8 Things

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. The Office
2. Jon & Kate + 8
3. Flip That House
4. DIY Scrapbooking
5. Moving Up
6. Dr. Phil
7. What Not to Wear
8. Clean Sweep

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Macaroni Grill
2. Fredrico's
3. Cheesecake Factory
4. Red Lobster
5. In & Out Burger
6. El Toro Viejo
7. Costa Vida
8. Tommy Burger

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Went to Church
2. Went to dinner at the Zook's
3. Made "soggy" cake
4. Survived teaching primary
5. Made quesadillas
6. Watched Sleeping Beauty
7. Watched neighbor get taken away in an ambulance
8. Went to bed early

8 Things to Look Forward To
1. Getting Tamsen to sleep!
2. Trick-or-treating
3. Time change
4. Thanksgiving
5. Trip to Oregon
6. Decorating for Christmas
7. Christmas shopping
8. Christmas with my family

8 Things I Love About Fall
1. Halloween
2. Carving Pumpkins
3. Changing Leaves
4. Crisp Fall days
5. Frost
6. Smell of just mowed grass & hay
7. Thanksgiving
8. SWEATERS!

8 Things I Wish For
1. A Size 10 body ;-)
2. To be more patient with Tamsen
3. To have a completely organized house
4. To have my scrapbooks up-to-date
5. To be able to travel wherever/whenever I want
6. To have my family live closer
7. To have enough money to do whatever I want
8. A good husband :-)

Headache

Tamsen's quote of the day....

"My head's full of too many songs. It's called a headache."

Happily Ever After.... August 9, 2008

Matthew and Hailey were married on Saturday. Tamsen was so excited to get to go to the temple and see her cousin Matthew come out with his new wife, Hailey. It was awesome being with them in the temple and feeling the Spirit there. The sealer said some really neat things and I was glad Matthew invited me to be there.

Tamsen was excited to get to go into the temple and be in the waiting room. That and she got to be with her cousin, Shaylie while we were in the temple.

Tamsen just loves Matthew. Whenever we're at a family party and he's there, she'll stick to him like glue. It's so funny that she likes him so much! Since today, she couldn't follow Matthew everywhere, she adopted his brother, Jared.

By the time we got done at the temple, it was nap-time, so instead of going to the luncheon, we went home to bed. I don't know if it was the heat or all the excitement and late night the night before with the family barbeque, but I finally had to wake Tamsen up to go the reception. It was at Hailey's parents' house. Everything was gorgeous. It was a beautiful reception and it was lots of fun to visit with the Mosses. Tamsen loved running around the backyard and spent lots of time on the swing. When it was time to go, she wanted to stay and watch the video of Matt and Hailey at the temple.

As we were walking to the car to leave the temple, Matthew and Hailey were just outside the gate of the temple grounds having pictures taken. Tamsen turned to me and said, "Now they'll live happily ever after..."

I hope they do!

CRASH!!

On our way home from the dedication of our new chapel, Tamsen had her first major crash on her trike. Her friend, Carley, accidentally bumped into the back of her and Tams went face first onto the sidewalk. She skinned up her forehead and nose pretty good. She was such a little trooper, she only cried for a minute, then hopped back on her trike and rode the rest of the way home. She loved telling everyone about her crash when they asked about her scrapes.

Swimming Lessons

Tamsen has love, love, loved swimming lessons this summer. Although she's still a little nervous about learning to float (yes, we've done level two, twice and we'll do it again next time...) she loves to be in the water. Her favorite part of swimming lessons is free time, when they get 5-10 minutes to do whatever they want. She loves getting a water noodle and paddling all over the pool. She also loves to jump off the side of the pool into the water. When she's waiting for her turn to "swim" with the teacher, she likes to hang onto the side and push herself under the water. She's really good at holding her breath and blowing bubbles. I think once she gets brave enough to float, she's going to be a like a little fish!

Everyone Loves a Parade....

..... especially Tamsen. I don't know of anyone else who gets so excited about parades! We went to her great-grandpa and grandma's house for the annual fourth of July parade. Tamsen was ready with her chair, her bag, some juice. No amount of coaxing could make her move away from that chair, even though it was probably 15-20 minutes before the parade was going to be to where we were.

She was so funny on the way to the parade. She said she wanted to ride on the float and throw candy. I guess she really did have fun on the float at the last parade. But once the parade started, she forgot all about riding on floats and had a great time getting candy, waving at the princesses, yelling "Go Aggies" and dancing to the music. This year, she even liked getting squirted by the water trucks! We had a fun time at the parade and left with about five pounds of candy!

