CHRISTMAS 2009!

Tyler and Jen setting up our new Wii. We all had the sorest Right Arms from playing tennis. Sad! We love our Wii.


Jess, Graham and Aunt Rayna at my mom's Christmas Brunch.

Jen, Jaxon, Gma Ronnie & Jessica at Christmas Brunch.

Jessica making a necklace for her Secret Santa. We should have taken a picture of the necklace, it turned out cute.

Tyler is so excited about Christmas!



We had a wonderful Christmas. It's such a busy time of year, but one that is filled with a lot of Family gatherings, good food and reacquainting with our loved ones.

We have a new roof. We love it! It passed the test this week when it rained, NO LEAKS!!!!! Next blog will present our newly painted house. Yay!


A picture of Jason and Courtney's cute little family. Boston is up to 7 pounds at 6 weeks old.

Boston got to meet his Great Grandpa Taylor and Great Grandma Taylor at dinner on Sunday night.


Boston snoozing away in dreamland. He loves his arms out and free.

Weekly Events!

We were so excited that Jessica flew in for a visit this past weekend. We had TONS of fun while she was here. Lots to get in on a short visit.
Jessica, Ashley, Becky, Abigail and Kali playing the "Ninja" game. Hilarious.

Jessica meeting her new nephew, Boston.

Jessica, Boston & Jaxon

We had to take a picture of Jessica and her ONE suitcase. Those of you who know Jessica, know that she has never packed light for a trip. This time she only brought ONE suitcase. Good job Jess. (She didn't want to pay for extra baggage)

Tyler and Jennifer on our way over for the "Memory Walk" in downtown Phoenix. It's a little early on Sat. morning.

We all met in Phoenix for the Alzheimer's Memory Walk. We had shirts made that said Marvell's Memories. We had a great time. Gene & Marvell eating before the walk.

This is Marlee (sp?) Melanies baby that was born on the same day as Boston. I thought Courtney would like to see a picture of her. Isn't she cute.

Our family with Gene & Marvell.

The Original's with their parents. Tom was MIA.

7 of the 8 kids and their parents.

This is the Taylor clan starting our 3 mile hike. They announced us as Marvell's Memory walkers because we had 75 walkers in our group.

Action photo of Tyler, Jen & Ken.

We really had a great time as a family honoring the memories of such a wonderful lady, Marvell. It was a beautiful overcast morning and we will always remember those who can't.
We're very greatful Jessica could come down and see Boston, celebrate her 22nd birthday and enjoy the Thanksgiving Feast we had on Sunday.
We LOVE family!

New Arrival!

Courtney had her baby on Sunday, October 25th at 5:01PM. Boston Overstreet was delivered by emergency C-section. I barely made it there in time, like Jason posted on Courtney's blog. Jen & I were going to the hospital to see Courtney because Jason was sick with the flu and they won't let Jaxon in the hospital at all because of the H1N1. (A mother that delivered a baby on Sat. died of the H1N1 at that hospital so they are being VERY cautious, which they should.) Jason called me while we were on our way there and said for us to hurry because they were going to deliver Courtney's baby within 30 min. (She lives 45 min away). Jen drove like a maniac trying to get there in time and WE MADE IT! The Dr. spoke to me before the delivery and said they would let the baby cry and then they would intubate him. I don't like that, so luckily that didn't happen, he was breathing on his own fine. He was 4 lbs and 6 oz. Courtney is a trooper and doing great. Her white blood count was up along with Boston's so they are treating them both with antibiotics. They also gave Courtney Tamaflu. I told Jason that I'm not quite as good of a coach as he would have been but I was so excited to be there. I even got to cut the cord! I KNOW they (Court & Boston) were very much looked after and I'm so grateful they are both doing great! I took a lot of pictures with Courtney's cell phone but I don't have a picture to share with you. He is little. You can go to Courtney's blog to take a peek at Boston.

Something to Smile About!

My inlaws were over for dinner. My mother-in-law is suffering with
Alzheimer's. She is so cute and saying funny things all the time
that make us laugh. Don't get me wrong, we're not laughing at her,
she happens to have a cute sense of humor along with her Alzheimer's.
We finished dinner and we had these cute cupcakes for dessert. When
I placed this flower cupcake in front of her to eat, she turned to me
and said "OH!, did you grow that in your garden?"
We were caught a little off guard and had to laugh. Thanks Marvell
for making us smile.

