Celebrating 5 Years!

It's official! Today Gordon and I celebrate 5 years of marriage!! It's definitely been a fun ride and I'm grateful everyday for this awesome hubby I have! Here are 10 of my favorite things about Gordon:

1. His testimony of the Gospel.
2. He always takes such good care of us.
3. His relationship with Tyler. He is a great dad!
4. He knows how to cut loose, be silly and have fun.
5. He is such a hard, self-motivated worker.
6. He always puts family first.
7. His sensitive side.
8. His puppy dog eyes. It's no question who Tyler gets them from!
9. He is one hansome man! :)
10. He's so forgiving and always puts up with all my crap.

Thanks for 5 awesome years, sweetheart! You're the best and I'm so grateful we get to share this journey together.

New Recipe Blog

Hey all! I decided to start storing my recipes online so I don't have to cart my recipe books should we end up moving again this summer. It's not anything spectacular but I just wanted to let anyone know who is interested. Most of the recipes I'll be putting on there are ones I make from the Richards and Manning family cookbooks. I'll still be posting any new recipes I try on Annette's recipe blog but I just wanted a better way to access the recipes I use a lot from anywhere. (It has also been a good excuse to dust off some recipes I haven't cooked in a little while.) Visit it here. Happy cooking, everyone!

P.S. Should you visit this new recipe blog, please ignore the amateur photography. I've been posting pics of my own cooking and not that of professional food photographers. It is lacking to say the least but just because it may look gross in the pic doesn't mean it actually tastes that way...hopefully! :)

Our Little Sports Fan

I think that boys must just be born with a love for sports. Gordon was watching the Cleveland/Miami basketball game tonight and after cheering for a great play, Tyler decided to follow suit. It was so funny I just had to pull out the camera and try to catch it. As soon as we realized Tyler was mimicking Gordon, well, this is what happened...



Or watch it here.

The Holiday Bug

It's official! I've got the holiday bug. I know there are those of you who hate those of us who start with the Christmas carols and movies as soon as Halloween is done but I just can't help it! It may be because last year I was getting ready to have my gall bladder removed and was eating nothing but cereal and smoothies but I am EXCITED for this Thanksgiving/Christmas season! I've been starting to watch a few of my favorite Christmas flicks and loving every minute of it! So I thought I'd post a list of my faves (in no particular order):

- Miracle on 34th Street (old & new but especially new)
- Home Alone (Gordon's personal favorite)
- Home Alone 2 (equally as hilarious as #1)
- Elf
- The Santa Clause: 1, 2 & 3
- It's A Wonderful Life (always reminds me of my parents)
- The Nativity
- A Season for Miracles (makes me cry every time!)
- Snow (a great one for kids! Even Tyler watched it with me!)
- Luke 2
- How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version- not a fan of the Jim Carey one.)
- All the clay-mation movies
- The Disney Christmas Collection (Scrooge is awesome!)
- A Christmas Carol (always a classic!)
- I'll Be Home For Christmas ("Oh, no!! I went and killed Santa!") :)

Let's face it! I just LOVE this time of year! Happy (early) Holidays everyone!

Halloween 2009

It was another awesome year of fun games, yummy food and silly costumes over at the Manning house! Holidays with the Manning clan are always a big deal and we wanted to send a big THANK YOU out to Mom for making it another year to remember. My sisters have already posted a lot about what went on so I'll just add a few pics we took so you don't have Manning party overload...

This is Tyler and Josh in their costumes. Tyler was Woody from Toy Story and I thought he looked adorable! He hated having his hat on as you can see in the picture and his boots kept falling off but he put up with it for at least a little bit! I love seeing Josh and Tyler together. They're still figuring each other out but are starting to have more fun together. Josh was dressed up as a cute little monster and put up with his costume a little better than Tyler did...





One of my favorite parts of Halloween is our dinner menu. Here's a few of the selections from this year. Yummy stuff!!

Witch's Blood used for toast at the beginning of dinner:

Homemade Rootbeer Cauldron

Mummy Rolls

Dinner In A Pumpkin

The Jello Brain


Thanks again Mom for all of your hard work and to everyone else for making it another spook-tacular Halloween!!

So I've Decided...

1. You will always run into to people you know while out running errands on days when you look like total crap. Days when you actually spend time making yourself half-way presentable you will encounter only total strangers.

