Home of the Taylors

Catch up and Turkey hunt.

2011-04-21T12:24:00.002-06:00

Wow it has been a long time since I have blogged. We have been keeping very busy with Josh in school, John & I both working full time. Josh turned 16 in January and now has a drivers lisence. EEEKKKK it doesn't seem like he could be that old but he is.
John's eye is still doing really good.
This last weekend we went to Montana for the spring Turkey hunt. It was so much fun. John, Josh, Kristie, Ashley, Kyle, Grammie and I all went up. We stayed with Jack and Celinda. We so much appreciate their hospitality and all they do. They are great people.
Grammie, Kyle and I stayed at Celinda's while the others went hunting. To bad they only saw a couple of turkey's and were not close enough to get a shot.

The best part of the whole trip was getting to be together as a whole family, we haven't done something like that in a long time.

More pictures of Kyle

2010-07-13T06:35:00.002-06:00

New Grandson Hooray

2010-06-23T06:25:00.005-06:00

Finally, Kyle Thomas was born on June 22, 2010 7 lbs 6.7oz, 19 1/2 inches long.

We came down to Laramie Monday night and stayed in a nice hotel. Ashley had to be in the hospital at 7:30 am. The started her at 8am and then about noon they broke her water. She was really tough because she didn't have any pain medication at all. Kyle was born at 2:40PM I am just sure he is the cutest baby ever. (Some may say I am a bit prejudiced, but I don't think so.) He has the cutest most heart warming cry ever. Most of the rest of the day he just looked around with a big wide stare. Wow what a feeling to hold your Grandchild and realize the blessings that our Father in Heaven has sent to us.

We stayed another night in Laramie and will go home probably this afternoon.

Josh's guitar

2010-05-12T13:21:00.002-06:00

Josh has been in a class at school where they built guitars. He finished his and brought it home the other day. Here is a video of it. They cut out the shape and did all the work. I'm impressed.

What a Wonderful Life.

2010-02-20T22:11:00.002-07:00

What a wonderful life. We have had a great weekend so far. Friday John and I went down to Salt Lake City for his eye surgery. We had to be there at 2:15pm they got him all ready to go and we had to wait until 4:30 before they finally got him in. It was a 2 hour surgery. They put him to sleep long enough to block or deaden his eye and then woke him back up. He was awake for the entire surgery. They told him he had to stay very still and not move his eye (FOR 2 HOURS). they took out the cornea, lens, and scar tissue and then put in the artificial cornea and a new lens. It was 7pm before we were able to leave the Moran Eye Center to go get medicine, dinner and go to our hotel room. We stayed at a really nice place called Country Inn & Suites by Carlton. This morning we had to go back to the Dr. to have his eye checked. The Dr's surgical assistant took off the bandages and everything looked great. He asked John if he could see anything and he said yes he could see my face. I was sitting across the room in front of him. He asked him to cover his good eye and read the eye chart on the wall. It had one big E on it, he could see it, before he couldn't. He change the chart to the next screen and he could read it also. To make a long story a little shorter, :) he read at 20/30 and with each line he read more tears ran down my face. When Dr. Moshifar came in the assistant told him everything looked good and that John read the chart to 20/30, Dr Moshifar said good, then he hesitated and said what did you say? The assistant said "I swear that is what he read" this conversation repeated its self a couple of times and then Dr. Moshifar turned the chart back on and had John read it again just to make sure. The Dr. told us that they only expected him him to read at 20/200 which is one better than the big "E" They were amazed. They also said his vision would fluctuate for awhile during the healing process.

Anyway John has to be very careful. He can't cough, sneeze or blow his nose. He can,t lean down to pick anything up, he can't lift anything, we cant touch anywhere around his eye or eye lid and he has a metal eye guard that he has to wear all the time for the next week or two. We have to put drops in every 4 hours.

He will be off work for about 3 to 4 months. But it is so well worth it. What a miracle. Please keep him in your prayers because he still has a long way to go.

