Home Sweet Home

I had many requests for me to post pictures of our new apartment in Washington, and I am just now getting around to it. Unfortunately, they are not very good pictures. We hadn't finished unpacking and our batteries were dying, so we only got pictures of two of the rooms.

This is our living room. The blow-up mattress, sleeping bags, and boxes are now gone. We're looking for a cheap couch, but until then, we just have a LoveSac. And that bookshelf on the right was a nice gift from Chris' parents, but it was a beast to move up three flights of stairs! Our balcony is through those blinds. On a clear day you can see the Cascade Mountains; we also have a great view of the sunrise coming over the mountains.

This is our dining area. Again, imagine it with less clutter and fewer boxes. Because we have a corner apartment, we have an extra window on the left which is nice. On the right is the kitchen.

This is our skinny little kitchen. Not huge, but it'll do. Looking past Dad is our bathroom. It's a pretty good-sized bathroom with a washer and dryer area included.

We didn't get any pictures of our bedroom or Sam's bedroom. That will have to wait until I go up in three weeks (thanks Mom and Dad!) with our camera. Chris left here last Friday night and will be there until June when he comes to pick me and Sam up. The bakery officially becomes ours April 1st.

Bath Time Mystery

One of Sam's towels has the following question:

"What do tiny turtles have for lunch?"

It sounds like it's supposed to be a joke, but I can't find or figure out the punchline, and it's really driving me nuts! Anyone have any insights?

Oh, the joys of junior high

I know that junior high kids are still going through all the changes that go with puberty. I can handle the crazy hormones and the daily drama, but what I'm having a hard time dealing with is the smell. I have a boy in one of my classes who stinks--not like BO or anything like that--he smells like poo. There is a three feet area around him that smells bad, and after he leaves the room, his stench remains in the classroom. I don't know if he doesn't shower often enough, if he doesn't change his clothes, or if he doesn't wipe. It's a mystery to me, and I wish I could help him, but I really don't feel comfortable talking to him about his personal hygiene--maybe his male gym teacher could do that.

Besides his smell, he really is a great kid. He's very smart (though he's failing the class because he doesn't turn in anything). He gave me a valentine and has me read his poetry all the time. I have high expectations for his future--I just hope personal hygiene is part of it.

Our Trip to Washington

I have had several requests to blog about our trip to Washington that we recently took, so here I go. We flew up there Friday evening, rented a car in Seattle, and drove up to Everett. As a side note, they gave us a PT Cruiser, and we decided that we will never buy one of those. It can't decide if it wants to be a small car or more of a SUV, and it doesn't handle U-turns very well (of which we did often as we tried to orient ourselves in this new city without getting too lost). The first night there, we met the current owners of the store there at the bakery. They are such a nice and generous couple and it was fun to see our future bakery.

Saturday we spent much of the day apartment hunting. We looked at so many that everything started to look the same and meld together. In the end, we think that we've found the best place for us. In fact, it's within walking distance from the bakery--just right around the corner. We haven't made it official yet. We'd like to wait until we hear back from the landlord to know if the lease can be transfered to our name. Anyway, I think these are pictures of the apartment we finally chose. It'll be a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (we'll be paying more for this than what we currently pay for our entire house! We seriously will need to downsize when it comes to furniture and stuff!).

Sunday we went to church. If we move into the apartment complex we've chosen, we will actually belong to a different ward. But what I hear from Eliza's friend Allison who used to live in Everett, all the wards are amazing. And speaking of Allison, she and her husband Ben invited us over for Sunday dinner (they now live about 30 minutes north of Everett). It's nice to know that there will be at least one person I know living near by.

Anyway, so that was basically our trip. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and I was surprised to see so much green during the winter! We're about 95% sure this is going to happen. It's kind of crazy and exciting and scary all at once!

The Lord Knows Me Best: The Reason I served in France and Switzerland, and not South America

This is a list made by Chris' cousin Debra serving a mission in Argentina. A few of them are fine, but the ones about the bugs and food made me really queasy!

TOP 20 THINGS I WOULDN´T HAVE DONE BEFORE THE MISSION (most of which have to do with food and bugs. In no special order...)

1. The "ant dance" - We have an ant problem in this apt. Raid is really expensive and so instead of poisoning them I sweep them all into a pile and dance on them . IT´s much cheaper and not as damaging to the body.

2. Squish a spider with the back of my spoon rinse it off and then eat off it (at least I rinsed it off)

3. Buy 2 tomates and an onion, cut them up into slices pour oil and salt over it and eat it - on purpose (it´s a very argentine salad... I love it!)

4.Wash all my clothes by hand - including dirty socks and underwear (TMI I
know)

5. Find a 50 billion ants in my bread, shake them off into the sink, and eat...and continue picking them off the bread as I eat it (not all of them shook off)

6. Find lots and lots of spiders in my bed and not die and continue to sleep without problems

7.Wear the same dress 3 days in a row without washing it

8.Eat cow heart

9. Eat boiled chicken with many, many feathers still attached

10. Clean under the stove, find over 500 teeny little spiders that began to climb all over me, and not even get up to shake them off.

11. Buy bread twice a week from a guy that sells it from the trunk of his car.

12. Walk between 10 and 15 kilometers everyday without problem

13. Brush my teeth with a toothbrush that is crawling with ants (Like I said, this apt has an ant problem...really)

14. Pick up a spider´s egg out of curiosity to examine it

15. Exercise every morning

16. Kiss everyone, all the time, 50 times a day, when I enter and leave a room even if it´s 44 degrees C outside and everyone is sweating and nasty

17. Boil noodles to make macaroni and find the pot full of little green grasshopper like bugs...strain the noodles and keep going.

18. Put sunscreen in my hair

19. Eat in a member´s house...pull one hair out of the food... continue eating...pull another out...continue eating...pull another out....etc

20. Sing in front of anyone anywhere without problems whether it be in church or on the street corner.

Car Update

After having three people try to help me jump poor Jimmy, Chris had to drive out to my school to look at what was wrong. It turns out it was just the battery--I felt so bad that I dragged him all the way out there just for that. Even worse when I found out he had been rear ended on his way out! Will the car problems ever end?

I'm done with cars! I'll just bike everywhere!

In my not-so-smart about cars lingo, here are the many car problems we have had within the last month or so:

• Something was wrong with poor Jimmy costing $500
• Some plastic thing hanging down scraping against the road on the Camry
  
• Tire blowout on the Camry
  
• Had to replace all four tires on the Camry--another couple hundred dollars
  
• What we thought was just the plastic thing continuing to scrape against the road turns out to be something else which prevented us from taking the Camry to Montana
• Poor Jimmy won't start even after trying to jump start it, and the long-term Spanish sub guy says it's probably more serious than the battery.
  

Grrr...

Madame Taylor est chouette!

My kids got kick of me trying on these glasses. They all pulled out their camera phones for a quick photo shoot. I should have put on my mean face for the pose (Quoi?! Mme Taylor est mechante? C'est pas possible!)

One Step Closer

We made a quick trip up to Dillon, Montana Sunday night till Monday to meet with the franchise. We spent the day meeting with representatives from all the departments and learning their roles in helping bakery owners. It all ended with a big round-table interview with everyone we had met throughout the day. It wasn't supposed to be scary, but it was kind of intimidating knowing that our future was contingent on this meeting. We just got a call from the franchise this afternoon saying that we've been approved. So we're one step closer to owning our own bakery!

My Drive to Work

Speaking of scary driving experiences, I have one of my own to tell. Last Saturday we noticed a weird noise coming from the bottom of our car. I don't know the technical terms, but some sort of protective piece had come unscrewed and was hanging down dragging on the street. So Chris just unscrewed the rest of it and put it in the trunk. Also, the front driver-side tire had been getting a little low, so last Friday I filled it up with some more air. No problems there.

Well, this morning I was driving down the freeway and I noticed a funny sound. I pulled off of the freeway to check my tires, but all four tires seemed to be just fine. I figured it was probably just the sound of not having that protective piece on the bottom any more, so I kept driving. The roads were pretty slick this morning, but as I continued south, they improved, so I increased my speed thinking it was safe. But then I started to swerve and loose control, so I slowed down and got out of the fast lane. I swerved again (luckily no cars were close to me) and just thought all the other cars passing me handled the snow better. I figured it was the snowy roads. I continued driving and took my exit, all the while my car was still making weird noises. I pulled over, and realized that I had blown-out my tire. Though of all the tires, I would have thought that it would have been my front driver-side tire since it had been losing air. Luckily I was close enough to work that my mentor, the Spanish teacher, was able to come pick me up.

