Well folks its been a month and we are still loving it! The work load has increased for President and the stress is starting to kick in, but he is still handling it really well. My mom is starting to realize how hard this is going to be to juggle being a mom and being a mission mom.  But boy Sophie and I are thankful for her! We are the luckiest girls in the world to have such an amazing mom.

The past week or so Jane and Paul have interview every missionary in the mission.  My mom came home last night and fell asleep on my bed while we were talking. They are both so tired, but nothing a good nights sleep shouldn't be able to fix.  On the bright side, they both are still glowing.  They have absolutely LOVED getting to know and praying with each missionary individually.

We all new that our missionaries were going to be great, but we had no clue they'd be this great!


As for me and Sophie, we are both doing great! I had my first breakdown... my first pity party for myself but also have started getting close to two girls in my ward. I think that we will end up being really good friends!  As hard as it's going to be starting over my senior year I know it's where I'm supposed to be, and I can feel blessing being poured on my, and also I can feel all of your prayers (thank you)! My good friend Annie Cowden also came and visited and that was a blast! We got to go into New York City a couple of days and see Cinderella and Les Miz on Broadway. Both were amazing! I've also started to go out with the Spanish sisters and my spanish is getting pretty good! I can now bear my testimony and pray in Spanish! It has been really fun learning!

Sophie is doing better than we ever thought that she would be! She started going to a summer camp everyday from 8-12 in the morning and she has made some really good cute friends there.  She looks forward to going each morning and has made each day go really fast for her!

We had our first Temple trip for the missionaries that will be leaving on August 5th.  It was so much fun to spend the day at the Temple then lunch at Central Park with all these great missionaries!! They were all shaken up by this trip because it is the marking point that they're almost done. Hopefully it didn't make them too trunky. They have all loved their missions but most of them are also excited to come home!

This past week has been AMAZING!!!! We just finished giving a "Meet the Taggart", 2 hour meeting, six different days.  It ends up being an all day event with travel, set up and down, talking after then taking some of the stragglers to lunch.  Sophie is going to have a "burn the talk ceremony".  It's hard to give the same talk 6 times and keep it fresh. But it has been so awesome meet all the missionaries! We all just immediately fall in love with them! We have seriously gained 270 more family members! We are all still struggling with names but luckily they have the name tags so we can cheat a little bit! We only wish that we could have spent more time with each of them so that we could have really gotten to know them! 

It is also so interesting how different each zone is! Some have so much energy and spunk, others are really reverent, others have a witty side to them, and some were really quiet. All were amazing in their own way and brought different things to the table! It was also really cool to see my dad teach using the spirit. You could tell that each zone needed to hear a different thing, because although he had planned the same thing for each meeting, everyone was very different.  I have loved watching him really lean on the spirit. How blessed am I to have such an amazing example as a dad?  

This is zones 7 and 8.  (we forgot to take pictures with the other zones.. whoops..) We live in this zone, so Emily gets to do P day activities with these guys. They are all awesome! 



Emily missed the last two Meet the Taggarts to go to youth conference.  A picture says a thousand words... obviously she had fun! She is really thriving here and is SO happy! Already making a lot of great friends and is excited for the rest of the summer! 

Interviews start tomorrow for President and Sister Taggart so they are super busy for the next two weeks, but are excited to be! They can't wait to get to know all these amazing missionaries better! On the other hand Sophie and Emily are excited to be able to go in New York City a couple times this week and go explore with Lara and Todd Wells who just got here tonight and will spend the week with us! 

We appreciate your prayers and honestly can feel them!! Love and miss you all! 

And so it begins!

We are here!! No one was messing around when they called New Jersey The Garden State! It is truly beautiful here and we are loving it! 

President Taggart, Paul, is in HEAVEN! His mindset has taken a big turn and he is completely focused on the lord and his work! It is also really cool to see the love in his eyes each time he meets another missionary, and to see him in his element. 

Sister Taggart, Jane, is finally feeling a little better now that everything is unpacked and organized she can take a breath and start enjoying herself a little more.  But as always she is her fun, outgoing, positive self and the Sisters and Elders all already consider her their "Mission Mom".  She is loving being here and is excited as always to get to work and start serving!

Emily is taking this big change a little better than Sophie, but we are working on her. They are both starting to make some friends.  Our new ward is incredible.  There are tons of kids and youth who have all been really welcoming which has made the transition a lot easier. It is hard to say much about these two because they are kind of stuck, but both have really good attitudes and are trying their best to make the most of our new life.

We have absolutely loved working with our awesome AP's, Elder Jones and Elder Nielsen.   

They are awesome!     

       
            We all feel really at home and are really excited to start our new adventure here in New Jersey!

We had one big adventure on the 4th.  Since the weather app told us all sun we decided to head down the "The Shore", which ended up being not so sunny. But we still had a little fun on the boardwalk and then ended up taking cover in the movie theater and then just driving home. The rain blew over and it ended up being a pleasant day but only after we made the hour and a half drive home.  But on the bright side the boardwalk wasn't as crowded as it would have been! (and we got some cute pictures, what more could you ask for?)