think, "she always does this" - she never does it again! right when i say, "she hates that" - she will have to have it! she is in a constant state of progression, growth and exploration and i love watching it all happen. here is an update on this little babe.


vi truly is an adrenaline junkie. some of her favorite things are:

hanging upside down
climbing anything in sight (you will notice her pillow crash-pad below)

diving face first off any platform or lap
running wildly through the house in mommy's arms
throwing her toys out of the bath

jumping wildly in her bouncer - she has even bounced herself out a few times...

dancing to any beat those little ears can hear
yelling at anything she can see from the back window

sitting on the ledge of something so she feels like it is "dangerous"



she is also a little trouble maker. she may look sweet and innocent... but she has you fooled. as soon as those little hands and knees hit carpet, she is crawling (at an unreal speed) to anything she knows she is not supposed to play with. the main items of interest are cat food, the toilets, the bookshelf, stairs and sleeping cats. this is a busy baby and we love it. all this action does leaved her tuckered out for her naps...



this girl is on the move and we are doing our best to keep up. she is wanting to walk so bad- you can see it in her face as she watches other kids playing. it is so strange to me that a few months ago i would sit her down on a blanket to play with a few toys... i can't believe she is growing up this fast!