2. You will only receive unexpected visitors at your house when it is dirty and messy, never when you've just finished cleaning.

3. Babies always decided to start waking up in the middle of the night when you're already sleep deprived and going to bed too late yourself.

All For A New TV??

The last week has been somewhat of an adventure. After 3 years of talking about, researching, and shopping for a new tv to replace our tube in the living room, Gordon finally found the right one at the right price. Every summer I'd tell him that if he hit his sales goal he could reward himself with something big and even though every year he's made the mark he hasn't made his big purchase. So, I thought it was about time we made good. Anyway, long story short, he told me that because he was excited about the new tv, I could get excited about redecorating to incorporate it into the living room. I think he might now be regretting having said that because decorating is one of my favorite things and as soon as he said those blissful words I jumped on it. Needless to say, it's been a lot of work but we're just about finished. Just to incorporate this new addition we've had to involve the rest of the house and do some deep cleaning I hadn't entirely bargained for. I'm hoping all of this cleaning and rearranging and furniture moving will be worth it in the end. I guess we'll see!

PARTAY!!

Last weekend we celebrated Tyler's birthday. It was so fun to do all of those 1st Birthday traditions and Tyler had a blast! Because both Gordon and I come from big families, Tyler got to celebrate twice! Once with each side of the family. That meant two cakes to dig into and he was loving it!! We only wish our WA and PA family could have been there! It was so fun to see him open gifts, dig into his first cake, and play with everyone. Thanks to everyone who came and for all of the fun toys you gave Tyler. We really appreciate you all helping us make this such a special day for him!

Nancy lent us her amazing cake decorating skills to create this awesome cake! Thanks so much Nancy!! It turned out sooo cute!



It was so fun watching Tyler interact with everyone. I think at first he was a little overwhelmed by all of the people in our house but he warmed up quickly!



He actually caught on to the whole concept of opening presents pretty quickly and has been all about playing with his new toys ever since!



He wasn't sure about blowing out the candle but he quickly figured out there was a big heap of sugar underneath it. Once we gave him a spoon, he dug right in and chowed down as long as we would let him!



I still can't believe he's a year old! Time simply flies by too quickly! I feel like before we know it he'll be asking to borrow the car keys! Thanks again to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

My Baby Is 1!!!

I can't believe it but we have officially hit the year mark! What an amazing year it has been! Tyler turned 1-year-old yesterday! We celebrated the day with a couple of other firsts: his first hair cut and his first photo shoot with someone other than family. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did with both too. With the exception of a little nervousness about what scissors were doing approaching his head, the day went marvelously! We finished it all off by opening just a couple of presents from mom and dad and all in all, it was a fun day. Official celebrations are being held this weekend so hopefully we'll get some good shots of Tyler diggin into some cake... Happy Birthday, Tyler!! We are so lucky to be your parents and are so grateful for all of the joy you bring to our lives. You are one amazing kid!

Here's just a little taste of the photo shoot. I'll post some more when I have time.




A big thanks to Heather Telford for the amazing photos she took. To see more of Heather's work go here.

Then What?

Today I'm reporting from yet another hotel room. Yesterday our office moved yet again to the wonderful city of Lubbock. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you choose to look at it, we won't be able to explore this city as we're flying home tomorrow. Do you hear my inner shouts of joy yet? But as I was inspecting our current living quarters today I read the "In Case of Emergency" instructions posted on our hotel door. Here's what I read:

IN CASE OF FIRE: FEEL YOUR DOOR

If the door is not hot:
1. Open the door. Take a wet towel with you.
2. If hall is smoky, stay low, put a wet towel over your face.
3. Go to the nearest stairway. Go down to the first floor and exit the building.

If the door is hot do not open.
1. Stuff wet towels under the door.




Then what? That's all she wrote! So what do I do after I stuff wet towels under the door? Do I call 911? Do I attempt to break our third story window with the coffee table and throw my child to safety? Do I hide in the bathtub with the shower running? Do I pray to the powers that be that the fire magically passes us by? Needless to say, I was left feeling a little less than prepared...

