Life in the Carpenter's Shoes

Ava kate scuba goggles

2011-12-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

Tribute to Eyes

2011-11-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

They say that eyes are the window to the soul. Ava-Kate's eyes have taken my breath away since I first looked into them. From the color, that I don't think the options on a driver's license will ever be able to describe, to the beautiful almondey-shape.

She has her father's eyes.

I love that.

I've also heard that the eyes are the first thing people look at when they see your face. So how fitting that they would make me fall in love with her as though it were the first time, each time I truly notice the details of her face.

Though they look sad in this picture, I think that the camera has captured a part of their beauty. People have always told us how expressive Ava-Kate is and always has been. Her eyes can tell her story. As her mother I love that through her eyes I can see happy or sad, mad or hurt, or even sickness. Maybe part of my awe in eyes is from my anatomy/physiology background, and how truly miraculous it is that we can see the world around us, but even more miraculous that the world can see us through our eyes.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T17:46:00.001-07:00

Halloween 2011 was the most cost effective of our marriage! We spent a grand total of $1.50 between the 3 of us. Unfortunately the cameras were against us on this Hallow's Eve so these pictures were taken with my phone AFTER trick-or-treating and Ava-Kate was much more interested in eating all of the candy than posing for the camera. Ava-Kate was/is a princess. We already had everything she needed in the dress-up box so it worked out really well. She LOVED the concept of trick-or-treating after the very first house. She would knock, say "treat", take a handful of candy, say "thank you", then turn and say "más treat" translated to "more treat". *side note: our baby girl speaks a lot of spanglish Finally, we went to a fabulous party put on by Crowsh and Mario. We went dressed up as the Royal Couple, Kate Middleton and Prince William. Unfortunately James' camera deleted ALL his pictures without warning, so we are trying to track down a group picture. So maybe we can be them next year again, although it won't be as cool unless they have something fabulous happen to keep them in the media. Anyway, our first trick-or-treating Halloween with Ava-Kate was a success and so fun! The candy's not too bad either :)

Nope! Not premature at all!

2011-10-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ava-Kate is doing fabulous with potty training. We no longer have the resistance and fear of number 2 :) She just has to go when she has to go. She refuses to even try and sit on the potty if it's not on her terms. She also can only wear underwear, pull-ups are viewed as diapers and therefore free game to wet and soil (I hate the word "soil" but sometimes it's the only word that works). We only have accidents once in a while and usually it's my fault for not watching her to make sure she goes when she holds herself (which is so funny, what if adults still did that every time we had to go really badly?) Anyway, we can even go to the park, mall, grocery store, and any other errands if I time it right and leave right after she just went potty. I just am still trying to figure out how to make her know it's ok to go on the big potties in public restrooms. Oh well. The little funny things you take for granted. All in all, I think it was mostly me that had to be ready. Ava-Kate has probably been ready for a long time, I just had to buckle down and prepare myself for dealing with it. I've been worrying about potty training since she was born, and now I realize it wasn't so bad. I can't imagine going any longer with changing diapers all day long! So to mommies now and mommies to be, good luck, you CAN do it! Oh, and I'm sure your tot can do it too! :)

Potty Training

2011-10-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

This may be a little pre-mature, and I hope I don't jinx the process by posting this, Ava-Kate went poo poo in the potty today! We've been potty training on and off for a couple months now, but I was so worried that AK was too young. A friend of mine at play group said last week that when they start to take off their diaper they're ready. Well, that did it. I gritted my teeth and decided we're only doing underwear from now on, except for nap and bedtime. Ava-Kate's been really good at going potty for pee pee but has never gone poo poo. I mentioned this at play group this week, and the same friend said that she would take a doll, or a bear, or whatever and put that on the potty. Then, using something like beans (I used un-cooked black beans), you have the doll go "poo poo". Later today I tried it, and brilliant! Ava
-Kate went poo poo 15 minutes later in the potty! We also borrowed this book from the library,

and though graphic, it was great to teach that we don't go poo poo or pee pee on the floor, but in the potty. Oh how I love the miraculous joys of motherhood. I don't think I ever thought I would put this much energy in, or get so excited about, the basic functions of the human body. But oh, how excited I was when my baby girl finally went! So, crossing our fingers and hoping the accidents will be fewer and further between.

Ode to Google

2011-09-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

I love google! I've loved it for a while, so much even that James once ordered me a shirt that says "I 'heart' google" I wear it with pride. I'm not sure I would be able to live without google. Both as a parent, a student, a wife, and a person in general. Here is a list of the things I have "googled" lately:

How to wake up early and workout

How to cook eggs in the microwave

Shutterfly

French Interior Decor

French diet: how are they so thin

haha. I've learned so much just from those searches. And don't even get me started on the thousands of things I googled while pregnant and baby-related. I was actually banned from it while I was pregnant because I would get so worked up over every little thing. Now it's nice that I don't have to call the Dr. over every little thing. I wish I would've been able to buy stock in google. I would love to own a piece of the magic. I'm sure if they created some sort of Google-land, I would definitely put that on my bucket list.

Blue vs Red *article from the Daily Herald

2011-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

LEHI -- More than 4,000 players took part in what sponsor Property Solutions is calling the world's largest dodgeball game on Friday evening at Thanksgiving Point's Electric Park.

A Guinness Book of World Records moment, the challenge was a fundraiser for Camp Kesem, a charity for children of cancer patients. Strategically scheduled, the event was organized to take place the night before BYU and the University of Utah played their annual football game. Blue won this round.

Co-president of Property Solutions, John Hanna, said the idea for the tournament came from David Bateman, the company's CEO.

"My idea," Bateman said. "But it wasn't my idea to do it in the rain though."

A lot of the advertising for the event was done through social networking.

"To be honest a lot of it's viral, by word of mouth and on Facebook, stuff like that," Bateman said.

The company, which develops software for apartment complex managing, had ordered 2,500 red and blue T-shirts for the participants and ran out well before the game began.

There were 760 red and blue balls that flew high and low toward the opponents' side of the field. Once hit you were out of the game. Last player standing won for their team.

Brexton Wilding, a BYU student, said he learned of the game from a campus flier.

"My roommates were going and it sounded like fun," Wilding said.

James Carpenter married into a staunch BYU family even though he is a U of U student.

"We're here for a date night," he said. Both he and his wife, Tara, wore blue.

Property Solutions's goal was to raise $20,000 while matching donations up to $10,000. Ben Zimmer, company co-president, said the event would give the company instant credibility.

Hanna wasn't as sure."I thought it was dumb," Hanna said. "I wanted to break the lightning record in basketball."

On the flip side, he said it was one of the best things they have done as a company.

"We are growing very rapidly and we want people to know who we are and this gives us instant recognition," Hanna said.

** to see a video of James and me click on the link below and on the left hand side under "related videos", I think we're the first one. We looked pretty silly but it was the second take, the first take was good but the back ground was too loud. The game was crazy fun and James planned it all by himself!

Ears Pierced!

