30 years ago . . .

There was an assassination attempt on Ronald Regan. And Cory was born. (This is a little thing I LOVE about Cory; whenever someone asks when his birthday is, he always says something about the Attempted Assassination!)

I double Hate ooey, gooey love fests via Blog, so I'll keep this to a minimum.

We love Cory . . . a lot. He's our Man. The only one in the house, as it happens to be. He treats us right. He wrestles us, even if we don't want to be wrestled. He plays Mob Wars. He's silly.

He loves Tostitos Hint of Lime Chips (we go through 2 bags a week) and Salsa. He loves Church Ball, and his current team has the losing-est season of all time - through no fault of his own. He asked for "crunchy tacos" for his birthday dinner. What?! "Crunchy Tacos." Okay. He's a super Intern and an amazing Physician. Protein Shakes are a BIG part of his life. He's a smarty pants, and has passed it on to his children. He wakes up early and goes to bed late, and we love him despite the fact that he falls asleep on the couch around 8 pm most nights. He's a Trimmer, and we'll leave it at that. He's a great Dad and really tries to balance his crazy schedule with loving on us girls. We love you to the stars and back, Cory.

Olive Juice!

Tessa's Photo Shoot

I feel like I've been posting a lot about Tess lately, but she's just crackin' us up with everything that comes out of her mouth.

She's taken to a new exclamation . . . "Shiver me timbers!" She thinks it

goes with everything; "Shiver me timbers, it's raining," or "Shiver me timbers, we're late," or "Shiver me timbers, this food is dee-licious!"

Her camera has had a full memory card for a few weeks and everyday she asks me to "fix my camwa?" I'll post a few of the 334 pictures (We were crying from laughter over some of them. Let's just say there are a few exhibitional shots that were taken unbeknownst to the subjects ;) at a later date.

Here's some shots she took as soon as I was done unloading the old stuff.

Can you say Megamind?

Dermatology

Here is my first attempt at this crazy Private Blogging. I will keep our old blog (it will remain Public), and post a link each time I update this blog (clearly you've successfully signed in if you're reading this).

So, the news is - contrary to popular belief - that I am NOT pregnant! HA, take that! I truly didn't even think of that as an option, but after I posted about "the news", I had a few happy Grandmas call, ready for the announcement. Someday, but today is not that day.

We are very excited about a new opportunity that we've had present itself. Most of our close friends and family know, but this is our first public sharing of the decision. Let me tell you that a LOT of fasting, prayer, temple trips and the like have gone into this decision. So here we are.

Cory is finishing his Traditional Rotating Year here at Good Samaritan in Corvallis. (He also passed his last set of Boards with flying colors! Now he can be a REAL Doctor!) When he finishes in June, we will be moving to Salem, OR where he will be starting work at Silver Falls Dermatology. This is where it gets tricky. I'll let him explain it at a later date, but let's just say we're in semi-limbo as we wait to find out if a new Residency Program will be approved or if we'll be applying to different Derm Programs next year. We're following Nephi's example; building the boat, hopping in, and hoping we find our way to the Promised Land.

Bon Voyage and wish us luck!

Tessa

My Tessa is a CHARACTER. Everyone who knows her, knows this. There is an alleged "flatulence" video going around of late, that I'm too embarrassed to go public with. Let me just say, it will change your life. (Let me know if you wanna see it and I'll send you the link.)

She's said some amazing things lately.

As she was admiring her clothing choice in the mirror one morning (a hoodie and jeans) she said, "I look quite a bit like a boy."

Cory was running around in his unders one Sunday morning, getting breakfast for the girls, etc. Tessa commented, "Dad, you're hiding something in your pants!"

And just now as we were walking up the stairs to our apartment, our neighbors door was open and you could smell their food cooking. Tessa yelled in their open door, "Your house smells like India!!!"

The Dresses

We got a greasy envelope from Finland today with a delicious cookie thing in it. It's supposedly called Vohveli keksi? We likey!

Don't forget to check out (at least the bottom) of the post below.

Take a deep breath . . .

(I love this picture! I have the girls do a Scavenger Picture hunt with our cameras every once in a while, where they have to take a picture of something that starts with a certain letter. E for Emory!)

For the last two weeks, I've felt like I haven't had ANY time to sit down. It was busy, to say the least.

Grandma Hulse came to visit, and Cory took off 3 days to be with us. The day we picked her up from the Airport we went to Powell's Books (my new favorite place!), the Temple (we changed into our skirts in the car!), the Mall, and to a Dermatologists house for dinner (more on that later). The rest of the week was scattered with sickness, eating a lot, reading books, a nature walk to the Wetlands,

making dresses for a wedding (pictures to follow), and lots of fun! Grandma and Tess playing Twister.

Story time on our Snow Day.

The girls had their last Ballet/Tap Class while Grandma was here. I am sorely going to miss this hour every week, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much during it!

Unfortunately, during that week I was planning two big events - New Beginnings and Women's Conference. I wasn't in charge of everything, just a booth for NB and a Class during WC, but I don't do anything halfway! For New Beginnings, we had a mall theme and all the leaders split up the Values and had a store that matched up to the Value. Mine was Barnes and Noble: Knowledge. We don't have a B&N in town, so I hit up Borders and they gave me a ton of cool stuff.

For Women's Conference I got asked to team teach a class about being Fashionably Modest on a Secondhand Budget. My qualifications for this class are non-existent, but we had a full class and it seemed to go well. Of course, I didn't take even one picture. Imagine a wardrobe rack full of fun clothes, a dress form dressed all cute, a table full of every kind of accessory imaginable and that's what it looked like.

This picture makes me laugh! I wanted to show an easy, 5 minute Make-up Routine so I did half of my face to show it doesn't have to be over the top, but subtle. Emory pointed to right side and said, "Mom, that eye looks sad". Yes, yes it does my child, and your eyes will look sad too, someday.

My favorite thing about the class was this quote I found from Elder Hales:

Our bodies are the temples of our spirits. Additionally, our bodies are the means by which we can bring souls from the presence of God to their mortal state. When we recognize our bodies as the gifts they are and when we understand the missions they help us fulfill, we protect and honor them by how we act and dress ... Our clothing is more than just covering for our bodies; it reflects who we are and what we want to be, both here in mortality and in the eternities that will follow.

The Cat in the Hat visited our Library this weekend, we love us some Cat!

On a final note, we have BIG NEWS and will be making our announcement in a week, when our Blog will then be Private. So leave your e-mail in a comment, if you want in!