What Does It Mean To You?

I'm a runner.  I kind of always have been.  Running has always been my exercise of choice.  When I was younger it was harder to motivate myself to run.  I remember in high school having to have a friend run with me so I'd actually get out and do it.  Now I run because I enjoy it. The problem now is that my body seems to not love it so much.  For quite a few years I battled hip trouble.  I fixed that with a little P90X, believe it or not.  Now my left knee is the culprit of much pain and anxiety.  I find myself asking "Why can't I just run?"  just lace up my shoes, pull on my fleece, crank up the tunes and just run. I love it! Breaking from a walk into a jog and finding the rhythm of the road is an exhilarating feeling.  Running isn't for everyone and  many people would say why don't you just stop if you find it so painful?  Well the answer to that is I can't.  Not now anyway.

Back in October, I signed up to run my 2nd marathon but it's not just that I've registered to run a marathon that keeps me on the road.  It's that I'm running it to cure cancer.  Obviously I can't cure cancer,  I'm no doctor or scientist, but I can run for the cause.  My sister and I are running for a cause that means something to us.  Cancer.  I know it's such a cliche to say that everyone knows someone who has or had cancer but it's true.  So cliche or not, your life has been touched by cancer.  

My life was first touched by cancer when I was really quite young. I can't remember exactly how old I was but it was around my jr. high years.  My Aunt Susan was diagnosed with cancer and fought for 5 years before she lost her fight.  I remember explicitly wondering why Heavenly Father had chosen her?  She was the best person I knew.  So loving and kind, she smiled all the time and never raised her voice to anyone.  Her family was her world. She shone with the light of Christ.  And as much as cancer tried to take that from her it couldn't. Of course it changed her physically and I watched it slowly consume her body but it never took her spirit.  I run for her.

2 years ago a lifelong friend was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Breast cancer? She was only 33 at the time.  That's way to young for breast cancer.  Cancer didn't care that she has 3 small children.  It didn't care that she was nursing her baby when it reared it's ugly head. The good news for Katie was that she caught it rather early and her fight, although terrible, turned out to be victorious.  I run for her.

This year, a 15 year old girl in my neighborhood, full of life and with the whole world ahead of her, captain of the Jr. High basketball team and comedian of her family lost her battle to bone cancer.  15 years old!  Her fight reached many.  Her spirit and her will inspired me and many others. I run for her.

There are so many others. Too many others.  You know some.  Your life has changed or been affected by a story, a life, a survivor or a fighter.  What does it mean to you?

The small aches and pains that plague my running are absolutely nothing in comparison to those who are fighting this disease.  That's why I've joined forces with the Huntsman Cancer Foundation to give people and families hope.  Because I've asked myself what if it were me? What if it were my child?  What if it were my sister/brother/mother/father? The Huntsman Foundation isn't just concerned with treating this disease but they are dedicated to the cause of finding a cure.  Jon Huntsman, Sr.'s goal is to eradicate cancer.  


Research takes time and money.  The Huntsman Cancer Foundation has teams of doctors and scientists giving their time to the cure but as you know all things medical cost money.  My sister and I are making our own team (Team Taggart) to help out.  We are running the Ogden Marathon on May 21st and by that time we have set a goal to raise at least $1000 for cancer research.  Cancer takes and takes and takes.  We want to give.  We want to give hope to those fighting and to those who inevitably will fight this disease in the future.  Will you help too?


To join the fight and make a donation or at least look at our team page go to:
http://hcf.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=444239&lis=1&kntae444239=9A8D0193F348488FB9352631F96BB5FF&supId=309010630
I know this is a crazy long web address! They really should make these easier to remember. :)

Donations of any amount make a difference!  I told Shanna when we started this that it wasn't the miles that scare me it's the fund raising.   I'm no salesman.  I'm awful at fund raising but Shanna assured me that people care.  Prove her right!  :)  

And if you've got a few extra minutes to spare after reading this exceptionally long post and making a tax deductible donation, take a look at this video made by one of the people training with us and the rest of the Huntsman Hometown Heroes.  By the way, a lot of the people you'll see running in this video and training with us are cancer survivors themselves.  They amaze me every week!
P.S. I'm in yellow (most of the time) and Shanna is always beside me. :)

http://animoto.com/play/1R40J0M85n0tX2mCIc4HDQ

I'll ask just one more time, what does cancer mean to you?

