New Years Resolutions

So I guess the trick to these things are to put them in writing where everyone can see so I have someone to answer to. So here goes...

1. I want to be a better wife. There are a ton of things that I know I can do to be a better partner in my relationship. I can't wait around for Matt to do the same things, hopefully he will see my improvements and it will be motivation for him to step up his side too. Matt does a lot for me and I know that I don't recognize it enough.

2. Be a better and more involved aunt. I need to make more of an effort to spend quality time with all of my nieces and nephews through out the year. I need to take a more active role in Lily's life, like I do with my other nieces.  And with a face as cute as hers who wouldn't want to spend tons of time with her!

3. I want to get healthy. Not just loose weight but honestly get healthy. I know that the way that I have been taking care of myself is not good. I need to realize that I am worth it. Until I love myself enough to make the changes that I need to make I will be forever the way I am. This will be the year that I love myself enough to change. 

4. Get a good savings account going. With all of the trials that Matt and I have gone through this year we have still managed to come out on top. However, had we had a savings account in place (with money in it :) ) those trials would have been easier to bare. One thing that we have learned is that the only people you can trust is yourself. No one else will put as much importance on your needs and goals as you do. It is time to start taking care of ourselves. 

5. Go on vacation with my family. This one will be helped along hopefully by the wedding of two of my favorite people. Matt and I had such a blast going on vacation with his family this last summer I know that we would have as much fun with my family too. I think that the last time we went on a "family" vacation with all of us was in 1992! I am going to do everything I can to make this happen this year.

Well I think that covers it all. Happy New Year everyone!

Oh the Craziness!

This year for the first time EVER Matt and I had the opportunity of hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This was such a huge change for me, for the past few years we have gone to others houses and even though we brought something for the dinner there was not a whole lot of involvement in getting dinner on the table. The first big stress was getting the house clean for the big day, and you would think that it should already be mostly clean right? I mean we just moved in a few short months ago. I guess that it might be some neurotic gene that I picked up from my mom but I just couldn't get things clean enough. I am pretty sure that Matt was looking up phone numbers for the psych ward as I was mopping the kitchen floor at 2 am the morning of Thanksgiving when I had to be up at 6 am to get the turkey in the oven. When I pulled out the carpet cleaner after that that was enough for him and I was sent to bed like a little kid. This was probably a good thing since over the next few days the 4 hours of sleep that I did get was the most sleep I got until Friday night. 

Thanksgiving dinner went pretty well, we all missed Josh for sure though. After dinner Matt and Deb went to go to visit Josh but were told that they couldn't because it was a holiday?! After they got home we played scattergories and had pie for desert.  

After everyone left Matt took me over to my mom's house for our annual strategy planning session where we plan our assault on WalMart for black friday savings. We decided to go over to Wally World and do some sneek peeking and figure out where everything was going to be placed so that we would know where to send the army when we got there. Even with all of this recon we still missed out on a few things that we wanted. There were so many people there! It was crazy! After we finished our assault on WalMart we headed over to JoAnn's for the fabric sale where we spent six lovely hours waiting in line to have our fabric cut. We meet some really cool people though. After JoAnn's we went to lunch and then home to mom's to look at what we scored. Ashlee and I went to Ben Franklins after that where I found the stuff to make Deb and Pat and Missy's Christmas presents. 

I just have a few more people to buy for and then I should be done, Jordan and the 5 kiddo's and something to give Josh when he gets home. 

So I recently got the opportunity to use my new toy that Matt bought me as an early Christmas present (okay so I have been begging for it for about a year now), my Nikon D60 DSLR camera. Can I just say I LOVE IT! I have done a couple of shoots for my sisters and I have had so much fun! Don't get me wrong, I still have a ton to learn but I think I am starting to get the hang of things.

First I took some pics for Ashlee of Tessa for her birthday invitations. Ashlee knew that most of Jared's family didn't a have a current picture of Tessa so she wanted to send them each one so that they could see just how big she is getting. My parents have this really cool maple tree in their backyard that had recently dropped its bright red leaves. They were the perfect backdrop for the pictures. They turned out great and most of all Ashlee loved them.

The second shot that we did was down in Provo at the state mental hospital. I know, I know! Who would have thought! If you ever have the chance to get pictures done here take it! It is one of the best places that I have ever taken pictures! The pictures there turned out great and everyone was happy with them.

I can't wait for this winter so I can try the camera out in the snow!

Halloween fun!

This weekend was a busy one for sure. We decided to pack as much fun in as we could in a few short days. Since my sister Erin shares visitation of her two girls with their dads she is not going to have them on Halloween weekend. So on the schedule was a kids Halloween party on Friday at my house and then Black Island Farms and Trick or Treat Street on Saturday with a sleepover at my house after that. It was a busy but fun weekend for sure.

The kids had a blast at the party at my house. We had a spooky dinner, battered fingers (mini corn dogs) curly brains (curly fries) drippy witch noses (pears and apples dipped in caramel) and ghost goo or ghost poop as Maddi called it (marshmallows). After that we played a few games and gave out prizes and then let the kids play while the adults visited.


