Michael refused to let me take a picture of him, but this is Elizabeth with her friend Melanie.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Dig it!
Michael and Elizabeth had a school play last night called "Dig it". Grandma Debbie came with the Taylor cousins, and it was fun to have them there. The play was really cute, and all of the songs were about different times in ancient history. The 5th and 6th grade classes in our school are blended, and they have spent the year studying ancient civilizations, so the songs from this performance went perfectly with their year's curriculum, and the kids really liked the music - it's pretty catchy! Elizabeth had a small solo part that she was really excited about - there is a video clip of it below. Elizabeth is the second singer--it's kind of hard to tell from our video clips who's who. On the second and third songs, Michael is in the front row over on the right of the screen, right next to a girl in a blue toga. Elizabeth is on the third row up, over on the left side. She has a girl behind her wearing a black shirt.
Michael refused to let me take a picture of him, but this is Elizabeth with her friend Melanie.
Michael refused to let me take a picture of him, but this is Elizabeth with her friend Melanie.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Michael's band tour
Michael plays the tuba with his school band. Funny story there, he started as a trumpet player, and then moved to baritone because they needed some other instruments added in. After being on baritone for a few months, they needed a tuba player in the band so they had kids try that one out. Michael was the only kid able to get sound out of the tuba, it's such a large instrument you need to have really good lungs to play it. So anyway, now we have a kid practicing the tuba, and he's doing a great job. In fact, all of our neighbors for miles around can hear what a great job he is doing! (just kidding, but it is pretty loud!)
Michael had a band tour where they went to the four elementary schools that feed into our band program to perform. I spent the day with them helping out. It was interesting to be with 45 sixth graders all day, and let me tell you, I appreciate my son! He sat by me on the bus, he sat by me at lunch, and we had fun together. The other parents complained that their kids didn't want them around at all, so I felt really loved. The kids performed really well, and had fun missing their classes for the day. Here are a few video clips of them performing, of course I focused on Michael. I love watching the kids feet during their performances, about half of them are tapping to the beat all the way through. I tried filming that, but you couldn't really tell what was going.
I think these kids are pretty impressive for a first year band! The first song is Batman/Austin Powers, then Guantanamera, then Majestica.
Michael had a band tour where they went to the four elementary schools that feed into our band program to perform. I spent the day with them helping out. It was interesting to be with 45 sixth graders all day, and let me tell you, I appreciate my son! He sat by me on the bus, he sat by me at lunch, and we had fun together. The other parents complained that their kids didn't want them around at all, so I felt really loved. The kids performed really well, and had fun missing their classes for the day. Here are a few video clips of them performing, of course I focused on Michael. I love watching the kids feet during their performances, about half of them are tapping to the beat all the way through. I tried filming that, but you couldn't really tell what was going.
I think these kids are pretty impressive for a first year band! The first song is Batman/Austin Powers, then Guantanamera, then Majestica.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day!
I have thought a lot about my mother, mother in law and grandmothers today. They have all had a huge impact on my life, and I appreciate the things I have learned from them.
My mother has been the ultimate example to me of living the gospel. I remember as a child wondering if a treat was being made for us or someone else. As a child I didn't really understand the importance of service, but because of my mom's example, now my kids ask me if treats are being made for us or someone else. I learned the importance of reading scriptures as a family, having family home evening, giving children chores, going to church, serving in a calling the best you can, going to the temple, and much more. I am the person I am today because of my mother's example.
I am indebted to my mother in law for teaching me how to be a much better cook (those first few years of marriage our meals left a lot to be desired!), seamstress, canner, and planner. I am the world's ultimate spontaneous soul, and she had helped me to tame that a bit herself, and through her wonderful son she taught well. They both try to help me stay out of the sidetracked home executives category. I have a long way to go, but Debbie has helped me to be a much better homemaker than the rough mold she started with!
Both of my grandmothers loved me, and loved the Lord. They were great examples of living the gospel, and especially serving others. My Grandma Adamson loved music, and spent so much of her time playing the piano for different groups, wards, etc. Before I went to Ricks I stayed with her for a few weeks. It was great to have time to be together, just the two of us. We drove to Provo together for a funeral, and she told me stories all the way from Salt Lake of her years dating Grandpa at BYU, and pointed out the places that different buildings used to be. We drove from North Salt Lake to Provo down State Street! It took forever, but she wanted to show me the things from growing up. We drove home on the freeway, the State Street route was way too long!
My Grandma Darley was a great example of service. She served in the primary for forty years! I think my heart follows my Grandma Darley, it is definately in primary. I am currently our ward's primary president, but have been a teacher several times, nursery worker, activity days leader, pianist and primary counselor. I think I have served in and loved primary for about 12 years now. I was the gospel doctrine teacher in our ward for a year, and remember every week wishing I was back in primary. Anyway, I hope I can be like my Grandma and always love primary.
