Happy Mother's Day!

If I was ever asked what my best Mother's Day was and why I would have to say May 13, 2007. In serving my mother that day I was blessed beyond any earthly gift I could have received. That day remains vivid in my memory as it was 5 days before my dad's death. It was that Sunday afternoon that my dad taught me one of the last few sermons he would preach to me through his good life and example.

 From my journal: "I had the privilege of spending that Sunday afternoon with Dad. When I first got there I noticed that Dad was dressed in his white dress shirt, black sweats and black slippers. I asked him why he got dressed up. Mom told me that she was dressed in jeans and a shirt because she wasn't going to church and Dad asked her for a white shirt. She asked him why and he said that he wanted to get dressed in it to take the sacrament when the priests from the ward came. What a great example! He never criticized mom for not dressing in a dress, but instead lead by example. That is the way that my Dad taught."

From this experience I learned how important the Sacrament was to my Dad. I learned that by his attire, he showed respect for the sacred ordinance of the Sacrament. He showed his respect and love for the Savior by reverently preparing himself to take it. I'll never forget him dressed in that white shirt and black sweats. His example taught me to always reverence the sacred ordinance that we can so easily take for granted each Sunday.

My favorite shirts on the quilt my Mom made for me is the white shirts. They have the most meaning to me.

 The second sermon he taught me that afternoon was how to diligently serve the Lord in our responsibilities. Dad was the 2nd counselor in the Tyhee Stake Presidency and was released the Sunday after his death.  My Mom has told us that on Saturday evening the 12th he went downstairs to the computer and compiled information for the seminary graduation program and emailed it. He completed the task that he had been given.

 From my journal: "I sent Mom off for a nap while I sat with Dad and we went through all of his church files. He was organizing his briefcase and papers he had kept with his calling and was cleaning it up so he could have it passed on to the new 2nd counselor in the Tyhee Stake Presidency. My Dad had been informed that he would be released at the Stake Priesthood Meeting on May 20. He was weak and I fed him ice chips as we organized. I'll never forget spending that Mother's Day with him. Usually on this day I get to take a nap and relax as Dave and the kids cater to me. This day I was just happy to stay with my Dad and cater to him and his needs in any way he would let me. I'll never forget helping him organize his papers while he sat on the edge of the bed in his white shirt."

 From this experience I learned how important it was to my Dad to endure to the end. He was the hardest worker I have ever known in my life. By watching him throughout my life, I have learned just how lazy I am. He would tell me while I planted tomato plants that I was a hard worker because I would stick to the job until it stuck to me. I've never forgotten that phrase..."stick to the job". He endured his trials well and left such a beautiful legacy for me and my family.

Today I especially miss him. I have many days and months that go by without the emotional pains that I had daily about 5 years ago. Time has healed my heart, but occasionally that pain and sadness comes back and the tears flow. I thank my Father in Heaven that I have been blessed to be born into the Taylor Family. I was given a healthy and happy start to life by two wonderful parents. I love them both dearly. I can't leave my Mom out on this Mother's Day without saying how precious and dear she is to me. Happy Mother's Day to her!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

I was, but not anymore! I did it and it was a blast! I actually rode 100 miles in the Little Red Riding Hood event. It took us 5 hours 58 minutes on the bike, averaging 16.3 mph. It was so much fun! The event was so well organized, the rest stops were amazing with all kinds of energy foods. My favorite was the Oreo cookies with a huge spoonful of peanut butter on top. I looked forward to that treat at every stop. We stopped at about 50 miles for lunch (Subway sandwiches) and rest stops were about every 15-20 miles. We would go to the restroom, fill up water bottles and refuel. It makes all the difference when I could look forward to a break and get off the seat for a few minutes. I LOVED this ride and will do it next year. It was fun to do with friends and we all worked together to get through it.


Cold starting, I needed some sleeves but knew it would be a warm day. Dave ran and bought me some arm warmers and they were a little large for my arms so Anne let me where her bolero and she wore the sleeves. I totally needed them for the first half of the day.

Me, Anne Cameron, Tandy Day, Kim Evans (Captain), Angela Clegg

Me and Anne

At the starting line getting instructions..no ipods, ride 2 abreast, use proper signals, be courteous and safe!! We were the last of the 100 milers to start. We started at 8:30 am.

On our way, just out of the gates!

Dave and Dave C. met up with us on our last 25 mile stretch. It felt like we had our own paparazzi. They followed us and photographed. Actually it was a really big boost to me and help distract me from the last few miles of the race.

Our own peloton




Just conquered the last big climb


Comin' up the home stretch

WE DID IT!

Happy 38th Birthday!