Retreat

Last weekend our ward had it's annual RS retreat.
We had a lot of fun, playing 4 square, ping pong,
Apples to Apples, Nertz and Line Dancing. We had a lot of informative classes: photography, making your photos into a DVD, & memorable cookbooks.
It was just ONE big sleep.
(which means - no sleep)

I rode up with these cute little Young Adults!


Lori Hamblin and I taking pictures of each other during our photo class.
I'm such a bad photographer, I didn't even remember I had my camera until I had to get it for the class.

One of our favorite activities - eating the good food that was prepared for us.

In our photo class we learned that the best pictures are sometimes the spontaneous ones. I was trying to shoot these photos spontaneously - which these girls didn't like me snapping away at will.


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This is the last get together before we took a group photo. We each gave Mary Ann Hogle a picture of ourselves when we were younger. She placed them on a big poster board and we were to guess who was who. We had a lot of fun doing that. Some were really hard. This picture is when Mary Ann Hogle was telling us who was who.

I Big Thanks to our RS Presidency who worked so hard so that we could have a great Retreat, and to our Priesthood men who cooked us great food.

Mall Pretzels

"Thumbs Up" on this pretzel recipe! You won't have to go to the mall for yummy, soft pretzels, you can make them yourself!

Ingredients:
1 pkg dry yeast (about 2.25 tsp)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 c warm water
3 c all purpose flour
1 c bread flour
2 c warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp Coarse Kosher salt
(other toppings= sugar/cinnamon, honey/butter)

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 c. warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 min. Place in a greased bowl, turn to coat the surface. cover and let rise for one hour.
Combine 2 c. warm water & baking soda in an 8" square pan.


After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces.


Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner.

Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise 15-20 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine were golden brown at 8 min)

Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with coarse salt or cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy!

Calli Overstreet graciously took our family pictures while Graham and Jessica were in town. Here is a sneak preview of some pictures.










Thanks Calli!!!

GONE!

Wisdom (teeth) removed from another 18 year old!



Jen's wisdom teeth were removed last Friday. She has been living on Ramen noodles, yogurt and pudding. She was excited today because she finally was able to eat some "Stuffing" for dinner.

I'm a Little Bit Country!
We're digging Country Rock Band.
If you listen to country music, you'll love it.

(Jen & Jake)

(Lexi and Clayton)

Our whole family has been playing it,(even though it's not ours- thanks for storing it at our house, wink wink). I wished I had taken pictures of everyone. Oh well!

My Weekly Bread Making
is coming to a halt!


Back to work on Friday.

IT WAS A GREAT DAY - BECAUSE♥♥♥♥♥♥

Jennifer and Tyler woke me up for this!


What little chefs they were - I didn't know they had it in them. That's why it was double special. Wonderful pancakes from scratch, homemade syrup, fresh strawberries, eggs and toast and orange juice. Wow! It was so yummy. Needless to say, I didn't feel like working out after that meal. It was also special because♥♥♥ it is summer time and my kids are in bad habits of staying up too late (they're teenagers) - they had to get up early to make this wonderful breakfast for me because Jen had to leave early to go babysit. What a sacrifice. Thanks!


Courtney and Jen made this wonderful Picture Frame. Isn't it cute. We'll be taking a family picture when Graham and Jessica come in 2 weeks, then we'll fill the frame with our updated picture. I love it. Thanks girls. (Another total surprise).





My present from Tyler. A can of tennis balls with a Mesa Frozen Yogurt Gift Certificate taped to it. He knows me too well. I can't wait until it cools off a little more at nights so that we can play more tennis. It's still a little too hot for me. I don't recover as well as I used too. He also knows that every time we have played tennis this summer, we go to Mesa Fro Yo afterwards for some COOL stuff.



Thanks to friends and family for your thoughtfulness. I ♥ and appreciate all of you!!!!! It was a great day.

PS. Another surprise, while I was at our ward party, Kenny handed me his cell phone and said it was for me. I took the phone and said "Hello" and then I heard a group singing me Happy Birthday on the other end. When they were done, I said "Who is This?" They said it is everyone around the campfire. I thought it was a joke, I didn't understand who was around a campfire - I was dripping with sweat from being outside at our ward water slide party. Then Gene (Kenny's dad) said the family (who are up at the cabin for a family reunion) wanted to sing Happy Birthday to me.
How Sweet! We'll join them tomorrow for the fun festivities at the Alma Reeves Taylor Family Reunion.

THANKS!!!!