Well now I know what it feels like to have a tire blowout, so I'll know what to do better next time. I just hope I haven't hurt the car too much.

Quick Trip to Texas

The weekend so many of us decided to skip town, we decided (or perhaps fate decided) that we too ought to leave as well. Chris' grandpa passed away after years of sickness. In fact, I had never met Grandpa Brannock in a well condition in the 3 1/2 years I had known him. So thanks to Delta Skymiles we were able to fly down to the Dallas area for the funeral.

Both our flights coming and going were during Sam's nap time, so we were worried that he'd be cranky. On the way there, he did a little bit of flirting with the young girls the row ahead of us, cried and screamed for about five minutes, and then slept the rest of the way there. Coming home was a little better: he only cried and screamed for a couple minutes and then fell asleep.

It was great to see all of Chris' relatives, especially the many aunts, uncles, cousins, and both sets of grandparents who live down there who we don't get to see too often. The funeral was nice, though the weather was very dreary. Grandpa Brannock's body was buried under an oak tree on some family-owned property in the country--a very peaceful resting place.

While there, we were also able to celebrate Chris' birthday. Man is he old or what! We celebrated with some good ol' fashioned southern cooking (which isn't actually something I like too much. It's a good thing we're probably moving up north!).

The 18 month visit

Here are the most recent stats:

Weight: 24 lbs 8 oz (35th percentile)
Length: 31 in (20th percentile)
Head circumference: 48.5 in (75th percentile)

They had to poke his toe for a hemoglobin test (I think). First toe they poked didn't give enough blood, so they poked a second toe, and the bleeding wouldn't stop! The girl kept saying things like, "I'm so confused! I don't know why it's bleeding so much! I have never had anyone bleed like that before for this kind of test!" That didn't make me feel so great, but eventually his toe stopped bleeding and he's fine now. Anyway, overall his health is great and is continuing to catch up from being so scrawny his first year of life.

ASL signs Sam uses

1. more
2. please
3. thank you
4. milk
5. drink
6. all gone/done
7. food
8. hot
   

Words Sam can say at 18 months

1. I wan my nana (I want my banana)
2. I wan up--bphew (I want up--with some spitting after)
3. I wan dat (I want that)
4. dada
5. mama
6. no
7. peek-a-boo
8. doggan (doggy)
9. diaper
10. bible
11. scriptures
12. amen
13. two
14. all gone
15. ooh, ohh, ah, ah (monkey sounds)
16. pig sounds
17. hi
18. hello
19. bye
20. on
21. up
22. pleeh (please)
23. cheese
24. Anna
25. Peter
26. Hyruh (Hyrum)
27. head
28. juice
29. hot
30. all duh (all done)
31. shoes
32. hat
33. brr
34. uh-oh
35. baby
36. fish
    

Update on Everett

Here is an update on our potential purchase of the Everett, Washington Great Harvest. For weeks, we went back and forth deciding first of all if we wanted to take this deal. It has been such an emotional roller coaster trying to figure if we could make this thing work. Some days we had accepted that it probably wouldn't be possible and tried to move on planning Chris' Spring semester. And then within the same day, something would change, and we would be back to trying to do everything to allow this to happen. Basically it's been stressful and exhausting.

The most current update is that we have decided that we do want to buy the bakery. From the very beginning, we've felt like this is what our family needs. We decided to drop Chris' classes at the U with the faith that this is the direction we're supposed to go in. It's a great deal, we'll probably never see a deal this good again, and this is something Chris is really excited about--and for those of you who know how hard it's been for Chris to find something he's really passionate about to choose as a career, this is really a big thing. Anyway, so we think we've got the financial stuff all squared away, we had a phone interview with the franchise yesterday, and we are planning a mandatory trip up to Dillon, Montana for the final interviews at the franchise within the next week or two. After that, the franchise will let us know if we can go ahead with the transfer and buy the bakery.

So that's where we're at for now. I hope it all works out. I just want Chris to enjoy his work. We'll keep you all posted.

Leaving my kids

I was absent from school for the first time yesterday for a training class at the district offices (it was about incorporating writing in all content areas--very interesting and useful stuff!). My goal is to not miss too many days of teaching; for one, I get a big bonus at the end of the year if I don't use too many sick days, and two, it's a pain to prepare lesson plans that substitutes who don't necessarily know anything about French can follow. So anyway, I left my kids for the first time in the hands of a substitute teacher, and it felt similar to the first time we left Sam with a babysitter. I was nervous they wouldn't be good for the sub and cause trouble. Today upon my return, I read from the sub that my students had behaved well, and my students said they were happy I was back. When I told them I would have to miss another day in two weeks (for the second and last day of training on the same topic), one of my girls said, "Ah, Madame Taylor, we're going to miss you!" I sure like my job! What fun kids!

Still a possibility

As many of you know, Chris flew up to Washington a few weeks ago to check out a Great Harvest that is for sale. It's a pretty amazing deal as far as the price of the bakery, so we're looking into this pretty seriously. The current owners have offered to finance it under some generous terms. Now we're just looking at the numbers and seeing if we could pay it off and make a living up there. So for now, it is still a possibility, but we haven't made a final decision yet. We may need to make another trip up there. We do need to know pretty soon, however, so we know whether or not to keep Chris registered for his classes. At this moment, I'm not sure which decision we'll make. If only I had that crystal ball...

Royal India

Last night we decided to splurge a little since it has been awhile since we've gone out to eat. We went to one of our favorite restaurants in Bountiful: Royal India. We've introduced several family members to it--some have been more open to it than others. If you haven't yet eaten there, you have to try it! My favorite dish is the Chicken Saag, and Chris' is the Chicken Coconut Kurma. Yummm...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Here comes Santa Claus

He wasn't scared--just tired.

La Caille

Yesterday I went to La Caille restaurant with my 9th grade French students along with a couple foods and teen living classes. My students are pretty well-behaved, however, I still had this fear that they would get there and tear the place down. We did have a few problems, but overall I think the kids had a good experience.

Here are a few of the unfortunate things that happened. Apparently the teacher in charge of planning everything didn't give the restaurant an accurate count of people planning on coming, so they didn't have enough room for us. They had to squeeze people on already full tables and squish in one more table in the corner. The room was already kind of small, and the acoustics caused a lot of echoing, so we sounded a lot louder than we really were. They waitresses had to keep the door shut so that other customers wouldn't be disturbed. We had a table of students who had to be sent back to the bus during the meal because they played a practical joke on the neighboring table while they were in the restroom (they poured salt in everyone's glasses) and lied to us teachers about. And to top it all off, the women's restroom toilets overflowed (I hope hope hope that wasn't from my kids! There was another school there too!).

On the good side, the kids looked so nice! Some of the girls went way out and wore very fancy dresses. They had a lot of fun taking pictures outside of La Caille with all the peacocks and pretty landscaping. They had the opportunity to try escargot (I passed this time since I've already had it before). The food was great and the ambiance was perfect! We're planning on going again next spring; I just hope our students' behavior won't prevent us from returning!

Halloween

Here are a few pictures describing this year's Halloween.
We went to an old high school friend's Halloween party. They provided the costumes for everyone. Chris was Rambo Bunny, and I was...well, I'm not quite sure...I had a camouflage witch hat, a dragon tail (which you obviously can't see), and a couple scarves tied in random places. We got to do each other's makeup. Chris got a little excited about painting my face black!

Sam was a pioneer for Halloween. We bought this hat in Nauvoo back in May--now it's almost too small for his 85th percentile head!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Anniversary!

While I was on my mission, I made a list of characteristics that I needed in a future eternal companion based on my interactions and relationships with guys I dated and mission companions. Here is what I came up with:

• Returned missionary
• Strong testimony
• Temple worthy
• Optimistic
• Appreciates good music
• Doesn't get angry easily
• Listens when I talk
• Loves to laugh--good sense of humor
• Knows how to comfort me when I'm sad
• Expresses clearly his feelings
• Hard worker
• Confident
• Enjoys children
• Allows me to be myself

Three years ago tomorrow I was sealed in the temple for time and all eternity to my best friend--one who had every single characteristic and quality from my list. I snatched up the perfect guy for me who has made me so happy! Happy anniversary!

