Mormon Messages

I recently started a new tradition on Sundays with Jessie. I got the idea from my friend Kristine. Usually right after church Tegan will go down for a nap and while Tommy wraps up things at the church Jess and I have a few minutes to hang out. Wanting to make good use of the time and do something I felt was uplifting we started watching these mormon messages. Jessie has always loved watching TV. When something is on her eyes are glued 100% to the screen. So it has given us an awesome opportunity to talk about things and answer questions that she has and it's been a great teaching tool. I have learned so much from watching them and been touched by the messages given as well.

This Means WAR!!!

Warning: All rodent lovers, it's best if you don't read this post.

Dear little clan of mice,

It was one thing when I found traces of you in the cupboards under my sink and ripping open and nibbling all my bags of grain. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy. I only gave you one extra day of roaming because it was the Sabbath and I figured buying a mouse trap might cancel out the blessing of catching you. But when I found that you had also invaded underneath our bathroom sinks and ripped open not one, but two bags of cotton (stingy little things), it waged war. I'm setting out double the traps now and not the nice kind. You can forget holding up a little surrender flag with the paper towel and Q-tips you so generously stole and soiled. It's too late for that.

I know you're just trying to stay warm and make a comfy little nest out of our double-ply toilet paper, but it simply can not...WILL not be in our home.

Yours truly,

A very disgusted Tara

Here's to good friends!!!

I had the opportunity this weekend to spend time with several of my dearest friends. I'm so grateful for such wonderful women. I don't think that I express enough how much I learn from each of them and how grateful I am to know such amazing people. By the end of my visits I felt refreshed, inspired, loved, and mostly a desire to be that kind of friend too. So here's to good friends. I love you!

A snow day and Thanksgiving

We put our snow tires on just in time. We were excited to see the snow dropping a few days before Thanksgiving. The girls were even more excited. We waited till the sun had just peaked it's head and headed out bundled up in the snow. Our attempted snowman was kicked over by Tegan.




Thanksgiving was at our house this year. A little chaotic, but in a good way. There was a scare when my mom's flight was cancelled from Utah, but they flew in early the next day and she quickly made up for lost time in the kitchen. We had visitors from all over this year. It was so nice having so many loved ones here.

The spread
This is my cousin Sandra who came up from California. The kids had a blast with her. She must have read them 100 books while she was here.
My mom and Tegan
My brother Nathan (on the left) from Salem and brother Jared (on the right) who came all the way from New York. So great to see them both.
Jess and my mom making pie crust.
Uncle Bob and Aunt Viv from Cali.
Sandra's daughter Katie. Girls loved her too.
My sister Brandy and me.

Family Pics

Thankful for things both big and small

Tis the season to be extra grateful for all that we have. I am, of course, grateful for all the big things in my life: my family, the gospel, health, our home, food, peanut butter M&M's etc. It's the little things I want to pay tribute to today...

I'm grateful for bobby pins. I use them every day of my life to keep the bangs that I always so badly want, but then hate having.

I'm thankful for those IKEA chip clips that I use on just about every bag of food big or small in my kitchen.

I'm grateful for the feather pillows my great Aunt so graciously gave us for a wedding gift. It has given me so many wonderful nights of sleep.

I'm grateful for texting. It has allowed me to communicate with others yet be just the right amount of antisocial at the same time.

I'm grateful for that one in a million shopping carts that just rolls on down the isle without veering to the left or right or just plain stopping all together.

I'm grateful for skirts. I've never been much of a dress or skirt wearer. They really go against my nature, but skirts seem to be that happy medium--a little dolled up, but not too much.

I'm grateful for naps. I LOVE and I mean LOVE a good mid-day nap. It doesn't need to be long. I just need a few minutes in dreamland.

I'm grateful for salad. I've never been super excited about eating or cooking vegetables. A salad is a way to get all the daily recommended vegetables in one sitting. It's got to have croutons on it though.

I'm grateful for outhouses that have hand sanitizer included. Oh what a difference that makes.

I'm grateful to sometimes be able to ride in cars that have those car seat warmers. A warm bottom really is nice. We'll probably never own a car with that feature, but I'd be happy to pretty much drive anywhere if we did.

Oh the simple pleasures...

Two Bugs on a Rug!




A favorite in our family...

