Spencer & Tiffany

January Updates

2012-02-10T14:56:00.002-07:00

4 New Posts

-Our Little Guy

-Ultrasound

-Spencer Taylor, CPA

-Jazz Game

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It's Christmas Time, Christmas 2011, New Years Eve

2012-01-22T15:22:00.001-07:00

3 New Posts!

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December Happenings

2011-12-22T14:41:00.001-07:00

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18 Months!

2011-12-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

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Christmas Tree

2011-12-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

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See You in 2 Years Elder Ficklin!

2011-11-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

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Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

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Bowling

2011-11-04T13:41:00.000-06:00

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Life

2011-11-02T09:21:00.000-06:00

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Rise & Shout the Cougars are Out!!

2011-11-02T09:18:00.000-06:00

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Is This Trash?

2011-10-24T21:49:00.000-06:00

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As of Late, St. George & He's Back!!

2011-10-08T16:37:00.001-06:00

3 New Posts! Click Here

San Pedro Sula

2011-09-19T13:16:00.000-06:00

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Maryland

2011-09-16T10:14:00.000-06:00

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$2 Tuesday

2011-09-14T22:03:00.001-06:00

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Taylor Family Reunion!

2011-09-14T22:02:00.001-06:00

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FLORIDA!!!

2011-08-18T14:58:00.000-06:00

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24th of July

2011-08-16T11:17:00.002-06:00

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O Romeo, Romeo, Where for art thou Romeo?

2011-08-16T11:16:00.000-06:00

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3 More Posts!

2011-07-24T19:48:00.000-06:00

Still playing catch-up...

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3 New Posts!

2011-07-20T11:35:00.000-06:00

So when we moved we didn't have internet for a few weeks so my blogging got WAY behind! This is an attempt to play catch-up! Enjoy! :)

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Don't hang your dirty laundry out to dry...

2011-05-19T21:25:00.001-06:00

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Graduation!

2011-05-13T21:19:00.000-06:00

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The Braydsters!

2011-05-13T21:17:00.001-06:00

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25 Things We Love About Spencer

2011-04-24T11:52:00.000-06:00

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4:21am

2011-04-21T11:19:00.001-06:00

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Ensign Peak

2011-04-06T15:35:00.000-06:00

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9 months

2011-04-06T15:15:00.000-06:00

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Jazz Game

2011-04-06T15:03:00.001-06:00

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Date Night

2011-03-06T11:59:00.001-07:00

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Valentines 2011

2011-03-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

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8 Months

2011-03-04T15:48:00.001-07:00

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7 Months

2011-02-07T10:11:00.001-07:00

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BYU vs Utah

2011-02-04T17:23:00.001-07:00

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New Years Eve

2011-01-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

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Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

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Gingerbread House

2011-01-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

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December December December

2011-01-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

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First Haircut

2011-01-19T10:49:00.001-07:00

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6 months!

2010-12-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

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Festival of Trees

2010-12-18T14:22:00.001-07:00

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November 2010

2010-12-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

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Halloween 2010

2010-11-10T16:45:00.001-07:00

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Fall Break

2010-11-04T13:17:00.000-06:00

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4 Months Already

2010-10-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

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Conference Weekend

2010-10-20T12:45:00.000-06:00

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We Can't Get Enough

2010-09-29T07:37:00.000-06:00

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Thanksgiving Point $2 Tuesday!

2010-09-28T21:57:00.001-06:00

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Salem Days

2010-08-20T15:45:00.001-06:00

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Brayden is 2 months old!

2010-08-16T14:41:00.000-06:00

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Brayden's Blessing

2010-08-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

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Going Private...

2010-06-27T12:15:00.006-06:00

Hello Everyone!

With the birth of our little Brayden, we decided it was time to go private. I know that going private can be annoying for people but we hope that you will still read our blog.

We have a few good friends who use a "pre-blog" address that can be used in google reader or wherever to show that we have posted something. All you have to do is click on the link and sign in. So our pre-blog address will stay the same lifeofthetaylors.blogspot.com and our new private blogger is lifeofthetaylors2.blogspot.com. Nothing too crazy!

So if you want to be our blogging friends, leave us your email and we will send you an invite! Thanks!

Brayden Spencer Taylor!

2010-06-18T15:10:00.005-06:00

He's here! After a long awaited 9 months are little guy has finally made it! Brayden Spencer Taylor was born June 10, 2010 at 5:45pm. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

The story (If interested)

I was having contractions early Thursday morning around 3 AM. I wasn't sure how consistent they were but knew I was having them often enough I should probably start timing them. They were about 7 minutes apart. So I decided to shower and get somewhat ready for the day at about 5:30am. After the shower my contractions were getting more intense and really close together. When I actually timed them, they were about 2 minutes apart! It was go time!

We got in the car and headed to the hospital but as my luck would have it, the contractions completely stopped! Story of my life! We walked around the parking garage hoping something would happen but nothing. We debated on going home or going in to see if they would just send us home anyway. We figured we were here we might as well just ask. We explained how the morning went and they agreed to take us and watch me for the next hour and than decide from there. I REALLY didn't want to go home. I just wanted to have the baby! Luckily for us after an hour things were progressing and they agreed to let me stay! I was dilated to a 6 when I decided to get the Epidural, which was absolutely AMAZING! I seriously think the 4 stabs of needles that I had to get for the IV (twice in my arm, once in my hand and once to draw blood again) was ten times worse than the epidural!

After that it was rest up and wait to push. By 5 o'clock we were ready to push. I started to push with the nurse and after a few pushes it was time to call the doctor. Dr Laine came and seriously 4 contractions later Brayden was here! It was super fast and I hadn't planned on it happening so fast. Everyone talked about pushing for hours and hours but I pushed through 4 contractions and here he was! It was so nice!

This is Brayden only seconds old! Not sure if what he thinks of his new home.

Our new family of three!

Headed Home...

We are so excited to have him here, it's been such a blast getting to know his personality and adorableness over the week. He loves to sleep with his hands out of his blanket and straight up by his head. He loves to pee all over daddy and go through at least 2-3 outfits each day. He loves sleeping and eating and every once in a while, if you're lucky, you can catch a great big grin! It is seriously adorable. I'm determined to catch at least one on my camera sometime!

Now we are home and adjusting to our new life. It's been an adventure to say the least but we are learning...slowly but surely!

Graduation!

2010-05-14T09:10:00.006-06:00

Spencer officially graduated from Utah Valley University! It was really exciting and I'm so proud of him. He seriously worked so hard to get where he is and it was a big accomplishment! He wasn't going to walk or really do anything with graduation but he has a mother-in-law who feels very strongly that everyone should walk after spending 4 years of their life in school. So both him and my brother-in-law did! I think after all was said and done he is glad he did it!

Spencer's commencement was at 8:00 in the morning. My parents, his parents and my grandma came to support. It was a lot of fun.

Proud Parents

Proud Wife...

My brother-in-law Todd also graduated from UVU so we went over to his graduation that afternoon.

Spencer, Me, my sister Kara and her husband Todd!

The Graduates!

The Family!

Spencer would be embarrassed that I'm sharing this but I'm so proud of him. He graduated Summa Cum Laude which means you have a 3.9 GPA or higher. Instead of some nerdy cords they give you a medallion with your name on the back and everything. I think it was Spencers favorite accessory!

Birthdays!

2010-04-26T20:22:00.007-06:00

Well April is the month of Birthdays at our house! We celebrated mine on the 21st and Spencer's on the 24th. It's fun having our birthdays so close together because it turns into a whole week of CELEBRATING!!

I had to work for most of my birthday but Spencer planned a little something that night to make it feel not like any other day! I came home to this...
What a sweetheart! For my birthday Spencer got me a fun red purse, The Blind Side DVD, and my favorite candies in the whole world (Dove Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter M&M's)!
We went out to eat at Panda Express and then we hit up bowling! Lol, it's a little more difficult than I thought it would be bowling with a big ole belly, lets just say it was definitely not one of my better scores!! Spencer took a picture of the final score but for the sake of not embarrassing myself, I didn't post it. ;)

Then to finish the night we watched The Blind Side! It was a great birthday!

On Saturday Spencer had to take a final in the morning, so not a great start to your birthday but what can you do? I put a few things together and made a fun sign. Spencer came home to this...

Spencer really wanted some new flip flops for his Birthday and we had found some that he really liked a few weeks ago so we bought them then. I still wrapped them and made him open them, even if he knew what it was. What can I say, I'm a very traditional girl.

Doesn't he look so surprised?

