Taylor Tales

Homecoming 2011

2011-10-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

Marissa went to homecoming with Gordon Whitaker from Kanosh. Here she is trying to pin on the bootineer. Mom ended up helping her.

Here is Gordon putting on the corsage. Notice Lacey in the background. She was really enjoying the show.
Here is our beautiful Marissa. The best part about her dress is that I bought if off ksl.com for only $9. What a bargain. She looked gorgeous in it.

Here they are posing for one of many pictures.

Going out to the whitakermobile.

Mock Crash

2011-05-06T20:29:00.001-07:00

WARNING: Don't read on if you are sensitive to blood!!!!
MHS participated in an "Every 15 minutes" program to represent that every 15 minutes a teenager is killed in an alcohol related accident. Every 15 minutes a student died and walked around the school as dead. This is Marissa and Deric as walking dead.

Meagan was in a mock crash with a drunk driver accident. She was a pedestrian that was hit while crossing the road. She "died" at the scene.

She really is ok. I had her smile so we had at least one picture that wasn't sad.

Up close!

The 1st officer on scene checking for a pulse.

Putting the blanket over her. It was 80 degrees today.

"marking" her with a black band

Putting her in the bodybag.

loading her in the mortician's van

Meagan had a fun time doing the mock!!! Glad it was a fake!!!

Millard Softball

2011-04-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

Meagan is playing on the Millard softball team. She plays left field and is a great outfielder. Here is Meagan at her last game catching a fly ball. Here, she is digging a grounder. She threw it to third and made the out!

Marissa's Homecoming Date

2010-10-10T19:46:00.001-07:00

Marissa had her first date. Pretty good to turn 16 on Monday and have your first date the next Saturday. She went to homecoming with Deric Searle. Here is Deric coming to pick her up. Here is our princess, Marissa, in her dress. She looked so beautiful!!

I made them pose for lots of pictures. They looked so cute together and matched perfectly!

This is Marissa writing! My mom wanted me to tell a little about homecoming. It was so much fun. For our date, we went rollerskating with 4 other couples in Richfield. Then my date (which I had the best date ever, by they way) came and picked me up. My mom took lots of pictures. Than we had dinner at Sherilyn Rassmassen's house. It was so yummy. After that, we went to the dance and it was so much fun. All in all I had a blast!!!!

Marissa got asked to Homecoming!!

2010-09-23T21:11:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my daughter is old enough to date. Marissa turns 16 on Oct. 4th and Homecoming this year is October 9th. She got lucky because it is usually in September. She got asked today by Deric Searle. She had to go all over the school to different places to get different clues. Then she unscrambled them. These clues say "Wood" and "Ewe" and she had to go to wood shop and the ag room to find them.

These ones say "go" and "tutu". These sent her to the drivers ed room and the dance studio.

"Homecoming" was waiting at home for her.

These say "width" "Derrick" "Cereal". These sent her to math class and seminary. I gave her the cereal box when she woke up.

She is answering him by putting swedish fish and pictures of fish all over his bedroom. Then there will be 1 live fish with a note that says, "If fishes were wishes, I'd only need one!!! To wish that Homecoming will be lots of fun!!!"

I will blog pictures of the date when it gets here!!! stay tuned.......

My brother, Spencer

2010-08-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the 4th anniversary of my brothers death. Spencer Stanley Koyle was an awesome brother, son, husband, father, and friend. I don't think there is a person that met Spencer that didn't like him. He had a contagious smile and a great sense of humor. I think he is still showing that sense of humor from heaven. His wife, Nichole, is such a strong woman and a great example to me. I know he is a proud father as he watches his children from heaven. Spencer, we love and miss you!!!

More waterfalls in Iceland

2010-07-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

This was a place my mom called Hobbit vallleyBeautiful waterfalls everywhere. This waterfall is the 2nd tallest waterfall in Iceland.

There was volcanic ash in the air the day we seen this waterfall, so that is why I have a mask on.

You could walk behind this waterfall.

Here I am behind it. Everything was so green.

