The T Family

Snow Time!

2012-01-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had an awesome snow storm! We decided that we would hit the slopes - woot! Much to our dismay, it was pouring rain down in the valley. We were worried that it would be raining on parts of the mountain. Our worrying was in vain! It was an awesome snow day with mucho powder. Awesome! We had a lot of fun!

Jesse and his friend decided to come along!

'Twas a great day!

Rest in peace...

2012-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

On January 4, Agent Jared Francom was murdered while serving a drug-related search warrant in Ogden. Last Wednesday was the funeral at the Dee Events Center. It was so neat to see the city of Ogden come together for support of this officer! The feeling of gratitude for those who serve us in the armed forces was overwhelming! It was also neat to see the support from all over the state and surrounding states. It was soo cool to see the streets lined with flags. I was unable to see the procession, but Cortney was able to go and he took some photos for us. These photos sure give us feelings of the utmost gratitude and patriotism!

Thanks to all our servicemen and women! May officer Francom rest in peace.

Antelope Island

2012-01-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was such a beautiful day so my dad and I took advantage of it and went for a nice horse ride on Antelope Island. It was so nice to get outside, spend some time with my dad, and be with the ponies.

Dad on Dex

Me and Colorado...

Me and Dex and the buffalo!!!

It was a fun day! Thanks again, dad!

Christmas Break Fun!

2012-01-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas break was awesome! We had a lot of veg time and just relaxed and enjoyed time with family! There were so many fun things that we did! Cortney's siblings were all here from out of state so we spent a lot of time with them.

Here are some things we did:

Lights at temple square, eating at Robintinos, seeing Sherlock Holmes, enjoying Christmas eve dinner, T- family talent show, Santa visiting on Christmas eve, my father-in-law reading Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with a red blinking nose, listening to the Nativity, opening presents Christmas morning (which included an awesome surprise from my hubs - a macro lens!), wonderful sacrament meeting in the Valley View ward, eating Baboo biscuits, enjoying Christmas dinner and afternoon with my parents and the C family, working working working, Arctic Circle, hot tubbing, girl's day at the spa and Mimi's, Larry's Spring Chicken Inn, shooting clay pigeons, family pics and shopping in Park City, E family New Year's Eve dinner at my parents house with all but 2 of my siblings, second New Year's Eve dinner with the T Family, countdown to the New Year, making New Year's resolutions and bets with the fam, FHE about Boston trip, and playing Body Pictionary. It was such a fun couple of days!

Here are the pics to show the fun:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150670369514535.493015.747789534&type=1&l=a7b1d410eb

There is nothing better than spending the Christmas season with the ones that you love. We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and for his Atonement!

Birthday Tines

2011-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

On the weekend after my birthday, we had a Christmas party at our house with some friends. We had soup, salad, and cupcakes and had a white elephant gift exchange. It's always a bunch of fun with Lauren & Justin and Becky & Christopher! They also surprised me with a birthday twist on the Christmas party. They brought hats and ice-cream and sang the birthday song. Woot. It was a lot of fun!

After opening white elephant gifts, we played a game and then watched the Christmas favorite, Elf! Then the boys played some video games. We had a great time! Thanks, guys!

Family Thanksgiving-ness etc.

2011-12-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's a little late - but better late than never! The whole E family was together for Thanksgiving this year! It was the first time we've all been together since my parents left on their mission. I love when my family gets together! It's always so much fun and there is never a dull moment with all the kids and the children. ;) We got together friday afternoon for the delicious dinner - mmmmmmm. And then it was play time and hanging out with the fam. It was so nice to see everyone! The weather was awesome too! A little on the chilly side, but just right to play in.

On Friday, we had our family reunion. We met in the morning for breakfast and then spent the morning playing games and decorating squares for a family flag. We had a Wii bowling tournament where my 8-year-old niece blew everyone out of the water with a score of 198! Her little 5-year-old brother came in second place with 193! They were awesome! I have never gotten that high on Wii bowling! Their family took the tournament by storm! We had sandwiches for lunch and then played a getting-to-know-you game.

Then it was time for the scavenger hunt! We split up in teams and then went at it. It was so fun! For those who know the E-family, you know that we are competitive. It was a photograph one where we needed to take a picture of our team at the place where the photo clue was taken. We got 2nd place! Yeah!

We then headed to the church to play some games! We played glow-in-the-dark games with glow-stick necklaces. It was a lot of fun! We also played some basketball games.

After the games at the church we chilled at the house and hung out until it was dinner time. Then we had family skit time. Ha ha! It was awesome! We were given a bag of props and had to do a skit to show what we had been up to all year. I loved the creativity! Then it was board game time! It was such a fun couple of days! You can check out all our photos here (I can't choose just a couple to put on here):

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150600662839535.481232.747789534&type=1&l=5fd6fb2e2b

We love our family!

Oh, Bearded One

2011-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Cortney's awesome Halloween costume, he was fortunate enough to allow his facial hair to grow longer. We both didn't know how we felt about the longer facial hair, but it turned out okay. I still don't know how I feel about it, actually. One part of me likes the long facial hair because Cortney looks so robust and more mature (the age-type mature). Another part of me doesn't like it because he doesn't look like Cortney, AND because I don't really like kissing a cactus. Even though it is no-shave-November, he decided to shave it off. The final collection:
If you give a man a razor...
Creepy? Like the wood paneling and vintage curtains? And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Shirt?
This is a picture from Cortney's birthday, but it does a great job at showing my handsome hubs with a freshly shorn face. Isn't he good-looking? I sure think so!

The Turkey Trot!

2011-11-23T04:44:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago on a cold and snowy Saturday, I headed on up to M town to participate in the Turkey Trot! It was put on by my niece's volleyball team. While driving up there I was hesitant to even participate because of the weather. Then I said to myself, "C'mon you wussie!" When I arrived, they had plenty of warm drinks to keep your core temperature up. We even got awesome t-shirts! This is us before the race:

Thanks to the fact that it is a small town and that fewer people participated, we both won turkeys! (Sorry about the flash...)

After the race, we chilled for a bit...
And J practiced being debonair...
Afterwards, we headed to L's basketball tournament. It was fun to hang out with the girls!

L's team (coached by my sis) won all their games! Woot.
Aww, the cute family.
It was a fun, snowy Saturday!

Don't Fall Over!

2011-11-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

Fall is my favorite time of year to take photos! The colors are intriguing and it really does fill my soul to be out in nature, especially during the fall. The more I take pictures, the more I come to appreciate Heavenly Father's creations and reflect on the grand scheme of things. It's amazing to me the beauty that is found right out our door! Here are some of my favorites from the fall:

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

State Champs

2011-11-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, my niece's volleyball team, the Trojans, took state! Congrats Trojans!

I had the opportunity a couple of times this season to see some of their games. My niece, J is a freshman, but since she is so awesome, she was able to play on the J.V. team (and occasionally varsity). She is quite the athlete! She has only been playing volleyball for a short time, but she's definitely a natural and has become an awesome volleyball player.

