5 Amazing Years!

5 years seems like an extremely long time.  However, the past 5 years have flown by!  5 years ago we got married in the Manti, UT temple.  Our family and friends were there and it was the happiest day of my life.  We were sealed by Tyler's Grandpa Oldroyd, who insisted on hugging and thanking everyone for coming before starting the ceremony.  He called me Tamara through most of the ceremony, but it was still wonderful.
To celebrate our 5 year anniversary, we finally got a hotel room with a jetted tub. We went to Wildhorse in Pendleton. Addelyn stayed with her Nana and Papa B and had a blast without us. Our room was wonderful! We got all dressed up and went down to dinner. Our dinner was AMAZING! We both had the same dish and were in heaven. We decided to go for the Red Velvet Cheesecake for dessert and it was so, so good.

Our room was on the 9th floor, in a corner, with floor to ceiling windows.  These were the views out the windows.  Very pretty!

During dinner we were talking about our favorite memories from the past 5 years.  Here are some of them:
Having Addelyn join our family.
Meeting such wonderful friends while in dental school.
Going on our honeymoon.
Graduating dental school.
We feel so blessed to be where we are today.  Tyler has a good, stable job, Tara gets to stay home with Addelyn, and Addelyn lights up our home.  We are looking forward to what the next 5 years brings our family. 

Valentine's Day

Addelyn was so excited about Valentine's Day this year!  She loved helping me make her Valentine's for her friends.  She had a party at each of her preschools, so she got lots of treats.
Tyler surprised me with a lunch date!  Camilla came over with the girls and Addy and Kennedy played some games.  We love having cousins so close!  That evening we watched K and Halle so Cameron and Camilla could go out.  Tyler and I watched a movie after we put the girls to bed.  It was a nice, relaxing Valentine's Day.  

Utah Trip

Last week, Camilla and I decided to surprise our families and drive to Utah.  We left earlyish Wednesday morning to start the drive.  We got to Elk Ridge around 7:30.  I am so glad that my sister in-law is from the same place, so we can go visit our families together!  My mom was so surprised to see me and Addy when we walked in her door!  It was nice to just hang out and relax with family.  I helped my mom unpack a little bit.  Thursday, we went and saw Alicia at work, went to lunch with my mom and ran some errands with her for work.  Friday, Ambria was kind enough to get the day off work.  We went to lunch and then went the mall.  Saturday, we hung out with my dad.  We went to dinner and then unfortunately, could not make it up the street to his house because of the snow.  We had to drop him off at the bottom and he had to walk to his house from there.  I wish we could have spent more time with him.  Sunday, we went to church and then Ambria and Alicia came over to hang out.  Sunday night we went up to Ogden to spend the night at Camilla's brother's house so we could get a head start on the drive.  I am glad we decided to that because it made the drive seem so much shorter!
We had a great time seeing everyone and were sad to leave.  Hopefully it's not too long before we see them again.
These are the only two pictures I have, because I of course didn't take a single picture.  Good thing Ambria took 2. :) 

Preschool

In November, some girls in my ward asked us to join their preschool group.  Addelyn is already in a preschool at Bethlehem Lutheran on Mondays and Wednesdays, but the church girls was on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So, we committed!  I thought it would be a good way for me to get to know more people in the ward and hopefully make some new friends.  I knew that Addelyn would love having more friends to play with.  It has been a lot of fun!  I taught for the first time this month and it was fun having them all over and teaching them about the letter "M".

Our First Visitors!

We were lucky enough to be on our friend's, the Apkers, route of touring Oregon.  They were doing a whirlwind trip to find prospective jobs in small towns.  How lucky are we to live in a small town?!  We had tons of fun having them here, it was just a little too short of a stay.  We played games, showed them around Hermiston, and had lunch.  Yay for such fun first visitors!

Getting a good picture of Locke and Addy was next to impossible. :)  

Kennedy's Birthday

Our niece, Kennedy, turned 2 on January 4th. We went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. It was all the girls' first time being there and I think they had a blast! Addelyn loved riding on the cars and that they actually moved! We played games and got prizes and then went to Costa Vida for dinner. Yum!

New Years Eve with Friends

After getting home Wednesday from Utah, we decided to leave town again on Saturday. This time we went to Eugene, OR to be with our dental school friends! We had such a good time! I love seeing these girls so often. It was fun to be reunited and to finally see the beauty of the Smith's home.  We had fun talking, catching up, getting in heated arguments over Scatergories, staying up til midnight on New Years Eve, going out to dinner without kids, eating good food, and being with friends.

How Addy spent New Years Eve night... sleeping like a baby!

Our awesome Shrimp Boil that the Smith's made for us!  It was delicious!  You eat without plates or utensils... so fun and yummy!

Making yummy midnight snacks on New Years Eve.

Happy New Year everyone!  We hope that this year brings you all great things and that you accomplish any goals that you have set for yourselves and/or families. 

Christmas Celebrations

As mentioned earlier, we went to Utah for Christmas.  The drive to Utah was so great!  The roads were perfectly clear.  We got there late Friday night and were there until early Wednesday morning.  On Saturday we met up with our friends, The Jacksons, and had some lunch while Addy and Alexa picked up right where they left off.  It was great to see them and catch up!

 Fred accompanied us on our trip.  

 Besties since birth.

After we got home from our visit with friends, Addelyn took a fake nap and then got up so we could go sledding in my mom's backyard!  Addy was so excited!  It was her first time in large amounts of snow.  She did lots of snow angels, snow ball throwing (in daddy's face), and sledding.  She was in heaven and even stayed out longer than some of my brothers. :) 

 Sunday, we went to church and then came home and relaxed and played games.  The Christmas Program was amazing at church.  Their ward choir was amazing!  My aunt Beth and her girls came down from Draper for dinner.  It was good to see them!  Her girls have grown so much!

Christmas Eve we ran a few errands and then got ready to party.  My dad came over in the afternoon to spend Christmas Eve with the family and make the yummy food!  We made finger foods, cookies for Santa, read the Nativity from Luke 2, opened pajamas, and played games.  It was a great Christmas Eve.  This Christmas has been so much fun seeing all of the joy in Addelyn's eyes when we talk about Baby Jesus being born and Santa. 

Addy reading the Nativity with Papa. 

After the Christmas Eve Traditions it was off to bed with a certain little girl.  Santa came and was very good to my family.  We all went to bed and had dreams of sugar plums.  

Christmas morning Addy was up at 7:30 and made sure that she woke everyone else up and they were ready to open presents!  We had a great Christmas day.  I think everyone was very pleased with how well Christmas turned out this year.  There were many anonymous givers that made my family's Christmas magical.  Thank you!  Christmas day was spent relaxing until the infamous prime rib dinner.  It was as delicious as ever!

We had such a great Christmas and loved spending it with my family this year!  We don't get to see them enough.