Making funny faces (except Grandma) at Sunday Dinner over at Dad's with Dad, Franklin, Robby, Brooklyn, Grandma Jackie, Grandpa Dee, Me, Kiley and Kylan

The following pictures are in addition to my Halloween post right before this one. I for some reason can't get the pictures to post if I type stuff up first. Weird...

Angie decorating the spider cupcakes that we made at my house.

How cute! Little did we know that these cute little cupcakes that we dyed black for the Halloween spirit would turn everything bright green when it came out on the other end. It must've been part of the Halloween cheer. :) Yepeee!

Feeling the satisfaction in Angie's kitchen and so content with our finished product.


Angie's pumpkin (left), My pumpkin (right)

Surprise Visit!
Raylene surprised me last week all the way from NM and stayed the weekend with me. It was a lot of fun! We got to hang out all day Saturday with her sister. We started our day with some breakfast. RayRay decided that she was brave enough to try some of the organic/no sodium/no preservatives tomato bisque soup in my cupboard from work. I told her it wasn't too good, and offered her some organic salt to go with it. ;) It only had 80 calories, or should I say, "80 energy" as we now call it. She wasn't too thrilled with the soup either, but ate it up. Raylene hadn't seen the new Joseph Smith movie, so naturally we had to go see that (even though I fell asleep through the first 1/2--- It's my 4th time going). Then we had dinner that night at Tepanyaki's which is like Benihana's but better, with my mom, Raylene's sister and neice. :) Then she already had to go home on Sunday. I was sad. I try to convince her to move out here all the time.

Halloween!
Went over to Ange's the other night with Laura and her hubby to carve pumpkins. I haven't done that in years. It was really fun! My carving turned out better than expected.

Tonight Ange and I made spider cupcakes right before going to the movie, "The Prestige". The movie was a little bit weird, not what I expected, but good. It kept me guessing the whole time even though Ange in the middle of the movie said she figured it all out. Then we came back to finish up cupcake making until 3am while chattin'.

Other Stuff...
The other day Ev and I got to take an "Obseved Drug Test" for work. How awful! Yep, you guessed it. It's exactly what it sounds like. We were in this teeny tiny room with the "observer". This lady was like 2 inches in front of me. I didn't know what to do with her so close so I had her hold my cup while I whipped down my pants. I decided to make use of her while she was there. lol But wouldn't you know, I couldn't go. I squeezed out everything I could with all my might and it didn't even fill it up to the line. So, she dumped it out and told me to go drink water and come back to try again. I drank a 32 oz of water in 10 minutes and then waited a whole 1 1/2 hrs, just sitting there in their waiting room before I could go. Personally I think it was just stage fright. It's not everyday you have someone observing you do your biddniz. Know what I'm sayin'. Luckily I had to go so bad by that time that it all worked out for me. :)

Painting

Not only did I make it to the Sand Dunes this weekend but I managed to make it home in time to paint my house. :) Jim and Shanda (and Ashlynn) came over to help me get started and my mom came over to help me get finished up for the night.

Here's a picture of the accent wall I painted in the kitchen. It's Ralph Lauren, Pomegranite Red.

We painted the tallest wall in the living room to be Ralph Lauren, Suede Brown. It really does look like suede. It looks awesome. I bought so much paint that I have enough left over to paint all 3 of the bedrooms and both of the bathrooms. Hopefully I can find roommates to live with me soon. :( Here's a pic of the Living room. You have to be here to get the whole effect though.


CALLING--- Also, I got a calling today in my ward. Next week they will sustain me and set me apart to be on the Enrichment committee. I was Enrichment Leader for a year 1/2 when we were having some sort of enrichment night every other week, I had mostly "less" active people on my committee and I was working full time and taking 13 credit hours at school. So, being on the committee and only having enrichment every quarter should be a piece of cake.

Sand Dunes
This weekend we took a trip to the Sand Dunes. It was a short trip. I went down on Friday after work and met the fam there (Dad, Kiley, Kylan and Gramps) and came home Saturday afternoon. We made a camp out of it and watched Failure to Launch in the tent on my lap top. (Ok. so that's not "really" camping but still fun)

PS. You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them. Some of you tell me that you cna't see the small pictures when I post them small.

(left) We got grandpa to do the classic Charlie's Angels pose with us. What a good sport!

(right) Me watchin' some of the cool things people were doin' on Sand Mountain. It was packed at the dunes this UEA weekend!

