Zachary Mark Taylor

Sorry I don't have any time left on the computer so I will have to write about the pictures later....at least I got picutures up right???

"Mail" Shower

Can I just say that I have the BEST sister ever!! Jami, thanks so much for the surprise "mail" shower. It was really fun for me. I had no idea Jami was going to do this. Although, now that I think about it she did keep asking me questions about baby stuff and asking when the next time we were going to see Mark's family.


This is a picture of all the goodies I got. Notice the hand crocheted (sp?) blanket and beanie Jami made. I want to learn how to do that. It is so cute. Mark's mom was really impressed and loved it. I got so many cute and fun thanks. Thanks again to everyone who sent stuff.

On Monday Mark's family came to visit us for Memorial day and surprised me with tons of gifts and a little baby shower. Thanks for everyone who sent gifts. It was really fun for me. It felt like Christmas. Along with all the baby gifts that were sent Mark's side of the family all gave us a little bit of money to spend on baby stuff because we live so far away (they all live in Utah). Mark's mom (Mark went with her) went to the store and bought gifts with the money so it would be a surprise to me and so we wouldn't just use the money on diapers. With that money she got a car seat, baby tub, and a changing table (which was broken, so we have to return it :( ) Mark's mom also quilted a baby blanket for us.

Below are a few pictures of my shower. Sorry they are all of me. Mark took the pictures. :) Mark's mom also brought a little lunch and dessert for the shower and had blue plates, cups, and forks. It was so fun. I wish you all could have been there.

You can sort of see my baby belly in these pictures but I don't think they do justice. I'll have to post a picture of my baby bump while I'm standing up. You can see it better.


We all loved this card! It was so cute. I can't remember who gave it to us but it was so adorable that you opened it up and the baby would swing.


A little pregnancy update:

I'm feeling really good these days. Tired but good. I'm having a hard time sleeping at night but every couple of days I get a good nights sleep. I have also noticed that my thighs are really really sore. I don't know if this is normal or not but it isn't from working out because all I do is walk, bike, and a little bit of weights, nothing strenuous enough to make me sore. It is kind of annoying. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left. I'm feeling more than ready. I'm just waiting for the baby to drop and things to start happening. I do have contractions quite often but they aren't hard, long, or regular.

My biggest fear is that my water will break at work or while I'm at the bank or post office or somewhere embarrassing. Seriously, what would i do??? Call Mark and just wait? Find a bathroom? What if I'm at the post office, where there isn't a public restroom? Do I just walk around downtown with drenched pants? Or yell out that my water broke so that everyone would know? Scary thought.

We are getting really excited. I think I have everything ready except we don't have a dresser or changing table so we might just have to pill cloths and stuff on the floor for a while.

New Appartment

This is me at 32 Weeks.
Pictures of our New Appartment.

Update

I thought I would take a few minutes and give everyone an update. Sorry, still no pictures. Maybe someday.....Well, on Sunday I was released as Primary President. I am very relieved but also very sad. It will be sad not working with the children. I have decided that in order for me to fit in Relief Society I better learn to knit!!.....It seems like when ever I peek my head in Relief Society people are knitting. My new calling is Enrichment leader or co leader or something with Enrichment. That will be fun. I'm excited to get to know some of the other sisters in our ward.

Mark is on his 2nd clinical rotation in St. Croix Falls, WI, which is about a 70 minute drive from our apt. He works 4 days a week 10 hours a day. Which is nice because he doesn't have to make the long drive everyday. The only hard thing is that his clinical starts at 7am and so he gets up at 4:30-4:45!!!! He really loves it there though. He really enjoys his CI (clinical instructor) and the people he works with. Everyone there is trying to recruit him to work there after he graduates. He is very tempted to take a job there, he loves it so much. I'm happy he likes it so much but also sad because I don't necessarily want to stay in the Midwest, I want to move back west around my family. Mark is loving his experience there. He is working in a general practice setting so he does a lot of out patient, in patent and home care. He loves the variety. One of the patients, a senior boy in high school, blew out his knee playing soccer. His insurance quit paying for all the therapy bills and his parents couldn't afford the cost so the hospital and Mark's CI are letting Mark do his therapy, which is such a good experience for Mark. Because Mark is a student and isn't getting paid the boy can see him for therapy and not get charged. Mark's CI will then try and take a few minutes a day to see how things are going. Mark really likes having full responsibility for someone although it is kind of scary because he isn't an actual therapist yet. I'm sure the parents of the boy appreciate it though.

