November Celebrations

So from October 31st to the New Year, it's pretty much a constant party. My nephew, my great grandma and I all share the same birthday. For my birthday, I wanted to spend the day with my family and relax all day long. No school, no work ( which worked out because it was on a Saturday and I asked off of work). Friday night we slept over my parents house. When we woke up we got to skype with my sister, Sean and Kelsey while I opened gifts. Later that afternoon we went to Joe's Crab Shack, which might sound gross to some people. I hate all seafood except shrimp and they have the BEST shrimp Alfredo I have ever had. It was also right next to the movie theater which was convenient.

At Joe's

We had tickets to see HARRY POTTER and the DEATHLY HALLOWS. It was amazing!

The day before Thanksgiving we celebrated James' 3rd birthday. He wanted a Thomas the Train cake. Lindsay did a great job making it!

He got lots of super hero toys, iron man, batman... I think the adults had as fun a time playing with them as the kids did.
The rest of Thanksgiving break was fun and relaxing (except I had to work the day after Thanksgiving). Soo relaxing in fact that I didn't take any pictures. It's a shame, James and I had an awesome sword fight!

I'm SO excited for Christmas. I get to see my new niece for the first time, there is no school and I get to be with my family. What more could you want?!

Halloween

I was scheduled to work Saturday night, but luckily I traded my shift. I'm so glad I did. We started the celebration and Wes' parents house. James, our nephew, dressed up like a dinosaur. Trick or Treating at Grandmas comes with perks. Not only do you get candy, but fun prizes too. After James rang the doorbell, he got candy, and fun flashlight with a pumpkin on it, a sticker book and crayons. His mom asked him, "What do you say?" His reply was, "I can't hold it." His arms were full and he was about to drop it. It was pretty cute.

Here's his tail.

The weather was so weird that night. Out of no where these thick dark clouds rolled in. It looked like smoke. They were really low and moving so fast! The next thing we know, it starts hailing balls the size of peas.

This is looking out the front door. Parents were grabbing their kids and running for shelter it was coming down so hard. Then, suddenly, it stops and there was sun and a rainbow. The whole thing lasted 30 min.

If you look carefully you can see the rainbow behind the house across the street.

The Wes and I got dressed for our party. Wes wanted to match our new little Nephew who was in a Winnie the Pooh outfit.

We got to see lots of friends and we had a good time, then we finished off the night going home and watching a scary movie. All in all it was a pretty good Halloween. It will be more fun when we have a kid and can trick or treat ( and maybe eat some of their candy).

Oreo Pudding Pie

Imagine how delicious your favorite dessert is... now multiply that by 10 and you get oreo pudding pie. It definitely makes it to top 3 on my dessert list. Lots and Lots of calories of pure delight! Oreo crust, cream cheese cool whip mix, layer of chocolate pudding, topped off with whipped cream. If I had known about this little wonder, I probably would have started cooking earlier. (It's not the best picture but it works)

New Cooking Experiences

Nothing goes together better than cool weather and warm foods. As some of you might know, cooking is not one of my many talents, but I am trying to fix that. I decided it was time to move out of my comfort zone of mac n cheese and chicken and rice. So this week I made Chili. It turned out so well and it fed us for 3 days. So if you're looking for something to warm your spirits this fall you should try this.


Brown 1 lb. ground beef. Make sure pieces are fairly small.
While beef is browning chop 1/2 cup onion.



In a pot combine...
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14 oz. can kidney beans with liquid
1 14 oz. can pinto beans with liquid
1/4 cup diced green chilies (I just bought a small can)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. Cumin
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 cup water
1/2 cup onions
Salt and Pepper
Simmer for 2-3 hours
Then Enjoy! I like to add cheese, sour cream and eat it with chips. My husband loved it, and it's so easy. This cooking thing is a breeze!
My next endeavor is potato chowder. Complete with bacon and broccoli.

One Year Ago...

One year ago today I married my best friend! I couldn't have designed a better man for me. He knows what I'm thinking before I do. He knows when I'm feeling down even if I don't say anything and most importantly.. he puts up with all my womanly craziness.

I love you dear! Thanks for the first of many great years!

So Many Things

So many thing have happened recently, both good and not so good. I have been saying that my life is so boring but after the last month or so I can't really stand by that statement. So I thought I would do a little catching up. First of all my sister had her baby just a few days after my last post. Kelsey Neumann is here and made a "Big" entrance. She came in weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. Now, 2 months later she weights a whopping 13 lbs! She hardly ever has her eyes open when I get to see her through skype, but i'll take what I can get.


Then a little bit after that, we said goodbye to my dog Twixy, whom I've had for 10 years. She was old and could barely walk. It was a hard time for me but I know she's a lot happier and healthier where she is.



Then some more bad news, one of my best firends moved to Michigan with her husband. I already miss her terribly but they get to start a whole new life together, and I wouldn't trade being with my husband for anything, no matter where I had to move.


Then we spent a few weeks waiting for the next baby and playing with Wes' nephew. The two of them have a lot of fun together.




Then we got another baby! Adam Washburn Taylor. Wes' is so good with kids. I'm excited to have some of our own...Someday.

All Around Me

So many fun and exciting things are happening! I finally got a job! After two months of looking and being rejected, I decided to try my hand at being a server at CPK. It may not be my dream job but it will pay the bills until I can finally work in the hospital. Wes is still doing summer school and is working hard. Since I am gone all the time, he has had to take over some of my responsibilities.

