Taylor Family United!-boring Sam and LeAndra ;)

Sam Fam
Hey Family,
Hope you're doing well.
This week has been a tiring one, and not quite as productive as last, but what can you do except keep moving on?
The good news of the week though, is Danielle has had her baby, a gorgeous little girl with lots of dark hair- and that means LeAndra will be heading home soon! Just for a week long visit, from the 25th of June to the 3rd of July. Can't wait to see you all!
Sorry there isn't more news, life is kinda repetative & boring lately.
ALTHOUGH! We did go to the Sertoma Butterfly House a few weeks ago- it was so much fun! Here are some photos :) The two that are on the post are actually Atlas Moths- they're pretty cool.
Anyway, love you all lots & miss you even more!!!
~Sam & LeAndra

Taylor Family

Bianca is almost ready to walk and just got her 7th tooth for her Birthday!
Lovina has become very independent and has a natural love for the water as long as she can explore it at her own pace. She as also recently perfected the 'fake mope'.
Leilani is a sweet little 'mommy' to her little sisters, always concerned as to whether or not their feelings were hurt. She is so devoted, she walks Betsy EVERYWHERE all day long (poor dog).
Isabel loves learning to cook. She takes great care in being a very attentive big sis. The little girls all love and look up to her, always asking her to help them when mommy is busy.
J.D. is our brave fish boy. He always wants to swim. He also enjoys going to the gym where can work out as well and as long as any adult.
LaRee is so happy to have their little family together again and is enjoying learning to JUST be a mom again.
Taylor is as busy as ever but glad to be surrounded by family again. He is as always a friend to all.
Wow driving across the country with 11 people and 1 dog squished in a suburban with no AC was a BIG adventure. We made good time in between potty stops and only had one tornado watch ( in Missouri). We made it in 39 hours of craziness. We almost lost our luggage off the top of the car when the bungie cord net broke. When we pulled off of the free way and into the gas station parking lot, the back of the trarp was open and it looked like we had already lost some but we counted and did not loose anything, we must have had a really brave guardian angel up there who didn't want me to cry again. Now that we are finally here it is really an experience. We have to shop again! When we arrived I had to go buy eggs, wipes, milk, and of course ice cream......just to name a few things we have not bought in a long time. We went to the beach the day after we arrived, sadly daddy had to work and could not join us. Bianca just kept crawling 'out to sea' and the seaguls stole our lunch and ppoped on mommy as we watched a wedding on the beach. The kids all loved it and it felt like a perfect bath. The kids love it here, we get to swim whenever we want ( ha ha, mommy is a party pooper who doesnt think its good to go everyday, thats where Uncle Leon comes in) Most of us fried the first time we swam especially Bianca and mommy but now we all look like natives, except Lovie who looks like she is wearing little white shorts when she runs around nude. We went to a zoo here and got to go on safari. We got to pet a zebra that tried to bite Lovie's ponytail off. We also saw alot of big cats, JD loved it! We are having tons of fun and JD and Izzy are reading well now!!! The only thing that would make this vacation better would be to share the experience with all of you. We love and miss you all. May God bless our family until we meet again. Love Taylor, LaRee and Children

Glenn and Leon

Glenn is really missing everyone back home and still goes to the gym everyday. He enjoys being around kids again.
Leon is getting tired of dogs and children waking him up early, but he does enjoy having the kids here especially Lovie whom he always finds first when he comes home.
The boys are working hard and doing good despite the heat and humidity. It doesn't cool down much at night here, at 8 p.m. it is still 90 degrees and 75% humidity.
(Thank you LaRee for keeping us all up to date with the boys, I appreciate it.)

Stephen Fam
There has not been a lot going on here. The boys finished school last week and are very ready for a break, however Mathoni was elected to take a summer coarse that will aid him in reading and writing and language, he eagerly accepted that invitation. He is also getting baptized this Saturday. He is very excited and has worked hard (he had to read the first and second Nephi) We are very delighted in his accomplishment. Joseph is going to be his dads right hand man on the "farm", more on that to come. We did build our chicken coop, and got our garden in(some of it) Eliza is walking now, and only gets pushed down about 2% of the time. We love you all and look forward to hearing from you again. Love Stephen and family.

