Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Santa now and then...

This was then...one year ago.

This makes me laugh every time...Tai has come a long way...

This was today, boy oh boy was Tai excited to see Santa-talking about it for days and days but you would never know seeing her reaction when on Santa's lap.

This is when we first spotted him before he sat down.

A tid bit timid :)

She asked Santa for Barney, but he thought she said bunny. I wonder what Santa will bring her a bunny or Barney...

It was a fun experience except that I forgot the stroller and Tag was sleeping and I parked in the furthest spot possible and ended up having to carry Tag in his carseat across the whole mall. Are these things heavy for anyone else or am I just a wimp?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The weirdest thing...

I had the weirdest experience the other day. You see, we are trying to find renters for our basement apartment. Upon advertising I got several responses via email. One of the names looked familiar and I thought I might have known him. So I googled his name to see if it was the person I was thinking of. Well, I came across his blog and it ended up not being who I thought. This prospective tenant was set to come see our place in the next few hours. I decided to look through the blog to get to know them better (the ultimate background check) I did feel weird snooping, but hey, it was an open blog and an interesting one too. So, I spent the next little while reading about all their fascinating adventures and personalities and what they ate last week, and their thoughts on this and that. Well anyway, this couple shows up and I open the door, and there they were-- those familiar faces that I had come to know so well over the last 1/2 hour. We had become friends now......and they had no idea! And then I didn't know how to act because I had this secret and I had to pretend everything was normal. So, I overcompensated and was kind of unfriendly. Anyway, I laugh thinking about it. But it is probably not that funny or weird unless it actually happens to you. So, all of us with open blogs--watch out, you never know who is reading it!

Oh no, here comes the snow!

Poor Tai begged us to make a snowman and this is the result. It is the best one we have ever made. HA, HA true.


It was delayed a little this year, but we had our first big snow yesterday. I spent any free moment shoveling the snow off the driveway and sidewalks because I learned a big lesson last year. I didn't see what the big deal was in shoveling the snow, but I learned that if you don't, it gets packed down from driving and walking on it and then it gets slippery and it stays there forever because it takes so long to melt. Being from Arizona I had no idea. Go ahead and laugh at my idiocy (if that is a word). The lesson I learned this year is that shoveling snow is hard work, especially if your driveway is falling apart and not a smooth surface and if your shovel is too short. I don't even know if it is a snow shovel. We just found it.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The many Hair-do's of Tag

check out this sweet tail spiffy

punk/he was also born with some good lookn' sideburns


just out of the shower



2001 look



slick






curly






grandma's special







spanky








gq









blown to the wind


The one thing that everyone says when they see my baby for the first time is: "Look at all that hair!" Then some ask, "Don't you just love playing with it". And until yesterday, I just never really had.






















Sunday, December 7, 2008

Mirror, mirror on the wall...




Precious!

One of Tag's favorite things to do is watch himself in this mirror, most of the time he is content there for 30 min or so. It is so fun to sneak and watch him smile and laugh at himself without him knowing I'm there.

All Smiles


I'm glad we caught this cute smile :)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

random pics

Tai had fun decorating christmas cookies in halloween colors. (The word color is really looking weird to me right now) Does this ever happen to you?


How do you turn pictures to face the right way?



Tag was content in this little nook for a good 30 minutes while I got Tai ready for bed.


*You have probably noticed he has the same blanket in every photo. That is because it is so warm and soft and the perfect size and he is happier in this blanket than any other. Thanks Shawnie!







Tuesday, November 11, 2008

pics of the week

Our shaky attempt at a family photo :) Tai is our little cook. She insists on helping make everything. She also attempts to make things on her own when I'm not looking like "a pumpkin"--that consisted of dumping all of our spices into a bowl, stirring and adding water.

I'm zoned out watching the BYU football game with Tag.



Monday, November 3, 2008

Blessing Day

It was great that my dad suprised us and was asble to be here for the blessing. Here he is holding Tag and they both fell asleep.
Of course he sleeps before and after the blessing, but during the blessing he was crying the whole time.








Halloween

For Halloween Tai and Tag showed SUN DEVIL spirit. Tai an ASU cheerleader and Tag ASU's #1 fan. We went trick or treating at Meadow's work and later Mark's work. Tai got loaded with candy and loved being a cheerleader. Meadow even taught her some moves. (hands on hips, sharp clap, spirit sprinkles)

Tag is not enjoying this photo session...



Tag's growing too fast!





Tag is getting fatter :) 2 weeks ago he was 9 lbs. something oz, so he's got to be at least 10 lb now. I looked at Tai's baby journal and at the exact same age she was 6 lbs. 11 oz, I didn't realize she was that small.

Another interesting fact from her journal is that she was waking up every 1/2 hour to eat at night. I said it was a great night if she only woke up three times.

This 2nd baby experience seems much easier than the first, that is a big part why. Also Tag doesn't cry nearly as much as Tai did. The other day he layed wide awake for an hour and didn't cry once, it was so weird. That never happened once with Tai...still hasn't.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Pics from the week

Meadow came down from SLC one evening to hang out
Tai and dad are eating their dinner outside per Tai's request

If Talmage is being held then Tai must be held too.


Our cute little Tag



Halloween's com'n...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Talmage!

Talmage Elias Tabla
(5 days old)
I got a bunch of big purple splotches on my face after the delivery, I guess I am a champion pusher.

