This Kid is Twelve... Happy Birthday Taylor!

Do you remember when you were sitting in church and you were up to your eyeballs in burp rags, bottles, and diapers and your sweet little baby just had a major blow out right in the middle of the meeting?  And do you remember when the sweet little old lady sitting in front of you turned to look at you and smiled and said, "Enjoy this time.  It goes by quicker than you think,"  and you just rolled your eyes behind her back?  Turns out that sweet little old lady wasn't smoking crack after all.  She knew exactly what she was talking about.  It does go by quicker than you think.  

Instead of posting twelve things we love about Taylor, we are going to post twelve of our favorite Taylor memories from the past twelve years...

1.  Taylor was a very rational kid.  She used to have a severe addiction to Welch's mixed berry juice, so much so that she would wake up in the middle of the night crying for her juice, and if you didn't have any you had to make some.  Well, Reed and I sat her down around two years old and told her that she couldn't have any more juice in the middle of the night, and she soaked it up because that is what she does.  Well, that night, about two in the morning she wakes up crying, and she is sobbing to herself, "No juice at night.  No juice at night."  Reed and I are in bed laughing at her while she is self-soothing.  She did that a few more nights and then she was done!

2.  When Taylor was little she didn't just watch movies, she interacted with them.  One year for Christmas, she was two, all she wanted was Prince Philip boots, and for her birthday we made her a Prince Philip cape.  We potty trained her that same year with the bribe of a fifty-cent foam sword, which completed the ensemble.  She would act out Mulan or Sleeping Beauty and when the kissing scenes would come on she would look around and the only thing available to kiss was a plastic ride-on horse so she would give that a good smooching!

3.  Taylor had a favorite pair of Winnie the Pooh snow boots and she wore them everywhere.  The problem was they had a giant velcro fastener which would catch on the carpet while she was going down the stairs.  She fell down the stairs because of those boots more times than I can count.  I got used to it, but one day when Reed was home she fell and he had a major come apart.  He grabbed her up, threw the boots, and they both had a regular fit.  She was hysterical about the loss of her boots, he was scared about the falling down the stairs, and I was just thanking my lucky stars he wasn't around for the last twenty times she did it.

4.  When Disney's Tarzan came to the theaters we took her to see it and she loved it.  When the movie was over she stood up and screamed "REWIND IT, REWIND IT" and threw a major fit because she wanted to see it again and again.  Many people at the theater had a good laugh at her expense.

5.  She got her first baseball mitt when she was four or five and she would stand in the dining room and throw herself pop fly's up into the vault.  She would stand there for hours throwing the ball up and catching it.  About this time the wheels started turning in Reed's head and it wasn't long before he was coaching and she was playing.  

6.  Speaking of sports.... When she was just a baby I would occasionally leave her with Reed to go somewhere and I would return to see her sitting in her high chair, and him sitting in his chair, sharing snacks and watching whatever game happened to be on at the time.  They were both completely zoned into what was happening, and neither usually noticed that I had came or went.  This still happens occasionally.

7.  We were camping one year with Grandpa Kerry during the bow hunt and Reed happened upon a deer.  He drew his bow, and she drew her "bow" and the poor deer left this earth.  She was so excited to hike up with him to retrieve their prize, but what she didn't account for was blood and death.  She has since been scarred for life, and I doubt she will ever hunt again.

8.  Taylor has always played ball with the boys and it has made me very nervous for her.  One day when she was in machine pitch a boy got hit with the ball and fell down on the base and cried like, well, like a little girl.  I told Taylor that since she was playing with the boys, she had to be tough, and please, for the love of pete, do not throw a fit if you get hit with the ball.  Turns out, she is like a ball magnet, and she has been hit several times.  She has had bruises shaped like baseballs, some even showing the lace marks.  She has never once cried on the field. She always guts it out and cries in the dugout later.

9.  Taylor is a lot like her dad when vacationing.  She goes for the full experience and does not want to waste a single second in sleeping or relaxing.  When we go camping with Grandpa Simper she usually wakes up around five a.m., sneaks out of the trailer, and goes up and has hot chocolate with him and enjoys the morning while the rest of us sleep. 

10.   When she was two I bought her a red ball cap from the Gap and that hat didn't leave her head for years.  When we moved into our new ward we were so worried about getting to church on time that I did not even really look at her until we were walking into the chapel.  I happened to look down and here she is bee-bopping into church with a cute little dress and a red baseball hat.  

11.  While recovering in the hospital after I had Torey, my mom called down and told me not to give Reed a hard time about what Taylor was wearing.  Apparently it had been a hard morning, a battle had ensued, and a compromise had been struck.  Not long after the phone call Reed and Taylor entered my hospital room and she is wearing a cute little yellow sundress, white sandals, and a worn out Dodgers t-shirt.  Reed looked at me with that "don't you dare say anything look" and all I could manage was "You did great with her hair!"

12.  She is the best big sister ever.  She has always been really great with Torey and Jake, and is a very good example.  We love her more than anything in this whole world.

Happy 12th Birthday Taylor!!!