2009-11-24T19:16:00.003-07:00

It has been sososososo long since I have posted anything on here. I think life just gets busier all the time. We had a good summer. Josh started 8th grade this year. He is doing ok. The first trimester is already over. This tri he has a class where he is building his own electric guitar. He is so excited about it.

I started a new job the 14th of Oct. I am working part time as a data entry person and helping with payroll and what ever else they need done, for Redi Services. Margo works for them and one day they were discussing hiring a part time person for this reason and asked her if she could recommend anyone. She gave them my name and they called me. It took me a week or so to decide if I wanted to interview for it or not. They interviewed me on the 13th and then called me that afternoon and asked if I could start the next morning. They said it would be about 15 hours per week, which is 2 days. I figured that would be good to get me out of the house and earn a little extra money. At this point I have worked 3 - 4 days every week. I really enjoy this job. I love doing data entry, payroll, filing, etc. this is a great job for me.

The end of September John and I got a new truck. The truck we had was needing a new engine which would cost us between $4500(if John did all the work) - $8500 if we had it done. That is way more than the truck was worth, so we decided we would rather make a payment on a new truck that was more reliable. So that is what we did. Josh really loves this new truck to. He thinks it is HIS. :)

Other than that we are pretty much the same old boring people.

Oh John will probably be getting an artificial cornea transplant in January sometime. They said it could give him anywhere from 30% - 90 % of his vision but he will still have no peripheral vision, just straight forward. He is excited for any vision at all in that eye.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Family, Fun, Lagoon 2009

2009-06-09T21:11:00.009-06:00

Saturday June 6, 2009

John, Josh, Brian, Kristie, Tom, Ashley & I all went to Lagoon for the day.
It is the first time we have done anything together as a whole family since the girls have been married.

We had so much fun.

Most of us rode a new ride called the "Wicked". It starts out toward the first by going straight up and over the top, then straight down. It was so much fun!!!

We rode a bunch of rides.
Rocket Blastoff and Rocket Re-entry

Josh rode this water slide

John, Josh, Tom & Ashley

Ashley, Brian & Kristie

Drag Races
Tom, Josh & Ashley. Tom won twice and Josh
won once.

Brian, Kristie & John
Brian won 3 times

We have not had a family picture since before Brian and Kristie were married so when I saw the photograpy shop in Pioneer Village I thought it would be a perfect time for that.

What a wonderful day!!!!

Wayne & Jessica Wedding

2009-03-23T07:02:00.008-06:00

On Saturday the 21st We spent the day at the Salt Lake Temple with Wayne and Jessica as they were married. The ceremony was at 9 AM and was very beautiful.

When they were getting everyone up on the steps just before they took the first group picture, one of the pigeons that like to stay up on the temple decided to give Kim (the mother of the groom) a special gift on top of her head. :) We all go a huge laugh, she laughed to. The photographer said in all the many times he had done this that was a first!

Here are a few pictures.

Wayne & Jessica

John, Jonathon, Brian, Josh

Kisa, Dillon, Kim, Judy, Sarah, Maddie, Emma

Verla, Ramon, Jim, Diane

Lori, Kim (the proud Mom)

Brian & Kristie

Tom & Ashley

Cade & Ashley

Sarah, Spencer, Chris

Scott & Lori

Josh and Ellis

Kristie, Brian, Scott

Lori, Jake, Matt & Scott

Tom & Ashley (a few tense moments)

Cade wanted to join the picture taking fun.

Josh, Brian, Kristie, Tom, Ashley

Taylor's

Fun

2009-03-05T16:22:00.003-07:00

We had FHE monday night and made Brigham Youngs Buttermilk Donuts. We had a great time. Josh said this is the funnest FHE we have had in a long time. When we got done we took some to Grandpa & Grandma W., Grandpa & Grammie T., and some friends.

Ashleys Birthday

2009-03-03T07:01:00.003-07:00

Ashley turned 20 YEARS OLD on Friday. Where has all the time gone. Seems like just yesterday we brought home a beautiful baby girl to join our family and now she is grown and married.

