Memorial Day = 4 Day Weekend!!

Stephen and I realized Thursday night that Monday was Memorial Day, meaning paid holiday, meaning, we should go do something fun. We were going to go down to St. George, but when we called up my parents turns out they had already planned on taking advantage of the holiday by going to Moab. So we ended up inviting my brother Jeff to come spend the weekend with us. It was fun. I don't have a car during the day, so Friday I had my own chauffeur. First he took me to Joann's to get some things that I needed for my many sewing projects I have going on. Later Friday night we went to go see the movie "Knowing" at the dollar theater.
Maybe you've seen a preview for it, it has a very "end of the world" feeling to it. In fact, I wouldn't recommend seeing it. It seems like some one's interesting interpretation of "The Rapture." Then on Saturday we were on our way to take Jeff to see the thrill of Provo...Farmers Market, when we saw a Yard Sale. Turned out to be a girls camp yard sale from our old ward. The girls were trying to raise enough money to go to girls camp. We got there towards the end, and they were just trying to get rid of stuff at that point, so they handed us a grocery bag and said whatever we could fill in the bag for a total of three dollars. We checked to make sure they had baby boy stuff, and they did, so we decided to do it. We were able to fit 32 things in the bag; receiving blankets, hats, clothes, hooded baby towel, etc. all for three dollars. That's like, what? 9 cents each. Not bad, huh? (I didn't think we could beat last week, when we went on a yard sale shopping spree. This one family with like 4 or 5 kids were getting rid of all their baby and kid stuff for 25 cents per item. We got like 70+ items for about $18. Again, things like blankets, shoes, hats, hooded towels, clothes, etc. Plus, a Graco baby swing for $2, and an infant car seat head pillow thing for $1.) After the yard sale we went to Farmer's Market. In the last two weeks they grew twice as big. Stephen and I shared a Belgian Waffle, and it was THE BEST waffle I ever had.

They reminded me a lot of my favorite cookies, which actually aren't really cookies but Dutch waffles called "Stroopwafels."

There was a girl on my mission that was Dutch who spoke perfect English by the way, and her mom had sent some of these cookies/waffles. Anyway...) Stephen bought me some Lavender bath fizzles that smell awesome, and then we got to this one booth that was selling these little wooden Hungarian dolls that have rose oil perfume on the inside. We were about to keep going when we read the sign that said it was for orphanages in Hungary. The girl at the booth had served her mission in Hungary and had gone back there after her mission to help in the orphanage. She had brought back the dolls to sell in hopes of raising money for the children in the orphanage.

So we decided to get one of the dolls. Something I forgot to mention, when my brother came out he brought two episodes of Horatio Hornblower that he had rented from his local library. Stephen looked at me and smiled making some comment about how his mom and aunt thought he, Horatio Hornblower was "dreamy". Obviously he expected me to develop some kind of crush on Horatio from watching the show. Funny thing though, because after watching one episode Stephen was the one to get hooked. So Saturday after Farmer's Market he and my brother went to the local library and Stephen got the first four episodes to watch.

Don't get me wrong, I like it too, but Stephen loves it!! (For some reason Horatio reminds me of a gecko.) Sunday after church my brother and I went to the cemetery in American Fork to visit our grandparents graves.

First we went to my mom's parents. Beth Shelton Jorgensen and Leo Jorgensen, my step-grandfather John Dean was also buried at the same cemetery, and we thought we remembered where his grave was, but we looked forever and couldn't find it. My grandfather Leo served in the Korean War and brought back some china with him that I've inherited. We forgot that it was Memorial Day weekend, so the cemetery was packed, there were so many people there. Afterwards we sung by and visited my grandma Dean. She was so excited and said that now she could brag to her friends and say that she did have a visitor over the Memorial Weekend. (I really need to go visit her more frequently.) Monday there was a free breakfast special going on at Ikea.

