Life and Pleasant memories

With school becoming more and more of a stressful thing i've been trying to think about the good things that are coming up like Disneyland, Thanksgiving, Christmas, family parties, my baptism....but stress has a way of blocking out those awesome things.

Yesterday was a hard day. my stomach has been in knots for a couple weeks now and i've found myself clenching my jaw and almost like tensing my whole body. i dont even realize that i'm doing it until i get a headache or my jaw hurts from exhaustion. Also my meds for my stress and tummy is not working as well as it should right now, which is causing my legs and feet to hurt constantly. So with all of that, Adam thought it would be fun if he came over to have lunch with me since he was off. It was great to have time just the two of us even if it was only for an hour. We get so busy with work, school, family events, going out with friends that it was refreshing to spend time together. During our lunch conversation we decided that due to some unforeseen events we would not be able to go on our Europe trip in september of next year. Adam promises that we will go in 2015 instead and i hope that we do. I didnt mean to cry but i totally did in the middle of the restaurant. I'm pretty sure the people next to us thought that we were breaking up or something. I know that Europe is just a trip to some people, but to me it is fulfilling a dream that i really dont think will ever come true. I was supposed to go one other time when i was younger (tickets and hotels were booked and paid for) I had a count down which started at a year and got down to six months, when the trip was cancelled. So when we decided to go this coming September I really let myself believe that we were going so it was a harder crash than i had anticipated. It will be good that we wait for other reasons like, I will for sure be done with school, and we will be able to spend more money to do more things that we want. The bad part is that I dont know if we will really go, and it means putting off our kids longer than i had thought. (Life has a way of getting in the way of all plans that we make). But I know that it will work out the way it is supposed to, and i know that Adam does not break promises. After going home i had to take another math test. I had been studying a ton for this test and i felt so confident.....I got at 45%. This was the final straw for my math class and I have decided to drop the class. Life is way too crazy right now and i cant focus the way that i want or need to to pass this class. it's hard because i dont quit things. i'm just not a quitter, but this is going to be best for me. after i made that decision i felt a little weight off my shoulders. so after a crazy day i want to focus on some things that make me smile everytime i think about it.


Mine and Adam's second date. He came over and we watched Disney movies all day and cuddled under a super comfy blanket. This was when i learned that Adam has to have a light on to eat anything, including snacks.

Mine and Adam's third date. We went to Joe and Ashleys to watch X files the movie (terrible movie by the way) I fell asleep on adam and when i woke up i looked up and he was looking at me with a smile....it was the moment i realized that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

Our first fight in Disneyland. He made me ride a water ride and i got wet and i got mad and stopped talking to him for like a half hour. When i finally spoke to him i asked him, " are you mad at me". I love this moment because what a stupid thing to fight about and now it just seems humorous.

Adam's proposal to me at the wishing well. We have pictures of me little by that wishing well...who would have known that it would be the spot to change the course of the rest of my life.


The night before our wedding when we had all of our friends sleep over in our apartment. Such a fun story and i'm so glad that we did it that way. I woke up not stressed because adam was still there and i knew that we was not going to ditch me at the alter.

This memory is so dumb but i loved it. When we were in our apartment i made a huge turkey dinner for the two of us. We wanted to watch tv while we ate but we didnt have TV trays so adam moved the entire dinner table to the living room. I couldnt stop giggling because that is just not allowed, and adam had to remind me that it was our house and we could do what we wanted.

Our first christmas. We had a little table top tree on a side table with a few presents under the table. We woke up early and got hot chocolate and started opening presents. Our crazy next door neighbor knocked on our door asking for cinnamon, in exchange she gave us a can of pork and beans....it was the craziest thing.

The funny thing is, our first year was hard, but we made it through and now looking back we had such great times I just think about how lucky I am now and i know that if we had so many great memories during a harder time in life our memories for the last few years will be 1000x better. I love my husband and i love how he takes care of me and lets me be crazy. I know that even when things dont go according to plan it usually turns out much better than you could have ever prepared for and i know that as long as i am a good person and do the right things I will be loved and things will work out.

Living with Kids

OH BOY, what an experience. I love having my niece and my nephew living with us. There is never a dull moment and it keeps you on your game. Because you have two other people that need help with things it makes you keep all your ducks in a row so that you can help them when they need it. It makes me happy that we can help my sister because she is such a hard worker and has been picking up extra shifts so it's great that adam and i have the opportunity to help her with the kids. I love our talks on the way to school, and when i pick them up. it takes me back to middle school and high school. I love teaching Kolten how to cook (really he just watches) but at least he gets to see how to do things. They are both such smart kids and they have such different personalities, yet it's so easy to tell that they are brother and sister. Kolten has been having me help him with his math homework. (I know i'm terrible at math) but i'm currently in a 1090 math course at the college which is basically just six levels above him so i just take the stuff that I do understand (the building blocks) and i am able to help him. He was learning the first steps of finding slopes. it's usually when the teacher has you count on the graph rise over run. He was not understanding it, which funny enough i never got slopes when i had to count. i usually counted something wrong. so i gave him the slope formula to try out. He understood it and has been doing so well. It's something i have always worried about when i have my own kids. Would i be able to help them, and that experience was honestly one of the best moments in my life. being able to explain something and he understood it. Having the kids has made me excited about when adam and i will have our own. It also has made me less worried. I have gotten over scared feeling of being pregnant and having a baby, it had moved to: what if i screw this kid up and he never: is potty trained, reads, walks, writes, learns how to make good decisions. so even though it's kinda crazy, it's been one of the best experiences and it has shown me just how selfless my sister is for her kids, and how hard she works for them. I love all of them so much.

Final Lesson

I had my final missionary lesson on Wednesday. It was splits week so I was told that my missionaries would be bringing a younger kid from the ward to see how missionaries work. I was nervous because I really do have a hard time being open about this kinda stuff if i dont trust them. So...complete stranger in my house made me have a lot of anxiety. The day of the lesson our doorbell rang, when i opened the door the ward mission leader was there. Now, dont get me wrong, he is a very nice man but he annoys the crap out of all of us because if your opinion does not match his, he doesnt understand and he will talk the entire lesson and barely let the missionaries say anything.

(side story)
This ward mission leader read a scripture that said "we need to have a broken heart and contrite spirit". Okay beautiful scripture, BUT  apparently my idea of what this means is very different than his. He told me that it's like when we break a horse. God breaks out spirit so we will follow him......well I called him out. I told him that the whole point of this experience is for us to have AGENCY to make our own choices and still find our way back to heavenly father. I agree that our heart must be broken, in the sense that our heart must be softened in order to hear the true message and want to understand it, but God does not break us, he uplifts us so that we want to make the right decisions, he never MAKES us do it. anyway, just to give you an idea....



