Teague

I wanted to do a special post about my little 'Momma's boy,' about Teague! I love that little shit so much - sorry, but really there is no other, or I just can come up with the right - word.

So, I am going to cheat. Here is the post that I did last year, it is still perfect today. And in addition to that, here is a slide show with pictures that sum him up!

Teague is SIX!!!!

I know, I know, he is so little you thought he was 4, but it's true...He's 6.

When he sat on Santa's lap at Christmas, he ask him for a telescope (which he got) and a VIOLIN! We did not know that he was going to ask for the violin, so we had to talk to him about that...he said that he would just wait and ask for it for his birthday. Between then and now he expressed that he might want an Orange Guitar. To me, this seemed like a better idea, for a few reasons: One, it is a lot cheaper than a Violin, and since Aaron still doesn't have a job, cheaper is always better. Two, None of us play the violin, but both Aaron and Piper play the Guitar. Three, I don't know anyone that teaches Violin, but we already have a fabulous Guitar Teacher. Four, I knew exactly where to get an Orange Guitar (or so I thought!) So, I tried to sway his decision toward the Guitar.... He finally decided that he wanted a Guitar, but a Violin was his second choice.

I contacted the same place that we got Piper's pink Guitar, because online it says that the Guitar is available in Orange. He told me he couldn't get it!!!! WHAT? So, I began calling every place that sells Guitars from Ogden to Provo. No one could get the Orange Guitar! I was beginning to stress out a little bit. Luckily Mike, the owner of Murphy's Guitars, didn't stop at telling me he couldn't get the Guitar, he did a little research and called me back and gave me a few options. And this is what we ended up with. Teague was very excited. Piper was excited to start teaching him.


And, look how freakin' cute Teague's half size looks with Piper's three quarter size and Daddy's full size guitars! I mean really, it was worth it just for that!


Piper got Teague a Model helicopter, but he chose to make it into a cool ship instead. I'll get a picture later (or probably not). Aaron and I also got him that awesome shirt.


When Teague got home from school, he helped me make his cupcakes, he did a really great job.


We had Teague's party at Bountiful Bowl. It was an Incredible Hulk theme. He invited eleven of his friends, but only 10 made it. It is so fun to see eleven 5 & 6 year olds bowl! We had 3 teams, 1 with 3 players

and 2 with 4 players.

The 4th team member had to leave early

Here are some pictures from his party. It was really fun.

He is totally posing







Teague is sad in these pictures because his fingers got smashed in between 2 bowling balls

My parents gave Teague a fun water toy, so of course we had to set it up when we got home. And, of course he can't just run through it like a normal child, he has to set it up so he can ride his bike through it.

Happy Birthday Teague!
I LOVE YOU!

Kennecott

Sort of on a whim, we all went out to Kennecott. When I say 'we all' this means; John, Annie, Aaron, Karlyn, Piper, Teague, Gina, Luda, Morgan, Josh, Zac, Angela, Alex and Seth. John works out there, it was his idea. The kids loved it. It's so funny because all we did was look through the telescope things, see the movie and go to the gift shop. Here are some pictures.

Living Traditions

I think I say it every year, this is our least favorite Tradition. But it made it worth it this year because we ran into Annie, one of our favorite people in the whole world!

And Delores Perez, the paper flower maker, made some flowers for my kidlets for free. Unfortunately for Teague and I, there wasn't any food that we would like, so I ended up getting some fried bananas and Teague got some Corn on the cob, but he accidentally dropped it in the dirt when he was about half done, he was so sad. Piper was happy because there was a shredded pork sandwich, we all know Piper and her obsession with meat. And I think Aaron had the same thing.



Earlier the same day Teague had his last Miss Saigon performance and Piper had her ballet recital so they were extraordinarily tired, but we still hung out for about three hours.

Mysteries of the Rubies Rosevaal

Piper was a Cygnet in the annual Bountiful School of Ballet Dance Recital. I really loved her costume this year. They do a great job every year. I am so proud of Piper for staying in Ballet. She is such a little dancer.


This is Piper and Miss Megan. Miss Megan has been her teacher since Piper was 3, with the exception of one year.....I think.....We love Miss Megan, she is so great with these little dancers.



Piper's cousins, Reagan and Logan came to see the recital with Grandma and Grandpa.



This is on of her classmates.

YTU Perfromances

I always look forward to any performance that has anything to do with Youth Theatre. Piper's class did a really cute little performance called "Fur and Feathers" She was a baby Giraffe, and she looked adorable, her hair worked out perfect! I'm so proud of Piper's stage presence! She has such an incredible stage voice and she never breaks character.

