Life is Good.

Finally. Life seems to be back to normal.

We've sucessfully married off all of our bestfriends. We've built a fence. We've slowed down for the time being and have been enjoying life at home.

I can honestly say, I love the days that I get to spend with my girls just hanging out at home or in the backyard. What makes these type of days the most enjoyable is that there is nothing that I have to do. There's no stressing over upcoming events. And I can just be their mom; their baking cookies, swimming, sand-cake building, playful, loving mom.

Summer is going by too quickly.

We've been coming up with so many relaxing activities where the girls enjoy themselves as much as we do.

Finlee enjoying steak fries the night we celebrated our 4th anniversary as a family at Red Robin.
Thanks, Mom!

Swinging on a rainy 4th of July.

Grocery shopping on her own with a cart just her size.

Playing outside in the hot summer sun.

Cooling off with some water play.

Riding her tricycle with Daddy.

I thought my family might get a kick out of this picture...

does it look like anyone you might have known when they were little? :)

There's nothing better than a poolside drink on a hot day.

A favorite toy to share.

Makeover for Daddy. :)

A family, who has quickly became great friends of ours, asked us to join them at the Fiesta here in town last Friday. We had never been since we moved here so we agreed to go and ended up having a great time with them. Authentic food, music, rides, games, shops, and decorations.

The girls dressed for the occasion. Don't they look festive for a Fiesta?

Jaelyn, Finlee, and I heading out to the Fiesta!

Nicholas and Jaelyn: Best Buds

The kids and their Daddy's. :)

This dress was bought for Jaelyn when she was little and I thought it was perfect for the Fiesta

 so I put it on Finlee and it fit her perfectly. She looked so cute!

Ava was there too! I love that our kids are right around the same ages.

I hope they all grow up to be bestfriends!

Scenes from the night. Such a neat experience!

Matt and I.

Finlee. I wanted to share this picture because I think she looks

so much like Jaelyn. Do you think so?

*****

I think that life is good when there are no real plans that you have to follow. When you can just go with the flow and do what makes you happy. My family makes me happy and so do my friends. Spending time with the people I love makes me happy. No worries just relaxation and fun. Sure, there are things that may get in the way but they are just things. It will pass and life will move on. On to better, more important things. If you're making the best of life and looking for the good in it, it will be just that.

Good. Life is good.

Xoxo,

Tanna

Highlights of Summer

Our summer has been busy. Overwhelming even. We don't get the chance to take many vacations with our closest family, so when we do, it's a real treat. Meaning, it has earned itself a spot right here on this blog.

It all started a few weeks ago when the girls and I headed on a day-trip with most of the girls of the Pollock family. Needless to say, we royally enjoyed ourselves. We toured the small towns around the area, hitting up a museum, little shops and cafe's, and ending our day with a relaxing pedicure and manicure.

Alma, Kansas Cheese is gooood.

Council Grove, Kansas, Washunga Days!

Wamego, Kansas

For lunch, we stopped at a little cafe called Juli's on Lincoln in Wamego. So quaint and cute!

You can't go to Wamgeo without visiting the Oz Museum, so that's where we headed.

This day-trip was exactly what I needed to relax but in the Pollock family, you can't do just one thing and be satisfied so a few days later we headed to Kansas City for the weekend for shopping and a quick trip to World's of Fun and Oceans of Fun.

Josh wearing Finlee's cow mask. :)

My yummy meal that I thoroughly enjoyed at a Saloon style restaurant that we ate at in Legends Mall.

Finlee enjoying a cool drink on that hot summer evening.

Melissa was even able to sing live music at the Saloon. She gives me goosebumps everytime!

We enjoyed relaxing and having fun together...even though some of the family couldn't make it.

I love this family...always full of fun!

(Please don't kill me for posting this picture! Hopefully you're full of love too!) :)

Our summer is quickly passing but I'm still enjoying every minute of my precious darlings. I love being a mom most. And even though I'm not perfect, I still have two baby girls that love me and who I love with my every being. And yes, they are still growing!

