Our week so far... statistically speaking

Birthdays celebrated: 1

30 pancakes, one for each year

Cupcakes made: 45

Cupcakes devoured by grateful co-workers: 41

Chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with peanut butter frosting or peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting... Tyler loves PB cups.

Miles biked around town (while pulling both my kids, mind you): 12

New recipes tried: 7

Ty's birthday dinner: homemade baked taquitos with homemade guac, homemade salsa, and cilantro lime sour cream dip. Oh, and Rachel Ray's corn and black bean salad.
Tyler's birthday cake- my first cheesecake! A turtle cheesecake with creamy carmel and pecans beneath a yummy, rich chocolate cheesecake. All from scratch!

Number of crockpot meals: 2

Sticks collected on nature walks: too many to count

Playdates requiring mommy intervention: 1

Crafts needed to get playdate back on track: 2

pipe cleaner flowers

and tissue paper butterflies

Picnics at the park: 1

Number of songs on our favorite ipod playlist that's been playing all day every day: 16

Days above 75 degrees: 3

Trips to the library: 2

On deck for the remainder of the week:

ballet class

church meeting

meal planning for camping trip
grocery shopping for camping trip
packing for camping trip

cleaning trailer for camping trip

driving to campsite for camping trip

enjoying camping trip

See you next week, friends!

30 Things About Tyler for his 30th year...

1. He loves scouting. He even went to a "Jamboree" when he was a Boy Scout. How much of a scouting nerd to you gotta be to even KNOW such a thing exists?

2. He is a sports enthusiast... and that's putting it mildly. Watching, playing, or talking about 'em. He can carry on a conversation about any sport at any time. I don't know when or how he keeps up on all this information or how he remembers all those statistics, but it's somewhere in his brain!

3. He is a BYU alum and is so stinkin proud of that. (and so am I!) Go Cougs!

4. He has broken many bones, but only two since we've been married. They just happen to be at the same time...

5. Tyler has ADHD and if you know him well, this explains a lot. And in a funny way, endears him to you even more.

6. Tyler's mom passed away on his birthday in 1996. It kinda makes his birthday bittersweet, but I know she would want us to celebrate Tyler and so we do!

7. Tyler is, of course, a fantastic father. How many dads have you caught doing ballet with their daughters in the family room???

8. Tyler loves salty treats. He recently told me that his favorite treat was popcorn, not chocolate or ice cream or something from the candy aisle. No, give my man popcorn to make his cravings dissipate!

9. He absolutely hates mushrooms. I feed them to him anyway (like twice a year).

10. Tyler has really weird toes. Some are hammer toes. And he gets ingrown toe nails really easily. Let's just say sandal season isn't the best time for Tyler's feet, between the funky toes and the grotesquely long toe nails!

11. Tyler's appendix burst a few years ago while he was on a scout hike. (See #1) His loving wife told him to take some Mylanta and stop complaining...

12. Tyler is the middle of 5 children (like me!).

13. His favorite books are Harry Potter. He has probably analyzed the story and the characters more than even J.K. Rowling herself!

14. Tyler has an awesome wife!

15. Tyler has lost 45 pounds this last year without hardly batting an eye, which aggravates his awesome wife who has worked hard to lose her extra weight.

16. Tyler has many little known talents. While we were dating, he decorated a cake for me and has done Lainey's birthday cake at least once that I can think of.

17. Another little known talent Tyler has is his artistic ability. Tyler is actually a great artist and use to enjoy painting. I'm constantly telling him to get back into it, but he never seems to be able to find the time.

18. Tyler has an innate ability to fall asleep within 60 seconds. Seriously. His head hits the pillow and he can be asleep faster than you can say "Good night."

19. Since leaving BYU, Tyler has had 6 different jobs. We left BYU a little less than 5 years ago... you do the math.

20. Tyler loves to grill. If I let him, he'd grill every night all year long!

21. When I asked Lainey to tell me something about Daddy, she said that he loved to watch and play football. When I told her I'd already put that on my list and asked her for something else, she said that he loves us. I think that makes him pretty special, because sometimes we're not the easiest group to love, are we, Lainey?

22. Tyler served a mission for our church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

23. Tyler has been lucky enough to travel all over the world to places like Europe, Japan, and Australia.

24. Tyler is a GREAT gift giver. When Mother's Day, birthdays, or holidays come around, I am always surprised by his extreme thoughtfulness.

25. We are lucky that Tyler is pretty handy around the house and can fix most things himself. He loves tools and figuring out how things work.

26. Tyler is an extremely hard worker and, luckily, finds a great amount of enjoyment in what he does so not only does he work hard, but is happy at his job. Any wife or working man knows that this is a great blessing! We love a happy husband/daddy!

27. Tyler has amazingly green eyes. For the past 7+ years, I have wished for a child with his incredible eyes. Haven't gotten any green eyed babies yet, but here's hoping someday!

28. Much like my own dad, Tyler is very outgoing. He can carry on a conversation about anything with anyone.

29. Tyler is a typical 'kid at heart' to the point of goofiness and loves to play with the kids on their level and with a lot of attention to imaginative detail. What more could a mother ask for in a father?

