GUESS what they're watching?????........

Hint: what could get Josh to watch so intently???? (for some reason Janell likes to watch too :)

Growing girl

It's official she's growing. She was our last chance for one of our children to stay infant size. But today we found out she's not fulfilling our wish :( So I guess we just have to love seeing her grow :) On day 1 she was 7lbs. 5 oz. The next day she did the typical drop ounces and lost 11 (Amarae & Jackson never lost any they went straight up). We thought there was hope. But at her 1 week apt. she was 7lbs. 14 oz. Today (just shy of 6 wks) she is just under 10lbs! I was shocked! How could she be growing so fast????Here's the growing girl today

New cousin/nephew!

Uncle Ben (dad's brother) & Aunt Amanda had their 1st baby! Andrew Joseph Mohs. Janell & Andrew are 5 weeks, (to the day) apart! Congrats Ben & Amanda! There are now 10 grandkids in the Mohs fam.

Visits with familia....(& a couple other...things)

A new baby means lots of wonderful family visits! Here are pictures from a few. We love you ALL! (& pictures from a couple other ventures!).

Grandpa Val & Great Grandma Taylor. Janell is the 33rd great grand child, with 3 on the way. (12 days old)

Great Grandpa Elmer, Grandma Janell's dad. Baby Janell is the 19th great grand child, with 4 on the way. (16 days old).

Aunt Esther & cousin Ruth

Aunt Esther, & Aunt Rachel

Aunt Hannah

Dad with our nephew Eli

Cousin Isabel & Aunt Hannah

Grandpa Allan....he loves babies!

Lately when the Mohs clan gets together, we play a great game of base-ball! We have a blast! Last time I was 9 mths preggo, this time 4 wks postpartum......nothing stops us (well me, I guess :)!

picking tomatoes in our garden

Janell's 1st camping trip, 3 weeks old. Sleeping on the rocks

Hiking up to the falls

Amarae sticking her head in the falls

4 weeks old!

2 weeks of life

In Jane's 1st 2 weeks (color & black & white :)

Cute siblings

Naps with Dad (for some reason all the kids have lots of picts like this...hmmmmm...)

Mom soothes & kisses

Alex taking wild picts!

Life with baby Jane

What can I say but.....we're ALL in LOVE with her! She is SO precious and perfect :) The kids absolutely love her! When she cries I hear little feet running down the hall......they have to know what's wrong with her.....and want to make sure I'm making what's wrong, all better. Alex has found the way she likes to be held. He likes to hold her when she's crying, because he can get her to stop. He now likes the challenge and reward of soothing her. Jackson kisses her gently 50+ x's a day! Amarae always wants to hold her (of course :) Life has transitioned beautifully with Jane!!

(He's watching a movie here :)

Day 4, her cord stump fell off! Midwives tie it with string (instead of the clumpy clamp they put on in the hospitals), and say to completely leave it alone (instead of telling you to keep it clean and put rubbing alcohol on it). I couldn't believe how quick it fell off. My other kids clamps didn't fall off for to 2 weeks +!

Home birth & new baby GIRL!!!!