Outta Here!

Ahhhh....he's gone! Chase is now officially a missionary.  He is probably on the road right now headed to the MTC in Provo and I am sitting here blogging about it because I can't be there too. :( To be truthful, I really do like the direction the church is going with all the missionary changes but it was a little weird leaving my parents' house last night knowing that would be the last time I saw Chase for 2 years.  It just felt like I was going home after any normal family gathering and everyone would be there the next time we got together.  Like I said, weird. 

The last two days have been really great though.  To truly go out in Taggart style we've spent the last 2 nights enjoying the greatness that is Taggart. Monday was party night.  Chase just wanted a night at home, so we lived it up with lots of good food and showing our dancing prowess while playing Just Dance 2 and Michael Jackson: The Experience.  Really if anyone out there knows my family you understand our passion for all things Michael.  No one could beat Katie, but no one expected to, and out of all the boys present Chase is the only one who even attempted it.  Way to step up to the challenge Chase!  We played a few more family friendly games and then called it a night.

Tuesday, we met again but this time for of a spiritual experience rather than a party.   As many people know, the church doesn't do the whole big family meeting thing at the MTC like they used to. Actually now it's often referred to as the "drop and drive."  One car is allowed in the gates of the MTC, car stops, missionary gets out, bags are passed to missionary and car drives away.  No pictures, very few hugs and definitely no time for hysterical mothers.  So because of these changes, we had to say our good-byes last night when Chase's bishop and stake president came to his house to set him apart as a missionary.  I was really happy that we could all be there. I don't remember if I was present at either Matt or Katie's setting apart and it was an experience that I was grateful that my children could have.  Most kids don't get that experience before it is happening to them.  Before we left our house, I explained to my kids what was going to happen and the importance of this step in Chase's readiness to serve and told them that just because we were going to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house didn't mean they could be irreverent.  I told them that today Grandma and Grandpa's house was like a church.  They took my counsel to heart because all of them, excluding one certain 3 year old, sat reverently and respectfully during the whole, very long, setting apart.  I doubt it effected any of them profoundly but I hope that Ethan was touched. . . it's only 9 years until this same experience will be happening to him.  And I say "only 9 years" because it feels like his first 10 have flown by. We spent the rest of the evening together and as we settled back into "normal" activities it was fun to see Chase stay in his suit, not fix the TV that wasn't working and write down his new address and email for everyone to have so we could be prepared to write.

I'm excited that we have another missionary in the family.  It's been a long time and I look forward to these years and the example that Chase will be to my family, especially to my little people.  Chase has inspired me to better myself and work harder at being the person/mother/wife that my Heavenly Father wants me to be.  Thank you Chase.  Now go get 'em Bubba!

Farewell Chase

Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011

Sunday was Chase's day.  He spoke in sacrament meeting for his farewell address before leaving for Italy on Feb. 2nd AND it was his 24th birthday!  It was a great day.  My parent's ward started at 11:30am and we were all sitting in the chapel. . .everyone except Chase.  I started getting pretty antsy.  Where was Chase?  Why wasn't he here yet?  If I can get myself (being a girl) and all 4 of my kids ready and seated before 11:30, why couldn't Chase? I know it was silly to be worried but being the slightly high-strung kind of person I am in situations like these, I couldn't help it.  My worries were put to rest as the announcements were being made and in walked Chase and took his seat on the stand.  Phew! Then my worries changed a little as I watched Chase on the stand.  He looked like he might be sick.  His eyes were darting around the room with the "deer in the headlights" look and I thought, "Oh no, he's so nervous he's not going to be able to do this."  Does anyone notice a complete lack of faith on my part when it comes to Chase.  I am ashamed to have these feelings because every time I do Chase exceeds my expectations.  Why don't I learn?  

