Baths, Dress-up, etc.

The first time I put bubbles in Tae's bath, she freaked. I had to drain the tub and wash out the tub. She happily told them "Bye-bye" as they went down the drain. We've now decided bubbles are great.

We've also decided Taelyn is a girl, through and through. When we are at home she is either taking her clothes off or putting more clothes on. I've heard it only gets worse from here.

On Saturday, Tae and Jon were on their own while I went to violin lessons and a Stake RS Activity. When I got home Jon made me close my eyes. When I opened them he was holding a Taelyn sized dress. He informed me that they had gone shopping and when he picked it upto look at it, she immediately loved it and he just had to buy it. At this point in the conversation Tae looked at me and said "La-la. Dress. La-la." He said it was a confirmation that he had to get it. It does make me laugh because I can never get him to look at dresses with me. Apparently it has become a tradition because daddy has been the one to buy her Easter dress both years she has been alive. Because Easter falls on General Conference weekend this year, we let her wear her dress on Sunday. I tried to get some pictures after church. Most of them turned out like this:

But some of them worked. [I'll just throw in here that I LOVE digital cameras. It takes 30+ pictures to get a few good ones. I'm glad I can take the 30+ pictures and not have to pay to get all of them developed! What did people do before digital cameras?!]

Talking Up a Storm

**WARNING: DUE TO MY LACK OF POSTS SINCE THE FIRST OF THE YEAR, I HAVE GOTTEN VERY BEHIND ON SOME IMPORTANT MATTERS. BECAUSE TALKING IS ONE OF THESE, EXPECT THIS POST TO BE EXTREMELY LONG.**

I vaguely remember a time when Taelyn didn't talk...but not really. She is getting really good at linking her words together to get her point across. Most of the time we understand what she is saying, but there are times when we haven't a clue. Most of you won't care enough to read for the list, but I'm sure that in the future I'll be glad I wrote it down.

• My favorite is that she refers to herself as La-la (that is what Jon calls her). I've called her La-lu a few times. I quit calling her that when she said "No-no momma", then pointed at herself and corrected me "La-la".
• Dropping her off at daycare each morning is one of the hardest things ever. Picking her up is one of the best. She has to tell everyone "Mommy's here". Except it comes out "Mommy seer". It melts my heart. She won't leave her room until every teacher in the room has acknowledged that "Mommy seer".
• She loves telling me about her art. I picked up the picture they did at daycare. I commented on how beautiful it was. She had to tell me "La-la paint. Hands. La-la."
• When she first started saying "Help me" it drove me nuts. She repeats it until she gets whatever help she is asking for. Then one night her blankey was stuck in the crib bars. She looked at me with the most desperate look on her face and said "Hewp me. Mommy."
• 2 weeks ago I forgot I had egg rolls in the oven on broil. When I remembered, I threw the oven door open and the smoke alarm went off. Now whenever we sit down at the table to eat she points at the smoke alarm and informs us "Beep-beep. Ears. Beep-beep." I think she is phased for life.
• She critiques my driving. If I accelerate or stop too quickly, my turns are not smooth or too fast, or if I hit any bumps I hear a "WHOA!" from my backseat driver.
• My mom and Taryn come out every other weekend for Taryn's league volleyball. We've taken Tae to several tournaments. Whenever someone mentions Taryn or ball or anything semi-related she says "Tear-n. Ball. Tear-n" accompanied by a repeated spiking motion.
• She loves singing. She's getting pretty good at singing along with "eat-sy beetsy" (Itsy Bitsy Spider) and "I God" (I Am a Child of God). She also often requests "Tempow" (I Love to See the Temple), "Pop-pop" (Popcorn Popping), and "Sees'us sun" (Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam).
• She loves the temple. We drive passed it on our drives. Occasionally we pull over, let her get out of her car seat and stand on the console so she can put her head out the sun roof. Two weeks ago Malissa watched Tae so Jon and I could go to the temple. Before we left I made the mistake of telling her where we were going and that Malissa was going to watch her. She had a total meltdown. Between her sobs she was pointing from herself to the front door and saying "La-la. Tempow."
• We had another problem with biting a few weeks ago. After realizing I had offended her, I felt strongly that instead of getting after her for the negative behavior, I needed to emphasize good behavior. I've been working on teaching her that 'Big girls are nice to our friends'. Each morning we go through all of the children and say they are our friends. We talk about being nice. Each night when I pick her up I ask how her day was. She usually responds with "La-la. Big girl. La-la. Nice."
• The last two days she has come home from daycare with stories like "La-la. Push. Awa. Push. La-la." or "Cher-sh. Pich. La-la. Pich. Cher'sh". We're not quite sure who is the offended and who is the offender, but we know who is involved. She makes sure she tells us several times during the evening. We're still trying to emphasize big girls are nice to our friends and big girls don't push or pinch.
• When ever we are out driving, she loves pointing out objects: bird, tree, balloon, bike, truck, etc. She always says 'hi' and 'bye' to new objects she notices.
• She hates the sun being in her eyes. Occasionally she gets really upset and yells "No-no. Sun. La-la. Eyes. No-no, sun." If daddy is in the car and mommy is driving, daddy blocks the sunlight. Over the weekend, mommy taught her that she can cover her eyes and it is much more effective than scolding the sun.
• She recently started saying "Hole-ju" (hold you) when she wants held. A few days ago while we were at home, Jon came up behind me and put his arms around me. I leaned back and was enjoying it until Tae burst out with a very loud objection, "No-no. Daddy. Hole-ju. Momma."
• A few months ago when we had sister missionaries, Taelyn learned to love hanging out with them. She calls them "Sissers" and signs 'missionary'. Now that Malissa is living with us, we have tried to get Tae to call her Malissa. She won't. She calls her "Sisser" and still signs missionary. Malissa left for a week. Every morning she was gone and several times each evening she would ask for "Sisser". Tae was sure excited last night when Malissa got back.

