My Uncle John restored this old truck. It's made to resemble an old truck that you might find on the movie "Cars". He put Chris' business info on it and made it look like it had been on there for a long time. He said the phone number is from the days when you called an operator and gave them the number to dial. In Salina you would say Taylor 5-9999. Which is pretty cool!! Great job JW and thanks for the pics. I told him we should use it in the parade next year...Great advertising!!



Stay cool and have a great weekend.
Love, Amy

Wednesday kicked off the Tri-Rivers Fair here in town. We took Madi downtown to watch the parade. I almost didn't take her because I didn't think she would sit in her stroller through the whole thing. But she did awesome. We sat in the parking lot at mom and dad's work which is right at the beginning of the parade. We had shade from the van and didn't have to wait long for it to start. She loved the horses and the tractors. We didn't make it to the petting zoo during the weekend though, it was way too hot!!



Happy 25th Anniversary to John and Tammy Taylor!! They had a big surprise party and dance on Saturday night. There were a lot of family and friends and a very nice evening.



Saturday we finally finished our bathroom. What a relief to get that done. It looks so nice and is so much brighter. I have some touch up on the paint to do and install the towel bar and toilet paper holder and it will be done. I painted Friday and then took all day Saturday to get the sink installed and flooring down and everything else put back together. Now it is time to start the other bathroom. I don't know when though, it is going to take a bit more work. I also need to finish taking the wallpaper down in the kitchen and get it painted and all that is left is the wallpaper in the living room and paint. That will probably take another couple of months to get all of that done.

Madi has two new teeth. She has a new tooth in front coming through and her first molar is coming in. She skipped her I teeth though. I don't know when the molar popped through. I have been looking for the I teeth and just happened to feel the molar. It was already in a ways when I found it. She is also starting to say more words. Saturday she started saying snack at mom and dad's when mom was asking her is she wanted a snack. It is so cute. She also likes to watch the movie Cars and last week she started yelling Mack during the movie.

Hope everyone has a great week. Also happy 27th Anniversary this week to Dan and Jane.

Love, Amy

We have had another nice week visting with Beth and Marybeth. We went shopping Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Even dragged Dan and Chris shopping with us on Friday. Chris took Friday off so the three of us and Marybeth went to the Rolling Hills Zoo in the morning. Madi enjoyed some of the animals; monkeys, ducks, and the farm animals. But she had more fun just running everywhere. She pet the cows and fed the sheep and goats and prairie dogs. It was so hot outside though and Madi walked almost the entire park. She had a really nice nap that afternoon!





I have worked a little bit on the bathroom this week. I have two small sections of walls to finish scraping glue. We went out one night this week and bought all the new stuff to finish both bathrooms and replace some of the out dated lighting fixtures in the house. It will be so nice to at least get the bathrooms done. Hopefully by next weekend we will have one of them done.

Have a great week. Safe travels to Beth and Marybeth tomorrow.

Love, Amy

More pics of my outside water baby. Madi really doesn't like to get into her swimming pool, but she loves playing in the water outside of it. She is too funny. She loves taking baths though. All I have to say is "Does Madi want to take a bath?" and she is off running for the bathroom. She stands at the door and pushes on it trying to open it until I get there to let her in. I thought she would have so much fun in her little pool. But she loves being outside. I wish we had more trees and shade in our yard. It would be so much nicer to be outside during the day if the sun wasn't beating down on us so much.

Last weekend Jason and Tabatha picked up a Little Tykes picnic table for Madi for me. She absolutely loves it. She eats her breakfast and lunch there everyday and snacks. She likes to sit and color and play with toys and read books. Thanks Aunt Beth for convincing me to get one!!

Madi is growing so fast. Just in the last couple of weeks she has changed so much. Earlier in the month we were battling sleep at naps and bedtime. Now we have our routine down and she goes to sleep the same time everyday and she no longer cries when I lay her down. Maybe two minutes at the most occasionally, otherwise she curls up and goes right to sleep. She is now feeding herself with a spoon. She just started that this last week and she doesn't get alot of food from the plate to her mouth, but she is getting there. It is so much fun seeing all the little changes.

I have started pulling wall paper down this last week. I have the front bathroom almost done and have started in the kitchen. I still have to scrape the glue off the walls but it isn't taking as long as I thought it would and it is coming off so much easier than before. I am going to start helping Chris in the office doing his paperwork on Mondays. I hope it will only take a couple of hours in the morning and then I can come home and get some more work done on the house, while Jane is watching Madi. This way I can get more done and Madi gets a change of pace.

Happy Birthday to Mom tomorrow. Also Happy Birthday to Darci, Jeremy, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Mike and Chris' Uncle David. Hope you all have a great week.

Love, Amy

There has been a lot going on the past couple of weeks.

Grandma Betty is at home and seems to be doing much better. She was moving around well yesterday. She has now had all 6 of her kids in town taking turns taking care of her. Tommy from NH is here for the week. We had a nice time visiting with Joye and Linda and Beth last week and look forward to seeing Beth and Marybeth again next week.

