Thursday, September 29, 2011

Harvest Time

Stephen and I took a long walk to Thanksgiving Point (which for those of you who don't know, it's this amazing place about 2 miles away that has amazing gardens, that we actually went to last week click here to check it out PLEASE, and it has boutiques, a theater, dinosaur museum, restaurants and other activities, classes and entertainment) and got some small ice cream cones. Well surrounding the barn on all sides at Thanksgiving Point there are rows and rows and rows, you get the picture, of grape vines that are ripe NOW, AND you can pick them for free. We saw tons of people there with bags stuffing there sacks with as many as they could. Well, we hadn't brought any bags 'cause we didn't know, but we had James' stroller. And here is the result, it's literally packed anywhere we could put grapes we did.



We were trying to decide what to do with them all though because we're going out of town soon. (Sorry internet predators, I'm not saying when or how long, though only friends and family know where we live anyway I'm sure) So we decided to juice them, and then freeze the juice, and drink it when we get back.

Although we've already had quite a bit, and unfortunately we only have one bathroom. Sorry Stephen, honey, but the mop bucket is in the laundry room, help yourself.
The juice is amazing by the way, these are Concord grapes! And if your curious when we left there were still tons of grapes, you just have to go in a bit further, don't where nice clothes FYI, and I hope bees don't bother you.

Other News, that job I mentioned earlier, well...Stephen didn't get it. BUT he had a job interview yesterday, yes on our anniversary, it's been an amazing 2 years, followed by 2 stressful we have a baby/toddler, but it's still totally worth it years, making a total of 4. I love you Stephen honey Happy Anniversary. We went out to dinner in Provo after Stephen's interview which was in Orem. Grandpa Jeff Taylor watched James so we could have us time. Thank-you thank-you thank-you! Stephen had bought 2 online tickets for the Provo River Halloween Cruise, which he hadn't realized at the time doesn't start until October, but he put the tickets in my card to prove that he had had something planned. So, back to the interview he had yesterday, they called him an hour ago and told him he got the job! WOOHOO, and he can start when we get back from vacation, double woohoo!!!! This is actually perfect timing because I was hoping he would finish all his Army stuff before finding a new job, and he has, well almost. He has his last and final test, THE ARMY PHYSICAL TEST tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. Please please please keep him in your prayers that he will pass all three requirements, and don't call him to wish him good luck after 8:30 tonight, or tomorrow morning he needs all the rest he can get before the big day, anytime before that feel free. If you're wondering about the new job he got it's perfect, because 1. it's a temp job for the next 4-5 months, which he doesn't need anything longer than that because by then we're assuming he'll be in Army basic training. 2. the pay is good, more than his last job, but with no benefits, so with that it actually ends up being about the same as his last job. 3. we don't have to move. The company is called Dimicron, and was actually started by his dad I believe, although his dad did not hire him. His dad, Jeff, heard that they needed a temporary person to work the machines, and Stephen has experience doing that, so he gave Stephen's resume to the other head guys. They decided to interview him, Jeff didn't, and in fact had no say in him getting hired, in order to avoid nepotism. He starts there October 13th. Sayanara, we'll let you know when we get back from vacation how he does on his Army test. We're going to Disneyland!!!!!!!!! The funnest place on earth.

P.S. Please pray for Stephen to pass his test tomorrow! Thank-You!!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Decisions, decisions...

Yesterday, Stephen had a job interview at this place called Discovery House, which is a drug rehab type place in Orem, UT. A bit of a funny story, the last job Stephen got was thanks to my sister-in-law's twin Katie, and if Stephen gets this job it'll be thanks to Katie's husband. They had 18 people that applied for the job, and out of that they interviewed 5. Then yesterday 3 out of the 5 got called back for a 2nd interview for today, and Stephen was one of them, he said it went well so we're saying our prayers and keeping our fingers crossed. He's still going to apply to the one other place today, which has better pay then his last job, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that job. Unfortunately the job that he had the interview for yesterday and today pays less than his last job. In fact, if he gets the job we will probably have to move to Orem. First off, I hate moving!!! Especially with kids, but with the decrease in income I doubt we could afford to stay here. Plus, we live like 12 minutes away from Stephen's brother and his family, and we see them at least every other week, sometimes once a week. I like living close to them. And I really love our ward, I mean I really love it. And I actually like the quietness of Lehi, despite the fact that you have to drive 10 minutes to get to anything, literally. But if we moved to Orem not only would we save money on rent, but also on gas. Whatever happens I just hope we get a job soon. If Stephen does get this job we technically won't have gotten any unemployment money, which is fine by Stephen since he hates the idea of getting money from the government anyways. I'm indifferent to the idea, as long as it's not for a long time, know what I mean? Any volunteers to help us move? :D