If you can't tell, I could go on and on about cute things that she says. Like how she struggles with her 's' sounds...except when she says Flip (Taryn's horses name). It very clearly comes out as "sip". Or that she loves her cousins Nick and Owen. She says Owen great, but Nick comes out as "Neek". I'll leave it at how much I love this age. I love the communication, the talking and learning, the funny way words come out and mostly I love how much more her little personality is showing through each day. I love being her mommy.

Our Nanny-House Elf

This is Malissa:

You may (or probably actually didn't) recognize her from this post. We sent her home in December. She will be attending BYU in May. She called us and asked if she could live with us for a month or so. She offered herself as a house elf in exchange. We are more than happy to have her. She is an incredibly happy person, her laugh is infectious, and we absolutely love her.

House Elf vs. Nanny

So if you had your choice, would you prefer having a house elf, or a nanny?

Ours is flying in as I type.

I'm slightly partial to calling her a nanny, because when will I ever have a nanny again?
I guess the same could be said of a house elf...

New Year's

We watched the First Night fireworks from the roof of one of Jon's parking garages. It had a great view and only 2 other cars were up there. It was incredible to feel the vibrations. There was a large building behind us, so the sound echoed. The parking garage shook. Once Taelyn calmed down from the initial shock, she really enjoyed it.By the time I started to get the hang of taking photos, the fireworks were over. I'm excited to try it again next year. I'll move up to the railing so it won't be in the pictures...

Due to being out so late, Tae slept really well. In fact, we slept until 10. That is the latest I've slept in for 20 months and 4 weeks!

The next night Taelyn had a slumber party at our house. It was more to give the boy's very pregnant mother a much needed break, but Tae was thrilled that these 3 would come to see her. I honestly think she has a crush on the oldest. I've already tried to talk to her about him being too old, but she won't listen.

Going from 1 to 4 children wore me out. It totally increased my amazement of mothers. It honestly took me over a week to fully recover. That may have had something to do with only getting one full night of sleep in before spending the night, or early morning, on an air mattress in their living room while their parents went to the hospital to have their baby brother. Or maybe I'm just a wimp.

'Bout Time

[WARNING! LONG POST!]

So I'm running out of days in January to review the past year. I've been super busy, but secretly I don't think I wanted to remind myself of the things that I didn't get done.

2009 Plans

In my original wording (don't mock it!)

1. Weight Loss. 30 lbs. Safely, that is a pound a week (with some wiggle room).
2. Start taking violin lessons.
3. By 2010, our house WILL have curtains!!
4. Decorate house.
5. Finish reading BOM with Jon.
6. Read 20 books (lame #...I know).
7. Compete in bikathon (AND put forth a good effort--not the looser& at least 20 rides).
8. Hold at least 4 bake-a-thons to fill the freezer. Buy tupperware to split up meals.
9. Garden. Grow at least 3 types of veggies/fruit that we can eat.
10. Pay off the credit card.

Review of my Progress
I actually don't think I did too bad.

