Caged!

I think the pictures say it all!!

A Little Bit of Everything

It has been toooo long since my last post. I got sucked into facebook which it totally addicting, but so much fun! Anyways, we've had 2 birthdays and a baptism to report on!

Scott's 8th birthday was February 6th. I can't believe he's 8. It doesn't seem so long ago when he was just a baby saying, "appy, appy, appy" (that's how he said happy...he'd say it over and over and over....it was the cutest thing ever!) I'm coming to the realization that whether or not I like it, he's growing up and I need to relinquish some control and allow him to make his own decisions and feel the weight of those consequences whether they are good or bad. Anyways...back to him........He had a good birthday. I brought him Chick-Fil-A for lunch at school and then he passed out cupcakes to his classmates. After dinner we sang happy birthday, had Cold Stone Cupcakes, and he opened his birthday presents. We kept it low key as to keep the emphasis on his decision to be be baptized.

Scott was baptized February 8th at 2:30pm by his daddy. It was the sweetest experience. His Uncle Randall gave a talk on baptism and his grandpa Tingen spoke on the Holy Ghost. Todd confirmed Scott a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Scott was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. The words that were spoken during the confirmation blessing were beautiful and the spirit filled the room. As it ended, Scott had a couple of tears in his eyes as he shook the hand of those in the circle. Grandpa Wade gave a heartfelt closing prayer and after that, Scott was weeping. His arms were clutched around my neck holding me as tight as he could. "Scott, are you upset about something?" I asked. He just shook his head no still weeping. "Are you just happy?" I asked. A nod in affirmation. "Are you feeling the spirit?" I asked. He responded with "Yes!" There is no doubt that he was in fact feeling the spirit and was touched by it. Later on that night when I tucked him into bed he said, "Mom, it is so cool to have the spirit!" Yes it is!!!

Haley Monster!

January 5th Haley turned 2. She is our fire ball of personality. She enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her grandparents. She is so funny! She's talking so well and cracks us up with the things he says and does. The other day she threw the dog's rope and said "Maxy run!!" She loves her dog!!! The other day Katelynn came home from school with these lips that sound like a kazoo when you blow into them. Haley got a hold of them and I thought I'd die laughing! She would try to blow so hard and yet the lips would make just the slightest sound. Here are some pictures that I took.

I walked into the playroom the other day to find her playing "nite nite" in her doll's crib.

She makes my days interesting!

Precious Moments!

Katelynn: to me "I will still love you when I'm in Heaven."
Me: "I will love you too, but you can't go to Heaven without me okay?"
Katelynn: "Why"
Me: "I'd miss you way too much!"

These are the sweet moments in life I adore.

10 Year Anniversary!

Todd and I celebrated out 10 year anniversary January 2nd. I can't believe 10 years has gone by so quickly. We have been blessed beyond measure these past 10 years. We celebrated by going to Fogo De Chao which is a Brazilan churrascaria. Todd has been wanting to take me there for a while, so this was the perfect opportunity. I've been to to Tucanos and Rodizio on my visits to Utah and thought it couldn't get any better than that. I was wrong. Fogo is by far the best food and service I have ever had and well worth the pricy bill. I ate WAY to much!

So then we headed to the PGA super store about 2 miles down the road. Anyone that knows Todd knows he can't be that close to a golf store and not go in. We got there close to 8:00 and they were already closed. So we headed downtown to Centennial Olympic Park to see the holiday lights and go ice skating. The park wasn't to far from where Todd works so we stopped by so I could see the building he works in and his cubical which is actually bigger than I had imagined.

His office building is really pretty. He works on the 12th floor and has an awesome view out his window. I tried to take a picture, but there was to much glare from the window. Anyway this is what his building looks like.

Just down the street from where he works is what Atlanta is know for......

Coca-Cola!!!

Anyway, so after our little detour, we made our way to Centennial Olympic Park. The lights were beautiful. I love being downtown with all the big buildings and espcially at night with all the lights. The park was beautiful!

Much like our wedding day, it was rainy, but not near as cold. Sorry about the rain spots in the pictures:(

The fountains at the park were really pretty as well. This was the only fountain that was actually on. The others had been turned off due to the severe drought that we've had.

