New Year, New Post!

Wow--I can't believe how long I have let it go since I last posted! I guess that things have just been crazy busy . . . but also crazy fun. I guess it took me getting sick to take time to sit down and reflect on the last month and a half. Greg and I have both been down for the count--he with the flu, and me with bronchitis. This morning I went to the doctor, and they made me wear a medical mask because my voice sounded so terrible. It's not a good look for me:

But since it hurts to talk, I feel especially "chatty" in typing, so get ready for the longest post EVER:

We'll start back with Thanksgiving. Look who showed up to the feast at the Taylor's: Cap'n 'Merica!

And what a feast it was!

Over Thanksgiving break, we had a really fun sleepover with Grandpa and Grandma. It was Big Ben's first sleepover, and he did really well. We had a great time!

With the beginning of December came Ben's #3 Birthday! Of course only a super hero party would do, and we had a lot of fun.

It has been quite a snowy winter here already. Early in December I had to go into work on a Saturday for a program we were having. We got hit with a really big snowstorm that same day, so I knew that I had to walk through Temple Square on my way to the train because it was absolutely beautiful!

What was not beautiful, however, was me after digging my car out of a giant snow drift at the train station that night. 

December also meant Camden's terrific band concert . . .

. . . and Mom's and Sid's birthdays! Here are Mom and Dad at the Swedish Julbord we went to at IKEA for Mom's birthday. The food was DELICIOUS, and Mom won a prize in a drawing, which was perfect for her birthday!

The next day we went to see "Frozen" in 3-D to celebrate Sid's birthday. The coolest thing about the movie was that the princesses were Anna and her older sister Elsa--just like Grandma Anna and her older sister Elsa! It was a really cute movie. Because of my eye issues, I can't really see 3-D, so when I'm wearing 3-D glasses, the 3-D movie just looks normal to me. But the 3-D effects must have been pretty cool since Sid was trying to catch the snow flakes coming out of the screen.

The next evening we had a fun party for Mom and Sid. The best gift was from Richard to "Mom and Sid in the Future." It was an Obamacare survival guide!

The next morning I flew to . . . SAN FRANCISCO! I had never been to SF before, and it was a really cool place. I went with a few of my co-workers to meet with the company that is designing our new museum exhibit. We've had our ups and downs with this company, but they sure have an awesome view from their office!

And I had a sweet view from my hotel room!

In the morning I walked down to San Francisco Bay, and it was totally amazing. I got to see the famous San Francisco fog rolling out, and it was just really pretty there by the Bay Bridge.

The bridge looked especially cool when we went back to the bay for dinner that evening.

San Francisco was definitely a cool city, and I would like to go back sometime when I have more time to check stuff out. Our trip was a fun and productive adventure!

December also brought piano recitals--this was Sid's first one, and she, Cam, and Riley all did great!

We got a Santa suit for Big Spike, and it made him all crazy. He started ripping presents open the minute we put him in it!

On Christmas Eve Eve, I thought it would be fun to make Victorian Christmas dolls with kids at the museum. This is me before . . . I did not look this good three hours and 300 kids later :) 

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional Taylor family nativity pageant. Here is the cast.

And here are the animal children on Christmas morning. They were feeling pretty bad to the bone.

And Lily was feeling very protective of the pretzels Rich gave us.

We all got together again for New Year's Eve (with Grandma Cathy) for an evening of fun games. I couldn't stay up until midnight, but I definitely woke up at midnight when it sounded like World War III in our backyard (fireworks from the neighbors)!

The first day of work in 2014 was a big one--we deinstalled the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the museum. It was pretty cool to get to hold those priceless/timeless pieces of artwork.

2013 was great, and I am confident that 2014 will be too!

Time Travel

November has been an exciting month! I have traveled across the country and, it has seemed like, through a time warp which began with going off of daylight savings time. Shortly after "falling back" an hour, I went back an additional hour when I switched time zones while traveling to Reno, Nevada for a conference.

I went to Reno with my supervisor Maryanne and the museum's art curator, Laura. We had a great time at the National Association for Interpretation conference and learned a lot of interesting things. Reno was not a place I had ever thought of visiting, but it was actually pretty fun. A few days after returning from Reno, I switched time zones again with Mom, Dad, and Rich when we went to New York to visit Sarah, Joel, and the kids!

One of the most exciting parts of the New York trip was getting to meet Baby Sawyer for the first time! He is such a cute, cuddly guy. He was a little suspicious of Rich and me at first, but we quickly became fast friends.