The Smoking Gun

Let me start by saying that I have a sensitive nose. Smells get to me like no other! It doesn't matter if it's a good smell or a bad smell, I simply can't stand it when my house, hands, or surroundings smell strongly of something for a prolonged period of time. Freshness, that's what I'm about...good CLEAN air! Unfortunately, we've been dealing with one of the most offensive scents as of late. Cigarette Smoke. Now before someone jumps down my back for not being accepting of other lifestyles, let me say that I have no problem with individuals who choose to poison themselves in the great outdoors. Like the "Marlboro Club" that congregates outside the hotel door for example. I can hold my breath long enough to make it upwind from the oh so NOT wonderful smell of nicotine. And I'll admit that their habit actually comes in handy when I'm making my way towards that key-card entry door with a heavy baby and an arm-full of groceries. There's always one of them thoughtful enough to open the door for us. But I must draw the line somewhere! So today I had to be the person I normally hate. You know the ornery picky one who complains to management? But I had to resort to calling the front desk today when, for the third day in a row, I smelled cigarette smoke. Hopefully they'll find that smoking gun soon and I'm sure when they do there will be someone in the hotel cursing my name for being that ornery person. But, if that's the price I have to pay for clean air, SO BE IT!!

Great Portrait Spots in UT?

As I've been trying to keep myself busy here in TX, I've decided a good use of this time would be to plan out all of the things we need to do when we get home so I'll be super organized. (Ha, ha, right?) For example, Tyler's 1st Bday Party, Christmas Cards, Family Pics, etc. Recently I've been online trying to find great places near home to take family pics and I've come across a couple in my search that I've never heard of or been to. So, I thought I'd ask ya'll (yes, we've been in TX too long) if you've ever taken photos here or know of any other good places near Provo to take family pics? One is The Castle Amphitheater in Provo and the other is Exchange Place in SLC. I'm hoping to find somewhere close to our house so Tyler will be as happy as possible so I'm leaning towards the Castle Amphitheater. Any other good spots anyone knows about?

Our LONG Absence

Hello to all you strangers!! Our apologies for not posting in such a very long time. I can pinpoint two reasons for being such a slacker. So, in my defense,

1. I have officially lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer hence, no pictures. :( I'm working on a way to convince Gordon that this means that I need a new camera (hint, hint) but my suspicions tell me it's probably in the storage unit with all of our other crap. Smart packing, right?

2. For those who don't know, our office moved to another city in TX and for the last few weeks we have been living in a hotel room. It doesn't leave much to blog about as life is pretty BORING right now.

So, there you have it. Thanks to all of you who have been keeping our lives exciting by sharing all of the awesome things you've been up to! On the off chance that a miracle happens and I find my camera cord we'll post some pictures of just how "exciting" hotel life can be. Tyler definitely keeps me on my toes and has managed to discover every box I thought I had so carefully tucked away in the few corners we have available and pulled their contents out. Apparently I needed to do some reorganizing anyway. But, all in all, life is good and we are surviving. Only a few more weeks and we'll be back among the living!!

Sea World and Father's Day

Sorry this post is a little slow...This last Sunday we headed down to San Antonio for another fun day with the Drurys. Gordon hasn't been able to do anything fun because he's been working so hard. He's such a great husband and father and he definitely deserved a day off. So, for Father's Day we decided we needed to really celebrate. The Georges came down with us and we had a blast spending the day with Shamu and all his pals. Thanks for taking such good care of us Nancy and John!





Just ignore all the shiny faces. We pretty much melted to death in the 100+ heat.

Alice in Wonderland

I saw this pic of Johnny Depp the other day. He's playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's remake of Alice in Wonderland. I'm a big Johnny Depp fan and this looks like one crazy costume!! Check out those eyelashes!

Motherhood

Allow me to be sentimental for a moment...

I did some scrapbooking with my friend Jessica today and it's amazing how memories can come flooding back all at once. She's expecting and as were talking about pregnancy, child birth, and raising children I was thinking back on when our little guy was born. It's really strange how someone can be a part of your family for only 8 mo. but at the same time feel like they've been with you forever. Because of our unique situation in this traveling gypsy life of ours, Ty and I spend A LOT of time together. Mostly it's just the two of us and I have felt, especially lately, my "mother heart" growing. Being a wife and mom is my favorite thing in the world and although there are many, many, many days when I am a far from perfect one, it's the imperfect moments that sometimes teach me the most. I'm sure there will be days down the road when, like my mom used to say, the word "mom" will be a swear word in our house. And I'm sure there will be days when I'll be barracading myself in my room to just have a moment of peace and quite. And I'm sure there will be days when I'll have to remind myself why I love being a mom so much. But, until then, I'm going to enjoy sitting on the floor reading picture books and observing an 8 mo old try to figure out how to feed himself and especially, watching the beautiful expression on the face of a little one who is sound asleep in your arms...truly priceless!

