We got a dog. Yes, I know, I'm crazy. We're going to try the dog thing again. Her name is Lucy. She's a miniature schnauzer and she's about a year old. She's white and really cute. Fortunately, she's mostly housebroken, so this might just work out this time. Now if we can just break her of chewing on stuff!
Tamsen started kindergarten. On the first day, they were supposed to bring a parent with them. It was fun to see her classroom and watch the teacher, kind of get an idea of what she's going to be doing each day. She really liked the first day of school. The next day, when I told her it was time to get ready for school, she said, "I'm get to go to kindergarten again?" Apparently, she thought she was only going to go once. I volunteer in her class one day a week, and the second day of school was my first day in there. When the kids got to class, the teacher was really strict with them, trying to teach them to find their seats without talking, pass in their homework without talking, basically, do everything without talking. I was curious to see how Tamsen felt about day two. When I picked her up from school, I asked her how she liked school. She said, "It was the best day of school ever! Even better than the first day." Then I asked how she liked her teacher. "I love my teacher, but she's always telling us what to do." Guess you'd better get used to that -- since that's her job! I'm glad she loves school and hope she keeps liking it!
The weekend before school started, we headed to Park City with Janalyn and Shaylie, to hit the outlet stores and play around. We spent the day in Park City shopping. Shay wanted to get her ears pierced again and Tamsen has been begging for pierced ears for months, so I decided to let her do it. Luckily, they did both ears at the same time. She was so brave. When they pierced them, she got the look on her face like she was about to cry, but she took a deep breath and held back the tears. Once she saw the earrings in her ears, she was so excited. We headed back to our hotel in Salt Lake grabbed some dinner and then went swimming. The next morning, we got up, ate bruch at Chuck-up-a-Rama, went and played in the fountain at the Gateway, and headed back home. It was a really fun weekend, fun company, fun shopping, fun to get away.
This year, I bought ride passes for the county fair, so we went on Saturday afternoon. We got there about 3pm went and saw all the animals, then started riding on rides. We ran into Tamsen's cousin, Shaylie, so they rode on a bunch of rides together. About 6:30, we went and found some dinner. After dinner, I took Tams to look at the pictures they make out of grains each year. I figured that was about all I'd get to look at -- but as soon as we walked out from seeing the pictures, she asked if there was other stuff we could look at. Huh???? So we went and looked at the quilts, the sewing projects, the cooking, etc. She actually really liked looking at the stuff and wanted to know why we couldn't eat the food. I was amazed that I got to look at the stuff I like to see at the fair! After looking through all the booths, we went back and rode some more rides. Tamsen's favorites where the YoYo (the giant swings that go around and around), the ferris wheel, and the "big kid" roller coaster. On the way home at about 10:30 pm, she said "Mom, today was the greatest day of my whole life!" Who needs Disneyland when you've got the county fair?
I wanted to get Tamsen's hair cut before school started. I just wanted to get it trimmed a little. She wanted it cut short... really, really short. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea to cut it quite so drastically. I finally got her talked into leaving it long. So... we went to her cousin Janalyn's salon. She was going to get a haircut while I got a pedicure. I told Jana that I just wanted an inch or two taken off the bottom. When I got done, and went to see Tamsen's haircut. It was sooo short!!! It was cut to shoulder length and flipped up on the ends. It looks so adorable. And makes her look so grown up. She love, love, loves her hair and loves flipping it around and looking at it in the mirror. Even though I was sad about her long hair being cut off, and a little sad that she looks so grown up, I do love her cute new haircut.
There are tons of parades throughout the summer and we usually hit most of them, since Tams LOVES parades. This year she got to ride on her preschool's float again and throw candy. In fact, on the fourth of July, we went to a parade at her Grandma & Grandpa Goodwin's house in the morning, then we sped across the valley to get to the other 4th of July parade so she could ride on the float with her dance class. On the 24th of July, her cousins Lexie and Josh were in town so we took them to the parade. They loved getting all the candy, seeing the horses, fire engines, princess floats, and bands.
