Way to go Cougars .... NOT!

Dave celebrated his 34th birthday on December 20th. (I know I'm a little behind!). So, lucky for him, the Cougars were playing that day, and he wanted nothing more than to have a party, eats tons of junk, watch the game, and cheer the cougars on to a win in the Las Vegas Bowl. So it started out okay ... he was a little nervous.

And there were even a few highlights ... and he was all happy.

And then as you all know ... THEY BLEW IT. So the birthday boy was a little cranky. But the ridiculously good bigger-than-his-head chocolate cake from Costco definitely helped. I also got him an Iron Gym pull-up bar that he was all happy about, so it wasn't a total loss, but it would have been better if they could have won JUST THIS ONE GAME for the birthday boy. Whatever.

Love ya hon! Happy Birthday!

Happy Anniversary

This past weekend, Dave and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. We were married on December 13, 1996. It was a "Friday the 13th" by the way, and yes, that was Dave's idea. So here is the story:

I met Dave's cousin Adie at Snow College in 1995. Dave was on his mission at the time. Adie and I spent a lot of time together and I got to know her whole family pretty well over the next year or so. In the spring of 1996, on a weekend trip to Adie's house, I saw a picture of Dave on a mirror in her room, so I said to her, "He's cute. Who is that?" She said, "That's my cousin David, but he has a girlfriend, and she's gorgeous." Uh ... okay. So, I replied, "Well, when they get in a fight, let me know." Not very nice I know, but it worked. They got in a fight in June, and Adie and her family worked out an impromptu get-together softball game at a park so we could meet (June 28th). The problem is, Dave was really shy that night, and although we were introduced and talked a little, he didn't make his move, and there was another guy there .... Anyway, Adie and her husband Brice got married the following week in the Manti temple (July 2nd). So a bunch of us girls (I was a bridesmaid) and Adie's family (including Dave and his cousin Danny and some others) went to Manti the night before the wedding. Dave and I went for a long walk around the streets of Manti the night befor her wedding. We weren't even alone, but somehow it seemed like it ...

So at Adie's reception, with a little "friendly" prompting from Danny and Aunt Tish, Dave asked me out for the next weekend (July 6th). We got Subways and went hiking up to the water pipeline in Provo Canyon with two other couples. It was fun and we had a nice time. He called the next week to ask me out, and I couldn't go, and even after I turned him down, we still talked on the phone for over two hours (very impressive).

Our next date was August 10th, and we just went alone. We went miniature golfing at the old Sports Park in Sandy and as I recall, I won handily. That date was amazing and so fun and something definitely clicked. When I got home that night, I went to check in with my parents, and my mom said, as calm as can be, "You're going to marry him, aren't you?" And I said ..... "yes I am."

So I guess you could say the rest is history. Over the next few weeks, we got talking about the future, and Dave suggested that we fast and pray about our decision. I said, "You do what you have to do, but I know I am going to marry you." (You'd think he would have realized what he was getting into at that point.) I was just so sure. So he prayed and fasted and worked it out (probably nervous to take on such a big project). He asked me to marry him on September 14th 1996 on the top of Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City. He was trying to time it just right to be up there at sunset, but we got a late start, so he drug me straight up the front of the mountain and didn't even bother with the trail that winds around and eases nice and slow up the mountain. Anyway, funny when I think back on it.

We were married on December 13, 1996, in the Mount Timpanogas Temple. Interestingly, my sister Melanie was married on October 22, 1996, so my parents had two daughters get married within six weeks of each other. Melanie and Jason were actually the very first marriage performed in the Mount Timpanogas Temple - pretty cool. My dad was also released as a bishop and called as a stake president during that same period of time. He was almost both signatures on my first temple recommend. You could say that was a CRAZY time at our house.

(Mostly I just posted this picture so you could see Dave's stylin sweater. I swear I just got rid of that thing a few years ago. Yikes.)

So from the time we met, June 28th, to the time we got married, December 13th, was less than six months, and we have never regreted that. As goofy as it sounds, when you know it is right, why wait? It was fun to have a wedding in December. It is such a romantic time of year, and it is a fun time of year to celebrate our anniversary every year. With all the craziness going on in December, we always take the time to get away for a few days, and I love that.

