My St. George Valentine

I spent Valentine's /Presidents weekend in sunny warm St. George with my two boys. A/C on in the car?!? What?!? It was great! We also celebrated Jacob's adoption day which is actually on Valentine's Day (the day we went to court to legally adopt him) What a blessing he is to our family. It was a very relaxing and very fun get a way at Grandma and Grandpa Taylors winter home. We missed Elise who stayed home to go to a dance and do student council stuff.

Happy Birthday & New Beginnings...

Happy Birthday to my husband, best friend and favorite person... I love you!



I slaved over these "brownies 3 ways..." Caramel swirl macadamia nut, chocolate ganache, and cranberry orange with cream cheese icing.... I don't think we saved any calories, not having cake... :)
Elise's last "New Beginnings" for YW's. It was such a beautiful night. The theme was D.O.T.S. "Depend on the Savior." I'm thinking we should steal it for our stake primary leadership! Each girl was given an attribute with a rose and amazing Ari (new president) talked about "pointalism" and how we are all part of a bigger "picture." Elise gave a beautiful talk and made a video with stills and video of Christ in the Americas with music, then pictures of girls and more and more pictures scanning farther away until they were just dots (she downloaded like 6000 pictures), then all the dots formed a picture of Christ. She had great scripture quotes with it as well. It was very touching. I want her to make one for our primary leadership about children... I may need a box of kleenex though... What a great ending to 6 years of New Beginnings.

"Hero Dance" Pics

Elise at AF High's Super Hero Dance. She was able to be involved in "Hero Week" at school and got to help plan assemblies, nominate fellow students and give a tribute for the teacher Heather Christensen that died last year in the tour bus accident. She said it was really touching to see all the students that were selected for a "Hero." This has been an amazing high school experience, we couldn't of asked for a better atmosphere for her to be in. :)

She also gets to help with dances and this was one of the most fun she said. A cute boy Devin asked her to the dance. He won "Mr Caveman" for the 09-10 school year, what a doll he is! Super cute and so nice and polite! They had a fun "day date" and got the rest of their costumes ready. Elise and Devin went as CatWoman and The Joker- anti heros which I guess ended up being lots of fun!

GiRLs CabIN TrIP!

A fun get a way with girlfriends and fellow bookclubbers to Meghan's cabin in Wyoming... Late nights, yummy food, fun shopping, crazy games and laughing until it hurts. We did squeeze in discussing "Gone With the Wind." It was relaxing and just what we all needed! These are amazing women, I love them!!

New Year's Eve

Bowling, dinner out with friends and a New Year's Eve party with Karaoke fun with all the family in town - then several hours of the game "what's your sign" which we all got addicted to thanks to Elise and Jenna! Several nights in fact we were addicted to that game! We enjoyed yummy party food and bubbly for the New Year. It was a great way to start 2010!!
Kristi and I look too composed, must not be to the chorus yet... :)
Alli and Josh singing classic Queen-- Josh home from Portugal!
Awww... I always wanted Lynn to sing Journey to me!
David, Jenna and Jacob (who loves karaoke)

Elise and cousin Jared (newly returned missionary) It was so great to see him and Josh again! Elise is "schooling" him on lyrics he has not heard, having been in Chile for two years. :)We started out the evening with a date out for amazing Chinese in Salt Lake with other 15 couples. The Wisers came with us and were so gracious to come not knowing anyone. They even played 2 truths and a lie with all of us! Great food, great friends. Thanks to the Kimballs for organizing a really great night!


Is Elise talking smack with Tara's husband? :)

Bowling New Year's Eve day with mom and dad, Rutkowski's, Griggs, Wisers, Deans and Scott's family. We had lots of family in town which makes a very fun holiday!

Lynn's still got it--

Merry Christmas Morning!

The waiting is hardest isn't it? I remember waiting at the top of the stairs for my parents to get set up with camera gear etc.. It seemed like it took forever. Pictured: Jacob, Cyrena and Natalie waiting for Elise to arise...Elise loves having a mom who always has a camera in hand... :-)



Christmas Morning... presents, yummy breakfast and lounging... It's the greatest!!