Spencer also got a vegetable steamer that he has wanted for a while now and some new pairs of socks that he has NEEDED for a long time.

Later that day we went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Spencer loves animals and especially ones that live in the water. It was fun seeing all the different creatures and things they had. The penguins were definitely our favorite part.

Spencer petting the Sting Ray.

Our friend Bruce...

Then for dinner we went to the Mayan.

We enjoyed the rest of the night at Spencer's house with family. It was a great day and we really enjoyed it.

On Sunday we celebrated our birthdays with my family (Like I said it turns into a week of celebrating). It was a lot of fun and we got some great things from them.

My grandma made us a beautiful blanket for the baby. She is such an amazing grandma. I'm really excited to use it. When Spencer asked her if a lot of blood, sweat & tears went into it she replied, "No, only love." She is amazing!

Yeah for April Birthdays! :)

I'm Really Going to Miss it

2010-04-22T11:38:00.003-06:00

Last night was my last night as a Temple Ordinance worker at the Provo Temple. I started working there over 3 years ago and have loved everything about it; the people, the workers, the spirit and my constant growth and love for the temple. I knew the day would come when I would have to say goodbye to such a big part of my life but it came a lot faster than I was ready for.

It's a bittersweet feeling. It's the close of one chapter in my life and the beginning of another. I really will miss my weekly time at the temple but I'm excited for the change ahead. I can't wait to be a mom and look forward to the blessings that motherhood will bring.

As I left last night it really hit me, I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I walked out to my car. I was overwhelmed with memories and feelings of the past 3 years there. I feel so blessed to have served in the temple for as long as I did. It has made be a better person and I really will miss it!! However, I know the Lord has bigger things in store for us and I'm looking forward to the adventures that lie ahead.

You Know Your Belly is Getting Big When...

2010-04-14T19:09:00.004-06:00

Yes I actually went to work yesterday morning wearing two different shoes! Lol, you think I would have noticed when I slipped them on or while I was walking around. Nope! I didn't notice until I was walking into work! I seriously started laughing out loud! I have never actually worn two different shoes anywhere. It didn't help that my belly is big or the dress I wore that day was long. But really? Spencer definitely got a good laugh out of it!

I guess my belly is getting big!

Easter 2010

2010-04-08T22:54:00.002-06:00

For Easter weekend, we celebrated by enjoying conference with family and being spiritually fed. Although Easter was "technically" over I'm a very traditional girl and I still had to get my fill of Easter. So for Family Night we had an Easter egg hunt and dyed eggs. It was a lot of fun! There are some things in life that no matter how old you get are still just as fun.

I hid a bunch of little eggs around our apartment for Spencer to find, some easy & some hard. It was a lot of fun watching him try to find them.

Success...

Funny story...I had hid 24 little eggs so Spencer pulled them out to count and make sure we had found all 24. Well every time he counted he only came up with 23. I was trying to remember for the life of me where I possibly could of put that last one. I was certain that he had found all of them, but then again I am pregnant and sometimes I forget things...We looked around for a bit but figured we are moving soon enough that we'd find it then. I was still a little bugged that I couldn't remember where the last egg was. Then later that night I was sitting on the couch and looked in the plastic bag Spencer carried around and sure enough hiding under the grassy stuff was the last egg!! I knew my memory wasn't that bad! :)

Then we dyed our eggs. We aren't the most creative people in the world but we still had fun writing on our eggs and dying them.

Our creativity at it's best

Baby Taylor enjoyed it as well, even if he was in my belly! Easter marked 31 weeks and counting!

Baby shower and Grandma's 80th!

2010-04-08T21:00:00.005-06:00

My mom and sister threw me a family baby shower with the Ficklins and the Slanes. It was a lot of fun to not only see everyone but to be showered with some great gifts! It definitely made having a baby seem a little more real!

The beautiful cupcake collage my mom made. She is so creative but never gives herself enough credit! Mom's are usually like that.

My Sister Kara got our little guy a onesie that reads "My Auntie loves me this much." It is super cute and I'm sure he'll wear it whenever she is around. :)

My two cousins got the baby these little adidas soccer socks. They are seriously so tiny and adorable. Spencer really liked them of course. I obviously got some other great gifts but didn't get pictures of them all. Just know how grateful I am to all who came!

A shot of the family! Thanks everyone for coming!

Later that week we celebrated by Grandma's 80th Birthday! My Grandma Rae is seriously one of the most amazing women I know. My grandparents live next door so I grew up with my Grandma around all the time and couldn't be more grateful for her love and example. She is a women of great faith and self-less service. She would do anything for you and has done so much for me. She has 22 grand children and almost 13 great grandchildren. Even though there are a lot of us we all feel so loved and cared about. She has lived an amazing life and it was great to celebrate her 80th with everyone!

Isn't she the most beautiful grandma in the world! I love her!

Grandma & grandpa with almost all their grandkids!

Zion National Park

2010-03-21T13:28:00.014-06:00

We spent a few days down at Zion National Park, it was our last get away before the baby comes. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it the break. I was a little hesitant about the whole trip with being pregnant and all but I loved it! It was a great vacation and I wasn't ready for it to be over.

Day 1: Hiking Extravaganza

The long drive to Zion

At the end of the 1.1 Mile tunnel is a Canyon overlook hike, these pictures are all from that hike.

This is one of those pictures that is hysterical more for the experience than the actual picture. So we wanted to get a picture of the "cool tunnel" and we decided to ask the national park lady who was standing there. She was extremely unfriendly and almost bugged that we had asked her to take our picture. "she was like what do you want a picture of? the tunnel, the building, what?" We were a little thrown off by her abruptness that we simply just told her to take the picture. So that little thing in the back is the tunnel. Lol, gotta love some people.

Emerald Pools

Our next hike was up to the three different emerald pools. I think I complained for the first 10 minutes due to the steepness of the hike. I HATE steep hikes. But once we got to the waterfalls I really couldn't complain. It was absolutely beautiful!

At the Upper Emerald Pools

At the Lower Emerald pools

We ate dinner that night at Zion Pizza & Noodle and enjoyed dinner outside.

Day 2: Riverside Walk, Scenic Drive & Movie

We stayed at a little Bed & Breakfast where they deliver breakfast to your door every morning. The best part is, it's not like the motel 6 "continental breakfast" it's a delicious gourmet meal! Here is our breakfast basket Friday morning. Apple cinnamon french toast & all!

Friday was our Miscellaneous day where we did a bunch of random things. We started out on the Riverside walk.

We saw deer right along the trail. They were literally like 20 feet away. That's what's in the background.

Weeping Rock

So it was really windy and the weeping rock was blowing water everywhere! It was really pretty when we were under it all, but...
...when we came down we got SOAKED! Lol, it was really funny my hat was dripping with water.

We then enjoyed lunch at the Grotto picnic area.

The off to the IMAX movie, Wild Ocean. It was good and very educational.

Then we Hiked the Court of the Patriarchs

Those 3 peaks are considered the "Court of the Patriarchs"

Scenic Drive

Then we saw some Big Horn Sheep, Spencer was so excited! He loves animals. There were even two little babies running around.

The run-offs were absolutely beautiful and they were everywhere!

Our better "Tunnel" picture We enjoyed the evening playing Monopoly Deal, (it's a great rendition of monopoly. A lot faster and still lots of fun) and watching Walk the Line.

Day 3:Tandem Bike Ride

This was us with our delicious Breakfast Basket Saturday morning! Scrambled eggs & a Zucchini breakfast casserole! So good! Can you tell it was morning?!?

We rented a tandem bike for a few hours before we headed home. We went along the Pa'rus trail and then up the road for a mile or so. It was honestly such a blast! I loved it, maybe more for the fact that Spencer did all the work and I just enjoyed the ride!

Spencer's Helmet Hair! Lol! I couldn't stop laughing!

Our styling leg bands

My view from the bike! :)

I drove for a little bit...lol...not, I didn't think it was a good idea nor did Spencer!

Where we stayed
It was such a great trip and I'm glad we got to get away even if only for a few days. It really was a lot of fun and I love spending time with Spencer!

He got in!

2010-03-17T13:34:00.003-06:00

Well last week after checking the mail everyday, Friday morning Spencer decided to check his application online and there was an "unofficial" acceptance letter to the Masters of Accounting Program at the University of Utah! We were so excited to find out and even happier that he got in the program! We got the official letter in the mail this week...so now it is official! University of Utah here we come. But don't worry although we will be there for school we're true blue Cougar fans! :)
Spencer with the official letter and my little note of excitement!The official letter!