What I like about teaching junior high students

• They still enjoy coloring pictures.
• They still think cartoons are funny; they actually enjoy watching Beauty and the Beast in French and those silly Telefrancais videos I make them watch.
  
• They enjoy singing silly songs.
• They think it's funny when I act silly and goofy while telling them stories or acting out vocabulary.
• Many of them still want to please their teachers.
• They are beginning to discover who they are. I make sure to be so careful of what I say to my students because even the smallest things can really change their attitude about themselves and their abilities.
  
• They have a lot of crazy drama in their lives: I love to read their notes to friends that they leave on my floor. A lot of them use a lot of curse words, and my favorite part is that sometimes they don't even make sense in the context! I love that "going out" with someone doesn't really mean much and it changes weekly.
  
• They are dealing with a lot of changes in their lives. Puberty can be rough! And to add to that, many are dealing with their parents divorcing and new step-parents. I love the fact that when they enter my classroom, they can feel safe and secure and just enjoy learning.
  
• I love that because French is an elective, it isn't critical that they leave my class speaking French fluently(however, I do hope that they leave my class knowing how to say some things in French). My goal for them is that they leave my classroom with a broader understanding of the world around them and with a curiosity to explore and experience!
• I love that I can share my passion, give a smile and some extra attention to these fun kids whose lives are still so impressionable.
  

Oh, the joys of junior high!

Here are a few examples of what I experience everyday at work:

A boy from my advisory class: "Mrs. Taylor, what does a rectangle look like? Is it the one that looks like a box?"

Me: "Okay class, on section C you can write your answers in English."
A 9th grade girl: "So we have to write it all in French?"
A few members of the class and me: (frustrated sigh)

An 8th grade boy from French I:"Madame Taylor, can I move seats. The boy I sit next to smells bad."

The 15 Month Visit

Sam went to his 15 month visit today. Here are his stats:

Weight: 22 lbs (18th percentile)
Length: 30 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 48 1/4 cm (85th percentile)

We are so excited that he is no longer under the 5th percentile! Woot! Go Sam!

A few pictures

Future businessman

We're so glad when Lara comes home. Glad as glad can be!

Welcome home Sis Taylor!

I want to be like Hot Shauna

So I'm going to be a copycat too. I don't usually do things like this, but I thought I'd give it a try. For some of these I had to look back to old journals to see what I was doing. Here I go!

1. Ten years ago: I was a sophomore at BHS. Around this time I had just found out through a friend that a certain boy had a crush on me (I see my own students doing this now: "so-and-so likes you...do you like him? I'll go tell him you like him..." when the two people really involved don't even talk to each other! So funny!) We later went to the Halloween dance together. Another boy who would eventually become my husband was in my AP Euro class and on my ultimate frisbee team. Our team was the best!

2. Five years ago: I had just arrived in France beginning my mission. I was living in Strasbourg with my trainer working in the Schiltigheim ward. The work was slow, but it was there that I had some of my most spiritual experiences. My French wasn't very good, but was improving daily. We spent a lot of time in some neighborhoods we probably shouldn't have been in. I learned a lot of swear words by reading all the graffiti. Besides the low-income banlieu areas, the rest of Strasbourg and surrounding towns were so quaint and beautiful.

3. One year ago: Sam was just two months old and still so tiny. We were preparing to move from the Hadley's home to the Turpin's home. I was going to school full-time preparing for my student teaching. Looking back, I don't know how I survived going to school and taking care of Sam on so little sleep. Twice a week I had classes at the U starting at 7:30am, and I had to leave our house at 5:50 to catch the bus. I was still nursing Sam, so I had to leave about 45 mintues to feed him. Plus get myself ready. Plus get up with Sam at least twice a night before all that. Yikes! I'm sure glad he sleeps through the night now!

4. Yesterday: I tried watching a movie, but Sam pushed some buttons on the remote that messed up the TV, and I don't know how to fix it. We had to take our Jimmy in to get $100 worth of things fixed. Sam also got into one of the kitchen cupboards and found our little jar of old kitchen grease. He dumped it out onto our carpeted kitchen floor (who puts carpet in the kitchen?!). It was so stinky and gross it made me gag and want to throw up. I cleaned it up, but our kitchen still stinks! Anyway, Chris worked 4-11:30am at Great Harvest, and then again from 4-10pm at the Instacare. Oh, and I went to a baby shower for my visiting teaching companion. Oh, and I actually cooked dinner--a real dinner. Very unusual, but hopefully will happen more and more.

5. Five snacks I enjoy: Peach rings, cake batter, cookie dough (for some reason the raw stuff tastes better), French pastries, and ice cream (French vanilla is pretty tasty!)

6. Five things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million dollars: buy a house, set aside money for our kids' college education, buy lots of really cute clothes, travel the world while staying in the nicest hotels and eating at the nicest restaurants, and donate money to family, friends, the church and other charities.

7. Five places I would like to run away to: France, Switzerland, the six states I haven't been to yet, a nice tropical island with no bugs, Africa or China (I want to go to both Africa and China, but that was my fifth place, and I can't decide).

8. Five bad habits I have: using a tissue and then leaving them around the house, or using a tissue and then putting it in my pocket in case I need to wipe it again and then forgetting to take it out before I do the laundry (all the tissue bad habits drive Chris nuts! He thinks it's so gross. I tell him it's just like in the old days when people would carry around hankies in their pockets--he thinks that's gross too!), not liking to shower (I do shower, I just don't like to shower. I know some of you sisters know what I'm saying!), not being as tidy as I would like, nibbling here and there instead of sitting down to eat dinner, and not always exercising like I should.

9. Five things I like doing: being with Chris and Sam, teaching French, giving talks or lessons in church, going to office supply stores, eating yummy foods.

10. Five TV shows I like: The Office, The Simpsons, the news, Gilmore Girls, and any dumb reality show I get sucked into (they are my guilty pleasures).

11. Five things I hate doing: spending money, killing spiders, cooking dinner (I have to be in the right mood to enjoy it--problem is that I'm rarely in that mood), watching all my hair get thinner and thinner as it falls out, and being crafty (again, I have to be in the mood).

12. Five biggest joys at the moment: Spending quality time with Sam and Chris, watching Sam discover the world, getting to know more and more Sam's cute little personality, the 30 minute drive home from West Jordan as I listen to old General Conference talks, and teaching French and watching my students get excited about learning.

Another one bites the dust

Yep, we've killed another one. We have been fish-sitting the last six months or so for Chris' family while they remodel their house. It was just a beta fish, and I don't think anyone really cared about him. I don't even know if he had a name. In any case, we found him dead in his bowl this afternoon. Unlike poor Franklin, we know why the fish died--we often forgot to feed him. I guess we don't do well with living things; we killed a lot of the Hadley's house plants when we lived in Farmington, and we were unsuccessful with our garden. We really want a dog someday, and when that day comes, I promise that I will feed it and walk it and not kill it. Unlike many of the other things we've killed, I actually like dogs, and would take care of it--I promise!

My First Day of School

School started today, and it was pretty fun. I'm teaching French 1 & 2 to 8th and 9th graders at Joel P. Jensen Middle School in West Jordan. I teach three French classes, and one advisory period on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (It's just 20 minutes of reading, helping students with their grades, and playing learning games). My biggest class has 34 students, and my smallest class has around 23 students. I know this was just my first day, and I know I'll have days when I won't feel this way, but I really love teaching! And doing this just part-time, I think, will be so nice! I only have to be there till 11:20ish. Anyway, as promised, here are a few pictures of my classroom.

I just got some more posters and stuff in the mail today, so more will be going up soon. One thing I don't like about my room, however, is that there are no windows. And it's hot. Oh, and one more: I have to use a Mac instead of a PC (sorry to all you Mac users, but I just don't like them!). I guess that's three things I don't like about my room. Oh well.

Anyway, so that's my classroom. I'm sure I'll have some fun junior high student stories to tell shortly!