Madi is cutting teeth again. No new teeth poking through yet, but she ran a temp for several days last week and her gums are really white for her I teeth. And she has been so spoiled with all these people around the last couple of weeks. She gets really cranky and fussy being home alone with me all day.

We finally drew up a design for the house that has everything we want and we are both totally in love with it. We are so excited. Saturday we spent all morning at Lowe's pricing everything and picking out and designing the kitchen cabinets. We are going to meet with a couple more cabinet places in town and see what they can come up with for a price. We want to have everything picked out and budgeted before we get started so there aren't any surprises half way through building. Now I need to get busy on getting our house fixed up to sell. I wouldn't be dragging my feet so bad if there wasn't so much wallpaper to take down. It is such a chore and there is no easy way of doing it.

We drove out to the land Saturday evening to see what Chris' dad mowed earlier in the day. We were sitting on the back side of the trees on the west side of the dry creek and pond and a huge buck came running through the trees followed by six smaller deer. That was the first time we had seen deer out there. The neighbors have seen them, so we knew they were out there, but it was cool to see them ourselves and that close. Now Chris won't have to go to deer camp for a week. He can shoot one off the back deck!!! I don't think he will give up deer camp.

Enjoy the new pics, I have more in my photo albums!

Love, Amy

Chris' grandma Betty had triple by-pass surgery yesterday. It all started Tuesday night when they took her to the emergency room with chest pains. Doctors said she didn't have a heartattack but if she hadn't come in when she did it could have been much worse. So, we have been at the hospital for most of the week. Chris and I drove to KC on Wednesday to pick two of his aunts up that flew in.

Grandma Betty is doing better. They removed the ventilator this morning and had her sitting up in a chair. She is very tired, obviously, so everyone went in and saw her this morning and then we went out to eat for breakfast. We can go back after 1:00 and see her again. Yesterday was such a draining day. Surgery started at 10:00, everyone was there by 8:00 or 9:00 and the doctor didn't come in to talk to us until 4:30. Chris and I took off right away to get Madi and finish supper for everyone. Tonight Bob and Patty are making supper for us. It will be nice to sit and visit this evening. And hopefully a bit more relaxed for everyone, knowing that things are a little better.

Take care...
Love, Amy

We are back from the lake! We had a great time but it was nice to sleep in our own beds last night. We went boating, fishing, swimming, played on the beach, played in the yard, and Madi had a great time with her Uncle Jason and Aunt Tabatha.

Madi had a big day last Sunday. She went boating and fishing, came back and got in her swimming pool for the first time, passed out in Aunt Tabatha's arms from all the action, and then woke up and had ice cream with Papa. (All pictured below!) She wasn't too sure about the swimming pool at first. It was a little cold with just hose water. So, we filled it up with warm water from the house and it felt more like a bath and she had a better time.



Chris had to work Monday and Tuesday. But came back out early Tuesday afternoon and surprised us with the rest of the week off. We went down to the swimming beach and tried putting her in the lake. She didn't like it (it was too cold). But she loved playing in the sand. We didn't stay too long because it was so hot and sunny and she didn't want to stay in the shade of the umbrella. She fell asleep on the drive back to the trailer. We layed her down in her swimming suit. When she woke up, Chris went to change her and she had a pile of sand fall out of her swimming suit and swim diaper. It was pretty funny! She also had a play date that evening with Jack. His parents own the marina. They are so cute together. Jack wasn't too sure about her this time, but she also kept running in to her with the toys, could have been part of the reason! But they gave each other kisses and it was so adorable!

Fourth of July Chris, Madi and I took off for a day trip of our own. We went to Mushroom State Park, which is just a couple miles from the lake. We took some neat pics of Madi on the rocks. But we started seeing toads and lizards and they kept getting bigger and closer and we decided to leave before we saw snakes. We drove over to the big town of Kanopolis to visit the Civil War Fort Harker. There are only a couple of buildings left. Then drove to Ellsworth and cruised around that town for a bit. We then drove out to Lake Wilson and visited Bob and Patty and Bobby Helm. They had been camping out there all week. It was hot, hot, hot. And of course Madi was non stop the whole time, in the sun. We loaded up and she was asleep within five minutes of leaving, she was worn out.

Thursday, we just hung out at the trailer and played games most of the day. It was so hot outside, you just couldn't be out for very long periods. Towards evening we got out the game of washers and played in the shade. It was a lot of fun. Madi tried to join us so we had to take breaks and let her get her running around in.

I have new pics in my photo albums. Some great pictures of her on the beach and in her swimming pool...please check them out.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. Happy Birthday to Tyler, Raymond and Trenten this last week!!

Love, Amy

Sorry it has been awhile. Madi is one year and a month today. And she has been busy since her first birthday.

