Memorial Day

The Sunday before Memorial Day my mom, Xander, Mara and I all went up to the Orem cemetary to put flowers on my dad's grave. It was so beautiful to see so many flowers!! It's nice that he is buried so close, but I really don't go very often, which is ok. I think of it as the fact that I have dealt with his death and have moved on, so why visit the cemetary, right? Anyway, we took some pics quickly before it rained :)

My mom and the kids at my dad's grave.

My kids at my grandfather's grave. Which is interesting, because it is only about 5 or 6 graves away from my dad's! So we don't have to go in search of it :)

For Memorial Day the city puts up flags for everyone buried in the cemetary that served in the armed forces! So there is always a flag for my grandpa. We didn't have to search for this one much either. I guess it's nice to have a last name that is towards the end of the alphabet!!

Wii are Fit

We are lucky enough to be living with my mom, and she has a Wii that we can enjoy on a regular basis! And she decided to get the new WiiFit game and board! We have enjoyed it alot (I do it every day and am a master at the hula hoop) Mara likes to think that she can play the games, so we usually let her walk around with a remote minus the batteries, or a nunchuck! When we got the board she automaticlly had to step on too! Karri was quick enough to get some pictures of her on it while I was making dinner. :) She is just so cute!

I also have a video of Xander doing the short distance running. It is his favorite thing to do, and pretty much all he will do :)

My husband is rubbing off on me!!!

So for those of you that know Pat, you know that he is a big toy collector! There are so many different toys that he likes that he has his own blog all about his toys!! He documents what he buys and why. It's really crazy to see all that he has!
So anyway, there are these really cute Indiana Jones toys called Adventure Heroes! They have had Galactic Heroes (Star Wars) Super Hero Squad (Marvel characters), Robot Heroes (Transformers), and now Adventure Heroes!! I totally love Harrison Ford and it's fun to have a mini version of him that I can fit in my pocket :) I already have a little Han Solo key chain which I love, but these Adventure Heroes have my heart.
Over the past week I have acquired the six sets of figures from Raiders of the Lost Ark!!

Indy/Cairo Swordsman ----- Indy/Marion Ravenwood

Indy/Tribal Warrior ----- Indy/German Mechanic

Rene Belloq/Ark & Ghost ----- Sallah/Mummy

They are so cute!! And I'm hoping that they make some from Temple of Doom and Last Crusade. There are 3 sets I think from Crystal Skull right now, but I like the Raiders ones the best! And what is even better is that there are stickers in each package that are different parts of Africa, and when you get them all you can send it in (with $4.99) and get a really cute set of Indy and a horse that he can ride!!! Yes, I am a total geek, but not as big a geek as my husband! But he had a proud moment last night walking out of WalMart, because he didn't buy any toys, and I did!! It's nice that we share in this love of toys, even though my love is small compared to his :)

My Uppercase Living

I had a Uppercase Living party a few weeks back and got my stuff last saturday!! I put my stuff up and here are the pictures!

I loved this saying, so I put it in a floating frame!! Now I can put it anywhere I want! But right now I don't know where to put it. Eventually I want to have it next to a picture of my dad.

I got some really cute butterflies for Mara's wall! They are different colors of purple and pink! It turned out really well, and I think I want to get a few more :)

Pre-School Graduation

Thursday was Xander's Pre-School Gradutaion from Mountain View's Itty Bitty Bruin Pre-School! It was a really cute cerimony, they had a slide show of all the kids, which I didn't get on video because my tape was running out :( I just love the cute cap & gown's that they were wearing. Xander has loved school this year and was always excited to go. I can't believe that it's over!! This year has gone by fast. Really it was only about 7 months, but still! It's so crazy how he is growing up. Xander will have another year of pre-school before going to Kindergarten, and I'm hoping that he will find the desire for reading :)

Here is my little boy in his cute cap!

Xander and Miss Brittni! She was his buddy this year and he loved her alot.

The graduate with mom & dad.

Miss Brittni was really nice and got Xander a present! It is a really cool Lightning McQueen RC car!! He totally loves it and doesn't want Mara to go near it! (Surprise, surprise!)

Thanks Miss Brittni!!

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!!