One Down One To Go

Rory had his last final today! Somehow with 2 kids, no sleep, work, church, homework, projects and whatever else he passed all his classes with A's and B's. I'm so proud of him. We are SO happy he is done with his last fall semester at UNLV. One semester down, one to go.

Sundays

It's always fun dressing up the tiny ones for church. Thanks Grandma LOL for the cute dress and boots.





















After a mad dash to try and get the four of us to church by 9am, we are usually pretty exhausted when we get home. On this particular Sunday we just crashed in between visits and apppointments rather than honor our usual afternoon of "family nap time." Aren't Sundays great?

Happy Thanksgiving!

There's nothing like homemade pies. Rory made an apple pie and a peach pear pie and I made the rolls for Thanksgiving at my brother's place. We weren't too sad that everyone was full from dinner. More for us!

I found a 20 lb. turkey for five bucks the other day and we were able to have a Thanksgiving feast for dinner Friday night and again last night complete with homemade stuffing baked IN the turkey, rolls, candied sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. We made everything from scratch. We still have SO much turkey left. I guess we'll be having turkey enchiladas, turkey soup, etc. YUM!!!! I love to eat! It's a cruel enjoyment as I'm STILL trying to lose baby weight. Oh who am I kidding. I'm not really trying. The story of my life as said best by the Gap Girls on SNL, "Diet starts Monday!"

Debate

Hey all,
If you watch CNN between 5pm and 7pm Pacific you may see me partying with Hellary Clinton and Obama Bin Laden. I got randomly selected as 1 of 100 UNLV students to attend the Democratic Presidential Debate which is at UNLV tonight. No, I'm not converting to the dark side, but I thought it will probably be interesting to attend. I'll be the one in the background making faces at the camera and getting tackled by a 300 pound Secret Service Agent. Should be fun.

See you in TV land,
Rory

Happy Halloween!

Rory's Online Portfolio

We're excited Rory's down to his last 7 months in the 5 year Landscape Architecture Program here at UNLV. He's already applied to some Architect Firms in Utah and overseas in the UK. We're excited to see where the next phase of life takes us. Here is the link to his online portfolio. Check it out.

http://www.rbtaylorportfolio.com

Jette Lynn and Zane

Jette Lynn loves to make silly faces and we thought we'd share some with you. We've been teaching her how many fingers to hold up when asked how old she is. She's been busy practicing. She always has need for a diaper wipe to soothe an owie or clean up a mess (real or invisible). I got out a jacket for fun the other day and she loved putting her hands in the pockets and having the hood on. Since the weather has been in the high 70's we're still wearing summer clothes. In other baby news Zane has started holding his head up. He has lost his newborn voice and now gurgles and cries with more of a baby boy voice. Did I mention he cries? A LOT. He also gets to use whatever blanket is nearest, sometimes a nice pink one...poor kid.

3 month old Zane

Happy Birthday Jette Lynn

A Shout Out to Jake and Erin

The Thursday before General Conference, Jake and Erin were in town. We met them at The Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (sorry guys, the food was overpriced and not so good). Then they came over later and as always we talked, laughed, and cried (just kidding) until someone looked at the clock and noticed it was close to midnight. What? That only happens with the best of friends. As we always say, "Why can't they live closer?" We miss you guys!

Company Picnic

Last Saturday was Rory's company picnic. There was food, a bounce house, face painting, balloon animals, a water balloon toss, etc. All Jette Lynn wanted to do was play on the slide. When we tried to get her to come eat with us she said, "No sanks" (no thanks) and went back to playing. We had to drag her away, kicking and screaming, until she realized there were cookies involved with lunch. Then she forgot all about the slide and was just fine the rest of the day. Later she had fun playing at the mall.

Are We Ready For This?

Well, she seems to be
so here goes...

Day 1:
Loves the attention
and thinks it's a fun
pretend game

2 Months Old

Height:
22 inches

Weight:
12 lbs. 11 oz.

Head:
40 cm.

My Annual Haircut

So I finally dragged myself to the salon after being disgusted with pictures of myself for the last few months. I don't know why it takes me a year between visits. They cut off 6 inches and it feels so much better!