So, Here is where it gets a little interesting. We walked down to the ice skating rink to discover it was smaller than it looked on the internet and the line was horrible and very slow moving. We debated whether or not to leave, but decided to stick it out. After almost an hour of waiting, we got our ice skates. These were not just any ice skates. These skates were designed for the sole purpose of causing so much pain to the person wearing them that they couldn't possibly skate too long without severe consequences to their feet and ankle. They were not lace up, but buckled on the sides right where the ball of your ankle is. They had to be hockey skates because they didn't have toe picks which made it a little difficult to stop. Everyone was complaining about these skates. Anyway, so we stepped onto the ice. This is what it looked like.

Almost as soon as we stepped on the ice the mini zamboni came out and this is what the ice looked like afterward......I kid you not!!

A lot of good the zamboni did. Don't ask how we managed to skate on that without falling every two seconds. Needless to say, we didn't last to long on the ice, but we had fun together anyway. After that we went to Starbucks for some hot chocolate and called it a night.

I could not have asked for a better husband and best friend. I'm looking forward to spending the next.......well, eternity with him! Happy Anniversary, Todd. I love you!!

Christmas!

Like everyone else our family has been very busy with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Todd and I are gearing up for our 10 year anniversary on the 2nd and Haley turns 2 on the 5th! Time flies!

We had a great Christmas. Katelynn put out reindeer food Christmas Eve and Scott got the milk and cookies ready for Santa! Scott was the first one up at 7:00am. He quickly went to see if Santa had arrived then woke up his sisters. Todd and I enjoyed watching the kids faces light up as they opened their gifts. One of Haley's favorite gifts was "bum bum". (They have play-doh ready in nursery when you drop them off. Todd pounds the dough with Haley and says bum bum bum. Thus play-doh being called bum bum.)

I wish I look as good as Katelynn does in the morning!!


Scott was super excited to get Lego Batman for the Wii!

Later Christmas day we went to my parents and enjoyed a super yummy Christmas dinner!

The Annual Tingen Musical

Every year we go to Todd's parent's house for Christmas Eve. They have a wonderful tradition in there family of reading in Luke the account of Christ's birth. Everyone in the family, no matter where they are in the world read it at the same time. Todd's parents invite lots of friends and family for the reading and refreshment afterwards. Once everyone is nice and full, Todd's dad plays the piano and everyone sits around singing Christmas carols and those who wish to showcase their talents are more than welcome!

Haley was old enough to really get into it this year. She loved dancing to the music, then running to her abuela for a hug.

Santa Cookies!!

It has been a tradition in my family ever since I can remember to decorate Santa Cookie. My mom still does them with Wendy and my sister Laura and I still do them as well. I love doing them, but they are a lot of work!

I ended up making at least 100. Laura said she made 200.


I actually let Scott and Katelynn help me this year which is a HUGE step for me. I was always afraid that they would mess them up. This year I decided to relax a little and not worry about how the cookies looked. After all the worst thing that could happen is we get suck eating great tasting Santas:) Anyway, Scott and Katelynn did a fantastic job and will be helping me for years and years to come:)

Family Photos

We have for the last 2 weekends been trying to take our own family photos. We set up our dining room as our studio with a plush brown blanket between the blinds of the window and put our coffee table under the blanket as our platform. We went to wolf camera and bought a remote switch for our camera so we could snap the shot while we were in place instead of setting the timer and scrambling to get set. Brilliant in theory and probably would've worked if we have 3 cooperative subjects. It was soooooo stressful trying to make the kids laugh, smile, and sit still.
After taking at least 100 photos and not one we liked, we called for reinforcements....family! We went to our neighborhood play area where there was a perfect setting for our photos. They turned out so much better and we got it done ten times faster. Lesson learned...next year, ask for help first!! I made a little video of our adventure. Enjoy!

Tinkering with Photoshop Elements

A couple of years ago Todd and I bought at Cannon Rebel digital SLR camera. We have loved every minute of using it. We've also invested in photoshop elements and a book on how to use it, which we've also had a couple of years. I thought it would be great for digital scrapbooking. I have not invested much time in learning it, so I decided to get at it. So here are couple of attempts at digital scrapbooking . It's very simple, but hey, I gotta start somewhere.


We decided that we would save money this year by taking our own family photos. More on the woes of that later. Anyway, I took these photos today. This photo is my favorite of the ones I took today.