In May we went to California for Eric and Meg's new baby's blessing. We stayed for two weeks. The first week was "vacation" -- the second week, I had to work, but it was nice to be able to work from Cali instead of home. It was still like vacation. We stayed the extra week to watch Lexie and Josh, while Eric and Meg and baby Ryan went to Hawaii with Meg's family. It was a fun two weeks. We went to Disneyland, spent some time in the pool, watched lots of movies, played a lot of Rockband. It was a nice break from the routine, and lots of fun spending time with my neice and nephew. Tams loved playing with her cousins. The weather was really odd the whole time we were there. It was cloudy, cold and rainy. Can't believe we didn't make it to the beach even once? What's up with that?
The preschool that Tamsen attended really goes all out for preschool graduation. They even had caps and gowns. The kids looked so cute. Graduation was held at a local high school's auditorium, and the kids came marching in to Pomp and Circumstance. They all looked so proud of themselves. They performed some songs they'd learned and then each walked across the stage to receive their diploma. They were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Tamsen said she wanted to be a school teacher and a swimming lesson teacher. It was a fun evening and I was so proud of Tams! Afterwards, we all went to Cold Stone for ice cream. Yum!
I can't believe she's really five! Where has the time gone? On Tamsen's "real" birthday, her dad, Grandpa and Grandma"s" came over for cake and ice cream and to open presents. She was surprised that there were more presents to open. She thought she'd opened them all on her "fake" birthday! She got a "big girl bike" for her birthday -- and after falling over the first time, decided she was done and that her trike was just fine to ride.
The Saturday before Tamsen's fifth birthday, she had her first birthday party. She kept calling the day her fake birthday. Funny kid! Some kids from the neighborhood and a few friends from pre-school came to the party. We played the oldie, but goodie games -- pin the tail on the donkey, duck duck goose, broke a pinata -- but mostly they just loved jumping on the trampoline! Then it was time for cake and ice cream and opening presents. I think she got a little overwhelmed with all the presents and wanting to play with each thing, but also wanting to open the next gift. It was lots of fun -- hopefully we won't have to do it again for a few years!
Tamsen started soccer this year. Ever since her friend Kennedi gave her the soccer uniform, Tams has been asking when she gets to play soccer. At her first practice, she spent most of the time following the coach around being the "assistant". At the first game, she just ran back and forth and back and forth. Whichever way the kids were going, she'd follow them, and then all of a sudden realize they'd turned and were going the other direction. I don't think she ever quite caught the concept that she was supposed to try to get in there and kick the ball! During the fourth quarter of the first game, she told the coach, "I need a break from all this running." By the last game of the season, she said she didn't want to play soccer anymore. Guess we'll see how she feels next spring!
We headed to Provo for Brett's graduation. Mom and Dad got to our house on Wednesday night and we were waiting to hear from Eric -- he had taken Meg to the hospital to be induced, so we were sure we'd get a call Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. No call during the night. Eric called about 10 Thursday morning to let us know that there was no baby yet. We left for Provo and finally about 2:30, Eric called to let us know that Ryan had finally been born. Meg had to have an emergency C-section, but both she and Ryan were doing fine. We got to Provo and sat in traffic for what felt like forever! We finally got to the Marriott Center, and decided to sit clear at the top, so we could lean against the wall. President Deiter F. Uchtdorf and Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke at commencement -- which was cool. Afterwards, we went to dinner, then went to Brett and 
Britney's place and watched The Office and played Guitar Hero. It was lots of fun to get to spend time with Brett and Britney.
To say that Tamsen's Grandma and Nana love St. Patrick's Day would be an understatement. It's a huge holiday in their family, so it's become a big day for us as well. This year, we went and had an Irish dinner with grandma and nana's friends, the Thunell's. We also went to Celtic Night at the Eccles Theatre to watch the Irish dancers and listen to the Irish music. When Tamsen woke up on St. Patrick's Day morning, she found that those mischievious leprechauns had topsy-turvyed our house and hid their treasure somewhere. She had lots of fun seeing what they'd done to the house, pulling cushions off the couch, turning the food green, putting chairs on the table, hanging pictures sideways -- they even turned the toilet water green! 
She came in my office with this St Patricks Day outfit that she put together all by herself and told me that she was a "leprechaun daughter". She had fun searching for the "treasure" and pinching anyone she could whether or not they were wearing green! 
ure of our yard on March 9.
