Tolman Family

One of my new year's resolutions this year was to cook more. I haven't cooked much since we moved here over a year ago. Our kitchen is so small that I hate to even go in it. It's so small that you can't even open the fridge all the way - one drawer is completely unusable. There is about two feet of counter space and only one person can fit in at a time. Anyway, the point is, cooking is difficult. But, in an effort to be a better wife and mother, I decided that I need to cook more anyway. So, I've been trying out a bunch of new recipes. A lot of them are very simple, but if it requires me to be in the kitchen at all, I say it counts. I recently found these at the grocery store: Maybe everyone alreay knows about them, but they're new to me. They're on the same isle as the hamburger helper, or canned soup. There are other brands (Banquet Homestyle Bakes) and flavors, too. It comes with everything you need and you just add the meat. It's SO easy

For Christmas, Hank got me tickets to see the National Acrobats of China. They came here to Monterey. We went last night and it was our first real outing without the baby. We got our friends, the Mullins, to babysit for us. I already missed Jessica by the time I got to my seat. But the show was amazing! Those Chinese acrobats did things that I didn't even know were physically possible! They had guys doing flips and contortionists and 10 girls on one bike and spinning plates and balancing vases on heads. Wow. It was incredible! And what a fun date with my sweetheart.

We got to go to Disneyland this weekend with our good friends, the Barnums. They are moving from Chicago to Hawaii and they had a layover in LA for a few days so we met them down there. We met them here in Monterey when they were in our ward and we became great friends. We've even betrothed our children. Jessica's future husband, Joshua, is there in the stroller. I was so lucky to meet Chrissy. I couldn't ask for a better friend. (She's 7 months pregnant here - yeah, she looks great...no fair.) This was Jessica's first trip to Disneyland! We had so much fun showing her around the park. We joked that she has now been officially initiated into the family. She did pretty good, but I think we had worn her out by the end of the weekend. She slept like a baby on the drive home. Needless to say, Jessica loved it!

Since Hank will be in Korea for so long, we wanted to do something fun to help Jessica remember him. We are video taping Hank reading children's books so Jessica and I can watch them before bed every night. It has been so fun. If you have any children's stories that you like please leave a comment because we are trying to collect a bunch. We want to own most of them so we can look at the pictures while he's reading. Jessica is getting so fun! If you can get her attention she can't help but smile. In fact, I an even get her to smile while she's crying sometimes. She doesn't want to, but she can't help it! Hank had his promotion ceremony yesterday (at the crack of dawn). He is now officially a staff Sergeant. This is the baby and I "pinning" him. He was supposed to stand at attention the whole time I was pinning him, but I stole a kiss at the end, Ha ha! Above is the First Sergeant (Company Commander) giving him his award. Hank even had

7 THINGS 7 Things I can Do Well 1-Plan 2- Be social 3- Make greeting cards 4- sell jewelry 5- Disneyland 6- fit a lot into small spaces 7- change diapers 7 Things I Can't Do 1- Follow through with plans 2- Keep my house clean 3- Sing 4- Turn off the TV 5- Write 6- exercise 7- keep in touch 7 Things that attracted me to my husband 1-his hair 2- his bad boy attitude 3- his smile 4- his musical skills 5- his smarts 6- his sense of humor 7- he is responsible 7 Things I always say 1- What a good baby! 2- Do we need to change your diaper? 3-What a sweetheart! 4- Should Mama feed the baby? 5- What an angel! 6- Is that another stinky diaper? 7- I love you, baby doll! 7 Things I love to eat 1- nutella toast 2- bagel bites 3- crackers 4- spinach 5- diet coke 6- french fries 7- steak 7 People I tag Brenda, Melanie, Desirae, Randy and Michele, MC, Jessica Tolman, Trish (choose either tag) One Word Answers 1. Where is your phone? purse 2. Where is your significant other? school 3. Your hair

Hank got promoted! He is now a Staff Sergeant (E6). That means he is one of the highest ranking non-commissioned officers at DLI. A promotion means that he has more authority and he gets a pay raise. Yay! So, if you haven't heard yet, Hank got his new orders. When he graduates DLI in February he will be deployed to Korea for a year. It is an unaccompanied tour, so the baby and I will be moving to Utah to be near family. We are currently looking for a house to buy there. We don't know exactly what dates he will leave and come home. But, he will get to come home for one month in the middle. Yeah, the news kind of sucks, but we're trying to look on the bright side. Hank was actually given a choice in the matter. His other choice was going to Afghanistan and having his military term extended for 15 months. He chose Korea. It was actually really lucky that he got promoted recently because this position was only available for an E6. He is being sent to a strategic

Great Uncle Randy Great Grandpa Tolman Grandma Bennett Aunt Jessica 1st-cousin-once-removed, Amanda Uncle David Aunt Kaitlyn Cousins Bella, Violet, and Lily Great Grandma Sommers Aunt Sammy, Grandma and Grandpa Martin, and Aunt Melanie 1st-cousin-once-removed, Danielle and 2nd-cousin, Macy and Santa Claus. Yes they do, yes they do, yes they do!