Christmas 2010

This was our first year having Christmas by ourselves. It was kind of nice not having to worry about packing, finding a sitter for Chanel and TRAVELLING. But we sure did miss our families. Luckily we had some friends that decided to stay around for the holidays too. We had dinner with our friends Mike and Jen and then played some board games. Then for Christmas eve we had biscuits and gravy at our friends Jonathan and Hillary's. They have a son Tale's age and lets just say they weren't the best of friends but finally figured out a way to play in the same room by the end of the night. :) For Christmas we were planning on going over to our Bishop's house but they ended up getting really sick so we had to come up with a Christmas dinner menu. And Tahri came up with a good one. We got steaks, shrimp, and tuna. Tahri pretty much did the whole dinner, he seared the tuna, bbq'ed the steaks and cooked the shrimp in butter and garlic. Oh dinner was sooo yummy.

Leila also got to try some rice cereal which she LOVED!!! We couldn't feed her fast enough. :)

Christmas morning, I handed out all the presents and from youngest to oldest we open them. Here is Leila with her pile. We didn't get her much because we figured we would go big for Tale since she pretty much has no idea. But she got lots of presents from her Gigi and Papa and her family in Idaho. Thank you everyone for my wonderful presents!!!!Tale had the biggest pile, but he didn't quite get the concept. He would open a gift and then just want to play with that. He didn't care for the rest of them. But then I started opening a section of the gift and then once he got a glimpse of what was inside he would rush to it to open it. He is totally into Trains and Toy Story right now. He got a tent and a chair and he loved it! He put all his toys in there and eventually his chair and just stayed in there for a good part of the day playing with all his toys. Mostly trains.

But I think he favorite gift was from Santa who brought him a train table! When he walked down the stairs and saw it his face lit up so big and he rushed over to it. He took most of it apart so we might have to glue it down. But he loves his trains!!!It was such a wonderful Christmas! Thank you so much to everyone that sent us cards, gifts and Christmas wishes we love you all so much! And thank you to our friends that stayed around. And thank you Santa for being so good to us this year!!!!!

First Play

We had our Branch Christmas party and the kids put on the smallest "play" ever. :) But they were so cute. Tale was a Shepard and of course he fought with me when trying to put on his costume. As soon as he got on the stage he was trying to get off. But he was sooo cute, I wish he would wear things on his head, his outfit would have looked so much better. Poor kid I just wrapped a couple of my scarfs around him and wallah a shepard! :) Of course as soon as the song was over he wanted it off. But I guess I'm grateful he at least made it to the stage. Santa was there too but he wanted nothing to do with him. so no picture with santa. :(

Cuteness!

We had a playdate at Grahams house and they all loved playing in the kitchen. There were all these toys in the living room but they wanted to clean up the kitchen. Except my son, ha! He was monitoring the cleaning. Mommy must not clean enough. ha! Tale found one of Norah's dolls, he was carrying it around and being so sweet to it. Then he lifted up his shirt and put the doll diagonally across his stomach. I was like what is he doing? The other moms were asking the same thing. Then one said I think he is breastfeeding her. I wasn't quite sure if that is what he was doing until he took the baby and put it over his shoulders and started to tap her back. I just about died, it was the cutest thing I ever saw. I kept trying to get a picture of it but he would run away every time. This was the only picture I could catch of him with her. It is incredible the things they pick up on. Oh and he wouldn't let anyone on the train either he was guarding that toy. He is obsessed!

5 months

This is pretty late, but I thought I should post it before she turned 6 months. :) I'm not sure about her stats but she sure is growing. She has to grab everything in her sight. She loves to pull my hair, laugh, be tickled, and loves attention. She "crawls" in a circle and backwards. She rolls over all the time from both her tummy and her back. It is getting so hard to change her diaper and dress her. She tries to roll away and has the strongest kicks! She also gets up on all 4s in the crawling position and usually falls on her face. :) She can also sit by herself. I love this picture because it is sooo what she does all the time. She puts everything in her mouth but she loves to suck on paper. I'm forever taking it away from her but that is the thing she always grabs for before anything else. I'm not sure what it is about paper but she sure loves it. Oh she is sooo cute!