Both mine and Wes' sisters are pregnant. Our first little niece (from my sister) is about to be here any day now. My parents are going to Virginia to be with her, but because of school and work I get to see her for the first through skype. Wes' sister is having another little boy and Wes is so excited that he gets another little kid to tease and throw around.

So many of our friends are getting married or engaged. Weddings are so fun! I can't believe it has been almost 10 months since my own. It's so nice to see people as happy as we are. One of my very best friends just got married a few weeks ago and I got to go to the sealing! I have never been inside the SaltLake temple before. It is so beautiful.

The Lovely Bride

Roommates 08' -09'

And last week my brother got his endowments in the Draper Temple. He will be leaving August 11 2010 to serve a mission in New York New York North speaking Spanish! He will be such a great missionary!I'm so glad we get to share all these happy times with all our closest friends and family!

The More the Merrier!

We are so excited to be welcoming two new members to our family this summer! Both mine, and Wes' sister are pregnant, and due within a month and a half of each other. At the moment we have one nephew (James) and Wes can't wait til Saturday every week, so that we can go to my in-laws and play with him. They especially love to play choo-choo. ( It's almost like Wes is 5 yrs old again. It's so fun to watch)
Mechanichal Engineering is definately the right field for Wes. He made this train and station out of blocks, and then he just sat in the caboose until James enjoyed knocking it all over about a half hour later. I wish I had a better picture of the train. It was probably 8 or 9 feet long.

Wes will be the greatest dad when we finally have some of our own kids, but until then Thanks Lindsay and Brent for letting us use James (and the new baby soon).

We spent Easter with Wes' family and had fun watching Conference, playing games, having silly string fights and eating great food.


The weather is getting warmer!
Yea for Spring!

Few of My Favorite Things

Well, I have never been good at taking pictures ( a problem I am trying to remedy) so I guess I'll just write a bit on what makes me happy.First and foremost, my husband! He cooks, he cleans, he snuggles and he smells great! I definitely got the most wonderful man I could ever ask for! Second of all, I love music! Especially Lady Gaga's new song "telephone" I can't help but sing along and bounce to the music as I drive in my car. Third, showers! Who doesn't? I have perfected the technique. You start off with hot water, and slowly throughout the shower, I turn down the temperature to nice and cool. This makes it so that when I get out, all the hair that I just shaved doesn't grow back instantaneously. Four: Harry Potter! I am currently reading the series and am going to start book five soon. I was reading the classic Jane Eyre, but with all the big words, it felt like a textbook which was I was trying to get away from in the first place. I also love the little old men at the hospital I volunteer at. They always call me adorable, and when I ask if I can get anything for them, they always say "a million dollars" and laugh, thinking that I haven'theard that one before. Other things I like are rainbow sherbet, the smell of fresh laundry and sleeping.
Things I don't like include cold toilet seats, rainy days, and people who smoke and you have no choice but to walk behind them.
Ya know, I tend to fall into the group of people who always think of what they wish they had, but I am luckier than most. I have everything I need and there are so many happy things around me, if I could just stop pouting, and look at the sunshine!
So my theme, I guess, of my tangent today is: No one likes a frowny face, change it to a smile, make the world a better place by smiling all the while! (sing along if ya know the tune)

Home Sweet Home

The best part of getting married was that I got a whole bunch of stuff and money so that I could decorate my house, and although we don't have a couch or a TV I think it is coming along nicely! Since we are always doing school, and are pretty far away from most people we know, we don't get a lot of visitors, so I guess I'll have to bring my house to you. Here are some pictures of our cute little condo! This is what you see when you open the door.
The table to the left and a couch less living room to the right. Don't ya just love the yellow walls?! They are yellow throughout the whole house.


If you walk straight ahead, you will walk into the kitchen/ laundry room.
This is where I spend most of my time at home when I'm not doing
homework or reading. I wanted some plants to add a little bit of color, so for my birthday Wes got me a whole bunch of these bamboo plants
and I put them in different rooms.







The bathroom...




The Bedroom is actually clean.That's where I do my homework since we don't have a couch so there are usually books and papers all over the place.


The next and last room in our place is our office room. We have Wes' nice desk and computer.



Then there is my desk...
and my yoga mat and weights.
By the way, that thing is the window is a blanket. It helps keep the warm air in. We live on the bottom level so it can get kinda cold in the winter.

So that's our place. It's little, but
It's perfect for just the two of us. It's home! Far enough out of the city and close enough to campus. We haven't gotten to meet all of our neighbors yet, but the ones we have met are very nice. We couldn't have gotten a better place.

Our next purchase... a couch!

Est. 2009

Where to start... well Wes and I got married in October in the Draper Temple. It was the most perfect day! My whole family got to be there and it was nice to see my sister and her husband who lived in Virginia. We live in a condo just off of University Campus. We both transferred to the U last fall, and practically had to start over because credits didn't transfer with us. Salt Lake is a very different city from Provo. I am studying Exercise and Sports Physiology and Wes is in the Mechanical Engineering program. It keeps him very busy and so I thought keeping up a blog (along with my other wifely duties of course) could help occupy the spare time I have. We just had a wonderful winter break. We got to spend time with both families, then drove to Southern California to visit his extended family. We ate burritos, shot guns and had a fun time playing in a big blow up jumper. We spent New Year's at my family cabin riding snow mobiles and playing games. I am definitely excited for this coming year, and think it will be the best one!