Happy 10 Year Anniversary!!

(Our Engagement Picture~Montague Photography)

10 years! It's been 10 years since I married the most amazing man. We have been trying to figure how to spend our anniversary. We were going to stay in Park City for the weekend since neither of us have ever been, and it's 10 years which is a big deal. But Emily stopped sleeping through the night and we don't want to ask anyone to keep her overnight so instead we are trying to rack our brains to find something else to do. We decided that maybe we would think of something we can only do here, that we have never done and that when we move we won't be able to do. So we are thinking of maybe going downtown and going to the Beehive House and taking a tour and then maybe going to the Church History Museum (which we have done that, but that was while we were dating so it's been a long time.) Besides, those are all free things to do so that works even better. We'll go out to dinner, possibly to the Roof, or to the Garden, but we aren't sure yet. Jacob's mom and dad are going to watch Emily while we spend our afternoon/evening together. Unfortunately this will have to wait a few days because Jacob is working tonight and tomorrow night so ya. But still, I'm excited because we don't get a lot of time together just the two of us. We may go to the temple too while we're there right next to it so we'll see. Basically we have an idea of what we'd like to do, so we'll just go have fun without a plan in the world on what's actually going to happen. ;o)

(Our wedding Day August 3, 2011~Montague Photography)

Here's to 10 years love!! And to an eternity more. I love you!!

(Us July 2011~Ray Of Sunshine Photography)

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes!

There are so many exciting changes going on in our family right now! We're so excited about what the future holds. Jacob has just a couple of semesters left after this one before he graduates from the University of Utah with his Bachelors Degree. Then he will be entering the Master's Program and if all goes as planned he will be getting his Masters degree in Religion or Theology. He will be entering the Army once again. This time as a United States Army Chaplain. He will be submitting his request for endorsement from the church to represent them as a Chaplain in January. If he is able to he will be in the Reserves until Tamara is done with school. We don't want her to have to switch schools so close to graduation so we are still here for a minimum of 2 years.

Speaking of Tamara, she passed her drivers ed class and her test. Now she is just waiting until she has had her permit for 6 months which will be at the end of this month. The other prerequisite is that she has a job to pay for the insurance for her having a license.

Emily has taken her first steps and is sure to be a lean mean walking machine in no time at all. She is also cutting more teeth so there have been some sleepless nights around here.

As for me, in addition to starting my own photography business, I am going back to school. I am so excited! I will be attending Salt Lake Community College and getting my Associates of Science Degree in Visual Arts and Design with an Emphasis on Photography. I can't wait! I have been wanting to go back to school for a long time. Seriously, so excited!!

Oh! And! Jacob has applied for a new position at his work, that is not only a pay raise, but it's also a day time, salaried, office job. He would have a set schedule and actually be home every once and a while. So hoping he gets it!

See, told you there were a lot of changes! :o)

Crazy!

These last couple of months have been crazy busy for my family. First my big brother Roy graduated from the U with his EMBA in Business. YAY! Proud of you big brother!!

Then my brother Matt got engaged to a wonderful woman named Marcela, and I took there engagement photos.

Then, Tamara, my baby! She turned 16!!! She is finishing up Driver's Ed, looking for a job, and will be getting her License at the end of this month!

I made not, 1 but 2 cakes for two seperate Sweet 16 parties. The first was for the party with friends. She wanted a small party, just having some friends over to hang out, but she wanted a fun cake. She designed it. It didn't turn out like I had hoped, but she liked it.

The day after her first party I went to Utah County to take my newest nephew Sam's newborn photos.

Then Tamara had her other party which was the party for family and friends. We did an open house with cake and presents at the end. I was happier with the cake for this one. She designed this one as well.


Then, we got a new washer, dryer, and fridge. Emily's newest favorite "movie" to watch is watching the clothes go around and around in the washer and dryer. Heck, Tamara likes watching it too! LOL
Then I took my soon to be sister in law's bridal photos.

Then it was time for the wedding. I was able to shadow Ashley with Paramount Photography at the temple and did the reception photos myself.

In addition to the wedding photos I also did their announcements, a video montage that played at the reception, and I also did their cake (my friend Kim helped with the cake, so could not have done it without her!)

And to top it off, in May, little miss Emily turned 10 months old.

