Happy Birthday Jenni!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 18th Birthday Jen!
Courtney made her scotcheroos(?) for her birthday. Notice some are gone from the pan - sneaky Courtney.

Winter Formal 2008

Using My Wheat!

Eating Healthy Again!
1) I received this wonderful "Healthy Cookbook" from Jennifer for Christmas. I love it.
2) I ordered some fresh wheat from my sister-in-laws ward.
3) Ground my wheat and made wheat bread (I finally found a recipe in this cookbook that I like for whole wheat bread).
4) Eat the homeade bread w/ honeybutter given to us from our wonderful neighbors.
Ask Kenny if he's happy that we're "eating healthy" again.

Courtney gave me the most wonderful Christmas present this year!
She worked for months on my recipes.
I used to spend hours hunting for my recipes in these folders.





She organized my Main Dish Recipes into this folder - It looks so nice. Each recipe is put into a protective sheet. No more food spilled on the recipe.

She organized all my Dessert recipes into this folder.
Thank you Courtney for spending many, many hours on this wonderful present for me. I have always wanted to do this, but never got around to it.
You're amazing!!!!!

Merry Christmas!
I hope each of you had as wonderful of a day as we
had.

Thanksgiving!

Lots of Good, Hot Homeade Food!

Cooking a Homeade Thanksgiving Dinner = TIME.

My Grandma Ruby was a good cook. Her family came to her house to enjoy her yummy food. One of her famous foods she was well known for was her homeade chocolate pie. She didn't have a recipe so she couldn't pass it down - BUT - I (her only granddaughter) found a recipe that is pretty darn close to hers. My brothers and my kids all look forward to me making it each year. (hope that doesn't sound conceded)

I didn't get a picture of my chocolate pie - The pie pictured is a lemon pie that I make each year for my mom.

I made whole wheat rolls this year instead of the white rolls. I'm still looking for a recipe that I like for those. Any suggestions????



We had a great Thanksgiving

enjoying:

FAMILY

FOOD

BASKETBALL

CELEBRATING KENNY'S PARENTS 60TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

FRIENDS

















TIS THE
SEASON!
for
enjoying -----
Fresh Orange Juice

TOO MUCH
CHRISTMAS CANDY! yummy

GINGERBREAD HOUSES
Jennifer and Jake made this during their
Winter Formal Day Activity - good job guys.

and

My Nightly Ritual of sipping
Hot Chocolate while I sit by the fire....

It doesn't get any better than that.

Guess what my New Year's resolution will be - again ----TREADMILL!
Happy Holiday's!!!!!!

Wichita beat Sienna this morning. It was a great game!
Wichita was behind most of the game, but in the end we won by 2.
Great game Graham!!!! (say that fast 3X).
Wichita will play again Sunday 12:30 Florida time. I think that's 10:30 AM AZ time on ESPN.

I'm Thankful!!!

I love this time of year! We reflect and ponder our many blessings.
Some things I'm thankful for:
The bright warm sun.
Great neighbors.
My wonderful family.
Our home.
Kenny's job - in today's world having a job is a great blessing.
I'm grateful that I have a job that I enjoy.
The gospel.
The YW who got up so early this morning to go to the temple. (4:40 AM)
The YW leaders I work with, they are so fun and so diligent in their service.
My grandson Jaxon - he is such a little boy now. He's fun to interact with. We love him so much!
My children. They bring me so much joy. It's fun to see who they are becoming. They are good examples to me.
My in-laws. We'll be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this Thanksgiving Season.
Good health. You never know!!!!
I'm very thankful for all these things and many, many more.

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!!

21 Big Ones Today!!!

Jess is our party girl. She has always liked to have a lot of friends around having a PARTY.

We missed partying with you on your birthday today. We're so grateful that you had good people in Kansas helping you celebrate your special day today.

Jessica's personality has been one that brightens a room when she enters it.

She likes to have Fun with a capital F.

Jessica is a good friend and she has been blessed to have wonderful friends.

(Jessica was a poodle in "How much is that doggy in the window" for a dance recital.) How appropriate because she has always begged to have a puppy.

She has always been very active, running, jumping, skipping, turning cartwheels, round offs, back bends, back walk overs, dancing. In VB - she runs, dives and rolls. In softball she was quick around the bases. She was the player who was brave and fast enough to steal the bases.

Most important - she has a big, soft, kind heart. She loves and supports her family and friends. She would do anything for anybody at the drop of a hat. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and the YW in Kansas are lucky to feel of your love for them and to know of the love you have for your Savior.

