Taylor Turns Eight!

It's so hard to believe, but our Taylor turned eight on the 23rd of June. He has grown so fast, and is such a fun little boy to have in our family. He is so extremely smart...and loves to learn new things. He does math workbooks for FUN, and loves his science books. Our librarians think he is awesome because he actually comes to the library to read and learn...not to play on the computers. He is an awesome baseball player, tree-climber, rough-houser, eater, and a great big brother. We love you Taylor!

Here is little Taylor...just a few hours old. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 21 1/2 inches long. Such a cutie with all of his dark hair.And now, here is the big guy...at eight years old, he weighs nearly 80 pounds...is 4 feet, 7 1/2 inches tall...and has traded in handsome dark hair for handsome blond hair. :) Yes, even as a 2nd grader I've had to coach him on how to tell the girls at his school that he doesn't have girlfriends. Seriously!!!

Each year, I ask Taylor what he'd like his cake to look like. I've made rocket ship cakes, basketball cakes, solar system cakes...but this year he let me off easy and simply asked for a cake with a race car on it. Whew! This one was so fun and simple!

Here he is blowing out the candles. I think he got his wish.

Here are the four munchkins...excited to be munching on that yummy cake in a few minutes.

And in our house, the birthday boy or girl gets to cut the cake for everyone. Matthew was a big helper this year...and was doing a little cake sampling.

Of course, we serve the birthday boy first...but Matthew couldn't wait for his own plate, so Taylor gave him a taste off of his spoon.

After dinner and cake, we had Tay open his presents. During his baptism interview with Bishop Harmon, he had apparently asked Bishop if the ward was going to buy him some new scriptures. Bishop told him that he should ask his parents about that. :) Good thing Mom was one step ahead of him in that area. He was so excited to have his very own set. My favorite part, was that he opened up his new Bible...and says, "Wow! You guys got me the Holy Bible!" Okay...maybe it was a "have to be there moment", but it just struck me so funny. Yep. We got him the real thing, the Holy one, not just a regular one. Okay. Maybe that's only funny to me. But it has me laughing all over again.
And...he also got a new bat. His old one was way to small for him. He loves this thing, and hit some great hits at Saturday's game. On the side of the bat, it says "official brand of the Major Leagues." So...Taylor reads that, and says, "you know Mom... I think that while I'm in college I'll play for the major leagues." It was such a funny, casual thing...like "hey...I think I'll just be a major leaguer while I'm in college...and then I'll get on with real life"...like it would be a part time job at the snack bar or something. So funny.
And believe it or not...but his favorite birthday gift was his new Journal. He has written in it every single day since then, and keeps telling me how much he loves it. I'm so glad that he enjoys writing. I'm sure that years later, he'll really get a kick out of the things he's writing right now. What a great kid.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!