Snieffleness Iceland

2010-06-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

We found this unmarked blowhole. Notice the rainbow. Sitting on the coast.

Rock formation on coastline.

There is only one work for Iceland - BEAUTIFUL!!!! Sister Koyle and Sharon

Look at the blue, blue ocean.

Here we are standing by a rock viking statue. This is a slit in the rock caused from the earth shifting. It was a long hike up to it, but Travis and my mom did it. Another beautiful waterfall.

And another one.

The big glacier in the back is the glacier that "Journey to the Center of the earth" was about. The farmers wrap their hay in these white bags to keep the moisture off. I thought they looked like giant marshmellows.

We stopped at this one place and seen a bunch of seals.

Here is another one. Maybe it's the same one, just different view. We will pretend its a different one.

Barnafoss Iceland

2010-06-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Iceland is full of beautiful waterfalls!!!

I love how blue the water is.

Iceland: the Golden Circle

2010-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is the Kerith crater that was formed from an explosion from lava going over a pool of cool water. The water was a pretty bluish green color. This is a lawn mower here in Iceland. Notice it has no wheels. It just skids along the grass. You hold on to a rope and lower it down the hill, then pull it back up. Travis thought this was pretty interesting.

There are lots of huge lava rock in Iceland.

This is at pingvallir, which is a place where the early settlers met to make executive decisions for the country. The path we are on is the mid-Atlantic ridge, where Europe and America were at one time joined. Iceland is the only country that has land on the ridge. It's not often you can be stepping on two continents at the same time.

This is one of many cool waterfalls. It is named Laxifoss.
This is the strokkur geyser. It is the 4th largest geyser in the world, coming in right after Old Faithful. It errupts every 5 to 8 minutes. Here is Travis and my mom.

Strokkur, just starting to erupt.

These waterfalls are called gullfoss. They were beautiful.

Here is Sharon, with her mom and dad, and gullfoss in the back.

Bon Voyage - Day 1 of cruise

2010-05-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is our ship -the Carnival Elation. Just as we were about to board the ship. We were so excited!We explored the boat after we boarded, so we could find our way around. Bon Voyage - we had just set sail!

Day 2- At Sea

2010-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

Our 2nd day on the ship was called an "at sea" day, meaning we were floating around in the ocean. There were many things for the kids to do, but their very favorite was swimming in the pool and the twister water slide. Lacey was too small for the slide, but she loved the pool.

Marissa enjoyed the hot tub.

Even Travis liked the slide.

Cruise Dress-up Night

2010-05-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Our 2nd night on the ship, it was a formal dining night. Here we are at dinner. Every night at dinner, Lacey would get so tired. This night, she couldn't stay awake any longer. We had only been seated for 10 minutes.

What a bunch of good lookin' kids!!!!

After our formal dinner.

Catalina Island

2010-05-03T17:48:00.001-07:00

Day 3 of our cruise was spent at Catalina Island. We rented golf carts and toured the island. TyLynn and Wyatt were "thrilled" to "have to " ride with mom. This is one stop on our golf cart tour where it was a perfect picture place with our ship in the background. Here is our family on the shore at Catalina Island.

Meagan buried Lacey and Wyatt in the sand on the beach.

The kids loved playing in the ocean looking for seashells.

"Look Daddy, I found a shell"

Lacey's Birthday

2010-05-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Lacey celebrated her 5th birthday while we were on the cruise. She opened some of her presents in the morning. Then she opened the rest at dinner that night.

Some of the waiters and waitresses sang Happy Birthday to her that night and gave her a piece of apple pie with a candle in it.

Not everyone gets to celebrate a birthday on a cruise.

Blow Hole in Mexico

2010-05-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Our last port was in Ensenada, Mexico. We spent the morning shopping and bartering in the stores downtown. We then took a tour to El Bulforadora, which is a blow hole. Every few minutes the blow hole would blow water into the air. It was pretty cool and even soaked us a few times.

Last night on ship

2010-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

Our last night on the ship, we took lots of pictures of people we met. This is the magician on the ship. He would come to our dining table every night and show us more tricks. He even taught the kids how to do some magic. This is our waiter, Arnold, from the Phillipines. He greeted us by name everytime he saw us on the ship.