2011-09-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

We bit the bullet and finally got Ava-Kate's ears pierced. I know there are ALOT of opinions out there about piercing your daughter's ears. I was 3 when mine where pierced and Robyne was 2 so here we are following in my mother's footsteps and piercing Ava-Kate's at 2. We actually did it on the eve of her birthday, I know, not very kind but so cute! She was amazing. James was a little hesitant and really didn't want to, but in the end he changed his mind and came with us. It's been 2 1/2 weeks already and she's done incredible. James' main concerns, besides the pain, were infection, AK ripping them out, and AK constantly touching them. Well we're still 0 for 3 of the fears. Mostly because James drilled into her head "no touching" and sometimes she even will say that to me when I clean them, it's so cute! If we have another daughter I really want to get her ears pierced earlier. I'm thinking like 6 months old. Sounds cruel, but it would probably be easier to care for them and not worry so much about falling out or the germ factor with a toddler, i.e. parks, playgrounds, dirt, swimming, etc. In the end, so far, no regrets.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

2011-09-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ava-Kate had her 2nd birthday Sep 3. I can not believe I have a 2 year old. We celebrated at Liberty Park, one of our favorite hidden treasures in the valley. We had friends and family that made the trip out to have fun with our little "hija". She was spoiled of course by both grandma's and aunts and uncles. Nana K (James' mom) and Alison sent her a Dora doll which she sleeps with every night, Dora DVD, and of course what would a package from the Tuscaloosa clan be with out some fabulous 'Bama gear. She also received a Dora cell phone and microphone. From James and me she received dress up jewelry and dress, and some puzzles. It was so hard not to spoil her and stay in our budget, but it all worked perfectly.

SuMmEr!

2011-08-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

The kids are starting school up again in a few weeks, which I guess means Summer is almost over. Lucky for us we don't have school... or work so we still have Summer as long as the sun is shining. Here are a few photos; really they're just from one day. We went to Liberty Park to play in the rivers and then we went bowling. It basically sums up our summer though. We've done a lot of water activities because Ava-Kate is a little fishy! She loves playing in the water. Little splash pools, sprinklers, you name it she'll somehow swim in it. It's almost her 2nd birthday, I can't believe it; she's growing up so much and is starting to talk quite a bit lately, both english and spanish which is really fun to hear. It's crazy how much spanish she understands and even tries to speak. I still don't understand how she can learn two languages at the same time, but she is! Hopefully I'll post a little more frequently as things tend to slow down with the coming of fall.

Ava Kate Meets the Dentist

2011-04-29T09:42:00.001-07:00

Ava Kate had her first dentist appointment a few weeks ago and she was great! They don't do very much. Mostly just introduce her to the moving chair, show her what all of their tools do, and get her comfortable with going. Dr. Jim Williamson is our dentist and we LoVE him and ALL his staff! They are so wonderful that they took all these pictures for us with their OWN camera, and e-mailed them to me. I'm so glad that some people are good at taking pictures of "first-times"; I am not one of those people. :) It was really fun because I learned some things as well. Ava Kate's favorite tool was the water sprayer. She just wanted to suck on it and drink all the water out. She also wanted to just lick the "toothpaste" that they scrub your teeth with, so her tongue was always in the way. Dr. Williamson counted all her teeth and said they look great with no brown spots at all. YAY! I have been losing sleep over the fact that my bottle-loving toddler would develop baby-bottle mouth. She actually has been bottle-free for almost a month now. Mostly because I didn't want to tell the dentist she was still drinking from a bottle. haha. And, we're done with teething until she's 6, YAY! If you need a great dentist check out their website here and tell them we referred you!

I love love love her face in the last one! How Ava Kate is that?

Alabama Tornadoes

2011-04-28T16:28:00.002-07:00

Many people have been texting, calling, and emailing us asking if James' family is ok. We're so grateful to say that nobody that we know has been physically hurt from the devastation. However, James' sister Michelle's in-laws are going through what thousands of Alabamans are going through today. Their house was hit and completely destroyed. Our prayers go out to them and everybody in the south that is struggling right now. We've been following www.tuscaloosanews.com for updates. For anybody who reads our blog that doesn't know what's going on here's our story. James is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. When he was 17 a tornado hit his own home and destroyed it completely leveling everything. Michelle called us last night to tell us Adam's parents' house had been hit. We asked if everybody was ok, and she told us that they were. However, James couldn't get a hold of his mom or his brother. So we were only kind of satisfied with their safety. James' mom's house ended up being on the opposite side of town so they have power and weren't hit directly. James' brother, Matthew, and his wife Charity live in Huntsville, about 3 hours north of T-town and they've been out of power for a while as well. It's crazy to watch the footage of the destruction and know that "that used to be the mall" "or that was this" and "that was that".

Anyway, we just wanted to thank everyone for their love and concern for us and our family, even though we're safe and sound thousands of miles away.

2011-04-28T16:28:00.001-07:00

hapari swiming suits

2011-03-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.hapari.com/womens-swimwearhow cute!

Ava kate and alex

2011-03-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

catching up

2011-03-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have no reason for not blogging. So I won't even make up an excuse. Well maybe just one, that I've been watching way too much netflix. I'm quite obsessed with "Lockdown". This national geographic documentary series on prisons across the United States. A lot really has been going on actually. I've thrown 2 baby showers which were both huge successes in their different ways. I'm so excited for all the babies being born. Bringing me to my next point, no, we're not planning on having another baby anytime soon. We're having too much "fun" trying to handle Ava-Kate by herself, let alone adding another one! :) Ava-Kate is growing up so fast though! She has such a personality! One thing that is both frustrating and hilarious is her shoe fetish. She's very very very particular about her footwear. She went through this phase where she always had to have her boots on.

Ava-Kate ready to go outside with her bag as her "purse". No we didn't go out until she had some actual pants on. She insisted on the hat as well. haha

Then she moved to some pink jelly sandals that she would wear even when it was snowing. Yes, I would let her, with socks of course, and I carried her, it's just not a battle I'm willing to fight each day. Thankfully it's warming up because now she takes OFF her shoes and socks the moment she gets into the car! She's talking and talking and just being a doll. Except when she's not, because sometimes she's not, I'm afraid that sometimes she screams and screams. We're working on that.

As for myself I'm growing my bangs out. Ah! I have had bangs for almost 5 years I think, so it's really weird to see my forehead all the time. What do you think?

Also, it's dance competition season! And with that super-sister comes to the rescue when Mom can't make it for whatever reason. Which I love! I did Robyne's makeup and hair for the cutest dance. "Tea Party" If you ever have the opportunity to watch Robyne and her team dance, jump on it! She's so talented and I love watching her. It's also giving me good practice being a "Dance Mom" because I'm thinking it might be Ava-Kate's destiny as well. She dances to all music at any time! And she loves sitting in the kitchen watching her Aunt Robyne practicing her dances.

