Old Fashioned Family Christmas

Master Phil

Congratulations, Phil!! Phil graduated with his Masters Degree on Friday. We are sooooo proud of him. And so excited that he is done. He has been working on his Masters in Psychology, Specialized in School Counseling, for the past 2 1/2 years. He finished all of his coursework this fall and finished his internship hours this December. He is now working at Cottonwood High School as a bonafide school counselor and loves it. No one was more excited about Phil's graduation than me. I know about every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears that went into that diploma. Believe me, Phil has written more lit reviews, essays, and research papers than any one person should in their lifetime. And yes, that is the face of excitement, not anger.
Of course we had to take a million pictures of this momentous occasion. We were the last ones to leave the ceremony. Sorry, Tyson.Tate thought the hat and tastle were pretty cool. But you know what's not cool to a one year old? Picture taking. Totally uncool.

Later, at dinner, we tried to make Tate pose by this gorgeous Christmas tree. He just wanted to remove all the ornaments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Any time you can get together with family and eat tons of food, it's a good thing. And we have so much to be thankful for. A warm place to live, wonderful friends and neighbors, loving family members, a sister that lives closer than Iowa, doting grandparents, Sunday afternoon naps, a "solid" car, Tate's laugh, sippee cups, a husband that cleans the bathroom, Erin's homemade rolls, Big J's, Sunday night popcorn . . . the list goes on and on.

Here's a few pics from our Thanksgiving Celebrations.

Tate, Alexis, and Adon posed together for a few seconds . . . before Adon stole the truck and ran, and Alexis realized she was surrounded by strangers and burst into tears.

We totally stole this pose from Adon, but doesn't Tate make a cute little pilgrim?

You know what they say about turkey . . . Tate zonked out and stayed out the whole ride home. We're having turkey for dinner every night :)

I know it doesn't sound like much fun, but leaf raking was part of our Thanksgiving weekend festivities. We kept Tate from running out into the road by burying him in the leaves.

Tagged by Marcy

I've been tagged by Marcy. Reading her list helped me think of a couple of things about myself, so I'm just going to list them while I can still remember them.


The rules of the game are:

1. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

2. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names.

3. The player then goes to the tagees' blogs, and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read the player's blog.

1. I am a compulsive list maker. (So this game is perfect for me!) I make lists for everything, not just the grocery store. I have an excel spreadsheet at work that contains daily to-do lists and I go into that file and make changes to it like ten times a day. I make meal lists, to-do lists, shopping lists, who has whose name for Christmas lists, etc. I'll make a list, then I'll think of something to add, but it looks out of order, so I'll make the whole list over again. I sometimes create sublists that go with my main lists. I also love to cross off things on my list. It gives me a major sense of accomplishment.


2. I love finances and all things pertaining thereto. I think I definitely picked the right major in college. I like to crunch numbers and calculate the monthly payments for homes based on different interest rates. I love to balance the check book, and I check our bank account balances at least twice a day. I love getting statements for our retirement accounts in the mail. I even read more than just the first page sometimes, although most of the info is a little boring. I even took a family finance class last winter just for fun, and I loved it. Although, I think my family is tired of me telling them to cut up their credit cards and get an emergency fund.


3. I love to talk with other mommies about babies. Before Tate was born, I was totally turned off by any conversation that headed towards kids, especially child birth. But now I hunt for these types of discussion. I have a good friend at work who is pregnant right now, and we are constantly bugging our coworkers with all of our talk about maternity clothes, prenatal classes, and all things baby. I also love to hold anyone's baby. Especially since my baby is pretty much all grown up (He's one!).


4. I am neatly messy. I wouldn't call my house a pig sty (although my father might) but I'm fine with leaving dishes in the sink for a couple of days. And I don't usually flip out when Phil leaves his shoes in the living room for a week. Maybe this comes from being too busy, but cleaning is pretty much last on my aforementioned lists. Even when everything else is crossed off, I avoid it. When we were first married, Phil used to make the bed everyday. Now it only gets made when we wash the sheets. I try to keep the rest of the rooms pretty organized, but we usually have a pile of mail on the dining room table, along with Tate's uneaten bucket of Halloween treats, scriptures that haven't been put away yet, and a pile of Ensigns. Don't get me wrong, I usually keep my house straightened up, but I'm not a freak about it. I leave that to my sister :)

5. I am incredibly indecisive. Here's how it usually goes.

Me: " I don't feel like making dinner."

Phil: "Okay. Let's go get something. What do you want?"

Me: "I don't know. What do you want?"

Phil: "It doesn't matter to me. What do you feel like?"

Me: "Anything sounds good. Where do you want to go?"

Phil: "I don't care, I'm just hungry. Just pick somewhere."

Me: "Well, I don't know. Anything is okay with me."

Phil: "Well, what sounds the best?"

Me: "Nothing sounds the best. Everything sounds good."

Phil: "I'll go put in a frozen pizza."

I think Phil and I both have decision making problems. I just have an inability to make a quick decision. I feel the need to make a pro's and cons list about everything. I blame my father for that.


6. I had to ask Phil for this last one. And he's totally right. I have to have a blankie. Now, my family knows abouth my ten year struggle with an intense attachment to a particular blanket. I had this blanket from the time I was a baby until I was about ten years old, and it was worn, faded, and very shabby from extreme use. At this point my mom and dad thought it was appropriate that I be weened off this blanket, which they liked to called "Rags". So I was given a new, more grown up blanket for my tenth birthday. Of course this little trick didn't work. I went right back to my old, familiar blankie. Undeterred, my parents stole my beloved blankie from me, and I haven't seen it since. But this didn't stop my love of blankets. Although I no longer am attached to a particular one, I still love to cuddle up on the couch with a warm, cozy blanket. And I still have one with me in bed, just in case Phil doesn't feel like cuddling. The worst part is that I have passed this blanket-loving gene on to my child. Tate is totally attached to his blanket. Every time he sees it, he curls up, pops his thumb in his mouth, and is as happy as a clam. I try to only let him have it at bedtime, but sometimes it's the only thing that will soothe him when he's upset. He'll hunt for it when I hide it from him, drag it out of the dirty laundry basket, and try his best to pull it out of the crib. I caught him in this act in the following picture.


