Eventful Weekend

This is definitely one of those weekends that when it's over you wonder what you did.
On Saturday Pat took the day off of work and we traveled up to Tremonton for a big Birthday Party for Pat's Grandpa Roger. It was his 90th Birthday!! It has been about 6 years since we have had that many Tolman's together. So it was great to see family and celebrate an amazing man. Here is our family with Grandma June and Grandpa Roger. Mara was being really cute because she got water on her shirt, so she wanted to take it off. Since we were with family I didn't let her do it. The restaurant we were at was really warm and they had a fan going, so I took her over to it and made her stand in the breeze to get her shirt dry. She really liked standing there. It was funny.
On our way home we decided to make a detour and find the new Temple that they are building in Draper. So after turning around 2 times to try to find the right road, we found it! I can't tell if it's a full size Temple or a smaller one. Either way, It's a Temple!! I feel so blessed to live in an area where we are surrounded by Temples. It's truly amazing and definitely the work of Heavenly Father. I can't wait until the open house to be able to see inside and take my kids. We were able to go through the Sacramento Temple 2 summers ago when Mara was a baby. It was the first small temple that I have been in, and it was so beautiful.
The rest of the day we just laid back and took it easy. It's amazing that spending time in the car makes you tired. LOL
Saturday was also my nephew Carter's 12th birthday. So Sunday he was ordained a Deacon! It has been so fun to see these boys grow up. When I first met Pat he had 3 nephews, Jacob was 3, and Jeremy and Carter were 1. Now there are 15 grandkids on the Tolman side and those boys are 14 and 12! But our crazy story begins earlier in the day. Our church begins at 11, and the ordination was at 12. So we decided to go to our church for the Sacrament, then head out to Provo for the ordination. Well, our plan didn't go so well. Xander was sitting on the floor during the opening prayer and suddenly started crying. We looked up and he was holding his nose, so Pat picked him up to try to figure out what was wrong, and Pat noticed there was blood on his shirt, and it was coming from Xander's nose!!!! Apparently he hit his nose on his knee when he was getting ready for the prayer. So needless to say, we left. I was bugged that I didn't get to take the sacrament, but my motherly duties were called for. We came home and I had to wash clothes!! Luckily it all came out. Pat totally got the brunt of the blood, but Xander's nose stopped bleeding and we were able to go on with our day :)
Carter's ordination was wonderful and I am so glad that we were able to be there! It's the little things that make me grateful for the gospel in my life. The priesthood is so amazing, and looking at these boys, seeing the change in their lives and knowing that one day they will be great missionaries, and that the gospel makes them stronger is amazing. It's hard to believe that my little boy will have the opportunity to have the priesthood and go on a mission someday. But that is far in the future, right now I'm just trying to figure out another pre-school for him :)

Anyone want a cute purse???

I know that I'm a bad decision maker, and alot of things that I buy end up getting returned, hence the bad decision making! Well, I bought this purse last week at a local craft show, thinking that it was big enough for all my stuff. . . . and it's not! :(

It's such a cute purse, and I can't afford to just keep it around for "someday" when it will work. So I want to know if anyone want's a really cute purse!? It's 15 inches across (at the top) and 8 inches tall (not with the handle). Inside it has a middle compartment that zips, and separates the purse into two sides. There is an inside zipper pocket, and two little open pockets for phone/keys! And it zips all the way closed too!

If anyone is interested let me know by commenting (and please leave your email address if you want it). I am willing to ship it too! :) I bought it for $25, but will sell it for $20 (including shipping, if you need it shipped).

So take a look! :)

Mother's Day... and Cinderella!

For Mother's Day our ward had a Primary Activity and made these really cute "flower" pots! Each child traced their hand, and wrote something that they would do for their mom! It is so cute! I love it. Mara is small enough that hers just has her name on it, but she colored it :)


And my present from Pat was another Precious Moments figure! I love them so much! My sister Karri went to Disneyland recently and picked up this way cute one! It's a park exclusive and I have been wanting it for about a year! He also made breakfast (french toast). It's always nice to have a day where your husband says "Honey, you can do whatever you want!" We have a DVR to record our shows, and I am sooo behind on Brothers & Sisters, so Pat was wonderful enough to let me spend time and catch up (but I am still 1 episode behind). I had a nice relaxing day and am very grateful for my wonderful husband and 2 adorable kids and all the love they give me. During Sacrament Meeting the whole primary got up and sang "Love is Spoken Here". This is one of my most favorite primary songs and of course I immediately start crying. There is just something about children singing that makes me cry :) I'm amazed that I went through over a year of being the Primary Chorister and never really had any crying fits. I love being a mom!