More California Fun

While we were there we got to meet up with one of my best friends Melody. Her son is about a year older than Tale, and the last time they visited us, Tale was a little too young for Jonas to play with him, but this time around they had a blast together. They all loved going on the rides even Leila.
It was fun watching my dad with Leila, just like my brothers she had him wrapped around around her little finger.
My mom bought Tale the Toy Story series and he watched it on her computer like the whole time they were there. Then he became obsessed with Buzz lightyear too. So she went and bought him a Toy Story backpack and shirt and he wouldn't take it off.

Oh how we miss gigi and papa.........They sure did spoil us while we were there.

Wedding

One of the main reasons we went to California for Thanksgiving rather than Christmas was because one of Tahri's childhood friends was getting married and he was in his line. It was such a beautiful fun wedding, it was at a winery in California and the location was absolutely beautiful. It was really fun seeing old friends and meeting some of Tahri's friends that I hadn't met before.

This is a picture of Tahri with Adam and Andrew. Andrew was the groom and he is in the middle. They lived in the same neighborhood and have known each other since like the 3rd grade. That is one cool thing about living in one area for a long time, you make childhood friends that you know for most of your life.

I didn't know anyone there, but they had a table with the spouses/girlfriends of the groomsman, and these are a couple of my new buddies that I made that night. They were so much fun!
It was so nice to get out with Tahri, we hadn't been out together in a long time, mainly because my kids freak out when we leave them. But they did AWESOME with my brothers and my sister in law. They like never cried. They probably had way more fun with their uncles then with me. :)

They took them to the park, watched movies, played games. They were the best babysitters, and Tahri and I got to stay out a lot longer then we anticipated.

Oh and Tale is like obsessed with Thomas the Train. I saw these PJ's at the Walmart for like 5 bucks, and the boy did not want to take them off! He thought he was the coolest thing ever. It had rained most of the day, and the park equipment was really wet, but he insisted on wearing it to play, and after they gave him a bath he had to wear it after that too. They put it in the dryer and then had to iron it dry for him so that he would stay happy.
Leila was pretty good, she won't take a bottle so I was worried about her. But she played with the guitar and everyone took turns holding her until finally she fell asleep. I told them to just let her cry but they couldn't stand it. But when you look at those big blue eyes I could understand why............... :)You guys are the best babysitters, thanks so much for letting have a fun night.

Family Photos

While we were there we took some family photos. Oh it was such a challenge to get Tale to cooperate, but there were a few good ones.

We took some in Charger gear.......My brother Josh bought the kids their outfits, how cute is Leila in her cheerleader outfit. :) Tale loved his jersey, he still asks to wear it now.


A few in black by the beach but they didn't come out very well.

My mom bought the kids matching outfits but Tale was just not into taking pictures. He just wanted to go play by the water. We didn't get too many good ones of these either. We need to learn how to work with the shadows.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went to California and we got to hang out with my family. Oh it was so nice being in San Diego and seeing my brothers and my parents. My parents brought Kalbi ribs, manapua, poke (raw fish), rib eye steaks, guava cake, passion fruit cake, and all kinds of Hawaiian candy. Oh our dinner was sooo ono! My brother Jared marinated the meat with the seasonings my parents brought. My brother Josh grilled it, and my sister in laws mom hooked it up with all the traditional Thanksgiving goods, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. We had a feast! Then we sat around the fire and laughed and laughed! It was an awesome day. I miss everyone so much, I'm so thankful for my wonderful family!

Playtime.........

We were so excited to have some friends over to play. Not the best picture but they were all smiling in it. It was sooo cold today, so we stayed in and had cupcakes and played with the millions of balls Tale has. Then we turned the TV on because they started to get bored. How cute is this, Norah and Graham were coming up to Tale and giving him kisses and hugs, it was sooo cute, of course once I got the camera out they stopped but I managed to get one of these two cuddling.
And here are the mommies, and the two babies. Thanks guys that was way fun!