Not that breakfasts there aren't already cheap, but this was free. So we went, I had wanted to go look at the baby/kid stuff. There were some finger puppets there that I wanted to get, but I started to get tired and, don't get me wrong I LOVE Ikea, but to get to the register you have to walk through the whole flippin' store. I asked a worker if I could just go through to the front to get to the register and just buy my stuff and even explained I was tired and pregnant and she said I couldn't. So I told Stephen we'd just come back another time to get it. After breakfast Uncle Stephen and Aunt Tracy invited us over for lunch, then Stephen and Jeff went and saw Terminator 4.

Fun weekend, I love holidays.

I Love to See the Temple...

Yesterday evening Stephen and I finally were able to visit the temple again. We use to go once a month after we got married. We even went to the temple in Ecuador while we were there...

...and to the Portland, Oregon temple when we were there for four days last August.

(Funny thing, a woman in the Portland temple pronounced the word "Washington" as "Warshington." Crazy accent lady.)

It was so nice last night to finally be able to go. I think the last time we went was with Sarah and Micheal last November before I got the pregnancy sickies. Since then I haven't felt well enough to go, except for this last month. Every weekend we kept saying we'd go, and then forget. So I finally made it official...I wrote it on the calender. Impressed? That's some serious stuff. The man told us while we were there that the Provo temple is the busiest in the world, and that's 3:1. He said they get about 3 million visits a year. The second highest is in West Jordan, UT and they get 1 million. There is just an incredible peace that comes from going. Feeling not only closer to Heavenly Father, but also your spouse. I think Stephen and I were the only ones in our group making googly eyes at each other, or puppy dog eyes, whatever you call it. (Probably made everyone else want to throw up, but we don't care.) It's amazing how many temples are in such close proximity to us right now. We were commenting last month at my uncles house, the one in Draper, just how many temples we could see from his balcony. Then Stephen and I made a proposition to try and see all the temples in the area, if not the whole of Utah before we leave. Whenever that might be. So far we've been to the Salt Lake Temple, the Timpanogas Temple, Manti, and St. George. That leaves, what? 7 more? 8 more? No worries, it'll happen. Here are some pictures of the Provo Temple for your viewing enjoyment. (It really is lovely this time of year. Very green.)

The Empress' New Clothes

As mentioned before, some of my maternity clothes don't fit anymore. Pants are especially out. (I just don't like anything touching my belly) So last Friday, May 8th, after going out to dinner with my parents at Costa Vida, (a less crouded version of Cafe Rio), Stephen and I headed over to Ross. When they say dress for less, they really mean it. I was never really into Ross, but my sister in law Becky converted me. It's a good place to go, especially if you constantly are out-growing your maternity clothes, but don't have the money to constantly be upgrading your wardrobe. I got 2 skirts for $10 each and 5 shirts that all ranged between $5.49 and $6.50. Here are the Empress' new clothes (no worries; they are more tangible than the Emperor's New Clothes)




Here is me modeling one of my outfits.

I got this jacket over a year ago at the BYU Bookstore 90% off sale. I got it because it was on sale for about $2.50, but it was too big for me. My sister Sarah was pregnant at the time, and I was going to send it to her as a gift, but forgot. Now I'm pregnant, and it fits me perfectly! Plus, look at the hat. Can you believe I got it for $1 at the dollar store?
Not bad, huh?

Just call me Mrs. bargain shopper. :)

Saturday Fun

I will have to break up last Saturday's happenings because I'm waiting for pictures that I had to take with my mom's camera. Ours is still in limbo. Luckily enough you can find lots of pictures on Yahoo! images. So...last Saturday Stephen and I went to the Provo's Farmer's Market.



The one in Provo isn't huge, but I still had a lot of fun. I like looking at people's crafts and things. I don't really buy anything, except for food, but I like to get ideas for things I myself can make at home. Like this onesie.