Meadow and Talmage
Grandma was able to come on Thursday and help us. Thank goodness for that. Thanks Mom!I was right, I did have the baby that day, well actually the next morning at 8:10 am. October 7th. So now Tai and Talmage have the same birthday! Our cute little guy that looks exactly like Tai looked when she was born weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. and is 21 inches. We are blessed that Talmage is healthy and everything went great with the labor and delivery. His full name is Talmage Elias Tabla. The only negative is that I separated my symphysis or something like that so it is very difficult and painful to walk. I have to use a walker! and I don't know how long it will take to heal. But at least we have a healthy baby boy.










Monday, October 6, 2008

fun filled weekend

On Saturday Tai had a birthday party at the gym. She invited all of her cousins and a couple of friends. Here is a picture of Tai with two of her nursery friends. She had the time of her life.











My mom and dad came up for my dad's mission reunion. They were able to visit us for a day. We went up the canyon to aspen grove and saw all the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. They were hoping I would have my baby while they were in town, but alas we were all disappointed.















Now this is a better picture of the reality of my belly. Here we are at the Wildflower Inn



October conference is my favorite weekend in the world. Listening to conference is better to me than Christmas. Also, Mark and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday. A few weeks ago we took a 24 hour retreat to Salt Lake and went to the symphony and stayed at a little bed and breakfast that smelled like a grandma's house. They made the best breakfast I have ever had. The most delicious belgian waffle with fresh peaches on top. We also went out to eat at the Red Iguana and it was fabulous. We visited the Capitol this time instead of Temple Square since we have been there a hundred times. All in all it was such a refresher for both of us especially Mark since he has been working like a maniac.

The pledge of allegiance

I was just sitting here at the computer and in the background I heard Tai saying some familiar words. I had no idea she knew the pledge of allegiance, well, almost. Yeah for pre-school! I guess that is where she learned it.

C'mon already

Everyday I think today is the day I will have my baby. It never happens. But Today really is the day... so I'm just waiting for more pain to accompany the hundreds of contractions I am having... I guess I will post some pictures...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

All about Tai, our almost 3 year old.


First I will name the qualities Tai has that take after me:

1. Independent- I am grateful for this, she insists on doing everything on her own

2. Controlling- She has to have everything just the way she likes it, even down to what we say

3. Demanding- She wants it...

4. Impatient- ...now!

5. Coordinated- She can do handstands against the wall, headstands on her own, can catch ball

6. Timid in public, the opposite at home- loud and unreserved at home, covers her eyes in public until she gets comfortable with the situation (3 months)

7. Always knows exactly what she wants

8. Good sense of direction (she always knows where she is)- "hey look mom, there is so-and-so's house". How did she know that?


Here are the qualities she has that take after Mark:

1. Great memory- watch out, Tai will remember random things from a year ago in vivid detail

2. Verbally advanced- she has a better vocabulary than me, but I guess thats not saying too much

3. Has Mark's taste buds/loves vegetables and adult foods

4. A little cautious at first (differs somewhat from Mark because he is greatly cautious always)

5. Smart- Tai can spell and write her name forward, backwards and upsidedown. She knows all her letters and the sounds they make.


Here are some of Tai's favorite things to do

1. Change her clothes a hundred times a day

2. Get into her leotard and do gymnastics- her favorite is bars and she loves to be upsidedown

3. Play catch

4. Cook

5. Clean

6. Go to Baseball games- we went to several Orem Owls games this summer. Fun!

7. Sing by herself when she thinks no one is listening

8. Climb trees

9. Draw on her chalk board and paint with water colors

10. Play chess with dad- she knows how to identify all the pieces and where they go but not the moves yet

11. Go to other peoples houses- she doesn't like being cooped up in our house.

12. Cut up magazines

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Fun with markers


On Sunday I found Tai painting her toe nails with permanant marker. Later I found that she had written her name on her arm. Beautiful. She knows not to do it but just can't help herself. I said "Is writing on yourself good or bad? She said, "bad". I said,"Why", she said, "because our bodies are temples". I made her attempt to wash it all off and then put her in time out. 2 hours later...it happened again. I guess I made it too easy by forgetting to put up the markers. Plus, I couldn't hold back my laughter when I saw it for the first time, which probably made her do it again. I've got a lot to learn!

POP ROCKS

I was so happy when I found this plastic egg with pop rocks inside up in the cupboard. Who knows how long it was in there! After trying some myself, I knew I wanted to see Mark have some. If you know Mark, you know he would never in a million years put something like this in is mouth on his own. Even as a kid he just does not do this type of thing. He doesn't even chew gum. I'm glad I thought of catching a video of it...

I get so much happiness from watching Mark experience things for the first time.:)

Friday, September 5, 2008



Well this is interesting. I wanted to take a picture of my belly to show just how huge it is and for once the camara took off 40 pounds. I don't get it cause in real life I am seriously 3X bigger. I'm due in October and have never weighed so much in my life! Today I actually got the urge to get in shape (these urges don't come that often in my recent life). After the baby, I think I might make a come back to the great sport of gymnastics :) and follow in my hero Oksana Chusovita's footsteps. (I picked her as my favorite gymnast after the 1990 goodwill games, which I watched on video literally everyday for years to come, and lo and behold she is still going strong just competing in her 5th olympics. This is unheard of in gymnastics!, no, I don't think you understand, this is unbelievable!)