A Wild Ride in Portland

The Taylor clan went to Washington State for a much needed vacation! We stayed with my sister Kristen and the kids had an absolute riot of a good time with the cousins. We played HARD and wore everyone out on a daily basis. These are just a few of the pictures we took. I'll post more later.Kristen lives 25 minutes north of Portland, so we decided to visit the big city for the day. This picture was taken at the Portland Saturday market. Dasha and Preston wanted to buy these hats but settled for posing for a picture instead. Pictures of various head gear is becoming a family tradition. Last year it was coon hats.

This street performer was pretty talented with nothing more than some buckets and some drum sticks. The kids enjoyed listening to him. He stopped, took out an extra set of sticks and handed them to the kids. We all had fun taking turns jamming with him.

I fell in love with these copper vases at the Market and ended up bringing a couple home as my trip momento. I circled around 3 times and finally caved when the guy made me a deal I couldn't refuse. They are really beautiful and look good flanking the mirror above our stairs.

We took our bikes with us on the vacation and decided to take a bike ride along the water front in Portland. The kids did a great job and really enjoyed the adventure. Portland is extremely bike friendly. We were glad to hit great weather for the day. It started sprinkling just as we pulled back into the parking lot. The kids were asleep before we left the parking lot!

Pause for Potato Bugs

Preston had been quiet for too long. When question as to what he was doing, he replied that he was playing with his bug!
Saturday was spent in the garden with dad and Grandpa Taylor tilling and planting seeds. Preston proudly brought into the house a bucket of "wormies" and put them in his bedroom so they would be warm. (I discovered this by following the trail of dirt he tracked in with him.) After a spirited discussion on where worms could and could not survive, he agreed to put them back outside, and I agreed to let him keep a potato bug inside a butterfly cage in his room.

Today, I was totally in awe as I watched this highly energetic and physical child sit quietly and watch this little bug crawl all over his hands. Both William and I were impressed at the patience and interest he took in something to tiny. He looked up at us with complete pleasure and happiness and told us how much he liked his friend. "He's special to me." This simple declaration caused us to pause our adult conversation and join him in finding joy in this little creature.

Sometimes it's not the roses that steal our attention and give us reason to stop and take a breath, but the example of a little child who finds endless joy in spending the morning with a bug!

I Can Do Hard Things!

Picture Taken in Dec. 2009 at the Hover Dam while on a family vacation.

This massive bridge under construction is the perfect example of something that is crazy hard to accomplish!

I must thank my friend, Yvonne, for this entry. Recently we had a conversation in which she shared with me a saying she has her kindergartners repeat daily for a whole month at the beginning of a new school year. "I can do hard things!"

This is the perfect message to imprint upon children of such a tender and impressionable age because let's face it: Life if FULL of hard things! A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Dasha was complaining about how hard some things were at school. Then, Preston started to join in on the chime, "That's too hard!" (This is my kid who perseveres and conquers anything he wants to be good at.) ENOUGH, I decided! Since then I have become a broken record repeating, "Yep, but you can do hard things! Let me hear YOU say it! I can do hard things!" I'm happy to report that it's making a difference with them.

At this point I must confess, there have been a few things that have started to pile up quite high and heavy for our family and I've been frustrated beyond words too. Today at church I asked a friend how she was and was told, "Pretty good, but some days are so hard." Without thinking, I repeated my broken record for her. She was surprised and expressed appreciation for the pep talk. Later in choir, she shared this pep talk and her renewed optimism with the group. I was stunned and left feeling like I could benefit from taking a dose of my own medicine. For the rest of the day I have felt a little lighter and ready to tackle the challenges that always seem to come on Mondays. Nothing has changed... except my attitude.

Tonight's facebook update reads: "Monday BEWARE! I'm ready for you. GAME ON! My new motto is: "I can do hard things!" So, bring it!