This is our other waiter, Godfrey, from St. Vincent. They treated us so great at dinner time.

Every night, when we would get back to our rooms after dinner, there would be towel animals waiting for us. This is Marissa and Meagan on the first night. They named the towel animals every night.

After naming the towel animals every night, making an fuss, and taking pictures, they put them in the closet. On the last night, they brought them all out and had a party with all their animals.

Coronada Beach (last day of vacation)

2010-05-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

When we got off the shop we spent the day at the beach. The water was freezing cold, but the kids still had fun jumping the waves and playing in the water.
This is Meagan, TyLynn, Travis, and Lacey jumping the waves. Here is Marissa catching some sun.

Lacey loved running from the waves.

Wyatt playing in the water.

Marissa and Meagan jumping the waves.

Kids say the funniest things

2010-03-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

Kids say the funniest things sometimes. At Wyatt's parent- teacher conference we were discussing the S, instead of a H he received in uses self control. I said that he needed to practice that at home also. Wyatt responded, "If I had a brother, it would be easier to have self-control" He thinks that his sisters cause him to lose his temper. I told him that wasn't going to happen, so just get use to it!
We were cleaning the house today. Lacey came over to me and said, "My heart is breaking" After asking why, she responded, "because of all this hard work I'm doing" Cleaning her bedroom was such a chore!!! Later, she made up a song and was singing about how hard is was to work, but we have to do it!

Leo the Lion

2010-02-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

Leo the Lion, the mascot for the Real soccer team made a visit to Fillmore last week. He brought the $80,000 championship trophy with him. They kids had fun getting his autograph.

New Year Resolution

2010-01-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

One of our new years resolutions was to work on our food storage. Macey's was having a great sale last week, so we went up and bought a TON of food storage. This is most of our Maceys trip purchases. Then we had a family project of putting some of it in buckets and reorganizing our existing food storage room. It looks so nice on the shelves and feels so good when we look at it.

Tubing Fun!

2010-01-01T19:16:00.001-08:00

The kids have had a couple of fun tubing trips this holiday season. Their favorite place is Harmon's hill in Holden. It is huge hill and they always come home with injuries.
Marissa and Wyatt at Harmon's hill. The othe place they go tubing is at black rock. Here is Wyatt catching some air.

Marissa and Wyatt catching air.

A family train getting ready to go down the hill.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T19:13:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve was so fun this year. Since I don't know how to upload the pictures in the right order, we will start at the end of the evening and go backwards.
We acted out the story of Christ's birth. Here you see Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus. Then we have the shepherds.

And the wise men bringing their gifts.

Here are Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, and the donkey leaving Jeruselem, with their gold, frankenscense, and myrh.

This is Lacey in her new dress. She doesn't like anyone to say she is cute, so we had to keep saying, "You look cool". She won't wear certain clothes she has because she says, "Someone might say I'm cute." Although she did look absolutely darling.

Here is TyLynn trying to convince Santa that she really has been a good girl this year.

Here is Lacey telling Santa she wants a princess castle.

Wyatt is trying to decide whether he has been good this year.

The evening started off with the annual Primart Christmas Eve program. Lacey rang bells to a couple of the songs.

Wyatt was a angel. If only he wore the halo all year.

TyLynn's class sang Mary's Lullabye.

Now they are all tucked in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in the heads.

Meagan's birthday

2009-12-15T12:49:00.001-08:00

Meagan turned 14 on December 6th. 14 years ago, I was so excited to have another cute little girl. She was bald until she was almost 2 years old. When she was 5 weeks old, she had to be hospitalized for 1 week because of RSV.
Meagan is a very sweet young lady. She has a special talent dealing with handicapped people. She has been very close to her cousin, Kody, since he came from Russia. She has helped him so much over the years and they have a special bond. Kambree, her other cousin, has angelman's syndrome. Meagan has taken Kambree under her wing and formed a special bond with her also. Kambree loves Meagan and her face lights up the room when she sees Meagan.
Meagan has a funny sense of humor and enjoys making people laugh and have a good time.
We love you Meagan and glad you are in our family!!