As for James he's LOVING his job with Fidelity. I'm so happy he's finally doing what he loves! We only have one more year of his undergrad woo hoo! Then we'll see where it takes us. We're both keeping pretty busy though. James has school, work, and now he's in the elders quorum presidency. I have baby and I'm in the young women presidency (the best calling). I love my girls. I do however find myself lacking seriously in the adult conversation skills. I'm either speaking "baby" or "high school" with my teenage girls, (yw). We're also excited for Shad's mission call to Frankfurt, Germany and are so proud of him. I'm going to miss his terribly though, and I'm not even his mother :). We're also planning on going to California in June to go to my cousin's wedding and hopefully see A LOT of family that we haven't seen in a LONG while. Hope everyone is doing well, that's pretty much what's going on with us :)

Christmas Morning

2011-01-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everybody who sent us love and presents. It was so fun having a baby to have Christmas with this year. Ava-Kate doesn't know who Santa is, or anything else about Christmas, but she sure knew how to open presents and be excited about it. She received a lot of great presents from all her Grandparents. Everything from a princess purse book to a cell phone, to a baby doll with a stroller, and play jewelry. Ava-Kate is turning very much into a girly-girl. She loves shoes, jewelry, hair clips, makeup, and purses. She cracks me up and is still just a precious ball of energy. Her latest achievement is her first spanish word! James has been very diligent in speaking spanish to her almost exclusively. Uncle Brett actually realized it though, haha, she says "dah-dee" while holding out her hand, translated to spanish is "dame", translated to english is "give me". Also, the only TV show she'll watch is "Dora the Explorer" which is funny because even I'm learning a little more spanish from that. I love seeing her begin to have "favorites". She loves anything "Dora". We were at Wal-mart and she was walking around in the baby aisle and she brought us a Dora beanie with gloves. So fun! She's also sleeping really well through the night and throwing fits and kissing anybody!

The last 3 months....

2010-12-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Ava-Kate and me at the Hogle Zoo; can you tell she missed her nap?

Ava-Kate still loves her bumbo and baba.

Trying on mommy's clothes

Throwing a fit while trying on mommy's clothes

Waking up

Halloween 2010. Cutest costume EVeR! Thanks to Aunt Annika

We didn't take pictures of Thanksgiving, and I'll put up some of our Christmas festivities in a bit. But for news James started a new job on Nov 15 with Fidelity Investments. I am no longer working! WooHoo! Ava-Kate had her 15 month appointment last Tuesday and she is so smart!

Dr. Cramer said that she's an over achiever with her development.

She's talking so much now, she learns a new word almost daily it seems. My favorites lately are "not-not" =knock-knock

"bye-bye"

"dypa"= diaper

and her favorite= "uh-oh"!

Everything is "uh-oh" even when she drops something on purpose. She's also climbing on everything! Ahhh... what a fun age. If I had to describe Ava-Kate in one word it would probably be "energy". She is full of it! Or "flirt" because that's what she is. She loves people and loves making them laugh. Lots of Love to all our family and friends that read this blog and as Ava-Kate would say "mmmmmm" which means she wants to give you a kiss! xoxo

Mamas Who Know

2010-10-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

I just now found a fantastic blog that every woman, especially mothers should add to their blogs- to- follow- list. It's Mammas who Know. It gives inspiration to live and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to our children. When I was pregnant with Ava Kate, my greatest fear was that I wouldn't know how to teach her to love the gospel as I love it and the happiness it brings to my life. That I didn't know enough, or that I wasn't perfect enough in my devotion and faith. But I'm so grateful for all the resources that Heavenly Father has blessed us with as mothers- and fathers- to teach our children. My father-in-law and his wife also gave us a dvd from www.lds.org called "Teach the Children", it's also a great resource.

Ava Kate Turns One....a while ago!

2010-09-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ava Kate's party was a family event full of fun! I have never had so much fun at a birthday party, especially one where the birthday girl had no clue what was going on! James' sister Alison flew in from Alabama to share the day with us, and even though being hugely prego in the heat of Summer was miserable I love having her birthday near Labor Day because it's a whole long weekend of fun! The decorations were the creative child of Brett's wife Annika, I wish I could take credit for those cute cute flowers, but alas, she's the crafter.
All of those presents on the fireplace are hers! Van said he wants as many presents as Ava-Kate got for his birthday. She received clothes and clothes galore from both grandmas and grandpas and aunts. A piano and quiet book from mom and dad. A backpack from U. Van. a TuTu and wand from A. Annika and U. Brett. And a cute plush bowling pin and ball set from Nana K.

Once AK figured out "opening presents" she was all for it, especially when the applause came at the end. Which the picture above is her giving herself a clap. Ava Kate also gave us a beautiful piano concert...enjoy!

Ava Kate Turns One... Tomorrow!

2010-09-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't been great at keeping our out-of-town grandma's, grandpa's, aunts, uncles, etc. updated in what Ava-Kate is really like. First and probably craziest is she walks! EVERYWHERE! She loves just walking down the street, yep that's right, the street, she will not stay on the sidewalk. I'm afraid I have a shopper in the making. When we go to stores she will walk up to the displays, or racks, or shelves and touch whatever is at her level, but she touches it very gently, and will kind of squat and look at it, smile, then move on to the next display. It is hilarious! I should really get that on video. She LOVES dancing and singing. She'll dance to any music no matter where she is, so if you ever see us at the grocery store, when I think nobody is looking I'll dance right along with her. Her singing is really cute too, it's mostly to the radio when we're in the car she'll kind of just ooh and aah musically, it's hard to describe, but I know it's singing. Ava-Kate is already trying to talk and mimic everything we say. So far her words are gog=dog; top=stop; maaam= I'm hungry/thirsty/more; pop=pop (as in: goes the weasel); bah= boo!; uh-oo= uh-oh. She loves banging and making all the noise she can possibly get out of anything and everything. She is really testing out her independence, but only if I'm close by for a little bit of safety. It's impossible to get anything done around the house because she either wants to be held (while making dinner, doing the dishes, or laundry, or I have to be sitting by her so that she'll play with her toys. We're weaning her off "the bottle" which is quite the journey but she loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, string cheese, bananas, yogurt, oatmeal, and whole milk. oh! and beets! What!?! That's right, she LOVES canned beets! Random story as to how that was discovered, but it's one of her faves. Finally, she loves herself! Here's a video of her in the car, and then of her watching her video of her in the car. enjoy!

Pioneer Day

2010-07-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Day is my most favorite holiday. Unfortunately if we ever move outside of Utah, July 24th is just another summer day. I LOVE the parade! Which is kind of odd, because we never went to it, or even watched it on TV when I was younger, but for the last 4 years I've gone every year; even at 8.5 months prego. This year was Ava Kate's first, and she was so great! (she was so tired though, the second we put her back into the stroller she was out like a light; literally the very second!)

We saw President Uchtdorf, horses, floats, and our favorite- mustache motorcycle cops. We were about 95% prepared to go parade-ing with a baby, we just forgot a hat.

Later that night we got to watch our friend Natalie sing the national anthem at the Real Soccer

game. We saw Real tie to Chivas USA 1-1, and a FANTASTIC fireworks show. Ava Kate was fantastic the entire game! She loved the clapping and cheers at the game. (I think she thought it was for her). She stayed up until 11 pm, and then we all slept in 'til 9:30 the next morning! Woo-hoo for a day with my family to celebrate the pioneer spirit!

It's been a while

2010-07-19T11:00:00.001-07:00

Ava Kate got her first hair cut! So big!

We Went to

This is the Place with our friends the Hortons on Free Day to celebrate Pioneer Day and Utah's Heritage.