Okay. There's my list of six. Sorry it's so long. And since everyone I know has already been tagged, except maybe Rachel, I'm not tagging anyone specifically. Just anyone who is reading this who has not previously been tagged.

Oh, I hope they call me on a mission!

Guess what. Tyson has his mission call! Isn't that crazy? My cute little brother is old enough to go on a mission. We are all very excited. He will be leaving for the Brazil Salvador Mission on February 27, 2008. And yes, his mother nearly passed out when he read that out loud. She's still recovering. I think he is too, but we know he will be an awesome missionary!

This is Tyson and Tate having some uncle/nephew bonding time. We have to make sure Tate remembers who Tyson is in two years. By the way, this picture was taken at the Utah State vs. Boise State game, and any other USU alumni reading this better be ashamed that they didn't show up to witness the slaughter. Us USU fans were outnumbered three to one.

Of Pumpkins and Pizza

Twas the night before Halloween and the pumpkins were still without faces,
We did mean to carve them, but our schedules were without spaces.
Determined to make each one a gutless, glowing, winner,
We were forced to choose between jack-o-laterns and dinner.


The solution, we thought, order pizza and fast,
Tate's happy mood is not going to last.
So we were fed and the pumpkins faces adorned,
And thus, the pizza and pumpkins tradition was born.

The pumpkin carving was awesome. Somehow, I tricked Phil into scooping out all the guts, and I got to do all the carving. I'm a sly one.




Tate was really into it at first. He would wildly wave his arms as Phil cut the hole in the top. He thought it was hilarious.




Then he got a look at the gooey mess that lives inside a pumpkin. He didn't like it any more. Scared of pumpkin guts. What a girly man.

That's pretty much how it ended up. Tate playing Catch Phrase by himself in the corner, Phil and I finishing the jack-o-laterns. Aunt Andrea taking pictures and texting on her cell phone. Talk about family togetherness.

Happy Halloween!

Isn't Halloween great? It was fun last year when we dressed Tate like a little Jack-O-Lantern, whose hat insisted on sliding down his face over his eyes, and he was powerless to stop us. But it was even better this year. We got to put Tate in the crazy get-up of our choice, and see him waddle around in it. It was great. Before we even headed out for the annual Halloween parties and trick-or-treating, Tate had probably spent a couple of hours in his costume. I couldn't resist! He had worn it so often that he'd gotten used to the hood and had given up on trying to pull it off. I think I have him convinced that it's just another pair of pajamas.

And what a good sport he was. He waddled up the sidewalk from house to house for nearly an hour before we decided that carrying him was a much more efficient tactic. So we did that for another half hour. It's been a while since I had to carry a cow. I forgot how heavy they are.





Of course, Tate thought it was a little strange at first to walk up to strangers and ask for candy. Parents are supposed to teach their kids not to do that, right? But soon he was walking right up to the door, plunging into the outstretched bowl of treats, and pulling out his favorite. Usually a sucker. We told him "Go for the chocolate." But he kept pulling out suckers. He did get some chocolate at the "Trunk-Or-Treat" thrown by our Ward. And, although he had no idea what was inside that brightly colored wrapper, he decided it was a lot more interesting than his jack-o-latern bucket, which he quickly abandoned in favor of his newly found treat.
He found some time to flirt with a cute little lady bug. He must know that a cow's scent is irrestistable to all insects.In the end, Tate's thumb won out over the candy. The time comes for all little cows to go to bed, and Tate let us know that time was near by sitting down for some soothing hoof sucking.

Fall Favorites

Fall is so beautiful! We have huge trees that line our street and it's so pretty when the leaves fall. Tate is loving being able to roam around and explore the yard. He is completely mesmerized by everything around him. It's fun to watch.

I'm thinking about finding out how these leaves taste. Is mom still watching? Weeeeeeeeee!

Thanks for the jack-o-latern, Grandma & Grandpa!!

Have you met Tate?

Tate has now been in our family for over a year, and it is amazing how much he has grown and changed in that amount of time. I'll quickly take you through this transformation in a few pictures.



September 6, 2006 - Tate is born!

Napping with daddy. What else is there to do when you're two weeks old?


Blessing day with Grandpa Egbert.


Happy Halloween- 2006! Where did everybody go?

Ready for a baseball game. Could anyone use a chubby short stop?

Yummo!

Swimming at Aunt Andrea's pool. Before the banning of all diapered children, just in case you were wondering.

Wicked smile. Tate's fangs were in for about a month before his front teeth. He was a little vampire.

Happy 1st Birthday!! Tate dove head first into his birthday cake. Messy, messy.

Family Pics

Yahoo! It worked. At least the text. I had to come over here to my in-law's to use their high speed so I can post pictures. Oh well. Gives me an excuse to visit them. Anyway. Here's the most recent pictures of our little family, as well as our bigger "Ralphs" family. Just so you know, Andrea and I picked out everyone's outfits. Aren't they cute?

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3 . . .

Hey, everyone! We've spent the last few months looking at all of our family and friends' cute blogs. So we decided to try it out ourselves. However, our dial-up connecton makes me doubtful that we will be able to post anything. At least, not without a 24 hour wait. So we'll see if this works.