When ELMO Grows up!

June 11, 2008~

Today was a super special day. Andy and I got to spoil our little girl by taking her to see her very first show "When Elmo Grows Up". For months now I've seen the commercials for it and I have been waiting super patiently for this day to finally come. I wasn't excited because of the show itself, I was excited to see Evelyn's face the first time life size Elmo walked onto the stage. Thanks to Andy we managed to get awesome seats, 6th row back right in the center. I am so glad we went, the look on Evelyn's face was priceless. I'll admit I thought she would be a little more animated about the whole thing but it was just a well. She sat very still and watched everything with her eyes wide open, hardly blinking, never letting her eyes wander too far from the stage for fear she'd miss something. During the whole intermission she still refused to stop watching the stage and she kept asking us, "Where'd Elmo go?". She was way cute! Poor girl, she pouted all the way home after she realized we weren't going to see Elmo again.

Happy Birthday Andy!

June 9, 2008~

Andy celebrated his 27th birthday today. Happy Birthday! To celebrate, we drove down to L.A. and went to town at the clothing store Steve & Barry's. I've officially decided that's my favorite clothing store. We managed to overspend a little but we both walked out with an entire new summer wardrobe. When we got back, Andy's family was there waiting to celebrate with him. We had a BBQ and the kids did some swimming. I'll be the first to admit that (with the exception of the year I took Andy flying) I've never been great at birthdays but this year I did manage to get Andy a "cake". Throughout our marriage we've always had this ongoing disagreement. Andy hates pie with the exception of cheesecake which he considers to be a cake but I don't. So for the sake of his birthday I gave in and bought him a cheesecake so he'd have his "cake" (even though I STILL think it's a pie).

Andy and I have been married now for over 5 years and I've been privileged to get to know him quite well. We've certainly had our share of ups and downs but we've managed to live through it all with each others help. He has his flaws like everyone else but he is a wonderful man. He works very hard for his family and I hope that he knows how much he is appreciated for that. He strives to do what he loves and I love that about him. He is ambitious, assertive, and hardworking. He's the kind of guy that when he wants to do something he does it. He is the fastest learner I've ever met and he continues to amaze me at his extensive knowledge. He's also the best salesman I've ever met. He's confident in himself and that proves to be a huge asset to him and to his business. He is completely the opposite of me and yet we're quite a lot alike. He is everything that I'm not and that in my opinion makes us the perfect pair. I want him to know how much he means to me and the kids and how much we appreciate him and the person he is. He makes me proud to be his wife. I LOVE YOU, ANDY!

Mr. and Mrs. Moffat

June 6, 2008~

It seems like just yesterday when little Molly would spend hours at our house during the summer for guitar lessons and now as of today she is a married woman. One of the times that I remember really getting to know Molly and really getting that sisterly vibe was the one time that I drove her to her horse show. Molly had entered into like 5-6 different categories and I thought she was nuts. She didn't rest the entire day, she just went from one event to the next but even with all the hustle Molly totally stole the show. Molly has a humongous amount of talent, not just in riding but in anything she does. She's funny, smart, and beautiful and she picked a man that is truly her equal. Scott's a great guy and it's obvious that the two of them are truly in love. I wish them the very best of luck! Love you guys!!!

Molly and Scott~
Married on Friday June 6th, 2008 in Big Sur, California.

Stallion Springs Park

May 27-28, 2008

Since Andy's pretty much been working non stop lately the kids and I decided to stay a couple extra days up in Tehachapi. Being that I lived there from the age of 8 until the age of 18 when I left for college every time I get a chance to get up there always brings back old memories. Tehachapi has come a long ways in the 6 years that I've been away. It's moved up from the little two stoplight town that it used to be. This time going up there was kind of special because an old friend of mine was in town. While I was there I got a chance to have lunch with her and another old friend and we had a chance to catch up on all the things we've done in the past 6 or so years since we've been out of school. It's amazing to look back at all the things that have happened in what seemed like such a short time. It was also a little humorous to think back and remember what I thought life would be like at this point and to see how different it really is, good different.

Another fun thing that we got to do that I haven't done since I was a kid was feed the ducks and play on the toys at the little Stallion Springs park. Evelyn and Preston had fun hanging out with their Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald and Aunt Tiffany. They played on the toys for a few minutes and I got a couple of cute picture of them playing together. We headed down to the lake and Evelyn got a kick out of watching the ducks eating the bread that we brought for them. It was cute to watch her try to throw the bread as far as she could out onto the lake only to have it land no more than a foot in front of her.