And now, she is 11 months old! I am starting to plan her 1st birthday. That is just crazy to me! She's almost 1! How did my girls get so big so fast? Emily now has 2 teeth on bottom, one on top that just broke all the way through and another one that has just started to peek through. She crawls everywhere, is walking around furniture, just started acting like she might be willing to try walking on her own, she stands by herself for up to 20 seconds by herself without falling (when she's done she'll just sit down), she loves bouncing and has even started jumping, she gets in to everything and anything, still won't sleep at night unless I'm with her, she says: momma, dada, mommy, daddy, Nay (Tamara's nickname) Sissy, Kitty, Cat, Dog, Pup pup, hi, bye, ball, baba, no, what, kay (ok), and her latest, Mine! Silly girl!

On top of all this, I am getting ready to start my own photography business. I have been doing photo shoots like crazy to help build my portfolio, and am working on a business name, logo, cards, price list, etc. Stay tuned for more details on that, along with a giveaway!

Living up to the blog name. :D

I know, I'm a really bad blogger these days. Life has been crazy and wonderful. Ha! We live up to our blog name! LOL Hubby is really busy with school and work and this weekend is doing one of his final drill weekends with the reserves. He has 2 after this and then he will be able to concentrate on school and work. He also figured out that he will be graduating with his Bachelor's next Spring. YAY! Of course he will go into the Master's program after that, and then the PhD program after that, but still (he is going to be a college professor). Tamara is in track and is enjoying her last couple of months as a Sophomore and is ready for her Jr. year to begin. I'm not so much ready for that. She is less then 2 months away from turning 16 and will be getting her driver's license soon after that. Emily is teething right now so we don't get much sleep around here. She just learned how to crawl a few days ago and is trying so hard to pull herself up on things. She's getting really close. Her first tooth is so close to popping through. I can feel it, so I'm thinking in the next day or two it should be up. I'm just staying busy with everything that everyone else has going on. Anyhow, I promise I will do a real post soon, I have several people who are working on guest blogs, and I have a few planned for the week after next which is National Infertility week. Anyhow, for your viewing pleasure, I present, crawling Emily!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope your day was awesome!

My Girls, March 17, 2011

Tamara sporting her Green wear!

Emily in her Green! Tamara made her bow, sooo cute!

Blessing pictures

Just a quick post. If you're on my facebook you've seen this. If not, I thought I'd share. I was going to get professional pictures of Emily in her blessing dress done, but was never able to. So I decided to see what I could do. These are all by me. I'm not a pro, just a hobbyist. I love taking pictures. :o) Enjoy!

Classic Emily look. She's so goofy!
Silly girl!

Baby feet. :D

My friend Kim had the greatest idea to take a picture of Emily's shoes at her baptism and at her wedding as well. Love it!

The hook and eye closure that was used on Em's dress was from my grandmothers sewing supplies. She passed away in 97 and my mom got a lot of her supplies. When I heard my mom had added it to Em's dress I about cried. I love that there is something from such a special person on her dress.

Details of the dress

The Gorgeous dress my mom made.

Sweet girl!

My baby!

Love her!

Emily's birthmom has a matching necklace. I had to get a picture of Emily wearing this special bracelet. (Custom made and avaliable at the r house couture etsy shop)

7 and a half!!!

So I'm totally great with the milestone blog posts right? I promise, I post the ones for Kristina on her blog on time. I just don't get around to doing them here like I should. *sigh*

Emily is now 7 and a half months. She is doing great! She goes 3-4 sometimes 5 hours between naps. She is always looking at what's going on around her. When I took her in for her flu booster shot on the 2nd she was 20lbs. 12 oz. She was sick a couple of weeks ago so she wasn't sleeping through the night while she was sick and since getting better won't sleep more then 6-8 hours at night, but it's getting better. She is developing right on target the doctor says. She says Mama, Dada, and even said Daddy the other day while looking at the door Jacob had just dissappeared through. It was so cute! She babbles a lot and is working on teething still but those little buggers just don't want to push through, so our normally happy baby is abnormally fussy at times, and drools and chews on everything. We're hoping the tooth will break through soon. Emily laughs a lot, I mean A LOT! and she growls at everything. And makes this adorable growling noise whenever she gets excited about something. She recently started as my sister-in-law calls it, the squishy face. Case in point:

Hehehehe!!!

The Sealing and Blessing.