Decorating for Christmas

2009-12-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

The kids were very excited about putting up the Christmas Decorations this year. I'm so glad they are getting old enough that they can do it themselves, while I supervise.

Black Friday

2009-12-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

We went to Big Piney, Wyoming for Thanksgiving this year. Travis' brother and sister both live up there. The men were shingeling Dustin's house all weekend. Since Big Piney is in the middle of nowhere, we couldn't do our traditional early morning Black Friday. We had to improvise. We shopped the Black Friday sales online. This is a picture of Zanette and I at 2:30 in the morning shopping on-line. It was fun, but not even close to the fun rush of actually being at the stores.

Puppies everywhere!!

2009-11-24T10:08:00.000-08:00

Shadow, our dog, had 9 puppies yesterday. We have 6 black, 2 chocolate, and 1 golden labs. This is her 2nd batch in 7 months. Poor dog - 17 puppies in 7 months. They are so cute. I've decided that puppies are like babies; they are so cute when they are little and THEN they grow up!!! Here is a picture of the cute little things. By the way - they will be ready to go to good homes in January. Let us know what color you want and we will take extra special care of it, until we gladly hand it over to you. Everyone that has one of the puppies from her last batch seems to be pleased. I'm kind of partial to the chocolate ones.

Aren't they just so cute??

Now leave a comment and tell me which one you want!!! thanks!!!!

Cake!

2009-11-24T09:52:00.001-08:00

Marissa went to a career field day in Richfield last week. They explored different careers in the home ecomonics field. She decorated this cake all by herself and she was so proud of it. I think she did an awesome job. I told her to keep it up so she can make everyone's wedding cake.

Trick or Treat

2009-10-31T19:30:00.001-07:00

Here are our little spooks on Halloween! Wyatt was a ninja, and TyLynn and Lacey were witches. Only TyLynn, Wyatt, and Lacey went trick-or-treating, but the older girls dressed up to hand out candy and then they had a party to attend.

WICKED!!

2009-10-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

We had a sisters extended weekend this past week. Kyle (Shane's wife) invited us all out to Denver to go to the Broadway show "wicked" It was awesome!!! I would highly recommend it to anyone. We were all there, except Suzette.
Here are 4 of my cute sisters after seeing the movie "Stepfather", which was a stupid movie, but we had the theatre to ourselves so we had fun!

Here we are eating Pizza. The man who took the picture obviously didn't have a steady hand.

This is Stacy after she just tried to pass all her liquids through security. It worked in Salt Lake on the flight out, so she decided to try it again. They made her pick and choose what would fit in her baggie and confinscated her hair freeze and bottle of milk. Then she forgot her boarding pass at the security checkpoint. She is a true blonde, but we love her.

Here are all of us at the airport. Our flight was delayed so we spent 2 1/2 hours waiting at the Denver airport.

It was a wonderful weekend and we had a blast being together. I have the best sisters EVER!!

Bunko

2009-10-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

I hosted bunko at my house this month. Everyone dressed up for Halloween. We had a great time!

The Big 15!

2009-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Marissa turned 15 on Sunday! I can't believe my baby is 15. It seems like just yesterday the doctor was announcing "IT'S A GIRL". When I called my mom to tell her we had a girl, her first words were, "Think of all the prom dresses you'll be buying!" At the time it sounded so far off, but now it's only a year away.
Since we tried for so many years to have children, when we found out I was pregnant with Marissa, it was one of the happiest days in my life. She was such a good baby, sleeping through the night starting at 2 weeks old. At one month old, she spent 10 days in Kanosh with my mom while I had my gall bladder out and other complications. She was the first grandchild so everyone spoiled her.
15 years later, she is as beautiful as ever, both inside and out! She has a strong testimony of the gospel. She is a wonderful example to her younger sisters and brother. She is a great friend and has a magnetic personality. She has a great sense of humor and is always saying things to make everyone laugh. We rely on her a lot and we appreciate her tremendously.
She is looking forward to receiving her learners permit soon, so we will let you know when the streets and sidewalks are not safe.
We love you Marissa!!!

