Christmas 2016

Lasley Family, 2016

Since Guy didn't get very many vacation days, and we're taking the bulk of them in January for our race and cruise we ended up staying home for Christmas. We were both a little sad to not be able to see family over the holidays but it was nice to be together and establish some of our own traditions. I think it also helped us draw closer together as well. We were able to FaceTime with some family which also helped. We kept Christmas small and simple this year. On Christmas Eve we spent time outside (avoiding the rain), made homemade pizza and watched a Christmas movie on Netflix.

On Christmas, we opened stockings before we went to church. For stocking stuffers: I picked up a few blue-rays, (when they were on sale black Friday...yay for deals!) toothbrushes and chapstick.

Stockings!

Allison opening her stocking

Finn got: a toothbrush kit, greenie dental chews, a bully stick braided, and a stuffed monkey

Finn Christmas morning

Finn and his gifts

Chewing on his Antler

Playing ball with Dad

We then went to church. Our church had a one hour service. A few members of the congregation talked about their favorite Christmas hymn. After they finished we sang the hymn. It was simple and eloquent. After church we came home and opened presents. Some of the highlights were: new games/puzzles, ornaments, wall sign, afghan rug, nerf gun, clothes, knife, cookware, etc.

IP gave all the salaried employees a free ham for Christmas. So I made the traditional Christmas dinner. We had ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, rolls and pie for dessert. We also snacked on chocolate covered pretzel rods.

Guy's big Christmas gift was an RC car. He's been looking at one for a while. This one he can tinker with and instal different parts/features if he wants. Finn is still getting use to it. I've included the video of Finn and Guy playing as well.

Guy's RC car

Decorating the Christmas Tree

On Friday, Guy and I picked up our Christmas tree. We choose a smaller tree since we don't have very many ornaments. Our tree was a fraiser fir. We picked it up from Home Depot. This afternoon we decorated it with the lights and ornaments. We haven't gotten a tree topper yet but we're hoping to get that closer to Christmas. It rained most of this weekend and we went to the temple over the weekend so we weren't able to get the outside lights up yet. We're hoping we can finish them Monday if the rain stops. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until next weekend. 

Putting the lights on

Finn and I adding an ornament

We made Finn an ornament

Finn's ornament. It's his paw print saying his name and the year

Ward Christmas Party

On Friday our Ward had it's annual Christmas party. About 100 people showed up which was about 50 less than we had last year. Dinner was potluck style with the ward providing ham and potatoes and the members bringing everything else. As a ward we sang the 12 days of Christmas with each table singing a different verse of the song. The primary kids sang several different songs and all dressed up as different parts of the nativity. They signed in ASL the song "Away in a Manger." At the end of the night Santa made an appearance

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Picture Update

Guy took the Monday after Thanksgiving off. Finn and I love having Guy home but it throws our routine a little off. Finn thinks that when Dad is home all we do is play (kind of true...). Here are a few pictures showing Guy and Finn playing.

Secret Agent Finn

Playing Chase in the yard

Thanksgiving

We stayed in Paris for Thanksgiving this year. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the church with several other families. It was a lot of fun we did a potluck style meal and then played pictionary using the first line of Christmas songs. We also played bunko after the meal. One of the families in the ward started the activity since they don't have any family close by. It was fun to be able to go and participate with everyone. Later that night Guy and several of his coworkers went to the mill manager's  (Pete) home for dessert. I opted out of the activity because I wasn't feeling to well. Turns out I ended up with food poisoning. Not so fun.
On Friday, Guy had the day off and we began putting up some of the indoor Christmas decorations. We're still working on the lights for the outdoors (need a bigger ladder) but we should have them all up soon. Other than that we mostly spent time relaxing and me recovering. We did go black Friday shopping briefly. I wanted to pick up a few movies/stuff for our stockings. I picked up Finding Dory and The Martian. Cheap movies are my favorite thing to buy on black Friday.
On Saturday, Guy's brother Sam and his family came to visit. They were in McKinney (1.5 hours from us) to celebrate Thanksgiving with Amber's family. They stopped by and toured the house and had lunch with us.  We enjoyed spending time with family over the holidays.