I know no one expects babies to wear the traditional church clothes when they are newborns, but whenever I see a baby at church all dressed up in a little man suit, or even just a onesie with a tie on it I think they are the cutest things. I saw these onesies at the Farmer's Market. They were about $15 for one. I told Steve I could make 5 for that price! And so I shall. Although I have so many projects going on right now, I'm not sure when I'll finish any of them. The real reason I wanted to go the Farmer's Market is because last year someone was selling this South African sausage.



It was THE BEST meat I ever had. I had been craving it so bad. Unfortunately Raquel told us they weren't there that day. GRRR... So we ate something else called Kürtőskalács. Way good.



It's a Hungarian pastry called "chimney cake". It was soo good. It was like eating a cross between a Cinnamon roll and churro. Not as bready as the Cinnamon roll, but not greasy like the churro. Just absolute wonderfulness. We also ate a "Navajo Taco."



That was good, too. Not really healthy, but it was good. We had an unexpected visit from my parents last weekend (that's why I'm waiting for pixes from them). My uncle called them and invited them to come up for a birthday party for my Grandma Dean. They were only here Friday and Saturday, but it was fun. My sister Megan called me up last week about a special Mother's Day gift for our mom. Admittedly I usually just do a card thing, but this year we got presents for our mommas. Yea! Stephen's mom hasn't received her gift yet, curse the mail (curse it I say!!), so I'll talk about my mom's special gift. So Megan called me up and told me that she has heard our mom talking several times about how it would be nice to have a white tent to put her art up in to display.



For those of you who don't know my mom paints. In fact, we have some of her paintings up in our house. My mom has become more involved lately in putting up her art in public places. In fact, there is an art gallery in Southern Utah that asked her if they could display her art work. It's displaying there now. So we all pitched in a little, and dad did too, and we got her a tent to put her art work up in. Yea!

P.S. More posts on Mother's Day Weekend coming soon.
P.P.S. I had a couple of people ask me about my last post, there was a bit of confusion...sorry about the confusion. No, Stephen's sister Sarah is not pregnant. At least she wasn't the last time I checked. Not that I "checked." What I meant to say was, some day in the future. Hence, future momma. Sorry again.

To Our Mamas Lindas

BRINTON


"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." -Mark Twain

To my mother whom I love dearly, this quote will forever reflect the way I feel about you and me. I know I was, what you called "A Little Miss Bossy Boots" but I think that secretly you enjoyed all my shenanigans growing up. From my obsession with Shirley Temple, thanks for humoring me and dressing me up to look like her; not just the hair, but also the sailor dress for picture day. :) Thank-you for teaching me what the truly important things in life really are. You are the BEST. I love you forever, I like you for always as long as I'm living (or forever and eternity :D ) my mommy you'll be.

- Melly Sue

TAYLOR


"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -Abraham Lincoln

Mother, I love you always and forever. Thank you for always being such a tireless example of wisdom, fortitude, kindness, selflessness, and integrity. If all sons were fortunate enough to have mothers like you, peace would reign on the earth.
-Stephen

AND TO ALL THE OTHER MOTHERS IN OUR FAMILY(and/or future mothers)AND GRANDMOTHERS... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

GRANDMA JEANNE DEAN (mother of many nations)


GRANDMA VIRGINIA TAYLOR (mother of many nations)


LYDIA BRINTON (mother of Emma, Roxanne, and Charlotte)


BECKY TAYLOR (mother of Preston)


MINDY DUGGAN (mother of Jessica, Laura, and Allison)


MEGAN TAYLOR (mother of Camryn)


MEGAN WINN (mother of Caleb, Haley, Brinton, Clara, Annalyse, and Eliza)


SARAH TAYLOR BRAGONJE(future momma)


SARAH HEATH (mother of Scarlett)

Be Grateful...

