Summer Time!

   Hello all! Well summer is here and is flying by! School ended back in May and I must say I was extremely sad to say goodbye to my kiddos. The last day I did cry a little saying goodbye. And that week I had a break down at home with Josh where I just cried for awhile. I just couldn't imagine not seeing my kids every day. Well, the last day came and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I still miss my kids but I'm excited for a new year to come with the new group that I will have. 

Well, Josh has been working like crazy this summer. He works about 70+ hours a week, which sucks but its all good! I'm used to it I guess. ha! It's sad when you're used to making and eating dinner at 10:00 at night. I know that's probably not the most healthy thing to do, but that's the schedule we are on. So it's all good! Well, I have discovered a new app on my phone, it's a picture collage.... as you will see by the following pictures.... that I LOVE it! Obsessed...  well yes maybe a little... haha! Anyways here is an update of what we have been up to!

A few weeks ago we watched Josh's little sister for the weekend. She slept over and she wanted to make her own special "dessert". She wrote out the recipe and everything. And yes it included oreos, frosted mini wheats, starbursts, and some lemon heads. And yes.... we munched on it while we watched a movie together. So fun! Love this girl!

 

This was my b-day present from Josh. These are Nike Frees... and they are so incredibly comfortable... I seriously wear them almost every day, and they are super bright.. love them!! And I had mentioned to Josh that I wanted to go shopping, so he got me some gift cards... to Forever 21 and Ross. Love both stores! Great b-day! Can't believe I'm 25... crazy!

 

We also took a trip to Cornado Island with Josh's family. We went for just a few days, and it was wonderful! We spent both days at the beach. We stayed at a beach house where we could ride bikes to the beach... which was so fun! The weather ofcourse was amazing! When we got there, Josh kept asking why we left... we loved our two summers living over in San Diego... the best ever! And we miss it! We had a great time with the fam!!

We went to this yummy BBQ place that Josh and I had been to before when we lived over there. We waited an hour in a half to order.... the line was out the door and down the corner of the building. It was very good though! I'm not a huge fan of BBQ places... (I like them but I just never request or crave them). Phil's BBQ was very good, we had tons of food left over too! Yummy!



 This is us cruising to the beach! So fun! And yes we strapped chairs/umbrellas for the beach on the back of the bike.... it was awesome!

                                 

 This was my NAU graduation back in May. We went up to Flagstaff for it, and were lucky to have some family come up too! We had a great weekend and I loved having family and friends there to share that time with me. It feels great to be completely done with school!! I also passed my final state test... which was great news!! No more testing, no more school! Feels great!!

 For an activity with Josh's work, we went rock climbing. This place was awesome! So many different walls to climb! It was so fun! I climbed about three, and the next few days i definitely felt it... oh I was I sore. Worth it though! So fun!!

 I had gotten these two table from my mother-in-law recently, and wanted to paint them. So out came the spray paint and there ya go! I also was able to add this gold finish stuff to it that is my sister's... that gives it the shabby look... oh man amazing! Let's just say I added the gold to a few other things in the house.. i love it! It feels good to get some projects done! I love them! The white one I use in my bedroom and it has my big jewelry box on it, and the black one we have in our den with decor stuff on it. Love them both! Thanks to my lovely sister Shasta for letting me borrow the gold, and being able to paint them over at her house.

That is all for now! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer... and the wonderful 110+ heat...ha! Already looking forward to the fall!

 

Fun Weekend!

So this past weekend was filled with lots of fun activities with friends. On Friday, Josh's boss treated the manager's wives to mani-pedis and lunch. We had a great time! We went to this cute salon in Dana Park called Fushia. It was way nice and the ladies there were so fun! We felt so pampered. We all got shellac done on our nails, and I've never gotten it done before. And I must say I love it! I love having my nails colored, and I'm always looking for new colors... but the polish that I buy at the store... literally last like 3 days before they start chipping. The shellac is awesome! I don't know if I'll ever go back to regular polish.....(I probably will... I'm just in love with shellac right now). Here are some pics of our day getting pampered. So fun!! 

         This salon was super cute! Me, Jen and Alyssa enjoying getting our toes done!

 Our nice newly polished toes

 Alyssa, Jen, Me and Ashtyn and Cheesecake Factory for lunch

                Friday night Josh and I went out for dinner and we ended up seeing the Hunger Games. I have read the first two books and love them! We both loved the movie too! I thought they did a great job in the movie. I loved all the characters they chose for the parts. My new favorite actress is Jennifer Lawrence who plays Katniss. Love her! Josh loved it too! He said he wanted to read the books now.

                                       

Saturday night we did a date night with Josh's boss and the other managers. We went to Ruth's Chris... which is so yummy! We had a great time at dinner. One of the things that is so nice about Ruth's Chris is not only the yummy food, but that they don't rush you with dinner. We were there for like 3 hours. We chatted, laughed and ate amazing food! And you don't feel rushed to hurry with your food. And that is so nice. Here is everyone at dinner.

                                 Jen & Brian

                        Austin & Ashtyn

                                 Me & Josh

                                       Trevor & Alyssa

               All of us after dinner.... incredibly full too!

 So on Friday when us girls were at lunch, we had talked about seeing The Lucky One. A few of them had read the book and loved it. So... after dinner on Saturday night, we somehow convinced the guys to come see it with us. I was very shocked that we got them to go. I think they were the only guys in the theater.... haha! Besides a little cheesy parts with the acting... I enjoyed the movie. And Josh said that he actually shed a tear.... haha! Seriously though.... just a little one he said. We had a great time though! We were all very grateful for the guys coming to the movie!

We had a great weekend, and loved spending time with friends! We feel very blessed to have such great friends, and enjoyed every minute of our weekend with them!