An old childhood memory that I had when we were at the park was the days when Nichole, myself, our friends and sometimes Scott (he always slowed us down so we always tried to leave without him, poor guy ::Sorry Scott::) used to ride our bikes down the hill from our house on Jacks Hill to go to the park. There's a little covered bridge there that we used to crawl under, hang out and watch all the frogs and fish and stuff. Looking back it was pretty gross under there but it was our little secret hangout so it made us feel pretty special. Sometimes we'd bring old bread for the ducks and just sit around feeding the ducks until the bread ran out and then we'd almost always ride our bikes down to the general store to spend our extra money on a treat. Our good old border collie, Gypsy, was always with us and never left our side. She was the best dog ever! Just being at the park brought back all kinds of memories and even typing this out I keep remembering little details here and there. The whole Tehachapi trip was great! It was fun getting to share a little glimpse of what my childhood was like with my own kids.

Memorial Day in T-town

May 26, 2008~










For Memorial Day this year my family all got together at my mom and dad's home in Tehachapi. We had a great time. My dad BBQ some delicious chicken, hot dogs & hamburgers. My sister and her kids where there so the kids had a good old time playing together. My dad showed them the pool table and he gave them all quarters to put in his candy machine. They loved it! Afterwards the kids took turns sitting in his new hammock. My Grandma also handed some clothes down to the kids and Preston got an adorable little tie for church.

Maybe Life Isn't So Bad After All

May 6, 2008~

I've realized one great benefit about living with my in laws. They have the most gorgeous back yard ever and to top it off a beautiful sparkling pool. Yeah, so this may actually be the summer I get a tan. I seriously plan on spending at least 5 out of 7 days in the pool. Yesterday, I took the kids on their first swim of the season. They both really liked it! So much so that Preston fell asleep in his floaty and Evelyn refused to get out. I am so glad that they both love the water. My thinking is that by the end of summer I'm going to have two little water babies on my hands. It's going to be a great summer, that's for sure!


Another new thing for us is that Evelyn, by default (since her crib is somewhere in our storage unit), is now sleeping in a big bed and doing surprisingly well. I always imagined that as soon as we switched her over she would be staying up until all hours of the night, wandering around and getting into all kinds of unsupervised trouble but she's actually been really great. It does help a lot the fact that she hasn't yet learned how to open doors. At the moment she's sleeping on a mattress on the floor. There's actually plenty of beds for her to sleep in but I'm not sure she's quite ready for that. She moves around SO much in her sleep, it's hilarious. One night when I was at my sister Evelyn fell asleep on the couch and I walked out of the room to get something. A few minutes later I heard a loud thud and I run over to see Evelyn laying sprawled out on the floor. I couldn't believe it, she had actually fallen off of the couch and didn't even wake up. For that reason alone she's better off as close to the ground as possible. Despite the fact that she moves around so much, she is a great sleeper and she's been sleeping great ever since we moved out here. I am certainly blessed for that!

Another new advancement for me is that I have a new calling. It didn't take long at all, we've only been in the ward for 2 weeks, but it helps when 2 of Andy's cousins are in the Primary Presidency. I am the new CTR8 Teacher and Assistant Achievement Day Leader. I couldn't be happier! If I got to pick any age group in primary to teach, it would be the 8 year olds. They are at the age where they actually understand things but they are still young enough to still be eager to listen and learn. Plus it's such an important year for them since they all get to be baptized this year. Achievement days should be a lot of fun too! I'm super excited to start going to the activities and meeting all the 8-11 year old girls. Our new ward seems really nice. It's small so everyone seems eager to welcome us into the ward. I can't even count how many people came up to us the first week and introduced themselves. I already miss the Monica Ward and all our friends but it does help that we are moving into another great ward.

The last little tid bit I wanted to mention is about Evelyn. Lately I've been working with her on her colors. I'll point to something and tell her what color it is and then I'll turn it around and ask her what color it is and no matter what color it is she always says YELLOW. She is totally stuck on the color yellow. To her EVERYTHING is yellow. I'm starting to think that all she sees is yellow. Yellow pants, yellow counter tops, yellow.. yellow.. yellow. It is a bit comical. It's funny because she knows the names of the colors but she just can't associate them with the actual color. So to her everything is just "yellow" (and on some very rare occasions BLUE). Maybe she figures if she just keeps guessing yellow she'll eventually get the answer right. Who knows?

Oh yeah, there is one more thing. Evelyn, for some reason, has started calling me by my first name. I think it's because we've been spending so much time around other people so that's what she hears other people call me by. I'll admit it's pretty cute. She alternates between my name and mommy. I guess whichever gets my attention. The cutest part is the way she says it, Amer; just completely leaving the B out. I keep thinking that I'd better correct her but I get so much of a kick out of it that I just haven't done it yet.