In Memory of Franklin

As the title of this blog implies, our poor bird Franklin died sometime last night. We don't have any idea what could have caused his death. He seemed to be healthy and happy, but then again, I don't know too much about bird health. I was never too excited about having a pet bird, but Franklin in the short 2 1/2 weeks that we had him had started to grow on me. Every morning when Sam would wake up, we would go say hello to the bird. Sam loved Franklin (except when Franklin first discovered his voice and it scared Sam). Sam would waddle into the room and point at the bird cage with a huge grin. Last night I went in to look at him and he was looking so cute asleep on his little bar (no, he wasn't dead at that point--just sleeping). I was getting almost brave enough to overcome my phobia of birds and actually hold him, but in the end I never did. I'm actually very surprised at how sad I am at his death. In the words of a neighbor-boy, he was a good bird.

Announcing a new addition to the family

We were deciding on going out to eat between two places: Royal India (I love love love their spinach thing I always get) or Paradise Bakery (to which we had a gift card). If money weren't an issue, I would have chosen the former, but I figured that we should probably save our money and go to the bakery instead. The food was alright; I really don't like their soups too much, however, I do love their quiche.

After dinner, we decided to go check out Petco thinking that Sam might enjoy looking at the animals there. So we wondered around for awhile looking at the fish and the reptiles. We hoped their would be puppies, but there weren't any. Then we came to the birds. I don't mind them in cages, but I have this strange fear of them when the fly around; you never know where they're going to land. Anyway, the parakeets were surprisingly cheap, and I made the mistake of saying that I wouldn't mind a bird at that price. Chris got excited and somehow talked me into buying one. He said that Sam needed a pet, and parakeets are pretty easy to take care of.

So we have a new member of the Taylor family. His name is Franklin, and he is really pretty. It was a little scary transferring him from his box to his new cage. I think I scared Sam pretty well with all my screams and jerking around trying to run away from the little guy. Hopefully we'll all get used to each other and I'll get over my strange fear.

So after a free meal, a bird, a birdcage, food, and all the rest, I think it would have been cheaper in the end had we gone to Royal India for dinner.

You are all invited!

Hey everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that we will be celebrating Sam's birthday on Wednesday at 7:30 at our house. There will be cake and icecream. Come if you can!

For those of you who hadn't heard...

Just in case you hadn't all heard, I got a teaching job for next fall! I was starting to get really discouraged and stressed that I hadn't found anything yet. I even started looking at school districts in far away places. They say that teachers are in high demand in Utah, but I don't think they mean French teachers. So I will be teaching at Joel P. Jensen Middle School in West Jordan in the Jordan School District (8105 South 3200 West). It's just part-time for now, but really I think that's all I would've found anywhere at this point seeing that I'm only qualified to teach French. Since I'm just part-time, hopefully I'll be able to take whatever classes are needed in order to become endorsed in other areas. The administration seems really great and they sounded so excited that I accepted the job. I'm excited about it too!

Eeeeek!!

I've been trying to have a more healthy lifestyle. I try to be more active and eat good foods. Well, today, I exercised and then decided to eat some lunch. I pulled out my bag of salad, cut up some tomatoes and cucumbers. Only after I had eaten about three-fourths of my salad did I notice a little intruder: a dead bee! Ew! Yuck! Plegh! Gag! I wanted to throw-up! I know in some cultures eating insects is a delicacy, but not here! Not me! I had to throw the rest of my salad in the garbage. Who knows how many bug parts were unknowingly consumed! Yuck!

Once while we were shopping, we picked up a bag of salad and found an alive bee flying around inside the bag. If this is how it's going to be, maybe I won't be buying bagged salad anymore!

The 9 Month Visit

So we had the 9 month doctor visit yesterday. Here are the stats:

Weight: 15 lbs. 0 oz.
Length: 26 in.
Head circumference: 45 cm.

For his weight and his length he is under the 5th percentile and his head is in the 45th percentile (these percentages are still adjusted for him being born a little prematurely). The doctor said that he's growing and developing just fine, and she said that his gums on top are a little swollen. His third tooth should be coming soon.

Oh yeah, some other exciting news is that he finally figured out how to crawl foward! Last Wednesday it finally clicked! Now he's completely mobile!

Tired Baby = Free Food!

Last night we were at the Gateway getting new glasses for Chris (he's been going blind for over a year now...we thought it was about time to get some new ones). While we waited for them to finish, we headed over to Biaggi's to get some dinner. Neither of us had ever been there, so we thought we'd try it out. We ordered our food, and waited and waited. I didn't mind too much; I was just enjoying being together. By the time they brought our food out, Sam was getting really tired and fussy. So after just a couple bites of our food, we asked for boxes to take home. They felt really bad that it took so long, so they gave us our meal free! I'm glad we decided to order appetizers! We figured we got close to $30 worth of food. I was very impressed with them and will definitely go back again sometime.

My hard work is starting to pay off!

Chris has been so wonderful and supportive as I have worked on finishing college. He has worked so many long hours so many days of the week just so I could become a college graduate--a promiseI made to my mission president and to myself. It hasn't been easy; in fact, it feels like I have been running a marathon for the past bunch of years trying to get all my credits in. Throughout my entire pregnancy, I took a total of 47 credits. And then again with a wee baby keeping me sleep-deprived I somehow continued taking classes, and have even been able to successfully do my student-teaching. I've tried to think of my schooling like my job, even though I don't get paid. I have always hoped that somewhere down the road all my hard work would pay off. Well, because of my hard work and good grades, I was invited to submit a valedictory speech for the U's commencement ceremonies. I will find out in a few weeks if I am among the top ten finalists. How cool would that be to talk at my graduation?! And then today I just found out that I was selected to receive the Kennecott Scholarship which is a cash award of $2,500 from the U's Department of Teaching and Learning! I am so happy that I was blessed with the strength and endurance to finish school and that I am able to contribute in a small way to our family's finances. I applied for four other scholarships from which I am still waiting to hear back. Anyway, it's all very exciting and strange to be graduating. It's weird to be looking for an a real job. Hopefully the Mustangs will have me?? We'll see...

Crafting

The other day I went into Michael's craft store to buy some stuff for my classroom, and the scariest thing happened: I had the desire to craft! Yikes! I am so anti-crafting because for one, I'm not very cutesie, and two, it stresses me out to make so many decisions. But while I was in the store for those few minutes, all of my excuses went away, and I thought that it could actually be really fun to create something. Maybe when we have older kids and I'm not so busy with school I'll try to do crafty things with them. I think it's in my blood, but it's really hesitant to come out.

I Love Office Supply Stores!!

Can I just tell you how much I love going into office supply stores! I went into Office Max yesterday to buy some big envelopes, and wanted to buy the whole store. With so many boxes, binders, paper, dividers, tape, and other such organizational items, it gets me so excited to organize anything and everything. Lately, I've been thinking about creating a teaching portfolio, and it's silly how happy it makes me to think about putting it together in a new three-ring binder with colored divider tabs and plastic protector sheets...sigh. Maybe that will be my post-student teaching project in April.

He's getting so big!

So Sam has been hitting some major milestones the past couple weeks. At his last weight check, he weighed in at 14 lbs. 5 oz, if I remember right. He can wear some of his 6-9 month clothes; however, most of them still swamp him. February 12th he rolled over for the first time from his back to his belly. He is now mobile and rolls all over the place. Let the baby-proofing begin! He is eating a variety of veggies: peas, carrotts, squash, and soon sweat potatoes. And as of the beginning of this week, his first tooth has finally popped out! And it's sharp too, so everyone beware! What a fun age!

My Girlfriend, Part II

So yesterday I was out running errands and decided to pop into Great Harvest to say hi to Chris. Just as I was about to leave, I noticed my girlfriend and another neighbor eating at one of the little tables. I almost just walked out without saying hi because I know what'll come out of my girlfriend's mouth; but then I decided to show Sam off to her because they have never met.

Girlfriend: Oh, is this your baby?! You know, this should have been my grandbaby!

Exactly the sort of thing I expected her to say.

Girlfriend: I really wished you and Steven could have gotten together. But you and your husband do make cute babies. I guess I could forgive him for marrying you.

If she forgives him, does that mean she'll stop bugging me about her grandson every time I run into her. I mean really...the last time I went on a date with her grandson was 6 1/2 years ago, we're both married now, and I have a baby! It obviously wasn't meant to be.

As I was walking out the door, I said goodbye to Chris. I guess my girlfriend didn't realize who he was until then.

Girlfriend: Ooh! Is that your husband? He is soo cute!

Maybe she'll start having a crush on both of us now!