30. Not only does he have an awesome wife, but she loves him. Desperately. Funny word, desperate. It's interesting to me that it is the most fitting word I can think of to describe my love for Tyler. I love him desperately. There really is no better way to say it. We've only been together for 8 of his 30 years, but it seems like my life didn't start until I met him. And things just keep getting better and better. Not easier or happier just better than it ever has been, although a lot of days life is easier with him in it and happier when he's around. I couldn't ask for more.

Love you, babe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Even though I've got lots to do today,

I've committed to blogging about our lives before this day is through. (read: This post will be boring. Proceed at your own risk.)

But I don't really know where to start because I've missed blogging about SO much lately.

I guess I could tell you about our fun trip to Spokane in February/March. We got to go hang out with family which is always fun. We celebrated a birthday with an adorable cousin/niece. I went shopping like a mad woman, was introduced to the glories of such retail divinity as DownEast Basics and Spokane Discount. I even got to see some girls from high school. It's so funny how we all 'grow up', but are really mostly the same... I think. The highlight of my trip (and could be a whole blog post in and of itself) was going to the Spokane Temple for the first time since my WEDDING! It's the temple that I watched be built. It's the temple where I dusted the molding, took nonmembers to the open house and ushered at the dedication. It's the temple where I went the first time and where I was sealed to my sweet husband for time and all eternity. The only thing that might have made it better would have been if Tyler had made the trip with me.

I could also tell you that sometime in the weeks of my slacker blogging I lost more weight. My grand total is now 90 pounds. And I'm done. Just in maintenance mode now. Trying to figure out a good balance in this post-weight loss life of mine.

I know you'd all be proud of my attempts at domestication. Been branching out in the kitchen. I've made homemade whole wheat bread (that is to die for, YUM), homemade pesto, hummus, cakes, cookies, and entrees from a gaggle of sites. I've discovered that I enjoy cooking, who knew?

We also took a trip to Boise for Conference Weekend to see family and friends. A girls night, a family dinner, and a conference brunch. We had such a fun weekend! Here's a pic of me and my girls! I love them. Some day I'll find words to tell you all what amazing women these girls are and how they are the PERFECT friends.

We also moved, but you knew that. We've been settling in nicely, but doing so has definitely taken some of our spare moments. And I must say we are loving living across the street from a school and a short walk from the City park. We go at least a few times a week to play. And when it's too cold to play outside, Lainey, Brady, and I have been enjoying some pretty rockin' dance parties in our family room, courtesy of nickjr.com's NickJr Radio with songs from all our favorite shows.

We registered for kindergarten... and Mom accidentally brought the wrong birth certificate. Oops! All I had to do was bring the kid, her birth certificate, and shot record. This school thing is already too complicated for me. What's a mother to do?

We had a lovely Easter with all the traditional traditions. Egg dying, egg hunt, new church clothes. The Bunny even brought gifts this year instead of just treats because she was so tired of telling herself she couldn't spoil her kids, so she decided Easter was a good excuse to do so, thank you very much.

And with all this that's happened (of which I have ZERO pictures), the next few weeks are going to be just as fun. We've got a hot date on Saturday to a formal hospital foundation dinner. And we're looking forward to a trip at the end of the month. And then I get to hit the road with my mom to spend a weekend at Women's Conference without any kiddos!!! And then Brady's birthday is the week after and with it comes my commitment to potty train. I'm sure you'll hear more about that one. As a mother, I've failed miserably to deliver a fun birthday for my boy, but I'm determined to make this one great! And then we'll bring on the underpants!

And before you know it, it'll be summer and we'll be busy enjoying that, too!

Its at times like these...

that I am grateful to have a son to enjoy this with!!!!



Although I'm sure daughters (including mine) will enjoy it, too, but I'm just sayin...

For Easter, one of my favorite quotes...

"We know that on some level Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. It’s our faith that he experienced everything–absolutely everything. Sometimes we don’t think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don’t experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means Jesus knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer–how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student-body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked, and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism.

There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that he does not also know and recognize. On a profound level, he understands about pregnancy and giving birth. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion.

His last recorded words to his disciples were, “And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20) What does that mean? It means he understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down Syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children who ever come are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He’s been there. He’s been lower than all that.

So do you really think you’re shielding him by keeping the door closed while you’re throwing paper plates on the table and sending Chrissie off to wash her hands for the second time? Do you really think he doesn’t know? doesn’t understand? wouldn’t laugh and help? "Oh no," you say." I couldn't let you do that." and you rush out, carefully closing the door behind you.

...But he’ll stay in that room if you put him there. The door to him is always open, but the door to you can be closed and stay closed - if you choose to close it. If one great constant in the universe is the unfailing love of the Savior, the other great constant is his unfailing respect for human agency. He will not override your will, even for you own good. He will not compel you to accept his help. He will not force you to accept his companionship. He leaves you free to choose.

I beg you to open the door and let him out of that room. Give him your whole heat, all the pieces, and let him heal you. He promises, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13.) With all our hearts. That means we don’t have pieces of our hearts that he doesn’t touch or that aren’t relevant to him.

He’s not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don’t need a Savior. He came to save us in our imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He’s not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief.

You know that people who live above a certain latitude and experience long winter nights can become depressed and even suicidal, because something in our bodies requires whole spectrum light for a certain number of hours a day. Our spiritual requirement for light is just as desperate and as deep as our physical need for light. Jesus is the light of the world. We know that this world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the people who walk in darkness can have a bright companion. We need him, and he is ready to come to us, if we’ll open the door and let him."

Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up, p.174-176