For some, the years are not kind...but, not for my husband. He gets better looking each year! Happy Birthday to Dave! He turned 38 on Friday, June 3rd. Dave went to work in the morning and then we took off in the afternoon for Logan, Utah. We went to the temple and then met up with the Cameron's for dinner. We stayed the night in Logan so I could ride in the Little Red Riding Hood the next day. Dave and Dave C. went golfing while we were biking. They had a great time and it was a beautiful 75 degree day.

My Kids Are AWESOME!

McKay: He was awarded the best math student in his class by his teacher, Mrs. Mann. He also took 3rd place in the 1st grade for a Patriotism essay he wrote for the Lion's Club contest. He wrote it in October and didn't remember he wrote the essay but was excited to get the award. Way to go McKay! He is a smart boy and did so well in 1st grade.


McKay and his teacher, Mrs. Mann


Hallie: Hallie also won the Lion's Club essay contest on Patriotism. She took 2nd place for the whole 4th grade. She got awarded for mastering all multiplication facts and reaching her AR goal each 6 weeks for the whole year. Hallie really excelled in reading this year and read over 150 AR points! Hallie is a great student and was very responsible to complete all assignments and she really cares about her grades. Way to go Hallie!!!


Lion's Club award


Hallie and I playing our duet "Irish Jig" for the 4th and 5th grade talent show

Breanna: Breanna got the highest ISAT score in the 6th grade for reading and math. She tied with about 4 or 5 other students. I was especially impressed with her reading ISAT because we home-schooled her for reading! I guess all that shopping and errand running was helping her reading skills :) Breanna ended up having a great year at Franklin Middle School and made a lot of good friends. She is an outstanding student.


Breanna and her best friend Maddie Shelton


Aubrey: Aubrey was awarded the Most Outstanding Choir Student by her choir teacher. There was only 2 of those awards and one went to a boy and one to a girl. She also got her medal for the cheer team taking 1st place in competition. At the awards ceremony she performed in 5 dances/cheers. She also tried out for and was chosen to participate in the last day of school talent show in which she played her memorized festival piece "Rhapsody Royale". She is really going to miss FMS and has shed a few tears about her good friends splitting up and attending different high schools next year. At the cheer banquet her coach awarded her with the Miss Sunshine award because she brought a lot of "light" and "sunshine" to the team.


Receiving the choir award

Cheer medals

This is Cameron Echohawk, Aubrey's crush. She had to choose a guy to do a cheer dance with and had to dress him up as a boy.
I think she has good taste :)

Aubrey with some of her cheer friends waiting to perform at the assembly

Good job Penrod Kids!!!

Rupert Ride

Dave is an awesome cyclist!


Warning: All these detail may be very boring to many of you!
In February I signed up and purchased a spot in the Little Red Riding Hood ride in Lewiston, Utah. I have some friends that talked me into riding 100 miles (a century ride). At the time I knew that was a lot, but it wasn't until I struggled in the Rupert Ride that I had my doubts about ever finishing 100 miles.
On Saturday May 14th, Dave and I drove to Rupert to participate in this ride. I really needed a longer ride to train me for my 100 miles. This ride was a 33 mile loop and I was planning on doing it twice, so 66 miles. The furthest I had gone at this point was 42 miles. I first have to explain that we have some really awesome riding friends. Many of them have participated in the Lotoja which is the Logan To Jackson Hole 207 mile ride! They thrive on competition and racing against their personal best times. At the starting line I told Dave to go ahead and ride with them and I will ride with the ladies. Come to find out my awesome, athletic friend, Kim Evans, also went with the men. I don't blame her. She can keep up and she is amazing. There was still two other ladies I came with and one of them was taking it slow because she was running a marathon the next week (Lisa Winans). My other friend, Cindy Jensen, is about 15 years older than me and was just getting into biking. Lisa said she was planning to stay with Cindy the whole ride. As I started out with them I realized that I could go faster and if I didn't then I would be riding for more hours than I wanted to. I decided to pull ahead and tackle it on my own. Almost immediately I started to doubt how I was going to do it alone. I called Dave on his phone to see if he would hold back and ride with me but he didn't answer. As I was cycling away I found a group of women who were going about my pace and I started drafting off of them. I stayed with them the whole 33 mile loop and we found other riders along the way that we hooked onto. I felt pretty good after that 33 mile loop. When I returned and readied myself for my next loop, I learned from Lisa that Cindy took a bad fall and was at the hospital. She was drafting off Lisa and somehow clipped her back tire and went down on her knee. It was very bad news. Lisa had only about 5 miles into the ride when it happened and so she wanted to go at least one loop. No one in my first group of riders was doing another 33 so Lisa and I ventured on our own. She was as fresh as the morning and I was hitting a wall. I had very little energy and she had to pull most of the way. I was really struggling. I finished my 66 miles in 4 hours. As I finished my 66 miles I told Kim and Dave there was no way I could do 100 at Little Red because I couldn't even bear the thought of going another 33 miles. I also decided that if it is torture it takes the fun out of biking and I want it to always be something I enjoy to do. I was quite discouraged with myself after that ride. Dave on the other hand did very well. He stayed up with our amazing cyclist friends on his first 33 mile loop. He even pulled the group for 3-4 miles. He tried to wait for me and find me before starting his second loop but we never hooked up and he ended up riding the 2nd loop on his own, still finishing about 30 minutes before me! Our friend Cindy is in bad shape. She ended up with a fractured tibia that needed 14 pins and 2 plates, she broke her thumb which also required a pin. She will be in a wheelchair/walker for 3 months followed by crutches for 3 months. Biking can be very dangerous and requires a lot of concentration and safety.
After this ride I continued to train by riding to Inkom and around the Tyhee Flats ( 64 miles, 4.5 hours) and American Falls (Seagull Bay) and back twice (79 miles, 5 hours). Each ride I felt stronger and recovery was not as long. Yesterday I did the LIttle Red ride...check back for an update on that :)

