She's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

For the near future this blog will be under construction to give it a new look and a new purpose/direction.

Look for me in the future but the not too distant one!

Love,
Jessica

We're Kind of a Big Deal

2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend our ward Girl's Camp. I definitely had a lot of mixed feelings leading up to it, especially when I knew that both of my parents would be coming up also. But my overall feeling was a happy one. One thing about Girl's Camp is that it is never what you expect it to be. You never know the mix of girls that are going and how well they are going to mesh together or which ones are going to have a particularly moody week.

Despite the hormones, the lack of outdoorsy-ness that our girls always seem to possess, and capacity for complaining this week couldn't have been more fun, enjoyable and rewarding.

I had the perk of just being an extra adult leader at a ward camp. Megan and I had been adult leaders 2 years ago at a stake camp which is a little bit grander scale so compared to ward it is quite a lot more manageable. Being a lot younger than the other adults and just a little bit older than the girls allowed me to "play many parts" (the award I got at the end) of being a camper/ leader. I fit in well with this group of girls. Some of them Megan and I had spent time with 2 years ago and Chantelle's two younger sisters there helped me feel quite welcomed. I got to be a goofball when I wanted (leading them in "Purple Lights") and take a back seat when, say, different years were assigned cleaning duties. I also got to play horseshoes and sneak off and do archery with the priesthood (my dad and two other brothers who I get along well with) while the girls were otherwise occupied.

I may be biased (and I am) but there is nothing like getting in touch with nature than in the Northwest. Even though I've lived here for most of my life I still am in awe with the beauty of this great state. Whenever I went to girl's camp I remember that I always felt closer to Heavenly Father because I was so close to all of his creations. There's nothing like the peace of walking in the woods or waking up to birds singing (whilst tuning out the girl's screaming that is.)
It's just the perfect environment for the spirit to feel you with peace, love and happiness.

I also took it upon myself to become the camp photographer. Equipped with my new-ish DSLR, which I am always looking for opportunities to become more familiar with, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to capture moments and learn about my camera. Switching from point and shoot to my many-mode and settings camera has been a learning process but I think this week taught me a lot. The weekend before this one I actually attended a photography workshop that told me manual mode is the easiest mode to shoot in and I'm beginning to agree. Although I saw it as a great opportunity for refining my camera skills I was really more grateful that I will be able to give the girls captured memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

it's not a proper girl's camp with out braids, and lots of them

Dad challenged all the girls to a banana eating contest when we had bananas we needed to get rid of. This was the 2nd round. In the first round Angie, the girl in the white hat nearly won but I pointed out that she was almost done and my dad just shoved the rest in his mouth. He still gave her the $1 prize.

Best part of girl's camp: getting the priesthood to do whatever we wanted them to. Including dancing to "Single Ladies"
skits!

Archery was among one of the activities the girls could do

Service Project:
Pulling these viney burr plants from among the other wanted plants along the path.

MUDBALL/MUD WRESTING: (and who said girl's don't like to get dirty)

3, 2, 1.....

GORY HIKE (not for the squeamish at heart)

ROPES COURSE
brought to you by Sister Taylor

obsticle #1: Getting everybody over the wall (including two "paralyzed" girls). Only two girls at the top of the wall were allowed to talk.

Obsticle #2: Using a partner, get from one end of a tight wire to the other.
Obsticle #3: Getting everyone to balance on a giant plank of wood for at least 10 seconds

Obsticle #4: Get three objects across rope swings

Obsticle #last: Trust Fall.

All in all, it was an amazing week, full of amazing experiences and amazing girls.

Nanny Jessica

Nothing has felt so good as finally getting to say I HAVE A JOB, and not some part-time, seasonal, temporary job. If you haven't already guess from the titled I am now a nanny. I had considered it a ways back (ps there are tons of sites to hire nannies) but thought I'd look for something else, but you know how that went. Everything about this job has seemed to perfect to be true. When I saw the job listing the thing that stood out to me the most was the schedule was exactly the schedule a. that would work with my other obligations and responsibilities and b. was doable.

