Morgan's wedding

This past Tuesday Taylor's cousin Morgan got married to Mitchell Peterson. It the best sealing I have been to besides my own. The sealer was absolutely amazing! He went over different parts of the sealing ordinance in more detail to help Morgan and Mitchell understand a bit better what they would be promising and then he gave great marital advice. The advice the sealer gave to them was great advice for Taylor and I. He talked about how important it is to truly care and be part of each others life. When the other has success it is your success as well. When your spouse is struggling it is important to be right there helping as much as possible in that struggle. He also counseled to pray morning and night as a couple and to have regular temple attendance and scripture study. Those things seem so easy to do, yet it is so easy to fall out of the habit of doing them. With life being as crazy as it is Taylor and I have a hard time finding time for some of those things. I have a firm testimony though that by doing those things life is so much better. It doesn't necessarily mean that everything goes perfect in my life, but it does mean that I will have a better attitude or perspective of what I am facing. I loved sitting in that sealing room and just soak in the feeling of peace, love, and happiness that I was feeling. The temple is truly the most wonderful place! Morgan and Mitchell were absolutely darling together. Their day was as perfect as they both are together. It was so much fun to be part of that day with them. I love weddings because I absolutely love being married and I know that the newly married couples are about to start off on the best adventure! Congrats Morgan and Mitch!!!

Bear Lake

This past weekend Tay and I headed up to one of our favorite places Bear Lake! It is a yearly vacation and is always our last big vacation of the summer. I have been going to Bear Lake ever since I was little and it is so fun that the tradition continues so that now I can go with Taylor (and in the future our kidlets). The main reason for the trip is to have a family reunion with my Grandma Jones' side of the family. Tay and I along with Spencer got up to Bear Lake last Friday night after the guys got done roofing Taylor's grandma's house. We left about 6pm and just when we left we forgot to grab a block of ice to put in our cooler that had the crab salad, cookies, and a chip dip in it. So we pulled off in Sugarhouse and went to the Chevron there. We loaded up with goodies for the trip and headed off to Bear Lake. Did you notice I didn't mention how we got ice? ha ha we went in to the Chevron grabbed a ton of junk food and left with out the ice so once we got to Park City we had to stop at a Fresh Market store and get some ice. Spence and I stayed in the store so that we wouldn't be tempted to make the same mistake as before. Well we got to Bear Lake in record time and of course the first thing we did was to hit the pool. Saturday we went boating the majority of the day. Tay was successful and landed another back flip. I LOVE watching him wakeboard and ski...he is just sooo sexy! ha ha! That night we got together with some of my Grandma's relatives for a bbq and ice cream social. One of my favorite things about summer is the bbq's and this one was a great one! Sunday we have always gone to church in Garden city. It was a great sacrament meeting. I have to say thank you to my parents for always making sure that we went to church on our vacations growing up. I hated it when I was little, but I now realize the importance of church attendance no matter where I am at. After church we headed to a park in Garden City and had our big Vanderlinden reunion. The Vanderlinden name comes from my great grandma who has already passed away (my grandma's mother). Again...great food! We mini golfed later that day and boy.... I am definitely not a golfer. We also played kick ball and I have to say that the Jones' are a bit competitive. I love playing games but as soon as it become too competitive I am out. It just isn't fun anymore because the game is taken too seriously. Anyways, it was still fun to be with everyone. Monday was boating in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. Tay and I ended off the night at home with a redbox and domino's pizza. It was a fabulous weekend. Tay and I absolutely love spending time with the Jones' and Lusk's. We are always laughing and having a blast with each other. I can't imagine not having them in my life. Can't wait for next year!

Fun weekend with the Pierce's!

This past weekend Taylor and I basically spent the whole weekend with some of our best friends Colby and Danielle Pierce. It was a fabulous much needed weekend! Taylor met Colby while on his mission in Uruguay. They became really close on the mission and use to always talk about how they would hang out after the mission with their wives. Lucky for them, Danielle and I get along great (a little too great for them sometimes)! Friday night we headed to good ol' Tooele to find us a good camp spot. Initially we were going to camp up a canyon called Middle Canyon, but a friend at work (who is from Tooele) said to stay away from there because at night it gets pretty scary. Even though we were packing heat, we decided not to endanger ourselves so we camped up Settlement Canyon. Our spot was perfect! Colby cooked the best steaks Tay and I have had in a long time and we enjoyed pretty much the best outdoor cooked meal ever. We played our favorite game Sequence. Danielle and I are always on a team and for once we won!! Ha ha Colby and Taylor. :) Saturday we went shooting just outside of a town called Stockton. It was very hot but a lot of fun! That night we all went to the Tim McGraw concert. I love Tim so of course the concert was amazing! He sang my favorite song of his "Red Rag Top." I love concerts especially ones at USANA Amphitheater because people watching is crazy fun! It was a bit crazy though once the booze was passed around (not us of course). During one of the songs some drunk guy decided to waltz over our blanket. Ha ha he was having a grand ol' time, doubt he remembered any of what happened though. Overall it was a great weekend that was much needed. It is so much fun to have such great friends like Colby and Danielle. We love doing things with them and go through withdrawals if we haven't hung out with each other in a while. Below are some pictures from our weekend!

Tim McGraw!

Danielle is a dead eye!

Colby and Tay competing for targets

Cheesy

Love them!

Love him!!!

Colby and Danielle

Excited to blog!

I have really wanted to get in to the blogging thing for a while, but life has been so crazy over the past 3 years I never really had time to start a blog. When Taylor left on his mission I started a blog to post letters and pictures from him so all the family could see it. Yeah... that lasted 6 months. I am now committed to keep up the Tate blog not just so others can read about us, but more for me to record the fun memories, thoughts, experiences, pictures, and other random items so that they are not just lost to time. Yesterday in Relief Society I listened to a great lesson on the importance of keeping family records. I will be the first to admit that I HATE writing in a journal. It is a very daunting thing to me because I have so much I want to record that I know it would take a long time! However, in the lesson yesterday at church the teacher talked about blogging and how it is a great tool to record everything that is going on. I am a much faster typer than I am writer so I thought to myself.... I WILL blog! I am completely new to this so it will be a fun yet challenging thing ( I am still trying to figure out how to make it cute like all those other blogs out there). I am excited to start recording all of the things going on in the Tate life!