Lauren Froderman & Dominic Sandoval - "If I Were a Boy"

2010-06-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Obsessed!

miStakE!

2010-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have made a terrible, terrible, very difficult-to-undo mistake! Don't ever, ever train your child to fall asleep with a bottle. This picture, though cute, haunts me day and NIGHT!

Afternoon Off!

2010-05-01T12:05:00.001-07:00

James has been so busy, that even when he has work off, he's ALWAYS doing homework. Well, he decided to take some time off and hang with his girls for the afternoon. And what an adventure we had! It started with a delightful lunch at Litza's Pizza, where, as it turns out, we discovered Ava-Kate likes beets. After our bellies were full, it was off to the Fort Douglas Army Museum. Ever since "The Guardian" came out, I've had this love affair with the Coast Guard. Our other favorite were the different displays of helicopters, tanks, and cannons outside. But our most favorite was, it was all FREE! So if you ever have an afternoon off, I suggest you check out the museum, Ava-Kate liked it so much she was out like a light before we even pulled out of the parking lot.

Baby Feet

2010-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Ava-Kate has this adorable little quirk about her when she's in her high chair. She rarely lets her feet just "hang there". I don't know how to explain in words what she does, so I'll let the pictures tell this story.

SpRInG!

2010-04-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's so great that James works downtown because there are so many wonderful picnic places. Now that the weather is getting warmer we're trying to start a new weekly event, Wednesdays with Daddy. Each Wednesday, weather permitting, we're going to try to have lunch all together. This was on the south-east side of the Salt Lake Library. And yes, all of the pictures of us are with food in our mouths, even A.K. :)

Ava Kate's First Real Salt Lake Soccer Game!

2010-04-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

180th LDS General Conference

2010-04-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

"We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth." Article of Faith 12.

That's right, Conference is underway! I LOVE CONFERENCE WEEKEND! However, I must give credit where credit is due. My mom has taught me to love, and the importance of, listening to our prophets and apostles today. I can think of many times where she would buy a personal radio so that she could listen while at Brett's Saturday basketball games, or Shad's football games. For her, there was no excuse and no reason why you wouldn't, or wouldn't want to listen to the words of the Lord and our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for the messages of hope, and guidance, and warning for our lives today.

Giggles

2010-03-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten a video to upload, hope you enjoy the angelic sounds of baby giggles.

Messes

2010-03-27T09:22:00.001-07:00

The Secret

2010-02-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

I have found the secret to weight loss... There is NO secret! Eat veggies, protein, and grains, and exercise with both cardio and weights, and STOP worrying about it! I truly did not know that losing "baby weight" would be so difficult. And it was worse because I was constantly focusing on the weight I hadn't lost, instead of being excited that I am a hot momma with a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and that if I keep working out and actually, truly, following the word of wisdom it would come off, and it is! Yay! Since I changed my thinking I've lost 7lbs and 1% body fat. To me that's progress. Of course I haven't done it by myself. I got a trainer at Gold's Gym, and it has been the best thing I've done for myself and my health. I'm a huge supporter of getting a personal trainer if only for 2x a month (what I could afford). I'm getting the most out of my workouts, and free weights no longer intimidate me! So hoorah for stretch marks, baby fat and proving that you can get your body back!

Thoughts

2010-02-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Why are there so many different flavors of ice cream?!? I may be in the mood for cookies and cream tonight, but then strawberry the next....I settled on Moose Tracks. Haven't had it in a while. Also, not sure how I feel about Taylor Swift's new song "Today is a Fairytale"

Giraffes and Coughs

2010-02-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

I worked so hard to make this little giraffe (instructions found here) for Ava Kate thinking that she would love the ribbons (she likes to suck on) and the soft minky fabric. Plus let's be honest it's cute! But for some reason why is it that babies like to play with the most common household items, such as the potato/in-our-case-banana masher, so much more than the toys that we think would be much more fun.Perhaps deep down they already know that we're throwing money down for diapers, food, clothes, did I mention diapers so they're just trying to help us be more frugal. Ah well, not complaining really, but the irony is funny. An update on the sleeping issue, which I'm sure everyone was on their seats waiting to see how it's going for us, well we were doing really well...until the "common cold" decided to visit our house. Poor baby has had a runny nose, watery eyes, and coughs for almost a week now. She's such a trooper though and it hasn't been so bad, except that I had it too, and unfortunately there's nobody to take care of mom when she's sick. So many things you learn later in life that I wish I would've done, like take care of my own mom when she was sick! Sorry mom!

Bronson

2010-02-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

One of my friends linked the story of little Bronson to her blog and I think that everybody should have the chance to read it. You can find it here and start from February 1, 2010 post. You can find it at the top of the page after clicking "older posts" and then read to the present. This little boy is proof that miracles still occur today, and that God does hear and answer the prayers of his children. I'm so grateful for the strength and testimony of this boy's mommy, and the reminder to remember what's most important in life. I love my own baby girl, and I love being Mom. Please pray for this family and for mommies everywhere.

Heaven

2010-01-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

The closest to heaven on earth is holding your sleeping baby girl with her head against your chest, sucking on her favorite pink binky, rocking her back and forth in the squeaky old rocking chair. With Primary songs playing softly in the background and the lights still turned low because the Sun isn't quite out yet. All while in the midst of the casualties on the battlefield of the morning routine: bottles, towel, diapers, burp rags, toys and pajamas lying on the floor waiting to be picked up and put away. Well they can wait a little longer because I'm holding my angel.

LaUndRY!

2010-01-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite sure anybody has ever been so excited to do laundry as I am right now! We were finally able to get a washer and dryer that will reside in our very own laundry closet. We've been so lucky to have my parent's laundromat open to us 24/7 for the past 3 years, but c'mon who isn't excited about their own set? Now we don't have to spend hours upon hours hogging up the machine from Van on Sunday, and we don't have to make sure we have quarters like at Alta Pines. Hip Hip Hooray!

one of Bama's newest fans!

2010-01-24T15:03:00.000-08:00

I know it was a while ago, but there still has to be mention of the BCS Championship Game. Yay BAMA! We watched the game with our twilight, Real, and now Bama friends, the Hortons. Ava Kate had so much fun, but we're pretty sure it was because of Alex. So far, all of our teams have been champions in their respective sports. First Real Salt Lake MLS Champs, then Alabama Crimson Tide BCS National Champs, now we're waiting for Bingham High Basketball 5a State Champs. Good luck Shad! We love you!

Our Cabbage Patch Doll

2010-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Everybody that meets Ava Kate tells us she looks just like a cabbage patch doll. What do you think?

(AK at 2 months)

Smile

2010-01-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

I ran across this blog that definitely put a smile on my face www.colormekatie.blogspot.com I don't know how her world is so colorful, but I love her pictures. I love how she's a 23 year old kid by herself. I'm so glad I have Ava Kate to be a fun kid with me.

