Mother's Day

Just a few of the MANY reasons I love being a mom....

Parker's wide-open mouth, drooling all over my cheek, kisses. Those are the very best!

Parker following me around the house yelling "Mama!". When I turn around to answer he smiles and giggles and crawls as fast as he can to get to me.

Lately, when he gets tired at night he crawls over to me, lays his head in my lap and falls asleep.

The innocent little face that always accompanies his new favorite phrase.. "Uh Oh...".

He loves to dance with me... and he doesn't even mind my terrible singing.

I always have a little buddy to play with! I will NEVER be bored ever again :)

Like I said, I could write a novel about the joys of being a mom but I won't put you all through that. 

As for my Mother's Day, I am so spoiled! And I am pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in one weekend. Don't believe me? Just listen to what my weekend consisted of... food, food, and more delicious food!

Saturday all the girls from Tyler's family and my mom, sister and I all went out for lunch at Tucanos! It was so fun to have all of my favorite women around. I am truly blessed with great love and friendship from these amazing girls. A big thanks to all of them for all the kind things they do for me. A special thanks to my wonderful mom who has been my best friend and the perfect example of a loving mother... love you mom!

Here is a picture from the mommy luncheon.

That night, my wonderful husband took me to Olive Garden to celebrate. I couldn't resist my new favorite soup even though I was still in a Tucanos coma! But the food wasn't the best part. It was simply being with Tyler and Parker, feeding Parker soup and breadsticks and playing his favorite game of "let's see how many times mom will pick this up off the ground for me!" Little moments like that make being mom worthwhile! 

On the way home we gave Parker a breadstick to munch on. This is a great picture of the result. Don't worry, I would never let him attempt to swallow a piece that big!

On Sunday, Tyler and I spoke in Sacrament meeting. Wow, I'm sure Bishop was regretting asking me to speak about mothers and motherhood on my first Mother's Day! I cried through most of the talk but it was the easiest talk I've ever been assigned. Tyler gave an excellent talk about the term eternal families also meaning God-like families. He is so amazing!

After church more eating! We had Jambalaya with Tyler's family and then later that night we couldn't turn down my dad's famous Mother's Day dinner of steak and shrimp. So yeah, I'm spoiled and ten pounds heavier! Thanks to Parker for making me such a happy mother, thanks to my husband for all of his love and support, and thanks to our families for their love!

Happy Mother's Day!

Salt Lake

It's taken me forever but I finally decided to put studying off and blog a little bit. A couple weeks ago Tyler went to Salt Lake for a week of appraisal classes. On that Saturday, my family came down to pick up my sister from BYU, so Parker and I hitched a ride down with them to get her, pick up Tyler, and see some of my favorite girls from my BYU days. My dad got us all tickets to a Real Salt Lake soccer game which was so awesome. The trip was a ton of fun!!

We met up with my friends at Cafe Rio (my favorite restaurant ever!). It was so fun to see them!

My friend Laura and her hubby Jesse, and little baby Rachel (Laura's tiny baby bump)... Laura is pregnant and her due date is the same day as Parker's due date!

My friend Sara and her husband Aaron and their baby girl Alice. She is such a cutie! 

My cousin Hayley, we aren't actually cousins but we have adopted each other as such!

We also got to see Nick and Vanessa but I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera in when we stopped by their house.

Some pre soccer game festivities:

Tyler and Parker rocking out to the band that was playing.

Mom and Jake are so excited for the game!

Kristen, Dad and Tyler getting ready to show off their skills in the shoot out.

Enjoying half time

Brrr... it was cold but it didn't rain thankfully!

One of the many cool pictures Tyler got of the game. Real beat Revolution 6-0. It was an exciting game, even though Revolution is my favorite team :(

We had so much fun!

Tasmanian Devil

I am writing this post so that if anyone who reads it ever decides to stop my apartment and finds it to be a complete and total disaster, you will know that it is due to my adorable Tasmanian Devil! I love him but he sure knows how to destroy a house!

He looks innocent right??

Think again!

He made that mess in under 2 minutes!

That face is his saving grace!

Pictures from our Salt Lake trip are coming soon... I'm too sick to blog today :(

Nerd Shorts!

For those who have spent a summer with Tyler, you'll know his favorite article of clothing are what we affectionately call his "Nerd Shorts". He lives in them all summer! Well we found Parker a couple pairs of Nerd Shorts to match his daddy this summer and it has finally been warm enough for him to wear them. Yay for sunshine and 80* weather. Anyway, these pics aren't the greatest because they are off my phone and the little squirt wouldn't sit still long enough for a good one. 

You may also notice the huge bruise on his forehead... that, along with several other bruises, are his "adventure wounds". he is on the move ALL THEE TIME!! I can't keep up with him to protect him so sadly he ends up with some ouches!

In other news... he has taken six whole consecutive steps on his own! He hasn't wanted to walk since, which I am perfectly ok with for now. The more he gets around, the more trouble he'll be in.

Tyler is in Salt Lake finishing some appraisal classes, on top of school and finals coming up. He is such a hero to his family. We are thankful for his hard work for us and miss him terribly. Thanks Love! We get to go down there on Saturday with my family to pick up Kristen from BYU (SOO EXCITED!!!) and I will finally get my hubby back! 

I have been staying at my parents so I'm not all alone for the week. We've been going on walks in their beautiful neighborhood. There are ponds full of ducks and their new babies, so cute! Parker loves all animals and tries desperately to get ahold of the ducks and geese. The funny thing is the ducks actually come up to him and follow us around, I think they think we have food for them or something, but Parker gets a real kick out of it.

I got to go to the temple last night with some girls from the my relief society. I am grateful for great girl friends! If I can't be in the temple with Tyler, I am very glad I can be with some awesome friends. Love you girls!

That is it for now... just trying to get through the rest of the week so I can get my husband and sister back, ha ha!

Chocolate....

Looks like someone got into the Easter chocolate.....

Our Easter in pictures.....

Our beautiful eggs!

Tyler's "Pepsi" egg.

Parker was too impatient to let the eggs sit in the dye so he stuck his hands in the dye and "finger painted" his eggs... they were beautiful!

Pooley's love BYU football.... ok we are a little obsessed!

My brother Jake preparing for some eggs artwork!

Mom and Dad trying to help Parker with his eggs, he didn't want much help however!

Having so much fun!

Parker finding his first egg in our Easter Egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's.

Why does my son love to be tossed 10 feet in the air??

Chillin' with Dad at Grandma and Grandpa Pooley's on a beautiful Easter Sunday!

Parker loves dogs! Every time there is a dog around he chases after it and tries to communicate with it by whimpering. It is hilarious! Here he is with Tyler's dog Jake.

We had a wonderful Easter. The weather was beautiful, Church was wonderful and time with our families was so fun!

Oh and a fun little extra... Parker's first little tooth popped through on Easter morning, not sure whether I should be excited or fearful about that one!

As we celebrate Easter tomorrow, I am so grateful to know of my Savior. To know of his love for me as an individual and to know of the great sacrifice he made in my behalf. I am grateful to know that because of the atonement I will never be alone, no matter what happens in this life. I am also thankful for the sunshine that the gospel brings to my life. I can't help but be happy in everything I do because I know I have the Lord on my side. I know that my Redeemer lives! That is my Easter testimony.  Here is a beautiful Easter message! Enjoy and Happy Easter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epFhS0dAduc