Saturday, October 31, 2009

Can you find Tate in this picture?

{To protect the privacy of Tate's classmates (and because it was cute:), I used photobucket to make this picture into a cartoon}

Yesterday was Tate's Kindergarten Fall Party at school and I got to be there to help out (but mostly just to watch them play games and have fun) ...


The kids enjoyed eating the donut off the string, playing Halloween Bingo, toss the ring around the pumpkin and they got to make a cute little black cat craft.


It's awesome how young children are entertained by even the simplest activity as long as you call it a game.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Spook Alley 2009


Every year for the past 10-15 years (possibly longer) Bryan's family (with the help from many of the neighborhood kids) puts on a spook-alley on the side yard of their house. My Mother-in-Law Dianna works closely with the neighborhood children as they plan everything out in advance. They work for weeks prior to the event painting and building the scene (this year's was a Haunted Hotel) out of refrigerator boxes. Then they place signs throughout the neighborhood inviting anyone and everyone who wants to come. To walk through the spook alley, they charge a small fee of .25cents which is later donated to charity. They sell dinner and snacks as well. Many of the neighborhood families look forward to this event all year long as it is not only spooky, but is a great opportunity to get to know neighbors and visit with friends.

We really enjoy going to the spook alley every year, but this year's was one of my personal favorites. It's probably due to the fact that Tate is finally old enough to REALLY enjoy it! He was definitely spooked yet still wanted to go through again and again.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

My Hair

I've done BLONDE-ish.


And I've done super DARK BROWN-ish
.


But until today...

I'd never done RED-ish!


But then again is it really RED?

It's so hard to tell. In sunlight it is definitely red, but in the picture above it looks more dark brown.

What ever color it is... I think I like it.

It fits in with the FALL SEASON-that's for sure.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tate's Halloween Costume


Tate wanted to be a FIREBIRD (his school's mascot) for Halloween this year. Even though I thought it would be COMPLETELY AWESOME I tried and tried to talk him out of it... because who even knows what a firebird looks like?

But since he wasn't going to budge on his decision
, I decided to make him HAPPY by piecing his costume together (My Mother HELPED me a ton)!

I ended up using some fiery looking wings I found at Savers, a red hoody, red feathered boa, black goggles, crow beak, the knickers I made him for Pioneer Day, some yellow and black striped tights, and his red swimming fins (that are attached to his crocks).


Tate is in LOVE with his FIREBIRD costume, and insists that he has the BEST costume of anyone around...

I'm glad that it has HIS approval!

Baby Craigster


I am LOVING this adorable nephew of mine... Belly Button and all, he is just plain CUTE!

And, in other journal news today:
I passed out twice in the middle of the night (last night) within a period of ten minutes (all because I bumped my elbow on my night stand). CRAZY!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Best Way to Reach Mom!


Tate is a TALKER... He enjoys sitting around and visiting with me 24/7 (aka following me around the house and talking my ear off), which I LOVE 99.9 % of the time. I REALLY am glad that he enjoys talking with me... But sometimes I just have to talk to other people (which he totally can't understand why).

Yesterday I was on my cell phone ALL AFTERNOON (I'm quite popular in my family now that I think about it), and Tate kept coming in the room trying to make conversation with me to which I continued to let him know that I was on the phone and that what he wanted was going to have to wait a little longer...

But Tate (being the smarty pants that he is) figured out the best way to reach me.

He used our home phone to dial me on my cell phone (all by himself), and the next thing I knew I was talking to him on my phone!

Tyler & Karlie


I'm going to have to cheat again for my "Picture of the Day" because I didn't take a single picture on Sunday-oops!

But I do have some exciting news to share. Bryan's brother Tyler is engaged. It actually happened while we were gone on our cruise, so I haven't had a chance to take a current picture of them. I'll just share this picture that I took of them last month in LA. Sorry it's only a back shot:(

And in other "journal" news for Sunday:
Our ward had our Sacrament Mtg. Primary Presentation. Tate had his part memorized, "The family that prays together stays together" but when it came time for him to go to the microphone he told his Primary teacher that he was scared... So he ended up forgetting his line. It wasn't a big deal and the Primary President helped him out.

