Yes, I know I'm a Princess

October 3, 2008
ryan went and bought ellie this dress and she loves it! when she isn't wearing it, she brings me her teddy bear and has me put it on her bear to wear. although she doesn't need a dress to know that she's our princess.

speech festival

September 28, 2008
in the spring of 1842, the prophet joseph smith sent a letter to john wentworth, who was editor of a newspaper called the chicago democrat. this letter contained an account of many of the events of the early church history, the documents also contained thirteen statements outlining latter-day saint beliefs. these have come to be known as the articles of faith.

every year the youth in the stake have the opportunity to participate in what is known as the speech festival. the whole stake is giving a topic for the youth to pick from. each ward gets to send a speaker to the stake speech festival. this year the youth was given the topic of the 13 articles of faith. there were a lot of kids from the ward that spoke and they all did an wonderful job. it was amazing to listen to the youth of the ward and hear their testimonies!
jonathan spoke on the 13th article of faith and focused on honesty. mystery spoke on the 1st article of faith and talked about the holy ghost. faith was chosen last year from the ward to represent at the stake. she did a great job this year too. she spoke on both the 11th and 13th article of faith and spoke about love, tolerance and charity. they all did a wonderful job and we are so proud of them!
this year ashley lovell represent the ward and her speech was incredible! she received 3rd place at the stake speech festival. i can't wait till next year to hear our youth speakers again!

Hoogle Zoo

September 25, 2008
we were able to spend the afternoon with the turners at the hoogle zoo and we all had a great time. elizabeth LOVES seeing all the different animals. it was just really fun to spend the day as a family.

Dog Sitting

September 24, 2008
for the past 3 weeks i have been watching two cute dogs for a family while they are at work. they are so fun. boston is about a year old i think, and then the puppy bootah is only 11 weeks old and still has puppy breath. sugar has enjoyed having more dogs in the house. ellie loves the dogs! she chases them around and they chase her and she is always laughing. it's great, i get paid to play with two more cute puppies!

Let's Party It Up

Sept 19,2008
i am starting to feel old, yes i know i'm only 25! it just seems like time goes by so quickly! i'm so grateful for all the friends and family that i have that i was able to celebrate with! i went out with my family to my favorite restaurant the shanghai cafe for dinner, we have gone there every year for my birthday since i can remember! i was missing a very important part of my family, the taintor's. i sure miss them, but there were there in heart.
after dinner we had a party at my parents and it was such a blast visiting with so many great friends! i just love my friends and truly treasure them!
we had some good laughs too! two of my favorite laughs of the night were: when my dear friend mary asked me to open her gift first just in case someone had gotten me the same gift she wouldn't be embarrassed, so she set the gift on my lap. my sister holly was sitting next to me and peeked in mary's gift bag and while laughing grabbed marys gift and said 'no open my gift first'...it was so funny, they had gotten me the same gift, which is my favorite book 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'.
then my best friend elizabeth leavitt gave me a stuffed animal lobster and had sewed ryan's name on it's claw. when we were younger we watched the t.v. show 'friends' and phoebe would talk about how lobsters have one partner for life and so liz would always tell me that we'd find our lobsters, so it was a very sweet gift. it was funny though, cause my sweet grandma joanne said,"oh my bobby(my grandpa) would always say 'love me and love my lobster', and i never knew what that meant". then my mom said,"i think that was personal and meant something different mom". of course most of you know my mom. my grandma starting blushing and giggling and everyone else got a good laugh :)
i can't skip the high-light of the night though, since my friend elizabeth was there (who speaks spanish) i thought it would be nice to call alba, my birth mom. oh how it made her day. they all sang happy birthday over the phone and it was just a joy to talk to them and to hear their voices. alba has the most sincere voice and laugh that i have heard in a long time, her laugh is just so lovely. while talking to her it made me think of how 25 years ago she made such a unselfish sacrifice to let me have such an incredible life that i have led, by giving me up. i've had incredible opportunities in my life and made so many life long friends and have such a supportive close knit family and it just made me feel so much gratitude towards her!

Beautiful Blondie

September 18, 2008
ryan and i have wanted to get a bird since last christmas because ellie just loves them and gets so excited when she see them, but we just haven't gotten one yet. well my sweet grandma joanne has a beautiful bird that she has named blondie. lately my grandma hasn't been able to take care of her like she has wanted. and for an early birthday present she has given blondie to me to love and of course sing to! we only got her yesterday but ellie just sits and stares at the cage and giggles. plus, it's nice that blondie hasn't even fazed our dog sugar! blondie is a wonderful addition to the rodgers home! thank you grandma!


Sept 18, 2008

KC, Stacey & Elizabeth

September 14, 2008
two of our good friends moved to hawaii almost 3 years ago and we have missed them ever since! stacey is the sister to my friend cory, and when i met stacey years ago i just had an instant bond with her! she is one of the most genuine women i know! i just love her dearly and think that we were strong friends in the pre-existence. then there is our dear friends kc. he is ryan's best friend and ryan always says that he'll never find another friend like kc and that kc will never find another friend like ryan. kc actually surprised ryan cause we had no idea that he'd moved back! and of course it makes plenty of sense that kc and stacey are together! they are some of the sweetest people that I'm sure we will know in our lifetime. we are so glad that are back to stay! plus ellie just warmed up to them so quickly!

Ready to Party

September 14, 2008
ellie found some old party hats, so daddy helped her put them on and she thought it was funny.

Canyon Fun

September 13, 2008
we enjoyed an evening up in the canyon cooking tin foil dinner and roasting marshmallows with are good friends the cleverly's, and also are new friends from our ward nate and tiffany jones. we had a blast with them all and can't wait to do it again!

Cuddle Bug

September 12, 2008
my younger sister's faith and mystery slept over whom adore elizabeth and whom elizabeth adores as well. we stayed up all night playing the wii, but mystery fell asleep on the couch and elizabeth just climbed right up next to her and sugar and fell asleep.

More of Ellie & Papa

September 12, 2008
here is more proof that ellie adores her papa. she is starting to call him 'papa' all the time now! her giggling gets out of control when papa throws her in the air.

Ellie & Papa

Sept 8, 2008
we went to the turners for gabe's 2nd birthday party. i can't believe that he is already 2 years old! it's scary because elizabeth is only 6 months younger and to think that she'll be 2 years old...it's like, where did the time go?
anyway, elizabeth found a play dress right when we got to the party and fought me to take it off when we left, she looked so cute! she's a total princess and she knows it, but something more important that she knows as well as the rest of us, is that she LOVES her papa!