So Spencer graduates in April, we'll move to Salt Lake sometime in May and the baby will be here in June! Bring it on!

A Great Weekend!

2010-03-10T19:34:00.002-07:00

We had a great weekend the last week of February. It started with a wedding for one of my best friends Jill. Jill and I have been friends since the 9th grade. I love everything about her. She is so fun to be around and truly a great friend. All through High School Jill, Cort and I did lots together, even as we all went off to college we stayed in touch and when we all turned 21 we found ourselves together again at MTC! I went off to the Baltics, Jill to Chicago and Cort to Washington. Cort got married, then me and now Jill!

Here we are together again at Jill's wedding! Isn't she beautiful!

Jill and Richi coming out of the temple as Husband and Wife!!!
It was a great day and I was glad to be a part of it!

Then on Saturday we went up to Tooele to spend time with Sam, Anna & family. We ALWAYS love going up to visit them. It is a nice break from real life for us and we LOVE being with them. Their 3 kids are to die for. They are all so adorable in their own ways and we love spending time with them.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner (thanks to Anna), played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal Card game where Anna won almost every time! Spencer and I even tried cheating one time for fun and Anna still ended up winning! We then went to church with them Sunday and enjoyed more food! It was great and we can't wait to do it again! Thanks guys for letting us come.

This is Spencer reading to the kids. Aren't they all so cute?

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T12:15:00.005-07:00

I came home on Saturday afternoon to theses beautiful roses! What a great way to start the Valentine's weekend! :)

We celebrated most of our Valentine's Day on Saturday. Spencer has a good friend who had two extra tickets to the BYU vs. Air Force basketball game so we went to that. We had amazing seats, like 8th row in the center of the student section. It was a lot of fun. BYU won and practically doubled Air Forces' score. But it is always fun to go to a game!

At the game the cheerleaders were throwing out free T-shirts and let's just say that Spencer not only caught one but TWO!! One for him and one for me! Lol, they each came with a coupon for a free 1/2 gallon of ice cream and a free gallon of Chocolate milk! We were really excited about our luck cause truthfully we don't get that kind of luck very often! So we'll take it when we get it!

That night we went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. I made Spencer a Crossword puzzle of our dating/married life as one of my gifts for Valentines day. This is him filling it out! He actually did a lot better than I thought he would. I only stumped him on a few. I was impressed.

Our dinner was really good, so good in fact that we were so full we had to take dessert to go!

The other thing I got Spencer was more of a joke than anything. During Christmas we went to a party and one of the white elephant gifts was a singing Valentines dog. Spencer loved it and to his dismay someone else stole it and we didn't end up with it. He was a little saddened, but got over it. I thought it would be funny to get him his very own singing dog for Valentine's Day. This is him laughing at the great gift.

Our Valentine's Gifts!
(Spencer also got me a little Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream!)

It was a great weekend and I love having a great husband to enjoy the Holidays with!

Helping Kara...

2010-02-09T20:42:00.007-07:00

My little sister Kara is in the Visual Arts program at UVU. She is currently taking an independent study course where she does work on her own and meets with her professors once a week. In order for her to start a project she has to get pictures of things she wants to paint. She had decided one of her themes would be couples & umbrellas. Well being the nice sister that I am, when she asked if Spencer and I would be her "models" we agreed. (Spencer was a little more hesitant but he's always such a good sport). It was super cold but the pictures actually turned out great. Nothings better than free pictures right?

It wasn't too rough cause all we had to do was hold whatever pose she told us to.

Spencer was quite the pro and by the end of the day Kara was taking pictures of just him! Lol, what can I say he is tall, dark and handsome!

Overall it was a lot of fun and we were glad to help. Besides look at how fun these pictures are! :)

It's a Boy!

2010-01-15T10:21:00.002-07:00

In case you haven't heard...

Spencer and I had our ultrasound appointment on Tuesday and we found out that we are having a boy! We are really excited! The only problem is we have absolutely NO boy names! Good thing we have til June to think of something.

In case this is the first time you are hearing about me being pregnant...sorry! I am not a big fan of announcing things, I think it comes with the "White personality" that I have. So FYI, I am almost 20 weeks along and my due date date is June 7th. I've had a really great pregnancy thus far and can't complain one bit. Spencer and I are really excited and can't wait for our little guy to come!

Missouri

2010-01-05T18:40:00.008-07:00

Right after Christmas we were able to go to Missouri with my parents and my little brother Dal to visit my brother and aunts that live out there. Minus the horrible traveling experience we had on both our flight there and back, we had a lot of fun in Missouri.

We were suppose to leave Saturday but due to mechanical problems with our airplane the whole flight got canceled and we left Sunday. It was a bit of a pain but we were all grateful to finally make it to Missouri.

On Monday night we went to my Aunt Karla's house and had "Christmas Dinner" with the whole family including my Aunt Kaye and her family. It brought back many childhood memories of having Sunday dinners and FHE with the whole Ficklin family. I loved it.

We had a pool tournament which was an absolute blast. I played my cousin Steve in the first round and well thanks to his great talent of hitting in the 8 ball I moved on but didn't make it past my amazing cousin Jake.

Spencer made it through the 1st round but lost to my little brother Dalen. My Aunt Karla made it through the 1st round by my dad knocking the 8 ball in, she squeezed past the 2nd round by beating her husband thanks to the advice of others and landed a spot in the finals! She was super excited. It was between her and my little brother and Karla won! She loved it! It was a great night!
The happy winner!

My little nephew loving the piano, so cute!

My little brother Dal and me, he's great!

The next day we went to Silver Dollar City and enjoyed the lights and decorations of the park. For dinner we ate at a little restaurant inside the park it was good but the most memorable part was the table we sat at. There was a huge beam where my parents were sitting that separated the two of them, they looked so funny sitting my each other with this huge beam in the way. It was really funny, I just had to get a picture.

While at Silver Dollar we went to watch their version of the Christmas Carol and I was really excited to see it. Spencer has heard all of these great stories of things in Missouri but he has the worst luck when it comes to him seeing all the things we've talked about. We got about 20 minutes into the show when it started smelling like fire. They canceled the show right in the middle of the performance and we had to leave. Lol, so Spencer's luck!

Enjoying the huge Christmas Tree. Can you tell it was just a little bit cold?

My nephew refused to wear his gloves so his little hands were freezing! Boys...they never change.

The next night we went on the Branson Bell Showboat. It's a dinner cruise where you enjoy a delicious meal and then great entertainment. My cousin is one of the performers in the show and he gave us a few comp tickets. It was a lot of fun.

My brother Josh and his wife Alicia

Our table
Dalen and my Dad

We took this picture from the highest balcony. You can see the stage down below. Pretty crazy!

For Christmas Josh got the Mario game for the Wii and once Dalen and Spencer learned how to play, they loved it. They were addicted especially the fact that they could "bubble." (If you have no idea what I'm talking about just watch someone play with multiple players and it will all make sense). Truthfully it was really entertaining to watch them play, such boys.

Then as our luck would have it, we flew how New Years Eve day and were scheduled to be back to Salt Lake around 5:30, well after a 4 hour delay in Missouri, and a missed flight in Denver we didn't arrive in Salt lake til about 11:00 that night. Let's just say it was a very unique New Years Eve! We spent it in the car driving home! We honked, watched the fireworks from both sides of I-15 and laughed about what a great memory we were creating. Honestly it was a lot a fun and being married I didn't really care where I spent New Years eve as long as Spencer was with me.

Happy 2010!

Overall we had an amazing vacation! It was so nice to get away for a while and to see my family. We loved every minute of our trip and are so glad we we're able to go!

Christmas Time

2010-01-05T18:08:00.005-07:00

Christmas is one of my all time favorite Holidays. I love everything about it. I love putting up decorations, listening to music, eating more food than I should and mostly I just love spending time with family.

Christmas Eve we spent the night at the Taylor's house. We enjoyed a delicious dinner with some great Chili!

We then opened up the gifts that each sibling got each other. Steve and Alyssa had us this year and they gave us a great gift that we will definitely use. Every time that we go camping we always ask to borrow one of their sleeping bags because it's the exact same one that Spencer has. We always zip the two together to stay warm. So they got us a sleeping bag that was made for 2. It's great!

The box was almost as big as me

We had Ashley and we got her some earrings, headphones and a black scarf.

Carrie and Camille both excited about Carrie's new movie.

