Williamsburg--Fall 2009

Nancy and Doug, Norma and Theron, and Marilyn and Jerry flew out to Raleigh for a family gathering in Colonial Williamsburg. We stayed for a week at the Marriott Vacation Club resort at Ford's Colony. The accommodations were nice; the get-together was wonderful. Here are a few pictures at some of the sites we visited.
This is the whole group on the banks of the James River, between Williamsburg and Jamestown.

Sisters and brother in a Powhatan dug-out canoe, in a recreation of the Jamestown settlement (1607--the first English colony in the New World).

A native American--sort of--demonstrating the craft of twine-making in Jamestown.

The whole gang again, at Black Beach on the end of Jamestown Island.

Dave and Shelly Myers drove down from California, MD for a day.

Wedding & Family Reunion

The centerpiece of our family reunion was the marriage of Jack to Joanna Hawkins on Friday, June 26th. Here is the lovely bride and her happy husband just outside the doors of the Timpanogos Temple.

The entire wedding party at the reception that evening at the Lion House in Salt Lake.

Joanna's parents, Matt and Shannon Hawkins.

. . . and Jack's parents.

The whole Taggart clan--six couples and 13 grandchildren, near the entrance to the temple.

The traditional sisters and brother photograph--Norma Eberhard, Nancy Williams, John Taggart, Marilyn Hadd.

Luke with his Grandma Taggart.

There are over 800 other pictures. But you'll just have to wait until the photo album is finished.

Miscellaneous

Not much is happening at this very moment--no big trips just completed, no unusual events. I thought a few miscellaneous photos might be just the thing.

About 10 years ago, we planted wildflowers in the natural area just below our back lawn. At first, they were multi-colored. Slowly, the yellow daisies took over, as the less hardy varieties died out. Then a few white daisies showed up, on their own. Today, it's all white daisies, and they're spreading out! I'm hoping the daisies will prevail over the Japanese bamboo grass--a vile weed that secretes some kind of poison that makes the ground infertile for other plants and throws out tens of thousands of seeds that can germinate up to 7 years later. So far, the daisies are holding their own.
Craig and Pug Mikkelsen,with some Taggarts in front of Multnomah Falls from a few years ago at Thanksgiving.
The legal staff at Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation.
An eclipse of the moon last year. That greenish shadow up and to the right comes, I believe, from a reflection off the filter I had on the camera. Not good, but still an interesting picture, don't you think?
Young Jack Taggart on his mission. Jack is getting married next week, so I thought a picture from a couple of years ago would be a nice thing.

Nauvoo

This past weekend was quite interesting. I went to Nauvoo to speak at a Young Single Adult conference--young people from Kentucky and southern Indiana who are members in the stakes I visit regularly. This was my first time in Nauvoo, so it was a special time. Below are a few pictures:

The Nauvoo Temple, shining in the afternoon sun on a bluff above historic Nauvoo.

I met a nice family from New Zealand--the Fitzpatricks. They had already been to Salt Lake, Palmyra and Kirtland. After a few days in Nauvoo, they were headed for Jackson County, MO.

The Fitzpatricks and I road in a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen, not far from the mighty Mississippi at the jumping-off point for the Saints headed west.

Two sister missionaries in the post office/general store.
The graves of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma Smith. The largest part of historic Nauvoo is owned and operated by the LDS Church, but a significant section is operated by the Community of Christ. The Smith graveyard is in that part.
As I said, my purpose in going there was to speak to the Young Single Adults--about 60 strong. The "fireside" began in the late afternoon in a grove of trees below the temple. After about 20 minutes of preaching in the great outdoors, just like the pioneers, it started to sprinkle, so . . .
. . . unlike the pioneers, we moved indoors. The Seventies Hall was built on Parley Street for use by the Seventies as a school; sort of an 1840s MTC. We would have started there but the missionaries didn't want to "close" it to other visitors before regular closing time. They relented because of the rain. For me, it was a particularly meaningful way to end the fireside. During the Nauvoo period, the quorums of the Seventy grew from a few hundred to a few thousand. Here are pictures of the outside and the inside of the Seventies Hall.

