Talia 21 months

Random pictures of Talia this month that I wanted to blog:

Talia enjoying Valentine's Day candy

Playing outside in the melting snow.

Talia. Feb 2014.

Playing while mommy did yard work.

Talia. Feb 2014.

Watching Superbowl with Grandpa Paul.

Jazz Game Family Night

FHE at the Jazz game. We were on row 17. Talia was a perfect angel even though we had a late night. Talia also made it on the jumbo tron. She's 3 for 3 on that one. Everyone thought she was so well behaved and cute. What an awesome FHE!

Pictures:

Jazz Game for FHE. Feb 2014.

Our little jazz fan.  She had so much fun.

Jazz Game FHE Night. Feb 2014.

(Sorry I don't look the best. My allergies were so bad so my face was puffy and I had no makeup on but it was worth it to go out and have a good time with the family)

Valentine's Day 2014

Romantic Getaway to Anniversary Inn:

The day of Valentines Day I worked all day until 5pm and came home with some imitation crab meat and blue mountain dew to have while resting tonight at home after Talia went to sleep. I was pleasantly surprised by a clean living room and family room and clean froggie tank. McCord was all dressed up in nice date night clothes saying he had a surprise for me. He had worked hard all day to clean up the house and put up the storage shelves for me (which is been meaning to do for 3 months now). He had Talia draw me a valentine and put stickers on it and she have it to me when I walked in the door with a big kiss.

McCord had dinner, cafe rio salads, all ready set up as a picnic down stairs with champagne flutes and everything. What a sweetheart! 

After putting Talia to sleep, we relaxed with a favorite show and drank Blue Dew from our flutes. He's the best ever! I'm so lucky and feel so privileged to have such a wonderful man taking care of me! Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Goodbye Zippy, Hello Amy:

We sold Zippy, our "Jelly Bean" car, for $750. It's been so good to us the last year and a half:

Hello Amy! She's gonna be our new commuter car. We call her Amy because of the letters on the back of her trunk. The C and the R from Camry came off to reveal Amy, so the name will stay. Meet Amy:

Groundhog's Day 2014

Groundhog's Day, my dad's favorite holiday! This year was no less. It was by far the biggest Groundhog's Day ever! My dad put up his 6 ft groundhog and put the presents underneath it, white twinkle lights outside the house next to a waving groundhog. Pictures, quotes, and Funnies all over the house that had to do with Groundhog's Day. Of course we watched the movie and had a big buffet, as per usual. It was splendid. I took pictures below of all the details to as to not forget any of the memories:

Dad next to his iconic Groundhog.

Groundhog converted from a Santa christmas decoration.

Dad's wall quotes from Groundhog's Day movie.

6,500+ Freshman students admitted:

Been hard at work running the first big freshman deadline files. From Dec 1-Jan 15 I've been working hard with my team at work to process all the freshman in the 1st batch by Jan 15th. Well, mission accomplished. Below is the picture of me with all the decision letters for the U of U. Mind you, there are only about 2,000 or so in this picture. We did over 6,500!

Talia playing, Jan 2014, 20 months old:

It's been warmer this January with little to no snow storms and averaging 37-47 degrees outside so we've taken Talia out to play every day. She loves the new yard and the space to run around in. I thought I'd post some pictures that I've taken this month:

Unpacking Living Room done:

With the new year we want to unpack each room in the house and deep clean. This weekend we did the living room. Chairs donated to us from my grandma Nola and grandpa Ronald:

Car Accident - Big Red smooshed

Poor Big Red. Our new car that we just got last month- smooshed. McCord accidentally t-boned a '94 blue car yesterday when trying to pass a bus. Don't worry, thankfully, we are all ok!! Everyone is ok. McCord was the only one in the car and neither he or the other lady were injured. Cars looked pretty bad though. We do have excellent insurance so we are hoping they will pay for the damages and we will only need to pay the $250 deductible. I've attached pictures of our poor Big Red just in case we need them in the future. Big Red is totaled. Sad to see him go.

Good news is we got a replacement car which is basically the same car only newer, less miles, and runs better. Jan 26th we purchased our 2001 Isuzu Rodeo (silver).

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

2014 has arrived! 2013 was a huge success with the goals that we accomplished. I like to write down our goals mostly for personal reasons, so here are ours and some of mine for 2014:

Personal Goals:

- listen to 1 conference talk every month at least

- read 1 book this year (probably shadow of the Hegemon)

- scripture study every day

- family prayers every day

- personal prayers daily

- play clix with McCord once a semester.

- monthly service to another person

- raise at work

Family Goals:

- 1 family activity each month

- reading books 5 times a week

- FHE every week

- Family Chore Chart

- family vacation

Couple Goals:

- romantic weekend

- FHE every week

- couples prayer daily if we can

- save $300 for baby #2

- 1 weekend night each month at home together or more if we can.

New Years Eve 2013 into 2014

New Years Eve was quiet here at home this year. Talia played a lot outside since it's been warm and she likes to run around in her jacket and explore. After 8 when Talia was asleep, McCord and I watched some romantic comedies reminiscing about the past year, how blessed we are, and what we wanted to do the next year.

Come midnight, we had our own little firework time. ;-)

Here is a picture of our very simple New Year's Eve dinner: (instant potatoes, Mac and cheese, lime orange jello)

Christmas 2013

Christmas preparations continued...

List of preparations that we have done today:

- shovel the walks

- empty the bathroom boxes and put up the towel racks

- vacuum front room

- vacuum basement

- shopping at: Target, Smiths, Lowe's, Walmart, Dollar Store, Batteries +, And the comic shop.

- Gift Wrapping!!

- finishing touches on Christmas decorating.

And then the usual things I do each weekend:

- cook food for the week

- laundry

- dishes - done!

- bathrooms clean and stocked

- nap time brings precious moments:

Snow Day!

They called a snow day here in Salt Lake. I got off work 2 hrs early and we came home and played in the snow.

Here are some pictures of Talia this month of December that I wanted to blog and save: