Tag...Bella is it.

1. What is something mom always says to you? "Obey"
2. What makes mom happy? "Obey"
3. What makes mom sad? "Not obey." (Can you tell that we did this tag RIGHT after she just got out of time out. And for the record, Blaine put her in it but I got all the heat.)
4. How does mom make you laugh? "Do silly faces."
5. What was mom like as a child? "I don't know. Big girl." (Gee, thanks, Bella.)
6. How old is your mom? "I don't know."
7. How tall is your mom? "That tall. The measure of the windows".
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Wash the dishes." (Just because I do it all the time DOES NOT mean that is my favorite thing to do.)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "Watch T.V." (How does she know???)
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "I don't know."
11. What is your mom really good at? "Wash the dishes." (I know, I'm pretty talented, huh.)
12. What is your mom not very good at? "Asking questions." (I guess she was getting bored of all of my questions. How rude!)
13. What does your mom do for her job? "Write."
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "Chicken, apples."
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "Making a card. When you do that." (I never make cards...)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "A person." (Bella is pretty literal.)
17. What do you and your mom do together? "I like to do games and you watch me, Mom."
18. How are you and your mom the same? "We're twins." (I loved that answer!)
19. How are you and your mom different? "Being the same."
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "I love you. We are a family. We live together." (Love you, too, Bella!)

O.K. Bella tags Mettea, Kellan, Maddie J, Silas, and anyone else that wants to do this with their little one. It was fun.

Detour to California

Sorry for the long post but this is kind of like a journal entry of our vacation.

Wendesday: Get up at 3:00 AM, get two sleepy heads out of bed and make it to the airport just on time to catch our 6 AM flight to Salt Lake. Once in Salt Lake, we met up with some friends in the airport to pass the time before trying to get on our 12:00 noon flight to Hawaii. Flight to Hawaii has about 60 stand bys trying to get on...we don't make it! We think about other options such as another day (flights look full), another connecting city (flights look full). We give up on our Hawaiian dream and head to another sunny, beach place...California. So, we start looking into flights to LA but the next flight is full. We catch a later flight to Long Beach and get in by dinner time. The only glitch is that although WE didn't make it to Hawaii...our luggage DID! That was a long day in the airport but the kids were such troupers. And a big thanks to my WONDERFUL friends who let us come stay with them with only a few hours notice. Love you, Bryces! We consoled ourselves that we weren't in Hawaii with an In and Out Double Double Animal Style.

Thursday: Luggage supposed to be to LAX...after talking to someone in India who knows nothing about what is going on in the states, we find out that our luggage was not sent back on the red eye out of Hawaii but will spend yet another day in Honolulu. (I sure hope our luggage had a great trip to Hawaii!!!). I borrow my friend's bathing suit to wash my only clothes and Blaine goes and buys himself some swim shorts and a t-shirt. Bella borrows a bathing suit that is much too big for her, Ez hangs out in a diaper and we go to Heather's house to go swimming in her pool. While Blaine is holding Ez, he notices that Bella's head was bobbing in the deep part of the jacuzzi. He jumps in with Ez to save her. Whew! So scary. Bella wasn't even traumatized as literally she had just gone under when he saw her. Ez was a bit traumatized when he suddenly found himself in the water. Blaine's cell phone got wet and ruined and his only clean clothes are now soaked. But, Bella was o.k. We enjoyed the rest of the day soaking in the rays and hanging out with good friends and family.


Friday: Our luggage arrives to LAX. Hallelujah!!! Blaine spends all morning getting it. Oh, it was wonderful to take a shower and change into different clothes! Then we went to Santa Barbara to walk the pier and hang out at the beach. It was a great day! That night, Ez throws up all over me. Luckily, I have new clothes.




Saturday: We went to the beach with my brother and his family and my parents who happened to be down there visiting Trent. Awesome beach weather. Bella having a blast with the cousins. That night, I wake up throwing up. Yuck.





Me and my bro and our little guys.

One minute Ez is laughing and playing...

The next minute he is sound asleep.

Sunday: Blaine takes Bella to church at my old, home ward. I stay home with Ez to rest. Did I get a bug or was I just eating too much? Probably the latter. Either way, I hardly slept the night before. Then, while hanging out at night, I get the idea that I want bangs. Five minutes later I have bangs and I am wondering if I look totally 80's now? I mean really, I've had the same hairdo for at least the past 12 years...it is hard to change.

Monday: We start driving to Disneyland. Bella complains for a half hour that her stomach hurts and then she throws up. Are you catching on to the theme yet? We detour to Target to buy her a whole new outfit, undies included. Our friends, the Moodys, who got to Disneyland before us, had just gotten into the line for Pirates of the Carribean when we arrive. So, we join them and totally freak Bella out. Welcome to Disneyland kid...a dark boat ride and pirates trying to kill each other. But, she got over it pretty quickly and LOVED her day. I loved experiencing Disneyland through her eyes and Ez was the most perfect baby ever all day. It was hot and my feet felt like they were going to fall off by the end of the night but it was FUN! And, no one else threw up the rest of the day.




Tuesday: We finally get out to Corralls to eat our favorite burritos. Seriously, why can't we find a burrito like this in Colorado??? The weather is actually a little cool today so we go to the movies and see Horton Hears a Who. We do a little shopping and enjoy our last day in California.



