Thanksgiving Weekend Playtime

Posted on January 22, 2014 by My Taylor Tales

The gang at Brighton on a beautiful day – minus Michelle & Aub at home ‘slaving’ away.. (Wyatt and Lelu in the helmets)

It’s a problem when you wait almost 2 months to write about stuff. I will most likely forget something. This year for Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to have Michelle & Maruan, Aub, Jeff, Christina and their boys. The day before, however, on Wednesday didn’t quite go as well as I usually like it too. I ruined the first set of rolls that I made, then the next batch just didn’t quite raise, so the rolls were pretty much a bust for our meal and then Aub’s flight was VERY delayed and a nightmare of traffic at the airport.

Thursday morning shined anew and we had plenty to be grateful for:

1. The turkey got put in bright and early

2. We went skiing. Christina skied for the first time in eight years and didn’t fall down once – neither did I. That’s a big deal. We rocked it!!

3. Michelle and Aub prepared all the veggies and peeled the potatoes while we were gone.

The adult table with an Ari photo bomb

The table of kiddos…poor Landon & Lelu. They are almost adults

4. The food was awesome – except the rolls…. yet no one complained that the rolls sucked.

I think this is Lelu’s plate so not all food groups are represented, but you get the idea..

5. i dragged everyone to see “The Book Thief”, which I absolutely loved (in my top ten favorite books) and no one else did because it’s kind of a downer story — even though the main character triumphs in the end. I’m grateful they humored me.

6. On Friday, it was fairly nice weather and we all walked to the park. We played baseball & soccer. Aside from B pulling some kind of toe/foot muscle, it was a ton of fun!

a little soccer..

An electronic game at the park, that would be Michelle diving for the button, And the little kids just hanging around..

a friendly baseball game, with little to no bad sportsmanship from unnamed players..

Lucky little Ari got a ‘massage’ from uncle Maruan

The brothers Taylor settle in for a hold-your-tummy-long-winters-nap.

7. This is the last Thanksgiving without Master D. He had 3 meals that day. So much gratitude for the people of New York!

8. I have a nearly perfect life….just the right amount of imperfection.. for me… and it’s enough. For that I am pretty dang happy!

12 Reasons I Love TT

Posted on November 24, 2013 by My Taylor Tales

1. He is hilarious and makes me laugh at least once every day.

2. He is a right fighter – do not wrongly accuse him of anything because he will not let it go.

3. He has crazy endurance and can go and go and go – running, biking, playing…

4. He pays very close attention to his hygiene, hair, style etc.

5. His two different color eyes totally rock!

6. He works really hard at playing piano (and is getting good really fast) because he’s inspired by his 3 friends who are amazing on the piano.

7. He totally looks up to D.

8. He can sleep anywhere and just drops when he’s tired.

9. He has great insights into things beyond his years…like politics

10. He is obsessive about his grades and gets straight A’s, tormenting his teachers when they wrongly record something.

11. He loves salad

12. He’s B’s mini-me

Strange Coincidences?

Posted on October 14, 2013 by My Taylor Tales

I try to be politically correct most of the time. I do not like jokes in bad taste…normally. But this is my borderline inappropriate blog:

I have a professor that I am having a very difficult time figuring out how to get an A from him. So far I am a solid B to B+ and it’s not for lack of hours put in. I will not, however, divulge his name or even what the class is called for fear of……repercussion? A guy in my class sent me this photo of my professor and his twin:

I am not a Simpsons fan so I have no idea what this characters name is but look at the VERY strong resemblance!

Another strange coincidence that we’ve noticed in our lives lately is the race of our coaches this year. Now I know this would not be strange if we lived anywhere other than Draper UT – but I am pretty sure we’re working with the few:

So far their team is winning again. Fourth year of TT playing and fourth set of new coaches. He seems to land on winning teams. TT is getting a lot more play time in this year. He’s 1st string offense, defense and special teams.

This is B’s trainer he’s been working out with the last few months. He seems to be working miracles in B’s arms. I didn’t think his arms could ever get as big as they are right now. I will have to snap a photo to show you. Mike came out to watch TT’s game last week but sadly left just before TT made a great interception. I will have to replace this photo at some point because B does not like it.

Ari's coach and his daughter photo bombing...I was going to try and crop her out but I think it's one of the funniest I've seen.

Ari’s coach and his daughter photo bombing…I was going to try and crop her out but I think it’s one of the funniest photo bombs I’ve seen.

I thought this post would be the appropriate place to end with a joke I heard this week:

A guy died and went to heaven and went through the pearly gates. There was a massive wall of clocks behind St. Peter. The guy asks what the clocks are for. St. Peter says everyone has a clock and it only moves if you tell a lie. There was a clock that had never moved, so the guy asked whose clock is that? Oh that’s Mother Theresa’s. Another clock had only moved twice and he asked whose clock that was? Oh that’s Abraham Lincoln’s. So the guy asks “where’s Obama’s clock?” And St. Peter said “Jesus hung it in his office as a ceiling fan.”

School’s In and I just Want to Sleep In

Posted on August 31, 2013 by My Taylor Tales

08/19/13 New schools for everyone except me. Not just my kids either, Jeff and Christina took the leap of faith to join us in Zion. haha – that’s a joke. But they up and sold their house in CA in one day and moved up here just in time to start the new school year with my kids. They’ve been staying with us the last two weeks and tomorrow they are thrilled to move into their own house here in Draper. I still can’t believe it and Continue reading →

Only One More Short Austria Post

Posted on August 31, 2013 by My Taylor Tales

I bought the twins a dirndl and leiderhosen and I LOVE THEM wearing them. My time to dress them up is probably coming to an end soon so I will make as much of it as I can. Think I can talk them into wearing these for halloween?

