Weekend Getaway

On Friday, Ben took the day off work. Can you believe it? He actually took a day off!! It was fantastic. His friend Steve, from work, owns a cabin in Heber. So Steve's family and our family spent the night "camping" in their cabin. (which, might I add, is nicer than our home!) On Thursday night, Simon asked Ben if he would buy a tent for him and Nolan to sleep in while we were camping. Ben explained to him, that we were going to be inside, in a cabin. Simon thought for a second, and said, "Daddy, can we sleep in a tent in the cabin?" So, while we were at Walmart getting a few things for our trip, we bought a little tent for the boys. They were thrilled! We had so much fun. The boys LOVED to run around outside. And Bella loved the dirt. She was an absolute mess, but she sure had a great time! Steve and Shannon have three super cute kids. Their oldest, Aubrey, is ten, and she just loved to play with and hold Bella. She also took all of the kids around the cabin on the four wheelers. She is such a sweet girl. We drove the four wheelers down to a little lake/pond, where Ben caught some frogs and a salamander. There was also a cool swing that someone had set up. I couldn't believe it, but Simon even took a ride! I thought he would be too chicken. It went pretty high off the ground. All in all, it was a fun little weekend getaway with the family. We always love it when Ben takes time off work to hang out with us, and I just LOVE being in the mountains! Now I just need a cabin!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day this year came a little early. On Thursday, I went to a Relief Society activity, and Ben stayed with the kids. When I got home, the garage door was locked. I knocked, and I could hear Simon saying, "I want to open it...can I open it now?" He ran to the door, opened it, and immediately said, "Mom! Come find your presents!" There was Ben, coming up right behind him saying, "No Bud, don't say anything!" After a lot of pleading from Simon, Ben let Simon tell me where they were. He led me down to the basement, and straight to the toy box. He opened it up, reached in, grabbed the treat and said, "Mommy, can I have one of your treats?" How do you say no to that cute little stinker?

Simon just isn't very good at keeping things secret. At Christmas, I made the mistake of buying Ben a present with Simon. As soon as Ben came home from work, Simon said, "Come on Daddy, mommy hid your present upstairs!" If you don't want somebody to know about a present, you make sure that Simon knows nothing about it.

Mother's Day (yesterday) was great too! We went to church and had lunch with my mom, and had dinner with Ben's mom. Every year, Ben's mom has one picture taken of her and her kids, one with her, her children and their spouses, and one with her and the grandkids. I also took some pictures of Simon and Nolan, since I had my camera out! They turned out very well! I hope that all of the mother's had a great day!

Monkeys in a Cage

This weekend, I'd have to say, was the best weekend...ever. We are trying to put our backyard together this year. We have a VERY small backyard, so it shouldn't be too bad. On Saturday, we spent the day raking up the truck loads of rocks. Luckily, we had most of Ben's family come over. I'm sure that they had as much fun as Ben and I did! While we were all outside, we turned on some music. Simon, Nolan and Bauer sat by the radio and danced away. Simon was just sitting there taping his toes, and every once in a while he would pretend he was playing a guitar. They were sooo cute. So, we raked up the rocks, and then Ben bought everybody Cafe Rio, YUMMY! We bought Timber (our dog) a little dog run to put on the side of the house, and when we got it set up, the boys had a fun time playing inside of it. Grandpa Bliss called them monkeys in a cage, and that is just what they were. They loved to climb up the sides. We all had a rip roarin' time! Anyway, thanks to everyone who came to help with the rocks! It would have taken Ben and I a week to do what we all did in one day! We really appreciate all of the help. We look forward to seeing everyone again next Saturday! (wink wink nudge nudge)

The Ben Face

I just LOVE this picture. Doesn't Simon just look so grown up? This is what I like to call...the Ben face. Simon makes this face every time he is concentrating on something. I call it the "Ben face" because that's just what it is...the face that Ben makes when he's fixing something, cooking something, putting something together, or doing anything that requires thought and concentration. I love seeing little pieces of Ben and myself in our children. It's so funny to me, because we didn't teach them how to do things like us...they just do. I see it in their facial expressions, the way they talk, and even in the way they move their hands while they tell a story. This 'Ben face' is a classic example. I'm so grateful that Ben is such a great man and father, for his boys to look up to. If Simon and Nolan can turn out like their father, they will certainly be lucky.

Crawling

Our pretty Bella started crawling three weeks ago! This is great because she can entertain herself. It's also bad, because she can get places on her own. She goes around finding the tiniest little pieces of anything left on the floor, and they go straight to her mouth. No more leaving her sitting on the floor playing! The poor thing has already crawled off my mom's bed, and has fallen down the stairs. I guess I'm a bad mom...letting her hurt herself. After a few days, she figured out that she can get where she wants pretty fast. It's pretty fun to watch her. She looks so darn cute. It's also very strange. It seems like she was just born last month! She has perfected her crawling skills since then...now she's trying to climb up stairs and stand up to tables...yikes! I will post a video of her crawling the day she figured it out...I have to wait until Ben can help me though. I'm not that computer savvy!

