Tag

I’ve been tagged by my friend Melissa.
Is this a blog chair letter? Who cares. Try it. It’s fun.

Here are the rules:

1)Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4)Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


7 Facts About Myself

1. There can never be too much chocolate. Chocolate ice cream, with chocolate chunks, chocolate syrup or hot fudge in a chocolate dipped cone. Mmm

2. I am afraid of color. Or rather my favorite colors to wear or put in my house are brown, black, or white.

3. I love to hike or ski. Mountains make me feel closer to my Heavenly Father.

4. I can make a diamond with my legs and touching my knees and head to the ground, but no splits.

5. My favorite day of the week is Sunday, because I get to take a nap guilt free.

6. I visit the library at least once a week.

7. Just for Melissa: I have been known to tell my kids they can’t play the computer, because I am already playing with their webkinz. Those things are addictive!

Who Do I tag? Sherrie Lynn, Gretchen, Emily, Leslie, Jen, Cathy, and Amanda

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A second mother, needed. Must be kind, willing to play peek-a-boo, make cookies (while holding me), play with my toes, not care if there is food in my hair, and most importantly HOLD STILL! Please submit applications to my current mommy.

(Hallie has taken to crying every time I put her down. She follows me around the house, while I do my chores, with this sad face. She knows I will break down and pick her up just to see her smile. I need a second pair of hands.Ü)

Girls Night Out at "Finding Nemo on Ice"

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Thanks to Reid and Rebecca's kindness we had free tickets to enjoy "Finding Nemo On Ice." It was a new experience for me and my girls and boy did we have fun! The music was upbeat and the costumes were amazing. I felt like I was watching a Broadway play. Even Reagan (who won't sit through a movie at the theatre) couldn't look away. We definitely give it FOUR THUMBS UP!

Have To Share!

My little Reagan came to me this evening and said, "I love everything," with a big smile. In a joking mood I asked, "Are you sure to love everything?" "Yes," she replied. "What about boogers? (the first disgusting thing I could think of), I asked. "Oh yes, I love boogers, she said, they taste like CHOCOLATE!"

Natural Curl

Each of us is made up of different identities. For me there is the girl of my youth, the teenager struggling with faith, the college student ready for anything, the wife and now mother. Each of these identities are still part of me. As we go through life our experiences and reactions to these experiences form who we become. For me I still am discovering myself and I try to remember the lessons of the past and what they have taught me.

As a girl I never quite knew what to do with my hair. It had a mind of its own. I spent a lot of time in a pony tail, just trying to avoid it. There were the days of perms, it was cut short, straightened, grown long, layered and then I just gave up. It’s amazing what happens when you just step back and relax. I had natural curl! No one had ever shown me how to treat curly hair and I had always tried combing it straight, which of course didn’t work. It was just a ball of frizz. Then one day I decided to embrace the curl. Wow, what a difference this made. I still straighten my hair, but I also am okay with wearing it curly.

And what does all this have to do with identity, you ask? Just like I had to learn to embrace my hair, and allow it to be styled the way it natural wanted to go, I have also had to learn to embrace myself. I told many people how I expected to have life figured out better by now, but the truth is I do have a lot figured out. I don’t need to live to please others, I know my Savior’s love for me, I still enjoy a good adventure, I am a wife and I am not less of a woman, because I show love and affection to my husband and I am a mother, who is learning her limits, when to say no, that it is okay to say yes and sometimes you just have to get dirty.

(Caitlyn took this picture and yes that is Ms. Daisy Diggs licking my toes. She has a thing for feet!)

Weekend Parties

This is Mark and I am leaving my second post ever, since this is supposed to be a family blog.

I am in Colorado Springs right now. I flew in on Friday to spend the weekend with my family. I usually feel like I keep in pretty good touch with TARA and the kiddos, but being here and seeing their faces and actually holding them reminds me that I am missing out on so many tiny wonderful adventures. I return to Austin on Monday afternoon, and I will be super sad to go. I yearn and pray for the day when my family and I will be reunited permanently.

The main reason I came back this particular weekend was to take Caitlyn and Austin to their school's annual Daddy - Daughter dance on Saturday. It was amazing! The girls had fun dressing up, running around and playing with their friends, eating tons of candy and cookies, and weren't too embarassed to be dancing with their Dad.



We also squeezed in Austin's birthday party on Saturday morning. We went to Pump-It-Up and took a large group of friends. Playing on their inflatable slides, obstacle course, and bouncy cage was great, and we have a few plastic burns (like carpet burns) to prove it! We then ate pizza, cupcakes, soda, and made Austin our Queen cowgirl. I was so glad that Austin was willing to wait and have her party a few weeks after her birthday so that I could be a part of it.

Conference

Today was the first day of the 178 Annual General Conference, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. We watched the 1st session at home and then watched the second session at the church through the satellite system. Taking five kids to the church made me really thankful for the Internet. It is a blessing to have so many ways to hear the words of the brethren. We are looking forward to watching conference in our P.J.'s tomorrow.

A Day with Sick Kids

For those of you who are moms I think you will get this. Yesterday, only the second day of school after our break, Colin tells me he’s not feeling well. I do all the normal things. I ask where it hurts, take his temperature, check his color. He looks fine. Now I was a kid that loved to sleep, still do, and I knew that my son had stayed up late the night before reading, so I sent him to school. I judged him by my childhood standards. I did have the consideration to say, “Call me if you start to feel any worse.” Around one o’clock I receive a call from the school office. Colin is there and not feeling well. After talking to him I decide to pick him up, but when I see him he looks fine. He laughs with his little sisters and asks for something to eat. I decide I am going to win this battle. I tell him that since he is home early he can get to work on his homework or if he’s feeling too bad he can go to sleep. I am not going to make this fun. He works on his homework and then takes a nap. For dinner we have tacos, one of Colin’s favorites. I give him the choice between chicken soup and toast. Later on that night I make up ice cream sundaes for the girls, but there are none for the sick boy. Then around 12:30 this morning Colin wakes me to tell me he had thrown up. Oh boy had he ever! I guess he really was sick, poor kid. Maybe he could have some ice cream today. It would feel good on his throat.*Ü*

WE'RE HAVING TWINS!

April Fools. That would be a little hard to do with Mark and I in different states, but hey Oprah had a pregnant man on T.V. I hope you all had a great day full of laughter.