Happy Easter Weekend!

Hope everyone has a happy and enjoyable Easter weekend! I am trying to kick a bad cold that has me down for the count right now. I'm hoping to be back to normal ASAP so I can enjoy times with friends, church, and egg hunts! Again, hope you all have a good one! Happy Easter!

Love for Google

Don't you just love Google? What would we do without it? I know it's not going to solve any major world problems or anything, but it sure can help with some of the little problems in my world. Just thought I'd share two recent solutions I found by using Google that maybe you all could use too.

1. Oops! I accidentally deleted a voicemail I wanted to keep on my iPhone. What to do? What to do? Accept that it is gone or go to Google. I googled "retrieving deleted voicemail from iPhone" . Boom. It takes me right to ehow.com and my problem is fixed. I realize you all know how Google works, it just still fascinates me how you can Google just about anything. Anygoogle, here's what to do. Simply go to your list of voicemail messages. Scroll down to the bottom of your saved messages, and there it will say deleted messages. If you're like me, you save them all so scroll all the way down. At the very bottom of the list it will say deleted messages. Tap on that. A list of your last deleted messages will appear. Then tap on what you want and hit the "undelete" gray button at the bottom. Now it will be back on your saved message list. Leave it to Apple to also have a simple solution that you don't even realize how easy it is until it's right in front of your face and always has been.

2. In another moment of "shoot, what do I do about that?", I turned to Google. Get ready this is important stuff. Haha! No, not even close, but again you may find it useful. I was baking chocolate chip cookies and then realized I was out of vanilla extract. I'm half way through the whole process, and thinking maybe I'll just leave it out. I can already hear Chad chuckling because I am known to just omit ingredients I either forgot to buy or ran out of. Anyways, Google to the rescue! It took me to several sites that informed me you can substitute maple syrup. If your recipe calls for 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, just put in 1 tablespoon maple syrup. I've done it a couple times since and they taste exactly the same!

Well, this was a random post. I don't know, maybe you smarties already knew this. However, now we can all rest easy accidentally deleting our messages while eating maple syrup in our cookies. :)

Birthday Fun

Well, the past couple days have just been zooming by. We celebrated Blake's 2nd birthday on Sunday. Her actual birthday was yesterday on Monday, so she had a 2-day celebration. Felt about right, 2 days to celebrate 2 years. We probably won't keep that up.....the day to year ratio thing, but it worked this year just great. We had her birthday party at Boingo's, a nearby bounce house. It was just perfect for us. We were lucky to be joined by some great friends. There was bouncing and pizza and sugary sweets. The kids all had a blast, and it was easy for us hosting too. All we really had to do was show up, and their staff took care of set-up and clean-up. Awesome. We did bring the Olivia cake and Olivia party favors (Blake's favorite cartoon pig), but the rest was pretty hands off. We were able to just enjoy the party with Blake and our guests. A moment that I will never forget is when I stepped away from our guests for a moment, and I crawled into this little tunnel that Blake was playing in. She seemed just so thrilled I was getting in there with her. She started just giggling and clapping. When I went to crawl out, I heard her say "gain, gain, mommy", which is "again, mommy". So back in I went. More smiles and giggles, and then she leaned in and gave me a big smooch. Complete with "mmuuahhh" and said "love you mommy". Melt my heart. Seriously every time I picture it, it just melts my heart. I would have thrown the entire party just to have that little moment in time.

So another year is already in the memory books. Sad in a way. She is at such a cute age. I kind of just want to freeze time for a bit. However, I can't wait to get to have longer conversations with her about anything and everything. I'm excited to see her personality develop more and get to know this slightly older version of my daughter. Baby Blake is now Toddler Blake. Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about that. We can't go back from here, and overall that is okay. I truly feel when we make the most of the moment, it is easier to move on to the next ones. Sure some moments are frustrating with little ones, but we roll with them the best we can. It's moments like in the little tunnel that I will tuck away forever, and the good news is that we have many more special moments waiting for us up ahead.

Turning 2 is Great!

Wow! Our baby is 2 years old! Man, time flies! We sure had a lot of fun both yesterday for her party and today for her actual birthday. I think we are all wiped out from bounce houses, hanging out with friends, opening and playing with gifts, and a little sugar overload. She is napping for her first of hopefully many naps as a 2 year old, and mommy is going to take a little snooze myself. I will post more pics from all the fun sometime soon. It is safe to say Blake is having a great birthday! :)

Friday?

Where did this week go? Don't get me wrong I always welcome the weekend, but sometimes I really dislike it when I look back and my to-do list is still longer than my done list. Ugh. It's just a nagging feeling. I recently heard somewhere that the average American really only has a half hour of free time each day. By the time you do all your household chores, go to work wherever that is, watch after your kids if they are at home, or get them to and from where they need to be elsewhere, exercise (if you're disciplined enough to get that in), grocery shop, prepare meals and clean-up, and so on, only a half hour. I think this could be true. Do you? Everyone always thinks they have it harder than someone else. Stay-at-home moms usually are thought to be watching TV and eating bon-bons. That is unless you are a stay-at-home mom yourself, then you either just chuckled or felt annoyed by it again because you know you've heard others imply that....and you know that it is no where close to the truth. Of course, it does have it's benefits, but it's not just easy breezy all day every day. Anyways, the discussion I heard was about not saying "yes" to everything and choosing how to spend your 30 minutes of free time wisely. Veg and watch TV? Read a book? I guess today I am blogging, but my typing speed is picking up so I don't have to take a half hour to do this. Hmmm. Just food for thought I guess. I need to manage my time better than I do because I never feel like I have a half hour to do whatever I want. There is always that nagging to do list on my brain. I don't understand when people are bored. I can't fit in all the things I'd like to do in a day. Maybe I should map out my days more strictly on exactly what I am going to do when. I have thought this before though...and then life happens. I don't have the answer. Just thought it was curious to hear we are all so busy, we truly only have a half hour of free time. Wonder when I should schedule that? Wouldn't everyone's be right before they crash for the day anyways? Not my most productive moment. Guess I'll take the weekend to gear up for how I'll spend next week.