This situation was no exception. Chase's talk was phenomenal. Really.  I'm not just saying that because I'm his sister and started with very little hope.  He spoke from the heart.  He stood at that pulpit and told the congregation why he was 24 and just leaving on a mission. He used experiences from his life and the lessons he has learned from these experiences to powerfully testify of the importance of putting on the whole armor of God.  The Spirit couldn't be restrained. I was in joyful tears.  All my concerns, all my worries, as to whether Chase was really ready for the challenges of missionary life were completely silenced within me.  He is ready.  I am so happy for him.

Of course we had a gathering afterward and we had a grand time visiting with those who came to wish Chase well.  And since it was Chase's birthday we all sang Happy Birthday and celebrated that occasion as well.  When all our visitors found their way home, we then got to spend time just as a family laughing and talking about the great, or not so great, missionary experiences Chase gets to look forward to.  It was so funny to listen to all the returned missionaries in our family talk about the similarities and differences of their missions.  We've got a lot of missionaries in our family and they all went to different places in the world. Actually no one served a stateside mission.  Bear with me here. . .
* Dad - Japan (the whole country)
* Matt - Japan,Tokyo South
* Katie - Ecuador, Guayaquil North
*JayDee - Netherlands, Amsterdam
*Bryan - Taiwan (I don't know the exact mission)
*Joey - Argentina, Bahia Blanca 
*Chase - Italy, Milan


I just love how the gospel brings people together.  
Families are the center (and the best).

Here's our handsome Chase with his 

oldest friend, Ben.

These are some of the pictures that I took to 

make Chase his family/home book. Missionaries 

always carry pictures of home to show people 

on their missions, they're not the best portraits 

but hey, that's us!

Mom and Dad

Brothers

Sisters

Boys

Girls

Mischief makers

Love you Chase!!

It's Cold Outside

Monday, Dec. 27
Well it just wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to Temple Square to see the lights.  Although we thought about going earlier in the month and even had a plan to go, we actually didn't get there until after Christmas.  We naively thought that after Christmas would be great because everyone else would have already been during the month.  Boy were we wrong.  It's okay though, what's lights at Temple Square without the crowds?  It was cold, cold, cold but when you're with the ones you love in the close vicinity of a temple you feel warm inside. :)

 Half the group.

 Some more of us.

Almost all of us in this one.

And the whole group.

Matt, Nancy and their kids, Allison, JayDee and their kids and Grandma down front.

It's Christmas!!

Hooray! Christmas was here!  I don't know about anyone else out there but December flew by at our house.  My kids even commented how Christmas came so fast this year.  Amazing.  I remember thinking when I was a kid that December was the longest month of my life.  But as always, Christmas arrives and spending it with family is the very best part. 

Christmas Eve
We always find ourselves at Grandma and Grandpa Taggart's house on Christmas Eve. We have a traditional Christmas Eve dinner, either read or act out the Nativity, open presents (always pajamas) and then hurry home to bed to wait for Santa.

This year we acted out the Nativity.  With Matt and his family here from Colorado we had a full cast.

 I have never seen sheep so interested in babies.  
They are just mesmerized by Baby Jesus.

And the shepherds were extremely worshipful. 
They never stopped bowing until we told them they should stop.

Here's the whole cast post performance.  We'll go clockwise from the top:

Joshua and Ethan - Shepherds

Emma - Angel

Isaac - Sheep

Hannah and James - Mary and Joseph

Nathan - Sheep

Eden - Baby Jesus

They were so cute.  We laughed (quietly and behind hands) through their whole performance.  It's so much more fun to have kids play out the nativity than adults.  Although we did have one adult in this production, Bryan (Katie's husband) was the donkey.  It's really a rite of passage in our family.  The newest member of the family must take their place as donkey in the nativity. 