Christmas morning we spent with the Taylors opening gifts and eating a great breakfast. I love Christmas morning breakfast! Then we headed to our house and opened the gifts we got for each other. Spencer got me some great earrings, an apple slicer, Ipod speakers that I love, a timer and a water bottle. I got Spencer shoes, a shirt, tie, bowl with lids and star trek. It was a great Christmas.

We then headed to my house for Christmas dinner with my family. It was really quiet with two of my siblings on missions right now. It was just Spencer, me, my little sister Kara and her husband Todd, my little brother Dalen and my parents. We opened the gifts from my parents and enjoyed spending time with them. We played a game called "White lies" where depending on the color of stone you get you either have to tell the truth or lie about certain things. It was really fun! Let's just say Spencer and I should never be liars. We are horrible at it!

Spencer's favorite gift by far is his new football. He loves it!

We also got a video camera and a beautiful framed picture of my entire family. Now I just need to find a place to put it.
It was a wonderful Christmas, I'm just sad it will be a another year before it comes again!

December Craziness!

2010-01-05T17:41:00.005-07:00

December was absolutely insane and I'm always way behind in updating the latest events of our life. First off, we went to Festival of Trees which I have always loved. It is truly amazing to see how people can decorate a Christmas tree. It makes mine look pretty dismal. My best friend Melinda was in charge of decorating a tree this year for the medical wives association she belongs to. I spent a few hours one night shopping with her, we had a lot of fun. This tree is the final product! I love it, isn't she amazing!

Our little Christmas tree...dismal in comparison but I still love it.

Then my family had our annual Back to Bethlehem dinner which is one of my favorite traditions. We enjoyed delicious food and even better company.

This is us playing the infamous bells! My little brother Dalen spent a few hours adding more chords to the songs this year. It was a bit of an adventure for our non-musically talented family but it was still a lot of fun!

We then had the Taylor Family Christmas party which is always a ton of fun thanks to Carrie and all the time and effort she puts into it. You are amazing! We enjoyed a great dinner, decorated a cookie or two, did a candy gift exchange, had a baby photo guessing contest and enjoyed being together. It was a great night!

Spencer playing "Ring around the Rosies" with his nieces.

The girls enjoying their Cheetos! So cute!

Opening and exchanging our Candy/treats gifts.

Last but definitely not least, we went to a party with a bunch of Spencer's guy friends from High School, they call themselves the "Fun Boys." They are a great group of guys, we once again enjoyed a delicious dinner and spent most of the time watching BYU win their bowl game! Go Cougars!

It was a great month!

Conference Weekend in St. George!

2009-10-23T11:35:00.003-06:00

We decided to go to St. George with my family for the conference weekend. On Thursday night we went and saw Aida at the Tuacahn. I love the music from Aida, it's so powerful and inspiring. It was good and definitely one of those shows I'll never get sick of.

Then on Friday the boys went golfing while the girls went to the temple. We were balancing the spiritual and physical aspects of our lives. :) I gave Spencer the camera so here are the boys golfing, my dad included! Go Dad!

Dalen showing them how it's done!My brother-in-law Todd golfing away

Last the best of all....check out that form!

Then Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed the words of the Prophets and Apostles. It was such a good conference, so inspiring and uplifting. Loved it!!

The family watching conference

I love my parents! They multi-tasked by doing family history too.

What Spencer really does during conference...checks the football scores! ;)

Just enjoying our trip!

September Adventures

2009-10-23T11:10:00.007-06:00

With School back in session for Spencer, we stay pretty busy doing the mundane things in life. Yet we still find time to enjoy random adventures as simple and small as they may be.

Last month we were able to go with Spencer's parents and his little sister on the Heber Creeper. It was my first time on the train and it was a lot of fun. We rode the train to Soldier Hollow, ate dinner and headed back down. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! Well worth the slow ride we had. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

Enjoying the ride from the caboose! :)

Then for an FHE one night, we went with my family up to the mountains to have dinner. It was a beautiful drive with the fall leaves changing. We had a lot of fun and it was our last dinner as a family until my two siblings get back from their missions!

We took the family dogs along. Harvey was so excited about the wind when we were driving! I love this picture!

Enjoying good ole KFC with the fam!

Chantel....what a nut!

Camping

2009-09-07T11:19:00.003-06:00

So over the Labor Day weekend, we took our last "summer outing" and went camping with our good friends Tyler and Cheryl. It was a lot of fun. We camped up hobble creek canyon right next to the river. It was beautiful.

When we got there, we got dinner ready and our tents all set up. We have only used our tent one other time and when we went to put it up, we had the wrong poles in and it looked like this....lol

We got it all worked out and our tent was wonderful. The only bad thing was the whole in our air mattress, so we ended up on the ground by morning.

For dinner we had Hamburgers and of course some delicious s'mores for dessert.

Kara, Todd and Dexter came up for Dinner and the evening but couldn't stay the night. It was fun having them there. Thanks guys for coming.
It was a fun night and definitely needed.

Miniature Golf

2009-09-07T10:52:00.004-06:00

Spencer bought a Starving Student card last year, that has all these great deals on it. The expiration was September 1st and I really wanted to go Miniature golfing on the buy one get one free deal. So for FHE we went miniature golfing at Cascade. It was a lot of fun.

We had a little bet going, that whoever won owed the other an ice cream. This is Spencer's way of making it more competitive and truthfully I love ice cream!!

So it was on, first hole....yep Spencer gets a hole in one...of course
Pure Luck...

Then a few holes later, Spencer did it again!! This is me getting his ball out after the hole in one.
So after the first 9 holes our score was Spencer 23 Tiff 28

It was on the last 9 holes that I made up the difference. I distracted Spencer a few times by taking random pictures like this

and Spencer got a little creative with his golfing style which gave me the edge the last round.

And after all 18 holes we ended up tied! LOL! Ice cream for both of us!

It was a lot of fun and I love doing little things like this with Spencer. So fun!

Half Marathon!

2009-09-07T10:45:00.007-06:00

Well WE DID IT!! All 13.1 miles of it!

If someone were to have told me I would run a half marathon in my lifetime, I would have laughed at them. Seriously! I have only come to enjoy running the past few years and that was when I was running 1-2 miles. It was a little overwhelming when Carrie asked us to run the Half-marathon with her, but I figured if worse comes to worse I could walk the whole thing, right?

Well we spent the summer "training" for our half marathon, it wasn't easy and there were definitely times I wanted to throw in the towel. It was an AMAZING experience! It's a great feeling to accomplish something you think is impossible. I was very proud of myself...even if I was the slowest of the three of us! :)

Spencer's goal was to finish in under 2 hours, which he did in an amazing 1 hour 47 minutes. My goal, besides to finish, was to do it in under 2 and 1/2 hours and I did...barely....I finished at 2 hours and 29 minutes! Not a second too soon:) My mom, my little sister Chantel, and my best friend Becki, along with Spencer and Carrie were at the finish line to cheer me on! I really needed it those last few steps!

One of my biggest fans!
Thanks Beck, for coming!! You're amazing!!

As exhausted, sore and tired as we were after 13.1 miles of running, inside we totally felt like this.....

24th of July,Open house, B-day & Salem days!

2009-08-19T19:34:00.007-06:00

Ok so I'm always SO behind on posting about the crazy things that go on in our lives, but I figure as long as it hasn't been a full month I'm good right?!?

Well here are some pics of our adventures on the 24th of July, The Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, Branden's b-day and Salem Days.

24th of July

24th of July BBQ!! Our Favorite part of summer, all the BBQ's!
Dad Cookin' and lookin' good! :)
Spencer Dalen and Harvey(the dog) waiting for the feast to start!
The FEAST!!! Isn't it amazing!! I love my family BBQ's they'll never get old! Enjoying the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Fireworks! Loved it!

Open House

Spencer and I were lucky to get tickets last minute to the Open house. I really wanted to go so Spencer looked online and found tickets for that night. It is such a BEAUTIFUL temple. I loved it and I love how each temple is so unique in design. It was wonderful and I'm glad we went.
Branden's Birthday!

My little brother turned 19 this month. I swear he can't be that old, I still picture my little brothers as so young but they are growing young men now. We had a delicious Sunday Dinner out on the patio and opened presents!

The tie Spencer and I got him. Isn't it snazzy?!? He loved it and will love having it on the mission.

Salem Days

For the Salem Days Pageant this year they had a "Salem's got talent" competition the night before and the top ten winners played for the program on Saturday night. My little brother Dalen is an amazing pianist and played an original piece he composed. He ended up taking first place in the competition, it was he week that week! This is him playing at the pageant!