Busy Day

Well, today is one of those days I have a lot to do and can't seem to really get anything done. Blake and I had a rough night so we...no.... I am very tired today. So the blog gets put on the back burner. I could try to whip up something clever, but eventually this will happen....

ghb nt 7 b vcccscssvcvs bgfdfsfghk

That was a little help from Blake. She typed it and would like to keep typing....

bcxz b

I think that was "Hello, I am going to keep my mom's attention now because she didn't blog during my nap." "Bye"

Tomorrow I should be a little more with it. Off to chase after Blake now.......

Hot Stuff

I've been asked by quite a few people if we have heard anything on the results of the Redbook Hot Husband Contest that I entered Chad in last summer. With absolute honesty, I can say no. All I was told was that the winner will be announced in the June issue that will hit stands May 17th. Curiosity did get the best of me last week though and I emailed our contact there. I thought it couldn't hurt to ask, right? Just wondering again when you said we'd be notified of the results....hehe. Well, I did hear back from the copy editor who said she was sworn to secrecy and we just have to wait until May 17th to find out. I thanked her, and told her I was a little embarrassed to ask. She then assured me no need to be embarrassed and that many other wives were emailing them too. Sooo...we'll see. I have a feeling we would already know by now if Chad won. Maybe not though.

Anyways, I thought I'd give a little scoop on my entry for him. First of all, this pic was the only serious expression I could find of him. It was taken when Chad was in New York standing in front of ground zero. So that is why the serious face. It's not like I had him pose specifically for this contest. Haha! Also, what I thought I would include on here is what I sent in to Redbook last summer. Well, actually this is an email I sent to Chad where I copied and pasted what I sent in. He was gone last summer when I entered him. Redbook had a cute little write-up attached to his pic, but I just wanted people to know Redbook wrote that. It is a mix of my entry and a half hour phone interview I did with one of the copy editors. I just found it funny when some of my friends thought I wrote his description on their website. I would never say "Move over, Tom Cruise......" Haha! Again, it's cute, but cheesy. I did mention that Chad was previously an instructor at TOPGUN because he was and I'm proud of his accomplishments. Redbook told me they wanted to highlight that. The copy editor said it caught their eye because it is not something everyone gets to do, it's unique, and so many people are familiar with the movie about it. Makes total sense to me. I get it. As you will see though, my entry speaks more of Chad as an all-around great guy. I feel very lucky to be his wife, and no matter what he does, or whether he wins this little fun contest or not, I know that I am blessed.

Okay, so here is what I sent to Chad....

Chad,
Just so you know, I just entered you in Redbook magazine's Hottest Husband of 2011 Contest. !!!! Fun !!!! If they don't pick you, it is for one reason alone.....a previous winner was also a U.S. Navy pilot. Go figure. Lol. I still entered you anyways, and here is what I wrote about you:

My husband is like no other man I have ever met. He is hot for countless reasons. He is strong, steady, and sexy. He is a man with high moral values and beliefs that he does not waver from. He has such masculine sides to him and yet he has softer sides too. Chad flies F-18 jets for the Navy, he was an instructor at TOPGUN, he loves to work out, and to work on his Trans Am. At the same time, the man loves to clean! He buys flowers for me with the sweetest cards attached when he is away at sea duty. Every morning he is home, he makes me a fruit yogurt smoothie. Chad is also a wonderful father to our 18 month old daughter Blake, and our Alaskan Malamute Sierra. I read this book "Bringing Up Girls" by James Dobson. It impressed me so much that Chad wanted to read it too. He was flying jets by day, and reading how to be a great parent at night from his rack (bunk bed on the aircraft carrier). Chad is a man of integrity. He always does things the right way. He doesn't look for the easy way out of anything, and I really admire him for that. I know I am making him sound perfect, which no one person is. However, he knows his flaws and he accepts mine. Throughout the years of our marriage, we have become better in our communication with one another. He makes me feel like the luckiest woman alive, and it is hot to have such an amazing partner in life. My husband is without a doubt the Hottest Husband of 2011 and every year to follow!:)

I love you Chad!
Love,
Tasha

Hopefully at some point we'll hear something about the results. When I googled "Redbook Hot Husband Contestants" I did see the competition was tough. There are 24 other guys and their wives pulling for those votes. One guy is a high school teacher...there is a whole school of votes for him right there. Haha! Another woman went to every mom and parent website posting to please vote for her husband. Why didn't I think of that? Ha! No, I don't feel we went overboard, but we spread the word. We're not taking this real serious by any means, but it was fun. We were in the local paper and news here, and the Fresno paper, and on CBS's The Talk. Through Facebook and email we got quite a few votes too. Thanks to all of you who voted and sent us such nice emails about it. I was surprised by how so many people were really excited about it for us. It was our "15 minutes" of fame I guess... and it was fun! :)