Kambri's Scheduling

Kambri is kind of hard to get moving in the mornings.  So this is our conversation that we had one morning last week.

Me: It's time to get up for school Kambri.
(After stretching and rolling around a bit...)
Kambri: Just a minute, let me check my schedule. (She then goes under her covers.)
Me: You've got to get to school and you have dance today.
Kambri: I think my schedule just opened up.

She totally kills me sometimes with the grown up conversations we have, she seems years ahead of herself!  Oh, how I wish time would stand still sometimes, they all grow so fast!

It's official- he's a licensed driver!

It's been kind of an interesting process with how they go about the permit and license rules now as compared to when Shaun & I turned 16.  He's had his permit since July and it only allowed for a parent and immediate family to be in the car.  Then on top of that, he had to have possession of a permit for a full 6 months before he could get his actual license.

 

Here he is with his temporary license!  He's ready and rearing to drive by himself!  So the first time he took off out of the driveway to go to a friends by himself I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack.  We watched him until we could no longer see the tail lights.  I was the overprotective mom who made him check in everytime he got from one place to another so I knew he was safe.  He really appreciated that! :)  It seriously took me like a week before I could relax a little about him driving without one of us. 

 

We've basically given him the 2001 Oldsmobile Alero.  We bought a Honda Pilot a few weeks before he got his license.  He's been driving him and Hollie to school most days since then!  Now he's on the search for a job though as he sees that gas and insurance are going to cost some money! 

 

And the official license arrived in the mail...

 

 

Clear the roads Brigham City and make room for Taylor Bess!

How is it possible?! Taylor is 16!

We officially have a 16 year old & a licensed driver in our house now!  This seems so surreal.  I'm not quite sure how it happened that Taylor can possibly be 16, but alas, he is!

He chose Chinese for dinner and his girlfriend, Emilee, ate with us and spent the evening with the family! Among the many presents he received, we gave him a 'Do's and Don'ts of Dating' book.  As you can see in this first picture, he's pretty excited about that! :)

I decided it'd be a good idea for all the adults to give him a piece of advice for dating/being a more able teenager.  Things ranged from: date lots of girls so you can find the right one to marry, remember that your parents love you and want to be your friend- they do have some wisdom they can share with you, be respectful to all the girls, etc.  We did video most of his advice it which will be fun for him to look back on. 

Poor Emilee to have to sit through all of this.  But she was a great sport about it.  Throughout this little shenanigan there were 2 red faces though! :)

 

And his list of 16 things!!

 

1.  He is pretty smitten by Emilee!

 

2.  He has been learning to play the guitar and is really quite good at it.  It's fun to listen to him play and sing at the same time.

 

3.  He loves to sing and to belt it out when no one is looking.

 

4.  He is taking German this year and likes to talk to us like we have a clue what he's talking about.

 

5.  He is a wealth of knowledge.  He seriously knows something about everything.  He never ceases to amaze me.

 

6.  His cell phone is his most coveted possession.

 

7.  He has a lot of allergies and he's doing the allergy shot therapy once a week.  :(

 

8.  He has started coming upstairs out of his 'apartment' a bit more and we love it!

 

9.  He loves to continually point out that he's taller than me, which we all know isn't that hard to beat!

 

10.  He isn't picky about too many things like a lot of teenagers.  He's pretty easy going that way.

 

11.  He is involved in a lot of different clubs at school.  WDIR (We do it Right), German Club, FBLA and FFA.  I love that he's involved in a variety of things.

 

12.  We had a really hard time getting him motivated to study to get his Driving Learner's Permit, but once he had that in his hand, he wanted to drive ALL the time.

 

13.  He has a good head on his shoulders.  He has good friends, a cute girlfriend, gets good grades, and is an all around good kid.  He's always been a relatively easy kid for us.  We're lucky!

 

14.  He's a very loyal friend.  I've seen it time and time again- anyone is lucky to have him as a friend.

 

15.  He doesn't always love to help me around the house, but he is quite helpful if I ask something of him.

 

16.  He is turning into such the young man.  Like a normal teenager he values his sleep (during the day), stays up late, loves spending any chance he gets with Emilee, and still gets annoyed by his sisters!  We're loving our typical but unique Taylor!

 

 

Jordan World Circus

Here's a little secret.  Sometimes most of the time we're not all that exciting of a family.  We don't seem to make time for the fun things in life that create memories, but we've really been trying harder to do that as a family.  We decided the circus would be a fun place to start, as Shaun is the only one of us who had ever been. 

 

We had a great time and will definitely do it again!  It was well worth the money.  Plus we got to finish up the evening with dinner at our favorite place, Bella's! Yum!

 

The kids enjoyed watching the elephant rides and pony rides.  But no way were they doing the elephant ride. 

And we were lucky enough to get up right close and personal to the lion and tiger cages before we were told they don't like you up that close to them. 

It was nice to spend time with the family and do something fun!  Memories in the making....

Taylor's Teenage Life

Taylor has been keeping very busy.  In February he started working at Arby's and was averaging 5 days a week there.  He was having to work basically every weekend but he was so responsible with his obligations there.  He is now working at Wal-Mart and seems to enjoy it for the most part.  Unfortunately, he's been stuck working every weekend there, also.  He's quite the trooper about it, but it's hard from a parent standpoint to see your child having to be SO 'grown up' and not being able to do more of the fun things of being a teenager.

He got asked by his girlfriend to Girls Choice and he was having a hard time finding someone to cover for him at work so he didn't get to answer her until the last minute.

He's pretty smitten by his girlfriend Emily and he likes to spend time with her every chance he gets. Emily moved over to Logan with her mom for the new school year but they talk every night and see each other frequently still. 

She asked him to their Sadie Hawkin's dance and they had a great time.  Taylor said their dances are much better over there with less drama.  :) 

He had the opportunity to go to All-State Choir. They stayed 2 nights in Salt Lake. He's having a lot of fun just being a teenager!