Mall Singers

For one night, and one night only, Austin Harmony Chorus sings at.... your local mall (Oh, yes folks, we are pretty big here)! Below you can see a few of us in action. My friend, Cheryl, is dressed in black, and is looking straight at the camera. I just love her! We joined this choir together in October.

We invited our families to come and listen to our mall performance. It was a good place for our kids to come check out what we do.

This store was right by where we were singing. Ty and my boys saw their sign and couldn't stop laughing. I'm not sure why any company would choose sign lettering for their store that makes their "d" look like an"o" and therefore change the whole meaning of their name...

We found Santa in the mall and serenaded him with the song, "Santa Baby". After we finished our song, he picked up his guitar and sang the song, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", for us. We commemorated our night of music with a photo. I think Santa quite enjoyed himself during this photo op.

Leia Mais

Austin Harmony Chorus

I had the opportunity to sing in Texas' state capitol in December with the Austin Harmony Chorus.

Here is our group photo right before we entered the rotunda to sing. Do you love the denim jeans that me and my friend, Cheryl, are wearing?

The Austin Harmony Chorus are affiliated with Sweet Adeline international, which is barber shop style singing, for women. This was my first performance with them, and I was making a great impression....

Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand the dress code for our gig.... They wanted us to wear black pants and a holiday color/style shirt. I could have sworn they said you could wear your denim. My friend, Cheryl, called me and asked what we were told to wear. I told her that we could totally sport our Levi's and a holiday shirt, so we did.

When we arrived at the capitol, and saw our whole chorus in their black pants, I gasp! Whoops! I asked our director if she wanted us to sit out this performance, and she said, "No, we'll just stick you in the back." Which is what they did. When we took the group picture, however, I insisted that Cheryl and I be in the front row so I could have a good documented photo of our mishap.

I think our chorus has a love/hate relationship with Cheryl and me. Cheryl and I joined the chorus because we both love to sing, and we both like hanging out with each other. We car pool to our rehearsals and it takes us an hour round trip. We call the car ride our weekly "therapy". We gab about our week, and laugh and giggle the whole the way. Then we go to rehearsal and gab and giggle the whole time there, hence, the love hate relationship they have with us. They like us because #1. we can sing and #2. we are younger than 60. Sometimes I think they'd love to put duct tape on our mouths..... I get that a lot.

After we sang, Cheryl took me on a tour of the capitol building. It really is quite remarkable. In the rotunda they have a painting of each of the men who have served as the governor of Texas, I found George W. Bush. I like George W.

Here is the dome above the rotunda. You'll notice the "Lone Star" in the center. The "Lone Star" nickname came from a man named Henry Smith. One night he was reading important documents that needed to be signed. He signed the papers and then decided that Texas needed its own seal. His over coat was hanging in the room and had large buttons with a five pointed star on them. He cut one of the buttons off his coat, dipped it in the sealing wax, and sealed the

documents with the symbol of a star. Ta-da! The Lone Star State!

Here is the stone floor in the rotunda. Did you know that Texas has flown six flags during its history? The Kingdom of France was the first followed by The Kingdom of Spain, The United Mexican States, The Republic of Texas, The Confederate States of America, and The United States. All are represented in this stone artwork.

We wandered into the senate room which was very quiet and people were talking in whispers, it was very reverent. I loved looking at all the artwork in this room, and reading about the great men and women who helped shape and form Texas into what it is today. It was evident that these early pioneers loved, served and honored God for their many accomplishments.

One of the paintings depicted the battle of the Alamo. It was quite remarkable.

We didn't have as much time as I would have like to explore this magnificent building. I plan on taking Ty and the kids back for a guided tour. I must say that Texans have a great pride in their heritage.

Leia Mais

Polar Express Night

Talmage and Eric's school hosted a Polar Express night.

It was really quite cute. The kids wore their pajama's to the school on the evening of December 3rd, then went into the cafeteria to have hot chocolate and cookies.