4 MO

2010-01-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Ava Kate is 4 months old and we saw the Dr. today. She weighs in at a healthy 15 lb 2 oz. and is 24" long. Her growth is right on track proportionately according to the growth curve. She was amazing while she got her immunizations. We've been having so much fun with her lately. She loves to play and laugh. The only thing we're struggling with is sleep. Surprise! can you even talk to a mom of a baby without talking about sleep or lack of? Well Ava Kate doesn't do it. So unfortunately Dr. Cramer said that we need to teach her how to fall asleep before she'll stay asleep. Therefore...I have to buy ear plugs. I absolutely abhor listening to her cry, which is how nature intended it. But nature intended it so that when she's hurt I'll want to soothe her, or when she's hungry I'll want to feed her. But it poses a problem when she isn't hurt and all her needs are met and she just wants to stay up when she needs to sleep, therefore to get me back to play, she cries. And I go back in every time, and I'm also up every 2 hours at night. Well we're going to do everything we can (lovingly) to change that... wish me luck! Oh, and Dr. Cramer confirmed that it's better to put a baby to bed earlier, i.e. 8 pm, rather than later, 10 pm, they'll actually sleep better and longer...I had no idea! Thanks to Karen for suggesting Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, and thanks to Jess for letting me borrow it. I'm really enjoying what it has to offer, today's the first day we've tried implementing it, so hopefully...

Sommerville/Carpenter Family Pictures!

2010-01-02T18:22:00.001-08:00

SEC Champions 2009

2009-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before the big game and all through the south

all the Gators were busy running their mouths.

Tebow was cocky and spreading his cheer

telling everyone of the victory Florida saw this year.

With Ingram and his heisman and the record 12-0

all the Bama fans around the world knew this wouldn't Roll

Saban in his glory and the Bear smiling down

knew what would happen when Alabama came to town.

As they all laid thier heads down for a peaceful nights rest

everyone knew they were ready for the test

As they woke that fine morning and thanked God for their pride

God looked down upon the south and spoke ROLL TIDE!

3 months old

2009-12-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

Ava Kate is officially three months old! We can't believe how fast she's growing. She changes and learns something new everyday! The other day she started to do this crazy squeal when she's happy. She also has decided that she no longer will suck on her "binkers", she likes her entire right fist, which I suppose is a good thing because you can't loose a fist. While her fist is in her mouth she slobbers and drools all over the place, what a baby! Finally she's sleeping a lot better. I read the "Babywise" book, and must admit I was not a fan. I've decided I'm just not a cry-it-out parent, especially when your baby won't cry-it-out, she'll just cry....forever! What I did like from it was the routine of eat/wake/sleep. I think that has helped, but other than that we're getting 6 hours of sleep at a time, which is really great actually, and it's only if she's in her carseat. She doesn't particularly like to sleep in her crib for long lengths of time, but whatever works! Gotta love trial and error, until success!

I write about Ava Kate so much that I've forgotten to update you on the rest of our little Carpenter clan. James is finishing up his last semester at SLCC and will start at the U next month. It sure has been crazy whirlwind for him this semester. He's been working full time and taking 3 classes and dealing with a wife and new baby. I really don't know how he does all that he does, but I'm so grateful for it because I get to stay home with my baby so much because of all his hard work.

I recently got my two bottom wisdom teeth out a few weeks ago, and decided that you should definitely do that BEFORE you have a baby to take care of. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I'll be keeping my top teeth thank you! I also went back to work last Monday which was so difficult! I'm just lucky that it's only a few days a week and that my mom can watch her. I was so happy to run home to see her cute smiley face. Well there's a quick little glimpse into what we've been doing these past three months.

A few pictures to hold ya over

2009-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

There have been a lot of people that have been begging for more pictures of Ava Kate, so here are a few. I took them with my phone so they're kind of random and not very clear. Ava Kate loves her Uncle Shad. They typically fall asleep after Shad gets home from school while watching ESPN.
When it started to get chili we got Ava Kate some tights that were 0-6 months so there's quite a bit of room for her to grow into them. James was getting her ready for church and put them ALL the way on.

This is a picture of our first time going to all 3 hours of church. I've decided that our baby girl has the cutest smile! And it's a good thing because she smiles all the time!

This is a picture of a very special bath-time. I was just about to put her in the water when she peed all over my pants! We were so close to the water, if she only could've held it for 2 more seconds! But then we wouldn't have this funny picture or story.
Finally here's a picture of our little soccer ball for halloween. I made her costume obviously, and James and I were Real Salt Lake soccer players. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of us all together because I didn't use permanent marker on her outfit so when she drooled it made a huge mess!So there ya have it, just a few pictures of our princess. She's so fun and a big girl! We're so lucky that Heavenly Father allowed us to be her parents!

Hey guys...What's going on?

2009-11-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

So I know this is pretty basic, but I don't think my baby needs any glitter or glam to look cute. This is her at 8 weeks and she changes everyday! I would put up more pictures, but lately I've just been taking videos of our lives (ok really of just Ava Kate), and for some reason I've tried about fifty times to upload one and it never works! Also, we've actually had a lot going on. James and I moved to a new apartment which we absolutely love so far. (no worries, we brought A.K. along too) We've been there for two weeks now and we really like the ward, they've been very inviting and welcoming. We miss our old ward a lot though, we learned so much from them and really grew to love the people we were close to. But unlike most, I love change and we're really excited for this one.

Ava Kate just had her two month check up the other day and she's a healthy baby girl, weighing in at 12 lbs even, and 22 inches! Yes she's big we know, but she's so cute! She's starting to really react and smile when you play with her. She has such a personality too. For example she LOVES her baths. She's like a little fishy swimming and splashing in the water. She grows and changes everyday. I'm so grateful that I get to stay home with her as much as I do and am so lucky to be her mom. Especially since she's been such a great baby! She hardly, rarely ever cries for no reason (usually hunger,poopies,lonely), and she would never cry for more than 5 min. if she were just fussy.

Anyway, we still have a lot going on, we're mostly looking forward to going to Alabama in December for James' brother's wedding. Well I'll keep trying to get videos and pictures, but that's what's going on for any who were wondering.

Silly Girl..

2009-09-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is already so obedient to her father...

Gratitude

2009-09-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

"[That which] we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price up its goods" -Thomas Paine (An American Crisis)

Patricia Holland promised in "A Quiet Heart"

Believe me when I tell you that God is a God of

goodness, mercy, and justice. Ultimately, he

cannot treat his righteous children differently.

Whatever blessings you have gone without will

be made up to you in divine and glorious

fashion. I give you every assurance, they will be

made up to you to the point where you will not

be confident that God treated you fairly but

embarrassed that he treated you so very generously.

"God knows how to give good gifts to His children. As a loving Father, He will not give His child a stone if He is asked for bread. Always, the gifts are given in His own due time; if we are required to wait for some blessings, or even do without some blessings here on earth, we can look forward in faith knowing that our righteous desires will be fulfilled."

-Maria Covey Cole (Contentment)

Contentment

2009-09-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

My grandma gave me this amazing book titled "Contentment, Inspiring Insight for LDS Mothers" by Maria Covey Cole and I love some of the little quotes that are in it so I'm going to post them on my blog... This is one about comparing yourself to people.