Kylan carried this shovel around everywhere he went to dig holes. I fell in this hole that almost went up to my knee. I'm pretty much lucky to be alive.

Franklin was of course a little nuthead that was out of control. He had to chase every quad that drove by. It drove me crazy. I need to watch more of the Dog Whisperer. (sigh)

Franklin's also smart enough to try and lick liquid up from the dirt. So he had mud on his face the whole time we were there... as you can see from his picture.

Me pretend sleeping. I'm pretty much the actress of the year. You didn't even know I was pretending huh? Well, I'm going to have to post my other pictures in a different posting because it's not letting me add all of the other pic's that I want to.

Pictures from Nickelcade and Karaoke Night!

OK. So I was supposed to PhotoShop all of us in this green wig to be in one picture and I've been really lazy about doing so. So... I'm just putting all of these up separately. This is when we were all messing around at Angies Karaoke night. :)
Party Dave
Alexis
Laura2
Ange
Handicap

Party ALL night long!
Angies Birthday Bash... One of the funnest nights ever!

We started the night off with a little bit of TGIFriday's (Which by the way I ran into one of the girls Adam cheated on me with for 8 months as I was walking into the bathroom there. We didn't recognize eachother right off, but when we did we just kept walkin'.)

Anyway... then we went to the Nickelcade because it's Ange's tradition to go there every year. So I got $5 of nickels which didn't even come close to being used up. There was this game kind of like Dance Revolution but it uses your hands with light sensors instead. Kind of hard to explain, but it was fun. Wish I had one at home. lol jk. They even have video of us paling it. I wish I could add video to my blog.

We played all the old school games like Ski Ball, Air Hockey, Mortal Kombat, Mrs Pacman, Dr Mario, Bubble Bobble, Dig Dug... It reminds me of when I was litlle and used to go with my dad to Fryer Tucks in Provo, where the Flower Patch is now. When I would visit my dad in the summer I always wanted him to take me to Fryer Tucks for scones and to play Mrs Pacman. I'm the queen at that game. I even own it on my own Nintendo 64. :) hee hee

So back to the story here... At midnight we finally left Nickelcade to go to Angies house and we did karaoke til 4 am. It was fun stuff! Out of control... the dancing, the singing. It was me, Ange, Laura, Alexis and Party Dave. Bear and his brother went to bed. They didn't care too much to let loose in front of all of us.

Then I got up early to go to an eye appointment in the morning. My left eye had been bothering me for about a week. It's been sensitive to the light and swells up red at times and starts watering really heavily. When the doctor looked at it he said I had a scratch in my cornea and am lucky that it hasn't turned into an ulcer in my eye. Yikes! He reprimanded me for not coming in sooner but said that it miraculously looks like it's healing on its own. I have to go back this week to have it looked at again. I was sure that it was a result of my never taking my contacts out... ever. I was positive he'd tell me my eyes were going to fall out of my head because of it. I was glad that I just have to wear my glasses for a week and then I'm good to go with my contacts again.

PS. I have some good pic's from Angie's Bday. Keep a watch out for them in future postings. :)

Birthday Bash!
Went out with the old U-gang to Goodwood BBQ. Yumm! It was Amanda's Birthday (and Melody's too, but we're going out again for her bday). We went around the table and told funny stories about Amanda. If you know Amanda, then you know it's pretty impossible to spend an hour with her and not come out of it with a story. lol

My story of Amanda was when we were all playing games one night. Can't remember the name of the game, but it was a game that you have teams and have a word that you have to see if your team can guess it with out saying the actual word. My word was "Line-dancing". Amanda was always trying to get us to go line dancing, so to help my team out I said, "It's something Amanda always wants to go do." Amanda yells out, "ohh ohhhh.... Pole Dancing! Pole Dancing!" LOL The whole game stopped in it's tracks and everyone busted up laughing.

How creepy is this?
So, we had a BBQ at Nat's house last week. I invited Angie and Bear to come over, whom Nat has never met. The similarities between Nat and Bear are wierd.

1. Both are System Engineers
2. Both drive silver Toyota Tacoma's, same body style
3. Both have been back packing at Wind Rivers every August for the last 12 years and go to the same place each year.
4. Both of their August 2006 Wind Rivers trip happened to take place the exact same days and right next to each other at the same camp site... mind you, they had still never met at this point.
5. Both of them are totally into Mountain Biking
6. Both of them are totally into Dirt Biking

Weird, huh? Wonder if my twin is out there somewhere? Someone that drives a silver rodeo, works at corporate network marketing, loves supercross and has a pug. Whoa!