We had the whole family here on Saturday to celebrate her birthday. Brian and Kristie came around noon but couldn't stay to long because was on Graveyard shift and had to be back to Green River by 5pm, but it was so good to have them here for awhile. We sang to Ashley and had banana cream pie while they were here. Then that evening we had a bigger birthday party for her with both Walker and Taylor side here (not all could come).

Her cake was not great and the one who decorated it (we won't name names!) mis-spelled birthday so she was wished a Happy Birtday. :) They all laughed and wouldn't let me change it. What really makes it funny is that their car is named Burt.

It took her 5 tries to blow out all the candles.

Ashley is such a special person. She brings happiness and joy to everyone she meets. We love you Ashley.

Life

2009-02-18T06:18:00.003-07:00

I've decided that I need to post more, even if I don't have much to say.

Yesterday - got Josh off to school. John is off (M,T,W). Stayed in my jammies until noon :) :) (normal occurance when I''m home) Visited a sister in our ward who had a baby 4 MONTHS AGO. We haven't been able to catch up with her. We were beginning to think that her baby would be to big for the blanket before we got to visit her! Our ward has had 15 babies since April. Still 3 more expecting. I guess that is called population explosion :)
John and Josh went to the Archery range. I baby sat Ellis, Emma & Cade while there Mom went to drama practise, she is the assistant coach. (It isn't as easy as it used to be to tend small kids 4,3 and almost 1year olds).

I spent most of the day doing family history which I haven't done in quite sometime. I don't know what exacatly prodded me but I guess I'm kind of hooked again.

Grandpa Walker is letting Josh rebuild an old Model A Ford that he has. It has been sitting down at the ranch for, lets see?? ALOT OF YEARS! He didn't have school on Monday so Grandpa came down and the 3 of them got the motor out and tested it to see if it was still fixable.
Josh came in and said to me "We're Plum tickled that it turns free" :) What a kid. He is so excited to work on the engine and restore the car. Grandpa gave him a book about 1 1/2 years ago about restoring Model A's I think he about has it memorized. He got a parts catalog about a month ago and I'm sure he knows it almost by heart. Not really by heart:)

I haven't even got pictures yet but I will.

I guess I had better go get yesterdays dishes done before the family history program on my computer reaches out and grabs me again.

Kids grow up too fast!!

2009-02-04T05:07:00.006-07:00

Kids grow up too fast!!

Josh turned 14 years old! Can you believe it. Where does the time go.

He opened present that morning.

We had a birthday party for him that night. It was lots of fun. Then on Sunday he was ordained a Teacher.

We are so proud of him and the way he honors his Priesthood. He has such a special spirit about him and we love him so much.

2009-01-26T05:58:00.003-07:00

Hi everyone. I am so bad about posting on here but I do read your posts regularly.

We have been staying pretty busy but nothing huge and monumental going on. Everyone is doing fine. (as far as I can tell)

Friday the 23rd I was asked to sub in the middle school. The 7th and 8th graders were going skiing at Beaver Mountain. The teacher that I was to sub for was supposed to go with them but couldn't go so asked me to go instead because Josh was going and she thought I'd like to go spend the day with him. I said yes but if you know me very well you know that noisy busses make me crazy!! So I wasn't sure I'd do reallly well, but I went and had a wonderful day. I had lodge duty, helping anyone who came in and needed something.

I sat in the lodge in a nice comfy chair in front of a fireplace, with a beautiful view of the mountain with the skiers flying by all day, crocheting to keep me busy. I didn't get to visit a whole lot with Josh because he rode on the boy bus and I on the girl bus, and he skied all day and had a wonderful time.

The lodge was beautiful and when Josh came in for lunch we were visiting while eating and he said "Wouldn't you love to have a lodge like this?" I quickly relpied Yes! We both had a great day and I thought that was a wonderful way to spend a day getting paid to sub.

