My husband's second gift to me on our 8th Anniversary was this video (and I must say, much better than the clip above) :
His first gift- a beautiful "antique" box for me he found at a cute little shop on the street as we were walking. It was only until later I pointed out to him that though I LOVE it, it is a DENTURE box!!!! :) Not to detract from the sentiment with which he gave it!! We laughed for a very long time. Do I sense a traditional gift idea in the making??
I love you Lover!! Happy 8th!! And to many more, you are the perfect man for me :) Love you forever!
We had our end of year Joy School Celebration this week! Mykelle will be starting 1/2 day Kindergarten in the fall and Evan will be doing... who knows what yet! We'll see.
The party was super simple and fun. We had a quick bite to eat followed by a short program- the kids absolutely loved it!!
Waiting for the party to start!
The Joy School Cheer!
Jumping for Joy!
Graduation Bubbles were more exciting than the graduation certificate :)
Preschool Class of 2012!!
The girls go to Kindergarten next year and the boys... who knows yet! They are only 3 and 4!
Taryl and her mom have been on the East Coast for the last 10 days- they flew out to see Caleb's graduation from Harvard! Our family had initially planned on going up to Boston and spending a weekend doing the touristy thing in Boston with Taryl and Vicky but then a little thing called cancer got in the way and messed those plans up. SO, Taryl and Vicky being the awesome people they are, decided to drive the 4 1/2 hours down to see US for the weekend!! Isn't that great??
They got in Friday night and had to leave Sunday morning. It was a short trip but we packed a lot in! Friday night was pretty laid back- we ate at 5 Guy's Burgers and watched a movie. Taryl slept on an air mattress and Mykelle was happy as can be to give up her bed to her adopted "Grandma Vicky."
On Saturday Taryl and I hung out with the kids all morning while Vicky and Adam went into the city to see the 9/11 Memorial. Then we had a neighborhood water balloon fight that was awesome! The Guardiola's came out to join us as did the two other neighbor kids when they heard us out playing. Both the funniest AND the worst part of the fight was the 7 year old neighbor girl chucking a heavy metal bowl of water at Adam's head!! For some reason all the kids thought they were out to get Adam and this poor little girl didn't realize she should only throw the WATER at Adam and not the whole bowl! He has a gash on the side of his head now that was bleeding! We did have a good laugh in the end though :)
We went through 150 water balloons in minutes and had to go fill up the other 150 balloons!
Saturday night Taryl ordered pizza for us and we bought the movie "Rio" to watch with the family. It was really nice getting to hang out and have such a chill day with Taryl and her mom.
Of course Taryl and I had to be complete dorks and dress alike when we went out! We were going for the twin sister look but it's a little hard when I'm so short, white, and bald and Taryl is kind of the opposite... We had fun though getting weird looks and in general just acting like children. :)
My mom's job is going to the store and buying groceries.
My mom laughs when I do fun stuff.
If my mom had time, she would love to play with me.
My mom and I like to hug and kiss.
My mom really loves hugs.
I LOVE my mom because I love her too.
All About My Mom
by Evan
My mom is 7, 31 years old.
My mom weighs 78963 pounds.
My mom's favorite color is all the colors.
My mom's favorite food is oranges and bananas.
My mom always says, "Darn it!"
My mom cooks the best eggs and bananas.
My mom's job is washing dishes.
My mom laughs when she tickles me.
If my mom had time, she would love to wash the clothes.
My mom and I like to hug and go outside apple picking.
My mom really loves apple picking.
I LOVE my mom because she lets me do the Disney Cruise.
Mother's Day was a nice one for me- Adam and the kids made me breakfast in bed: french toast strips, eggs, and strawberries. Mykelle picked out a bouquet of flowers for me and helped put together my present- some Coke Zero, gummy worms, a movie, and a blog book certificate! In the evening we went over to the Avery's and had a good dinner with them.
The best part of the day was the kids being so excited about breakfast and giving me their cards. They've never been allowed to eat in bed, let alone in Mom and Dad's bed! And their cards were so sweet, the looks on their faces were priceless.
Check out my new necklace-
My idol Dr. Laura sent me the necklace she made herself after I called in to her program to ask her a question. Isn't she sweet? I wish I could truly say she is my new friend in a closer sense of the term but I'll take a phone conversation and a few emails back and forth :) Love the necklace!
While I'm showing off new things... did you see my newly painted dining room yet?? I came home from the Utah trip and Adam had painted for me! He had to have put in so many hours painting both the room and my little blue table. What a husband huh? I love that he did it without my knowing and that he knew what colors I'd been thinking of!
The table is a 1930's buffet table our landlady left us and said we could paint. I LOVE it!