Spencer W. Kimball and Harold B. Lee were

close friends. They went into the Quorum of

the Twelve just a few weeks apart. President

Kimball said he always admired this friend so

very much; in fact, he almost envied President

Lee for his talents. He took every occasion to

tell President Lee how he felt. Often he would

say " Harold, I wish I could play the organ as

you do." "harold, you speak so well. I wish I

could so as well." "Harold, you can see the gist

of a problem in such a short time. I wish my

mind were so clear." Then, related President

Kimball, in one of their weekly meetings in the

temple President Lee made a fine presentation

to the other members of the Twelve. As they

walked out of the temple together, again

President Kimball turned to his friend and said,

"You did a magnificent job with your report this

morning. I wish I could do as well as you do."

"Well," said President Kimball with a twinkle

in his eyes, "I guess Harold had had enough. He

stopped, put his hands on his hips and looking

me straight in the eye, said, "Spencer, the Lord

doesn't want you to be a Harold B. Lee. All he

wants is for you to be the best Spencer W.

Kimball you can be." 'With a smile on his face,

President Kimball said, "Ever since then I have

just tried to be the best Spencer W. Kimball I

can be."

"All the Lord asks of us is to be the best we can be with what we have...As Spencer W. Kimball was taught, a copy is never as valuable as the original. Each of us is an original made by God, and we diminish ourselves and our Maker when we question our worth." ("For Such a Time as This," The best of Women's Conference, 17-18, Norma Ashton, wife of Marvin J Ashton)

Ava Kate is Here!

2009-09-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Ava Kate has officially been born! Yay, she was only 6 days late :). She was born September 3, 2009 at 1:35 am. She weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches. And she's adorable! So, here's the story. I actually went into labor around 4 pm Wednesday while at work. However, I wasn't completely sure because the contractions weren't too bad and since I hadn't had any braxton hicks, I thought these might be them. But..just to be safe I decided to go over to my parent's house so I wouldn't be home alone for 2.5 hours before James got home from work. Around 5, mom and I decided to start timing my contractions and they were about 3-5 min apart, but I was so paranoid about going to the hospital and being sent home that I was going to make sure I was in labor before driving to the hospital. Around 5:30 they actually started to hurt...pretty bad, so mom said, "We're going to the hospital!" I was admited just after 6 pm, but they were so full that I had to wait in the hall until they had a triage room open. P.S. James didn't arrive to the hospital until conveniently I was getting the epidural, therefore he missed the "hard part". But don't worry he makes up for it a thousand times over later on in the story....So by this time I had mom, dad, and James as my support. We then waited for about 5 ish hours during which they broke my water and there was meconium in it. Also, my Dr. was out of town... I pushed for two hours and then once she started crowning they called in the Dr. and the NICU (because of the meconium) and then it just took one push to get her head, and then the next push and out came her body! easy peasy japanesey! James cut the cord and NICU cleaned out her lungs. As for me I had a 2nd degree tear (no episotomy) and developed a lovely rare complication (as in so rare my Dr. hasn't seen one in over 15 years) that we call helga the hematoma. (there's a lot more to the story, but this is a novel already) Here's where James turns into superman...I have been bed ridden for the past 16 days and for the first week James took care of two babies (Ava Kate and myself). I also have to thank my neighbors, Ashley, my mom, and grandma for all their help. I'm still recovering, but thanks to a priesthood blessing I received in the hospital, and the enabling power of the atonement of Christ I was and have been able to take care of Ava Kate since the day James had to go back to work. And there ya have it, and believe me that's the abridged version. Also, thanks to Annika for taking amazing pictures for us. If you want more e-mail me.

new date

2009-09-02T10:12:00.001-07:00

So some other lucky woman delivered her baby, which is actually good for me. My Dr's nurse called this morning and said they've moved my induction date up a day, so the baby should be here Sat. Sept 5 for sure! Cross your fingers!

Stubborn like her parents, well like her mom at least....

2009-08-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Dr. today and I'm dilated to 1 cm and effaced 60%, some of you may know already that this has been my progress for the past 3 weeks. For some reason my child doesn't realize that her "expiration date" is tomorrow and it would be nice if we were a little further along than that. However it doesn't help that my muscles seem to be broken and haven't contracted even once. False labor? Not for us I guess. Dr. also said that she's starting to get pretty big comparative to me and it may be a tight squeeze. (sorry if this is too much info, I'm trying to be as tactful as possible). Finally, if nothing happens on its own, as much as I hate to take away my child's agency to come when she thinks she's ready, I'm scheduled to be induced either Sat. night or Sun. morning Sept. 5 or 6 depending on how my appointment goes next Friday. We're also going to do a non-stress test Friday morning if she's still not here, just to make sure she's doing alright. In the meantime we'll keep waiting...and waiting...and waiting.... stubborn little girl! But thanks for all your prayers and support they really mean a lot to us!

Clarification....

2009-08-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not saying I don't like the inquiring phone calls and texts regarding our little one's arrival, actually I've never felt so loved before ever. It was just an observation that I made, mostly because even our family will call to make sure they didn't miss anything! haha, love ya guys!

Quick Update

2009-08-24T21:01:00.001-07:00

So just to give you a quick update we still do not have a baby, just a ginormous belly! Being pregnant really hasn't been too difficult and even now it's not so horrible, I'm just so impatient to see my little girl! My due date is on Friday and we've got nothing. Also I just wanted to let everyone know that we will let everyone know when she is born. It's funny how people keep calling and such to ask if we've had her yet...I promise we're not going to keep that a secret! :) So for now we're just waiting.....and waiting.....and impatiently waiting!

Missionaries vs. Huge Rat

2009-07-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is just a fun video that we found from James' Mission in Monterey Mexico. His companion is actually Spencer Sorensen from South Jordan, which is Crowsh's older brother if for ya'll from so jo.

Sit Back and Enjoy

2009-07-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at editing video from my camera with our imovie program. Hope ya'll like it.

Baby Update and funny picture of James

2009-06-23T17:15:00.001-07:00

I had my 30 week appointment today, and according to the Dr. everything is looking great! I'm measuring right on, and he was able to, and helped me feel how she's positioned now. She's head down! Yay! The doc said that mostly by this far she's big enough that she shouldn't move enough before she's born to be breech. Other than that he said, "See me in two weeks." TWO WEEKS! Things start cooking a lot faster now and she's coming way way way too fast! I could technically have her in 6 weeks! Wow! Well that's all, and enjoy this funny pic we found of James on his mission in Mexico right before the dog turned evil and bit him :)

Final Hoopla!

2009-06-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

James and I decided that before the baby comes we should go on one final vacation with just the two of us, (well K is in the womb) but anyway....We decided that we would go to Kansas City, Missouri to visit James' dad and his wife and her kids. We also drove, yes that's right being 25 weeks pregnant I rode/drove in a car the whole 16 hours to Missouri AND BACK! And would you believe that we actually had fun on the drive. If you know James and I, you know we're road trippers for life! We also were able to see Michelle again since she flew in to KC to join in the adventure as well! Anyway, here are some pictures of what we did each day.....

Saturday (The drive there!)

Really words cannot explain driving through some of the most dull country and turning the corner to see a 30 foot Mary statue on the border of WY and NE. We had to pull over and get a picture!

Monday....