Back home, the kids are ready for bed in their new pjs and slippers.

The excitement is killing them. 

Christmas Day

There's a rule around our house, no one can go down stairs to see what Santa brought until everyone is awake and ready.  The kids know this rule and since Ethan is always awake first and is a very good rule follower when he woke up at 6:00AM on the dot, so did everyone else.  JayDee and I were lying in bed when we hear Ethan creep down the ladder of his bunkbed, then there is some rustling as he wakes Isaac up and helps him into his slippers, next he's over in the the girl's room trying to quietly wake Emma up.  The funny thing was Emma was not waking up.  When I looked in to see his tactics he had the covers pulled down and he is leaning way in close to her face and whispering very urgently to wake up.  It was funny.  By now everyone else was up so I wondered to myself why he just didn't yell?  Soon enough they were all awake and we were heading down to see what magic was in store.

This is what we found.

Pillow pets for everyone!

Isaac snuck down the stairs just a minute before everyone else and I thought it was funny that he was sort of apprehensive about that stuffed animal even though he had begged for one along with all the other kids.  
Maybe he was just awestruck.

 Hannah couldn't be happier. . .for now.

 Although Isaac isn't sporting an enormous smile at this moment he is holding exactly what he asked for for Christmas, "lights that you put on trees."  Any time anyone (including 2 Santas) asked him what he wanted for Christmas this was his answer.  We always had to explain that it was chocolate covered sunflower seeds in a container that looked liked Christmas lights.

Here Emma is showing me that she received elf fingernail polish in her 
stocking. Yep, right on the bottle it said ELF polish.  I told her I had no idea that elves made fingernail polish.  She was quite amazed by the whole thing. After rummaging through their stockings they went immediately back to those pillow pets.  Isaac was riding his monkey like a horse and started singing the pillow pet theme song and just like they had planned it, 
all the kids joined in.

As much as I would have loved to stop our morning right here, there were more presents to be had. At our house we keep Christmas rather simple.  In the spirit of the true meaning of Christmas we have taught our children that Jesus received 3 gifts from the wisemen so that's how many they will get.  They get gold - something they want (this is what Santa brings) frankincense - something they need, and muir - a meaningful gift.  As kids, the meaning of each gift is usually lost on them and because they are small usually muir is just something else they want but this system will grow with them and hopefully become very meaningful as they get older.  JayDee and I love it because then our kids can focus more on giving than receiving and we don't fall prey to the gluttony that Christmas can so easily become.  This year each of our kids did get one pretty significant gift.  For some it was their muir for others it was their frankincense but for all it was awesome!

 Ethan got a bow and arrow.  

He can shoot from farther away than this but I had to get the bales of hay in.

 

He's working on becoming the next Robin Hood.

 Emma got a gift certificate to get her ears pierced.

Here's her before picture.

And her after.

Hannah and Isaac unwrapped these clues to find their gifts.

They're not too hard but remember these guys are 5 and 3.

This is what they found.

Gotta take these babies for a spin.

I guess that's one good thing about having no snow for Christmas.

All around it was a great Christmas.  After things settled down at our house we went over to Grandma's for more presents, she's always good for fulfilling another want, but that's what grandparents are for. We've had all kinds of fun and the kids have loved spending time with their cousins that they don't get to see very often.  Now that it's over I'm kind of sad.  Christmas is so anticipated and yet over so quickly.  Good thing it comes around every year.

December Happenings

December is upon us.  I have never felt busier in all my days.  More of that busyness has to do with my calling in Primary than Christmas and for some reason that is a weird realization for me.  So much to do it seems.  But what would Christmas be like without a little frazzle?  

