Climbing the Hill....

Trav is quickly approaching the over the hill mark.  We joke that he robbed the cradle with me since I was so young (19) when we got married but now it definitely has it's advantages since I am nowhere near climbing the hill to old age.  At least that is what I tell myself every time I find a new wrinkle.  All jokes aside we have now known each other for 16 years.  Since I was barely 18 when I first met him we have almost been together for as long as I was alive when I met him.  The funny thing is time doesn't make him less interesting.  The more time I spend with Trav the more funny, handsome and brilliant he gets to me.  He just keeps getting better with age!  He rolled with the punches this birthday.  It was a typically busy day in the Tollestrup house but we tried our hardest to make it a special.  Every meal he had at home we had it on his "you are special plate".  I swear that is the best wedding gift we ever got.  Thank you Meachams!  Since he is trying to be healthy I made him a healthy salad (with steak since he is a bit of a carnivore).  I tried to make his favorite dessert - a banana cream pie as healthy as could be but at the end of the day cutting out the good stuff will never compare to the real thing.  At least we kept it healthy and he says we can really celebrate after he hits his weight goal.

 

A healthy Chili Lime Steak Salad

I hope Fire Marshall Bill enjoyed his healthy banana cream pie!

Happy 38th birthday Trav!

Things we love about Trav - 

*His Fire Marshall Bill face

*His sense of humor

*The way he likes to bet his way into losing weight

*How hard he works for our family

*His laugh

*His amazing brain

*How helpful he is around the house

*The way he loves walking the kids to school

*How often he tells me how beautiful I am (constantly)

*What a big heart he has

*His relationship with God

*How fun he is to be around

*How much he loves spending time with me and talking to me

*How his mind never turns off and works circles around mine

*How cute he is with little kids

*How competitive he is

*What an amazing husband, father and best friend he is

*How he is one in a million and I thank my lucky stars every day that I somehow roped him in

 

Happy Birthday Alexis!

 

Alexis is 6 and yet again I am going to sound redundant when I say I can't believe it.  Time is on fast forward with her and I wish I could keep her little for so many reasons.  As much as I wish I could stop her from growing up we did make a big to-do on her special day.  She was counting down from mid-July on.  She requested a special dinner of macaroni and cheese and a princess cake.  Plus she wanted our family special birthday breakfast but she wanted her own spin on it.  Instead of just a smiley face she wanted it to be Minnie Mouse with a bow.  Without outright telling her that I lack all form of artist skills I pretended that I knew exactly how to make a Minnie Mouse.  Good thing 6 year olds have a fabulous imagination because she thought it was perfect.  She had a pretty special day and got plenty of attention and love.

The night before her birthday we were out to dinner with my parents and got 6 phone calls from Lexie crying because Taylor wouldn't share my book light with her.  Lexie borrows mine every night and I have to go and hunt for it before I go to bed.  I immediately ran over and bought her one of her very own.  She was VERY excited but I may have been a little more excited to not have to share anymore.

I tried to talk Alexis into a pretty low key and basic cake but she didn't like that idea.  She had a very good idea of what she wanted.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it was but I may talk her into a Costco cake for next year.

We had a fun family home evening having a family party with family and friends.  We had dinner and then cake and ice cream.  Lexie was dying to open her presents.  It may have had something to do with the big giant present waiting to be opened.  She got a big American Girl horse that she immediately named Harmony after Grandpa Tim's horse that the kids rode while we were in Canada.

Some of our favorite things about Lexie

*  Loves to snuggle with Mom

* when I squeeze her hand 3 times to say "I love you" she squeezes me back at least 15 times and tells me that she will tell me when she is done.  When she is done squeezing she will say she loves me to heaven, the stars, the moon, Florida, Disneyland, the mountains and the beaches, to Heavenly Father and back.

*Loves playing with baby dolls and stuffed animals

*  Is very shy and yet most people would be surprised to hear that

*  She idolizes her sister Taylor

*She loves dressing up and being girly

*She has a VERY strong personality

*She likes to know what time it is and how many minutes it will be until we get to where we are going or until something starts.  She asks that question CONSTANTLY.  I can't emphasize enough how much she asks "how many more minutes until...."  If I don't answer that question she says she will keep asking me until I tell her a number

*  Did I mention she is persistent?

*She is very good at bringing me all the dirty clothes so I can wash them.  Her favorite thing to do is to stuff all the dirty clothes into a pair of pants and a shirt to make a dirty clothes person. 

* She loves to make her bed with every possible blanket, stuffed animal, book and baby doll.

*Her favorite person is her cousin Mia

*  She has the most infectious laugh and loves to tell jokes and giggle

*  She loves her silky and is STILL sucking her thumb.  She is only allowed to suck it in bed but we will catch her sucking it in other parts of the house.  When we catch her doing it she says that she is just scratching her teeth.

*  She has a HUGE personality.  When she laughs she laughs hard, when she cries she cries buckets, when she screams you may have hearing loss and when she loves she loves with all she has.  We are so lucky to have this sweet and sassy little girl in our lives.  She brings a lot of joy and life into our family.  

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXIS!!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Taylor is 13.  I can't believe that she is a teenager.  My firstborn is getting so old!  She is aging beautifully and makes us proud on a daily basis.

I keep wondering when this birthday breakfast will get old but the kids clamor for it every birthday!

Taylor is our Queen of faces.  She cracks me up with the different faces she makes

I can think of a million reasons why we love Taylor but if we had to narrow it down to a few this is what stands out the most in the 13th year of her life:

*I love how she comes and kisses me every night before bed

*I love her sense of humor

*I love her funny faces

*I love how she has to paint her nails every other day (at least)

*I love her character.  She is one strong girl

*I love her sense of fairness

*I love her zest for life

* I love that she doesn't like to be far from home

*I love how tenacious she is

* I love that she has a very strong sense of right and wrong

* I love how she tries to make things work in her favor as much as possible

*I love how she reads her scriptures every night without fail

* I love that she is hard on herself and holds herself to a high standard

* I love when she plays with her siblings

* I love how musically talented she is

*I love what a good helper she is

* I love her cute texts that she sends me with the cute smiley faces or sad faces when she is sad

*I love her smile and her cute dimples

* I love how brave she is and how unique her personality is

*I love how she keeps us on our toes and keeps us in line

*I love that there is not another girl like her on the planet and that she is our forever

* I love Taylor!