Teresa's Blog

Glasses!

2009-12-05T15:08:00.004-08:00

Tams has been wishing that she could have glasses and braces. One of her dreams came true this week after we went to the eye doctor. She was so excited when he told her she needed glasses. When she called Grandma to tell her, she said "Grandma, I have GREAT news!" She's been asking every day when her glasses would get here and was so excited when they got here early! And while we were shopping after picking up her glasses, she told everyone that looked her way -- "I got glasses today!"

Lucy

2009-09-06T19:37:00.001-07:00

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's First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-06T19:35:00.001-07:00

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!

Park City Trip

2009-09-06T19:34:00.002-07:00

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.

County Fair

2009-09-06T19:34:00.001-07:00

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?

The Haircut

2009-09-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

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.

Parades 2009

2009-09-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

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.

California Trip

2009-09-06T19:31:00.004-07:00

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?

One funny thing that happened, we went to Aunt Bonnie's house. The kids wanted to go play outside -- I went out to check on them and they'd found some snails. Tamsen was just completely enthralled with them. She picked them up, let them climb up her arm. At one point she had seven or eight of them crawling on her. Lexie kept telling me she wanted to pick one up but she was too scared. Tams and Josh were picking them up and putting them in the garden. Finally, I had to wash all the slime off Tamsen's arms. Who knew that snail slime was so gooey. WoW! It took forever to get it off of her. She thought those snails were great fun though. Crazy kid. I wish I'd had my camera with me.

Preschool Graduation

2009-09-06T19:31:00.003-07:00

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!

Tamsen's Fifth Birthday

2009-09-06T19:31:00.001-07:00

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.

Tamsen's Fake Birthday

2009-09-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

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, soccer extraordinaire

2009-05-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

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!

Crazy Hair Day

2009-05-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

It was crazy hair day at Tamsen's preschool. She was so excited to go to school with her crazy hair. She wore it like this for two days and would still be wearing it "crazy" if I'd let her!

Mowing the Jungle...

2009-05-10T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it finally warmed up and dried up enough for me to mow the lawn. The grass was so long that it kept jamming up the mower, so it took a good long time to get it mowed. Ahhh... where's the snow when you need it???

Seriously! Where is Spring????

2009-05-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

Here's the snowmen that Tamsen and Grandpa Martindale built on April 25th!!

Brett's Graduation

2009-05-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

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.

Easter Weekend

2009-05-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty fun Easter weekend. On Friday, we went to Baby Animal Days (along with every other person in the valley!). It was insane! There were so many people there. We waited in line for over an hour to ride the horses. I was hoping that it would get better. We went and saw the baby calves, goats and sheep. Tamsen thought it was fun petting the baby sheep. But when we got over to the area where the baby chicks, ducks and rabbits were, the lines were so long. We ended up just wandering around and looking at the baby animals instead of waiting in line to hold them, since we had to leave to get to Salt Lake by 5:30.

We got to Salt Lake to watch Jeremy's band play. Tamsen thought it was so fun listening to the music. She liked clapping and dancing. She told the people that were sitting next to us "You know what the coolest thing about me is? That's my dad playing the guitar." Too funny.

Saturday, we colored eggs. Tamsen had a lot of fun coloring them all. She liked trying to make them rainbow colored and wanted to hide them as soon as we were finished coloring them.

Sunday morning she got up and found her Easter basket. At first she wanted to go find all the eggs, but then she realized that the Easter Bunny had hidden presents too, so she liked finding the clues that led to her gifts. After she'd found everything, she went hunting for eggs and was ready to find more -- apparently two dozen wasn't quite enough!

We had really nice weather, church was nice, it was just a quiet relaxing day.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-05-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

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!

Where Is Spring???

2009-05-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of our yard on March 5.

Here's a picture of our yard on March 9.

Yes, the snow is up past the swings on the swingset.

