Simon's Fourth Birthday

Well, I think Simon had a great birthday! The celebration lasted practically all weekend. On Friday, Grandpa and Lita came over and took all of us out to "North Carolina" (That's what Buddy calls Carl's Jr. I'm not really sure why) Then they took him home and he got to have a sleep over. On Saturday Ben took all of the grandparents, Simon, Nolan and myself to Tepanyaki. Simon and Nolan had a lot of fun. Besides the cool fire tricks and throwing eggs around, they make these cool little chopsticks that are easy for kids to use. They thought it was the coolest thing to be able to pick up their food with sticks!



Today, we went to our weekly dinner at Grandpa and Lita's house. I made some cupcakes and we had a little party. He sure was excited about all of the presents he received from everyone.
We are so blessed to have Simon in our family. He is such a sweet boy, and he is so smart. We just can't believe he's four! It doesn't seem like it's been that long. Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!!

I got tagged!!

How long have you been together? Does that include dating and a mission? With dating and a mission-nine years. We have been married for almost six years.
How long did you date? We dated for about ten months before his mission and five months after he came home.
How old is he? Ben is turning 28 soon!
Who eats more?...Candy? Tessa. Food? Ben.
Who said I Love You First? Ben
Who is taller? Ben at a whopping 5'10''
Who sings better? Tessa
Who is smarter? What a silly question for us...of course Ben is!
Who does the laundry? Tessa
Who does the dishes? Tessa, however, Ben did load the dishwasher the other day...without even being asked...I know you don't believe me, but really, he did!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?...Looking at the bed or laying in the bed? looking at it-Tessa. So obviously, laying in it would be Ben
Who pays the bills? Ben makes the money to pay the bills, but Tessa writes the check.
Who mows the lawn? Ben mows our tiny little front yard. We are getting a back yard soon though! YAY!
Who cooks dinner? When we actually have a cooked meal, Tessa does.
Who is more stubborn? Hard to say...we are both pretty stubborn.
Who kissed who first? Ben kissed first.
Who asked who out? Ben kind of stole me away from his friend that I was dating.
Who proposed? Ben
Who is more sensitive? Tessa, definitely.
Who has more friends? I think we have the same friends...our friends from school that we still see and talk to are now friends with both of us.
Who has more siblings? Tessa with six older brothers and one younger sister.

I'm sure you will hate me...but I have to pass it on I guess. I tag Shara and Julianne!

Easter Festivities

I'm a little late on the Easter report. Sorry about that! We had such a great Easter! On Saturday we went to Grandpa & Grandma Drummond's house for a party. We had a yummy turkey dinner and an easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids. Simon and Nolan just loved looking for the eggs! To keep things fair, each kid got ten eggs. Come to find out, when the hunt was over, we had to give a few of Simon's eggs to people who didn't find their ten. He got a little excited and just kept looking. They loved playing with their cousins. On Sunday the easter bunny came, we went to church, (which was great because Ben took Bella and I got to go to relief society for once!!) then we went to Grandpa Bliss and Kai's house. She made some yummy chicken for dinner, and then we had an easter egg hunt.
Each kid had their own color of eggs to find. Of course, Simon got green Rollie color (Why he calls it that is a long story) He wanted to pick up any egg that he found! It took a little while to sink in that he only got to find the green eggs. He also had to open every single egg when he found it, just to see what treat was inside. So cute.
Ben went around with Nolan. He kept saying "eeeeeegg, w-are you?" (where are you) He's such a cute little toad.As soon as he was done he sat down and started eating his chocolate bunny. In Nolan's world, that is the most important thing, candy.
Bella, of course, had the pink eggs. Tia took her to find her eggs. She didn't care what was inside of them, she just wanted to stick the egg in her mouth. She sure did have a good time with her tia. When the egg hunt was over, she just sat by herself on the grass with her basket, her eggs, and her little beany baby doll, happy as could be. She even got her chocolate bunny open, and man oh man was she loving life! Then some mean lady came and took it away before she could even get a good bite! Those darn moms.

Doesn't she look so pretty in her easter dress?! I love holidays. They are even more fun for me now that I have kids. I love being with family too. Ben and I are so lucky that we get along with, and love being around both sides of the family. I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Bittersweet Birthday

My birthday was bittersweet this year. Sweet just because it was my birthday. We went to Ben's parents house for dinner, played pinochle and the wii and had a good time. Bitter because one of my best friends died yesterday. Tanya had been in the hospital since last Wednesday due to some complication of a disease she was battling. Yesterday, they took her off of life support and she left us. For the last five days all I have been able to think about is her family that she has left behind and the memories that I have of her. She moved into our neighborhood when I was in elementary. However, I don't recall her ever not being my friend. Shara, Amber, Tanya and myself were always together. Even after we would get in a fight, it wasn't long before we were calling each other to see if they wanted to play. We used to play tetherball in her yard, and make up dances in her living room. I read Shara's blog post about her and it was funny to me. Shara remembered Tanya's hairspray. It may seem silly to most of you, but I was just thinking on Saturday how I remember that same hairspray and how we all wanted it because Tanya had it. I remember sitting in her room listening to the song 'Don't go chasing waterfalls' by TLC. We had a HUGE crush on Jonathan Brandis and watched 'Ladybugs' over and over just to look at him. I will miss Tanya so much. I loved her and will always remember all the good times we had together. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation. To know that we can see Tanya again is a comforting thought with all of the sadness around us. I know that Tanya is with our Heavenly Father smiling at all of us. She is happy and doesn't have to fight with disease or worldly problems. My love and my prayers go out to her poor little family. I can't imagine what they must be going through. I have included a picture of Tanya. Please keep her family in your prayers. They need the strength that comes from our Heavenly Father as we pray for them.

Open For Business!

It's official! I have started my business, Mirror Images! I have been working on the details, i.e getting flyers, figuring out pricing, etc., for almost a month now. I hope that I have it all worked out! Ben has been so good to help me. He's such a great guy. I will have a website sometime in the near future, but for now, I have started a blog so people can see some of my work. You can find the link in my list of family and friends. Please, take a look!