The Smiths

Cowabunga!!

2011-11-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

I suck at life documentation. Tate and Tanner found our old ninja turtle movies at the end of August, and it was love at first sight. They wanted to be ninja turtles for Halloween the moment they saw the 1980s film. Here is our take on Ninja turtles:

I found the main parts of the boys costumes on 2 separate Goodwill trips, but had to make the accessories, as well as mine and Chris' really fancy costumes. Every day they would as me, "Mom, what's my name again?"

"Tanner, you're Donatello the purple one."
"Tate you are the red one, Raphael"
"Mom is the orange one, Michaelangelo"
and "Dad is the blue one, Leonardo."
Repeated 12x each day.

There was a couple of days there where they wanted to be Indians, but in the end the Ninja turtles prevailed.

I think i had the best weapon overall, the nunchuk . It was definitely the most dangerous, as Tanner can attest. (He hit himself) :)

So Halloween was grand, and the weather was beautiful the entire weekend. (No jackets!) and Chris and I are still eating their Halloween candy. :)

This next bit of info deserves it's own post. I am a little frightened to say this prematurely, but we no longer have diapers in our house!! I only started potty training Tanner 4 days ago, but he has had no accidents for 2 days. It is AMAZING. I have been putting off potty training because my first experience (Tate) was less than desirable. But this is seriously miraculous. He is the man!!

I guess I never blogged it, so I should also say that there is a legitimate reason why I have a pot belly in the above photo. We are expecting a GIRL at the beginning of Feb!!

The best date ever :)

2011-05-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

Check out my handsome date, Tate P. Smith. My friend Alecia suggested that we take our two oldest kids to Chic fil A for the mother/son date night last Friday. IT WAS SO FUN!

Tate was so cute. I came downstairs ready to go in my jeans and tshirt and he gets this dissapointed look on his face and says, "But I wanted you to wear a pink dress." So I run up stairs and rummage through my closet that is virtually devoid of anything pink and I try and convince him to let me wear a black skirt. He says again, "But I want you to wear a pink skirt." So I hold up this purpley number and I said "What about this one?"

"Yes."

Whew. So I come back downstairs and he is wearing these lovely swimming goggles. He really thought that he looked good in these and that he needed to wear these out on our date. And he did. FUNNY. Where he got the notion that I needed to wear a pink dress/skirt I am still trying to figure out. I thought it was so cute though.

A hostess seated you when we walked in and presented me with a rose and Tate with a toy. They took our order at the table, and I had the most delectable oreo milkshake EVER.

They had two members of "the herd" there that Tate HAD to hold hands with and take pictures with, and the night ended with balloons and a limo ride. It was a blast. I don't get out with just Tate hardly ever, so this was a treat. I am constantly amazed (as I am sure all parents are) at how smart and funny and witty he is. I cant believe the things that he says sometimes. He comprehends so much.

Oh, and he said his first naughty word this week. I am so proud. (Not really) He has this motorized car that he got from our neighbors and when it wasn't going the way he wanted it to he said, "this d*** car" Yes, he did. Sorry, mother, if you are reading this. I am ashamed. I do find solace in the fact that I know he did not learn the word from me. We have, however, narrowed it down to three people. It was John Wayne, Tate's father, Chris, :) or the movie Shrek which he watched the same day. Chris seems to want to blame John Wayne, but I am not so sure. I really am embarassed to blog about this, but I think in a few years I will find it quite comical and will want to recall the details.

Here's the little buddies, Tate and Tanner. They got into a huge fight last week when Tanner hit Tate on the head with a toy gun because Tate was trying to take the gun from him and Tate's head started bleeding. Tate was mad so he gouged a chunk out of Tanner's nose with his fingernails and then luckily I intervened. Tate truly needed a band-aid, but then of course Tanner wanted one too. This was taken about 2 minutes after their huge fight. They play (and fight) so well together.

Last week it hit 100, so went swimming a couple of days. Tate and Tanner loved it, even though the water is still cold. I am excited for the summer swimming days. Here is Tate doing the "monkey walk" around the pool.

I had a really good mother's day. I will have to post some details/pictures soon. For now I am really enjoying one of my gifts...a cook book. La di da. But there really is some good stuff in here, with ingredients that you can find easily at virtually any grocery store. I bought a cook book once that had totally obscure ingredients and I NEVER use it. They have a lot of recipes on their blog...you should check them out! The baked chicken taquitos are AMAZING.

Go fly a kite.

2011-03-08T08:37:00.001-08:00

Tonight we had some good wind so we decided to try our batman kite again. We tried it a few weeks ago but it was pretty much unsuccessful. Tate has this Berenstein Bears dvd where the whole episode is about them making this big red kite and then flying it so he has been wanting to do the same thing. He told me "I'm just like Papa Bear!" He has an uncanny memory to recall lines from movies. He says some funny stuff. My favorites are:

"Pigs are naturally stupid" (Babe) (I think he likes this one too because he thinks he can get away with saying the word "stupid" because he is quoting a movie. He will say this line over and over and over...)
"Do you want to get nabbed by the police?!" (101 Dalmations)
"Kill the Goat!" (Home on the Range) and
"You indiats" (101 Dalmations) Cruella says "You idiots!" but when Tate says it he thinks the word is a cross between the words indian and idiot.

He is always saying random stuff and when I ask him where he heard that he always references some movie. Even movies he has only seen once he can recall lines from. Definitely not like me. Exactly like Chris. Maybe its a boy thing??

Tanner...of course wearing his cowboy boots and a carrying a bag of "fishies"

The proud kite flyer.

On a completely different note I had a surprise waiting for me the other day. Tate was using the restroom and I stepped outside to do some work in the backyard. I came back a couple minutes later and this is what I found:

I was dying when I walked in and this is the first thing I saw. What a great brother, huh? I think Tanner was enjoying himself a little bit too much, though. (See his face in picture below) He LOVES helping Tate do anything (put on shoes, pick out clothes, get underwear out of his drawer, share his toys with Tate, etc.) so this was right up his alley. So Funny. This is the kind of funny stuff I want to remember a few years from now so I am so glad to be blogging again for that reason alone!

On another completely different note I did a "Ragnar Del Sol" last weekend. It was so fun! During it I did not think it was as much fun, but looking back I think I would do it again. Basically we have a team of 12 people and our team ran approx. 200 miles in 1 1/2 days. Each person has 3 legs to run, of varying distances and difficulty. I had a really cool ragnar logo neck tattoo for the event because I am so hard core. LOL. I will have to post pictures when I get them. It was the most I have ever run, (or is it ran??) so overall I feel it was a huge accomplishment for me!

Sick.

2011-02-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

We have all been sick this week. We have had a total of 4 Dr/Urgent Care visits, and have had 4 prescriptions filled. Tate and Tanner both had ear infections and Chris and I have nasty colds. Chris swore he had pneumonia, but no. This surely makes me appreciate mine and my family's health.

I do a preschool swap with some girls that live near me and this month we are learning about "occupations" Tate got to meet a "real, live" police officer this week. When I asked him after school what police officers do he even told me that police officers "help people and protect them" and "they shine lights in peoples ears like this" and then he demonstrated how to shine lights in eyes. But when I ask him he is convinced that they shine lights in ears. Maybe he is a bit confused after his visits to the Dr. ?? They made these police hats at school and Tate wears it al the time.

A few random moments from this week.

Washing his "piggies".

Holding his puppy.

They fell asleep like this on my bed last night.

I found these mugs at anthropologie for $1.50. So excited about it. If i get around to it they will get some type of fake flowers in them!

I bought these letters at Hobby Lobby on my last trip, and then repainted an old frame that I had. I covered the cardboard of the picture with fabric and then hot glued the letters on top.

My favorite valentines decor is this garland. I bought these doilies at HL last trip as well, and then taped pieces of red yarn in between them. Less than $4. Woo-hoo!

I am all decorated for v-day, but honestly have no idea what I am going to do for Chris. Any suggestions??

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Christmas miracle! And a trip to Hobby Lobby.

2011-02-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

After a long absence I am doing a blog post. My first one in almost a year. Truly a miracle. I think I just got tired of posting "last week we went to the zoo, and the week before that we did this or that" blah. blah. blah. It just got a little boring to me I guess. And I never wanted to take the time to upload my pictures from my camera. I have a new phone and I can email the pictures to myself, so I think that will help. So the picture quality will be decreased, but I think that crappy pictures are better than no pictures, right? At least for me. Plus, I got to looking at past blog posts and pictures that I have on my computer and I was really sad that the lat year has been virtually undocumented. So I plan to just blog about everything and nothing, with no rhyme or reason. :) And how about these new fonts on blogger? Long time coming. I am quite happy about it.

And now to the point. Hobby Lobby! Ever since my first accidental encounter with the store several years ago at the I-10 and 99th ave, (I just thought the name "Hobby Lobby" sounded interesting...so I went in. It was the only AZ location at the time. ) I knew that Hobby Lobby and I were meant to be a part of each other's lives. Sadly, I have not been there in several months, but I ventured in yesterday. A trip, mind you, that is not for the faint of heart with 2 boys ages 2 and 3. But oh, so worth it despite the "you know if he breaks that you are going to be held responsible" and "you may not climb on that, where is your mother" comments that we received from employees. And, yes, I will admit I do get a little distracted, and lose track of them for a few seconds at a time. There are just so many great ideas and tons of inspiration there. But honestly, what am I supposed to do, get a babysitter while I go to Hobby Lobby? (Although that would be a fabulous idea.) Tanner refuses to stay in the cart, so I figure I either try and make him stay in the cart and he ends up falling out and cracking his head open or I just let him walk around with Tate. I usually give it a good effort for the first 2 minutes we are in a store and make him stay in the cart but after that I give up. During those first 2 minutes Tate always asks me, "can you put Tanner down?" They are seriously so funny together.

Exhibit A: the Wheelbarrows

Tate discovered these wheelbarrows, and naturally Tanner thought it was a great idea. They pushed these around the entire store, loading them up with their little treasures. I kept making them put the things back that they put in but after awhile I remembered when I was little I would have thought I was so cool to be able to put things in my cart, so I backed off a little.

As a side note, Tanner demands to wear this Cowboy hat every single day. As soon as I get him dressed he says, "cawboy hat" I have even tried to hide it a few times, you know, just to see if we can change it up a little one day and not wear the hat. Doesn't work. That and his "boooots" every day of his life. He is the cutest little cowboy, though.

Exhibit B: The unidentified crumbs

And then a saw them both laying on the floor. They are looking at crumbs of chips, I think. I couldn't really tell. When I picked Tanner up off the floor his breath smelled like chips, so I am betting that's what they were.

I took a few pictures of things that i liked or gleaned some inspiration from. I seem to just take more pictures than purchases, though. My mom gave me a gift card for my bday in September, and when I have gift cards I make them last so long. I think my $40 dollar gift card has lasted me 4 trips now! I just don't want to squander any of it.

I made an apron like this a couple years ago, but I have been wanting to make another. I love these colors. I want to make a valentine's one.

I love this mirror. Especially the color. Actually, I really like the shape, too.

I like the way these letters are arranged.

