Summer is coming...

I have been such a slow blogger lately. Last Wednesday the 4th, it was time to cut Pat's hair and we decided to give Xander "the summer hair cut" aka: the buzz cut. It's so nice to not have to worry about combing his hair everyday. This picture is right after Pat was done with him.

Lately Mara has been getting in the rocking chair and singing "Rock-a-bye baby" to her bear or Minnie mouse. I have yet to get a video of it, because whenever she sees me with a camera she will stop and say "cheese". So at least I got a picture of her in the chair :)

Pat is a major popsicle lover. I have to buy popsicles year round!! The best ones out there are Pace Bars, they have awesome flavors like blue raspberry and tiger's blood. And the kids love to have bites of daddy's popsicles. They will usually come running when they see him with one :) Mara especially loves "pop-ick-les"

This is just a sweet picture of Mara. She put her blanket on all by herself and was walking around like this. So cute with all the tassels around her face.

A B C D's

Sorry for the amount of posts today, I haven't blogged in a week or so and I'm going through pictures and videos of the last week.

I caught Mara singing the ABC's and after about 3-4 videos I got a really good one. :)

Just a fun picture of me and my girl!!

Whenever someone lays on the floor, Mara has to climb on them! And this time I had my camera with me so I was able to get a cute pic :)

Here is Xander and Pat playing baseball!! We found this really nice lightweight bat and ball set at Walmart. This is the best video, he hit 2 balls!! Mara is funny in the background. She liked laying on the cement!

Pat decided to comb Xander's hair into a mohawk!

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!!