Funny hair and gas problems

Tai has the biggest rat in her hair, I have never seen anything like it. I cannot get it out. I am just going to leave it but I think my only option to get rid of it is to cut it. Although it looks like all of her hair is ratty, look closely at the top left that is where the big rat is.

Gotta love that funny face!

I just saw this and had a good laugh at Tag's hair.

Then I saw this and had an even bigger laugh. This is Tai about the same age as Tag is now.

And now for a funny story that happened to us this weekend....So there we are at the gas station and Mark is pumping. I let Mark know there is a sign that says "Pump does not automatically shut off". I am patiently waiting in the car and when I thought he must be done I take a look back at Mark and he is holding onto the hose and gas is blasting everywhere, it looks like a hose off of a fire truck just out of control. He could not get it to stop and keeps saying..."what do I do, what do I do?" Well, I get out of the car and run over to him, of course being sprayed by gas and take the handle and undo the latch and it stops. At this point we are covered in gas and there were gallons on the ground everywhere. I'll be honest, I was mad and I was sure that when I started the car we would blow up. I will forever remember the image of Mark holding onto the pump for dear life and that look of panic upon his face. Every time we think of it we crack up. Funny now, not then. Too bad I don't have a picture of that!

A beautiful evening

Tai loves to go up to the mountains. Last evening she convinced me to go and I am glad we did--it was gorgeous.

Keeping busy...

We are lucky Uncle Sky could come visit us Conference Weekend.

When your baby turns one you can get a free cake from Albertsons. Tai and Tag share the same birthday Oct. 7th so naturally they should share the same cake.

Tai wanted this Tinkerbell outfit for her birthday instead of the bike we were going to get her. It was so funny listening to how she really thought she would be able to fly. I was then sad seeing her disappointment and not understanding why she couldn't fly. "...but I have wings".

Sometimes Tag will wrestle this bear. Super cute.

Updating the blog is down on the list of priorities lately. Since I work now, it seems that my only free time is after the kids go to bed around 9:00. That's really when my day begins (at least my time alone begins). So, to my 3 readers of this blog, I apologize. Hey, I'm not complaining. I get to do what I love--be a mom and coach gymnastics. If only I could incorporate overseas travel every so often I would have the perfect life.

"There just aren't enough hours in a day" I have heard others say. This has never been me until now, and I like it.

This weekend Mark went to Shampoo-Banana. That's what the locals call Champaign-Urbana where the University of Illinois is located. He has to go to campus once a semester to meet in person with his professors and classmates. So far so good. He has only been lost one time so far compared to about 15 last time he was there in July. I am truly proud of him. He is becoming quite the traveler. He changed planes 2 times to get to Chicago and then had to find the right shuttle station and shuttle, he then met up with a total stranger who was hosting him for the night via http://www.couchsurfing.com/. Then he had to find where his classes were being held in random buildings on a huge campus. Then he had to find and walk to his hotel. Tomorrow he must find the right bus to the train station, take the train back to Chicago, (where at this point last July he almost go ran over by a bus), find a taxi to take him to another hotel then a shuttle to the airport the next morning. Whew! I find that kind of travel exhilarating, but for someone who is legally blind with Aspergers it is a lot to handle. That is why I am proud of him. He made it back in one piece last time and so far so good this time.

Do you remember? The 21st night of September?

I didn't want to forget to post my favorite song on my favorite day of the year!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iknEJf9cPeY

Possessed?

We just experienced the most horrible, horrible night. We were rudely awakened at 3:00am by a whining, yelling and I should mention almost 4 year old girl. I won't go into the details but I will just say what followed was 1 and a half hours of non-stop devilish screaming and thrashing. I am not exaggerating--non-stop, 1.5 hours. She was relentless. Just as I was concluding she truly must be possessed by an evil spirit. As she was taking a breath, I was able to sneak in, "How about we go see if the pigs are sleeping?" (yesterday we had stopped off on the side of the road to look at some pigs) She finally stopped. Just like that. If she was able to control her screaming I guess she wasn't posssessed after all. Or maybe the evil spirit she possessed calmed down in looking forward to joining the swine. In retrospect even she doesn't know why she acted like that. As I am writing this Tai is a sweet, polite angel. I don't get it? This happens at night about once every 6 months.

One Sunday Afternoon

A few weeks ago here in Utah the dedication of the Oquir Mountain Temple was broadcast to the stake centers. I went to the morning session and Mark to the afternoon session. It was here that I once again realized I am getting old. For the first time in my life I wished I had arrived early to sit on a soft bench. Although I enjoyed the dedication mentally/emotionally. I did not however in the slightest degree enjoy it physically. I couldn't sit still. I had to shift positions every 5 seconds. The chairs were so hard I couldn't believe it. Were these different chairs? No, the same chairs they have always been, yet they had never been so hard. I looked around to see if anyone else had a problem. Nope, not one wiggle from anyone else. I even considered leaving early it was so bad, but I stuck it out and now I understand when someone says "Let's go early to get the soft chairs" I get it. I am old. Plus, I now like olives and I never have before.
Here we are picking up Mark from the Temple dedication. It was a windy and lovely afternoon.

On the way home we stopped to see some horses...

...and a train

Then Tai built a tower...in all honesty I don't know if this is the same Sunday or not.

Then Mark built me a special message. I thought it was really sweet :)

Did you notice this does not look like our house? That is because we moved. We moved south about 20 min to Springville. I now can get to work in one minute flat by jogging then hopping the fence in front of our townhome. It is glorious! It saves at least 40 min. of driving a day, plus a whole bunch on gas. We don't need to drive anywhere. We have Walmart, Wendy's, Del Taco, a bank, our church, and a church family storage/cannery center just to mention a few all within walking distance. This makes it awesome for Mark. Plus, we don't have to do yard work, we have a huge grassy area connected to our back porch, a playgound, trails, a workout room and an indoor pool. I love our new place! The day after we got back from Mexico we decided to go look at this place, we signed the lease the same day and the next day we moved.
It was so fast! That made it sound so easy. It wasn't.

What a summer! Part 1

Mexico was a dream...I'm pretty sure I will move there someday...