5 years........

I can't believe it has been 5 years for Tahri and I. I was remembering back when we first got married, we made out a goals list. I can remember most of them, and some we have accomplished and some we are still working on but I don't think either of us ever imagined that we would be here in New York at Cornell. But it has been an amazing adventure so far, everything with Tahri is one, and I'm so glad that I get to go through them by his side.

He is so patient with me and even when he is furious with me he still treats me like the princess I think I am. :) I'm so grateful to be his wife, and I just love him for all that he does and most of all for the 2 beautiful babies he has given me.

I can't wait to see what the next 5 years brings us.

I can't believe we don't have an updated picture of all of us, will have to get that done.

Sewing........

So I've had a sewing machine for over 4 years now and have never used, and well I still haven't. HA! I couldn't really figure out how to thread it so I used my friend Julie's. :) She showed me how to make these.I had so much fun, who knew I would enjoy it so much. I made these for my younger brother who is having twin girls in May. I'm so excited for him and his wife! Thanks so much Julie for helping me with this.

Oh and we figured out that I bought quilting thread instead of regular thread? ha! rookie! Hopefully I'll figure out how to use my machine soon. :)

Finger sucker

Oh great another one!

Heart Burn

Time seems to be going too fast for me lately. I feel like my kiddos are growing up too fast and doing things that sometimes I don't always acknowledge the way that I should. And I don't ever want to forget all these fun milestones that are happening everyday. Since this is my "journal" I have to record these things here. It is so hard to be a mommy sometimes because my heart just burns so much sometimes that it hurts! Not like a bad pain but like trying to hold on kind of pain. Like I don't ever want this moment to end, I want to freeze this moment forever.

For example, at night when Tale is getting ready for bed after we do our normal routine, I kneel down by his bedside to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight. Some nights he just doesn't want me to go, so he'll put one arm around my neck and pull me close and put his forehead on mine, and everytime I pull back to leave he holds my neck so tight, takes his fingers out of his mouth and gives me a kiss, and of course I stay. Or when we are at the park and he follows the big kids around because he wants to play with them. I watch him and he tries so hard to be a big boy and keep up. Trying to walk on the monkey bars, run from one thing to another. I just love watching him explore and wishing I had a camera because I never want to forget this moment. These little things just make my heart burn!!

So I thought I would jot somethings down that my kiddos are doing at this stage that just make my heart burn.

Tale (21 months)

He is trying so hard to communicate with us now. He is using more signs and starting to say more things too. He points at different things all the time wanting us to tell him what it is. Everytime we figure something out together I get sooo excited.

He loves his sister! He will lay down wherever we are when he wants to hold her. He lays down at the park, in the mall, in the bath tub sometimes, and motions his hands for her, it is the cutest thing. He loves to hold her.

When Leila cries he will run over to her and pat her back, or give her his blanket, give her a hug and kisses her head. He even tries to bring her different toys or he goes into the kitchen to get her a few of his favorite treats.

When he wants something he is the best kid!

When I scold him or yell he curls his lip down and puts his head down but quickly tries to give me a kiss to make it all better.

He likes me to kiss his ouchie and when i have one his kisses it too.

When he listens to me or starts picking up his toys to put them away when I don't even ask him to.

When he lays his head on my shoulder

Waves bye bye whenever he leaves and always has the biggest smile when he gets to go somewhere with his daddy.

Falling asleep on his own at night with the lights on.

Leila (4 months)

She sucks on my cheeks or my lips, oh I love that

She pushes back on her elbows and leans her head forward to try to sit up when she wants me to pick her up.

She oohs and ahhs in her crib when she wakes up in the morning

When I put her down or give her to her dad she doesn't take her eyes off of me.