1. I was close, and could have made it if I didn't have to come to work in December. Seriously, consultants bring in goodie baskets. Lots of consultants means lots of goodie baskets. Then someone decided that we needed more treats, and made a sign up list for people to bring in food every day for the month of December. I gained 4 in December. That put me at a total loss of 20 for 2009. [2/3]
2. I actually did start taking violin lessons. I played when I was younger. My parents told me I would regret it if I quit. I said 'BAH!' They were right. I'm finally putting the ol' violin to good use again. [1]
3. I didn't get to this plan. In fact, I managed to shrink the curtains we do have! Still working on it. [0]
4. I'm not done decorating, but I accomplished a good deal of what I wanted. What I didn't get done is in progress. I'm loving how our little house is starting to look. [2/3]
5. I'm sad that I actually didn't get through this one. Alma gets me every time. I feel like it is taking forever and my progress slows. [2/3]
6. I'm really sad that I didn't make this goal. I set the number low, thinking it would motivate me. Didn't work. [1/2]
7. My logic on this was the same as the previous plan. It worked really well...for the first three rides. On the fourth ride I got into a yelling match with a motorist who honked at me at one of the lights. Honestly, I'm sitting there in a neon orange shirt with a neon yellow triangle on the back that says "Share the road". Tae is in the bright orange bike trailer. I don't know what the motorist expected me to do. The light was red, I couldn't just pick it all up and move. And, when it comes down to it, I HAD THE RIGHT OF WAY! After we were starting to draw a crowd, it dawned on my that my cargo was far too precious to be yelling at motorists in the city. That was the last time I biked. So, I didn't make 20...but I didn't loose. And I did more than double my pathetic 1 ride from the year before (when I had a newborn). My scoring of this goal is lenient, but I think I deserve something. [1/3]
8. Check. Jon and I took frozen meals to work for lunch. It saved us much money. I did learn that I could only stock up 1-2 weeks worth of lunches. After they have been in the freezer that long, Jon will no longer eat them. [1]
9. Oh the garden. Jon put so much time into it. It was beautiful. He planted peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, beets. Everything looked good...until the foliage on the trees came in. Even the sunniest spot on the property doesn't get enough light. We did get tomatoes (20 or so), carrots (100 or so 1/2 baby sized), 3 zucchinis, 2 small cucumbers and 1 squash. We decided to bag it. I can have my parking spot back and we can continue to enjoy the farmers market in Murray. [1]
10. Paid it off right before Christmas. Wahoo! [1]

Overall, this only puts me at 68%. If I look at it as a grade...well, then I don't feel comfortable posting it until January is nearly over! Really though, I feel like last year was quite productive. In addition to my listed goals, I :

• got involved in the Parent Advisory Committee at the daycare
• volunteered as a judge for the Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair
• got involved in the ASCE YMF and am now the Treasurer
• became CERT certified
• completed the Division of Homeland Security Post Earthquake Evaluation of Buildings course
• took some Tango classes (with a few waltz lessons)
• volunteered at the CAST Event
• started a RS cooking class
• sang in the Stake RS Choir
• spent way too much time with those crazy sister missionaries (that I completely love and miss)
• secretly filled out a USU application for Jon (who was accepted!!)

Other noteworthy events from 2009:

• got pneumonia
• used all of my sick leave
• went to the dentist for the first time since...we'll just say in a very long time (pre-pregnancy)
• didn't have any cavities
• found out I had a chipped filling
• had to get it crowned
• tooth decided it hated the crown and decided to die. MOST. PAINFUL. FEELING. EVER.
• had my first root canal

Now I feel justified in being so tired. I also feel justified in ending this extremely long post and covering my 2010 Plans later.

First Time Playing in the Snow

Taryn is such a good aunt. As long as it has nothing to do with diapers, she is willing to do anything for Tae.

Tuckered Out

Tae played so hard while we were at Grandma and Papa's. When Jon, Papa and Tae went to feed cows, she fell asleep standing up in the feed truck. Wish I had a picture. The next day she fell asleep watching a movie.We were joking that it was because it was a boring movie. Colton said they watched it for Senior Night when he graduated. Don't know who picked that one. So sorry Union Class of 2002!

Time in the Tub

We give Taelyn a bath nightly-not because she needs it, but because we do. It wears her out and she sleeps so much better. Plus, baths are so much fun.

"My country tis' of thee..."

I don't usually (in fact I don't think I have ever) post on the blog, however given the nature of the season I wanted to share a few thoughts...something I am very grateful for.

If you are reading this you are aware that Tamaran and Tae and I have been working with a wonderful family from Burma (formerly Myanmar). I had the wonderful opportunity to share not only my witness of the gospel but to baptise our friends the day after Thanksgiving.

The following Monday we were invited to thier home along with the Bishop and his wife to enjoy a dinner with them. We were it seems to be guests of honor. I have never seen such spread or a display of gratitude. We were invited to sit at their small table that had been filled with different types of sushi and some traditional entree's. They with some of their friends sat around us one serving, others making conversation, all insisting that they had already eaten or would eat later.

As we talked we discussed how they had come to be refugees in America and what it was like for them in Burma. Some things we were already aware of, others were new and helped me gain a different perspective on the "good ol' US of A".

Our friends are part of an ethnic group/state called chin. In their country the chin state is the only christian part of their land in a majority Buddhist country. Almost everyone who is chin is christian. Being in the minority has left them at something of a disadvantage. In their country They are relegated to the bottom most rung of society. Some are used as slaves or near slaves to the military, others required to work in the dangerous jade and ruby mines, some are farmers, and any who try to flee to neighboring Thailand run the risk of being hunted down and killed by the current military establishement, provided they don't drown first trying to take a shortcut on an overloaded refugee smuggling boat .

Once in Thailand or Malaysia, where there are refugee camps, they can apply to go to an asylum country, countries like America who are willing to open their doors to the displaced.