(back to the original story)
So after he sits down, our doorbell rings again. this time there are two strange men on the doorstep. one is a missionary and the other is a ward member. they said that both of my missionaries were with other people because they accidentally double booked appointments. Okay, panic- more strangers. then the doorbell rings again, this time it is another ward member and a younger boy. anxiety rising....we sit down and do an opening prayer. the missionary lets me know that he is from france, which makes me feel better because everyone knows how much i love french people. doorbell rings again....one of my missionaries and then another ward member. They were all here for me....and i was terrified. luckily the discussion was a less sensitive one since it was the word of wisdom, law of chastity, and keeping the sabbath day sacred. they had me talk alot but of course someone (look to above story) had to interject everything i said. He told me that I would never feel the spirit more powerful than when i read the scriptures. I told him that i did not agree with him- I feel the spirit most strong when I APPLY what i read from the scriptures. I told him that i feel so strong when i am helping someone, it doesnt matter with what, and when I can serve someone. I told him that reading will not bring you everything that you need, you have to act and you have to do it willingly and with an open heart with no thought of yourself. ( i started to tear up) He told me i was wrong. well i dont care because everyone is different and I can still be a good person even if i dont agree with him.I was then told that the temple and the book of mormon are the things that will make me feel most connected and that i should go to the temple immediately after my baptism and that 90% of people that go to the temple within a week of joining the church are more likely to stay with the church. This time Jodi took the lead, she told him that it is a personal experience and that you know when you feel ready to go to the temple. If we rush into things too quickly we will either not understand it or not fully appreciate it. She told him that it took her three years to go through the temple and for her it was the right thing. I really agree with Jodi. Changing religions is a HUGE deal. I know what i believe but i dont want to feel a lot of pressure and feel like i'm forced to go to the temple right away. I want to feel that its right, which i know will happen. following your promptings are so important and when i feel prompted to go to the temple i will.
After it was over, i realized just how awesome it was that that many people wanted to come over. they all said that it was an awesome experience for them to make them remember what it's like to be enthusiastic and remember how lucky they are to be able to take the sacrament each week. It made me feel good that i could help someone reflect without doing anything but be myself. It was also great for me because I got to conquer another fear of praying in front of large crowds and talk about my feelings about the church. Great day.

Life today

So I have been studying so hard for my midterm math test. I was up late and up early to work on problems. I am usually a nervous test taker so i prayed for no anxiety. the morning of the test I got up, did a couple more test problems and drove to taylorsville to take the test. When I got in there I felt like i was on fire. All the questions I actually knew how to do! I rechecked a couple answers (something i never do) and I finished with a half hour left of test time. I was feeling so good that when i walked outside i fed all the parking meters for people who had just pulled in. I wanted to spread my good feelings to those getting ready to go in for a test. On October 10th I got my test results! I got 38 out of 84 points....I was so shocked. I had to look at the test to understand. Luckily she gave half credit, but I could not believe it....the questions that were multiple choice are the ones that i missed! how does that happen. I e-mailed my instructor to find out if there was anyway to still pass the class, she ignored that question but emailed me back a bunch of help on some stuff i missed. I'm assuming this is her way of motivating me to stick with the class. I am actually not upset at all, just shocked. So i just continue on and try my best. Side note....the average test score for the class was 45%. just saying.


I'm not in full swing of planning my baptism set to take place on November 16th. I went yesterday in search of a white dress. I was so nervous that i wouldnt find anything or that it would take all day. We went into a store next to the distribution center. I grabbed a ton of dresses and went back to the dressing room. As i was walking back this girl came out wearing a beautiful dress that i loved, i asked her where she found it. I went find the same dress and could not believe how ugly it looked on the hanger, but i put it on and fell in love. It was the only dress i put on yesterday. The dress is actually not made anymore because the county that makes the lace doesnt make it anymore. I was so excited and thought that it was amazing that i was able to find a dress that fast and for a good price. We decided to stop at seagull book to look around.
 There is a painting that I am in love with called O Jerusalem, but it is discontinued and you cant find the large size ones or the full painting (most places still sell alpha omega). Anyway we went into seagull book to look around. When we went in on the wall there were two O Jerusalem on the wall (26X32) a giant picture of the whole painting. I seriously ran over and yelled to the worker from the other side, "you told me you dont sell these anymore, and that they were discontinued". the lady told me that they are discontinued but they were clearing out their warehouse and there were three left so they were sent to them as a surprise, but because they are discontinued they needed to sell them quick so it was 75% off. I bought that painting soo fast. I got that huge painting for 99 bucks. It was like a day of miracles.

I was also able to make my baptism invitations, of course it has disney incorporated in, and lots of glitter. lol. I also made my baptism program and got everyone that i needed to say yes to helping me out.

Mom Taylor is going to play the piano.
Opening hymn: Did you think to pray?
Opening Prayer: Cortney Taylor
Baptism Talk: Uncle Larry
Baptism: adam will be dunking me lol
and Dad Taylor and Kyle will be witnesses
Kyle is going to play his piano number while we change
Holy Ghost Talk: Neil Call
Closing Hymn: I stand in the light
Closing Prayer: Ferrin Lindsey

I think it is going to be awesome.

September, September

What a crazy month, and it looks like it's only picking up for October. School has been really hectic and I've had my days of hair ripping out, attempted computer smashing, and calculator swearing. I had to buy a new calculator because the original one i bought  did do what i needed it to do (even though when i bought it, it said right on the package that it does) customer service had to explain that it didnt. I've done well on my first two tests, and then got a terrible grade on the one i just finished about five minutes ago. I'm not too upset since I understand what i missed and it was just some slight mistakes.

Work......Work is work. I love my job but some weeks just challenge me. I've had some recent issues happen in my office and i learned some things about a previous employee that really let me down. It all came to a head while i was at manager seminar and after the adrenaline wore off of fixing the problem i just really felt bad. I ended up calling my manager and breaking down and telling her i felt like a failure. I told her, " I feel like i'm a bad manager." She was so sweet and told me, that unfortunately my staff will at one point not be happy with me or even think they hate me, but as long as i'm doing what i am supposed to and making the right decisions for the branch and not for individuals than i will be fine. She also repeated over and over that i'm doing a great job and that she agreed with my decisions that i made and i also handled everything the way i should have. This was what i needed to hear after a truly awful day.


Adam's time off for Europe got approved so now i'm just waiting to book the tickets. I'm so excited but it looks like they wont have the tickets available until the end of October. Next Saturday is Adam's 27th birthday which is mind blowing to me. I'm now the age he was when we got married which doesnt seem possible how fast time flies. Jodi informed me that we only have 14 weeks until Christmas which also seems very soon. We are having fun with my niece and nephew and sister while they are living with us. We have all started playing canasta and play it pretty much anytime we are here and available. We have awesome tournaments and are now doing partner canasta. It's a lot of fun and keeps us from watching too much TV.

Things I've learned about being mormon

So once i decided to get baptized I realized that I would need to actually meet with the missionaries...so I set up an appointment and a knot immediately formed in my tummy. The day came for the first meeting, and I was so nervous. Meeting the missionaries was amazing! my missionary is from long beach California! I knew it was a sign. It's been fun because I knew a lot more than I thought I did and they were impressed which makes it fun because then we can talk about things in much deeper context. During this time we have been going to church and of course there are some days that you can feel the spirit and other days when I realize why I hated going to church. I figured out that testimony meeting is not the worst sunday....the worst sunday is called "Primary Program". This was not something i was prepared for and can honestly say that if someone ever wanted to torture me they could make me sit through that for hours. A big part of it was that I like to sit close since kids are noisy and also because people invite so many family members that even though we got there early we had to sit on metal chairs....ouch on your back. It was a very sad Sunday indeed. I also learned that paying tithing was not terrible, meeting with the bishop was not scary, and that my husband has an amazing testimony and makes me cry all the time because even though he tells me that i inspire him....it's really him who has inspired me so much in my life. I've also learned that when people call me sister taylor i laugh uncontrollably....as my sister put it "you're laughing because it makes you sound old and mormon" This is true but i will get used to it. I've also learned that going to church for three hours is not bad at all and it's amazing to hear some peoples testimony. I have also learned that there are people who definitely think they are better than others who are non mormon so i've pinned them as people i dont want to associate with. I've learned that when you share really personal stories about the spirit with LDS people they usually cry with you instead of laugh, and that everyone is really supportive. I've learned that i like wearing skirts and i really want my own scriptures. (I've found some that are hot pink, so i'm just waiting to see when we can buy them). It's funny, today was fast sunday and I really almost went up even though i said i never would, because I think so many people think that they are just people, but if you want to be a true missionary of the church you have to lead by example and give the testimony of love and service. I wanted to tell them that they all radiate light and happiness, and above all else love.