B found a great place to drown himself – what’s up with the Mr. Incredible angle?

The whole Austrian adventure loving bikers. from the Left Saxtons, Seacrests, Sullivans, Saxtons (they aren’t related), US Zimmermans, Grangers and Lakes. Our guides in the front row Dennis, Ron and Mirjam

Hang Ten Diehards!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by My Taylor Tales

Lelu only spent one day surfing – the wet suit doesn’t allow for getting a tan or checking out the multiple young attractive boys playing volleyball

This could be a postcard – Lelu and Landon loving the sunset. I can’t help but think “God loves us!!” every time I look at something this amazing!

The tandem bike is a great idea IN THEORY for kids to have fun….not so much in practice. Note to self -Next time I will not be talked into it.

We ate at a nice restaurant one night. As B and I were enjoying our salads, the manager came over and said "Did you order any food for the children?" I said "no they'll get McDonald's later" What kind of parents did we look like?

We ate at a nice restaurant one night. As B and I were enjoying our salads, the manager came over and said “Did you not get food for the children?” I said “no they ate yesterday” What kind of parents do we look like?

You know I almost named him Noah, I thought Noah and Ariel would be cute together....not knowing they'd be such ocean loving, surfing loving die hards. They were out there for a minimum of three hours for three days.

You know I almost named him Noah, I thought Noah and Ariel would be cute together….not even knowing they’d be such ocean loving, surfing loving die hards. They were out there for a minimum of three hours for three days.

This is the only photo of me, you know the mom behind the camera predicament. This is how I spent a bit of the time they were surfing. I happened upon a seal playing in the surf and wished I took my phone with me, so I sat and watched it soaking in the moment of joy.

This is the only photo of me, you know ‘the mom behind the camera predicament’. This is how I spent a bit of the time they were surfing. Walking up and down the beach. As it seems it’s one of my all time favorite activities. I happened upon a seal playing in the surf and wished I took my phone with me to snap a photo, so I sat and watched it long enough to soak in the coolness of the moment and burning the image into my brain.

Did you know this CA boy had never surfed before? I didn't. But now he has and it was gnarly!

Did you know this CA boy had never surfed before? I didn’t. But now he has and he was gnarly! Is that even a surfing word? One of these years I’ll get out there too. I took up running at 40, B took up surfing at 50 – so 45 sounds about right? Next year…

We hired the same instructor as last year and he remembered us. Ari was very well named – water and the surfboard just seems a part of her. She hasn’t stopped campaigning to move down there.

We attempted to play volleyball – Me, Christina, Landon, Wyatt, Lelu, TT and Ari. Let me just say it was very evenly matched in a ‘none of us knew how to actually play’. And it was fun until I got nailed in the face with the ball!

We actually came home on Easter Sunday, so this year the Easter Bunny just happened to see us on the street the night before and had no baskets for anyone. It was a little sad, but since we had just spent five days at the beach – the Easter bunny did not feel very much guilt. What’s up with the boys and their hoodies? I just noticed that.

Huntington Beach is officially one of our favorite places to go – especially for Spring Break. We played all day, the kids were wiped out fairly early and B and I got out our laptops – isn’t the tech age amazing? Homework and work didn’t have to be totally neglected while the kids thoroughly enjoyed their spring break. I love those win-wins! We got to hang out with Christina and the boys a couple days, and Jeff, Christina and the boys for a day. Jeff was inspired to try to surf too since B did. I just didn’t catch any photo ops for him. Wyatt showed us all how it’s done and Landon toughed it out without a rash guard – suffering some wicked surfboard rash.

Why Do We Live In Utah??

Posted on November 26, 2012 by My Taylor Tales

Shel has the best Thanksgiving decor for her house and our heads

Our usual Thanksgiving is spent putting the turkey in the oven, going up skiing and then coming home to a warm house and an even warmer meal. Without having D around this year, not wanting us to feel sorry for ourselves missing him too much, I convinced B to deviate from our tradition and head south. Continue reading →

TT’s Fav Memory of year 11

Posted on November 26, 2012 by My Taylor Tales

Brothers who adore each other despite being 9 years apart.

When I asked TT what his favorite memory was, he said “oh that’s easy..laying on a hammock with D on our last night in Hawaii”.

We had walked down to a restaurant along the beach and eaten dinner our last night in Hawaii. All along the path there were hammocks hung between the palm trees sporadically. The rest of us had walked ahead of them and they were walking back together. D said he wanted to hang out in one of them for awhile, so the two of them bonded for about half an hour late at night in a hammock along the beach. I think that’s one of the coolest things he’s ever told me.

Twin Ones – 11

Posted on November 11, 2012 by My Taylor Tales

We returned from California on Monday, B had to leave for a business trip on Tuesday and the twins birthday was Wednesday. It’s an odd year so thank heavens I didn’t have a party to worry about. After school, they each took a friend to Airborne (a big warehouse full of trampolines) and then we went to eat at Sonny Brian’s (D’s favorite bbq joint), then on to pick out a treat at the new french bakery in town. Continue reading →

The Biggest Perk of Having Twins

Posted on October 26, 2012 by My Taylor Tales

I honestly don’t even really like Halloween, I barely decorate, I hate haunted houses and scary movies, so I really have no idea why I love picking out their Halloween costumes and dressing them up so much. I told them a few years ago that they could start picking their own costumes in 6th grade. I gave the story that because they didn’t sleep through the night for two years, I earned the right to choose. How I got away with that, I have no idea!

I can’t find a photo, nor do I remember what they were in 2004. When I find it, I will post it. So in honor of my last year, here is a little walk down memory lane… Continue reading →

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