Jewels

hi friends.. my friend makes these lovely custom pendants. i have yet to get one simply because i can't decide what to get! but check our her blog... http://lilylanecustompendants.blogspot.com/2010/01/share-love.html

On a side note...

Our roof is covered in ice, resulting in saggyness and a screen door that won't open but halfway.. and I know it's not a good thing to have but I like looking at the icicles coming off the roof.

I cannot WAIT for the OLYMPICS in a few weeks! I do love them.. don't know why. It's just neat to see the world come together on a positive note like there aren't any wars or terrible things occuring.. and of course who doesn't love the ice skating and curling.. kidding. I was always a Michelle Kwan fan.. poor her.

It was really nice here for a while, I mean in the 30s nice, thus all the melting snow-turned ice business. However, it's frigid cold again. Why do we live here agian? OH, and with that melting snow, and also lots of RAIN the other day, we got some leakage in our basement. Not a ton, but it's still not a good thing. I knew the lady we bought the house from wasn't telling the truth when she swore there weren't any leaks in the basement. Hrrumph!

Sarah is attempting to crawl but can't get a grip on our wood floors. She gets really frustrated and also faceplants when she slips. Poor thing! I put my yoga mat down to help her but now she just wants to eat that. She's pretty cute about it though. She's got 2 teeth now.

I was hoping to avoid this thinking I'm just that good of a mom.. haha.. but sadly, Sarah dove off the bed the other day, hitting her head HARD on the floor. Of course I was 5 feet away doing my makeup in the bathroom and swore she was far enough away NOT to fall off.. she's ok. Good thing they don't remember these things..

What's with the sudden hatred towards peas? Sarah LOVED peas since the first time I gave them to her. Seriously, like mother, like daughter. But recently she swears I'm trying to give her poison. Also, she hates fruit. What's up with that? We have a new booster seat though, with a tray and everything. YAY! That's all I can say.. the Cheerios are evading her however. She only wants ME to hand-feed them to her. She'll play with them, knocking them off onto the floor.. but doesn't get that SHE can feed HERSELF! Lazy baby..

I am speaking in church on Sunday.. I really enjoy the opportunity and the topic but it's the actual prepping I'm not a fan of.

Bought some conversation hearts at the dollar store yesterday, only 1 bag.. love those things.

We're on week 3 of continual working out.. of course I missed Monday for various reasons and yesterday's was cut short because I think my jumping around woke the sleeping grizzly baby in the other room and she refused to go back to sleep.. but I'm doing it!

oooooooooh one more thing. I was just daydreaming looking toward my disheveled living room and the sun came through the clouds shining a warm, golden light into the room. I love when it does that! It's gone now but I'm grateful for those little moments of sunshine that remind me that God does love me. Oh! there it goes again! ..............sigh.........

For your enjoyment

Christmas letter 2009

Dear family and friends,

Another year has come and gone and we are left reflecting on
the ‘things’ in our lives. There are ‘things’ that are still with us this year, like Kurtis’ job at IBM, our lovely little house, 2 working cars (well, most of the time…) and Julie’s teaching job this past year.

There are also the new ‘things’ in our lives, such as our
precious baby girl, Sarah Elaine Tucker, born on June 11th, diapers, onesies, diapers, rattles, diapers, tiny shoes, diapers, new friends, diapers, learning to live without sleep, diapers, a messy house, diapers, toys and things everywhere, diapers, early morning feedings, diapers, blankets, oh, and diapers too.

And most importantly, there are ‘things’ that we couldn’t
live without, like each other, baby smiles, coos, giggles and
belly laughs, playing with Sarah’s little hands and feet and watching her grow up, the breathtaking change of seasons here in Minnesota (yes, even the snow, at first), our families, the generosity of friends and neighbors, good health, especially that of our little girl, that Julie can stay home with her, and for the gospel of Jesus Christ, led by Him, our Savior.

We are grateful for each of these ‘things’ and more in their own special way. We’ve forgotten, like every parent, what life is like before parenthood. Sarah is our life now and we couldn’t be happier. The next chapter in our lives may or may not take us away from Rochester for Kurtis’ MBA program this fall or other options. Although we would hate to leave our happy life here, we welcome the challenge, new adventures and ‘things’ that await us elsewhere.

We hope your year was full of similar ‘things’ that brought you joy and wish you the best for 2010. We miss you and love you dearly.
All our love, Kurtis, Julie & Sarah Tucker

Don't you just want to pinch them!

Before Christmas we had professional pictures taken.. this is just a teaser. I want to wait to post them all until family gets theirs. It's more exciting that way! Isn't she just so cute! Kurtis was the one to make her laugh so well during the shoot.

