buster's favorite toy

One of the first things that we gave Buster to play with was one of Nathan's old holey socks. We also put one of his plastic squeaker toys in a sock and tied off the end. He loved it.

I told Nathan that we should be careful doing this because he won't be able to tell the difference between the ratty socks and the good socks and he would eventually just start chewing on all our socks.

I didn't think he would try to eat the socks off my feet! I took these pictures in bed this morning...

Point proven.

friday family fun

Last Friday Nathan, Tarin, and Buster took a trip out to the far east side to spend the evening with my sister and her family. Fun times were had by all (See below)

Buster and Lily had so much together. Jon had dug a pit for Lily to help her stay cool in summer heat- and she had shown not interest in it until Buster came over. They cuddled in their "love pit" most of the night. It was cute.

Uncle Nathan had to run to work for a little while, and while he was gone I spent some time with my nieces in their tent watching Toy Story 2.

They're so cute! I love them!

I couldn't get them to look at the camera though- haha

Another picture of the puppies! They wore each other out playing so hard all afternoon.

Jessica and Jon made a delicious dinner of BBQ chicken, homemade french fries, and Melody's favorite- Beans!

After dinner, we put the little kids to bed and we ventured outside to roast giant marshmallows and make smores!

Jessica, demonstrating how to make the perfect toasty marshmallow.

Brigham and Paulie deciding on their smore strategy, and Jon holding the newest Stanley, Rick & Paulie's new baby boy Rolland.

Nathan, keeping cool and hydrated. It was at least 95 degrees outside and we were sitting by a campfire. It was HOT!

Brigham, showing off his messy smore goodness.

Sisters!

Melty marshmallow goodness.

Nathan holding the new baby- so cute.

Nathan really didn't want me to take these pictures, but I couldn't resist- it was just too cute. He's going to be such a good daddy one day.

This picture looks so gross. It looks like Jon puked up a smore and Jessica was eating it out of his mouth.

This is more of the look we were going for- a lady and tramp type sharing of the smore.
Nathan and I couldn't quite get the look down.

And when we got the hang of it, we had a visitor in our picture. Jon is so silly.

By the end of the night, the puppies were filthy! We stuck Buster in the shower when we got home and the bottom of our shower turned brown. It was so gross- but he had a good time.

After we finished up our fun outside, we went in a played some video games. The boys played smash brother down stairs and Jessica and I played Guitar Hero upstairs. It was tons of fun, we'll have to do it again sometime- minus the camp fire until it gets a little cooler outside.

michael jackson

I think a lot of people, especially my age, who were really young during Michael Jackson's prime- don't fully understand exactly how influential he was/is in music. Not only are his music and music videos amazing, but he has influenced almost all of my all time favorite singers. Here is my tribute to the king pop- tying into the music of many other performers

#1 David Cook

billie jean


#2 Slash, of Guns N Roses

mtv music awards performance


#3 Boyzone

michael jackson medley -2008 tour



ben




#4 Alien Ant Farm

smooth criminal


#5 Fall Out Boy

beat it


#6 Britney Spears

the way you make me feel


#7 - 26 Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles

we are the world


#27 madonna

billie jean

why did God make puppies so cute?

The answer is easy. It's so you don't kill them when they do something like this:

I had to go to a meeting in Tempe today- I knew it would be brief, so I decided that I would put Buster in the bathroom instead of trying to find a pet sitter for him. We have done this before, so I knew I should pick everything up off the floor and put it on the sink. So that's what I did- the trash can (which was almost completely full of garbage, and the floor mat got picked up and put on the sink where Buster couldn't reach them.

So I put him in there, with his doggy bed and pig ear- and I headed off to my meeting. As I was locking the door behind me, I could here him barking and whining, which I expected. What I did not expect was to find the mess ,you see above, when I got home. The only explanation I can figure is that Buster jumped up on the toilet somehow and then on to counter and knocked the trash can on the floor. It was too far back on the counter for to just be able to jump and knock it over. He then probably kicked the can for a while, knocking all it's contents out on to the floor. He also got bored and unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper. He pulled the towels down from the rack, he found the plunger and toilet brushed, knocked them over and the chewed on them. One thing he didn't chew on: his pig ear. Not one single nibble!

Luckily he didn't pee or poop- not that it really would make any difference, seeing as how I to clean up the rest of the mess he made. After I let him out, he followed me around whining for about 30 minutes. He has major separation issues. Maybe we need to take him to a doggy shrink!