Another thing that I love is Lilacs! And they are blooming all over!! I am lucky enough that our neighbors have a bush that's right on the property line and it's huge, but half of it is dying :( But I was able to pick some blossoms with Mara and she had to have a flower of her own! So of course I got out the camera. Most of these pictures are of her smelling the flower. Oh how I love my little girl!!



My neighbor Alexa went to her Senior Prom and wore her dress to church. It is such a Cinderella dress and Mara was totally in love with it. She even ran across the aisle to sit by her :) So after church she came over so we could get come pictures of Mara with her "Cinderella".
I just can't believe the prom dresses these days! Mine were so plain compared to what they are now (and not to mention cheaper!) It makes me wish I was back in high school, just so I could wear a pretty dress!!

Randomness

I feel like I have been ignoring my blog lately! I mean, I have posted, but haven't put up any pictures of the kids for almost 2 weeks! I have just been busy doing other things. So here are pictures.

This first one demonstrates how Mara likes to start her day: By getting all dressed up. No matter what, she has to take off her pants or skirt and put on a dress-up skirt. She will do this at least 2-3 times each day!!











Once pictures were being taken of Mara, Xander wanted his picture taken too! So here is my boy with bed head!! Which is a lot better now that we got his hair cut a few weeks back, Thanks again Stef!!

Last week I was getting the kids ready for bed after a bath and I just loved how Mara's hair was curling!! I just wish it would flip out every day! She is just getting so big!




And of course Xander wanted to be in pictures so I tried doing a picture of the three of us by myself. (You know where you hold the camera out and hope that it works!) Needless to say after about 6-7 pictures of closed eyes and heads cut off my mom stepped in and took a good one of us! It turned out really well, I just wish that I had done my hair that day! LOL

For Mara's birthday I got a bunch of little princess figures to put on her cake. After that they just went in her toy box. They have been missing for about 2 weeks and on Sunday morning, my mom comes walking in the room with her hands full of princesses! The girls (Mara and Conli) had played hide-n-seek with them in her room and left them under her bed! So here is Mara playing with them before church.

We left church a little early to drive to Springville to be there when our nephew Jacob was ordained to a Teacher! It's so crazy that he is 14!! When I met Pat, Jacob was barely 3! Gee how time flies. Anyway, we were gone all afternoon so Mara missed her nap. But on the way home she was playing around with her blanket on her head and her tiredness caught up with her when we were 3 blocks away from home! (It is so frustrating that kids will fall asleep right before you are home!) We were nice enough to let her sleep a bit.

That evening all my family was here for dinner and the 3 older kids were out in the backyard playing. And in runs Xander complaining that there was something in his shoe. So he takes his sock and shoe off and puts on 1 of his flip flops and heads back out the door!! My brother was able to stop him and get a picture first! And after they were done playing outside, he ran around the house with 1 sock on! Kids are so crazy!

Finally, here is a picture that I took a while ago and haven't ever posted, but I love it. This is Mara getting into the cupboard. She will just sit there, look at everything and say "Ummm.." It cracks me up!

New Discovery

On Wednesday Pat, Xander, Mara and I went to Draper/Sandy area for a little road trip. We went to IKEA and the Sandy WalMart so Pat could get his Live Wire Mt. Dew. We have never found the Live Wire down here, so we asked to find out that you can only get it in SL County :( So whenever we go north we always stop and load up on the Dew. On our way to WalMart, we were stopped at a light, and I was looking around at the stores and saw a sign on a building that said

"Schlotzsky's"

I immediately started freaking out and pointing and saying "Holy Crap, There's a Schlotzsky's!" Pat was just as amazed as I was! You see, we loved Schlotzsky's. There used to be one on State and Center in Orem, but it's now a Panda Express. When I was pregnant with Xander I craved their sandwiches! And then out of nowhere they closed!!!! I was heartbroken. We haven't seen one since! I thought that it went to the unknown land to be room-mates with Kenny Roger's Roasters, (which I so, so, so, so miss, sometimes I feel like Kramer on Seinfeld yelling out "Kenny, Kenny").
But anyway, I am glad to report that Schlotzsky's is still around!! We had lunch there and my Turkey Original was fantastic, just as I remembered!! They didn't have Pat's favorite Sun-Dried Tomatoes Pizza anymore, but he said their BBQ Chicken pizza was really good. When we got home I went to their website to see where other locations are, and apparently there are only 2 in Utah!! Sandy and SLC. So it looks like we will be going to Sandy more often now :)
It was a very nice surprise for me and now I can't get Schlotzsky's off the brain!!