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

I am happy to report that we finally made it home from Texas last night. Coming home from vacation always seems to take longer than the getting there. Our plane was originally supposed to leave at 6pm-ish. Late yesterday afternoon we got a phone call from Delta saying that it had been delayed till 7:30 because of severe weather in Dallas. It had been raining really hard, there was lots of close thunder and lightning, and even some tornado watches, all of which are unusual for this time of year. When we got to the airport, the plane coming from Salt Lake that was going to be ours coming back was delayed. Because of all the crazy weather in Dallas, they left Salt Lake late, and then once they got here, they had to circle the area for at least an hour and a half to wait their turn to land among all the other delayed flights. Once that plane landed, we were informed that it had been hit by lightening, so they had to check it out and make sure it was okay for another flight. Luckily nothing was damaged too seriously, and we were in the air by 10:30pm. Again, Sam was a great little traveler and slept the entire flight home. I wonder if he'd make it to Europe so well behaved. Anyway, we got our bags, took a taxi, and were home by about 12:30am. I had been looking forward to my warm comfy bed, but because we turned off the heat while we were gone, our thermostat read 42 degrees in our house. I went to bed with my new winter hat, new fuzzy socks, warm pajamas, a hoodie, and a tootsie-toaster. Poor Chris went to bed for an hour before he had to go bake at Great Harvest at 2am. He had to go in so early because he also has to work at the InstaCare from 10am to 10pm. Back to the real world, I guess.

Our Trip to Texas

I think time moves faster in Texas because I can hardly believe our time here is just about done. It's been such a nice trip, and it will be hard coming back to real life.

We left Sunday afternoon--Christmas Eve. Sam was such a great little traveler; it was his first time ever on an airplane. He slept almost the entire flight to Dallas except for the last 30 minutes or so, but even then he was a happy guy. I hope he does just as well on the flight home tomorrow. The first two nights we stayed at Chris' Aunt Elaine and Uncle Richard's house. We had three big families staying over for Christmas, so the house was filled to capacity (it's a really nice big house, so it wasn't so bad at all). Sam had so many admirers and googelie-eyed people playing with him that it overwhelmed and overstimulated him making him more fussy than usual. Being so popular and loved is so hard! The rest of the time some of us have been staying at Chris' dad's parents house, and the others at Chris' mom's parents house--they both live in Irving.

Christmas morning was fun as we opened our presents. The best part was having Chris' grandpa come for a few hours. He's been in the hospital for the last three weeks, and they let him out for a couple hours Christmas morning. For that set of grandparents 50th anniversary, Chris' mom put together a nice DVD of old family pictures and family movie clips. We also put together a nice quilt for them--each son, daughter, grandchild, grandchild-in-law, and great-grandchild (Sam is the only one) was in charge of decorating a square, and they were all put together as a quilt. It was a very nice present.

Sam has had many firsts on this trip. He went to his first movie. We went to see Eragon. Again, Sam was very well behaved for the most part. We only had to go out of the theater once for a diaper change. He went to his first museum. Today we went to the Dallas Museum of Art to see a Vincent Von Gogh exhibit. It was very cool! And to get there, Sam went on his first train--the TRE (the Trinity Rail Express, I think). We spent the whole afternoon there at the museum, and Sam just sat in his Snugglie carrier so content and happy. What a good boy.

He hasn't been this good the whole trip. Like I mentioned earlier, he has been passed from one admiring fan to the next. One of the nights we went out to a crazy restaurant called the Magic Time Machine. If ever you are in Dallas, you must go to this place. Each waiter plays the character of someone. Our waiter was one of the Spartan cheerleaders from Saturday Night Live. It was so loud and so crazy that Sam let us know just how overwhelmed he was. He rarely cries so hard. Poor guy.

So that's pretty much been our trip. We've eaten like crazy (I think I've gained lots of weight), and spent lots of fun quality time with the extended relatives down here (Chris' one grandpa got out of the hospital for good this evening). The weather has been amazing, and it's going to be so hard to come back to the snow. I guess our vacation can't last forever! Too bad it can't!

Time flies when you're having fun

Three years ago from today I came home from my mission. Four years ago this coming April Chris came home from his mission. That's two sister-missions for me and two elder-missions for Chris!

My Girlfriend

So yesterday at the bridal shower, I ran into my girlfriend from the family ward who I haven't seen in a very long time. She's still as crazy as ever and still wishes I had married her grandson.

Girlfriend: So how are you and your husband doing?
Me: Really well.
Girlfriend: Darn! So you two are happy together?
Me: Yeah, my husband is wonderful!
Girlfriend: Darn! My grandson got married, but the girl is completely opposite of you. I wish he had married you!

She seriously said all that! How am I supposed to respond?! When Chris and I were engaged, I brought Chris to the family ward so people could meet him. When I tried to introduce him to my girlfriend, she refused to shake his hand because she was mad that he was taking me away from her grandson. More than two years later she still hasn't gotten over it. She does this all jokingly, but as the saying goes, many a truth is spoken in jest. Why does she love me so much?

Black Friday

So I've never done the Black Friday thing ever, but I decided to try it. I was up anyway with the baby at 5am, so soon as I had finished feeding him, I left the little guy with my hubby and ventured into the cold to go to Target. I knew things were crazy at stores; I had been watching the early news shows showing huge crowds storming malls, but for some reason I thought Target wouldn't be so bad. I got there and could hardly find a place to park. I have never seen the parking lot so full! Then I could hardly find a shopping cart. When I got inside, the store was packed with crazed shoppers running around trying to grab everything from their lists before the stock runs out. I heard one lady say that some random person had tried to steal some stuff out of her shopping cart. I shopped around a little bit, but then had to abandon my shopping cart as I could hardly get down any aisles with it. In the end I didn't buy too much. I mostly just went for the experience and to see what kinds of sales they had. I don't think I'll ever try shopping on Black Friday ever again. It was absolutely insane!! However, I left the store around 7am and could tell that it had calmed down a little bit. Maybe it'd be okay to go shopping later in the day if you don't mind missing all the early bird special sales.

Sam's 4 month visit

For anyone who is interested, here are Sam's stats as of November 17th from his 4 month visit to the doctor:

Weight: 10 lbs. 5 oz.
Length: 22 1/4 in.
Head Circumference: 41 cm.

Still small, but growing on his own curve. Everything looks okay!

Yea for Turkies!!

So I beat my bowling record, and I'll probably never bowl as well ever again! At yesterday's anual Thanksgiving bowling extravaganza, I started my game with a turkey--three strikes in a row! And how appropriate to have done that on Thanksgiving! At the end of it all, I think I got a couple more strikes and spares leaving me with my high score of 153! We could join a league, but team members beware--that last game was definately a fluke! I rarely bowl over 80!

What is this world coming to?!

It was an unseasonably warm day (a couple weeks ago) when I saw a minivan driving down Davis Blvd, an arm hanging out the passenger side holding a leash and a dog walking on the sidewalk all alone. Are we so lazy that we can't even get off our behinds to walk for a few minutes?! Especially on such a beautiful day! What kind of healthy habits did that teach that kid? I was flaberghasted!

Book Club

Some of my friends from my French classes and I started a book club. Today was our first real meeting (two weeks ago everyone met to decide on what we were going to read). Our first book is The Phantom of the Opera in French (Le Fantome de l'Opera). What I hadn't realized was that it was written by the same author of a one of my favorite books we studied last semester (Le Mystere de la Chambre Jaune by Gaston Leroux). We had our meeting on the roof of the Salt Lake library. It was a perfect afternoon to be outside with friends discussing the book (which I actually haven't technically started yet, though I know the story very well). It was also fun to have Sam come and meet my friends from school. What a precocious child for attending a book club meeting at such a young age! If any of you French speakers are interested in joining, vous etes le bienvenues!

What's your best time?

When we lived in Farmington, once or twice a week I would drive Chris to work at 4am in order to avoid having to drive both our cars out to Bountiful since we both had places to be in the mornings. The drive to Bountiful was always dark and cold, and the only thing I could think about was how nice it must be to be able to stay in my cozy bed for a full eight hours. The streets at that hour are pretty quiet and empty, however there are a few regulars that we see. For example, often we would see a lady out walking her dog in her bath robe. I think a coat would probably keep her warmer, but for whatever reason, she settles on her robe. Almost every morning during our drive on Main Street to Great Harvest we would see people out exercising. What kind of crazy person wakes up at 4am to go running?! I know exercise is important, but so is sleep! I admire their determination to go running and walking so diligently, but I still think they're crazy! In my opinion and experience, in order to make your own personal exercise plan work, you need to schedule it at a time that motivates you the most. For me, on several occasions, I have forced myself to wake up early to go running. It'll usually last a couple days, and then I stop because I value my sleep. I have found that my best time to workout is between 3-5pm. That way I don't lose any sleep, it's not too dark or cold outside, and I still have the rest of the evening to do whatever I want. If you plan exercising at a time that is naturally the best for you personally, I think you will find the most success.

