Dear Family
and Friends,
We want to wish you all a merry
Christmas and a happy new year! We live
far from most of you but we do think about you and miss being in your
presence. We hope things are going well
for you and your families, and we enjoy hearing from you and the happenings in
your life. As for us we stay pretty busy
here in Bealeton, VA. We’ve lived here
for 4 years now—10 ½ years total in Virginia.
Time really does fly! So for the
latest and greatest update from us (you can’t find us on Facebook and I rarely
update our blog) this is what you get.
Ben is still working for McCarthy Tire as an outside commercial
tire salesman and he loves what he does.
He has a knack for being able to talk to anyone about anything. Mix that friendliness with his honesty,
intelligence and excellent work ethic (he puts in a lot of hours) plus other
great talents and you get a lot of success.
He has a good reputation in his company and is well known by his
competitors. In church Ben is the 13-14
year old Sunday school teacher, which he really enjoys. He is able to really connect with those kids and
engage them in good discussions. The
kids are always sad when the year ends and they have to move up to the next
class. He has high expectations for them
and their behavior follows suit (or they do push-ups). Ben also stays busy in 2 fly fishing clubs in
the area (Trout Unlimited and Federation of Fly ishers). His only disappointment—he doesn’t get to fly
fish nearly enough. He also enjoys
hunting—he shot his first wild turkey last Saturday and we ate it for dinner on
Sunday. It tasted good. Most important of all, Ben has a strong
testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and is a great husband and father and
we love spending time with him when he is home.
The boys especially love sword fights and wrestling with Dad.
I am a stay-at-home mom and I enjoy that. Preston is the only one at home all day now
so shopping and other errands are pretty easy to do. I try to workout every day and it’s a
love/hate thing. I’m still on our
neighborhood HOA board which is fairly low key—attend a monthly board meeting
and approve architectural applications with my committee. Every now and then I get to help out at my
kids’ school. In church I’ve been the
Young Women president for 3 years. I
love it! Teaching the girls about the
gospel of Jesus Christ and watching their testimonies grow and develop is awesome
and fulfilling. I’ve learned a lot about
myself and grown in a multitude of ways in this church calling and it’s been a
blessing in many ways. I’ve seen a lot
of new changes in the Young Women program too—new Personal Progress book and
awards (2010), new updated For the Strength of Youth pamphlet (2011), and new Sunday
curriculum (2013). I love that we have a
prophet that leads and guides us today and gives us the resources and counsel we
need for this time to be strong. If you
aren’t familiar with these things hop on to www.lds.org
and check it out!
Natalie is 7 years old and in 2nd grade. She is looking forward to her 8th
birthday as she will be getting baptized and getting her ears pierced. She really enjoys school. Natalie
and Lincoln sit by each other on the bus and trade off walking each other to
class in the morning—so cute! Her
greatest love is reading. She can be
found with a book in hand at all times and in just about every place. She has started keeping a journal this year
and she loves her pen with 4 colors inside—needless to say, her journal is very
colorful! She is missing her top two
front teeth and we keep teasing her that all she wants for Christmas is her two
front teeth. She’s taken lessons in a
few areas this past year: tennis, roller skating, dance, karate and
swimming. She has enjoyed them all. She is a great daughter to have around as she
helps me around the house all the time.
She is also a great sister and gets along and plays with her
brothers. She did ask Santa for a baby
sister last Saturday, but Santa won’t be delivering that.
Lincoln is 5 years old and in kindergarten. He also really enjoys school. He is a social butterfly and a ladies’
man. He talks to everyone everywhere we
go, and he gives hugs out to the grandmas at church, hugs his female teachers of
any class and enjoys the company of several of the girls in his class at school
(one he thinks he wants to marry)—he does play with the boys too but not as
much because he says the other boys always get in trouble! Sheesh!
He likes practicing his reading and is coming right along. He is very sharp and can often turn one of my
or Ben’s lectures/lessons against us at some point to reprimand us—nice, I
know, at least he got what we said. He
loves music and is often bopping his head to some or singing along. He loves to play outside riding his bike or
scooter and exploring the empty lots at the end of our street with Natalie and
Preston or running across the street to play with neighbor kids. He’s taken lessons in a few areas this year too:
tennis, creative movement (dance—I told him he can be a better athlete),
karate, tae kwon do, roller skating and swimming. He is a great son to have around because
he helps all around the house with chores. He plays very well with Natalie and Preston, and he teases well too.
Preston is 4 years old and stays at home with me. We go to the library just about every week
and he helps me run errands. He is very
well behaved where ever we go and people are always impressed. Now when you add the other two into the mix
when we are out and about Preston changes that behavior a bit—trying to keep up
with his siblings or show-off. He looks
forward to the day when he can ride the bus with his brother and sister. He asks me every day if I’m going to workout
after the kids get on the bus and if the answer is yes he asks if he can play
on my iPhone. He has an excellent
imagination and loves playing with his Imaginext toy castle he got for his
birthday (which just happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year—pretty cool) and
a pirate ship I found at a big yard sale in September. He loves for me to read to him and I love to
do it because he snuggles with me. He
enjoys playing outside riding his bike, scooter or playing with balls. He has taken the creative movement class with
Lincoln and Natalie and done fairly well—he wasn’t very excited to take dance
but I told him and Lincoln they would be better athletes and that helped
persuade them.
All in all, things are very good around here. We are very blessed to be members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have a knowledge and testimony of
the gospel of Jesus Christ and that it was restored to the earth through the
prophet Joseph Smith. We love the
scriptures and teachings of our living prophet and apostles. We know Heavenly Father lives and loves us—that
we are His children and that He has provided the plan of happiness for us to
return to live with Him someday. We are
grateful for the priesthood and temples—that our family is sealed together and
can be together forever even after we die.
We love Jesus Christ and are extremely grateful for all His teachings
and His example, but especially for His Atonement and resurrection. The gospel brings us a fountain of knowledge
that brings happiness, peace and love when we embrace it and live it and share
it!
We love you and wish you the very best this next year and
always!
Love,
Ben, Anne, Natalie, Lincoln & Preston Taylor
