Grandma Peak's 90th Birthday dinner Party

My grandma Peak turned 90 on October 4, 2011. They had an open house the Saturday before, so people could drop by and wish her a happy birthday, have some snacks and visit a bit. On her actual birthday, several of us got together at Olive Garden for a birthday dinner.



90 years is a long time and I still love to look at grandma's pictures and hear stories of when her and my grandpa were first married and traveling to California because he was in the military, with my mom as a small child. Growing up in Wisconsin...moving to California and later to Idaho. My mom talked about her her grandma Emma who was a wonderful christian lady and how my mom remembers her reading her bible. That is just how my grandma is too. I remember her babysitting my brother and me and watching bible studies on TV, or listening to them on the radio. She has always been such a great example and easy to talk to. I'm so glad Taylor gets to enjoy her too, at her "great" grandma's house and play with the same things I played with when I was young.
She just seems timeless and the same great lady she has been my whole life. My grandma is such a wonderful constant in our life...cheerful and fun....we love you grandma Peak.

October 2, 2011...Taylor turns 5

This is actually the morning of Taylor's 5th birthday party, which was the day before her birthday. Taylor still weighs about 37lbs and is 42 inches tall. She loves to pose for pictures and have me take videos of her putting on a little show with her animals or making up a little song. She doesn't like to practice any type of "school" work like her ABC's or numbers. Occasionally, I'll get her to sit down with me to work on things, but she is just not always that interested. Because of the way her birthday falls, she will not start kindergarten until next Fall. Which is actually kind of nice, since I love having her home with me. She does surprise me from time to time with the things she does know. She pays attention and picks things up, so I'm not too concerned that she doesn't want to practice writing her name or tell me how high she can count. She makes friends easily and likes to play with other children. She is compassionate towards others, when they are sad. She likes to stand out, not always follow or conform to the games or ideas of others, she may make up her own just to be a little different (or not to do what is expected). She loves Sunday School and likes to pray with me. She will sometimes ask me to pray that she has good dreams (which she usually does). She also likes to skip, whistle, wink and snap her fingers at the same time, just to show us she can. She is also a lot of fun to take shopping, and enjoys a "girls night" out (as we call it), even if it's just for a happy meal.
I always take lots of pictures...
My family will indulge my picture taking to a point...
Then they start to get silly sometimes...Taylor and Ben were whispering behind my back on this one...ha ha
We had a nice little birthday party...Anissa, Makenna, and Taylor played downstairs while the adults visited upstairs.
Taylor was telling her grandpa a story...
Ben's Uncle Kim was visiting from Canada, so it was nice to have him over as well.
Daniell and I always try to capture a moment...smile...girls photos op...
Matt and Holly....
Chris and Lorinda, Ricky and Daniell, Matt and Holly, my mom (Judy) and Dave and Jeanette were all over to celebrate Taylor's 5th birthday.
Taylor chose an ice cream cake this year...
After cake she opened gifts...
...and even modeled her new outfit for gymnastics...
Matt and me...it's hard to believe he's 24 since it doesn't seem so long ago he was having a 5th birthday...time goes by so fast...
After the party we played a little poker for fun...


This is Taylor's actual birthday when she really turned 5, the next day.
We offered to take her to breakfast, but all she wanted to do was take her dad to Toys R Us, or Toys On Us, as she was calling it several times that morning.
I love her expression as she opened gifts from Ben and me. This was the much anticipated Ice Dragon...
Ben said she could pick out whatever she wanted at Toys R Us and she picked out a stuffed turtle. So, he said she could pick something else, as well. I was kind of hoping for a motorized jeep or something for her to ride...maybe a scooter. However, Taylor is loving her stuffed animals, so she picked out two more...a Husky and a Little Pet Shop Bear.
Taylor loves her stuffed animals, and I can say that she really does play with all of them. She says she wants to be a pet doctor when she grows up. I try to pull some toys out of rotation, now and then, until she's looking for them and I have to bring them back out. She is only 5 so I guess for now, we will have lots of toys at our house.