Once they finished their treat, they went in the gym to meet the BIG GUY!

Oh yeah, Santa Claus!

They were able to tell Santa (well, in this case Santa's "helper"... Eric knew he was a fake by the removable beard) what they wanted for Christmas, and then Santa gave them a bell, just like on the Polar Express.

After we met Santa, we ran into our neighbor Ashwin.

Eric loves to play with Ashwin and they get really active and physical (maybe crazy is a better word) when they play. Ashwin's dad said Ashwin is usually a pretty mellow kid, but when he's with Eric, he gets a little active (okay, crazy). What can I say? My little Eric has an extremely upbeat and playful personality! At least they held still long enough for me to take this picture!

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Granny Great

Granny Great. She IS fabulous, I mean, look at her!

Who pulls off an outfit like this? I would never guess an 80 year old woman!

But she is totally rockin' her red boots and fedora!

She's getting ready to board a plane and fly back to Utah (*sniff*, I'm trying to keep it together). She travels in style.

I love you Great!

Leia Mais

The Single Ladies Photo Shoot

This is my favorite picture from our photo shoot....

These are my favorite ladies in the whole world, and their mine ALL mine!

This past summer when I was visiting my family in Utah, I invited "the single ladies" out to our place for Thanksgiving. The single ladies; my mom (Kathy), Ty's Mom (Shellie), and Ty's grandma (Wilma). As luck would have it, they were all available to come.

I feel so blessed to have these women in my life. They have been, and continue to be the best examples of how I should live my life, the kind of mother I should be, and the kind of wife. They are my confidants, and my rocks when life gets tough. They are my cheerleaders and biggest supporters at all times and in all aspects of life (even when we had to move). And, they are friends, they all like each other and get along! How great is that?!

I have also been blessed with amazing sisters and friends. I have three sisters (one brother) and three sister-in-laws. My friends from Junior High and High School are still my best friends, and always will be. I have spent the majority of my life with these women. We have grown up together. We have been there to support each other through awkward teenage phases, first loves, first kisses, heart breaks, jobs, college, marriage, children, death, divorce, disappointments, you name it, we've been through it all! I have such a great support system!

After we had our two boys, I longed to have a daughter. When I was pregnant for the first time, I thought for sure I was carrying a girl. It turned out to be Talmage, which was amazing! The second time I was pregnant, once again I thought I was having a girl, and nine months later Eric was born. I had an instant connection with that little fella. I thought I was destined to have boys, and that maybe Heavenly Father had surrounded me with such amazing women in my life because I'd never have a daughter of my own.

And then, she came along.

She brings such joy into my life. I ached to have a daughter, to share moments and experiences as I have shared with my mom, and now I am! Womanhood is amazing.

While I had my single ladies here, I wanted to take them out for a little photo shoot, so I had a picture of them all together for my picture ledge. We drove down the end of my street, and I posted them up. Luckily, there was a man getting his mail who offered to take a picture of all of us.

After I had taken several photos of just the moms, Shellie wanted to throw Maidie in the picture with them. I wasn't planning on having Maidie pose with them, but these pictures turned out to be my favorites!

It was a very successful afternoon!

Leia Mais

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving!

I feel so thankful this year to have had family come to our home for the holiday!

And not just "family", but our mothers!

How lucky are we?

This was the first Thanksgiving that I was hosting, and I felt all this... pressure.

Not from "the moms" of course, but I wanted our feast to be memorable, and

I had a lot to live up to. I had three veteran Thanksgiving hosting mama's in my house!

The table

I love the centerpiece for our feast. Eric made this turkey at school and wore it on his

head during our Thanksgiving feast at his school. I thought it was lovely atop this fall foliage arrangement...

We started off our meal with Shellie's traditional shrimp cocktails. I have never

been to a Pearson/Bliss Thanksgiving without this yummy salad as our appetizer. I love that Shellie brought her own turkey pick's to add festiveness to her creation. So cute!