So, everytime Tamsen goes to her Grandma and Nana's, we come home with all sorts of interesting things, but this one beats all. I have no idea what it is... it's got YoGos in it. When I first got it, it looked like it might be blueberry cheesecake (my favorite!), but when I took the plastic wrap off it... hmmmmm.... let's see, I see some crushed graham crackers, and something that looks like pears, except that they're purple (???) There's some YoGos in there and it's topped with whipped cream. Mmmmm... Yeah, I didn't taste it. If you know what it is, could you please let me know?
Mom made pajamas for the grandkids that they got to open on Christmas Eve. Princess pajamas for the girls and Cars pjs for Josh. They loved the matching slippers! 
Tams has been bugging me since Halloween to do a gingerbread house. So one day, I saw a kit on sale and decided to get it for her. After all the begging I'd heard about getting a gingerbread house, I thought she'd be really excited to build it. Well... not so much. She was more about eating all the candy! Go figure! So "we" (rather, I) put the house together and put the frosting on. Then it was one candy for the house, one candy for Tamsen, one candy on the house, three candies for Tamsen. It's a miracle there was any candy on the house!!! As soon as it was done, she was ready to eat it! We did have fun putting it together! And almost everyday before Christmas, I heard, "Mom, can we eat the house today?" She was pretty shocked when we got back home after the holidays and she asked and I finally said yes! So she broke a piece off, chewed on it for a minute and said, "Here, you have it."
Wednesday, we got up early and headed to the coast. We spent the day in Newport. Tamsen was really excited to see the ocean and wanted to put her swimsuit on and go the beach. Unfortunately, it was only about 60 degrees, so there wasn't going to be any swimsuits today! We went and saw a lighthouse. Tamsen wanted to climb to the top, so I had to get really brave and climb all those stairs with her. Did I mention that I HATE heights! The stairs would have been ok, but they were the ones where there's only the risers and nothing in between, so you can totally see through them. UGH! My palms are starting to sweat just thinking about it! About halfway up, I hear, "MOM, You're hurting my hand!" So maybe I was holding her hand a little tight. But all I could think about was her slipping and falling through those stairs. I know, I know, like that would really happen... But we made it to the top, and it was really cool to go up and actually see the light in the lighthouse. The view from the top was great too! I was glad I did it, but even more relieved when I was back down on the ground! 
She really liked the monkeys and apes. When we were halfway around the zoo, she started asking when she could go play on the playground. Is it time to go to the playground? When can I go play on the playground? Let's go to the playground! So we finally made it back around to the playground. She could have cared less about the animals. But she sure did love that playground!
After the zoo, we ate a restaurant where they have divers. Tams thought it was great and did a lot more watching the people dive instead of eating. But she really liked it and talked non-stop about it for days. It was a really fun weekend.
About a month before Halloween, when I realized that the movie Sleeping Beauty was going to be coming out around Halloween, I asked Tams if she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, and have grandma make her a Sleeping Beauty costume. She thought that sounded ok. A couple weeks later, she saw a Tinkerbell costume at the store and decided that she was going to be Tinkerbell. Then she saw some green face paint and decided she wanted to be a witch. Then Hannah Montana, a pumpkin, Minnie Mouse, back to Tinkerbell, and finally settled on the witch. A couple weeks before Halloween, told her she needed to decide for sure what she wanted to dress up as. She was still adamant that she was going to be a green witch. So, I bought the face paint and a witch hat -- we already had an old witch costume that was mine when I was a kid, so we were set. 
Tams loves to help cook. She always wants to help make anything or asks when can we make something. She'd been begging for rice krispie treats, so we decided to make them. She loved stirring the butter and marshmallows and dumping in the rice krispies. She thought it was great fun to push the rice krispies in the pan. She was so proud of herself that made them "all by herself". She'd offer them to anyone who came to our house for the next few days. 
Tamsen was so excited for preschool to start in September. I wasn't sure how she would take moving to a different class and having new teachers. She'd been in the same class with the same teachers since she started going there a year and a half ago. On back-to-school night, we went to meet her new teachers and see her new classrooms. She was excited to be a Pre-Kinder Kid. After her first day, she came home and couldn't quit talking about her new teachers and the new classrooms. She's so excited to be one of the "big kids" and that the only ones bigger than her are the "mentary" kids (elementary kids). She really loves the days that she gets to go to her preschool classes. I'm amazed all the time at the things she is learning. 