We had a lot of fun hanging out at the games and watching the awesome Trojans dominate each team they played! The following pics are from a game at Bear River:

J is number 21...
C by her nickname stamp...
Ha ha!
Teamwork!
Waiting for the serve...
That's J - the blurry one who just KILLED the ball...
After each kill or point, the team on the floor comes together to cheer each other on. It's so cool to see their team spirit.
After the win against the Bears, we came outside to this sight....
Awesome, eh? Then this sight! (It's the old school Arctic Circle logo! Yeah!)

After we enjoyed some burgers and fries, we headed back home. Thanks C family! And congrats, J and the Trojans!

Halloween Festivities!

2011-11-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

What a fun time of year it is! We were invited to Joel and Leah's costume party on Saturday night. It was so fun to see some friends we haven't seen in a while! It was fun to eat to our hearts' content and play fun games.

The Apple and Steve Jobs...

The girls!
Awww, the four friends back together!

On Halloween we got together with Lauren & Justin, and Christopher, Becky, and Baby P. We ate some soup, yummy wraps, and lots of candy. We watched "Wait Until Dark." What an awesome show! Yeah, I jumped a lot. Then we played some games and laughed a lot (as usual).

Jobs and Baby P!
Becky and Baby P!
Lauren's first trick-or-treaters of the night!
Awww, cute li'l punkin!

My sis sent me this pic of them in their costumes - cute!

Lauren and Justin - TRON!

Buzz S-Year!
The E-family stopped by for a visit! So cute! Randy - milk, Colette - cookie, M-donut, and little M - cupcake!
Osama bin Laden stopped by for some food and fun...

Awww, the perfect match!

Galoon!

2011-10-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head to Lagoon (or as we call it, Galoon)! We went with Jesse and his friend Tucker. It was so nice! It was great too because the lines were all reasonable. It's was fun was!

Silly kids...
Ha ha!

Yellowcard Concert

2011-10-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

One of Cortney's favorite bands has always been Yellowcard. At first, I didn't like them too much, but with time and after listening to them a bunch, I've grown to like them. They are awesome! When I heard that they were coming to Salt Lake, I decided it would be fun to try and go. Unfortunately, I had to work the night of the concert and Cortney had school. I decided that before I bought the tickets, I would try and get the night off. Luckily my friend Jessica was willing to trade some hours with me so I could go. Once I told Cortney about it, he didn't bat an eye saying he wouldn't mind missing class. What's even better is that when I asked my friend Mara (who was going to sell me the tickets) how much I owed her for the tickets, she told me I could have them for free! It all worked out perfectly! I'm always hesitant to go to concerts, just because they are so loud and sometimes not that great. I packed up my earplugs and we headed to SLC.

The concert was at a venue just west of the Gateway. Instead of going to the opening bands' shows, we hung out at the Gateway. It was a perfect date! The concert was awesome! I love going to concerts where the performers can actually sing in tune and sound mostly like they do on their albums. They played with so much energy too! Yellowcard did not disappoint! It was so fun!

(Please excuse the cell phone photos, ha ha! And our faces)

Meant 2 Be

2011-10-14T04:40:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered shutterfly.com (well, I had heard of it before, but just decided I finally had some time to do a project I've been wanting to do for almost a year now). I made a book about us! It has our meeting, dating, and engagement story and is called Meant 2 Be. You can check it out here: http://tfamilyschtuff.shutterfly.com/pictures/9. I was so excited to get it in the mail yesterday! I hope you like it!

Fall Hiking

2011-09-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Earlier this afternoon, I went on a hike with some friends, Lauren, Becky, and Becky's baby, baby P! We headed up Wheeler Canyon to check out the beautiful fall colors. It was such a BEAUTIFUL hike!
Cute little baby P!

We stopped for a bit so baby P could have a snack! He's a cute li'l guy!

After the hike, we headed back to our house and had apples with caramel. Perfect fall afternoon! Thanks, girls!

Kemmerer = Fun!

2011-09-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a little road trip to visit the E family in Kemmerer. It was a nice little visit! We left on Saturday morning and got there early Saturday afternoon. We hung out outside and jumped on the trampoline. It was such a nice day! It was nice and warm, so we went to the local gas station to get some "slurps" to cool off. Mmmm.....

There's noting better than a nice cold slurpee in the hot weather to cool off.... Then my brother Scott got home from his hunting trip - and told us all his stories from his trip!

Then we chilled on the trampoline and showed each other tricks and played games.

No trip to Kemmerer would be complete without Cortney and the boys playing Mario brothers. It was so much fun to just play around and relax! For dinner we had Pizza Hut pizza - mmmmmmm. Then our E-fam cousin Barry came with his 3 cute kids and we talked with him for a bit! He came to hang out while his wife was at the Relief Society meeting. It was good to see him and meet his kiddos. Holly made some AWESOME cherry turnovers that were so tasty! Mmmm. Then it was trampoline time again! We had a lot of fun trying to take superman pictures...

And just plain ol' fun!

Can you tell we had some fun? Because we did!
After the kiddos went to bed, we watched a little bit of Lord of the Rings, and then played a few rounds of scum. Don't worry, I ended up being the king at the end. :) Then Cortney did a little homework til 1 am. :)

In the morning, we headed out to Logan for a baby blessing. The fall colors in Logan canyon were amazing! I love love love fall time and the colors that come with it. It was a fun little trip to see the fam! Thanks, guys!

BLB 2011

2011-08-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! Bear Lake Brawl time! It's my favorite triathlon and I'm still dragging (she actually comes willingly) my sister along every year. It's a lot of fun! Every year reminds me of the first time I did this race and Cortney came along. We had barely started dating.

I'm glad he came - he hasn't missed any of my triathlons since that day! He's such a great supporter of me and my races. Thanks, babe!
This year I headed up on friday night with Rhonda and C. We met my parents at my aunt's house and stayed the night there. In the morning, Cortney met up with us at the beach with his mom and brother. We had quite the fan club! It was awesome!!! I love them all! We did the Olympic distance this year: 1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run.

Once again, I got beat by my sister-one day I'll beat her! :)

Cortney's Birthday!

2011-08-28T15:24:00.001-07:00

I know it's 10 days late, and I did remember to wish him a "Happy Birthday" on the day, but I wanted to send a shout out to my man, Cortney. He is such an amazing man and I am so lucky to have him as my husband. He is so patient, kind, forgiving, funny, and is everything I need in life. I love you, babe!

To celebrate, we had cake and ice-cream two nights in a row! One night with our families, and the other night with some friends. It was a great way to celebrate!

Love it!

Happy Birthday, babe!

They're home!

2011-08-26T16:06:00.001-07:00

Yep! My dad and mom are home! They have been serving for a year and a half in Jackson, Mississippi as missionaries for the LDS church. We are glad they are home! Two weekends ago they spoke in church. Our whole family (minus Dan's family-they just had a new baby) was there to support them. After church we had an awesome dinner and just hung out. Definite good times! I love watching all the cousins play!
Awww, so cute!

This is J, eating her lunch up in the tree.....just wait 'til the end of the post!

The girls!

The boys! Scott kept closing his eyes every picture - the one picture that Scott did open his eyes, my dad had his eyes closed. I guess you can't win!
The outlaws...