Taylor Family Portraits

While Guy and I were in Utah for the funeral my family had a photo shoot. It was the first time my family has been all together in years. Here were some of my favorites from what was taken. 

My whole family

The men L2R: Cody Quinton, Chris Quinton, S. Elwynn Taylor, James Taylor, Karl Taylor, Keith McAndrews, Guy Lasley, Brian holding Calvin Shehan

My brother

My family

My parents

My sister Rachel and her husband Keith

My sister Katie, Calvin and Brian

Taylor Women

Guy and I

My nephew Calvin

Paris Texas Tree Lighting

Tired Puppy

This past weekend Guy and I went to Dallas briefly before coming back for the Christmas tree lighting downtown. We went to Dallas to do a meet and greet with someone that could watch Finn while we are in the Bahamas and Florida in January. The meet and greet went well. I think Finn had a lot of fun playing with the dogs the lady was dog sitting at the time. He was pretty wiped when we came home from Dallas. That night we took him with us when we went downtown for the Christmas tree lighting. The city had Santa there with reindeer and a choir to sing Christmas carols when the tree was lit. Guy and I walked around the square afterwards and half of the lights were out on the tree. Good thing they've got time to fix it!

The Christmas tree is lit!

Lights out on a portion of it

Frances Marie Glassett Taylor's Funeral/Trip to Utah

We've had a crazy last weekend.  On Sunday we got word that my great-grandmother was in hospice care and they didn't think she would make it through the night. Guy and I decided that if the funeral ended up being over the weekend then we both could go (Guy had his 980 this weekend) if it was during the week then just I would go. We started working to try and find someone to watch Finn. We asked 5 different people/families before we found a combination that got Finn covered.

Frances Marie Glassett

The funeral ended up being Saturday so Guy and I were able to take an early morning flight on Friday to Utah. We barely made it in time for our flight! We left later than we should have, then hit traffic, and then missed the shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal. I also couldn't check us in for our flight early because American Airlines won't let you check in unless you can click on seats. Since there weren't any seats available for free I didn't check in. We finally got to check in for our flight at 8:40 am and our flight left at 9:10! Haha on the bright side we had no wait through security and we didn't have to wait to board our plane. We just walked into the line and boarded. Once we got to Utah we picked our rental car and stopped to check out the Sactionals by LoveSac and a few other stores in the mall (basically we window shopped). After that we were on our way to Logan. We met up with my grandparents at the funeral home. We got our first look at Nana. She was in the Rose dress in the rose casket. It was a very nice looking casket. After finalizing the funeral program we went to the assisted living home and picked up some pictures to place around at the viewing.

The rest of my family rolled in Friday night. We all went to dinner at the Blue Bird restaurant that night. Then Rachel, Keith and I went back to our hotel room (Days Inn and Suites) and went in the hot tub to relax after my long run (20 miles the day before). Katie/Brian, Quinton Family and Karl were all in a different hotel and mom/dad were in the Marriott. Grandma/Grandpa stayed in Aunt Judy's house in Hyrum, UT.

Saturday morning we went to the funeral home for the viewing and funeral. There was a good attendance at the funeral. Guy and I managed the guest book and got to talk to a lot of people who worked with Nana in a variety of settings. Everyone who we talked to talked about what a kind women she was. I'd have to agree. All of the adult male grandchildren, grandchildren-in-law, great-grandchildren, great-grandchildren-in-laws were pallbearers. Guy didn't think the casket was too heavy since there were 8 people but he did say that some of those helping didn't carry their weight necessarily.  After the family lunch, we went and moved the big furniture out of Nana's room. Rachel and Keith took it with them back to Provo.  We then went as families to get Aggie Ice cream. I had the wild huckleberry and Guy had mint chocolate chip. He wasn't as wild about the mint but it was still pretty good. We then went and did family pictures. Hopefully those turn out nicely. Later that evening as a family we went to Fredrico's Pizza for dinner. Fredrico's was important for Grandma and Grandpa's relationship. They had their first date there, several dates after that and it's where they celebrated their engagement. After dinner we relaxed.