We have been helping Ashley & Tom pack because they are moving this week to Rawlins Wyoming! Tom finished his first associates degree in December and has 1 more class to do and will have his second associates degree, both having to do with Electronics and Instramentation. He applied for 5 or 6 jobs around the area in this field and finally got this job with Williams Gas Plant. They found out he got the job and we got the names of the Bishops from the internet and Ashley called to see if they knew of any places to rent. The Bishop was amazed because just two days before a lady had called him and asked if he knew of anyone needing a place to rent.

They will be living in a 3 bedroom 2 bath townhouse with a one car garage and very small yard. They are very excited about it.

Front of Townhouse

Back of townhouse. Part of the fence blew down. They have good size deck coming off the dining room. The kitchen, livingroom, 2 bedrooms are upstairs. Garage, bedroom, laundryroom, familyroom downstairs.

Kitchen

Part of livingroom, going into kitchen.

Master Bath.

I can't remember what their address will be but I will let you know.

Well I had better go I've got to get Josh off to school.

Love Ya All

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T10:16:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas morning.

Hope every one is having a great day.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is coming

2008-12-22T20:45:00.005-07:00

It seems like this month is just flying by. We finally put our tree up on the 15th. Josh wanted to the first of December but his Mom is a bah- humbug. Here is a picture of our tree and some decorations. I don't do a lot because of that above mentioned syndrome.

We are probably going to have a very quiet, boring Christmas. It will be just John, Josh and I here because Brian & Kristie have to work, and Tom & Ashley are up in Cody with his family. Hopefully they will all get here sometime during the holiday. It is so sad and lonely when kids start to get married and have a life of their own. My goodness I sound like a Mom in transition??

Josh doesn't like being the only kid home. He gets lonely and bored so has to tease his poor Dad and Mom instead of sisters :) He is such a good kid. We are so lucky to have him and each one of our kids. Heavenly Father has certainly blessed us with a great family.

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas.

Wyoming Sunset December 3, 2008

2008-12-07T20:18:00.004-07:00

It is amazing how fast a year goes. When I was small it seemed like forever before Christmas came. Now Christmas is almost here again and seems like we just had it 3 months ago. I am trying to get all my sewing done but not so sure that I will. I have so much material and not so much money so I am trying to make everything that I can for Christmas.

We had our ward Christmas party on the 3rd. It was pretty good. Just before I left to go up and help set up I looked out the window at the sunset and was amased so I ran to get my camera. This is the result.

This first one was taken out my back door (please excuse the power lines)

Then I went out the front door to get the second one. I was amased at the orange column from the trees up to the sky. Heavenly Father is an excellent artist!

I love taking pictures. Some day I want to be a photographer (maybe when I grow up)

2008-11-12T16:12:00.003-07:00

Hey, I just wanted to give an up date on Dixie. She is 1 1/2 years old and I rode her for the first time today and she only bucked 2 times because she didn't like the whip I had while I was round penning her.I rode her twice today and had a blast!! she still isn't sure what go means and I have to click and kick her alot, but she will get better

Tom and I are doing great and we are living in Rock Springs. I hate it!! he will graduate in December with a degree in instrumentation technology and one more in electricity-electronics-instrumentation hopefully in December to but that one might wait till may. I'm working at Corral West and I'm trying to get assistant manager there. Other than that we are doing great and I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Fun times and horses

2008-11-11T20:08:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to put a few funny pictures on and then I will turn this post over to Ashley.

Cruise to Mexican Riviera

2008-10-13T22:19:00.003-06:00

Margo and I left Sept. 27th and flew to Los Angeles where we boarded the Sapphire Princess. We had a wonderful time. The reason we went is because Margo was celebrating her 50th birthday and wanted to go do something and didn't want to go alone. Her husband passed away about 15 months ago.
We had such a great time.
We returned on Oct. 4th.

2008-10-13T20:48:00.008-06:00

Above is the Sapphire Princess docked at Puerto Vallarta
Below is pictures of the ship

Main Lobby We made sure there was a life preserver just in case we fell over board :)

Open theater in Mazatlan.

