As I look back on this past year, I think we had more happen in our little family than we were ever expecting. This Tappana family is alive and well...and thriving...looking forward to another, hopefully, fantastic year.
Here's a look back on a few of the things that occurred during our 2013.
{January}
Jack became mobile and started crawling...
Honestly, I can't remember much from this month. Which means it probably wasn't too eventful. However, we discovered a a man sized hole in my parents backyard, and after much prompting from me, Tim agreed to go exploring. After several miles, we discovered a civilization of people living below the ground. They called themselves the people of Akhenet, and spoke perfect english. Strangely, their skin had a scaly appearance, making them look almost like reptiles. We invited them to dinner, and since then, they have become very cordial neighbors. A couple of them have even taken the missionary discussions and been baptized.
{February}
I. Turned. 30. Although I feel like I'm 20...until I hang out with 20 year olds, and then I'm like "Nah, I'm 30".
Yet another pretty uneventful month...other than the strange Valentines I started receiving. Turns out, one of my hygiene patients had fallen madly in love with me after cleaning his teeth one day...so to show me his undying devotion...he sent me teeth that he had randomly collected from various different animals, such as molars from a polar bear, canines from a wolverine, bicuspids from a buffalo, laterals from a kangaroo, and centrals from a great white shark...just to name a few. Creepy right?
{March)
Tim interviewed at a school in Washington, and we decided to make a family trip out of it and spent a few days in Seattle exploring and enjoying being together.
Jack tuned one...and spent the day on the beach to celebrate!
We also celebrated Easter in Washington, and the Easter Bunny sent Emmy on an Easter egg hunt around our hotel.
Hungry one night, and craving the smell of fresh bacon in the morning...Tim plugged in our George Forman Grill right next to his side of the bed. Sadly however, he slept so soundly that night that he forgot about it in the morning and stepped out of bed right onto the hot metal plates. To make a long story short...he grilled his foot. Luckily, I had some bubble wrap laying around...so I wrapped his foot up nice and tight. He just wanted to be treated normal people. Normal!!
{April}
The weather started warming up, which led to many wagon rides to the park.
Tim interviewed at a school in Tennessee, and left our family for a few days to
survive without him. It was hard.
A few days later, we found out he had received an acceptance at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee...and thus began a whirl wind of change for our family.
While in Tennessee for his interview, Tim became a local hero. The few days he visited Harrogate, the small town had record rainfall which led to a flash flood that destroyed most of the homes the wildlife had been inhabiting. While waiting for the waters to subside...Tim saw a family of five squirrels floating down the rush of white water most certainly to their death. Without hestitation, he jumped in the water, swam to their rescue and then did CPR on three of the squirrels. All five survived the ordeal. Once the squirrel family found out we were moving to Kentucky, they moved into the trees in our backyard. They watch over our family and protect us from all dangers that lurk in the night. Occasionally they leave us a pile of nuts on our porch. Squirrels are awesome!
{May}
We packed the first of many boxes for our big move almost 2,000 miles across the country.
Tim and I flew out to Tennessee for a few days to explore, and check out the school as well as the town and house where we would be living.
Emmy turned three...and we celebrated with having a princess party
as well as lots of friends
and family over to spend the evening with us.
Tim's work party was at Lagoon on Emmy's birthday! We ended up being there for 6 hours longer than we expected because our little three year old kept wanting to go on rides. It was a lot of fun.
My Pops retired from Cummins Rocky Mountain after 42 years of employment with them.
While at Lagoon, Tim was able to win a ginormous stuffed animal for Emmy. It was twice her size!! Weirdly enough though, once we got it home, we noticed that it would move places during the night. One morning, I woke up to find the stuffed animal staring right at me. Eventually, we discovered that there was a little man person living inside. He had taken up residence the previous summer while visiting Lagoon and lived inside the stuffed animal quite comfortably until Tim ruined his existence by winning it, and then taking it/him home with us. He begged us to take him back to Lagoon where he would say his goodbyes and then we'd never have to see him again. Instead, we called the police, had him arrested...and gave Emmy back the stuffed animal that was rightfully hers. I did sew up the little man person sized hole at the bottom of it first though. :)
{June}
Tim and I celebrated 8 years of marriage by spending the weekend in Logan, Utah. One of our most favorite places on earth.