Xoxo,

Tanna

Our Love Story: Matt and Tanna

Here is part two of our love story. This is Matt's perspective. I thought I should also mention that we didn't write these sitting next to each other...he actually did his part at work and I did mine at home. It turned out to be a lot of fun writing down our memories and reminiscing on the past. We both feel that we may have left out some things but overall, we shared a lot and will always be able to remember these memories.

Our Love Story: Matt and Tanna
Part 2: Matt's View
Written by: Matt

I remember the exact moment I first saw Tanna. Even to this day it feels like it was only yesterday when that happened. It’s funny how your memory has the ability to remember things like that but yet you forget what you ate for breakfast this morning. But I remember that, clear as day, I remember that. It was at a basketball game at home. Do I remember the exact day? Exact minute? NO. I cannot even remember if we won that game or not. But the moment I saw her, to be honest, I couldn’t concentrate on basketball. I knew she was going to be there. My friend had told me that a couple of girls from Scott City were going to be at our game. Now you have to see the importance of this through the eyes of me to fully understand it. Up until then, I viewed Scott City girls as "higher up" than I was, and therefore, the chances of actually dating one was about as good as me making it as an NFL lineman. Nonetheless, the moment I saw her, I knew I wanted to get to know her. I remember standing near the bench in a timeout and looking up at her, and I swear to you she looked right at me and winked. Oh I’m sure she will deny it, but at that moment, I felt like she saw nobody else but me. And oh man was she pretty…. For the whole game it seemed like I could not take my eyes off of her. Her pretty brown eyes and her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She was about as cute as they come. But as soon as the game was over, she was gone just as fast as she had appeared.


I’m not sure whether she noticed me that night or not, and to be honest, it didn’t matter to me. I was going to go after her no matter what. So I did what any typical high school kid would do… I added her on MSN Messenger. Kids have it so easy these days. They have Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and about any other social networking opportunity they can think of. Back then, we had MSN messenger. Tanna and I began to talk and get to know each other by talking to each other on MSN Messenger. I remember using song lyrics as my chat name because I thought I would be cool. She probably just thought I was weird. But anyways, we started out talking, just sort of getting to know each other, and she used to call me buddy. So I started calling her buddy. So whenever we start talking to each other it would be like, "Hey buddy!" I guess really that was the first nickname we had for each other. Oh many more would follow, I can tell you that. Some of them quite weird and outrageous. I remember for a while my nickname was Mappy. I guess it was a cute play on my first name and last name initial; Matt P. Turned into Mappy. For a while it was Matty, and P, and a whole lot of others. For a while I used to call Tanna just T. But yes, the nicknames were creative, numerous, and some of them still live with me today.

But anyways, I remember one time I was hanging out at a friends house, and in walks Tanna. It was the first time I had seen her since my magical encounter with her a while back at the basketball game. Only this time, she knew who I was, I mean, we were buddies; we were like long time friends who really knew nothing about each other. But still, deep down, I was hoping she would come up to me and at least say hi. Needless to say, she did not, I was a little disappointed in that, but I did find out one important thing; she was shy. And heck, I was shy too, so right then I at least knew we had something in common.

After that second time I saw her, I knew that I liked her and I wanted to get to know her better. We continued just to talk on the computer still and I even used to have to sneak on the computer to talk to her. We began flirting with each other a little and I can tell you, I was nervous. It was almost like an adrenaline rush flirting with her because I would say something and I would wait for her to respond. And those few seconds before she responded felt like an eternity. Would she flirt back? Call me a weirdo? I was not really sure, but that was part of the rush. In fact, that is how we started dating too. I asked her on the computer. It seemed lame at the time, but heck, with the invention of online dating sites and their popularity, I was practically an innovator; a sheer genius.