I found this in a book. I love this quilt! I think I am going to try it-soon.
I am a sucker for polka dots every. stinkin. time.

A project I finished yesterday. I think I am going to update it a little since the pink letters are hard to read.
La La Love you! (that's what it says)
It is super cutesy and girly, but that is what I was going for.

This is my favorite project lately, these banners. (I have a Halloween, birthday, and Christmas one!) I like them because they go pretty fast and they are easy to start and stop and then pick up again when you have time. Since I don't have a fancy schmancy machine to cut fabric letters, I just print off my computer whatever I want it to say and in what font, and then I cut the letters out of the paper . Then, I iron "heat 'n bond" (pretty cheap, available at Joanns, hobby lobby, etc.) onto my white fabric, and then cut the fabric letters out, using the paper letters as a pattern. Then you just iron the fabric letters on the the banner.

I have a few other Valentinesy projects underway, I will have to post when they're done. Happy Friday!

Tanner

2010-03-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Tanner Mckay Smith's birthday. Chris says he would have been 34 or 35 this year. Tanner is Chris' brother. I never had the opportunity to meet him. He died when Chris was about 16. Last night we took out his picture and Chris told us a little bit about his brother. Tate and Tanner were so sweet. They both just stared at the picture and were really pretty quiet while Chris told them about their uncle. He told of how Tanner was a cowboy. He told of how funny Tanner was, and how he always made people laugh. Even today when Tate saw his picture he said, "he's a good cowboy." Chris never really talks about his brother. Basically all I know about him I told you in those two sentences. I wish I knew more about him. I am excited to one day meet him.

Ethan's Run

2010-02-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

I ran a 1ok at the end of Feb. My first! The run was called Ethan's run, and it benefitted the congenital heart unit at St. Joes. I don't really know the details of Ethan's condition, but he had a congenital heart condition, and he died last summer at 6 mos of age. His mom organized the run. A bunch of ladies from my ward trained and ran it together. Liz, in the middle, had a baby, Jake that was born 4 days before my Tanner last year. He was born with a heart condition, and he lived 3 weeks. He was also treated in that unit at St. Joes. We all wore pictures of little Jakey on the back of our shirts. It was a really neat experience, and I am so glad that I did it! For some reason I am so sensitive about little Jake. I think it is because he and Tanner are only 4 days apart.

Chris was out of town, so I enlisted my sister, Ami to come and watch the boys while I ran. Thank You!

The run was held in Las Sendas, which made the course a bit more challenging. There are some decent sized hills. It was so nice to run down them, not as nice going back up! I wanted to finish in under and hour and I did! (Barely!) So I am not setting any speed records, but I am happy with how it turned out!

SNOW

2010-02-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

We went to Pima the weekend of Valentine's Day, and on Sunday we took a drive to Mt. Graham. There was tons of snow. Tate really liked it, surprisingly. We thought he would think it was too cold. He loved building snow towers and then knocking them down. He was actually just talking about the snow again tonight. I think it is so funny that he is starting to talk about memories. I think it is so crazy how they remember such details at such a young age. Tanner on the other hand was a grump. (See L lower pic) He just wanted to snuggle the whole time. We even saw wild turkeys. Chris' niece, Justice, is in the Middle L picture with her snowman. I guess she had been waiting all season to go to the mountain, so I am glad that we went!

ThE ZoO

2010-02-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

Tate and Tanner's first zoo trip. My friend Heather invited us to go with them since they have a zoo pass that was expiring soon, and they were trying to get a few more trips out of it. Thank You! We both have two boys pretty close in age, so it makes for a fun time. I hadn't been to the zoo since we had morp there my junior year. If I were feeling more ambitious I would dig that morp picture out and scan it in. Too bad I am not feeling very ambitious.

Clockwise from top Left: The ever popular petting zoo, I love this giraffe picture. Tate has these huge giraffes behind him and he appears to be totally into the map of the zoo. Trey and Tate, Tanner and the tractor, Tate, Trey and Connor.

From top L: Us and the Komodo dragon, Heather and I and the kiddies. ( I think Tate thought he was hugging my leg. ) Tate cracking up about the monkey, The 3 boys staring at the monkey, Tate and Trey. I like these collage things.

Hawaii-the 2nd.

2010-02-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Just a few random shots to sum up the trip. I can't remember what all I said in my last post, so some of this could be a recap.

Can't remember what beach this is. Right outside of Haleiwa. The night we left. BEAUTIFUL.

This is the town where we actually stayed. Waialua. Home of the last remaining sugar mill on the island. I think the sugar mill closed in the late 1990s.

Ever had this soda before? We discovered it a few months back. On our way to our house we actually saw their bottling plant off the side of the road and really close to our house. Kind of random.

We stayed in this little studio behind a house. It was perfect for us, and really affordable.

Chris surfing

While Chris surfed the first day I just hung out on the beach and i kept seeing these fins coming up out of the water. At first I thought they were seals. (Do seals even visit Hawaii??) But then I realized they were turtles. There were 5 or 6 of them together, all really near the shore. They were all swimming around me, and I felt really cool.

I showed a couple of pictures of our Stand up paddle surfing lessons in the last post. This is their van. We actually met the couple that owns the business when we were at church and we went to their house afterward for Sunday dinner. They were so nice. Their 3 little girls were so cute, too. Don't you love this van?
We went on a small hike to Kaena point, which is on the far NW side of the island. We had a wiener roast on the beach. Quite enjoyable.
This is the best picture I could get of both of us. My camera was precariously perched on a rock and it was so windy I was thinking it was going to blow off.

Later in the week we took some surf lessons. The instructor was another lady from church, although we didn't meet her there. The other couple that did the stand up paddle surfing lessons referred her to us. Before we went I was thinking, "do you really need someone to show you?" BUT- I am glad that we used her. I would totally recommend getting some basic pointers from someone who knows if you have never been surfing before. Even just basics like how currents work and where you should exit and enter the water, and basic surfing "rules" for catching waves when there are a lot of people was totally helpful, and made me realize I was (and still am) clueless. I was a little freaked out to go surfing, I'll be honest. But I am so glad that I did. I got up several times, (ok, she helped a lot) and definitely would go again.
Our dream home. O LOVE THIS HOUSE. This is my favorite look, ever. I love houses with huge porches, with steps up to the house. Something out of the 50s, maybe? If we ever build a home it will be something like this. I always wonder why there are not more homes like this in AZ?

We went on a hike to Makapu'u point as well. It is the eastern most point on the island.

Here is Chris playing the Clariflute. (I am pretty sure he made that up.)
The hike was so cool. There were tons of ruins that had dates from the 1930s and 1940s that were written in the cement. I want to do some research to see what the area was used for. While I was in Hawaii i read a first hand account from a woman that was on the island on Dec. 7th, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I had never read an account like that, written in the first person from a civilian. It was so interesting. I don't know why, but Hawaii in the first half of the 20th century is so fascinating to me. I think that is why Chris and I both love the north shore. It seems to have retained some of the original splendor, without becoming too commercialized. I am such a tourist. But I wish I wasn't. It may sound weird, but part of me feels totally at home there. Like maybe part of me belongs there??? Is this post getting a little freaky yet?

Light house on Makapu'u hike.

View from the top. We could see two other islands from the top. Maybe Molokai and Maui?

Remember the shaved ice I told you about? This is it.

I think this church was awesome. I don't think it is really that old, but I love it because it looks like it could be.

Just behind our house we went for a walk and found this. I still am unsure of what or who it is, and I hope that I did not desecrate something in the process of walking up next to it. Isn't it cool, though? Just in case it is something sacred to someone, I am not going to post the picture of me kissing it :) Besides, Chris was a little jealous. jk.

Our next Hawaii trip is not anytime any the near future. Or the far future for that matter. But I wish it was. After this post I want to go back! I am so grateful that I could go, though. Vacations are not overrated.

HAWAII-take 2.

2010-02-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hawaii. I love this place. My dad brought my whole family here last June and Chris and I decided to come back. We were going on a vacation anyway with some free flights that we had, so we decided that if the flights were free, coming to Hawaii was just as affordable as going anywhere else for the week! This is the first time in over three years that I am not pregnant or nursing, so it is a celebration- Our first time away from the babies. Not that leaving them was a celebration, but it is a celebration to come on a vacation!

We are here on the north shore, staying in a town called Waialua. It is on the north shore, just minutes from most of the famous surfing beaches on this island. I love how Chris and I vacation. We kind of just take everyday at a time, and do whatever we want. We roll out of bed whenever, eat at weird times, and wear strange clothes. My favorite thing that we do is eat. I am so serious. We are in the middle of a meal and we are talking about what we are going to eat next. Last night the menu was hot dogs with cheese in the middle (Chris' choice) marshmallows and bananas. We went on a hike and then cooked out on the beach. It was so fun! I can't forget to make mention of the shave ice, either. We counted last night and I think we have already gone to get shave ice 4 times. They put ice cream in the bottom of the shave ice and after a few minutes of eating you get down to the bottom and it is this big mushy mess of ice cream, and shaved ice. So delicious. They don't skimp on the flavoring syrup, either. Maybe that is the secret. That and the ice cream. Yum.

The other highlight of our trip has been surfing! Chris went once before, but this was my first time. We also tried "SUP" surfing (stand up paddle) It was really fun, too! We went in this river and I was so afraid to fall in because it looked like there could be giant anacondas waiting for unsuspecting tourists to fall into the water. (Did you ever see the movie Swiss Family Robinson-that's what I was envisioning...eek)

We've done a little hiking, a little window shopping, and we actually found a couple of cool things for the boys. I mailed them two little horses on Monday, so hopefully they get them today. The other thing I found was this little set of wooden fruit that the pieces velcro together, and the set comes with a wooden knife. It is so fun! Tate will love it. They had a display in the store and Chris and I kept slicing the fruit over and over, and then putting the pieces together again and doing it one more time. There was just something so fulfilling about it. Maybe it was just the methodical process? Weird, I know!

More picture and the rest of the trip to follow. I forgot my cord to upload the pictures to the computer.

Birthdays!

2010-01-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Remember these birthday buddies from last year? (1.25)

And this year. I wish I had a better picture of them together from that night.

On Tate's first birthday we announced that we were pregnant with Tannner. I wanted to start this birthday post by saying that "we're expecting, " Not me, but Tanner. He has the cutest, hugest belly ever.

He is so funny. He is so completely different than Tate. I can't explain it. He is just starting to form sounds that are starting to sound like words. His absolute favorites, that he repeats all the time, are "Da" and "Tot" (Tate) He loves Tate! They are so cute together. They are even starting to have mini wrestling matches where Tanner will actually participate for a minute or two before he starts crying.

We had just a small party in the loft. We projected "101 Dalmations" on the wall, and had a little snack bar in the back of the room. 101 Dalmations is such a classic. I bought it that morning, and have watched in several times since. I seriously enjoy that movie. Cruella DeVille is so over the top. My favorite scene is at the beginning, though, where Pongo is trying to "find his pet a mate" and he is looking at all the dogs and their owners in the park. All the dogs and owners resemble each other and I think that it is so funny (and true). It reminds me of a work party that I had one Christmas at my boss' house and my boss and her dog seriously resembled one another. Their hair was the same color and consistency and the just looked like they belonged to one another. I still laugh to think about that.

