Emma Kay Wright

My niece, who could pass for my daughter, turned 8 in July. She decided to get baptized and Sarah threw her a nice little get-together afterward. Sarah, our mom and I sang a trio to "He Sent His Son". Let's just say it quickly became a duet
because I didn't get past the part that reads...

"Have faith, Have hope, live like His Son, help others on their way.
What does He ask? Live like His Son."

Emma's birth 8 years ago came within days of losing our Grandpa Taylor. Her middle name, Kay, is Grandpa's middle name. Along with that event, it also brought about my family's move to Arizona from Texas. I can't believe we've been here for 8 years. Although my roots are deep in Texas, I can't help but think of what I would be missing out on if we'd never moved here. Number one reason being my sweetheart, Ben.

Here are some moments from her big day. Uncle Zack drew a beautiful sketch of her as a gift. I can't believe that talent. Taking a picture of it is a joke.






Ok either I'm short for a 24 year old or she's tall for an 8 year old.

Here are some other moments of Emma that show her sweet personality.











So could she pass for my daughter?? Here's a few of yours truly for a little comparison. She basically is my daughter since I just blogged about her baptism. :)

We love you Emma!!

Distance makes the heart grow fonder...

...yeah yeah yeah, but it's still hard! Ben and I have been separated now for a month. We're biting our nails waiting for him to report to Fort Meade on August 14th. I have been at my job for a month now and am just staying busy to pass the time. Being by family is such a blessing. I made it just in time for our Taylor Family Reunion at our cabin in Strawberry. Here are some pictures from the weekend. It was themed around Red, White & Blue for July 4th.

What is this guy doing in the picture you ask? My crazy, loving, self-less husband drove our Xterra out from Maryland to Arizona non-stop and SURPRISED me! And everyone else, might I add. He wanted me to have our car even though our plan was for me to just bum rides with family. He left on a Wednesday night after work and got here Friday morning. He was able to spend the weekend with us at the cabin after I had prepared to be husband-less. It was amazing.

The weekend at the cabin was perfect. We got some rain and were able to hike down to Fossil Springs as a family. I think we all ate our weight in otter-pops. We had family pictures with our over-sized t-shirts (love ya, Mom) and had some friendly target shooting games. Each night we had a devotional and sang songs, while my parents took turns telling us stories about their parents and grand-parents. It was awesome and made me want to read more about them. I hope I can be diligent and keep a record of my life and my parent's lives for my children to read about.
My Grandpa Taylor was a Doctor and believed in being ready for anything. He made stuff out of leather and had this "ready bag" with everything from a bandaid to a small hand gun.



Youngest to oldest

AZ or bust

So there is finally some big news for Ben and me.

No we are not pregnant, Dave and Debbi.

I have accepted a job in AZ and will be starting that this coming Monday. Ben received “the letter” from the Army and has to stay in Maryland until August 14th. Ben’s official 8 year contract in the Army ends March 2011 and they finally caught up to him. We don’t know what August 14th holds but we are ready for whatever happens. We are hoping before whatever they order him to do he can at least move our stuff over to AZ and hang out with me for a while.

For you Marylanders, I will not see you again but it’s been great! You friends have been like family. Ben will be a bachelor living on ramen while I live with my sister and her family. Watch out for him and make sure he doesn’t work himself to death from boredom.

Stay tuned for more news!

North Carolina

We got to visit Katie and Kevin and their cute kiddos on Memorial Weekend. It's a tradition for them to get flowers and place them on headstones at the cemetery that don't have any. It was so cute to watch them walk around and pick off a flower from the bunch and adorn a stranger's headstone. It was humbling to see grave-sites of soldiers that were
from some of the first major wars.

There was a zoo nearby for 5$ a person so we took advantage of it. I realized a few things...
I don't like birds that can walk around freely and are bigger than a soccer ball
and...
Monkeys kind of scare me.
Other than that I got a nice tan and the kids had a good time!



We love visiting NC and are so glad we have lots of family close by.
I hope everyone had a Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Man Date

Ben and our friend Dave were able to have an adventure on the high-seas known as the Chesapeake Bay. They left early Saturday morning to hit the water on a sweet boat belonging to Dave's friends! I don't know all the terminology except that they had like 10 poles sticking out of the boat as they were trolling...but I will do my best to be your tour guide...

Here Dave is "raslin" with something on the end of the pole. It takes a lot to make Dave's forearms burn... and his forearms were burnin'!


Here is his 42 inch Rockfish known to Marylanders but really its a striped bass?


Ben getting a forearm workout for himself.


Here is Ben's 32 incher. Man if I got the length wrong I'm not going to hear the end of it.


The story of this 3rd one was that they were trolling for a couple of hours and Dave had mentioned that there may have been something on the end of the pole. The others guys said, Nah it just tugged because we were turning... They go to pull in the lines and BAM this guy was drowning the whole time! Takes me back to my days when I first started to learn to wake board, I couldn't quite get the point that I should let go of the rope after I crashed.


From the bottom, Dave's girl, Ben's boy and the drowner...
Luke is the boat owner's little boy - such a trooper!


They filleted them on the boat and we grilled them up for Sunday dinner. We dusted them with Lemon/Pepper and let them soak a little bit in some Lemon marinade. They were SSOOOOO good and tender, too! Pictures on the plate to come...

I'm alive!

I survived the extraction!! I'm also trying out the SHIFT button again.

Anyways here is the whole story if you want to read...