So 12 years later, we have moved six times and been in over 10 different wards. We have bought two houses, Dave has earned three degrees, and we've had four amazing kids. We have been through a lot of challenges, had some amazing, happy, wonderful times, cried a lot, laughed a lot, played hard, studied hard, and worked hard. I love having a best friend. I love that he is patient because I am not. I love that he can make me laugh every day. I love that he lets me be me. I love that he calls me from work and asks in a quiet whisper how to spell some random word. I love that I can beat him at tennis and he always wins at basketball. I love that he ran a 5K with me and stayed right with me the whole way even when I doubled his normal time. I love that he always compliments my haircuts and prompts the kids to do the same. I love that he is a crazy insane BYU fan. I love that he always offers me a bite of his food (even when it is something he knows I hate) or half of the last cookie. I love that he got up at 6:00 a.m on our anniversary to come to my spinning class with me and then sweated like crazy, was totally sore the next day, and admitted it was harder than he thought. I love that he brings me a glass of water every night before bed. I knew then and I know now that we were made for each other.

So if there was a song that describes this anniversary, I would say "I'd Choose You Again" by the Forrester Sisters:

Lookin at my life,
Through the eyes of a young girl
Growin older all the time
Maybe just a little wiser,
I can clearly see
All my mistakes keep coming back to visit me
Pointing out the roads not taken,
So much I'd like to change
But one thing I'd do the same

I'd choose you again
I'd choose you again
If God gave me the chance to do it all again
I'd carefully consider every choice and then
Out of all the boys in the world,
I'd choose you again

Times weren't always good
Seems like the Lord gave all the easy parts away
But every time the road got rocky
You'd look at me and say
You had all you needed
As long as I was there with you
You're the reason I kept going
If I could start my life anew
The first thing that I would do

I'd choose you again
I'd choose you again
If God gave me the chance to do it all again
I'd carefully consider every choice and then
Out of all the boys in the world
I'd choose you again

A Christmas Carol

Last week our school put on a musical production of The Christmas Carol. Austin came home a few months ago and asked me to sign a permission slip to participate in the play. We were totally surprised since he has never expressed interest in performing anything before. He was excited and we were anxious to support him. They performed the play three times last week, once during an assembly and twice in the evening. He was nervous but excited all week. The performances went well and Austin had a great time.

I was asked by the director to work backstage and help get the kids where they were going and make the set changes and stuff. Having me there too made our week even more insane than just having Austin involved, but it was actually a lot of fun.

We are so proud of Austin for trying something new. He has always loved the story of "A Christmas Carol" and I'm glad he had such a good time being involved in the play. He put in a lot of time and effort and really got out of his comfort zone. Way to go Aust!

Grateful for Warm Weather

As holidays go, Thanksgiving is not one of my favorites. Spending the whole day cooking for a 20 minute meal and spending the rest of the day cleaning up has always struck me as a little strange. I guess I don't need all that to remind me to be grateful. Most "Thanksgiving" food doesn't really appeal to me (surprise surprise), and I don't like pie crust .... so there you have it. However, that side of the family (the Tischner side) always makes this amazing salad that I LOVE. It is a mix of chopped apples, mandarin oranges, pineapple, pomegranates, walnuts, grapes, raisins, celery, and bananas, and the dressing is whipped cream. It is so yummy! So I filled up on that and rolls, had a bite of everything else, and that was that.

Despite the cooking/cleaning complaint above, I am a big fan of getting together with the family and I REALLY like going on vacation, and every other year, Thanksgiving means a vacation to St. George. This year, we decided to rent a condo at the Sports Village in St. George, and I must say, that was one of our better decisions (thanks to Jake for the tip!). That place was great! Who would have thought we would spend Thanksgiving Vacation in the pool - OUTSIDE! It was nice and warm (almost 60) and the pool was heated, so it felt great. The condo complex where we stayed had a clubhouse with air hockey, ping pong, video games, a workout room, a pool and hot tub, tennis, raquetball, and a playground.

Jake and Nicki and their kids flew in from Wisconsin and we met them in St. George. It was really fun to see them and catch up with their family. My Grandma and Grandpa Tischner live near St. George in Ivins, so we got to see them too. We actually ate Thanksgiving dinner at their church which was nice becuase the kids just played in the gym and we had plenty of room in the kitchen. It was a great idea. We crashed at Aunt Kati's for pie and games several times over the weekend and let the adults play the Wii. That was a riot. I think Jake and Brady boxing on the Wii might be more violent than an actual boxing match. We even got in a little shopping at the outlets, some breadsticks from the Pizza Factory, and a carmel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Fun stuff.