Chris and some of his peeps around the snacks. Chris is a good sport. The party was pretty kid oriented (101 Dalmations for a 28th bday, come on.) But our Hawaii trip was partially for his bday, so hopefully that made up for it .

After the movie we had cake and ice cream downstairs. I made this birthday banner to be used on everyone's birthday from now on, and I am really liking how it turned out.

Me and the goat (as I affectionately refer to him) I even have this song about him to the tune of that really old song "lollipop"

"Nanner goat, Nanner goat oo lali lali lali Nanner goat. ba dum dum dum"

Even Tate joins in these days.

I really am his favorite person in the whole world. Not to be boastful-but I am. It is a bit unnerving at times; when the only person he wants is me. But I mostly really like it. He adores Chris too. But he still most often prefers me more.

My pictures are a little washed out because of the flash, but Tanner's eyes are so blue. In contrast, Tate's eyes are the darkest brown you ever saw. I think it's pretty cool I have one of each!
The after party. Tanner thinks he is getting pretty big. I love that little guy! And my Chris!

Christmas

2010-01-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

Included here are a few of my Christmas favorites. We always go to Pima on Christmas Day and then stay for a few days after Christmas, but this year we went a few days before and spent the entire holiday. Chris' sister and her family were in town from Texas, so it was fun to see most everyone for a few days.

Tanner's first Christmas!

Tate's favorite thing is horses and team roping. He is always talking about cows, horses, and ALWAYS turning shoelaces, extension cords, hair ties, lanyards, and basically anything into his rope. Grandma and Grandpa Smith got him his first real rope for Christmas. He was (and still is) in heaven. When you team rope you wear a glove, and they got him a glove, too. So he is entirely outfitted.

THis is his "I am trying not to smile" face

This is what everyone has to deal with ALL the time.

Chris and I got him this little tent thing, and he really likes that too. He always wants us to get in there with him. The other day I found him in there with his pillow and some books.

Cousin Sienna and Tate playing with their Little People.

Santa and the Polar Express

2009-11-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas Chris' Mom bought us tickets to the Polar Express in Williams, AZ. It was so fun. We were able to go with Chris' cousin who has 3 little boys, so that made it even more of an adventure. She also gave us money to but some new Christmas pjs for the occasion. Tate's were so funny. Az you can see, they were these dorky striped pants that kind of reminded me of an elf. I thought they were so great. Tanner's were the footy ones and on the side that you can't see they have a picture of santa and say, "Santa's helper" or something like that.

So for the ride you get on the train and they start by giving you cookies and hot cocoa. Then they read they story "The Polar Express." By that time you have reached the "north pole" and Santa comes on board the train and gives each child a bell. Basically the night follows the plot of the book. Everyone is dressed in costume and the car is all Christmasy, so it makes the ride even more fun for the kids.

Before the train ride we also took a horse drawn carriage ride around downtown Williams. Tate loved that. He is still obsessed with horses.

The boys:

The conductor walked through our car:

The cookies

Waiting for Santa to get to Tate
Santa and his gift to Tate

My first Triathlon

2009-11-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hello. I finished my first sprint Triathlon. I have wanted to do one for a while now, and then when my friend Mary Anne did her first one in July I was inspired! There was some girls from church who were doing their first one at the same time, so it was fun to have them there to ask questions and everything. Two of my room mates from EA were there as well. They both CREAMED ME. But we won't talk about that! :) I am already plotting how I am going to improve my time next year. I see how they can be addicting like people have told me they are!

Girls from church:

For some reason I was really concerned about what I was going to wear. I didn't know if I should wear a swimsuit and then throw clothes on over and then I didn't know how I would wear a sports bra too. So you see it was quite the dilemna. I ended up getting these Nike quick dry clothes that I swam in, and then just threw a shirt on to bike and run. (Sports bra built in) I was happy how that part worked out.

The breakdown:

Swim-400m 10:44

Bike-10.3 miles 54:20

Run-3 miles 28:01

Total- 1:33:05

I wasn't quite as fast as I wanted to be. I wanted to finish under 1:30, but I have some adjustments that I think would take at least 10 minutes off my time. For one, I had a mountain bike. All these people kept passing me on their road bikes. It seemed they were pedaling not nearly as hard as me and going significantly faster! Frustrating.I think that would shave 10 minutes right there. And I just need to run faster and swim faster. Sounds genius, eh?

I hear there is one in Pima on April 30th and May 1st. I think I will do that one. Any one else want to join? Party in Pima!

Swim:

Bike: (I can't get over how cool I look)

Run:

Friends Kristal (on left) and Marlee (the ones that creamed me) Ok, well Marlee had a baby in Sept. so she did a relay and only did one segment, but she would have creamed me. Kristal got 3rd overall for our age group. She kept telling me how out of shape she was and how she hadn't trained. :)

I would like to thank my sponsor and my photogtapher:

And thanks to my mom who ended up watching the boys that morning!

It was seriously fun and I am already looking forward to another. It was the perfect excuse to have to get in shape! It was annoying some days to think "I have to go swim today, or I am never going to be able to do the triathlon" but in the end I am so glad that I had that extra incentive.

Halloween

2009-11-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

Halloween was like 3 months ago. I do want to document the event, though, because someday I aim to compile this.

First of all, I LOVED my little puppy dog. Tate was Nacho Libre his first halloween and the next year he was yoda, so I have never had a cuddly halloween character to snuggle. I thought he was so cute. I especially loved his little ears and tail.

Tate was cute too, just not as cuddly. My little cowboy:

The Thursday before Halloween we went with my parents to a trunk or treat. Chris and I went as ??? Squints and Wendy Peffercorn. I want to try again next year, but find a red lifeguard suit or something. I think it would be better. When I look at the pictures of myself that night, I realize that I indeed was not meant to be blonde or have long hair.

My mom and her two grandbabies:

For Halloween we went to Pima. We had never been there for Halloween, and it was really fun.

This is the family:

They had a couple of little carnivals that Tate loved. It is so fun to watch him now that he is old enough to do this kind of stuff.
My little guys:
Before we went out at Halloween night we carved our pumpkins at Grandma Smith's house.

Tanner is such as funny mess!

It probably looks from this post that I favor Tanner. For the record, I love both my children equally.

Litlte Obsessions

2009-10-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Lately Tate has been obsessed with people "workin" and "helpin" He is so eager to help and is always wanting to "go workin" A couple of weeks ago he was with me in the kitchen and he started emptying the contents of the spice cupboard into the microwave and he kept saying he was "helpin' make dinner" A couple weekends ago Chris put winter seed on our yard and Tate stayed out there all day doing exactly what Chris was doing. It resulted in seed spilt all over the wrong places and other equally frustrating things, but I know he just wants to help!

He still is relentless with Tanner and is always bothering. Today Chris found himself saying to Tate, "Don't sit on your brother's head" Then Chris observed, "Isn't it sad that we have to tell him not to sit on his brother's head?" He likes to sit on him too, like he is riding a horse or something. AND he ALWAYS wants to "westle Tanna" A few weeks ago Tate started watching some MMA on YouTube with Chris, and he loves it. We had to stop letting him watch it because he was becoming obsessed, but he still tries to wrestle Tanner all the time and put him in choke holds with his legs. It is actually really funny. Tanner has this distinct "Tate is bothering me cry" so if I hear that coming from the other room I just have to yell, "Tate, leave your brother alone" or "Stop bothering Tanner" Then Tate will usually come in and tell me "I helpin' Tanna" Yeah right.

Despite these stories, they really do get along pretty well. Tate just wants to play with him all the time, and Tanner is not quite old enough to keep up. Tanner is just starting to crawl, but before he was so capable of getting around, Tate would pull him around by his legs while Tanner was sitting up. He would say "Scoot Tanna" And Tate would scoot him wherever he wanted to take him. Tanner actually loved it. That is how they ended up under this end table one day. They both thought it was so cool to be under there together in what Tate called his "house"

We moved Tanner into Tate's room at the beginning of the month. Tate is still in a crib, so now there are two cribs in there. It has been an adventure. As I type they are both supposed to be taking naps but I hear them cackling at each other.

For Melanie:
A little obsession I have had recently is Goodwill. I love that place. I got a dresser there on 50% off Saturday a couple weeks ago, and then when I went back to pick it up on Monday I found this fabulous quilt. I made this headboard (see the picture) a month or two ago, and I was going to make a quilt that kind of went with it, but I kept putting it off because I basically don't really love huge projects like that. So it was wonderful that I found this quilt and I think it really goes with the headboard pretty good. My bedroom is still a work in progress. But I am excited to actually be making a little progress! In the dresser behind all the drawers we found a couple of old pictures and things that belonged to the previous owners. I just love how things at Goodwill have stories and character to them. And most of the time they have so much potential! It is a treasure hunt every time.

So anyway, about this quilt. I took it to my mom's house to wash it in her big washer and my aunt was there too at the time. My aunt said that this pattern is called "double wedding ring" Look at all the tiny pieces that were quilted, can you believe that? I bought it for $8. It actually sickens me to think that someones grandma spent literally hundreds of hours on this thing and I bought it at Goodwill for that price. Our guess is that the grandma died, and then the owner of the quilt no long felt guilty giving it away. The fabric is a little funky. It is made out of "double knit polyester" (I think that is what my mom called it!) You know that kind staight out of the 70s? So supposedly this quilt will last forever. Or so my mom says.

I had a suggestion that I take it to the state fair and see if I could win a blue ribbon for it, but I decided against it! :)

Sparky and the Lightrail

2009-10-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

We have season tickets to ASU football so we decided to try out the light rail. I liked it. It was nice not having to find parking, and not have to hike to the stadium because the light rail drops you off right there.

Sparky scared Tate. He is going to be a mess on Halloween. He even freaks out when he sees the Chick-fil-a cow.

When we were leaving the stadium Tate got his hand stamped. He thought that was so neat. I would catch him staring at it all the time until it wore off.

I would do it again. Next time we try the light rail I think we will try to go to downtown Phoenix. There is a stop right by the Phoenix art Museum and a stop at Chase Field. It was around $3 for an all day pass for and adult. Anyone want to come?

My Spiffy Boys

2009-08-28T16:18:00.001-07:00

Tate has been talking so much lately. He repeats everything you say, which can get a little freaky when you realize what comes out of your mouth, because your baby is repeating it! I love his little voice. We taught him his last name this week...and he thinks his name is "Tate Spiff" :)

2009-08-28T16:17:00.001-07:00

July..in Retrospect

2009-08-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

Trip one: Round Valley

We started the month by going to Round Valley for the 4th of July. Chris' parents go every year, and we have been once or twice, but not since Tate was born. I love the celebration. The weather is so beautiful, too. Chris was actually born there and lived there until he was 6 or 7, so when we go we stay with some family friends. Both my boys love horses. I love the picture of Tanner. (Both of them, actually.) These first two pictures were at the parade. (Tate's first, I think.)

The next thing I did is I went to "Wicked" at Gammage. It was fabulous. I went with my mom and sisters on my sister's "golden birthday" on the 17th. I stole these pictures off my sister's facebook, so I think that's why they are a little small. Here we are making our "wicked" faces.