I'm getting baptized ( WARNING THIS POST MAY BE VERY EMOTIONAL AND WILL DEFINITELY MAKE ME CRY WHILE WRITING IT)

If i was to go into my entire journey to this moment of realization, it would take me my whole life to explain. but let me tell you more about the last few years of my life. growing up I used to ask my mom if i was adopted because i never felt like i really belonged, then i grew up a little and then i started telling my mom that i knew i belonged but we were missing parts of our family. I honestly just always felt like there was someone missing. I know you are thinking " ooo she means God or Jesus" no, I believed in both so they were not missing, but when I met my husband I felt a big piece of myself that was missing.....when i met my father in law- i was completed. This might sound like the creepiest thing in the world but let me explain. My father in law is unlike any person i have ever met. from the moment i met him i felt like i had known him my whole life (not just my mortal life). He could look me in the eye almost know exactly what i was thinking or how i was feeling. This man changed my entire life. I would never be able to fully explain how or why but he did. This set off a series of events that I would never have been able to predict or prepare for. About five years ago i had pretty much given up on religion. I believed in Jesus and our heavenly father but i didnt expand from that. Then when i met adam i was given a book of Mormon that belonged to his grandpa Eggett. I stared to read, although at the time i did not really connect with the book of mormon, i started to connect with the handwritten text in the book written by G. Eggett. He referenced bible versus and it was like they were speaking to me. Those few jots here and there in that book reconnected me with God, it renewed my faith that he is real and he speaks to us if we will just listen. It was such an amazing feeling that i had never really felt before except for one other moment....the moment i realized that I wanted to marry adam. To some this may just be a coincidence but to me it is the spirit. I never realized that it was the spirit until much more recently but now I cant believe that i was so blind and deaf before. All of these situations prepared me for something so intense and so powerful that I would never be the same after. One year ago I thought i was pregnant....and i thought i miscarried. My hormones were out of whack and a $1.00 pregnancy test told me i was. In that moment I was so happy and mortified all at once. I was so excited that i could get pregnant since i've been told before that it may not happen for me, and mortified because I knew due to my IUD that if i was pregnant it would more than likely be a tubal pregnancy. I then stared having really bad pain and after some more issues i finally went to the doctor only to find out that i was not pregnant but that i had ovarian cysts. Lucky for me the pain was due to the cysts exploding which is a blessing because it means that they will not have to remove my ovary. but i was devastated at the same time because I really had been feeling a little spirit. I thought that i had lost a child that was never mine. Shortly after that I began to have dreams of this little beautiful girl and she was mine, then it was so powerful that it was not just in my dreams but i could feel her close to me. I told Adam that her name started with an E and I knew what we needed to name her but i didnt want him to reject that name. Finally i broke down and told him, her name is Evelyn. He liked the name too and so I just now tell him that Evelyn is waiting for us and I know that when i hold her for the first time I will know that it's the same little girl that i have been seeing for so long. But as soon as i had the realization that we will be parents and i know that we have children waiting for us, it made me sad to think of ever losing one of them. I felt prompted to start reading about the church and find answers for myself. I couldnt take what other people said, i needed to find my own faith. My father in law has told me for years that "he just wants to keep me forever" as i read i realized what he was meaning for the last few years and suddenly it became clear. My daughter is telling me that this is what i need to do for my husband and my family both now and in the future. I felt an overwhelming power wash over me and i began to cry. This was the moment i had searched for my whole life. I knew the church was true and that heavenly father was speaking to me. He knew how much family means to me and he knew that i would need a very strong spirit to deliver the message but also one that could pull at my heartstrings. Well done sir. As i sat and reflected over the last few years, i saw changes in myself and changes in my surroundings that all led me here. Every single person in my family had a part of my change of heart. First and foremost, Adam. He makes me want to be a better person and i learn every day to be more Christlike because of him. He is my everything and without him i could not be happy. I'm so thankful to my parents who surprised me with their overwhelming support and i'm so thankful that they want me to be happy and know that I am making the right decision for me. I'm blessed to have my mother and father in law who in all honesty are freaking saints. I dont know any living people more perfect than them and they set such an amazing example to all of us kids and we all can only hope to live up to even half the people they are. All of my brothers and sisters have also played a huge role. Growing up my brother was so giving and made me want to give back as well. He saves lives for a living which is impressive and i really look up to him. I need to share a couple of direct impact stories. First one being my brother Kyle Taylor- We had an amazing talk about religion and he helped me overcome my first obstacle. I'm not a big idolizer of Joseph Smith. He let me know that we can respect our prophets and respect what they did for the religion without worshiping or idolizing them. This made me feel much better and helped me overcome my first hurdle. Jodi helped me finally realize why we pay tithing. this was something i struggled with very very badly. When Jodi moved in with us the bishop offered to give her a food order. I was overcome with emotion when i realized why i pay tithing. I pay tithing because if i didnt then the church would need to find funds to build temples and churches from another budget....the budget they may have had to pull from could prevent people like my sister from getting help. I know that that is not the way the church is set up now, but honestly if everyone stopped paying their tithing  the money would need to come from somewhere. I really really look up to my sister Jalaire and our talks about religion have changed my views on many things, but the biggest thing that made the difference was when she told me that she was happy that i was in the family. It made me feel like i belonged with the taylor family even for eternity. I then could see how happy and amazing my sister lanae and her husband are as well as my brother nathan and sister Kilee. They have amazing families that i look up to a lot. I hope that one day my family can be just as great as theirs. Jason has always been so laid back and never pressured me nor questioned me on what i believe, it's like he knew that i would have to figure things out for myself. and Cortney who has offered to go to church with me not just for sacrament but also relief society. I also have always appreciated all of the talks we have had about religion. We were always able to share our own feelings about issues without ever worrying about judgement or criticism. I know this was a long post but there are so many other things that i'm thankful for and honestly i just would never do it any justice in this life. I hope that I get to spend eternity helping you all out as much as you have all helped me. So yes, i'm getting baptized....and the person who has to do it is Adam. the love of my life, future father to my children. You have to be the one to help me start fresh. One day we will be able to tell our children just how amazing you are and how amazing your family is that we are so blessed to be a part of. I found my missing family members from when i was little, i just had no idea just how big that hole was and how many Taylors i needed to fill it.  I love you all.

