Taylor Made: February 2008

So I am going to tell a story and I am sure some will be able to relate!!! In 2001 I was managing a place in Orem, UT called Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. I was feeling pretty good about my position there and at the time my favorite litter sister Jessica and I were sharing a car. This was a fun little Eagle Talon that had some minor problems but no big deal. So being the generous brother that I am decided to purchase a new car and let Jess just have the Talon. I looked for about 2.5 seconds and was confident that I had found the right car for me. It was a 1997 Nissan Maxima GLE. Gold in color, black leather interior, automatic everything, Bose sound system, with chrome alloy wheels. I was in love! This car was beautiful. It ran like a champ for 4 1/2 years right up until i ROLLED it on I-80 heading to a softball tournament in Richfield. OUCHHHH! I was fine but my beautiful car that had a good 100,000 miles still left in her was totaled. I was not happy! I had one more payment until the car was payed off and was worth way more than what the bank offered me. But in desperation i took the money and bought a VW Passat. WOW.... I will NEVER do that again. This is where my car trouble really begins. I bought the car from an auction (first mistake), thought i was getting a killer deal! They told me it was a 2000 VW Passat with 64,000 miles on it for $4500. I was stoked. Bought the car on the spot!!!!!!!! Then I found out what they didn't tell me- cracked head, blown head gasket, and a bad Oxygen sensor. I was so happy because all sales are final at any auction and I had no way of getting the car home:) Right.... I WAS PEEVED!!!! So I'm stuck in SLC needing to get back to Cedar City about 300 miles south and luckily found a ride with my bishop who was up for work back to Cedar. I tow the car home, not cheap, and took it to the only place in Cedar that even works on VW's. 3 1/2 weeks and $2600 later the car was ready to run. At first the car ran great, however it didn't take long before it started acting up again:( Took it back the same place 3 separate times before they found the cause of what was wrong... Long story short it took another 2 weeks and $1500 to fix that problem, so that killer deal i thought i was getting ended up being a bust. By this time I am moved up to SLC and figuring that I have fixed just about everything you can possible fix on the car so I'm feeling pretty good right? WRONG!!!

I had a Softball tourny in Delta UT about 2 hrs south west of Salt Lake and I decided to drive. Well my good friend Jeff and Melissa's friend Kira went with us. Yeah I know you can see where this is going!!!! The drive down was fine but about 10 miles out side of Delta my check engine light comes on and my car DIES... besides being completely embarrassed I was so mad i could spit! Cynthia, Meliss's mom had to drive all the way down at 10pm to pick us up in Delta. So the problem was that the oil dip stick was broken and the place i got my oil changed filled it with way to much oil. WOW i am getting mad all over again!!!!!

That was the end for the VW and my relationship... it was over i was finished. I sold that car 1 week later, which in hind sight i maybe should have waited until I had another car picked out and ready to buy, because I sold that car just wanting so bad nothing else to go wrong before I got ride of it that I did not have an alternative mode of transportation.

This is a NOVEL sorry!!!! I obviously have some issues with this topic.

I will try to keep this section shorter. So I had to find a car fro about $4,600 because that's all I had to spend on a car without having a car payment. I jusmed at basically the first decent looking car that I thought would last at least 1 1/2 yrs. Well those who know anything about cars know that Honda's are very reliable and supposed to last forever. I bought an Acura Legend which is made by Honda. And like always at first it was a great car but SOON after my transmission went and Meliss and I struggled whether or not to even fix that but we got a killer deal ($1600) and decided to go for it figuring that we would get some good use out of the car after that fix. Man we got the car back and it shifted and ran great. Yeah for exactly 1 week! Then guess what happened???? My engine blow up... what the CRAP... can I not catch a flippin' break here. It would have been another $3000 to fix that! NO WAY... SO ends the legend of the LEGEND.

Meliss and I were not real happy about needing a new car but we also were not going to get screwed over again so we decided to just go new, something with a waranty and something reliable. Hence the 3 cars! I did however call the Kidney Foundation and they are going to be picking up the Legend in a few days!

So that ends the car trouble for the Taylor's, oh wait no it doesn't.... not 3 days after we pick up the Subaru Melissa's power steering pump goes out ($700)!!!

STUPID CARS!!!!!!!

I can't think of a better way to spend Valentines, than helping my brother propose to his girlfriend! Thanks to the connections of my dad, Kristopher was able to pull off an incredible proposal. He had originally planned on proposing to her on the Salt Lake Temple grounds on Valentine's Day. When my dad heard of his plan, he made a comment that the Choir which he sings in, has their rehearsals Thursday nights and this one happened to fall on Valentine's Day. They practice right on temple square, and my dad thought he might be able to get something arranged with the choir to make the proposal more special. So, Justin, Daniel, Ann, my mom and I all went down to the tabernacle with a dozen red roses for Brianna, hid in the "cry room" in the back, and waited for Kristopher and Brianna to come into the tabernacle to listen to the choir rehearse while they waited for their dinner reservations. After the choir warmed up for about 20 minutes, the President of the Choir, made some opening announcements before the rehearsal got underway. In the announcements he mentioned that in order to remind everyone what Valentine's Day is all about, there are two special guests in the audience. Then he introduced Kristopher and Brianna and said, "Go ahead, Kris." Kristopher then got down on his knee in front of the whole choir and orchestra and asked Brianna to marry him. The women of the choir started gasping, and clapping, and then the whole choir and orchestra started singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" for Kristopher and Brianna. The rest of us ran out of the "cry room" with the roses and hugged them and took pictures and videos. It was such a fun way to spend Valentines. Congratulations Kristopher and Brianna!!

Happy Valentine's to my sweetie!