When i'm breastfeeding her I love when she looks at me and smiles and then goes back to work

She thinks her brother is the funniest person, she will laugh at just about everything he does and he will do it over and over for her.

She tries to grab for everything now and you can tell she is trying to process everything! What we are eating, things on TV, the dog, I love seeing her try to figure things out.

When she is on her tummy she tries so hard to roll over, and when she does she has this look of accomplishment.

The big tears from her eyes when she cries.

There are so many things that I hope I will always remember. I can't wait to witness more things that make my heart burn. Mommy loves you Tale and Leila...........so much!!!!

Halloween part II

On Halloween we decided to go out trick or treating. Tucker stopped by to say hi and grab some candy and of course we had to get a picture of them. How cute are they? Tale was the only one that thought Sam was funny. haha......
We went to a close neighborhood that I wouldn't have to worry about cars because I wanted Tale to feel free to run crazy if he wanted to, to get all that energy out. He loved, going door to door, I think this is his favorite holiday. :)
Leila slept through the whole thing. ha!
This house was really cool, Tale wanted to stay at this one forever. You can't see it very well in this picture but there was a machine that blew out bubbles that had like this mist in it. Tale just wanted to chase the bubbles and pop them. These holidays are sooo much fun with kids!

4 months

This little girl loves to smile, she loves people talking to her and is just a joy!!! She is still not sleeping through the night yet, but usually only gets up like once or twice. AND she is still in mommy's room. ha!

Halloween

We started off Halloween with going to the science center for their spooky center, it was so crowded but we ran into a few of our friends. Bad mommy forgot the camera! so no pixs. Then we had the branch party. Leila got dressed up as a cow.
Tale got dressed up as a little emperor. My dad went to Hong Kong and brought him back this cute outfit, I wish he would leave the hat on because it was so cute with it on, but as you can see it was a struggle to keep it on him.
He hates long sleeves so he didn't like wearing the top too much either. Here he is with a few of his friends. Graham won the scariest costume.
But he put his shirt back on once I told him he could get candy. ha! He loved knocking on the doors and getting candy. He held on to his pale the whole night! He wouldn't share his candy with ANYONE! Little stinker!
There were 3 witches at the party, here are two of them.
They had donuts at the party and I was like waiting for them to put it out. Then they said it was for a game, so of course I had to play. ha! So Lindsey joined in with me. I ended up winning but by default. I was the last to have the donut not fall off the string. So not really a win, but I did end up getting the donut and they gave me a big candy bar for it too. so I'll take it. :). Tahri said his costume was man married to a witch. ha! It was a fun night.

Buttermilk Falls Park

Every Wednesday we get to hang out with Norah and her mom. I love my playdates because Tale is entertained and I get someone to hang out with too. And of course Leila is always a trooper either in her stroller or my arms. This Wednesday it was beautiful! Playdates are usually at my house but today since it was so nice we decided to go out and play. We ended up going to buttermilk falls park and it was a good one. Both kids had a lot of fun there. They have a big kid and little kid area, here Tale is at the big kid area. I was nervous because there weren't any guards around this rock which lead to the top of the slide. Tale loved climbing it and going down the slide but I just wanted him to go to the other park. It was making me so nervous because he kept slipping and with me being able to only be on one side of the rock I was scared he would fall of the other. But he wanted no help and wanted to get up there fast. I finally convinced him after like 10 trips to go back to the little kid playground.

Movie Night and Painting

On Sundays we usually go for a family walk, but now that it is getting a little cooler we decided to have movie night. So we blow up the air mattress, throw pillows and blankets on it, pop popcorn, bake cookies and watch a movie. Tale loves it as you can see. He loves it when we bring out the mattress, he jumps on it from the couch, until the popcorn comes out. He loves having his own bowl. This night the movie was How to Train a Dragon. Before Davyne and Grandma left they bought us a big pumpkin, Tale got to paint it. He was having so much fun and of course made a mess. Here he is hard at work. And here he is with paint all over him and his clothes.