We were able to visit the temple every week, in preparation for our move to Tennessee, where the Nashville temple is almost 4 hours away. It is such a blessing to live so close to so many temples! Take advantage of that my Utah friends!!!
We went to the mountains several times with friends and family and enjoyed roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.
After having three weeks worth of horrible migraines, my doctor had me go in for an MRI. Upon close examination, they discovered a little probe that had been implanted into my brain...by aliens of course. After a quick out-patient brain surgery, I was back to normal. That's the only reason they could find to explain my sudden onset of migraines...although, they couldn't explain how I had been abducted by aliens. Still trying to work that one out...
{July}
We spent the fourth of July with my mom and dad, and then ended the evening with a blanket spread out on our front lawn and enjoyed the firework shows put on by our neighbors.
My brother and his wife came to visit with their kids for a few days and we were able to spend time with them doing fun things around Salt Lake.
We had a huge yard sale in preparation for our big move.
We packed up our 27 foot truck, our Mazda 3, and our Mazda 9 to complete capacity...there was seriously not room for anything else even if we wanted to take it.
Tim worked his last day at ARUP, and a week later, I worked my last day at Dr. Lewis's office.
We threw our own going away party. Why? Because we think we're awesome enough to do so :)
Tim, his friend Ty, my Pops, and my brother left at midnight the 17th, and
began their 48 hour drive across country.
The rest of us, including my Mom, flew out on the 19th to our new home...Middlesboro, Kentucky.
In order to save money on our airplane tickets, I bribed Jack with goldfish crackers into the inside of my carry-on suitcase...where he stayed quite successfully until I had to send my carry-on through the the x-ray scanner during our security check. Luckily for me, it wasn't the first time a mother had tried to save money and I was told they have that same thing happen at least three times a week. The security officer kindly informed me that because Jack was still under the age of two, he could ride for free on my lap. After we arrived in Tennessee though, I secretly wished I had been able to keep him zipped up in my luggage. The little stinker.
{August}
We went with some new friends to Lexington, Kentucky and spent our last few days relaxing and enjoying freedom, as well as visiting the temple in Frankfurt.
Tim started his first official day of medical school.
The kids and I tried to come up with a new routine in a very new, very different place.
We began to make a lot of new friends.
Tim and I had a huge surprise when we found out that we were expecting another baby.
I was called as second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency in our new ward.
To save money on our electric bill...Tim and I captured thousands of fireflies and let them go in our house. While it saved on electricity...I'm still finding dead bugs. Gross.
{September}
Emmy started Joy School.
Tim received his white coat at the White Coat Ceremony they have for all the first year med students.
We were able to visit the zoo in Knoxville a few times with some new friends.
Emmy started a tumbling class.
We kept busy with play groups and story time at our library every week.
While working in the anatomy lab late one night studying, Tim had the scare of his life when one of the cadavers suddenly sat straight up from the table it was laying on. Luckily, it was just some sort of after death body shock that can sometimes happen causing dead bodies to move on their own and not a zombie wanting to eat Tim's flesh. He may or may not have started crying like a little girl, and then begged the corpse not to eat his brains before realizing that the cadaver was indeed...dead.
{October}
Our town, Middlesboro, had their annual fall festival just two blocks down the street from where we live.
With the help of one of my good friends, I was able to follow a tutorial online and make a Rainbow Dash costume for Emmy.
My Mom came to visit!!!
The Super Saturday activity that I was put in charge of was a complete success due to the hard work and sacrifice put in by my committee of incredible women!
We dressed up in our costumes and went to a Halloween party at the library, where Emmy and Jack were able to go on their first scavenger hunt looking for goodies around the library.
Tim participated in a service project called "Build a Better Block, Downtown Middlesboro"
We visited an awesome farm with lots of fun fall activities for Emmy and Jack...and then went on a wagon ride to go and pick a pumpkin out of a pumpkin patch!
Our ward had their Halloween Party
The SAA at the medical school had a fall festival and Emmy and Jack were able to dress up again, and go and participate in lots of fun activities. I also entered the Chili Cook-off competition, where my white chicken chili came in second place.
