Outstanding educator in our midst...

Today our mom (Liz) was awarded with an Outstanding Educator Award for Jordan School District. Only 5 people in the district receive this award, so it's a great honor!! There will be a special banquet held on May 9th at Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City in which she will receive her crystal award along with $1000 prize! We're all so proud of her and there couldn't be a better recipient for this award.

Way to go Mrs. Taylor! We love you so much.

Here she is with the principal of the school:

With her sister Peggy, who just happened to be in town!

With Melanie, Mary-Anne and baby Jacob:

CONGRATULATIONS!

Family

Our most recent family picture taken Christmas Day 2011 with the newest addition to our family:
Jacob Hiram Swift born Dec. 5, 2011

Talbot Family Reunion 2011

The Talbot Family Reunion was held August 6, 2011 in Pocatello, ID. It is always fun to get together and to see everyone. We had good conversation, good food, fun games and wonderful company.

The Talbot Kids

Mom won the best "Olive" dish!

A little Bocce Ball...

Sisters

Saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa on the way out of town.

It was a great weekend and we're so glad we were able to go to see everyone who went.

Can't have enough...HAIRSPRAY!

Melanie is in the play Hairspray again, but this time she is performing at Hale Center Theater-Orem. We went and saw the play on Saturday night and it was so fun. This show is really cute, and if you didn't have a chance to see it in Riverton, you should definitely try to make it to Hale Center Theater! It is playing through April 6th.

Melanie did such a good job and looked so cute up on stage dancing her little heart out! For more information, you can go here.

Village People

Liz puts up a village each year.
This is the 2010 version. It takes two weeks to put up. Working in the evening of course.
When the lights are low, the village takes on a life of it's own. If you listen, you can hear the conversations, the horse hoofs, the sleigh ride, the choir sing, even smell the pies on the railing.
On Christmas Eve they gathered at the church to witness the nativity.

Christmas Eve dinner and the Stockings are hung.

It was fun to be able to hang stockings on a fireplace.

We have a guest at dinner.
This year we took a picture with dad in it.

Christmas Eve Dinner. Very nice meal. It was very nice to have each of our children home this year.

The Fireplace is DONE!

Merry Christmas each of you, enjoy the time together.

Renovations

We've been very busy at our house lately. In late October we got a new fireplace installed (it only took 20 years to get!) After the fireplace was installed we painted the kitchen, family room, downstairs and upstairs and all the ceilings. It was a much bigger job than anticipated, to say the least. It took about 3 full days just to get everything taped and primed. We (almost) all worked together and got it all painted and it looks really great. After the paint, we had new carpet installed and hardwood floor installed in the main entry hall. It's looking like a new house! After the holidays we are going to paint the living room and get new carpet in there, but it was the storage room for all of the other furniture in the house while we were painting and getting flooring installed, so the living room was put on hold.

Just getting started:

The fireplace is IN!
October 29, 2010

The painting begins...

Finished!! Painting DONE and carpet installed.

Mom had to get on the floor and roll from one end to the next.
That is what her mom did when she finally got new carpet in her own house.
I think everyone is a fan of the new plush carpet!

Merry Christmas mom and dad!

Dad just has to finish up the mantle, but other than that it is done.
Looks wonderful.



We did most of the work during Thanksgiving week, so it was really nice to have a break on Thanksgiving day.

In the meantime, we've had a few blizzards (literally) and so we've been very grateful to have the new fireplace to help keep us warm!

Bingham Ball

Last night, Saturday, November 13, was Bingham Ball. Megan went with the sweetest boy, Nick, and had a blast. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her beautiful blue ball gown.
We're in the middle of renovating the majority of the house, so the background isn't the best, but Megan sure looked beautiful!

Dad couldn't hug her as he'd get paint all over her dress,
but he still managed to get a little teary-eyed
at his baby going to a ball.

Megan and her date, Nick.

Off they go!

Family Pictures

On October 16th we went to Memory Grove and had family pictures taken. We just got them back and are so pleased with how they turned out. Here are some favorites:

Taylor Kids

Aaron: Age 22

Melanie: Age 19

Megan: Age 16

Nathanael and Mary-Anne

Now that's some hair!