Julie's Baby Shower

This is Julie with her Mother, Caroline Baker.  She decorated using her old baby clothes.


This weekend I helped Jennifer with a baby shower for our friend Julie Martin who is expecting twins, a boy and a girl. I tried something new, making a "diaper cake"for the centerpiece.  I should have gotten a closer picture to show all the toys attached, but it turned out really cute, and was not hard at all to make.  

It was fun to be at the shower with Jennifer and LeAnn--"sisters''

Thursday's football injury

Well, it was a GREAT and a BAD day for Braden Taylor.

Let's start on a good vibe. Well we were missing 1 out of our 23 players - 5 including those who could not play. So we were going through RBs and FBs pretty quick because none of them were doing so well. Well they had gone through the back-up RB and a LB. The coach was in a bad mood and I was on mock Defense and they called for a RB and they sent me in.

Well I go in there and it is a sweep, Well I get it and go running through tackles to the end of the field untouched, (take notice that there were 10 players on field, this is after someone is hurt). Well the coach yells to everyone, "that is how you run," so me and Greg (other RB) are on a roll, tearing though the Defense.

Then the unexpected happens, (Bad Part) I am going on a 36 sweep, (Greg lead blocker is hitting hard) I go through and get stuck between one of my blockers and a defender, so I roll off and I get a couple more yards, and then someone clings on to my leg. So you can imagine that I am hopping for extra yardage, then I get hit from somewhere (can not remember where) and my knee gets twisted. I was down and was not coming up very soon. The coaches are pretty 99.9% positive that it is a strain and should be able to get on it after a day or two.

Worst Case: I get the thing where mom had to get surgery on and can't play for a season or two (or more).

Best Case: Gets better so I can do some things with the team and hopefully be fully or almost fully recovered by Tuesday

Well I am glad to tell you that the past few week I have been with the team the coaches think I have the most Heart out of all the players, (that is until they have Fanga play). Speaking of Fanga he joined the team today and he is now our starting WR even before he practiced with pads, (he is the fastest guy on my team and can juke and run at the same time and get down the field.

P.S. Hopefully, I will be able to walk up the stairs for the game on Saturday so I can go to our seats, unless Dad wants to buy all of us FIELD TICKETS (YES)!!!!!!!!

[Dad's note and Friday update: No, none of these photos are of Braden ... yet! He kept ice on his knee all night Thursday night and was up on it Friday night, although he wanted the knee wrapped with an Ace bandage before going to school ... and when you wear shorts to school, the wrap makes for a nice badge of courage. We think he'll survive . . . but he's still thinking field tickets to the BYU football game.]

Jenna online

    Found a little something online about Jenna and a former BYU track/XC teammate,  Carolyn Quebe, competing for the mormontimes.com racing team in a New Jersey race over Labor Day weekend. 

    The header of the article has the two of them running together (was that taken at the DesNews 10K on July 24th?). Click on this blog item's title or click here to go to the link.

Stumbling across "OBIT: NOTED DOUGH BOY DIES"

   I was cleaning off old files from one of my old office computers and ran across something funny I saved 12-15 years ago. Hope you enjoy it. - Scott

   Veteran Pillsbury spokesman Pop N. Fresh died Wednesday of severe yeast infection. He was 71.

   He was buried Friday in one of the biggest funerals in years. Dozens of celebrities turned out, including Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Betty Crocker, and the Hostess Twinkies.

   The graveside was piled high with flours, as longtime friend Aunt Gemima delivered the eulogy, discribing Fresh as a man who "never knew he was kneaded."

   Fresh rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a smart cookie, and wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Still, even as a crusty old man, he was a roll model to millions.

   Fresh is survived by his second wife. They have two children, and one in the oven.

Cheryl checking in ...

   [Scott's first note: Cheryl added this at the end of the previous blog about the family , but it kinda got lost and needed its own spotlight as a separate blog item.]

   "OK, Cheryl checking in . . . I do want you to know that I have been abandoned by the women of this family and have succumbed to the whole football pick thing.

   "I have no idea what I am doing - I just look at stats that make no sense and look for the longest lines on the bar graphs. :)

   "So far so good? Makes life more interesting in a male-dominated home.

   "Thanks, Laura and Jenny, for coming along for the ride."

   [Scott's second note: Yes, the "lowly" Cheryl outpicked everybody this past weekend with our group's best score of Saturday's 10 games. Don't let her fool you with all the "woe is me" talk.]

   [Scott's latest addition: After three weeks of football picks, Austin is the early runaway leader, with Laura, Cheryl and Scott tied for second.]

Playing catch-up

   A few things from the past few weeks involving our family . . .

   BREANNA competed in her first triathlon last weekend ("first" . . . will there be more). She did the "sprint" triathlon, which is a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike course and a 5-kilometer run. For those of you who are metrically challenged - half-mile swim, 12.4-mile cycling and 3.1-mile running. It's the fastest-growing discipline in the triathlon family of distances. Click here for a link to her "beginnings and changes" blog entry on the event.

   JENNA AND TYREL surprised us two weekends ago with a quick visit to Provo. They came out for the wedding of one of Tyrel's cousins and surprised Braden, Cheryl and I by showing up unannounced at our house Friday evening (Breanna, Austin and Laura were in on plan). Before they left for New Jersey late Saturday night, we went as a family to the BYU-Northern Iowa football game (half in the north stands, half in the south). Click here for a link to Jenna's blog entry "best surprise ever" on the visit.

   THE FAMILY is having fun with one of Braden's fall creations - a weekly college football pick-'em contest sponsored by ESPN. I think Cheryl is wanting to weigh in on this - she's taking her weekly selections pretty seriously. Here's the latest ESPN family standings - click on the standings image below to get a bigger, better view.  OK  Cheryl checking in...I do want you to know that I have been abandoned by the women of this family and have succumbed to the whole football pick thing.  I have no idea what I am doing I just look at stats that make no sense and look for the longest lines on the bar graphs:)  So far so good?  Makes life more interesting in a male dominated home.  Thanks Laura and Jenny for coming along for the ride!

First Football Game for #53

We trooped up to Orem for Braden's first football game of the season...the rain that held off all day started about the same time as the game and quit when it was done...we were all soaked.  Braden made a good showing once he got going.  He had a couple of good tackles on defense including a great quarterback sack!  He played both offense and defense most of the game.  Too bad they lost!  We had a picnic with our friends, the Torgersen's at the park after the game and that was fun too!  Go Lions!

(Braden is on the right standing up and then on the right on the line)

For starters ...

   Following the example -- and encouragement -- of our kids, we've started a family blog.

   Scott, Cheryl and Braden will all be posting. Breanna's welcome to add in from BYU if she wants [UPDATE: Breanna has started her own blog - click here]. You can check out the Austin/Laura and Jenna/Tyrel blogsites by clicking on the homepage links.

   And we've got a lot of catching up to do - family visits, Braden's football, Scott and Cheryl's trip to China and more.

   Just wanted to alert you of our efforts. And if you've got a blog you'd like us to link to and give a shout out to, let us know.