It's a good thing God made him so cute!

lyrics of our lives

So, I am probably going to be closing out my myspace account- which is the blog where I posted all my favorite lyrics. So you will probably be seeing more and more lyrics invade our blog space. Usually they are songs that exemplify how I have been feeling or just some songs that I have really been enjoying lately. Today's lyrics come from one of my all time favorite Broadway shows, Aida!

Every Story is a Love Story

Every story, tale or memoir
Every saga or romance
Whether true or fabricated
Whether planned or happenstance

Whether sweeping through the ages
Casting centuries aside
Or a hurried brief recital
Just a thirty-minute ride

Whether bright or melancholy
Rough and ready, finely spun
Whether with a thousand players
Or a lonely cast of one

Every story, new or ancient
Bagatelle or work of art
All are tales of human failing
All are tales of love at heart



Fortune Favors the Brave (excerpt)

It's all worked out, my road is clear
The lines of latitude extend
Way beyond my wildest dreams
Toward some great triumphant end

We seize the day
We turned the tide
We touched the stars
We mocked the grave
We moved into uncharted lands
Fortune favors the brave

The more we find, the more we see
The more we come to learn
The more that we explore
The more we shall return

Nothing is an accident
We are free to have it all
We are what we want to be
It's in ourselves to rise or fall

This is easy to believe
When distant places call to me
It's harder from the palace yard

Fortune favors the free!

Fortune favors the young!

Fortune favors the brave!

good times, good times...

This weekend was a lot of fun! Nathan and I actually got to do things and spend time with friends and family. His summer work schedule is kind of stinky and very rarely does he get a full Friday and Saturday off in a row- so we took advantage of it.

I apologize that there aren't more pictures- I've been a picture slacker lately!

On Friday evening we had our friends Bryan and Kim over for dinner and dominoes! It was cool because haven't had the chance to see them or hang out since we go married, so it was good to be able to have them over. And they brought us a super wedding present too- which made it even more awesome! We ate some yummy lasagna with garlic bread, and busted out Nathan's never before opened Christmas present (the dominoes) afterwards. Kim totally kicked our butts on the second round and poor Nathan wound up drawing like 20 dominoes which made his score sky high!

Nathan is friends with Kim and Bryan from working up at Camp Raymond and so they all know each other really well- so Friday was a good opportunity for me to get to know them better. They are so fun! We are definitely going to have to get together with them again after camp is over and Bryan is all healed up from his surgery.

Dominoes- such an addicting game!

I was trying to get everyone in this picture- but due to the small size of our dining area, that was a failure. Oh well, it's a good picture of Kim! That's Bryan's arm to the right and Nathan's shoulder to the left. =p

On Saturday, Nathan's mom was nice enough to watch our little Buster for us while Nathan and I went over to the As You Wish on Deer Valley to do some painting. This was a big deal to me, because I hardly ever get to sit down and paint with Nathan. Usually I go while he is working and paint with friends or by myself, so be able to spend time with him like that was really a treat. We had fun painting up some Super Saturday samples for his sister AND a new doggy dish for Buster! He has been using Daisy's old dish, we decided it was time he had one of his own.

When we went to pick up Buster we found out that he had mistaken Virginia's foot for his pig ear and had give her a nice little puncture wound! =( Sorry mom!!

After that, we headed over to Amy and Robert's house for dinner. It was sooooo yummy! We had a delicious broccoli salad- which I think I might have to bug Amy for the recipe- some super yummy chicken sandwiches, and Italian sodas. It was really really good.

After dinner, we sat down and played some Scrabble- one of my all time favorite games! I was not the reigning champion, Robert was the victor, but it was still a lot of fun. After the scrabble game, we had dessert and sat around and talked until like 11:00 at night! Time flies when you are having fun!

It was a great weekend, and I really enjoyed getting to better know some of the people in Nathan's life. =)

another over due post....

Going through the memory card on the camera I found a few more pictures that I had intended to blog.

The story of the brownies: I was hungry for something sweet, so I made some brownies really late one night. It was so late when I made them, that we didn't even get the chance to truly enjoy them before we went to bed. Nathan and I shared one small corner piece to make sure they had been cooked all the way through, since our oven is so dumb. Then it was off to bed for some sweet sweet dreams.