After that, I began making the first of what would be hundreds, possibly billions of trips to Scott City to see Tanna. I remember counting down the hours and minutes until I was off work on the weekends to drive and see her. I was always pushing my curfew too. The drive to Scott City, when going the speed limit, took about 25 minutes. I, on the other hand, on a good day, could get back home in 10 minutes. My old Chevy Lumina was an old Grandma car, but on Saturday nights, when I did not want to be grounded for missing curfew, it transformed in to a Nascar speed demon.
We had dated pretty much all through high school, and I believe it was our sophomore year when Tanna transferred to Healy and went to my school. It was halfway through the year, but it was not too hard to get adjusted to her being there. She knew some of the kids in our class already, so it was pretty easy to make friends. It was nice having her in the same school. We got to see each other a little more than just on weekends. And when she became a cheerleader, she also got to go to all of my basketball and football games. One of the most memorable moments in high school occurred our senior year. We were both candidates for King and Queen for Fall homecoming. I like to think that we were one of the more popular couples in school, so I felt like our chances of winning King and Queen together were pretty good. But then again, you never really know. We were playing Weskan that game, and we were probably losing at the time, but halftime was pretty special. There were three candidates each for king and queen, and they loaded each pair into the back of a pickup and had a sort of parade across the football field before we all got dropped off at the 50 yard line. I was partnered with Tanna and her dad drove us down the field in the back of his truck. Something I can tell you is that I was nervous. I think kids try to play this Homecoming royalty off as no big deal, but deep down inside, everyone wants to win. I remember the smile I got when they called my name for homecoming king. So, I stepped forward and walked over to wait and see who they announced as homecoming queen. In the brief moments where I was queen-less, there was an endless amount of scenarios that were running through my mind. What if Tanna didn’t win? I knew that it was tradition to kiss the queen, but how could I do that to Tanna, especially since the other two queen candidates were Tanna’s friends. At that point, I think I would have rather of played football in just my underwear instead of kissing someone else other than Tanna. When Tanna’s name was called, a wave of relief came over me. She walked over to me and I place the crown on her head, gave her the flowers, and proceeded to kiss her in front of the whole football crowd. (Which, ironically, in my town is about 150 people.) But it was still a big deal. I will never forget that moment.
To this day, whenever I talk to other people about Tanna and me, I always mention that she was the pretty cheerleader who fell in love with the football player, and we were homecoming king and queen. It was pretty special.

I’m not 100% sure when I knew that one day we would get married, I just knew. It was pretty early in our relationship, maybe a year into it or so. But when you’re in high school, it seems like marriage is the last thing that is on your mind. But not me. For some reason, I just knew. But I believe there is a good reason why I knew. When I was younger I remember laying in bed sometimes and praying to God that he would show me the person that I would marry. But not just show me, but show me very early in life. So I truly believe that God made Tanna, and God made me, and He made us with the thought in mind that one day, we would both be together. I believe God was the one who told me that I would marry Tanna, and I was just following his direction. I remember notes that I would write to her (some of which she still has) in which I talk about how I can’t wait to marry her. If I wasn’t such a stud and cool guy in high school, stuff like that would have probably gotten me beat up. I’ll admit that I was a little sappy at times….I was love-struck, what can I say. But other people knew that one day, we would probably get married. I remember people teasing us that they will watch the twins for us when we get married. It was a pretty good joke that got a lot of use.

I knew my senior year that I wanted our relationship to last. I began thinking about asking Tanna to marry me. My family LOVED Tanna, so their support was very helpful. It’s a weird feeling going shopping for a ring when you are 18 years old and having NO idea what you are doing. But I was able to overcome that feeling of fear and excitement. Now the only questions that ran through my mind were, "When should I ask?", and "Would she say yes?" I had asked Tanna’s dad for permission to ask her, and he had said yes, so that was one very important think checked off my list. I remember the day I asked her; it was Thursday, December 22, 2005. We were watching a movie, and I knew she knew something was up. I had put the ring in a small Christmas bag and I had told her that we should open a few presents early. Of course, she agreed. When she opened the bag and pulled out the ring case, I grabbed it from her and opened it up. She was laying down on the floor at the time, which was good because she probably would have fainted. Anyways, I got down and asked her to marry me. She said No… The end. But wait, your probably wondering. Your right, she did say yes. Lucky for her she just said yes to one of the biggest decisions in her life, not to mention she was going to be stuck with me for the rest of her life. I would like to think that wasn’t the reason she began crying a little. I am very bad at telling the story of how I proposed. It was sort of like an out of body experience because I was so nervous, so I really don’t recall very much. It was like I was in a dream. But no matter what anybody tells you, it was very romantic.