For Labor Day weekend we went up to Utah. We stayed with my dad in Syracuse and got to see his beautiful 6 bedroom home. On Sunday we blessed Zane in my mom's ward in Holladay and then had a small luncheon afterward. It was so special to have Rory's family and my family all there. On our way home we got to stop and see Henry and Di's new place. It was a whirlwind trip and we're exhausted, but we're glad we got to see everyone.

Visit with Torrey

Torrey has been one of my best friends for over 13 years. No matter the time between visits, we always pick up where we left off. It was so great to see her and Mark last weekend in Utah. I'm glad they were able to see Zane while he's still small. They grow up way too fast. Wish we could've spent more time together, but we're still hoping to move there in less than 9 months. Then we can see each other more often. Thanks for coming up guys!

San Diego.August.2007

Last weekend we decided to go on one last trip for the summer. Thankfully Molly is always happy to have visitors. On Friday we went to Torrey Pines Beach. We could've stayed there all day. The weather was perfect and the water was warm. Then on Saturday we had fun at the neighborhood block party. There was music, food, a bounce house, and swimming. We were able to eat and play, go inside and nap, then go back outside to eat and play some more. It was a much needed escape from the hot desert.

Spider Pig

As seen on "The Simpsons" movie and preview, here's a little spider pig action. Rory even got Jette Lynn singing the song Homer sings.

One month old...

Zane now weighs in at 10 lbs. and has grown an inch. I can't believe he's already a month old. Time flies when you're up all night...

Racetrack Red

Rory worked with the owner of this semi a couple summers ago when he drove a belly dump. The owner had the color custom made by Dupont. He named it Racetrack Red and amazingly Dupont added the color and name to their product line. Does it look red to you? We like to call it Barbie Pink...

Water Pork

There's not much to do outside during the six (yes SIX) months of extreme heat here. Thankfully a lot of the parks have water features. Jette Lynn always comes up with her own pronunciation of words...and so here she is at what she calls the Water Pork.

Big Sister

Jette Lynn loves her little brother. She hasn't had any jealousy issues and has accepted him as part of the family with no problems. She calls him Zany and does a great impression of him crying and flailing his arms. I really thought she'd maul him or want to drag him around like a doll, but she won't touch him unless we tell her to. She's such a good big sister.

It's a BOY!

Zane Benjamin Taylor
Born: July 18, 2007 at 12:59pm
Weight: 7 lbs. 11 oz.
Height: 20 in.

San Diego.March.2007

This was our trip to San Diego in March. We love to visit Rory's sister, Molly, and her family of five girls. It helps that they live in a city known for great beaches, great weather, etc. I didn't know how great it was as a child. It's fun to have a reason to go back so often. We hope to visit again soon.

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend. Friday was an Easter Egg hunt. Saturday we went over to my brother's place and went swimming for the first time this year. Jette Lynn loved it! Grandma Pam and Grandpa Tom were there and babysat so we could go to a movie. Jette Lynn got to sleep over and had so much fun. Rory and I both taught in church on Sunday, me the Primary kids up to age 7 and Rory Elder's Quorum. Jette Lynn went to church with Parker and slept almost the whole time. Why can't we get her to do that? Then we had a yummy dinner that afternoon. It was a nice family weekend. Here are Parker and Jette Lynn Easter morning enjoying their toys and candy.

Jette Lynn's day just gets better and better. She loves bathtime! This was a first with a friend.

Thanks Christine for the matching outfits! Cute!

Jette Lynn always has to point out the "wowuhs" (flowers).

Happy Easter!!!

I had envisioned the most adorable picture with Jette Lynn in the perfect pose, sitting ALONE with the Easter Bunny. HA! You take what you can get. She's not ready to let me leave her (I knew I should've gotten ready that day) and her hair was a mess after lots of squirming. This was the only smile we got. On the bright side, she LOVES the Easter Bunny and didn't cry. Yeah!

I love my cousin Parker!

I babysat Parker the other night. Jette Lynn was so excited to have another little person in the house. Though she's always taking toys away from him and being the boss, she loves her cousin.