Wednesday: We go to the airport to head home. We are totally depressed that our vacation is over. Both Blaine and I start scheming about how we can move back to CA. We are both from there and it just feels like home. We get on the flight with out any problems. Our flight attendant's name is Tirza, so we totally bond. Then we have lots of turbulence and can you guess it??? Yep, I throw up! I didn't want to pass off my yucky bag to my new friend so I hold onto it until we de-board the plane and I can throw it away on my own.
Thursday: Totally bummed to be home. Catching up on laundry, grocery shopping, emails, work, etc. A tornado barely misses our town today. Wow...welcome back to Colorado.
All in all...it was a great trip, even though we ended up in California.

I've Been Tagged

3 Joys

Snuggling with Bella in the morning when she gets into bed with us to wake me up.

Hearing Ez laugh and watching him grow and develop. He doesn't even seem like the same baby that was born 7 months ago with so many problems.

Watching Blaine play with the kids.

3 Fears
Getting stuck in Salt Lake City on our layover to Hawaii...we are flying stand by and I am getting NERVOUS!!! This wouldn't be so bad since we were planning on going to Utah anyway except that all of our luggage will be on its way to Hawaii and we have non-refundable hotel accommodations.

My children and or Blaine getting seriously sick, hurt, or dying.

Getting old.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections
I guess I have become obsessive about my family wearing matching clothes to big events (see pictures from court and the temple).

I am a little obsessive about recycling. If I see that someone has thrown something recyclable in the trash I'll take it out (at my own house, that is) and throw it in our recycling bin in the garage.

Those box tops for schools. This is another thing that I get bugged about if someone throws a box away with out cutting that stupid little box top off. I give them to my sister for her kids school and I don't know why I am so obsessive about collecting it but I feel like it is throwing money away if I don't cut it off.

3 Random Surprising Facts About Myself (Haven't I already divulged everything about myself on this blog???)

Tirsa means "desire" in Hebrew.

My brother shot me with a bee bee gun when I was younger and I never even told on him until we were much older.

I have eaten cow tongue and cow intestines. Yuck and super yuck.

My Greatest Blessings Call Me Mom

I can't think of any other job that I'd rather have than that of being a Mom. It is challenging, rewarding, filled with tedious little jobs and monumental moments. What better cause can anyone dedicate themselves to than the daily loving, guiding, nurturing, and teaching of children? This world would be a better place if every child had a mom that cherished motherhood and understood her noble role. This job isn't easy but it is all worth it when Bella throws her arms around me in a warm embrace and Ezra's face lights up when I walk into the room. I am so grateful for the gift of being my children's mom. I hope that my children can feel my love for them and the gratitude I have for what they have taught me and for who I have become because of them.

And a tribute to my grandma, my mom, and my mother-in-law. I love you all and I am grateful for your examples of being women of faith, women of strength, and women of courage.




The holiest words my tongue can frame,
The noblest thoughts my soul can claim,
Unworthy are to praise the name
More precious than all other.
An infant, when her love first came,
A man, I find it still the same,
Reverently I breathe her name,
The blessed name of mother.

George Griffith Fether

Happy Mother's Day to all of you... my friends who are moms, my friends who long to be a mom, and my friends who are strong women who offer your gifts and talents to this world. Love you all!

Hawaii or Utah? What would you do?

So, we were all set to go to Utah next week for a little family vacation. Blaine took time off from work and he has a week off in between semesters from school and we just needed to GO SOMEWHERE...ANYWHERE. Well, we've got lots of family and good friends in Utah, not to mention Cafe Rio and The Pie Pizzeria so it is always a good time for us to go there and visit. Besides, it is a do-able drive so it just made sense. Until we were talking to Blaine's brother, Steve, who is a pilot. They were telling us about their recent Hawaii trip and how great it was. We were ooing and awing about it when they said that if we wanted, we could use some buddy passes to go out there ourselves. Hmmm, we thought. We do already have the week off next week since we were going to Utah. What the heck...let's go to Hawaii instead! So, to all of our family and friends in Utah that we had planned on visiting, we're sorry. But, you don't blame us right? I mean, come on, when paradise calls, you have no choice but to answer. And we feel good about doing our part to stimulate the economy. Hey people, we're just trying to help out!

Wonderful Weekend

We took Ez to the temple on Saturday to be sealed to us for all time and eternity. It was INCREDIBLE!!! I can hardly put my emotions into words except to say that I felt so much love, peace, and joy as I sat with my husband and my children in the temple, all of us in white. My heart was overflowing with love and gratitude for my family. I feel so blessed. Ezra and Bella were both as cute and sweet as can be. Ez had his little tongue sticking out of his mouth and was so calm and easy going through out the ceremony. Bella thought she was a princess in her white dress. Thank you to all of our friends and family that came near and far to celebrate with us and to all of you who couldn't make it...we know we were in your thoughts. I will remember this day forever.

Looking Back Part 2

It was three years ago yesterday that we took Bella to the temple to be sealed to us. Her great Grandma (Tirsa's Grandma) made her beautiful, white dress. We had lots of family come to town to help us celebrate this day. As we walked out of the temple, I felt like I had just been married again. It was such an incredible feeling to know that this sweet child was ours forever. How lucky are we that we get to take each of our children, individually to the temple for their own special day! I can't wait for this Saturday when Ez is sealed to us.