Then in between the acts, they had all of the members of the city council come up for a "pie eating contest." I knew there was no way my dad would even try, he's not one to get dirty especially in front of people....well the contest turned into a war! My mom and I couldn't stop laughing. This was my dad when the contest started....
And this is my dad after it was over!!!! LOL, the little white ghost! I loved it!

Thanksgiving Point $2 Tuesdays

2009-08-19T18:24:00.010-06:00

For the month of August, Thanksgiving Point had a promotion for $2 Tuesdays! It was a great deal. I have always wanted to go to the Thanksgiving point gardens and dinosaur museum but didn't feel like paying the full cost ($10 per person) but for $2 bucks...it's a steal!!

We took A LOT of pictures! I LOVE pictures!! SO here are a few pics from our "cheap date!"

THE GARDENS

THE DINOSAUR MUSEUM

Lake Powell

2009-08-19T17:47:00.016-06:00

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!

We LOVE Lake Powell!!! Oh the joy of sitting around with no time constraints or worries. All you have to do is enjoy! We had a full out family party as always. My entire family was there plus my Uncle Robert's family a few cousins thrown into the mix and some friends! There was almost 50 of us total but we loved it!!

We had a beach where we set up a GIANT slipin-slide, they got it all set up the first night and so all the boys went down first to make sure it was safe. Spencer was loving it!
We found out that you slide down faster with dish soap and garbage bags! Hence these next two pictures.

Our days usually consisted of eating lots of delicious food, wake boarding at least once everyday, lounging around and enjoying the sun and any other things we could think of! It was AMAZING!

Spencer and I doing nothing!

Spencer Wake boarding

Wake boarding some more...
So I'm not a big fan of crazy adventures or things that are somewhat dangerous. I don't like cliff jumping and really jumping off anything higher than like a foot is too extreme for me. However, Spencer really wanted me to jump off the back of the house boat and he said if I did he wouldn't bother me about it every again! I thought that was a fair trade. This is me getting ready for the big jump!
I really didn't want to do it, so my sister Kara agreed to jump with me but before we both agreed to go we made Chantel my youngest sister jump first. Spencer "recorded" me jumping but...he forgot he was recording and so when I jumped he left the camera on the same spot. You never really see me jump! LOL it was pretty funny!

Then one day we went to the famous "Sand hill!" It's this mountainous sand hill that we used to climb every year but because the water has been so low in the past we haven't climbed it in a while. It was so fun to go again, it brought back a lot of memories!
The HUGE Sand hill
Spencer and I climbing to the top!

The group at the top!! It was a workout but totally worth it!
At the bottom of the hill enjoying the beautiful water!!

We also love doing what we call "Tube Wars!" My dad hooks 3 tubes to the back of his boat and we simply try to stay on while everyone else is trying to get you off. It's insane and probably not very legal....but so fun!
The three tubes!!
Spencer enjoying the victory....
Spencer jumping from the Jetski to the moving tubes! Insane I know but we love it! :)

Another adventure was watching a spider in action. Overnight a spider had spun a web in the front of our houseboat. Spencer wanted to see if the spider would do anything if we put a bug in his web. I was certain that nothing would happen, but Spencer was excited to try. He found an ant and threw it on the spider web. To my surprise the spider came down wrapped it all up and took it up to the top of his web for safe keeping! It was seriously amazing! We did a few more times for pictures and what not but it was really amazing to be that close to a spider enjoying his prey.

Another great part was having my little nephew Ashton there with us. He is the first and only grand baby right now, so he's spoiled and loved! He loves to be in charge and do his own thing. This is him telling everyone what they should be doing.
We have a bucket in the front of our houseboat that we wash the sand off our feet with. Ashton thought it should be his tub!

The beauty of Lake Powell

Our last night there, my Cousin Steve (who is an amazing singer and original songwriter) along with his older brother Scott and my little brother Dal put on a concert for us! It was pretty intense! We had glow sticks, fireworks and everything!
WE LOVE LAKE POWELL!!!

Chan's Mission Call...

2009-07-24T12:53:00.007-06:00

Well my little sister Chantel is going on a mission!! She got her call a few weeks ago and it was a very exciting night!

There's that infamous white envelope that holds the next 18 months of her life! She doesn't even look nervous!
I was a little excited about the whole thing!!

Beginning to open the letter...

Starting to read that she will be serving in the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SANTO DOMINGO WEST MISSION going into the MTC on Nov 4th!!

And the JOY we all felt!

A proud Dad!

A happy mom

and an emotional sister

Now where will my little brother Branden go?!? Still waiting for the call!

Our One Year Anniversary

2009-07-20T15:20:00.011-06:00

Well we made it, we have officially been married for one whole year! It's crazy to think back on all of the things we have done this past year but we have loved every minute of it! Being married is wonderful and I would highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you find a husband as good as mine!

Our anniversary fell on a Saturday and Spencer is currently taking a GMAT course that is on Saturday from 8-12. It worked out perfectly for me though. The traditional gift for the first year is paper, plastic or a clock. So after doing a little googling I put a few ideas together and decided to come up with 365 reason why I love Spencer, write it on post it notes and make an "I Love you" sign on our bedroom wall! I have to admit, it did take a lot of time but it turned out great!! Spencer came home from his class and was WAY surprised! It was perfect!

Then I opened my gift which was a CHI straightener! I have been wanting one forever but could never bring myself to buy it, so Spencer being the sweetheart that he is, got it for me and I Love it! It has an earth facade, so Spencer tied it into our one year anniversary by saying it takes the earth 365 days to go around the sun! It was perfect!

We then pulled out the top of our weeding cake, which has been in our freezer for past year. I am a very traditional girl and I wasn't going to go without at least pulling it out and taking a bite! :) The frosting looked awful and we didn't even try to eat that, but we did cut the cake and take a few bites of it. It wasn't horrible but after a year in the freezer I think it had seen better days.

Then it was off to Park City, we spent the rest of the day shopping at the outlet stores which was a lot of fun. Spencer and I both found some great deals and we were excited about them. We later checked into our hotel room and then headed off to dinner. We walked down Park City Main street and ended up eating at Main street noodle and Pizza which was REALLY good! They have freshly made pizza and it was delicious! We had such a great time and look forward to another wonderful year of marriage!

Colorado

2009-07-14T22:14:00.012-06:00

The Taylor Family Reunion was down in Red Mesa Colorado, we went out for the weekend and had a blast! Here are just a few pics of our adventure!

When we got there Friday afternoon we were trying to find something to do and decided to go to Long Hollow, where Grandpa & Grandma Taylor used to live. It was where Spencer and everyone had some great childhood memories. We went down to the Creek where Spencer turned into a little boy determined to catch a crawdad and I was the poor "city girl" trying to cross the creek in my great non-hiking shoes! LOL it was a lot of fun though, really one of the highlights of our trip.

Searching for the crawdads.
Spencer wishing he had found one...look at that face.

Carrie and I definitely weren't prepared for the trip to the creek. Look at those city girl shoes! LOL!
The beautiful creek by Grandpa Taylor's old house. So beautiful!Boys will be boys!

Then on Saturday we enjoyed a wonderful day with all the family. Here are a few pics of the great event.

Grandpa Taylor making pancakes for us at our delicious breakfast.
Debbie and the one and only Kinners! What a doll!

Ashley and Brianna not sure if they want to be awake!

Stephen and Spencer battling it out in Mario Kart, look at how intense they are!

Spencer and Uncle Nick who is truly one of kind!

Just Relaxing on the lawn

Playing card games

Spencer's big throw for the win in geezer Golf

And he did it! He won this is him telling me that we have proof he won! :)

Spencer and I playing a little basketball. I won of course! ;)

Spencer loving some real competition with his brother Daniel. He's just a little happy with the shot he just made. You gotta love him.

July Birthdays!

2009-07-14T22:05:00.005-06:00

So July is a month of Birthdays in my family! A few Sundays ago we celebrated 4 Birthdays, yes 4! My sister Kara, Cousin Jeni, Aunt Karla and cousin Tyson all were born on July 13th! Pretty crazy so we had a celebration. Karla wasn't in town but my cousin Kaylor turned 16 the end of June and wasn't here to celebrate so we was part of the birthday bash as well.

I would have to admit the best part of the day was when we pulled out each of the ice cream cakes only to find every Mothers nightmare...my mom had given them my name instead of Kara's to put on the Birthday cake! LOL! So the birthday cake said "Happy Birthday Tiffany" Oops....So my little brother Branden got a little creative and wipe off my name and added Kara's with a toothpick and her name on a card! Lol, it was a classic moment. Kara was a good sport to laugh about it! We love you Bear!!
This is my cousin Jeni, she is such a sweetheart. She has the most creative mind and go do just about anything she puts her mind too. She is an amazing woman! Happy B-day Jen!
This is Tyson! What a stud! I sure love this kid, he is determine to succeed in life and has such a friendly personality! What a good guy!

