FOURTEEN

Happy birthday to a very camera shy Taylor! We are having his party today so I don't have any pictures of that to post yet and because we are leaving on vacation, I won't be able to post them for quite awhile. No problem, I thought. I'll just use a previous picture of him. Well, that was nearly impossible because the kid avoids cameras like the plague. So this was the best I could come up with. (He is the handome larger one on the right.) Crazy, crazy, crazy to think that it has been fourteen years since Taylor was born. Time really does go by so fast. And here we are with Taylor getting set to go to high school next year and he's already looking at colleges and talking about his mission and sometimes I just want to scream, "STOP!" I'm not ready for my very first baby to even be thinking of leaving home, much less approaching that time with the speed of a bullet train!

Anway, whether I like it or not, Taylor is growing up. He is becoming so much more responsible in so many areas of his life. His voice is getting deeper every day and he has grown another 4 or 5 inches this past year. In fact, he is nearly as tall as Kalen now. As always, he amazes us with the knowlege that he retains and his love for all things scientific. He is really excited to attend the math and science center for part of his school day this year. I saw the calculator that he has to buy and that alone would scare me away for good!!! Taylor is a great helper and I don't know what I would do without him some days. He just attended his very first youth conference (which is why we have to celebrate his birthday today instead of yesterday) and he loved it. They went on a three day pioneer trek and he says it was "the best experience of his life that he never wants to repeat again!" It was pretty hard from what I hear but really gave the kids a feel for what the handcart pioneers had to go through. We are so glad he took the opportunity albeit reluctantly at first. He'll be advancing to a Teacher in the priesthood as soon as we get back from our trip and he is getting set to go to another scout camp upon our return as well. We are so proud of him and all the wonderful things he is doing to become a successful individual.

Happy birthday Taylor. We love you so much even though you keep talking about things like leaving home in a few years!