We also went to one of our favorite places in St. George - Pioneer Park. The kids hiked around and ran all over the place. Dave found a cool slot canyon that he could barely fit through. At one part, he had to crawl down sideways on his elbow and knee to get through. He was so excited to make it through since most of the other adults were getting halfway up and then turning back. Dave loves stuff like that and well ... I took pictures. It was nice to get away for a few days and spend time relaxing. The kids were so grateful to have Dave all to themselves for a few days. It was a great opportunity to remember what we are thankful for, and this weekend, I was thankful for my family and for warm weather and for the opportunity to make memories.

What a Bummer!

This past Friday Dave and I were supposed to be at the Celine Dion concert. I have been wanting to see Celine in concert for approximately 15 years. Dave bought me tickets to her World Tour concert last year for Christmas. He totally surprised me. I had no idea, and it was a great surprise. I am really hard to surprise, so he deserves a lot of credit, and I was so excited to go. Way to go honey!

Unfortunately, Celine developed a throat infection last week and had to postpone her concert date in Utah to February 22nd. If you check your calendar, you'll see that February 22nd is a Sunday. Needless to say, I am not very happy about this whole thing. At first I was not too sure what she was thinking scheduling a Sunday concert in Utah, but then I realized it unfortunately will probably not affect the concert much at all. It wasn't an issue for us, and I'm glad about that because that would not have always been the case. So we're returning the tickets and getting our money back, but no concert. What a bummer.

The concert cancellation did bring about one good thing. When I first heard it was postponed to a Sunday, Dave and I already knew what we'd be doing and I was in a really really bad mood. But Dave had a teaching moment in mind, so we talked to Austin, Jackson, and London about our situation. They knew I'd been looking forward to the concert and they both felt really bad for me. It was kind of touching actually that they were so sad for me. So Dave asks them what they thought we should do and if we should still go even on a Sunday, and right then a "Hallelujah" parent moment came shining through. We heard things from them like "You'll feel bad if you go because you know it's not right" and "Heavenly Father will bless you if you keep the Sabbath Day holy" and "You'll be choosing the right even though you'll be sad about the concert." I was so happy and so relieved and so grateful that they'd heard and understood what we had taught them and that they truly understood the principle even when it came to giving up something that is really wanted. It is so hard to tell if they are even listening let alone if they could actually apply the principle and understand the reasoning behind it. So I am missing a concert I've waited 15 years for, but I know that my children understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. That's a sacrifice I can handle.


So instead on Friday, we went to Twilight with Bret and Paula. Someone at Dave's work had rented out an entire theater and was just selling the tickets on her own. She had a few extras as of Friday morning, so we decided to go. It is no secret that I'm not much of a Twlight fan. The whole vampire thing is just not for me, and there is a bunch of other goofy stuff that I didn't like about the book.

Anyway, I thought the movie was pretty good. I liked it better than the book (Dave says that is just because it didn't take as long, and he might have a point ...) . I didn't love the movie, but I definitely didn't hate it. I won't spoil it for you, but if you haven't seen it in the next couple of months or so, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold back on the stuff I want to make fun of. If you are a die hard Twilight lover, you'll probably love the movie. I can say I was entertained, even if it was by a vampire love story. Yikes. We went to Applebee's for dinner afterwards and met up with Greg and Stephanie. We had a great time at dinner and laughed so hard. The evening ended up being really fun, and I even forgot about the concert for a while. Oh well.

A Deal To Share

Sorry about the horrible picture. I had to use my phone. The memory card on my new camera won't work, so it is on it's way back to Costco tomorrow.

Anyway, I found a GREAT deal, and I thought I'd share. There is a store called Sunflower Farmers Market in Orem just south of University Mall in that complex with Panda Express and America's Best. It is a health foods type store, and they have some great deals on produce. This week they have Sunkist naval oranges for 25 cents a pound. Wow! So this whole box of oranges cost me $9.50. What a steal! And we tried them, and they are good oranges. So there you go ... if you're in the neighborhood of University Mall, try out the new little market.

It's About Time

So, this picture means a couple of things. First of all, I was alone, so it means that I asked a total stranger to take my picture on my cell phone in front of a Maverick gas station just for your benefit. Second of all, since I started this bike ride at my house and I never left the paved trail, it means the trail from the city center to the Ranches is officially connected after YEARS of wondering why on earth this city insists on paving the trails in little unconnected sections all over the place and then just taunts us with the prospect of a completed trail. So anyway, it is done, finally, and our family is taking advantage of it for sure. I rode to Maverick once by myself with the company of London's new iPod and a new workout mix. And no I didn't buy a 5-year-old an iPod. She saved up her own $50 and bought it herself. Well she goes to school for three hours a day, and she can share - right?

