Last Post

I know it has been over a year since I have posted and my friends and family understand why. In the past year we have learned to never ask "What Next" because it can always get worse. This is my last post on this blog. Mommy and Tink moved in with Mommy's family. Daddy has moved into his own apartment and still in the same general are we lived last year. Mommy and Daddy's divorce will be final in less than a month. Daddy calls Tink and they talk whenever her three year old mind and energy will allow. Mommy and Daddy have been able to remain on friendly terms as well, both anxious to help Tink grow up happy. Tink loves living with her grandparents and aunts. Mommy and Daddy are both going back to college. I don't know if I will have time to start and keep up another blog but I hope that someday I will start another blog about mine and Tink's adventures. Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive of all of us during this past year! We are soooo blessed to have such great family and friends!!!

Temple Square Visit

Yesterday Daddy only had one class. Since it was in the afternoon Tink and I decided to go downtown with him and hang out at Temple Square while we waited for him to get out of class. First we went to the biggest visitor center. This one has a number of wonderful exhibits but we went straight to our absolute favorite.

The first time we went to see this statue I thought I was prepared for her to react to it. She already recognizes Jesus in pictures so I wasn't surprised when she knew who it was immediately. What I didn't fully expect was for her to run up to it with her arms thrown wide open to give Jesus a hug. I couldn't keep the tears in my eyes that day. Yesterday she wanted to hug Jesus again, but wasn't so emphatic about it.

After we visited a few more exhibits in that building (like the one about prophets through the dispensations) we decided it was time to go outside and make a little picnic of our snacks. I had an idea of where I wanted to go to sit and snack and enjoy looking at the temple but on our way there we ended up sitting down to eat before we got to my initial picnic spot plan. I wasn't sure why I had gone ahead and stopped there to eat. We were snacking and I was enjoying watching the different people walking around. I noticed a family walk through the gate and didn't really think anything about it. A little while later the young mother walked up to me and shyly asked if I had served a mission in California. Immediately I recognized her and was sooooooo excited to see her again! The last I had heard she had gone through a divorce and was losing a horrible battle with cancer. I had wondered the about her a few days earlier and wondered if she was even alive still. Then here she was standing in front of me as healthy as ever with her daughter who was barely older than Tink last I had seen her.
She was also accompanied by her new, and improved, husband and their baby girl. I couldn't believe how wonderfully things had turned for her. I can't say how happy I am to have been able to see her and that Heavenly Father truly knows how important people in my life are to me and blessed me to know how an old friend was doing.

After our surprise visit we continued walking and "sight-seeing." There is a spot on Temple Square that is quite popular for wedding pictures. I think this was the first time we were there that we didn't see any newly-wed couples. I tried to get Tink to stand still long enough for me to get a good picture but I was only able to take one picture. It isn't too bad:

Then we went to take a tour through the Beehive House. The Beehive House is the original home of Brigham Young after settling in Utah. It is only a 20 minute tour and even though it was past her bedtime Tink was very well behaved! It seemed like we went on international day. We went through the tour with 4 other family groups, each from a different country. There was one Japanese lady, a family from Switzerland, and a couple from Spain (I think they were from Spain). If you can guess what the fourth country represented was then you win the grand prize* (*grand prize is knowing you are pretty smart). Here is a picture of the Beehive House. You can see the beehive on top of the house. Brigham Young was a carpenter and carved beehives throughout the house. He wanted his family to be as hard working and industrious as the bee's.


After the tour of Brigham Young's house it was time to start walking back to Daddy's work place. As I said above, it was past Tink's naptime, and she has a bad cold, so it didn't take long for her to knock out in her stroller. It did take me just a little while to figure out that she was asleep because I found her like this:

Since she still had her sippy cup in her mouth I wasn't sure at first if she was asleep. When I went to take the cup out of her mouth she was biting down on it and I had to kinda pry it out. She was so tired and had been so good! We really had a fun and busy day. It was nice to get out of the house. I love going to Temple Square, not only because it is free, but it is an easy and fun way to teach Tink about what we believe and about some of our heritage.
I want to let everyone know a little about what I try to teach Tink when we are on Temple Square. First, and foremost, is that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, and He loves us very much. I teach her that prophets are men who are righteous and speak to Heavenly Father and then teach the people about God's teachings. I teach her that we have a prophet on earth again today because God loves us and wants to help us know how we can be the happiest and return to live with Him someday. I teach her that families are extremely important and can be sealed together to be families forever, not just until death parts us. This special blessing of families being sealed takes place inside the temples around the world. I teach her that she is loved, and I hope she learns to recognize the Spirit of the Lord so she will always know how much Heavenly Father and Jesus love her. I teach her that the missionaries we see on Temple Square are serving the Lord and someday, if she wants to, she can be a missionary and teach others these important things.