WOW!!! What an experience! I would do it NO other way! I went into labor Thurs. July 16th. I knew around 9pm that I was in labor. We called the midwife, Liz around 10pm. She came and checked me and I was 3 cm dilated. Our plan was to get some rest and call her when we woke. Josh set up the birth scene; birth pool, floor liners, and mattress.
Well I couldn't rest :) I was anxious, nervous, and having contractions. So yes, from the mid to end we were EXHAUSTED! I had been integrating each and every contraction, so they could get me as much progress as possible. Around 2 in the morning we called Liz. She decided it was time for her to come and stay. It was so nice to have your "doctor" and asst. there the whole time. Really being with you. When she got to the house I was 6 1/2-7 cm! I couldn't believe it! The contractions had been so mild, so the integrating really worked (YEAH! the books, yoga breathing, and preparation payed off!!) In the past I had epidurals around 5cm, with broken waters around 4 cm. (manually broken to "speed things up"). Contractions were always "unbearable" at this point in the hospitals. So what a nice surprise. I knew going into this I did NOT want my water broken, and of course an epidural was not an option :) The last couple cm to 9cm came progressively quick. BUT little girl was keeping her head up there and wasn't clearing the cervix all the way to 10. Did I mention I had excruciating back labor! I had never had this before...WOW! PAINFUL! But I made it through.....had her at 8:31 am, July 17th! When I was done all I could say was I can't believe I made it through that!! It was the most amazing thing I've ever done. I am so glad I chose this way! To actually feel everything the whole time....ahhhh......there are no words. The kids were sleeping all night. I had thought we'd have her before they woke...but that didn't happen. Amarae woke around 7am. The boys popped up shortly before pushing began. It was really beautiful how it all worked out....the way it was meant to! Alex was even the filmer! Uncle Brian and his g.f Alex had played beautiful peaceful music and sat near by praying and meditating for hours! Janell came into this world with all her familiar sounds....no wonder she was at such peace! We love you, our precious little Janell Marie Taylor-Mohs

Going through a tough one

Liz massaging me
Josh giving me a pony tail :)


She's here!! Amarae & Jackson looking on & Alex filming!

She NEVER cried. She was at peace....no matter what we did!
Weighing her. 7lbs 5 ounces, 21 in long

Proud dad and uncle Brian

Amarae wouldn't leave her side!

Feet! The kids are so cute here :)


Day 2, getting some vitamin D for the 1st time!



They are in love with her :)

Cousin Sawyer

Sleeping in the amby baby hammock

Just the day before :)

some back yard action

Swimming in our little pool

I've had no motivation to get out our bigger pool (maybe it has something to do with 9 mths of pregnancy...hmmm). So after Jackson, begging me everyday all day to get it out, I just went and bought a little one :)



Watching dad sand down the front door just before painting it


The kids love to put the sprinkler under the trampoline!

Alex & Amarae holding hands and jumping....ahhh.

back flips



Cousin Ruth's Bellevue backyard

Sandbox!

The current tournament...and....a couple other things :)

The Moses Lake Cal Ripken All-Stars, 11 yr old team, is doing awesome! We go into the tournament tomorrow first place in our pool! Friday night and today we won all our games!! So tomorrow we play 2nd of the other pool. If we beat them we go to the tournament game fighting for 1st place! Alex has been averaging at least one double play every game! He tags the runner, running to 2nd then throws 1st, and they're both out! He has stopped so many balls hit at him, and made some amazing pop fly and line drive catches! His hits are still going strong! He's loving it, and we are SO proud of him!

Playing second. They call him a vacuum out there!

He's still hitting like crazy!

One of his many double plays! He tagged the runner, threw 1st......they were OUT of there!

Stealing home.....SAFE!

After the winning run came in, at the bottom of the last inning. We WON!! 4-5


If you know Alex he has this smile that pops up, and is uncontrollable for him. (it's why he can never be a pitcher :) Here he is in today's game and something has him smiling :)

Jackson loves P.b & jam sandwiches. AND recently he has started to make them for himself!

Here he is spreading away!

Josh & I went to a Matisyahu & K'naan concert in Seattle @ the Moore Theatre. The concert was awesome! We even saw Alex there (Uncle Brian's g.f)!

The 1st tourney....not so good. BUT.....ALEX did great!

Alex was on hitting FIRE!! It was awesome! We had 1 game Fri night, and won! Then 3 games Sat. & lost all 3. Then last game Sun. morn, and lost again :( BUT...Alex did awesome. He hit EVERY time at bat (with the exception of one walk :), and was eventually moved to 2nd of the line-up (where the good hitters go!). And EVERY game he got the hits AND the runs rollin' for the team! It was so much fun to watch him, I was SO proud of him. Especially because he has had a hard time at bat for quite a while. He started to do ok during league, but not like this. He was always so nervous at bat and would defeat himself. But we really worked on it and it shows! He looked so relaxed at bat, and it payed off. Today after the last game, the frustrated coaches :) talked to the boys. They gave Alex a base-ball, telling him he did so good and was the best hitter of the tourney!! 1st game 8am Sat. morn. Hitting a double, getting 2 R.B.I's!