The Family:

The Stellas, Noah and Laura

The Kids:

Dylan (age 4)

Abby & Gabby (twins, age 2)

Both parents are divorced and are now raising these three cute kids together. They had moved from Indiana when they weren't able to hold up financially after dad lost his job and moved in with his parents, Bama and Popi (I really don't care for wierd grandparent nicknames like "grampy" for instance but Bama for Grandma is a new one that I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to). The Grandparents live on an extension of the house but Grandma is just "coming back from the dead" after having terrible back surgery recovery complications and so they have limited mobility to watch the kids when Mom and Dad are at work. I get Wednesdays, weekends and every other Thursday off which really is what makes this job possible for me to do mentally. But the parents are both awesome people just trying to raise a family of their own and its just been a perfect fit from the beginning. They live 10 minutes away in Venersburg which means short commute, no traffic and a nice green Washington drive.

Sooo you all know what this means. This may very well become the outlet to all of the "fun" experiences that come with being around three kids, and being a nanny. And I haven't taken any pictures yet but you can bet they are on their way.

Most of all I just feel like I was given this job and I see it as a direct blessing from Heavenly Father. This job just was too easy to obtain and was too perfect not to be meant for just me. All I can say is that I am blessed, loved and grateful.

Lately

Why hello blogging world! It always shocks me how long it is between my blog posts and how you all must think that I have just dropped off the face of the planet. Well fortunately or unfortunately I am still here, alive and breathing. I'm not going to lie that I did distance myself from blogging just because I felt like there wasn't anything really worthy of posting. But since the last time I posted there has been some activity in my life and thought blogging and me could rekindle our relationship.

As most of you know in April I graduated from college! I was fortunate to have both my parents and my brother and Cody make the trek out to Idaho with me. I love excuses to go to Utah and see the Taylor bunch. I wish it happened more often but then those times wouldn't be extra special. There's nothing better than being surrounded by the people that love you the most.

But it felt especially good to go back to Rexburg. I have and will always have a strong connection to that town and to my University. The person I became over the four years of going to school there has changed my life and I know has changed the rest of my life for the better. I had been missing that place quite a lot and just felt like I was going home. I got to see my very good friends and my roommates and was also lucky enough to spend a night in my old apartment. It just felt like everything came to a healthy and complete close. I also loved having Grandma and Papa John come out and attend the ceremonies. It was just a time that I felt very accomplished and very loved.

The whole graduation experience was quite surreal (I don't even believe it sometimes). I actually got my official degree in the mail a couple days ago and just stared at it for a couple of minutes not believing what I was looking at. I really miss school. I loved my classes, my friends, my professors and my life there. It has been a difficult transition, especially with a lot of plans not working out over the last 10 months how I would've liked them to but I feel like I have been blessed in many other ways.

Blessing #1 The Wadleighs (especially Olive)

After I left school back in July of last year I was sooo eager to come spend time with my new niece, and spend time with her I have! I love having another household to go and escape to when I just need a break. I especially loved being placed on Olive duty for Megan and Rusty's Sealing which forced me (as if I needed more motivation) to go spend time over there everyday for a month and very frequently afterwards. I feel like Olive is quite comfortable with me and we have a special little bond. There's nothing like getting greeted with an "I recognize that person" smile from that sweet little girl. Megan and Rusty have just created such a loving peaceful home that I always feel welcome at, which helps a lot on my down days.

an afternoon spent at lewisville park with megan and olive

Blessing #2 The Latest Job Opportunities

When you are post graduate all anybody wants to here is what you are doing for work and when you don't have an answer you feel pretty pathetic. I have always been on a great path education wise and life direction wise so when my life came to a crashing halt and I stopped having happy exciting updates about my life it got quite depressing. I learned a lot of patience and relied on my Heavenly Father and things have slowly but surely working out. I have been blessed with a very part time job that I think will open great doors for myself. I work in an after-school program called Northwest Children's Art. I worked one day a week (the downside with it being a very VERY part time job) at a school 15 minutes away with primary school aged children.

my goofy pupils

This last Wednesday was the last class of the school year so it was a little sad saying goodbye to the kids but I hope to resume teaching again in the fall. Kids are definitely a challenging group to work with but in the end I think the most rewarding. Even more excitingly (is that a word?) is that the Program Head has asked me to create the projects for the full curriculum next year. I mean that the dream isn't it? Getting paid to create art? (The answer is yes in case you couldn't figure it out). I also interviewed yesterday for a nanny job which would be I think the hardest job but also something that could become permanent (which would mean no more job searching!).