Kaylor turned the big 1-6! I swear she can't be that old, wow time flies!

4th of July

2009-07-14T21:31:00.007-06:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend! I LOVE the 4th of July, It's one of my favorite holidays! To start off our weekend we went to the Zoo on Friday. We were some of the only people there without kids but we went with Sam, Anna and the kids so we felt like we fit in! :)

Then it was time for our big 4th of July 10k race! Yes, you heard it right I ran a 10k. I still don't how I did it but I did! This is us before the race. Sam & Anna ran the 5k and Spencer, me and Carrie ran the 10K. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I did it. Who know I could run 6 miles! :)
Here are some more pics of the race. Spencer ran it in about 48 minutes and I ran it in a little longer than that. It was so fun because I ran into one of my best friends along the way so we ran the last mile together! Thanks Mel for being my Running buddy, I needed it!

At the finish Line

The big 6 mile marker!! Wahoo!

We had Red, White and Blue waffles, a Taylor Family Tradition, and then headed off to the parade. We later went to my house and had a delicious BBQ and later that night we went to Stadium of fire. It was a lot of fun and thanks to my little sister Chantel I knew a lot of the songs. Who knew being roommates for a year could have such great benefits!?! :)

My sister Kara and her husband Todd!Enjoying the Jonas Brothers

My parents dancing to "Sweet Caroline" during the concert! They are great! :)

Loving the Fireworks!! They are my FAVORITE thing in the world...well minus Spencer!

Then to finish our amazing 4th of July we bought a HUGE Hawaiian Snow cone! It was divine, but it left our tongues a little blue!

Real Salt Lake

2009-07-01T20:28:00.005-06:00

Spencer's boss is part of the Real Salt lake Lions 100 club and he invited us to a game a few weeks ago. It was a blast! Neither of us had every been to a professional soccer game other than high school and college and were really excited to go. It consisted of free dinner before the game, more food at half time and even more food afterword. Plus front row seats in the center of the field. It felt like we were royalty! It was way nice. This is how excited we were about the game!
This is Spencer and his boss Randy who was generous enough to let us "poor college students" enjoy a night of high class entertainment.
The game was really exciting Salt lake won the game 3-0 which meant we got to see three incredible shots! It was against Toronto and I have never realized how aggressive the game of soccer is! Maybe it was just the fact that we were so close to the players that we got to see everything, but it was pretty intense.

Then after the game we got to go get autographs and meet some of the players. We felt like little twelve year old's asking for their autographs and pictures but we still did it and just laughed about it.

I think the highlight of the night happened after the game was over. We were walking up the tunnel headed to the room to wait to get autographs and we happened to walk through the tunnel the same time as Kyle Beckerman who was headed to the locker room to shower. We had a quick conversation about the game and off he went. It was pretty cool, especially the fact that he has recently been called up to play with the national US team. This is him being subbed out near the end of the game.
Spencer and I at the beautiful Real Salt Lake stadium.

Spencer getting the autograph of the goalie. He was a really nice guy.
Spencer again with Kyle Beckerman.
We had a great time and love doing things that our out of the ordinary. Maybe when we are filthy rich it won't be so out of the ordinary but we'll see! :)

June Birthdays & More

2009-07-01T20:03:00.006-06:00

So as always I'm behind on my postings! I take lots of pictures and then forget I ever took them. Then when I go to upload pictures I want I find all these other great ones. So here is a quick recap of events from June!

On Father's day, my mom had the greatest idea, we had Sunday Dinner on the patio! Yes we literally moved our kitchen table onto our patio outside and had our formal Sunday Dinner. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun!
Then of course being Fathers Day we all pitched in and got our Dad the Original Star Trek Series. He is a big fan! The card that my sisters' and I created was pretty amazing! We we're all proud of it!

Later in June we had two birthdays one for Kinners our little niece who just turned 3 and one for my sister Chantel who turned the big 21! Kinners is such a sweetheart and you can't help but fall in love with her. She loves to call me Auntie Tiffany and it melts my heart! I sure love that girl! Here she is in her adorable "Cinderella dress" that has become her new favorite outfit!

Kinners got a little cell phone for her birthday and Spencer pretended to call her! This was the adorable picture I caught of them on their phones! So cute!

Then for Chantel's birthday we had the good ole breakfast for dinner. It was delicious! I could eat breakfast anytime! Here is Chantel and her wonderful cake! I just love her face in this picture, the classic 'you never know how to act when people are singing to you!'

And this is what Chantel had been waiting days for...the new Jonas Brothers CD!! This was the gift that Spencer and I got for her! She was excited! Happy Birthday Chan! We love you!

Branden's Graduation

2009-07-01T19:55:00.002-06:00

My little brother Branden who I LOVE and ADORE has graduated from High school and is getting ready to go on a mission! We are so proud of him! He is such an amazing guy who has the biggest heart and the greatest clothes! :) Here our a few pics of the big day!

The whole family, well mostly!
Not the greatest pic of Spencer and I but Branden (as always) looks good! :)
My sisters, me and the graduate! Do we even look related?
The proud Dad!!

This was the gift that Spencer and I got him. It's one of my favorite Dr Suess books, especially for graduates!

Congratulations Branden! We Love you!

Viva Espana!!!

2009-06-09T19:21:00.009-06:00

So Spain was ABSOLUTELY amazing! I don't know how to sum up ten days on one blog but I will just do a quick recap of our trip, touching on some of our favorite parts.

First of all, we went to a city north of Madrid called Segovia where this HUGE aqueduct is located. It was built sometime around year 1 and is still standing.

This was the castle located in Segovia. Spencer had been here a couple of times while on his mission but it was fun for him to take me here. It was a beautiful castle as you can tell.

We tried to stop at Valle De Los Caidos on our way back from Segovia but as our luck would have it, it is closed on Mondays, which happened to be the day we went. But I really wanted to see it so we went back the next day. This is a memorial/grave built by Franco who claimed that it was built for all those that fell in the war. But it seems that he wanted to built it for himself. It is absolutely HUGE, pictures don't even do it justice.

This is the Moreno family that Spencer taught while on his mission. The daughter, Eliana, was baptized in Columbia and when she came to Spain she took her dad to church and that's where Spencer met the him and the family. Now they have all joined the church, were sealed in the temple last year and are doing really well. I have to admit, this was my FAVORITE part of going to Spain, meeting the people that Spencer taught and loves, and seeing them interact. It was so rewarding and I loved it!

On our way down to Granada we stopped in a beautiful city called Toledo. It has the famous old town with cobblestone paths and beautiful European decor. There is a famous "Toledo" store that all the missionaries love. It has swords, armors, guns and just about anything boys love!
Then when we continued on our way to Granada, Spencer spotted the famous Don Quixote windmills in Consuegra and we had to stop! Spencer never had a chance while on the mission to see them and was SO excited! It definitely was one of our favorite things we saw! It was really neat to see five or so in a row.
Spencer couldn't wait to try out one of his favorite mission meals, a Doner Kebap...look at how happy he is.
We stayed a night in Granada and then went to La Alhambra, which is this HUGE palace and garden and when I say HUGE I mean HUGE! We took a million pictures here and this is one from one of the garden areas we were at.
We then went to one of the most beautiful beaches in the south of Spain. It's called Playa Bolonia and was recommended by all of the members in Azuqueca. It was next to a ton of old Roman Ruins that we we're able to walk through. We went to the beach but after putting our feet in the FREEZING cold water we decided against getting it. Another cool part was being able to see Africa across the way :)
Then we went to another one of our favorite places. There was this old city built high on a mountain top called Vejar De La Frontera that is a city of all white pueblos. It was amazing, we walked up and down the streets just in awe at the beauty and the gorgeous European feel.
When we went to Cadiz we took a ferry over to Puerto de Santa Maria where we went to a well known fried fish restaurant ( I didn't eat much) but while we were there they happened to be watching the Lakers vs Nuggets game so we found a table near the TV and enjoyed our meal.

When trying to find the entrance to the ferry we ended up walking like miles (not literally but it was a long walk) to get to it. Well i didn't wear the best socks for the shoes I had on and I started to get a blister. Spencer, being the great husband he is, offered to switch me a sock. I still don't know how my tiny sock fit him but he didn't complain one bit and I didn't end up with a blister! Isn't he sweet!