I woke up thinking that I was going to get out and spray for weeds after work. Then at about 6:30 am I was sitting there working and I heard a lawn mower. I'm thinking -- who in the world is mowing their lawn this early in the year, and at this time of the morning. So I peeked out the window and saw that it was my neighbor with his snow blower on my driveway taking care of the 6 or so inches of snow that had fallen. Well, it didn't let up all day. Around 3 pm, I went out to brush off the dish, because Tams was mad that the tv wasn't working and there was nearly two feet of snow. I couldn't even get the screen door open! I took out the yardstick to see how much there was -- 20 inches!! And it was still snowing like crazy! And three days later -- snow was gone. Crazy Utah spring!!

What is It?

2009-05-10T19:52:00.001-07:00

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?

Ice Skating

2009-05-10T19:44:00.001-07:00

Tamsen has wanted ice skates since I can remember. Her Grandma and Nnana bought her a pair of ice skates, so we went over to the park to try them out. The city floods the park each winter to make an outdoor ice skating rink. She had lots of fun "skating". We skated clear across the rink, and on the way back, she fell down and hit her nose on the ice. It started bleeding. I felt so bad! I gave her my gloves to hold on her nose and we drove a couple blocks to Grandma and Nana's to get cleaned up. Once she was cleaned up, she was ready to go back and skate some more. So we went back to the park, but she decided she wanted to "skate" without the ice skates. After that day, the weather warmed up and the rink closed down. Guess we'll try again next year!

New Years 2009

2009-05-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun on New Years Eve. We watched movies, played games and made lots of fun foods to snack on. At 10 o'clock, we "pretended" it was midnight. We watched the big ball drop in Times Square and blew our horns and had our Happy New Year!

On New Years Day, we hung out at home and had a pretty quiet day. Tamsen wanted to go out and play in the snow, so we went out about 4:30 and built snow men. We built two snowmen, then Tams decided she wanted to build some snow babies. She had lots of fun making snow angels and throwing snowballs at me.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-30T21:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! Christmas came FAST this year! Tams and I went to Idaho to spend Christmas with my family. The trip there was an adventure! I found out Monday night that the freeway through Snowville was closed. So I kept checking all morning on Tuesday, hoping that it would open up. We left about noon and took the long way, up through Pocatello and across. The roads were good and bad, but even when they were good, the going was pretty slow. It usually takes about four and a half hours to get there. It took us almost eight! Tams wasn't real happy about it. When we got to Burley she said, "How come you keep driving and driving and driving?" Both of us were happy to finally make it to grandma and grandpa's house.

We had a full house. Eric, Meg, Lexie and Josh had come from California and Brett and Britney were there too. It was loud and fun. I love my family!! Tams had so much fun playing with Lexie and Josh. It was just great to hang out with the family. Get up early, stay up late, eat too much, go shopping. Good times! I love being with my family!!

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!

Christmas day was really fun. We didn't get up as early as usual, we waited for the kids to wake up. They were so excited to see what Santa brought. Then we opened presents. It was too funny, Josh LOVES Cars and Thomas the Train. He got a Thomas the Train set and was perfectly happy to play with that the entire time. But, before Christmas, he'd picked out some Cars wrapping paper, and they'd wrapped a lot of his gifts in it. Well, the first two gifts he unwrapped were in the Cars paper. When we handed him the next one, it was wrapped in Santa paper. He didn't want anything to do with that present! He pushed it away and said NO! So we handed him a present wrapped in the Cars paper. He opened it right up! Apparently he only wanted his presents wrapped in his wrapping paper. Finally, they ripped a little of the Santa paper off, and when he saw that it was Thomas the Train inside, he decided he'd open it after all. It was too funny.

Brett got Guitar Hero for Christmas. We had so much fun playing it. Dad didn't like it so much. I guess we had it turned up too loud and it was constantly going. He was probably glad to see it go home with Brett. But in the meantime, it was a blast. Tamsen had wanted a Hannah Montana guitar for Christmas. She got a Princess one instead. She liked to "play" guitar hero with her guitar. She'd get her guitar and go stand in front of the tv playing with the boys.

Well, as soon as it had come, Christmas was gone, and it was time to head back home. It was a fun week spending time with everyone. Can't wait til next time...