Ring out the old, ring in the new

Happy New Year! Wow, 2010! I feel like I should be seeing flying cars or crazy freeze-dried food like in Back to the Future..

I got a new yoga mat and Biggest Loser workout video..I'm a fan.. it's no joke! and have resolved to be healthier this year! I'm at pre-pregnancy weight but don't feel so healthy.. so my goal is to lose around 20lbs by Sarah's birthday-June. I also want to be better at the daily things..prayers, scriptures, keeping the house cleaner, etc. and I've got a little chart to help me. I love making goals and achieving them! So here's to a new year!

Christmas morning #2

We didn't bring our presents to MA for packing reasons so we had to stage a 'fake' Christmas morning when we got home. Of course, Sarah's favorite thing to do was play with the paper. I seriously contemplated just wrapping empty boxes for her to play with...but I caved and got some simple toys on sale for her. We didn't really take pictures of us the real Christmas morning so I'm glad to have some here.

Family photo shoot

While in MA we attempted to take some family photos.. since my brother Andrew's family wasn't there we tried to create a pose that would fit with their family picture so it could be photoshopped together.. sure. With 5 kids, 2 babies and 8 adults, I think it actually turned out pretty cute!Sister Christy's family: Christy, Jared, Brooklynn, Hallie, Ashley, Kate, Janelle Brother Mark's family: Jana, Mark, Grant

Us!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture. Notice her BLUE eyes

Splish splash! I was takin' a bath!

We had to take some bathtub shots of the cousins... they were too cute! Janelle splashed Sarah while Sarah took Janelle's toys. Classic.

'Here, I'll wash your back if you wash mine!"

Christmastime is here

Christmas this year was spent with the Gillman family in Massachussettes. My sister Christy and her family of 5 girls (!) lives there and it was easiest for all of us to go there. My brother Mark's family and my parents were there as well. We celebrated 2 of the grandchildren's birthdays, ate lots of cake and other goodies, had a pinata, played bumper pool, ate at a Japanese buffet, played Sequence til the wee hours of the night, rocked Lego Rock Band, stopped well-intentioned 4-year-olds from mauling babies, reenacted the Christmas story, paintballed (the boys), saw mansions in Rhode Island, stayed in cozy cabins in New Hampshire, played in the snow, got sick, went snowboarding in -15 degree weather, watched the same movies over and over.... and best of all, just spent time with family. It was a WONDERFUL trip and SO FUN to see everyone! So in no particular order.. some of our memories Sarah and Janelle...they traded/stole toys from each other most of the time. Janelle learned to crawl while we were there and Sarah watched in envy. They were such good friends, until Sarah started pulling Janelle's hair!

I guess this is the official Santa picture for the year...

We got to go to the beautiful Boston temple!

My sister-in-law Jana with Sarah. Jana is having a GIRL in June! We're so exited for another girl cousin so soon!

Our scraggly, but 'with character' Christmas tree.

Sarah's favorite toy while we were there

Kurtis' new passion: PAINTBALLING. 'Can I get a gun?' was his first comment to me after going. 'It was so awsome' he still says. Thanks Jared for exposing my husband to these new-fangled things. :)

The boys after paintballing, from L - R: Jared's friend, Kurtis, my brother Mark, Jared (brother-in-law) and my Dad

Paintballing posse

The brave or crazy ones who dared go snowboarding while in New Hampshire. Notice the RED cheeks! They spent a lot of time in the lodge... and they claimed it was fun and my little niece Brooklynn who's never been says she wants to go again after the whole ordeal!

The Christmas story.. it was pretty cute to watch. Grant was a very protective yet wandering Joseph while Kate was so happy to be the 'mother' Mary to baby Jesus.

My sister took my mom and I up to Rhode Island to see the GIGANTIC mansions owned by the Vanderbuilt families. These houses were insanely big and gawdy but so beautiful!

PLease don't throw a snowball at me!

Anxiously anticipating Christmas morning... they were sooooooooo eager to go downstairs!

Winter 2009

Here's a few moments we captured this Christmas. We spent the holidays in Massachussettes with my family but had a few memories of our own here at home in Minnesota. These were my gingerbread men when I was little.. Sarah tried to eat them Her snowsuit is a little big....
I LOVE Christmas decorations and am sad when I have to take them down

Our tree.. I call it the sugarplum tree! I love the purple/green/whimsical theme. We get a $10 tree every year. You can't beat that, although it's quite prickly. Maybe that explains the price..

Notice Sarah looking at the lights.. she loved them. Kurtis was mean and kept getting her to touch the prickly needles!

Her favorite place to take naps.. seriously
This is Sarah's little friend Aaron. He was born 4 weeks before Sarah. His parents are in our ward and they were in our birthing class at the hospital. They're pretty cute together...
She insists on trying to feed herself these days..