Sunday, October 13, 2013

Tai and Tag had a birthday!

Tai and Tag had a fun birthday this year.  They were sure looking forward to it for months everyday counting down the days.  Tai turned 8 and Tag turned 5.  They had an EPIC Dance Party for their birthday party and invited friends to come over and show their stuff.  They ate pizza and punch and cake and were out of there in an hour.







Here are a few things about them each at this age.  More for my benefit than anything.  Feel free to skip.

TAI:
Is enjoying being home-schooled.  She started to finally enjoy reading.  She is in the middle of the novel The Yearling.  I've figured out it is more pleasurable for her to accomplish reading a lot of pages than to actually understand what those pages are saying however.  She is practicing writing faster and doing better at that.  She is very detail oriented so she has had a habit of writing painfully slow in order to make all the letters just right.  Just like her daddy!  To this day Mark writes just the way he was taught cursive in 2nd grade.  No modifications whatsoever.  Anyway she practices her typing skills with Mavis Beacon and is finally progressing in math with Khan Academy.  Her greatest interest is in the sciences.  She loves to know how things work.  Mark started to give her piano lessons which she really enjoys.  She is still in gymnastics and had a hard time adjusting to her new gym.  She is getting over her fears though and learned a back flip on tramp (a huge accomplishment for her because of fear issues)  again, got that from her dad:)  Tai loves doing things.  She is never lazy and always producing or busy with something and loves the outdoors.  She loves fashion, cooking, crafts, projects, gardening, making things look good and reading scripture stories.  She has a good heart and is very sensitive to others feelings, is very expressive, has keen understanding, likes to sing, she is cautious, loving, helpful and has a desire to do the right thing.  Tai does enjoy teasing however and has her mama's pride in that she doesn't like to be shown that she is wrong.  She is very good to her brothers and sisters and gets offended if they don't show the same affection for her.  She has an out of control silly side sometimes and goes bonkers even at the age of 8!.  I don't know what my life would be without Tai!

TAG:
Tag is pretty much the opposite of Tai.  He is content to be inside playing on the computer or watch a movie.  He is still learning his letter sounds and slowly putting words together.  He learned to ride a bike a few months ago and was very excited to get a new bike for his birthday.  He is a quick physical learner.  It is refreshing to watch Tag in gymnastics catching on so quick.  He is on the Boys Team and his coach loves his discipline and ability.  His favorite phrase is "I'm STILL hungry!"  This boy can eat all day long.  But at least he will eat healthy now.  He still suffers from asthma and eczema and we are still trying to figure out the best way to manage it.  Tag wants everyone to succeed and is genuinely happy for his brother and sisters accomplishments.  It does not phase him when Tai gets mad at him for looking at her "wrong" during breakfast.  He just continues to be sweet Tag.  He plays well with all of his siblings equally.  He still has his "new joysey" accent but is much more mild now.  His baby blessing said he would bring balance to the family and he has definitely done that.  He loves to give his mom hugs and of course melts mama's heart.


Here are a few other family photos:








And here is another video as we encountered a friend on a family hike in the mountains:












Sunday, September 1, 2013

Ever feel like Job?

No, but maybe just a tiny bit though....
We seem to have had a few trials lately with losing things...one of which was particularly heartbreaking.  You see, we have this never content baby named Truman who is always on the move..he literally can't sit still for more than 8 seconds...we time him all the time.  Anyway, in a moment that we were distracted with something else he jerked our external hard drive out of the computer.  The Trumanator has force and strength like I've never seen and unfortunately terminated it.  What's the big deal right?  Well, Mark was in the process of copying everything to make a back up but had just begun that process.  So, what did we lose?  Everything.  Every picture from when Tai was a baby on up, every document, precious family history interviews with Mark's grandma and the list goes on.  I bawled.  I felt like I had nothing left.  We sent it in to an expert company that does data recovery to see if they could salvage it.  Turns out they can....for only $2500.  Wonderful.  So, the option is there just not within our reach.  In a way it is liberating though.  I think if I was asked to give up every possession I could do it now.  All I need is my family.  My heart is filled with gratitude that I still have them.


We are also losing a few friends in the neighborhood because they are moving:(


 Tag's best friend Addi
These two adore each other.  Last week at church we sat behind them and Tag and Addi just shyly smiled at each other the whole time with out ever saying a word.  It was so cute.



 One of Tai's best friends Kylee.  Tai will miss the dance parties over at Kylee's!

