Taylor is 2!

We've had a wonderful few weeks - we had a great 10 day trip to Missouri and now we've finally settled back home. Our big news, of course, is that Taylor turned 2!!! She is a huge 2 year-old now. We can't even believe it. She had a great birthday. We celebrated her second birthday on August 22 in West Plains with my family. She was a bit tired - she struggled for several days with teething - but she had a great time getting lots of cuddles, jumping in a cool jumping toy, joining the kids for swimming, and seeing everyone. For her birthday, I made my first egg-free cake (which tasted awful) and put yogurt on top for icing. Taylor can't eat it yet, but we wanted her to have the opportunity to have her own cake. She opened a few presents and played with balloons. Friday night, we had another party in Seattle with David's family. We gave her our presents too and we had a few home-runs - she LOVES Tickle-me Elmo - a stuffed Elmo that laughs and shakes. She smiles so big and cracks up. She also likes this cool new riding toy we got her - it's hard to describe so I will post pictures. She can rock in it or ride like a car. All in all, she had a great birthday and we can't believe she is 2.

David went to the ACC conference while en route to Missouri - I'll let him post a report soon - he thought it was very worthwhile and I can't wait to go with him next year. It was interesting, informative, hard and inspiring all at the same time. I'll let him post a recap.

Missouri, meanwhile, was a blast! We had a great time playing with Nana and Poppy, my sisters and their husbands, and my nephews. We did a ton of swimming, playing, silly stringing, water squirter fighting, canoeing, fishing, and just having a great time. The kids loved it and it is so fun to see them having such a great time. I was able to go to two of Shawna's baby showers and it was really special to see my baby sister pregnant. One of my most special moment's was a visit to the graveyard where my grandparent's are buried and the small family church next to it. I took a moment inside the church to pray deeply for Taylor and our family. I've been wanting to do this for months and I felt this enormous wave of peace. I feel so much better and it was a huge gift to have those moments.

We had some hilarious moments too. One of my favorites involves Jacob. He is super starved lately - eating all the time. Alison jokes that he has a hollow leg. We spent the night in St. Louis before we left and the hotel conveniently had a fire drill. We were on the 7th floor and had just dropped our bags before going to meet our dear friends for dinner. All of a sudden, the alarms go off and a speaker says we must exit. The kids were nervous, but we quickly gathered a few things and went down the stairs with the other guests - very slowly. Thankfully it wasn't a real emergency. We get outside and we had just grabbed Taylor's bag and medicine, purse, wallet and David's computer bag, and Jacob says "don't worry, Mom, I got the Cheetos" - This is hilarious because of all of his prized possessions, he grabbed the small bag of cheetos I had just bought him for a snack. He never gets snacks like that so he cherished it so much that he grabbed it on the way out.

The kids traveled like champs - even with a 5 hour delay out of Seattle and getting to West Plains at 3:30am. We had a wonderful trip and now we're just soaking up the last weeks of summer. They start school right after Labor Day and I can't believe the summer is wrapping up already.