Our month started out with a song.  Ethan decided this year (completely of his own accord) to join his elementary school choir.  If you can, try to imagine Ethan's dad, who grew up in Cache Valley where boys are boys and if you're awesome enough you're a cowboy and you have your own herd of cows, you drive a truck and you wouldn't be caught dead down the choir hall in the school let alone in choir.  So you can imagine how this went down when Ethan voiced his interest in singing in a choir.  Luckily, Ethan has a totally awesome mom who thinks singing is great and doesn't sway boys to the "dark side" and who totally has Ethan's back.  And if Mom's on your side you win every time, so choir it was.  

Dec. 1, Ethan had his first performance with his choir at the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake.  I've always wanted to go to the festival but have never taken the opportunity, so this was a fun night for me all around.  It was just Ethan and I and lucky for us Grandma Taggart was volunteering that night at the festival so there was a little more support for Ethan.  Now don't start thinking that JayDee was sour from losing the choir battle that he wouldn't even come to his son's performance, that's not it at all, we just decided that we didn't  want to take everyone because if there is one thing JayDee hates worse than choir it's a crowd.  Anyway, Ethan's choir was fantastic! And after we walked around and had a look at everyone's hard work. Can I just say AMAZING!!  I seriously have never seen trees like these and half the time I didn't even think you could make ornaments out of the things some people made ornaments out of.  Here's a smattering of some of our favorites.

 Here's Ethan in his choir shirt next to his favorite gingerbread house.

My personal favorite!

So clever. . .and who doesn't love Toy Story?

 This is the tree topper.

 

 And the mid-section of the tree.

I never got a good shot of the whole tree but I just loved it.

 Also loved this guy.  There were a couple of trees with this 

same idea but none of them measured up to him.

 Now if I owned a Rumbi Island Grill I would totally buy this one. AWESOME!  

That's 4 trees all together, flocked blue with just the tips white and bent over like 

the white caps on a wave. Then decorated to the hilt with all kinds of ocean life.  

Seriously, who thinks up this stuff?

Now this one just made me laugh.

Barbie's Winter Wonderland Ball

 Up close, all the Barbies and Kens paired up and dancing. 

I would have killed for this set up when I was little. :)

We had a great time.  I may just have to force JayDee to come with us next year.

We've had Christmas themed Family Home Evenings all month.  One Monday we talked about the symbols of Christmas and how they all tied back to the Savior and then went a picked out our biggest symbol of Christmas, the tree! Another week we read a story called, I Believe in Santa Claus, which compares Santa to the Savior. Don't worry it's not sacrilegious it's actually really nice.  After that we made sugar cookies. . .lots and lots of cookies. . .so many cookies there were still some hanging around the next Monday.  I couldn't give them away because they were from a boxed mix and really not that good but the kids had a great time rolling and cutting.  All I kept thinking was this is why I never make sugar cookies.  When it was JayDee's turn for the lesson he read the kids that Christmas classic that we all know and love. . .The Christmas Orange.  To my surprise none of my kids had heard it before.  And the activity following this story?  Well how about pass the orange?  Where you have to pass the orange from one person to the next without using your hands or dropping it.  This turned out to be quite a humorous activity. 

In case you're wondering, kids necks are really not big enough to hold oranges.

This activity would have worked better with clementines. :)

Later in the month Ethan had another choir concert at the school which was attended by the whole family. (Reason #2 that everyone didn't come to the Festival of Trees)  And even though this picture stinks I told Ethan I'd post it.

 I waited almost until the last minute but was successful in making all my traditional Christmas cookies and getting them delivered.  I love my cute cookies.  I grew up making these with my mom every year.  There was no question what was going to be the neighbor gift every year it was always cookies.  Now these aren't just your run of the mill sugar cookies cut into Christmas shapes and iced with too much icing, no sir, I'd dare say they border on gourmet! The best news of all . . . they are simple.  They make a dazzling display on a plate and people think you spent days making them but the truth is I take one day, make them all and deliver them that night.  I should have taken a picture of my kitchen, that was a sight, but I didn't think to get out the camera until almost all 30 plates were loaded.  Yep, 30!  I slave all day making mountains of treats and usually my own poor little kids don't get any.  This year I decided to make a round 2 because my kids are worth it!