Finally got to turn her car seat around this weekend. It's so nice to be able to see her while I am driving and easier to give her things. I think she really likes it. She also had her first boat ride Sunday. Of course I packed everything in the house to take to the lake and forgot my camera. Luckily mom had hers so I will be posting new pics of the big event soon. She had fun watching the waves behind the boat. She did really well with her life jacket, which I was worried about. I have had it out with her toys for a month now so she will get used to it. I have tried several times putting it on her and she hated it, so I didn't think we would ever be able to take her out in the boat. There was no wind at all and the water was like glass so it made for a very smooth first boat ride, which 30 minutes in to, she fell asleep!! Too cute.
Madi finally got her fourth tooth in on top and I think more are coming soon. Her cheeks are flushed and she is drooling like crazy. Now that she has all these new teeth she is finally able to eat table food. She loves hot dogs, lunch meat, chicken, cantalope, watermelon, cheese and bananas. I am having trouble getting her to eat vegetables. She ate carrots okay for about a week and now she doesn't really want to eat any vegetables. I think the texture is just throwing her off, she will still eat the baby food veges, so at least she is getting something.
It seems like she turned one and now she is really changing again. She knows what she wants and is finding her own way of telling me and you can tell she understands when I talk to her. Her new thing is that she will go get a book and bring it to me and then put her arms out and we will sit together and read her books. I ask her if she wants to take a bath and she gets excited and leads me to the bathroom. She will also lead me to her highchair if I ask her if she is hungry. It is a lot of fun staying home and getting to do and experience all these things with her.

This week is a little hectic. I am trying to get things ready for a vacation. I don't know if you can really call it a vacation since I don't work and Chris isn't going with us. But mom and dad and Jason and Tabatha are all taking vacation next week and spending it at the lake. So me and Madi are going out to join them. Chris has Wednesday off and will come out Tuesday night and Wednesday. It would drive me nuts to sit at home all week knowing they are only 30 minutes away. And it will be great for Madi to spend a week with Jason and Tabatha. It's going to be a lot of fun!! Dan and Jane are also going on vacation for two weeks. They leave Friday for California, so we need to do a lot of visiting this week before they go. And Chris' Aunt Joye and Uncle David and his cousins Tyler and Colter are in town this week from Texas, so we want to visit them as much as possible also.

I will have lots of pics to share the next time I post, which will probably be in two weeks. I hope everyone has a great and safe 4th of July!

Love, Amy

VBS went really well last week and I had a lot of fun. I tried putting Madi in the nursery on Tuesday but she didn't last very long. They said she did okay for about 5 minutes after I left and then fussed off and on until they came and found me an hour later. And by then she was in total meltdown. I could hear her crying as they were coming up the stairs. So instead she stayed with Grandma Jane, which I know they both loved.

We also went to the River Festival on Friday with mom. Had a good time. Madi did pretty good but she wanted to get out of the stroller and push. Aunt Beth everybody loved her squeeky shoes!! They are just adorable. And of course Madi loves them also. I put them on for the first time and she just stood there and stomped her feet making them squeek, too funny!! But there was lots to look at and too many food vendors to choose from, and we didn't get our funnel cake. Maybe next year.

Tonight is the NRA banquet here in town. Chris is sponsoring again this year and of course his main goal is to win a gun. Madi is going with us but we will see how it goes, she is much more mobile for this banquet, it may be her last. She gets to sign up for all the kids drawings though, which gives Chris another chance to win a gun!! The rest of the weekend is party time. Patty Helm is retiring from the court house tomorrow and they are having a reception there. And Saturday evening is a party at their house (and we are finding a babysitter so we can have a good time, past 7:00 pm!!) And then father's day is Sunday!!

I almost forgot, we are one step closer to being farmers...Chris bought a tractor last Friday. He was so excited. It is a 1947 Farmall Tractor. I asked if we could paint it green so it would match Madi's new tractor toy she got for her birthday. He said no, at least I tried. Madi and I went out Saturday while Chris was mowing the land and she absolutely loved it. She just sat with Chris and it didn't move but she sure loved turning the steering wheel and being really high up. I got to drive it, it was pretty cool. And then Chris' dad drove it and Madi just loved watching it come close to her. Chris didn't get to drive it much that day, couldn't get Dan off it. I think we also have our house plans finally figured out, but knowing Chris, it will probably change a half dozen more times before it gets built.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads this weekend. Hope you have a great day!!

Love, Amy

I knew that it was going to be rough having 4 teeth coming in at the same time, but I didn't know it was going to be this bad! Madi woke up from her am nap on Wednesday and was running a temp. She ran 101-103 from Wednesday afternoon until Friday late morning. She was cranky, uncomfortable, and didn't leave my lap for that whole time. (If you ask Chris, Madi wasn't the only one in the house that was cranky!) It has been tough, but she now has 3 new teeth on top, one more to go! She was finally acting like herself this evening before going to bed.

Vacation Bible School starts tomorrow through Thursday. I am volunteering this year and now that Madi is feeling better, I am really looking forward to it. She was going to go to the nursery during the mornings but at least for tomorrow she is going to stay with Chris' mom. I was hoping she would really enjoy the time away from me and with other kids. But we will have to see. I don't want her feeling bad and then having a bad experience (not only for her sake but for the nursery workers also).

Busy week coming up...VBS, our 4 year anniversary (wow!), Chris' 10 year high school reunion (wow!), River Festival, and a baby shower.

Obviously I don't have any new pics to pass on. But I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love, Amy