all kinds of bruises

Remember that race?

I SURVIVED! 

Seriously, I wasn't sure there for a second or two.... or three...

The spartan was the most intense race I have ever run or attempted to run.

Hallelujah for David, who invited me to run with the boys, because I may never have tried it.

The race was 8 miles of straight mountain climbing basically... plus 12 obstacles.

Now you may be able to see why I thought I wouldn't survive.

I knew David, but the rest of the boys on the team I hardly knew or didn't know until the 12 hours before the event. 

The night before the race they sat in the kitchen and the conversation went something like this...

"So, are we all going to stick together as a team tomorrow?"

"Yeah man, we aren't doing it to win, so let's all stick together"

Me... thinking.. [whoa-hey! remember how there's no way I won't slow you all down in a major way. so embarrassing.... oh dear....]

"Yeah, so I'm thinking we should NOT stick together so I don't hold you guys back"

"Well, we will figure it out tomorrow, but let's try to stick together"

[thank heavens they chose not to argue about it, because I was set on not being the weakest link]

So the next day came. and somehow I kept up with them....almost.

But when I fell a bit behind they would wait for me at the next obstacle. 

And inevitably somebody would ask how I was doing,

or make sure I was ok after jumping off a wall,

or give me a smile and a high five.

Best team ever?

I would argue that yes, yes they were.

Now I will share with you our ever-so lovely before, right after, and next-day-super-sore kind of after photos. In case you were wondering how 8 miles and 12 obstacles can make a girl sore....
think food storage buckets of sand and cement,
dragging blocks of cement through sand,
hoisting yourself over walls with nearly non-existent amounts of upper body strength,
carrying tires up a mountain,
wading through mud,
and army crawling under barbed wire.
Sweet.

These are just the pictures that Zack's lovely, blogging mother took of us.
Time will tell if the photographers at the race got any sweet action shots.

Until then, 
bruised, scratched, and still slightly stiff,

Taylor Ann

ranch days

Ok, so I love home.
I really, really love home.
So what if home makes me secretly love the smell of hay,
and somehow not mind the faint scent of manure?
Once you experience it, you will understand.
For starters, I was sick for, well... all of Christmas break.
[but, because I'm training for a race... which happens to be tomorrow]
I ran over to the ranch to meet up with the boys.
Amadore and his boys were up to brand their cattle,
and Zane brought a friend.
That, including dad and Brooke rendered me nearly useless. 

So I was perfectly content to sit around and watch the boys work,
take pictures, help when I was needed, and snuggle with daddy's cowdogs.
At the end of a long work day, Amadore and his boys opened up their trailer.
They had brought everything necessary to make dinner for all of us.
Real, authentic, wonderful basque food.
Real gentleman who cooked,  cleaned, and loaded without letting the girls touch a single thing.
And when we tried, they simply smiled.. "no, no. I will get that". 

[and one son happened to be darling and have a dimple...I didn't complain...]
Oh, and my brother is a pretty darling cowboy too, agreed?
Yeah.
I miss those kind of boys.

And home too.
And ranch days.

Until then- embracing Provo.
Oh, the rapture...

 Taylor Ann

insta-life

my life in instagram.

a. Lauren and I dawned matching bejeweled cases. found for $2... I couldn't resist
b. tights are the greatest thing that ever happened
c. baking boys happy.... it's more fun that way
d. using my new cake decorating supplies from grandma to make cupcakes for my spanish class. #win
e. fitting in the skinny jeans these days.... and all kinds of big gulp runs :)
f. sledding at solider hollow for a student alumni retreat. sooo fun :)
g. getting serenaded on the weekends by cute boys is the stuff. try it sometime.
h. and tights.... again. with the boots I haven't taken off since Christmas. socially acceptable slippers people.
i. getting the PERFECT descriptions of ourselves on a date last week.
j. my sister got a puppy named Watson.... I die.
k. he loves his aunt taylor.
l. wearing my mom's sweater from college. real retro is the best.

mama's dream

This house has been mama's dream for as long as I can remember.
I'll always remember her nights spent sitting at the kitchen table, drawing house plans on engineering paper.
Every little square, every detail was thought through over and over.
She had some kind of vision that none of us could see.
How this would look here,
how the ceilings would look,
how lighting would turn out.

Now, mama's dream is almost materialized!
And literally, every detail is perfect.
Chandelier lamps,
perfect lighting,
beautiful colors.

To make it even better,
the house is built at my favorite location of all time.
It's the place I go when I need time.
It's the place I go to celebrate.
It's the place I go to stargaze,
and have late-night conversations.

Who knew home could get any better than it already was?

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

el bautismo

Baptism days are some of the happiest days.