J was trying to grab a snack up in the tree and fell around 10 feet...
We took her to PCMC to get them checked out...
Verdict: two broken wrists! For those who know J, she is one of the most active kids I've ever seen! Don't worry, two broken wrists didn't set her back much! :)
And what's a family party without someone getting hurt? ;) It was so good to spend some time with the family! We love you guys! And we're so glad you're home, mom and dad!

Wow, that was epic!

2011-08-21T05:00:00.001-07:00

A couple weekends ago, I participated in a running relay race from Cache Valley to the Tetons! It is called the EPIC relay. It was so much fun! My sister and some people from her work, and from their family's work, and random friends were all those who made up the team. There were 12 people on the team which ran a total of 190 miles. It definitely was epic! We were split into two vehicles and I was part of the first. We started our journey at Skyview High and from there ran like the wind!

Rhonda is all ready to go!
Greg...
Me...
Ashley...
Amy and Ryan...
The girls!
Sistas!
Vehicle 1! (Pretty much the most awesome vehicle of runners ever)
After our first set of runs, we had some lunch in Preston and then chilled at the park. Then it was on to our night runs! Luckily and beautifully, it was a full moon!
After our second set of runs, we set up our sleeping bags in a park in Freedom, Wyoming. When we woke up, we had frost all around us. It was freezing! Our last set of runs took us from Freedom, Wyoming almost to Hoback Junction. It was so beautiful! We ran into this golden fellow...
And these fine flowers...

After we handed off to the other vehicle, we headed to a gym and took some much-needed showers. Then it was off to Billy's for the most awesome burgers and fries in the world. Not joking. Soooooo good!
We chilled in Jackson and shopped for bit. Then we headed to Teton village to wait for the rest of the team to finish. And finish we did!

It was such a fun weekend! And wow, that was epic!

100th Post: Camp Loll Alumni Weekend

2011-08-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

When I was a wee lass at 15 years old, I had the opportunity to work at Camp Loll . Little did I know that this opportunity would change my life forever. Not just because of the fact that you become a different, better person by working at boy scout camps, but the fact that I met my husband while working at a boy scout camp. Here's the breakdown - my brother, Scott was planning on working at Camp Loll for the summer of 1999. Two weeks before the summer started, the camp director called and said he needed someone else to be in the trading post for the summer. I agreed, not knowing what the summer would entail. It was the best summer of my life! I met the most awesome people ever and got to work in one of the most pristine forests in the world.

From that summer on I was hooked! I returned to Camp Loll again for the summer of 2000. The camp director changed for the summer of 2001 and he didn't hire back any of the old staff from the year before. I took my chances and applied to work at Camp Bartlett. For the next two summers, I worked there and made another set of amazing friends. After the second year there, I decided I needed a change in scenery. The camp director for a camp on Catalina Island lived in my ward. I interviewed with him and he offered my a job in the kitchen for the summer of 2003 at Camp Cherry Valley. I worked there again in 2004, visited in 2005, and then went on my mission. Little did I know that I would ever work there again. I returned from my mission at the beginning of the summer in 2007 and I visited down there for a week or two. At the beginning of 2008, I got a phone call from the director asking me if I would be interested in working as the camp nurse. It sounded like so much fun - but I would take a pay-cut by going out there to work - and I didn't know if my work would allow me to leave for that long. I felt pretty good about it and my work gave me permission to leave for the summer. It was such an awesome summer! That is when I met Cortney and we became friends. After the summer ended we started dating and now he's my husband! Needless to say, scout camps have helped make me the person I am today and helped me meet my eternal companion. So anyway... Camp Loll will forever hold a special place in my heart.

When we started going to the C-town 6th ward, we met our good friends, Lauren and Justin. They both worked at Camp Loll for several summers too! When they mentioned that there is an alumni weekend every year, we decided we would go. Cortney had never been before and I wanted to show him that special place. We decided to carpool to make the trip that much better.
We started out Friday afternoon and headed toward Ashton, ID. We made a stop at the army surplus store near Idaho Falls and then a stop at Big J's burgers in Ashton.

Justin and Lauren...

Yeah, that burger is a whole pound! We split it four ways.

After the delicious burger, we headed on into camp! It's required that you stop on the way to take pictures of the Tetons.

This storm followed us in to camp and welcomed us with a good ol' fashioned downpour...
Luckily it cleared up in time for flag ceremony and campfire!

Waiting for campfire to start...

After campfire, we ate some desert and hung out a chatted with the peeps (lots of laughs!). That night we slept in the basement of the lodge on our air mattress. We woke early in the morning and ate some good breakfast! We then chilled for a bit and just enjoyed being at camp!

This is a funny photos because it sort of looks like Cortney was photoshopped into it...

We visited the archery range...
The amazing archers...
And then Weather Rock...

Ha ha ha!

We ate some lunch and then headed out on a bush-whacking type hike to Hidden Falls...

Don't even worry, all the bush-whacking and falls led us to this pristine gem-of-a-pool...
Lauren and Justin...
After the hike, Cortney took a nap and the rest of us checked out the waterfront. I passed the swim check! The water was between 60-65 degrees. Not too bad for Lake of the Woods!
Don't these photos make you want to go sailing?
We checked the lake out on some kayaks - so pristine!

After dinner, it was time for flags and campfire.
The alumni group...
After campfire, we hung out at our campsite for a bit while the rain cleared up. Then we made our own little campfire and roasted some mallows and partook of some s'mores. It was definitely the good times!

On Sunday, we slept in a bit, went to church, had some delicious lunch, and then headed home the Flagg Ranch way (leaving camp is always heart-wrenching)...

We stopped by Jackson Lake Lodge to check out the views...
Kira, Russell, Justin, Lauren, DeAnn, Cortney

Jenny Lake was our next stop...

We stopped in Jackson for dinner and then headed home through Star Valley, Wyoming. We stopped in at the Erickson farm in Freedom for a minute or two...

And ran into this beauty through Tin Cup...
It was definitely a "double rainbow all-the-way!" (If you don't get that, look it up on you-tube)... I love Russell's face in this picture!
It was such a beautiful drive home!
Um.....?
Definitely a pristine shot of the men...

And what trip would be complete without a stop in Soda Springs? We stopped at Hooper Springs to taste of the soda water...
Check out Kira's reaction to the taste!

The groupies checking out the "volcano"...
The "volcano"...
We had such a fun trip! Definitely one for the books! Thanks, guys!

We moved!

2011-08-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

That's right! We moved! My parents returned home from their mission to Mississippi so we moved out and back to O-town! We are lucky to live a lot closer to school and work!
It was such a wonderful experience to live in their home and to attend my home ward (Go C-town 6th ward!) We made a lot of great friends and are very sad to leave, but are excited for new experiences in our new place. Thanks, C-town for having us for a time! We'll forever cherish our time there.

A good ride...

2011-07-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

This morning, me and my sister, Rhonda headed out for our (almost) weekly ride up from her house to East Canyon Dam. It is a pretty tough workout. This time, instead of stopping in our usual spot to take a swim in the dam, we headed up the mountain toward Henefer. It was a killer of a ride! It was so beautiful though that it was definitely worth the pain!