Nathan got up the next morning and got ready to head off for work, which included him making a delicious lunch for himself. I figured he would take a brownie or two- no big deal. What I didn't expect was this:



That little bigger cut out the entire center of the brownies and took it to work with him, leaving me with nothing but the crunchy edges. Punk! haha

At least he left me with something. They were pretty scrumdiddleeumpcious!

Yummy!

my hero!

This post is out of order- but I forgot that I took the pictures on my phone- since I didn't have our camera on me.

A few weeks ago I was having some troubles getting my car started. It was kinda weird, but being the girl I am- I didn't think too much of it. After all, it wasn't like the car wasn't starting at all- I was able to get it going, just not as easily as usual. And did I listen to my husband who told me that I should probably just go straight home after work until he had time to look at it? No. I did what I wanted to and drove over to my sisters house and then met up with Nathan at his store after he got done with work so we could go on a lightning drive in the rain.

Sure enough, when we got back from our drive my car was completely dead and wouldn't start and I was too much of a wienie to try and help Nathan jump start it in the rain. So Nathan got some tools and took out my battery to go get it checked in the morning. And that's exactly what he did- and it turned out that I had killed my battery, probably by going over the speed mountains in our apartment complex to fast- bouncing the battery making it crack and die.

Lessons that Tarin learned:
1. Slow down over speed bumps
2. Listen to your husband, he might know what he's talking about.

Here are a couple pictures of Nathan, my hero, saving my car by replacing the battery the next morning. The classic story of the knight in shining armor, saving the damsal in distress!

I love you Nathan!!

song of the day: the more you ruv someone...

words from our life

make your own at http://www.wordle.net/create

our first 100 days

Our first 100 days as a married couple has been pretty eventful- maybe not as eventful or interesting as President Obama's first 100 days in office- but still special for us!



We have survived the wedding, the honeymoon, the move into the apartment, starting a new job, getting laid off, filing for unemployment, changing my name, getting rid of my old puppy, getting a new puppy, looking at houses, among other things.

And one thing we didn't accomplish- pregnancy! Which is a good thing for us, but so great for those who were betting we'd be pregnant within the first month of marriage. Don't worry, it will happen eventually- just not quite yet.


We celebrated with a delicious homemade dinner- chicken smothered in tomatoes and mozzarella with a side of pasta and delicious Cold Stone ice cream for dessert.

We have had some glorious highs and some not fun lows. But we've learned so much about each other, and we look forward to a long long life together with many more awesome experiences. These first 100 days have flown by- the one year mark will be here and gone before we know it!

thank heavens for food storage!

Making dinner the other night I realized we were out of milk- which was a key ingredient for the pasta I was making. I was ready to just give up on the side dish, until Nathan reminded we had powdered milk in the pantry. It would take a lot for me to actually drink the stuff- but mixing it up while I was cooking actually worked out great! It saved my butt! w00t w00t for food storage!

introducing...BUSTER!! our new addition

So it happened, we finally caved and got a puppy. I have been craving one ever since we had to give Daisy away. You might be wondering, if you already gave one dog away, why would you get another one. Well, Daisy was a big girl and already set in her ways. She had been living in a big yard with another dog to keep her company. Moving her to the apartment was fair to her, and she didn't know how to act. She kept having accidents and was so sad.

We gave her to an awesome family that has been spoiling the crap out of her! She gets to go up the their cabin or camping like every weekend and loves her new little kid friend and the company of another dog. She's doing great.

We figured if we get a puppy, we can raise and train it to be an apartment dog. Puppies are more moldable! And he was free- which is even better.

So here he is! This is our new baby Buster!

Look at how huge his paws are! He is going to be huge!! Hopefully we'll be out of an apartment before he grows into those monstrous things.

This was taken the first day that we got him, his eyes look kind of sad- I think it was because he missed his mommy. He has cheered up since then though.

Nathan LOVES this dog. He has had so much fun with Buster and spoils him like crazy. On the first night that we had Buster in the apartment, he didn't want to sleep in his kennel and whining and barking, so Nathan let the dog come sleep on the bed between us. Daisy wasn't even allowed on the bed, and we kept her kennel in the other room. When we baby sat my sister's dog, Lilly, we kept her kennel in the front room. Buster's kennel is right next the dresser in our bedroom. Nathan must like, just a little. They play as soon as Nathan gets home, and Buster freaks out when Nathan leaves for work. "So this is love..."

