Dress-Up

Tate got into my hair stuff the other day!

Doesn't he look pretty?

How much do you KNOW Mom?

I asked Tate a few questions about me the other day, these were his answers...

Mom: What's my favorite color?

Tate: Pink

Mom: What's my favorite movie?

Tate: um, Aristocats

Mom: What's my favorite song?

Tate: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Mom: What's my favorite animal?

Tate: Um, Um, Um, Lion

Mom: What's my favorite thing to do?

Tate: Bubbles!!!

His responses were hilarious! He got the first one right, all the others are his favorites!

Martina Concert

Bryan & I were fortunate enough to go to the Martina McBride concert Thursday night! She really is SO GOOD! It was definately the best concert either of us have ever been to (not that we've been to a ton), but it was really fun and we had a great time!!!

Bryan's so funny, he never tells me what he wants for his birthday, he just expects me to read his mind or something. At least I was right with what he wanted this year!

This is kind of a scary picture of us, but it's the best I've got.

Jeremiah Willey Picture Found

Happy Pioneer Day everyone!

This is a picture of Jeremiah Willey, my Great Great Great Great Grandpa! For all of my Manning Relatives, you'll be excited to know that my Mom found this picture of him on the Mormon Battalion Website. Up until a week ago, we didn't have a picture to go along with his incredible life story! Now we do... Click HERE to read his story (In my words).

Also, this is a picture of the small cabin that he built in 1852. It's been turned into a museum and is located at 400 North 100 West Bountiful Davis County, UTAH 84010. Click HERE to read the incredible story of how the Willey Cabin was found and restored.

Grand Canyon Family Reunion

This last weekend was a REUNION for my family at the Grand Canyon! We had a wonderful time. Here are my highlights...

We camped at Mather's Point and were fortunate enough to borrow Uncle Lynn's camper, so that was nice. My parents planned a treasure hunt of which everyone (especially the children) enjoyed! The men enjoyed playing CHESS (a favorite family game)! My Mom got smart and brought a giant play pen for the 6 grandkids to play in.

The food was delicious, and Uncle Joe even made us some of his peach cobbler! Bryan somehow managed to talk Thomas into performing his "Major General" song from the play "Pirates of Penzance". Everyone got a great laugh!

Tate wouldn't leave anyone alone with his "NUZZLE WUZZLES!"
We saw some HUGE elk & deer, so Bryan really liked that!
Tate had mixed emotions about seeing the Grand Canyon (or Heavenly Father's Hole) as he called it! I think he was afraid at first but then not at all towards the end. This is my favorite picture of him!

Riding the trolley was an experience Tate enjoyed!

Some of us hiked to Yaki Point, which was the most beautiful of all! Tate got really tired towards the end there...

Here it is! Isn't he a cutie?

Who's Your DADDY?

Since we live so far away from ANYTHING, Tate and I have quite a bit of travel time whenever we decide to go anywhere. It's during these times that we happen to have very deep conversations! I'm pretty sure that it has to do with Tate being strapped in and not having much to do but TALK! So here is the conversation we had today, it just came out of the blue...

TATE: My daddy's name's Bryan

MOM: That's right!

TATE: Who's your Daddy?

MOM: Grandpa Larry

TATE: Who's Grandma Stradling's Daddy?

MOM: Grandpa Bloomfield

TATE: Who's Grandpa Bloomfield's Daddy?

MOM: (Shrug) I don't know!

TATE: I have 2 Daddy's!

MOM: Who's your other Daddy?

TATE: His name is Heavenly Father!!!

This conversation seriously went on and on and on! Tate was literally asking me about EVERYONE'S Daddy's! He 's our little geneologist!

Personality Test- DNA REPORT

I think this personality test was kinda fun, and pretty close to right!

So I'm a "Cautious Creator."

Here are a few of my traits;

• You are independent, and you enjoy your self-sufficiency.
• You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.
• You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
• Being independent, practical, and somewhat guarded with others makes you CAUTIOUS.
• The values that you hold are central to your identity—you are a very principled person.
• You have respect for the natural order of things, and a good sense of right and wrong.
• You are efficient—when you work with others, you get down to business, and fulfill your obligations.
  
  Click HERE to find out your own DNA REPORT

My Crazy Swimmer

Tate is like a little FISH in the water! He has NO FEAR whatsoever-he'll try to swim by himself, jump, flip around, and do anything dangerous!!!










We've been swimming every single morning without fail. I'm enjoying having a pool so much, I seriously don't know what we'd do without it!
It's a really good energy user uper for Mr. Tate (If you know what I mean)












Yesterday Tate jumped off the waterfall into the pool all by himself!

