so many tulips

As part of my birthday present, Jonathan took all of us to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn! This is somewhere I've wanted to go ever since before we moved here. Jonathan's mom is from Holland and he has Dutch ancestry so he of course loves tulips, and I think they are pretty much the most astounding flower- so big and bright!
The festival did not disappoint. It seemed like there were miles of beautiful tulips in full bloom! And so much variety, too. Who knew there are more than 50 types of tulips?

These ones are my favorite ^ They are called "Leen Van Der Mark" tulips.

 I love the above picture of Charlotte and I. She is holding her head up pretty well these days!

 Talmage is my little model, I can't help but take lots of pictures of him :]

 the boys at the windmill!

They had this kids play area that was all free to play on, but we didn't really have time so we may have to go back (its only 30 min from our apt!). As a birthday bonus, we bought FOUR bouquets from the tulip market! As soon as we got home I put them in a vase and they certainly do brighten up the place :]

One thing I didn't expect was all the MUD. So much mud- everywhere. I looked like such an out-of-towner with my Chaco flip-flops, sliding left & right in the guck. Luckily our stroller is built for that kind of thing, so it did just fine! We hosed ourselves off at the doggie station when we were done and there was no damage :]

We had such a good time seeing all the gorgeous tulips, but there was still lots of day left so we headed over to the Outlet mall (of course...). The whole mall is outside but its covered so you don't get rained on. I really need to take some pictures of it...how touristy am I? haha..

Last night (my official birthday), while waiting for J to come home from work I made frog-eye salad and turkey spaghetti for dinner- nothing fancy but still really yummy! Charlotte likes to sit in her bouncer and watch me in the kitchen, but sometimes she'll fuss and I have to stir and sway at the same time.

Dinner was followed by the traditional cherry cheesecake, my favorite!

I think I'll be helping myself to some leftover cheesecake now...yeah, these pounds are going no where fast.

23rd birthday

Whenever I have a birthday I reflect on the things in my life. My accomplishments, my trials, the people I know, and things to come. I can't help but feel so blessed on this particular birthday.

Here are some of the things on my mind today (not in any significant order)...

I am incredibly grateful for my knowledge of the Gospel. I'm finally at a point in my life where I  am comfortable enough talking about my testimony. I still have so much to learn, but I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my progress.

My family. I was fortunate enough to be raised by two amazing parents who are madly in love with each other and strong in the gospel.They raised my two brothers, sister, and I with all the love a family could possibly have. They support me, my decisions, and my views. I love them more than words can say.

My education. After graduating college, I felt ashamed for a long time for getting just my Associates Degree. I've come to realize that although I don't have a certificate with 4 years of college stamped on it,  I can still continue my education in other ways. There are always things to learn and ways to learn them.  Since being out of college I have learned more about myself and life in general, and feel that I have grown in specific ways as a result of starting a family. There is no shame in that.

Jonathan. I will never forget the day I met that boy. He walked off the plane, through the Boise airport, and right through the terminal where I stood waiting to shake his hand, haha...I loved him the second I saw him and hoped with all my heart that he could love me back someday. Not only has he fulfilled that by becoming my wonderful husband, but he has given me two beautiful children! He is my everything, and I would not be the same person without him.

And speaking of those children.... :) I could not even express the amount of joy they have brought to me. I love them more than life. Until I became a mother I didn't know such love was possible.

Change. If someone would've asked me one year ago if I embraced change, I would say no-I have a strict routine in my life that doesn't welcome any amount of change. Since moving from Rexburg and basically starting a whole new life in Oregon, I would say that some change is a good thing. I know that we will grow as a family from this experience and begin many new adventures together. Some other areas of change: the size of our family with new baby Charlotte, Jonathan moving on from college and having a new take on his career field, my own parenting style being less strict, and all of us eating more vegetables :)

The privilege of being a stay at home mom. Life is NEVER dull around here...that's for sure...even the smallest of smiles can turn my bad mood around!

I have a truly blessed life.

Happy birthday indeed!

these days

In the Dennett household these days...

Jonathan- started his internship! He finished his week of classroom lecture training and started on the floor Monday. As far as I know he enjoys it but more details to come on that :) He had to re-enroll as a student for BYU-I to get credit for his internship, and also had to take a class online for financial aid. He decided on a Money Management class. AND he spends time each day studying for his NCTRC exam in May. So needless to say he's pretty busy.