Back to church

My post after this one will be very informative about my reasoning for going back to church, but for now I thought i would share about the two weeks of church I have gone back to and attended. Jodi had to work the first Sunday that she moved in with us so i thought it would be best to go to church with the kids with someone we know. Everyone in my family has offered to go to church with me at least once so i had a hard time chosing but i found out that my sister and brother from T3 had church at nine which was appealing since i had some chores and homework that i needed to do before going to dinner and mom and dad taylors. I woke up excited to go to church and then adam started giggling at me. I asked him what was so funny to which he replied, " its the first sunday of the month" I couldnt believe it. Every single freaking time i have gone to LDS church it has been a fast sunday. the problem with this...I hate fast sunday.My reasoning may be a little weird but this is my thing, first off i grew up in a church that does not really talk about feelings and we dont get up in front of each other trying to prove that we believe in something. Second in my experience people either get up there to kinda get on their own personal soap box, recite what they think that people want to hear, or end up crying so bad that you can understand what they are saying....Now having said that there have been a few exceptions which end up being pretty amazing. This particular sunday there were two exceptions. both from younger boys, yet their spirits seemed much older. I enjoyed hearing them speak and then the rest were not really my thing. It is obviously very different from what i grew up with. the biggest difference is the noise in the chapel. I totally understand that you cannot control little kids from making noises but it was soo loud!!!I didnt mind too much due to the fact that it was fast sunday but man it was distracting. I did not feel the spirit this day unfortunatelyunfortunatly.

However last sunday was different. First off, Jodi and the kids went to their ward in Alpine which left Adam and I to make the decision to go on our own. I remembered thinking as i went to bed on saturday night that i was so tired and i didnt want to wake up early for church. Adam told me that it was my choice whether we would go or not. I woke up two hours before church started and felt very refreshed. I turned over and told Adam that we were going so he better get ready. We went to our ward on our own by our own will (at least I went of my own will, i'm not sure about adam, i think he went on my will as well) All three speakers talked of service and how once you truly turn yourself over to the greater good of others you will truly find happiness yourself. I teared up a little, because over the last two years and i have pushed myself to be more giving and to try and not be so selfish....honestly the last two years have been the happiest years of my life. Everything the speakers said felt like they were speaking to me and I just knew that this was just further validation that i am doing the right thing. After church we met the bishop who seemed very surprised to have someone coming to him telling him that I was getting baptized before even meeting with a missionary. He said it does not happen that way often. Thursday will be my first lesson with the missionaries....I will update you with how it goes.

Comic Con and Birthday

The second night that Jody and the kids were living with us we decided that it would be fun to buy Kolten a comic con ticket for his birthday for the following Friday. Adam and i had originally planned to go together all three days but due to some changes at work i would be working a 50 hour week, so instead Adam set it up to go with his best friend Joe. Jody wanted to surprise Kolten on Friday with the ticket so a special surprise. So on thursday that week i had a new manager meeting up in ogden. By the time that ended and i went to pick up some marketing stuff for my branch it was around 1 pm. I was really grumpy and bitter that week because I was supposed to have vacation time (which i had been anxiously awaiting) but due to circumstances was now not only missing my vacation but also having to work an additional 12 hours (two more were added to the 50 during the week) So anyway, i called my lead teller to ask her how things had been. she told me that things had been really slow. I asked her if i could leave early so that i would possibly be able to go to comic con for at least one day. She told me that it was fine and i was sooo excited. I called Adam and he said that I would need to buy a ticket but that they had moved it to the salt palace and we needed to register our tickets before we went. Anyone that knows me knows, that i get very very very uncomfortable driving in places i dont know and even more uncomfortable when that place happens to be downtown, but i had high hopes for myself that day as i drove into downtown salt lake. I found the Salt Palace, managed to park in a parking garage, AND was able to get all three tickets registered and made it back to the freeway safely. I was very proud of myself because i did not panic and i did not get in an accident. (first and last time i had been downtown driving by myself i ran the front of my car into a light pole trying to make a U turn.) I then stopped at firehouse subs because, um they are delicious, then went to pick up Kolton from school. I almost told him like five times that he was going to comic con and i was trying my best to protect the secret. Then Adam and I took off to go downtown. The line wrapped around the building and there were people there protesting and calling us sinners for our witchcraft. but when we got in it was awesome. There were people dressed up and having a good time. We went to look at the celebrities there were there. Yes Kevin Sorbo looks just like he does on tv, and Adam says although his hands are giant- they are almost too moisturized to be male hands. All the other celebrities were low key and i didnt really know any of them. Stan lee, henry winkler, and captain kirk were not going to be there on thursday which crushed me hard. But we walked around saw some fun stuff and then I got to see my friend from high school who was an artist that was featured there. I bought one of his prints that is a kinda dark captain hook and smee about to be eaten by the croc. I love it and had told him a long time ago to do Disney photos, so i was thrilled when i got to take one home with me. We ended up not staying long because I have become claustrophobic with my age and when the temperature is hotter it is enhanced. I also had had a headache the whole week but it was very dull but getting stronger by the minute. Adam went on to meet Henry Winkler and has some awesome photos. I was very jealous because Henry was hugging and giving forehead kisses to the girls....I missed out big time.

Friday morning Jody surprised Kolton and Adam took him to comic con. I was supposed to work but had such a bad migraine that i was sick so i called in. Jodi, Jaiden, and myself all laid out on the couch and watch SVU. We also baked Kolten a cake that was a double layer of triple chocolate and then used rice krispy treats to create a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse to make it into a themed cake. The day ended with a dinner from Costa Vida, the family watching now you see me and all of us were much too tired to do cake and ice cream (we ended up making homemade cookies and creme and had cake with it on saturday night).

My house is your house

I have a lot of things I need to post about because some pretty amazing changes have taken place. I want to break them down into individual posts because I feel like it makes it less lengthy. The first thing I would like to blog about is recent increase to our family in the T4 house. No we are not pregnant and no we did not get any more pets. We have been blessed to have my sister and her two kids move in with us. Because this is my blog and not hers we will leave it at....my sister needed a place to stay. I got a text from her letting Adam and I know that she was moving out. I immediately wanted to call her. Sometimes when people need a place they have to settle for a couch or a floor or some little closet somewhere. I just thought, " adam and i have this house with freaking two empty bedrooms, if they dont stay here it's just a waste of empty space" So without calling my husband I called her and told her, not asked but told her "you should just stay with us". I was really nervous that she would not take us up on it, but luckily she did. They moved in on a Sunday night and we stayed up until almost one going over the play by play and talking about life. It's fun having kids in the house and you never know quite what to expect. The first saturday they were here it was just me and my niece and nephew. We went to the grocery store and then came home to do chores. While at the grocery store my call nephew called me to ask about the BYU game and if we got ESPN.....I told him I had no idea and i think he thought i was crazy. I had to explain to him that we never EVER watch sports. The only sport that ever comes on my tv (which i consider to be more of a soap opera than a sport) is wrestling. So when i got home i checked it out, but my nephew that was living with me was already set on playing video games which i told him he could do if his homework was finished, so i recorded the game for my gage instead. The two kids and i divided up housework three ways, and holy cow, it was awesome. We got the entire house cleaned in one hour. I figured out why my parents always made me help with everything, and why people have so many kids. half way through our chores my doorbell rang...to my surprise Gage was outside. He said he was bored at home so he decided to come over. He honestly just followed us around while we did chores for like an hour and was just content hanging out with his cousins. Once Kolten was done with his chores he and Gage started playing video games. Then we had another surprise visitor....Brendan. He only stayed for a quick minute, but it was hilarious because we honestly never have so many surprises. Gage and Kolten ended up putting the game on but it was seriously delayed and they lost interest so I turned it off because I HATE sports. I will go to games in person but i hate watching it on tv. Anyway....Gage quickly realized that we were having ribs for dinner and decided that he would like to stay and eat with us. Adam came home to three kids playing games and me getting set up to do some math homework. I'm in math 1090 business algebra and honestly i have been quite pleased with how much i am understanding it, but because math is not my strong suit i question myself a lot. I decided to call in the big guns...Brendan. He is a math wiz and I know that math 1090 was a little above his level, if you understand basic algebraic principles the rest is cake. So I, a 23 year old grown woman, called my 16 year old nephew to come help ME with my homework. He came over and we started to do homework. It was awesome because honestly explaining my reasoning to someone else helped to better comprehend the math. It was also awesome because there was one question that i would have gotten wrong if i had not had Brendan's help. We both learned something that day from each other. Well when we were finished Brendan decided to go home, but when we saw us playing little big planet he decided he would stay. Once we told my sister and brother that we had two of their kids and they were going out on a date, we figured...hey what is two more. So saturday ended with Adam, Jodi, and myself with 6 children watching seven brides for seven brothers. What a saturday.