Adam Ondi-Ahman

Grave site of John Whitmer, one of the 8 witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

Far West Temple Site (D&C 113-115; 117-120)

Marker for Haun's Mill Massacre

Tuesday.... (Liberty, Independence, Winter Quarters)

Liberty Jail (D&C 121,122,123)

Community of Christ Temple Independence,Missouri

Omaha, NE LDS Temple at Winter Quarters

Wednesday......

Carthage Jail

Thursday.....NAUVOO!
In front of the LDS Nauvoo Temple after completing the work for James' Grandpa Carpenter, of which James' brother Matthew, James, and James' Dad were able to be a part of.

Here's a Pregnant Shot for all of you that have been hungry for it. (26 weeks)

James in the statue garden at Nauvoo

Friday......
Dinner at Ameristar Casino (All you can eat buffet on Crab Night!)

Saturday.....Drive home, no pictures.....

To sum it all up, it was a very fun, busy, educational, enlightening, tiring, testimony-building, relationship-strengthening week. And we'd just like to give a huge thanks to George and Julie Carpenter for their generosity and hospitality during the week, we definitely had a blast! Oh, and we drove through a total of 7 states, (8 if you count Utah): Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, and Colorado.

Conversion Story

2009-05-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I grew up on basketball. My family ate, drank, dreamt basketball growing up. James on the other hand was a soccer player in high school. Though I supported my friends on Bingham High's girl soccer team, and thought the guy soccer players were hot, I never really got into it. The last few weeks however have brought soccer into my life in a whole new way. I have to give a shout out to our friends Natalie and Jeremy as they are the main reason. First, James got to play a pick up game type thing with Jeremy and some buddies which was really fun to watch him play (James is a hot soccer player by the way). And then finally, the clincher that converted me...Real Salt Lake Soccer! We got to go last night for free-thanks Nat and Jer- and it was so much fun! The fans were amazing, the game was exciting, and it just was a great time out with James! But I felt very left out as I didn't have a jersey!

22 weeks and counting....

2009-04-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have no further comment. You know who you are, and why I did this...

Not Your Typical Gift

2009-04-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

My new favorite activity is to actually "window-shop" for baby things. Which is weird because I HATE window shopping and it's James' favorite thing to do, so I will only go with him if it's for "K" (who is a girl, I'll post more details later) Anyway, yesterday we were walking around Fashion Place Mall and decided to check out the new Nordstrom. We went straight to the baby section, and were introduced by the sales rep to something that I never would've dreamed of wanting, but all the sudden don't know how I could live with out. A fabulous baby sling.

Sounds silly but I guess they're WONDERFUL. Even another shopper in the department over heard our conversation and said she loved hers! So if you're looking for a cheap gift for all those pregnant people in your life check these out, you can get them off the internet for under $20. I was also told that the ones with adjustable straps are the best. Good luck!

Shake it, shake, shake it....

2009-03-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've last posted, but as most of you know, we're going to be having a baby due August 28, 2009 (Robyne's b-day). Anyway, just wanted to post a quick update on how that's going. I haven't been sick at all, and other than the little bump and the heartbeats I'd probably be questioning the fact. I just felt it move on Saturday which was really crazy awesome! Then, even better, James felt a tiny little "thump" of a kick on Sunday. On Friday we get to finally find out if "it" is a he or a she, but for now and most likely until it's born it's still just baby "K".

Your mom's always your mom, no matter how old you get

2009-02-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

My mom,

My best friend,

My calculator,

My peer mediator,

My cook,

My nurse,

My barber,

My shopper,

My mom100%

motherly at the core,

And lots more

Always looking out for me,

Molding me into who I want to be

Telling me to follow my dreams,

Even though the world is not what it seems

Always holding my hand along the way,

Even when we both turn old and gray

Special moments together,

For now, the past, and forever

We may get mad,

I may get very bad

We may fight,

All through the night

But in the end,

All is alright

Because I'll have,

My best friend,

Always in sight

You always give me everything,

Decking me out in fabulous bling

You rarely do anything for yourself,

You just give and give to everybody else

Truly, you don't have to buy anything at all,

What I have with you beats anything at the mall

When all my friends at school have gone away,

Here you will always stay

Love doesn't have to end,

When you are my best friend

2009-02-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

So James had some spare time to kill and decided to upload some random pictures, but didn't want to tell anything about them I guess. So I'll try to give you a 411. The first one was taken at the top of Angel's Landing at Zions Ntnl. Park.

This one is from Bingham High's Centennial Celebration, even though you can't tell, it was pretty much just James being funny.

Finally, this was taken at Van's football game.

The End

Can you tell a difference?

2009-02-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

Instead of 25 I choose 10 things about me (Tara)

2009-02-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

1. I was a hopeless romantic and then I met James. I like to call him "a chick-flick guy" because he's the Landon in "A Walk to Remember"(after he straightens up of course), or the Westley in "The Princess Bride", and last but not least Gerry in "P.S. I Love You" (except alive).

2. I never want to graduate school. I've always done well so it helps my self esteem and I love learning new things.

3. I LOVE pre-school age kids, but babies scare me to death! I'm afraid to even hold a baby because I feel so awkward.

4. I love to read. However if I haven't read a novel in a long time, to get me back into things I always pick up a Jane Austin.

5. Before James I never took out my contacts every single night, used bar soap, or took many baths. I also had never eaten grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

6. I hate being alone. I attribute it to being the oldest of five kids so there was always someone there.

7. I've always been envious of those that can draw, paint, and write. i.e. Ali, Tif, Laurel, and Linnea

8. I secretly want to be a 'skater/boarder' chick. But my fear of hurting myself and my lack of the ability to not conform seemed to always get in the way.

9. I have so many guilty pleasures that I'm beginning to think that guilty pleasures still exist because of me. i.e. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus (there I said it!)

10. I have the best family anybody could ask for, definitely not perfect, but the best!

Lame and Behind

2009-01-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

It has been forever since I last posted, and I have no pictures of ANY of the holidays, they were actually pretty quiet this year. Mom and Dad and the family went to California for Christmas vacation. We celebrated on the 20th so we still had some fun with the family, but it's just not quite the same when it's not on the 25th. James and I celebrated together by going to IHOP a Sommerville Christmas Tradition.
For New Years Eve we didn't do a whole lot either, but it was fun. Ashley and Chris invited us over to play games, our new favorite being "Killer Bunnies", which is surprisingly fun. The Burtons always have weird games. Then went to bed at about 11:00, wow we're old...
Well, other than that there's really not any fun news, but more to come....