The next day (18th) my little Tatey turned 2! It was such a fun day. We decided to just do things that he would like all day. We started the day by going to the pool. After that we found a babysitter and left Tanner and took Tate to his first movie. We went to the dollar theatre and saw "Earth" Tate actually did pretty well. The movie had animals and fish and stuff, so that helped hold his attention. The popcorn and soda probably didn't hurt, either. That evening we went to my parents house and had carne asada burritos and tacos for dinner, (chris' choice) and then home made ice cream (my choice) and cupcakes. We ended the evening with a little dance party. Tate is starting to talk so well. He calls candles "happy birthday to yous"

He didn't want to leave the theatre and was a little grumpy about it.

Trip two: Pima

We went to Pima for their 24th of July Pioneer day celebration. We also celebrated Tate's birthday with the family while we were there. Chris and his Dad won blue ribbons at the pioneer day family rodeo for team roping. Chris and I, and then Chris and his dad did an event where they rope the horse and then I run and grab this ribbon that is tied to the horses' tail and take it back to the announcers stand. We didn't win, though. :( It was quite an adventure, nevertheless.

Chris' mom had a "mqeen" cake made for Tate. He loved it. Mater and McQueen are his favorites. He has never been into stuff like that until about a month ago. The butter cream icing was heavenly.

The end.

"She's a super freak, super freak!"

2009-07-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

She's a super freak, super freak
She's super-freaky, yow
Super freak, super freak

You know this song? It's me. (Not the rest of the song, just this part!) I am a super freak. So yesterday I was at Costco doing some shopping for Tate's bday (today!) I am loading the boys into the car and it is so disgustingly hot that I start the car before I get them in so that the AC can cool it a little bit. I shut the door, walk around to get in, and the door is locked. Both doors are locked and the boys are inside. It is 1 in the afternoon and 110 degrees outside. The car is on, and the AC is on, but my AC sucks until you have been driving like 10 minutes and then it feels like it is working. So I stop this lady walking by and ask her to stand by my car while I go and find someone in Costco that can maybe help. A manager comes out to the car with me and he calls the fire department. Meanwhile, Tate is totally oblivious to everything, and thinks that since he is alone in the car that this is the perfect opportunity to try and open all the food. Tanner is crying, and his cheeks are getting all red like he is hot. Periodically Tate will reach over and try and put Tanner's binky in his mouth like a dutiful brother. This goes on for what feels like FOREVER, and then two police cars and a fire engine come barreling down the way with their lights on. I see the police car and I get a little worried because I don't have Tate's car seat with me, it's in Chris' car. So Tate was just strapped into the seat belt. I'm thinking, "Great, I am going to get a ticket too." Two minutes later the door is open and it is actually cooler in there than I thought. So I take the boys out and kiss them all over their sweet red cheeks, and feel like a complete jerk. Looking back, I actually remember hitting the lock button when I was getting Tanner in the car. And no, I didn't get a ticket.

I told you. She's a super freak, super freak

She's super-freaky, yow
Super freak, super freak.

July 10th: National Cow Appreciation Day

2009-07-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

In honor of National Cow Appreciation Day (brought to you by Chick-fil-a) there was this fantastic opportunity to get free food. All you had to do was dress like a cow. Here's my little cow Tate:

I talked some of my family into going with me for lunch. What a lovely herd, eh?

There is an awesome pool near our house that does a free swim every Friday night from 6-8, so for date night we went with some friends to the free swim, and then came over to our house and got ready to go to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Note the udder on Mike (in the middle) haha.

I loved it. And then I went to 7-11 the next morning and got a free slurpee. (They give away free ones on 7.11) Last weekend kind of reminded me of when I was at EA and my room mates and I would basically go anywhere or do anything for a free meal. We would have been all over this Cow appreciation day! I hate to admit it, but it was a little fun being back in that groove.

Do you love Chick-fil-a?(See my poll) They always seem to have some pretty fun stuff. Chris went yesterday and said that this week is customer appreciation week, and when you dine in they actually seat you at a table, (complete with tablecloth) take your order, etc. Clever. Delicious.

The Great Hawaiian Adventure

2009-06-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

I don't really know what to say about the Great Hawaiian adventure. I will start with my absolute favorite picture of the whole trip. This is my Sister Ami and Tate. I just love the composition of this picture. This beach was so beautiful. This quite possibly could be my favorite picture I have ever taken.

I guess I will just dive right in... Once we arrived after enduring a taxing 6 hour flight on both body and mind, we got things started off right with the rental of 2 mini vans. Kia Sedonas to be precise.

We stayed on the north shore in a town called Hauula.

After picking up the mini vans, the next stop was Dole plantation where we enjoyed a delectable non-dairy treat called "Dole whip".

(If you are looking to recreate the taste at home I just tasted the pineapple sorbet flavor at Ocean Blue and it was surprising similar. By the way, I LOVE OCEAN BLUE. It is this frozen yogurt/sorbet/custard place that is self serve. They have probably 12 or so different flavors and you make whatever combination your heart desires, including whatever toppings you want, and then you weigh your creation on the way out the door and it is $.35 an ounce. Try it.)

Thursday was spent at the beach. We went to Shark's Cove and snorkeled, and then to Waimea Bay and then Sunset beach. We also went to Matsumotos grocery store and got shaved ice...twice. (In the same day) Tate loved it, and kept eating everyone's. My top flavor of the trip: Vanilla.

I loved the ocean at Sunset beach. The waves were so fun. Part of it could have been that my parents took Tate and Tanner home for naps and I got to play! Chris took some surf lessons prom a professional surfer while we were at Sunset beach, and Chris did so good! I even caught him riding a couple of waves on the camera.

Friday morning we started on a hike to some falls. Chris tells me the hike was beautiful. I saw the first 10 minutes of it before my youngest brother fell and broke his arm. I wish I had a picture of his arm. It was a really bad break. Totally deformed. Both bones broken. Farewell beach. At least he got one day in. He was such a good sport though, and very brave. (He's 7) So my parents and I took him and Tate and Tanner to go get it fixed. These are my brothers who made it to the falls. Ok, actually there were supposed to stop at the falls, and then come back, but they missed the turn off so they hiked all the way to the top of the mountain. On the way back down they found the turn off so then they played a little.

That afternoon/evening we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. (PCC) While we were watching the presentation about Samoa Chris was the lucky man selected to go up to the front. He got to take his shirt off, wear a lava lava and try to make fire. He almost had the fire going, too! What a man.

My parents ended up having to drive into Honolulu to get my brother's arm fixed, but this is the rest of us at the Luau that evening at the PCC. Someone is making a lot of money at that place.

Saturday we went to Pearl Harbor. It was really neat. I thought it might get a little long for the kids, but it wasn't. There was a video before they take you to the memorial that talks about Pearl Harbor, and events leading up to December 7th, 1941. The video was so good. Even Tate was semi quite during it. After we went to the memorial I got a picture with a man who was actually there that day. I was a little embarassed to ask him to get a picture with me, but I am glad that I did! I mean in a few more years that opportunity will be gone.

After that we went to the Swap meet at Aloha Stadium. We probably went back to Matsumoto's after that. We tried to do that everyday.

On Sunday we went to church in Hauula and then we went to Byodo-in, a Buddhist temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful there.

I just think that this picture is funny. Everyone was so nice to Taylor and helped him keep his arm elevated. Periodically you would look over at Taylor and someone else would be holding his arm in the air.

I mean no disrespect, but I sometimes call Tanner a little Buddha baby, so I had to get a picture.

Next, Pali point. It has beautiful views of the land and ocean.

Next, Laie Hawaii temple. This is the whole family.

Monday morning we spent snorkeling at Sharks Cove, and then later we went back to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a couple hours in the afternoon since we weren't able to see that much the first day we were there. They had this game where you can throw these spear things, and one of the spears had broken so they gave it to Tate. Tate basically hated the beach, but there were a few shining moments where he actually let the water and sand touch his feet and he threw rocks into the water. This is rare footage.

Tuesday was one of my favorite days, I think. Chris has a friend through real estate that actually lives on Oahu, so he let us use his BBQ and his back yard for the day. He lives in a town called Lanikai. This is literally the view out his backyard. He let us use his kayaks, too, and we kayaked to the islands that you see. It doesn't look too far, but don't be fooled. Once you were out there kayaking it seemed like forever! I love this picture of Tanner. Isn't that the life? Just napping underneath the shade of a hammock between two palm trees. That's the kind of stuff you read about in books, or the that people write lyrics about.

B-e-autiful.

The trip had to come to and end. This is my boys in the airport. Tate stared out this window for a long time. He loved the airplanes and the cars out there. I love that little fat kid in the background.

These are the two peeps who made the trip possible. Thank you! They were so willing to help with Tate and Tanner the whole trip, which made it much easier and more enjoyable for Chris and I.

This is "gampa" as Tate says with his two grandsons. I really like this pictures

Ode to my mother. Tate was out of sorts much of the trip, but he would always go to "Gama." Even when everyone else wanted to accidentaly lose him or something she was always so good to him and he adores her for it!

So now the only problem is that we want to move there. Nothing permanent...we'll see.

(For the life of me I cannot get this last part to not underline. Grrr. )

Life

2009-05-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

So life goes on...time marches on. I rarely get many pictures with the boys, but I have gotten a few recently. I am calling these my mother's day pictures since I decided that I want pictures with my kids every mother's day.

They make me so tired some days, but they are so fun. Tate is starting to talk and he says some crazy stuff! I will have to blog about all his words one day. Funny.

I am trying to think about what I have been doing lately to fill my days. I found myself thinking the other day, "what am I going to do with the boys all summer?" and then I realized that I will probably do the same thing that I do all day during the winter, spring and fall.

I work at the hospital a day here or there every couple of weeks, and I have been trying to work out most days. There is this lady that does a "boot camp" thing at a church near our house a couple of days a week and it has been awesome. I like working out in a group setting like that. I push myself a little harder, I think. I am so competitive. I am getting muscle that I haven't had since high school. I like it. The first day I went she all of the sudden yelled "on the line!" And I thought, "is she serious?" Yes. She was. We had to run suicides. It was like deja vu from high school when i played volleyball or basketball. I have a love/hate relationship with this bootcamp thing.

I just keep thinking that it will be so worth it when I GO TO HAWAII next Wednesday! That is what my parents did for Christmas this past year. My brother Jordan got home from his mission in Jan, and prior to him being gone I had another brother on a mission. They overlapped about 6 months, so this is the BIG vacation now that the family is all together again. I am a little nervous about the whole experience (mainly worried about how Tate and Tanner will do) but I am so excited!

The beginning

2009-04-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I also must post about the very first father and sons camping trip. I guess it was actually a father and son camping trip, since Tanner was not in attendence. ( next year ???) Tate adores Chris, and likes to do EVERYTHING that Chris does. He likes to wear a hat like him, he likes to listen to the ipod like him... basically if Chris is doing something, Tate thinks that he should be doing the same thing. I love how he is looking at Chris is this picture. I told you that he ADORES him!

