December

A recap of the month:



We made Christmas cookies


Every Christmas Eve my parents do a small nativity play thing . This year Tate got to be baby Jesus. Chris was Joseph. Sorry the picture is sideways. My youngest brother is 6yo and up until last year he was still playing baby jesus. I went and dug up a hilarious picture of him in "swaddling clothes" from last year, maybe I'll scan it in later. Last year when we told my family that we were having a baby, the first thing that my little brother said was "yeah! I don't have to be baby jesus anymore!" So ever since that time this was a greatly anticipated event-Tate playing the part of baby Jesus. He was such a good little guy, and didn't make a peep the whole time.
The whole family. (Minus one brother on mission in Argentina) Part of the fun of it is wearing ridiculous costumes. My dad is always the donkey, and he wears these big construction paper ears. I, being Mary, got to ride to the manger on the donkey this year. My other favorite costume this year was my brother Jason's. He is on the far right and is wearing a little girl's slip for his part as an angel. It might sound a little sacreligious, but it really isn't. We just have a good time. Please pull this one up on your computer. You won't be dissapointed.

So we took some family pictures a few weeks ago. I love the ones of Tate. You can see them here: http://forgetmenotbyjana.com/index2.php?v=v1
Click on galleries, and then recent work. Tate actually rolled over for the first time while we were getting pictures taken...pretty exciting stuff.


On another note, Christmas came and went and my new favorite toy is....

Ever since Tate was born I've been becoming more interested in photography, mostly so I can take good pictures of him. I'm very excited about the camera. Even after the first pictures I took I knew that I was falling in love.(with the camera, that is) There's a lot to learn about photography out there. I've been checking out some book at the library, reading the owner's manual, etc. It's been a fun discovery. Pictures to come shortly. Don't expect too much, though. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Deal or no Deal??

So I consider myself a huge bargain shopper. You might say that I am cheap. But I think I may have found the best deal of my entire life yesterday, so I HAD to share. When you find an amazing deal like this you have to gloat a little.


So see these authentic Levis? Well, I was at Sam's club, just milling around, and I saw that they had men's Levis there for less than $20. Chris wants a pair of Levi's jeans for Christmas so I started looking for his size. Of course I had to dig through all of the piles and when I got to the very back pile, at the very bottom of the pile, I came upon this lone pair of women's Levis, that just happened to be my exact size. So I walked around the clothing area looking for similar women's jeans, but could not find them. So I decided to take them up to the front to see how much they were, thinking maybe I would get a good deal. Lo and behold, when the girl rang them up they were $3.06. !!! For all you disbelievers and sceptics I have included proof:

Yesterday was a great day.

Miracles and horses

So Tate went to the Dr. yesterday for his 4 month appt. For almost the first 2 months of his life the kid grew on average 1 lb. per week. Since then he was slowed down a little bit, but he still is LARGE.
Wt. 18lb 11oz (>95th percentile)
Ht. 25.5 inches (60th percentile)

I find this significant because when I was about 7 or 8 months along, Tate was measuring really small-like in the 2-4th percentile range. The Dr. advised me to stop working since at work I was on my feet all day for 12 hour shifts. He thought that maybe Tate wasn't getting as much blood to the placenta as he needed, and that if I took it easy that it might help him grow. I also had to go and be monitored 2x per week to make sure that the baby wasn't in any kind of distress or anything. So my family had a fast that next fast Sunday for me and Tate. It was so sweet, even my 5 year old brother fasted the whole day (without being asked) because he was so worried about his soon to be nephew. So when he was born he was 6lb 8oz which is about the 14th percentile or so, but he was so healthy and strong! So we feel that it really was an answer to prayer and fasting that he has done so well. Another worry I had was "what if he is a little runt for the rest of his life". And no, it doesn't look like he will be a runt the rest of his life. He is HUGE and I LOVE it!!!
On another note, Tate finally really saw a horse for the first time, and his daddy is so proud. Tate is a natural horseman. We have held Tate up to the horse's face sooo many times, but he always looks right past it as if he is oblivious to the huge animal that is right in front of his face. So on Sunday we took him over to see the horses, and he actually acknowledged their existence and he actually loved it!
First solo ride

If you make this one bigger you can see this huge drool spot running down his chin. Very gross, yet somehow very cute.
Tate loved this little horse. Later he grabbed onto the horse's face with both hands and tried to put him in his mouth.

