Funniest Story Ever...

So, I just started filling in at the Temple, in the office. I answer phones and record names, etc.... last Saturday was actually my first day. I worked there a lot when I first got home from my mission, and just recently thought about how wonderful it would be to work again. Anyway, I'm just a filler.

So, Saturday morning, the phone rings in the temple. It was a young girl on the other end, and after asking her what I could do for her, she told me she wanted to schedule a wedding (sealing). So, I asked her what day, she said Aug. 8th. (08-08-08, cool huh) So, I told her what times were available, and she gave me the time she wanted. I then asked her her name, so I could put her info in the computer. She replied, "Angie Woolf." And I screamed! (and then I remembered I was in the temple) Little did I know that I was talking to my brothers girlfriend! I said, 'Angie, this is Taraka!!!' She didn't recognize my voice because I was talking all reverently and quietly, until I screamed that is! :) Anyway, he hadn't actually officially proposed, but had just asked her dad the night before, and just wanted to call and reserve that day at the temple, because she thought it might get booked pretty fast. And she was right, there were only 2 time slots open when she called. So, they hadn't told anyone in the family, besides her dad, obviously, and they were going to wait to tell the family until he had actually popped the question. But I foiled their plans. After Nathan found out that I knew, he knew he had to ask fast, or I would tell everyone. (I'm not very good about keeping secrets)

So, I just had to share the story of how I found out my little brother was getting married!! I'm glad I did answer the phone too, because knowing Nathan, I would have found out like the day of!! And I think that it's a hilarious story! So, Angie is officially going to be a Campbell soon, and we wish her luck with that! :) We hope you're ready for all of this craziness! :)

We are so happy you are going to be official!

Ben...

I have the best husband! Among his many talents, is included, flower picker extraordinaire... He always gives me the most beautiful flowers/bouquets. For my birthday, Ben not only gave me a beautiful bouquet of red roses, but also tickets to see Phantom of the Opera!!! I am so excited! It is coming to Spokane in October! I only had to hint at it once a few months ago when I heard them advertising it, and I had actually completely forgot about it, but he got us tickets! He's such a sweet husband, and really is the best at gift giving and flower picking! These pictures are just from the past 2-3 months, and there have even been more that I haven't taken pictures of! I am so grateful for him and how hard he works for our family. He is such a good father (Tucker adores him), he's a good friend, and he is someone I really look up to in so many ways! (he always complains that he doesn't get enough blog time, so here's his little shout out!)

{I think that this one was 2 separate bouquets}

{these two are both from my trip to Utah in March when he just missed me so much!:)}

{I just went looking to find a recent picture of the two of us, and on Monday we went to a BBQ for Memorial day, and Ben got down on one knee and started singing to me, in between football and ultimate Frisbee...I am one lucky gal! :)--he is also one of the funniest most random people I have ever met and keeps me laughing all the time, which I love!}

My Little Man...

How the heck did my little boy get from this:

{One day old in the hospital}

To This:

{A big boy wanting to just play and get into everything?}

Tucker is 18 months today!!! I can hardly believe my little baby is already such a big boy!!! Time flies by so fast, and I can't even remember our little family without him!! He is such a sweet little man, and we love him SO much. His big personality is coming out so much. He says and does some of the cutest things, and half of the time I don't don't where he even gets it. Some of his favorite things are:

Cars -we watch the Disney movie, Cars, an average of 3 times a day
Balls
Dogs -Is this kid a boy or what?
Dancing -Sexyback by JT is his favorite
Snuggling-hes the BEST snuggler EVER!
Talking- All the time!
Making Faces-the boy is most definitely his fathers son!
Bath time
And more Dancing

And I know I may be biased, but he also is the smartest kid too! Ben and I sat down and to write down all of the word he knows right now, (mainly for our own personal memory)not the words he just randomly says because he hears them, but words he actually knows:

1. mama
2. dada
3. papa
4. pala (grandma-?)
5. dog-ruff ruff
6. one-two-three-six
7. cat- mao
8. duck-qack qack
9. belly-button
10. cow-mooo
11. bear-roar
12. lion-roar
13. pig-oink oink
14. car
15. birds
16. cool
17. truck
18. movie
19. bike
20. Shoe
21. mcqueen (the movie Cars)
22. sock
23. ball
24. catch
25. hat
26. up
27. down
28. uh-oh
29. wow
30. bite
31. light
32. outside
33. Carly(his gf), Kayla(aunt), Kelli(aunt), all get mixed into Car-la for all of them :)
34. Na-an (Nathan)
35. no-no-no
36. pease (please)
37. tank-ou
38. bath
39. hasta luego(SOOO cute-but he'll only say this one when asked)
40. nigh-nigh
41. bottle
42. water
43. juice
44. Jesus
45. amals(animals)
46. treat
47. snack
48. poop
49. moon
50. pop
51. trees
52. morning(mo-ing)
53. yeah
54. bike
55. Mater(from Cars)
56. nose
57. ears
58. eyes
59. teeth
60. mouth
61. touch
62. oh-no
63. amen
64. book
65. read (weed)
66. owl-hoo hoo
67. ouch
68. bonk
69. paper
70. jump
71. nana(banana)
72. apple
73. go go go
74. pillow
75. bye bye

