Christmas 2012

Christmas felt like a whirlwind this year.  Am I the only one who felt that way?  I can't believe we are already back in school with a full week of the new year behind us.

Our holidays started at the beginning of December, when I shipped out our Christmas cards.

This year's offering:

My favorite part of Christmas is receiving cards in the mail.  I love it.  I just took them down from the walls today.  I am always eager to get rid of the tree and decor, but the cards are harder to part with.

Our festivities marched on through December with various concerts, parties and recitals.  Soon, we found ourselves at Christmas Eve.  We served our traditional finger foods, which included an amazing cheese tray that Gracie put together with her dad.

We all stuffed ourselves!

Some of us even enjoyed some lobster:

Filled with good things, we moved to the family room for the traditional nativity puppet show.

With that, Mom and Dad went home, children nestled in their beds, and Greg and I stayed up half the night preparing for the big day.

 

The kids were thrilled to empty their stockings.

But even more thrilled to open their presents.

Jane sure was excited to get that big, fat Vera Bradley gift card!

Derick was super excited to get his very own American Girl Bitty Baby.

If Grace's tongue is any indicator, she was very excited about her new iPod Touch.

But the highlight of the day was Ethan's new cat.  Yep, we are now officially cat owners.  I have never seen him more excited on Christmas.  All day long, he said, "Oh! Ethan got a cat!"

 

The best part of our Christmas was that halfway through the day, we looked outside to see this white stuff falling.

Later, when our friends, the Koehles, came over, the kids spent MUCHO time outside in the snow.  It was only the second white Christmas we've had here in Texas over 14 years.

It was a dreamy day.

A couple of days after Christmas, Jane and I finally finished our quest to read the unabridged "Les Miserables".  It took us a couple of months.  The first 50% of the book, I read aloud to her, the second half, we each read on our own.  We both finished in the morning, and then went to the movie in the evening.

That's me after crying all my make up off.  I am telling you!  What a crybaby.  I honestly don't remember the last time I SOBBED that hard in a movie.  I couldn't stop!  I actually had never seen the play, so reading it with Jane and then immediately watching the film was a very special experience.  And can I just tell you how proud I am of my hard-core 7th grade reader!?  I would be lying if I said there wasn't LOTS of whining from our 13 year-old over the course of the experience, but she did it!  That was one big book and lots of new vocabulary words.

On to New Year's Eve!  We spent the evening as a family, playing games, eating yummy Asian food, and watching the sweet movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".  More crying.

New Years' Day, the girls invited a few friends over and had a blast.

And finally, how cute is this boy and his new cat!?!

I'm telling you what.  As much as I don't like those animals, it sure is a joy to see my little boy love something so much.  And for a parent, that spells a successful Christmas.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Walking down memory lane

Greg and I recently celebrated 17 years of marriage.  And by 'celebrate', I really mean on Sunday we turned to each other and said, "Oh, I think it's our anniversary today."  Wedding anniversaries are not exactly the center of the universe in December.  But, the week before, we actually did commemorate and even 'celebrate' a bit.

Greg travels frequently for business and in the last 5 years, has had the privilege of going back to Chapel Hill, NC once a year.  I always say that he needs to take me with him, and this time, he did!  Because my parents are here this winter, I had babysitters, so I boarded the plane and headed back after 16 years away.

The first time I went to Chapel Hill, I flew out to meet Greg for a weekend in 1995.  We were engaged, and he had already started grad school at UNC.  I was still in Utah.  When I got off the plane, he met me with a red rose in hand.  17+ years later, in 2012, I got off the plane to see Greg standing there holding a red rose.  I burst out laughing.  It was cheesy and sweet and just hilarious all at the same time.  I had actually forgotten all about the rose, so I was impressed with his efforts toward romance.

Our first stop from the airport was Allen and Son's BBQ on the outskirts of town.  My, how I had missed real Carolina BBQ.  It was HEAVENLY and just as I remembered. Lived up to every hope and expectation.

Driving around was so much fun!  I couldn't believe how many memories came flooding back.  After lunch, we had to go grab dessert on Franklin St at the Yogurt Pump, the site of so many 'splurges' on date night, in our first year of marriage.

 

We next paid tribute to the passing of the Burrito Bunker, home of the $1.50 HUGE burrito that gave us so much cheap joy back in the day.

  

Walking down Franklin St, used to be the main activity of our date nights.  As we 'walked down memory lane', and shopped for UNC souvenirs for our kids, I laughed at this great t-shirt:

I hope you can read it; if not: "I don't often hate, but when I do... I prefer to hate Duke." HA HA HA!

Then it was off to walk around the beautiful campus of UNC Chapel Hill.  The Old Well:

As we walked around, I recalled what campus looked like the day after Hurricane Fran, in 1996.  It was COVERED in downed trees and leaves.

  

 

Greg, paying tribute to his alma mater:

And then a moment of silence at the site of the theft of his beloved mountain bike.  He still gets sad when he thinks of it.