Chris says that he took a fancy to the shovel all evening. I mean, who wouldn't?

My all-time favorite fathers and sons picture. Tate was so giddy and goofy as they were loading up the truck. He started trying to tease Chris by wiping boogers on him. He was cracking up, he thought that he was so funny.

As I write about their trip I find my self really appreciative of Chris. Tate is so young he didn't have to take him this year, but Chris genuinely enjoys being with Tate. I love that. They are so cute together. He is a REALLY good dad to Tate and Tanner. I have always loved seeing him around kids becuase he is so good with them, and the kids always, without fail, love him. BUT it is totally different seeing him with OUR kids. It just stirs stronger emotions, I guess. My boys are very lucky.

2009-04-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

I had a life changing event occur a couple of weeks ago. Seriously. My friend and former room mate Brittney invited me to go to her salon one afternoon {Tantrum} because she needed to bring someone to a class that her boss was teaching, so that she could practice the technics that were going to be taught. So the class was on how to backcomb aka "rat" "tease" (or whatever you want to call it) your hair. So I was able to listen to the whole class and ever since then I have actually LOVED my hair almost every single day. This is a big deal. Ask Chris. Half the time I usually am not too pleased with my hair-do. I have MAJOR volume problems becuase my hair is so fine.Usually my hair looks like it is plastered to my head, which I hate. So you see, this really has changed my life in a very small way.

I thought that I knew how to backcomb before this class, but I came to the realization that I was actually totally in the dark. So with all of this being said, I am willing to offer what knowledge I now possess- for a small fee...just kidding. I love my new skill!!! Life changing, fo sure.

The menace

2009-04-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a small glimpse of what Tanner goes through all day, everyday. He is such a good natured, chill baby! (Who, by the way, is now sleeping 8 hours at night!!!) As evidenced here, Tate LOVES bothering him! I loves these pictures, and how in a matter of 1 minute Tate bothers him in nearly every way imaginable!

This is Tate's personal favorite, "honking" Tanner's nose

Bless his heart! (Tanner's)

Tanner's blessing

2009-04-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

We blessed Tanner on the last Sunday in March. Chris has done a fabulous job with both of the boys blessings. All the boys looked especially handsome in their suit coats! Tate would not take his jacket off the entire day, until he went to bed and we had to force him to take it off. It saddens me that this is the best family picture that we got! The family support. It stressed me out trying to get everyone to gather for the picture. Everyone came together fine, but then everyone wanted to be in charge about what way we needed to face so that there were no shadows on faces. We seriously changed the direction we were facing like 3 times! By that time I was done with trying to get more pictures, but now I wish that I had more! (This is why I don't have a better one of us 4)

Tanner was so cute. He is the absolute best baby. His suit was one that my mom made for Tate when he was blessed. It is totally 80's and I love it! Tanner is a few weeks older than Tate was when he wore it, so it was a bit of a struggle getting the pants on, but we did it!

Random Little Things

2009-03-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

I feel like Tate and I have become little buddies recently. Chris has been gone a lot too, so that leaves plenty of time with the boys. I try and do fun stuff so that I don't get too bored being home alone. (Well, if you don't count two other people I am home alone :) ) Here's a random series of pictures. I guess random little things like these are what has made up my days and evenings lately.

Our neighbors across the street have 5 boys, and Tate is constantly wandering into their yard. There is always something fun over there. One day he found all of these little cars, and then he hauled them all back across the street onto the sidewalk in front of our house. I think it is so crazy that he just naturally is drawn to all this "little boy" stuff.

For some reason he decided to play on his belly???

Everyone has probably had pizookie (pizza + cookie) before, but in case you haven't you should. It is just a big mushy cookie with ice cream on top. The best one I have ever had is at Oregano's. I loved this little picture with Tate's tongue licking the leftovers on his lips.

I was under great pressure to get into position and look natural before the camera took the picture. It didn't really work. I never have myself in the pictures, and I figure I should probably start being in a few that I take of the boys.

As for Tanner, he basically eats, sleeps, and, well, that's about it. Actually he is starting to smile and coo. It is amazing how that tiny smile can make me so happy!

Happy St. Patty's Day

2009-03-17T13:55:00.001-07:00

I had to get a picture in our green shirts. I have been staying busy with the boys and Chris has been staying busy with a new business that we started in November. Actually Chris is staying busy with more than one new business, in typical Christopher fashion! :) He is a true entrepreneur!! Tanner is getting huge. He is an awesome baby. I was worried that since Tate was so good that I would be in for a surprise with Tanner, but he is really good. I am hoping that any day now he will sleep through the night...we'll see.

Happy, Happy Birthday...

2009-01-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Chris, happy birthday to Chris...and Tanner

Tanner Clark

January 25, 2009

1026am

6 lb 30z , 19 in long

Chris had a special visitor come on his birthday...and he's here to stay for quite a long time. I still had 10 days until my due date, so we weren't quite expecting him, but I think we were mostly ready. Tanner is named after Chris' brother who passed away, and Clark is my dad's middle name, named after Caleb Clark Baldwin, who was is Liberty Jail with Joseph Smith.

Here's "the story": I had not even had too many regular contractions until Sunday morning, when at about 3am I woke up and noticed that my contractions seemed to be occuring pretty regularly, and they were starting to hurt a bit. At 530 or so I got out of bed and decided to pack a bag for the hospital, just in case. So I packed a bag, and then woke Chris up and told him that I thought the baby might want to share a birthday with him. I did NOT want to go the the hospital just to be sent home and told to come back later, so we hung out at the house for a bit until Tate woke up, and then we left to take him to my mom's house, and then head to the hospital. By this time it is almost 900, and the contractions were hurting really bad, but all I had to compare them to was when I was induced with Tate. With the induction it seemed that they hurt worse, and occured much more frequent, with virtually no resting between contractions. So maybe that is what I was anticipating?? So anyway, we check in and then go to triage. The nurse is asking all the questions, and then I have a hard contraction, and my water breaks while I am sitting in the bed. So she says, "well, at least now you know you get to be admitted." And then she says, " I better check you." So she checks me and gets this really suprised look on her face and says, "you're 9cm!" So they take me to L&D pretty fast, and they ask if I want an epidural. I secretly have always wanted to give birth without one, and I figure since I am already 9cm, it probably can't get much worse. They call my OB and he says he doesn't think he can make it in time, so they call the on call guy from the group. So I labor for about 1/2 hour of ridiculous contactions, the whole time I am thinking about my refused epidural. I tell the nurse I feel like I need to push, they page the on call Dr. to come...while I am waiting I push through 3 contractions or so, the Dr. gets there and I push through 1 contraction, and he's born! For the last 7 or 8 contractions I was wondering what kind of huge mistake I had made by not getting the epidural, but when it all was said and done, I was glad. Now I can say that I did it, and next time...we'll see. Maybe it will be a been there, done that...give me the epidural now kind of thing. I escaped with out a tear or a stitch, and as I am typing this I am realizing that I think I lucked out. It happened so fast, I can't believe that he's here, and I can't believe that I forgot how much work babies are at first. It's an adjustment, for sure. Luckily my mom has been able to help out a ton with Tate, since the feeding of the wee babe takes literally 1/3 of my day right now. Chris has been great, too. I think Tanner is already filling out a little bit, but we'll see tomorrow at his Dr. appt. Little babies make you feel such gratitude. I am so grateful that he is here and that he is healthy, and for the chance and the blessing that I have to raise a little family!

At first Tate didn't know what to think of him and he just kind of ignored him for the most part.

Tate now likes to hold him and won't let him go. He's a little rough. Tonight he tried to pick a booger out of Tanner's nose. Poor Tanner.

I am now way outnumbered, but I am ok with that. Doesn't Tate all of the sudden look HUGE?Here's my 3 boys:

Halloween 08

2008-11-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a little blast from the past: Halloween 2007 and Nacho Libre-

Tate was so fun last year, but I think that this year was even better. He totally (well, kind of) understood what was going on and could participate a little bit. Mostly I guess he just liked the candy. This year he was yoda.

We had a little neghborhood party and then we went to my parents neighborhood to trick or treat. A neighbor of theirs always cooks hot dogs and hamburgers and popcorn, and has hom made root beer for all of the trick or treaters. It's pretty awesome, and a fun tradition. Tate rode in style in the Radio Flyer:

There was this weird creature that Tate couldn't stop staring at.

Finally I asked the creature to come and take a picture with Tate, and he kind of freaked out:

Chris immediately picked him up and I captured the saddest face I have ever seen. I think this is my favorite picture of the night.

Later we took these pictures at my mom's house. These are my two youngest brothers with Tate. Guess what they are? Cows? Reindeer? Actually they are vikings. They always have the dorkiest costumes...but the costumes are so ghetto that they are actually kind of cute.

The family:
Chris and I were lame, and didn't dress up. Although if we would have, we would have been Princess Leah and Luke or Han Solo.

Fitting for a Halloween post... a couple of weeks ago I had just got home from grocery shopping and Chris was cleaning the garage. It was dark ouside and all of the sudden I heard Tate start to cry, and I ran over to where he was and this is what I saw:

I was pretty scared until I realized that it was only spaghetti sauce that he had tried to carry and had dropped. The jar was glass, so it really is fortunate that none of the glass got him at all. Chris wanted to take a picture.

I got my cast shortened a week or so ago....and it is sooo nice. Thet actually just cut the old cast off above my elbow and then rewrapped it. The new cast glows in the dark! The only problem is it just looks white, and it is DISGUSTING looking. Tate has got dirt all over it, I've spilled food coloring on it, etc. etc. etc. 1 more week and then it comes off! Maybe I should have a celebration when that day finally gets here. I am so excited to actually have a shower without a plastic bag over my entire arm. I haven't been able to smell any horrible stench coming from my arm yet, so that's good. Also I have avoided for the most part any itching that I just can't get too. My arm hasn't really itched that much. (Knock on wood) And I hear that the itching is usually a big deal. Happy November!

A series of unfortunate events

2008-10-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

I'd like to start by showing these beautiful jars of peaches and pears that my mom helped me can last week. I feel so provident and domestic (two things I never really wanted to say about myself) Now I am actally entirely ok with saying that I feel this way. It feels good.

Now, on to the series of unfortunate events led led to this:

Last Thursday I was at a park near my house with Chris, my brother Jason, and his girlfriend Michelle. We were long boarding, having a great old time, and then Chris says "let's go down the hill one more time" So I think I was going too fast, and my board went out from under me and without thinking I put my hands down when I fell. As soon as I stood back up I was afraid it was broken because it immediately had a bump near my wrist and just looked a little funky. Just for clarification, this is a long board. It's like a skateboard, but longer. THey are mostly just for cruising around on.

A couple of people have asked what happened to my arm and they think that I say "lawnmower" They think that I fell off of a rding lawnmower.
I probably should not have been on one of these in the first place because I am pregnant, but at the time I didn't even consider that I was posing a risk to myself or my unborn child. Whatever. I guess it will be a good story to tell him.