Our family went for a ride on Saturday. London is finally big enough to keep up pretty well on her little pink Barbie bike with streamers flying out from the handle bars, so T.J. had the bike trailer all to himself. He was happy about that for sure. He just spends the whole ride yelling at whoever is pulling him to go faster. See, we don't need a personal trainer. T.J. yells at us for free.

I rode to the Chevron in the Ranches with my friend Peggy yesterday, and I had to pull T.J. in the trailer. Wow! That is a tough ride pulling 60 pounds behind me. It was a great workout. Unfortunately it was also a little slower than anticipated and I was late picking up London from school. Whoops. So I like that trail heading into The Ranches because it is such a great workout. It goes up and down the whole way and is a good interval workout (and if you think it is too easy, come pick up T.J. and pull him along). Anyway, we're excited about this trail, and it has been fun to see it come to completion. So if you're ever wanting to go for a bike ride around 9:30 in the morning, you know where to find me.

What a GREAT idea!

Shortly after Dave and I transplanted our family to Eagle Mountain, my brilliant sister, Melanie (turns out she's older AND smarter), came up with a simply fabulous idea, and four and a half years later, we've hardly missed a week. Her idea? Date night of course. The arrangement is simply wonderful in every possible way, so if you're prone to jealousy ... consider yourself warned.

Every other weekend Dave and I get a date night on Friday night, and as of the last year or so, it includes a sleepover for the kids until 9:00 Saturday morning. So, twice a month, we are kid-free for approximately 17 hours, and we can do WHATEVER WE WANT. Sometimes we go out with friends and sometimes we go alone, but we always have fun.

So these pictures are from one of our "there are no good movies playing and it is too cold for a bike ride or tennis" dates and guess what happens when there are no good movies playing and it is too cold to be outside? We spent nearly $300 on groceries, a new coat for Dave, new shoes for Dave, new pants for me, books, Christmas presents, treats, etc. Movies are only $16 and biking and tennis are free. What the heck?!!

Sometimes Dave isn't off work or done flying by the time I drop off the kids, so then I get a few hours alone shopping before date night even starts. Awesome. So we get to go to dinner (we have to eat - right?) at a place without a playground or nuggets or little juice boxes. This last weekend we picked Chili's for one of Dave's typical "bigger than my head" hamburgers with bacon and a whole bunch of other junk on it, and I ordered some seemingly harmless chicken dish with tomatoes and cilantro that was really good, but then there was this weird gristle thing in the chicken, and that was the end of that ... So, Dave, as usual, was regretting his menu choice before we made it home, and mine came home in a to-go box for him to reheat for lunch. No surprises there. And did you know Chili's is now charging $2.99 for their FREE chips and salsa? When did that happen?

Anyway, we love movies, so we usually go to a movie after dinner, but sometimes shopping, tennis, biking, and coming up in two weeks, the Celine Dion concert that Dave bought me tickets for last year for Christmas (yeah!!!). Of course, like any other couple in their 30's with four kids, we almost always stop by Wal-Mart or Smiths or some other highly functional store like that in the middle of the night for things like garbage bags or toilet paper. We are kind of night owls when it comes to date night. I think our record is like 2:30 a.m. or so. I can't believe we can even stay up that late anymore. It is kind of fun to be out like teenagers again, and when you can sleep in until 9:00 ... why not? This last Saturday I had a spinning class at 7:00 in the morning, so we didn't stay out too late, but we still had a great time.

So the flip side is that every other Friday night I have nine kids at my house which includes 8 boys ranging in age from 11 to 1 and 1 firecracker little 5-year-old girl who holds her own just fine. Since we got the Wii, the older four are taken care of, and it turns out, when left to their own devices, they will play that thing for six hours straight (we tried it). They barely took a break for food or drink. I don't get it. Since we started the sleepover program, baby Dallin is in bed by 7:00, Chase and T.J. are down at 8:00, London and Cameron are in bed by 8:30, Austin, Jackson, Colby, and Landon are down at 9:00, and the rest of the night is ours (Cafe Rio and a Redbox movie). Could this get any cooler?!!