 Wouldn't you just love finding this plate of festiveness on your front porch?

I like to call it "Christmas joy on a plate!"  They're a joy to make and a joy to give.

I hope they bring Christmas joy too!

Miracles

You know, the gospel never ceases to amaze me.  I sat in the Bountiful Temple Tuesday night with all my family (save one brother who lives in Colorado) to support the baby of our family, my little brother Chase, as he went through the temple for the first time.  It meant more to us than maybe the run of the mill Mormon family there to see a young man go through before his mission.  Our Chase is almost 24 years old and has overcome some pretty terrible demons.  These past years have been difficult ones. As many people know, watching your loved ones struggle is not easy.  For me, the struggle never seemed to end and to be completely honest I pretty much gave up hope.  I knew it wasn't impossible to overcome I just thought "He doesn't really want to change.  He doesn't care enough."  I have never been happier to be completely wrong! And I am taught once again not to judge,  you never know the inner workings of a soul.

In June of this year I was surprised to get a phone call from my dad asking if I was available at about 7pm that night to come to their church.  I, of course, asked him why I would want to come to his church that night and he said, so I could be there to witness Chase's ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood.  I was shocked!  I had no idea that Chase was even close to such a milestone.  Needless to say, I and my whole family were there.  I thought I couldn't be happier that day.  And since I am laying out all my shame here today I will tell you a little incident that happened that night.  So we are sitting in the High Council room of my parents' Stake Center with another family whose son was receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood before leaving on his mission .  The Stake High Council representative was there and he started talking to the assembled group about these two young men.  In the course of his ramblings he asked the group "Who will write to these young men on their missions?"  My sister exuberantly raised her hand, my kids tentatively raised their hands ( I think they were confused because as far as they knew Chase wasn't serving a mission) and I did not raise my hand.  I definitely didn't think Chase was going on a mission. Well again, I couldn't have been happier to be wrong.  I found out later that night that Chase had told my mom earlier that day that he wanted to go to the temple as soon as possible and that he had been saving for a mission.  Who knew?!

It took until October to get everything in order and then finally the papers were in.  It took only one and a half weeks and then I got another phone call.  Chase called me.  Chase never calls me.  He asked if I was busy right then.  I said no and then added, "Wait, did you get your mission call?!"  He said he did and I said we'll be right over.  Ethan was super excited because all this was happening on his birthday! After some more waiting at Mom and Dad's house for everyone to assemble and to get the Skype to work so my brother in Colorado could be a part of it (a miracle in its own way), Chase opened the call.  With his hands shaking he read he had been called to serve in the Milan, Italy mission.  Well if you know me or my family at all you can imagine how this went down.  There was screaming, a lot of screaming, and jumping up and down and hugging and crying.  It was wonderful! Then Chase proceeded to read the rest of the letter. When he got near the end, President Monson was thanking him for his willingness to serve and his worthiness to serve.  As Chase read these words he couldn't hold back his tears.  He normally is a very unemotional person but there was no denying that he was worthy.  He knew that he had finally done it!  All his hard work, all the humility, all the pain was worth it and he could read those words with confidence. Another beautiful moment I will never forget.  

The atonement is such an amazing miracle. To see it save the life of someone you love is completely humbling.  I know that there is no sin too small or too large that can't be covered by the sacrifice of our Savior but there just seems to be a greater magnitude when it heals someone who has suffered so long. My heart is just so full of gratitude that I have a Father who loves me so much and loves my family so much that he provided a way for us to be successful in this life.  What a miracle!  All these feelings culminated as we attended the temple together.  I just hope that in the very near future my entire family can be there together.  That would be the best miracle of all!