insta-jam for april

Posted on April 30, 2012 by tara

All you other super-cool-Android-using people probably know that Instagram finally came out for us this month! FINALLY. So of course I had to play with it, and it’s actually pretty convenient and fun for when you’re out with just your phone camera (does anyone really lug their DSLR everywhere, anyway?) So I thought I’d start a monthly post to show off all the seemingly insignificant things you’d otherwise miss out on if I hadn’t documented them with Instagram. Here’s April!

Can you tell that someone has a sweet tooth? Chocolate muffins, chocolate cookies, chocolate Poptarts, chocolate Dairy Queen Blizzard… Cravings, you say? What?

1 & 2: “Mini Panda” (the Beanie Baby) joined our panda family this month. Michael’s parents were cleaning out old stuff and found him, and if you know me, you know it’s obvious that he’d end up at our house… Don’t confuse him with Panda or Baby Panda.

3: One of my very favorite parts of the day is saying good morning to my piggies. Usually when I go to fill up their pellet bowl, I look up and their little noses are right there, waiting!

4: We had a cold, rainy, GROSS day here and Maggie definitely had the right idea- eating breakfast under her blanket!

1. Michael putting together baby furniture! He ended up doing the vast majority of it by hand!

2. Subway date

3. Sunday nap. Ain’t he cuuuute? Haha!

1. My first wire-wrapped ring (a rose)!

2. The Elders unexpectedly dropped in, and one of the first things out of their mouths was “Can we hold the pigs?” They hold them every time they’re at our house.

3 & 4: Mini golf date with my buddy this past weekend!

So there you go… hope you enjoyed the nonsensical ridiculousness!

cute animals

Posted on June 10, 2011 by tara

Kevin and GiGi gave us an *almost* surprise visit last week- which meant that we also got to meet their puppy, Macie! She's 12 weeks old and a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, she's pretty cute too.

And the world is her toy.

Puppies aren't the only cute animals in this world you know, so stop drooling and look this way! What's cuter than a clean guinea pig with a summer haircut?

Animals make me happier than a pig in the mud! or… a chinchilla in the dust! or… a cat in the litter box! Wait…

happy 5th birthday Maggie!

Posted on December 20, 2010 by tara

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Okay, so her real birthday remains unknown, but she most likely was born around this time of year, since I got her in January 2006. Maybe you'll think this is tacky, but it was love at first sight for her and I. That tiny fluffball instantly became one of my very best friends. How couldn't she be, when she will always snuggle and purr and listen to me for hours on end?

Happy birthday to my little "Maggamuffin", carrot-loving, chatterbox pig. You will always be my favorite hairy mop!

and… that’s a wrap!

Posted on April 29, 2010 by tara

Nothing extraordinary happened today but I feel like writing a few things anyway…

So tonight we had some homemade chicken wraps for dinner! Yeah yeah, not so fancy, I know. But hey, if you need to make something yummy in a pinch, and you like leftovers for lunch the next day… This is a pretty good idea.

If you make two chicken breasts, you'll get about 6 wraps. I shake-and-bake the chicken for 25 minutes, and once it comes out of the oven, I throw it in the tortilla with some lettuce, parmesan cheese, and some caesar dressing. And ta-da! A non-fancy, but delicious and quick, dinner.

The other little thing I want to write about is my Maggie. If you remember back to almost two months ago, you'll recall how worried I was about my sweet girl when she went into surgery for an abscess on her neck. After a lot of staples, antibiotics, and wound-flushing, she is back to her old self =) I'm really thankful for an amazing vet who did everything in his power to help her. And everything still looks normal!

Today I let Maggie run around on the floor a little while I got their dinner ready. She waited just outside the kitchen while I washed her lettuce, and once I started bringing it over to her cage, she ran after my feet as fast as she could! Maggie's biggest personality trait is surely her love for food.

Waiting patiently:

firsts

Posted on April 11, 2010 by tara

This weekend has been great! =) Yesterday we went clothes shopping together for the first time! It was fun, but guess who ended up getting more clothes? Yeah, Michael. haha! But it's cool, since he really needed some new things, like pants and polos… At the end of the day, I did get a cute new dress.

What else was great about yesterday? We went to our first movie (at the theater) together! (Yeah, I know, kinda sad that we've been married almost a year and haven't even been to the theater together… whaaaat?!). Michael surprised me by just driving there and beckoning me out of the car! I love his surprises. Anyway, we saw "How to Train Your Dragon", which I only heard about just last week… We did the 3D version and it was fabulous! I loved it. Especially the dragon- he was cute!

Michael also introduced me to the Dairy Queen "Blizzard". I got something called "chocolate extreme" but really it tasted kinda like nuts, not chocolate. weird. At least I finally tried one right?

Today I surprised Michael with a chocolate cake. Yum! =)

Michael decided to be a duck with his pringles:

And Maggie was cuddly. She even had a bath today! =)

bah ram ewe

Posted on March 30, 2010 by tara

Yesterday was AWESOME!! I finally got out to the sheep barn! Needless to say, it was pouring down rain (yes, I was riding my bike) by the time I got there. Ah well. It was worth it. My sheep is a Suffolk ewe and she's pretty small (which is good, because realistically, I'm kind of a small person. aka not a tough strong man or anything!). Honestly, I never realized how badly behaved Bubbles (my sheep from 2 years ago) really was until I met this girl! She already walks with me without too much resistance, and we even went outside! It took Bubbles weeks to do that. The one funny thing about her though, is that sometimes, when she doesn't want to walk, she tucks up her front legs and jumps! So that's why I'm calling her Frog. You've heard of a pig that thinks it's a dog, well, here's a sheep that thinks it's a frog!