Over break I went to my little Miss' baptism.
As we all took pictures of her inside
[not that scratchy brown wall with butcher paper doesn't make for a lovely background...]

I had the thought that the occasion called for a bit better lighting and scenery.

Boy, am I glad I had the thought.

Doesn't she just glow?
It was such a great experience to be there,
and see this little family together.
It made me think about all the things I love and the gospel that I am so grateful for.

I believe in Christ.

I am consistently blown away at the effects of Christ and his gospel in people's lives.

And in my own. 

I am a genuinely happy human being.
I am not happy because my life is perfect, though I am fully aware I am blessed.
I am not happy because I'm ignorant or naive, I know the world is hard.
I'm happy because I have the gospel, and I know my standing with my Heavenly Father.
I know that he loves me, despite my shortcomings.

Last week I took one of my very best friends in the whole world to dinner for her birthday.
We talked about high school and life and the way we are. Our similarities, our differences.
She and I were very different in high school, and as we giggled about it, she turned to me.
"You're just.... it's different than just maturity.... I think you're an old soul"

Would you know, that's exactly what little Miss' mother said about her at her baptism?
That, she truly is. Very aware, very sweet. Somehow very much older than 8 years old.

I will gladly be placed in her same category.

I bring this all up for lots of reasons.
1. It all is exactly how I feel a lot of the time, so it belongs here, right?
2. Those pictures make me happy every time I look at them.
3. My roommate just got called to serve a mission and share all of this with the people of Los Angeles for a year and a half. I can't imagine a more wonderful, sincere person to do the job.

I'm so proud of her :)
Everyone deserves this kind of happiness.
I just want to share it with the whole world.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

it is what it is, whatever that means

Have you had those friends that you just love?

There's no reason you should, really. 

They maybe do dumb things sometimes. 

Maybe you never get to see them. 

Perhaps there is no logical reason why you should be friends, 

but somehow you just are?

No other way to say it. 

You just are.

Over Christmas I got a call from France.

I haven't talked to him in... I don't know, maybe a few months?

But he called. And we talked. 

About nothing really important. 

I wanted to know about his life, 

and he wanted to know about mine.

I was so blunt with him that it made the little girls in the back seat giggle.
But that's just the way it is.

At the end of the conversation I asked him what he does with his time. 

He says he reads whatever he can get his hands on, and I ask if I can send him a book.

He promises me a postcard.

I say he must write a lot.

And there must be pictures of his adventures. 

He agrees.

I'm really good at interrogating him. 

Well, I'm really good at interrogating, period. 

But here's how you know we're real friends.

He interrogates me back.

Give and take.

"It's my turn to interrogate you now.....

Do you feel like a business woman? 

How many more years before you become president of the world? 

Do you ever feel overworked?" 

He knows just what to ask,

and I will wait for him to sit still long enough for me to have an address to write him back to.

For now, I have a postcard from France.

There's nothing like a good friend.

Love Always,

Taylor Ann

getting back on feat. miss mackenzie

Have you ever fallen off a horse?
Well, it's kind of a scary thing....no matter how old you are.
When I was probably around 6 years old, I fell off my horse straight into grandma and grandpa's pond.
Daddy gave me the shirt off his back and I emotionally recovered at grandma's house.
[which is, of course, the best place to recover]

But would you know what is the most important is about falling off?
Getting back on.
Which also happens to be the scariest part.
But gosh darnit, isn't that the way everything is?

Well, this story isn't about me after all anyways.
You see, Miss Mackenzie loves horses.
[Santa even gave her horse pajamas this year]
Over Christmas, she fell off.
Scared her and everyone else half to death,
but she was so brave.
She got right back on.

You know, if you think about it....
everything good stops if you fall off at the first bump,
and never get back on.
But life keeps going just fine if you get back on.

I love you my pretty little Mackenzie :)

Taylor Ann

the amount of food we eat together...

Did I ever tell you about Jess' fabulous birthday lunch?
We chose La Jolla Groves...
which has become one of our very favorites. 

Our meals and appetizer were all absolutely fabulous,

as was the conversation. 

Then came time to give her my ghetto-wrapped gift.

Let me tell you a story. 

Do you remember when my mom cleaned out her closet this summer?

Well, Jess apparently doesn't stalk my blog good enough, because she forgot. 

...and was subsequently in slight shock when she found out mom gave me that purse.

Apparently she had wanted it for forever, and there may have been a slight pouty-face involved.

She jokingly stated that if I were a good sister I would give it to her. 

I, being so wonderful and kind,

said heck no. 

Little did she know.....

I had ebayed her a birthday surprise! 

The beauty of technology :)

Also, I love her. 

That's the real point of this blog post. 

....just like the 934752364 other jess-loving posts I have on here.

