thanksgiving 2014

Posted on December 9, 2014 by tara

We spent Thanksgiving weekend with my side of the family this year. It was the first time in a while that we didn’t run back and forth between both families’ homes, and while we definitely missed having more time with Michael’s family, it was nice to stay in one place. These goobers weren’t really interested in having their pictures taken… … but at least they humored me for a decent mommy-daughters photo.
This was the biggest dinner I think my parents have ever hosted. The picture doesn’t even show how long it really was, but there are two tables combined under those tablecloths!
My dad always always always carves the turkey.
Karl brought his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, who put up with all our shenanigans (and Karl’s loudness!) for the duration of the weekend.
Kaya only wanted to eat her utensils. I don’t think she even took a bite of her Thanksgiving dinner. She ended up having a yogurt, and if you know her very well, you’re probably laughing, because that’s what she eats every single day. Why have turkey when you can have the usual?
Kaelyn just enjoyed her toys.
My mom was the only person that could really hold her (and at times, even look at her), without making her upset. I think she was just sleep-deprived and a little unsure of all the chaos. I felt a little disappointed that my family didn’t even get to enjoy Kaelyn as the happy baby she always is!Kaya didn’t have any good naps, so she was a bit tired too.On Friday, we headed up to the temple with Michael’s family. It was the first time we’ve gone in over a year. It felt so amazing to just be there with my best friend and feel the quiet and peace the temple offers.
We had such a great weekend surrounded by our family.

conference weekend

Posted on October 8, 2014 by tara

General Conference happens twice a year, and I have to say, those are some of my very favorite weekends! Who wouldn’t want to sleep in, indulge in some home-cooked breakfast, cuddle up on the couch with your family, and have uplifting gospel messages broadcasted right into your living room?

This cute girl was pretty excited for her first conference. Actually, she’s just happy (almost) all the time. But she definitely enjoyed all the extra snuggles.

We kicked off Sunday morning with some homemade chocolate-chip pumpkin pancakes! I might be a little obsessed… I had already made a bunch of them before anyone else in the house was awake. Kaya came out of her room and immediately got excited (she also tried to call them “cupcakes”…)!

Here’s one of my many favorite quotes from this conference:

By the end of the weekend, we were all pretty tired, and might have passed out during the last session…I just love the extra time we get to spend together as a family, and I definitely came away feeling inspired to make a few changes and improvements. I’m grateful that we can learn, grow, become better, and feel the Savior’s love!

kaelyn’s blessing day

Posted on August 25, 2014 by tara

Kaelyn received her baby blessing on August 10th- two weeks ago already! So I’m super late at posting this, but hey, at least I’m catching up.

She had the most beautiful dress, made by her Great-Grandma Teerlink. I hope that one day in the future, Kaelyn might use this dress to bless one of her daughters in. It really is something special to have! Michael gave her an amazing blessing. She has the potential to grow up to be one amazing girl.
We had all of Michael’s family (minus Kevin and Tori), Grandma and Grandpa Teerlink, and my mom come up for the blessing. So many people love our little girl. Four generations! We didn’t get a great shot of the four of us… but here’s the best of what we have. Better than nothing!I’m so grateful for my little family and special days like these. 🙂

friday favorites

Posted on August 15, 2014 by tara

This week, all the kids went back to school, and while it normally wouldn’t affect us, it does now, because Michael was called to be the early-morning seminary teacher for our church ward! His class starts at 6 am, so we’ve adjusted our routines and have been trying to get to bed a little earlier (which is something we’ve never been good at).

It’s obvious that he already loves his class. He’s definitely going to be an amazing teacher.

Friday tradition states that someone brings breakfast in for the class. It was our turn this week, so I made my mom-in-law’s famous homemade cinnamon buns.Kaya has been crazier than ever… She runs from one end of the house to the other as fast as she can, happily yelling and giggling. She’s also finally figured out how to ride this stick pony that one of Michael’s coworkers gave her a few weeks ago. I’m betting she asks us for a real pony before the age of five.

When she’s not being a wild monkey, she’s hiding in the kitchen cabinets. She makes Kitty hide among my tupperware in the opposite cabinet now, too.

Kaelyn suddenly stopped looking like a newborn this week. She’s got a little chub in her cheeks now! If she’s not eating or sleeping, she’s usually smiling 🙂

I could snuggle her all day… and sometimes I pretty much do.

I survived my first solo trip to the grocery store with both kids. There was pretty much no room in the cart, and we didn’t buy much, but I was just proud we did it!

We visited Michael at work yesterday, and unbeknownst to us, apparently it was “food truck day”. Michael splurged on a snow cone and Kaya loved feeding it to him. Eventually, she decided it was my turn too!Happy Friday!!!

blog every day in may | day 5: a favorite quote

Posted on May 5, 2014 by tara

I can’t say that this is my very favorite quote of all time, but it’s definitely one that stood out to me during our past General Conference. I just love how it shows that God is very aware of us and our needs. He’s there and will help us in His own time. Read the whole talk here.

Printable here.

Linking up with Erin!

blog every day in may | day 2: one of my goals

Posted on May 2, 2014 by tara

Ever since March, one of my goals has been to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days. It’s a goal that our Young Women’s Presidency challenged the youth to accept, and I knew I definitely should do it alongside them.

