Cinco De Mayo!

So, people keep telling me that Mexicans don't even celebrate Cinco de Mayo, so there's really no point.  But I am one of those people who loves to find any reason to celebrate!  So, of course, I celebrated anyway :)  And threw a party!!

Some dear friends and family came over and we had quesadilla hor 'doeuvres, chips and salsa, and a Pirate Pinata!!!!!!  It was epic.  And Candace and I wrote a Cinco de Mayo song!  Here is the song and some super fun pics :)



Isn't Candace so clever??!

 The pirate's name was Aaaaaaarney!

What we got after Brock got him with the Machete!  A bunch of the starbursts were cut in half!!!

They slept over and we had a delicious Sunday breakfast and dinner together before their long journey home :)  Love you guys!

Thank you Marv, Meesh, Face Mask, Fanny, Jerm, OnFa, JG, Charlemagne, Albert, and of course Brocko for a wonderfully fabulous Fiesta!!!

STOP IT.

I recently heard about a school in Salt Lake City, whose principal is great, and happens to be a lesbian.  I heard that many parents found out that little fact about their principal, and took their children out of the school because of it.  That broke my heart.  And I know that this is not the only case of prejudice like this going around.  So I feel like I want to state my beliefs strongly and boldly right here.

My name is Aubrey.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I believe that the principles taught by the scriptures and prophets in this church are wonderful.  I believe in dressing modestly.  I do not smoke.  I do not drink alcohol.  I do not drink coffee.  I do not believe in sex out of wedlock.  I do not agree with acting on same-gender attractions.

I do not agree with those things, so I do not participate in those things.  But it stops there; with me not participating.  I do not look at anyone with any less value if they do participate in those things.  It does not make anyone any less of a person because they live differently than another.  I know many of those things are considered perfectly normal in this world, and maybe people think I am weird for not doing them.  Some of my very best friends in the world drink, smoke, are gay, have sex before marriage...  And I love them and look up to them as incredible people.  In many ways they are much better than me.  I would be infuriated if I found out they were being persecuted for their ways.  We are all people and we are all blessed with agency; we live here and are free to choose how we live our lives.  Much worse is the person who points the accusing finger than the person who makes his own choices and does the best he believes he can do in his life.

In our last general conference, Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated:

"The moment we judge someone else...we condemn ourselves, for none is without sin...  When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:  STOP IT!  ...  'Don't judge me because I sin differently than you'."

You can read the entirety of his talk here:  The Merciful Obtain Mercy

This is one of the principles of this church that I am the very most passionate about.  Stop judging people.  Stop feeling like it is your responsibility in any way to punish someone else for their actions, especially if they have never even wronged you.  We are all here because we all chose to come to Earth to get a body, and we are all doing the best we can with the situations and temptations and lives that we have been given.  I firmly believe that the merciful obtain mercy.  I am far from perfect, and I hope that I can obtain mercy for the things I have done wrong in my life.  I strive every day to give that mercy and love to others, and I would wish that other people are out there doing the same thing.  No one can get through this life alone, so why don't we reach out with love, and help each other, instead of ridiculing people just because they live differently than we do?

People have given their lives time and time again to give us the freedom we enjoy in this country.  Isn't it ungrateful to persecute people for living that freedom?  We should take the knowledge of good that we have, and use it to better the world we live in.  To serve, and to be kind.  Not to judge others for the way they choose to use the freedom they have been blessed with.

Stop judging, and Start loving.

That's all :)

Disc Golf Headquarters

So, Brock has loved the game of disc golf since he was in Jr. High.  At one point he was a member of the Professional Disc Golfer's Association!  Legit.  Anyway, that was one of the first activities we did together when we started dating in High School.  He took me over to Creekside Park in Holladay, UT, and taught me how to play.  I totally love the game too now, but I'm not even close to as good as Brock.

There's a nice new course in Providence now at a place called Vons Park.  We go all the time and it is so fun!  It's a gorgeous course; the rivers and trees and rocks make it challenging, but also beautiful to be out in nature.  It's such a great activity because it gets you out in nature, being active, having fun, and it's free!!

Anyway, Brock has a website about disc golf now!  There's not very many easily accessible places online to learn how to play disc golf, so Brock decided to start one.  And it's awesome!  He just launched the website last week.  You should go check it out!  It will be worth your time :)  And maybe you can learn to love disc golf too!

Click here for the link:   Disc Golf Headquarters

With His Stripes

In light of this Easter weekend, I would like to share a song I wrote that bears testimony of the greatness of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  First I'll share the scripture that inspired it:

Isaiah 53:3-5

3- He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4- Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5- But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.


That scripture has been a source of strength to me for many years.  It is so humbling to remember what our Savior has done for us.  We owe him everything.  Not too long ago, I was in a pretty dark place and I felt the power of the atonement as a source of wondrous healing and comfort.  I will never forget that moment.  I was reminded that we are never alone, and Jesus Christ went through everything so that he could be with us every step of our lives.

As this scripture came to my mind and I thought about that experience, I wrote this song.  It is called, "With His Stripes, We Are Healed."



I shared the lyrics and my experience with this song in more detail on my music blog:  "With His Stripes, We Are Healed"

Lessons to Live By: Words of the Prophets

Did you LOVE General Conference?!  I did.  It was fabulous.  Brock and I spent the weekend in Salt Lake with the Thompson Clan and it was wonderful.  Here are some of the important lessons I learned from this session:

- To paraphrase Pres. Ucthdorf:  If you're being mean, STOP IT!  :-) 

- The Church is not synonymous to the Gospel.  It is more important to be active in the gospel, but that activity can be supported by activity in the church.