This is the Batanero family that was more than generous to us, we stayed at their house both in Madrid and in Cadiz. They are such a great family! They are hysterical and our cheeks were literally hurting from laughing whenever we were with them. We just love them!

On our way back to Madrid we stopped in Sevilla where one of Spencer's mission buddies lives with his wife and adorable baby. They literally gave us an amazing tour of the city along with the history and everything! This is Spencer and I at the famous Plaza de Espana which was HUGE and one of the most gorgeous Plaza I've seen. There is a Plaza de Espana in every city and this one is the biggest one in Spain.
Then on Sunday we went to the Azuqueca Ward, this church was being built while Spencer served in the area. He was transferred one week before they finished it so it was really exciting to go back and see it. It was a beautiful church and the members were amazing and so receptive. They loved having us there!

Then on our last day we had to hit up a few things. I of course had to go to one of my favorite clothing stores in the world, H & M! I loved it and after a few hard decisions I walked away with some great outfits!
Then Spencer was in heaven when we went to the Chuche Factory (Spanish Candy). They are like gummies but taste better and Spencer honestly can't get enough of them. We definitely splurged on them but it was worth it.

And last but not least we were able to spend some time with President and Hermana Farnsworth who came into the mission when Spencer was working in the office. He helped helped them learn the ropes of the Spain Madrid Mission. They love him, of course, and it was great to spend time with them!

So there is a quick run down of our trip! If you want to see or hear more just let us know! We have a million pictures and even more stories to share!

Sea World

2009-04-27T22:35:00.000-06:00

Disneyland 2009

2009-04-27T18:01:00.000-06:00

WICKED!

2009-04-15T15:44:00.005-06:00

I absolutely love the musical/play WICKED! I fell in love with the music years ago when a friend introduced it to me and have been obsessed ever since. I've seen it a few times in other locations of the world but it finally made it's way to Salt Lake where we went to see it with the family.

We ate dinner at Benihana's. It like Teppanyaki, where they make the food right in front of you. It's been a family tradition to eat there about once a year, it was Spencer's first time and of course he loved it, it's food! We had a mixture of steak, chicken and shrimp with fired rice and veggies. It was delicious. I would have enjoyed it more but I was so worried we wouldn't make it on time to the play. We did of course and it was AMAZING!!!

I love everything about this play, the music, the characters, the storyline, the costume, the creativity. I love it all!! It is just amazing! I didn't want it to end!! I could seriously watch the play again and again and never get sick of it. I love it!

Disaster

2009-04-06T19:51:00.003-06:00

Well, this is Spencer typing, and yes this is the first time I have blogged on our blog. We had a very fun, well maybe not so fun of an experience today and I wanted to post it cause I know Tiff wouldn't have wanted to. Anyway, I came home from work at the usual time, around 5:30 and there was Tiff, like usual, in the kitchen cooking dinner (I am so loved and she is so good to me). She decided to be a little more creative today and try something new so she found a recipe online for a bacon cheese quiche. It was only suppose to take about 35 minutes to cook, but even after 45 minutes it still didn't look good. After an hour we decided to take it out because the top was burning, and we were hungry. To our surprise the inside was still really wet and the egg was not cooked. It was really kind of sick to even think about eating it at that moment.

We then tried to fry it in a pan on the stove, but it seems to me that there was so much milk in the egg that they wouldn't really cook and the egg taste was totally washed out, whoever made that recipe must have left something out or said to add way too much milk.

Since we were both hungry and not in the mood to make anything else, we ate leftover German pancakes, which were actually really good. All in all Tiffany was very tired and frustrated and the picture shows it very well :) isn't she cute!! Anyway, it just reminded me of all those stories you hear from old people about how their wives cooked something that didn't turn out, yet they can look back at the frustrating moment and laugh. I love Tiffany and am grateful for all she does and I know she will look back at this and laugh, this blog will be a great reminder :)

Ice Cream & Salt

2009-04-02T11:18:00.005-06:00

What do ice cream and salt have in common? A really mean April Fools joke! For those of you who know Spencer, he's a big joker and loves playing tricks on people. So I woke up yesterday morning extremely cautious of what he was going to do. I doubled checked the shower before I got in. Slowly opened the fridge, didn't use the sink in case he has stuck a rubber-band around the hose. I was really careful!

When I talked to him later that day, he seemed totally oblivious to the fact that it was even April Fools day! Here I was being so cautious and he honestly didn't remember. So I spent the rest of the day with no worries and didn't even think anymore about it. Well...I should have been more cautious! Last night Spencer was craving something crunchy and I mentioned that we had waffle cones if he wanted an ice cream cone. It sounded good to both of us. So he was in the kitchen making me a cone, while I was in the living room writing an email, totally oblivious to what was about to happen. Spencer gave me my ice cream cone and I took a big lick, expecting it to taste like the delicious chocolate brownie ice cream that I love. When to my horror, he had dump salt all over it!!! It was the sickest thing I have ever tasted!!! It was awful! I yelled his name and of course he came out laughing! I couldn't help but laugh too because it was SO funny!!! He succeeded in pulling off a great April Fools joke!

Minus the fact that my mouth tasted like salt for a while, I have to admit it was really funny and he definitely got me. I guess we'll see what next year will hold....sweet revenge! :)

Piano and a Baptism

2009-04-01T19:13:00.005-06:00

Saturday was a good day. My little brother, who is an AMAZING pianist (I'm not bias), had an individual piano competition and it was really exciting! He has been playing the piano for years and I get to hear him play all the time at home, but I've never seen or heard him play in a competition. It was great for me to see how emotionally involved he was with both of his pieces. He played what he really felt, it was great. He did amazing and the judges gave him a score of 39 points out of 40! We we're all really excited for him as you can tell!

Then later that night we were able to go to a baptism for Kristi. Kristi is someone my mom met randomly at the airport about a year and a half ago. She lives in Clearfield and has been meeting with the missionaries for a while now. She has had a bit of a rough life but is such a sweetheart. She is a single mother of two and has a strong testimony of the gospel. My mom and her have stayed good friends and when Kristi made the decision to be baptized, she asked my dad to baptize her. It was a neat experience for the whole family, Spenc and I included!

Physical and spiritual goodness!

2009-03-23T15:35:00.004-06:00

This weekend was full of physical and spiritual goodness! We just had to share how great our weekend was!

The weather had been so good this past week that Spencer and I really wanted to get out and do something! We decided that we wanted to rent a tandem bike and bike up to bridal veil falls. We had it all planned out, we talked to BYU about renting a bike and they informed us that they had plenty. So we got everything packed to go...but as our luck has it, when we went to pick up the bike they hadn't tuned any of them yet so we couldn't get one! So annoying! But we decided to hike up to the Y instead. It was a bit of a work out and my thighs are still suffering the consequences but the view is absolutely beautiful and worth it!

Then we had the great opportunity of having Elder L Tom Perry come to our Stake Conference. We went to the adult session Saturday Night and it was full of the spirit, very inspiring and we definitely left the session as better people. It is truly amazing how "normal" these great brethren are when you see them outside of conference. The stories he shared with us and the personality that comes out in speaking makes you realize how "normal" they are and that the only difference is the position they hold in being an Apostle of God. (I realize that is a big difference, but simply stated they are just like all of us.)

After the conference we decided to feed our physical hunger by going to Cold Stone. I, of course got good old chocolate and Spencer got vanilla. It was quite hysterical when we got our ice cream though because we both ordered the exact same size but for some reason mine was twice as big as Spencer's! I actually didn't even notice until we got in the car and Spencer's ice cream was half gone! It was really quite funny so we had to take a picture!

Then on Sunday we we're again spiritually fed at stake conference. Then we had the amazing opportunity of going to the Draper Temple Dedication. It is such a blessing to have temples so close and to be able to participate in such a spiritual event. We loved it and it was a great way to finish off an amazing weekend!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2009-03-18T20:42:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to spend our evening at the Jazz game! My brother-in-law Todd had some extra tickets and we we're able to go! It was a lot of fun. We invited our good friends Tyler and Cheryl to come along which always makes fora great time.

The game was against the Washington Wizards and the Jazz won with a score of 103 to 88! It obviously wasn't an intense game but nevertheless, it is always fun just being there! Go JAZZ!!