Massage Demonstrations

Tink usually has trouble holding still even when she wants a massage from Daddy but he found the perfect massage for her. Shiatsu massages include the person staying dressed and being moved in different ways (remember I am not the one who went to Massage Therapy school so I probably don't explain it the best way possible). This keeps Tink happy because she doesn't have to just lay there during the massage. Even still, as you can see, she does get tired of receiving even this kind of massage. She does love to give massages too. Here is a video of Mommy and Tink giving Daddy a massage on his legs because he had been stung a couple days earlier and his ankle was still swollen and he asked Mommy to do this to help the swelling go down. Tink really likes the lotion used during massages!

Sorry, I realized we used her real name in this video and had to take it off. She does do a pretty good job giving massages. She's going to give Daddy a run for his money when she gets bigger.

Alone Time & Date Night

We spent the night Friday at my S-I-L's (sister-in-law). Daddy had to go to work early Saturday morning so that left Mommy and Tink to be able to spend the day with Grandma E. We went shopping to find clothes for Grandma E's upcoming trip to Hawaii (lucky bum). She had great luck and found a lot of cute and comfortable clothes. She offered to watch Tink so I could head down to the school for clinic and get a massage, visit with Daddy and have a date with him after he got off work. I rode the train downtown since Grandma E had to hurry to the airport to pick up Daddy's sister and her family. This was my first time riding downtown without Tink and even though I desperately needed time away from her, I cried. Separation anxiety is so hard! This was the first time I was alone in literally months, possibly since she was born. It was less than an hour before I was with Daddy, but I was such an emotional jumble during that time missing Tink and knowing how much I needed this time without her. Every mother knows what I am saying and I am not a bad mom for needing time away from Tink but still, it is awful to feel that way. My massage was wonderful! It was different from any other massage I had ever received. It was nice to get a student who was actually willing to experiment and not stay with the easy massages. I loved hanging out with Daddy and his co-workers without having to chase Tink and try to keep her quite since people were trying to relax during their massages.
After work we found Olive Garden and discovered that right across the street was the Outdoor Convention that Daddy really wanted to go to. We headed to the convention first and immediately found Daddy's newest wish list item. It is hard to explain (at least for myself) so I will try to find the website and add a link. I did it! Here is a link to Sylvan Sport Go.
Then we went to dinner at the Olive Garden. It was wonderful! We ordered new items even for our appetizer. The flat bread chicken appetizer is amazing! Instead of each of us ordering an entree we decided on two entree's we would share. One was the apricot chicken and the other was ravioli stuffed with portabella mushrooms. Both were absolutely wonderful! Along with our entree's we received two soups. We went with their version of chili (it was yummy) and, something I would have absolutely never ordered because I hate spicy sausage, the spicy sausage soup. I couldn't believe how delicious the spicy sausage soup was! It was probably my favorite dish of the night! Our service was terrific (as it always is at Olive Garden). So here's a shout out to our wonderful waiter Jason, "Thank you for helping our night be even better! Saturday was a terrific day for all of us. Tink was fine for Grandma E the entire time and I only called twice to check on her. I missed her, but the night was just what the doctor ordered! I have noticed how much more patient I am with Tink again. Daddy and I definitely want to try to be better about having at least a monthly date night so I don't get this stressed from my 24/7 mom-ing again. I loved falling in love with Daddy again and just having that relaxed time together to be friends again and not Mommy and Daddy always.

Proud Moment

We were so excited this past Friday, and not only because it was 8-8-08 and Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics. Daddy received his Diploma and paperwork to finally become an LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist). The graduation ceremonies weren't very long but they were wonderful to us. Daddy was recognized, along with others, for going above and beyond the basic clinic requirements and doing 5 massages in 5 1/2 hours (4 are required). When they called his name I was happy to hear a good number of his classmates cheer for him along with Tink, Grandma E and myself. I must say learning my husband had a fun club made me proud of him and also made me want to make sure the girls in that cheer section knew how happy he is being married to me - he better know it too! :) Here are a couple pictures of his graduation. The first is when Daddy was recognized along with the others for doing 5 massages and includes his business partners who are in the blue shirt and standing right next to Daddy. The second picture is Daddy with his friend who will be ding the apprenticeship with him.


