What? Where went the time?

Yup! That's me.  You get a blog post every 5 years or so....  Well, hopefully, I can get my act together and try this again.  Wish me luck!  Read or read not,  choice is yours.  Of course, there's always the skim option.

How to get caught up on 5 years?   Umm... here goes....

Hannah married Cam Nov, 2012.  Beautiful wedding in the Mesa temple.  Amazing reception in the backyard.  Good food, awesome friends.  Hannah so beautiful and happy.  Cam looking like a man who can't quite figure out how he got so lucky.  Hannah looking the same way.
After they married, Hannah finished school at BYU I and then they moved back here!  Bought a cute house in the same neighborhood as K&B.  Love having them so close.
And now... Hannah is pregnant and due in July.  Told us New Years Eve.  A perfect time to find out about such a life changing event!  She's got the morning sickness but it's really evening sickness.
They are both excited and so happy.  Little Oliver (1/2 pekingnese, 1/2 chihuahau) will have some adjustments to make.  Hannah dotes on him.

Kayla and Blaine are doing great.  Blaine got his Masters and has a great job doing something with computers and the medical field?  I really should know this... Kayla is working part time w/ a interior designer and teaching ballet.  She's a busy mom with William (5) and Jane (2).  Both our grandkids are so fun and full of energy.  Not sure how Kayla keeps up.

Sami graduated high school, went off to BYU Provo and is now in her 2nd year there.  She decided to take a semester off to work and earn the big $$$.  She waitresses at a mexican restaurant there.  She plans on doing an online class and tutoring at a local elementary school.  I miss her so much and just want her home!  The good news is that we will see her in February, again in March and our family vacay in June.  Whoo hoo!  Love my Sami time!

Alex is a sophomore.  Beautiful, outgoing, and wants so badly to do everything!  Last semester she was so busy, but happy.  She surprised us with a desire to learn golf.  And then made the high school team after 2 lessons!  Beating out 9 other girls.  She was very dedicated and worked hard.  Golf in the AZ summer heat is not for the weak!  She also kept busy with piano lessons, EVMCO, church youth group, dance (3x's/week) and horseback riding lessons!  What??  I have no idea how we got thru last semester.... This semester is toned down just a bit.  No dance and only an occasional golf lesson.  Of course we can't leave out the social life with dates, parties and school dances. Yup, this girl is busy!!

Then there's our TJ.  Awesome 11 year old.  World's best son.  Good sport with his older sister.  Easy going.  Dad's right hand man.  Sill hugging and kissing Mom.  Plays piano, football, xbox, playstation 3, and Wii U.  Loves his family, Indy, Winston, Kyri and minecraft.  He's a super smart 6th grader.  Enjoys his ELP class and takes a laptop to school for his math class.  He is officially a boy scout and is working hard on merit badges and will soon be on lots of campouts.  Whoo hoo!

Our house is a zoo.  We have Kyri (our sheltie-9), Indy (the cat-almost 1) and Winston (our eskie- 4mos).  Oliver, a rescue from august 2014, enjoys coming over on Sundays.  Unfortunately, Winston and Oliver do not get along.  Winston would love to be Oliver's friend, but Oliver lets him know constantly that this will never happen!  Winston loves Indy and Kyri.  He and Indy have a wrestle session at least 3x's a day.  Very fun to watch.  We could invite people over and place bets on the winner.  We never really know who will win at any given moment.  It's especially funny when Kyri jumps in.  She's not as spry, but she fakes it pretty good.

Jim left NetApp last year and joined a company called Trace3.  He is a sales guy now.  So different and very stressful at the beginning.  He is doing much better, but it still has its "ugh! what have I done?" moments.  He's an amazing man and I have no doubt he will be top sales guy in the office in no time at all!  Adding to his stress is his church calling.  1st counselor in the bishopric.  Early morning Sunday meetings, after church tithing or interviews, Tuesday night meetings and weekly member visits.  We sometimes talk... in passing.  I love that he is dedicated to the Lord.  I hit the jackpot when I married this wonderful man.  He loves his Monday night football and loves college football even more!  Once in a blue moon he plays golf with his dad and brother, sometimes me.

Speaking of me..... :-)  I've been busy.  Still directing plays over at the Elementary school.  At last count I have directed 10 and have been the musical director with 3.  Whew! Last fall we did Wizard of Oz (5th/6th graders).  I think its the one that I am most proud of.  It was a huge challenge, I was still dealing with health issues (no big deal, I'm fine!), and we were so busy!  I staged it a bit differently from the others and I had a great cast.  Not to say my other casts haven't been great.  They were terrific.  This cast seemed to be more teachable.  They put their hearts and souls into it and so did I.  We were a total team and I loved it.
I'm also the domestic engineer or the domicile goddess? Housekeeping skills could be a lot better. Cooking is average with an occasional awesome dinner.  I'm pretty sure I won't ever get any awards for Mother of the Year, but I would like to believe my kids think I'm not too shabby.  That is probably wishful thinking on my part.  I do have goals to improve my standing!

