Grandma Taylor

My Grandmother passed away in March.  Although it's sad that she is gone,  I'm glad she's in a better place.  I remember going to Clarkston Washington each summer growing up for family reunions.  I remember my grandparent's house there.  Sitting on the porch, walking down the street to the park, and the Family Reunions near the Snake River.  My grandma loved her Diet Dr Pepper.  She always seemed to have a Big Gulp mug of the stuff.  I remember Grandpa always saying that they had to stop at every rest stop on the way to Portland when they would come to visit.  I remember my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary party and when they left on their mission to Navoo.

This is how I mostly remember her:

Since we had just made a trip to Utah in December where my car was less than cooperative and I have a 7-month-pregnant wife, I decided to hitch a ride with my brother.  

We met up with some of my family at Temple Square before heading to Provo.

While hanging out at the new mall that just opened up across from Temple Square we saw L. Tom Perry walk by.

I learned a lot about my Grandma at the funeral.  My Aunt Marta told us about her life and about what life was like for her growing up.  She married my grandpa in 1948.  This May they would have been married 64 years!

After the service we headed over to a local church building to have lunch and catch up with all the family in town.

Uncle Jay

My family with Grandpa Taylor

Nephews

Cousins...

Utah Rocks!

(Literally, there are rocks there.... )

Last week I got back from a trip to Utah. It had been probably 12 years since I have been there to visit. We flew into Salt Lake and then rented a 2010 Chrysler 300 to drive down to Southern Utah. We went to a Riding Family reunion in Panguitch Lake. We stayed in a cabin and hung out on a ranch owned by Andrea’s Aunt and Uncle. We hiked, visited, ate good food, and played with kids.

Andrea drinking from the spring at the Ranch

We got to check out Bryce Canyon with everyone from the reunion. The views were amazing! We went to several look out points, did a little hiking and had lunch. As we were eating lunch, a lightning and thunderstorm rolled in. We finished eating in the cars and some of us waited it out while others headed back to the ranch. After about half an hour, we were back to walking around and seeing the amazing viewpoints.

Kelly, Terese, Scott, Andrea, Stephanie, Jay, Aiden, Paul

Aiden's Antlers

Jazzercise

Nicole, Jay, Kelly, Andrea, Scott, Stephanie

Ok, Story behind this amazing picture... The rainstorm had just passed so there was this huge puddle on the top of this lookout point.  To be able to get the best view you had to inch along the base of the fence.  Someone thought it would make a great picture so here we are.  Toe to toe.

Jay the daredevil sat on the edge of the fence.  It freaked me out just looking at him since we're at the top of a cliff.  His mom saw him up there and yelled "Jason Riding you get down from there right now!"  She wasn't playing around.  The intensity in her voice scared us all.  Jay stayed there for a good 10 seconds just shocked before getting down.

At Andrea’s Aunt Denise’s place we had an impromptu talent show. There was silliness, laughter, and an all around good time.

We visited Temple Square and I even got a private tour of the Conference Center.

We swam and hung out a lot in Denise’s pool. Even went for a midnight swim one night.

(Not Really thier pool)

I went to lunch with a friend from my mission. I hadn’t seen Aaron Freeman since 2003. We had a good time talking about the mission and catching up.

We drove up into the canyon and hiked at Silver Lake on our last full day in Salt Lake.  It was beautiful.

(Really Silver Lake)