In our first and previous blog post, I told you about how we started out as a family business and started our family shortly after. It was a quick introduction but didn’t fully explain our background and breakdown of how our life has gone from a newly married couple to entrepreneurs with four boys! In this next segment, get ready to see how this became such a wild ride.
It was 2006 and I was pregnant with our third baby. I was exhausted. I was commuting over two hours each day. My parents were watching Rhett Taylor and Jayden while I was at work. My dad would drive to our home in Stansbury Park, Utah in the mornings to pick up the boys and take them to their home in Tooele which was 20 minutes each way.
I felt like I didn’t have a life. I was wasting so much time driving (as this was before I started waking up at 4 am!!) There were nights when my husband and I were so tired that we would stay in a hotel in Salt Lake because we didn’t think we could make the drive home. At eight months pregnant, I told my husband that I was DONE commuting. I missed my cute little boys! 
That night, when we picked the boys up from my parent’s home, we broke the news that we needed to move to Salt Lake City. I could tell they were heartbroken as we told them. I could feel my own heart start to shutter thinking of hurting them. 
Rhett and I didn’t even have to discuss anything before we both blurted out, “Move in with us!!” It didn’t take a moment of my parents sharing the same ‘couple’s telekinesis’ before they simultaneously said “YES!” What a crazy, wonderful, surprising 10 minutes that was! It was shocking for me to believe they would so easily leave their home of 30 years to move in with our growing family. The boys had become their everyday life, so living without them and going back to a quiet life at home seemed far too foreign to them it turned out.
Rhett Taylor and Jayden with Grandma and Grandpa Rose.
The hunt was on to find a house that would accommodate two families. Thinking back now, it’s pretty incredible how fast it happened for us. Rhett was checking in on one of our job sites in a beautiful Sandy, Utah neighborhood and came across a “LEASE TO OWN ” sign. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity, he immediately went over to have a look.
I was at the office and received a phone call moments later with Rhett exclaiming he had found the perfect house. It was an older Tudor-style home, with over 8,000 square feet, two kitchens, 7 bathrooms, and a 3 car garage. And, to top it all off, it was only 5 minutes away from the office!! We never thought we would possibly find a home where two families could live as two homes in one and the price was right! Within a couple of weeks, we moved in. It was so nice having my parents with us for so many reasons. (lots more about my wonderful parents later) The most amazing part of all was not having the long commute for me or my parents, and being able to spend time with all of my incredible family without the panic of rushing around.
After settling into our new place, the time came very quickly for me to have my third baby boy. I had an induction scheduled for June 6th, being only a few days away. My nurse called me and asked if I wanted to reschedule since it was such a superstitious day! That date didn’t bother me and I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I told her that I would see her on 06-06-06. It’s actually the only birth date that I don’t have to try and remember!
The morning of June 5th I was working on a large pile of work in my home office and I started having light contractions. I was determined to get everything on my to-do list done before I had the baby! While it took me the entire day to finish my work, I then took a shower, packed my hospital bag, and went to bed knowing it would be my last good sleep for a while. A couple of hours later, my contractions started to get stronger and this time I knew it was time to go to the hospital.
As soon as we got there my doctor was paged. The waiting seemed to take more time than eternity had to give. Finally, my doctor arrived, and within moments, he examined me and then asked me to push. The disappointment seemed to pour out of him from my attempt at pushing and he countered by telling me we would be waiting around all day if I didn’t try harder.
Well, being the competitive person I am thought to myself, “I’ll show you!” We waited for the next contraction and then he asked me to push again, so with all of the strength I could muster, I pushed so hard that the baby came flying out of me like a rocket – placenta and all!! If we had a radar gun it would have read 100 mph! My doctor had to catch the baby with both hands! He couldn’t believe what I had done, he didn’t even have time to put on his goggles and he was hitting the call button with his elbow requesting towels – stat. Blood was all over everyone and we couldn’t help but laugh hysterically. Rhett was so embarrassed and kept asking us to quiet down, he didn’t want us to wake up the patients down the hall.
It sounds unbelievable and like something out of a 1990’s comedy about pregnancy, but honestly, it’s the pure truth! Our third baby flew into this world like a comet from space! It helps explain how he is flying through life now. After he was born, we realized that we hadn’t decided on a name. Rhett and I were having so much fun trying to come up with a name. We thought of so many names to do with how fast he was born but then my sister Karen came up with the perfect name. Before we knew it several local news stations were calling, they wanted to interview me on TV and to introduce our newborn baby born on 6-6-6 with the name, any guesses?
Family picture in Albion Basin, Utah
Christian!!! The perfect name for a perfect baby born on “the devil’s day!”
I hesitate writing this part of the story but we got such a good laugh out of it that I can’t resist.
A couple of days after Christian was born, my sister Karen called me laughing her head off. She asked if I saw Grandma’s letter. My Grandma Rose would send weekly emails to family and friends all over the country updating us on the happenings of the family. She announced that I had given birth to a healthy baby boy and that I had gotten “skid marks!” It would be an understatement to say that I was mortified! I assumed everyone reading the letter would wonder why she would make such an announcement. To make it clear, I didn’t get “those” kind of skid marks!! “During childbirth, you might tear, bruise or get what is lovingly referred to as “skid marks” – a kind of graze on the inside of the birth canal which is extremely painful.” It has more to do with burning rubber when you take your vehicle from 0 to 100, and less to do with what you find in a little boys underwear!!
Grandma lovingly taking care of baby Christian
Another chapter of our story had commenced, and in more ways than one it felt perfect. My parents were living with us, we had three beautiful boys, and business was good! Little did we know that our story was about to change.