It was an awesome ride and the downhill part was worth the uphill. I hit 49.6mph on the way down. It was sweet! We stopped at the dam for a swim and then headed back to her house. On the way back I hit a milestone! Actually, a 1000milestone!

I had to stop to document. My bike has been a good companion to many an awesome ride. I'm so grateful for the ability to ride a bike and be active. Here's to a 1000 more!

Harry Potter!

2011-07-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are part of the craze! We are indeed Harry Potter fans so when my sister asked if we wanted to go to the very-last-Harry-Potter-movie-ever with them, we jumped at the chance! It was a fun evening! The kids came to our house and hung out until it was time to go. I can't believe how big and grown-up everyone is getting! Silly teenagers... We got to the junction about an hour before our show. So we just chilled and checked out the place...

Don't you just love his attire? He's a little too dressed up for the movie...
The groupies...
She claims she doesn't look at the camera during photos...
But we caught her in this one!
Facebook profile pic...

Cortney's 'save me from the teenagers!' face...
Aaaaand the pixie stix...

C thinks it's cool to put his hand in my face..
A good lookin' bunch!
And a cool shot I saw on our way back to the movie theaters...

It was such a good show! Scary, but good! I feel so relieved that the last movie is finally done! It's like a part of me is complete... ha ha ha :) I hope all you muggles out there enjoy it if you see it!

Amber and Riley's Goodbye Party(s)

2011-07-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

Yep! Amber and Riley are movin' on and movin' up in life. They are headed to Boston at the end of the month for Riley's graduate school. He will be going to Boston College for law school. Last Sunday, we attended 2 farewell parties for them. The first one was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had delicious burgers (Grandma makes the best burgers!) and all the fresh summer foods. It was nummy num num. We got to see most of the C side of the family. It was a lovely afternoon...

The Grandparents' goodbyez...
The Us face...
Riley's goodbye face...
Jesse's 'I don't even know' face...

After the barbecue, we headed back to the T household to have a desert open house to say the goodbyez...
This was before all the desert....

And.....after....

We got to see a bunch of friends and a lot of the T side of the family. It was a lovely family evening. We are going to miss Amber and Riley and wish them the best of luck in Boston!

Echo Triathlon

2011-07-10T01:21:00.000-07:00

Round two, anyone?
It's time for another......triathlon update! YAY! This one is epic, I promise. It was my first Olympic distance triathlon. I've been training a bunch and hoped to make all my dreams come true by competing in the Echo Triathlon. I really like this triathlon venue because the water is great, the bike ride is beautiful and serene, and the run is a trail alongside the reservoir. It's a beaut! My goal for this tri was to finish (and tri my best, of course). My sister, Rhonda has been training with me but she was M.I.A. for this tri due to a very untimely upper respiratory illness. Nevertheless, I carried on without her as my competition. She did, however, show up to be one of my two fans (and my timing advisor)! Thanks, Rhonda!

I wanted to finish a little faster than I did, but I am happy with how I did and am eager to improve on my next triathlon next month. Party on, Wayne...
Swim 1500 meters (I know, very flattering...)

Bike 26 miles

Run 10k

My B.F.E. (Biggest Fan Ever) and photographer, Cortney! I could definitely not compete in these races without his support. Thanks, hon!

Independence Day

2011-07-05T00:53:00.000-07:00

Oh how we love the 4th of July! I think it is up there in the rank of our favorite holidays! This year did not disappoint, either! I had the great privilege of working the night before the 4th (again :)). When I got home from work, I took a little run and then came home and got ready for the day. We headed to the annual Valley View Neighborhood Breakfast which is sponsored by Cortney's home ward. It is always a delicious one, with plenty of people to share it with. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty plum tuckered out and just wanted to eat and then go to sleep. So that's just what I did!
The peeps!

The tired face and the hott one...

I took a long, glorious nap and woke up in time for lunch! Cortney just hung out with the peeps! (This day was great so far - just eating and sleeping!) We had a delicious steak and chicken lunch! It's always a nice picnic at the T fam's!

Grandma and Grandpa even joined in the fun!

After we stuffed ourselves, we headed to the movie theaters to watch Cars 2! (Grandma and Grandpa hadn't seen it yet).
And we saw Cameron's name again! (Nice job, Cabby)
From the movie theaters, we went to stake out our firework viewing spot. We were very close to the same spot we sat in last year. It's a good'ne. We hung out there and enjoyed our Zeppe's (and funnel cake.....drool.....) while we waited for Lenn and Mary to get there.

We also went people watching/window shopping at the Layton Park. Awesome!
Along withe Lenn and Mary came the sparklers and the pop-its! We love us some fireworks! There were these two cute little girls who were instantly attracted to the family when we started lighting fireworks. They were fun to hang out with and kept us entertained.
Here we are hanging out, waiting for the fireworks to get started...

The fireworks were a great finale to a wonderful day! It's nice to be reminded of the freedoms we are able to enjoy here in this country. God bless the USA and happy Independence Day!

California and St. G Trip

2011-07-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

At the end of June (24th-29th), we got the awesome opportunity to go to California to visit Cameron and Kandis and then stop on the way back in St. G to visit Jeff and his family. It was a short but sweet vacation. I love road trips! I love vacations! I'm doing my best to pass this love on to Cortney. He's the one that keeps the road trips and vacations under control - I would go on a camping trip, road trip, vacation, whatever, every other week if I could!
We left on Friday after I got home from work in the morning. We started the vacation off at Einstein Bagels where we got some delicious bagels for breakfast. I slept while Cortney drove and we stopped in Vegas for lunch. It would not be a trip to California without stopping at In-n-Out at least once.

After Vegas, we kept on truckin' toward California. We got pretty terrible gas mileage. We had bikes on top of the car which were the cause to our gas mileage woes. Ha ha! The car usually gets around 28mpg and on the way there, we got an average of 18mpg. It was awesome! On the way to V-town, we traveled on this two lane highway in the middle of the desert which had tons of joshua trees. It was awesome! I got mad at myself for not stopping to take some cool photos because we didn't come that same way on the way back. It was beautiful. We drove and drove and drove some more and finally arrived in V-town, California! Cameron and Kandis live in this nice apartment complex that has a pool! (I love pools)
After unloading our stuff, we hung out and talked and ate some delicious dip with chips. It was nice to hang out and to see Cameron and Kandis!
Saturday morning we slept in (ahhhhh......) and then woke up and got ready to go see Cars 2!

Cameron is quite talented and he worked for Pixar when they made Cars 2. He does a lot of the textures in the artwork. The movie was cute! The coolest part was to see his name in the credits and to cheer loud! How cool is that?
Afterwards, we went to a delicious restaurant and ate good food. (mmmmm, steak!) Then we got some treats at the store and hung out at the apartment. It was some good times!
On Sunday we slept in, and then went to church. After church, we ate a delicious dinner prepared by Kandis. It was nice to just relax and hang out for the night- I love vacations!
Monday was the day! We got up early and headed to (one of) the happiest place(s) on earth! DISNEYLAND!

I love this place! It was such a fun day!

Matterhorn bobsleds!

The best soft serve icecream ever - pineapple! My mouth is watering as we speak...