On Friday we had a fun time touring Sarah and Joel's new town in beautiful upstate New York. On Saturday we visited some of our favorite Church history sites. Sawyer took his job as a tour guide very seriously.  

Here is the crew at the E.B. Grandin printing shop in Palmyra, where the Book of Mormon was first printed.

For lunch we had a picnic at the Sacred Grove. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day--perfect for walking through the leaves and enjoying this peaceful, wonderful place.

Next we climbed the Hill Cumorah.

And that evening we ate at the Coal Tower Restaurant on the banks of the Erie Canal. Sarah and Joel live in such an awesome place!

On Sunday evening, Joel, Sarah, Richard, Eliza and I ventured to the shore of Lake Ontario. It was pretty windy, but absolutely beautiful. The Great Lakes are amazing--they look like the ocean!

On Monday while Eliza was at school, the rest of us ventured to Fayette, New York, and visited the Whitmer farm, where the Church was organized in 1830. On our way there, we passed beautiful Lake Seneca, where our ancestor Parley P. Pratt was baptized. 

For lunch we picked up sandwiches at this great Amish grocery store: Sauder's. If I lived in New York, I would do all of my shopping there! Here I am posing with a 10.03 pound candy bar--too bad it was too big for my carry on bag!

One of Grandpa's and Leo's favorite things to do during our trip was play trains. I can't believe how big Leo and Eliza have gotten . . . 

. . . and how cute little Sawyer is!

Here is Leo with his pals, Grandpa and Grandma, on Tuesday before we flew home.

And Eliza with Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom, waiting for the bus (in the snow!). We had such a fun trip to New York--it was hard to leave!!

This weekend, we got to go waaaaaaaay back in time to celebrate the first Thanksgiving at the appropriately named Thanksgiving Point near our house in Lehi. Mom, Rich, Greg, Camden, and I met up with some of my friends from the museum for our first annual "Eat Like a Pilgrim" event! Camden and I had a great time dressing up in pilgrim armor--but we are glad that we don't have to dress like that every day.

Mom and Cam had a great time playing pilgrim-era games like fox & geese.

We had a delicious Thanksgiving feast of salad, cider, salted bread, corn pudding, stewed pumpkin, pork, turkey, and berry cobbler. It was a little tricky to eat some things because we didn't have forks!

Miles Standish put Greg in the stocks for failing to eat his stewed pumpkin--because we have to be grateful for all food that we are given!

I ended up in the stocks for failing to wear a petticoat. The funny thing about that is that I actually own a petticoat, but I only wear it with my pioneer outfit at the museum :)

And Miss Cam ended up in the stocks for "showing her hair in public"! Thankfully none of us were publicly shamed like some of the poor folks who ended up in the stocks. We had such a fun evening, and we got our stomachs all warmed up for this week's upcoming Thanksgiving feast! Happy Thanksgiving!

Anniversaries and Fall Adventures

I have been really bad about keeping up on my blog! I still have much to catch up on, but I'll begin with our most recent fall adventures, starting with . . . 

. . . our annual fall picnic up the canyon! It was such a beautiful evening, and we had a wonderful time eating KFC, playing games, and enjoying the amazing fall leaves.

Later that week we got to celebrate a very important occasion: Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary!!! To honor this important milestone, we celebrated with some frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf. You can tell that Ben was especially excited. We are so happy that Mom and Dad were married 40 years ago and are grateful that they are such wonderful parents and grandparents!

The day after Mom and Dad's anniversary, I flew to Springfield, Illinois for a fun visit to see friends. Here are Laura, Emma, Jenn, John, Linda, Rose, Chris, and me at Olive Garden. It was great to see everyone!

I had an especially fun time staying with my cute friends, the Atkins. Laura, Emma, Connor, and I got into the fall spirit by carving pumpkins for the annual Spooktacular at Washington Park. Connor and I made a pretty amazing Batman pumpkin :) We also got to celebrate Emma's fifth birthday while I was there, so that was extra exciting. We had a great time watching movies, having dance parties, going out for doughnuts, and just hanging out together.

Laura Atkins is a really dear friend. I'm so glad that I was able to go visit her and her wonderful family. I have missed them a lot!

This past weekend, Greg and I got to celebrate our #5 anniversary! For this special occasion, we spent a couple of nights in Park City. The weather was perfect! We ate some delicious food and had a wonderful time together. We were especially excited that the St. Louis Cardinals won their game on Friday night and secured a spot in the World Series!!!!!!

This morning we left Park City bright and early so that I could make it back in time for our ward Primary program. As we were driving, we saw this beautiful fall scene--what a pretty place!