I am...an idiot.

Okay, so in case some of you haven't heard the story before. When I was a senior in high school, my friend Charlotte and I were driving home one night. It was quite late...probably around one or two in the morning. We were in my brother's truck. We stopped to get gas, then went to my house. Charlotte got in her car and drove home. I went inside, told my mom I was home, and went to bed. The next morning, my brother Aaron came in my room and asked "Tessa, did you get gas last night?" I was a little annoyed because it was fairly early...earlier than I would have been waking up. Why would he come in my room, wake me up, and ask if I put gas in his truck...go look at the gas gauge! Come to find out...
I had driven away with the gas nozzle and hose from the gas station still in the truck. I had forgotten to take it out before I drove away, and didn't notice it hanging out of the truck on my way home. Aaron had gone out to go to work, and found a lovely little surprise. He still makes fun of me too. Charlotte insisted that I keep the nozzle and hose for a souvenir. I felt so embarrassed. I also knew that at gas stations, they keep recordings of people who fill their tanks. Holy crap, they have me on tape! I then became worried. Worried that the police would show up one day and arrest me (okay, maybe not THAT worried). So, I called the gas station to see what I needed to do, and they laughed at me...out loud.
Not only do they not look back on their videos, but apparently, people don't usually call the gas station because they are too humiliated. Tell me about it. They asked me to bring it back to them, so I did. Lucky for me, there wasn't anybody there but the person working behind the counter. As a result of my humiliation, I vowed that I would never again drive off with the nozzle still in my car. I know what you're thinking, 'how stupid can you get'...right? Well, I guess I can be pretty stupid. Today as I was on my way to the softball game, (which we won!) I stopped to get gas. I started pumping the gas and ran inside to get the boys some Bug Juice. When I came out, I had forgotten that the nozzle was still in the Suburban, and drove off. There is good and bad to this story. The good...I heard the popping sound that it makes when the hose detaches from the top. When I did this the first time, they said that people did this so much that they had to make it so that when some idiot drives off with it still in their car, it just detaches at the top of the hose, and gasoline doesn't squirt everywhere. SO, I didn't drive all over with a hose waving around on the side of the car...that's good. The bad...unlike last time, I don't think there could have been more people at the gas station. Every parking space was filled, every gas pump was filled with cars filling up their tanks, and there must have been twenty people inside. This time, I wasn't AS embarrassed, because I had gone through it all once before. I just figured that everyone would get a good laugh from my stupidity. So, I pulled into the one parking space that had just become empty, (the lady in the car that pulled out of that spot gave me a nice smile, like she felt bad for me...it made me feel a little better) got out, and proceeded to pull the nozzle and the very long hose inside. And wouldn't ya know...everyone started laughing. Just a little laugh, they were at least trying to be nice. Then I said, "The most embarrassing part is that I've done this once before." Then they all laughed at me out loud. The girl thanked me for bringing it back, and away I went...feeling like an idiot. I guess I'm glad I made some people smile. I'm sure they had a fun time telling people their story of the crazy lady driving off with the gas hose.

Nice and Warm

Here is the picture of Simon, Nolan and Collin at the ball park. So cute.

Softball Season Begins

Last night was the first game of the new softball season with the family co-ed team! Hooray! Actually, I have to be honest, I was dreading this day. Last year Nolan was so difficult at the games. I could hardly stand him! He was just old enough to want to do everything Collin and Simon were doing, but not old enough to be trusted to run off and play. And Frankly, Collin and Simon would never have kept an eye on him last year. I love to go watch the games, but that hasn't really happened in the past. I usually end up running around after kids making sure they stay within the given boundaries. This year, I was willing to try again. I'm not pregnant this time, maybe I'd have more patience.It was so cold last night at the game. Lucky for me Ben's mom doesn't do cold weather so she stayed home with Bauer and Bella, in the nice warm house. (Lucky for me because I didn't have to have Bella in the cold, not because Ben's mom wasn't there...let's get that straight) So, I had Collin, Simon, and Nolan. They were angels! Nolan was even good, if you can believe that! My two friends Shara and Amber came to play, and Shara's husband Nick came along to watch. Collin, Simon and Nolan LOVED Nick. He was so nice to play with them! They threw the ball to each other and rolled it along the bleachers. All three of them had a great time! Toward the end of the game, it was so cold. All the kids wanted to do was wrap up in blankets and get warm. Nick took a couple pictures of the boys in their blankets for me, but it's not letting me add them. I'll have to post them later! I'll put the schedule on here too, just in case anyone decides they want to come watch. Anyway, in true Bliss fashion, we won the game. In true Tessa fashion, I don't remember the score. It was 20-1 or something close to it. Could you expect anything less for the first game of the season? I'm actually looking forward to going to the games this year. They are really quite good! I also don't think Nolan will be such a minion of Satan this year. Nick, thanks for the help. You can come entertain the boys any time you want! Good luck team!!