Riding on the Float

Tamsen was so excited (and a little nervous) to get to ride on the float for her pre-school in one of the local parades. She was really excited to get to throw candy to everyone. I found out later that she ate about as much candy as she threw!

She had tons of fun and was so cute when she saw Nana and me toward the end of the parade. She threw lots of candy to us and her friends Summer and Stockton. And all the way home told us about all the friends she had seen along the parade route.

Tams Turns 4!

Tamsen got to celebrate her birthday four times. "Four parties because I'm four!" The first party was while her cousins and grandma and grandpa were here. The second party was actually a joint party with her uncle Lynn. He had a slip and slide and she and her cousins Halle and Riley had tons of fun playing on that and having a water balloon fight.


The third party was on her actual birthday. Her dad, grandma and nana came for dinner, then she opened presents and had cake. The cake was supposed to be Dora the Explorer in her fairytale-land princess dress, but Tamsen's Dora
doll accidentally went to California with Lexie. So we had to improvise and I attemped to make Dora's head. I guess I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon to become a cake decorator! Oh well, everyone gets a good laugh at the picture of the cake anyway!






Tamsen got roller skates from her grandma and grandpa and was SO excited to try them out. It's a good thing they came with knee and elbow pads! Her legs were going every which way! I guess we'll have to work on that!!
















Tamsen had a great time opening her presents -- and there was no shortage of those! She got some cute clothes, tons of princess toys and some books.

The last party was her party at school. She was happy because everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and she got to wear a crown all day! She's so excited to finally be four!!

Rain, Rain Go Away

When we got home from school, Tamsen begged to be able to go outside and jump in puddles. So, she went and got her boots and headed outside. She loved running up and down the gutter and jumping and splashing in the water. There was a really big puddle on the corner that she really liked wading in too.

After she came in and got dried off, she said, "Mom, I sure do love puddles!"

Beauty and the Beast

Eric, Lexie, Tamsen and I had front row seats for Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't quite sure how the girls would like would do, but they loved it. They were mesmerized from the start! They watched the whole thing, clapped whenever a song was sung. It was a pretty long play, almost 3 hours long, and they were so good for the whole thing.

When the play was finished, they wanted to get up on the stage, so here's Tams and Lex on the stage at the theatre. The characters were out in the foyer after the play, so Tamsen and Lexie waited patiently to get to see Belle and have her sign their programs.

After we had pictures with Belle, I asked if there was anyone else they wanted to get pictures with or talk to. They said no. When we got out to the car, Tamsen started crying and said that she didn't get to talk to any of the people from the play. I asked who she wanted to talk to, and she said "The Beast." So we hopped in the car, drove around the block and went back in the theatre. Luckily, the Beast was still there. So was Lumiere, so we got to have pictures with him too. Lumiere was my favorite in the play. He was so funny -- when the girls went to have their picture with him, he said, "Oh! It's my front row princesses!"
Luckily, we got to see the Prince/Beast too! And everyone went home happy. It was a really fun day!
I can't wait to see what the next one is. Hopefully, it will be something fun that Tamsen will like! I've really enjoyed taking her to the theatre and I'm glad she's enjoyed it too!

Tam's and Lex's Birthday Party -- April 2008

Eric, Lexie and Josh came to visit for a few days at the end of April. Since Tamsen and Lexie's birthdays are so close, we decided to have a birthday party for them. They were going to go see the play "Beauty and the Beast" on Saturday, so I decided to "attempt" to make a Belle princess cake. It turned out ok, but the frosting was a little soft and started to melt after about an hour. We had to hurry and sing "Happy Birthday" and light the candles before her skirt completely melted off!





It wasn't the prettiest cake, but it sure tasted good! Next time, I'll have to make my own frosting so it's a little stiffer!



Here's those cute girls with their beautiful lipstick and the Belle cake.



After doing cake and ice cream, we got to open presents. They each had presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and then their presents for each other. Tamsen was SO excited when she opened her gift from Eric, Meg, Lex and Josh. It was a Giselle barbie doll from her favorite movie "Enchanted".

Both Tamsen and Lexie got tons of stuff from Grandma and Grandpa -- and so Josh wouldn't feel left out, he got to open some presents too! The gift of the night was Lexie's cash register. They had so much fun "buying" all of their new birthday presents. It kept them busy until it was time for bed!