*Warning* Slightly weird post that doesnt make a whole lot of sense, but I feel very strongly even though it is pretty questionable about what it all really means to most people.

There will always be dark times in everyone's life. They are the times that challenge the strength of our body, mind and spirit. Going through the darkness is gut wrenching and it will almost always break you, but when you emerge you will go into the bright light and you will be stronger than ever before. I've never been a big believer in religion and I felt like many people needed it because it was a comfort to them, and I felt like those who had it were weaker because they needed to know that someone else was taking care of them. My views on this have changed so much over that last few years and more so this year than any other time of my life. I look to religion now as your strength. The people that believe are not weak, they are strong. They stand up for what they believe and they gather strength through their lives so that one day they can be that strength for someone else. We are all fighters, that's why we chose to come here, to prove ourselves worthy to be in the presence of our heavenly father. To learn to be more like him, to fight when our ethics or morals are being challenged, learn how to be humble and how to be an example for those around us, smile when the heavens have opened our hearts to the light and the warmth of the world, cry when we are at our weakest so that we can build strength and cry when we are so uplifted that we are brought to our knees. I know that all of us have been dealt our hands, and some will have more difficult challenges than others, but it is not the challenges that make us worthy, it's what we learn and how we apply it to our lives. I'm so thankful for my life...every part of it. I've known heartache and pain, sometimes being so down i didn't think i would ever get back up, but every time i found strength when i thought there was none to have. I've found unconditional love with my family and my husband. I'm so thankful for every bad and good decision that I have made, because i know it was part of my plan and part of my learning. My spirit was not one that could be handed something, my spirit had to question and argue, and fight against everything until it could realize what it all means so that it would actually mean something to me. And now that I know, I never want to let it go. I know who I am, and i know who i will be. My husband makes me be a better person and without him I don't think I would have ever figured out who i really am. This probably all just sounds like a bunch of random craziness which believe me, it feels like it to me too.....Basically what i'm trying to say is.....after years of searching in the dark...I've emerged into light.

It's the climb

I'm trying to stay very positive but this week is hard. Adam and I decided that we were going to not spend any extra money this month due to my surgery and school starting. We have been doing really good but part of that has led me to getting up a half hour earlier to make breakfast so i'm not tempted to buy breakfast on the way to work. For the most part it's fine but when i stress my insomnia gets really bad. Me stressing also leads to my stomachaches.

So i've had a lack of sleep both because i cant fall asleep and now i'm getting up earlier than normal. I've also been stressed because i'm having to hire a new employee which is always scary. Everyone depends on you to hire someone great. I'm also stressed because I am waiting to hear back on a job that I would just love love love to get. And then today was the first day of school.

Everything went great with setting everything up for school but i had to take a pre-test of stuff that i should know since i did it one semester ago.....didnt do that great of a job. So that gut feeling starts sinking in that i might fail.


Some of you know that last year I had to go to the doctor because I thought i was pregnant, but it turned out that I just had ovarian cysts. They are extremely painful and nothing really makes it stop hurting. My doctor warned me that they would more than likely come and go until I have kids.Well they came back about a month ago but it wasnt to the point of real pain, this week.....worst pain ever. It actually hurts worse this year than last year. This just adds to my anxiety.


Back when you could become certified as a loan officer at my work, you would have to take a test with paper applications to test your decision making ability. Although I was a top loan performer I was never good at paper applications because I always had more questions than what the loan officers grabbed on those fake apps. Well the day came when i needed to take my test. I went in and got so stressed out. About half way through I actually threw all of my documents away and started to cry because i couldnt believe that something i wanted this bad and I knew i was good at was not going to be fairly evaluated. I finally composed myself enough to finish my test. When i turned it in i was told to go to lunch and i would know my results when i got back. I couldnt eat and i ended up coming back way early. They pulled me in the office and told me that i failed.....I had never failed at anything and here i was. I was able to pass all of these pointless high school and college courses but the thing i did every day of my life i failed. My manager sat on the phone and argued with the trainer for like twenty minutes but we lost the battle. I got in my car and just started crying because i was so upset. My manager actually sent me home, was it an overreaction absolutely but i was a 4.0 student and had never gone through that. On the way home a song by Miley Cyrus came on, "it's the climb". Once it was over i kept playing it from you tube and i just blared that song the whole way home.....
Seriously every single time something big in my career has happened that song comes on the morning of that. When i got turned down for 7 lead positions every afternoon i got those calls that song came on in the morning. back then it was not a huge deal since it was on the popular hits for the two months i was applying for things. but then when i got my assistant position and when i got turned down for my first two manager spots that song played on my way to work. The day i got offered my own branch that song came on during my lunch break and i thought "oh miley, is it good or bad news for crying out loud" then when i came back from lunch I got my big break and got my branch....
Now i'm waiting for the decision for this position and i was supposed to know on monday, then tuesday, so this morning on my way to work i get in the car and turn on my fav radio station and who starts signing? Miley!!! and what song is it? It's the climb! So i decided to sing along because although she is not my favorite singer i love that song because sometimes you have to lose and and it really doesn't matter because there will always be a mountain that i'll want to move....it's all about the climb. So the song ends and a commercial comes on so i switch stations and SERIOUSLY that song had just started on that station. So i listened to it once more and realized that even though this would be an amazing opportunity I know that everything happens for a reason and like all things in life sometimes we have to get knocked down and we dont always get what we want but if we learn the lessons that we are supposed to then the next time we will be a little smarter and we will be stronger. So although this post is kinda dreary i know that tomorrow i'm going to wake up and put a big smile on my face and start to climb.

Just Breathe

Wow, I feel like there is so much going on and it's hard to breathe. Lets start with surgery recovery. I went into the doctor and found out that my knee is healing much faster than normal and my range of motion is fantastic. It's so good in fact that i will not have to do physical therapy. This makes it very nice for work, and I keep working on my excersises that i did for the last surgery. In a month i will go back in and find out if everything is still looking as awesome as it is now.

My dad finally got help for his drinking problem. It's something that all of us have worried about for years and it finally came to a head. I'm so thankful that my dad is getting help and hopefully i will have many more years with him and the best part of it is that it will be quality time.