Tate did pretty good in learning the songs for the program considering I always forgot to play the CD with his songs on it for him to learn. His favorite was "I'll Seek the Lord Early" in sign language and "I Want to be Baptized".

Work Day.

Just wanted to say that I find it much easier to blog everyday than to try and catch up on 4 days, especially when they've been 4 BUSY days with very few pictures taken.



Saturday was spent PAINTING our old apartment from blue to white (Why do apartments have to be white anyways?!?) so that we could call it DONE with our lease. (Bryan's cousin has been living in it since we moved out in April)

Since I was in a major time crunch (we had to turn in the keys at 5 PM), Faith, and John saved me (literally) and volunteered to come help me paint. Autumn was so cute as she was covered in paint after attempting to lick the paint dip stick...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Just found these pictures...

I took FOREVER ago of Mr. Chubby Cheeked Sunburned Tate, and I HAD to share.



Score!


I used to make fun of Bryan when he'd find things in and around dumpsters and bring them home for us to use... Like the big yellow slide he found for Tate and the 3 matching chairs he found that we used FOREVER with our kitchen table.

But I can't make fun of him any longer, because I too became a garbage digger yesterday. When I saw this cute night stand sitting in front of a dumpster I just had to stop and take it. Do you blame me? I want to give it a fresh coat of paint and make it look purdy!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

2-Two Year Olds


I got to babysit these ADORABLE cousins of mine this morning. They're busy, messy, into everything, and oh so fun. It seriously makes me want twins of my own!

Tate's Most Recent Self Portrait



Tate was so so so proud of himself and his ability to draw this self portrait. If you look very closely at the picture, you can see that he colored a "PLATINUM" medal around his neck. (Because platinum is better than gold). Tate told me that he put that on because he did such a good job coloring this picture. Ha, Ha.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

$18 Backup Frames


I picked up these cheap glasses the other day from Walmart Vision Center. I prefer contacts, but just in case... It's nice to have glasses on hand. And even nicer that they cost so little.

BTW, thanks to all you who voted for me to win the Disney Land contest. Not quite sure what happened! I was in the lead for a little while... But it looks like I fell behind. Oh well!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Vote For Me Please.

I have a favor... A really quick 10 second favor...


I entered a little contest (a while ago) sharing my favorite DISNEYLAND memory

Which is of Mr. Tate meeting Belle at Disneyland last summer and smothering her with kisses.

Remember This?



And guess what?

I made it to round 2 of the contest-where YOU decide who wins!!!!

Please click HERE to vote for me (Maria)!


The winner receives 4 free tickets to Disneyland. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Party!


My Aunt Mary had a big birthday party at her house tonight with a DJ, karaoke, dancing, and lots of yummy food. It was fun seeing extended family that we don't see very often! And as always, we had a great time.

Cruisin' to Mexico & Back

Well, what can I say? Our cruise to Mexico was absolutely amazing, and yes I already want to go back! The cruise ship (Carnival Splendor) was incredible and we were treated like royalty the entire time we were on board. We made three stops-Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Here are just a few of the million pictures that we took.

















Some of our most memorable things:
  • Swimming with the dolphins and kissing them
  • Eating ice cream 24/7
  • The towel animals that our room steward "Ozzy" made us nightly
  • Kids Camp
  • Going up/down/and all around in the elevators
  • Drinking hot chocolate all the time
  • Snorkeling and cliff diving in Cabo
  • Riding the city buses
  • Shopping (all of the good deals)
  • Beautiful Sunsets

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Guess Who's Going on a Cruise

That would be us (Bryan, Tate, and Me)!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going on a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise tomorrow. And we are super excited! It's actually our very first cruise ever. Since I'm not paying the extra $55 to use the internet on board the ship, I will not be blogging next week. But don't worry I'll have LOTS of pictures to post the following week!

Any last minute suggestions for us first time cruisers?

Tate's Soccer Goal

Tate scored his VERY FIRST soccer goal this morning! It's funny how when he really puts his mind up to doing something, he can do it... On the way to soccer this morning Tate told Bryan and I, "When I make a goal today-please cheer really loud for me-okay". Since he already knew that he was going to score, he did.

And since Tate asked me to cheer for him, that's exactly what I did. Even if it meant not getting a picture of his first goal. After the game was over, I had him kick the ball into the goal one more time (this time for the camera).