Dance Recital - April 2008

Tamsen was so excited to get to take dance lessons. One of our neighbors has a dance studio in her basement, so it's cheap, close and convenient! Tamsen's class did two dances, a cute tap dance to Do-Re-Mi from Sound of Music and a ballet to Somewhere Out There. Mom made the costumes for Tamsen's class. They turned out so adorable! And all the girls loved them!
So having five four-year-olds was little more than organized chaos, but they were so cute! This was a part of the tap dance where they were all just supposed to dance however they wanted.

The best part about the recital was that there were only five classes -- each did two dances and we were out of there within a half hour! Now that's my kind of recital!

Baby Animal Days -- April 2008

In April we went to the Heritage Farm for Baby Animal Days. We've gone for the past two years and Tamsen didn't necessarily "love" it. But I thought that this year she might be old enough to really enjoy it. At first, she wasn't sure about petting the animals, but as soon as she saw the bunnies, she was ready to hold them and pet them. We spent a lot of time with the bunnies, but I finally convinced her that there were other baby animals that she would like to see and pet too, so we finally went to the other sections of the farm to see the other animals.

On our way over to see the sheep, horses and cows, there was a face painting booth. Tamsen has wanted a rainbow painted on her face since last fourth of July, so when these guys said they could paint a rainbow on her cheek she was SO excited. But when it came time to sit in the chair to actually get her face painted, she wasn't so sure. She started crying. I finally convinced her to sit on my lap and let them paint her face. After they were done and she saw the rainbow on her face she was happy again and wanted to show anyone who would look her rainbow.

They were doing free pony rides when we first walked into the farm. Iasked her if she wanted to ride, and she said no. But after she petted the pony, she asked if she could ride him. I told her she couldn't ride this one, but that there were some that she could ride. She said she wanted to, so we headed over to the pony ride area.


I wasn't sure that she would really get on the horse after our face-painting experience, but she waited patiently in line for her turn, and put on her helmet. When they came to get her to put her on the horse, she got right up and went around the corral a couple times and was so excited to be riding a horse.

After the pony ride, we went to see the baby chickens, ducks and pigs. We had the chance to eat chocolate covered crickets, but neither of us really wanted to taste them. After that, we headed home. But everytime that we pass the farm now, Tams asks if we can go see the baby animals.

Pork Chops

One Saturday morning in April, I was making pancakes for breakfast. Tamsen's new thing is that she loves to set the table. This day, she wanted to move her little table into the living room so she could watch Dora while she was eating. While she was getting the silverware out of the drawer, she came across some chopsticks. She came running over with the chopsticks and said, "Mom, can I eat with pork chops?" I didn't notice that she had the chopsticks in her hand and didn't figure for a second what she was talking about. So I asked her what she had said. She said again, "I want to eat with pork chops." I had a good laugh when I finally figured out that "pork chops" were really chopsticks. She had a great time eating her pancakes with "pork chops".

Easter 2008

For Easter this year, Tamsen and I traveled to Idaho to spend Easter with my parents. The weather there was beautiful and dad was starting to plant the garden. Tamsen loved being outside helping him plant the potatoes.

Mom made Tamsen a beautiful Easter dress that Tamsen just loved prancing around in.

When we got up Easter morning, the Easter bunny had left a basket with notes that told her where to go to find her gifts. At first, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea -- she wanted to go find the eggs! But after she found the first gift, she was ready to look for presents and wait to look for the eggs. She had a lot of fun filling her basket with the things the Easter bunny left and then going and searching for the eggs.

A Day at the Ballet

Last weekend, the Civic Ballet was performing Cinderella. Since Tamsen just adores Cinderella, I thought it might be fun to take her. They were allowing children three and older to attend the matinee, so I figured we'd give it a try! When I told Tamsen that we were going, she could hardly wait for Saturday to get here. (Its a good thing I waited until Friday to tell her!) I had never been to a real ballet before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'd explained to Tamsen that they weren't going to talk or sing, but that they were going to dance the story of Cinderella.

She dressed up in her Cinderella dress and had to have a bun in her hair, like Cinderella at the ball. She kept telling everyone at the theatre that she was "ball gown Cinderella". It was cracking me up. Once the ballet started, she was mesmerized. She loved watching the dancers and loved clapping at the end of each different dance. She did great the first half. At intermission she told me "I didn't know they would be real". I guess she thought it was going to be like a movie. During Act II she wasn't quite as good. The scene was Cinderella at the ball, but each group in the ballet troupe came out and did a different dance -- so that part was more dance than story and she got a bit restless. Between Act II and Act III, I told her to dance, dance, dance and get all those wiggles out. She danced and danced and wanted me to pick her up (like the prince lifted Cinderella). Once Act III started and it went back to the story of Cinderella, she enjoyed it again.