Monday, September 19, 2011

Air Show

This last weekend the Taylor Clan (that's our family) along with the Taylor Von Trapps (Stephen's brother, Karl's family) and some friends all went to an Air Force base above Salt Lake to see this Air Force museum. It was actually free, as long as you donated some cans, which were perfect because I bought these pickled beets from Walmart that tasted nasty, which I actually like pickled beets as long as they are done right. But these were gross, but I'm sure they can, and now will, find a nice home... with some homeless person. Anyway, they had all these retired war planes along with some veterans next to them telling all their war stories, it was quite fun. Here are some pictures














BTW those shorts I'm wearing I actually made. I had some jean material leftover from these trouser pants I made almost 2 years ago. I didn't think I had enough to make anything else with the material, but I kept it anyway. Good thing I did. That's my third time making bottoms, not skirts, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.
On Sunday we went to a mission farewell given by Stephen's Aunt Diane and Uncle Chuck for his other Aunt and Uncle, Bob and Barbara, that are going on a mission to Albania. I'm so excited for them. I wish I took more pictures, but the only I took from Sunday were of the cousins on the swing here with Aunt Megan. Oh well, goodluck Bob and Barbara, see ya in 2 years!


Friday, September 16, 2011

The Baby Itch

I know people have probably been wondering "hey, i wonder when stephen and melinda are going to have more kids." Especially since in LDS culture it's very common to have your kids spaced about 2 years apart. In my family, all 7 of us are spaced about 2 years apart, give or take a few months. But when the time came to start the baby making process in order for child #2 to be 2 years apart from James, I just didn't feel ready. And there were a number of reasons, 1.) around that time James started to be very difficult for me to handle. He's just a screamy little boy that likes to bang and break things. I love him, but I wasn't ready to add a baby to him, as a toddler, especially since I can't do much when I'm pregnant(in fact I've fantasized about hiring a maid to take care of me for the first 4 months of pregnancy. You know, take the trash out every time I throw up, and change James' diaper so I throw up less, just things like that. But instead of a maid I'd just like to have a pregnancy like so many other woman I know who never throw up, and gain a normal amount of weight 30-40 pounds) 2.) I was still (and am) trying to lose weight. Originally I wanted to get down to how much I weighed when I got pregnant with James, which was 138. Now I think I'll just aim for getting past being overweight, or inside my healthy weight range, which I'm only 2-3 pounds away from, depending on whom you ask what a healthy weight range is. I go off of this book my doctor gave me when I was pregnant. Overall though I hadn't felt that itch or feeling like everyone else gets when "it's time." But I had felt pressured to have a baby. I know at least 5 people that were pregnant at the same time I was who all have already either had there second baby, or are very close to having them. Which has made me start to think, should we start trying? Am I waiting too long? And then whenever I'd wonder if we should start, I'd have mini panic attacks thinking "NOOOO!!! I'm not ready!!!" And now that Stephen is unemployed, it's probably a good thing we waited. But this last Sunday at church suddenly, and completely out of the blue, I was aware of every baby in the room, and totally tuned out the speakers. And every baby I wanted to coddle and hold and rock. The last time this happened to me, this magnifying of babies was almost 3 years ago right before we went to Ecuador. I would just go up to Stephen and say "baby" and he would say it back. But we had to wait until we got back from Ecuador, because we were given Malaria pills, and I didn't want to be pregnant while down there, etc. So, from the time I had developed "The Baby Itch" to the time we actually started trying, or should I say stopped trying to prevent a baby from happening 4 months passed. Now I have it again, "The Baby Itch". The only problem, the only 2 things standing in the way of us and getting pregnant is 3 pounds, and Stephen needing to get a job first. Which actually might not be to far away hopefully he has a job interview Tuesday morning, so we'll be praying for things to work out. I'm hoping by the end of November, but probably more like December we might be trying for baby #2. It's hit me so fast, I found myself going through all of James' baby clothes this afternoon, and thinking back to when James was a baby. He was such a cute baby.

Less than 2 months

2 months

3 months


4 months

5 months

Almost 6 months
I just hope that baby #2 is as easy a baby as James was. I know I complain about James, but honestly I would rather have a difficult toddler than a difficult baby.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Fall Fashion Line 2011

