Oh yeah, I will probably have 23095405846 birthday posts....

Oh hey there, have I told you about Lauren?
Oh what? I've told you about her fifty times already?
Hmm... interesting.

 So every year when my parents come up over my birthday week,
they leave before the week is through.
[mind you, they technically come up for the President's Holiday... but we can pretend it's solely for me...]
 Soooooo... they have the timeshare for a full week,
leaving me to use it how I will to celebrate how I so please.
This year, I think I was just tired.
Lauren asked what I wanted to do a million times,
and all I could respond was "I don't know..."
Lame, I'm aware.
But then I made up my mind that I just wanted a semi-quiet weekend.
I wanted to go up, get pizza, take advantage of the hot tub, and watch a chick flick.
Is that so much to ask?
I say no.

So Lauren and I went.
and ordered pizza,
and ate Great Harvest pumpkin chocolate chip bread. 
and shopped [and maybe bought matching skirts?]
and painted our nails.
and got in the hot tub.
and watched Midnight in Paris.
and maybe had some adventures.
and talked about boys and life until all hours of the morning.

The best kind of night.
Happy Birthday to me.
Again.
But really.









And today I got to talk to my grandma on the phone,
she said I was meant to be born in her era.
I couldn't have possibly been more flattered.
Nor felt like the statement was more true.

Love Always,
All the way from 1952,
Taylor Ann

When you get makeout mints, you know it can't be a half bad birthday...

And now, to extend my birthday for like... as long as possible...

Today I will post my birthday dinner pictures. 

Literally, birthday dinner was so wonderful. 

The company, the gifts.... the steak. 

My roommates all drove up to Park City to meet my family and I. 

We ate, we laughed, we sang an obnoxiously loud birthday song.

I opened presents, of course. And naturally, they were all wonderful.

Jess got me a necklace I have since hardly taken off.

Brooke got me a scarf that works perfectly as a headband.

My parents got me earrings that match my birthstone ring.

And Zane got me gloves.....and some makeout mints.

As would be natural to receive from your 17 year old brother.

Seeing that I was sitting next to a boy, I may have accidentally blushed a lot.

So there you have it.

An ode to my family, 

great food, 

horrible lighting for pictures, 

taking a million pictures anyways,

being inappropriately loud in nice restaurants,

and extending birthdays for weeks on end.

Love You Always,

Taylor Ann

I probably love being 21. Ok, I really do.

But really, my birthday was one of the best days EVER, 

as was the rest of the week spent with my family.

Someday I will tell you about all of the celebrating.

But for now? I am going to record 20 important things that happened in my 20th year of life.

1-Walked the Brooklyn Bridge

2- Explored Central Park

3- Went through my first sudo-relationship [booya. it was longer than two weeks.]

4- ...and subsequently my first DTR

5- ...and subsequently my first breakup? if that's what you call it

6-  Lost 5 pounds

7- Ran a race. a hard race.

8- Kissed a boy or two

9- Took several roadtrips. [idaho, vegas, california(x3) anyone?]

10- Chose a major

11- Moved into a new apartment

12- Threw a sweet dance party or two...ok maybe more

13- Spent a million nights up at the house

14- Explored Yosemite with Linner

15- Discovered my love for Thai food on a whole new level

16- Cut off ALL of my hair

17- Became a Vice President for Student Alumni

18- Put some blonde in my hair

19- Found roots in the 1950s and my obsession with lipstick.

20- Lived a whole heck of a lot

I feel like that's a pretty solid list for a year of life.

And I'm continuing to love every minute.

Can't wait to see what this year has in store.

I mean, it started off with a sequin shirt...

it's already going the right direction.

[Kudos to Jess for the picture at my birthday dinner!] 

Love Always, 

Taylor Ann

the moment when you sit and think after it's over.

here are the basics...
care.
and try.

Pretty simple.
just a thought.

and this video blew my mind.

for the love....

Valentine's Day.... oh, for the love.
My feelings one way or the other started my freshman year of high school.

I don't remember who I had some "thing" going with at that point.
But whether it was Ryan, Jon, or Jesse... I came to the car at the end of Valentine's day empty handed.

I waited in the car for a while, then Jess showed up.
She had a giant balloon that sang this song from the quarterback,
roses from a secret admirer,
and a box of chocolates from the "big brother" of a football player that always loved her.

Jess was a senior and was, naturally, homecoming queen and cheer captain.
And I was sitting there... so... freshman.

From then on, that is how I pictured a perfect Valentine's Day.
Roses. chocolates. balloons. boys.

And I thought, "well, when I'm a senior..."
But it didn't happen when I was a senior.
and it didn't happen when I got to college.
in all honesty it has never happened.

But you know what?
This year we embraced it.