Spring Break at a Glance

I have a bit of catching up to do. We took off last Friday night and joined my parents, grandparents and a few of my siblings at Sherwood's Cabin for the weekend. We had a wonderful time. I took pictures to document the events and when I went to upload them on Blogger, they uploaded backwards and I don't want to take the time to redo it. So, here's the week in reverse and all mixed up to boot!

Easter weekend brought with it a series of storms that dumped a bunch of snow. It started Friday and continued through Tuesday. The mountains saw nearly 3 feet of snow over the long weekend. Wow! Not often do you get a foot of snow to play in for Easter.

This was the view from the cabin balcony the morning we left. I'm convinced that Heber valley is one of the prettiest valley's in existence. I understand why so many choose to live here full time and commute to Salt Lake. It's tempting for sure.

Dasha didn't want to look at the hole left by her missing tooth (see previous blog post) and figured shutting her eyes for the picture would help. Makes perfect sense to me. She's over that now and looks in the mirror every chance she gets!

My mom bathed the kids and got them ready for bed one night and this is the hairdo she gave Preston. Growing up, we affectionately referred to this hairstyle as "the butt part." When I asked my mom what in the world she was thinking she replied, "Just pushing buttons. It's so much fun even when you're grown up." That comment explains so much.....

During the Easter morning egg hunt, Dasha couldn't find her last egg and Grandma came to the rescue by helping her locate the elusive egg inside the telescope. That Easter Bunny got tricky this year!

Showing off the Easter loot. As if we didn't bring enough junk food to consume over the weekend, the darn Easter Bunny brought more. Fortunately, it wasn't tempting to me. He thoughtfully neglected to leave any Cadbury chocolate eggs to tempt me.

Saturday, my mom, Diana and I went to the cemetery to visit Nancy's grave and put some new silk flowers in the vases on her headstone. I think her headstone is absolutely beautiful. It's perfect! On the back is listed the parents of Jack and Nancy and their children: Melissa and J.B.

The three of us talked, cried, reminisced and laughed. We all miss her tremendously and have greater hope in the resurrection celebrated this weekend so we can be with her again someday. Until then, we were grateful to Melissa for letting our family use the cabin and feel closer to her because of it. Friendships are blessed gifts of love!

Tooth Fairy Time

It finally happened! Dasha has watched as all of her friends have lost tooth after tooth and wondered if it would ever happen for her. At long last, she joins the ranks of the toothless 5-year-old's. I checked her two bottom teeth yesterday and told her to get working on them because I could see adult teeth pushing up. So, she sat all afternoon and wiggled one. At one point she declared with pride, "Mom, I'm being so brave about this!" A while later she asked me to try to pull it out. After one good tug, she pulled back and said, "Can we ask Heavenly Father to help me be more brave?" I guess her bravery has it's limits!

She worked on the tooth for the rest of the evening and I talked her into giving it another try. The first pull was unsuccessful and drew the most infinitesimal amount of blood. She started to cry. (My kids are complete bawl babies when it comes to blood.) I told her I wanted to check for blood, gave it one more good tug, quickly put a tissue to the little hole and faked that it hadn't worked for a second and them said, "wait! I think it's out and you didn't even cry! Woot Woot!!!"
Her reaction was priceless. She was stunned and didn't know whether to join her mother in hooting and hollering with excitement or to cry. She asked if there was blood to which I responded, "I don't know. Hold the tissue there for a bit and then we'll check."

Once I knew it was finished bleeding, I told her I wanted to take a picture of her new grin. She smiled for me and then immediately wanted to see the picture. This is the adorable pose I captured. We were still at the cabin for another night, but William had gone on home ahead of us for work. Dasha was really worried about the Tooth Fairy taking the tooth before her dad could see it. I assured her that if she didn't put it under her pillow, that she could show him the next day. Preston kept saying over and over, "Call the Tooth Fairy just in case." Kids are hilarious!