Uppercase Living

I am have an Uppercase Living Open House! They make Vinyl Lettering and designs for the home. You can choose your design, colors and size!! You can even make your own saying (or last name), pick your font, color and size too! It is really cute and there are so many to choose from. You can put them on your walls, windows, or even a piece of glass or wood to display anywhere! The open house is on Wednesday Night the 30th, at my house. I moderate my comments, so if you are interested in coming just leave me a comment with your email address and I will send you the info. (Your email address won't be posted) Here are some examples of things you can do with the designs, (I got them from their website).

How Does She Know!!!!

I have been trying to get a good video of Mara singing the beginning of "That's How You Know" from Enchanted, and I was finally able to get one last night. She sings "How she know, you love her?" She loves this song so much and sings it all the time. She even sang it during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday!! (It got me laughing) We love Giselle in our house and listen to the music all the time. She picks up on the funniest lines of the songs. In the "Happy Working Song" she will sing "cleaning up the toilet" and "sponging up soapy scum". And she has just started to sing "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss"! Oh how I love my children :)

My Boy on a Bike

My mom bought a kids bike about a year or so ago on clearance from Target. We have been wanting to get it out for Xander for sometime, but never could find training wheels to put on it. Last summer (yes we have had them this long) we found some, and just put them away for some dumb reason. But today they finally got used!! Pat had taken the day off to study for his finals (which he really didn't do, shh, don't tell anyone), so he was home and (after he passed Mario Galaxy and opened the game to play with Luigi), he and Xander went outside, got out the bike and put the training wheels on! Xander was excited to try out the bike, but a little weary at the same time. He did a really good job for the first try. He really enjoyed it and I'm hoping that his joy with the bike will continue :)

Sidenote: The helmet that he is wearing came from his cousin Noah's Hotwheels birthday party, so it's just a plastic helmet for fun. We are going to purchase a REAL bike helmet, so don't worry, we are good parents :)

Mara's Pictures

I took Mara to Target to do her 2 year pictures on Monday, and got the email with the pictures last night. I just love the Target Portrait Studio so much! They always do such a great job :) Here are some of my favorites. I just love the one that I put on the sidebar. Her eyes just sparkle!!

Mara Singing

I was trying to put new pictures of Mara up, but blogger isn't my friend today. So we'll see if my video works. She found one of her birthday cards and started singing "We just got a letter" from Blue's Clues!

Mara's Birthday Parties

I have been meaning to blog Mara's birthday for a few days, but have been so busy doing little things (playing Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii) that this is the first time that I have sat down to do anything. On Friday we had the family on the Tolman side come over for some cake and ice cream. It was so much fun to have almost everyone there (we miss you Boise Tolmans!). Tammy's mom, Ethel, is in town for a few weeks and it was great for her to be with us! And Pat's cousin Ashley & husband Paul came too!! Thanks to everyone for coming!!
Mara got some fun toys and clothes. She got a really cute Cinderella doll that came with a horse from Dansie cousins. A fun Princess Phone from Tolman cousins. A cute baby doll with bathtub from Stradling cousins. And a dress, shirt, socks and shoes from Grandma & Grandpa Tolman! She was loving everything she got!! Then we had food :) My kids have always been ones to only eat the frosting, they are so funny!! When Mara saw her cake she got really excited about the Princesses! :) Every time she sees a cake of any sort she will say "Happy birthday to you!" and want me to sing the song. She is so cute! It was a great night and always fun to see the family. Then on Sunday we had a big birthday party for the April birthdays (Mara, my mom, and my niece Sawyer) Mara got a ton of clothes from Ramey cousins, Aunt Karri, and Mana :) A neat Bathtub Cinderella Doll from JD & Chris. And a fun Princess Coloring book and Cinderella Polly's from Grandma Joan :) Mara loves the little Polly doll, she is constantly wanting me to change her dresses (I'm just glad I was able to put away the small shoes before she noticed) It was fun to have all the birthday's together. It was Sawyer's first bday, so it was fun to see her eat her cake. Which she would only do if Brent or Lisa lifted the cake to her face. It took her awhile to get her hands dirty, she is just so cute!!! :) Thanks again to all the family that helped make Mara's birthday special. We love you all!!

Today she had her checkup at the doctors, and she is 35 inches tall and weighs 31 1/2 pounds!! She is still in the 90th percentile for her weight which is a far cry from where she was at birth (5th percentile, weighing 6 lbs 10 oz) It's so fun to see how much kids grow!