And, I don't mean to brag, but after coming up with this list, we checked on-line (because everything on line is complete wisdom and truth) and a few sites said that at 18 months, a child should be saying like 10-15 words!!! Our child is a genius! :) No, really talking is just MOST DEFINITELY his thing. I mean, he didn't crawl until 10 months, really had no interest in it, and didn't walk until 15 months, so talking is just it for him. It is his one talent so far in life.:) His first few words were: Dog, Cool, and Thank you. Cool and Thank you came, I think, from just hearing me. But the boy truly does love Dogs! :)

He is just such a sweet and happy boy, we couldn't have asked for a better child for our family! Since I didn't start this blog until he was like 9 or 10 months, and I love pictures so much, I had to include some of my favorites...(notice how he is just always smiling)

{First Christmas-1month old}

{Trying to figure out where the music is coming from, I think}

{First solid foods-boy did he love them-6 months}

{first big-boy hair-do with Gel and everything!!!}

{Yeah-finally using those legs of his, and pulling himself up to stand-he is such a poser}

{He's always loved the attention from the ladies!}

{Loving bath time}

{One of his many many faces}

We love you Tucker!

The San Juans...

Ben and I decided a little get-away was needed, and thanks to the invitation from our friends, Doug & Sadie, the willingness of my parents to watch Tucker for the weekend, we got just that. We headed west to the San Juan Islands for an extended weekend adventure. :)

I've included a map of where exactly the San Juan Islands are, since I'm sure many of you may not know... A lot of people hear islands, and automatically think of a paradise; so those of you picturing clear blue water, white sand beaches, and 90 degree weather, think Washington State Islands. :) Anyway, while they are beautiful, there was no swimming suit wearing the entire weekend.

(I can still remember the first time Ben & I went to the Oregon coast, when we were dating,he was so excited and got all dressed in his swimming trunks and flip flops, since he is used to the beautiful Gulf beaches that are hot and sunny and not windy and rainy... anyway he was shocked when I showed up in my sweatshirt and Jeans-- to go to the BEACH!!! I personally love the northwest beaches, I think that they are gorgeous, and for those of you who have seen the movie,'Goonies', you know why.):)

*this post might get a little long, in fact, I'm sure it will-just a fair warning*
Anyway, back to the islands...we headed over to Seattle Friday night and stayed the night there before heading on the Ferry the next morning to the San Juan's. It was SO much fun. We had the best weekend. It was strange with out Tucker, and I really missed him, but it was SO nice just being the two of us. It was like we were newlyweds again and all giddy (I mean, Ben on monkey bars, and giving each other piggy back rides, I think that we digressed to being 12 years old kids again) :) But we had a blast!

Strolling around Lake Union in Seattle.

Saturday morning we woke up early to catch the morning Ferry. It was about an hour and a half long drive North to catch the Ferry, and then about another hour and a half long Ferry ride into Fridays Harbor (the main town on San Juan Island).

I love boat rides, and I love the water, so this is definitely my kind of trip.

We stayed at a beautiful resort. The boys, being the competitive men that they are, were immediately drawn to the chess table in the lobby. They thought that this was the coolest thing about our resort...

...until we got to our room, and it was amazing, and they found this gem of a jetted tub in our bathroom. Of course, they had to see if they could BOTH fit, isn't that what any two grown men would do??? (by the look on Doug's face, it was a tight squeeze) :)

This was mine & Sadie's favorite part of our resort... we had some great times just sitting on our deck chatting.

The Southwest side of the island, is knows for its whales. We headed on over after hearing that some people had been spotting them off this coast. We didn't see any whales, but we had a good time hiking around and exploring.

Always the adventurous twosome.

The cute little lighthouse was at the end of our little hike along the shore. It was just beautiful.

What you can't see in this picture is that they are on two separate island rocks. There is water all around them and in between them. That football never left their sight all weekend long, and had to be retrieved from many crazy places.

Usually when we're all four together, the coupling goes like this: Sadie & Taraka and Ben & Doug. I did manage to steal him away for a few seconds to snap this picture along our hike.

Mo-Peds...need I say more. We rented them for the day. It was so much fun and totally made me wish I had one. I could just strap Tucker to my back or something. It was a blast! I loved it and it was the perfect way to see the entire island.

