a piece of Italy today

Let me tell you about Mary.
She and I volunteered together.
She was my friend, leader, and mentor.
She had faith in me when I didn't have faith in myself.
Now she is on a mission in Rome, spreading the good news of the gospel.
I got this e-mail today, and loved it.
It is absolutely beautifully written,
I felt like I could see what she was describing!
I thought I would share it with you.

This is just so you can get a glimpse of life as a missionary in Ostia, in Rome, in Italy.  It is beautiful here.  I think the climate is perfect- as evidenced by my street.  There are pine trees, fir trees, deciduous trees, pomegranate, lime and clementine trees, olive trees, palm trees and cactus-  all on the same street.  I am convinced that anything could grow here.  It is so beautifully green and definitely doesnt feel like its almost December.  But late at night you can still the almost frozen humidity in the air- which is probably as close to snow as I will get this year.

The Italian people are vivacious!  They are passionate.  They love their families.  They take pride in a job well done and are ever the host.  They sing off tune, but with a gusto that is spectacular.  They are always worried about getting sick- hence they never go outside when its cold, or with wet hair, and always wear scarves. 

The streets are always busy.  Markets are open, restaurants set up tables on the streets, people walk the streets with purpose or for no reason at all.  Gypies play accordians and violins on the metro.  Everyone smokes and everyone has a dog.  I love the cobblestone streets, blackened and smoothed by millions of shoes.  And every building should be dated.  The only one Ive seen that wasnt in roman numerals was a relatively new bank built in 1472.  No big deal.  Only 20 years before Columbus. 

And the food.  Yes, it is incredible.  The secret?  I asked.  Fresh and simple.  Pasta is cheap.  Rice, potatoes and oatmeal are not.  Fruit is delicious (understatement)  And gelator and pizza shops are on every corner.  Note- the Italians fold their pizza, so they dont lose the cheese.  Love it.  I dont know why, but even a cheese sandwich tastes better here. 

I love our investigators, with all of them, it seems we are trying to help them recognize the Holy Spirit and how they receive their own personal revelation.  Because it comes!  God answers every sincere, humble prayer.  I think that after realizing how few people listen to your message, just makes you love those who do even more.  There is Cesare and his wife Rosa and their 2 little boys, Pietro and Junior - when they pray as a family it is magical.  I love this little Peruvian family.  Rosa is a member but Cesare is catholic.  His heart is gold.  He is finally opening up to us, and he looked so excited to see us when we walked in the door.  Luca is Romanian.  The other night at our lesson spread on the table were Book of Mormons in three languages.  Romanian, English and Italian.  He is so close!  He just need to recognize his own faith and leap.  We just met Beatrise and Ilaria- they are from the Dominican Republic.  And Carlos!  He is Peruvian.  The more I get to know him, the more I can see how the Lord has been preparing him to listen to our message.  He even brought a friend( Massomiliano - he was actually Roman) to our lesson yesterday.  After sharing the First Vision, his friend said "Thats nice."  To which Carlos responded,"No.  They said it was true.  There is a difference."

Makes you want to go to Italy, doesn't it? :)

Love you Always,

Taylor Ann

night drives with bub

Dear world, this is Zane.

Sometimes when I go home he drives me around in his big truck.

We sing loud.

And my feet dangle.

I feel happy.

And little.

And comfortable.







I love my night drives with bub.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

Hi, my family is adorable.

Ok, first things first, I'm going to throw a disclaimer out there for my next weeks worth of posts...

They will be 100% about home and my family.

Yep, there's just no getting around it.

1. I have the best family ever. no bias necessary there.

2. At school my life consists of homework, school, and well... yeah.

But, for your enjoyment while I make the drive back to Utah today

[and by "I" make the drive I very much mean while my brother in law makes the drive and I sit in the back seat....]

I will provide you with the proof that I have the most darling little group of cousins.

These guys are the youngest cousins by quite a few years, 

so we love love love to have them around.

[especially this baby-deprived college student right here!] 

I got to spend a few minutes with them before they headed back to the bay area.

And my heart just kept melting!