Counting Blessings

I just saw this amazing video on Oprah. It's the story of a little baby boy named Eliot. A word of caution before you watch it, if you're not in the mood for a tear jerker this is not the video for you. I bawled from beginning to end. But, if you need an inspirational story of an amazing family and a reminder of how truly blessed you are, watch this video. Just be sure to pull out the tissue first!!

Watch it on YouTube here.

How grateful we are for our healthy little boy and reminders like this that we should cherish every moment.

8 Months Old!

Where does the time go? Tyler is officially 8-months-old. It has been so fun watching him grow and develop his own personality. It's crazy to think he's no longer a little new-born. So, to commemorate his being 3/4 of a year old, we had a little amateur photo shoot. (I was the photographer so I mean extremely amateur.)

And here's one for the baseball fans...

Table Place Setting Idea

I absolutely love this idea! I'm not sure what you would put in the flower pot...something edible? A party favor? I just think it makes such a cute place setting. I am craving a good dinner party with a beautifully set table right now!

A Personal Commitment

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I've stumbled across several television specials aimed at "educating" the public on topics such as finance and global warming. And I'll be honest, some of it nearly scared me to death. Not only are we enviromentally flushing ourselves down the toilet, we're sending our financial security with it. But then I got thinking- and perhaps it's the do-it-yourself attitude that my parents live by taking over- but I feel like part of the problem this new generation of Americans has (myself included) is that we take too much for granted and forget all about our personal obligation to stay informed, educated and responsible. I, for one, am tired of sitting around waiting for someone else to solve these problems we've been hearing so much about. I feel like that's what everyone is doing. Just waiting! And what is getting done in the mean time? Absolutely nothing! So, today I've determined I need to renew my personal commitment to be more informed and more active. To take responsibility for the environmental footprint that I'm leaving. To take control of my own life and finances and stop hoping that our good ol' Leader and Chief will somehow make this "change we can believe in" improve our situation for us. As I've thought about all of this over the last few days, the WWII poster came to mind. I've been wondering where this sentiment of "roll your sleeves up and get to work" went to? And I think it's time I stopped sitting on the side-lines and become invested in making the future for my children better. Who else is going to do it afterall?

Did You Know?

You can watch full episodes of shows like MacGyver, Jericho (seasons 1 & 2) and Beauty and the Beast on cbs.com? Ahhh! Good ol' Beauty and the Beast! Anyone else remember that show? Classic! Anyway, I guess that's what a lazy day spent surfing the net in my pjs will get me...

Check it out next time you have a pajama day by going to cbs.com and resting your mouse on shows and looking under TV classics.

A Little Unconventional

Tyler has discovered a hidden musical talent. Typically I'll play the kazoo and then hand it to him and he'll just suck on it. Not today! Who knew we had such a gifted child?!
(Our apologies for it being sideways. Anyone know how to rotate videos? I simply could not figure out how to do it!!)



Or view it here on YouTube.

10 Things I Survive On

10. Blogs to read at 2:00am- or 4:00am, whichever it happens to be that day.
9. Ritz crackers and water
8. Great movies
7. Craft stores
6. Sweat pants
5. Naps
4. Air conditioning
3. The few short hours I get to see my hubby each day
2. Chocolate
1. Smiles and giggles from Tyler

What do you survive on?

Green Beans! Yum!

I was getting ready to have a few pics printed for Ty's scrapbook and came across a few that I had forgotten about. We've been practicing eating solid foods with him and he is doing marvelously! He's always been a really good eater as you can see from those cheeks in the picture below. He hasn't always been too sure about green beans however...



And this one is for Grandpa and Grandma Richards. This hat was a Christmas presents from them and has been a lifesaver in this hot TX weather. It's a must-have for our daily walks. We start our Mariners fans early!!

Needed a Little Chuckle...