Well, we did it! Saturday we were sealed to our beautiful baby girl! It was a beautiful moment. The day started out rocky. As usual we were running late. I never used to be late, but it seems since moving back to Utah, I am always running late. Saturday was no exception. So, after checking and double checking to make sure we had everything we needed, I drove like crazy to get to Provo on time. I didn't speed, I just drove crazy (while not breaking any laws of course, but I only just barely didn't break laws). And I only just barely got us there on time. It was raining and snowing and cold and wet. So we knew with Emily having been sick on top the weather, a lot of pictures were definately not going to happen.




Emily did great. My mom had her in the nursery until it was time for her to come up. When they brought Emily in she was mesmerized by the chandelier. She did fuss a little, but that lasted only seconds. She was really tired though because when we went back to pick her up from the nursery, even though she had 3 of her grandparents with her (my mom and both of Jacob's parents took her back to the nursery), she was crying. Jacob took her from his dad and she kept crying. So I took her and within minutes she put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep. So the few pictures we did get outside had Emily sleeping.




Kristina was there. She waited outside in the car until we were ready to come out (she didn't want to wait in the waiting room). We got several pictures with her and several more of her with Emily by themselves. It would not have been the same without her there.

Sunday was Emily's blessing. She did great! Jacob was starting to get emotional before he even took her up. I'll admit, I was too. It was short, but beautiful. My sister-in-law Janele (Jacob's oldest sister) knows short hand and so she wrote Em's blessing down, well, most of it. Which is good, because I was too emotional to know much of what was being said. I didn't take any pictures on Sunday, which is sad. We had a luncheon open house at our house Sunday afternoon after the blessing. Our house was filled to the brim with our loved ones. I didn't know we could fit so many people in our house. And it was so great to have all of them here to love and support us.

It was, as I thought it would be, a bittersweet weekend though. I missed Tamara at the temple and I missed her at the blessing. I understand that she is uncomfortable with religious things. And I wouldn't have wanted her there knowing she would have been uncomfortable (to say that she would have been uncomfortable is an understatement). But still, my heart ached to have her there. I'm glad that those who were able to make it, and brave the weather on both days, were able to be there. What a beautiful special weekend it was.

Tamara is taking photography in school and she is going to take some pictures of Emily in her blessing dress for me. I really wanted to get pictures of all of us, but the money just isn't there to hire someone, so we will make do with what we can. And Tamara has the eye so I know she will do great. Until I have those to share, here are a couple of pictures that I got from Saturday at the temple. A few of these are from Kristina's camera. Thanks for letting me use them Tina!

Jacob, me & Emily outside the Provo Temple after the sealing.

The one who made it all possible. Kristina holding Emily.

My mom made Emily's dress and a bib to match, my aunt made her sweater, a lady at church made her hat, and my sister Ginny made her blanket.


Emily and I after the sealing in the entrance of the temple, waiting to go out for pictures. She was soooo tired! Right after this picture was taken she laid her head down and went to sleep.

Am I excited?

So this is the weekend we have been waiting for. As members of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we beleive that families can be together forever. This is called a sealing. Tomorrow we will be going to the Provo Temple and will have Emily sealed to us as our daughter for eternity. And on Sunday she will be given a name and blessing that will go on the records of our church.

I've had a lot of people tell us how excited they are for us, and ask if we're excited. Honestly that's a loaded question. Don't get me wrong, I am sooo excited! I mean, Emily will be our daughter for eternity. This is a day we have been waiting literally years for. When we were married we wanted to have children right away. That wasn't in the Lord's plan for us. There were times we thought this weekend would never come. But it's here. Emily will be our daughter for eternity. However, Tamara will not. And that, is heartbreaking. Our eternal family will not be complete until she is. So tomorrow will be a very bittersweet day. It's hard to explain honestly. And it will coupled with the fact that she won't even be there in the waiting room. I explained to her why I wanted her to be there, but left it at her decision to be there or not. She chose not to be there. I respect that. She has reasons, ones that I won't go into because they are her personal reasons. They are between her, me and Jacob. And I respect her reasons. But that doesn't dull the sadness of her not being there. I'm not sure if her being there would make it easier or harder honestly. For those who don't know, Tamara is my daughter from a previous relationship. I had her when I was a teenager, and not having alot of support, and not really knowing about adoption, I chose to parent. Tamara was 6 when I married Jacob. She has grown up being shuttled back and forth between our house and her dad's house. The only time she learned about the church was when she was with us. Now, Tamara's dad is a great guy. He is an amazing father. He is not, however, active in our church. I don't think he has even set foot on church grounds in probably over a decade or two. When Jacob and I married and he joined the Army we gave Tamara the choice on who she wanted to live with, knowing we would be moving around a lot. She chose her dad, so she could stay in one place. Being a child who moved around a lot, I don't blame her. But this means she didn't grow up learning about the church. She was given the choice on whether she wanted to be baptized or not when she became a teenager. She chose not to. So not really beleiving in the gospel, or in the sealing power, she has chosen to not be there at the temple when Emily is sealed to us. Like I said, she has other reasons, and we respect those reasons. Still, I am sad....