Ernie the Eagle

2009-09-29T11:39:00.001-07:00

For the high school football homecoming game, I was Ernie the Eagle. It definetely was a lot different than when I use to be the mascot back in high school (20+ years ago). It was fun, but very hot. Now I have something I can cross off my bucket list.
I didn't have as much energy as some of my family members thought I should have had. They were expecting me to be like the Jazz Bear, jumping fences, sliding down railings, and climbing the goal posts. I thought I did pretty good for a fat, 40 year old, out of shape woman.

Broken Thumb

2009-09-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

TyLynn broke her thumb tonight. She was playing monkey in the middle (keep away) and fell on her thumb with her cousin falling on top of it. It was really misshaped. The doctor had to reset her thumb. She was pretty excited to get a cast. We'll see how long that excitement lasts.
This is the first broken bone we have had in our family. I'd say that is pretty lucky with 5 kids living in the country.

Flag Football

2009-09-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

Wyatt is playing flag football this fall. Here he is running with the ball after the handoff. (white shirt & black pants) He's still running and the other team is frantically trying to pull his belt off, but it just won't come off. I wonder why?

They finally succeeded in pulling it off, but come to find out, Wyatt had tied his belt on instead of just doing the velcro. It was a innocent mistake, because it was their first game. He did run about 35 yards and got a first down, with about 10 yards of it boys pulling on his belt.

Here he is playing defense and pulling the belt off the other team.

Blueberry Pie!

2009-09-14T09:49:00.001-07:00

Marissa made a blueberry pie in mutual. It was as good as it looks, maybe even better. YUMMY!!!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-10T10:56:00.001-07:00

We went camping Friday night until Saturday night and then went back up on Monday to spend the day. We went with Aunt JoAnnn and Brady.

This is TyLynn, Brady, and Wyatt way up on a mountain. It doesn't look like they are too far up, but they are. This picture was taken with the zoom lens, zoomed as much as possible. The boys were looking for snakes and squirrels to shoot with their BB guns.

Everyone loved Aunt JoAnn's laffy taffys, cookies, and pop.

TyLynn

2009-09-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

TyLynn is playing soccer. She is on a team with boys and girls. This is her playing goalie. She doesn't like to play goalie very much.

Marissa's playing H.S. soccer

2009-09-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Marissa is on the high school soccer team this year. She plays on the JV team. She is having fun and enjoying it. Between practice every night and games every Tues. and Thurs., we rarely see her. We do enjoy traveling around and watching her. She is #23.

Silly Girl

2009-09-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Lacey is so silly! She hates her hair curled. This is what her hair looks like when she gets home from preschool every day. Within 5 minutes of entering the house, she wets down her hair. When it dries, it is straight again. She also does this after church every Sunday. She has been doing it after church for about a year. I thought once she started school, she wouldn't do it anymore. I was wrong. A day hasn't gone by yet that her hair stays curly very long after returning home.
This is right after wetting it down.

She is also becoming very independent. The first couple days I was out by the bus to get her off after preschool. The 2nd day, she said to me, "Mom, you don't have to come get me off the bus. You wait inside." O.K. So the next day, I opened the door and stood at the door step. When she came up, her reply was, "MOM, I told you to wait inside. I am big! I don't need you to come out. Tomorrow stay inside and I will do it all by myself!" Wow! My baby telling me she didn't need me. I was crushed. She is so so so silly!

F.H.E.

2009-09-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

For Family Home Evening last night, we went swimming with Nichole and her kids. We had lots of fun. Here is a partial group shot. Here is Wyatt doing a sommersalt off the diving board.

Here is his dive.

And here is Travis doing who knows what off the diving board.

Fun in the Sun

2009-08-25T10:46:00.001-07:00

The Whitaker family invited us to Delta resevior on Saturday to go boating. We had lots of fun riding on the tubes behind the boat. We had a great day until a wind storm caused us to have to pack up. TyLynn lost both of her shoes in the wind and we only found one about 40 yards away.