We love and miss your sweet smile.

We'll see you in a month!!!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom

Proud Moment!

Jen won a pie eating contest at the Halloween party she went to. She won the 3 guys she competed against. You make me proud Jen.

The contest was whoever ate the most pies in a certain amount of time was the winner. You can see the small little pies at the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Jen was dressed as a baby. Maybe the reason they picked her to represent the girls was she had a bib on!? I asked her what she had on her head - she said it was her baby bonnet. Go figure.

I think she ate 5 of those little pies. WOW!

Homecoming..................

Taylor + Overstreet = Homecoming 08

In the above picture, Courtney is helping Jen get ready.

Courtney was such a big help - I don't know what we would have done without her. She helped pick out the dress, she bought the shoes and the jewelrey and then did Jen's hair and make-up. Whooo - she did it all. Thanks Courtney.

Side note - the whole time she was working on Jen's hair - she kept saying "Where's Jess?" Jessica usually jumped in and did the hair when she was still here in Mesa. Courtney jumped right in and did a fantastic job.

This has been a different experience getting ready for this. Sorry Court & Jess, but you two used to get so stressed about hair, make-up, etc. Jen doesn't. I stress because she's not. There were no tears. What's up with that?

Jessica wanted to know what Jen's dress, etc. looked like. Here are some photo's I took as they were leaving. Callie was taking their group pictures in the Overstreet's back yard, in front of their big trees. They should turn out nice.

This is Jordan Overstreet and Jen. Don't they look cute.

Our families have been friends for quite a while.

And.... Jen's oldest sister is married to Jordan's oldest brother.... go figure.

Whenever we have a party with the Overstreet's Jen and Jordan have been each other's competition. They're both really good at Guitar Hero, Rock Band and card games. They give each other a run for their money.

After the dance tonight, their fun group is heading back to Overstreet's to play some games. Let the competitions begin!!!!! You go girl!!!!!!!!

Get er Done!.

I made myself a list of "Things to Do" - during my week off from work.

This was on my list.

Get Flu shot

Got er done.

They are giving them at the Fry's on Baseline and Val Vista this

week - end.

On the list........

Plant Flowers.............

Got er done!

On the list......

Plant garden (tomatoes and jalepenos)..........

Got er done!!!!

The weather was so nice (Sunday night)- we played outside w/Jaxon. - Jaxon loves to play outside and "kick" the ball. We also went to the park on Thursday....

On the list.....

Spend time w/family.........

Got er done!!!!!!

The list........

I'll never know if I completed all the things on my list - why? Because I lost my list.

I'm getting old!!!!!!!

Strolling Down Memory Lane

Kenny and I went to get some Mesa Fro Yo after Mesa Highs Football game on Friday and we ran into our previous neighbors who lived next to us 20 years ago. It was so fun to see their kids now grown and married, chasing their little ones.

Running into them made me ponder on the past.
Some of the changes in the past 20 years are:

4 different neighbors in the house to the North of us.

3 different neighbors in the house South of us.

and more in the houses around us. We love our neighbors and our wonderful neighborhood.

We cherrish the memories of then and now!






The kids then--->










The kids now----->

Our family then........

Our family now...........

The many swimming parties we've had.

.

Many friends parties.........

Many first days of schools.....

Our front yard holds the most fun memories for my kids. They played many games of football, baseball, soccer,hide-n-seek, kick the can and whatever else they did in our front yard.

(This is the only picture I could find of the kids playing in the front yard(sad) - it was Jen's 11th birthday party)

We're thankful for all of the Great Times we had then and are very thankful for the Great Times we're having now.

Tagged

Courtney informed me I had been tagged by Jessica . I hope I can remember events from long ago in order to answer the following questions. Here Goes.

1. What is your husband's name?
Kenneth Lee Taylor

2. Who eats more?
He does. He loves to eat. .I grew up in a family that didn't snack - he grew up in a family that did. He converted me. Now we both snack.

3. Who said I love you first?
I had to ask Kenny this question. Sad, but neither one of us could remember that moment. We both think he did. He was ready to get married before I was. So we both say him.

4. Who is taller?
Easy question - him. I'm short.

5. Who is smarter?
Easy question - him. I always tell my kids that their dad is more intelligent than me - but I got better grades in school than him because I was very conscientious about doing my assignments and my homework. He didn't care about those things - thus me getting a scholarship to college - he didn't. He's more intelligent!