From you to me and me to you

Okay kids, big and little this is for all of us to keep in touch with the little bits of life that we all miss because we are:

a) accross the nation,

b) playing with soil,

c) busy moms with little sense

d) busy Grandmas with so much in and out that we don't know where we are or who.

How this works: This is going to be a very one sided conversation if you don't post comments so PLEASE comment. You email me, Heather, your update and I will get it posted. Pictures are also nice to have. I am sorry if I don't have your email- shot me one and then I will have yours :)

Also, it would be really nice to hear from EVERYONE! Yep, that means you, oh and you. Believe it or not, that even means you...did I miss anyone. NOT LIKELY! :)

ALL SUGGESTIONS are welcome though they may not be well received ;)

Well Hi Family! We're doing well, miss you all tons though.

Work has been going alright- it has its ups and downs. We've been out here exactly 4 weeks last night. One fourth the way done with our time away already.

On our second week out here we went and bought a little tomato plant, two strawberry plants & a pack of pea seeds. They all belong in the same little pot & they're our "babies". the tomato plant has two or three little green tomatoes on it and they keep getting bigger every day-so exciting! We've harvested at least 6 strawberries & Sam keeps wanting to pick the lass rip ones (were as I'm more patient of course, ha ha,)our little pea sprouts are finally coming up and we're really looking forward to those. :)

It's so flat out here. For the first few days it was hard to keep oriented because there are no mountains! Thank fully the freeways mostly run North/South & East/West so as long as you know where the major freeways are- you can do alright. Well that and we have our GPS :)

The weather is strange here- it can be raining on one side of town, and not on the other- but its not like there's any sort of mountain or hill to dictate what gets the rain or not. It rains SO MUCH too!~ we kept looking for sprinkler systems in the fields but it turns out most of everything grown here is done by "dry" farming- and yet there are huge puddles and ponds just scattered throughout the fields. Its so strange. Definitely farm land- the soil is so rich and dark! Apparently they grow large amounts of corn and soybeans around here- the corn was an obvious guess- but I never would have thought soybeans.

Anyway!

I'm rambling now,

We love and miss you all so much!

Oh and congrats Anna on your graduation! Thanks tons for the announcement, hopefully you'll be getting our postcard soon :) we thought about you lots on Thursday.

Sending our love and prayers for you all!

~Sam & LeAndra.

Hello family I hope you are all doing well. I miss you all very much and will be happy when we all be in the same state together again. I don't have pictures this week but I will try to get some for next week. The most exciting things going on in our house are my babies started walking this week and they are having so much fun doing it. Mason started taking stops first but Carson was the first to go a long distance but as soon as Mason could see his brother was getting all the attention he got right up and started walking just as much as Carson, they are such a joy to our family. We have so much fun with our five boys and they have so much fun together and being as close as they are. We are also putting a fence in our front yard so our kids will stay in the back. No more chasing them out of the road, YES! We love ya tons and we will see you all soon.
Love Virginia and Family.

Mauras leg is BROKE! Did you all hear that? poor girl walked all over Nauvoo and beyond on that broken leg. Great fully it was a clean brake and healing well. -Mama Marion

Well, Ezra gave us a nice scare after church, he ran up the hill to the tractor, near the canal. It was a good fifteen minutes before we found him. And the race is on... We went camping over the weekend and woke to an inch of snow! I think its safe to say that We are tired of global warming, we welcome global cooling! :) Stephen is home and we are grateful for that and FINALLY Mathoni and Joseph started riding their bikes, so of coarse we had to get them new ones. Eliza is not walking but she is taking steps, four and counting. We hope and pray you are all doing well. Love Stephen and Family.