Gary and Daneene: The backyard

Life's full of Laughs

On Sunday, Colin asked Jarom to do something and Jarom replied, "You are not the mother, Mom and Dad are the mother!" (4/4/12)

Early in the morning on his birthday, (like 4:30) Gary could hear talking coming out of the boy's room, so he went to check it out, expecting that they were chatting with each other. Colin was sound asleep but Jarom was chattering away to himself. When he saw Gary he said, "Hi Dad, I'm singing a song about Jesus making cupcakes. It's a silly song." Not sure that he hear correctly, Gary repeated, "A song about Jesus making cupcakes?" (4/4/12)

"Yea," Jarom replied, "Big ones!"
Then he rolled over and went back to sleep!
The other day we were going to have a picnic at the park. I was trying to find out if Colin would rather have a pbj or tuna. When I asked his preference he said, "I want soup." I explained that it was a picnic so we couldn't take soup. He replied, "Okay Mommy, just go make some spaghetti." Obviously he wasn't in a picnic food mood. (9-1-10)

This story is a little bit gross, but it was so funny I had to include it. At stake conference on Sunday Colin started picking his nose. I grabbed his hand and told him to stop, but as a result of his efforts he had a little bugger just above his lip. I reached over and swiped it off before it could go in his mouth, and Colin yelled out, "No Mom, that's MY goober!" How dare I try to steal his goober : ) Gary and I laughed until we cried. (3-7-10)

As we were sitting at the breakfast table, Jenzie (who is definitely a little Mommy) was explaining to Colin what a "weakness" was. "A weakness is like when you have to eat cough drops. A white cough drop gives you more weaknesses." Colin started to talk about something else and Jenzie said, "No Colin, talk about something important, like cough drops." (3-8-10)

Today as I opened the van door to get Colin out, he quickly removed his hand from him mouth and said, "I'm not biting my nails!" "Good," I replied, "that would not be a good choice." Then Jenzie chimed in, "And ESPECIALLY don't bite off your fingers." Great advice! (3-10)

For Valentine's Day the kids got some little boxes of Sugar Babies. They were both eating a box and I asked them if they would share one with Mommy. Jenzie promptly declined, but Colin said, "I'll share with you! I'll give you a Mommy one." Then he looked in the box and said, "Nope, there are no Mommy ones." I didn't get any Sugar Babies : ( but I got a good laugh :) (2-20-10)

Colin spent the morning at a friends house the other day. This friend happens to be about 7 months pregnant. She told me about a conversation she had with him. He looked at her for a long time and she could tell the wheels were turning in his head. Finally he asked, "Audrey, do you have a ball in your tummy?" She said, "No, I have a baby in my tummy." Again he looked at her as if thinking it out and replied, "Nope, it's a ball! I can't see a head." (2-10)

We were walking into the grocery store and I was carrying Colin and holding Jenzie's hand. Colin yelled out, "Mom I'm falling." So I hitched him up the way you do when you only have one arm to use. Then Colin said, "Wow Mom, you have big girl muscles." (2-10)

The other day Colin had a little bit of a diaper rash. When Gary was changing his diaper he tried to talk Colin into letting him put some cream on it. When Colin finally agreed and Gary put in on, Colin looked at Gary and said, "My sore bum likes it!" (1-10)

Yesterday we had some friends coming to dinner and I made a bundt cake decorated like a pumpkin. I was in the living room with Jarom and Jenzie came wandering in and said, "Mommy, I didn't put my finger in the cake." Guess what that really meant. :)

Gary is now driving a little pickup that we bought from his dad. The other day we followed him home from the store in our van. The kids were so concerned that I not let anyone get between us and Daddy in his "hiccup," as Colin calls it. "Daddy's getting into his hiccup," "Mommy I can't see Daddy's hiccup." (12-09)

We spent the better part of last week in Logan/Bear Lake for a family vacation. While there, we visited the American West Heritage Center with the kids. The environment there gave many opportunities for some "Laughs." (10-09)

While on vacation Jenzie was using the bathroom at my sister's house. She was causing quite a stink. She sniffed the air, turned up her nose, and said, "Megan needs to clean her toilet."

Jenzie and Colin were feeding the horses some alfalfa from a field next to the corral. Jenzie ran over to get another handful and needed help pulling it. As I came over to help she said, "Mom I have a hunch, a BIG hunch." (She meant a bunch).

Both kids had the opportunity to try milking a cow. After Colin tried, he immediately started crying and said, "The cow pooped on me." We explained that it wasn't poop or pee, it was milk. It must have sunk in because later that day it was evident he was ready to try again when he said, "I want to squeeze the cow's bum."

Gary and the kids found a piece of corn on the cob in a field and decided they should take it to the chickens. The kids loved watching a chicken and a turkey fight over the corn, until the turkey started walking right toward them. That's when Jenzie said, "No turkey, don't eat us . . . we live in a house."

We were watching the movie "The Sandlot" with the kids last night and Jenzie was pretty fascinated with the scene when the boys chew the tobacco. We explained that they were making a bad choice by chewing the tobacco and that it made them sick. Later we were brushing her teeth and Jenzie kept saying: "Those boys were eating Rebecca. We don't eat Rebecca, that's a bad choice." Then, when Gary and I started laughing she added, "Mommy, eating Rebecca is not a good choice, we don't laugh at that."

Last week we were staying at my aunt's house for the weekend. After Jenzie went to the bathroom, she looked down into the toilet and exclaimed, "Wow! Look at all that pee!" I guess she hadn't noticed all the water in the toilet before.

Jenzie has been having a lot of fun lately learning letters and finding them everywhere. She still struggles with spelling things though, as you'll see when you hear the latest story about her. This morning she was saying letters like she was doing a cheer, "J - U - T - Y - N - Z." Then she said, "Mommy guess what I spelled, . . . S U U!" We thought that was pretty ironic.

We've been having a hard time lately with Colin calling my brother "Aunt Jared." We remind him often that it's "UNCLE Jared." The other day when he was saying the prayer after one such reminder, he said, "Please bless Uncle Jared, and Uncle Julie and Uncle Chester" (that's Jared and Julie's dog).

A few weeks after Jarom was born, Jenzie explained to my mom, "When the baby was born he had lots of bruises on his head, so we named him Jarom 'Bruise' Taylor." (His middle name is Bruce after my dad.) : )

At our family reunion Jenzie asked me: "Mom, does Colin have sprinkles?" I said, "What are sprinkles?"
Jenzie: "You know, um, 'farkels'." (The name of a game we play.)
I finally figured out that she was asking if Colin has freckles.

One day we were reading the scriptures and Gary read something about the heavens being shut up. Jenzie looked at him and said, "Daddy, we don't say shut up."

The other day Gary dressed Colin in a Hawaiian print flowered shirt. When he was all dressed Gary said, "Colin you look like Magnum P.I." Jenzie came up and said, "Yeah, Colin, you do. . . . Daddy, who's Magami Pie?"

I was explaining to Jenzie and Colin that my mom was going to dye my hair. I explained that Grandma was going to make my hair a different color, and Colin exclaimed, "Is it GREEN?!," and then, "Is it ORANGE?!"