We carved pumpkins!
Tim took Emmy and Jack trick-or-treating.
Tim and I decided on the whim to take a cruise to the Caribbean for a week and left Emmy in charge of the house, and Jack. To say she did fantastic is an understatement. Not only was the house clean and organized when we got home...but she had also prepared 50 freezer meals for our family, taught Jack how to read, write, and multiply, as well as kept up on all the laundry :)
{November}
We spent our Thanksgiving with awesome friends right here in Tennessee...marking the my first Thanksgiving not spent with my Mom and Dad in 30 years.
Middlesboro/Harrogate got the first snowfall of the year...closing everything down and canceling school. How much snow you ask? I think we may have had 1 inch at our house :). The kids still had fun playing in it though.
We found out our little surprise baby is a girl!
Tim and I went on a much needed date night as well as our first one away from our couch and Netflix since he started school and saw Catching Fire. The movie theater here is only $3.50 a ticket!!
Tim entered a local lumberjack competition one weekend just to get his mind off studying, and was doing surprisingly well considering he'd never held an axe before. The scary moment occurred when the axe flew out of Tim's hands and chopped of his leg. Instead of panicking though, Tim took charge. He yanked off his flannel shirt he was wearing for the lumberjack competition, tied a tourniquet around his stump, grabbed hold of his unattached limb, and put me in charge of driving to the hospital since the leg he chopped off was his right leg and he wouldn't be able to push the gas pedal. Once at the hospital, the staff went to work quickly, and we were able to witness modern day medicine as they used leeches to reattach his leg. He was good as new in a couple hours. You'd never even know it happened if I hadn't just told you.
{December}
Tim was gone a lot more than usual studying for the finals of his first semester.
The kids and I tried to be creative with things to do as Christmas Break was all we could think about :)
I went to a cookie exchange/ornament exchange/ugly sweater party put on by one of the student wives.
I baked lots of goodies to take to various parties that we went to.
Emmy and Jack went to a breakfast with Santa, put on by our local library. Our library is the best!!
We took Emmy and Jack to see their first movie in an actual movie theater and saw Frozen.
Tim took his finals...and seriously rocked this semester!! So proud of him!!
We packed up, drove to the airport, and hopped on a plane to go home to Utah. Even if it was just for two weeks...it was quite possibly two of the best weeks ever!!
Tim and I didn't give each other presents wrapped under the tree this year...instead we budgeted our money all semester so that when we got to Salt Lake, we'd be able to eat out at all of our favorite restaurants.
Best. Gift. Ever.
We went to the temple!!!
Tim turned 31!!
We rang in the new year, celebrating with my family and playing our annual game of New Year's Eve Bingo and eating take out Chinese Food. Emmy even played Bingo this year!
While in Salt Lake, we had the unfortunate event of being downtown when not one, but three tornadoes ripped through our city. Tim and I noticed that there seemed to be strange things flying through the air...being pulled into the tornadoes...it wasn't until we witnessed a tiger shark falling out of the sky that we realized the strange things in the tornadoes were indeed sharks. Instead of running for our lives as sharks rained down upon us, Tim and I located an abandoned helicopter. So, we hurried and made up a couple bombs, flew the helicopter super close to the tornadoes and threw the bombs inside the twisters, causing an effect that ultimately destroyed two of the three. Our third attempt resulted in my falling out of the helicopter, upon which I was swallowed whole by a great white shark. Luckily, Tim was able to drive a car full of bombs into the other tornado destroying it, and then was also randomly swallowed by a great white shark. To find out how the rest of our shark adventure turned out, watch Sharknado on Netflix. You won't be disappointed. It's the best, worst movie you will ever see.
We hope your 2013 was as fantastic and eventful as ours was...as well as wish your 2014 will be filled with just as many good memories as our previous year.
Happy 2014 everyone!!
Here's a look back on a few of the things that occurred during our 2013.
{January}
Jack became mobile and started crawling...