Good Times with the Taylors

2009-03-18T19:06:00.005-06:00

We had a great weekend with the Taylors, Spencer's brother David and his family were in town for the week and we were able to spent time with everyone! As you can tell Spencer is enjoying himself! :)David brought one of his favorite games for the family to play. It's called "BANG" and the point is to shoot out the other players and be the last one standing. There is a card that gives everyone back there life and when it was played David and Erin pulled out "Rootbeer" for us all! It was a lot of fun!
These next few pictures are of us all just hanging out! Camille and I enjoying our time with the little guy!
The Taylor boys!

Aren't all of these kids SO cute?

Grandma and Grandpa with all the Grandkids

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-17T21:52:00.007-07:00

We had such a wonderful Valentine's day! I had to run some errands for Primary early in the morning. So Spencer snuck out of the house to buy me some flowers and my favorite treats. When I came home everything seemed normal and I had no idea he had gone anywhere. That is until I walked into our room!!! He had set up the Dove Dark Chocolates all over the bed with the Red roses and a note. It was such a surprise and so sweet! I was really impressed with his presentation as well.

My gift to him was a little scrapbook book and a "conversation hearts" letter. My little sister Kara works at a scrapbooking store and has the most amazing skills when it comes to creativity. She offered to make me a book and I thought what a perfect V-day gift! It was a bunch of picture we've taken thus far in our marriage! It turned out great and Spencer LOVED it! As you can tell with all the pics he took. The letter was just a fun note I put together using conversation hearts. It was a lot of fun to make and Spencer laughed which was the main goal! :)

That night we went out to Ottavio's Italian restaurant, we got there at about 5:30 and the wait was only 35-40 minutes...well that turned into about an hour and a half! :( It was fine though, plenty of time to spend together! Dinner was delicious I got the Penne Pesto Pasta and Spencer ordered the Shrimp ravioli. He thought it would be ravioli filled with the shrimp however it was pretty shrimp less and tasted very....different. So we asked the waitress for a different entree and she was very accommodating. The chicken Pasta was a much better choice! Spencer loved it!

We then went to Blockbuster and rented some movies (chick flicks of course due to Valentines day!) Spencer's such a good sport! Truth is I fell asleep during the movie and he watched the whole thing! Maybe because he doesn't like to fall asleep to movies he hasn't seen. He's too curious and doesn't like to miss anything and well, sleep over rules my curiosity! Overall it was a great day! And I'm so blessed to have such an amazing Husband! :)

Date Night to Comedy Sportz!

2009-02-07T14:07:00.003-07:00

We had a great date night the other night. My roommate Brittany who I lived with for about a year wanted to get together and we figured what better way to hang out than to set her up! :) So we set her up with Spencer's roommate Ben. It was a lot of fun! We went to a little Chinese restaurant in Orem for dinner where they gave us mounds of food! Spencer loves leftovers so it worked out great. Then it was off to Comedy Sportz which is always a lot of fun! Our stamps on our hands said "I'm cool!" We liked that! We had a lot of fun! Brittany's laugh is contagious and between Spencer, Ben and comedy sportz we were laughing all night!

Hanging with the Taylors

2009-02-07T13:52:00.003-07:00

It has been a great two weeks hanging with the Taylor family! We had a fun birthday party for Spencer's Dad. We ate Sunday dinner with the family and then sang Happy Birthday, blew out the candles and opened gifts including a great looking tie! I wonder who that was from? :) We spent the rest of the night just chilling! There were about 5 different pictures of Jill (the dog) taken by Spencer so I had to include at least one, and truthfully Jill is part of the family! It was just a lot of fun hanging out with everyone!

Then Last week it was little David Oman's baby blessing. Spencer and I drove up to Tooele Saturday night and spent the night at the Oman's. It was a lot of fun. Anna made some AMAZING home made pizza we had some desserrt and then spent the rest of the night playing the infamous game "Settlers of Cattan." I'm happy to say that Spencer won! :) Good job babe!

Sunday morning was the blessing and it was beautiful. Little David had a full out white tux on and looked adorable! He's such a smiler too! We had a great lunch and enjoyed spending time with everyone again! It was a great week!

I did it!

2009-01-26T20:34:00.002-07:00

Well I officially cut my hair! I did it last weekend and am still getting used to it but I love it and so does Spencer! :) It took a few months of convincing myself that it was what I wanted. I cut off the absolute minimum to donate it to Locks of Love. But it turned out a lot better than expected! :) Chelsea (hairstylist extraordinaire) did an amazing job! Thanks Chels!

Birthdays, birthdays

2009-01-21T20:09:00.004-07:00

So these few first weeks of January has been filled with birthday fun.

First one of my best friends Becki had her birthday and it is tradition that we (Old roommates) go to dinner. We have been doing it forever and it is a blast! I love all of these girls!

For dinner we went to a little pizzeria where we ended up staying a good 2 or more hours just chatting away. The bet part of the night would have to be that out of the 4 of us that got Becki a gift, 3 of us gave her a purse!! Yes she got 3 PURSES for her birthday!! LOL! It was hysterical once we all realized we had gotten her the same thing! LOL! Happy Birthday Beck!

Then it was my mom's birthday, it's always fun having a birthday for mom. For her actual birthday we went out to dinner and a movie with the whole family. We ate at Macaroni Grill where my mom was serenaded in Italian, then we went and watched "Marley & Me" where we all cried! If you haven't seen it and you are a dog lover, be prepared to cry! It was a good movie and we all enjoyed it.

Then we had a Sunday Dinner where we opened the gifts, sang Happy Birthday and ate cake!

It was a ton of fun and no matter what you get, my mom always loves it! She got some jewelry, make up and gift certificates! We also made her a little plaque with words that reminded us of her. She of course cried and had ot have my little brother read it but she loved it! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

December in a Nutshell!

2009-01-19T12:46:00.007-07:00

Our First Gingerbread House

So Spencer's family always puts together a monthly newsletter about what everyone has been up to for the past month. Here is our update from the newsletter written by Spencer!

Well here we are, December has come and gone and now it is time for a new semester to begin. Although the break has been a very eventful one, in a way it is nice to go back to school and learn more:) So what happened during December? We had a lot of Christmas parties to attend starting with one for me and all my high school buddies (Tyler, Craig, Jared and other soccer friends).
Tiff's family also has a tradition called "Back to Bethlehem where we sit on the floor and eat dinner with our hands. It is a delicious dinner fish, bread, cheese, chicken, grapes, nuts etc. It was a lot of fun.

Then we had one with the family, which Carrie hosted at the seminary building. We had two projector screens to play the wii and a wonderful dinner.

Than lastly we had one for Tiffany at her house with all her high school friends. They call it the ACB, Annual Christmas Ball and have been doing it for seven years. The party happened to be during the Utah football game so we were fortunate enough to eat during half time and be able to catch most all of the game (all the guys liked that).
Cortney, Jill and me Best friends from high school

One of the greatest parts about the break was having a Russian family from California come and visit. They are Jewish by religion and they wanted to experience a Christian Christmas, so they came. Tiffany meant them while in Peru doing service with doctors and dentist. They joined Tiffany's family at her cousins house for their annual fondue dinner Christmas Eve. Then they spent the rest of that night and Christmas day with Tiff's friends. The next three days they were at Tiffany's parents house and we were able to spend a lot of time with them. We took them to Salt Lake to see temple square and they seemed to love it. They are a very good family and very open to different religions, they asked a million questions about mormons and why our families are so big. It was so fascinating to them to have more than two kids and to see how we functioned. The night before they left, they taught us all about Hanakuh, lit the minora and sang songs for us. We gave them The Proclamaiton on the family as a gift before they left. They loved it. It was really fun to be able to have that experience.

As for Tiff and I, we spend Christmas Eve with Tiffany's family and then Christmas morning as well, then we went to my parents house and played games with the family and ate dinner with them. Our Christmas Pajamas
Spencer teaching Grandpa Carson how to play the Wii

Playing the Ski jump on the wii fit

We both got the usual, food storage, new clothes(we both needed them for work), I got some car stuff, ties, closet organizer things for my belts and ties and some slippers. Tiff got a bathrobe, movies, nike +, armband to hold the iPod and nike+, a statue Christus, and some slippers. We are both very grateful for everything we got and thank both parents for their gifts. I love spending time with both families and it is such a blessing to have such great in-laws.

For new years eve, we spent a little time at my house again and played a game or two with my parents, then we went to Tiffany's cousins house and played more games with her family and began the new year there:) Well, I am not really sure what else to say, I know as Tiffany reads this she will laugh at me and ask why I didn't talk about something big that happened that I just can't think of right now, so if I think of it I will let you know. Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2009!

Our First Annual Fancy Pants Dinner Hosted by my cousin Ro!