Wayne T Jenkins is retiring!!!

Calling all South Sevier or Snow College Allumni:

After 37 years of teaching, our father Wayne Jenkins is retiring. We are so proud of him, and thought it would be great to give him something that he would love. Something from the people he has spent those 37 with. So we are making a book of memories. I know he will cherish it! So here's your chance to share a message with him of what you have learned from him, or a memory of his teaching days. He has definately made an impact in many lives (I can say that because he's my pops and he has impacted my life:)So here's what you do:

-write a memory or something he has taught you

-email it to melaniettaylor@gmail.com ASAP!

-PASS THE WORD ALONG TO ANYONE ELSE YOU KNOW WHO HAS BEEN TAUGHT BY OR KNOWN HIM.

Thank you all so much for being part of this for a wonderful teacher, example, friend and Father.

Hoppy Easter!

Here is Tess with all her spoils. She was as happy as can be cause she got lots of books, music and "dollys". She loves dolls and says "do do" anytime she sees one. then she kisses them and loves them.
Easter Morning. Mom and Dad Taylor came to visit for the weekend, and the Easter Bunny found them at our house! Amazing.
We love food!!!
so cute. Wild Hair Wilma (that's what we call her when her hair is wacky:) playing with her eggs. Great source of entertainment while mom's are cleaning.

The big hit this Easter season has been the plastic, shiny objects. Easter Eggs. She loves them!

Hippity Hoppity Easter's come and gone.

they grow up so darn fast!

I had the great opportunity to go do hair for Courtney and Ryan's prom night. Well, i didn't actually do an "up-do" on ryan, but I did cut his mop off. And I did this up-do on Court. Love you two!!! So much! By the way, that is my prom dress Courtney is wearing and she wore it so much better than I did:)

They are so cute! ok, I know, they are 16 and 17 but to an aunt they are always "cute".

We went to Court's final dance company performance. She is a fluid dancer. when she dances it's like watches water....it's awesome! makes me miss those days of flexibility. Well done Lassy!

when we're helping we're happy

This is what I saw as I came in from the car after church a couple of Sunday's ago. She was helping her daddy...And very happy about it!

"When (an individual) is motivated by great and powerful convictions of truth, then he disciplines himself. Not because of demands made by the church but because of the knowledge within his heart."

-President Gordon Bitner Hinkley

So, yesterday I was eating a babana and Tess looked like she was REALLY interested in it so I gave it to her in small pieces and she LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Yeah! SO my conclusion is thus, she does not love baby food in jars, but really likes table food. My kind of girl! So you can all sleep in peace tonight:) I know I will , and so will Tiny Tess!

help me Rhonda!!!

So here's the sitch. Tess has been on solids since the end of November and she has loved rice cereal and Oatmeal since her 10th bite but....she struggles with flavored baby food and by struggle I mean despises/hates carrots, peas, pears, and everything else that has any flavor! We try daily to overcome this, but I think she is on to us. We have tried mixing it in her cereal, disquising it in her colorful bowls, getting banana flavored oatmeal...well you get the picture. Anyhoo, we are open to any (safe) suggestions. So help me, even if your name is not Rhonda! Thanks all!

my new bag

I don't know how many people know this, but I LOVE to SEW!! Last year for Christmas Kurtis got me my first sewing machine and I already had a million ideas. So I have made some cute stuff with my good pal Lins Baccus. She is my sewing confidant, her and my awesome mama. For my 27th Birthday Lins bought me this best, coolest sewing projects book called "weekend sewing" by Heather Ross. It is GREAT! So we decided to get our sew on, and this was a pretty simple and quick project. And it has alot of room for cool things! I feel good about this bag:)Enjoy!

The big Eight months

Tess turned Eight months on Friday Feb. 12. She is so fun! She loves babies and dolls. She claps her hands with music and when she is excited. She hates flavored food and loves bath time. We enjoy having her in our little family and she trully came at the right time, and is the greates Joy of our lives.

One year older and wiser too

Charity suffereth long, and is Kind;
Charity envieth not; Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not "his "own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the TRUTH;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, ENDURETH all things.
CHARITY NEVER FAILETH. My Hubby is awesome, and he gives me a glimpse of Charity every day. And I love him with unsufficient words. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KURTIS! WE LOVE YOU!!

Goings on

Mel and bros and sis at Aunt Mary Ellen's Funeral
Before...
AFTER!!! Alot of people thought i would never do it...but I sure did and I love my short new haircut!
Nativity at Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins' house. Tess was "Baby Jesus". Layla fell asleep and was the quietest lamby ever! so cute

I caught this at the perfect moment. Tess was laughing with Grandpa J
Our christmas Nativity in Denver at Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house. Tess is asleep on the very left, but all the rest of the kids did a great job! Especially Ken as King Harod:)
Tess is opening her first Christmas gifts. The walker in the back right was from Mom and Dad. and this big one is a booster seat from Aunti Lins:)
Tess Loves, Loves, LOVES her Daddy!
Tess was helping me decorate for Christmas
The time for solids came at the End of November...She made this face the whole time but she never spit it up and she has loved it ever since.
Aunt Christy, Syd and Al put piggy tails in Tess's few hairs for the first time. She was the cutest little alien-looking baby!
TURKEY BOWL!!!! all the "Old" men worked their hardest and I think they all did great and had a good time. Another chance to live up the glory days. I love those boys!!
Tess wanted to help fold laundry.
Ahhhhh! Our little Elf, Tess

Dear Diary, It snowed today....