Tonight, we celebrated the rite of passage by taking the kids to the famous Kaysville Theater (a BIG night OUT for a movie) and saw Tooth Fairy the movie staring Duane Johnson. All I can say is this: if THAT's what the Tooth Fairy looks like, I want to start loosing teeth again! I'm a believer! Thanks to the movie, the kids were excited to go to bed. Dasha will wake to find a $2 bill under her pillow from the handsome fairy (although she insists her's is a girl fairy.)

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

William caught a 6:30 flight out of San Francisco this morning and had a coworker pick him up from the airport so he could put in a full day of work after being away from the office for a week. That meant that we got to pick him up from work. There were some unprofessional squeals heard when the kids flew in through the door and into daddy's arms!

These two look so much alike it's a little scary!

How do the words go? "Climb up on his knee, put my arms around his neck and hug him tight like this..."

This shot was taken after I waited for five minutes for the kids to release him and right before the GREAT BIG KISS!

We went out to dinner, where mom could hardly get a word in edgewise, and then ended up at the pet store to replace a fish that's now swimming with Elvis. By the time we got home, William was more than happy to lay down with the kids to get them to sleep. Translation: "We'll have to talk tomorrow. See you in the morning!"

A Few of My Favorite Things

Book Club was at my house tonight! We discussed the novel "The Swan Thieves" (which was so so) ate crepes and chit chatted about everything under the sun for over three hours. The evening combined so many elements that bring me joy: reading, friends, good food, a clean house, the kids at grandma's, mentally stimulating discussion and lots of laughter.


I almost forgot to take a picture to document the evening! Half of the ladies had gone home by the time my brain remembered to get the camera. Pictured from left to right are Mable, Yvonne, Carol, Colleen, Cathy D. and Kathy S. I'm behind the lens. These are wonderful women!

Tomorrow I will empty the laundry basket I swept everything into and stuffed into a closet in an effort to clear off all the counters of clutter and come across as the domestic goddess I dream of being. (Sigh) What can I say? Most of the time my house reflects the fact that people actually live here rather than a beautifully decorated space staged for a dramatic photo. Maybe I'll just toss it all in the garbage and hope none of it was important. Or not.

Did I Pass or Fail?

Tonight I attended the last of my 3 bicycle safety classes. We have been learning all about laws, safety, signaling, maintenance and more. Tonight we applied all that learning in the parking lot as we executed various skills and defensive maneuvers. While practicing the quick stop skill, (where you ride fast directly toward the instructor and stop suddenly within 3 feet of him by slamming on our brakes while throwing your weight back over the back wheel), I did great until I couldn't get my foot out of the clip. The result:

A wounded knee and trashed PRIDE!!! This all happened while 45 class members looked on and gasped and "Oh'ed!" It hurt, that's for certain, but the frustration and embarrassment topped the pain. I'm glad had pants on or the damage would have been much worse. I was given a token Bonneville Cycling Club water bottle as a consolation prize! Woo Hoo...

We returned to the classroom to take our written test and guess who got the highest score in the class? Yep, Ms. Roadrash! I guess I know it all but can't execute. (At least on that skill. I did great on everything else.) I got my certificate anyway and a hug from the instructor who said not to feel bad for two reasons: 1) falling is better than crashing with a car and 2) My sweet ride is fine because I sacrificed my body to save my brand new bike from getting a scratch. Spoken like a seasoned cyclist who loves a beautiful bike!

I'll have lots of opportunity to practice as I take to the road and continue training for triathlon season!

Palm Sunday

What a beautiful and enjoyable day. The sun was shining and the temperature was pleasant. William is in San Francisco for a few more days, but I was blessed to have his parents come to help me in the morning and attend church with us. Because of General Conference next weekend over Easter Sunday, we had our Easter Sacrament Meeting program today.