Yes, this is one of those "Be Attitudes" lessons and one that I needed to learn badly today. So some of my maternity clothes are getting just a little snug, or uncomfortable in certain places. Funny, the maternity shirt that my mom got me for Christmas doesn't really fit me anymore. I had expected my belly to possibly get too big for some of my maternity clothes, but my belly isn't the part that's too big. "The Girls" have decided to join in the belly fun of growing and getting more attention than is wanted or needed shall we say. "The Girls", not the belly, are also the reason why the two maternity dresses that I have aren't quite working out for me anymore. So last night I had Stephen take me to D.I. and Savers to look at maternity clothes (because most maternity stores are too expensive.) I found one shirt, that I got, but everything else was hideous! I started to cry and feel extremely sorry for myself, which just got worse when we went to Macey's to get food and I saw this other pregnant woman who was tiny everywhere else and then had a basketball tummy. It didn't help when Stephen said, "See look, she's pregnant, too!" because she was wearing/still fitting into clothes that weren't maternity. Don't worry, I'm coming up on the part where I need to be grateful. Well, this morning I was surfing blogs, jumping from one blog link to another to another, when I came across this one blog. I watched the video they had posted, a song called "I Would Die For That." Maybe some of you have heard it before, BUT have you seen the video? (Sorry but you'll have to click on the link to see the video, I can't figure out how to put videos up on my blog. Megan? A little help please? :)

I can't remember the last time I cried so hard. (Trust me, take a minute and watch the video, it's really worth it.) The whole part about me feeling sorry for myself kind of went away. Does this mean I will never ever have a pregnancy complaint again in my life? No. But it certainly helps me to see that this isn't perhaps as bad as I see it. This goes out to all you woman out there that are having, or have had, a tough pregnancy like myself; be grateful. Play "the happy game" like on the movie "Pollyanna." And watch this video, especially on the days you are feeling like throwing yourself your own pity party.

Everybody loves Freebees

I think I might have mentioned before that Stephen and I joined this Yahoo group called Freecycle. I love it! Today I just got another free thing, a baby bath tub, AND it's in great condition. Here it is...


(the bath tub, not that little blue seat thing in the background)

It's great. So far we've gotten a carseat with base/stroller combo, a glider/rocking chair, some baby clothes, baby boy frames, and now the bath tub. Nothing looks that spectacular, but they're all in good working condition, and they are free. Besides...we would have had to buy all this stuff used anyways, so why not get them for free. Especially since the thrift stores here are so ridiculously overpriced. I thoroughly recommend everyone to join. The only thing is, the stuff goes really fast. Especially the baby stuff. (At least here in Provo they do, but maybe that's because here babies are a dime a dozen.) For example, almost every morning I check free cycle right when I wake up, and almost every morning someone has posted something for babies. No matter how fast I send an e-mail, someone else always beats me. A lot of people post things in really good condition. Just my luck though, the one baby clothes posting that says in the post "not nice, but usable condition" is the only one that I actually got. They were right, every article of clothing had a stain on it. That's okay, I'll just save those clothes for at home, or playing in the dirt time. My advice, join freecycle, get free stuff. Not only get free stuff, but it's nice to unload stuff you don't need anymore that someone else might.

Birthday Presents and a Baptism

I'm slowly trying to catch up on all the Taylor going ons, as you might have been able to tell by the late Graduation and Baby Shower posts. I know I put up a Birthday Ode to Stephen already last week, BUT I didn't show you some awesome gifts that he got. As many of you know Stephen has this...shall we say, interesting, fascination with ZOMBIES (Not to mention Alien invasions and the non-existent mythical creatures known as ORCS, but for now we will stick with the theme of Zombies since those are more prevalent). I'm not sure why, or where it came from, but there it is. Something I learned when we were dating. (We all have our own INTERESTING little quarks; mine is a reoccurring dream, that I had yet again last night, about shopping at Forever 21 and everything was on sale for $1. Man, sometimes I really hate waking up. Sorry...tangent...anyway, back to Zombies.) So for a Birthday present Stephen's oldest brother Karl and his wife Megan



indulged this Zombie fascination by getting him a T-shirt reflecting his fantasy...