Our delicious dinner!

On the train!

On the island...

It was a good, long, fun day!
On the way home, we drove through downtown L.A. And we saw Hollywood too!
Tuesday morning we packed up and then headed to DreamWorks to visit Cameron. It was a cool place! We ate lunch there and toured the place. We even saw the real life-sized Kung-Fu Panda! It was sweet! Touring places like that makes me think of how much work really goes into making movies. Wow.
After our visit at DreamWorks, we took off on our drive to St. G. This time, we put the bike inside of the car to improve the gas mileage. We got there in the evening and just hung out for a bit with Jeff and his fam and then it was bedtime!
We woke up really early to go and take family photos. Here are some of my favorites:

Such a cute family!
After the family photo shoot, Jeff and I headed out to do a little mountain biking! We went on two different trails. I can't remember either's name, but they were awesome! Even though I've been road biking a bunch, I felt out of shape for the mountain bike. It was still a lot of fun!

After the bike ride, Jeff went to work. The ride took a little longer than planned, so we did a bunch of car switcharoos and drove all over St. G :) For lunch, Jeff took us to an awesome Hawaiian food place right by his work. It was so delicious! Holy cow. Mmmmmmm. After lunch, Jeff took a look at our teeth and did a little filing here and there to make them look better. We then picked up Michael from college and then got Frosties on our way back to the house. Then we just hung out and played for the rest of the afternoon.

After the fun afternoon, we went out to dinner at the Pizza Factory! Yum! It was delicious and a lot of fun!

It was such a fun day! After dinner, we headed home (Cortney had to work on Thursday). This vacation ranks up there with the totally awesome vacations! Thanks Cameron and Kandis and Jeff and Christine!

Adam's Canyon Backpacking Overnighter

2011-06-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had an adventure backpacking up Adam's Canyon. It was so much fun! We went with our friends, Lauren and Justin. We left Friday night after Cortney got home from work. Here we are ready to attack the canyon!

The hike was beautiful, as usual. We hiked up to the waterfall and there was tons of water, so we donned our sandals and crossed the river.

Cortney is so hot right now! Ha!

Then we hiked/scrambled up a rockslide to a secret campsite that Justin knew about. It was sweet! It was right next to the river and was a perfect little spot!
(Us finally at the top!)

We set up the tents, Cortney gathered firewood, and we all got our dinner ready to cook. We got everything set up just before the sun went down. It was perfect! Then we just hung out around the fire and ate. And ate. And ate s'more(s)! We had hot dogs, and mountain house dinners, and an MRE, and lots of s'mores. Oh, and jerky. The whole bag. Ha ha! It was so nice to just hang out and talk and eat. It was such a fun night with lots of laughs! Then we went to sleep.
Good morning!

The river right by the campsite....beautiful!

After a little breakfast of fruit leather and a peanut granola bar, we headed down. I'm not going to lie, I had some anxiety thinking about coming back down the rocky part of the trail right before the waterfall. It was a little scary! It was nice to have Justin to help us get down safely.
We celebrated at the waterfall!

After we made it down, we drove to IHOP for breakfast! We looked like a bunch of raggamuffins and probably smelled like it too, but that didn't matter. We just wanted some good, real breakfast! Ha ha! It was such a fun outing! Thanks, Lauren and Justin!

Willard Bay Triathlon

2011-06-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first triathlon of the year! Me and my sister, Rhonda compete in triathlons to try and stay in shape. It's a fun little hobby and it helps having someone else do them with you because it's a great motivator! It was our first time doing the Willard Bay Triathlon and it was a blast! The weather turned out awesome! It was neither too hot, nor too cold. The too cold part came when they told us how cold the water was - 51 degrees. Yes, that wasn't a typo - 51 degrees! I've been working hard to improve my swim, but yesterday my mind wasn't in it enough to overcome the effects of the cold water. I still got an okay time, but I can blame the slowness on the cold :)

Getting used to (or trying to get used to) the water...
The start...
Cortney's artistic shot while waiting for us to finish the swim...
My nephew L...
The swim is finally over!
Rhonda beat me on the swim and I caught up to her on the bike - we came in at the same time!

The run out - check out the guy in the blue on the left hand side of the photo. Is his reaction one of, "Go get 'em!" or one of, "Get outta my way!" ? What do you think? Ha ha ha!
Rhonda's naturally a faster runner so she finished first...
I loved having my nieces and nephew there to cheer me on!

They even ran with me 'til the end! L is in the grass and you can barely see C right by me...
The finish!

My #1 supporter!

I sure do love him and am so grateful he supports me at every triathlon!
Me and C
Both Rhonda and I got first place in our age groups! Woo hoo!

It was a great start to a great triathlon season! Yeah!

U2 and the Fray!

2011-05-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

On tuesday May 24th, we were able to go to the U2 and the Fray concert! It was soooooooooooooo awesome!
I love this guy!

The stage...

The groupies...
Us and our AWESOME t-shirts! Thanks to Melissa!

What an awesome concert it was! SOOOOO cool! I've been waiting my whole life to go to a U2 concert and my dream was finally fulfilled! It will be a great memory!

Mississippi Trip 2011

2011-05-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had the awesome opportunity to take a trip to visit my parents in Mississippi! It was such a fun trip! Most of all, it was great to be with my parents and to see their place and all the people they associate with. It was awesome! Don't worry - this is a long post. :) We got there on Thursday afternoon and just chilled at my parents' apartment. It was fun to catch up and relax.

Friday morning we got up and headed to Vicksburg. We stopped first at the Mississippi river to check out the level. My parents mentioned that it was highest it has been and was supposed to crest that day. There was a lot of water!!

We then visited Vicksburg Military Memorial Park. When I took history, I probably learned about Vicksburg, but I don't retain information very easily, so it was nice to learn a little more about Vicksburg by being there! Cortney is a history buff and loves stuff like this!

Vicksburg was where one of the civil war battles took place which was an important turning point in the civil war. It's crazy to think about the civil war and how friends and family fought against friends and family. We took a cool driving tour to see all the battle sites as well as monuments that each state who participated in the battle have put up.

The ship "Cairo" which sunk during a battle and then was brought back up and reconstructed...
After the driving tour, we headed to the old Vicksburg County Courthouse and museum.

It was stuffed full of old artifacts and was fun to look around. There was even this cute bible that is teeny tiny! The width of it when open is about 2 inches.
It was a cool old museum! We then headed back down to the river to check out the flooding...

It's crazy how much water there is! The flooding here in Utah is hardly anything compared to that in Mississippi. We also saw where they had opened the water into the levees. And we drove into Louisiana to say we had been to Louisiana :)

After the nice drive, we ate a dinner of fried chicken and catfish at a delicious place called Pen's. Mmmmm. It was tasty! It was an eventful and wonderful day!

Saturday morning we arose and headed to the mission office to check it out. It was neat to see the things my parents do for the mission and to meet the other office couple.

Awww, fer cute!

We ate lunch and then headed to the petrified forest! The drive there (and everywhere) was beautiful! It's so green and there are tons and tons of trees!