So I'm trying not to think about it. I'm trying to think only of Emily. This is her day after all. And for that I am truly grateful. And who knows, maybe..... maybe someday.....

Finally, the 6 month post!

Little Miss Em is getting way too big, way too fast. At her 6 month check up a couple of weeks ago she was 19 lbs. 4.5 oz. and 28 1/4 inches. Ya, she's a big girl! She is 96% for her weight, and 99% for her height! Considering she was born in the 95% for both, she is growing right where she should be. The dr. is really pleased with her growth so far. She was impressed that Emily was sitting up by herself for several minutes at a time. Emily now sits up by herself for as long as she feels like it. By that I mean, she'll sit there and when she gets tired of sitting she just lays down. It's too funny! I put her toys around her and she will just play for a long time! She is starting to try to crawl. She will get on her belly and try to put her legs up underneath her and then she'll get frustrated after a few minutes. I would say that she will probably be crawling in the next month or so. She loves to try to feed herself, although she doesn't always get the spoon in her mouth, so we give her an empty spoon. I'll feed her and then give her the spoon when I'm done and she'll play with the empty spoon for a bit. She loves it. She now eats baby food twice a day, and has 3-4 bottles through out the day. We are also trying the sippy cup, but so far she isn't interested. We'll keep trying though.

She continues to entertain us with her cuteness. She says mama, dada, and a lot of other jumbled baby words that no one but her understands, which is to say she is extremely vocal! She loves to blow raspberries in the midst of her babbling, and we have had to walk out of classes at church on more then one occassion (read, it's a weekly occurance) because she's so talkative and is disrupting the class. She is a generally happy baby, still sleeps 7-10 hours at night, still hates naps during the day, wears 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. Her reflux seems to be getting better day by day. We still have to watch very closely what she takes in food wise. I make all her baby food to cut down on the risk of her having an episode (for lack of a better term). We tried her on juice but she had issues with the asorbic acid they put in juices for preservation purposes, so we'll be waiting on juice for a while (the dr. doesn't want us to make her juice, she says just hold off on juice for a while). All in all everything is going great. Emily is a very inquizative child and is always watching what's going on around her, and grabs at everything she can get her hands on. She is drooling up a storm and we're hoping she will be cutting teeth soon (she started teething months ago, but no tooth has broken through yet). Anyhow, there you have it, a couple of weeks late, but that is how Emily is doing at 6 months old. I can't beleive how quickly she is growing up! Crazy!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, She's OURS!!!

Just a quick note, the judge signed the decree, the clerk stamped it with the court seal, and our lawyer delivered the paperwork to us and..... SHE'S OURS!!! It's official! Emily is now officially, and legally, our daughter! When I picked Tamara up from school today I told her that it was final, that Emily was now legally her sister. Her response was, "She's always been my sister mom". And she's right, Emily has always been Tamara's sister, and has always been our daughter, but, to have it legally recognized now, it's final, well, that is fantastic!

Get off the sidewalks!

