Taylor Family Reunion

This week we had the wonderful privilege to get together with my mom's side of the family.  My grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this year!  (Congratulations Grandmom & Grandpop!)  To celebrate, they treated us to a vacation!

There were about 20 of us who came, and we all stayed at the Canna Inn.  It was really neat!  It used to be a barn, but it was converted into a large house.  The owners kept a lot of the original look to it, so it's a very unique place to stay, full of character.  (I failed to take any pictures of it though, so sorry I can't post it here!)

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and had a chance to get reacquainted with some relatives we hadn't seen in a long time.  My little cousins had grown up into teenagers!  And I finally got to meet my aunt's husband for the first time!  :)

On Monday we had a professional family photo taken outside the Inn.  They turned out really nice and will make a nice memory of our time together.  My favorite is the one we had taken of my grandmom, my mom, me, and Tabitha:  four generations of mother/daughter relationships.  After the photography we went to the nearby State Park to swim and relax and enjoy the 4th of July.

On Tuesday most of us went to Hershey Park.  Although I'd been to the Hershey Chocolate Museum there twice I'd never been to the park before.  It was a lot of fun.  My mom and I spent the day mainly at the kiddie rides.  My mom even did the bumper cars!  The boys and Heath and I enjoyed the wave pool for a little while.  That felt awesome on such a hot day!  My brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins did some of the bigger rides or spent the day at the water park.  We finally made it home about 8 pm.  We were truly exhausted, but glad we'd had such a fun day.

On Wednesday some of us went to the Harley Davidson factory.  We got to take a tour around the actual factory.  It was pretty amazing to see how they make the various parts of the bikes!  Heath was disappointed that we didn't get a free bike as a souvenir, but it was really interesting to see how they're made.  Afterward, Mom kept the kids so Heath and I could have a lunch date at Friendly's.

In the evenings, we played games, talked, and relaxed at the house.  My grandparents planned all of this for us and made it a very special time for each one of us!  Grandpop also spent time sharing from his heart about his and Grandmom's love and care for all the family, and their desire for us to walk with the Lord.  They are a very special couple, and we love and appreciate them so much!  Happy Anniversary, Grandmom & Grandpop!

Field Trip!

Today, as a field trip for our study of the Israelites in the wilderness, we drove up to Lancaster, PA, and visited the Tabernacle! The Mennonite information center has a full-scale replica of the tabernacle, complete with the furniture pieces and even a moving priest and burning incense. It was pretty neat! It was more lecture-style than I'd hoped, so I'm not sure the kids were that thrilled (especially the younger two), but it was still neat to see. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the real thing, but I thought this painting showed a nice overall view of what it may have looked like thousands of years ago.


After the Tabernacle, we visited my grandparents who live in the same city. It was great to see them and get a picture of them with their GREAT grandchildren! Thanks for having us, Grandmom & Grandpop!

10 Years

Yesterday Heath and I celebrated the completion of our first decade of marriage! Hard to believe we're that old already! We got to go out to dinner at a restaurant we hadn't gone to since the early days of our marriage (thanks to babysitting from Matt & Bekah!) =)

We also opened our 10-year "time capsule." Do any of you who were at our wedding remember filling out your guesses as to what our lives would be like in 10 years? Well, we really left them sealed up without sneaking a peak all this time, and yesterday we read them. Some people were pretty close, and some....not so much. In case you're interested in seeing who was right, here are the questions and the names of those who got them right.

Where will we be living? (Maryland) Suzi Creps, Stephanie Runkles, Beth Barch, Grandmom Taylor, Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Tod & Lisa Lipman, Deb Spink, Amanda Trietley, Jessica Stuenzi, Valerie Hurley, Anonymous.

How many kids will we have? (3) Steve Napolitan, Greg Williamson, Phil Dennison, Stephen Stuenzi.

What kind of cars will we have? (F250 and MPV) The only ones who got BOTH vehicles correct (though they only said minivan and truck) were Kevin Williamson and Will Allen.

What will our favorite date activity be? (going out to dinner) Kathy Palese, Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Anonymous. Greg Williamson had a very true answer as well--"getting away from the kids." =)

What will our favorite hobbies be? (Heath--working on his truck; Erin--reading and sleeping....do those count as hobbies?) No one got this totally right, but Valerie Hurley and Will Allen did write "sleeping", so I think that counts for mine anyway. :)

What will we look like? My favorite close answer was Will Allen's: "Heath will have a bald spot [Um, that spot takes up his entire head] and Erin will be "as beautiful as now." Aw, thanks Will. =)

Where will our favorite vacation spot be? This one doesn't have a winner because we don't know what the answer is! We've been lots of great places and hope to go to many more!

How will we be involved in our local church? (Heath plays guitar in the worship service, and he is also helping to finish some interior things on our brand new building!; I work with kids' classes and occasionally play keyboard and also work in Awana) These people got at least one of those things correct and added nothing incorrect: Dan & Carolyn Sigmon, Paul Best, Lori Wells, Stephanie Runkles, Josh Monge, Jessica Stuenzi.

There were many other answers; some were quite--shall we say--creative. I don't have time to list them all, but to all of you who filled those out....thanks! It was great to read, reminisce, and laugh at all the answers and all that's gone on in the past 10 years of our life together. Thanks for being a part of our wedding day and our lives--whether that was more than a decade ago or currently. We appreciate each one of you.

Heath, thanks for being such an awesome husband for these past 10 years. I love you. Only 14 days until our Anniversary Cruise! Yippee! =)

Visit to GREAT Grandmom & Grandpop

Today the boys and I drove up to Lancaster, PA, to visit my mom's parents. We had a really fun time visiting and having lunch with them. And we even got sent home with some very yummy treats! I'm so thankful to still have all 4 of my grandparents, and I think it's so neat that my children can know their great grandparents. What a blessing! We love you, Grandmom & Grandpop!

Visit to Grandmom & Grandpop

While my family was here visiting, we all went up to Lancaster, PA, to visit Grandmom & Grandpop Taylor (my mom's parents). Our cousin Taylor was also there. We got to see their new place, videotape a "grandparent interview", and enjoy a great meal together. It was a long day, but definitely worth it.