HAPPY BIRTHDAY XANDER :)

On Thursday, October 16th, 2003, we became a "real" family.

Our little Xander was born at 4:33 PM.

Weighing in at 9 pounds and measuring 19 1/2 inches.

He was our little angel :)

I was so excited to be a mother, and I can't believe that he is 4 years old!! I am totally going to copy my sis in-law Lisa

Ode to Xander


My Little Man

You are growing up so FAST

and I don't want to miss even one of those

special MOMENTS

You RUN and tumble and make

all the noise you are capable of

then you find enough energy

to jump and run some more.

If you let me share with you

these special moments and let me be a

part of your wee life, I promise

I will try not to crowd you and let

you be the person you are....

Share with me these moments...

let me come along for the RIDE and

I will share wih you the

sky and let you spread your wings and fly.

Somewhere along the way, you started growing up.

You crawled,

then you walked,
now you play with other children, and climb around the park by yourself.

I am so blessed to be able to be part of your life.

And for now I am your best friend.

I am the one who gets to hear you say your first words.

I am the one who gets to hold your hand.

And I am the one who you share all your new discoveries with.

Yes, I am blessed.

One day you will have a new best friend & I won't be the center of your world.

That is how it should be.

But I am going to enjoy all of our special time together now.

For you will only be my baby once.



Xander, I Love You! And I am grateful to be your mother :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY XAN!

Early Birthday :)

Last night we had Xander's Birthday party

(family only, I am not ready for a friend party yet LOL)

So here are the highlights!

Xander showing off his new Robot Heroes,

Bumblebee and Baracade!!

The first of the presents!

An awesome Go, Diego, Go! Bug set from Max, Conli, & Sawyer :)

Mana (my mother) gave him

Aqua Dots!!

He has been asking for these because of the "wonderful" commercials on NickJr!!

Pat & I gave him Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bob Cutlass Cars!!

Mana made him a cool bathrobe!!

A cool Bumblebee from Noah!!

This is the best!

The toy plays the theme song to the Transformers Cartoon from the 80's.

This is Xander & Pat's reaction to the music!

Classic :)

Some really cool Jets from Jacob, Jeremy and Cody

A fun Backyardigans game from Carter, Alex & Addi :)

The new Pat Pat Rocket from Little Einsteins!

This is fun because it plays music, slow, fast,

loud and soft, all depending on how it is played with! So, so cool :)

From Pat & Me

Now on to the cake!

It is supposed to be a Lego Brick,

but it looked more like a sand castle once the candles were put in.

Oh well! He was excited :)

And I can't forget Mara!!

She enjoyed the cupcakes A LOT :)

All in all it was a fun party. All of these pictures are courtesy of my mom and sister, because my camera DID break, and we need to send it in to get fixed. At least my mom bought a new camera so we can use her old one for awhile :)

I just want to say "Thank You" to all of our family for coming to celebrate Xander's birthday with us.

We love and appreciate all that you do :)

Tomorrow is Xander's actual birthday,

so there will be more pics to come

The Big 4!!!

The Fire House!!!

Our ward has a play group for the mothers that have younger kids. We get together once a week. Yesterday we did something way different :) We went to the Fire Station on 1200 W. It was a day that you could take a tour and learn about fire safety. Here is a pic of the group walking up to the fire station. Xander is way up there with a yellow shirt! He totally runs off all the time, I swear I will probably lose him someday! LOL (let's hope not)

They have this smoke house that teaches kids how to exit a house when there is smoke :) Xander was so excited that he got to crawl out of it!!

After that last picture my camera died!! :( I am so sad, because I probably have to send it to get it fixed :(

Anyway I had my phone, so I took some pictures of Xander in front of the fire trucks!

All in all, we had a fun time :)

Oh Boy!!

One of my best friends Susan Greer had a baby on the 9th!

Micah Russell Greer

He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long.

She is so my hero, because she had him naturally!

Way to go Susan!!!

Here is a close up of little Micah!

He looks alot like his sister Olivia :)

Our Trip to Boise :)

We, just got back from a trip to Boise, Idaho to visit Pat's brother Ben and his family for a baby blessing of this little guy

Brody Benjamin Tolman

Isn't he a cutie?

When we were getting ready for church, my sis in-law Liza was starting a bath for her daughter Addi, and Mara came running (because she heard the water) Then my other two niece's came too! So we had all the Tolman girls together :)

Here they are after the bath :)

L to R: Bryton (4 1/2), Addi (4), Aubrey (2 1/2), and Mara (18 months)

This is the entire Tolman Clan!! All 27 of us :)

top: Brody, Ben, Amber, Doug, Gwen, Pat, Me, Addi, Liza, Morri, Maddox, Lana, JR
middle: Jeremy, Carter, Bryton, Mara, Tammy, Roger, Aubrey, Jacob, Caden
bottom: Noah, Cody, Alex, Spencer, Xander

Here is Roger and Tammy with all 15 grandkids :)

Another Video!!