Work has been.....crazy. There is so much change and movement going on at the credit union and i'm so thankful to belong to the organization. I put in for a promotion for a new branch that will be opening. I put in thinking that I would have no chance at all to get the position and although I still dont think i will get it, i know that i was in the top three with my market managers picks. This was a huge accomplishment for me and honestly made me feel so validated in my work. I give so much of myself to my branch and my employees and sometime i worry that it's still not enough, getting told that im qualified against people that have been in management for years is just an amazing feeling. My lead teller got picked up as an asst. manager so now i'm forced to hire a new supervisor for my branch. It's so hard to say goodbye to people that i love and it's hard to try and think of my branch without such an amazing person and teammate. BUT it's also amazing to see people grow and develop into their own leaders.

Europe!!! My sister moved to prague last month and although we have talked about going to Europe for years, her being over there is finally what made us realize this is do-able. We are planning on going next September for three weeks. My sister is not sure if she will still be over there or not, but even if she comes home Adam has promised me that we will go. We both hope that she will be able to come with us even if she does not live over there anymore. Planning a trip to Europe is like a marathon of vacation planning. Adam and I both have our ideas of what we will do so we have kinda put stuff together. So far we know that we are going to fly into Dubin, then we will go to Edinburgh, Scotland-then on to london, England-Paris, France- Venice and Rome, Italy. I've always had dreams about Europe, but since i've been reading so much and planning some things the dreams wont stop. I had a dream the other night that I saw the Eiffel tower for the first time and it was so real that I woke up with tears in my eyes. It's crazy how emotional it makes me but it's one of those life dreams that I had when I was little yet never thought i would be able to achieve it. It was the same feeling when i went to St. Lucia, I just couldnt believe that I was able to make a dream come true. Adam and I work together to make things happen. I think it's one of those things that I'm just so happy with the choices i have made in my life to get me here. Growing up I was very spoiled and when i moved out for the first time when i was a senior in high school i was just working to make ends meet. If i would have continued to live the life I had back then I would have never been able to own a home, or travel which is so sad because although money does not buy happiness and you can be sooo happy without these things, it's the fact that I can work hard for the things i want and it amazes me what Adam and I can do together when we put our minds to it. I'm so thankful that Adam is having us take time for ourselves before we have children. It's so hard sometimes but I love that by the time we have our kids we will have accomplished all of our goals. We will always have new dreams and new goals to accomplish but I love that we work together to make it happen.

I start school this week, i'm nervous because it's math 1090 , but excited because this will be my last college math class that i will need to take. I have seven classes left after this one and I want to quit soo bad but now i'm so close and have invested so much of our money that I just need to push through. We have paid cash for all of my school so sometimes i can only take one class at a time but i'm so thankful that i dont have to pay back any student loans.

Four Year Anniversary

When I woke up this morning I was a little sad because it was my first day that I had to go back to work after my surgery. I was really nervous and woke up early knowing that it would take me longer than normal to get back into my routine (and knowing that i would be sitting hooked up to an ice machine while getting ready). I got up and thought, "how am I going to do this today. I'm tired even after taking a short shower, and its a chore to even walk down the stairs to get my pants from the laundry room." So I took baby steps. Baby steps to the bathroom, baby steps to the shower and so on. Then my hubby got up and asked me what I needed help with. He went and grabbed my ice machine, let the puppy out, and helped me get my hair products out so i wouldn't have to bend over. It made my morning that much easier and then he backed my car out so it would be easier for me to get in and he took the garbage down to the curb. As i drove to work i just thought, how did i get so lucky. I know women that complain non-stop about how their husbands don't notice them or they don't offer assistance, and yet I found someone who not only asks what will make my life easier, but he offers before I even ask. 

When I got to work I got settled in and started playing catch up before we got really bombarded with members, when I saw my little yellow flashing IM on my screen from Adam. He asked me if I knew what today was. The moment I read it i realized that today is our four year wedding anniversary. I told him that i knew and wondered if he had remembered this morning because i clearly spaced it. He said he didn't realize until he saw the date at work so we both laughed because both of us have always been bad at remembering our anniversary, but yet it doesn't bother us because truly Adam and I treat each other the same on our anniversary as we do any other day. This is a good thing for us because truly most days we cant wait to be together and we offer as much support and love to each other as we possibly can even on regular days. 

We decided that we would do dinner together since after all it is our anniversary and he was going to try and get off early. When I left work i went over to pick out a card for him...and if you cant read anniversary cards for your husband without crying....you might be a Taylor. There were so many cards that i picked up and wanted to bring home to him because they all had a special meaning to me, but i finally settled on one and put the other ten back and picked up Oblivion the movie thinking that it would be a special treat for him. The cards all had some awesome sentiments but I picked this one because it said a lot of beautiful things but the thing that got me was I was thankful for my dream coming true and i look forward to the dreams will create together. This really touched me but truly my husband is my dream come true, my wish upon my star, my glass slipper, my prince charming- he is all the things that i wanted most in this world that i never thought was possible in one human being. I'm thankful that i get to come home to him each night, fall asleep next to him, and wake up in his arms. 

 I know that one day our children will look at us and say, " I want to have what mom and dad have, and I want to marry my best friend". My children will feel the warmth of love in their family and have good role models to look to just as Adam and I have when we look to Mom and Dad Taylor. My mother in law came to visit me at work today and we talked about Adam and I and I started tearing up 1) because i am a Taylor and 2) hearing her say that we have a good life together and that we are both lucky could have brought me to my knees for that is by far the best compliment i could ever hope to receive. I know that four years is nothing close to a lifetime but I'm thankful for that too, it means that I learned quickly just how lucky I am and that means that I can only be better for my husband and my future family. All marriages will have the good and the bad, but I'm confident that because of our devotion to family we will weather all storms and overcome all challenges together to make our family stronger each day. I love you Adam Taylor and you have made me a better person that I ever thought I could be. 

Post Surgery reflection

Today is my last day home before I have to go back to work, which I'm very nervous about because even just pulling out the computer and setting it up to do a blog post made me extremely tired. I'm still feeling dizzy when I'm up too long but I've got to force myself to be up more so that i don't die tomorrow at work. I know i had lots of visitors and i got lots of text messages....but to be honest i don't remember too much. I got on facebook this morning to see what i had missed since pain meds and reading don't mix....i got overwhelmed by all that had been posted, so i gave up. my phone is completely dead and although the charger is just upstairs....I'm too tired to get it (I've already done the stairs four times this morning). Good news is that although the pain on this one was worse...i knew kinda what to expect and i started moving my knee as soon as i got home as well as put my weight on it was soon as i was home. Yes it hurt, and yes it seems crazy but honestly moving my knee helped a lot. I also stopped taking pain killers after the second day. they were making me dizzy and i couldn't remember even my phone number. this caused me to sleep a full day without many breaks just to try and get that crap out of my system. it felt good but my body still feels very behind on sleep. I'll probably try to nap a couple times today just to see if i can be refreshed for tomorrow. 

In other news the world moved on without me and a promotion spot opened up at my work. I think i talked to my market manager or my VP but either way they know that i want the job so i need to be interviewed. Also I'm expected to have my business plan for the position turned into the hiring manager by tomorrow....I asked if i could send it at the end of the day since i don't have anything here at home to work on it with. I don't expect to get the job since i'm still a new manager, but it would be an amazing gift. I logged onto work to see how many emails i had and just like facebook was overwhelmed so im going to answer five at a time and then take breaks lol. 

Our home appraisal should be back soon which makes me excited and nervous all at once. Next month we are going to start with ripping out our basement to re-do which will be amazing. I start school once again in a couple weeks, and i'm hoping that this semester will go smooth for me. 