There's this one sewing blog that I follow where the girl will show fabric that she's bought, what she wants to make it into, and then pictures of the final product. She's a very talented seamstress, her things turn out looking very professional, butI never like her fabric choices. The colors/shades/prints, etc. just look really ugly to me. Not everything is ugly, but most of it, in my opinion is. Whenever I look at her blog I can't help but think what a terrible waste of money, time, and talent. Having said that, I too have spent money, time and talent making things that I thought were cute, or just okay originally but after I was done changed my mind. Not because I sewed it wrong, but that I just decided I didn't like it. (Although I guess that happens to all of us, we buy something we think is cute and then decide, after we've worn it unfortunately, eh...not so much). But I feel like I've grown/learned something, and at least the fabric that I got was so cheap, that I didn't waste any money really, and it was good practice to develope my skills so that now when I do pick something out I really do like, and sewing it, it turns out looking good, because of the things I've practiced with. I have a bunch of fabric in my stash, and seeing as we're short on money, any new clothes will have to come from this stash. But, I'm really excited to sew the things, because, and I know this sounds arrogant, but...I picked out some really awesome fabric. And I know showing it to you it might be hard to visualize just how awesome it will look, but I'm super excited. It's like when my sister-in-law Megan picks out something to decorate her apartment with, and tells me what she's going to do to it to make it look awesome, I can't visualize the aswesomeness, and am like "Sure, okay." And then she does it and you're like, "hey, that really is awesome." That's me, but with fabric, not decorating. Now If I could get the decorating thing down, maybe my apartment would look as awesome as hers. Anyway, here are the fabrics.

These first two are really sheer.

And here is what I want to make the left one into...

and the right one.
Here are the next two.

The top one I was debating either to make into something like this

but have it button up since it's not very stretchy. Or something like this

with a cute Peter Pan collar. Which do you prefer?
And then the bottom plaid fabric I would either make something like this

Or sleeveless with a scoop neck and wear button up shirts underneath.

And the last two fabrics are my favorites. A Plaid suiting fabric, and a light weight purple jersey knit.

For the suiting on the left I wanted to do something 60's-ish, like Christina Hendricks on Mad Men.

I've never seen the show, but I've seen lots of pictures because she's really popular right now, and her wardrobe is awesome! And here is what I want to do with the one on the right.

So That's what I'll be doing the next three months, not to mention doing surgery on some clothes I own, and making a pair of jean shorts. I'll post pictures of my fall line, assuming they all turn out good. (hahaha like how I said my fall line, right like I'm a designer, well I am gosh darnit! I design Melinda clothes.)

The Birthday Frock

I don't know what it is but I love the word frock, it just makes dress sound more dainty. Anyways I made this dress last week from material I had bought over a year ago at Jo-Anns. It was not on the 50% clearance which is my one weakness. Shoot it wasn't even on clearance but I did have a 50% off coupon so I spent $15 for 3 yards, and I only needed a little more than two for the frock. I still have enough left over to make a cute blouse. I had been waiting to use the fabric because I really liked it, but I wasn't sure what style would fit it. Hence the reason I waited over a year to use it. When we went to Stephen's parents house for Christmas this last year I saw my sister-in-law wearing this reddish-orange dress and I thought that's it!! Then this last visit back to California she was going to let me borrow it for church, it was a little tight, and too short, but I had an oppurtunity to examine it closely to see how I could make one just like it and Voila, here it is.




The only difference is I made it longer, I wanted it to look like one of those Maxi dresses I see everyone at church wearing. Bu, those usually go to the ankles, and since my first attempt at the top portion of the dress I made a huge boo-boo, I had to settle with it going down to my lower calf region. But it's really cute the pictures don't do it justice. I'm also crocheting this really pretty black belt with a pink ribbon that runs through it to go with it, I'll take pictures of it when I'm finished. James is sick again, I think he has the flu bug. I had a couple of diaper "accidents" on Friday, which I thought were caused by something he ate, like the ice cream we had at Thanksgiving Point. But then when he woke up from his nap yesterday he had two more, and today he had two major blowouts again. He stayed home from church today, and Stephen stayed with him, which meant I only had myself to get ready and I went all out (except for my hair, it's me one vice) coordinating my earings, necklace, ring, and makeup to go with my dress. It reminded me of when was in college. I usually don't wear a lot of jewelry on a daily basis but I use to go all out on Sundays back then. It was my dress up day. Standing in front of a mirror getting ready with all my roommates, trying to catch a man. Since having James I haven't felt this feminine in a long time. It felt good. I finished this dress just in time to have something new and cute to wear for when Stephen takes me out to dinner for my birthday Tuesday. Ahem, you do have something planned, right... honey? :)

Speaking of Stephen he's pretty much finished his Army application process, all he has left to do is the physical test, it's scheduled for some time at the end of this month. But besides being busy with Army stuff, he's also been keeping himself pretty busy earning a little bit of extra cash this last month, which definately helps. He's worked for his Uncle Stephen on some home projects, he's currently helping his brother Nathan with the flooring of his home in Provo (see pictures below), and now his dad and again Uncle Stephen have a couple of more projects lined up. We're just trying to make our money stretch until Stephen can get a temporary job while waiting to get into the Army. So, if anyone has any house remodeling that needs to be done, let us know!