The Two Month Visit

So Sam went to the doctor today for his two month visit. Here are his stats:

Weight: 8lbs 4oz
Length: 21in
Head Circumference: 38 1/2cm

For his weight and height he is under the fifth percentile compared to full-term babies, but because he was officially premature (he was born at 36 weeks and five days) Dr. Groebs adjusted it and said he is in the 25-30th percentile.

Everything looks good and healthy for the most part. He's still kind of small, but still growing at an okay rate (he gained 8oz this past week). The worst part about our visit was the immunization shots. He had to get poked four times and it made him very upset. He was crying so hard that it made me cry too. I hate to see him so sad, but I know his immunizations are very important. It was a good thing that Chris was there to hold him while he got poked because I don't think I would've been able to do it. He has been a little upset this evening because of his sore legs, but we gave him some tylenol and he's starting to feel better, I think.

Il faut etre prudent!

The other day Sam and I went on a walk near Farmington canyon. On the way up 100 East, I saw two little girls walking home from elementary school. They saw me from across the street and walked over to start talking to me. They were super friendly and asked all about Sam and me: my name, where I lived, if I had kids in school, etc. Then they proceeded to tell me all about themselves. They were sisters, one in third grade, the other in sixth grade. They told me all about their family and even where they lived. I was surpised at how friendly and outgoing they were to me, a stranger. The thing that surprised me the most was how much personal information they gave out. If I were a sexual preditor of kidnapper, these two little girls would have been easy targets to do bad things to. It really scares me how many sick-o's exist in the world. Recently there have been so many stories in the news about kidnappings and child abuse--so much that it makes me so scared to be raising children in this world. I don't want to be a pyscho-overprotective mom raising our kids, but at the same time, their safety is the most important thing. Growing up we used to wander around the neighborhood and play out front without being surpervised without any worries. Now as an adult, I see the world differently and I worry for all these innocent little kids. I guess the only thing you can do as far as prevention is to educate your children about how to interact with strangers as well as what to do when someone they know makes them feel uncomfortable. To see what kind of problemed-people live near you, visit the Family Watchdog.

Girls Camp

Ever since last December when I was called to be our ward's camp director, I have been dreading this week. I knew at the time I received the call that I would be very pregnant, but having just found out myself, I didn't want to tell the bishopric just yet. Well, girls camp is here, and some how after lots of stress, crying, my first anxiety attack, and more stress I have mostly made it through okay. When I talked to my doctor two weeks ago, I asked her if she thought I could go. She said it would probably be okay for me to go which was not what I wanted to hear. I told her that I was hoping she would tell me not to go, so she changed her story and said, "Okay, you can't go! Do you want me to write you a note?" She's so cute!

All the other YW leaders have been really understanding for the most part and I have been able to rely a lot on my wonderful assistant camp director. In the end I decided to go up just one or two days just for the afternoon. The girls left last Tuesday and will be back Friday afternoon. I went up yesterday and was planning on going up again this evening, but I don't think my body can handle another trip up there.

The girls were able to participate in lots of really fun activities yesterday. I would have loved to join them if I wasn't expecting. They did some cute crafts, went horseback riding (we found out the hard way that a couple of our girls are allergic to horses), did some archery, had fun with a climbing wall, and flew through the trees on a zip line (which actually broke after one of our girls used it--oops!). At the beginning of the day, the gentleman who drove me up with his grandaughter had a pretty bad accident. As we were walking down to the flag ceremony, he tripped on a tree root and landed ever so ungracefully on his face. He scratched up his arms and legs pretty bad, and had to get stitches by his mouth (the camp nurse stitched him up right there at camp on our table).

Anyway, we had a pretty good day; however, I don't think I can do it again. I was so nervous driving up and down the dirt road, the elevation and the sun made me very tired, and I think I overexerted myself just by walking around to the different activities. This morning I could hardly get out of bed or walk because my body was so sore. So I don't think I'll be going back up again tonight. I did my part planning for the past six months, so I think my assistant and the other leaders can handle the rest under the circumstances. I am soooo happy this major stressor in my life is over! I think Chris is happy too because that means I will stop crying! The only thing I have left to worry about is our cute little baby who will be coming pretty soon, and that's an exciting stress to worry about!

A little late, but still good...

I know the month is just about over, but for those of you who haven't read June's Ensign yet, I wanted to give you a heads up. There are some really great articles all about the importance of strengthening the family as well as tips and ideas for those of you who are still playing the dating game. Go read it, and if you already have, read it again or share it as a family for FHE!

And the winner is...

Chris works with a guy at IHC who is always impressed at what food gets brought to him from home; usually it's whatever I can find around the house, or if it's Sunday, he gets the really good stuff. Well, they decided that they wanted the wives to have a sack lunch cook-off today to see who would get better food. I didn't have a lot to work with, yet still mangaged to win! Really, the other guy's wife never brought him his food, so I won by default. Maybe she was just intimidated by my mad sack lunch skills and was afraid to even try. Yeah, I bet that's what happened!

Hooray for Grants!

I just found out today that Chris and I got grants from the government to pay for school next year! Hooooray!! We got more than enough; the extra can go towards books and stuff. I was afraid that we would get less this year because we have made more money this year, but I guess it helps that we will soon be poor parents. This is such a huge blessing! Thank you US government!

Still after two years...

So I have been home from my mission for over two years now. For the first little while after being home I occasionally had a hard time finding the right words in English. In my Communications class I had at SLCC my first semester back, I often got marked down for using French syntax in my writing that sounded just fine to me! Well, apparently, I still have that same problem. Last night as I was doing my visiting teaching, I wanted to add a little thought to my companion's lesson. "Could I make a quick...shoot! What's the word? Ajoutation?" I couldn't think of the word "comment"! It was pretty funny. I still dream in French probably once or twice a week. I guess that's what happens with being a French major.

Soon-to-be Madame Taylor

I found out last week that I have officially been accepted into the U's Secondary Education Teaching program for Fall '06/Spring '07! Next fall will be my final semester of real classes (starting at 7:30am everyday--I really hope our baby sleeps through the night!), and then in the spring I will be student teaching. Then after two more Praxis exams, I will be a full-fledged teacher(if I can find a job somewhere)and a college graduate!! I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't get in because it's pretty competitive, and I know that a lot of schools are eliminating French classes and just doing Spanish--how sad! Anyway, I just wanted to share my good news!

What Would I Do Without the Internet?!

So it's been about a week since our internet at home isn't up and running, and I'm going crazy without it! We decided to switch dial-up companies inorder to get more Delta Skymiles, but in the process of doing so, it kind of messed things up. Chris called the PeoplePC people, and they're sending us something that will hopefully make everything better. I guess I just didn't realize how much I use and need the internet every day of my life! Usually I'll just use the computers at school (that's where I am now), but this past week was Spring Break, so that didn't work. I didn't rely on the internet five years ago when I started college nearly as much as I do now. I'm taking one completely online class, and then four other classes of mine use WebCT. Teachers and fellow group members rely on me to email assignments and information all the time. I'm going crazy without my slow dial-up connection!!

Yea for bellies!

Today after my last class two girls came up to me and asked if I was pregnant. That's a pretty daring question to ask if you're not sure. Luckily I'm not gaining weight for nothing, and I was able to tell them that I really was. I'm just excited that people who don't know that I am pregnant can start to tell just by looking at me! I used to feel like I was just getting fatter, but now it's beginning to look like a little pregnant belly!

Just as a side note, one of the girls that asked is also pregnant, but I didn't know how far along. She's way huge, and as I found out, she is only four weeks ahead of me; however, this could be because it's not her first child. Who knows, maybe I'll suddenly become huge in the next four weeks (let's hope not).

And as another side note, I think I felt the baby move again today! This pregnancy thing is pretty fun!

The Amazing World of Crepes!

