Tara's Birthday (month)

Well, you all are quite familiar i'm sure of Tara's infatuation with her birthday and how it basically lasts almost two months. Well, she has insisted that I write a little post to commemorate her birthday. So me being the loving husband that I am will oblige. But first, a few pics from her birthday party.

Poor little Mya, she has no idea what she's getting into by being born into this family. This is just a little taste as to what it's like to live with Tara.

You may all remember that she posted a little questionnaire for me on my birthday last year, so I thought it would be a good idea to copy her idea and post one for her. I think it's time you all got to know her a little better.

1. How old are you now? 24, according to the candles (no, they are not saying 42!)
2. What is your favorite food?  Um, I'd still have to say spaghetti.  I also love a good bowl of stew or soup with artesian bread to accompany it.
3. What's the craziest (PG rated) thing you've ever done? Maybe I'd have to say... wow, how to choose?  Um, probably jumping off a 65 foot bridge that I'm sure cracked my tailbone when I hit the water.
4. What would your dream vacation be? A food/history tour of Italy.  Or maybe a food/hiking trip of New England.
5. If you could choose anywhere to live for a year, where would it be? Italy, Norway, Denmark, or Austrailia.  Probably I would choose about 2 or 3 years for those places though.
6. What do you want to be when you grow up (or at least when kids don't require your constant presence)? I want to have a pumpkin farm, with a patch that kids can come pick their own pumpkins, a corn maze and a farmers market. That's for the fall season.  Then I'd want a Christmas tree farm where people come chop their own too.  And maybe I'd want to be a Dr. on top of that.  Maybe own some horses and a place for people to bored their horses, with an arena...
7. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  This is definitely loaded.  Good thing I don't need to think about this one, but it's my dearest husband.
8. Who is your hero(s)?  Steve Jobs.  Just kidding.  My mom- she isn't afraid to do totally new things and be good at them.  My dad because he always talks positively about my mom.  Entrepreneur bloggers amaze me too.  Randy amazes me with his patience, except in the middle of the night when he's asleep, he's pretty grumpy then.
9. What did you use to do for summer jobs?  Well, first I worked at shopko, then at a fish cannery in Alaska, then at a ranch/resort in southern Utah bordering Zion National Park, then I was a CNA at a nursing home and also worked at the Olive Garden.
10. What is one goal you have for this next year?  Become fit and run another 1/2 marathon.
11. What excites you?  The holidays.  Doing family activities.
12. If you were an animal what would you be?  I don't really go around thinking about what kind of animal I'd like to be.  Maybe a gazelle.  Since they're graceful, free, and run fast.
13. What is your favorite movie? White Christmas.
14. What is your favorite quote?  Right now it is: "Why not?"
15. What is your favorite hobby?  Crafting in general makes me happy.  And reading, and playing sports and winning.  Oh, and making good food.  Sorry, I'm not the kind of person who can choose just one thing.
16. What has been your greatest adventure? Marriage.  Not even kidding.  This includes everything that came with our marriage- children, Oklahoma, school, just the relationship part...  Now, You CAN'T post this until you put at LEAST one normal picture of me on here, Randy.

Ok, here's a pic of the Tara that you all know and love.

Well that's a few things about Tara that you may not have known. One thing I have learned from being married to Tara is that I just always need to expect the unexpected with her. She always amazes me with her many talents and I know I take them for granted way to often. I am very lucky to be able to call her my wife. I love you Tara! Happy birthday (month)!

Summer Fun

I'd first like to start you off with a little taste of something we've enjoyed in our garden this year.  YUM!  Too bad their season is over.  Now we are enjoying lots of raspberries, beans, and lettuce (and herbs).  Our spinach is done, and so are the peas, which Emma thoroughly enjoyed.

For Memorial Day (I know, I'm a bit behind) we went to an arts festival.  The highlight of going was that we rode our bikes there.  Despite the heat, I LOVED this family activity.

Here are some pictures of that weekend.  I just love these little faces, and had to share our sweet little girls with you.

We made ice cream in a bag for a family home evening treat one Monday.  We all loved it.  Of course, it has been so hot, and the ice cream was mostly soup by the time we finished eating it.  It was still delicious.

