Its hard to believe it is already December! I hope ya'll enjoyed watching Chris preach! We were both extremely encouraged by so many people. He is looking forward to the next opportunity to preach in big church. Many of you know that we were unable to go home for Thanksgiving this year. We felt so loved by the many invitations to spend the day with families here in Washington. Knowing that it would be a difficult day, Chris and I decided to get out of town for a few days instead. We rented a little cabin in Leavenworth and enjoyed the beautiful views of mountains and the river surrounding us! I attempted (with Chris' help) to make Thanksgiving dinner. We had pot roast, carrots, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, asparagus, and pecan pie for dessert! All home made except the pie! Not your traditional meal but delicious. We returned home in time for me to work on crazy black friday. Luckily, I did not have to be at work until 10am. Chris and I have enjoyed watching the seasons change in the PNW. Fall was AMAZING and we are now welcoming winter! The Christmas parties have begun and we have many more coming. Last week Chris surprised me and took me to a Christmas tree farm. We got to cut down our first Christmas tree! We spent the next few days getting the house decorated and ready for the holidays! We are most excited about coming home and spending time with our families! We will be home in 16 days. Lewis is still as playful as ever! Well... except for today because he had the "unfortunate" surgery. From the Taylor home to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

More updates coming tomorrow but as promised, I wanted to go ahead and post this link. Chris preached in big church yesterday all three services and here is a video of his sermon! enjoy! http://www.alderwoodchurchfamily.tv/view.html?file=2012-11-18.flv&title=Reason+to+Rejoice!&speaker=Pastor+Chris+Taylor

Lots of new and exciting things to report! First, I started a new job as a make up artist at Nordstrom! I have been working for about two weeks now. I work with some great christian girls and have thoroughly enjoyed the job and enviornment. Chris and I have LOVED the fall here. The leaves all around are incredible. We had the pleasure of going to a pumpking patch a few weeks ago! There have been several highschool events since the last post as well. The funniest was an event called "zoo boo." The leaders all dressed up and wandered around the zoo and the students had to find them! Chris dressed up as an old man and colored his hair grey! On Halloween we helped out with the cake walk at the church. The little kids costumes were SO adorable! We also had a college retreat in Leavenworth! 24 college and beyonders joined us for a weekend at an incredible cabin on the river! We spent friday just lounging around, playing games, watching movies, and fellowshiping. Saturday we headed in to the cute bavarian town and had lunch and some time shopping! That evening we listened to a sermon by John Piper as a group and worshiped our King. Sunday we were up bright and early to head back to the church! It was an incredible weekend. Our cat, Lewis, is still doing well and rapidly growing! I love having him around. Please begin to pray for Chris and I as the weather is slowly starting to change to rain and overcast skies. We have been told my many that this extended period with lack of sun is the hardest part of the transition for anyone. In other news, we got confirmation yesterday that our requested dates to go to Hawaii were avaliable and we will be there in April for our 2 year anniversary!! We were so blessed to find a place whose ministry is to help ordained evangelical pastors afford vacations such as this! As always thank you so much for the sweet cards and continued support! We are so greatful. Looking forward to coming home for the holidays!!

pumpkin patch!!

Chris at the Cabin in Leavenworth

The Hat shop in down town Leavenworth

 

Chris and Daniel

 

 

 Lewis is getting so big!

Our friend Veronica (an incredible photographer) took some pictures of us! The leaves changing are so incredible!!

 

 Small group at Zombie Paintball

Things have still been busy in the life of the Taylors. Since my last post we have started ASM (alderwood student ministry) small groups on Sunday mornings! I have a group of about 12 freshman girls and am loving it! Chris just hops around from group to group and fills in where needed. We are so glad the fall is here! ...probly more me than Chris. The house it decorated and the leaves outside are rapidly changing. The PNW is a fantastic place to be in the fall! Lewis is growing quickly and finally settling down a bit. We have enjoyed having him around. Ill update you on what has been going on lately. 2 weeks ago we had our first ASM event of the semester. We went to Whidbey Island for the weekend and stayed at camp casey. This was a great opportunity to spend good quality time with the kids at a beautiful place right on the ocean! Chris preached from James and we had an incredible service worshiping our God. When we returned from the retreat, Chris took a day off and we headed into the mountains. We found a great bed&breakfast tucked away in the woods near Granite Falls. We watched movies and just enjoyed resting. We also took a trip to the river and to see Granite Falls. This past was a lot of fun as well. Friday, Chris came home with flowers, new Toms, and a starbucks treat just because. Saturday morning I did make up for a sweet bride and that afternoon we went shopping for warmer clothes. Sunday we started a marriage class at the church which we are very excited about! Last night was date night and we went to see a movie. We realized after leaving that it was out 4th movie to see in theatres this month! There are too many cool movies coming out! Thank goodness for that rewards card. Today we went to the gun range with Mrs. Kelly Sooter... I think she was secretly born in Texas. We had an incredible time! We have many more events coming up so please be in prayer for those! Also, the new middle school pastor has started and we are loving him! Thanks for your prayers covering that process. And how can I forget to mention WE BOOKED OUR FLIGHTS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS TODAY!! We will be home from Dec 20th through the 29th!