Saturday was the long day with activities all day long. First we went to Black Island Farms in Syracuse. It is a really cool place with lots to do. There are a couple of corn mazes, a farmers market, hayrides out to the pumpkin patch and a place call the courtyard that is full of things to do. They have animals to pet, huge hay slides, a mini train for the kids, a pumpkin bouncy house and a huge tube slide!

I think that this one was the high light of Taber's day, even though the girls didn't like it all that much.

Saturday night we took the kids to Trick or Treat Street down in Sandy at the Expo center. They had a blast going from door to door knocking and trick or treating at each one. It was definitely a busy but memorable weekend.

We also learned that one of Matt's mom's young cousins passed away last week due to complications with diabetes. Nick and his family, Grace, Zach and Gary are in our hearts and prayers during this trying time. Nick was 19 years old and a freshman at the University of Utah and is loved and missed by many.

I'm ready for things to slow down...

Well we are finally moved into our house... well mostly! There are always those few boxes of stuff that either had a spot at the last place and don't now or are full of stuff that you just can't or won't get rid of. For example the boxes, and I emphasize BOXES, of papers and trinkets and nicknacks that we have accumulated over the last 30+ years that for some reason hold great sentimental value. How long should I keep a hold of the poems that I wrote in 7th grade?

Other than those few things that are just hanging around everything is going great. Matt and I are both working from home, which was a challenge to get used to, and are excited for the next few months to watch the business finally come together.


Our puppy is getting bigger daily, she is 14 weeks old right now and at that curious stage, she wants to get into everything and is going through a chewing phase right now. Last night we took her over to my mom's house with us and let her just run in the back yard. She loves the grass! We need to get the yard in for her soon, she definitely needs a place to be able to run safely.

We are definitely loving having our families close to us. I have had the chance to get to know Josh a lot better this summer and have enjoyed watching him get to know my sisters and my family. I hope that the next year can be a good one for him, he deserves a good one.

I am totally looking forward to the next few months, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are some of my favorite times of the year. We are going to have a kids Halloween party this weekend for all of the little ghosts and ghouls in our families. I can't wait to have a spooky good time!

Wow! I can't believe my luck lately

Since it has been a while I thought that now would be a good time to reflect on all of the wonderful things that have happened recently in life.
Matt and I recently had the opportunity to spend an entire week on the Oregon Coast with most of his immediate family. Not only was the area out of this world beautiful but we had the greatest time getting to know his family better. Matt and his brother Patrick went out on a 12 hour tuna fishing trip on one of the days. Pat ended up not doing so well and was sea sick for 11 of the 12 hours. However when they got back to the dock rather than complain about what a bad trip it was he sat and complemented Matt on what a great brother he was and how he had taken such good care of him while he was sick. Pat said that Matt would come in the cabin of the boat every so often and check on him, ask how he was doing and see if there was anything he could do to help. Then at the very end there was one more tuna that had been caught on one of the poles and Matt went in and insisted that Pat come out and reel the last one in so that he would have at least one fish to take home. I love that I am married to a man that enjoys all that life offers but also makes sure to include those around him and makes sure to take good care of those he loves too.
I also had the chance to spend some time with Matt's grandma Virgie who is an absolute crack up! She had us in stitches from the beginning of the trip clear until the end. She was just like a little kid, so excited to share a place with us that she really loves. She called us 3 or 4 times the week before the trip to make sure that we were excited to go and that we couldn't wait to be there too. She took us to the sand dunes and went on a giant dune buggy ride with us that took us to some of the most beautiful areas. There was one place that you were surrounded by sand and then all of the sudden there was the ocean. It was amazing!
It was also a chance for me to hang out with Pat's wife Melissa and their daughter Lily. Melissa and I both realized that we have a lot more in common than we thought and that we have had to deal with a lot of the same kind of things through out our marriages. And Lily, what can I say other than AMAZING! She is one of the most calm enjoyable babies that I have seen. She was an angel on both of the flights and was perfectly content when we were in the car for hours at a time. The mornings were the best with her, she was so happy and talkative and giggly that you couldn't help but smile when she looked at you. Right now she is 11 weeks old and her parents love her so much! Watching them with her was a true treat.
I also ended up being the navigator for Matt's mom while she was driving, that was fun. We only got lost about 4 times . It was fun to get to see all of the fun stuff that she had told us about from all of her trips to the coast before.
So we had a wonderful trip and now it is time to move on to buying our first house. We have found the one, put in an offer, had it accepted, had the home inspection and appraisal done and now we are just working on getting the financing wrapped up. We should be ready to close by the 8th of September. Then we do have some cleaning and repairs to do before we can move in, the previous owners had lost the house due to foreclosure so they didn't exactly leave it in the best condition. We are hoping to be in before Matt's birthday so that we can have a huge birthday/house warming party that weekend.

So in conclusion, it is nice to be in the postition we are in right now, loving every minute of this wonderful life!

Wow what a husband!

So I am total new at this blogging thing but I thought that I would try it out. Right now I am listening to my husband tell me all about the joys of being in California, including the way that you get paid for bring your cans back to the store. I know that he really wants to move there for this job but I am just not convinced. He is such a romantic, burping and coughing in my ear! I really do miss him though, it has only been two days since he left to go out there for a while to get up to speed on the project that he will be working on from home when he gets back. Sometimes the most random stuff comes out of his mouth, I get the biggest kick out of listening to our sometimes one sided conversations.