Anticipation

2008-12-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here watching the seconds on the clock tick by ever so slowly. I know this is cliche but why when I want time to hurry up it oozes by; yet when I don't ever want the day to end it seems like the sun sets too soon? The mystery of eternity and time I guess.
James comes home tonight at ten! He's only been gone a few days, but without him I seem so lost and alone. I didn't realize how dependent I had become on another person, I suppose it's a good thing that he's my husband. Spending the night sitting and listening to N*Sync Christmas songs just isn't quite the same without him by my side, lying on the bed talking about seemingly insignificant things and making me laugh.
I've been desperately trying to lose myself to make nine thirty come sooner to leave to pick him up from the airport. I watched "You've Got Mail", and cleaned my entire apartment and it all only took two hours! Maybe two and a half, so in a desperate attempt I decided to post.
My birthday is tomorrow, I'll be 22! I don't feel like it, I still feel like I'm 18, it throws me back when people ask me how old I am, I can never seem to answer quick enough to look intelligent, I always second guess myself and have to think for a few seconds. It's strange that James and I have almost been married for 2 years, only three short months 'til we're no longer "newlyweds" but I like to believe "newlyweds" is a state of mind rather than a period of time.
While James has been gone I spent the weekend with my family which was great! I went to church with them and everything, it was good to see those that I love from my childhood ward. On Monday, we had a Sommerville-VanWagoner-Carpenter birthday/Christmas celebratory dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I've truly got the best family, though my birthday is so close to Christmas, which causes me to hate the "/" they've always been so great at distinguishing the two, Mom doesn't even use Christmas wrapping paper on my presents (I got cute boots this year by the way). Anyway, I guess I can't write a novel or nobody will ever read it, unless they find themselves alone and trying to kill time....

well done my lord, well done

2008-12-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Like Chaucer with dignity says in "A Knight's Tale", 'well done my lord, well done'. Well is definitely what they did do....who might you ask? The Alabama Crimson Tide. As most know, James and, by association, I are huge Tide fans. Unfortunately they were defeated Saturday by a very worthy opponent, Florida. I think of all teams, they're one you can lose to and still hold your head up high. It was a good fight, and looking back on this season it's been a dream come true to many many loyal Bama fans. They've had a sort of curse, or rather sanctions, for the past decade, but not this year. With John Parker leading the way, and Saban of course, the Tide will now defeat Utah in the sugar bowl, that's right, defeat....James has a sizzler dinner riding on it...ROLL TIDE!

Three is Company

2008-12-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well, pretty sure it's official...Michelle is going back to Alabama for good. She's not going back to school next semester, so I thought this would be a good time to go back through the past six months at what we've been upto...but unfortunatly I only have pictures from the past two months. When she first got here it was kind of a blur and took a lot of getting used to and adjusting to having someone else living with us, but after working out quite a few kinks we've grown to love having her around. We're both going to miss her dearly, but we all knew this day would come eventually....just not so fast. So lately we've had a lot of fun starting with halloween which I've already posted pictures of. And then it was Michelle's 19th birthday, which was so awesome I'm a little jealous. First Chris and Ashley (the best next door neighbors in the world) brought over a cake that Chris made for her with 19 candles, which were lit until Michelle blew them out.

Chris and Ashley

Next James and I treated her to an old fashioned night at Nickle-Mania, which I think is James' happiest place on earth.

Finally, last weekend we went to Brisa Archibald's wedding reception and saw a lot of old friends from Alabama.

Brisa and Rob cutting the cake.

James and Pace together again! (Pace was James' roommate in Loma Linda the summer we met.)

And me and Michelle.

After the reception we went to Temple Square to check out "The Lights" since James and Michelle had never experienced the experience.

This is kind of a bad picture but Michelle has all the good ones and hasn't shared yet, so maybe I'll post them later. So that's what's been going down this semester...Love ya Michelle!

Prom Picture Revived!

2008-12-03T11:42:00.001-08:00

Not sure what spooky thing is going on with my camera, but in my last post I talked about the really good picture of our whole outfits that got erased....well, IT'S BACK! Weird....

My Prom

2008-11-24T12:21:00.001-08:00

As most of you know, I never had a high school prom, which for some reason I have been quite bitter about. So when James found out about the Twilight Prom, being the romantic that he is, he signed us up and gave me the best night ever! We got all dressed up and went to Cafe Rio for dinner, romantic I know. Then we went to Jordan Commons at 9 for the pre-premiere festivities. There was lots of food including, mushroom ravioli which was surprisingly delicious, ceasar salad, fruit salad, meatballs, these appetizer cream cheese bread things, chocolate fountain that was dyed red with a bunch of stuff to dip in it, and candied apples (pictured below). A girl that I work with came with her husband too so we got to hang out with them for a while and then we made some new friends that we hung out with all night long. They were really great and actually probably were what made the night. I loved the movie, and though James might not admit it in person, he liked it too. We actually went and saw it again on Saturday for Michelle's birthday.

I had a really good picture of us before we left in our whole outfits, but it mysteriously got erased from my camera, so this is pretty much the best I got.

The two best looking guys this month....(Lucky for me I'm married to the one on the left)

He's a little too tall for me, darn....

Halloween

2008-11-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

James and I the last few years have really gotten in to Halloween. Last year we were Mario and Princess Peach and it was really fun. This year we decided to be Sally and Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (If you haven't seen it, I'm sure it's at the library.)

James' turned out really creepy looking and he scared the trick or treat-ers at my parent's house. Later, we, including Michelle who went as Pebbles, went to the annual Halloween party hosted by our neighbor in our apartment complex, and actually won the best costume contest! Because of economic times we made our costumes and this is how it turned out. I even sewed my entire dress out of scraps from my mom's previous crafting projects and the collar on James was sewed by yours truly also! Our costumes cost us a grand total of $10 between the both of us!

Bitter Sweet

2008-10-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday at about 2:00 pm, I received an email from....dun dun dun...IHC Nursing program...That's right, the verdict is finally in, and Tara has NOT been accepted. Yes it's true, this would be too sick a joke for even me to play. So I mourned and cried hysterics the rest of the day because this threw quite a few life plans out of whack for us. But then once my head was clear I started to really think about it and this could be a good thing. I have at least another semester until I can apply again, so what am I going to do with all this free time? Well at work I've started working 4 ten-hour shifts so I have an ENTIRE day to do whatever I want. So I've decided to take up sewing, right now I'm working on a little project that I can't wait until I have the finished project to post a picture, but for now I'm going to leave it as a surprise, I'm sure the suspense is killer. Also, we've decided that James is going to cut back on hours the next few semesters so that he can go to school full-time to finish his pre-reqs and hopefully start at the U fall of '09. Also as far as school goes for me, I'm enjoying not have a plan for now because my plans never seem to work out....

Prom Night!

2008-10-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

This morning James "gchats" me and the conversation goes as follows:

J:So I kinda registered us up for a prom night.

T:What?! Explain...

J:well...we're gonna have to dress up and do the whole 9 yards ....

I kinda think it would be fun....

Turns out, James registered us for a "Twilight" Prom night at the theater!

It's like my second chance at going to a prom! I'm so excited to dress up which is what I miss most about high school, and to go to my first prom with my husband, can it get any better than that? Plus we get to see it the day before anybody else! See for yourself!

http://www.megaplextheatres.com/ then scroll to the bottom....

2008-10-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tara or Reese....can you tell the difference?
I stole this hair style from Witherspoon's character "Annie"
from the movie Penelope. If any of you haven't seen this movie yet you are
truly missing out on the best fairy tale since Beauty and the Beast. A bold
statement I know, but this movie is more than a fairy tale it's creative breath of fresh air
from the scum that has been fed to our children lately. You must admit that
they just don't make them like they used to. So here's to old money, blue bloods, and
liking yourself the way you are.