Merry Christmas!
This is our favorite time of year, for one obvious reason. It’s the best!
We love the lights, sounds, smells, and magic that comes with this season. We most enjoy reflecting on the birth of the Savior of the World. As the world turns more and more away from anything to do with Christ, it is great to really focus on Him and the blessings he gives us. This year we have been blessed in many ways.

Ryan took a new job working at an amazing hotel for an even more amazing company. He is learning TONS, and is really excited for the upcoming renovation of the hotel. He is getting back into hiking, and has just gotten even busier with church callings! He loves this area, and looks forward to all of the exploring we have yet to do. Ryan actually got into reading again; he's not much into novels, but "The DaVinci Code" grabbed his attention!

Melanie has enjoyed a calling working with the young women in our ward. She is thoroughly awed by the amazing youth we have these days! And the ladies she serves with are pretty neat, too. She got called to the activities committee again, and is loving that as well! She helps in Taylor's classroom once a week, and likes to take the girls to play group so she can have mom's social hour too! She's also been doing a lot of reading and learning, and hopes to take a class or two at the community college here.

Taylor is enjoying the first grade, and everything that comes along with it: reading, writing, computers, music, recess, PE, and yes, math! He loves playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii, and is really into the Magic Treehouse book series. And, for those of you who are long-time blog followers, he has officially gotten sick of "cold lunch" from home! He always tells me he wants hot lunch at school, so we're mixing up what I send him a little more! Taylor wants to play soccer and get into karate, so we'll see how busy we are in upcoming school years!

Callie has been working on her beautiful voice and really enjoys dancing and playing with new friends. She is a sassy girl! She is already such a little mother, and loves to boss everyone...hmmm...I'm sure she didn't get that from her mom! She would like to be a ballerina, so we'll have to see about getting her into dance classes; the girl is very talented!

Janey is walking now, and is growing up so fast. She’s not our baby anymore, and loves to let us know it! "Stop!" is her favorite new phrase... She also loves giving kisses and is very good at it! She is starting to love babies dolls, and is starting to be interested in other little friends. She's going to be our social butterfly!

So, a quick replay of some of the exciting things we've done this year:

We spent lots of time in Salt Lake with Melanie's family this summer for her brother Aaron's wedding, and then her brother David's funeral. As most of you know, we moved to Page, Arizona in May, for an awesome new job, and bought our first home! We are loving the area- Lake Powell is our "backyard," and it is beautiful! We went hiking in the world famous Antelope Canyon, as well as other beautiful places, and have been swimming at the lake several times. We've had many family members and friends come to visit, too, which has been fun! We've gotten to spend a lot more time with cousins Scott and Karen and their children, which has been fun for parents and kids alike! Taylor and Ammon are best buds. We are regulars at library story time, and went to movies in the park in the summer. More recently, Ryan and Melanie celebrated their 7th anniversary in style! The amazing chef at the hotel fixed us a 5 course meal, and it was delectable! Melanie went to see "New Moon" with all the other crazies at 2:30 a.m. opening day. We spent Thanksgiving on a houseboat with friends, and have attended some awesome ward activities! We went to a NICU reunion for Janey, hosted at the Jubilee of Trees, in December, and got to see a lot of dear friends. We've made lots of great new friends here, and are just loving our ward! We look forward to spending Christmas and New Year's with lots of family!

It’s officially autumn in Page! Yay! The weather has cooled off; our average daily high is about 70 degrees…perfect! We’re seeing beautiful fall colors, too!
We had a busy October with a family reunion at Arches, General Conference, a sleep study, a primary program, and a business trip to New Hampshire (Ryan).

Oh, and Janey spent some time behind bars in the Page Hospital for pneumonia. (she's all better now)

We had a great Halloween!

Taylor and Callie went to a fun party, and Callie created her costume for it- a beautiful pink fairy! What a cute girl!

We carved some awesome pumpkins, and had lots of fun and spooks while trick-or-treating. Janey even got a treat!
Taylor and Callie braved the scary chainsaw guys and tall monster...

What cute characters we have!

Now, the first weekend of November, Page has its big festival: the Balloon Regatta!

The night glow is the best...all of the ballooners set up on main street and give us a light show!

Well, we hope you all had a great October as well, and we look forward to the holidays just around the corner...CHRISTMAS TIME IS COMING!!!

Lots of "new!"

So, we'll catch up quick...we've had a lot this week!

Taylor's birthday was Tuesday, and he had a superhero dress-up party with cousins and a friend. Being six is much bigger and better than being five! Wolverine and Spiderman (and Taylor) are the best!

Wednesday, Janey got cute new glasses! She's adorable, of course, and looks very studious!

Saturday we went to our new favorite swimming spot at the lake, and went on to explore more fun bays and beaches to play at on future outings! The kiddos had a blast in the water, and we even got them both to jump off the rocks into the "deep end" (with life jackets, of course)! We saw a few fish, lots of lizards, and Taylor discovered a crawdad! We loved playing in the waves that crashed when boats went by, and exploring underwater with a snorkel. What fun we have at the lake!