Here is Meagan with Ashley Whitaker. As you can see Meagan is slipping off. And there she goes!

Here is TyLynn riding with Riley Whitaker and Natalie Wall.

TyLynn is catching some air in this picture.

And off goes TyLynn with Natalie behind her.

This is Wyatt riding with Wyatt and Bridger Fullmer.

This is the best wreck caught on camera the whole day. This is the beginning of the wreck. Check out the facial expressions. Wyatt is on his way out.

This is the second half of the wreck. We love this picture! Wyatt is flying through the air into the water.

Here is Travis and Meagan. Notice how Travis is holding on for dear life and Meagan is posing for the camera.

Now they are both hanging on for dear life.

Here is Lacey. She had fun playing in the sand. This is her standing in her 'bath tub' that she made.

WeAnd last, but not least, here is Marissa.

1st Week of School

2009-08-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

School has started for everyone in the Taylor family. It took Sharon a couple tries to get the pictures to turn out because Travis had changed the shutter speed on the camera. So therefore, these are not the first day of school pictures. They are more like the 3rd day of school pictures. But as long as it's in that first week, it counts, right?
Marissa is a freshman at the same high school I graduated from. I can't believe my baby is a freshman. Yes, I cried. Meagan is an 8th grader and thinks it's great to be the oldest grade at the middle school.

TyLynn is in 4th grade and in the oldest grade at the elementary school.

Wyatt is in the 3rd grade. He doesn't look very happy in this picture because I had just got mad at him about something. (Mean mom!!)

Lacey started preschool this year. She was so excited. All summer long, she would ask if it was school time yet. I can't believe my other baby started school. Yes, in case you were wondering, I did cry.

Here is a group shoot of all our cute children starting school.

Toilet Paper

2009-08-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our house got T.P. ed for the 2nd time in 2 weeks. That's what happens when you have teenagers. While they were cleaning it up, they had some fun. They wrapped Lacey up like a mummy. She thought it was so cool.

Happy Birthday TyLynn

2009-08-18T20:55:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, on Aug. 8th, was TyLynn's 10th birthday. She had a great day and birthday weekend. We went up to Layton and stayed in a hotel with some of our Taylor cousins. On Saturday, which was TyLynn's birthday, we went to Lagoon with our Taylor cousins. We went to church on Sunday with Ben and Shelly's family. Then all of us, except Travis and Marissa (she had soccer practice) bounced back to Lagoon with Nichole, Turner, and Kadence on Monday. This is TyLynn swimming at the pool in the hotel.

Family Reunion

2009-08-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Aug. 2nd, we went to a Koyle family reunion. It was a reunion with my dad's brothers and sister. His brother, Jay Golden, and his family were in charge this year. We had a lot of fun. We had a BBQ, visited, and they had fun activities for the kids.
Kristy helped the younger kids make necklaces. Here is Lacey displaying hers. While the little kids were making their necklaces, the big kids had a dig for quarters in a pile of flour. If you look close in this picture, you can see flour flying off of TyLynn's arm into Kassie's hair.

Thye were all covered in flour. Here is what Wyatt looked like after digging in the flour. He didn't even find a quarter.

The kids rode on an ice block down the hill. Here is TyLynn giving it a try.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-08-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

Our family and the Stotts went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house last Saturday. Since it was the last weekend of the open house, they had 18,000 people go through the temple that day. The kids thought it was really neat. Around every corner, as we saw another picture of Jesus, Lacey would exclaim, "There's Jesus."
This is waiting to go in to the temple. Here are the girls and Kylee posing. They are a little young to realize they are posing like Charlie's Angels.

Angel Moroni was struck by lightning. They will fix him after the open house and before the dedication.

Here is a group shot of our family and the Stotts.