It really did turn into a whole series of events...here's the watered down version: I knew that I needed x rays, so that night Jason and Michelle took Tate to my mom's, and Chris and I decided to go to the urgent care and only pay a $75 dollar copay, instead of the $150 ER copay. I wait in the waiting room of the urgent care for an hour, there is only me and 2 other patients in the waiting room, yet in 1 hour they call NO ONE back. So eventually I am called back and the Dr. says "I am not going to do xrays because you are pregnant. Follow up with an orthopedic dr. tomorrow" I know I am going to have to get an xray at some point, but whatever, there's 75 bucks for nothing.
In order to see a specialist I have to have a referral from my primary care doc. Well I don't have a doc in Gilbert yet, so the next morning I finally get in to see someone and then she gives me a referral to get x rays, and she says she will give me a call back when she has an appt with ortho. So I get my xrays. I can clearly see that it's broken, but I don't know too much about breaks to know much more than that. I still need to see ortho because no one has really looked at my arm or the xrays. So Chris calls my dr to see if the appt. with the specialist is arranged, and the office tells him my insurance is reviewing the situation. Chris calls the insurance and it's not under review, it's approved already, and so they give us some names and numbers of orthopedic docs that are providers on my insurance and we start calling all of them to see if anyone will see me on a Friday afternoon. Finally one office says, "I would just go to the ER and have them look at your xrays and splint your arm until you can see an ortho next week." I am so frustrated and in tears at this point, but we go to the ER and I get it splinted, ($150) and the Dr. looks at the xrays.

Why we are there, one of the ortho offices calls back and says that I have an appt with them on Tues. My arm had to be "manipulated" when I went in on Tues, because it wasn't in the correct position. That was interesting. They did a procedure I had never even heard of before called a "bier block" Basically they put a tourniquet on my upper arm for about 45min and inject lidocaine into the same arm. The torniquet keeps the lidocaine from acting systemically, so it mostly just stays in that arm because there is no blood flow in or out of the limb. It was weird. I couldn't control my arm at all, and I couldn't feel a thing. My arm looked funky, too. Like it was dead. So I got my black and orange Halloween cast on Tuesday. It worked out in the long run. I'll go back next Tuesday to make sure that the bone (radius) is holding the correct position...if not, I get surgery and a metal plate! Yay!

That was a long story, and not as watered-down as I first intended! Above everything else, this has given me a renewed appreciation for my mom, who lost her left hand just below the elbow in a car accident 12 years ago. She's amazing. I'm sure I'll have more to say about her before this is all over. So all things considered, I don't have it that bad. I have been blessed.

How I painted my cabinets

2008-09-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of people ask me how I did my cabinets, so I thought I'd do a little "tutorial" rather than just tell them becuase I had a friend that tried to explain to me the painting technic the first time I tried it, and she finally had to come over and actually show me how to do it because they looked so bad. So you definitely need pictures. Also, I needed some motivation to finish my cabinets upstairs, and this provided me with the extra motivation that I needed to get those cabinets done!
*Disclaimer* I don't know if this is the "right" way to paint cabinets, but so far I have had no problems!

Supplies needed: Course sandpaper, rag, base color paint, brown color of paint, glaze, paintbrush, tape.
I used 150 grit (fine) sandpaper, but I would have used 80 (course) if I had had it. I used the 80 grit in my kitchen and I think it did a better job for these purposes.

I used Behr paint which you can get at home depot. I think all my paint was eggshell finish. I'm sure any sheen would work, just depending on if you want more glossy or less glossy cabinets.

My base coat is called "Bavarian Cream" (1 quart)
My Brown accent color is called "Melted Chocolate" (1 quart was plenty)
I usually base some of my color choice decision on the name of the paint itself. Aren't Bavarian Cream and Melted Chocolate nice names? Maybe it's just the pregnant girl talking.

Anyway, you will want to buy the faux glaze, too. You mix it with the brown and then it prolongs the drying time of the paint so that you have more time to work with it. You mix 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint, but it will tell you exactly how to mix it on the back of the can. 1 quart was plenty for me, I still have tons left over.

Something I should have used but didn't is this: Kilz primer/sealant. Also available at Home depot, I should have painted all of my cabinets with this first. (After sanding, but before my base coat.) My paint chipped off in a couple of places and I think that this would have prevented it. I just get too impatient to paint a whole extra coat of this, and then wait for it to dry. It would have been better, though.

Ok, let's begin! First sand all surfaces that are going to be painted. Pay extra attention to any places where the paint is peeling. The point is to just rough up the surface so that the paint will adhere better.

Next, with a damp cloth wipe all surfaces of the cabinet, removing the dust you just made by sanding.

The next step will be to paint, so tape off all areas surrounding the cabinets that you do not want to get paint on. After taping, this is where I would do a coat of that primer.

I'm sure you all have painted before, but just in case you have not, you only want to dip the tip of the brush into the paint. If not, it gets way messy.

Ok, so paint the entire suface of the cabinets with the base color. I did two coats on mine. Wait until the base coat is good and dry, and then...

This is my favorite part. Paint the brown(which is actually glaze + brown paint) just in the edges, or wherever you want the majority of your color to be. It doesn't have to be perfect by any means, just slosh some brown paint on there.

This is the tricky part, but don't worry, it's not that tricky. So all you have to do is wipe the majority of the brown paint off. Get your rag a little damp, and beginning in a circular motion, begin to wipe off all the paint that you just put on. If it looks bad, just keep wiping. The paint will stay wet enough to work with for several minutes. Sometimes I had to get my rag a bit more wet, and then it would wipe better. Wipe the middle of the cabinet a bit too, so it gets a little color as well.

Here is the cabinet mostly done. I ended up wiping off even more of the brown a little bit later.

On the side of the cabinet I used the same technic. I've also done this on a wall, and I liked how it turned out there too. Again, just slosh some brown paint on there. If it were any bigger of an area, like on a large wall, I would have divided it into sections, and just work maybe a 3x3 area at a time, and then blend the areas together as I went.

Begin wiping. Again, you will be wiping most of the paint off. This is what it started to look like after just a few wipes with the rag. Just keep wiping. I think it looks best if you leave it a little darker in the corners and on the edges.
After a lot of wiping:
Ta-duh! The finished product. Thanks to Alecia. ( The girl who told me how)

I am totally an amateur, but I had fun with it, and generally liked how they turned out.
Hopefully this looong post was understandable. Let me know if you have any questions!

And, of course, little Tate. He unfortunately woke up from his nap before I was finished. He is such a great help with this sort of thing. Yep, that white stuff near his mouth is paint.

TWO LITTLE BOYS!

2008-09-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

It looks like I am going to be way outnumbered! Tate is happy to announce that he will soon have a BROTHER! Chris and I really did think it was a girl, but now that we know it's a boy it will take some getting used to the idea! I honestly was a little dissapointed at first because I had been getting really excited about buying cute girly clothes and making all that frilly stuff. But now that I think about, it I remember when I was younger I always pictured myself the mother of two or three little boys. The baby looks healthy so far, so hopefully things keep going smoothly. I am kind of a silent worrier about that.
I gained a whopping 7 pounds this month. holy HEIFER! My pre pregnancy weight with this baby was less than I was with Tate, so I still have 30 lbs to go before I get to where I ended when Tate was born. I don't think I'll get as big with this pregnancy. At least I hope I don't gain 30 more pounds! However, if I gain 7 lbs for the next 4 months, then I'm right on track-geez! I'm starting to finally get a little belly. People always told me I would show sooner with my 2nd pregnancy, but so far- not really. I still hide it pretty well. I just look thicker in my waist, if you know what I mean. I think my belly will really "blossom" this week or next, though. Maybe I'll talk Chris into taking a picture.
Things I am excited for: They will be 18 mos apart, so they will be 1 year apart in school.
I am excited for them to be wild and run around the house and wrestle together. I'm excited for them to be really naughty and get into trouble and messes together when they are both toddlers. I'm excited for them to play on the same team for t-ball or basketball or whatever they want to do. I know they will get into fights, but I hope that we can raise them to be the best little buddies!

Catch up

2008-09-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

I feel like a blogger failure. I've been wanting to post, but I feel so far behind I have been putting it off. First off, if you look to the right I have a poll to vote on sex of our baby. My ultrasound is next Monday, so we'll see. I'm excited.

This past weekend we went camping with my family for a couple days, and then on Monday we went to Pinetop for a team roping thing with Chris' parents. Tate HATED camping. I thought he was so grumpy the whole time. One bright spot for him, admist all the agony, was this ear of corn straight from my grandma's garden:
He also liked this dirt bike. He just wanted to sit on it forever. Chris actually took him for a ride, and he didn't like that as well. He was more content to just sit. Tate is all boy. It is so funny.
He loves to be in the middle of whatever is going on, and he loves tools. He has also turned into a master copycat. If you can imagine, Tate was a HUGE help when we were fixing our new house.Here is a picture of Tate and Chris' dad, Stan, on Labor Day. At the roping Chris won a little money, but his dad actually won a saddle. The saddle winners get their pictures put in this little roper's newspaper called The Jackpot, and Stan wanted Tate to be in the picture with him.
Maybe I haven't posted for so long because we moved? Right now this is actually my new favorite part of the house. I found this light for a good price at Lowe's because it was a former floor model or whatever. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it looks like a tarnished platinum or something.

The home was bank owned before we bought it, so it needed quite a bit of work. I repainted the cupboards in the kitchen:
We had to get a new sink:

Below that pic is a before picture of the stairs. The whole house looked like this on the walls. There were boogers EVERYWHERE. It was disgusting. This is my favorite room; the loft. Our previous house didn't have a very good room for kids to play, so I am glad that this one has such a big room. There were several holes in the wall like you see in this picture that had to be repaired as well. We turned it into the tv area/play room. The carpet was gross, and we had to get that replaced as well. Seriously it seemed that any time anything was spilt, the previous owners just left it there. The carpets had huge spots, the pantry took forever to clean because there was unidentified goop everywhere. There were splatter marks all over the kitchen... you get the picture. And to top it all off, all of the toilets had those soft, sqishy, plastic toilet seats. Disgusting.

This the kitchen/family room, as looking from the stairs, and then below that picture you can see the laminate floor that replaced the tile, and you can kind of see the new carpet. I love this laminate floor, but it is much more difficult to take care of than I hoped. Bummer.

So yeah, that's about it. We're moved in, and we LOVE living in town. We have seen a huge decrease in the amount of gas we're buying, and Tate and I get to hang out with Chris more than we did in Casa Grande, since he doesn't spend 1 1/2 hours driving everyday. It's glorious.

Tate's Birthday Bash

2008-07-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Tate's birthday party was last night, and he is so spoiled! Chris' parents and sisters were able to come with their families, so it was fun to see them. My family was all there as well. In case you don't know, I am the oldest of nine, so just between our two families there were a lot of people. So with all these people there, Tate just thought he was the center if the universe.