Pregnancy is going well. I feel a few aches and pains but not bad. By the end of the day my back is a bit sore and my legs are a bit swollen but over all I feel really good. If all of pregnancy felt this good I think I wouldn't mind be pregnant forever...Well, it will be nice to not have to go to the bathroom every hour. They baby is moving constantly which is fun. I like it, it feels like my stomach is constantly getting a massage! I have 8 1/2 more weeks left so it is coming up soon. Although, I don't have anything ready. The baby's room is still full of boxes and junk we haven't unpacked yet and we don't have a crib or anything. At least we have a few cloths for the little guy. I just hope he doesn't come early or he will be sleeping on the floor!! Maybe one of these days I can get to the store and a least buy a bottle, bath stuff, and a few onesies (we only have, I think, one that Jami gave us.) I know we are pathetic but life gets busy and I just don't have time to get out. I could write a whole other paragraph about our busy life but that is boring and this is getting long as it is. Anyway, things are good and maybe just maybe I can get a picture or two up.....don't get your hopes up though.

CRAZY WEEKEND

This last weekend is one that I don't ever want to repeat. It has been so busy and tiring. We moved on Saturday to our new apartment but with general conference and all it was a bit crazy.

All week we have been trying to find a CHEAP truck to rent for the weekend but had a really hard time finding anything that would work with our schedule. We had to be out of our old place by 10am on Saturday and couldn't move into our new place until Sunday or Monday. To rent a U-haul for the weekend would have cost us about $400.00!! On Tuesday Mark spent the whole morning trying to find a truck and figure out how we were going to move. Fortunately he stopped and talked to the manager at our old place and the manager said that he was going to be gone on Saturday so we could move out any time on Saturday. Mark also called the manager of our new place and she said that we could move our stuff into our new apartment while the painters were painting that Saturday afternoon. Perfect now we just needed to find a truck for Saturday. We found one but it was for 6:00pm on Saturday. Things seemed to workout pretty well except for the fact that it was conference weekend and the priesthood session starts at 7:00pm!! We got the truck anyway and just hoped things would workout.

On Friday Mark's parents and brother came over to help us pack and clean. We had been packing the whole week but still had tons to do. We ended up staying up until way late packing and cleaning on Friday night, luckily Mark's parents came or we would have been up all night. Saturday morning we also packed and cleaned until conference. Unfortunately we can't watch it at our house so we had to go to the church to listen to it. During Conference I got a phone call on my cell saying that we could move in to our apartment anytime that day because the painters had finished the day before. We spent the 2 hours between conference signing papers for our new apartment and once again packing. After the second session of conference I dropped Mark off at the U-haul place to pick up our truck and went home to finishes up cleaning.

Around 6:00pm a bunch of men (5 or so including Mark's dad and brother) from our ward came to help us move. It actually went really quickly. They got the truck all loaded by 7:00, went to the priesthood session, and then unloaded the truck afterwards. All that time I was cleaning our old apartment. I was so pooped out by the end of the night. I guess our apartment was more disgusting than I would like to admit, but it sure took me forever to clean.We didn't get to bed until about 1:00am. So I was dieing with no sleep the night before.

Notice that I didn't mention breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We didn't have anything to eat all day!! Well, actually we had a a yogurt, hand full of pretzels and shared a banana! (oh, and some frosting left over form the primary activity. I was hungry and I couldn't find anything else to eat :) ) I have been starving all weekend!!!!

Anyway, things worked out but it was stressful and VERY tiring. And although I was really tired and struggled to stay awake I really did enjoy conference. Even with the stress of the move.

I don't have pictures to put up now but I do have some so maybe someday I will get them up. :)

Old Pictures

These are some pictures of Mark and I dating. I really don't have any new pictures to post so I thought I would post some old ones. This one is of us making a figure paint mural. We did this a couple of times while we were dating and we would hang them in the HFAC at BYU were all of the art pictures were. We also would go biking a lot in Provo. This is a picture of us Biking on the Alpine loop. I went on this trail in my Mt. Biking class so I thought I would bring Mark on the trail because I thought it was so fun. Unfortunately, I missed a turn and we ended up lost on the trails and spent a couple hours in the mountains trying to find our way back to the road and our cars. It was still lots of fun.
This is us at the park.

Taylor Update

I just thought I would give everyone a little update. (sorry I don't have pictures yet)

Mark and I just signed a contract for a new apartment in Minneapolis. It is a block away from the river parkway, which I'm really excited for. We are still in the same ward just on the other side of town. We will move in the end of March or beginning of April.

Mark has one more week of class before his next clinical. His next clinical is in St. Croix, WI. He will have to drive a little over an hour to get there each day but we are grateful that his professors were able to find him a clinical close enough that he wouldn't have to relocate.

As for me, I'm still working at Fogg & Powers LLC, law firm doing administrative and Secretary work.

Kind of lame post, but I wanted to write something.......

BABY BUMP

IT'S A BOY!!

IT'S A.........

Today we find out if we are having a boy or girl!!! We are really excited. The baby better cooperate or I will be really dissapointed. My appointment is at 2:45 so......We might just keep it a secret though. He He He :)