I love that I can post videos!! So I am trying to take more, especially since Mara is talking alot and saying new things. It just amazes me how much she is talking. I don't remember Xander saying this much when he was 18 months! :) So this is Mara's new "trick" :)

Ahh the Fun of Tagging :)

Ok, so I was tagged again.(thx Lisa) It is fun to do these sometimes. This one is different so here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Wow, 10 years! That would make me 16, and starting my junior year of high school at Mountain View. Pat and I had been dating since April (so almost 6 months) I was very excited for my junior year because I made it into A Cappella! I was in Ladies A Cappella the year before and loved it. I got to hang with my friends and sing!! Life was good :)
   
2. What was I doing 5 years ago? Umm, let's see. Pat and I were celebrating our 6 month wedding anniversary. We were trying to get pregnant, and I was getting really frustrated. I was working full time at Western Community Bank doing New Accounts. I really liked that job! I miss it sometimes just because I had interaction with alot of people and felt like I had alot to do.
   
3. What was I doing 1 year ago? One year ago, I was a stay at home mom of two!! Xander was approaching his 3rd birthday and Mara was almost 6 months old. We went to Boise for our nephews baptism, Caden, and I got the call from my mom that my grandfather had passed away. We knew that it was going to happen, I just didn't think that I would be in Idaho when it did. :(
   
4. What was I doing yesterday? Now this is the hard one!! hehe. I got up around 7:30, and Pat got the kids up (which he normally does, and I love it!!!) After getting ready for the day I did some errands. Went to the post office to send a package, went to Target and saw Karri!! I got the Halloween Potato Head!! He is so cute, you can dress him up like a ghost :) and his eyes glow in the dark. Afterwards we went to the bank drive thru, and came home. My mom was home sick, so I tried keeping the kids away from her so she could get some rest (it worked some of the time) We had lunch, put Mara down for her nap, and I vegged in front of the computer. Xander was so tired that he fell asleep on the couch :) It was nice to have the house completely quiet. I watched Days, Ellen, then Oprah (which takes up most of Mara's nap) I really didn't eat dinner because I wasn't hungry. I got the kids to bed around 8:00 and worked on cropping pictures to get printed for my scrapbook and played VMK. Pat got home from work around 9:30 and we stayed up until 12:30 watching "Knocked Up" I thought that it was really funny, but too much language :(
   
5. Five snacks I like to munch on? Kissables, M&M's, Cheetos, Corn chips, and Pretzels.
   
6. Five things I'd do if I suddenly had $100 million dollars to spend? BUY A HOUSE, BUY A HOUSE, BUY A HOUSE, BUY A HOUSE, BUY A HOUSE!!!!!! (Ok really, buy a house, buy a new car, let Pat get whatever toys he has wanted for a long time (and that includes a Mustang), buy diet pills, and go to Disney World for at least a week, and maybe New York too!!) (I really want my own house :)
   
7. Five locations I'd run away to? Disneyland, Disney World, Yellowstone, our family cabin, and somewhere on the east coast :)
   
8. Five bad habits? Procrastination, getting mad at my kids, picking at my feet, laziness, and not wanting to make dinner.
   
9. Five things I like to do? Scrapbook, Sing, Cuddle with Pat, Cuddle with Xander and Cuddle with Mara :) (when she cuddles)
   
10. Five TV shows I like? Do I only have to list 5? How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Heroes, Brothers & Sisters. (I like more but just listed the ones that are on the air now)
    
11. Five things I hate to do? Clean the bathroom, balance my checkbook, gosh, I can't think of three other things. If I do I will add them later. here is another Excercise!
    
12. Five biggest joys at the moment? Mara's verbal skills (she is saying so much lately and is learning new words everyday), Xander being fully potty trained, A husband that loves me for who I am, learning how to sew clothing (I am attempting to make Mara's halloween costume) and Xander's prayers. (He has just started to say them "all by myself" it is so sweet and makes me want to cry sometimes)
    
    Wow!! Finally done! I'm off to watch the premier of Bionic Woman on the DVR with Pat :) I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but if you want to do this one, GO FOR IT :)

Winnie The Pooh!

Mara has started to say "Winnie The Pooh"! It is way cute! I was lucky enough to get it on video :) So here it is!!

Haaaaaave You Met Ted??

