Sister Bodily

Since about October Conner, Gabe and I have been visiting a lady in our ward, her name is Sister Bodily, she is 96 years old and lives in a bright blue house and has lived their for 73 years. Her husband has been gone for 15 years or so. We would see her at church and she always wanted to give my boys hugs and kisses and then she would say, "Did you know that I love you." So that tells you a little bit about our adopted grandma. So I made a committment to myself that we would go see her every tuesday before Conner goes to preschool. The first couple visits I wasn't sure what she was thinking. She would let my boys know not to touch something or don't raise your voice in my house, I thought this is going to be good practice on how to behave at someone elses house. She is a little fisty sp? my boys need that. As we have kept going she has made comments like,"Did you see my face light up when your boys walked through that door?"and "When kids come around me, I come to life." So the last visit I had been sick all week and just say a little prayer, Heavenly Father if I am suppose to go see Sister Bodily give me a sign. Conner came up to me and said, mom we didn't go see Sister Bodily, I said I know Con will go see her next week, (knowing that was my sign) I knew that wasn't going to work. But Conner persisted and said, "mom she is lonely we have to go see her." "Mom, I love Sister Bodily." So we went and saw her the next morning. Our last visit I didn't know if she would want us to come back. The whole time we were their she kept saying I sure wish I could get down and play with you guys on the floor, well finally she just got out of her chair and got down on the floor and started to tease and play with my boys. I guess Conner was able to get a really good look at her and told her she looked like a rooster. Sister Bodily said what, " Conner grabed her neck and pulled on the loose skin on her neck and said a rooster. I was dying I didn't know what to do. and " Sister Bodily said, your going to have one these you just wait and you can't say anything to me that will hurt my feelings." I was relieved....

Singing at Stake Baptism

About a week ago the chorister in primary called and asked if Conner would sing the song “I love to see the temple” at our Stake Baptism. I told Conner that the Primary chorister wanted him the sing “I love to see the temple” would he do it and of course he said yes. So he already knows the song from when he sang it in sacrament meeting but it has been a few months and so I was asking Conner to practice he didn’t want to. I was a little nervous and so I have been trying to practice in the car while we are running errands. It seems to be the best place to sing. So I was lying by Conner the other night and was explaining to him about baptism. I told him how you hold on to your Dad’s arm and then you plug your nose and he said, “No mom I am afraid of the water” I said your not getting baptized on Saturday not until you are 8 years old. Oh okay, he was relieved. Then I told him how getting baptized washes all your wrong choices or sins away. Then I told him that the other thing that happens when you get baptized you get the Holy ghost. (I started to whisper) He is a still small voice. He talks to you very very quietly. When Jesus was on the earth he couldn’t stay here so he said he would give us the Holy Ghost and he could be your constant companion if you make good choices. If you don't make good choices then he will leave you. During the whole time I am explaining this to him he is laughing like he got it and the spirit was testifying to him everything I was saying was true. After I explained the Holy Ghost he said, “Shh Shh” I said, “What?” He said, “ He is talking to me right now.” I said, “What is he saying?” He said, “He is saying to make good choices.” That was so fun to teach him something so important. I have been praying that I will be able to recognize different teaching moments everyday so I can teach them the gospel. So this Saturday he sang. I was definately more scared than he was. He sang every word and did an awesome job. The primary president was talking to a guy that is a singer and he was at the baptism and he said not only did he sing every word he sang it on tune and on pitch. Another lady said, "your son did such a good job the spirit was so strong. We went to church and many people that didn't go to the baptism came up and said we heard you did a good job at the baptism. Conner has a little talent. I hope I can keep him singing.

Swimming Lessons

I told Conner that we needed to sign him up for Swimming lessons. He said he didn't want to. I told him that he needed to not be afraid of the water and they would help him to learn how. Well he thought about it for a few seconds and said, "Mom I know how to not be afraid of the water, just stay out of the water. So I told him I would make a deal with him if he went two days and didn't like it then I wouldn't make him go back. He liked that deal and said, "Mom that's a great deal. Well he has done pretty well, he is still hesitate but doesn't stay on the side of the pool like Grandma Bev did for 5 years. (ha! ha! sorry I couldn't resist)

Ouch!!

Little Gabey was trying to get down off the rocking chair and fell and split his head open. Jared was watching him and said that he cried pretty hard and then never made a peep all the way to the Dr. office. He is one tough little boy. He had to get 5 stitches and when they did the procedure they wrapped his arms in a sheet and put a sterile thing over the cut which made it so he was restrained and blind. (I tried lifting up the sterile thing so he could at least see and the Dr. said, that is sterile don't touch) He screamed and cried, wouldn't you?

We week to church the next day and I put a bandaid on it and we got in the car to go to church and I looked back and he had taken the bandaid off and Conner said, "No mom I took it off." (aren't kids so helpful) So there was a little boy about 2 1/2 yrs old sitting behind us and I saw him really getting a good look at his stitches and I heard him ask his mom what happened and she told him and he said, no sure mom that's a smashed bug on his head. LOL

Conner is a crackup!!!

I was asking Conner if he remembered Sister Beck, because she was going to be his teacher this week. He thought about it for a second and he said, "yes mom she has black hair and she has sticks on the bottom of her shoes to make herself look taller.

One day Jared took Conner to a movie and I asked Jared to pick up something from the store and Conner asked Jared where they were going next and he said we have to pick up something for mom at the store and Conner said, "Well do you think we could buy mom a car I know she likes Hondas?"