6. Who is more sensitive?
I think Kenny is. He's very thoughtful and kind. He's more sensitive.

7. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
me - I don't think it really matters to us because that's changed a few times over the years, we're just creatures of habit now. He has always slept on the side where we had the phone. He can't stand to not answer the phone, and if I'm asleep - the phone can ring and it doesn't bother me. That's what has decided who sleeps on what side.

8. Who pays the bills?
I do. I don't necessarily like it, but I am a little more organized. I have folders and I keep track of what I pay and when. If he pays them, he doesn't keep any records - only in his steel trap. My steel trap is a little tarnished, so I have to keep records.

9. Who cooks more?
Me. I guess it kind of depends on what you define as cooking. I like to cook-sometimes. He warms things up, or can microwave things - but I don't think he has ever made anything from scratch or a recipe. I make more meals. He does help out a lot in the kitchen. The things he cooks are: hot dogs, hash browns, eggs, bacon, can of soup, popcorn, & cheese and crackers. If I don't cook, he'll fix something to eat, and he makes sure the kids have something to eat also. He's always been a better mom than me. I "cook" though and he doesn't.

10. Who is more stubborn?
If you ask him, he would say me. If you ask me (and you are), I say him.

11. Who is the 1st to admit they are wrong?
Me - just because I talk. You have to talk about it in order to admit you're wrong, he's quiet and doesn't talk about it - so me. He doesn't ever blame anybody though - I do(sorry).

12. Who has more siblings?
Another easy question - him. He has double the amount of siblings than I do. Kenny = 7. Me = 3. His family is a lot bigger than mine - I think they have 90+ immediate family. I have somewhere in the 20's. Kenny has a GREAT family, I love them and I've always had a lot of fun with them.

13. Who wears the pants in the family?
Some advice I was given when we got married was "to let him think he was in charge". I have thought about that advice a lot - and it usually works. I don't really know who wears the pants - he does on some things and I do on some things. We both wear pants!

14. What do you like to do together?
We have always had the same interests when it came to sporting events. We both love Volleyball, I played in high school and he played on a men's VB team that traveled all over. And then we even played on a co-ed city league VB team for many years, and now we love watching our kids play. We both love to travel, eat out, go to movies, watch the D-backs, Phoenix Suns, ASU and any other sporting events.

15. Who eats more sweets?
Me. I like the sweet stuff, he goes more for the salty.

16. Guilty pleasures?
Snacks & watching TV.

17. How did you meet?
Through our Young Adult Friends. We got married when he was 31 years old. He had been through many sets of friends because they would all get married on him. He got to the stage of friends that were more my age (there's 8 years age difference between us). It just so happens that I went out with all of the friends that he hung out with. They would meet at his condo on Sunday nights to play cards and eat M & M's. I started going to Kenny's place to play games with my friends who were also his friends, and that's how we met.

18. Who proposed?
This is a long, complicated story, so I'll spare you. We had talked a lot about getting married because we dated 1 1/2 years, but it took me saying that I was ready to get married before we were officially engaged . We had to get some things resolved ( I had previously been married in the temple and needed a sealing cancellation) and then we went and bought a ring and stopped by my Grandma Farnsworth's house first to tell her we were engaged and then by his parents to tell them. I think everybody was glad we had "finally" (really me, he was ready long before me) decided to get married. It was not a traditionaly proposal but more of an agreement that we were both at the same point ready to get married.
We have lived "Happily Ever After" since making that decision.
Kenny is a wonderful, kind, and thoughtful husband. My kids have the best dad ever. He would and does anything for them. He loves his family very much and I'm thankful for that. Love you lots KLT.

Getting Asked to Homecoming

Jen being asked to Home-
coming.
The doorbell rang and look who was at the door, Jaxon in his tux delivering some roses w/ a note on them.


The envelope had a bunch of letters for Jen to put together to figure out who was asking her.

Jaxon helping Jennifer put the letters together.
( cute little pot belly, his shirt was itchy so we took it off)


















The nephew of the Asker is also the nephew of the askee. (are asker and askee words?)


Who could it be?

JORDAN OVERSTREET!

Time Will Heal

Sports Injuries of the Week!
Injury #1 - Mesa High's Volleyball team went to a team camp at Glendale college the last week in July. Jennifer dove for a ball and felt something snap in her "good" knee. The trainer iced it and said that she sprained it. She kept playing on it, icing it, taking ibuprofen, etc, it wasn't getting any better. The Mesa High trainer taped her up good before every game. The trainer, along with Jennifer, noticed it wasn't getting any better. The trainer examined it and did some test's and thought maybe Jen had a torn her meniscus in her knee. Kenny took her to the orthopedic Dr. on Friday and he confirmed it is probably a torn meniscus - now an MRI will tell us for sure if that is what it is. It's always good to know what the problem is so that you can fix it.