This is a short movie of Tate being his VERY SILLY self! He seriously surprised me with the NUZZLE WUZZLES. For those of you who don't know Mr. Tate very well, this will pretty much explain what he's all about- FUN!!!

Mouth Watering Cinnamon Rolls

I remember the days (before Tate), when these used to be a staple around our house! Now they are considered a delicacy!!! I stayed up until 11:30 last night making these (That's REALLY late for me).

Just in case your mouth is watering from the look of these delicious cinnamon rolls, here is the famous and very precious recipe...

Ingredients:

3 C. Milk
1 C. Potato Flakes
1 Tbsp. Salt
¾ C. Granulated Sugar
3/4 C. Butter
4 Eggs (Whipped)
7-8 C. Flour
1 ½ Tbsp. Yeast
1 C. Brown Sugar

Cinnamon

Frosting:

2/3 C. Butter or Margarine
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. Milk
4 C. Powdered Sugar (Add ½ C. at a time)

Directions:

Scald milk. Melt butter. Place potato flakes, salt, sugar, milk and 1/2 cup butter in mixer. Bring to a lukewarm temperature. Add eggs, yeast and flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Mix until dough pulls away from the side. Place dough in a large greased bowl, let rise until doubled in bulk. Divide rolls dough in half, roll into a large rectangle. Place 1/8 C. melted butter, 1/2 C. brown sugar, and sprinkle cinnamon all over the dough. Then roll up and cut with floss and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining doe. Let rise again. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool then frost.

Enjoy!!! These have got to be the BEST treat of all time!

When they're finished, I always place them in individual ziploc bags and freeze them. They last for 30 days in the freezer.

Bryan always enjoys them in his lunches, and Mr. Tate enjoys them for very delicious snacks. Me, I enjoy them anytime and all the time!

How Many of Me?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 3 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I thought this was pretty neat...
There are 1,259,047 people in the U.S. with the first name Maria.

Statistically the 23rd most popular first name.

There are 726 people in the U.S. with the last name Stradling.

Statistically the 36423rd most popular last name.
Who knows how accurate this really is, it's based off the 1990 census. It's pretty much just an estimate, but still it's cool to think that there's not very many people with my name!
According to this, there is only 1 Bryan Stradling when we know there is at least another one that lives here in the valley.
Also, supposedly our Tate is the only Tate Stradling in the US :)

Gone but not Forgotten

4 1/2 years ago a new tree was planted...

It grew quickly, and Tate enjoyed hanging from its branches! Then one day, it froze in a winter storm and died. Tate was sad!
Our homeowners Association gave us word that we would have to remove our poor dead tree. Tate watched with dissapointment as Dad cut down "his" tree.Now it is gone, but never forgotten!

Our 4th of July

We had a really fun 4th of July! Bryan's family came all the way out to our house to celebrate both our country and Bryan's birthday.

Since it was like 115 outside, almost everyone went swimming. We also had a barbeque.

The guys had lots of fun playing volleyball!

Everyone pitched in and bought Bryan (I mean us) a Nintendo Wii!

He (us again) have been having so much fun playing! Thanks everyone!

Sleeping Surprise

Look what I almost stepped on in our backyard... it's a subtle serpent!!! Yikes! Good thing both the rattlesnake and Tate were sleeping.

And here is my rescue team! Thank-you, Thank-you!!!

Scrapblog Fun

So, I've been having lots of fun making scrapblogs. They are easy to make, and a good something to do when you have nothing to do... Which for me isn't very often. That's why I've only made two of them. But, I have plans to make more when and if life ever slows down. Check it out at http://www.scrapblog.com/

Must Have Books For ALL Toddlers

We finally have the whole set of these "Scripture Power Stories" as Tate calls them. Every morning Tate makes me read to him from these books. He just loves them so much. I love them too, it makes teaching the gospel to him so much easier. The wording is so simple to understand and the illustrations are just beautiful! I ordered them from Amazon.com.

Birthday Celebrations

Happy July 4th everyone,

and... Happy Birthday Bryan!

Mr. Tate's Birthday Movie

I just realized that I never posted Tate's Birthday Movie from last year! ENJOY!! Works in progress for movie #dos. Coming Soon...

FUN PROJECT!

Tate and I made this CARD TABLE for Bryan for Father's Day! I had a ton of extra pics that were just sitting in a box, so I figured why not mod podge them onto a card table so that we can actually see them every once and a while. It was really fun and easy to make.