This morning I decided to make crepes for breakfast. Whoever invented crepes was a very smart person! You can literally put anything on them. This morning we used Nutella, sugar, and jelly (not all on one crepe obviously). On Wednesday we ate crepes filled with spinich, ricotta cheese and chicken at a restaurant in Utah county. You can use fresh fruit, applesauce, ham, cheese...pretty much you can use absoluetly anything and everything! So give it a try with your favorite toppings! Bon apetit!

My Boyfriend the Psychic

So pretty much I think Chris can read my mind. It's starting to freak me out! Saturday night while I was at work, I thought to myself how cool it would be if Chris surprised me with that amazing-looking pizza from Pizza Hut that I've been drooling over lately (we have the picture of it with coupons posted on our fridge...ummm, it looks sooo good!). Well, I came home, and no, he didn't order it (I've said that we're not allowed to eat out anymore because we've been doing it too much lately), but he did say, "you know, I thought about ordering that pizza for you to surprise you when you came home." Yikes!

That same night I came home from work feeling pretty sick (my body ached and I was extremely tired). In my mind I thought, "maybe I should eat some scrambled eggs." Litteraly seconds later, Chris asks, "Do you want me to make you some eggs?" This incident happened just one or two minutes after the first incident!

And once again just a few hours later (the next morning), we were laying in bed, and I thought to myself, "I wonder what ever happened to that annoying woodpecker that used to interrupt our sleeping all the time." Again, Chris read my mind, and said the same thing using the exact same words! It's really starting to freak me out because this happens all the time! These three examples happened within 10 hours of each other. It's really kind of funny how he is constantly vocalizing exactly what I'm thinking word for word. He knows me so well! It's a good thing I don't have anything to hide from him because apparently I'm as transparent as glass!

A Good Birthday Present

Yesterday Christopher turned old...24 years old to be exact. We are now both considered to be in our mid-twenties. As a birthday present, we got a free ultrasound. Okay, it wasn't free because it was his birthday; it was free because we're participating in study at LDS Hospital. It's a study testing if taking extra vitamin C and E will help lessen the chances of having high blood pressure during pregnancy (HELPS is the acronym). I have to go next week to get my blood taken, and then two more times throughout my pregnancy. Each time I get a Target gift card to compensate. Anyway, the other perk was that we got a free ultrasound. We got to see our baby for the first time ever and it was pretty amazing! Our baby had the hiccups the whole time we were watching. It was shy and wouldn't turn around, so we just saw its back. The lady said that it's about 7 cm long right now from head to bum and it's heart rate was around 180. Its little legs were so tiny and curled up. According to its size and everything right now, they said that my due date looked closer to July 30th than August 1st. To say the least, it was pretty amazing to see! There really is a little human being growing inside me! Probably the first week in March we'll have another ultrasound and we'll hopefully get to find out the sex if the baby cooperates. It'll be nice to not have to call the baby "it" anymore!

My Christmas Vacation

Well, I guess I should tell you all about our cruise to Mexico. Saturday morning (Dec. 31st) we drove down to Longbeach, California. It was a long drive, so we didn't do anything exciting for New Year's Eve; we all went to bed around 9pm. The next day we got on our boat, the Carnival Pride and the first thing we did practically was eat. The rest of the week wasn't much different. I'm trying to be a good pregnant lady and eat only good things in good portions (no, I'm not eating for two; I'm eating for me and a very small person inside my tummy), but it was hard because they had pizza and icecream available 24 hours a day!! That's my kind of heaven! For dinner we were scheduled to eat at 8:15--a little too late for my likings; I like to eat around 5:30 or 6pm. Our waiters gave us so much food--often food we didn't even ask for. Tons of food was wasted, and I felt bad for all the poor Mexicans we saw in their one-room huts who would have loved to eat our leftovers.

We stopped first in Puerto Vallarta where we went on a hike. The next day we went deep sea fishing in Mazatlan. I got so sea sick on that little boat that I have been scarred for life! It was a 6 1/2 hour fishing trip, and I started throwing up within the first half hour! It was awful! The cool part of that trip was that we caught a Marlin which was 8 ft. 3 in. and weighed 153 lbs. The next day we went to Cabo San Lucas where we spent the afternoon souvenir shopping. We got a really good deal (we think) on a hammock.

The rest of the time we just relaxed and hung out. We got off the boat last Sunday and spent the day driving back arriving in Bountiful around 12:45am. It was a nice break from work and school. It was hard going back to reality the next day as the semester started up again.

I Have the Sweetest Hubby!

Tuesday was my first real day of school (I have only one class on Monday nights). I have classes from 9:10am to 3:20pm. I took the bus home, stopped by Mom and Dad's house to eat some yummy scrambled eggs, and then went to work till 10pm. By the end of the day I was exhausted mostly because I haven't gotten into the groove of school yet. Chris also had a long day. He baked at Great Harvest from way too early in the am (I think he goes in at 4am) till 11 or 12. Then he had to go work at InstaCare a few hours later until 9pm. When I came home from work, a beautiful bouquet of flowers were waiting for me on the kitchen counter with a handwritten note that said, "I just want to say that I love you!" What a cute boyfriend I have!

Here we go again!

So somehow taking 21 credits last fall wasn't so bad. I got the best grades ever! My theory is that once you have a lot to think about, adding just a little bit more isn't such a big deal. For example, Chris only had one online class last semester. This class wasn't a priority on his list of things to do. By the week before the final exam, he still hadn't taken his midterm exam! I would think that managing one class would be easier than mananging seven, but no, or at least in my experience, it was not the case for me. So I'm going to try it again. I haven't decided yet exactly, but I will be taking somewhere around 20 credits. I hope this semester goes as smoothly as last semester!

I'm Going to Be a Mommy!

So yesterday I went to my first doctors appointment at the Avenues Women's Center. I did all the usual stuff: pee in a cup, get weighed, and change into a lovely paper gown. I guess Cyndi didn't realize I was her next patient because when she opened the door and saw us she said to another lady in the hall, "Oh my gosh, it's the babysitter's daughter!" At first I thought it might be weird to have her looking at me in such a personal way, but I just tried to ignore that and listen to her blab (she sure does like to talk!). It was also wonderful that she knew our family's medical history so well.

I was told that I'm actually nine weeks along--one week further that I had thought. The due date they gave me was August 1st: Switzerland's national holiday. The coolest part of the visit was that we were able to listen to our baby's heart beat. Up until now it really hasn't felt like I'm really pregnant; I just feel like my tummy is getting fat and occasionally I feel like I need to throw up. After hearing its heart beat, it's beginning to feel more real. What a crazy thing that a little human being is growing inside my tummy!

Hmm...a certain person should call me...

So tonight I tried to call Rachael, but she didn't even have the decency to answer her phone! If she wants to hear some exciting news, she needs to call me back sometime between now and August! Happy birthday Joseph Smith!

Christopher is back!

After a long absence from the blogging world, Chris is back! However, he had to create a new blog because he couldn't remember his user-name and password. His new blogs can be found at www.topherbillyboy.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Mission Calls

As many of you know, I am the head cheerleader for sending out missionaries. I feel sorry for those who never get the chance to experience so many things that others will never completely understand unless they become missionaries themsleves. I have been home almost two years and I still think about the people and lessons I learned on a daily basis. It was such an amazing gift to be able to go serve the Lord all day every day for 18 months. Besides the wonderful joy of helping others come unto Christ, a mission prepares you to work hard in school, to start a career, to become a good spouse and parent, etc.

Just last week I found out that one of my ex-coworkers has decided to not go on a mission. It broke my heart because I know that he is a good kid, but at the same time, if you don't go into it full-hearted, then it's best that he not go at all. I just feel sad for him because of all the wonderufl experiences he's going to miss out on. Who knows, maybe he'll pull a Derek: he will be turning 24 next week and he just left on his mission this year.

Last week I was invited to go see Gregalo (Greg Sanderson--Mary's ex-boyfriend and my ex-coworker) open his mission call. I was touched that he invited Chris and I. He has become like what I imagine a little brother would be like: likable, but really obnoxious at the same time as he knows all the right ways to push my buttons! Anyway, Chris, Mary, and I went over to his house as did another 30 of his friends to watch him open his mission call. He is going to the Riverside California mission (I guessed California, so I won $4!). A mission will be great for him, and I think he'll do a great job.