Walking through the campus arboretum, home of so many memories.

 

Oh, how I love those camellias!

 

Apparently, Greg used to love them, too:

 

After walking around campus and the LDS institute, we drove over to our first apartment:

Then, to Greg's last bachelor pad:

 And as long as we were at it, my old office:

 

That night, we had dinner at 411 West, the amazing restaurant where Greg first took me when I came for my first visit 17 years ago.  It was as charming and delicious as I remembered. Also, we shopped at our favorite old stores, including A Southern Season, and stocked up on goodies for everyone back home.

The next morning, we attended church.  Greg was the first person to ever speak at the pulpit in this brand new church back in 1995.  I was surprised to find how dated it looked!  In my mind, it was still a brand new building, but now, mauve isn't so brand new...

That night, we had dinner with three of Greg's old buddies from grad school.  It was a blast and again a funny thing to find time doesn't stand still!  It was so strange to see everyone stride in with families!!  

The next morning, we drove around again, and visited Duke Forest, where we used to so often hike.

And even though we prefer to hate Duke, we still drove over to see the beautiful Duke chapel again.

It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend, and I am completely blessed to have spent the last 17 years with such an amazing best friend.  We have the best time together and I adore him.

And that's the truth.

I'm Back!

Oh, I am a bad blogger.  I just have NOT felt it.  But here I am with some updates on our exciting life.

I will just give it to you (mostly) in Instagram photos, 'cause that pretty much keeps up with all things Tallmadge


In September, Ethan turned 15!  Gracie left him this sweet little breakfast surprise.

We went to his favorite park and had his favorite food and he got his favorite present (another new watch).  The boy is nothing, if not consistent.

 In October, we enjoyed watching General Conference for two days and ate WAY too much food.

That weekend, we also had family pictures taken.  As you can see, it wasn't all serious.  Grace had fun clowning around when we weren't saying "CHEESE!!" Christmas cards are forthcoming...

We had a little visitor for several days in our backyard.  Our dog, Maggie, has barked her head off nonstop for weeks.  It's a regular animal menagerie at our house.

Derick turned 15 at the end of October.  We celebrated at a yummy burger joint with authentic Idaho fries!

And even after 15 years, Derick isn't quite sure how to blow out the candles, but he sure did know how to dive into the German chocolate cake.

We celebrated Halloween.  Grace and her friend, Amy, successfully bobbed for apples.

Derick did too, with a little help.

Greg and I were Facebook and Instagram for Halloween.

The kids were a conglomeration of stuff.  I am pretty sure that this year was the least effort I've ever made.  Grace and her dad covered her wagon, to accessorize her pioneer costume, and that was the extent of it.

My friend, Lindsay, invited me to play golf for the first time.  Her husband is the golf pro at a resort and I have to say, I had a blast.  I could get into that.  If it were always free.

Election Day was met with much anxiety and anticipation.

It is such an honor and privilege to vote.

Sadly, things did not go according to plan.  I am still stunned.

Gracie had her big 4th grade program at school.  It was darling.  Especially when they sang a tribute to all of their former teachers with "All My Exes Live in Texas".  I almost missed it, though.  I was on my way out the door to a dinner party, when I checked my email and saw a last minute reminder saying the kids needed to be at the school in 10 minutes. I asked Grace about it and she gasped in recollection! As we ran around, collecting a 'cowboy' costume, I texted my friend and asked how I had never heard of this program.  She said it was announced in an email about the PTA meeting (the program was piggy-backed on).  Well, I never read past "PTA Meeting", and totally dismissed it.  HA!  It was even funnier to me when I sat down and saw that all the decorations had been made by yours truly.  When I volunteer, I do all the work and don't ask questions.  Chalk this one up to another of my mother of the year moments.

And while we're on the subject of stellar mothering, I present to you: my mother.  The stand-in, when I am failing to be mother of the year.  My parents are here for the winter.  They pulled their RV down here a couple of weeks ago, and we are loving it.  Especially when I realized that the night of "Young Women in Excellence" at church was also the same night as my Volunteer Advisory Board meeting at Cook Children's Hospital.  Our meetings are only quarterly, so when we have one, I have to be there.  Greg was out of town.  It was a recipe for disaster, but fortunately, my parents are here and stepped in.  HURRAY!  And let's face it, Jane would rather be hanging with Grandma, anyway.

Thanksgiving was a blast.  We had my parents and the sister missionaries over and our neighbor, Todd.  Later, Katri and her family came as well as her dad and the elders for dessert.  It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. But, MAN!  I ate too much.

Thanksgiving was also Jane's 13th birthday!  Yep, I now have three teenagers.  Super crazy town.

This weekend, Greg, Jane and my mom are in New York, helping clean up after Hurricane Sandy.  I saw this video, and just knew my girl had to go.  After finding super cheap airfare and using hotel points, it was on!  They have been working hard and making wonderful memories.

And that is us for now.  I decorated for Christmas all weekend and enjoyed just chilling out.  Bring on Christmas!