After the ballet was over, we went to the foyer and met several of the dancers. One of my friends from work played one of the ugly stepsisters. He had been given a boquet and when we went to talk to him, he pulled one of the roses out of his boquet and gave it to Tamsen. She thought that was the greatest thing ever and each dancer that she talked to, she told them that the ugly stepsister gave her a flower. She also kept asking me "The ugly stepsister is your friend, right?" I wish I had taken pictures of her with the dancers. I didn't see any other people taking pictures with them until we were walking out the door, so I didn't know if it was proper ballet etiquette! Oh well, next time. As we were about to walk out the door, Tamsen yells, "Mom! It's the prince!" Then she goes running after him, "Prince! Prince!" He was so sweet and stopped and talked to her for a minute. She had a great time! She told me as we were leaving, "Next time I want to dance with Cinderella and the Prince on the stage". And now she tells me that when she gets big, she's going to be a princess ballerina.

Disneyland 2008

Tamsen and I went with my parents to Southern California to visit my brother and his family for a week. We were looking forward to warm weather and getting far, far away from the two feet of snow and freezing cold that we've been having all winter! I packed for 70-something weather, but it was almost as if we brought the cold temps with us! Each day we stayed was colder than the one before... then the rain started. Even with the less than perfect weather, it was still fun to get away and spend time with family!

On Monday, we went to the beach in Santa Monica. It was pretty cold. Tamsen was so excited to be there and wanted her swimsuit on. She was disappointed that she wasn't going to get to play in the water, but she went right to work in the sand. We probably spent 20 minutes on the beach before everyone was freezing and we headed back to the car. Tamsen wasn't ready to go and wanted to stay and play in the sand.

Tuesday, we got up early and headed to Disneyland. Tamsen has been so excited to go, since Christmas. We spent most of the day riding rides (and waiting in lines) and then it was finally time to head over to California Adventure for the Princess luncheon at Ariel's Grotto. Tamsen was so excited to go the the Princess lunch and meet several of the Disney princesses. She could hardly contain herself when she saw Cinderella.

She was so excited to see the princesses and have them come and talk to her and take pictures with her. She said that her favorite princess to see was Cinderella. She also got to see the Fairly Godmother, Snow White, Jasmine, and of course, Ariel (since it was Ariel's restaurant).

It was so fun watching her reaction to each princess and to hear the cute little conversations she had with each one.

After the Princess Luncheon, we rode on a few rides at California Adventure, then headed back to Disneyland for the parade. I was really surprised at the rides Tamsen liked. We went on one called Soarin' over California. You're strapped into a seat and then lifted in front of a huge screen and it gives you the sensation of flying over different areas of California. It was AWESOME. Definitely my favorite. I didn't know if Tamsen would like it, but she's talked about it quite a bit and loves to pretend that we're flying over the trees ("Lift up your feet, mommy!"). Another of her favorites was Splash Mountain. I'd never ridden on it before, so I figured it would be similar to the log ride at Knott's Berry Farm. Boy, was I wrong! The drops were much bigger. I was worried that it would scare Tams, but she loved it! She said it was her favorite ride at Disneyland. It was such a fun day, and I can't wait to come back!

The rest of our trip was pretty low-key, which was fine with me. It was nice to be away from the old routine and just relax and not have to be anywhere! Each night we were there, we watched several episodes of seasons one and two of The Office. I'm HOOKED! It just cracked me up -- and I keep laughing everytime I think about it. I'm tempted to go buy season three so I can get caught up! I guess I'd better just find a "slow" week and go rent it and watch it after Tams goes to bed!

The week went by way too fast and before I knew it, it was time to head back home. Tamsen was quite the little trooper on the ride and did great. She was upset that we weren't staying in Mesquite on the way home. She said that St. George was scary and she didn't want to stay there. But once we got to our room, she changed her mind and said she liked St. George.

We stopped and had lunch with my brother, Brett and his wife, Britney, on the way home. It was good to see them and get to spend a little bit of time with them.

It was such a fun trip. I always love getting to spend time with my parents and my brothers and their families. I'm lucky to have two awesome sisters-in-law and the cutest niece and nephew in the whole world!