I am so grateful for the wonderful women in my life, and the terrific examples they have set for me. I have also served with amazing women who I have learned so much from, and had many leaders as a teenager who really had a strong influence on my life. I also have terrific sisters and sister in laws who are great examples to me. Thank you all, I love you.
I have thought a lot about my mother, mother in law and grandmothers today. They have all had a huge impact on my life, and I appreciate the things I have learned from them.
My mother has been the ultimate example to me of living the gospel. I remember as a child wondering if a treat was being made for us or someone else. As a child I didn't really understand the importance of service, but because of my mom's example, now my kids ask me if treats are being made for us or someone else. I learned the importance of reading scriptures as a family, having family home evening, giving children chores, going to church, serving in a calling the best you can, going to the temple, and much more. I am the person I am today because of my mother's example.
I am indebted to my mother in law for teaching me how to be a much better cook (those first few years of marriage our meals left a lot to be desired!), seamstress, canner, and planner. I am the world's ultimate spontaneous soul, and she had helped me to tame that a bit herself, and through her wonderful son she taught well. They both try to help me stay out of the sidetracked home executives category. I have a long way to go, but Debbie has helped me to be a much better homemaker than the rough mold she started with!
Both of my grandmothers loved me, and loved the Lord. They were great examples of living the gospel, and especially serving others. My Grandma Adamson loved music, and spent so much of her time playing the piano for different groups, wards, etc. Before I went to Ricks I stayed with her for a few weeks. It was great to have time to be together, just the two of us. We drove to Provo together for a funeral, and she told me stories all the way from Salt Lake of her years dating Grandpa at BYU, and pointed out the places that different buildings used to be. We drove from North Salt Lake to Provo down State Street! It took forever, but she wanted to show me the things from growing up. We drove home on the freeway, the State Street route was way too long!
My Grandma Darley was a great example of service. She served in the primary for forty years! I think my heart follows my Grandma Darley, it is definately in primary. I am currently our ward's primary president, but have been a teacher several times, nursery worker, activity days leader, pianist and primary counselor. I think I have served in and loved primary for about 12 years now. I was the gospel doctrine teacher in our ward for a year, and remember every week wishing I was back in primary. Anyway, I hope I can be like my Grandma and always love primary.
I am so grateful for the wonderful women in my life, and the terrific examples they have set for me. I have also served with amazing women who I have learned so much from, and had many leaders as a teenager who really had a strong influence on my life. I also have terrific sisters and sister in laws who are great examples to me. Thank you all, I love you.
Mother's Day Tea with Rachel
Rachel's class had a Mother's Day Tea. Each of the kids wrote a book of poems for their mom, and they were just adorable performing them for us. The poem Rachel reads in the video clip is one she wrote called "My Mom". It's kind of hard to understand her, but she says:
Her hands are like a soft, warm blanket.
Her hair is like a silky brown pillow.
Her face is like a beautiful pale rose.
Her voice is like jingling bells.
Her smile is like the happiness I feel when I am around her.
Rachel knows just how to melt my heart! Some of the other kids' poems were really funny, like "her voice is like a yapping puppy." That mom wasn't so impressed! Another one said "her voice is like a loud microphone." I really appreciate my daughter being so generous and loving with me, can't complain about jingling bells!
Here is Rachel with some of her favorite friends, Sami and Claire. They are all little performers, and loved having a camera pointing at them.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Ready to Run!!!!!
I was in a car accident at the end of November, and have spent the past five months in and out of doctor's offices and physical therapy trying to fix my back. I have been really limited in what I can do physically, and it has been a bit depressing at times. I got the go ahead yesterday from my therapist to start running again, so I ran two miles this morning and IT FELT GREAT!!!!! I have been worried that I wouldn't be able to run Hood to Coast this summer, but my therapist thinks that I may be able to do it after all. We'll see how things go. This will be my fifth year running the race, so I am going to start training and see what happens. I'm crossing my fingers!
Hood to Coast is a relay race that starts near the summit of Mt. Hood, and crosses 197 miles to the beach. 12 people are on each team, and you take turns running between about 3.5 and 8.5 miles at a time. Each person runs three times, often over difficult terrain, once through the night, and normally through some pretty severe heat with it being the end of August. It is an amazing experience -- you start on a Friday morning and finish sometime on Saturday, depending on how quickly everyone runs and whether or not you run into problems (knock on wood - we have had our share of injuries and sickness through the years-several times one person has ended up running four times because another runner is injured and can't run again). By the time we finish, we are very sore, sleep deprived, and absolutely thrilled to be finished! It is really an amazing experience, particularly being able to prove to yourself how strong you can be. Jared has run with us from the beginning, and Paul has run all but last year. We have also had Danielle, Dallin, and Sandy (Paul's dad's wife) run with us, and lots of friends. Here are some pictures from our run last year.