Para Sailing in Mazatlan. Me with blue parachute, Margo with pink. We must be really brave!!
Above - It is really amazing how much we look like plastic toy men with parachutes huh!!

:) :) :0 (I had to take pictures of these, they were selling them on the beach)(Not really us, they were toy para-sailers)

It was 94 degrees with 105% humidity. It felt like we were baking in an oven.

Open air taxi that took us back to the ship. That was the scariest ride I have ever taken. I don't think there are any traffic rules in Mexico, Or at least the driver didn't think so. He was passing on the wrong side on a 2 lane road, etc.

Notice in the back ground of this picture what they have even in Mexico!!
The back of our ship and the boat we traveled to Las Caletas on. Quite a difference in size.
Shore line of Puerto Vallarta. We traveled about 1 1/2 hours along the shore line to reach Las Caletas. which is only accessible by boat.

Street in Mazatlan.

Cliff divers in Mazatlan. They dive from about 40-50 feet. The water was high this day but we were told that some days the water is so low that after they dive they just stand up and walk back to shore rather than swim. They dive numerous times each day.

We had to put down anchor about 1 mile out because the harbor wasn't deep enough for a cruise ship. We got on launches to be transported in to Cabo San Lucas. The wake was really bad, the launch was pulled up to the side of the ship and would raise and drop about 5-8 feet with the wake. We had to jump on at just the right time.

These are the helmets we used to dive with. We climbed down the ladder into the water to about our shoulders and then they lowered these helmets down over our head and connected a oxygen hose to it. We went down about 15 feet and walked around with fish swimming all around us. We then went down to about 20 feet. Fed the fish, fed a small octopus, played frisbee. We had a great time.
Flea market in Cabo San Lucas

2008-09-18T05:57:00.003-06:00

Iwant to start off by saying I'm sorry for not keeping this blog up. I so much enjoy reading everyone elses blogs, but it seems like I don't have time to sit and type. Well I have been up since 5:00 am, because my internal alarm is still not set for a reasonable hour like 6:00 am, but I guess it is better than the 4:00 setting right? Well anyway we all are doing pretty good for the most part. So here is the run down.

John is doing pretty good, he has been back to work for just over a month and is really glad to be back. It has been kind of hard but good for him. He has been having alot of pain in his eye the last five or six days, so we are going to call the Dr. this morning. He has been keeping very busy with work, scouts, stuff around here and teaching hunter saftey classes.

Josh is enjoying school (NOT) and is helping Grandpa Walker finish up the haying which he LOVES. The hay crop was really good this year. They have been done for about a month but this part they are doing now was cut early and they are doing a second cut which is really amazing for here.

He is doing good in scouts. At the last Court of Honor he recieved his First Class rank and 10 merit badges. Josh only has half day at school today and then no school tomarrow so John and Josh are taking the camper and going hunting for a few days. They will be archery hunting and they are very excited.

I have been staying pretty busy to but nothing really exciting just the same old thing, subbing in Lyman & Mt. View schools, cleaning, sewing, etc. etc. I am going to be doing exciting things next week. Margo and I are going on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera on the 27th. Her birthday is on the 2nd of Oct and she wants to go on a cruise but doesnt want to go alone. She said I was the only one she would really feel comfortable going with so we are going. Fun huh!! She has had quite a hard time the last 15 months since Gerry passed away, but she is doing OK!

I'm really excited but a little nervous to go. It will be fun.

Well I had better get going, Josh just got up and I need to go make him some breakfast so he can be awake and alert for school!!

2008-09-03T21:38:00.002-06:00

I guess it is time to catch up.

We have been doing pretty good. John's eye is finally healed over so that it isn't an open sore so they finally let him go back to work on Aug. 12th. He was glad to be back and is doing his own job but can't go as fast as he could before because of the depth persection problem and all of the stairs. He still can only see light and dark, nothing else.

John and Josh are really enjoying archery. They both have bows now and spend alot of time together shooting. Josh is back in school now, in the 7th grade. He is not very excited about school.