"Ok, so I need a million kisses from each of you before I leave"

*Just 5 tay-tay [hand open to indicate the number five]*

"Ok, ok. Then just five"

"How about you, Miss Lolo? Can I have a million kisses?"

*Five [using same five-finger indication as big-sister]*

"Ok, Ok. Five kisses it is"

then...from the carseat up front I see a little hand shoot up. 

*Two, taytay! Two!*

"Ok! Two kisses for my favorite boy!"

"Bye babies, I love you. I'll see you at Christmas"

*Wait, tay-tay, seven more kisses!*

*Yeah, tay-tay, seven more kisses!*

"Before I leave, what do you guys want for Christmas??"

*a bracelet and a necklace!*

*I want a bracelet and a necklace too!*

*a pony!*

*a hampster*

*a jewelry box...so then I can put my bracelet and necklace inside*

*a clubhouse*

  ...and that is just to name a few. 

Good luck with those 3 hampsters and a pony, Santa.

Yeah, I know, darling.

 

In case you were wondering, the kisses added up to almost a million (;

Aaaaaaand I know... 

my little brother is a looker.

And that tan all year round.

And single.

And 17.

So, I mean, if you wanna wait around a few years..

love thanksgiving,

love cousins,

love kisses,

 love you all,

Taylor Ann

true confessions and finding driveways

Ok, so Aspen and I have known each other for...well, ever.

We're the kind of friends who discover old gymnastics pictures in dinosaur leotards,

or spelling bee pictures, 

and share all of our elementary school memories.

I went to drive to her house last night and realized I didn't really know where I was going.

But somehow, effortlessly, my nighttime drive ended at her driveway.

But that's always been the way it is with us-effortless.

And you know, that's the best kind of friendship there is.

Last night we went up to the house,

which is always a favorite place of mine.

the floors aren't in, 

[but when you have a blanket for a picnic you just don't need them]

but the lights are!

We celebrated by playing "true confessions"

with sparkling cider in pretty glasses.

The night ended with my sleepy-slurs in place of sentences, 

and two 20 year old girls in a twin bed.

I think the last bit of conversation went something like this

"So when do sleepovers become unacceptable"

*I don't know- hopefully never*

"Like when you're married...do you still have sleepovers?"

*I don't know... you probably have better things to do with your evenings...*

*but we can have sleepovers anyways*

"I hope we still have sleepovers when we're 80 year old women"

*yeah, me too*

Overall, a total success of a night.

Can't wait to have pudding dates when she gets her wisdom teeth out in a few weeks.

Love You Dear,

Love you All,
Taylor Ann

love it all.

Thanksgiving around these parts is simply the best.

I had that swelling in my heart all day long.

You know, the kind that means you're happy all over.

It started with a run to the top of the world.

Two miles of straight uphill, but the end is really something.

Then, the traditional festivities.

I took part in the baking this year. My job? Apple pie..

Then the fun moved to grandma's, where my job is official masseuse.

Oh.... and life-story teller :) That too.

Then, the men tell stories around the table.

Grandpa tells about his favorite dogs and horses over the years.

And grandma runs around being busy and putting things away.

My daddy is a busy-body, so we take the little kids and go to the movie theaters.

Then we come home and put tired babies to bed and lay around before bed.

Scripture study and prayer with the little sister is last before falling fast asleep.

 

I suppose there must have been some incredible stuffing and multiple pies in there somewhere....

but that's the secondary stuff :)

I love Thanksgiving.
I love my family.
I love you all.

Taylor Ann

Hi, my name is Taylor and I have a pinterest obsession.

 
 Ok, I am obsessed with pinterest. It's like the same concept as Facebook [time waster, good for stalking, etc] except...

1. you aren't stalking people. thus-not creepy.
2. It gives you the giggles sometimes, and laughter is always good.
3. It gives you tons of creative crafty and baking ideas. aka enlarging your brain, right?

 Anyways, I made these little guys this weekend, and they were a huge hit. Bennett deemed them "heaven in your mouth" and Kathryn said they were the best cookies she's ever had. The boys across the way also showered compliments. Who knew you could really bake people so happy?