PICTURES

I couldn't get these pictures to post on my earlier posting of the "Little Sibs", I could only get the pic of Kiley to show... so here they are on their own.

Here is Samma (8) at her birthday part at Classic Skating. Woo Hoo... She is so bubbly and fun. She is also going through the "eye rolling" stage. lol Something funny she asked me yesterday is she said, "Tara, what am I to Franklin and Mayzie? Am I their cousin?" I told her that she is Aunt Samantha which she followed with, "Oh. Ok. I can live with that." ...Serious stuff. :)

Here is Emily (10). She is a "mini-mother" and likes to take care of her little sister. She also loves to play computer games with her dad. She is the one that makes sure we have the Tara Tradition routine at sleep overs. Mint ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough to eat. She can NOT come over with out it. It is essential to the whole experience.

And here's the baby of the family. Kylan is 7 and always says the funniest stuff. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth. And he always says it like a little adult too. Kids always surprise you with the stuff they say don't they? Kylan is everyone's little helper. He is so in tune with everyone's feelings around him. What a cutie!


These two may not look "little" but are still my little sibs. :) Brian,24 (left) passed away in March 2006 and Robby (right), 23 whom just got engaged as mentioned earlier. Love these boys! Robby used to be the cutest little kid and still has those cute dimples. Always the ladies man. Brian and I used to hide his underwear when we were younger and play the "hot or cold" game to see if he could find it. haa Good times!

When Brian passed away, I wrote the following in his Guest Book online and want to share it.

Brian, I'm sitting up thinking about you and all the fun times we had growing up together. I even remember when you were giving me financial advice at the mall one day when I wanted to buy clothes and you told me to never carry more than $10 cash with me. You said, "If it's important enough to buy, then you'll make the extra effort to go out to your car and get more money." Boy, I wish I'd listen to that sometimes! :) I also remember a conversation you had with me when you became a deacon so many years ago. You asked me what you should do to always make sure the gospel was apart of your life. Even at such a young age you were concerned about doing what was right. I remember telling you to be the example and be the strong one. Although you're not with us here physically, I know you still have choices and decisions to make and pray for your strength and peace. You have always been so sensitive and kind-hearted and always the person to give in for others happiness over your own. I know that you've taken all of your goodness and strength with you. I love you and miss you Brian! Even with all the craziness in our families, you'll always been my little brother.

Love Always,Tara

Me and Leah Remini. Someone told me that we look alike and I was flattered. I decided it was blog worthy. hee heee.

Women's Conference
Me, Grandma Pat, and Mom

Tonight's conference was all about feeling the love of the Lord by fulfilling our calling as a member of the Relief Society. PS. President Hinckley is so cute! I'm going to go to the conference center this next weekend for general conference since I've never seen him in person. Who knows how much longer I'll have the chance to do that.

Jenya (Mayzie's Mom) & Me

Jen just married the love of her life, Preston, last month in Catalina Island. They came back to show all their wedding stuff at an exclusive family dinner. I was lucky enough to be the only "friend" invited. :) I felt special! :D Jen and Pres moved to Vegas while Preston finishes up grad school. I'm just starting to hit reality that she is not really on a vacation and is not coming back any time soon. :( Sad! I miss my little Jen!

...speaking of friends that get married and move away. I miss my little Janerbug too! Janie and Matt just moved to Missouri so Matt could go to law school. They've been married now for a few years and have 3 kids! Man, I'm gettin' behind. I'm glad Janie still calls me in the mornings while I'm getting ready for work so we can keep up on one another. Love ya Jane!

Jen and Jane are those friends that you can go over to their house like it's your own and just walk right in and get in their fridge if you wanted to. They're the friends that you can talk to a year later like it was yesterday. I was sad when the "family" friends moved away. ...Just like dating, you've gotta look at it like, "Well, On to the next!" KIDDING-- cause I know you're reading this. hee hee Nat-B said that he'd fill in for them, but from the words of Nate, I'm apparently a pretty high maintenance friend being a girl and all. LOL. I've opened up an entire new world for Nat. The world of Tara! It's been funny to be opened up to the world of Nate as well. We've decided that our lives are like a constant Seinfeld episode. It's true!