Stealing home

Running the bases & making an out at 2nd base (he always plays 2nd base on the field)


Alex and best side kick Justin. These 2 are 2 peas in a pod! So much in common!

Did he make it???.......

On Saturday, 6-6-09 Alex had 11 yr All-Star team try-outs. Last yr he made the 10 yr old All-Star team. Today we waited patiently for the call. At 2:30 the coach called. Alex.............MADE THE TEAM!!! He (we) was SO excited!! He puts in a lot of hard work getting ready for try-outs. We take him to the field and practice all areas of the game days before the try-outs. So when he finds out he made it, it's exciting news! Now the real hard work begins.......lots of practices, tournaments, & keeping up the hard work, showing them why they picked you. But after last yr. Alex found out he loves it! Tournaments will go thru mid July.

SO.......Alex has had his luxurious hair growing for quite a while now. It has become his "baby," he loved it. BUT...he decided for All-Star try-outs he better cut it off. Here is the before & after

Don't ask what's up with his faces. This has been his picture face lately. I figure it must be an almost 12 yr old "thing?????"

Acid dropping into the 1/2 pipe from the 6 ft.

Melon grab over the hump

A day of firsts......

Today Jackson decided he wanted to ride a bike with no training wheels. He pretty much got on and took off. He was even turning around, using the brakes and making long skid marks (he was proud of that :) There he goes (he's using Amarae's old bike, that didn't have training wheels)


Today Amarae pulled out her own tooth for the 1st time, AND she lost her 1st top tooth!!

Here it is blood and all!



Then a little later the 2nd top, middle tooth decided it was ready to get out too! (Dad pulled that one out :)

I was so excited to see her with out her 2 front teeth! It is SO cute to watch her talk!

The times of late..... (some of :)

Lately ALL Jackson wants to do is sk8board!! He's addicted! In the morning he wakes up gets dressed, brings his socks and shoes to Josh and I (still in bed), and says "PLEASE put my shoes on and take me to the Moses Lake sk8park?" Here he is today 5-28-09 doing an ollie off the side of the half pipe

4-30-09

Lovin' it!





Yesterday Josh found a string hanging from one of our bushes. Then thought to himself "maybe that was part of a birds nest?" So he looked in the bush and this is what he found!

5-27-09



On Memorial weekend we had our 6th anniversary for the Moses Lake sk8shop! And held our annual sk8 contest.
Alex board sliding the hand rail in one of his contest runs



Josh, announcing, with the panel of judges behind him


For the Memorial day festivities Amarae was in the Kiddie parade and the Moonlight parade for gymnastics

There she is cart wheelin' in the parade

The Moonlight parade, she's sitting on the podium

One night when Josh came home from the Richland sk8shop, he found Jackson in bed asleep like this!!

AIM Gymnastics had their annual fun meet for 2009

5-16-09 Jackson tip toeing across the beam

Amarae doing front hip circles on the bars

Last but not least the growing addition, coming soon to our family (Janell Marie if it's a girl and Jasiah James if it's a boy). Here's the growing belly with barely under 2 months to go!

Brian & Alex in India

I just had to post some of Brian and Alex's India journey. I love looking at their pictures and hearing their stories. Such a beautiful journey they are having. I can't wait until they are back here, to share even more! On the organic farm, they stayed and worked at. They met people from all over the world, working there too.