Halloween Weekend

Halloween was met with its usual festivities. We went to a friend's Halloween party, dress up and all. Tom and I haven't dressed up in years so it was fun to finally do it again. We decided to go the cheap route and use mostly the stuff that we already had. What better way to do that than dress like each other. Since Jessie was Sleeping Beauty last year, she opted to be Snow White this year (minus the black hair). Tegan had an adorable pirates outfit, but the belled sleeves were driving her crazy so we squeezed her into her pumpkin outfit from last year and she was happy as a pumpkin could be.

Friday night, post party, was one of the longest nights I can remember. Tegan woke up at 12:30 screaming and vomiting all at once and then proceeded to puke every 15 minutes. Jess must have been jealous that me and T set up shop on the couch because at 1:30 she woke up with the same routine. Lets just say that the washer and dryer were on full-time duty for the next 24 hours and portions of our house smelled entirely of vomit. They must like there Dad better than me because when it was his shift to watch them, the vomiting abruptly stopped. On the bright side it lasted about 8 hours and was gone and the kids were real troopers through it all.Jess even felt good enough by the evening to go to trunk or treat with her friends. All in all it was a good weekend and now we've got some yummy candy to snack on now and then when the kids aren't looking. And heaven knows we will definitely be careful not to eat ourselves sick!

Greatest Gifts


Perhaps I'm feeling a bit sentimental today, actually I know I am. Today in one of my church meetings the teacher asked what are some of the greatest gifts we've been given. The first thought that came to my head was my family. I'm grateful for an amazing husband who provides for us and loves us so much. I am amazed by our two little girls that I get to watch learn and grow every day. I am often in aw that Heavenly Father has entrusted them to our care. They are so precious and the responsibility can seem overwhelming at times, but worth every struggle. The principle of eternal families brings an even greater joy and motivation to try harder and do better. Jessie, Tommy, and Tegan--I love you so much.

A Hairy Question

A lot of people have been asking if we have had to keep shaving Tegan's hair because of her habit of pulling it out.

Well...






Does this answer your question?

Worn Out!

Maybe it's because Tegan woke us up screaming last night after falling out of her bunk and then stayed awake for the next 3 hours or so while we hovered over her waiting for her to vomit, or scream out in pain, or give us some other sign that she had a severe concussion. Or maybe it's that I'm perpetually going to bed way later than I should, or maybe it's just that it's cold and no good outside...but I am SPENT!

So today I will not feel bad reading a book all day, putting on a movie to entertain the kids, indulging in a little comfort food, and lazily picking up the house. I will relax and unwind because tomorrow it is back to the grind.

Who cares about the rain when you've got caramel apples, and good friends???

Well goodbye to the sunshine. When the rain decided to finally make its grand ole entrance, it let us know or maybe it's just that Tommy cleaned the rain gutters out and I can hear every drop flowing freely through. But none of that really matters because we got to enjoy an evening with the Johnsons. While Jessie and Owen caught up doing their two favorite things--playing and a video--We slathered some apples in hot caramel and dipped them in our topping of choice. Messy, but Oh So DELICIOUS!

Just in case the caramel apples didn't satisfy our sugar cravings we had some doughnuts as backup.
Winding down with a video after some serious playtime.

Tegan knows a good thing when she sees it.
While the rest of us had caramel practically wrapped around our heads, Blake decided to be sophisticated about it and slice it with a knife.

Just threw this pic in for fun. I'm sure it will re-surface during their teen years to prove to them that they were once best buddies. Tegan has graduated to the bunk bed now so they are officially sharing a room.

Fall Fun

This last week we had some fun adventures with the kids. Saturday we ventured out to Drift Creek Falls with some friends. A beautiful hike just off the beaten path on the way to Lincoln City. It's amazing what beauty is out there just hidden away. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a quick (1 1/4 mile there) hike with kids. If you don't mind getting a little car sick on the way. The roads are all twisty. The most exciting part of the hike for me was the suspension bridge. When I heard it would be there I pictured some kind of Indiana Jones scene where the rope would break under pressure and we'd be hanging on with one hand trying to pull ourselves back up, but no luck. It was a smooth trip across with just enough shaking to cause a little excitement.


The beautiful falls.


And there I am hanging on for dear life.

I know what you're thinking "Jessie's four and still in the pack??" But it's worth not hearing "I'm tired of walking" two steps into the hike.

We got to go to the pumpkin patch with Jessie's preschool class. It was just a quaint little patch in Independance Oregon. We've been enjoying these beautiful sunny days and luckily this was one of them.

Jessie's class.
One of her best little buddies.

Birthday Wishes Continued...