Here we go again!

Hello to all! Well as usual... here is an update of what we have been up to. This semester has flown by, and I can't believe it is already April! It's crazy to think that this school year is coming to an end. It seems like yesterday I was having meet the teacher day, and meeting all of my cute kiddos. This year of teaching has been so fun! I have the best class, and the cutest kids in the world. They seriously make me laugh every day. It's been amazing to watch these little kiddos progress... from seeing them on the first day of school... all nervous and shy, to seeing them now with their little personalities, and how much they have progressed and grown. It has seriously been amazing to be a part of these kids lives. I love each of them so much... I don't know what I am going to do on the last day of school. It's going to be weird when summer comes, and I am not seeing them everyday.
    So Josh got super sick back in January with Bronchitis, that almost turned in to pneumonia. He was sick for almost two weeks straight. It was terrible... I have never seen him so sick. But he kicked it and is all better, thank goodness. 
     Also, coming up on May 12th I will be graduating! I can't wait!! The graduation will be up at NAU in Flagstaff. I got my cap/gown/hood this past week and was so excited when it came! So looking forward to be done for good... and forever!
  Here are some pics of what we have been up to the past few weeks. Back in March... my lovely sister Savanna got married so here are some pics from the wedding.

                                                  All the Stradling ladies

                                         The entire Stradling family - love them all.

  All of the bridesmaids, groomsmen, brother & brother-in-laws

                     Josh and I with one of our nieces Hadley. Love her!

                      Me and my gorgeous sister Savanna.. love and miss her!

                        The cupcake table at the reception... they were so yummy!

                          Logan and Savanna dancing for the first time.
                                     
                                       The candy bar.....

                  My lovely sisters Shasta(holding Hadley), Ciera and Laci

 

Us at our friends house for a BBQ.

                                                            The boys!

                                                  We went to the D-Backs game with Josh's work.

                                                         

                                                    

                                                   Josh and me

                                                         Bobbie and me

                                               Me and Ciera at the D-backs game.

                                           Ciera and Josh at the D-backs game.

                                      Easter weekend camping up at the lake with Josh's fam.

                                       This was Easter Sunday. We all show up at my parents house for dinner, and all            wore yellow..... or are yellow sweaters from Savanna's wedding.

                                           All of my graduation stuff!!! Can't wait!!
                                            

                                                        That is about it for updates! Loves to all!!

What's been going on...

Hey everyone! A little update from the Taylors is here... Well the holidays came and went. We definitely had a great time spending with all the family. Here's a brief little summary of each holiday...

Halloween we stopped by my brother's wards trunk or treat to see our nephews and nieces. They were all so cute dressed up. Then after that we went to Josh's sister's  house with friends where ate dinner and carved pumpkins. Our pumpkins that we carved this year we sponsored by ASU. haha! We thought they were pretty cool. One had a pitchfork and they other said ASU. Josh did all the carving. Fun times!

Our Thanksgiving was great as usual.... eating lots of food and spending time with fam is always so great. This year Josh's side of the family decided to have Thanksgiving the Sunday before the actual day... (normally Josh and I just have to rotate years of who we have the big dinner with that day). But this year... we were able to enjoy TWO delicious dinners on different days. I must say we loved it.

Christmas came and was so fun as well. The week of Christmas was filled with parties with friends and families. I also went to see White Christmas at Gammage with my younger sisters, my mom and her friend. I love the movie White Christmas and so does my family, so we were so exited to go see it. It was tons of fun too! We loved it!   We took a little trip up to Anthem to see the tallest Christmas tree in the country. It was awesome!! Christmas day was fabulous! Josh got me a new camera... which I have been in need of one for so long...(Ive been using my camera on my phone... which pretty much sucks) It has been so nice to have! He also got me lots of fun stocking stuffers and he also had made a frame with a 30 day calendar in it....I mentioned that I wanted one a long time ago... and he called up our friend that makes them. I love it too!

New Years we spent with Josh's family at Disneyland. We went over there a few days before the new year, and spent a few days at Disneyland and at the beach. It was an awesome trip! We loved it!

Some other things that have been going on... My younger sister Savanna got engaged back around Thanksgiving. We are so excited for her and Logan too. So we have been doing lots of fun wedding plans with her.


This semester Josh is studying for DAT. He is now going to take in March.. so he spends lots and lots and lots of hours everyday in the library studying. It will be so nice when this test is over for him. He's working hard to get prepared and I know he's gonna rock it. Until then.... he will be found in the library everyday til now until March... (I think the week of Spring Break).

I'm in my final semester of my Masters program. If all goes as planned.... May 12th I will be graduating! I can't wait!!

So things to come over the next few months:

1. My sister Savanna will be getting married (spring break).
2. Josh takes the DAT in March.
3. I will be taking my state tests to get my certification. I have two to take.. they are each like 5 hour tests...  no fun! Can't wait til those are done and passed.
4. A snowboarding trip....
5. We might be taking a trip up to Utah as well... (not sure yet).

Enjoy the pics!!

                                                                 Teacups at Disneyland

It's a small world after all...

                                                     Peter Pan

                                                                  The fam

                                                               The beach!

                                                                  
                                                                  Disneyland

                                                                                 Pluto

                                                                   Chip and Dale

We also sent out our first Christmas card this year.... I couldn't figure out how put the actual card on here so here some of the pics that we used......  We were trying to bring back the style....haha!

 

 Everyone's favorite was the "laughing at book" one...ha!

  Good times! Thanks to my clever sister Shasta for taking the pics and giving us the idea. We'll see what we do next year.... haha! Hope all is well with everyone!! Much love!!