Lindsey- is loving life as a stay at mom :] It can be humdum and VERY stressful at times but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Most days I just stay at home with the kids (I am left carless while J drives our car to work) so over the weekend Jonathan treated me to a trip to the outlet mall! I just can't get enough of that Carter's store ;]

We also planted a little garden this weekend. It has been in the 80's the last few days and just gorgeous out!

Talmage- is quite the expressive talker these days.  He evens forms sentences! Some of my favorites are "Where are you?" "Where did it go?" and "Ewww it stinks!"

Just the other day we were in Target and I was looking at some baby girl clothes. I picked a dress off the rack and held it up, when Talmage burst out in excitement-
"AWW! Its so CUTE!"
"Really, you think so, Talmage?"
"yeah"
"So should I get it?"
"um. yeah. CUTE!"

He gets the "Its so cute!" phrase from me because I say it a lot, most like everything else he says. We really have to watch our words...he now says "oh gosh!" "what the heck" "dang" and "shoot!"... I'm glad I caught myself from saying worse things...

Charlotte- is already growing. She's chunking up and becoming a lot more expressive with her face. She interacts with us lots, too- its so fun! She can now hold up her head and roll from her tummy to her back. We still have her on the reflux meds and have had no problems anymore with that. She sleeps in her pack and play at night now, next to our bed, and only wakes up 1-2 times to eat. Sometimes she won't wake up at all. I am VERY thankful for this!

In my spare time I dress her up and take pictures. Can you blame me?

I can't believe she's nearly 10 weeks old already! We just love her to pieces :]

Talmage loves her too, a little too much. Yesterday I found him in her crib, lying partially on top of her while she was asleep, and laughing hysterically in her face. I nearly had a heart attack! That happens a lot these days...

I'm a big boy now!

Yesterday our goofy little Talmage turned TWO! Geez laweez where did the time go? I can remember him turning 1 like it was last weekend.

Here's some pics of both of our tots on this oh so special day. They love each other and are generally happy, though it may be hard to tell...

We kept it simple, since he really has no buddies out here yet. We had mac & cheese for lunch (his fave) and funfetti cupcakes, which are my new favorite. so yummy!

"Elmo's Potty Time" movie. We are trying to get him familiar with the potty. I think its working, cause he loves to sit on it now (though nothing ever happens..)

on that note, I love this picture. Talmage is reading his potty book for boys while on the toilet. I realized later that he was wearing the same color shirt as the boy in the book. That's a good way to send subliminal messages..."pee in the potty...poo in the potty....he's doing it, and he's YOU" :]

After all the birthday excitement was over we drove an hour to Portland, hit up Ikea and drove through downtown. We also visited Vancouver but didn't have time to explore. No surprise there, these kiddos have quite strict internal schedules :/

I am really liking our new area. Costco, Winco, & Walmart are less than 10 minutes away. And 20 minutes down the highway is a huge outlet mall (they have a Carter's!!!!) that is super nice. It does rain a lot, but the sun comes out quite a bit too and soon the pool will be open! woohoo! And there are just so many TREES everywhere..kinda reminds me of the South, all the lush green scenery. It's even a little humid, which my skin loves and my hair despises. hehe.

and just for fun here are some pics of our sweet Charlottan (that's what Jonathan calls her..it means "ball of cheese" ! haha...)

I was trying to get her to smile...she goes from totally serious to smiley so quickly its easy to miss!

 

 I didn't get her big grin this time but it still counts, right? :]

Newport

Today we made our first grand adventure in the lovely state of Oregon to Newport, a little town on the coast. Our main objective was to take Talmage to the Aquarium as his birthday present from us. He loved it!

 Touching the starfish

 Charlotte just slept through it all. I guess fish aren't her thing.

 It's hard to see, but that's a sea lion. They were enormous!

 Taking control of the fake submarine :]

The coolest part was definitely the shark tunnel. Talmage now has a fascination for sharks. He wanted to pet them as they swam over our heads and I'll admit it kinda freaked me out...sharks are fascinating but also creepy.

After the aquarium and some food we drove further up the coast to see the ocean and visit the local scene. There were all these cute little shops along the main road. The drive itself was beautiful- I can see now why Jonathan loves the Oregon coast so much!

When we got home we were all exhausted so I had the kids wind down by giving Talmage a bath and letting Charlotte watch him (she gets worn out by watching him bounce off the walls as he so often does these days... haha).