It was a neat little place to visit! There was a cool hike/tour that we took that showed many petrified logs. It was cool! The forest was so beautiful!
This is a pretty tree called a Loblolly Pine...

At the end of the hike, they had a cool little museum which had tons of fossils and rocks. If I was a geologist, I would be in heaven!

And this sign was posted on the way out...

And yes, a lot of the people have AWESOME southern accents! I love hearing the accents :)

We drove from the petrified forest to Jackson to see the capitol building. It was spectacular!

Then we went to see the old capitol building. Here's the scoop...
And the beautiful building...
It was also a cool museum that was interactive. It was beautiful inside too! After visiting there, we headed to Joanna's house for dinner. She is a sister in my parents' ward who they helped get baptized. She's so nice and very pleasant to be around. It was fun to just hang out and chat with her. The dinner she made was great! It was neat to finally meet her!
Sunday was a nice day to relax and to attend my parents' ward. It was cool to meet all the people in their ward. The mission president and his wife were also there and we met them too! It was neat to hear all the people say how much they loved my parents and how much good they've done in the ward. This wasn't a surprise at all :) My dad talked me into playing a piano piece for sacrament meeting too. After church, we drove by one of the reservoirs near Jackson. We spent the rest of the afternoon having a nice meal prepared by my mom and just chillaxin. In the evening we had a family home evening where we talked about some of the conference talks and what we had learned from them.

Monday was our last day in Mississippi :(

To start out the day, my dad showed me this cool trail near the mission office and I took a nice run while he rode his bike. It was a beautiful trail through the trees! Gorgeous! Then I rode the bike back to the office. After we got all packed up and ready to go for the day, we all headed to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. It was super cool. It was like an old town with all the older buildings and a general store! (My favorite part :) ) The museum itself was cool and talked about logging as well as the cotton industry, etc. etc.. It had a bunch of trains and planes too! It was so cool! Then we watched a short video about the catfish production in Mississippi. Interesting! And delicious :) I love places like this! It also had this super huge rocking chair...

It was a cool place to visit! And I wanted to get a picture of the magnolia flower...

There are these beautiful magnolia trees everywhere! After visiting the park and museum, we ate some genuine southern food at a restaurant right outside the museum. It was fattening and delicious! Mmmmmm.

We then went home and got out luggage and then headed to the airport to go home.

It was such a nice trip and it was so good to see and be with my parents! We were spoiled to the maxx! Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a great time! We love you!

Adam's Canyon

2011-05-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of Fridays ago (5/13), me and the girls headed out for a lovely afternoon hike! Both Lauren and Becky's hubby's were headed out for a boy scout overnighter and Cortney was still at work. We took advantage of this time to take a nice hike up Adam's Canyon in Layton. It was beautiful! When we got up to the waterfall, the water was pretty high. It was a magnificent sight!

We also saw this dog who had a heart print on him....

It was so much fun to get out and hike! Woot! Thanks, girls!

Riley's Graduation

2011-05-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, with went up to Logan with the T family to attend and celebrate Riley's graduation! It was a fun Saturday. We went to the commencement exercises in the morning...
Random professor sitting all by his lonesome...
Where's Waldo? I mean Riley?

After commencement exercises, we commenced exercising/prancing around campus taking photos of the said graduate and the family peeps. Can you guess what he graduated in?

And, mom and dad, it seems to be that Utah State has gone under construction and no longer exists....So sad...

Just kidding! Here are some pics of places you might recognize...

Amber and Riley
The L Family
The T Family
Aww, fer cute!
Lenn taking a nap after commencement...
Random tree picture taken in the cemetery...
Random picture of Lenn taken outside the cemetery...

Random picture of girl blowing a bubble found on the sidewalk...

We then celebrated at Riley and Amber's apartment by eating delicious sandwiches and deserts! It was nice to just eat and chill with the fam for a bit.
Then we headed to the real graduation!

The fan club!

Congraduations, Riley!

The boyz!

Afterwards we headed back to their apartment to chill for bit and then headed to Angie's for dinner! It is a cute little home-cookin' restaurant in Logan and was delicious! They are famous for their ice-cream sinks. Yes, sinks. If you can finish a sink of ice-cream they'll given you a bumper sticker! We'll save that task for a later date :)
And as if we hadn't already eaten ourselves silly, we went to get ice-cream at Aggie ice-cream afterward!

I'd never been there before, so I was really excited!

Getting our ice-cream!

It was a definite win!

To top the day off, the T fam's expedition reached the 200,000 milestone on the way home! What a privilege! Awesome!

What a fun day it was!

Rhonda turns *0!

2011-05-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'll probably get in trouble if I really say how old she turned. But it wasn't 20, 30, 50, 60, 70, or even 80 :) She did complete a major decade, though.

I'm so lucky to have such an awesome woman like Rhonda for a sister! She is a great example to me and I love her so much and am very grateful for her!
She was lucky enough to be on vacation on her birthday, so we celebrated a week later with a little surprise dinner. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, beans, and lava cake for dessert. It was a lot of fun! Cortney put up some balloons and a sign, and Colette brought cupcakes with candles. Rhonda let S help her blow out the candles.....
Okay, she let him try really really really hard to blow out the candles!

M and C
The girls! (and S - he didn't want to be left out) And J was half asleep when we took the picture..
M girl..
The sillies!

The boys were there too but didn't make it into any of the photos. What a fun little get-together!
Happy Birthday, Rhonda!

Fun Easter Weekend in Monticello!

2011-04-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Monticello Friday evening just in time to dye eggs!

Afterward we ate tacos for dinner and then chatted til the wee hours of the mornin'!
On Saturday, we headed to the ranch for the Easter picnic with the Tracy Family! We had yummy burgers, dutch oven potatoes, and other good, yummy stuff!

The boys practiced their roping skills while we were waiting for lunch...

Cute kiddos!

After lunch, it was Easter Egg Hunt time! It was fun to fill the eggs and hide them and then watch the kids look for them! So fun...

My man..
After the egg hunt, we headed out to look for a cow who may have been having her calf. After we got back (with no luck), we realized that the cow we were looking for was in the corral after all. :)

The K-Man
Awww, Little Auggie! Such a cute little calf!
We headed back up to town and had pizza for dinner. It was haircut night for everyone and Kim taught me how to cut hair! I hope to get better at it. I cut Cortney's hair for the first time and it looked pretty good :)
Sunday we woke up and went to church. Then we had a delicious lunch with the Tracy's. Then it was Easter FHE time - brought to us by Crystal. It was cute! Then Cortney, Charley, Kim, and I went back down to the ranch to see if any cows were about to calf. No such luck :( Oh well! We had fun just chillin' at the ranch and relaxing. That night we hung out with the fam and chatted.
It was so nice to relax without work or school going on - twas a much needed vacation. The weather was nice too! We left Monday after lunch. We decided to try Five Guys for dinner - greasy greasy - but good. :) Thanks, Tracy's for a great weekend!

Happy Spring everyone!

Dan's Graduation

2011-04-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

Who graduated from BYU? This guy.....

Who were all the peeps at the graduation? These guys.....

Did we happen to eat at an awesome Peruvian restaurant (Se Llama Peru) afterword and eat absolutely delicious food? We did indeed! (I was in heaven!)