We ate Hawaiian haystacks, and then walked down the street to my uncle's pool and swam for a bit. Tate and I did swimming lessons for a couple of weeks in June, and he LOVES swimming, so we figured that would be fun for him to do on his birthday. My uncle has two dogs, and Tate swims for a minute, and then he gets out and looks at the dog, and then he gets back in the pool, and then he keeps going back and forth the whole time we are there. He loves it! Here is my handsome little guy in all his glory:

Tate's friend Parker was able to come too:

Eating with Chris' youngest nieces, Justice and Presley:
Eating his birthday cupcake:Our little family:

If you'll notice, I have my ears pierced and my hair is colored...I'm getting quite liberal these days. haha But really, I got my ears pierced for the first time over spring break, and I have never had my hair colored except for my roomates experiments when she was in beauty school. I think my dad thinks I am going the way of the world! Now all my sisters have their ears pierced too, and I think it's all my fault! We're pretty hard core.

ANYWAY, Tate got a ton of presents, including one that looked like this:

And said, "I'm going to be a big brother!"

So yes, that was the surpise at his birthday party. Tate and the baby will be about 18 mos apart. I'm due Feb. 4th, which makes me a couple days shy of 12 weeks. When I was at the end of my pregnancy with Tate, and the first couple of really crappy weeks after he was born (mastitis twice) I thought to myself, "I don't know if I could do this again." But, courage take, I don't feel that way anymore. Chris keeps telling people, "we're taking it nice and slow." haha I'm excited for Tate and the baby to be so close in age, and hopefully good buddies. Chris thinks it's a girl, and I might agree. We'll see in a few weeks!

One Year ago Today...

2008-07-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is what I looked like: (Just ignore the chipmunk cheeks. )

One year ago today I was at the hospital waiting for Tate to be born! Chris and I went to the hospital at 7am on 7/17/07 to be induced with Tate. I wanted him to have today as his birthday, but he thought otherwise. So I was started on pitocin, and had wimpy contractions all day (they didn't even hurt). My Dr. came in about 5 0r 6 in the evening and told me he was going to let me keep going, and that he wasn't going to break my water because...I don't remember, but he said it would be best if he didn't. Then he went to check me to see if I was progressing down there, and he accidently broke my water. Ooops. So keep in mind I haven't eaten all day, or been able to walk around. So he let me have an hour break to walk around and go to the cafeteria and get chicken broth or something, and then I came back and got back on all the monitors and started the pitocin again. By this time the contractions were starting to hurt. I labored until about 1030pm, and then glory halleluiah I decided to get an epidural. I didn't want to have an epidural leading up to this point, but having been induced I wasn't getting any rest between contractions. I mean usually you get a break for a minute or 2 between contractions, but there were no breaks. One would stop, and then almost immediately another would start. Anyway, so I got the epidural. You should too. The anesthesiologist was probably all done about 11pm, and then I fell asleep until 2am on the 18th, when the nurse came in to check me and said, "oh, you're ready to deliver. Let me call the Dr." It was pretty cool to miss that whole last part of labor. I don't even feel bad about it at all. So, the Dr. got there about 0230, and Tate Patten Smith was born at 0245. The End.

First family photo:

So his birthday is actually the 18th of July. Today is my sister Kaley's birthday (16!) but I guess Tate didn't want to share a birthday. I think of how my life has changed since he was born, and how much I love that little rascal, and I feel so blessed. I read a quote somewhere once that "a baby is the tiniest thing I ever put my whole heart into" and I think it's true. He takes so much work sometimes, but it is so worth it when he kisses me, or when I can see all the little things that he learns everyday. It's true, I can't sleep in until whenever I want, and he pretty much monopolizes my attention a lot of the time, but I love it! I mean there's ups and downs, but the journey is fun. I took these pictures this morning:

I love those little teeth!

We're having a little Luau birthday party on Saturday with my family and Chris' family. I'm excited. The part I am most excited about is we are going to have a Tate talent show. I wrote down a list of some of the things he has learned or done over the past year, and he is hopefully going to show off. He probably won't do anything I want him to, but I think it will be fun. Some of his talents include: walking, clapping, dancing, shaking his head "no", saying "dada", combing his hair with a brush, brushing his teeth, giving kisses, and waving "bye". And he's going to show off his 3 teeth as well. Pretty boring, normal stuff, I know. But I am still excited. There actually is one more part of his party that I am really excited about...but it's a secret! And since some family members are blog readers and may be attending the party, I will have to wait to disclose. I can't believe that he will be one already. Time flies!

Happy birthday Kaley! (On the left) Sweeeeeet Sixteen!

Back to Reality (thankfully!)

2008-07-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Our crazy month of June is finally over. It was fun, but I hate feeling like I'm away from home all the time. It's been quite a month! A quick recap:
My parents went to Hawaii for 8 days at the beginning of June and Chris and I were watching the kids. 12yo Daniel (below) decided that it would be a good time to have his appendix removed while they were in Hawaii, so I had to call my parents from the Emergency room, finally getting a hold of them while they were on some catamaran ride in the middle of the ocean to get permission to do surgery. He stayed in the hospital from Mon-Thurs, and Chris had a business trip in Georgia from Tues-Thurs, so it was an adventure. Luckily my 21yo bro and 18yo sister were able to split time with me at the hospital, and the younger ones watched Tate.

The next week was girls camp on Mt. Lemmon. My friend and I were in charge of camp decor, so I had this company my dad works with make this huge star out of styrofoam- I thought it turned out so cool! It had to be duct taped together a total of 3 times during camp, but when it was standing, it was pretty neat. I was the camp nurse, and let me tell you, it was a full time job. I handed out more ibuprofen, tylenol and ice than I ever could have imagined. It was actually pretty fun. One of the girls got lost on her hike..now when I say lost I mean she was lost for 4-5 hours and search and rescue had to find her with a helicopter. Luckily it was a happy ending and she was able to return to camp that evening. That has never happened to me at girls camp before.

The next week we went to the annual Smith/Gable Lake trip at Apache Lake. I unfortunately forgot my camera, but Tate took his first real steps while we were at the lake. He loved the water at the lake because it was pretty warm. It was so fun. The week after that, Tate and I went to San Diego with my family for a couple of days. Tate hated the water (too cold!), but he loved the beach. He loved smashing these sand castles:
My little brothers built this big tower that they called "Tate's tower". Chris wasn't able to come at the last minute and we missed him!

Chris recently switched companies that he works for, and he now works for a company called "Medical Office Brokers" He has been really busy with all of the changes, and we are excited for the future with this company. He still is selling commercial real estate, and lately his main clients are dentists. He has gotten pretty savvy about the dental field, and he also recently started representing dentists who are looking to buy or sell a practice. It's called "Practice Transitions." The training in Georgia was for that. His new office is in Scottsdale, so it's even better that we're moving to Gilbert! The commute from Casa Grande to Scottsdale would have been even longer than the commute to Mesa.

Our house is coming along. Over the 4th of July we worked on the house all day Friday and Saturday. We were able to get the entire thing repainted, and we had a guy come and fix all the holes and do all the other drywall repairs. Hopefully we will be moved in a couple of weeks. I am excited to post some before and after pics...stay tuned.

Makeup

2008-06-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

I just found this website for $1 makeup. Supposedly the quality is pretty good, too. If you enter the coupon code "carolina" at the end it gives you 50% off of your order up to $15 dollars. Maybe you all have shopped here before? http://www.eyeslipsface.com/default.asp

Our NEW casa!

2008-05-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

We are getting a new house, and we are so excited. It's not exactly a new house, but whatever. We are moving to Gilbert! Gilbert is where Chris and I have wanted to be since we were first married, and we are finally moving there. The house was bank owned, so it's a little rough on the inside, but we were able to get a really good deal on it. It's on Greenfield and Williamsfield, right by the 202 freeway entrance and the new San Tan Mall. It's in a culdesac, and 50 yards from the church we would go to. The neighborhood is so cute and friendly and the home is the cottage style that I LOVE. We are just so done commuting from Casa Grande. We actually have loved Casa Grande for the past almost 2 years. Casa Grande is way smaller than being in the city and we have made a lot of good friends.
We will close on the house the beginning of July, and then you'll have to see all the before and afters! I'm so excited for a blank slate to decorate, too! PLUS we just found out that our house backs up to one of our really good friends (who happen to be the parents of Tate's best friend)

I think this will simplify our life a lot, since Chris will not have to commute everyday, and PLUS, think of how much money we will save on gas! Yeah!

What was I thinking???

2008-05-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I want a vacation. Don't you just wish that you were here right now?

Lately I have been overwhelmed with too much ridiculous EXTRA CRAP. First off, why did I ever tell someone in my stake that I wanted to go to girl's camp? Maybe you all saw this coming a long time ago, but I am finally realizing this was a mistake. If they would have called me out of the blue one day and asked if I would be willing to go then that would be a different story, but I actually started "lobbying" as Chris says, to go to girls camp in January. I have a friend in the stake Young Women's Presidency, so I kept telling her how much I wanted to go to girls camp. What was I thinking?
Lots of additional nonsense that I also volunteered for consumes my time, but on 2nd thought I won't bore you with the details. Sufficeth to say...What was I thinking??

Meanwhile, my the dishes are in the sink, the laundry is piling up, and I have little time to do things that I really enjoy like blogging and random crafts because I feel guilty when I do them because I should be cleaning my house. Plus Chris is frustrated becuase I am stretched too thin and I am sure I am really grumpy and short with him and Tate.

Sorry about the rant. I think I just feel like wallowing in self-pity right now. At least I have learned my lesson from this whole thing: Don't volunteer for unnecessary things that will take you away from your family. I will be glad when girl's camp is over. ARghhhhhhhhh I want a vacation. I love vacations.

Tate is getting so funny. His little personaliy is starting it emerge. Lately when I look at him I have been starting to think that he looks like a little boy. Kind of sad. He's growing up. He's starting to get into all kinds of messes lately. It's kind of annoying, but kind of endearing at the same time. Here he is stuck under the kitchen table.

He's getting a little naughty, too. Here he is with my sister, Emily.
I love this shirt, too. Chris' sister bought it for him. It has this huge Rhino on the front and it says, "large and in charge" Although he is not as large as he used to be :(
He and Chris have also developed a new hobby:
Tatey Toodles: my new favorite nickname

WOW

2008-04-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

I cut and pasted this from ldschurchnews.com

"Plans to build two new temples in Arizona, one in the Gila Valley and the other in Gilbert, were announced by President Thomas S. Monson. This will bring the total number of temples to 134 already in operation or in the planning and construction phases.
New temples in Gilbert and the Gila Valley in Arizona will make sacred ordinances more accessible to areas with high concentration of members, including area where President Spencer W. Kimball was reared. "It is my personal priority to make sure members of the Church have access to the blessings of the temple," said President Monson. "It is here where members learn of their divine origin and destiny; where they are strengthened spiritually as individuals and as families. Temples are sanctuaries from the storms of life." ...The two new temples are the first to be announced by President Monson since he became president of the Church on Feb. 3. "

Can you believe it? Having lived in both places I find this extremely exciting!! Wow.

Tate has been crawling for a few weeks, but he just started crawling like this...

2008-04-17T21:11:00.001-07:00

And the winner is..........

2008-04-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

The winner is... Nicole!! If you email me your address and which
pair you would like then I'll get them in the mail. Good job Nicole!! I was wondering if anyone remembered or even knew about my number 5 preference. I was even married on 1/5/05 at 5:15pm. I wanted to get married 5/5/05, but Chris said he wouldn't wait 4 more months. Maybe I'll just have 5 kids instead.

