Mick Life History

Obviously, this is a work in progress ...

Mick Taylor Life History

Championship Game

Mom and I went up to Sandy this week for Seth's baseball playoff games. His team is the "Highland Heat" and Scott is one of the coaches. They were competing for the Utah state championship for the Cal Ripkin league for 11-yr olds with 70-foot bases. The last game was Thursday, July 8th at Alta Canyon Sports Center. They won!! Every boy and coach received a huge trophy. In a couple of weeks, they travel to Fallon, Nev. for further competition. We are so proud of Seth! See the video clip for one of the key plays of the game executed by Seth when he was pitching.

General Conference

Debbie offered us tickets to go to General Conferernce this morning, so we decided to all go together. We tried a big experiment - taking the TRAX light rail for a round trip to Temple Square so we would not have to fight traffic and look forever for parking. It worked out great! We left from near the Sandy Civic center (10000 South) and the trip took about 35 minutes each way. No waiting either direction. Conference was great, especially Elder Holland's remarks and the marvelous stories told by President Monson. What a privilege to go with Debbie, Elise, and Jacob. Lynn is back in NY so we missed him this time, but thanks for getting tickets!!
Walking to the TRAX light rail The Temple I really didn't know we were going to the Church of the Devil. Shoulda read the warning sign. Happy Conference goers


What a building

Trip to Arizona

We had a great trip to Arizona to see Jenna and David, Cyrena, and Natalie. We took advantage of the generous gift of tickets from our kids to see Les Miserables at the Phoenix Theater. What a great presentation of a wondersul story in an intimate setting. It was very well done and so enjoyable - thanks, kids!! Highlights included a trip through Zion's on the way, dinner at Ajo Al's, Trader Joe's, Smart and Final, hitting a bucket of balls at Great Eagle golf course driving range, dinner at BJ's before Les Mis, and a great hike and campfire at White Tanks park near Surprise. The photos tell the story.

Vacation Home

We bought a vacation home in Hurricane Utah. We had been thinking about doing this for a while, wanting a "get away" place to escape to during the long cold winter months here in Alpine. It's about a four-hour drive, but the temperature difference is a good 20 to 30 degrees warmer in the winter, so golfing and other outdoor activities are options even in January. Plus it is close to Zions, there are two reservoirs for fishing and boating nearby, and lots of ATV trails and did I mention golf courses? Plus St. George is a mere 10 miles away and Jenna and David are about 6 1/2 hours away. We are in the process of furnishing it and we are going to need to do some landscaping and other projects - never a dull moment. We are hopeful it will be a great place to get away to for many years. Below are pictures of the house and Quail Creek reservoir.

Trip to Hurricane and Cedar City

Had a great Christmas with Jenna, David, Cyrena, Natalie, Rick and Lynette traveling to our home. Had a great Christmas eve program with the candy bar sled races, music, and various presentations. Curt's family came and shared the evening with us. Andy and Carrie came with them. Lynn, Debbie, Elise, Jacob, Chad, ShayLynn, Ty, and Isabelle spent the night. Fun times!

Christmas afternoon, we went to eat at Mi Ranchito and saw Valkrie - a pretty good movie with Tom Cruise.

We left Tuesday 12/30 and drove to Hurricane, UT. (stopping at the Red Barn in Santaquin on the way to pick up some great Fuji apples). Our friends, the Gardners, have a winter home right next to the Sky Mountain golf course. So of course John and I played 18 holes of golf on Wed and Thurs and Dee Dee and Jacque (say Jackie) shopped and played. We had some great food at Olive Garden and at a sports bar in Hurricane and went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - strange and interesting, and LOOOOONG!! We also watched some DVDs at their home - I Robot and The Spitfire Grill.

Friday morning we headed up to Janet and Allen's cabin 20 miles west of Cedar City. Janet joined us later that evening - Allen couldn't make it. We had a "24" marathon (season 6 of the TV series). Watched the whole thing and basically vegged until Sunday around 6 PM when we headed back home.

Cancun

We spent some very relaxing days in Cancun from Saturday 12/6 through Wednesday 12/10. We arrived at a very good time of the season. The weather was great and there were no crowds. We flew directly from Salt Lake to Cancun, a trip of about 4 1/2 hours - everything was on time. We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort, an adult-only destination located way north of the hotel district, on the beach, on about 15 acres, all by itself with no other resorts or hotels anywhere close by. It is situated 45 minutes north of the Cancun airport and you can see Isla Mujeres directly to the east, about 5 miles across the water. When we arrived, we passed through three large iron gates with security guards and we met at the entrance by staff who presented us with cold, moist, rolled-up towels on a silver tray for freshening up (wow). We were stunned by the place - 8 restaurants, 10 bars, a meandering "lazy river" that you can float on and takes you all around the resort. Amazing food - we ate such huge breakfasts that we never ate lunch. Custom omlette bar, all kinds of juices, rolls, sweet breads, bacon, ham, cereal, tons of guacamole, salsa, ranchera sauce, waffles, - you name it, they have it. The first night we had mexican food at the El Agave restaurant. The last night we ate at the Grill (filet mingnon with all the trimmings). Monday we spent at Xcaret, an ecological park with animals, butterfly pavilion, paradise river, mushroom farm, beaches, and a fantastic show at night featuring Mayan and Mexican cultural events, music, and dance. Tuesday we paid a visit to Mercado 28 and picked up some souvenirs - we took a taxi from the hotel and the driver waited there for us for 3 hours while we shopped. Our room was fantastic - room #3203 - with a great view of the lazy river and landscaping. We had a large lounge on our balcony where we could read and nap. We had a fantastic time and are thinking of returning there next year same time. .