Honestly, I can't remember much from this month. Which means it probably wasn't too eventful. However, we discovered a a man sized hole in my parents backyard, and after much prompting from me, Tim agreed to go exploring. After several miles, we discovered a civilization of people living below the ground. They called themselves the people of Akhenet, and spoke perfect english. Strangely, their skin had a scaly appearance, making them look almost like reptiles. We invited them to dinner, and since then, they have become very cordial neighbors. A couple of them have even taken the missionary discussions and been baptized.
{February}
I. Turned. 30. Although I feel like I'm 20...until I hang out with 20 year olds, and then I'm like "Nah, I'm 30".
Yet another pretty uneventful month...other than the strange Valentines I started receiving. Turns out, one of my hygiene patients had fallen madly in love with me after cleaning his teeth one day...so to show me his undying devotion...he sent me teeth that he had randomly collected from various different animals, such as molars from a polar bear, canines from a wolverine, bicuspids from a buffalo, laterals from a kangaroo, and centrals from a great white shark...just to name a few. Creepy right?
{March)
Tim interviewed at a school in Washington, and we decided to make a family trip out of it and spent a few days in Seattle exploring and enjoying being together.
Jack tuned one...and spent the day on the beach to celebrate!
We also celebrated Easter in Washington, and the Easter Bunny sent Emmy on an Easter egg hunt around our hotel.
Hungry one night, and craving the smell of fresh bacon in the morning...Tim plugged in our George Forman Grill right next to his side of the bed. Sadly however, he slept so soundly that night that he forgot about it in the morning and stepped out of bed right onto the hot metal plates. To make a long story short...he grilled his foot. Luckily, I had some bubble wrap laying around...so I wrapped his foot up nice and tight. He just wanted to be treated normal people. Normal!!
{April}
The weather started warming up, which led to many wagon rides to the park.
Tim interviewed at a school in Tennessee, and left our family for a few days to
survive without him. It was hard.
A few days later, we found out he had received an acceptance at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee...and thus began a whirl wind of change for our family.
While in Tennessee for his interview, Tim became a local hero. The few days he visited Harrogate, the small town had record rainfall which led to a flash flood that destroyed most of the homes the wildlife had been inhabiting. While waiting for the waters to subside...Tim saw a family of five squirrels floating down the rush of white water most certainly to their death. Without hestitation, he jumped in the water, swam to their rescue and then did CPR on three of the squirrels. All five survived the ordeal. Once the squirrel family found out we were moving to Kentucky, they moved into the trees in our backyard. They watch over our family and protect us from all dangers that lurk in the night. Occasionally they leave us a pile of nuts on our porch. Squirrels are awesome!
{May}
We packed the first of many boxes for our big move almost 2,000 miles across the country.
Tim and I flew out to Tennessee for a few days to explore, and check out the school as well as the town and house where we would be living.
Emmy turned three...and we celebrated with having a princess party
as well as lots of friends
and family over to spend the evening with us.
Tim's work party was at Lagoon on Emmy's birthday! We ended up being there for 6 hours longer than we expected because our little three year old kept wanting to go on rides. It was a lot of fun.
My Pops retired from Cummins Rocky Mountain after 42 years of employment with them.
While at Lagoon, Tim was able to win a ginormous stuffed animal for Emmy. It was twice her size!! Weirdly enough though, once we got it home, we noticed that it would move places during the night. One morning, I woke up to find the stuffed animal staring right at me. Eventually, we discovered that there was a little man person living inside. He had taken up residence the previous summer while visiting Lagoon and lived inside the stuffed animal quite comfortably until Tim ruined his existence by winning it, and then taking it/him home with us. He begged us to take him back to Lagoon where he would say his goodbyes and then we'd never have to see him again. Instead, we called the police, had him arrested...and gave Emmy back the stuffed animal that was rightfully hers. I did sew up the little man person sized hole at the bottom of it first though. :)
{June}
Tim and I celebrated 8 years of marriage by spending the weekend in Logan, Utah. One of our most favorite places on earth.
We were able to visit the temple every week, in preparation for our move to Tennessee, where the Nashville temple is almost 4 hours away. It is such a blessing to live so close to so many temples! Take advantage of that my Utah friends!!!
We went to the mountains several times with friends and family and enjoyed roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.