Angie, Tony, Heather, Jared, Dallin and Roger getting ready to start the race. I was the first runner, and had 6 miles to run with a 2000 foot drop in elevation. It sounds nice to be able to run all downhill, but it is really tough on the joints to have such a steep grade!
Here's out team sleeping between our second and third times running. Each team has two cars, and they alternate cycling through all of the runners once and then the other van steps in. We got about three hours of sleep, and then started again. There are hundreds of cars that park in an empty field and you just sleep the best you can. It's really crazy.
Here we are getting ready to run for the third time. It was about 4:00 am, and I was exhausted, and sore! Angie, Tony and Jared waited at the start of my leg with me to wait for the last runner from our other car to get to the exchange point. We had to wait about an hour, because once you get to the coastal mountains there is no cell phone coverage, so you don't know when the last runner from the other car will be arriving. We estimate, and then come a bit earlier in case they are running faster than projected.
Hood to Coast is a relay race that starts near the summit of Mt. Hood, and crosses 197 miles to the beach. 12 people are on each team, and you take turns running between about 3.5 and 8.5 miles at a time. Each person runs three times, often over difficult terrain, once through the night, and normally through some pretty severe heat with it being the end of August. It is an amazing experience -- you start on a Friday morning and finish sometime on Saturday, depending on how quickly everyone runs and whether or not you run into problems (knock on wood - we have had our share of injuries and sickness through the years-several times one person has ended up running four times because another runner is injured and can't run again). By the time we finish, we are very sore, sleep deprived, and absolutely thrilled to be finished! It is really an amazing experience, particularly being able to prove to yourself how strong you can be. Jared has run with us from the beginning, and Paul has run all but last year. We have also had Danielle, Dallin, and Sandy (Paul's dad's wife) run with us, and lots of friends. Here are some pictures from our run last year.
Angie, Tony, Heather, Jared, Dallin and Roger getting ready to start the race. I was the first runner, and had 6 miles to run with a 2000 foot drop in elevation. It sounds nice to be able to run all downhill, but it is really tough on the joints to have such a steep grade!
Here's out team sleeping between our second and third times running. Each team has two cars, and they alternate cycling through all of the runners once and then the other van steps in. We got about three hours of sleep, and then started again. There are hundreds of cars that park in an empty field and you just sleep the best you can. It's really crazy.
Here we are getting ready to run for the third time. It was about 4:00 am, and I was exhausted, and sore! Angie, Tony and Jared waited at the start of my leg with me to wait for the last runner from our other car to get to the exchange point. We had to wait about an hour, because once you get to the coastal mountains there is no cell phone coverage, so you don't know when the last runner from the other car will be arriving. We estimate, and then come a bit earlier in case they are running faster than projected. Hood to Coast finish line and party at the beach 
Our 2007 Hood to Coast team--I am getting excited for August!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
15 Years! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Today is our 15th anniversary! It is really amazing that it has been that long, but we have the children to prove it, Josh is going to high school next year!
I have truly been blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I hope that I show him often enough how much he means to me.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
My favorite pictures
I was going through some old pictures and decided to share some of my favorites:
We had a regional dance festival almost two years ago at the Rose Garden. All of the deacons dressed as Napoleon Dynamite and did the Napoleon dance. It was really fun. It was a really great experience for Josh.
I just love this picture! Rebekah was a bride for Halloween (for several years, actually). I think she was about 8 in this picture.
This is the Twin Falls Temple, under construction. We were amazed that it was just in the middle of nowhere. I am sure that there will be houses surrounding it in a few years.
Our little performer, Rachel. Rachel is always singing, dancing, cartwheeling, or something like that. She loves life, and lives it to the fullest.
Rebekah, Rachel and Elizabeth - this was a couple of years ago. The were so cute playing together, I wanted to be sure to get a picture of them together.
We had a regional dance festival almost two years ago at the Rose Garden. All of the deacons dressed as Napoleon Dynamite and did the Napoleon dance. It was really fun. It was a really great experience for Josh.
I just love this picture! Rebekah was a bride for Halloween (for several years, actually). I think she was about 8 in this picture.
This is the Twin Falls Temple, under construction. We were amazed that it was just in the middle of nowhere. I am sure that there will be houses surrounding it in a few years.
Our little performer, Rachel. Rachel is always singing, dancing, cartwheeling, or something like that. She loves life, and lives it to the fullest.
Rebekah, Rachel and Elizabeth - this was a couple of years ago. The were so cute playing together, I wanted to be sure to get a picture of them together.
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