Tolman Family

"What a good story..." "Wait a minute - is that a shoe?" "OMG! I want to touch it." "What? I'm just listening to the story." "Hey, she moved it." "Mom, she moved it." "Wait a minute - is that a story?"

We went camping this weekend for Father's Day. It was so fun! The weather was beautiful, the scenery was spectacular, and the company was even better! We camped out at Cochise Stronghold, where the great Indian, Cochise, held of the US army for two years. The mountains were made up of gi-normous boulders which Hank couldn't resist climbing up. Jessica gave Hank his Father's Day gifts there. She gave him two storybooks, a box of his favorite chocolates, and a finger-painted card. We went on some really awesome hikes. We brought our GPS and found some geocaches. Here's one of them. I think it's more fun to go hiking when you find treasure hidden at the end. ( www.geocaching.com ) We had a couple mishaps while we were there. As we were leaving to go hiking Hank backed out of our campsite and didn't see the tree that was behind us. We heard a loud crash and turned around to see our entire back window shattered! I guess that's what emergency funds are f...

This is one happy girl! She loves discovering new things and going on adventures. Here are a few of the things Jessica loves: Going to the park. (Don't worry, I was standing just outside the shot ready to catch her if she tipped!) Swinging. This might be her very favorite thing! Her new crib! And Mommy's happy that she finally has her own room! Her Daddy. Nothing makes this girl's face light up like seeing her favorite guy walk in the room. Swimming. Even when the water's freezing, she loves to splash around in it. Crawling. Jessica is a crawler extraordinaire! She zooms all over the house, following me wherever I go.

Remember how I said that this is my new favorite magazine? Well, I have awesome/terrible news. I took a survey when it first came out and I left a comment and they actually published my comment in the magazine! See that big red quote in the top left hand corner? Well, that's mine! I said that! Word for word! Now take a closer look... Notice anything funny about that quote? Only one small problem: my name is not Verna Buchanan!!! They put the wrong name under it! That was MY quote! I'm so disappointed - I've never been in a magazine before. And now I still haven't! Anyway, you should buy the June/July issue of the Food Network Magazine and be so excited for me and just pretend that I sometimes like to go by Verna.

Please note: this is our old kitchen, not our new one...and yes, that's the whole thing. So, in my quest to cook more this year I found a great tool that has made my life a lot easier. It's a program called e-Mealz. For just $5 a month you get a weekly menu and grocery list. The menu includes easy to follow recipes. I've only been doing it for a little while now, but Hank absolutely loves it. Not only am I actually getting dinner on the table every night, but there's suddenly variety in what we eat. And so far every meal I've tried has been super easy and done in less than 30 minutes. The grocery lists are great, too. They're organized by aisle so it's easy to get in and out of the store. The idea is to save you time and money by eliminating the stress of staring into the pantry every night at 5:00, trying to figure out what to make. So, I highly recommend this site: www.mealtimemakeover.com . Check it out!

We finally got some professional pictures taken of our little cupcake. This was for 6 month birthday/Easter. (Plus the 3 black and white ones on the side.)

Well, I know it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally updating the blog. Let me tell you, a lot has happened in this past month. We drove a moving van from Monterey, CA to Sierra Vista, AZ. We flew to Connecticut to visit Grandparents, flew to Utah to visit more family. We stayed in Army Lodging for 3 weeks and bought a house. Celebrated Easter, our 2 year Anniversary, and Mother's Day. Well, we're finally getting settled in our new house and I finally have a little time to post some pictures. We bought this jumper to keep Jessica occupied while we painted and unpacked. She sure likes it! We're homeowners! (really this time, for you longtime readers) Our first house!