After having three weeks worth of horrible migraines, my doctor had me go in for an MRI. Upon close examination, they discovered a little probe that had been implanted into my brain...by aliens of course. After a quick out-patient brain surgery, I was back to normal. That's the only reason they could find to explain my sudden onset of migraines...although, they couldn't explain how I had been abducted by aliens. Still trying to work that one out...
{July}
We spent the fourth of July with my mom and dad, and then ended the evening with a blanket spread out on our front lawn and enjoyed the firework shows put on by our neighbors.
My brother and his wife came to visit with their kids for a few days and we were able to spend time with them doing fun things around Salt Lake.
We had a huge yard sale in preparation for our big move.
We packed up our 27 foot truck, our Mazda 3, and our Mazda 9 to complete capacity...there was seriously not room for anything else even if we wanted to take it.
Tim worked his last day at ARUP, and a week later, I worked my last day at Dr. Lewis's office.
We threw our own going away party. Why? Because we think we're awesome enough to do so :)
Tim, his friend Ty, my Pops, and my brother left at midnight the 17th, and
began their 48 hour drive across country.
The rest of us, including my Mom, flew out on the 19th to our new home...Middlesboro, Kentucky.
In order to save money on our airplane tickets, I bribed Jack with goldfish crackers into the inside of my carry-on suitcase...where he stayed quite successfully until I had to send my carry-on through the the x-ray scanner during our security check. Luckily for me, it wasn't the first time a mother had tried to save money and I was told they have that same thing happen at least three times a week. The security officer kindly informed me that because Jack was still under the age of two, he could ride for free on my lap. After we arrived in Tennessee though, I secretly wished I had been able to keep him zipped up in my luggage. The little stinker.
{August}
We went with some new friends to Lexington, Kentucky and spent our last few days relaxing and enjoying freedom, as well as visiting the temple in Frankfurt.
Tim started his first official day of medical school.
The kids and I tried to come up with a new routine in a very new, very different place.
We began to make a lot of new friends.
Tim and I had a huge surprise when we found out that we were expecting another baby.
I was called as second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency in our new ward.
To save money on our electric bill...Tim and I captured thousands of fireflies and let them go in our house. While it saved on electricity...I'm still finding dead bugs. Gross.
{September}
Emmy started Joy School.
Tim received his white coat at the White Coat Ceremony they have for all the first year med students.
We were able to visit the zoo in Knoxville a few times with some new friends.
Emmy started a tumbling class.
We kept busy with play groups and story time at our library every week.
While working in the anatomy lab late one night studying, Tim had the scare of his life when one of the cadavers suddenly sat straight up from the table it was laying on. Luckily, it was just some sort of after death body shock that can sometimes happen causing dead bodies to move on their own and not a zombie wanting to eat Tim's flesh. He may or may not have started crying like a little girl, and then begged the corpse not to eat his brains before realizing that the cadaver was indeed...dead.
{October}
Our town, Middlesboro, had their annual fall festival just two blocks down the street from where we live.
With the help of one of my good friends, I was able to follow a tutorial online and make a Rainbow Dash costume for Emmy.
My Mom came to visit!!!
The Super Saturday activity that I was put in charge of was a complete success due to the hard work and sacrifice put in by my committee of incredible women!
We dressed up in our costumes and went to a Halloween party at the library, where Emmy and Jack were able to go on their first scavenger hunt looking for goodies around the library.
Tim participated in a service project called "Build a Better Block, Downtown Middlesboro"
We visited an awesome farm with lots of fun fall activities for Emmy and Jack...and then went on a wagon ride to go and pick a pumpkin out of a pumpkin patch!
Our ward had their Halloween Party
The SAA at the medical school had a fall festival and Emmy and Jack were able to dress up again, and go and participate in lots of fun activities. I also entered the Chili Cook-off competition, where my white chicken chili came in second place.
We carved pumpkins!
Tim took Emmy and Jack trick-or-treating.
Tim and I decided on the whim to take a cruise to the Caribbean for a week and left Emmy in charge of the house, and Jack. To say she did fantastic is an understatement. Not only was the house clean and organized when we got home...but she had also prepared 50 freezer meals for our family, taught Jack how to read, write, and multiply, as well as kept up on all the laundry :)
{November}
We spent our Thanksgiving with awesome friends right here in Tennessee...marking the my first Thanksgiving not spent with my Mom and Dad in 30 years.