Neighborhood friends are the best!


Saturday, August 17, 2013

Pictures of summer 2013

 The kids decided to all sleep on the same bed one night.







 There is nothing sweeter to me than Tatum sleeping.
 Independence weekend we headed to Salt Lake and walked around the Grand America Hotel.  Glenn Beck had a bunch of lectures and stuff going on down there.  It was awesome.  Later that night Mark, Tai, Tag and I went to THE MAN ON THE MOON presentation put on by Glenn.  It was absolutely spectacular! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlsjM64nre8  for the flag ceremony.
Tatum broke her collar bone this summer when a neighbor gave her a piggy back and she fell off.  It healed really fast within a few weeks.  This sling did not work at all.  It kept slipping back every 10 seconds.  But we did the best we could.




At the Princess Festival in June.  Grandpa Max and Grandma Gayle treated all the granddaughters to a special day being princesses.  This picture is missing a few.



 Tai was CinderEdna: a great little story about Cinderellas neighbor who works hard and doesn't care about what other people think.


This is my favorite dress of all time.  Tatum has loved this dress and you wouldn't believe the comments I get.  Its something I would have worn in the late seventies/early eighties.
 Tai showing off her muscles.
 Tatum and her best friend Simon.  For half the summer Simon would hold Tatum's hand everywhere they went.
 Front view of the dress.
Tai likes to see how fast she can climb this pole.  She is very fast!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Mowgli and the story of Truman's hair

A few weeks ago, we were watching the jungle book and it dawned on me.  Truman is Mowgli  all the way.  Hair, tan skin, skinny, wiry body.  See here.










And I had high aspirations for this boy.  I envisioned him growing his hair out like Samson and being one of those kids with a cool ponytail.  Or true Native American.  I think it would reflect his personality and strength.  So, I have not cut it except for one bang trim since he was born.  Often, I would put it in a pony....but my other kids would not let me hear the end of it.  Tai would nearly cry and not want me to bring him in public like that.  Tag was disappointed in me because he looked like a girl.  So, for a while, just to spite my kids, I did not cut his hair and the pony remained.  But when even Mark made some comments I decided I'd better just do it.  My dreams of my warrior were dashed.  But we came up with a compromise:




Now, we are all happy!  Truman can see, he looks like a boy, and he is very cool!


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Irresponsible me!

I can only be responsible for so much!  I have my limit, so I choose not to get stressed out over some particular things that I think really annoy other people.  Here is a list of things I tend not to stress over because I choose to worry about other things instead.

1.  Phone-  I do not have an iphone or expensive phone which I love because then I can let Truman play with it and keep him content.  The problem is he drops it in the craziest places I don't think to look.  I also have a very hard time keeping my phone on me which means I rarely answer the phone.  I'm sorry everyone!   But I don't have many people call me anyway.  As a matter of fact, I survived over a month without my phone when it was lost.  (I found it in a boot in the back of a closet I rarely go in). I'm glad I didn't get a new phone or a new plan.  We pre-pay so no big deal.

2.  Money-  Although I am now in charge of the bills and stay on top of that. I could care less about petty cash laying around.  I like not not keeping track of it because then I am always pleasantly surprised when I find it again.  This drives Mark CRAZY!  So I keep doing it because its one of the few things that bugs him and everyone needs to be bugged by something :)

3.  Puzzle and game pieces-  My motto is when you want to find something don't look for it just start cleaning and you'll find a whole bunch of stuff.  I wish Mark lived by this motto.  He will spend way  to long looking for things.  I have had to institute the 5 min. rule.  Never spend more than 5 min. looking for anything.  Mark would have loved growing up in our house.  For some reason, we never lost any game pieces.

and last and most recent...
4. camera-  its a cheap camara and I thought I left it on top of the car then drove away.  That was my theory.  3 weeks later I found it in a diaper bag!  But in the mean time we got a tad bit better camera.  Yay!  I feel like a good photographer even though I will never take the time to learn all the functions :)

here are some recent pics:

Tai's gymnastics team






Sleeping Beauty


Afternoon fun in the mountains:




Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Who is Who?



 1.

  2.
 3.

 4.

 5.

 6.

 7.

 8.

 9.

 10.

 11.








Answer key:  1.Tag   2.Truman  3.Tatum   4.Tai  5. Tatum  6.Tai  7.Tatum  8.Truman  9.Tag  10.Tai 
11.Tatum


Who looks most alike?