Gingerbread House

2009-01-30T21:37:00.000-08:00

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."

Thanksgiving in Oregon

2009-01-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Oregon with Tamsen's aunt Debbie and uncle Lee and her cousins, Daniel and Jake. We flew to Portland with Tamsen's grandma and nana. It was Tamsen's first time on an airplane and she thought it was a great adventure. When we landed in Portland, she thought we were back in Salt Lake and going to drive to Danny's house. We had tons of fun and crammed a lot of fun things into a few short days.

On Tuesday, we got up and went to Cosco. Everyone thinks I'm insane, but since we don't have a Cosco at home, it's always on my list to do when we go somewhere there is one! I love going there! Mmmmm......churros! After lunch, we drove about an hour to a beautiful waterfall. Tamsen fell asleep on the way and wasn't real happy about having to get out and see a waterfall. She was glad when it was time to go and was really happy when we stopped to get nuggets and fries on the way home. We drove past several Christmas tree farms and saw the helicopters picking up the trees and taking them to where they'd be loaded on trucks, I assume. It was really cool! It was a drizzly, foggy day, but the waterfall was pretty and the scenery was gorgeous. I can't believe all the trees and how green everything is.

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!

After the lighthouse, we had lunch at this great restaurant right on the beach. The clam chowder was SOOO good! After lunch we headed north to one of the beaches so the kids could get out and play. They had tons of fun digging in the sand and building sand castles. Afterwards, we went to downtown Newport to go to some shops and to see the sea lions. The last stop was the candy store and then we headed home with three tired kids, two tired moms, and a tired nana! It was a really fun day.

Thursday was the big day! Deb and I got up early and started cooking dinner. We had a lot of fun and who doesn't love Thanksgiving dinner! We all ate and ate and ate, then spent the afternoon snoozing and watching movies. Friday, Tamsen and I had to fly home. Tams thought flying was lots more fun this time because she could see the stuff on the ground. It was such a fun trip. We can't wait to go back!

Weekend in the City

2009-01-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Tamsen and I had tickets to go see Disney on Ice. I decided we should make a weekend of it, so we ended up staying overnight. Tamsen loved the show and thought it was great fun staying overnight in a hotel. The next day, we got up and went swimming at the hotel and then spent most of the day at the zoo.

I thought Tams would love the zoo. Love seeing the animals. When we got there, the first thing we did was ride a little train that goes through the zoo. Tamsen spotted a playground as we were riding through. I told her we'd go play after we'd seen the animals.

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.

The Halloween of a Thousand Costumes

2009-01-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

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.

The weekend before Halloween, we were going to go to a Halloween party. When it was time to get dressed, she said she didn't want to be a witch, she wanted to be a princess. I asked if she wanted to be a green witch and she said that it wasn't Halloween, so she didn't want to be a green witch, she wanted to be a princess. So she dressed up as Ariel for the party.

When Halloween came around, I was feeling a little lazy about having to get up at the crack of dawn to paint her green for school. So I asked her if she wanted to be a witch that wasn't green and turn green to go trick-or-treating. She said she wanted to be a princess. So, she went to school dressed as Jasmine.

After school, we came home and were getting ready to go trick-or-treating. When I told her that it was time to paint her green and dress up as a witch, guess what she said... "I want to be Sleeping Beaty for Halloween." She finally settled on Belle.

Cleaning up the Yard

2009-01-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

When we were cleaning up the yard, getting ready for winter, Tamsen was such a great little helper. I asked her if she wanted to hop in the garbage and jump around on the weeds and plants. She looked at me like I was crazy. So I asked if she wanted to jump in and pretend to be Oscar the Grouch. That did it, once she was in, she had a great time jumping around and didn't want to get out. Then she said "Mom, take a picture of me in the garbage!" Who can argue with that! She had some great poses and the pictures just cracked me up.

The Mini Cook

2009-01-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

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.

Back to Preschool

2009-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

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.

8 Things

2008-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-08-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-08-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

..... 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

2008-08-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-21T20:06:00.001-08:00

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!