Monday, May 16, 2016

First half of May before Hawaii

1. Proud Grandpa, Dad, and little Samuel
Born on the 2nd of May. 

Samuel Ron Taylor,

The happy family.

2.Meeting his first cousin, Cierra Rose Jensen.
The oldest and the youngest as of 2016.

3. Spencer and John in "Much Ado about Nothing"
Spencer,

John,

4. My brother Paul passed away and his funeral was the
first Saturday of May. It is a blessing.
When Mike texted me  Paul's death he said:
"There is a great sense of relief and joy in our home right now."
That was exactly how we felt about the birth of Samuel.
Death is another birth.


5. Ellen and her sons left to right: Lars, Jorgen, Mike

6. David with Robert, Matthew, and Alaina

7. So thankful to Belmont 2nd Ward for hosting the dinner.

8. me, Margaret, John, David, Ralph, Ann, Janet, Ellen

9. We did face time with John's family and Kirsten showed
me the tissue box filled with grocery sacks that I showed
on my blog last time that Ellen made.

10. More of baby Samuel


11. The end of an era. The trailer was finally moved to
Kent and Lyndi Call's.


12. Sean Tiedi and his wife Sara stopped by. It was so good to see them.
He has three children. They were sealed together in the temple on the
day after Christmas. What a happy ending to a very difficult childhood.


13. We have painted our living room, hall, dining, and kitchen.
Dad made shelves for all the grand-kids pictures.

14.Our Family Home evening that is on each 3rd Sunday for whoever
wants to come. This time we had Chris, Ryan, Tom, Sue & boys,
and Ellen & Daniel with Sam.
We gave the lesson which consisted of several skits based on
analogies from C.S. Lewis "Mere Christianity"

15. Taylor was the teacher who tried to teach children the alphabet.
They didn't want her to. They wanted to teach each other, even
though none of them knew how to write. Caleb, Kaden, and Isaac did
such a good job. C. S. Lewis said:
To what will you look for help if you will not look to that 
which is stronger than yourself?”
There is wisdom in looking to those with more experience
in guiding us in this life. 

16. Noelle was drowning and Steven came to save her. He had a
foot on dry ground and was in the position to save her. She refused his help
and drowned. (It was actually quite dramatic and very funny.)

17. A line of children ready to get a drink on the playground.
Dusty came up and butted in line because he was thirsty and
wanted a drink. We talked about how without even being told,
we know it is wrong to butt in line without even being told.
The law of Human Nature - Right and Wrong
We are living in a society who tells us we can do whatever
we want without any consequences. It's a dangerous philosophy.

18. I did the last skit on Faith & Reason Vs. Imagination & Emotions
The story came from C.S. Lewis, but it fit me perfect.
He explains that faith is based on reason. I know that people can
swim. I've seen it and understand how it works. But my faith is
shaken by my imagination and emotions when I am in the water and I sink.
“It is not reason that is taking away my faith: on the contrary, 
my faith is based on reason. It is my imagination and emotions. 
The battle is between faith and reason on one side and emotion 
and imagination on the other.” C. S. Lewis


19. After FHE, we had refreshments and then Deer Tag.


20. The last object lesson was the keys on the piano. Josh played
Cannon in D so beautifully and I would periodically hit notes
that didn't sound good. We are the ones that are the creators of
our song. There are many things vying for our attentions and
wanting to be a part of our song. 
Our Spirit, as a Child of God, will direct us along with the Holy Ghost as we
compose our piece. I'm thankful for the Atonement to help me when 
I make mistakes. 

I love you all. My messages are in the blog.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Catharine, Max's Baptism, Life & Skits

1. Home from New Hampshire. We had a wonderful visit
with Joe & Tesha and welcomed little Catharine Ellen,
born April 8th, 2016.  See the "Trips" book for the vacation part.
Here are pictures of welcoming in little Catharine.



2. We have a family FHE on the third Sunday at 6:00 with 
pot luck refreshments. Hudson and Mia are having a lot
of fun in A. Sue's purse. We all had a great time.


3. As of today, May 1st, Ellen is still keeping that little baby to herself.
We went to Logan and picked up Cierra and went to visit with her.

4. We've done a lot of planting and working in the garden since
we came home. We have, beets, Swiss Chard, lettuce, radishes, onions, 
carrots, and peas.

5. Ellen tried this neat idea. She has about 30 plastic grocery bags in 
this tissue box. It was cool. Just Google plastic bags in a tissue box.

6. Walking the perimeter of the pasture that we are going to fence.
The Alfalfa and Grass seed looks beautiful.

7. Congratulations to Max getting baptized. It was a beautiful day.
We're very proud of your choice to be baptized.

8. Katrina and Olivia looking at Noelle's horse.


9. Sunday, May 1st
Pete and Chris's family came for Sunday evening and we
had such a wonderful time. We had good visiting, singing
around the piano and a full length skit of Cinderella.



10. We have a skit of Cinderella











It was a beautiful day.
I'm so thankful I married Daddy 46 years ago today. At that
time I had no idea the joy and happiness and hardships too that 
my life would have.
Sometimes we really don't know the lasting impact of the decisions
we make. I'm glad I made that decision, and we had all you children.
We had heartache in our ward this weekend. William Hornberger was
in our ward. In case you didn't hear, he was killed yesterday 
while with our YW group up Logan Canyon going rock climbing. 
He was at the top securing the anchor that would hold the rope 
and fell 75 feet. I knew him from USU. He was in my education group.
I also taught their daughter in 1st grade. It was such a shock to
our whole ward. I don't think I have ever been to a more spiritual
testimony meeting that was filled with the Spirit and the love that
went out to this family was incredible. 
His wife and children all came to church today. 
The Gospel is true. The Plan of Salvation is real. Jesus Christ
can be our anchor in our life to bring us peace no matter what happens.
I love you all.