...the fantasy of fighting off Zombies. Not just alone, but making it a family activity. But it didn't end with their indulging Stephen in this "sort" of behavior, but they decided to help his future son develop this same passion for fighting evil...the dead kind of evil that should stay...dead. Yes, you guessed it...


a Zombie Baby Tee for Baby James. Karl and Megan have a knack for getting funny gifts, like the one they gave Stephen two years ago, a T-shirt that says "What Would Jane Do, Besides Bring Grenades?" (An inside joke, you'd have to know the short lived T.V. series "Firefly", and Stephen's love for it to understand). Thanks you guys, I can't wait to put Baby James in that Tee! :P :D ;)

I got Stephen the movie "Iron Man" for his birthday, but it wasn't planned.

Originally I had planned on getting him this really cool illustrated version of the book "Treasure Island" which he has talked about a number of times. There was one specific one that he read with his younger brother Colin when he was younger. I wanted to get that specific one, but couldn't find it. Who would have guessed there could be so many different illustrated versions of that book. I ran out of time, so I got the movie. But he's happy so, that's good.

Also, last week on Saturday we went to Stephen's cousin's daughter's baptism.

His cousin, Ryan Moses, invited us to his oldest daughter, Kailey's baptism. It was very sweet, for the opening hymn they played the rainbow song, which was/is one of my favorite primary songs. (I think the real name is "I Love to Look for Rainbows". It always makes me cry, just like the "Families Can Be Together Forever" song. I don't know why, but ever since I was a kid, and it continues today, whenever I hear those two songs I cry. It was a good thing that we came in halfway through the first hymn, that way I only cried a little. Ryan asked Stephen to stand in as one of the men to confirm her to get the Holy Ghost afterwards. It was very sweet. After the confirmation Kailey started to cry and went straight to her dad for a big huge, it was so sweet. So, of course I had to start crying, again. (I wish I was that emotionally caught up at my own baptism, but unfortunately the thing I remember most about my baptism was that I had to wear the church standard onesie outfit as opposed to some white frilly dress that some of the other girls mother's made for them for their baptism. Funny, but no one really does that anymore.) When Stephen sat down I told him that that would be him in 8 years, not the one getting baptized but the one doing the baptizing. :D (Just to clear things up). He just smiled really big. After the baptism there was a BBQ and Stephen got to hang out with his cousins. Ahh...fun times with the fam.

The Baby Shower (or James' Oth Birthday)

Despite the rain we did have the shower, my baby shower, or James' Oth (Ond? Ost?) Birthday Party! It was a lot of fun...at least I thought so. The shower took place at my Aunt (-in-law) Tracy's house. Aunt Tracy, I have to say, is an amazing cook!!

Me & Aunt Tracy


If anyone remembers ANYTHING about the shower, they might even forget who it was for, but they will not forget the fabulous food. In fact, when Tracy first offered to throw me a baby shower the FIRST THING that came to my mind was Tracy's good cookin'!

Here it is, although I wish I'd taken a picture of it before the shower and before everyone started eating, but it still looks glorious!

I don't know if you can tell, but in the bottem left hand on the table there is a cookie tray with lots of little pink things on it. That was one of the games that we played called "Bubble Gum Baby." I had to go out of the room for three minutes while all of the guests were given a huge peice of the pink Bubble Gum Bubble Yum; with it they had to sculpt a baby, and then when they were done they put them on a cookie tray to be judged by moi. The winners were Cassandra (Stephen's cousin) and Charrise Stephens (my friend). Some of the other games were "Sniff-a-Poo", "My Water Broke", and "Seventh Gift". "Sniff-a-Poo" consisted of taking 6 or 7 diapers and smashing different candy bars in them, like, Snickers, Reece's, York Patties, etc. People had to then smell the closed diapers and guess what kind of candy bar was in each diaper, and they didn't know which kind of candy bars were used. The winner for that game was Marisa Ontiveros (a friend from my TESOL grad program).