Emily's 6 month post is coming. I haven't forgotten. But for now, I wanted to post an update on our oldest. Tamara is 15, 16 in June. Which here in Utah means, dun dun dun, driver's ed! *queue scary music and screaming* Last Monday I took her down to the dmv and she took her test. To my dismay she indeed passed. ;o) As part if the rules of having your permit, she must get 40 hours of driving experience. While 6 hours can be in class, the other 34 must be outside of class, with 10 hours being night driving. This is exceptionally scary for me as a mom. Partially because I have to be the one to drive with her. Because her dad and I have joint custody, and Jacob is not on the custody papers (they were drawn up well before Jacob and I got married), he can't drive with her. She on occasion drives with her dad, but normally it's me. And in our state it can only be me in the car. No one else. Which means if I am to take her driving, we have to get a sitter for Em if Jacob is working. She is getting better. Her turning is still really scary, but so far I have survived several driving sessions with her, without even a scratch to the van. So we're good so far. ;o) Tamara just recently got to go a theatre conference in St. George which she loved! She is seriously considering going to Dixie State when she graduates from high school. This works for me as her other choice right now is UCLA. That would have her way too far from home. Dixie State is 4 hours away, so she would still be "going away" to school, but she would still be within a reasonable driving distance. She wants to major in Drama, and possibly become a drama teacher. She is also going to be trying out for a spot on her high school drama team for regionals. And she has just joined the track team and she is taking photography this semester. She is doing great in school and is very happily getting ready for the sweethearts dance next week with her boyfriend Spencer who is a really sweet guy. And to top it off, she is planning her sweet sixteen (she's thinking black light party, or a kid theme with bounce house type stuff, although she is leaning heavily toward the black light). I can't beleive she is growing up so quickly and that she will be off to college in less then 3 years. I watch Emily grow up, and I watch her learn new things and I long for the days that Tamara was learning those same things. Because I was a single mom while Tamara was little I worked a lot, and I missed out on so much. I was there for all her big firsts, her first words, her first steps, etc. But, I wasn't there for the every day, day to day learning like I am with Emily. That makes me sad. But it reminds me to cherish not only every moment I have with Emily, but every moment I have with Tamara now. I can't back those days I had to work and wasn't there for when she started learning to crawl, but I can be here now. I got to be there for her first high school dance, and take her shopping for her dress and shoes for sweethearts. I get to be here for when she graduates high school and goes off to college, and I get to be here for the day to day now. So I'm going to cherish every moment I can. Sorry for the randomness of this post. I just had to brag on my not so little baby who is growing up way too fast.

At last!

It's funny that last night I posted about waiting for our phone call with our date. Because this afternoon, guess what we got? YAY!!! We will officially and legally become Emily's mom & dad next week! It will be a big week for us since she also turns 6 months old next week as well. We are sooooo excited! We are looking at mid- Feb. for the temple sealing and blessing. I can't wait till the day we get to walk up to this gorgeous building with our baby girl and have her sealed to us as our daughter for eternity. Very soon!

Waiting.......

Adoption is full of waiting. Waiting to be approved, waiting to be chosen, waiting for baby to come, waiting for placement.....

Right now, we're waiting....... Waiting for a phone call...... Emily is almost 6 months old. She will be 6 months next Wednesday, so in just over a week. In our state you can finalize your adoption after 6 months of the child being in your home. Even though our adoption is a family member adoption, we still are required to wait 6 months. Any day now we should be getting a call with our finalization date at the courts. I'm getting anxious. Trying to keep myself busy. Our cousin adopted a baby boy last year. She said to keep ourselves busy because the waiting will drive us crazy. Jacob is busy with work, school, the reserves, his church calling, our latest home improvement project. Me? I'm plenty busy. Tamara is starting driver's ed tomorrow (well, today actually since it 2a.m. on Tuesday), and she's joining the track team at her school. So I'm busy with all of that, plus Emily is growing so much. I'm busy with church callings (yes, I said callings, I have a few), making cakes and other things for various committments I have, helping to plan the adoption retreat in March, and so many other things, but yet, some how, that phone call is all I can think about.

I am in no way complaining. So many I know are still waiting for the phone call that they have been chosen. And if it weren't for Kristina, I have no doubt we would still be waiting as well. I have other friends whose babies were born after Emily, as in a month + after her. But they have their court date already. We have a fabulous lawyer, so it is in no way his fault that we don't have our date yet. The circumstances with Emily's birthfather are different, so that took some extra paperwork on our lawyers part. Who knows why we are still waiting. The scenerios are whats getting to me. Wondering if something went wrong. We are so close to Emily officially becoming ours. I didn't think it would matter to me. To me, she has always been our daughter. I thought it would just be paperwork. No big deal. The closer we get though, the more anxious I am. The more I am realizing it does matter. It matters a whole lot. It is a big deal. Like I said, to me, she has been my daughter, and I her mother. But to have the law recognize that.... It. is. a. big. deal. But, I still worry.... Until we are in court and the judge signs the papers, I think I will continue to worry. That's just who I am. And so..... we wait......