Well apparently you can! So if you want to try your luck I'll tell you what I did. I made the normal cookies, then made up my own frosting. You see, frosting is one of the only things that you can play with a little more without worrying too much about messing it up.... so normally I take advantage of the opportunity to play. For these, I beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together until I liked the sweetness of it all (add milk if it gets too thick), a little honey and vanilla....and vwala! We have a honey creamcheese frosting!

Of course, being the ghetto baker that I am, I used my normal ziploc bag with a cut out corner to pipe it onto the cookies. Fun Fact: the flavor is identical no matter how ghetto the means ;) Oh, and I did not use parchment paper, because note the ghettoness above- we obviously don't own any. But I would definitely suggest doing so to prevent the bottom of the cookies from getting too baked.

profesh.

Love you Always,

Taylor Ann

 

Thanks to you.

Weekends are so good.
This weekend included some bijou market,
ballroom dancing,
a dinner date,
to-do list checking,
baking,
great basketball game seats,
a freeeezing football game,
and lots and lots of chatting.

But today is a thank you post,
or a thankful post
-whichever you prefer.

[[You see, because I didn't really hop on the "thanksgivingblogposting" themed bandwagon,
I think I'll make it a blog theme a little later- 
you know, when it's a little more challenging to find things.
I think I may challenge myself and do a thankful month in..
January.
Or February.
better yet, March.]]

But regardless of anything else,
I have some thank yous to say.

1. To Grandma.
Thanks for the darling earmuffs you gave me this summer.
I wore them to the game this weekend,
and they were not only a great accessory,
and gave me an awesome excuse to talk about how wonderful you are,
but they were so warm!
I. love. them.



2. To Kathryn.
Who helped me through the week.
Who stays up late to talk to me about life....
Because let's be real- we kind of have the same life.
And who says as I walk off to bed in half-slumber
"hey Tay?"
*yeah?*
"I love you"
*Love you too*
"It'll all work out."
Thank you for being there.
I really do need you.



And I go home in two days.
So that's the best thing of them all.
Helllllooooooo all-nighter to prepare to go home!

I feel like that's the way I always end these "almost home" posts.
17 credits=love.
love=work.
work=time.
time=not a lot
not a lot=necessary-all-nighters

Love You Always!
Taylor Ann

food drives and lots of lovin'

My week was taken over. 

Snatched right up.

Collecting cans, 

making announcements, 

contacting volunteers.

You know, all the good stuff. 

Tonight my roommates asked me an insightful question. 

They asked me why I do it- all the service stuff.

It took me a minute to answer....

I have been dong it all so long that I almost forgot.

But it comes down to this-I need it.

I need something that's not about me.

Service is really what saved me,

when I got lost in the sea of people here.

And when I remember that, 

it's all easy again.

And it's always worth it.

a midnight premiere

 SO, last night was like the best night....ever.

 Naturally, my roommates and I took full advantage of the opportunity

to attend the midnight premiere... of TWILIGHT. 

 Kathryn dressed as Harry Potter  

Why? [think back to the Halloween costume...we aren't sure]

And I chose to bring a lifesize cutout of Taylor Lautner along.

Apparently we are a good couple. 

We got a lot of attention...

people were like wanting to take pictures and stuff.

Ok, so mostly.... they just wanted pictures of him.

We will pretend like that is fake...

I even somehow managed to get him all the way into the theater.

What can I say? I've got skill.

Naturally, I also ran into Edward Cullen.

And subsequently told him to button up his shirt.

and spent lots of time with my fabulous roommates,

and giggled alot...

 

and took lots of pictures,

...with and without Jacob...

and drank maybe a years worth of Diet Coke,

and collectively took 4598743 bathroom breaks, approximately.

Movie Critique?

We were pleasantly surprised!

There were some corny parts.

Like really corny.

Luckily... they were few and far between,

but other parts were good.

And the sketch level?

I would compare it to like a James Bond movie,

but within the bonds of marriage.

Mostly, midnight premieres are fun. 

really, really fun.

And when you come home to hallway chats and lots of giggling....

it may well be worth it to stay up until all hours of the night. 

I mean, look how cute my roommates are.

You wouldn't be able to resist either.