After graduation Grandma E took us to dinner at Macaroni's. It was so nice and delicious. Tink ate a good amount of Mommy's chicken and enjoyed spending most of her time coloring on the paper they put on the tables for their guests to color on while they wait. She filled almost the entire paper, at least the edges, with her coloring and if she saw a blank area she could easily reach in front of one of us she would say "Excuse me" and start to push us out of her way to get to the prime coloring area.


Then we went to Daddy's sister's house to watch the opening ceremonies on their big screen TV even though their family was out of town for a wedding their daughter's were in. It was a great evening and Daddy looked terrific! (I would say he looked SEXY but I want to keep this as G or PG as possible.)

Milestones: obstinancy, pictures, & prayers

I love watching every milestone Tink reaches. Well, almost every milestone, some are definitely more exciting than others. Tink is only a month away from turning two and I have noticed leaps in her development. For one thing she is still a good little girl, but she is becoming lots more obstinate. She tells Daddy and me "No" a lot lately. Not only does she say no, she sets her face really hard to make sure we know she means it. Sometimes I wonder why I encouraged her to be so independent, especially when she is so young.

On a more exciting note she is also hitting milestones with her creativity. Her imagination is growing and I love it. Two days ago she was coloring on a couple of paper plates. She showed me her drawings when she was done. I decided to ask her what she had drawn today (in the past she would draw pictures of whatever Daddy asked her to draw) to see if she actually had specific ideas of what she was drawing. She pointed to one that had a little circle in the middle and swirls around it. She pointed to the little circle and said it was a spider and then did the motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (which helped me know what it was she had said).

After we sang the song she showed me the other plate and pointed to one group of squiggles and said it was Daddy and another group of squiggles was Mommy. I asked if she was in the picture and she giggled and said "No" like I was silly for asking. Then yesterday when we were staightening up I saw the plates again and asked Tink what they were drawings of. I was surprised to see her point to the same exact spots and say the same things. Then Daddy came to see her pictures and after she told him what she drew he turned the plate with Mommy and Daddy on it to see how she would do trying to find us upside down. She just looked at it like she was a little confused. Daddy started to slowly turn it again and as soon as it was about at its' original position she excitedly pointed to "Daddy" and it was the same group of squiggles. We were so excited.


One more milestone we are so proud of is that yesterday she said a prayer all by herself. She has been helping us say prayers for a while, repeating after us. Yesterday, she started a prayer without any help and when I started to help her she said "No Mommy pray" and so I let her say it by herself. "Heavenly Father, Thank you day. Thank you Daddy and Mommy. Jesus Christ. Amen." I was so proud of her. Now we have to wait until she says we can help her before we are aloud to give her ideas about what to say in her prayers. I didn't expect her to say prayers alone for another year or two. I love hearing her little voice saying the prayers. Most sentences end with a higher note and the "a" in "amen" is held out longer than any other sound in the entire prayer. It is soooooo adorable!

The ending of the bad day

Right after I got done posting about Tink's bad day I went upstairs to try to take a nap while she was napping. I went in to her room to drop off some fresh water for when she woke up (it is super hot in our house and we are often thirsty when we wake up). As I was straightening to stand she opened her eyes and fully woke up. I brought her into mine and Daddy's room and she sat on our bed drinking her water while I separated the laundry. I was singing to her and just being silly when I heard a noise behind me. There was someone standing behind me. There have recently been some break-ins in our neighborhood and when I asked if people have been home during the break-ins I was told sometimes, but they never expounded and left when I asked more questions (typical behavior when I am talking to this person - it is not Daddy he is much more respectful to me). So knowing that Daddy is not getting off work for another few hours and no one else was home I screamed sooooooo loud and jumped (somehow - I was sitting on the floor so I am not sure how I was able to jump so high and still be sitting on the floor). It didn't take long to recognize that it was actually Daddy standing in our doorway. I think he had made a loud noise or said something when he first came in so even though my back was to him I recognized his voice, but it didn't stop me from reacting majorly or stop my heart from racing. When his boss heard about what Tink had gone through at the doctor's office she sent him home early and he decided to surprise us and not call to let us know. I was so happy to see him and relieved it was him after my initial scare that I didn't slug him in the face like I should have. We took Tink to the store to fill her prescription and to choose which pint of ice cream she wanted for her treat from Daddy for having such a rough day (we each got our own Yummy!). After her nap she did have a much better day and the medicine seemed to help her immediately.