Once Buster gets over the fact that Nathan has left him at home with the less fun female master, he becomes my shadow. He is always right at my feet, wherever I go.

Here's a habit that needs to be broken- he loves my flip flops, even when I am wearing them he tries to eat them off my feet! He likes Nathan's socks too- I think just because they smell like Nathan.

While I was trying to take pictures of him, he noticed the camera strap dangling from the side of the camera and promptly pounced on me. I have about 5 pictures like this one, trying to chew the strap off while I took pictures. Silly dog.

How could you not love that little face?! Doesn't he just look like a Buster?

We made the mistake of leaving the food bag out in the kitchen....

Trying to pretend that he's innocent.

In his defense, it was dinner time.

It's been quite an experience having a puppy at the apartment. Nathan and I decided to go out for ice cream last night, and we knew Buster would cry is we left him in his little kennel, so we thought it would be a good idea to kind of barricade him the kitchen by turning the coffee table on it's side. That way he more room to play and lounge around while we were gone for about 45 minutes. Good idea right? We thought so- until we got home from Cold Stone!

Buster had some how pushed the coffee table out, and squeeze his out the kitchen. We came home to find him up on the back of the couch barking his little head off. We didn't even know he could jump high enough to get on the couch at all! He had also climbed all over the end table and knocked over a glass of lemonade and pushed all the pictures and mail off the table on to the floor. But that's not all- he also decided to poop on a piece of pottery in the spare room, and left a little puddle too.

Anyone have advice on what to do with a puppy that doesn't like to be left alone?

we love our d-backs!

I was lucky enough to score another pair of free Diamondbacks tickets from Ryan. I, of course, was so excited. I love love baseball! Too bad for Nathan, his crazy summer work schedule made it inconvenient to attend the game- lucky for Kassi, he was willing to give up the ticket so she and I could have a fabulous girls night out!

To save time and money once again, we decided to take the light rail! Kassi was a light rail virgin, so it was exciting. It was an interesting ride, because when we got on the train was already pretty much full- standing room only! And the only space we could find to stand didn't have any bars or anything to hang on to! It was an adventure- haha! We had to brace ourselves for every stop, start, and turn. It was fun though.

Kassi on the train- see how crowded it is behind her? Craziness!

Me on the train- gripping the door frame for dear life! I had to try and find something to hang on to. I was right against the door- not gonna lie, a little scared of falling out of the train...

The view from our seats- very nice. Too bad our Diamondbacks were sucking all over the place! Man, it's a good thing I love them, or might have had to freak out. Lots of silly errors on their part. Being at the game was still a blast though!

During every game they have what is called the "Hot Dog Derby", where there is a race between the hot dog condiments to see which one can make it around the field first. I was rooting mustard- I just had a good feeling about it- then I noticed that the mustard kid was from our section, which gave me even more reason to cheer for him! It was a close race, as always- but MUSTARD WON!! And since he was from our section, we all won a free Diamondbacks Dog from Circle K! Woo hoo!!! It was neat, I had never won anything at the D-backs game before. Awesomeness!!

Another cool thing that happened, was a tribute to Randy Johnson. Here's a little snippet from an article about it:

"Johnson, who recorded his 300th career victory last Thursday, was honored during a video tribute at the end of the third inning of the Diamondbacks-San Francisco Giants game.
Several of his career highlights were shown, including his perfect game in May 2004, his 20-strikeout game three years earlier and, of course, the famous shot of Johnson and Curt Schilling hoisting the World Series trophy high above their heads.
When the tribute was completed, the crowd rose as one and warmly applauded Johnson, who stood up from his seat in the dugout, tipped his cap and acknowledged the reception."

Kassi and I both needed to get up early the next morning, so since we were losing, we grabbed some Nachos and headed out early. Which of course meant that we missed out on yet another awesome part of the night.

I found out later when checking the final score of the game, that this girl ran out on the field during the ninth inning and was chased by security. Man, I would have liked to have seen that! Here's the picture that was posted about the story- I'm not sure if she is just hiding from the security guard or if she is trying to grope Chris Young...

Anyway, even if we didn't get to see the crazy fan girl, it was still a super fun night with my best gal pal. And Nathan wound up getting some yummy dinner and playing Halo with his brother- so fun was had by all!
Can't wait for our next game!