So since this whole thing was a study the surgery had to be done under conscious sedation. They had to ask me how I was doing, if I think I needed more medication and if I felt anxious. Here is how the whole thing went. So the nurse got my IV in my hand and ready to go. They first took the amount of blood they needed for the study of my DNA. I got waaaay dizzy and they kept saying I looked pale. The nurse had to get out some ammonia for me to sniff so I wouldn't pass out. So one part of the study was that I would either receive a placebo or Midazolam through the IV. After they put that in my IV I didn't really feel anything. The doctor came in and then administered the local anesthesia. The shots in the very back of my mouth didn't really hurt but the ones in my palate made me cry. I'm going to admit it - I started to get weepy. The doctor said I needed to calm down my breathing. He was very nice and I immediately trusted him. They decided to give me some oxygen through my nose. Now that's a weird feeling. So the extraction officially started and before I knew it he had popped out the top two. When he got to the bottom 2 I heard the drill start and he said I would feel some pressure. Yep, he was right. I kept thinking, "If he applies anymore pressure he's going to slip and blow right through my cheek!" I felt him sew me up and do the same on the other side. After he sewed the last one he through down his tools, put his hands in the air and said "DONE SUCKAS!" Just kidding, but they told me later he was done in 14 minutes.

The nurse said I did really good and she thinks I got the pain medication in the IV. She said the Midazolam usually has a paradoxical effect and women sometimes cry. She also mentioned it would have an amnesia effect and might make me feel sleepy. Well I think I got the placebo because I remember everything and was not sleepy at all and cried because it hurt!

They had to monitor me for a couple of hours after wards and then sent me home with Vicodin and Ibuprofen. I got an awesome care package from work and surprise ice cream from great friends. Poor Ben has been taking good care of me, too. He calls me every 4 hours from work to remind me to take my medicine. I am in good hands and on a steady diet of pudding, applesauce, ice cream & mashed potatoes. I'm still pretty swollen and the jaw is still tight but there hasn't been any bruising so far. I can't really talk normal and sometimes talking even makes me more sore.

Ben didn't get a picture of me but here are some other people we can make fun of...


All in all I am really grateful for this opportunity even though it was out of the norm. I was with seasoned doctors and nurses who made me feel comfortable. I am also grateful for Ben's friend at work who let us borrow the complete Seinfeld series so I could be occupied. I'm only on Season 4 so I got a ways to go!

meet my brothers

i thought i would talk about them for once...

when i said "hey i want a picture of all you guys"
this was the beginning of their reaction.
"ok where to do we stand? like this?"

from left to right:
ross age: 17 better be single, stan age: 27 single & looking ladies!, jeff age: 29 married 2 girls

adding their own flare to the picture...
i love my brothers. they kept me tough and protected growing up. they are funny and athletic and sensitive and handsome. i love how much they get along with ben.

on a different note:
i get my wisdom teeth extracted on tuesday. one of them finally broke through while the rest are burrowed nice and warm in my gums and jaw. they have been giving me a little bit of pain recently so it's nice to know they will be gone soon but i am still anxious about having the surgery. i have never been under the knife for anything much less had an IV line. at first i was going to have a 4th year dental student or a 1st year resident do the surgery at the school. then nate (my dentist/bro-in-law) showed my teeth to one of the doctors there & they saw that i qualified for a study that they were doing. it's at the Brotman Facial Pain Center at the school and the study is called the Evaluation of Behavioral and Molecular-Genetic Contributions to Pain Experience In Humans. they had me in for a screening appointment to make sure i understood everything about it and what they were studying. they didn't want me to think they were doping me up with some placebos and some random drug to see what happens. with my background in experiments and research i was very interested in actually reading about what results they are looking for and what coorelations they could find. i gave my consent for them to do a biopsy of my gums and take a sample of my dna for the genetic findings in the study. soooo in a nutshell, an oral surgeon is going to do my surgery, i will get free sedation, they have to monitor me afterward and they are going to still give me the discount as if a dental student were to do the surgery. oh and by the way they will be extracting all 4 of my widsom teeth! on that note, i will leave you with brian regan and his wisdom tooth tales... enjoy! be thinking of me on tuesday!

new blog address

hello all!

we changed our blog address...

http://benandcaitlin.blogspot.com/

we are no longer newlyweds...and I couldn't think of anything creative...

now I guess I have to update so you'll still visit us :)

mom and dad visit maryland

my mom and dad were able to visit us over my dad's spring break. it was so nice to see them enjoy taking a vacation on their own with no kids. we went from gettysburg, pa to virginia beach, va to washington dc (twice) to arlington, va and back to baltimore. just a week prior my niece emma sent me part of a class project to help with. they were reading the book "flat stanley" where the boy is flattened on accident so his parents send him in the mail to all these cool places. emma drew a flat version of herself to send to us. well flat emma arrived just before my parents did so it was perfect timing. she went everywhere with us and we were determined for that little 7 year old to have the best class project ever! none of this "oh we went to walmart and then to the park". no, flat emma went across the country! take THAT other 7 year olds in her class!



the boys tried to play football on as many building steps as possible. it was a beautiful day with perfect weather. what a nice break from the rain a few days before.


we happened to stumble upon a huge rally on the lawn of the capitol building. we didn't realize it was the day before they would vote on the health care bill.

my favorite part of the weekend had to be the Arlington cemetery. it was quiet and humbling. we saw John F. Kennedy's burial site along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. this tomb holds an unknown American soldier from every war who are "Know But to God." we were just in time for the changing of The Old Guard. there is one soldier at a time and they guard it 24 hours a day 7 days a year. it was special to watch because Ben was able to explain the meaning of certain things as the Guard went on.


it was a tiring but fulfilling weekend and i was sad to see my parents go. this just means we have to plan another trip because NY was untouched. i smell a girls trip!