Teague's class did "Nancy the Spider and the Moss Covered Rock" The kids took turns playing characters. Teague was very excited when he got to be Nancy. And he was an incredible rock. As soon as Teague got on stage he was flashing the *Rock* sign and yelling 'I rock!' I'm so proud.

And....I can't find pictures! I know I took some, but O'well, if I find them, I will post them.

Easter

Here is a quick post about Easter!

Every year we do an Egg Hunt that my dad's secretary does. It is really nice because there are never a ton of kids.

They didn't get a lot of stuff, but what they got was good.

Okay...I just have to say here. I HATE IT WHEN TEAGUE'S JACKET IS NOT ON HIS SHOULDERS....it's a huge pet peeve, I can't believe I actually have a picture of him like this!!!

We had some fun dying eggs.

And the Easter Bunny came. I forgot to get pictures of Easter morning, but each kidlet got an outfit and some candy. Easter Sunday is always fun because the kidlets get new Easter outfits. I got their outfits at TJ Maxx this year.

Baptism

I never realized how quickly this day would come. If you would have told me eight years ago that it came this quickly I would not have believed you. Piper was fortunate enough to have the entire baptism program to herself, she is the only March birthday in our ward. We had been planning her program for a long time. She knew that she wanted Aaron to baptize and confirm her and she knew she wanted uncles and grandpas in the confirmation circle. She just had to decide who was giving the prayers and talks, who was going to be the pianist and chorister and who was going to do the musical number. Aaron and I kept throwing out names of people that could do these things. She ask my brother Jordan to be the chorister and his wife, Valyn to play the piano. Of course, she chose songs that most people don't choose, she chose 'If The Saviour Stood Beside Me' and 'When Jesus Christ was Baptized.' She ask her Guitar teacher to do the musical number, but then her teacher ask her to sing and she would play the guitar, they did 'When I am Baptized,' it was so cute. She ask her primary teacher from last year to say the closing prayer and Aaron said the opening. She ask Grammie Annie to give the talk on The Holy Ghost. And, guess who she ask to give the talk on Baptism? Me, yes me. I don't know why she ask me, but she did. It was suppose to be a five minute talk, but I went on and on for like twenty minutes. I was all blubbery and emotional and shaky and nervous, but I did it.

I'm not this tall, I just have on some fabulous shoes.

After, everyone gathered at our house for sandwiches and fun and conversation. I didn't realize that my little house could hold so many people.

It was really fun and I am so glad that everyone was able to make it and that everyone was so willing to help and participate. You all helped make this day a memorable one for Piper. When everything that had to do with Piper's birthday and baptism was said and done, she wrote nearly 40 Thank You notes. I am so proud.

I am so proud of Piper for making this decision, and she made it on her own. Piper is such a great example for her brother and her friends.

March 26, 2009

You may have figured out that I got home from Portland on the night of the 25 around 7:00. When I was coming down the escalator, I saw my cute little family. They made me happy. When Teague saw me, he started crying and he wouldn't stop hugging me. Even though it was so nice to get away, it was even nicer to come home.

At about 4:oo a.m. the next day, Piper came into my room with my phone. She said that it rang. "I bet it was Dem." I said. I got up and went into the other room so I could listen to the voicemail, it wasn't Dem, it was Adrian. Adrian had said the Dem had called her and was on the way to the hospital, she felt like she had stayed at home as long as possible. I waited for her to call, but she didn't, I guess Dem thought that I was still out of town. So I called Adrian, and she told me to just come out to the hospital, so I did. I got there at about 5:00.

Unfortunately, when I got there, Dem was already pushing and the nurse was not happy that I was there, when a mom is pushing, there is a lot that I can do, but not when the nurse isn't happy to see you, so I helped hold legs and did cold compresses on her brow, that is what I did, but not well, because the nurse didn't want me standing where it was easiest for me, so I had to compromise. Now, normally, I would ask the nurse to freakin get out of my way, but since I hadn't been there the whole time I really had to play it safe. I ended up at the top of the bed.

But, you know, it doesn't matter where I ended up, or that I got there like ten minutes before the actual birth because, Demaree gave birth to the most beautiful little girl. I was fortunate enough to be able to help with all of the horrible stuff that happens after the actual birth, and I am so glad that I could be there for Dem for that...it wasn't easy on her. This is her fourth baby, all unmedicated.

So, thanks Dem for letting me help you, and I am sorry that I wasn't more help, but you know I would have been if I could have.

March 21, 2009

Aaron and I have been married TWELVE years!! Seriously. I know, it's pretty amazing. Some days it feels like we have been married just a little while, then some days it feels like we have been married for 100 years. And...we are stuck with each other for eternity. But that's okay, I seem to love him more and more as time goes on, so I can only imagine how much I will love him in the eternities........Now that's something to think about.