"I can see"

2009-08-04T18:37:00.001-07:00

Marissa got glasses this past weekend. She was so excited to be able to see! Her first comment after we left the eyeglass store was "Wow, the mountains sure are pretty"

The deck the Taylors built

2009-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

We have been working on a HUGE family project for many months now and we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We are building a big deck out our backdoor. It is made out of the trex decking. We only have 3 more boards to screw down and then the railing and we will be done. The kids are waiting patiently to have parties out there. Here are the boys working. Thanks to Dad who did most of the work.

Here are the girls working or at least pretending to work.

Pioneer Day

2009-07-25T21:01:00.001-07:00

July 24th was a big day for us. Kanosh always has a big celebration with activities all day long. We started the day at 6 AM with registration for the 5K run that started at 7 AM. Travis, Meagan, TyLynn, and Wyatt all participated in it. Marissa helped at the finish line. Sharon had to work at the Kanosh Merc. for most of the day, so her and Lacey cheered everyone on as they passed the Merc.
Everyone in the family, except Sharon, was in the parade. She was working and we left the camera home, so hence we have no pictures of the parade. The town provided a big dinner at the park, followed by foot races and games for everyone. (Meagan won her foot race in her age group).
That evening is the big family dance. We took the camera to the dance.
Lacey and her cousin, Sarah, danced every song. They were quite the dancers and had so much fun. Here is Sarah, Lacey, Marissa, TyLynn, Brady, and Shelly all dancing.

This is TyLynn and Brady trying to swing dance.

Here is Meagan dancing with Mr. Blad's nephew. Mr Blad bribed her into dancing with him.

The day was a great day for everyone and filled with lots of fun.

Swimming lessons

2009-07-14T15:48:00.001-07:00

TyLynn, Wyatt, and Lacey took swimming lessons the last 2 weeks. They had lots of fun and learned a lot.
Here is Lacey at her lesson.
TyLynn could swim the whole length of the pool when she was done with her lessons.

Here is Wyatt in the middle of a dive. He could swim the width of the pool when he was finished with his lessons.

Seven Things

2009-07-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

My sister, Suzette, tagged me. Since she thinks I'm excited about it, I won't let her down. 7 things about me that most people probably don't know:
1- I have never had a cavity! I even had braces for 4 years and made it through without a cavity.
2- I ran for student body secretary at Utah State University when I was going to school there. I didn't win and I still can't believe I had the guts to do it.
3- I have been to 39 of the 50 states.
4- I have been kissed by Peter Brady (Christopher Knight) from the Brady Bunch. When I was in high school, he came and talked at our school. After the program, I got my picture taken with him and he kissed me on the cheek. I'm a big fan of the Brady Bunch.
5-I sat in President Ronald Reagan's limo. When we lived in Virginia, when we were little kids, a man in our ward was a secret service agent. He took us to see the President's limos and let us get in and stick our heads out of the sun roof.
6-I read an editorial on KSL television. In high school, I entered a essay contest that they were sponsoring. I won the contest so therefore, I got to read my essay on T.V.
7-I am facinated with magic. I love watching magic tricks. When I was a little girl, I would perform magic shows in my garage and charge people to come to my magic show.

I now tag Julie, Sally, and Karen!!!! Maybe this will make Julie and Sally update their blog!

BIG SNAKE!

2009-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Guess what we found in our driveway? You guessed it-A BIG SNAKE!!! It was 5 feet long. You would think that girls would be scared of snakes, like their mom, but not my girls! As you can see, they loved playing with it. By the way, it is dead.

4th of July

2009-07-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Logan, at Travis' sister, Zanette's home. Most of Travis' family was there. We had a great time! We went to a parade, went to a shooting range, went go-carting, watched fireworks, and had a great time with cousins!
This is right before the parade. These are pictures of go-carting!

Family Pictures

2009-07-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, Travis' family was able to get some family pictures. This is Travis' mom and dad and most of their grandchildren. This is Travis' family. His mom and dad, Dustin, Travis, Zanette, Kindra, and Nichole. It was the first time they had all been together in 8 years.

This is most of the Taylor family. We were missing 3 in-laws and 4 grandchildren.