It’s no small feat, and I’ve never really been a master of the scriptures. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand the language, but by having a set goal, I’m learning to just do my best to understand and move on through the stories.

I have to be honest, I’ve fallen a little bit behind. I felt discouraged and almost wanted to quit… but Michael helped me see that giving up wasn’t going to get me anywhere. It’s better to read slowly than not read at all!

Here’s to hoping I’m finished by the end of the month 🙂

Linking up with Erin!

hop hop hop

Posted on April 22, 2014 by tara

At mealtime lately, Kaya has been saying “hop, hop, hop!” as her food gets closer and closer to her mouth. It’s adorable, and since we just celebrated Easter, I can’t think of a better title for this post!

If any food could really hop, it’d be these donut bunnies! This is how we started off our Sunday morning 🙂
Kaya was unsure about it at first, but she was overly excited when she realized that her breakfast was a bunny:The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house, and I think he spoiled Kaya just a little!(The Reese’s are to share with Daddy, of course…)She loved her puzzle and had to point out every chicken to Daddy.Ponies…Her very favorite was this little wind-up bunny. It hops like crazy and she LOVES it.She’ll give him a kiss, but is too afraid to pick him up. Jax was a little too interested (as you can see) and has already tried to eat it.We had a great day at church. Michael gave a talk and I taught a lesson, which helped us both focus on the true meaning of Easter. I am so thankful for Christ and His resurrection, because this way I can keep my little family forever.

Jeff and Lelia came over and we all had pulled pork, potatoes, and salad as our holiday meal. Yum! I didn’t take any pictures, but we had a fun (and delicious) time! 🙂

conference weekend… aka we ate a lot of breakfast

Posted on April 7, 2014 by tara

This weekend was our church’s General Conference, which means that we get to stay home and listen to a whole lot of inspiring talks all weekend long. If you missed it or want to listen to any of the talks, you can get them all here!

General Conference weekend usually means that we cook a special breakfast. Pregnancy cravings must’ve gotten to me, because I made breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. Baby wanted protein, and these German pancakes (they have six eggs in them. SIX.) definitely hit the spot. Way better than regular pancakes!

We had Ben and Brittany over for brunch before the session! Kaya might look like she was about to dig in… but she wouldn’t even try them.On Sunday morning, I made these cinnamon roll bites. Unlike the pancakes, Kaya ate a bunch of them! They’re a lot easier than regular cinnamon rolls, and just as tasty.
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset I love sharing this special time with my little family (Kaya was actually watching conference when we took this picture)! It is so hard to believe that at the next conference in October, we’ll have two sweet girls to cuddle and love.I’m so thankful that families are forever 🙂 I’ll end this post with one of my very favorite quotes from President Uctdorf’s talk:

(source)

Hopefully Conference gave you the spiritual boost you needed! Happy Monday 🙂

currently…

Posted on March 25, 2014 by tara

Counting down in double digits until baby gets here… 99 days! I can’t believe it. I feel like I’ve done nothing to get ready for her yet!

Loving having a little baking buddy! She waits (sometimes not-so-patiently) for me to finish using the mixer so she can lick the beater. She loves taste-testing everything (this chocolate frosting is officially Kaya-approved 🙂 )

Thinking about taking some kind of family trip before Peanut comes. It’s our five-year wedding anniversary this year, so I kind of wanted to do something a little extra special and have one last hurrah as a family of three. We’ve never really taken a “vacation” on our own, so it intimidates me a little bit and I haven’t actually made any concrete plans!

Taking naps every. single. day. It’s ridiculous, but I’ve been feeling so worn out. I remember getting that “first-trimester exhaustion” again during the third trimester with Kaya… but I’m not even that far along yet, so hopefully all my napping will help ward off the extreme fatigue for a while. I’m just grateful that Kaya has been napping so well lately!

Reading the Book of Mormon in 90 days! Our Young Women Presidency challenged the youth to do it, so as secretary, I felt it was important for me to complete, too. We are almost a third of the way through now, and I’m so proud of how well our girls are keeping up with it.

Singing songs from “Frozen” every moment of the day! We’ve been listening to the soundtrack for months now, but we finally watched the movie. It definitely lived up to the hype! I know that in a couple years, I’ll have two little girls pretending to be Elsa and Anna, and that just melts my heart.

i didn’t always know

Posted on March 18, 2014 by tara

Tiny toes curled up under a blanket, eating cereal and watching the snow fall softly.

I didn’t know that this is the kind of joy that comes from motherhood.

I never knew how full my heart could be.

These two little girls have shown me love in a form I didn’t even know existed.

I am so beyond grateful for their lives. I’m amazed when I look at our little family.

They are all mine.

I’m thankful that Michael chose me to be his wife, and that I’ll get to learn and grow with our girls each and every day.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

BUT…

If you would’ve asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up anytime between the ages of 4 and 19, I would have told you that I wanted to be a veterinarian, and that I wasn’t going to get married or have kids. There’s nothing wrong with having a career goal, but thinking that I almost missed out on the things that now mean the most to me is crushing.

I’m so glad my heart changed.

There is no professional or academic achievement that could provide me with the sense of wholesomeness that being a mother does. There’s just something about a warm little body curled up on mine, calm and breathing deeply, that fills my heart with purpose.

This is what I was born to do.I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my days.
“Children” by Elder Neil L. Andersen

Michael and Tara

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