- Elder Oaks reminded us that we owe everything we have to our Savior, so we must dedicate everything we have and do to his Eternal purposes.

- I noticed a lot of themes about overcoming adversity, letting go of the past, and moving forward.  We are never alone or unloved.

- I liked Elder Scott's point about keeping our bodies healthy so we are better able to serve the Lord.  There's some motivation to exercise!  Ha ha ha :-)

- Ask yourself this question:  "What thinks Jesus of me?"  And if you don't like the answer, change it.

- President Monson's talk was a powerful reminder of why we are really here.  "We enter mortality with the power to think and to achieve. . . We were sent here with a way to return home."  I loved that.  We need to slow down and focus on what really matters in life.

Conference is such a precious gift we have.  In Primary the other day, we were talking about following the Prophet.  We gave examples of prophets such as Moses and Elijah, and talked about how the people were blessed for following their words.  We have the opportunity to listen to a prophet just like Moses and Elijah, in the comfort of our homes, every 6 months.  I think it's important to not take that precious time for granted, but to listen to the guidance that is so readily available to us.  I am so grateful to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I know that, no matter what our lives, situations, or beliefs, the words we hear from the prophets are excellent lessons to live by!

The Tale of the Taylor Vehicles

That's Brutus.  The newest addition to our family :)  Car number 6 in our marriage of 2 1/2 years... ha ha ha hopefully we don't have to purchase another one for a looong while!

We started with George.  A 1994 Mazda Protege, manual transmission... so, right when I got married, I had the stress of learning to drive stick shift!  Hahaha.  A couple months later, I did this to him...

Sorry George :(

 But then we bought Billy and Bonnie!  Bonnie was a 1995 Honda Accord and she was very good to us!  And Billy was a 1994 Ford F150.  He was not quite so good to us.

So, 5 months after purchasing Billy, we saw the err in our ways, and sold him for $1000.  Yeah that's right.  Only 3 zeros there.  Bahaha.  But we bought Dundie!!!!  I am gonna miss Dundie the very most so far.  He is a 1995 Nissan pickup truck.  Tiny.  But awesome :)

Then we decided, since both of our vehicles were 15 years old, it was time to buy something that would be more reliable for us.  That we would feel comfortable driving long distances in, and would just be reliable and safe.  So we sold Bonnie and bought this beauty!

Louetta.  A 2005 Honda Accord.  Graphite Pearl is her listed color :)  Hahaha.  We bought her in December 2010, and paid her off last month!  Boo yah!  And we made it a whole year without buying another car.

But, in planning for our future, we realized that Dundie is not going to last much longer.  And while we both have a steady income in Logan, we have no guarantees of much income at all when we move for Physical Therapy School in a couple of years.  And, Dundie is only a two-seater.  No one else will fit in the car.  So, in planning for future financial stickyness, and future additions to our family, we decided it was time to buy something that will be more reliable and carry more people.

So we said a fond goodbye to Dundie.  And last night, we bought Brutus.  A 2001 Dodge Ram.  He is beautiful.

Hopefully this ends the tale of the Taylor vehicles for a while, as we plan on taking very good care of Louetta and Brutus, and keeping them for a long long time.

The End :)

Oh What a Beautiful Weekend!

Brock and I had a FABULOUS weekend, and got to see SO many dear friends that we haven't seen in way too long!  It started on Friday.  We drove to Salt Lake, picked up Jared, and went to Wendy's.  (Every date is good if it starts with a cheeseburger ha ha ha).  Then we parked at the Trax Station and took the train down to the Energy Solutions Arena for the JAZZ GAME!!!!  Woot!

It was an awesome game, and we had a total blast!  Al Jefferson is my favorite player, so I bought a Jersey with his name on it to wear for the game.  And he shot 34 points that night!!!!!!  His season high! It was epic.  The three of us were cheering, eating candy, and loving life.  A wonderful Friday!

The next morning, one of my BEST friends in the world got married!!  So we went up to the Salt Lake Temple for her sealing.  It was just beautiful.  Naturally, I cried, because I can't make it through a wedding without getting teary eyed, and I love Katie so dearly!  It was great.  Then they had a delicious luncheon in Bountiful, and then we went to their reception at a church house in Kearns!  So we were just all over the valley!  It was so beautiful though, and Katie and Rob were just beaming.  I love weddings!  And we got to see so many wonderful friends and catch up with so many people, it was so great!  Congrats Katie and Rob!!!!!!!

That night we had fun with the little sibs (Jared and Emily), getting treats at the Gas Station, chillin' in the hot tub, and playing Dance Central late into the night!  It was so fun!  (My parents are on a cruise so we were staying with the kids for the weekend).

Then, on Sunday, Ricky Dowse had his homecoming talk!  He just got home from Chile and gave a beautiful talk about having faith and working hard.  It was great!  Then they had an open house at the Dowse House, it was great.  We got to see so many wonderful friends there, too, that I miss SO dearly!  I was so happy :)

Someone got a picture of me, Kels, Court, and Rick...  I'll post it here when I get ahold of it :)

We headed back to Logan right after that, hoping to beat the storm, and we did!  We drove with Ali, and the drive went very smoothly!  Made it in great time, and had a chance to just sit back and relax the rest of our Sunday evening.

So, you see, it was oh such a beautiful weekend!  Reminiscing on old memories and making new ones with some of the best friends I've ever had.  I just felt so grateful last night as I realized how many wonderful people I have in my life, and the experiences that have formed my life today.  It was also so fun to spend time with Brock, and my family, and just get away from the world and go crazy and have fun!