Also after many failed prospective job ideas/opportunities/frustrating dead ends Cody is embarking on a new adventure himself. Cody's mom works as a real estate agent here in the area (they actually sold Megan and Rusty their beautiful house) and her boss has offered Cody a position at the agency a soon as he gets his license. This involves an online class that we expect to take a week and then he just needs to pass a test and he's legit. We're not sure how constant the money flow will be in the early stages so he's still got a couple jobs he's trying for as more stable money in the meantime. So hopefully we can finally catch a break and the ball can start rolling in the right direction.

Blessing #3 Institute

Man was I going through Rexburg/BYU-Idaho withdrawals living in Washington. Religion classes were the highlight of my weeks there and I never missed a devotional so it was really hard when everything fell on me to fill that giant gap that formed after leaving that environment where it was so so easy to get spiritually fed. Church was good I suppose but I really needed more. The first time I went to Institute here I felt like I had found the perfect piece to fill that gap. We have an AMAZING teacher. Instantly I fell in love with the class and felt just as if I had enrolled in another religion class at BYU-Idaho. The class is filled with great people who offer great perspectives. I really think it helps being around people my age in my stage of life, like it is in college, as opposed to the older generations at church that are a marriage and couple children ahead of me. We also got a couple called as a YSA Sunday School teaching combo in our world that have saved me also. Sunday School and Institute has become the highlights of my week. I know the Lord has blessed me with both these three people in my life.

Blessing #4 The Love and Support of My Parents

I know it can't be easy for my parents to have a post-grad come live back at home seemingly stuck at the moment. They know that there's nobody that wants to move out and have her own place more than me so their empathy for my frustrations really help. They express they're love and support of me at every opportunity. I am so grateful that I don't have the parents I hear about that either harp on their children for not leaving home or make them pay rent or do other ridiculous things. Having a parent's love continuously present in my life is such a strength that I take too much for granted.

No more spotty posts every couple months or so from Jessica. I'm here to stay, to share, to show off happenings in my life.... and hopefully you enjoy

Merry Holidays

Happy Christmas all and to all a good day!

It's me Jessica here reporting from Battle Ground, Washington. As of late I have been busy with working and school and soaking in all the family time around the Holidays that I've missed for the past four years of my life.

Work is good. I'm getting a lot of reading done. It's also been a great excuse to just sit down and get my homework done. Some might think it's the most boring job in the world but you know I quite love it. Yes, it may get slow with no one walking in for a couple of hours (mostly when it is down pouring outside) but it gives me some me time. And I never had time for a job at school (or a car for that matter) so I love feeling responsible and finally making some money of my own. I loved this Christmas that I could use my hard-earned money to spend on my family.

As for a school update I'm sure my dad has kept people posted but just in case you didn't know here's the deal on my graduating. Everything was all set up for me to graduate actually this weekend. But at the beginning of my semester I found out that my science class I was taking online was actually a nursing major anatomy class. Short story I was as close to a melt-down as possible and we sorted it out that I would drop the class and just take a couple next semester. (I needed 4 credits, but am now signed up for two 2 credit classes). But I was still going to walk in December, just not officially graduate until April. Well as time got closer, something about it just didn't feel right. There was the weather problem that we were trying to figure out, that if it snowed or the roads were icy we wouldn't be able to get down there and I would miss out. I talked to my friend who was in a predicament like my own and she said she had just moved her date to April. Well I thought about it and the more I thought about it the more right it felt.

So.............. I told my parents I was going to switch the date and boy you should've seen the look of relief on my mom's face. Usually our semester gets over with near the 13th or 14th but our semesters have been getting out later. It just felt like my graduation was getting crammed into the middle of all the holiday chaos and it was causing more stress than happiness. And now that it will be in April it will be more of a joyous occasion and Megan and Rusty have even mentioned coming out.
So there you go, I will be officially graduated in April.

Also, I am officially 22. Thanks to my mom and some visitors my birthday wasn't as ho-hum as I was anticipating. I think more of celebrating me turning a year older it's more seeing how much I am loved. We actually talked about it and I hadn't been home for a birthday since my senior year of high school. So it was pretty great that I got to be around family for it.

Happy holidays! I'm going to try and get more regular at blogging so wish me luck.
Oh and Utah, would you please send us some snow? This monsoon is getting old.

Day Four: Last Day