Hope you've had a wonderful day.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

Jesus: The Perfect Leader

"Each of us has more opportunities to do good and to be good than we ever use. These

opportunities lie all around us. Whatever the size of our present circle of effective influence, if we were to improve our performance even a little bit, that circle would be enlarged. There are many individuals waiting to be touched and loved if we care enough to improve in our performance.

We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere

are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters. If our sample of humanity seems unglamorous or so very small, we need to remember the parable Jesus gave us in which he reminded us that greatness is not always a

matter of size or scale, but of the quality of one’s life. If we do well with our talents and with the

opportunities around us, this will not go unnoticed by God. And to those who do well with the

opportunities given them, even more will be given!"

President Spencer W. Kimball

what is this.... road trip #4 this year?

Weekends are wonderful.

Mine started out with blood donation for cancer research and a shipment of the shoes I got for Christmas 

[that broke....and I was distraught. so naturally, i reordered them]. 

Then on to reunite with my sister, which was obviously a great choice. 

I mean manicures, sliders, grocery shopping..... I love her.

Then I maybe took a trip to Idaho.

Which was awesome.

Took the best 8 mile run of my life....

down the longest never ending dirt roads I've ever seen. 

And reunited with a friend in the process, 

which naturally was the best part.

Starting the week off right by reading the wrong chapter and getting a 3/10 on your reading quiz feels really great too....

stupid Mondays.

Love Always,

Taylor Ann

why i have the cutest daddy

I know, I know I'm his little mini me.... but I'm not complimenting myself I promise.

In all seriousness though, my daddy is the greatest. 

We decided this year for Christmas I would order mom some things that were out of my budget 

...from dad.

Then I got home and he wanted to get her something special.

So  he asked me to come with him and help. 

Of course, I was more than willing to look at jewelry for an hour 

and spend some quality bonding time with daddy.

Mom got all of us girls birthstone rings [don't ask me how I know that.....]

So.... we decided on a ring :)

Turns out grandpa caught the memo too!

All of us girls have rings now. 

Dad, way to rock the gift giving.

Love you. 

Love Always, 

Taylor Ann

christmas day: featuring lolo

I got so many darn cute pictures of this little one 

so many, in fact, that I thought I'd dedicate a whole post to her ;)

Lolo is my girl. 

fiesty. 

independent.

 smiley.

I love all my little cousins, but I think this is my kindred spirit.

 

 

 Don't worry, all of her siblings are just as adorable and will for SURE make an appearance here soon.

Can we just say that kids are the magic of Christmas these days?

I just loved sitting back and watching them. 

On another note though, I'm finally reunited with Jess and it feels so good.

She blogged about our lovely reunion today. 

Love Always,

TaylorAnn

shout out to santa.

Christmas Eve. 

Finally. 

I know. 

I am so slow. 

So on Christmas Eve, Santa always makes an appearance at grandma's.

We happen to be some of his favorite kiddos.

He pulls out his big bag and everyone gets pajamas!

We all have to sit on his lap, even when we're 20 years old.

 This year was the most magical yet. 

I loved every minute. 

Thanks for making it happen, Santa.

[you made it on the blog like you asked;)]

I even had dad snap a picture...

New Years has never been a "thing" around these parts. Not that we don't love the idea of starting fresh or being excited for the future, but we just haven't ever really been into it. I think my parents normally go to sleep around 10. Sometimes they probably roll over and give each other a kiss as the fireworks go off and people start to shout.

I don't really remember what I've done on New Year's Eves before this.. I suppose none of them were that memorable. So when it came time to make plans this year, I hadn't even give it a thought. There was a dance going on in town, then miss gina wanted to play dress up and drink cider. But then daddy suggested we go out. Me, mom, dad. Just us. Dinner, movies, and cider.... but mostly dinner. [the kids are pretty popular these days, so naturally they were gone] 

I don't know about you, but I thought forgoing the 45 minutes of freeway driving for a night in with the parentals sounded about right. Mom and I ran some errands [mostly, i needed shoes and she needed groceries...] and ate ice cream and sang loud all the way home. I dawned the fake eyelashes, lipstick, sparkles, and a princess skirt and went to the fanciest dinner I've ever had.

We talked about the past and a little bit of the future, and naturally we talked about the boys of my life [which is always a favorite subject]. We tasted some things that were incredible.....beef. and some things that were an experience....rosemary dessert?

I thoroughly enjoyed my time having my parents to myself, and then something like 9 courses and 3 hours later I was voted driver [20 year olds have a better record for staying up until these hours you know....] and we headed home.

And you know what? BEST. NEWYEARSEVE. EVER.

you should really try hanging out with your parents sometime.