3.29.2012

A First


Just thought I'd document this since it will be the first of MANY times in Tenley's life where she will do this. Brandon has always wanted Tenley to run up to him when he walks in the door for the night and yell, "Daddy!" But, when he comes in she normally just looks at him and waves...and then after he's in the house for a bit, she'll become his little shadow.

Tonight, when he came home we were back in Tenley's bedroom. She heard the door open, so I said, "Oh guess who's home? Daddy!" She immediately got up off of the floor and started heading toward the door. When she spotted Brandon, she got really excited and said, "HI!" and ran up to him with her arms wide open for him to pick her up and give her a hug. It was adorable. Then for the next 30 minutes he was home (because once he finished his school work, he was headed off for church work) she followed him around wherever he went. When we sat down to eat dinner, she just kept reaching up for him so she could sit on his lap while he ate. When he headed out the door again, she followed him all the way to the door and then whimpered when the door shut.

It's official! She's a Daddy's Girl! Brandon's dream has come true!

*Here they are back in February outside. Tenley always knows Daddy will take her out to play on the swings. And seriously, if Brandon had little bear ears on his hat, they would be complete and utter twins.

3.27.2012

Took a Trip

So we went on a vacation finally! It is this amazing place called "City Creek, Salt Lake City, UT". Actually, it's just the new mall that is in Downtown SLC, but we SERIOUSLY felt like we were all of the sudden plucked right out of our little home and into some swanky outdoor mall in San Diego or something. We were walking around the mall and kept saying, "Are we in Utah?" It was an amazing mall, and I would definitely recommend everyone go and visit. The Church has done an AMAZING job with the construction/completion of this mall, and I am sure now with the coupling of Temple Square Christmas lights and Christmas shopping, Downtown SLC will be crazy from here on out. But, we loved it. So, it just turns out that there ARE some perks to living on campus at the U of U....Downtown SLC is just a 10 minute drive away. Can hardly wait to go back for our Summer trips when Tenley can run around in their awesome fountains and Mommy can buy a snack at Kneaders Bakery :)

Some pics of our three-hour vacation....

Brandon chose to get his picture with T in front of the "Porsche Design" store
I chose to get my picture with T in front of the "Tiffany's" store, naturally (the teal-blue sign to the left), and also notice the Temple to my right. So awesome.

The awesome fountain that Tenley was obsessed with. This fountain is so awesome, but seriously I can already see the lawsuits right now....kids can practically walk up onto the fountain if they have enough guts. And believe me, some of the kids we saw looked like they were brave enough.
Teaching her to shop-til-you-drop while she's young




And in other news, Spring Flag Football has begun...so we are already prepping Tenley for the late nights under the lights. If it were me on the team, I'd choose her as my running back. Cutest little runner you'll see out there.





3.19.2012

Play-at-Home

So, I'm new to the whole "mom" scene. Only been doing it for 16 months now (but seriously, already sixteen months?!?!)...so, I just recently heard the phrase "I am not a stay-at-home mom, I'm a play-at-home mom." As cliche as that is, I love it. Amidst the house chores, showering, cooking, working, checking blogs :), etc...I sometimes find that an entire day will go by and I didn't just SIT down with my little girl (who is growing up too quickly) and just play with her. Of course, I'm with her all day...running errands, walking out to the mailbox, driving Daddy around, and even sometimes as I'm sitting and playing with her, I'm thinking in my head what I need to do next on my to-do list. Which means, I'm STILL not really "there" with her.

So over the last couple of months, I have been researching a lot of different toddler "self-directed" activities for this little one and have tried to do at least 1 activity a day (thank you, Pinterest!). (note: I have fallen short of that goal...some days are just too packed) But, on my BEST days....I am spending time just sitting, and watching this little girl try to master every little thing she tries. Some recent things I want to log on the ol' journal:

-I sing this marching song for Tenley (did anyone else grow up listening to the Brite Music tapes?) "Left, right, marching along pum pum pum pum"....I hold Tenley's hands and we march all over our apartment (not a lot of marching space, I tell ya). The other day, I decided to time her and see how long she would want to "march" before wanting to move onto something else = 26 MINUTES of MARCHING. I think she could have even gone longer, but I was seriously so bored...and out of breath...and sore the next day. Pathetic.