Some of the beautiful children on the farm

Brian had just played cricket in the streets with these kids

In the market

Spring break 3/26/09 - 4/5/09~ fam road trip to Southern California (finally posted with TONS of picts :)

We headed out in the evening on the 25th. Drove in to Oregon (around Kalamath Falls) and stayed the night in the mountains. When we slept at night on our road trip, we transformed our van into a "camper van". We folded the seats down in the back and laid a queen air mattress over them. In the front we put a twin air mattress. The kids thought it was so cool :) and loved sleeping in there! We woke up and played in the snow, then ate breakfast (cereal). We decided to drive up to Crater Lake. Then onto our first (of many) skate park of the trip, in Medford OR. That night we stayed in mid-northern CA. On Friday, early afternoon we made it to our destination, Kevin's apt. in Laguna Beach CA. (Kevin is the son, of the owner of ATM, Josh's board sponsor). Kevin was gone for the weekend, so he let us stay at his apt. in Laguna, right across the street from the ocean! We arrived to 80 degree + weather! After we unloaded our bags, we showered (we traveled in our comfy clothes/pj's and were SO ready for a shower :), and went to the beach! While in Laguna we went to the Laguna Hills skate park, one we used to go to when we lived down there. On Sunday we went to our hotel in Carlsbad. On Tuesday we stopped by the ATM warehouse and watched John (the owner) shave wheels to their size. He made each of the kids a wheel :) then we headed to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park. Josh and the kids had a blast riding the rides. Wed. & Thurs. Josh had skate days. That night he took Alex to Black Box, Jamie Thomas's skate park. Jamie is a pro skater who owns of a couple of skate companies. Josh rides for his shoe company Fallen Shoes. On Friday we went to ATM. John screen printed the kids skate boards. It was cool to see how graphics get on the boards. Then we went to the Oceanside skate park. Then on to John' & Leah's house. We had a BBQ. Then later that night went to the beach and had a huge bonfire. John, Josh, and Alex had loaded up tons of wood pallets to burn. We roasted some yummy marshmallows and made s'mores! We stayed at John and Leah's that night and headed for home Sat. morn. We had a wonderful time in warm, sunny CA. We loved spending time with John & Leah. The kids were very sad to leave them and CA. Sat night we stayed right by Mt. Shasta. We woke up and went to Weed, CA skate park. We had to drive all day Sunday to get home. We left a day later than planned. But we did make it to a couple of other skate parks on the drive home :) Waking up by Kalamath falls OR
Playing in the snow!

Breakfast!

Mountain road to Crater Lake

Alex filming at Crater Lake

Crater Lake!

Medford OR skate park

tying shoes

Josh found a kid with an ATM skateboard and an Imperial Motion Clothing hat (Josh's clothing sponsor)

Autographing a board

Waking up, mid CA

Hot Chocolate!!

We're getting close!

Laguna Beach!

Belly @ 23 weeks = 4 months to grow, I mean go!

Yes, that wave soaked us. Yes, Josh saw it coming and knew it would. Yes, he enjoyed it and laughed at us!

Checking out the reef

Kevin has a wii, that we enjoyed playing. Josh and I had never played the wii. I kicked everyones butt in bowling!

Alex was taking pictures of Josh and I bowling

Alex likes to take pictures of just my belly :)

Alex and John playin' some ball

San Clemente skate park

On our way to Knott's Berry Farm, stopping at ATM

Checking out the ATM graphics. "We found Dad's board!"

Where the wheels get painted and dried

Watching John shave the kids some wheels

Thank you SO much John!

KNOTT'S BERRY FARM!!

watching an old west show

Rides at Snoopy Camp

A giant skate board!

Cotton candy!

The Snoopy's bus. When we lived in CA, I took Alex to Knott's. I have pictures of him when he was 3 on this ride

Lucy's tug boat

hugging on the ferris wheel....awwww

Racing cars

Alex is in his own cart (yellow shirt), and Dad and Amarae are 3rd from the back

Jackson was so brave to go on the log ride. This was one little part of it.

Passed out!

Alex and Josh riding up....

and "flying" down! They are 3rd row from the back

Checking out some wild roosters in the tree

Black Box

Swimming at the hotel

The quarter coming out of the ear trick. Amarae was very into figuring out how the quarter disappeared and popped out your ear. She had it figured out :)

John screening a Mosaik board

Alex picked out a Mosaik graphic, and John picked out an ATM graphic for him

Watching John make "Josh Mohs" boards

The finished boards, thank you John!!