We've been taking advantage of the heat and swimming a lot.  The girls have some pretty impressive tan lines, even with all of the sunscreen I put on them.  I, on the other hand, don't look any different.  I wasn't blessed with nice tanning skin. 

Tulsa

Sorry folks, I was sick most of last week, and we've been crazy busy.  So now I'm playing catch-up with my posts. I am starting this post with a picture of Emma smiling.  It is so hard to get one of her smiling because she moves so fast.

I finally got to run in my half marathon last weekend.  I've been waiting for a while for one to come in our area that wasn't on a Sunday.  This one was in Tulsa, it was the Aquarium Run, and I LOVED it!  I finished the race wanting to sign up for another one.  (to run on a different day)  It gave me the desire to run as many as possible.  I was so happy to do this.  

The great thing about the Aquarium run was that they gave me a free pass to the aquarium for the day.  We only had to pay for Kenadi and Randy.  I thought it was a neat place, but not as neat as it should have been considering the price.

Wow, this is like an overload of pictures with me in them.  I am always behind the camera, so I gave Randy the camera more often this weekend.  Anyways, we had a great time in Tulsa.  I loved that city!  It was more hilly, and so beautiful.  We stayed the night before in a hotel so that we could get some sleep the night before my race.  (it didn't work that way)  We also got to enjoy eating out a couple of times.  We planned on this being a mini vacation since we don't think we will make it home to Washington this year.  Those airplane tickets are sooo expensive!

This is a big shrimp under Randy's hand, cleaning it.  Those things just come right up to you and start cleaning away.  I thought that was neat.  Not neat enough to stick my hand in though.

Kenadi had no issues.  She was trying to catch shrimp and everything.  I was glad that she doesn't have my shrimp fears.  She loved it.

After we got done with the aquarium, Kenadi wanted to run across this foot bridge like I did in my race.  Of course she wanted me to run with her.  I felt a bit stiff, but she wanted to run so bad.  When I ran by the girls and Randy during my run, both girls ran out after me, and Kenadi cried so hard when she was stopped by Randy.  She just wanted to run.

The picture below is a rare thing.  Randy has been more cooperative in pictures lately.  I hope it lasts.

Sorry Randy, I Have to Tell Them.

Ok, Randy is going to be totally embarrassed by this, but I'm going to tell you anyways. I am officially an AVON LADY! Yep. Ok, I'm a tiny embarrassed too, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I told my sister Haley, and she said, "What?! Why'd you go and do that?!" Well, I'll tell you:

1)I like Avon. I think it's a bit of a sentimental thing too. I remember looking at my mom's Avon books and dreaming. It's taken a special place in my heart since then. 2) They have some neat products, and most of it is pretty cheap. 3) I can get it and get a discount if I'm an Avon Lady

4) No pressure to sell, so that's good. I only had to pay 10$ to do it!

I actually was an Avon Lady in college for about a year. Things have changed since then. Now it's online too. SO, I just wanted to let you all know that you can go on my website and order if you want! It is: www.youravon.com/thempel If you're local, you can order by emailing me or calling me~ then you don't have to pay shipping.

Who knew one day could last two months?

Since marrying Tara I have been introduced to the concept of the birthday month (I know, it doesn't make sense to me either). However, it should be called the birthday couple months. She believes her birthday starts a month before her actual day of birth and ends about a month after. So for two months every year I hear things like: "what are you going to do for my birthday month", or "but it's my birthday month". I keep hoping that this will decrease over the years since a birthday just means she is getting older, this has not yet occurred. I barely remember my birthday, usually Tara is the one that reminds me that it is coming up.

So in tribute to Tara's birthday couple months I decided (actually, i was poked and jabbed in the side several times and missed out on precious sleep (the best way to get me to commit to something)) to write something nice about that wife of mine. Tara is a beautiful woman (even some creepy guy in the grocery store parking lot agrees with me). She is definitely my better half and has made me a much better person. You might just say that we are soul mates. It's hard to imagine my life without her. It seems like my life didn't begin until we were together (but she thinks I did way too many fun things before we were together, and that i should have waited to do them all with her). I will be forever grateful that she is my eternal companion. Happy Birthday Months Tara!