My sister-in-law Lara is planning on a mission too. When she announced that she wanted to go, I was extatic! She will make a wonderful missionary. She has already been doing a great job here at home; one of her good friends Zeb, who is pretty much part of the family already, will be baptized this Saturday morning! Last night she opened her mission call. She will be going to the Canada Alberta mission. How exciting! I just hope all the elders don't fall in love with her. She is absolutely gorgeous and super friendly.

Sometimes I get a little passionate about this sort of thing, but seriously, if any of you are thinking about it, just do it! You won't regret it!

The Spiders Go Marching Two By Two...

So it's finally starting to really feel like fall. The leaves have all fallen from our trees and I get to wear sweaters everday! I love sweater weather!! The one thing I don't like is the fact that all the bugs are trying to find refuge from the cold and come inside our house! We've already had a mouse problem. We set out tons of traps and poison, but our mice are so smart and moved the poison blocks around and ate all the peanut butter off the traps withouth setting them off. We're finally seeing fewer of those annoying devil bugs, aka boxelder bugs. I am scared to walk around the house barefoot because their dead bodies are all over, and live ones are still flying around. But the absolute worst thing in the world are the spiders! Last Saturday we cleaned up our house (we've been so busy that cleaning is the last thing we want to do), and the next day I found an enormous spider on my wall! Luckily I have a wonderful husband who doesn't mind killing spiders for me, so he got rid of it. The next day, there was another nasty one in our big bathtub! When I found it, Chris was at work, and we're out of bug spray that kills them from a distance (that's my favorite way to kill them!), so I just left him there. While I was at school later that afternoon I called Chris to have him kill it, but it had disapeared! Luckily when we got home that night he was back in the tub where I had seen him the first time (or was it just another spider and the original is on the loose somewhere in my closet?!) so Chris killed it. Then this morning I got up and found another big spider in the bathtub and a second one on the wall! Don't they know that they are in our house and they don't belong?! I'm really getting tired of all these creatures moving in! Grrrr.... I know all dogs go to heaven, but I hope that spiders go elsewhere!

Too much on my plate?

Ok, so I'm sitting here at the U's Marriott Library thinking about maybe starting my midterm paper I have to write that's due at midnight, but I just don't want to do it. I feel like my entire life is homework, and as soon as I finish one project or paper, I have a whole stack more waiting to get done. I'm taking 21 credits, working 10ish hours a week, and somehow I'm still alive! We're more than half way done with the semester; in fact, we only have about five more weeks to go! If I can make it through to the end, my reward is a nice relaxing cruise to Mexico in January. We're going with Chris' family as a last Taylor family fling before Lara goes on her mission. Anyway, I think I'll survive. Actually, my classes aren't incredibly difficult. Come to think of it, my last terribly difficult class I had was my first semester in Virginia: Biology at 8:00am. I guess I'm doing alright now because I'm into my major and enjoy all my classes.

Next semester will be another heavy load: 19 credits. However, I will be taking two telecourses and one online course, two of my other courses are only once a week, and then I just have two others twice a week. That means that I only have to go to campus Tuesday, Wednesday evening, and Thursday. It sounds like a fabulous schedule to me! My plan is to finish all my classes by the end of next fall semester, and then in the spring I will be doing my student teaching (that is if I get into the teaching program). So that's the plan! Just call me Wonder Woman!

An Unexpected Meeting

So today I was coming out of the Marriott Library after leaving my last class of the day, and as I got to the doors, I saw a girl I thought I recognized sitting on a chair talking on her cell phone. I didn't want to stare, but I wanted to know if it was her. She looked up, stared at me for a second, and then smiled. It was my old friend Andrea Campbell from Mueller Park Jr. High--you know, the one with the huge smile. I haven't seen her since I randomly ran into her when Ditka played at that one place quite awhile ago. The weird part of it was that just two nights ago I had a dream about her. I told her that today, and she said that she was just thinking about me yesterday. How weird is that! Kinda spooky! We couldn't talk long because she was on the phone and I had to go catch my bus, but it was cool to run into her.

I'm the Worst Blogger in the World!

So, that last post was written by Mary, just so you know. I thought that I should probably blog since I haven't done it in forever! I would do it more often, but I just don't think about it. I don't even write in my journal as much as I should either. So here's my excuse: I'm taking 21 credits at the U and my life consists of homework and sleep. Only 2 1/2 more months and then it'll be all over!

I guess I could blog about all the crazies I meet on the bus. The other day there was a guy who claimed to have met this random girl in a vision he had, and during his vision he recited a poem to her. He asked if she remembered it and then continued to recite it all over again; I was pretty impressed to see a guy so high on something recite a super long poem! Anyway, it was pretty funny! Another time a homeless looking man sat next to me on the 55. Apparently he has died and come back to life 27 times thanks to Jesus! Another time a drunk couple stood up at the front of the bus and yelled out to everyone, "We're gettin' out of this place! We're going to Arizona! We've had enough of those crazy mean Mormons!" I kind of feel bad for these kind of people, but at the same time, it makes for an entertaining bus ride!

In other news, my French-Teaching major that I declared last winter apparently doesn't exist anymore as I found out from a guy in some of my classes. I thought it was weird that nobody from the school bothered to tell me. I went and talked with my advisor, and it's actually better that I am now just a plain French major...this way, I only have three more classes to finish my major! But I won't be graduating till Spring of '07 because I'll have to go through the teaching program. Anyway, the end is in sight and I'm happy!

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll try to be a better blogger. At least I'm not as bad as my boyfriend; he's only blogged once!

my idol

hi my name is Camilla Taylor and my favorite sister is Mary Elizabeth Cleverly. She is with out a doubt the prettiest girl I have ever met or even seen (Anna Jo is a close second) and she is pretty funny and awesome. I wish I could be more like her.

The Mary Phenomenon

Occasionally I have dreams that I am at the mall shopping and I have an unlimited budget and in every store I enter, everything fits me perfectly and is cute. Ahh...I love those dreams. Then I wake up and realize that no, I don't have unlimited funds, and no, not everything out there is going to be cute on me.

This evening I decided to go up to Laton Hills Mall since Chris was at work till 10pm. Even if I don't intend on buying anything, I do enjoy taking outfits to the dressing rooms to try them on, but tonight I went through a dozen stores and didn't find one single thing that made me want to go try it on. All the stuff that looked cute was way too expensive;I didn't try them on because I didn't want to fall in love with it and then be depressed when I would have to put it back on the rack.

So basically I have a testimony of what I like to call "The Mary Phenomenon." No matter where or when I go shopping, as long as I have Mary with me, I am guarenteed to find something that's cute and cheap. I don't understand why, but that's how it always is. It's very strange!

We are the Trivial Pursuit Champions! (almost)

So last night we had a Great Harvest party. We went out to eat at Chili's on 4th South in Salt Lake and then were planning on playing volleyball at our house afterwords. By the time we got done eating, however, it was too dark to play, so we decided to just go play games chez nous. We gave everyone our address and a bunch of people said they'd come, though by the time we got there, everyone but Jeff and Emily had pooped out on us. Come on people, if you really don't want to come, you can just say "no" and we won't be offended.

Anyway, a bit later Joe and Mandy came and so we decided to play Trivial Puruit-Pop Culture. Normally when we play this with Mary and Anna, we all cheat like crazy because it's pretty tough, but last night we were good and played by the rules (for the most part). There were three teams consisting of the three couples. Jeff and Emily know everything so they were the expected winners, no contest. One of the questions we got was "What was the name of Uncle Jesse's band on Full House?" Do you guys know it? Easy one, huh! They were all impressed at how quickly the answer came flying out of my mouth! I guess a childhood spent watching Full House can be a good thing! Chris and I played very well and made for some good competition for Jeff and Emily. Both teams were at the "For the Win!" (said in a very enthusiastic gameshow host voice) question and kept getting stumped. We knew the answer for one of their questions, but we had to know our own. The question was something like this: "What was the name of the boy Angela Chase was in love with on the TV series, My So-Called Life?" I know that a small handful of you would be able to spit out the answer as fast as I did with the Full House one, and usually I would be able to as well, but my mind for some reason was completely blank! On our winning question that I should know, I blew it! How sad is that! We were so close to winning! Oh well.

For those of you wondering the answers to those two questions, Uncle Jesse's band is called The Rippers, and Angela Chase was in love with Jordan Catalano.