Changes to the House and more Wildlife

If you know me well, you'll know that I change my decor quite often to the dismay of my husband. But this time he really liked it. We had heavy red curtains in here before and it was just too dark. So we changed the curtains to lighten up the room and got a new buffet and the sunflower pictures to go above it. Now all it needs is something to go on the buffet, a new hard wood floor, a new light fixture. . .
The family room also got a face lift. We flip flopped the room which flows much better now. Got new mirrors for above the couch, and made new curtains.
We got a new rug to give something soft to lay down on with all this hard tile we have. Now all we need are some fun throw pillows.
This is a close up of the curtains.
Oh, and this little tortoise was crawling in our front yard. The kids thought it was cute.

Getting to Know Me

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends. Copy then change all the answers so they apply to you, then post on your blog. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:30 to make lunches and get Taylor out the door by 6:50.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Definately diamonds - they are a girls best friend you know.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 27 dresses with some ward friends

4. What is your favorite TV show? The Office "You think I'm retarded?"

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Always cereal.

6. What is your middle name? I don't have one so I use my maiden name.

7. What food do you dislike? Blue Cheese and sweet potatoes - Yuck!

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I like to listen to the music on my play lists.

9. What kind of car do you drive? A 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan and love it.

10. Favorite sandwich? Anything with bacon on it.

11. What characteristic do you despise? Ingratitude.

12. Favorite item of clothing? My Victoria Secret Super Sexy Push Up Bra

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? France

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Banana Republic

15. Where would you retire to? A big house on lots of land, but still close to amenities

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I can't remember how old I turned, but Dale took me to the Blue Boar Inn in Midway

17. Favorite sport to watch? Does decorating count? I like to play more than watch. I do like to watch my kids play.

18. Furthest place you expect someone to look at this from? Washington

19. Person you expect to send it blog back first? I don't care.

20. When is your birthday? June 16, 1972

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Definately not a morning person - I wish I were.

22. What is your shoe size? 8 1/2 , sometimes 9

23. Pets? Boston Terrier, Shelby

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? None whatsoever

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A mom

26. How are you today? Great

27. What is your favorite candy? Snickers

28. What is your favorite flower? Daisy

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Thanksgiving - we might go somewhere fun this year

30. What is your full name? Tamara Hyer Mortensen

31. What are you listening to right now? Kendall talking to me - he loves to tell me everything - I hope it never changes.

32. What was the last thing you ate? Spaghetti

33. Do you wish on stars? If I'm out when they are just starting to appear

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle - I love that name

35. How is the weather right now? Warm and not too humid

36. Who was the first person you talked to on the phone today? Edie - I needed to borrow some tulle.

37. Favorite soft drink? I don't like soda too much, but I do like lemonade or fruit punch

38. Favorite restaurant? Applebees

39. Real hair color? Blonde, but it's getting darker by the year.

40. What was your favorite toy as a child? Roller skates

41. Summer or winter? In Florida? - Winter

42. Hugs or kisses? Both

43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

44. Coffee or tea? Neither

45. When is the last time your cried? About a week ago I was a little emotional for some hormonal reason, but I have no idea what brought a tear to my eye

46. What is under your bed? Dale's BB gun

47. What did you do last night? Went to Young Women Presidency training and trained my secretaries.

48. What are you afraid of losing? My family

49. Salty or sweet? Usually salty

50. How many keys on your key ring? 3

51. How many years at your current job? 11 1/2

52. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

53. How many towns have you lived in? 9 towns, 5 states

54. Do you make friends easily? Pretty easy

Hollywood Studios

Dale sprained his ankle pretty bad last Friday so I took the 4 kids to Hollywood studios for the day on Saturday. We haven't explored this park so I made the kids go to some of the shows. This is them on the playground. We saw how they did stunts and made sets for movies.
We met Prince Caspian. We walked into his area and the kids hesitated because it was just a guy - they're used to costumed characters.
After the 40 minute tour of how to make a set, this is K waiting for the Ariel show. He wanted to ride some rides and was not very happy about seeing another show. We left after this. Next time we'll have to ride Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster. This park doesn't hold a lot of interest to the younger kids.

Happy Happy Birthday Maxwell Dear

Yeah - Max turned one today. He has a slightly confused look on his face and was disturbed that we put fire in front of him.
He quickly got over this and ate two pieces of cake. He looks like he's eaten his limit.
On to presents. I bought him color bath tablets and a tub toy - we simply have enough toys. The kids did wrap up some toys that were in the toy room - he'll never know.
Amy and Summer were clever and made this snake in the grass. It was a cute idea, but quickly went into the garbage after the kids went to bed before grass got all over the house.
Back to more Florida wildlife. This is an Armadillo that we found by the road by our house. It looks like it got hit by a car so we examined it.

We turned it over and were fascinated by the long claws and snout. It was actually softer than we had imagined. When it started to stink, we quickly left and the vultures came a feasting.

Happy Birthday Shelby!

Yesterday was Shelby's 4th birthday. This is a picture of her eating her birthday cupcake. She got a pack of balloons, a new ball throwing toy, and a chew bone. We love you Shelby! Dale just got back from golfing with his brothers in Utah for 5 days. This is a picture of them with their dad. We decided we missed a few things in Utah - Family, good corn on the cob, crisp fall weather, big houses, our friends, churches on every corner, not feeling out of place with our herd of kids, soft silky grass, and family family family.

Utah Trip

I just got back from a 9 day trip to Utah. This is Max with my parents at Thanksgiving Point Gardens. The weather was beautiful (except for one freezing day) and the grass was like lush carpet. I had forgotten how nice grass could be with this weed grass we get down in FL. I don't think I would fly with Max again though. It was close to torture to try and keep him happy on the plane. I ended up drugging him with Benadryl to get at least an hour of sleep out of him.
Max started to really take off with his walking skills while we were there. Check out his long hair. He loved the grass too. And here he is after his first haircut. He is such a big boy now. He didn't entirely enjoy the haircut as you can see. I actually got my hair done thanks to Dale's mom for treating me to a salon day. I told the hair dresser to make me light and bright. Well I got what I asked for except that I felt like a rock star and it looked very fake. I went back and had her put some darker color back in and I feel a lot better about it.

Disney, Gators, and Salamanders

After being cooped up in the rain for days while Fay slowing crept across the state, we decided to hit Disney hoping the crowds would be down. It was pouring, but we got a lot of rides in. Max is totally in his element there - outside and completely entertained. This is the kids on the Tea Cups.
Max on the carousel.
Because we had so much rain (9 inches in one day), our ponds were full. This gator was out sunning himself so we were getting a good look. He was probably 5-6 feet long. He heard us and hurried into the water - wooo they move fast!
Then the boys took a jaunt down to the stream behind our house and found two giant salamanders. At first they thought it was a snake, then an eel, then they saw the two tiny legs in front and (Dale thought it was a giant bull frog tad pole) then I told them it was a salamander. I had never seen a salamander in real life and definately not one ever this big. Oh the adventures of Florida.