Stopping off for a little snack and some rock-skipping. (favorite past-time #2 after throwing the football)

Out of all four of us, Doug was the only one to come away with a scratch. And a big scratch it was, all along his leg, side and shoulder. Doug was the last person I thought this would come from,I thought for sure it was going to be one of us other three. :) Poor guy, it really looked liked it hurt.

This is in the cute little town on the north side of the island, Roche Harbor, that is basically just a resort, and a boat harbor, and some cute little shops. We stopped there for lunch.

And finally, we had to say good-bye to San Juan Island. We got some ice-cream in Fridays Harbor as we awaited the arrival of our Ferry to take us back to the mainland. It was a sad day. We will miss you San Juan's...until next time...

Can't wait 'til next year, Doug & Sadie! We Heart you guys!

Swimming Class...

Tuck and I joined a infant/mommy swim class at the Y with our friends Carly and Cherie. Our husbands kept on telling us that they were going to come and watch/take pictures on one of the Saturdays; but the 6 weeks came and went and flew by so fast that we never got any action shots. So, I had to take some pics in the locker room when the class was over-- so this exciting adventure didn't go undocumented! They were both really excited about this locker room photo shoot! :)

These two crack me up together! They both make the funniest faces (and are a little dramatic if I do say so myself).

Girls, Girls, Girls...

I just came across this picture, and even though it was taken a while ago, I had to post it for memory's sake...but this is how it was for a long time...

We have awesome friends in our ward right now, whom we love so much, but seriously, they ALL have girls!!! Its crazy! Poor Tucker, when we all get together, he is definitely the odd man out, literally! I have never met so many families with ALL girls in my entire life! One of their daughters took this picture when she was baby sitting them all for us for a ward adult activity, and you can see, I'm not joking! I love how Tucker is just staring at all of them like they are crazy...

...there are even a few girls missing in this picture!!!

Since this picture was taken, we've had move in, some good BOY families--Thank you Cottons!!!(you have really evened things out for us) :) And now I can rest at peace knowing that when Tucker goes to Nursery next week, there will be some manly influence for him! :)

Spring has finally Srung....

After a dreadful and LONG winter, I do believe that Spring is FINALLY here! Yeah! Unless Mother Nature is playing a cruel cruel joke on us, as she already has a few times these past few months. But I think that its safe to say that Spring has arrived and I've been busy this week....gardening! Yes, that's right, I started a garden! It was something that I really wanted to do last year, since we had just bought the house, and it has a beautiful back yard. But with a 4-5 month old, and working full time last spring, it just didn't work out. I really wish I would have taken pictures of the whole process, so you could really see how MUCH I have been working on this thing, but let me tell you:

• 2 weeks ago my dad and I built a garden box- 6x10 feet. And when I say my dad and I, I really mean, my dad. I would jump in every now and then and hold something for him, so he could hammer or saw. But I did do all the weeding and clearing out of the area!


• Then, I borrowed their truck, went down to the dirt store and bought a yard of dirt. Since our fence doesn't have a gate into the backyard, I had to haul the dirt by little wheelbarrows full into the garden box, from the truck in the garage. (this was Tuckers favorite part)
  

  

  
  
  

  I meant to take a picture of the box at this point, when it was half full, but I must have forgotten!

• So...finally on Saturday, I went to the garden store and bought:

A Tomato Plant

Cilantro

Red Onions

Walla Walla Sweet Onions

Green Beans

Sweet Peas

Baby Carrots

Corn

• And Woala...Here it is... my beautiful creation! :) If you can't tell, I am very proud of this! :) I have about two rows of each veggie and I'm going to put the row of corn in that little space between the box and the fence, I just haven't done it yet!
  

  

• So then on Sunday, I made these cute little cards to name all of the veggies I had planted:

I forgot about the fact that once I watered the garden, which was immediately after I put the name cards up, that they would get destroyed. I will have to make some more and laminate them:

So that's the story, it might not seem like much to you domestic divas/gardeners, but I have to say, that it was a lot of work, and I'm so excited for the fruits (or veggies in my case) of my labors. Lets just hope I don't kill off everything in the garden, and come up empty handed.

In other yard news, the beautiful flowers that bloom every spring have finally come up and they are so pretty! I love them because I don't even have to do anything, they come up and hide, well distract from, our hideous fence! ( You would think that since my husband works for a fence company, that our fence wouldn't be such an eyesore.... but we're working on that, and hopefully this summer, we'll be getting a new one installed.)

Ok, one last pic of Tucker. I had to share this one, because its so cute of him. Note the car in hand... Anyway, yesterday we were off to a 'cinco de mayo' fiesta and I was in the bathroom getting ready and Tucker walks in with Bens shirt on. He was literally running all over the house in it, and it was hilarious, he looked like a little Oompa Loompa just floating over the floor because you couldn't see his little legs going, just him gliding. :)