My Baby is 2

Today is Mara's 2nd Birthday. I can't believe she is this big already. It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn! She was born weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces. The smallest at birth of all her cousins on both sides of the family. I was so worried that she would stay skinny, but sure enough, she did get chubby like her brother.
There are so many things that I love about her. I love her smile and the way she laughs, she is just so sweet. I love the way she talks, and she talks a lot!!! LOL She is always saying "Mommy, dance!" (whenever there is music playing, whether it is in the car or at home), "I'm OK" (when she coughs or sneezes), "Bless you" (when someone else sneezes), "I wanna see" (to pretty much anything that is out of sight), "I can't like it" (when she doesn't like something), "I felled!" (even when she does the tiniest little trip, and doesn't even hit the floor), and "I'm princess" (whenever she is wearing dress-ups). She is loving Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but I am trying to make her watch the other princess movies. Her favorite thing to sing is "I know you, I walk you...dream" from Sleeping Beauty and "Cleaning up the toilet, ohh" from Enchanted (that one always gets the song stuck in my head)!! She loves for me to sing "Twinkle" and "Rock baby" when I put her to bed. She loves to wear her "Jellies" and skirts. Her favorite things are her blankie, bear and pillow, (all things that Mana has given her, coincidentally) There are just so many things that I love about her, that I can't even think of all of them. I always have a hard time getting my thoughts in order when I blog. But for her birthday I made yet another slide show of some of my favorite pictures of the past 2 years. Too bad there's a 30 picture limit because I love so many.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PRINCESS!!

Happy Anniversary :)

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary :) I can't believe that we have been married for this long. But I look at my two beautiful children and the years come into focus. When we got married digital cameras were expensive, so all of our photos were taken with film. For the longest time I have wanted to get the negatives scanned and put onto a CD, so I would have my wedding photos on the computer. So last weekend I did just that!! (I took them to Costco, and it was really inexpensive) They turned out wonderfully and put a smile on my face. I even got my engagement photos and some family pictures on the CD too!! So I picked through over 400 pictures total and found my favorites to make a slide show :)

I just want to tell my husband that I LOVE YOU!! You are my best friend and soul mate. And my ultimate minimate, lol. You have always been able to make me laugh, cheer me up when I am sad, and you let me vent about the hard parts of being a mother :) I know that school is hard and tiring, but you are almost done!You are the most determined person I have ever met, and you are able to do anything that you set your mind to. You are a wonderful husband and an amazing father. I love the sound of joy that comes from our children when you walk through the door. They love you so much! Remember:

I LOVE YOU,

ALWAYS AND

FOREVER!

BTW: 100 posts!! Wahoo!!

Sci-Fi Nerdiness

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

I can't tell you how much I love this show! It feeds my inner soul and makes me happy! Pat and I started watching BSG about this time last year. We borrowed it from my brother JD. Pat had watched it by himself and then I joined him about 5-6 episodes into the first season, and instantly loved it! We were able to watch season 2, then had to wait to see season 3 (which had just ended on TV). But JD was able to find the episodes for us, so we got caught up before Christmas :) But last July when we went to California, I failed to mention that Karri, Pat and I went to San Diego for ComicCon, we were able to go to a panel called "The Women of Battlestar". It was awesome to be there, and see the actors that we loved (even if it was from a distance). I even talked with Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol). It was awesome!!

This is a show that always keeps you guessing. You start out not knowing who is a real human or who is a human model cylon. They build you up to love a character and then show you who they really are! It is amazingly written and the music is so beautiful (go to my playlist and listen to the Bear McCreary music, I love it)

My favorite characters are Lee "Apollo" Adama and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. They definitely go through a love/hate relationship, but are ultimately best friends, but we all want it to be much more. Too bad right now they are married to different people. Then there is Gaius Baltar and Six.These are Pat's favorite characters. She is a cylon and he is a "what about me" type of person. His craziness always makes me smile. I can't wait to find out what is going to happen in season 4! It has been a long time coming, but the wait is finally over :) It starts tomorrow!!! If anyone wants to check out a new show I highly recommend BSG. It is on the Sci-Fi channel, so look it up.




On another note: I am such a geek at heart! What do you expect growing up with a father that loved Star Wars, Star Trek the Original Series, and everything Sci-Fi. He originally got me into Star Trek: The Next Generation (which I loved and was a little obsessed with as a kid, and now we own all 7 seasons on DVD), and then I got into the whole X-Files obsession. (we own all 9 seasons of this one too) And I am so excited that there is going to be another movie! Here is a picture of the teaser poster! I am anxious to see Mulder and Scully back together and especially on the big screen! The movie premiers on July 25. Which is when Karri, Pat and I will be in San Diego for yet another ComicCon :) (I hope BSG people will be there again) So we are totally going to see the movie when we are out there!
Anyway, I just wanted to share my joy with you and that's all of my Sci-Fi Nerdiness for one post.