Friday the 13th

I'm not a supersitious person but we did have a small problem on this last Friday the 13th in May. I was helping Karalee clean out her knee high forest of thick weeds in her flower beds and we had just gotten back from the nursery where we purchased some flowers. School had just gotten out and Grant was excited to see my kids and play with them. Grant was driving McKay's Lightning McQueen power wheel and Hallie was sitting on the back of it with him. They rode from our house to Grant's house which is 2 blocks away. The first thing I hear is Hallie screaming and holding her head and blood is everywhere. We had been using my Dad's truck and the tailgate was down as we were unloading the flowers we had just purchased. Apparently Grant rode under the tailgate with McQueen and made the clearance but Hallie did not :( I immediately left with Hallie and called our friend and oral surgeon Jeff DaBell to see if he was available to sew her up. Luckily he was and he met us at his office. This saved us an emergency room visit. He is always so good to help us out. He sewed up McKay's ear after his dog bite. Hallie was so brave and did not cry at all with Dr. DaBell. She just wanted to get it fixed.

Dancing Girls

Competition season is officially over as we attended our last one on Saturday! Breanna and Hallie danced for the Dance Factory and we have traveled to Idaho Falls, Burley, Taylorsville, Highland High and Century High for competitions. Breanna is on a team called "Showstoppers" and Hallie is on "Mini Elites". They dance ballet/lyrical, jazz, and hip hop. I love watching my girls dance! They are so graceful, talented and entertaining. Here is a sampling of the action photos I took.


This dance is called "Fembots" and they dance like hip hop robots.

They have to walk out like stiff robots. Breanna is so cute!

The lyrical number is to the music "Numb"

"Show Stopper" team at the end of "Cold"

Breanna's jazz number is to "Cold" which is why they shiver.


Hallie's jazz dance is to the oldie "Do You Love Me?"




End of "Do You Love Me?"


Hallie's hip hop dance "Shake That"




Hallie's lyrical "Lullaby"





This is the story of my life...doing competition hair and makeup!!!

Steph is 35!

I usually don't post about my own birthdays but since there were a few pictures taken this year I will. I had to work all day but it was kind of fun to be spoiled by the staff at work. While I was gone, Lauren and my mom came over and cleaned my house from top to bottom. Dusting is my least favorite chore and I am always so happy when someone does it for me. When I walked in my house I could smell clean and it felt so good! I have the best sister and mom in the world! Dave picked up my favorite german chocolate cake but forgot the vanilla ice cream. German Chocolate cake is not the same without vanilla ice cream! Dave is so good to me...he went to the store just for the ice cream while we waited. He loves me! It was a good day. I guess since birthdays are kind of an annual thing and a mandatory requirement of living on this earth, it is nice to be remembered by family and friends once a year!




The best cake EVER!

Easter Egg Hunt

Grandma Shauna has an egg hunt each year and the kids love it. She hides a "Golden Egg" that has a voucher for a$5 gift certificate for each of the grandkids. They have to find the large egg that has their name on it. Problem is, Grandma can't always remember where she hides it so she keeps the certificate in the house and gives it to them later :)


Breanna searching for her lost egg


Not many eggs yet...


Hallie is such a poser!


Relaxing on the lawn after the hunt and checking out the candy