Fun at Chuck E Cheese!

Jackson was SO excited to see Chuck E. He ran right into his arms, and followed him everywhere, hugging him.

Oceanside skate park

Playing on the toys right by the skate park

She flies through the monkey bars!

He scares me when he does this on the monkey bars, but he's a monkey!

There were wild rabbits at all the parks, and nature areas. The kids wanted to catch one, so bad. Yeah right!

Bon fire! Roastin' mallows

John, Leah, the kids, & Chauncy

The huge fire. John was determined to burn ALL the pallets! We had a blast!

hichin' a ride in the back of John's truck

Sometimes while driving at night the kids watched a movie. We try not to let them watch too many movies, there's SO much to see right out the window!

Skating at Weed CA skate park

Riding down.....

then up the wall, and riding away fakie

Alex was so freaked out as Josh rode around him, it was funny :)

I just couldn't resist. Alex taking pictures of me as I roll away fakie

Alex taking a belly shot

Alex taking pictures of Josh

Mt. Shasta behind us

HMMMMM, I haven't blogged in a while....

First I want to report Brian is doing GREAT and LOVING INDIA!! I LOVE reading of his experiences in his emails. I hope someday, we'll be there too!! AND we had our ultrasound. We got to see our beautiful being in the womb!! We don't find out the gender so that will remain a SURPRISE!!
Spring is busy! On top of all the usual stuff (my jobs...SAHM, espresso stand, taking kids to gymnastics, preschool, basketball, story time, skate park, being the president of the Co-op preschool, taking and editing photos, etc) I took on another job. I'm now the office manager at Amarae's gymnastic place. I work there, Mon., Wed., Thurs., and Fri. PLUS in spring, photo season gets real busy and I still shoot photos for Ahmans (a local photo business) in their busy times (spring and fall). And now Alex is playing on a select team for baseball, SO baseball practice and games are starting even earlier this year and over lap with his tournament basketball team (basketball has been going since Sept) AND will overlap with his seasonal baseball team! The good thing is, he LOVES baseball so he's excited!!

BESIDES all of this, I'm SOOO excited to report we're heading to southern California on Wed!!! For 12 days!! Josh just got back from a skate trip there (March 10 and they wanted him to come back soon!). His board's company, ATM is in Oceanside.

We're staying at a hotel right down the street from the ocean! It has a kitchen, which was a requirement :) (we don't ever eat out, so there was NO way I could do 36 meals and ALL my snacking without a kitchen!!) We got tickets for Knotts Berry Farm. The kids will love it, their ride junkies!

I envision myself sitting in one of those beach chairs that sits on the sand (being 5 months preggo I can't lay on the beach), with an umbrella to shade off the HOT sun, reading my book, while the kids enjoy the beach!! I'll get up every now and then to shoot photos :)

Josh will have lots of skate stuff to do. Alex is excited to join in on some of that! I'm also excited because I researched vegan restaurants and found lots!! One is down the street from the hotel on the walk to the beach!! It's even a raw, vegan restaurant and juice bar!! I also found lots of great natural food grocery stores (all things that make me :)!! I consider all this my 30th bday present (which I'm writing this on)!! I'll post LOTS of picts when we get back!

You HAVE to watch this!! "Day in the life of Josh Mohs," teaser

ATM (Josh's board sponsor) will be posting "Day in the life of..." movies of all the team riders on their website. Here is Josh's HILARIOUS teaser!! Enjoy!

INDIA!!!!!

I am SOOOO happy for my brother!! Brian and his girlfriend Alex are going to India! She just left and Brian will fly out March 4. She is going a month earlier to go to a yoga school for a month and when she is finished Brian will be there to join her for travels. They will travel together for 3 1/2 months. They plan to travel around India seeing as much of her beauty as they can. They might do W.O.O.F (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) among many other wonderful things. W.O.O.F is an organization where you can go live on an organic farm with others, learn organic farming, work there, getting free board and food. Then in June Alex will part, heading home. Brian will go to the yoga school he has planned to go to, for a month. Then he returns home mid July! I am so excited for the journey and experiences that lie ahead for these two with their travels!! I wish them the very best, blessed journey! I can't wait to see and hear the wonders they saw and experienced! We love you guys!! I am also happy that Brian will be spending the week before he leaves with us! The 2 beautiful, future yogis taking us on a beautiful hike!