"If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them." -Sue Grafton

"Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through the windows." -Jennifer Unlimited

"A male gynecologist is like an auto mechanic who never owned a car." -Carrie Snow

"Whoever thought up the word "Mammogram"? Evertime I hear it, I think I'm supposed to put my breast in an envelope and send it to someone." -Jan King

"I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on." -Roseanne Barr

"I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once." -Jennifer Unlimited

Teeth, Swimming & Cousins

It's official!! Tyler now has two teeth in! His little chompers finally made an appearance. Here's a little peek at his new pearly whites...





Today we also had a little visit from Nancy and Josh. We had a blast playing and swimming. Tyler had his first encounter with the swimming pool and, as far as I can tell, loved it! We found a baby floater for him and he literally lounged around in it for a good 30 minutes or so. It was so cute to see him just relaxing and chillin' in the pool! I almost thought he was going to fall asleep that's how comfortable he looked. He also had fun playing with his cousin, Josh. They're still experimenting on how to interact with each other but it sure is cute to watch them try to figure each other out. Thanks for spending the day with us guys!! We're so glad you're close enough to come visit!!

Finally Reconnected!

We've been reconnected to the outside world!! We finally got our internet all set up and have been seriously enjoying being connected with all of you again. Life in TX is good, our apartments are great, selling is going well, and Tyler seems to be adjusting...slowly. It's now 2:00am and I'm waiting for our little peanut to cry himself to sleep. (And, stealing a line from a friend, I think I'd rather shoot myself in the stomach. But, we're hanging in there.) Thank goodness there's blogging to keep myself occupied. We'll hope he gets accustomed to this new environment and time change soon. Anyway, I'll get around to posting some new pics/video of what we've been up to when I'm a little more coherent. So, if this post doesn't make much sense, keep in mind that it is 2:00am and I promise to make more sense tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your shut eye! Judging from our silent house, I'd say Tyler is finally enjoying his!! Goodnight...or should I say good morning?!?

Twitter and Road Trips

I've been a little bit curious and a little bit hesitant when I heard about all of this "twitter" business. But, as I started to think about our long road trip to TX, the thought occurred to me that it might be a good way to keep family posted on our progress cross country. So, I've decided to join the craze for a time and add twitter to our blog. I'll be texting in the progress of our trip and you should see updates in the right-hand column. If you absolutely hate twitter, just ignore it! We won't be posting on our blog for a little while because it will take us some time to get the internet set up in our new apartment. Hopefully this will help us let everyone know we're still surviving until we can rejoin the blogging world!

A Formula For Bliss

This


+

This


+

This


= Heaven!!

Playing Catch Up

Our apologies for not having posted in so long. I didn't realize how long it had been until I looked at the date of our last post...Packing and cleaning have been taking up much of our time as of late. Between that and taking care of Tyler, I feel like the days start and end all too quickly. So, here are a few highlights from the past few weeks:

We had a wonderful Easter weekend spent with both sides of the family. Gordon enjoyed another exciting game of woofle (sp?) ball with his brothers and nieces/nephews and thankfully everyone escaped without injury this time.

We spent Conference weekend up in Island Park, Idaho with Gordon's cousin and his wife. We stayed in a beautiful snow-covered cabin all weekend and enjoyed lots of relaxation, spiritual enlightenment and good eats. We played games, watched movies and laughed with friends. What could be better? Thanks again for a great weekend Kevin and Natalie!!

Because some of us are headed out for yet another summer of summers sales, the Manning clan got together for a little fun of our own. Dubbed "Ping-Pong-A-Rama", we all met at Noah's for some good ol' fashioned competition. Although we didn't get to finish our tournament (of which I was in dead last after losing two straight in double elimination) we did have a blast! I'm sure Gordon will be up for challenging all of you again when we get back from TX!

And, as always, I had to include a couple of pics of our little peanut. He just had his six-month check up and is currently healthy and happy. Weighing in at 19 1/2 lbs. I definitely get my work out carrying him around all day. He has started eating solids (pics/video to come later) which has been so fun to see. He seems to be changing by the minute. Watching his facial expressions change and develop has become one of the highlights of my day. He has become a master of what we now call the "fishy face". It's truly amazing to watch him discover the world around him.



Well, that's all for now. And, though I've said this before and failed, I will try to be a more regular contributor to this blog we have. In just a few short weeks, we should be posting from TX!!