Between all of us, we were able to pull off a fabulous spread.

Ty handled the turkey, and found that we could buy a smoked turkey from

a BBQ restaurant here called Rudy's. It tasted fabulous, and wasn't too "smokey", which was my biggest concern. Mom Riley made her signature stuffing, mashed potatoes and pies. I worked on the rolls and sweet potatoes. We put Granny Great to work creating a gravy out of packets (eek- I know... gravy packets! But we had very little turkey "drippings" to work with), she actually made them edible. And Shellie-baby made her salads. Mom Pearson had actually had her gall bladder taken out only four days before she left for Texas, so we tried to make her sit down as much as we could.

I also served brussel sprouts in honor of my dad. He liked to call them "shrunken heads". We never had a Thanksgiving meal without them when I was growing up.

Bon appetit!

Leia Mais

Lunch At School

The boys school had a family Thanksgiving feast day.

We were able to go to their school and eat lunch together.

Eric's class came walking into the cafeteria wearing these turkey headdresses, I love that he is still young enough to appreciate wearing a nice turkey on your head!

It seems I didn't give Ty and Maidie the "wear your horizontal striped shirt" memo! It was a great lunch!

We also got to check out Talmage's class turkey. It's hard to find his feather, unfortunately it got stuck behind that garish, tentacle growing feather. *Sigh* What do you do? Mrs. Tanner obviously missed the brilliance of his water color work!

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Tie Dye With a Side of Plaid

Maidie, what are you wearing!?

Do you think this looks good together?

Look at her face as she explains why this tie dyed shirt looks good with this plaid skirt...

I think you're right! Tie dye does goes will with plaid!

Leia Mais

Oh, No She Didn't! But She Did!

November 16, 2010

Mothers of toddler age daughters have a couple fears.

One is pictured below.

I love how she puts it on her upper lip like a mustache! Ha!

What child doesn't wonder what it would be like to cut their own hair?

The only hope a parent has is that they'll intercede before this tragic action happens.

In this case, it was too late.

Ty was distracted helping Talmage use a glue gun for an art project, when he looked over in Maidies direction just in time to see her in what appeared to be a slow motion scene from a movie. Scissors raised, Ty yells, "NOOOOOOO", but it was too late.

Oh well, it's hair, it will.... (*sniff*) always... grow.... (*blow nose*) back!

Leia Mais

Rest In Peace

Talmage noticed this the other day.

This little fella (scorpion) found its way into our storage room light fixture and now it's a crispy little (dead... thankfully) critter. Dad's going to LOVE changing this light bulb!

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Turkey Feather

November 14, 2010

Talmage came home with a long card stock piece of paper shaped like a turkey feather. It was up to him to design and decorate it to put on their turkey at school. I think it turned out pretty cool.

And, Eric loves Pepper.

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Puppy Love

My husband has a new love in his life, and I'm not kidding.

I've heard the old expression, "a boy and his dog", but I never really knew what that meant, until now.

Tyler is crazy about this little "Texas Rat" as some of our friends have called her.

When we agreed to keep Pepper we set up certain rules.

#1. When dad and the boys are home, mom never has to take the dog out, feed her, play with her, pet her, clean up after her, or even acknowledge her existence. When the men

of the house are away, I will step in if the need arises.

#2. When Pepper goes out to do her business, dad or one of the boys will accompany her

and immediately dispose of her fertilizer gifts.

#3. Pepper will never be allowed upstairs where all of our bedrooms are.

It is a "safe" Pepper-free zone.

#4. Pepper is never allowed to sit on the couches and ABSOLUTELY

she is never to sit on my couch pillows.

#5. Pepper is not allowed any table scraps of any kind.

#6. Pepper will never sleep on our bed. She sleeps in her house, which doubles as her crate.

Yeah, pretty much every rule but #6 has been broken and tossed out the window. Tyler has already told me that rule #6 will eventually be broken. I'm CONFIDENT this rule will never be violated.

Dogs are a slippery slope....

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