We were on our way to the Shelley pool and Conner said, Mom I sure hope it doesn't rain and so he said a little prayer and after he got done he said, sometimes it takes a long time before Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Well he was in the pool for about 10 min and it started to rain. I have no idea how he knew it was going to he is so smart.

Gabey the Baby

Gabe will be 18 months on July 25th. It is hard to believe that he is this old. Time has flown by like a breeze. I remember bringing Gabe home and my mom happened to be helping me that 1st week of his life and I told my mom he is such a good baby and she said well wait till he is a little bit older and then will see, well he is still a good baby. Last week he just starting talking in sentences but, can't quite understand what he is saying. He walks around and points and talks and talks. I was at the Dive shop the other day and we had been their for a few minutes and Gabe came up to me and pull on my pant leg said, "Let's go momma." It was as clear as clear. Gabe is very affectionate and he has brought a sweet spirit into our home. Gabe loves to love on his Dad and Jared is wrapped big time. He loves our little pug Sadie and gets really excited to see her. It is quite alright if Sadie licks him top to bottom.

Conner's summer camp

Conner is now 4 1/2 and I decided that he needed something fun this summer so I enrolled him in a summer camp. This week he went for 4 days and they brought different books to life. He had a good time. For example the first day they talked about Dr. Seus books and they ate green eggs and ham.Then they talked about the book Flat Stanley. He talked about music and Dragons the other days.

Are you afraid to Scuba Dive?

This week will be a week I never forget. Jared and I are planning a trip to Akumal, Mexico to go Scuba diving. I am not certified but Jared is. All I have left is to do two Open Water Dives. So this weekend we went to the Aquatic Center on Wed night and then Thurs, and Fri we went to Ririe Reservoir. The pool went well I had a little problem with clearing my ears going down but, all went pretty well. So thurs. was a different story, we got their and I got all my gear on (which is approximately 30lbs) I was really nervous and had to wait in the water for a long time because my instructor had to take other people down first, it seemed like an hour and the longer I waited the more nervous I got. The water is so cold that I had to wear a 7 mil wet suit which was still cold. I got ready to go down my instructor was wonderful she held my hand the whole time. So picture this your in 50 degree water and the visiblity is so bad you can't see 5ft in front of you. It was horrible, but I still believed that I could do it. So she had me clear my mask and then I had to take my mask off and put it back on, then she had me do 4 other skills when I did the first one you take the air out of your mouth and put it back in and exhale. Well I couldn't get the mouth piece back in my mouth, it was way to big (I didn't realize this at the time) and so I paniced big time, So I am choking and swallowing the whole reservoir and all I could think of is I need some air I want to go up and Patty the instructor is holding me down and trying to shove the air in my mouth, she sucessfully got it in my mouth and by this time I am in tears. So I did one more skill and pointed up and so I was wiped out. They wanted me to go back down I didn't have any strength left in me. So Jared and I left on a back experience and I told Jared that I didn't want to go back their ever again. So he was very patient and didn't push the issue.They had also kind of mentioned that if I came in the morning that it is alot more clear because it has time to settle all the dirt back to the bottom. So I decided to pray and tell Heavenly Father that I wasplanning on going back tomorrow and if he could help me know that I could do it and that is what I should do to please help me feel peace.(this is something that Jared is really passionate about and he really wanted me to get certified so we could do it together.) That night I woke up several times and had an overwhelming peaceful feeling. I knew I could do it and that Heavenly Father was their to help. Next day I got up their and was 100% more calm I went on two dives and did everything flawless. I wasn't able to go in the morning and by the way the water was much more clear and everyone was amazed at how clear it had been. I would have to say it was a little tender mercy for me because I know that when you put your whole soul into something then Heavenly Father will step in and help you the rest of the way. I am so glad that I was able to conquer that bad experience and make it a good experience, I really learned a lot about myself and what I can do with God's help.

Conner's cute Story

We were in the car driving around and Gabe was jabbering alot and I told Conner that he was telling stories and he said, Yeah, "Once upon a time there was a girl and she had a yellow shirt and blue jeans on.(that is what shirt I was wearing that day) She had 2 little boys the 1st was Conner and the 1st was Gabe. They wanted to go to the gum ball machine store, but their mom wouldn't let them because she thought there was a monster there so they went to the huckabur store (conner made that up) and they bought a huckabur gun the end.

Busy year for the Taylors

Well, it is really good to be up and running. We have been really busy for about a year now and finally feel like we can breathe a little bit now. For the last 6 years we have lived in this little cozy house and basically have gutted out the inside you wouldn’t know it by looking from the outside. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work for those of you who have done it know how much work it really is. Oh and can’t forget some money too. Little by little and room by room we have painted, new carpet, windows and lights. Jared and I love the location and love our neighbors and our ward and wanted to stay here. As you can see we don’t have a garage and our kitchen was really really small and my washer and dryer were in the kitchen, which made it even smaller. So for the last 6 years we have been planning on what we were going to do to improve it a little. We first wanted to make sure it would be a good idea or if we should move on to another house. We realized very quickly that we couldn’t find anything bigger and as nice as it would be if we added on for the same price. Because of the area where we live with huge houses next and around us we knew it was the right decision. So on May 5, 2006 Jared broke ground, it seems like so long ago. There are still things to finish up but we are living and enjoying everything about it.
This is the before of our kitchen... Our laundry was next to the kitchen...
And this is our kitchen now!!
This is the outside before...

And this is now!