I am the ward choir director and it was my responsibility to prepare three numbers for the program. My calling is challenging because it is completely reliant on volunteers to have any measure of success. We certainly have the talent, however the support varies from week to week. I wasn't sure we could pull this one off, but it happened (as it always seems to) that when I do everything within my power to motivate attendance and rehearse the music, miracles happen or the angel choir shows up and it's magnificent.
The choir sang two numbers: "God So Loved the World" and "Jesu the Very Thought is Sweet" They are both more difficult pieces that sounded fantastic. We did the first a'capella and the second with the organ and a flute. The result was very moving and we received many compliments. I was relieved and grateful when it was over.

The third number I provided was "He is Risen" a SSA trio arranged by a very talented woman in the ward, Annette Coombs. I sang with my dear friend Carol Thomas and my fabulous sister, Diana. It was fun because not only do we sound great together, but we have a riot practicing. I love it when I can sing with sisters and friends!

Later in the afternoon, we ventured over to my parents house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. The Brady's (who are as close as it gets to being family without be family) joined us. They have sold their home and will be moving an hour away in a few months and we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get together before the craziness of moving hits them. My mom is super festive when it comes to holidays, so she put together an egg hunt in the back yard for the kids. Everyone played well together and completely wore themselves out.

This is Melissa Sherwood Brady, daughter of my Mother's deceased best friend, Nancy. I consider her a sister and love her just as much as if she were blood related. We have always been told we look like sisters and I must agree. I take it as a compliment, too! This past month, her father, Jack, sold his and Nancy's home and Melissa had the primary responsibility of going through everything and packing it all up or giving it away. It was an emotional journey for all of us who helped, but especially for Melissa. Nancy died three years ago, but cleaning out her life made her being gone seem terribly final. I wasn't ready for Melissa to announce that during the process of cleaning out her parents house the Brady's had sold their home too and would also be moving away. It definitely marks a new chapter for the Halford and Sherwood families. It's all bitter sweet. Our families have been connected and virtual neighbors for over 50 years. Distance will influence the frequency of getting together and change the dynamics for sure. I'm glad we still have the eternities to continue the friendships!

Things that Help us Feel Better

We have all been nursing colds this week. Last night Dasha's turned into a full blown ear infection. She woke up in a lot of pain at 1:00 a.m. and I did everything I could to help her feel better and then held her until she fell back to sleep. As I sat and watched her slowly relax and give into sleep, I couldn't help thinking about how grateful I am for her and the modern conveniences that help us feel better physically and emotionally. Sometimes these comforts take the form of medicine or perhaps loosing yourself in a good movie; and other times they take the form of food. Best of all is when someone you love puts their arms around you and strokes your hair and face and lets you absorb the warmth of their body. Today we gave into all of it!



The boxes in the back were medicine for Mom. God bless the Girl Scout Cookie program!



I asked Dasha what she wanted for dinner and she enthusiastically answered, "Waffles!" Dad is out of town and other than the choice being totally void of any nutritional value, I couldn't think of a GOOD reason not to give in to the request. She responded with, "You're the best mom in the world!" This interchange reminds me of one of my favorite comic skits by Bill Cosby when his kids chant, "Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake! (for breakfast).


We'll go through a sugar detox when we feel better!

Celebrating You!

This post begins a new journey for me. A good friend of mine is working on documenting a year with photos on her blog. Not only do I think this is a great idea, but it combines a journal and a photo album into one! I decided to copy her idea and begin my own journey of discovery and celebration.

Tonight I attended the Relief Society activity where the theme was "Celebrating You!" I took my camera with me and thought the theme was a perfect way to start my new daily blog updates. We were seated at tables based on the month we were born in. I was one of 9 women born in January and I was selected to represent our table to dress up and participate in a cheesy version of calendar girls. Now William can officially say he's married to Ms. January! It was a fun evening and concluded with the consumption of a yummy cupcake. I love these activities. They showed a slide show of everyones baby pictures as part of the birthdays festivities. We all laughed and had a fantastic time celebrating each other. Women need to do more of that.

The night reminded me of one of the books I recently read called "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino. One of the messages of the book is to proclaim your rarity. I choose to do exactly that and hope that at the end of the year I can look back with great fondness and further realize how truly blessed I am!