First Grade!

Taylor has finished his first week of FIRST GRADE!!! We are so proud and excited for him! He got an awesome new Transformers lunch box, along with a Crayon sandwich box and thermos. He has decided that he wants the same lunch every day for school...we'll see how long that lasts! Anyway, Tay is so pumped for school! He was a little nervous at first, but after we went to meet his teacher the day before his first day, and he saw that she was his old primary teacher and that they have a cool classroom (with gerbils!), he got super excited. He kept saying: "When is it going to be nighttime? I want to go to bed so I can go to school!" He has even stayed excited all week! He tells us each afternoon the new friends he made that day. Hurray!

Congrats buddy; what a big boy!

first day--COOL DUDE

David Taylor

My eldest brother died on June 26th. What a sad day! We had his funeral July 6, and that was a hard day! David was a closed person, so we didn't know him as well as we'd have liked to. We'd been out of contact with him for the last few years. He was somewhat a mystery to us when this whole thing started! However, after a week at my Dad's house looking at pictures and listening to stories and remembering memories, I feel I know him much better, and I'm grateful! My brother was a strong-willed, compassionate, dedicated person. He was a passionate learner and doer. He was a great example of character! He was (is) loved by so many! He is missed dearly, and we will be anxious to see him again!

Through this experience, my family has really been brought much closer together! We've learned a lot about love and forgiveness. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father's tender mercies! I am grateful for eternal families! Although I am terribly sad that he is gone, I am so glad that he is in a place of love and happiness!

We love you, David!

This is sooo cool!

We're here!!

So, we made it to Page! We officially moved here the first week of the month, right after my brother Aaron got married to Krista Luke (Taylor), whom we love! I haven't blogged because we've misplaced the cord for our camera, and can't get the pictures on my computer! (I figure blogs with pictures are much more interesting than those without.)

We're hanging out in the hotel for a couple more weeks until we close on the house, and we're slowly getting familiar with the area. There is so much involved in moving to a different state..sheesh! I still haven't gotten everything transferred, because I'm not familiar with Arizona stuff. But we are loving this little town, especially our ward. Ryan really likes his job, too. The best thing about this hotel is that its a mini habitat for small creatures: bunnies, chipmunks, lizards, birds and lots of bugs! (Outside, of course; not in!) There has been one tiny bunny hanging out by our sliding door, and we've enjoyed watching it munching on the grass and hopping around. The temperature has already creeped above 90 degrees, but then we got a major rainstorm and it cooled the area off very nicely! We also got flash flooding, which made some cool little "canyons" around town. There is so much to explore here!

Life is good in Northern Arizona!!!

Here are a few pictures from the wedding...dang, we have cute kids!

This was a good picture of us-we don't have many where both turn out looking good!

Callie, Taylor and cousin Joseph

Gramma Shell and snuugly Janey

the newlyweds!

(We're so happy for you!!!)

Visiting Daddy!!

Ryan's grandpa came down to help me pack stuff, then accompanied us to Page for the weekend. Grandpa let us work on him to move down here with us. He really likes Page, and the lake and golf course help a lot! Ryan took us discovering! We had a ton of fun, and are sad to be separated again.

these are some of the "stripey rocks" we pass on the way to Page

Janey stole Grandpa's heart! Here she is "copiloting."

Glen Canyon Dam and kids on the bridge

a scenic view trail

Taylor and Callie exploring

The Colorado River

Lone Rock beach

Janey's lovin the beach life!

Happy Easter everyone!!

We wanted to bear testimony that Christ is our Savior, and that He did, in fact die for us so that we can live again! We've been pretty excited to talk about the resurrection today, because we look forward to it some day! How wonderful to know that we can be together as a family forever! We watched the movie Testaments tonight, and Taylor (in reference to the story of Jesus) said "I believe it." Wow! What an awesome boy! He's an example to me!

We were so excited to have Daddy here for the weekend to spend the holiday with us. We just sent him back to Page, and we miss him already! We love you sweetheart!

I got this really cool book, A Christ Centered Easter, from Deseret Book last week. It's got lots of ideas and activities for making Easter more about Christ and the resurrection. We tried a few things, and really enjoyed it! I highly recommend the book!

This year was Janey's first "fun" Easter, so it was exciting. She (ok, the rest of us, too) munched on candy and edible grass all day, played with plastic eggs and tried hard boiled eggs. They didn't go over very well...

We have some dang cute Easter chicks and bunnies, and the proof is in the photos!

...busted, Jane!

CUTIES!!!

FOR RYAN:

Dear Dad, I hope you have a good day. I love you so much and I miss you. I want to see you soon. Love, Taylor

jh bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrrrrv h Love, Janey

I love you Daddy! I hope you have a good day. love you, love, Callie