Was it so much fun to spend time with the fam? It was!

What a fun day!

It's Showa Time

2011-04-15T22:07:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, my sister and 3 of my SILs got together for a Sisters' Shower for my SIL Debbie. It was great to get together! It's always nice to spend time with each other and just chill with the fam. We did however miss mom, Kimberlee, and Christine - who were missing. We went to Applebee's in Salt Lake and had a nice lunch. Then we showered Debbie with gifts for her little baby girl who is due in July! Baby showers are always just so much fun! We are excited for the new little one!

The Ogden Temple

2011-04-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we said goodbye to our dear Ogden LDS Temple. It's always been "our" temple being the closest to our home and the one we were sealed in. Here's a little story about the renovation:
www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=13923107
We are excited to see the changes! We're glad that there are so many other temples nearby so we don't miss out on attending the temple. We took some photos of the "former" Ogden Temple, Tabernacle, and grounds for remembrance.

We are grateful for temples on this earth!

Photography Give-away!

2011-04-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys - just wanted to give a shout out and encourage y'all to check out Lookie Loo Photography. Suzanne was one of our photographers at our wedding and she does awesome work!
She's doing a give-away for a studio shoot - check it out!
http://lookieloophotography.blogspot.com/2011/03/announcing-grand-opening-and-free-shoot.html

Anniversary!!!

2011-03-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Since Cortney was in school during our anniversary, we decided to celebrate our anniversary during spring break! I had to work for a couple days at the beginning of the week, but then we had a little stay-cation and spent some good quality time with each other for the next couple days.
On Wednesday evening we went to the Jazz vs. Timber-wolves game. It was an awesome one! We got to sit up nice and close!

On Thursday evening we headed to eat at Texas Roadhouse (my fav) and then to the Alaskan Inn for the night. Then we just chilled at home for the next couple of days. It was nice to just relax and spend some time together!

Yay for 2 years!

Two Years and Counting...

2011-03-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been two years since we were wed for eternity! What an awesome two years it has been! Time really flies! We were talking the other day how it seems as though we've always been together, and that two years seems like such a short time. We've had so many great adventures together and I look forward to thousands more! As Hallmark puts it so perfectly into words (so cheesy, but so true):

Sometimes I wonder what my world would be like without you at the center of it.
I don't know how I'd get by without your love, your support, or the many thoughtful things you always do for me.
You are the strong and steady presence that I always count on.
You bring me more happiness and joy than I could have ever hoped for.
And I want you to know that I will always be grateful, from the bottom of my heart, for you and your love.....

I'm so grateful for Cortney in my life and seriously couldn't live without him.

Happy Anniversary, babe! I love you sooooo much!

C's Baptism

2011-03-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we were able to attend a very special event - C's baptism. It was such a neat event! It was a great reminder of why we are baptized, as well as the great opportunity we have of following the example of the Savior. We are so proud of C for making this very important decision. It is so neat to see the light of the Savior in the eyes of those being baptized!

Afterward, we all headed to Rhonda's house for a delicious meal! It was great to have almost everyone there (the only ones missing were Mom, Dad, Randy, Debbie, and J. That's a pretty good ratio at 32/36 people. What?). Anyway, it was great to see everyone and spend time with the fam. I know I'm biased, but I'm still pretty sure I have the best family ever! Congrats, C on your baptism!

The sistas!

We love you, C!

You know when you're in K town when...

2011-01-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

You step outside your vehicle in a neighborhood to find this...

And you walk into a house and find these awesome people...

And you can look out your front window and see these...

And you find a cute mom named Holly...

Who lets you have awesome car races like these...

With eager on-looking kids like these...

We arrived in K-town Saturday morning, had lunch, raced cars, played with iPods, Skyped with mom and dad, ate pretzels, had a fastest car contest, ate dinner, played the wii, hung out, played games, enjoyed snacks, slept, ate breakfast, read books, and then came home! It was a fun little trip up to see the E fam in K town! We love you guys!

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! And what a happy one it will be! I always enjoy starting out a new year - with new goals, new visions, new direction! Woot!
We had an awesome time celebrating the new year - my brother and sister-in-law, Cameron and Kandis, were at Kandis' parents' house in Logandale, Nevada visiting for the holidays, so we decided to head down there to visit them! It was a lot of fun! We left on Thursday morning and arrived down in Logandale around 5pm. It was nice to get to know Dan and Mitzi (Kandis' parents) a little more. We had a delicious soup dinner made by Mitzi (clam chowder and taco soup) and then spent some time visiting with the fam. I decided to head to bed because I worked the night before and was soooo tired!
Jesse, Cortney, and I stayed in their sweet camp trailer. Mitzi set it up very nicely and even decorated it with Christmas decorations (complete with awesome Christmas treats!).
We slept in the next day and had a wonderful brunch. We then got ready for the day, watched Back to the Future (we worked on the trilogy throughout our stay), and then headed to Mesquite to do some bowling! It's a Bender tradition to go bowling on New Year's Eve. We decided that we really like that tradition! It was a blast - we bowled at the Virgin River Casino. Awesome....

After bowling, we headed back to the Benders to enjoy a fantastic dinner of prime rib (prepared by Lenn) and baked potatoes. Prime rib just happens to be my most favorite food in the whole world, so naturally, it was an AWESOME dinner!

The Taylor boyz...

After dinner we swam in the pool! They had left the cover on all day and it was up to 97 degrees! It was like a giant hot tub! It was perfectly warm - it was about 30 degrees outside, so it was a super nice swim! It was steamy steamy steamy!

After the pool tines, we watched "Despicable Me" and counted down to the New Year. Then in the morning, we headed home. We stopped in Mesquite for a breakfast buffet (yummy yummy!) and then In-n-Out for dinner (double yummy yummy!).
It was a short, but sweet little vacation/road trip!
Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010 was a great one! I didn't have to work Christmas eve or Christmas, so it was even better! It was nice to be able to relax and spend time with family without worrying about having to go to work!
On Christmas eve, we started out the festivities with a delicious dinner at the Taylor's. Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us! We were so excited!

After dinner, we did the traditional Taylor family talent show. Mary and Jesse played the piano and Grandpa recited some funny poems. Then it was pajama and gift time! The jammies we get are always awesome! It's also a tradition to open the sibling gifts to each other the night before Christmas.
Lenn got these beauties from us.....

Mary decided to try them out too...
And Cortney...
Grandma and Grandpa also opened their gifts, too. Grandpa got a sweet model plane to put in his office.

It's a certain type of plane which was flown in the war - he told us about it for about a half hour. It was sweet! It was so nice to have them with us on Christmas eve! After that, we listened to the Christmas story from the bible and headed to bed.
Christmas morning we slept in 'til 7! Yes, until 7 people! We opened gifts - I got a sweet bike trainer, the seasons of the Cosby show (holy cow - it's an awesome one!),
and some other sweet stuff. We also got some sweet book shelves (thanks, Lenn and Mary). They look awesome.
For breakfast, we had the traditional wannabe egg mcmuffins/biscuits. Mmmmmm..... then we just relaxed the day away until it was time to go to Grandma's for dinner. Amber joined up with us at Grandma and Grandpa's. Then we headed home and watched Amber's new Michael Jackson music video DVD.
It was definitely a great Christmas! It was nice to relax and spend time with the hubs and fam, and to celebrate what Christmas is all about.