Winter time FUN; family, ice skating, & hiking!

The day after Christmas we went to Dad's parent's house in Othello. The whole fam was there, even Great Grandma Swink (Grandma Becky's mom). The day after that, some of us went ice-skating, batting @ the batting cages, and bowling!
Yesterday, after doing some family yoga, we went on a 2 mile hike up and down rock plateaus. We found a couple of frozen lakes and had a blast sliding on them. Bodhi loved running on the ice and sliding too, it was cute! We watched a gorgeous sunset. The kids always LOVE to go hiking. It was so nice to get out in nature, and peacefully enjoy it!

Jackson throwing rocks

Alex's friend Anthony, Amarae, and Alex throwing rocks off the cliff

Amarae looking to find the best way down

The kids and dogs sliding on the ice

I love the reflections in the ice

Alex thinks he saw some type of eggs frozen in the water :)

At 1st we thought it was the moon, then realized it was the sun!

I heard a dog cry echo then realized Marcus was missing. Alex and I went back to find him. I was above the cliff and Alex was below. We found Marcus stuck on a little rock cliff between us. Alex was so proud to rescue him.

Dad and Jackson looking at the frozen lake

The sun setting

The clan in silhouette; Anthony, Alex, Jackson, Dad, & Amarae

Mom's 13 week bump!

After the sun dropped

Alex and Baylee going sledding

Alex with aunt Rachel

Some of the ice-skating clan; Isa, Rachel, Hannah. Ori, & Dad (this pict is from Aunt Sarah's bolg :)

Jackson getting help from aunt Rachel

Getting help from Aunt Hannah

Elijah opening his 1st sk8board, the Josh Mohs pro model!

The grandkids with their great grandma; Amarae, Alex, Great Gma Swink, Isa, Jackson, Ruthie, Elijah, and Ori

Taylor Family Christmas

For the Taylor family Christmas we went to Alicia's Dad's house. At first we didn't know if the Taylor Christmas would happen with the winter storm that hit WA. Brad, Shastine, Brian, and Sawyer were coming over from the west side. They headed over Sat. evening. They stopped after driving 4 hrs what typically would have taken 1 1/2. They were heading over the mtn in the head of the storm. The next morn when they woke the mtn was closed. About mid day it opened!! They took their time and eventually made it to Kennewick WA. We all stayed Sun til Tuesday in the same house (we wouldn't do it any other way :)!!). We sledded, went to Chuck E Cheese, and had many family meals, laughs, and games together. The grand kids all slept together on the living room floor in sleeping bags, just like my cousins and I did when we were little! We did have a couple of loved ones missing.... my Alex (He was with his Dad in Montana for a family get together. The 1st time he has been gone for the holidays), and Cheryl's daughter Kathryn and her beautiful family. We wished they all could've been there.
We had a wonderful family time and we're all so thankful for that time together! We definitely created many new family memories!!

We found a great sled hill behind Dad and Cheryl's house. We had a blast sledding and snowboarding down the hill. Brad pushing Sawyer and Uncle Todd pushing Amarae down the hill.

Dad with nephew Devon, keeping him warm.

Amarae white washed Dad!!

Father and daughter hauling their sleds up.

The Brad Taylor fam; Shastine, Sawyer, Brad, & Kai

Jackson had colored a picture for Brad and one for Shastine, then wrapped them and put them under the tree. It was so cute!!

The Val Taylor Clan! Alicia, Josh, Shastine, Brad, Todd, Mandi, Charity, Devon, Brian, Jackson, Dad Taylor, Sawyer, Cheryl, Amarae, Heather

A Dad and his big kids.

4 generations of the men in the fam

The women

And some very cute grand kids!!