Down & Derby

2009-07-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

Wyatt became a cub scout in May and his first pack meeting was the pinewood derby. Travis could have been on the movie "Down & Derby". He really got into helping Wyatt make his car fast, sanding the wheel bearings and wheels. In fact, everyone in the family helped him. Wyatt came in 3rd place out of 10 in his wolf den. Not too bad for his first derby.
Here is Wyatt and his car, Silver Flame. (There is a silver flame on the front)

Here is Silver Flame winning this heat.

Wyatt also received his bobcat award at this pack meeting. This is him trying to pin the pin on mom. Good Job Wyatt!

Wyatt's baseball

2009-06-28T21:02:00.001-07:00

Wyatt played coach pitch baseball this year and really did a great job and had lots of fun. He played 2nd base and got some good outs. This is him at bat.

And he jumps in to home plate. HE'S SAFE!!!!

Crazy Meagan

2009-06-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Meagan can be pretty silly and crazy sometimes. She keeps us laughing. This is her lastest silly moment. She is showing her muscles(or lack of) LOL! We love you Meagan!

End of School

2009-06-28T19:03:00.001-07:00

School ended on May 21st. Here are a few pictures taken the last day of school.

This is TyLynn and her 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Child.
This is Wyatt and his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Monroe.

TyLynn set a goal at the beginning of the year to have 100% attendance at school. She accomplished her goal. This is her with her certificate.

Marissa graduated from Middle School this year. The school does a big graduation exercise and gives them diplomas. Watch out- Marissa is on her way to high school!!!!

Girls Camp

2009-06-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Girls Camp was June 16-19 up at Tuschar campground in Beaver. Sharon was the stake camp director. Marissa was a 3rd year and Meagan was a 2nd year. The theme was B.U.G.S. (Building Upon Gospel Standards) A highlight of girls camp was having Julie Beck (The general Relief Society president) come speak to us at the beginning of camp.

4-wheeler ride

2009-06-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to figure out how to do this blogging thing, so actually this picture should be at the end. While Sharon was in Idaho helping Suzette with the new baby, Travis took the kids on a 4-wheeler ride over by Marysville. These are some pictures from the ride.

Great Brain Project in 3rd Grade!!!

TyLynn did her great brain project on Iceland. Thanks grandma Koyle for sending information to help her.

Spring Activities for our Family

2009-06-11T19:31:00.001-07:00

Wyatt had a birthday party for his 8th birthday. We were suppose to go swimming for his party, but the pool was closed that day so we had a party at the park next to the pool.

Lacey celebrated her 4th birthday. She had a doll cake that mom made. TyLynn did really good at piano lessons this spring.

Marissa played soccer on a boy/girl team. She is going to play on the high school soccer team this fall.

Meagan played on a school basketball team and was a very aggressive player.

Orlando

2009-06-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

Travis had a convention for work in Orlando so I went with him. Thanks to Stacy and Nichole for tending the kids while we were gone. While he was at his meetings, his boss' wife and I went to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. As part of the convention we went to Sea World. After the convention, all 4 of us went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We had a great time spending some time together.

Baptism

2009-06-10T20:39:00.001-07:00

This is Wyatt and his cousin, Turner, in their matching suits.

This is Wyatt with his cousin, MeShell. She got baptized the day before Wyatt.

Wyatt was baptized on May 3. We had a big family dinner after to celebrate. We are proud of his decision to be baptized. He is now a cub scout and has already earned his bobcat.

Maggie

2009-06-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

Our dog, Shadow, who isn't much more than a puppy herself had 8 puppies in April. The kids decided that we were keeping the runt and named her Maggie.

Lacey loves Maggie and can't leave her alone. First thing in the morning, she is out playing with Maggie and plays with her all day. Poor dog! She pushes her in the stroller, rides her bike with her, hugs her constantly, etc.

We still have a couple left if anyone wants a puppy!

I'm blogging

2009-06-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have been such a blog stalker. I jump from blog to blog to blog, so I decided to create my own blog where I could put all the blogs I like to look at in one place. Plus I figured it would be like journaling. Very justifiable! Right?