The Real Meaning of Christmas

2010-12-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute little video narrated by a little girl about the real meaning of Christmas...Hope you like it! Merry Christmas everyone! (this link works now, I promise!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PURToRRq7gM&feature=player_embedded

Ogden Lights

2010-12-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night, we headed to Historic 25th street in Ogden to check out the lights! We went with the C fam and the E fam. It's so much fun to see the reaction of little kids at Christmastime! The kids loved the lights and the little decorated boxes with different themed creatures and animated characters.

The girls!

My hubs and I

The little kiddos!

The sillies!

Afterwards, we ate donuts and drank hot chocolate (yummy yum yum!). It was a lot of fun to hang out with the fam!

E Family Christmas Party 2010

2010-12-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to host the E family Christmas party! It was a blast! Everyone showed up on Friday. We had a girls' night out where the sisters and sisters-in-law went to Olive Garden and then did a little shopping at the mall. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the girls! The men stayed at home with the kids and ate pizza and brownies. After getting home, Kim, Holly, and I went to Target and Walmart - we ended up getting home after midnight! Ha ha!

After breakfast on Saturday, we headed to the church to play some games! We played lightning, kick ball, and dodge ball. It was a ton of fun because all the kids could play (I mean, except for the baby)! It was awesome!

For lunch we had hot dogs and brats -mmmmmm! The afternoon was filled with naps, playing with cousins, treats, making cards for Grandma and Grandpa, and making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.

Everyone came for dinner - we had lasagna (regular and chicken!), green beans, garlic bread, green salad, and fruit dip (thanks Kimmy!). It was yummy.....

After dinner, we played games, had some spiritual thoughts by Scottie, opened presents, skyped with mom and dad, ate lots of snacks, received white elephants, and just hung out and chatted. It was great to have everyone there and to spend time with the peeps (especially the kids!).

It was a short but sweet weekend! Everyone took off for home on Sunday. It was great spending time with the fam!

Christmas Piano Recital

2010-12-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

After several months of teaching my mom's piano students, it finally came time to have a piano recital! My friend Katie from work also teaches a 2 students, so we combined our recitals. It took place on Saturday, December 11th. The kids worked pretty hard to be able to be ready to perform. It was neat to watch them succeed!

Even though trying to get the kids to practice can be a pain sometimes, it was worth it to see them perform so well!

The Happy Birthdays

2010-11-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a birthday celebration at the T's. It was Riley's birthday last Sunday and another person's birthday is coming up soon, so we did a double whammy celebration.
Mary made delicious cheesy potatoes and ham and we even had brownies and homemade ice cream (made by Lenn) for desert! Yes, we are THAT lucky!

Our double-candled birthday cake!
Yay for DVD's!

Yes, it's a funny card!
Awwww, fer cute!
Jesse and Riley!

Happy Birthday, peeps!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

I think Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite Holidays. It's great because you can get together with family and friends and not have to worry about gifts! Ha! And the delicious food is a BIG plus! This year, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend it with Cortney's family. Uncle Val and Aunt Liz joined along too!

Annual Taylor Family Pics.....

It was a ton of fun spending the weekend with the fam. Unfortunately Cameron and Kandis were unable to attend and we missed them. We also missed our missionaries, Mom and Dad, who got to spend Thanksgiving in Mississippi in 75 degree weather :)
I am very thankful for my family (especially my wonderful husband), the gospel, the beautiful world, and our jobs! Happy Thanksgiving!

Jazz vs. Thunder

2010-11-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Do we love the Jazz? Yes! Do we love watching games on TV? Yes! Do we love going to the games even more? YES!!!! The first game that we go to of the season is always a blast! Oh wait - going to any Jazz game is always a blast! Yeah!

Eating dinner before.....
Yeah D-Will!

No game would be complete without these guys :)
I know, right? Ha ha!

J's 14th Birthday

2010-11-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we all got together at Rhonda's to celebrate J's 14th birthday. It's hard to believe she is 14 already. It was a blast to get together with everyone! We had a delicious ham dinner with rolls, salad, and funeral potatoes. The cake/cupcakes were an oreo cake. It was soooo good!
Everyone got their own cupcake with a candle on it to blow out. It was sweet!

The pyros with their mega-candle...
Rolls with jam! Mmmmm!
Crazies!
L and Rhonda playing their duet...
The girlies!
The birthday girl!

Happy 14th, J!

Astronomy.....

2010-11-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

For Cortney's astronomy class, he got to take some pretty neat pics of the stars - leaving the shutter open. He kindly shares a lot of the cool astronomy facts he learns as well.

This first one is focused on the north star and the shutter was left open for 30 minutes. Awesome...
This one was focused at the east sky and a car passed by - the shutter was left open for 15 minutes......

The stars are ours.....

More Halloween Fun-ness!

2010-11-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was definitely a blast! On Saturday night, we headed up to Logan to Amber and Riley's place to celebrate the Halloween weekend. We had delicious taco soup, cupcakes, and more candy than we could handle! After dinner, we played some games. One of the most hilarious games I have ever played is called "Curses". It was so much fun! The best part was just hanging out with the Taylor clan. Here are some photos from the event:

The cute cupcakes!
The psychos...
A 60's girl and Nighttime Bear
A silly cowboy, Buddy the Elf, and a Turkey! Ha ha!
On Sunday night, we headed up to the Carter's to chill for the night while their parents were gone.

We had fun outside with the leaves....

And carved some awesome pumpkins! Colton carved this pumpkin to look like eyes. And then he put his strobe light (yes, strobe light) inside of it! It was awesome! And HUGE!
He definitely enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin....
Bears
Jess

It was a blast! (And the Jazz won)
The Halloween holiday was good to us this year! It's one of my favorites because of the whole candy factor! Ha ha!

Punkin tines!

2010-10-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had a little pumpkin carving fest! Little did we know that we would meet some people in our ward and become instant pumpkin carving and game playing friends! They are awesome! We are all BFF's already! Not to mention, they are way talented when it comes to pumpkin carving skills.

We ate fresh salsa from our garden (yes, our garden did barf, and we ate it with chips. What?) and many delicious and not-so-nutritious treats. But hey, that's what Halloween season is all about, right? Then we carved punkins and played Bohnanza (the bean game!). What a blast! Here come the amazing people hard at work creating pumpkin masterpieces!

Cortney...
Lauren...
Christopher...
Becky...
Justin and Lauren...

Justin...
The peeps!
The masterpieces!!!
Christopher's...
Lauren's...
Becky's (my personal fav - Have you ever seen George Washington at Valley Forge carved into a pumpkin??!???)
Justin's...
See no evil, speak no evil (with a single tear), and hear no evil (Cortney and DeAnn's)
Taylor pride! Woot!
Ahhhhhhh, freedom!
It's nice to have some new friends! We had a blast! Thanks, guys! And Happy Halloweeeeeee! (http://thewertandwilms.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-halloweee.html)