Annie and Ev @ Gas N Go

Yay!

GAS N GO
My new friend Ev at my new job was so excited to go to the "Gas N Go" gas station and get something consumable at it, that she had us take a picture to savor the moment. She is used to the high life and hasn't done much shoulder rubbing with those of us that go on drink runs or actually buy something edible to eat at a gas station. I made sure to talk about all the white trash stuff you can think of on the way to and from the gas station as well, so she could take ALLLLL of it in. lol- Mostly we talked about SuperCross, old muscle cars, dirt bikes, the smell of gas, the sound of engines... I got it all covered. :)

THE LITTLE SIB'S

Well... I can't believe it. Kiley had her 15th birthday. I kept thinking she was still 13. ????Puzzling eh???? I don't know when she got older? My brother Robby (23) and I went over to help with the party and I will say one thing... I do not miss being a teenager at all. I am so glad that I will never have to be a teen again. lol... We took them over to the park after it got dark and let them play night games. Then we headed over to Wendy's with 20 "teens" and got all of them frosty's. Pretty much a dream party, right? lol

The Party Gal herself...

Last week I had all the mini-sib's over for a sleep over. I can't figure out why it's so fun at my house for them, but apparently I'm the happenin joint. Kylan (7), Samma (8) and Emmie (10) came over for a night of PB&J sandwiches, chocolate chip cookie dough-- a Tara tradition, and a movie. We didn't make it over to the hot tub like usual, but we still had a lot of fun.

Kylan saved up his money to buy a new pet and came home with his two new gerbils, Pepper and Gravy. They look like mice to me and I can't bring myself to touch them. However, Kylan is very (did I mention VERY) excited to have them and brings them over in their cage to grandmas so he can watch them. I think he has a frog too.

ROBBY'S ENGAGED! He just got engaged to his girlfriend of 2 years, Amanda. Amanda has a 6 year old daughter named Brooklyn. They are living in Spanish Fork right now. They will be getting married in Hawaii in Feb 2007 and having a reception here in Utah to follow. We're so happy for you guys! Congratulations!

Labor Day Weekend
I went to New Mexico and visited my good friend Raylene and her family. It was weird to be back in New Mexico. I don't think I've been there for about 5 years. Just little Frank and I drove down there. Franklin didn't get along with their dog, Kira... especially if food ws involved, but overall we had a relaxing weekend just hanging out and catching up. We even go to go hang out at one of the dirt bike race tracks. Raylene's girls are 10 years old and can tear it up out there on the dirt bike. Even her 6 year old does pretty good. :) Myk showed us all how it was done though. He meant business. He doesn't mess around on the track when he puts that helmet on. :) jk

Since I forgot to bring my camera with me, all I have on my computer to give you a dirt bike visual is of Ivan Tedesco, one of my favorite riders. Woo hoooo... He's a hottie!

Jalynn is moving out this weekend (or maybe next weekend). So... I'm back to lookin' for someone else to live in my abode.

The new job is going good. I actually just got promoted. My new title is Director of Leadership Development and Sales. Pretty cool eh? I'm really excited. I get to pretty much do what I want with the position. They are letting Leadership Development be my new "baby". We'll see how it goes. I think they are officially announcing it tomorrow. I have been doing Legal Compliance and Commissions stuff since I've been there and have enjoyed it, but am looking forward to being more involved with the company leaders and helping out with recognition and events.

Tomorrow is my little sisters birthday party. She is having a fiesta bday party with all of her friends. I'm going over to my dads (UT Dad) to help out. She turned 15 this week. I can't believe it! She said to me a couple weeks ago, "I get to drive soon!" and I said, "In like 3 years..." I kept thinking she was 13. How awful of a sister am I? When did she get older? I will have to get some good pictures of the newly turned 15 year old tomorrow. ALSO... my little brother who is 7 just got a couple of gerbils. They look like mice to me. He loves them though and has been so good about taking care of them. I bought him a little running ball and some treats for his new pets. He takes them everywhere with him. BOYS!

Oh... and a couple weeks ago, Lacy and Jeff had their baby blessing for little Breyton. I guess we can say that Lacy is my sister? For those of you that know my family, you understand what I mean by that. :) hee heee

Here's a pic from the blessing. What a cute new baby. I don't think he grows. He just stays teeny and looks the same size every time I see him.