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.

Santa is a Cow?

My friend told me about breakfast with Santa at Chick-fil-a, so we decided we'd go together. If you brought in a toy you got to have a picture with Santa. Here it is!

So not exactly what we expected. I don't know why after all it is Chick-fil-a. Anyway, it took Haley some time to warm up to the cow. First we just said hi. Then we touched him. Then we watched other kids sit on his lap and by that time she was ready to do the same. She didn't want to get off his lap. It was cute and Haley had a good time playing with her friend Sara in the play area.

Thanksgiving in Tennessee!

My side of the family met in Tennessee at my sister's house for Thanksgiving. My brother Scott was the only one not there and we missed him! Thanksgiving day there was of course eating......Sleeping.........

Holding of the new baby cousin, Trisha. (The only other girl cousin there besides Haley among the 8 boys!).........and


Identical cousins battling it out playing Guitar Hero!


This is my nephew Jacob. He's 11 years old. Scott will be 8 in February. It has been so fun watching these two grow up. I know exactly what Scott will look like when he's 11. They must have a lot of Wade in them for them to look that much alike :) Thank you Laura for having us all up for Thanksgiving. We had a blast!

Kindergarten Pow-Wow

Can I just say how much I love Kindergarten! All the kindergarten classes (tribes) got together and had a pow-wow and it was so much fun. Each tribe had decorated shirts, feathered headbands with their accomplishments on them, and a drum . Each tribe sang and danced to a song they had learned about Thanksgiving. Then all the tribes combined food that they brought to make a trail mix.

My little tag along made herself comfortable in her sister's lap. It thrills Katelynn to no end when Haley wants her big sister. Haley is known by name in both Scott's and Katelynn's class and can't leave until they have given her hugs. Haley tolerates it pretty well, but it's pretty intimidating when you have a bunch of kids in your face. Katelynn is very protective of Haley and says that no one can hold her because she is MY sister.

I was walking down the hall at the school the other day when a student I didn't recognize said, "Hey...there's Scott's mom." I thought to myself, "gee, am I really up here that much?" I eat lunch with the kids every week and they are allowed 2 or so friends to go outside or the loft to eat with them. So we try to alternate kids in the class to be fair. Here is what I've learned. A child in Scott's class has a 17 year old sister who is pregnant. Another child's mother will wash her mouth out with soap when she uses a curse word. Another child has a 4 grade brother that he loves and looks up to very much. Another child protects my baby when she's about the hit her head on the table. This same child is also responsible for bathing his 2 year old brother 2 days a week, and is one of the sweetest, most kind 8 year old I have ever met. I've learned who likes PB&J and who doesn't. I learned that my kindergartner contemplates throwing her bag of chips in the chandelier when we are eating in the loft. What going to the school has allowed me to do is see the fruits of my labor. I can see that my children are friends with good children and really don't want anything to do with the children that misbehave. It puts my fears to rest. So I will continue to go to the school and keep looking for those teaching opportunities to strengthen them from all that is out there.