Our wedding was very special also. We had worked all summer up until July 8th to get everything nice. We planned on having the wedding in my back yard, so a lot of work was to be done. Along with help from my whole family, and Tanna, we planted trees, put in a pond, and built a wrought iron fence along the property to decorate things really nice. It was very casual and relaxing. I wore a white hawaiian shirt and Tanna wore her traditional white wedding dress. And all of the groomsmen were wearing colored Hawaiian shirts. It was a very relaxing day and as stressful as it was to plan, I think it went well and we all had a good time.

I know there are hundreds and hundreds of funny and cool stories that I could have written about. Maybe someday I will be able to get those down on paper as well. Hopefully, what I have written so far will shed some light on the relationship Tanna and I had before we got married; how we met, a few funny little stories, etc… I guess I will end on 10 facts about Tanna and I that you may not know about us.

Ten Facts about Tanna & I That You May Not Know About Us:
#10. I used to be terrified of Tanna’s dad. And who wouldn’t when you find out your girlfriend’s dad is 6’5"?

#9. The first time I met Tanna’s mom, Tanna introduced her as her aunt. To this day I am not sure why she pulled that one on me.

#8.Tanna used to steal my shirts and used them to dress her stuffed animals. Even today, she has one of them still dressed in one of my shirts.

#7. Although I have lived in Minnesota, Tanna has been to the Mall of America…with MY family….and I have NOT.

#6. I used to always end the letters I wrote to Tanna with "Y.O.A.O", which stood for "Your One And Only".

#5. I remember the exact moment when I accidently farted in front of Tanna for the first time. Probably one of the most terrifying moments in my life. FACT.

#4. I remember numerous occasions in the first months of us dating that I would refuse to use the bathroom at her house, no matter how bad I had to go. Call me weird I guess.

#3. I’m pretty sure Tanna kept her Flip Flop obsession a secret until it was too late.. Yea, I think I was duped.

#2. I can picture the exact spot and moment when I kissed Tanna for the first time. I can draw you a picture if you want.

#1. I love reminding Tanna that she is stuck with me for the rest of our lives. When she smiles about it, I am almost positive that she smiles because it is a good thing, and not a smile that is saying, "just wait until you see what I have in mind to get rid of you." But in all honesty, I am truly thankful that God has put Tanna in my life. It has been almost four years since we’ve been married, but I know that time is just a sliver compared to the wonderful years that we have ahead of us.

*****

Oh, the things your wife makes you do! And there are our very own versions of "Our Love Story". I hope we have many, many more pages to add to this in the future!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Our Love Story: Matt and Tanna

So many of my blog friends are sharing their love stories so I thought that I would take part in the fun. I'd love for my kids to be able to read it and to have it as a keepsake myself. One part will be from my perspective and the other will be from Matt's perpective. Enjoy!

Our Love Story: Matt and Tanna
Part 1: Tanna's View

Being from a small town means that you know everybody and there's hardly anything to do. Within 30 miles each direction, there's more small towns with still nothing to do. About 30 miles from Scott City, where I grew up, was a town called Healy. (One of the smallest towns I've ever seen, yet holds so many memories for me.) Little did I know that the guy that I would marry, at the ripe, young age of 18, lived in this town.

My bestfriend and I knew other people from Healy and we'd venture out occasionally to visit Healy to entertain ourselves. And of course there were boys. :) My friend knew most of them and I kind of just tagged along. After awhile, I knew most of them too. Even though Matt was friends with them, I had never actually seen him with them.

One evening, we went to Healy for a basketball game and to hang out with our friends. Matt had been playing that night and even though I may have noticed him, he was too quiet to ever say anything. Before I knew it, he had added me on messenger and we became really good friends.
My friend made a name called "Mappy" for him because if you say "Matt P" really quickly, it sounds like Mappy. I, too, picked up on the nickname and honestly, our relationship consisted of flirty nicknames and talking. I was too interested in another boy and Matt was just a really good friend at the time.

At one point, just before breaking up with "other said boy" I seen Matt at a party and we talked and talked. By the summer of our freshmen year, we were official. We started dating May 30, 2003. Our friendship blossomed into something that I will never forget. Matt was my rock, my bestfriend, and my everything. Even though we were both christians, I wouldn't say that our walk was significant in our lives until later in our relationship.