Michael picked me up from the barn and we went to Subway for dinner! A nice end to a rainy day! =)

Today, I took the divider out of the guinea pig cage. Yep, after about a month, Maggie and Juni are back together! They are thrilled to have their big cage again and have been running and popcorning like crazy! Maggie is pretty glad to be in charge again… which means Juni has retaliated by spraying pee in her face. Oh, sisterly love!

date!

Posted on March 28, 2010 by tara

It's Sunday! Today we had our ward Easter program, and it was amazing! The choir sang three songs (Michael played the piano for each of them, and of course he was amazing). The Spirit was definitely there as we sang, and I hoped the congregation could feel it too. I am really grateful that our Savior came here and was willing to sacrifice His earthly life to be able to save the rest of us. How amazing is that?

Yesterday we tried to go on a date, but basically, we realized that I am probably the most indecisive person ever. In the entire world. So Michael just got me in the car and we went out! We ended up going to Cici's Pizza for dinner- I haven't been there in forever but it was fun! My family and I used to go there sometimes and Karl would always try to take full advantage of the buffet!

We also had a Coldstone gift card and someone (aka Michael) was anxious to use it so we went there too. Yummy! I do miss real Italian ice cream though.

At the end of the night, we also ended up getting "Toy Story", which includes a free movie ticket for the third movie. Pretty good, huh?

Earlier in the week, I asked my mom to send me some of Maggie's "baby pictures". Look how sweet my girl was (and still is!):

sheep, pigs, and a test, oh my!

Posted on March 17, 2010 by tara

Ever ride a bike down a huge hill, knowing you really need to use the brakes, but it feels so good to go fast that you just… don't? The weather today was beautiful, and yes, I was riding my bike, full speed down a hill. Spring is in the air, and I know that despite all my "grown up" worries (school, jobs, etc) there's still some kid left in there. OK, probably a lot of kid. It's just fun to let go once in awhile.

Today I had a huge exam. It was so hard, and I studied so many hours for it. I might not have done well, but at least I did my very best. That's all anyone can ask.

Last night, I got "my" sheep for the Livestock show that happens next month! Basically, I get to train it, bathe it and sheer it, then parade it around a ring and hopefully win a ribbon. I am so excited. I did this 2 years ago (missed it last year since I was in Switzerland) and had a blast. My sheep was "Bubbles", and we ended up 4th in our class. Not the best, but now I am more experienced so we'll see how that goes.

Here's a picture of sweet little Bubbles just for you to enjoy:

In other news, Maggie went back to the vet today. This could be the last time, unless I want her checked up on next week. Her staples are out and the incision healed, but it has to stay open to be flushed, so the vet cut it back open. Now I'm in charge of flushing it and filling it with this white goop, until she looks like a "jelly doughnut" (vet's words, no lie!). Anyway, I'm glad my little buddy is OK and still here with me. If we didn't do the surgery, she would be gone and I would be very lost.

yumyums and more time at the vet

Posted on March 11, 2010 by tara

I've had a lot of "firsts" in the kitchen this week! Okay, well, just two:

Yesterday I made pizza from scratch! My dough turned out great, but sadly, I tactlessly dumped too much tomato sauce onto my creation. This, in turn, caused some of the cheese to come sliding off before I could even get a good photo. Oh well.

Tonight, while hubby was out playing basketball, I decided to surprise him with one of his favorite desserts: cinnamon rolls. His mom makes the best ones ever, and I've never done it before, but I figured I'd try. Can't get better if you don't try, right? Michael ate 2, so either they're really good, or he has no taste buds… haha.

(the finished product!)

Maggie went back to the vet tonight. I was really hoping he would take the staples out, say she was back to normal, and send us home forever and ever. He did say she looks great, and for that I am so thankful. But, she does still have a little bit of infection, so he replaced the antiseptic gauze that was in her wound, and stapled her back up (I must add… she was AWAKE). My little girl is so tough.

Oh… and Juni feels kind of left out. So she asked me to post her picture:

vacation, shopping, and pigs

Posted on March 7, 2010 by tara

This weekend has been so good! But it's the first weekend of Spring Break, so how could it not be? haha.

On Friday night we went to a really awesome Greek restaurant (I've looooved Greek food ever since I went to Greece last year). The food was pretty authentic, and reasonably priced, so it was a big hit. I'd definitely go back. It was also a great relief to do something fun and relaxing after one of the most stressful weeks I've had in awhile. I love date nights, and my hubby!

Saturday came and we slept in until about 10am! Ah, vacation. We started some spring cleaning. It feels pretty good to get rid of some stuff. Afterward, we went out to get a few things we needed (aka a hole puncher for my 1,000,000 pages of nutrition notes!), but we also went to the dollar store and I got some new placemats… spring colors, as opposed to the snowmen I had. blah). And I even got some pink fleece for half price at the fabric store to make some new beds for my piggies. You might be really bored reading this, but well, I find placemats and fabric oh so exciting!

(my new mats)

As for a "Maggie" update… she is doing fabulous. Today is the first day since her surgery that she has truly been her crazy self, and I'm glad. She's now somewhat tolerant of me syringing food and medication into her mouth, and she even rests her little head on her warm compress. On Friday night we temporarily divided the big cage in half so that Maggie and Juni could be "together" without Juni ripping out Maggie's staples or anything. Maggie immediately seemed more active and they have been giving little kisses through their divider. It's amazing what a friend can do for your attitude!