 

 

Mini Golf Date

 

Gun Range

Lewis

Trip to the river

Our Home!

It has been quite a while since our last update. September has flown by for Chris and me. We kicked off ASM this month! There has been an event every weekend this month. This past week there was something planned every single evening! We are ready for some rest and soon a small vacation! Let's talk about what has been going on lately! The first weekend of the month we attended the wedding of very sweet friends. The cerimony was beautiful! We are so excited to have more newly wed friends!! The next weekend Chris, Pastor Tim, Daniel, and Mark set off at midnight for a 17 mile hike. They arrived at their destination in Leavenworth and began the hike at 2:30am. In the mean time I decided to have a girls night. A few friends stayed thenight and we headed for a day trip to Leavenworth the next morning. While the boys were hiking, the girls went shopping, had ice cream, and checked out the biggest antique store in the northwest! We met up with the boys at 3:00pm... that's right... 12 hours straight of hiking! I drove Chris and Daniel back home so they could get some sleep. The following weekend Was ASM kick off weekend! We had 94 high school students in attendace on our first Wednesday night! What a great crowd! There were a few other events mixed in this month as well. My favorite was 80s roller skate night with the college group! I am still doing well with and loving Mary Kay! I do have an interview this week with Nordstroms for Cosmetic Artistry. Please be in prayer about that! Chris and I continue to love our new church family more and more each day. I cant say enough how greatful we are for your prayers and support! We were able to spend about 30 minutes with my parents during a layover at the airport this month. That was not near long enough but as always, every second is a blessing. I can't forget to mention our little Lewis. He is growing rapidly and very inquisitive. He provides us with tons of entertainment! More updates coming soon...

Parents in the Airport

 

Girls Trip to Leavenworth

Chris and me at the wedding

 

 Craft Day with a sweet friend

The boys post hike

Lewis

Mini Golf Date

 

 80s Skate Night

It has been quite a while since our last blog post! This one is going to be a little different. We have so many beautiful pictures to share that Chris and I decided to make a photo blog this round! I will explain each picture as we go! Enjoy!

 

 

Saturday Aug 18 Chris and I were given tickets to the Seattle Sounders soccer game! This was his second and my first time at one of the games! Sounders won 2-0 and we had an incredible time! The fans were so loud and lively!!

 

The following Monday night we met a couple from the church at the AquaSox game. The AquaSox are like the minor league team in the area. Chris caught a free Tshirt that was thrown into the crowd! We definately plan on attending more of these games!

 

 

 

 

The rest of these pictures are slightly out of order, however, they are all from Chris' mom's visit this past week. She was with us from last Tuesday until yesterday and we had such a great time!

 

This is Chris at the top of Heather Lake. I skipped out on this hike but he and his mom loved it! This is the same hike we posted pictures of from our 1 year anniversary back in April. All the snow is melted now! Beautiful scenery!

 

 Chris and I on Sunday morning right before service started!

 

Chris preaching through 2 Peter with the High school and Jr high students!

 

 

These next two are from another hike down to the beach! This hike was the day after we returned from Ocras Island in the San Juans. More on that later...

 

 

These next five are pictures of the view from the top of Mt Constitution which is the highest point on Ocras Island. We made the journey to this point our second day on the island right after whale watching!

 Here you can see Mt Rainier in the distance!

 

 

The next 9 pictures are all things we saw from the boat while whale watching! During our trip we encountered a Minkie whale that swam up about 5 feet from the boat. We were able to see his entire body swimming under water! Beautiful! The naturalist on board said she has not been that close to a minkie whale in her 16 years of work!

Dinner at the resort after a very full day!

 

 

Our first day on Ocras Island we went to Moran state park and hiked roughly 4 miles to the falls!

 

This dear was at our resort and let me walk right up to it, feed it, and pet it!

The next few are other pictures from our time on the island

 

The next pictures are some of Chris in action at the wednesday night groups. Highschool and middle school kiddos meet at two different parks in the area and we were making the rounds!

 

Of course we had to throw some pictures of our sweet kitten Lewis in the mix!

 

 

The Manor is what we call the highshool room. This is where we have the pleasure of worshiping with and discipling kids!

Chris' office

 

The rest of these pictures are the highlight! On Monday we headed over to Mt Rainer national park and spent the day hiking! We hiked roughly 8 miles and made it to almost 8000 feet! The views were incredible!

 

This was the best view we got of the peak of Mt Rainier because the fog was so thing around the top of the mountain. 

I was slightly obessed with all the tiny christmas trees

Another view of the peak

 Ice crevaces