Weekend in Utah...Surprise!!

Taylor and I went down to Utah from Saturday to Sunday, and it was a complete surprise to his family!

On Saturday, we (meaning the YW Presidency) took the YW to Salt Lake, and then Taylor's family was having a family Christmas party on Sunday, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone...(That is the correct phrase, right!?) So, we left *EARLY* on Saturday...at least, way to early for a Saturday...:-)....and drove into Lehi to surprise the family...it was great. It made the trip all worth it to see the reactions when they saw us. So, Taylor's brother Jordan and his wife Erin were in the midst of a move, so Taylor stayed and helped them move while I went up to Salt Lake and met up with the YW. The afternoon was busy with the Joseph Smith movie, lunch at Olive Garden, tour at the Beehive house, tours/exhibits at the visitor's center, and then looking at the lights on Temple Square. It's opportunities like this that make me grateful for a small YW group (we had 9 YW there in total) because we were able to all go. It was a great day and I'm glad I was able to go.

After looking at the lights, I went and met up with Taylor and Isaac so we could go to dinner with my sister at Jason's Deli...yum. It was fun to have some one on one time with her, and she got a new camera for her birthday last week, so we had fun taking tons of pictures of Isaac. Jason's Deli has ceiling fans...and this was Isaac's first experience with looking at them...it was hilarious...the pictures prove that he was way more interested in them than us!

Then we went back to Taylor's house and continued taking pictures...now he wasn't so distracted, so we got some fun smiles out of him...

Isaac LOOOOOOVES his dad. It is by far the cutest thing. Taylor could walk into the room and Isaac will just light up into all smiles, it's so adorable!

He's starting to giggle when he smiles, it's so fun!!

Thanks for driving up to SLC, Aunt Heather!!! It was so fun to spend the night with you!!

I don't have very many pictures from the Christmas party on Sunday, and the ones I have aren't very good, but it was a lot of fun!! Everyone went to great lengths to make it very memorable. From the food to sugar cookies for the kids to decorate to the ugliest Christmas sweater contest to gifts to reading and watching a presentation of Luke 2 to Santa coming and leaving gifts on the doorstep...it was great!! We are truly blessed to have such a great family!!

I have been feeling so blessed and so grateful for Isaac and Taylor in my life. Isaac is such a sweet and special spirit in our home. When I was with the YW on Saturday we went through an exhibit--I forget what it was called--but there was a "room" where two parents were talking about their child and one of them said "Just think, he was in heaven just one week ago." And that just struck me really hard....Isaac was in heaven just 2 1/2 months ago, how incredible is that!? I forget that so often! Even though he can not talk or do much right now, he teaches me so much about love and the love our Savior in Heaven has for each one of us. Isaac is truly a precious and priceless gift. I treasure every single moment I get to look at him, to hold him, to be with him, to snuggle with him, to kiss him, to love him and to just be his mother. And I feel so blessed to be his mother because I have such an incredible man by my side---Taylor is one of the most supportive, caring and loving persons I know. I am truly so grateful for him, he is my companion, my strength, and my passion in life. I can't imagine my life without him as my husband and as my children's father...our children are SO lucky to have him as their dad. I love the men in my life!!