Halloween Week 2008

I'm not exactly sure when Halloween turned into a week-long celebration dripping with sugar. I suppose it was around the time that Christmas started in August. All I know is we have been Halloween partying for a week straight, and even a little before that. My kids had their fun Halloween party with Grandma and Grandpa Morton and the Webbs a few weeks ago, and that helped a lot to spread things out ... everything else was in the last 5 days. We had a Leatherwood family Halloween party Monday night. Dave and I went as Storm and Professor X from the X-Men (picture above).

We had a ward Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday night, the school Halloween carnival Thursday night, a Trick-or-Treat Street in Pleasant Grove with the Webbs, Grandma and Grandpa Morton, and Grandma and Grandpa Tischner (what a fun surprise!) on Friday, another Trunk or Treat at the Grove Ward building in Pleasant Grove, and of course Trick or Treating Friday night. WOAH!

We let the four older boys go trick or treating on their own for a while, and they really "covered some ground" according to them without having to wait for the "old people." How rude. Dave and I stayed home and played Settlers of Catan with Melanie and Jason. It was our first time playing that game (I know, you're all shocked), and I think we got the hang of it. We'll have to play again sometime ...


So it turns out, with all of these events, we have a RIDICULOUS amount of candy. So, we're sticking with our trick of years past and stashing a bunch (2 gallon-size Ziploc bags full) of chocolate for their Christmas stockings. SSHHHHH. Don't tell. They'll never notice. Are you kidding me?!! I can't believe how much candy they have. Keep in mind, these bowls in the picture above are the biggest bowls I have. Hello?!!!


Dave didn't feel a bit bad amout scaring his poor little old patients all day with his scary mask and rotten teeth and hair. He works in a skilled nursing facility, so scaring someone "to death" is actually a valid concern. He loves Halloween. In fact, he's worse than the kids. So, I made the mistake of letting him go to the costume store alone, and this is what happened. Mental note to self, never again. Grandma Tischner apparently wasn't too scared. She's braver than me. I didn't go near him all day. That get-up gives me the creeps.




For the first time ever, the kids each picked one Halloween costume each and wore it to all corresponding Halloween events this year. Usually, we have a couple of switches at least during the week (i.e., Cinderella to a Power Ranger to a Cow Girl in three day's time last year). My kids really love to dress up, and they use their costumes year round, so I don't mind getting costumes for Halloween. However, it turns out Austin and Jackson's costumes were ridiculously expensive, so I only offered to pay half. They gladly turned over $16 each of their own allowance for these costumes. That is more than a month's worth. You can tell that they love them. We have a massive dress-up box downstairs that gets well used all year round by my kids and anyone else's kids who come over. I guess we'll just add these to the collection.




So I have to admit that I don't really like Halloween. In fact, I quite dislike. I don't like anything creepy, bloody, scary, gross, etc. I can't stand violence or gore at all. So, Halloween is not my thing. I happened to marry someone who LOVES Halloween and LOVES dressing up and LOVES scaring people, etc. and all my kids inherited this LOVE from Dave, so here I am. I do love seeing how much they love it, and I supposed that's enough for me.

Pumpkins and Trains

T.J.'s preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch this week as part of Halloween Week 2008. There is this cute little pumpkin patch on about 4th South and Geneva Road in Orem and it is geared towards preschool age kids. They have a pumpkin patch, corn maze, playground, and a little petting zoo. They also have a "spook alley" that is not scary but is just full of lights and fun Halloween things without all the rotten stuff. It was a fun place, and T.J. and I had a great time!

His favorite part was definitely when the train roared right by the pumpkin patch place. It was funny because T.J. and I were just walking over to see the animals, and he just stopped and said "Listen Mom ... you hear that?" I didn't hear anything and tried to move him along since his group was leaving us in the dust. He wasn't moving, and sure enough, a big long train came right by us. We were probably 25 feet away from it, and T.J. was in an absolute trance. He didn't move. He loves trains, probably more than anything else, and this train was definitely the highlight of his day ... and probably his week.

He got to pick a pumpkin to bring home as part of the field trip. Grandma helped him decorate it with stickers, and he proudly posted it right at the front door so you actually had to step over it to get in the house. We've moved it to a better spot now, but I'll have to be really sneaky to get rid of this Halloween decoration (I would think it would rot and start to smell at some point - right?). He loves his pumpkin, and he's still talking about the train.

Happy Halloween

This is just plain funny. Enjoy.