I guess we are just really boring people
I will write more later, and post some pictures.

The Wedding Experience

2008-07-02T20:47:00.003-06:00

As plans for the wedding started to come together things started to go not as we planned. Wednesday we were supposed to get the napkins that we had ordered on the Internet. They said it would only take 2-3 day to ship. Wednesday evening I was checking my email and there was an email from them saying they had canceled our order because they couldn't get them to us in time. I called all over trying to find someone that would have them but no one could print them in less than 2 weeks. Thursday morning I was in much pain with my back and so went up to the chiropractor. While there I told the receptionist what had happened and she said that in Orem at Zurchers they had a sign that said they could do it in 24 hours. While I was in the office she got on her cell phone and called them. They said they could try but couldn't guarantee anything. I called and placed the order about 11:30 AM and they said they would call me when they had them finished. We left Thursday afternoon about 12:00 to travel to Manti and about 12:30 pm the lady at Zurchers called and said she had them done. She said she did them right away so I wouldn't have to make a trip back from Manti to get them. It is so refreshing to see people that will go out of their way to make things easier for someone else, even a stranger. I was so impressed.

Tom & Ashley left earlier than we did because they were meeting his parents there earlier in the day. When we arrived the first thing Ashley said was I hope you remembered to get the bouquet. My mouth just dropped open as I realized that I hadn't because I thought she had packed all that stuff. We didn't know what to do and finally decided to run to Ephriam to WalMart and get some flowers. We got 3 vines of flowers and some ribbon and hooked them together the best we could and called it good. Ashley was sad that she didn't have the bouquet that Celinda made for her.

We arrived at the Temple about half an hour earlier than we were supposed to, I guess they were so eager to get married they just couldn't wait. :)

The ceremony was so nice. (The brides mom must have had to much water to drink that morning because when the ceremony started she started to leak water from her eyes.) I was so impressed with the sealer that preformed the ceremony and the sweet spirit that filled the room. It was beautiful.

After the ceremony when we were going out to take pictures Tom and Ashley went out the revolving door and they both stepped into the same section and my Mom (Verla) stepped in the next one right behind them. They stopped right out of the door and she was stuck in the door for quite some time while they took pictures. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind.
We went to Nephi to a restaurant for the dinner after and then we stopped in SLC to get the food for the reception.

The reception turned out very nice, except that it was sooooooo hot in the Heritage Barn. We went up about 10:30, to decorate and cut up the food, and turned the air conditioning as low as it would go but it never did cool down much. It was 85 degrees in there most of the night. We served fruit kabobs with 3 kinds of fruit dip and chips with salsa, guacamole, ranch dip and water punch. The punch was in a pretty fountain.

I'm not sure how many trips back home, to get things we forgot, that we made but just when we thought we had it all they decided to cut the cake and do the garter thing. I had forgotten the cake knife and spatula so I had to run home and get it, and Ashley didn't have her garter on and we couldn't find it.

When Tom and Ashley cut the cake it turned into a big messy game. They both pushed cake in each others face. Ashley had to go down to the bathroom and blow the cake plugs out of her nose. What goofy kids!

There car was wrapped in plastic wrap when they were ready to go. It was kind of funny.

Sunday we left to go up to Cody for the open house and had a wonderful couple of days. Toms family is so nice and we really enjoyed getting to know them.
The open house was supposed to be in the back yard but about 30 minutes before it was to start it started to sprinkle, then hail, then flat out poured. There was a river running down the road in front of their home. You couldn't even see the road or gutters because of all the rain rushing down them. It poured for about 30 minutes and then quit. The party turned out very nice all considered.

Brian and Kristie left about 5AM Tuesday morning because he had to work night shift and needed to get some sleep. John, Josh and I went over to the Cooks about 9AM, to load some stuff they needed hauled back down to Rock Springs, and then went home through Yellowstone Park. It was a wonderful trip. We got home about 9:30 PM and then had to get up early this morning to go back down to SLC for Johns Dr appointment.