Shoes

2008-04-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Last spring I was trying to find bedding for Tate. I had decided that it would be cheaper to make bedding and plus I wasn't crazy about anything that I had seen, so I was looking for fabric online. I had decided that I wanted to do his room in cowboy so I found this retro looking cowboy print that I loved from Michael Miller fabrics.

Any way a couple of months ago I was on their website again and I noticed their blog.There's some good stuff on there! Here it is:

http://www.makingitfun.blogspot.com/

They have the cutest fabric- if you're into that kind of thing you should look around. They recently released a new line of fabric as well. It's girly and retro looking. I love it.
This was my favorite "general conference project" that they had on the blog:

Baby shoes! They say they are for 0-6 months, but Tate sqeezed into these girl ones a couple of weeks ago. (Don't tell Chris about the girl shoes) You can find the pattern on the right hand side of the blog under "cloth shoes" or something like that. They are pretty easy, too. The longest part is cutting out all the pieces. Even then, there are only 3 pattern pieces, you just have to cut out a lot of the same piece. Finally I figured out that if I folded the fabric 3 or 4 times I only had to cut once-duh!

These are my two favorites I think:

If you're feeling lucky, I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 20 and whoever guesses the closest can have their choice of the above shoes...if you want. I'm no seamstress, but I do like how they turned out. Seriously, what would I do with 4 pair of baby shoes?

On another note, Tate got his two bottom teeth this week! I think that they are the cutest little teeth I have ever seen...

Here he is playing in, or rather eating, the sand in his almost done sand box. He loves it.

Ohhh...Mexico

2008-03-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to go to Rocky Point with some friends that we met in one of our wards in Mesa. (Thanks for the invite!) They have a little boy, Parker, who is a couple of months younger than Tate, so it is fun to watch our two little boys play together. Well, they don't actually play together, but we try and make them play together. Here they are on the beach-they loved the sand!

Alecia's family goes every spring break to Mexico, and it is their tradition to go get tacos really late at night. They call it the "midnight taco run" So we were able to do that a couple of times, too.

They also go every morning to "Pedro's" house and he makes tortillas just for their family. Chris went a little crazy with the tortillas and el pastor (kind of pork) while we were in Mexico. That was pretty much all he talked about. Tate preferred the stray dogs.

And his keys. (BTW-this is his favorite toy for the past several months...all you expecting mothers you have got to get these keys. Somehow they are so fascinating to Tate. PLUS I think they are like in the toy hall of fame- because they are that good. )

Family Picture.

This really isn't the greatest picture, but I love how Tate is looking at me. He's really starting to like me. He recognizes me and reaches for me, and fake laughs at me, and even kisses me. He is starting to get so fun.

As for me, I was just glad to get a little sun and do NOTHING! O yes- and the food was good too.

My Little Dumpling

2008-03-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

For a while I've been wanting to do a post about some of my favorite websites, but today I am going to share just one.

http://thepioneerwomancooks.com/

Maybe most of you already know the "Pioneer Woman" ??? If not, you may be in for a treat. I think that she's HILARIOUS! I stumbled across her website a few months ago, and I find my self going back every few days to see what's new. She has another website "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" (see link on her cooking site), but I think that I like this one the best. I've tried a couple of her recipes and they have been awesome, plus they never have weird stuff in them. Usually it's stuff that I already have. On Monday I tried her latest addition to the website and it was DIVINE! So, that's why I am sharing her with you now.

And now for the weird part of my post...

I was feeding Tate, so Chris said that he would make the recipe, which happens to be for "Apple Dumplings" (See it's really easy. Even Chris can do it, and he never cooks.)

So after I was done I wanted to take a couple of pictures because I knew that I wanted to blog about the recipe...and this is what happened:

It's ok if you are a little frightened by these pictures. Frankly, I am too. Despite the chef, the dumplings, like I said before, were SOOO good. The recipe is on her website, so check it out.
Tate was practicing crawling during all of this...so I just wanted to show one of him too!

A fond farewell to fatness

2008-02-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Lately people have been telling me that Tate is starting to not look as chubby. Frankly, that makes me a little sad. I have loved, loved, loved having a chubby baby. I decided that since he is likely to start crawling any day now, and then he'll be skinnier for sure, I need to document one last time how Tate looked when he was in his prime:

How fat is that...
" Wrangler butts drive me nuts"

My sister likes to call Tate "muffin top" because his his love handles fold over his clothes like the top of a muffin. I LOVE it!!

2008-02-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

Something that I am very excited about right now:

Girls Camp

I found out a couple of weeks ago that I get to be a camp "craft specialist" and the "camp nurse" at our Stake Young Women's Camp this year. I think I quite possibly could have the 2 best jobs at camp. PLUS, since I am going with the Stake I guess that I get to stay in the lodge and everyone else has to camp in tents on cement slabs, which, believe it or not, I am not dissapointed about missing.

We had our first meeting last night and the theme is going to be "Someone Needs Your Star" It's kind of an off shoot from the youth theme this year of being "steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works." The theme is a line is borrowed from a song by Jenny Phillips which you can listen to here: http://www.jennyphillips.com/music_yw2008.htm

I just watched a video on that same page called "To Become like Him" which was pretty awesome too.

I'm a little out of touch because I'm not actually in YW. I'm a sunbeam (3yo) teacher going on 1 1/2 years now. (Ok I guess I'm not that out of touch-it's not like its been 59 years since I was 16-but still) So I know that some of you serve in YW and I could use some suggestions for crafts. We're thinking something with a star some how incorporated to the craft, but that's not even for sure. Actually I forgot a huge stipulation: our budget is $2-3 dollars or so per girl! So if there's anything you've done or seen recently that 12-18 year old girls would go crazy about, send me some suggestions! THANK YOU

2008-02-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've got Tunes!

2008-02-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

So sorry everyone, but we have background music. Chris was asking me if we could have music on our blog and I told him that that could be his ongoing contribution to the blog and he agreed. Lucky for you because I have always thought that Chris had superior music tastes to me. I'm actually kind of excited because when we were dating he always was playing me songs, dancing at the institute dances, etc (Little shout out to all former EA ers) and now it seems like you just sometimes forget about those little things that you used to love. Ok, I realize that for anyone that didn't go to EA, the thought of dancing at the institute dances may sound a little lame and ridiculous, but when you're there that's what EVERYONE does so it's really quite fun. So as far as music goes, be prepared for a little bit of everything I would wager. The one constant for him will probably be "the prophet" as Chris sometimes says- Bob Marley. Enjoy! (Or you could just turn off your sound.)

Our new addition

2008-01-31T18:04:00.000-08:00

So we have a new addition to our refrigerator. Lets welcome "Amoxcicillin". I was holding Tate on Monday evening and all of the sudden he kind of snuggles into me like he's tired. I thought, "that's really weird; Tate never snuggles." So he fell asleep in my arms and while I'm holding him he starts feeling kind of warm. He woke up after a few minutes and I took his temperature and it was 102.2. Then he was breathing kind of fast too. So then he starts opening and closing his eyes and is just LETHARGIC. He won't even lift his head off of my shoulder. So inside i'm kind of freaking out, forgetting every iota of anything I ever learned in school because this is different. THIS IS MY BABY!! And he has never been sick before. And I have to keep calm on the outside because Chris is right there and he assumes I should know everything about sick chidren since I'm around things like this every time that I go to work. So I gave Tate some Tylenol and we started driving to the Urgent Care in Gilbert. So it turns out that Tate has two ear infections and he was wheezing. So now we have amoxicillin and we have albuterol breathing treatments-to keep those airways open.

So the above picture is actually totally posed. The last picture I have of Tate and I is probably in Sept. So I've decided that I have to take matters into my own hands and I have resorted to setting the auto timer on the camera and taking pictures of Tate and I. How lame is that? It takes forever too. This one probably took us 6 tries, just to get us both in the picuture, the nebulizer in the mouth and the book open before the picture took.

Despite all of this Tate is still quite a good sport. This incident made me realize how much I love this kid. It was a whole new playing field. I was worried like I've never been worried before. I'm so grateful for my chance to have a FOREVER family because at this point I'm kind of attached to the little monster.

2008-01-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

So I didn't plan to blog today, and normally I'm not too vocal about Martin Luther King Jr. day, but I had an experience that made me want to blog today. I never write about anythign controversial, but hey, that's what blogs were meant to be for, right? So let me paint the picture: Chris is off work today so he is riding his horse. He was invited to rope at someone's house here in Casa Grande where he has only been once or twice before. Tate and I went along to hang out. So there is one man in particular that I would like to describe. He is there roping. He has several teeth missing. He is unemployed, probably in his late 30s, maybe early 40s. He and his wife and two kids live with his brother right now. Both of his kids are right there with us-one is 11 and the other is probably 8 or so. So all of a sudden, this guy says, "imagine that, we're roping on n***** day. You know where I come from we ain't afraid to call them what they are." And I think to myself, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" You have your two kids here and what are you teaching them? What ignornance. So yes, I believe that all men are created equal. That's how this country came to be; it was founded on this belief. That's why the first pilgrims came here-to escape persecution and find a place where all could live as equals. That's the way God intended it, I think.

Potpourri

2008-01-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

There's a lot I've wanted to blog about, but I'm finally just sitting down to do it. Much of my time has been spent on random endeavors that Chris and I are undertaking, but more on that tomorrow. My next post is going to be entitled "Ode to Chris," but again, more on that tomorrow. This post may be a bit jumbled, jumping from one thing to another, but at least you'll be up to speed. I'll call it a potpourri.
For new years we went to Pinedale to a friend's cabin. There Tate got to spend some quality time with his new best friend, Parker. This was seriously not posed at all. Tate loved him. We had tons of fun, made some new friends, and Chris stayed up until 3am ish playing guitar hero by himself. Tate also tried rice cereal for the first time and he LOVES eating real food now. Up to date he's had sweet potatoes, green beans and bananas. He thinks he's big stuff.

On new year's day I was able to see some friends from high school. I love when we are able to get together and catch up. We're all kind of spread out- from here to Arkansas, but I'm glad we were able to meet up.

This is my little brother Douglas. He turned 8 on Dec. 31st and was baptized Jan 12th. Of all the people in my family, I think he might like Tate the most. Ok, maybe not the most, but he likes him a lot. When I was pregnant with Tate he would ALWAYS ask if he could be there when Tate was born. I think he thought that babies just come out of your belly button or something like that. So I would tell him "no, you cannot be there." Then he would ask, "well can I be in the room next to the room where you are having your baby?" NO. He's growing up, and he's a lot of fun. After his baptism I told him to go stand by that tree you see in the back ground and he said, "actually, I think I'm going to kneel right here and put my arm on my knee." OK. So he posed himself, and I think he looks pretty handsome!

December

2007-12-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

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??

2007-12-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-28T09:55:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T14:39:00.001-08:00

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!

2007-10-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-18T14:12:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-08T21:37:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T11:18:00.001-07:00

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"

2007-09-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

An Experiment with Smilebox

2007-09-19T21:52:00.001-07:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

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

2007-09-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

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!!