So, you think that we would do something really cool for our Anniversary. I did. I got on a plane that morning and flew up to Portland to see my dear friend Heather and Wicked. I am such a great wife!!! Actually, Aaron is such a great husband.

It's kinda funny how it all came about. Heather posted something on her Facebook status like, "Wicked March 21 anyone?" I commented with an "I wish." Then she commented, "I should have a mattress by then, come on up!" I said something to Aaron about it and we decided to see if there was anyway we could figure it out. Since Aaron still didn't have a job, I was not optimistic, and I couldn't justify pulling money from our savings account for me to go up there. I e-mailed Heather and said that I really wanted to and that I was going to try and figure something out. Guess what? My Western Nut bonus came in the mail, So I e-mailed Heather again, told her that I was coming and the rest is history. Not only did my bonus pay for my Portland trip, but it also paid the Mortgage for that month.

As I was planning my trip, I thought that it would be a fantastic idea for me to go see Heather for a couple of days, then drive my rental car up to Seattle to see my Best Friend who lives in there for a couple of days, then fly home from Seattle. So I contacted Camille - which by the way was not easy - and talked to her about hangin' with her and her little family for a couple of days. Through a series of I guess what you would call miscommunications, I ended up staying in Portland until Wednesday. I was WAY stressed about this, for a number of reasons. Money being one and imposing on Heather for another few days.

Aaron has an Aunt that lives near Vancouver, so I gave her a call a couple of days before I flew up to see if she might want to get together for lunch or something before I took off to Seattle. She said that she would love to. Then on Sunday night, she called me to see how everything was going. She must have sensed my stress, she came to my rescue and pleaded with me to come and stay at there house for those last couple of days. THANK HEAVENS she did, I had the most fantastic time. I am so grateful that I got to stay with her and her husband. They are such great people with such a wonderful relationship, definitely a relationship to admire. They are so gracious and humble and all those other wonderful adjectives. I felt so bad that hadn't had the opportunity to get to know them sooner. But so happy that I do now.


This is my rental car. I am so use to driving an old car, this was a little strange for me. I loved it.


So, back to the beginning of the trip. I haven't seen Heather FOREVER! Once when she was in town we went to lunch, but other than that, it had probably been 14 years, we have kept in touch through e-mail. It was so nice to see her, it's like we had been hanging out since High School, we just picked up right where we left off. We talked until all hours of the night and just had a great time. I met her friends and had a great time with them as well. We went to a great Brazilian Resturant before the show with Loren (her friend), then we met up with some other friends at a club after the show. The next day we all got together for a late breakfast. SO FUN.

Wicked was fantastic. I had read the book, so I pretty much knew the story, but I wasn't sure how they were going to go about it. I had listened to the soundtrack, but it is one of those shows that the soundtrack just doesn't make sense, unless you have seen the show - even if you have read the book - well, to me anyway. The girl that played Elphaba was freakin' incredible along with NessaRose. I think that Glinda had the beginnings of a cold, but was still great. The entire cast was fabulous, but Elphaba stuck out.


I'm going to insert 2 of my opinions here at this point. First - since when is it appropriate to wear jeans to the theatre? I'm sorry if I have just offended you, but really...when? I was absolutely mortified at some of the clothing I saw on people. This is not just in Portland, but any theatre. But especially Professional Theatres. Have some respect people!!! Second - anyone that knows me, knows how I feel about *pop* singing. We run into this a lot here in Utah with our *Mormon Pop Stars* {again, sorry if I offend}. I cannot handle all of the runs and the scoops, in fact, I truly hate it. It is so nice to go to a Professional Theatre and listen to Professional Singers sing! The tone is, is, is....words just can't describe the relief...BEAUTIFUL, is a good one. I have to say that about the Miss Saigon cast as well.

The day before left I went to the Portland Temple and did an endowment session. It was just what I needed. And, the Portland Temple is gorgeous.

After I finished up at the Temple, I did a little shopping.....Tell me, why doesn't Utah have a Trader Joes? We SO need one.


And, at some point, I got a pedicure. It was wonderful!



So, anyway, it was a great time and I am so glad I was able to "get away" for a few days. Timing wasn't the best seeing that Piper's Birthday Party was the day before I left, and her Baptism was the Saturday after I got home, but it was so worth it.

I just found this toilet a little funny... it's in the Portland Airport.



I didn't take many pictures. It is hard to take pictures when you travel by yourself. I didn't get any of Heather! What a great friend I am.