Catching up from final Days of Summer

Taylor and I spend a lot of time at Silverwood Theme Park during the summer. We do love Fall too. This year we didn't get to experience all the Fall decor. Silverwood decided to go to "Scarywood." Therefore it was a different type of decor than all the pumpkins and things we love. We don't do Scarywood...it's geared for a slightly older crowd than Taylor would appreciate.
We always have lunch at Lindy's. I love their Tomato Gorgonzola soup!
Taylor always loves to see Odie or Garfield if they are out and about.
One of Taylor's favorite rides is the Tiny Toot Roller Coaster...she spends a lot of time running around to get back in line to ride it again and again.
This was our last day at Silverwood for the season.


My mom was up visiting for about a month from September 9th to October 5th. Taylor had so much fun playing with her when she would come to visit. We had a lot of nice outings too.
This is Taylor spinning on the footstool at my grandma Peak's house. My cousin's and I also enjoyed spinning on it when we were young.
My grandma was showing us this cute card she received with a pretty little hanky. I thought it was so cute!
Taylor and my grandma were playing. My grandma made several of these "clowns." I think Matt probably got the first one (he was the first great grandchild). He played with my grandpa with them and they called it "Buddy." Ever since then, that has been the name.
While visiting one evening, we were going through some old photos. This is one of my grandparent's house back in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I LOVE to see all the many old photos.
Cindy and Kalyn came over and we took several photos of us all...
It was a lot of FUN! This is my grandma, my mom, Taylor and me (4 generations)...
This was right before Taylor turned five and my grandma turned 90...it was a little pre-birthday celebration.

Girls Day...lunch and the park

Taylor, my mom and I went out to lunch downtown at Tito's this afternoon, followed by a trip to the park. Taylor had the fun opportunity to make her own pizza. They asked if she wanted to wear a chef's hat, but she declined. She told me later she was a little nervous and shy, but next time she will wear it. Taylor was so precise with the placement of every piece of cheese and pepperoni.
Much time and careful thought was put into this pizza creation.
As she neared the end, she started smiling and posing for me...
She was very proud and excited to make her own pizza....and it was very tasty!
On our way back to the truck, we stopped by a cute little candy store...unfortunately, I can't remember the name, but they had a lot of unique, fun, yummy, and some candies I didn't know they still made. Taylor wanted these teeth...remember wax teeth...
We then made our way to the wonderful Fort Sherman...
It was a beautiful day! I'm ready to enjoy Fall. It had that feel today, perfect temperatures and not to crowded since the kids must be at school or home doing homework
Taylor surprised me with this...so cute to see her swinging...
My mom and Taylor at the park. My mom came up for my Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary and will be staying for Taylor's 5th birthday and my grandma's 90th birthday. We are enjoying her visit with us very much!
My mom took several pictures of Taylor and me...
Taylor is a great little poser now, so I tried to mimic her...
I wasn't always ready...
This one shows us laughing because Taylor accidently whacked me in the face as she raised her hand for her pose.
It was such a fun afternoon!
This is such a great park for pictures...
While Taylor was swinging this little squirrel kept running onto the playground. It would dig, dig, dig, then run off, and repeat.
Taylor on the swings. Taylor fell off this swing once. She remembers and likes to tell the story. It was actually very sad. She decided she was ready to jump off the swing, but I didn't realize she was ready, so I didn't catch her. I think I was actually standing on the side of the swing, because I was pushing her. I felt terrible! But, she still likes to sit on this swing, it has memories of being a favorite swing and a story she likes to tell.

Tire swing and funny faces for mom...
Walking across the wobbly balance beam...
I love this picture of Taylor cracking up. Taylor and a five year old boy named Nate were running around having so much fun. He was so cute as he put his hand out to help her get into the wooden boat on the playground. Here they are playing the "telephone" game and speaking into the wooden speaker boxes and listening to each other...to cute!