His eye is doing OK. The Dr said it is no better but it is no worse either. He was glad for that. Last week it was showing signs of improvement this week about the same but he thinks it will continue to heal.

We will miss having Ashley around a lot but Josh and I are already arguing over who gets her room. Josh wants it because it is a little bigger than his and I want to make it into a craft/guest room.

Tom & Ashley Wedding

2008-07-02T06:42:00.009-06:00

The Big Day has finally arrived.

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Cook

Ball & Chain

Balcony at Heritage Barn in Lyman

Parents of Bride & Groom

(Burt is the name of the car)

It was a beautiful day at the Temple and the reception was great.

I will write more details later.

More pictures

2008-06-22T17:12:00.002-06:00

Trail Cook
Riding off into the sunset, (they traded hats)

2008-06-22T06:34:00.004-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. We have been keeping extra busy with everything. So here is the update.

John had a dr. appointment on the 11th and they decided to do surgery on his eye on the 12th. We were supposed to be there at 4:30 PM because they were fitting him in on the end of their scheduled work day, so when we arrived we waited about 30 min. and they came out and said his surgery wouldn't be until 7:15 PM because of an emergency that had come in. All in all he finally got into surgery about 8PM. They amputated (that was the dr's words) the lasik flap that they were hoping to save because part of it had deteriorated away, and they also attatched 3 layers of amniotic membrane. Hopefully this will help his eye heal. Now we just have to wait again.

Here is the update on the wedding. IT"S COMING TO FAST! :)

Kristie put together her bridal shower and it was really fun. It had a western theme featuring a wonderful BBQ with our camp cook being John, games and fun. Everyone was supposed to dress the part (not all did) Her special seat was her saddle and everyone else sat on bales of hay. Here are a few pictures.

The rest of the pictures don't seem to want to upload so I will try again later.

Yesterday we spent the day in the SLC Temple where Ashley was able to take out her endowments. Very very nice day.

2008-05-04T06:37:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone! We have been doing pretty good here at the Taylor home. Life seems to be busy, busy, busy, all the time.

Here is all the updates. John is doing ok except that his eye isn't healing very good. The white part is healed good but the colored part doesn't seem to want to heal. They are trying some different medicine hoping it will stimulate the stem cells to grow. If it doesn't heal they will have to do a surgery where they either use donor stem cell or some from his other eye to transplant there. The best would be his own because it isn't as likely to reject, but they don't want to do that because it could mess up the vision in his good eye. He still isn't back to work yet because with the surface of his eye not healed if the dust from the soda ash out at work (and its everywhere) got in it would just eat up his eye. They are estimating June. He still can't see anything except close up outlines and white fog.

I have been just all sorts of busy. Subbing at the school (2nd graders are a pain in the back side, but first grade is fun), Relief Society making quilts and recieving blankets for weddings and babies (we have 12 babies coming in our ward 3 have been born), sisters that have been injured from falls and car accidents, enrichment night & groups. Whew!! that makes me tired just typing it. I really do love my calling in the RS though it keeps me running.

Ashley is working for the town again this summer and is busy with her horses for 4-H, she is kind of a junior leader so helps with everyones. Wedding plans are coming along good except that she is having trouble with bridesmaid dresses. She found some that she just loved and when she finally got ready to order them they were all sold out except for XL and bigger. The big day is getting closer and closer.

Josh has been in track and enjoying it. He runs the 100m, 400m, & 200m sprints. He comes in dead last by quite aways but he has improved his time each race. He is a winner in my book. Yesterday was his last meet and he was sick to his stomach and had a fever so couldn't go. He was a little sad but thats the way life is.

John and I went in to Evanston on Friday to do some stuff and came back with some little chicks, I have been fighting against getting more chickens for quite some time but guess I didn't win :( :)
I told John I should have left him home or at least not let him go into Murdocks by himself. He just smiled at me.