After running into some trouble with schooling in the town that I grew up in, Scott City, I begged my dad to transfer me to Healy where I had found a lot of friendships in a few good people. I still say that this decision was the hardest for my dad to make but it was certainly the best. I am still so thankful towards my dad for allowing me to go. I have so many memories and friendships that I found in this small town that I absolutely loved at the time...including Matt's. My dad finally gave in and Matt soon became not only my boyfriend, but my classmate. Matt and I were 2 out of 16 students in our class so we had the same friends, same schedule, same memories.

For our first date, we did what every couple in that same small town does. We traveled to Garden City to a movie and dinner. I can't even remember which movie or what restaurant, to be honest.
Matt and I dated all through High School. We went to three proms together, we went on youth trips together, we walked to class together. We were inseperable. We we're even football homecoming king and queen our senior year. And our best high school memory would be traveling to Hawaii our senior year for our senior trip. We felt important and free and made the best memories. He was the star football player and I was the cheerleader. We'd write "love" letters, many of which I still have. It just made sense for us to be together. :) We had an occasional fight and break-up but it has truly made us who we are today.

Our first kiss was in front of my friend's house. Matt and his brother just happened to be in town and were in the area. They had to leave so he kissed me goodbye and I didn't even see it coming. I was so embarassed.

Even though I wasn't open about it, I knew I was going to marry him. I loved him. I loved how he treated me and I loved who he was. He had morals, values, and goals. He was smart, kind, and handsome. :) And my family loved him. I loved him. We grew up together over our high school years. We had talked about the future but nothing really needed to be said...because we both just knew. Matt proposed to me our senior year of high school, over Christmas break, on Thursday, December 22, 2005. We were having Christmas with his family at the time. We had just finished opening a few gifts and we're watching the movie "The Christmas Blessing", the sequel to "The Christmas Shoes". Matt was fumbling around in the background as I was trying to concentrate on the movie. They somehow convinced me to open another present randomly so we did and that's when Matt gave me a beautiful proposal and I of course said "yes", knowing that I would love to marry my high school sweetheart.

(Thanks to Matt's sister for grabbing a camera, even though I'm in my PJs. :))

Matt and I planned a small, comfortable, beach-themed wedding on July 8, 2006..two months after our high school graduation. We had the wedding in his parents backyard in Healy, Kansas. The weather was hot but perfect and our closest friends, family, and supporters we're there. Music, food, and cake was enjoyed and everyone relaxed. We left the next day for our new apartment in Topeka, Kansas where Matt would soon start school and work and I would work. We honeymooned in Branson, Missouri, which happens to still be one of our most favorite places to go.

(Notice the Longhorn cake...true fans!)

We found out that I was pregnant with a little girl late July, early August and even though we were nervous, we were so excited. I had always wanted to be a mommy and now I would be. Jaelyn Lerae was born on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007. We fell in love hard. We struggled a bit financially and such, but we managed and Jaelyn is growing up to be quite the little girl. I became a stay-at-home mom when Jaelyn was born and ever since then, our relationships with Christ began to blossom. We were able to attend church, groups, and actually have family time. It was truly what we needed as a family and God knew that. He provided for us so that I could be a stay-at-home mom and it's what was best for our relationship with Him.

We celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, friendships, and babies. Then, early July, I found out that I was pregnant yet again with our second little girl. Finlee Allison-Grace was born Monday, March 2nd, 2009, just a month before Jaelyn's second birthday. Our world was rocked but they have become our world and we absolutely love being parents.

With our fourth wedding anniversary drawing near, I feel that Matt and I have come a long way in our relationship with each other, our relationship with Christ, and our family relationships. He has brought out the best in me and I am so thankful for the wonderful husband that he is. God has truly blessed me with a bestfriend and amazing husband, two beautiful girls, and family and friends to last a lifetime. Matt and I feel like we have conquered so much and I couldn't imagine not being with him with all that we have been through together. Life is beautiful and I can't wait to see what else it hands us. Even though it won't be easy, atleast I have Matt to do it with.

Thank you, Matt, for being such a wonderful, hard-working, funny man! I love you!

Xoxo,
Tanna