7 facts

So I was tagged a while back, but I’ve been trying to think of some ½ way interesting things to say, and here’s what I came up with. One tag was for 6 things, and one was for 8, so I’ll compromise and do a nice even 7.

1. I’ll warn you first, this is the weirdest one. When I was younger I liked to pop people’s toes. (honestly, I still do.) Not friends or anything, but to my family and to Chris. I also don’t like dirty ears, so I used to clean out my brothers and sisters ears. I like zits too. Chris hates it, but if he ever has one…watch out. Which leads me to another point… at work I have had the opportunity to watch several “incision and drainage” procedures, and they are the most fascinating things to me…I LOVE watching them. So say there is an extremely reddened, swollen area on a person’s body. A doctor can slice into it, and drain whatever it is that is in there, which is usually mostly pus and sometimes chunks of who knows what. I could watch these everyday at work and never get tired of it. FASCINATING.
2. When I was in high school I thought that I wanted to be a journalist. I took some difficult writing/English classes when I was in high school and I really enjoyed it. I think I was actually an ok writer at one point, but I think I have forgotten most of what I learned. I was even an English tutor my first year of college, but then I ended up being a nurse, which isn’t like a journalist at all. ???
3. I have never had a filling or a cavity
4. Every time I go to the grocery store I buy 2 or 3 bananas, but when I get home they stay on the counter until they are rotten. I always see them sitting there at the store and they are so inexpensive and I think, “I should get a banana, because what if I want a banana this week”. I never want a banana, but I fall for them every time.
5. I hate ironing. Before I got married I told Chris, “just so you know, I hate ironing.” So he knew what he was getting into before he married me. It is just so boring. It’s not like you can do anything else while you are ironing besides listen to music. Even if you are watching tv, that just drags it out. So Chris wears dress clothes everyday, and when we were first married we had some “discussions” because he wanted me to iron all of his shirts, but I wanted him to because, after all, they were his shirts (Does that make me a bad wife?) So he would say, “well, I don’t want to iron them either, I’ll just take them to the dry cleaners”. And I would tell him, “that’s a waste of money”. Then he would tell me, “if you think it’s a waste of money, then why don’t you just iron my shirts?” And thus we would go round and round. So now we just take them to the dry cleaners, and it is SO worth the money. Sometimes for birthdays or Christmas I iron a few shirts, and then I remember why I hate ironing.
6. I love going out to eat. I think it is because I am the oldest of 9 kids, so we didn’t go out to dinner all that often. I think it is so fun. On Friday nights Chris and I usually go out to dinner, and I look forward to it all week long.
7. I love staying home with Tate. When I was pregnant I would wonder ‘what am I going to do all day when I stay home with the baby?’ Well, I love it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I’m glad that Chris enables me to stay home and be tater’s mommy!

The Graduate

In honor of the occasion, Tate wore his "I dig my Dad" shirt.












Well Tate and I are now the proud wife and son of a college graduate. This past Saturday Chris graduated with a business degree from the University of Phoenix. When we were first married, I remember Chris and I were sitting in our apartment at the kitchen table, and were deciding what classes Chris should take and when he would graduate. It seemed like it would take forever until he was done with his bachelor's degree, but halleluiah the day finally is here! He decided on the U of P because he could easily work full time and just go to class 1 night per week, without having to leave work in the middle of every day to go to a campus. So anyway, he has been going there since Summer of '05. And I think that he would recommend U of P to anyone that is thinking about their programs. And as if that weren't reason enough to go there, they also hold their graduations at the brand new Cardinals "University of Phoenix Stadium" Whoo hoo!











Tate and the graduate, Chris
















The graduate bought himself a graduation present that I'm sure he would love to show off. His name is Chip, and Chris is in love.









P.S. Ashlee, I can't find your blog. Can you leave me your address?

