It's a BOY!!!!!!!

So, we had our anatomy scan ultrasound yesterday.  It was incredible!  We got to look at our cute little baby for half an hour!  And here's what we learned:

- We've got a thumb sucker!!  It took FOREVER to get a clear shot of his face because his hands were in the way!  But we jiggled him around enough and actually got to watch him take his thumb in and out of his mouth!

- He is measuring perfectly average in height and weight for our due date.  (I was secretly hoping he would be measuring bigger so our due date could get bumped up early hahaha but at least he's healthy!)

- His heartbeat is 162.  It took forever to get that reading too because I kept laughing when he moved- and it kept messing up the sound!  They consider it healthy if it is between 120 and 180 so ours is dead middle!  Very healthy :)

- 2 hands, 2 feet, 4 chambers of the heart... Healthy brain, healthy spine, 3 parts to the umbilical cord, 2 kidneys, a stomach and a bladder, 2 lips, 1 nose, 2 eyes, and........

A cute little boy part!!!!!

He was being shy for a while there- legs crossed and curled up in a ball.  But finally we got a good shot and the ultra sound guy labeled it "Little Boy."  Then, right as we were finishing up, Baby Boy totally opened up and we all laughed!  Ultra Sound specialist labeled that picture "Big Boy" hahaha there was definitely no question!!!

We are so excited and grateful to have such a healthy baby boy and we cannot wait to meet him!  Everything for both him and me was in tip-top shape!!  December 4th, here we come!!!

Happy Sunday!

Sometimes I just need reminders.  What to focus on, what really matters in the long run, what I am aiming toward in life... It is so easy to get off track in the jumble of life that is this world.  Here's some words of wisdom to keep my perspective in check.  Enjoy :)

- "Believe in yourselves.  Believe in your capacity to do some good in this world.  God sent us here for a purpose, and that was to improve the world in which we live.  The wonderful thing is that we can do it."                                                              
                                                                 -Gordon B. Hinckley

- "Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.  Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.  Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best.  Forget the mistakes of the past and move on to the greater achievements of the future.  Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.  Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you."
                                                                 -Christian D. Larson

- "What you are is God's gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God."
                                                                 -Jewish Proverb

- "I can say without hesitation that you can have a perfect brightness of hope for your future and endless joy if you press forward as righteous children of God."
                                                                 -James E. Faust

- "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word...it could be "remember," because all of you have made covenants...our greatest need is to remember."
                                                                 -Spencer W. Kimball

- "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.  Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities."
                                                                 -Ezra Taft Benson

- "Happiness is a grateful heart."

- "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.  Let us move forward with strong and active faith."
                                                                 -Franklin D. Roosevelt

- "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
                                                                 -Galatians 5:22-23

- "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have."
                                                                 -Anonymous

- "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.  He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace."
                                                                -Ezra Taft Benson


On this Sabbath day, let's take a moment to "remember," be "grateful," be "content," "press forward," have "faith," "believe in ourselves," and "turn our lives over to God."  There's a recipe for a happy life :)  Happy Sunday everybody!

We're Having a Baby!!!

So the secret is out!  We are having a baby!  A little holiday bundle of joy, due December 4th!  We are so so so grateful for this wonderful little miracle in our lives and cannot wait to be parents!  Here is what has been happening since we got the news :)

So we found out just a couple days before April Fool's Day- a great opportunity to trick our families!  Haha, but no one fell for it...  we were bad liars, so they were all just happy for us :)  But the majority of the first trimester went pretty well.  I started feeling exhausted and queasy around 8 weeks, but only threw up a couple of times.  We were a little nervous about the whole thing, but a 10 week ultra sound set our minds at ease a little bit.  Look at that cute little bugger!

And here is my belly a couple days after that ultra sound.  Happy Mother's Day!

My 11-week mark came on our 3-year anniversary.  I had a concert at Sky View that night, so we did a quick date to Cafe Rio before that, and planned a super fun trip for the following weekend.  Here's a pic of that date...

Unfortunately, that night I got really really sick.  In fact, so sick that I was prescribed nausea medicine and told to stay in bed and eat nothing but bananas, rice, toast, and sprite.  Needless to say, we didn't go on our anniversary trip that weekend.  We spent it like this instead!

In bed, eating rice and toast and bananas, and drinking lots of sprite.  Brock was very very good to me.

Hoping that after a week I would be getting better, I actually did the opposite and the day after my 12-week-mark I ended up on a late night ER visit.  Through an IV, they pounded 4 1/2 Liters of fluid in me for dehydration, and drugged me with tons of anti-nausea medicine.  It was a pretty miserable night. 

After three weeks of bed rest, I finally started to feel a little bit better.  Around 14 weeks, I was blessed with just enough energy to teach my students a couple of hours a day, and then spent the rest of the time in bed.  Each week has slowly been getting a little bit better.  I still feel exhausted all the time, but I think the nausea has FINALLY subsided!  Phew!  That was a ROUGH road!  But the thing that kept me going was this little miracle inside me...  I will never ever take that blessing for granted, no matter how tough pregnancy can be.  

Now I am almost 18 weeks and we get to find out the gender on July 19th.  We are so thrilled and grateful!  Baby has been kicking me this week and it is SO FUN to feel it!  Here is what my belly looked like on my 17 week mark.  Can the holidays come any faster?  I can't wait to meet this little cutie!!!!!!!

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 :)

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 :)