Here's my little snow bunny.

The weather guy said it would snow in the mountains and maybe snow a little in the valley so when the first snowflake fell I was delighted. So this was my first picture.


Then I thought it couln't get better than this third piture it was starting to stick. then.....this happened in 5 seconds! I turned my back for a secong and my backyard was white. yeah!!! Then Kurtis and I went to take the trach cans out today and we froze our royal rastafarian ninnies off!!! I decided that I like to observe snow from the comfort of my own hot chocolate mug..INSIDE!

thoughts on fall, bunnies, and football

I love the fall.

It means some of my favorite things are in the air.

Crunchy leaves.

BYU football.

hoodies and scarves.

General Conference.

Crisp Mornings and luke warm days.

the smell (you know the one I am talking about)

pumpkin carving.

and wearing beanies...look at this cut little beanie.
i thought of having her be a bunny for Halloween, but I have already created her little costume (it's a surprise)

so...once a year my Dad, all the brothers, and three oldest nephews go to a BYU football game. (We Females enjoy ourselves some girls time as well, this year some of us went down to Saint George to Tuacahn Ampitheatre and saw AIDA the musical. Most Excellent.)AAAnyhoo, this last weekend was the boys game and so my mom came up and brought Justins girls and Deidre stopped by for some haircuts and so here sre some cut pics.
Grayson John is such a crack-up! He was posing for the picture and I think he thought I was taking too long so he struck this pose! Like father, like son:)
Left to right; Alli, Layla, Sydney, Tess, Gracie. Such cuties! I love our nieces and nephews! After this we went to Gardner Village to meet up with Amanda and kids, and deidre and her crew. Baked potatoes with soup at Amandas and the night was complete.

HOLD ON TO YOUR BRITCHES!!!

As you know, there has been a two month absence of posting on this blog and it stops here. sO prepare yourselves and hang in there. there are a lot of posts to ensue.

My hero's

Kurtis' brother Kent came into town for recruiting and he got to go to an airsoft game with him.They had alot of fun and came home worn out and a little sunburned. Thanks Kent for the good time.

Sick, sicky and sicker

September 24th: 1 sick baby. 2 tired parents. 3 days of misery=One big miracle
Here's the Story.

if you know our little girl you know she is very happy, content, and quite pleasant all the time(with exceptions of hunger and sleepy complaints-that's normal)and so when she woke up Tues morn the 22nd screaming we knew something was wrong. She wouldn't eat and was writhing in pain so naturally...we had no clue what was wrong-we are new at this. She vomited all that day and cried none stop. we got to the point of just keeping her in a towel and her diaper. We were beside ourselves. so by the next day we took her right into the doctor first thing. They said it was a bladder infection so we went home with a antibiotic and a little sick girl. she was suppose to start showing improvements within 12 hours so that's what we watched for. 12 hours came and went-no improvements. another sleepless night. We kept feeding her, with fear of dehydration she kept vomiting. Thursday at 4 we called the doc at the end of our ropes. they did blood tests for dehydration and sent us home. now, if your a mother or father, you know the feelings that come when your child is in pain. and I kept telling Kurtis"She is acting like her stomach is hurting". so when we got home from the blood tests it surprised me when she wanted to eat and seemed to be on the up. Now, one more detail, sorry about this one...She hadn't had a "bowel movement" in two days so needless to say that when she was done eating I went to change her diaper with delight.

much to my alarm her diaper was full of blood!!

We rushed her to the ER with the sickest most helpless feelings ever!

They did tests and told it was an intussuseption, and the bladder infection was probably a result of that. They sent us in an ambulance to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC and they told us the same thing. Intususeption is when the small bowel or intestine colapses or kaleidescopes in on itself or into the Large intestine.

Scary stuff.

they told us that cases as severe as hers usually had to be corrected with surgery but they were going to try an Air Enema and see what they could do by blowing air into the bowel. They did it, the doctor was awesome, and it worked! miracle of miracles. The color immediately came back to her face and lips. She began to respond to us again(she hadn't smiled in three day:( and she immediately relaxed and fell asleep and slept the best she had in three day. Yea for doctors and good medicine! She has been back to the same happy baby ever since our stay at the hospital and we are so grateful for all the prayers and thoughts on her behalf. Moral of this story is.. well, always follow how you feel and if you can't think listen to what your child is telling you and try your hardest to figure it out. And..Heavenly things have happened

and continue to happen as long so we should take the time to learn and grow from them.

4 months old!

It seems crazy to have a four month old, that is laughing, loves her hands, rolling over..a little..and is the cutest little sweet pea in the universe! Here are some pics of our big, tiny Tess