Our brush with fame...sort of...

Ben and I went to the jazz game on Saturday. (Go Jazz!) It was so much fun. Every once-in-a-while, Ben gets tickets to the Wells Fargo suite. They always have yummy food and the best warm apple pie a la mode. So good. We went with Brian, one of Ben's client's, and his wife, Kim. They were very nice.
A few minutes after we sat down, Ben turned to me and said "There's Thomas S. Monson". I looked over and sure enough, he was sitting about ten people away from us. It was so neat to be that close to a prophet. There was a piece of glass in between us because he was in the suite next door, but still!! I couldn't stop looking over at him. I wanted to go over to say "hi" and shake his hand, so bad. However, you're not supposed to go around and help yourself to different suites. I was okay with it because I have met him once before. Obviously, he wasn't the prophet when I met him though.
I used to work at Popcorn Cottage when I was in high school. President Monson comes in to get popcorn every year at Christmas time. He and the owner of Popcorn Cottage have some connection from a mission, I don't remember exactly what that connection was. Anyway, I saw him walk into the mall, and pointed him out to the girl I was working with. When we saw that he was coming to our store, we had a coin toss to see who got to help him. I have only won a coin toss once in my life, and this was the one time. Lucky me! He was so nice. I just love him. He always has a smile on his face, and is just a warm, kind man. The spirit is so strong around the general authorities. You can't help but smile when you see them.
A couple years ago, Ben and I were out buying some suits and shirts, and as we walked out to our car, Ben saw Henry B. Eyring and his wife walking toward the same store we were just in.
By the way, Eyring is Ben's favorite apostle. We got in our car, and Ben just sat there and looked at him. I told him that he should just go say hi. After debating whether or not to go back in, he finally built up enough courage and we went back, introduced ourselves and talked for a minute or two. It was strange, each time Ben and I have met or seen an apostle, it was like we were in awe...star stuck.
I'm not sure if I'll ever be that close to a prophet again. Ben said that he goes to about half of the home games. Hopefully we get to see him at another Jazz game. I have decided that if I do see him in the suite again, I will either toss all unwritten rules aside, not worry about being kosher, and go in to shake his hand, or I'll go outside and wait for him to come out! Forget about the game!!

Tagged...again

I've been ABC tagged by Shara. This is about Tessa. You won't find Ben sitting down to fill out any of these things! Enjoy...

A - Attached or Single: Technically we aren't attached...we are our own separate individuals, but I'm married.
B - Best Friend: Ben
C - Cake or Pie: Definitely cheesecake.
D - Day of Choice: Saturday and Sunday because Ben doesn't have to go to work.
E - Essential Item: wipes (isn't that pathetic?)
F - Favorite Color: Green and maybe pink.
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Well, I'm not a huge fan of either. If I had to pick one, then it would be gummy worms I guess. I'd much rather have sour patch watermelons.
H - Hometown: West Valley City, UT
I- Indulgence(s): Sushi (don't pass judgement, it really is quite good!)
J - January or July: They are both horrible...January is too cold and July is too hot!
K - Kids: Three, Simon is four, Nolan is two and Isabella is eight months.
L - Life is incomplete without: Ben and my babies
M - Marriage Date: May 31, 2002
N - Number of Siblings: 7-Craig, Armand, Aaron, Del, Ryan, Kyle, Tara
O - Oranges or Apples: oranges. Or apples if they are peeled and sliced.
P- Phobias or Fears: Spiders...however, I am getting used to them now that I have to be the one that kills them if they are in my house. I'm fine with them as long as I can't see them. I figure that if a spider comes out and lets me see it, it just commited suicide!
Q - Quote: I don't think I have a favorite quote, but I do like this one..."Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." -Albert Einstein
R- Ring size: Size 6?
S - Season: I like spring and fall
T- Tag 3 Friends: Katie, Rae, Angela.
U - Unknown fact about Me: I'm not sure that I have one...
V - Very favorite stores: Inkley's, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Kohls, Walmart
W - Worst Habit: Biting my nails and popping my knuckles
X - X-ray or Ultrasound: Well the only times I have had an ultrasound was when I've been pregnant, and that meant I would be having a baby soon...I'll pick that.
Y - Your Favorite Food: If it's homemade I like my dad's steak, biscuits and gravy. If it's a restaurant I like Olive Garden, Tepanyaki, Taiphoon, Famous Dave's...I guess I like all kinds of food. :)
Z - Zodiac: Pisces.