Middlesboro/Harrogate got the first snowfall of the year...closing everything down and canceling school. How much snow you ask? I think we may have had 1 inch at our house :). The kids still had fun playing in it though.
We found out our little surprise baby is a girl!
Tim and I went on a much needed date night as well as our first one away from our couch and Netflix since he started school and saw Catching Fire. The movie theater here is only $3.50 a ticket!!
Tim entered a local lumberjack competition one weekend just to get his mind off studying, and was doing surprisingly well considering he'd never held an axe before. The scary moment occurred when the axe flew out of Tim's hands and chopped of his leg. Instead of panicking though, Tim took charge. He yanked off his flannel shirt he was wearing for the lumberjack competition, tied a tourniquet around his stump, grabbed hold of his unattached limb, and put me in charge of driving to the hospital since the leg he chopped off was his right leg and he wouldn't be able to push the gas pedal. Once at the hospital, the staff went to work quickly, and we were able to witness modern day medicine as they used leeches to reattach his leg. He was good as new in a couple hours. You'd never even know it happened if I hadn't just told you.
{December}
Tim was gone a lot more than usual studying for the finals of his first semester.
The kids and I tried to be creative with things to do as Christmas Break was all we could think about :)
I went to a cookie exchange/ornament exchange/ugly sweater party put on by one of the student wives.
I baked lots of goodies to take to various parties that we went to.
Emmy and Jack went to a breakfast with Santa, put on by our local library. Our library is the best!!
We took Emmy and Jack to see their first movie in an actual movie theater and saw Frozen.
Tim took his finals...and seriously rocked this semester!! So proud of him!!
We packed up, drove to the airport, and hopped on a plane to go home to Utah. Even if it was just for two weeks...it was quite possibly two of the best weeks ever!!
Tim and I didn't give each other presents wrapped under the tree this year...instead we budgeted our money all semester so that when we got to Salt Lake, we'd be able to eat out at all of our favorite restaurants.
Best. Gift. Ever.
We went to the temple!!!
Tim turned 31!!
We rang in the new year, celebrating with my family and playing our annual game of New Year's Eve Bingo and eating take out Chinese Food. Emmy even played Bingo this year!
While in Salt Lake, we had the unfortunate event of being downtown when not one, but three tornadoes ripped through our city. Tim and I noticed that there seemed to be strange things flying through the air...being pulled into the tornadoes...it wasn't until we witnessed a tiger shark falling out of the sky that we realized the strange things in the tornadoes were indeed sharks. Instead of running for our lives as sharks rained down upon us, Tim and I located an abandoned helicopter. So, we hurried and made up a couple bombs, flew the helicopter super close to the tornadoes and threw the bombs inside the twisters, causing an effect that ultimately destroyed two of the three. Our third attempt resulted in my falling out of the helicopter, upon which I was swallowed whole by a great white shark. Luckily, Tim was able to drive a car full of bombs into the other tornado destroying it, and then was also randomly swallowed by a great white shark. To find out how the rest of our shark adventure turned out, watch Sharknado on Netflix. You won't be disappointed. It's the best, worst movie you will ever see.
We hope your 2013 was as fantastic and eventful as ours was...as well as wish your 2014 will be filled with just as many good memories as our previous year.
Happy 2014 everyone!!
5 comments:
There are some of these that I have to really think about - August?
What a horribly boring year! I do hope next year is a little more eventful!
I'm surprised that your surprise baby was a surprise...:)...I thought you planned to start trying in August anyway if Tim was accepted into medical school? But congrats all the same. I've been waiting for a pregnancy post since I'm not around to hear about everything from you!
It sounds like you had a good year. I see lots of blessings from Heavenly Father. I hope you have as much fun in 2014. Miss you guys.
Wow. You guys had quite an eventful year. I can't believe all the outrageous things that happened! What a good year. I can't wait to meet Tappana baby number 3...or 7. However you look at it.
Ha ha! Love this post every year. Quite the excitement going on in your household
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