Sunday several family members departed. Guy and I went to church in my great Aunt Judy's ward. After church we left for the airport. Since we got to Salt Lake earlier than we thought we decided to go downtown and check out temple square. We ate at the Cheesecake factory and then walked around temple square. We went in one of the visitor centers and quickly walked through it to see the exhibits. It was pretty fun to see the displays on welfare. If we had more time we would have probably toured or looked more through things. Maybe on our next trip that way. Our flight home was uneventful but we were both glad to be back. Finn was especially glad to see us. I think having had daylight savings time fall when we were gone also through off his routine.

I was glad we were able to go since I was named after my great-grandmother and it was really nice to be able to see family. Below is her obituary:

Frances Glassett Taylor
January 8, 1919 - October 30, 2016
RIVER HEIGHTS - Frances Marie Glassett Taylor passed away Oct. 30, 2016, after a long life of joy, service, charity and love shared with all she knew. She was born in Salt Lake City, UT, on Jan. 8, 1919, the oldest child of Martin Cornelius Glassett and Constance Marie Holter Glassett. She graduated from Granite High School and went on to receive B.S. and M.S. degrees from Utah State University. She married Sterling Angus Taylor on May 29, 1941. They are the parents of two children, Sterling Elwynn Taylor and Marsha Eleanor Taylor. Frances has four grandchildren (James and Susan, Debra and Jeremy), nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson. She is preceded in death by her parents, her siblings, her husband and her daughter. Frances worked for the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department in the College of Family Life at Utah State University as both a teacher and assistant to the dean. She gave decades of service as a Pink Lady working with the hospital in Logan and was an active member of Phi Epsilon Omicron. She was a lifelong, active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she held and fulfilled many callings. Frances enjoyed sewing and making children's clothing, knitting, making and decorating wedding cakes and cooking. She had a beautiful, sweet spirit, a fun sense of humor and a giving nature. She had a genuine concern for the well-being of her family and was always available with physical, financial, mental and emotional support. We are blessed to have known her and been loved by her.

Lake Crook

Lake Crook

We live within 15 minutes from two good sized lakes. The lake we primarily go to is Pat Mayse Lake. It's an Army Corps of Engineering dam. The lake has several trails you can hike/bike/horseback on and around. You can also go boating on the lake and swimming. This time we decided to take Finn and go check out Lake Crook. Lake Crook is good if you plan on boating or kayaking. As far as we could tell there wasn't a beach for swimming. However there was a nice pavilion and playground for kids to play on. There was also a little arc way so I'm sure there have been several weddings or vow renewals out there. We have friends with kayaks so we're hoping we can borrow theirs soon and go around the lake. I love that we live close to several outdoor activities. We're looking forward to getting into more outdoors adventures.

Playing in the back yard

Later we came back and just played in the back yard and relaxed a little. It was nice being able to have Guy home for the weekend. It's been a long several weeks of outages.

Allison's 25th Birthday

Blowing out the candles. 

On October 17th I celebrated my 25th birthday. Guy was still in an outage that day so he left for work at 4 am that morning. When he got home we had dinner, cake and presents. Finn was my big birthday present so he was included in all of the photos even though we got him in July. For dinner we had chicken fajitas. For my cake, Guy made me a german chocolate cake. The Friday after my birthday Guy had off as part of his 980 so we went disc golfing, to lunch at a sandwich place and test drove the new Honda Ridgeline. We both decided that the Ridgeline will be our next vehicle purchase but it will be a few years before we get it. The truck we drove though had 12 miles on it so it was pretty fun driving a BRAND new car.

For my birthday a few of Guy's coworkers came over to cake so that Guy and I didn't have to eat it all by ourselves. For my gifts I got a new running shirt, running shoes (I needed them bad), socks, the new Nicholas Sparks book, cards from various loved ones, birthday money (going to my running shorts), and a bonsi tree with an encyclopedia. Oh and of course Finn! My only concern with my bonsi tree was that it was shipped via Amazon and I'm not the best with plants so I'm hoping it survives.

It was a nice day overall a little warm though. Feels weird to have a 90 degree day in October for my birthday... it was nice though being able to relax and have fun celebrating.

Bonsi Tree

I really needed new shoes...