I gave valentines away like hot potatoes.
And we all took a break from studying to buy a costco pizza.
And painted our nails red and glittery.

Our favorite boy friends snuck in and brought us an entire cake and bucket of ice cream to enjoy with our movie.
I snuggled on my roommates lap as I watched Mandy Moore fall in love with the darling "Ben".

And finished the night with a long phone call.







I loved everything about this Valentine's Day.
I hope you spent yours with someone who wanted to be with you as much as you wanted to be with them.

Interesting...

Sometimes I go to my camera and find some choice pictures have been taken on it.

Yes, my bed is unmade.

Yes, I still sleep with my tweety bird blanket.

Yeah, I have cool friends.

They might also be slightly inappropriate. 

I like them.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

dance your HEART out. or your neck off...

This. weekend was. awesome.

We threw a dance party and....oh my.

It rocked our world, if we do say so ourselves.

Of course the day started with the baking of all kinds of valentine's-esque treats.
Red velvet cookies
sugar cookies
brownies
hand dipped pretzels
and pink rice krispy treats

yeah, the food was gooood.

So was the dancing.
We all have whiplash from dancing so hard.
My neck still hurts and it's Monday morning.
But the best news?
Aaron votes me best dancer.
Yeah. Not sure it's true but I feel great about it.
Some people say they grow out of dancing...
I'm pretty sure we never will.
Great end to a great weekend.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

apparently my blog is all about sisters. regardless...

Sisters are some of the best things that ever happened to the world.

I know that. 

Lauren knows that. 

Just thought you should know too. 

What are your weekend plans?

Mine include going dancing,

Throwing a party, 

Baking, 

and taking a test.

Can't wait.

Love Always, 

Taylor Ann

"that new profile picture is manly"

Let me tell you a little story.
One time the professional Spartan photographers put this up online last week.
My thoughts? Oh whoa hey that makes me look like I have real muscles...sweet!
I, knowing how into fitness my father is, thought he would appreciate it.
So naturally I text it to him.
Little did I know this was license for him to pass his phone around his Sunday School class.
Apparently it was license enough, because yes.... yes he did.

"dad, you're joking.. you didn't really pass it around did you!??!"
"heck yeah I did!"

no shame, people. no shame.

My whole home ward is now aware that I am capable of climbing a wall.
And sweating real good. yep.

Mom thinks this makes me daddy's girl..
even more than everything else that already qualified me for that position.
I am very qualified, let me assure you.

A boy today said I looked manly in my new profile picture.... interesting.
14 girls have liked it on facebook.... 9 girls have commented on it.
1 boy has left a comment, and 1 boy has liked it.
I have known them both for over 5 years.
I can't really tell if that bodes well for me...? probably not.
Whatever. boys are weird.



also..
no big. I bought red pants today.
by no big, I mean it is big.
they're skinny jeans.
I normally am not brave enough for those...

baby steps.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

public humiliation for all my friends. and a birthday too...

Lauren is the best of the best... let me tell you.

And this weekend was her birthday!

We did lots of fun things

you know...

birthday dinner,

birthday lunch,

birthday cake,

another birthday dinner.

Apparently our lives revolve around food, don't judge....

But really, Lauren is awesome.
...she even goes to the gym with me at five in the morning.
aka our love is a true love.

And now.... to show our mad singing skills and publicly embarrass ourselves...
the video.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Love Always, 

Taylor Ann

in the spirit of Valentine's.. you want to watch this. you do.

And in the spirit of Valentine's Day, here's one of the best movie scenes of all time-

for those of you who haven't watched Penelope, please do. 

 Tonight we made brownies and ate ice cream,
danced and sang in the kitchen,
played hide-and-go-seek,

and watched Penelope for our Friday night fun.

What the above should tell you about our lives?

1. We are wild... obviously.

2. Our Valentine's day is going to rock... obviously.

Love love love,

And lacking in love...

Taylor.. and Lauren.

conversations with mama

me

The thing is, I would be fine with or without him

mama

you feel that way about every boy, honey

but someday, you will like someone more than that.

more than "take it or leave it".

you might get your heart broken the first time it happens,

but it will happen

I saw this video today
real, true love.

Someday.

Love Always,

TaylorAnn

my little man

Look at this little bugger.
His favorite things include placing his hands on his hips when he makes statements...which is often,
running like a line backer.. or a gorilla [with his arms swinging by his side], 
being a man's-man playing with cars and "killing" all the girls with his screwdriver,
and enjoying being the youngest grandchild and only grandson in the last.... 14 years?

Needless to say, we think he is DARLING. 

But really... can you blame us?
Homeboy has my heart.
Aside from daddy, of course...

Love you Always.

Taylor Ann