Christmas picture 2010

Christmas was amazing. It was so great to be a family of 4. Not only were there 4 of us here for Christmas, but there were actually 10 of us Christmas day at our house. My brother Matt was here, my nephew Jamie was here from Maryland. He is coming out to UT for college after graduation so he was coming to tour the campus of his new school, and we got to play host to him while he was here. I hadn't seen him since he was a baby and Jacob, Tammy and of course Emily, had never met him. But it was so great to have him here. But, that's not all for guests. We also had my dad, stepmom, Kristina (Em's birthmom and my little sister), and David (my little brother) here to celebrate Em's first Christmas. I will post more about it later because Em is tired and needs her bottle so she can go to sleep for the night. But for now I wanted to share our Christmas photo from this last Christmas. So here you go! I am also including this years Christmas card since I never got it sent out. oops!

4 & 5 month updates!

So much has been going on, yet life is blissfully normal. I have so much to say, yet my brain is having a freezing moment and I can't thinking of what to write. I had a sweet comment on my Formspring the other day saying that my posting is missed. Seriously, I figured that I was talking to myself out in blog land. Well, that and my mom, because my mom reads my blog. HI MOM! But other then that, I figured I was talking to myself. Nice to know I'm not.

I realized that I never posted Emily's 4 month update, or her 5 month update, so we'll go for a two for one and I'll do both.

Emily at 4 month's learning the art of texting from big sister Tamara. ;o)

In the last two months Emily has grown a lot. At her 4 month check up she was 16 lbs. 11 oz. and 26 inches long. At an appt. on the 27th to check her meds for her reflux she was 18 lbs. 7.5 oz. She fits 6-9 months and is starting to outgrow that size as well. Her doctor told us we could start her on solids, so we have so far done peas, carrots, applesauce (big mistake, don't do applesauce if you have a baby with reflux!), green beans and of course baby cereal. I have been making my own baby food, which has been a fun experience. Next week, sweet potatoes! Emily has rolled from her tummy to her back several times, and can roll from her back to her tummy but doesn't like to. She scoots around when she is on her back which is funny. When we lay her on her tummy she is starting to try to figure out how to move. She still loves to kick, and she loves to laugh. She is a definate momma's girl, but doesn't give smiles to anyone like she does to her big sister. She is in size 3 diapers and sleeps through the night most nights. Since we brought her home we have had to put her in her bouncy chair to sleep. We recently got a crib wedge so she can sleep elevated. I put her in her crib for the first time last night. She didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours, but she had also slept a lot yesterday, so that may have had something to do with it. She is teething but no teeth have broken through yet. She has recently started pressing her lips together when she doesn't want something like her meds, or more food or her binky. It's really funny and I try not to laugh when she does it because then she'll think it's funny and keep doing it, but it's so hard not to laugh. She keeps us all laughing and is an all around happy baby. Emily hasn't really talked yet, but she coo's alot. And her new favorite thing to do is blow raspberries. Silly girl!

Emily at 5 months, the day after Christmas.

We are now less than a month away from being able to finalize Em's adoption and we can't wait! A court date has been requested and we're just waiting to hear more.

3 months old!

It has been 3 months since Miss Emily was born! Seriously, where has the time gone! It doesn't feel like 3 months, yet, it feels like she has always been in our family and like there was never a time she wasn't here. I love how that happens.

Miss Emily now sleeps through the night. She has been sleeping through the night for 3 weeks now. It's heaven! She makes up for it during the day though. She only takes small naps and likes to be awake and playing. Her favorite toy is her kick and play piano. She is trying to reach for objects and has even gotten a few. She grabs her binkie out of her mouth and has been able to put it back in several times. She is trying to hold her bottle, but isn't quite there yet. She loves to stand (with help of course), and is trying to sit up by herself. She will growl at you if you growl at her, and I have even gotten her to say "Grrrrr", once! She is too fun!

I can't beleive how big she is getting! At her two month appt. she weighed 12 lbs. 5 oz. and was 24 inches. She has grown a lot since then. She is still wearing size 2 diapers, but is now in 3-6 month clothes and has been for several weeks. I had to buy her 6-12 month socks because the 0-6 month ones fall off her feet.

Tobi the cat

We got a new member of our family today. We actually met her 2 weeks ago, but had to wait to bring her home until today. Meet, Tobi:

She and Sirius actually get along really well.

(Look in the upper right hand corner, you will see Tobi sniffing Sirius. Too cute!)