Injury #2 - Tyler is playing on a Fall Ball baseball team in Gilbert. He's enjoying it and the coaches are really nice. Tyler played catcher for a couple of season's about 3 years ago, and the coaches every since then have never played him there. Well, at Fall Ball he is getting a chance to play catcher again. (He likes it for some reason - it always scared me with the person swinging the bat so close to me) He was catching for an older kid during their batting practice - this kid was throwing some heat (so Tyler says). One of the pitches he caught bent his thumb back quite a bit. He wouldn't tell his coach that he hurt his thumb, but he couldn't squeeze the glove anymore, hence not catching the pitches. The coach noticed something wrong after a while and took care of him. A sprained Left Thumb.
Nothing serious thank goodness.
Saying for the week - "Time will Heal".

I also had fun on the Woman's retreat up to Claysprings. We stayed at an old LDS church building that someone had turned into a lodge. Lots of rooms, bathrooms, a big recreation room, kitchen, dining area, and a big family room with a big screen TV. Most of the individual rooms had TV's and DVD players. We had great food! (Thanks to Renee Hatch and the other RS leaders) We played lots of games from the past: jacks, jump rope, four square, & ping pong. Sounds weird, but we really had a lot of fun. (My legs are quite sore from 4 square, I think we got a little too competitive for old woman )
I stayed up talking until 3:00 AM, then I couldn't sleep (major snoring going on in my room). At 4:00 I got my blanket and pillow and found the only open place to sleep in the whole building, a love seat in the family room . (Well, the only place I could find at 4 AM). I slept until some ladies got up at 7:30 to make us a wonderful breakfast. We had a hilarious, yet spiritual speaker come and talk to us, cleaned up traveled home.
Sorry I didn't take any pictures.
Somebody that went has to post some hilarious pictures. I'm waiting to see them!!!!!

This morn-ing Kenny woke up to this.....

the ceiling caved in in the hall bathroom again!!!!

I woke up to this......

Kenny had cleaned up almost all of the mess with the broom!

What a wonderful husband

When I came home from work today I found this.....

Jessica's All-American Athlete Award on the front doorstep.

Today when my family comes home they will come home to this......

Crockpot Chicken Italliano.

Cookie Recipe

As promised, here is the recipe of the cookies I took to the cabin this weekend - enjoy!
Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 lb butter
2 C. Brown Sugar
2 C. Sugar
3 C. Oatmeal (old fashioned)
4 C. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
4 C. choc. chips or 2 bags See's choc. chips
1 bag shredded coconut
3 C chopped pecans
4 eggs (2 whole/2 egg whites)
2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter on defrost in microwave, let cool, add eggs & vanilla.

In very large bowl - mix all dry ingredients, pour butter mixture over dry ingredients. Mixture will be dry - it's o.k. Use ice cream scoop to make round balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Dip bottom of glass cup in sugar and press down on cookie dough til dough is smashed 1/2 way down. Bake 350 for 12 minutes.

PS - this is really good used as a pazookie - Put hot cookie on bottom of bowl, add ice cream and fudge - Yummy!

Vision Screening

I'm back to doing this

---------->

For 56 Elementary Schools in Mesa.

FYI

K, 1st, 3rd & 5th graders

are tested in the MPS district.

The school Nurses screen the children we can't get to.

The Kindergarten and 1st Graders use a chart with pictures - but I couldn't find one to display. The older kids use the above letter chart. We also do near vision screening, and a color blindness test on the 3rd Graders.

The end of Vision Screening 101.

Happy Screening in 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shout Out to a Good Week!

Kids back in school.

Michael Phelps winning 8th Gold.

Beach VB teams still winning!

Gymnastics til 12:10 AM.

Love Shawn Johnson - so cute

Lunch at Cheesecake Factory

Jennifer making the varsity VB team.

Jessica being called as YW Secretary.

?Question on this next one?

Getting pulled off my treadmill by a trainer at Fitness Works to take her "Group Active" class.

It was a good class, but the people in there were a little over the hill - so should I be offended? JK, I was sore the next couple of days, sad!

GO USA!!!

Jessica's Wedding

The Wedding photos are posted on Auburnjonesphotography.com.

Click on client and password - Jessica.

We love them. Thanks Auburn.