In the evening, we attended "Sunset on the Mississippi", a musical review put on by the missionaries and others. It was everything you could want--a parade, patriotic songs, silly songs, dancing, jokes, audience participation--there was nothing it didn't have. And the best part was all those older missionary couples up there pulling it off. (There were a few ringers--probably BYU Program Bureau types.) The grand finale had a chorus line of senior sisters doing a routine with walkers. Very funny!
Early Sunday morning I drove to Carthage. Ordinarily, the jail would have been closed then, but I happened upon a small group that had arranged a special tour, so I joined them and got to see the jail as well.
Sunday morning we had a sacrament and testimony meeting, after which there was a group photo.
Before leaving Nauvoo, I drove to the pioneer cemetery, where I found this headstone from our ancestor, Washington Taggart, who joined the Church in Peterborough, N.H. with his two sons, migrated to Nauvoo, and died of cholera in 1843. The stone was placed there by the George Washington Taggart Family organization several years ago.
I'm thinking Nauvoo would be a great venue for a family reunion!

Raleigh Stake Day of Service

April 25th was a day of service in the Raleigh Stake and all across the North America Southeast Area of the Church. Here are some pictures . . .

Marilyn, in her capacity as the director of public affairs for the stake, worked with the priesthood leadership to plan and organize things. Steve Bodhaine, the multi-stake public affairs director, was on hand to record the project. We had a "family fun run"--a 5k race/walk. The price of admission was donated food or clothing. The food went to the Central & Eastern North Carolina Food Bank. Clothing went to the LifeCare Pregnancy Center (a group that encourages unwed mothers not to abort) and the Salvation Army.

We kicked off early in the morning. The weather was perfect. 800 people registered early and, with walk-ins, we estimate about 1,000 people participated. The theme for our project was "Lengthen Your Stride".

"Marshall" Barnes, Doc Weber and other committee members made sure everything was ready.

As the formalities began, the Primary children sang "I Am a Child of God". President Epps and Jennifer Absher gave instructions.

The "race" wandered through the neighborhood behind the Wake Forest chapel. Serious runners soon left the others behind.

Doc Weber and his team made sure there was drinking water along the route.

Some ran . . . some walked.

Not dead last, but close. The Stevensons didn't seem to mind.

From Zebulon: the Simpsons and their neighbors.

How much food did we collect? A bunch! We had collection points in each of the buildings across the stake. This shows what was collected at the Wake Forest building. In addition, cash donations totaled over $2,000.

Lots of clothing as well. It had to be sorted, with maternity and infant clothing going to LifeCare and the rest going to the Salvation Army.

Boy Scout Plaques

It's Boy Scout week at the Taggart home. Every year, the Occoneechee Council Relationships Committee (J. Taggart, Chair) hosts a banquet for each boy in the Council who earned the religious award of his particular denomination during the prior year. This year, the banquet will be held at the Cary 1st/2nd Ward building. A few years ago, we were looking for something we could give the boys, and we decided to give them a plaque with Friberg's "Prayer at Valley Forge" affixed. Not having any money, we wondered if we could make them ourselves. Turns out we could. We plane the wood. We cut it to specific dimensions. We rout the edge. We sand it. We etch the words "Duty to God" in it (well, actually, someone with a lazer machine does that). We glue the picture on it and apply a few coats of clear finish. Not bad, eh?

The wood this year was rough cut cherry and black walnut.

My favorite tool: The DeWalt compound Miter

By the time we got to the sanding phase, we had a pretty good system going.

We finished about 80 plaques in about 3 hours. Wesley wasn't much help, but everyone else was great!

The finished product (last year's model).

It's Sunday evening and I just got back from a stake conference assignment in Gastonia, NC. I invariably worry more than I should about these assignments and this was no exception. I find it very satisfying to visit the stakes and always uncover old associations and new relations. This time, it was a fourth cousin, the second great grandson of William Walton Burton's brother. His wife is the stake YW president and she spoke during the Saturday evening session. When I met her husband after the session, I took one look at him and knew we were related--he looks exactly like Uncle John's sons.
The picture below is a lot like the one permanently posted to the right, but I wanted to add one that gives a little more detail. What a nice bunch of people! Anyway, I like them.

Nothing much is happening. Oh, there's the global liquidity crisis, the bailout (and the inflation that will follow), rising unemployment, etc. But otherwise, things around here are pretty quiet. I've been thinking about getting back to practicing my horn.

This is one full-service grandma! Today they made bread.

First, they ground up the wheat on the deck. The leaf blower took care of what they left behind.
Next, everything (including almost a couple of fingers and a nose) went into the mixer. Then we baked the bread.
And finally we ate it. Yummy! Grandpa learned that, even if it is waaay past bedtime, he gets points for letting the boys taste the product of their labor.

I wonder what's up for tomorrow.