The lady at the pet adoption place told us it would probably take a few days for her to warm up to us, and to not introduce the dog and cat for a few days. Well, within an hour of having her home she wanted to explore the house. So we decided before letting her out of Tammy's room we would see how she and the dog got along, knowing that there were plenty of places for her to hide in there if she needed to. Well, let's just say, within minutes both animals were laying on Tammy's bed perfectly content. They really like each other and have even nuzzled up to each other. Tobi seems right at home too. She loves it here and within minutes of getting here was purring up a storm. She is a loud purrer too. I can hear her from across the room. She likes to nuzzle your nose with her nose, and loves to play! She is a great addition to our family.

Tammy actually named her. My only requirement when she picked the name was that it had to be a Harry Potter name. So she chose Tobi. Tobius Snape is the muggle father of Professor Severus Snape. Since the kitty is a girl we couldn't name her Tobius, so we went with Tobi. We also considering other names like Calli (short for Callidora who was a relative of Sirius Black and married a realitive of Neville Longbottom). We also considered Minni (short for Minerva McGonagall, who was of course a professor who transfigured into a cat), Tali (short for Natalie McDonald who is the only actual person to be in the books -she was a 9 yr old fan of JK Rowlings who passed away from cancer. So JK Rowlings honored her by writting her into the books) and Tonks who is one of our favorite characters from the books and movies. We considered other names as well, but ultimately, Tammy chose Tobi.

I think it fits her well. ;o)

No more denying it!

Our Tammy (ahem, Tamara) is growing up! It seems like just yesterday she was a toddler taking her first steps. Now she is, as I type, getting ready for her 9th grade promotion dance. Here in SL county our high schools are pretty full. So to get more room our 9th graders are in the jr. high (along with the 7th and 8th grades). She is technically a freshman in high school, but she has been attending the jr. high so I have been able to be in denial that she is actually already in high school. Not after tonight. Tonight she goes to her promotion dance. Tomorrow is 9th grade Lagoon day. She is officially in 10th grade. A Sophomore in High School, officially attending the high school. No denying it now! My baby, is growing up! To top it off, Sunday is her 15th birthday. I got emotional when I dropped her off at school this morning knowing it was her last day of classes (since tomorrow is Lagoon day, it is not a school day for the 9th graders) I'll post pictures of her all dolled up later. *sigh*

Birthday Celebration and Surprise!

Monday was hubby's birthday but he had school until 1:30 and then had to work that evening, so instead, we celebrated on Sunday. Tammy wanted to make him dinner. She said, "I don't have any money to get him a gift, so this is my gift to him." Trust me babe, that dinner meant more to him than any store bought gift could have. And it was YUMMY!!! She made steak with roasted veggies (potatoes, carrots, and asapargus) on the side.

Tammy making the yummy steak! It was a flank steak with red pepper, swiss cheese and spinach all rolled together. Sooo good!

And the yummy yeggies!

The steak she did on the George Foreman grill that we got Jacob for Christmas, and the veggies were roasted in the oven.

I asked Jacob what kind of a cake he wanted, he wanted an ice cream cake, so I went to Baskin Robbins and got one.

Cake from Baskin Robbins.

Silly man!

I know he likes Chocolate Cake and this Peanut Butter Chocolate cake was the only one they had that was a chocolate cake that didn't have Pecans or some other nut. And since I am allergic to nuts Jacob won't eat them either. All in all it was a great evening.

For my gift to him, I redid his office. But I had to wait till this weekend since he was away for drill for the Reserves and I wanted it to be a surprise. And boy was he ever surprised! My mom and Tammy helped as well, and I was grateful! It was quite the task, but the look on his face when he saw it, it's well worth it. He loves it!

Office before. It's in the basement, so it was kind of dark and dirty looking. We all hated going down there. I wanted to make it a nice room where Jacob could relax and study.

And the after. Here you can see his desk and TV. The TV is for him to watch movies, shows, or play games while he takes a break from the stresses of studying. The picture hanging on the cabinet door directly in front of his desk is a Greg Olsen print that his mom got him for his birthday. I also hung next to it a family picture from our recent photo shoot and picture of the Provo Temple. He has his bulletin board and calender hanging right there for easy referrence. the rug he got in Afghanistan. And I had my mom make the curtains to seperate this room from the food storage room.

And here is his reading/game corner. My mom and I brought the chair, affectionately known as "Jacob's ugly orange chair" down and set it in the corner where he can relax or play video games. I put his Lord of the Rings posters up and had my mom make a throw to go over his chair.

He was thrilled when he saw it! And we are just thrilled that he is thrilled!

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!