-I took an old formula can and cut a slit in the lid...she loves to put things in the can and then take the lid off and pull everything out.

-She loves to bake and so when I'm cooking, I will put a towel in the sink and have her sit in the sink and "help".

-Here are some pictures of the newest activity she LOVES to do....buttons and muffin pans. This kept her busy for at LEAST 30 minutes...and I just sat there and watched her little facial expressions and those little fingers grasp the buttons and then shake the buttons all over the place.





Simple moments....but at the end of the day, it's those moments I love the most with this little girl of ours.

3.12.2012

Journal Entry

Since I am trying to make this somewhat of my own family journal, I need to write down something that happened tonight. It is a VERY simple story, with a VERY simple outcome. But, I want to record it for posterity's sake anyway.

I am the manager for my apartment complex. With this responsibility comes one VERY important key that you canNOT lose. This key is like the "key to the city" for our little complex...it opens up all of the secret doors with all of the secret supplies. :)

Tonight, as I was making my weekly rounds (I have to walk around the complex weekly to make sure everything is "in place"), I decided I would multi-task and talk to my sister-in-law on the phone at the same time. Interestingly enough, our conversation was turned to prayer and how we have both been waiting upon the Lord for certain prayers to be answered. We discussed patience, faith, and how it isn't the FAITH we lack....we have plenty of that. We know the Lord always does answer our prayers, but we talked about how it was the patience we lacked. Between our conversation of faith and patience, I was swinging my key around on the string it has tied around it and as luck would have it, the key flew out of my hand and into the grass. Mind you, it was dark outside as well. So, I moseyed around thinking the key would turn itself in at some point. 20 minutes went by, the conversation ended, and I was still searching for that dumb key!

Panic set in, not because the key isn't replaceable...but because I would have to pay a heavy penny to replace the key AND I would have to 'fess up to my Boss about how I lost the key because I was "talking to my sister and twirling the key around!"

I walked into our apartment and said to Brandon, we need to say a prayer, I just lost THE key. So, as foolish and simple as this sounds, we got down on our knees...I was hoping Brandon would say the prayer, but of course...he graciously offered me to say it since I was the one who needed the prayer anyway :) I prayed, apologized to Heavenly Father for such a silly thing in the first place, but still asked if He could appreciate the urgency of my situation and just help me find the key.

2 minutes later, I walked out of the door...flashlight in hand and walked RIGHT to the key. I.KID.YOU.NOT. It's like an angel flew down while I was inside my apartment and placed it in the most obvious spot. I'll take it. Needless to say, our next prayer was as follows, "Thank you, Thank you! And I promise I will now tie a huge piece of wood to that string and a beaconing device as well."

Simple, yes. But tonight...I needed that. I needed a reminder that although some of the "big prayers" have yet to be answered, it does not mean the Lord is not aware of me. He knows every detail of my life, even down to the missing key...."but the very hairs of your head are numbered"

3.07.2012

First Sentence


Tenley has a lot of words that she says, but she has recently picked up on her first sentence.....

"IS THAT COOL?"

At first I couldn't figure out how she came up with that, but after a couple of days of hearing myself constantly saying, "Oh Cool!" or "Cool!" or "Isn't that cool?" I quickly realized she is just being Mommy's little parrot. Needless to say, I rarely say "cool" anymore :)

Not only does she say, "Is that cool?" but now she adds, "Is that..." to every word she says. "Is that roar?" "Is that haha?" "Is that thank you?" "Is that swing?" "Is that milk?"......Our cute little talker.


**You will notice in the video that she loves her fork. Another known fact about this little girl, she LOVES feeding herself with her fork and her spoon. Sometimes the mess stresses Mommy out, but for the most part, she is a pretty polished silverware-user**