We recently had reason to celebrate. As posted earlier, Tegan just turned two. We also had 4 other people in Tom's family with recent birthdays and since 3 of them were staying as guests in our home we thought that qualified as enough of an excuse to PARTY! It's been mentioned previously, but no harm in repeating, any visit with the Hathaway Family is a fun time for us.


The upcoming Birthday party was motivation enough for me to finish this banner I recently started. I kind of wish I had more kids so I could just keep it up year round.
Julia once again stepped up and helped with all the planning and games at our little Shindig.
Our theme was "toothbrush" because that seems to be Tegan's little obsession right now. Nothing turns a frown into a smile or breaks her little heart quicker than getting a toothbrush given to her or taken away from her. Seems like we're sending a mixed message to the kids with a sugary toothbrush cake, but it was fun making.
We did a "tooth walk" for the kids, with a tube of toothpaste being the grand prize.
We also did "pin the toothbrush on the cavity" and Jessie thought it was pretty cool that she looked like the girl with the green hole in her tooth...minus the green hole, thank goodness.
Tegan enjoyed opening her gifts with her Papi. We've recently discovered zhu zhu pets in our home and they are keeping our kids quite entertained at playtime.

We had a nice weekend of celebration and family. Sad to see it end.

Happy Birthday to you...

Weighing in at a massive 22 lbs 13 oz (6th percentile) and 33 inches tall (41st percentile) This giggly, finger sucking, blanket carrying, milk lovin little munchkin just celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday.

She may be small, but don't let that fool you. She can keep up with any 4 year old (just ask her sister), climb some of the steepest slides, down a sippy cup of milk in one minute flat, and make a grown man laugh till his stomach hurts with just one silly look. Not to mention she sings a killer rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

We have been so blessed to have her in our family. Happy Birthday Miss Tegan! We love you.

High Hair



Now that is some crazy hair. Watch out 80's we're bringing you back.

Nothing in particular, but something

Well it seems that life has for the most part picked up its normal routine again. And for the most part I think I'll accept it. Here's whats been happening this last little while...

1. Jess is back to school and loving it. She's finally able to tell me what she's learning and has actually taught me a few things (kinda sad). She is a little miffed that the boys don't seem to want to hang with her. I zipped my lip before letting it slip out that it won't always be that way. That would only open up a whole days worth of questions from her.

2. Canning, canning and more canning the last couple of weeks. I'm glad to be done. If anyone wants, come on over and we'll have some peach applesauce salsa stew with some fruit leather crumbled on top.

3. Happy Anniversary to us. We celebrated 6 years as husband and wife yesterday and it felt like I traveled back to our wedding day with the rain that fell and fell and fell, only I didn't have to wear a big white dress and worry about it getting dirty the whole time. The rain demolished our plans to go hiking and instead we got a babysitter and enjoyed and evening of good mexican food, shopping, ice cream, and the company of one great guy.

4. Finally got too tired of our bright yellow walls in the dining room and changed it to a different bright color. I won't spoil the surprise quite yet...but stay tuned.

5. Got a new calling at church and find myself again working with the young women. No complaints here. They are a lovely group of girls and I'm excited.

6. Won a makeover (for my face) from a recent service auction. I may finally learn how to apply make-up. Heck I may be unrecognizable by the end.

7. Watched my girls wrestling with each other and giggling on the floor and had one of those "I want to stop time" moments. I love being a mom.

8. Spot treated some nasty stains on our carpet with little hope, but a pleasant surprise when it actually worked. Guess I'll have to do that more often.

Life is GOOD.

Camping at Rock Creek Reservoir

Camping wouldn't be complete without...
Music
A sweet dog
Burgers grilled over the open fire (dressed with some of the finish from the skillet, Yum Yum!
Julia and her awesome family
Our camping chairs that came camping with us, but did not return. They're last big Hoorah! They've been good to us.
Tegan with her sucker contemplating either the meaning of life or the wonder of her yummy treat.
A hammock
Sticks shaped like guns
A husband who can pack a car tighter than a can of sardines.


And two tuckered out kids at the end of it all.

We knew it was risky when we were able to get a reservation only a month away from labor day, but we were pleasantly surprised with what Rock Creek had to offer. Yes the reservoir was dried up to almost nothing, and to cold and yucky to swim in, and yes we almost got lost because the main road to the campsite wasn't marked...AT ALL...but our opinions quickly changed when we got to join in the local towns festivities with a parade that kept our kids on a sugar high for the whole trip, and lawn mower races that were the highlight for the guys for sure. And of course the Hathaways that make any trip a blast for us. Most definitely a rest from our labors.