Ok, I am so excited that it is finally fall and that my favoirte TV shows are back on the air (except for Battlestar Galactica, Lost, and Medium are premiering in January) Last night was premier night and I was so excited for HIMYM!!! (For those of you who don't know what that is: How I Met Your Mother) It is one of the funniest shows on TV. I am totally "in love" with Ted Mosby! He is so cute! If you haven't seen this show, you totally need to check it out! CBS, first show of the night on Mondays!! And also check out www.slapcountdown.com If you watch the show you know what this means! :)

Then there is Heroes!! I love this show!! There are so many great characters. I think that everyone has had a dream of having super powers! I know I have!! :) I have a special place in my heart for Hiro and Peter! All I can say is: This Show is Awesome!!

Crazy Kids!

Mara really likes to sit in this baby rocker and chill out. She will rock in it and say "Rock A Bye" (which is so cute) She got in it with her bear and was rocking it today. I was a little slow on the camera for that one, but I did get a little video (which Xander messed up) So I will have to try again :)

Here she is "reading" a book.

Tonight Pat gave Xander his loose change (as he often does) and Xander decided that it would be funny to put them on his eyes. Here he has two Dimes as eyeballs!!!

(He was highly amused by himself)

The Ultimate Car!

I went to Walmart last week with the kids and parked out front was this awesome car!! I had to take a picture of it. Luckly I have a camera-phone :) Wouldn't you love to have a car made out of Chocolate (hee hee) I love Hershey's Kisses, and the new Kissables are yummy! :) I just thought that this was funny.

Finally!!! Mara's Dancing Video!!

It has been a few weeks since I took this video and this is the 4th try to put in on the blog!! I am excited that it finally worked. Here are some of Mara's "Sweet Dance Moves" which she has actually improved upon since :) I will start taking more video, now that I know that they will work on the blog

What a Pretty Princess!!!

I have been trying to blog more than once a week, but I guess I am doing more than other people that I know (Jen and Steve, it has been almost a year. Come on guys!!) Anyway, here are my favorite pics of this past week:

Mara in 2 layers of Dress-Ups!! She made me get her dressed, only to be mad a few minutes later and want them off. She is so finicky!!

Mara loves to wear shoes! These are daddy's sandals (the easiest ones to wear and walk around in) I just love that she had her purse with her!

Such a girl :)

She loves her Minnie Mouse Ears and likes to wear them alot.

She put them on by herself :)

A classic smile :)

"I wonder what is in this?"

Silly Boys!

So, we started Potty Training Xander in March, and it took him a month to get pee trained. And we have been working on poop training since mid April. Since he doesn't poop that often it has taken a long time to fill his chart up. He has had milestones on the chart and recieved a movie, a bunch of Hot Wheels, a video game, etc. On Saturday he got

THE YETI

car from the Disney Cars Movie. He officially has all of the cars from this movie (we saw a bunch of new ones at Comic Con, so we'll see if we get them, but for now we are complete) This car has been the hardest to find. It only comes one to a box at the stores, and I thought for sure that we would have to get it on eBay! But right after our Disney trip, Karri called me saying that she got it! (She works at Target) So we have had this car hidden for over a month! I am so happy that he finally got it! Since it is so rare, it went up on the wall, along with some of his other cars that are variants like, Bling Bling McQueen, Red & White Ramone, Doc Hudson with Red Hubcaps, and Bug Mouth McQueen. Since he has all the cars he has at least 8 different Lightning McQueens!!! It is insane! That is what he gets for having a Dad that is a toy collector :)

Now this is a pic of Xander and his cousin Max. They decided to get into the girls Princess Dress-Ups and get out the jewelry and stuff. They thought they were pretty funny! :)

Ding Dong, Man, Ding Dong. Ding Dong, Yo!

On Friday night my brother JD, my sister Karri, Me and Pat went up to the Utah State Fair and saw WEIRD AL in concert!! It was awesome!! That was the 3rd time that we have seen him perform. He puts on such an entertaining show. We had a lot of fun :) Here are some pics: Us in the bleachers (we did have seats closer to the stage, but they were off to the side, so we really couldn't see the screen very well. So we went to the bleachers that were fairly empty, and that was much better)

The pics of Al didn't turn out that great, but here are the best of the bunch. This is when he was performing the Star Wars song "The Saga Begins". It is about Episode 1. He had people in Star Wars costumes on stage, and he and his band members were dressed up like Jedi! It is awesome :)

This is "White and Nerdy", which you can listen to on this blog :) He is on his Segway!!

And the Ultimate song: "Fat". He is in a fat suit like the one from his video. If you haven't heard this song you should find it! It is a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad". I love this song.