Happy Halloween!

So the other day we were watching the movie "Nacho Libre" and I thought to myself, "his body reminds me of someone that I know..." and then I realized that Tate's body is remarkably similar to Jack Black's. So from that moment on, Tate was going to be Nacho Libre for Halloween.




















Action shot.
















So we had a ward trunk or treat for Halloween. I think that Tate should have won the costume contest, but unfortunately the prize went to some pirates.

















Later we went to the neighbors house to wait for trick or treaters. It was a little chilly, so Tate wore his hat for the first time.
















The night ended early for Tate, the little party pooper. He fell asleep in the middle of all trick or treaters.
Its funny how life changes when you have a kid. Chris and I were talking about how different life becomes. Much harder, but more rewarding. Tate isn't even old enough to care about Halloween, but it was so fun to dress him up and to spend time with him. He'll probably hate us when he's older because of this year's costume, but Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Happy Halloween!

Calling all Eligible Bachelorettes

Hello, my name is Tate.


I have a problem...and I need your help

You see, I just met my uncle Jason last week, when he came home from his spanish speaking mission in St. Louis. So far he seems like he's a pretty alright guy, so I want to find him a wife. I have to be honest though; my motives are purely selfish. I have no cousins. (Well, I have some on my dad's side, but the youngest one is 10. So that makes them more like aunts and uncles.)


















Jason
approx. 6'2
180 lbs
bilingual
Sings, plays guitar, piano
smart
handsome
funny
plays basketball, volleyball






If you are an eligible bachelorette, or know of someone who is, please contact my mom







This is Melissa. (Hopefully Jason doesn't kill me after this post!!) Here's my 2 handsome boys-Tate and Chris. It's been so great to see Jason this past week. He especially likes Tate I think. But really, how could he not. I mean, check out those cankles and the double chin. What's not to love about that? These pictures were mostly taken at Jason's "Not homecoming" talk. Welcome home, Jason!!! I like to pretend that I'm a matchmaker, so if you know someone.....

I forgot

I forgot that I wanted to post this picture. During conference I worked on this hat for Tate using the "knifty knitter" I was going to run out of yarn so I just finished the hat. The hat is a bit too small- It reminds me of a yamaka! I guess it will at least keep the top of his head warm.

PIMA, AZ

This weekend we went to good 'ol Pima, AZ.

We took these pictures at the end of Chris' parents' street. We took some pictures in the cotton when we were engaged and I loved how they turned out, so I wanted to get some more "cotton pictures" while we were there. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Isn't Pima beautiful? Look at those mountains!

Chris and his Dad. Chris was riding a horse that he was thinking about buying. (This is moments before the horse bucked him off!!)

Needless to say, Chris decided to pass on this particular horse.

Tate with Grandma and Justice getting a bath in the kitchen sink

I think that this picure is so funny. Look at Tate's face. We love our little Tater!

Surprise! Trip to Sedona

So my birthday was Friday, and Chris woke me up and said "Melissa, pack some clothes we're going on a trip!" So we started driving, and eventually I figured out we were going to Sedona. We stayed in a little bed an breakfast, and mostly just went sightseeing around the town.









One fun place was calle Tlaquepaque, and it looks like an old Spanish town or something. They had lots of little statues and fountains all over the place,
PLUS some killer mexican food.




(Did I mention that we stopped at the fudge shop 3 TIMES? !!!)

Our "Little Toad"

You would have thought that Tate was one of the greatest attractions in Sedona this weekend. You should have seen all the CRAZY retired folk around Tate this weekend. Seriously CRAZY. Poor Tate had women (some men, too!) in his face all weekend. He's a good sport.

Red Rock Crossing

We went on one little hike while we were there, since Tate kind of prohibits any long hikes, especially since we forgot his baby carrier. It was so beautiful!!

Our Fat Little "Tater Tot"

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

An Experiment with Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Testing..1...2...3

This is a test. I really have no idea what I am doing, but EVERYONE has a blog, and I want one too! Especially now that Tate and I will be home everyday, I'll have plenty of time to figure it all out. Wish me luck!!