Mykelle making "carpet angels"
I just have to share this part of Mykelle's prayer yesterday, it made me laugh out loud! She is always saying things similar to this: "Please bless everyone on Earth to be super duper good for you Jesus, so they can live with you again and I can meet new people."
Mykelle was able to celebrate her birthday on the cruise but I thought I'd post a pic of the "cake" we gave her before we left for the trip. Since we were opening presents we had to have candles and cake too!
I was tucking in Evan tonight and this is how our conversation went:
E: Why is my voice different? And why is your voice and Daddy's voice and Mykelle's voice and my voice different?
Me: We all have different voices because of our voice boxes in our throats that-
E: We have a BOX in our throats?!
Me: Yes, it's called a voice box that has vocal chords in it. It's how the sounds of our voices are made and we all have them in our throats.
(Several back and forth comments about boxes, chords, and voice sounds, then suddenly-)
E: Why can't I see Jesus??
Me: Well, you've seen a picture of what Jesus looks like right? Why don't we close our eyes and think of what he looks like-
E: Is he wearing pants?
Me: Uh... Maybe, yes. And he has dark hair and nice happy eyes with a loving smile...
E: What color is his shirt?
Me: Dark.
E: Where does he keep his other shirts? In Heaven?
Me: If he needs a new shirt, yes, but maybe he doesn't need one because he's in Heaven.
(And in walks Daddy to tuck him in and the conversation is over!)
This is a double post- I already posted it on my cancer journey blog but it is not something to be kept separate from my family life. It was a day I'll never forget and I hope my kids and family will always remember the love we felt on this day.
Saturday the 28th of April was absolutely one of the best days of my life! My USU Ambassador friends threw a fundraising party for me and my family in Cache Valley and it was AMAZING! My friends contacted me to let me know they wanted to do the event on my family's behalf and just needed my permission. It was incredible how everything came together with only a month of preparation!
The event was called "Color For Tessa" and was so creative and had such a great feeling about it. It started with a "Splash of Color 5K" and 1 mile kid's run where people were splashed with powdered color during and after the race. SO FUN!! Afterward, race participants and anybody who wanted to were invited to a "COLOR Festival" that included music, food, a silent auction, raffle prizes, games for the kids, and pony and train rides, as well as the baby animals at the American West Heritage Center. In the evening there was a "COLORS Concert" put on by the band COLORS!! I couldn't believe all of the fun things planned and put together on such short notice!
Can you believe all of these runners?! The turnout was amazing!
Aunt Taro took most of these great pics and really helped out with the kids throughout the day.
Starting the race with the air horn
Evan ran a good 100 yards of the mile before Taryl had to carry him :)
Mid-race Color Station
Finish Line!! 1 mile in just under 20 minutes!! Good job Evan!!
I arrived at the AWHC at 8am and didn't sit down until I was in the car leaving the party at 3pm! I had one of the best times of my life!! It was like a combination family, high school, and college reunion! I saw so many old friends and family I hadn't seen in years. Plus I met a lot of new friends too!
Hess Family
The first and third place runners of the kid's race! Sophie on the left was first, and she was absolutely the most tender-hearted little 4th grader I've ever met! When it was time to leave the festival she started sobbing saying she "just felt so bad" and wanted to come see me at my parents house! It was so touching. She said she got first place to help me get better and then went and ran next to the adult runners finishing the 5K to push them a little harder. SO sweet! I'll never forget this sweet little girl!
Adam's cousins and friends with Mykelle and Evan
Can you just hear Mykelle's evil laugh??
Not in the face!!
The kids seemed so surprised they were allowed to throw powder on other people and even MOMMY
without getting into trouble!
What a beauty huh?
High school friends!
Taryl gave me a colorful tacky BFF gift the night before the big day :)
I don't know how to thank everyone appropriately, but I and my family are incredibly grateful to everyone that helped make the day a success. The feeling of love and peace I felt all day was overwhelming and something I will never forget. It will help me get through the tough days coming up when I recall this special day.
Colors did an improv rap where they took words to include from the audience. They had to rap the words toothpaste, ninja, epic, true aggie, and Tessa. They did great! Thanks guys!
I am so very grateful to the people who organized this even and all of the individuals who donated auction and raffle gifts, time, money and talents. There were many businesses that donated gifts and services that were wonderful!! And the Colors band coming together for a concert for ME!! So cool! Cache Valley is a community I'm proud to claim and call my own. Thank you so much for all that was done and continues to be done on my behalf. I am and will be forever grateful to all who made Color for Tessa so wonderful and hope to to pay forward the love and goodness shown to me. Thank you!