Well it is a beautiful Sunday morning and life is really great! I love my family and I especially love my Heavenly Father for letting me have them. I know the Church is true and that we can be together as an eternal family. The challenges we face each day can either get us down or lift us up. It is our choice! I choose to be lifted up because down isn't any fun AT ALL. I am so grateful for the strength my Heavenly Father gives me, he is ALWAYS there for me and holds me up when I wobble and start to fall.

I Love You All and pray for the very best in all your lives.

2008-04-07T21:25:00.003-06:00

I guess I am not very good at keeping up on the posting thing!! We have been staying really busy. Update on John's eye is that it is about the same as it was before. Vision is still about 20/200 and the surface is not completely healed. They estimate it will be another 4-6 weeks before he can go back to work. (Once the surface is healed.) They probably won't do any surgery for 6 months to a year because they want his eye to rest before they give it any more trauma.

Ashley is busy making wedding plans. Josh is in track for the first time and his first meet was Saturday. He came in last in all his races (100m, 200m, 400m) but he is still a winner because he tried and did his best and finished the race. He did good.

John is still going crazy(and me to). I am just busy running around for Relief Society, Scouts, work, home, etc........

Well I think I'll just post a few pictures.

Two of these were at Ashley's birthday party and the one of fritz, I got up one morning to le

t them out and I guess he got tired of sleeping in his bed and thought this was a better place to be.

2008-03-14T01:55:00.002-06:00

I couldn't sleep (again) so I decided that I would post something since it has been almost a month since I have. Things have been really busy for me lately. I have been subbing at the school alot, Relief Society meetings, trips to SLC, sewing for humanitarian project, cleaning house(this seems to be pretty low on the list:)).

John's eye is healing but kind of slow. The surface of his eye is about 70% healed. His vision is pretty bad, testing at 20/200. He can see some but says it is like looking out of a plane window while going through clouds. The doctor said that at this point it is likely that his vision will stay where it is, possibly could get as good as 20/50 because at one point about 4 weeks ago that is where it tested. We only have to go down to the doctor once a week now instead of 2 or 3 times. He is really sick of being around the house all the time so he tapes the patch on as tight as he can and also has to wear another harder patch to protect his eye and has been going with my dad to feed. It is amazing how much an injury like this can take out of a person. He has been helping teach a hunter saftey class every night this week and has really enjoyed that.

Ashley is in Cody WY this week with Tom. She went up to meet his parents while he is on spring break. She has been working at Sills restraunt in Mountain View and then will start her job with the town again the first of April. She is excited for that. They have set the wedding date for June 27th in the Manti Temple and the reception will be on the 28th in Lyman. An open house up in Cody on July 1st (I think??) She is really happy and things seem to be going really well for her.

Josh started track this week. It is the first time he has done a school sport. The first day he practised when I picked him up, he came slowly out to the car and got in and said, "I don't think I can move my legs again". He will get better at it I' m sure. He is going to do sprints I guess.

It was snowing today when I got home from school and for some reason we had water dripping down the outside of our chimney pipe onto the stove. NOT FUN!!! John and Josh had to climb up on the roof and fix the leak around the pipe. I was really very nervous about it because John's depth perception is really bad now with one eye and there was ice on the roof. I could just see them falling off. (That would be just what we need huh!) They got it fixed and all was well.

Well I guess I had better at least try to get some sleep since I have to teach again tomarrow. I'm going to have to figure out how to sleep all night. Any ideas? My dad would say to "just close your eyes." I can't get that song out of my head ... "Good Night Sweetheart its time to go..." (thats all I can remember of it :) over and over, maybe thats what is keeping me awake??? :)

Good Night Everyone!

2008-02-16T21:04:00.001-07:00

This is what our winter has been like. February 2008

Kristie & Brian

2008-02-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

2008-02-16T20:39:00.001-07:00

John & Brian went on a wild pig hunt in November. This is the result.

2008-02-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

2008-02-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

2008-02-16T19:53:00.003-07:00

This is quite a new thing for me. I guess I will just put a few pictures of our family.

This first picture is of our wonderful children a few years ago.

2008-02-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hi from the Taylor's