We do love that we are grandparents.  Our William and Jane are such cuties!  And getting so big.   William will be staring kindergarten soon and Jane preschool!  Hannah's pregnancy will bring a baby boy or girl in July!  (I'm betting that it's a girl!)  Time is flying by.  I want to capture special moments (even some mundane moments) and freeze them or maybe just see them in slow motion so I can memorize all the sweet facial expressions, the clever words spoken, the shared laughter over the silliest things and even those tearful times.  

So, this is definitely not 5+ years of memories.  Maybe as I continue blogging I can keep current with our happenings and mix in some of those really great times that need to be shared and remembered.
My Pollyanna self seems to think I can keep this up.  For now, she is shushing my cynical self.
Have a polly wolly doodle kind of day!

Little William

This Post is dedicated to the custest boy on earth William James Taylor. His favorite aunt alex takes credit for this post.....Well William is adorable, Makes people smile, and he can make people laugh. Here are some pics.

  I love you little boy.............

School? Almost over? YES!

HALLELUJAH! 

I have never been so happy in my life!
14 days left! (not that I'm counting.......)
Okay fine. So I am counting.


3 more weeks of stupid projects that my teachers make due on the SAME DAY.
I swear they all plan a meeting and decide a date to make everyone's projects due,
just so we can be miserable with 6 hours of homework each night!
Why do they hate us??!

and lets not forget the final exams. Woo. I can't wait...

Let's just say, party at my house, day that school gets out.
Be there.

-the anxious for school to get out, White Family. 
(and yes. Sami White wrote this.)

Christmas is Coming!

Well Christmas is almost here!! 

And boy oh boy is our house crazy! 

Construction from 6 am until 10 pm (not really but it feels like it). 

We have to clean our house 5 times a day from all our dust.

Just got our Christmas tree up...with only 6 days left!

I KNOW! IT'S CRAZY! 

we don't even have our stockings up yet :(

But hey...at least we have an excuse 

I am already aware of many of the presents I am receiving...

(Alex is not very good at keeping presents a secret...)

but we love her anyways! 

well most of us do...

Just Kidding!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

*<|: { ) 

(get it...it's santa...hehe!) 

Love, The White Family 

(Sami White takes all the credit for this post) 

Science Camp!

      Hey it's Alex again. My mom still doesn't have the time to write blogs so i'm writing them. Hannah's home for thanksgiving! Today is baby william's baby blessing! Last night william was over and we were singing him songs and he smiled the sweetest smile ever! My Mom and I went to Science Camp last Wensday. It was so much fun! We stayed there for three days and two nights. We learned about all sorts of animals in the desert, desert survival, bugs, plants, and other things. One girl(she does not have proof there's not even a mark)got stung by a scorpion, One guy stuck his hand in a snake hole(can you guess what happened?), I bumped my head, there were other injuries too( I think I spelled injuries wrong). Well anyways it was sooooooooooooooo much fun!

All Done

    Hey this is alex writing. Were just about done with everything. My moms play is over, Kayla had her baby, Hannah went off to college, and I had my B-day party. We just started re-moldling our house. Yay! Little baby william is adorable! Horse-backriding is going good. I'm still writing poems......I just haven't found the right one to share yet. Everything is going great. Well....................I better be getting off now cause if my mom catches me writing this I'M DEAD! :)    Sorry no pics :(

stress

as I'm writing this, my Alex is playing the piano. 

Playing not practing! 

"Phantom of the Opera" is now in my head for the day. 

i love to hear her play, she truly enjoys it. Playing, not practicing!

hopefully, the practicing will happen.

Such a busy month and its not even half over.  Can I take a break???  Who did the scheduling???  Yes, I know it was me.  What was I thinking???  There's  a country song that goes,  "I know what I was feeling, but what was I thinking?"  That about explains it for me.  What was I thinking to take on a dance for the Stake dance festival?  Or plan the play to start auditions the 1st week of school?  How about a baby shower?  Sure, I got time. . after all, it is my grandchild we're talking about!  Let's get Hannah ready for her dorm, and nothing would please me more than to fly up there w/ her and get her settled!  LOVE IT!!  Teach primary, plan a special musical number, AND now we'll add to that - sew a baby quilt!!

Who does this to themselves??  Isn't it enough w/ the regular after school activities?  piano, violin, dance, skateboarding, horseback riding, mutual, yada yada yada!

the thing is I want to do all the things I've taken on.  Truly want to do them.  I just didn't think it through, I guess.  So, wish me well. . . .  pray for me and please. . . if you hear me mention that it would be really neat to have a halloween party w/ homemade scones, 

SHOOT ME!!!!!

really Alex, a birthday party??  sweetie- you'll just have to wait!