"My Water Broke"

The "My Water Broke" game is a bit more common at baby showers, but for those of you who don't know...you take an icecube tray and freeze these tiny little babies in the icecubes. (sounds creepy, I know.) Whoever's baby melts out of the icecube first wins because there "water" was the first to break. The last game, which wasn't really a game, was called "Seventh Gift." You know how at weddings the first girl to catch the bouquet, or guy to catch the garter, are supposed to be the next person to get married? Well, I came across something, an old wives tail or whatever, that said that the seventh gift opened at a baby shower, whoever gave that gift is supposed to be the next person in the room to get pregnant. It's supposed to be especially funny if the gift giver is like, a grandma, or really old. Well, the winner of that game was ... Katie Baldwin. Watch out Katie! Her prize was a pregnancy test. :) Well...good luck with that. But I would like to say Katie was a great help at the shower, she was (other than my mom and Aunt Tracy) one of the first people there helping prepare things in the kitchen and get things ready for the shower, not to mention also one of the last people to leave. You're awesome!

Katie Baldwin (R) and Stephen's Aunt Diane (L)...

...(who had us and Sarah and Micheal over for Dinner/Games/Dessert last night with her daughter, Cassandra, and her family...)

Stephen's cousin Cassandra (Two-time Baby shower winner of "My water Broke" and "Bubble Gum Baby") with Sarah Taylor Bragonje...

... (Thanks for having us over last night guys, it was a blast. Cassie your hubby is a wonderful host, but a lousy cheat! We love ya Ryan!) I would just like to say, Sarah made some fabulous pumpkin muffins for the shower, Thank-you! (You'll have to give me that recipe later. :D )

More shower guests (L to R): Marisa Ontiveros ("Sniff-a-Poo" winner, that thing hanging from Tracy's ceiling behind Marisa makes her look like she has antlers), Mandi Malaman ( Mandi was also in my TESOL grad program, and was a great help giving me rides and answering a lot of my baby/pregnancy questions. You're awesome!), and Eleanor Clark (my student teaching companion).

There were more people that came, but my mom didn't whip out the camera until 15 mintues after the shower ended, so thank-you other half as well that came to the shower, but left before picture time.

The Swag

The aftermath, here's the swag. Sorry, no individual pixes...We still don't have camera, so for now, this will have to do.

And Me, at 6 months

My goodness this IS depressing. I wish I'd looked cuter for my baby shower...in fact, I thought I did look pretty cute. I DID do my make-up that day, believe it or not. But from the picture I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. I wish I could do my hair cute, but doing hair is a very foreign thing for me. Where were you Megan when needed you? (Remember the CA reception?) My sister-in-law Becky looked sooo cute at her baby shower...was it really so impossible for me to look cute for mine? The answer is: Apparently so.

This isn't Becky at her shower, but she looks cute, and is 38 WEEKS HERE. The picture above of me, I'm 25 weeks.


Yes, I'm huge. And I hate everyone who looks cute pregnant. (Megan, don't think you're off the hook here, I just don't have a pregnant picture of you.) Don't try to consolidate me, I hate you all. This woman asked me how my pregnancy has been a couple of weeks ago. I said "Miserable, I hate being pregnant, but it is very very slowly starting to improve." She then replied, "You'll probably hate me... (I interjected "I probably will, but go on..." she just smiled and continued)...but I never got sick when I was pregnant. I had nausea once from eating something funny, but other than that, that was it." I then replied dryly, "You're right. (eyes narrowing) I do hate you." (By the way, this is all meant "tongue and cheek" I only hate you in a "I'm jealous/envious of you way." Not in a real, I hate you way. I love my sistas-in-laws. :) (So, PLEASE, no one get offened by this post) At the beginning of my pregnancy my OBGYN told me she expected me to gain anywhere between 20-40 pounds. That means that I only have 10 pounds left to divide into the remaining 3 months. So everyone needs to pray really hard that I don't go over...10 pounds that is.