Surgery Fun

My surgery was scheduled at 10 this morning.....i woke up at 6:30 which is bad because i get nervous when i have surgery so waiting that long does not help. Also anyone that knows me knows that I do not do well missing meals. Not only does it upset my stomach but my patience becomes very thin. We got to the hospital and the check in went very smoothly. The hard thing is....i get very snappy when I'm about to have a panic attack, which i had three today. So I'm sitting there in the surgery room and find out that they wont take me into the actual procedure until 11:15 (commence shallow breathing) okay, so we will just start the prep work. First thing....the IV. i always have them put my IV on my left inside elbow because it's the easiest vein since someone could do it it into it even without a turnacit. She told me that they normally wont put the IV there. (commence the over reaction and 1st panic attack of the day. I felt super bad because the nurses are sooo nice but i just couldn't calm down due to a bad day of depression and i was soo hungry.) The nurse quickly ran out to see if the dr would let me have the IV in my arm....which he said no problem. She was soo good at IVs that i honestly did not even feel a poke. No JOKE. after that i told them that i really needed something for the nerves because i was losing it. They gave me Valium which...eh kinda worked. Then both of my drs came in to talk. my anesthesiologist told me that he would give me something to calm me down so i would be mostly asleep even before i went into the room and my surgeon told me that he would check my entire knee to make sure i would have no problems. After saying good by to my mom, dad, and adam, they wheeled me over to the surgery room. While out in the hall dr. edwards came out and gave me a drip of pure endorphins to make me very happy (this would prevent me crying all day after the surgery) and then he gave me a relaxer. this one guy tried to wheel me into the room before the other drugs had worked and my dr was so nice he told him to basically leave me along and he rubbed my arm reassuringly until i fell asleep. Some people may say that it was just the drugs, but i'm telling you right now. My grandpa was with me my entire surgery and with him...was my future baby girl evee. It was one of the most magical experiences of my life. When i came out of surgery i was crying because i was sooo happy to see him. Also, I have been having dreams about our little girl and i know she so badly wants to be here with adam and I but we are not ready for her yet, so knowing that she is waiting with my grandpa was the best feeling of my life. My dad bought me a jimmy jon sandwich which is my favorite and it was the best sandwich i had ever eaten.When we came home I laid on the couch and watched modern family and movies while my sweet husband took care of me. He even bought me les miserables because he knows how much i love it. I got some very awesome visitors from work and from the family which made my day so happy. They ended up cutting my left and right side of the meniscus behind my knee cap and cutting out some cartilage. I'm bending my knee (can bend it at a 90 degree angle) and can walk on it. so although this surgery hurts much worse than my previous one in 2009 this has been a much better experience and anyone that needs a good orthopedic surgeon needs to see john brady. He is by far the best doctor who has fantastic bedside matter. also i hope this makes sense because i'm on two loratabs right now and it's 11:49 pm

Home Equities, Laundry, and Rick Steves

Saturday began like any other...I got up around 8:30 and did some light house cleaning and got in the shower. Unlike other Saturdays however, I had plan to go with my sister to a wonderful land with endless knowledge, most people know it as....the library. I love salt lake county library. They have sooo much stuff and they usually have all the new movies,music, and books. Cort and i got right to work looking in the travel section for some good European travel books. (I had decided that i would plan a little bit while I'm recovering from surgery) Cort pointed out Rick Steves and said, "that is who Jalaire really likes." Considering that 1) I really take Jalaire's advice to heart because she is super smart and has traveled a lot 2) I'll be traveling with her and 3) I'm assuming she will use the same book when planning things. Cort and I put a bunch of stuff on hold. The downside of the library now....because I'm not a salt lake county resident, i had to pay $40 for a six month pass.....it really sucks because i paid plenty of taxes and fees not only to county but also to the library before i moved down here. I decided to just get over it and go for it. They have also cracked down on security at the library. There are things that look like metal detectors and when i first walked in to renew my card they immediately knew that i live now down in Utah county....freaky. (and no my drivers license was not updated, they get their info from the US postal service) After that adventure Cort and i went to get lunch together. By the end of lunch i was tired and in need of a nap. 

I think i stated in a previous post that Adam and i decided to put money into our house since we have the time and more money than we will have once we have kids. So we put in for a home equity. It's super stressful because you never know what the appraisal will come back at even though i did a ton of research at work on comps in the area....it's just more nerve wracking when it's your own loan. lol We got credit approved and are ready to go once we know what the appraisal comes back as. They are supposed to call to set up an appointment which I'm hoping they will do when I'm laid up so i don't have to take any additional days off. 

It's also stressful because although we try to keep our house very clean sometimes when you work full time you just don't deep clean as much as you should. So Adam and I made a list of the things we should get done before the appraisal (and my surgery) We got a lot done, but I'm always thinking that laundry will never end. How is this possible. Adam and i wear clothes for work and i put on PJ's when i get home....it's not like we change all the time and there are only two of us, but SERIOUSLY there is always laundry. 

Hopefully the stress will be worth it and we will get to re-do our yard and basement. 

Goodwood and Dr. Visits

So my right knee has been bothering me for a while now, but I didn't want to say anything since i was on a really good no surgery streak for the last couple years. But when i could no longer put weight on my right leg while i did my hair and make-up in the morning....i thought it was about time to get it checked out. I love my orthopedic surgeon. He fixed my left knee in 2009 and was so great about explaining things to me and making sure i felt comfortable with the procedure. When I went in to see Dr. Brady today he was as friendly and nice as ever, but of course had to give me the bad news that I would need surgery again. You know you have a good Dr. when you can say, "it kinda hurts in this general area" and he is able to push right on the exact spot of origin for your pain. After I stopped crying I asked him what he thought. (I already knew the answer since this was the exact pain I felt in 2009 just on the opposite side of the knee and on my right knee now rather than my left. He told me I had two options. 1) he would send me in to get an MRI and confirm what he and i both know, or 2) he can schedule my surgery and avoid an additional cost. I asked him if there was anything else that it could possibly be, to which he replied, "its either the tear in the meniscus or you have torn cartilage....either way i have to perform surgery to fix it." Since my left leg is sooo awesome now and i never have any paid i decided to forgo the 500.00 MRI and scheduled surgery for Thursday of this coming week.
 After that I was feeling really sad, because although i know that outcome is amazing (saying this as I move my left leg without any pain) I remember first off how scary being put under is and second how BADLY it hurts while it heals and how BADLY it hurts when you go to physical therapy. So I decided to stop and see my sister. We quickly decided that we should go to dinner and away we went with one niece, one nephew and my hubby to goodwood. The food was delicious and I drank like 6 or possibly 7 sweet teas (man those are amazing) before we decided to call it a night. I'm now in bed super tired and just really ready for this day to be over.

Never Like to Say Goodbye

 When I was little I never liked people to leave. It didn't matter if it was my friends that i would see the next day or my grandparents that i wouldn't see for another year. It was so hard for me in fact, that I one time i hid my friends shoes thinking, "if he doesn't have shoes then he can't go home". This did not work since his mom just told us that she would pick them up tomorrow when we saw them, so i gave up the charade and gave him his shoes back. This strategy did work when my grandparents were getting ready to fly back to Salt Lake from California. I stole my grandparents plane tickets out of my grandmas purse. I actually hid them between the slots on my bunk bed. When my grandparents started to panic for fear of missing their flight, my mom sat me down and asked me very sternly if i hid my grandma's plane ticket. I broke down and told her where they were but i remember she told me that if i did those things they would never want to come and see us....although this was a major scare tactic....it worked. I never hid anything again from people when they were trying to leave my house.


I then just moved on to major fits of crying uncontrollably until my grandma Lucy (different grandma) told me that it was ridiculous how sad i got when i had to say goodbye to people. (she is not a very affectionate or emotional woman) She once got one my case for crying at my grandpas funeral in publish (because this is not a lady like thing to do).....sorry different story and getting way off track. The point of this blog is this...I had to say goodbye to my sister tonight. She is moving to Prague and although I know that it is not the last time i will see her nor talk to her, i never like to say goodbye.

I was super proud of myself for not crying immediately once i hugged her, but then my husband took way too long to say goodbye and so the tears began. I got in my car and then began my uncontrollably sob. Luckily for me, my husband is a normal human being and let me cry while holding my hand asking me if i was okay. Although in all reality it is actually his blood sister and she is my sister in law, i love her the same as if we shared genes (would be really awkward though considering I am married to her brother). I will miss her very much but am confident that I will get to see her sooner than maybe some of the others. My husband has said that we will go see her in Europe and this made my cry last just a smidgen shorter than some of my others.


Basically I just need to say please God bless my sister in her travels and her new journey, please let the time between seeing her again seem like the blink of an eye, and let her love her new home a lot but not so much that she never wants to come and see us here. I love you Jalaire, and now I'm going to end this post before i start crying all over again.

Beyond Glazed

 Today was a very glazed over day. Although I worked today, I spent most of the day talking to Adam about boats. We decided that we want to buy a boat. Last night we went through KSL and found a couple that we liked. Today when i should have been working i spent my day running insurance quotes, finding out boat weights and values, checked on what our nitro could haul. We were really getting excited and geared up to be boat owners, but then we found out our HOA does not have any spots available to store our boat...this was an expense that we were not planning on, since you know, we pay our HOA and that is part of it, but apparently some people have multiple rv's and store them over there. SOO we are now on the waiting list for an rv slot.
 After coming down from our boat tooth high, we started talking about what we could do with 10k and realized that it would be awesome to finish the backyard and the basement. SOO now we are exploring other options and although the boat idea is not off the table we are going to put it on the back burner for now.
Between ALL of my hard work at work, i decided to call Beyond Glazed to pre-order a dozen specialty donuts for our 24th fun event. When i went to pick them up i decided...hey why not get two more. So now we have 14 donuts sitting in our house which are pretty tempting. YUM, I cant wait to try them.
I've also decided today as i was making potato salad, spinach dip, and dinner (pork nachos) I thought....hey it would be kinda fun to do a cooking blog since its one of my favorite things in the world to do.

Sunday Dinner

 Nights like tonight always make me feel overwhelmed with happiness. I go through bouts of depression but being around the family always reminds me of how truly blessed I am. I got to spend a lot of time with my nephew tonight, and although he was having a rough night, i am always so happy when he says my name or holds my hand. At dinner i got to listen to my father-in-law tell us a little about his life which is always entertaining. I try to soak up as much information as possible because i don't think children ever realize just how amazing their grandparents really are. I feel so blessed that my children will without a doubt have the best grandparents from both sides of their family and they will be so loved by such an amazing family. We also got to watch sister wives with my two sisters and make plenty of comments and jokes about what Kody is really thinking, and about how the wives complain alot about things they could have easily avoided. My favorite thing i learned tonight involved our favorite family aunt, Janice. I almost started crying because a world without the Taylor family would be so terrible. I am always so thankful that mom Taylor decided to have one last one, Adam, my life would be so empty without him and all the family members that come with him. Although this is a super sappy blog today, i just have to put it down so that hopefully my family will realize just how amazing they all are.


Sunday dinners are what bring and keep families together. I am so lucky to be part of such wonderful families.

A long but fun filled week

I think we shall begin with why this blog was created... Although I find my life to be very normal and not very eventful, my sister-in-law (who will be henceforth referred to as "my sister") stated that she didn't care if i thought my life was boring because she loved to read what is happening with the family. Since I love my sister so much and faced with the fact that she will be leaving on a very fun life adventure in a couple more weeks, i thought the least i can do is write about my life with her amazing brother. Apparently I am an old lady so i needed her to explain how to use my new laptop and she convinced me to update to chrome....thus why this blog was created and i am now able to use it.

 This week was actually a busy week. I got sick on Arctic Circle ice cream on Sunday and it honestly felt like a demon was in my stomach!!! I vowed to never eat arctic circle ice cream again, this however did not fix my current problem with my tummy. I had to work first thing in the morning which was not very fun since i was up multiple times in the night making a very close bond with my toilet. I ended up toughing it out most of the day on Monday but came home at four instead of five.
  Tuesday I got up early to be at the BYU golf tournament which was held at Fox Hollow in American Fork. Anyone that knows me, knows that i get lost anytime i go anywhere new in a car. I was very prepared by entering the directions into my navigation in my phone. I thought i was free and clear when i got to the last "turn right" from the navigation...the unfortunate thing is that it continued to ask me to turn right. after further investigation i realized that my phone was stuck. I tried to call one of my employees, my husband and my in-laws to try and find out what i needed to do, however my phone was not working at all. I re-started the phone and received a phone call from my employee as soon as the phone came back up. Needless to say, I made it to the gold tournament and although it was extremely muggy, it was a great day out of the office.
 Thursday I was in charge of conducting during manager meeting at work, which means i am expected to post a slide show about my life and introduce the presenters. I was really nervous but made a lot of people laugh (which is super good) and got through the meeting without passing out or throwing up. Right after the meeting i had to run back to pleasant grove in order to participate in my first event that i had prepared as a manager. We were part of the pleasant grove promenade which is where local merchants, farmers, and restaurant owners come together to meet each other and offer their products to the people in the community. We were there for an education book which was a lot of fun, but boy was it hot. After that was over i had to rush home to make potato salad and guacamole. These activities were not over until about 12, which was a real shame since i had to get up at 4:30 the next morning.
 Friday was a day spent boating with my family. We went to Rockport in Park city. I have to say it was one of my best memories of time with my family from the last few years. We went out on my grandpas boat which was very fun since i have not been on the boat since my grandpa had passed away a few years ago. My mom got out on a tube which never happens so the whole day was awesome because there was no fighting and just a lot of fun. After we got all cleaned up we went to World War Z and ate dinner at the theatre. Adam and I both got sunburned on the tops of our feet and i also got sunburned on the top of my thighs. Yikes, it hurts very much.
 Saturday we got up earlier to make it to the American Fork parade. My favorite part was seeing the dinosaurs at the very beginning. I also loved seeing our friend Jon since we have not seen him since he moved to Dallas. We got to spend a lot of time with my Nephew Kolt which is also so much fun. Then it was off to a sisters dinner which was awesome because i have never been out with that many of my sisters before at once. I missed Jodi and Kylie very much but i understand why they were not able to go. We were also very blessed to have mom join us as well. By the way, if you go to the brick oven, just get the market buffet, it is so worth it. I then got a crash course on Google Chrome, Blog spot, and flickr.


Such a busy week can sometimes be hard, but i love that i have so much family and we are all so close to each other.

This is a test

Jalaire should not be suspicious