Oh sweet silly Tessa

Tessa has a little push cart that Natalie let her borrow and she seriously loves it! It has been her favorite toy for like 4 months now. A few months ago she became obsessed with carrying a Xbox control while pushing the cart! The control is pretty big with a long cord that makes it really difficult to push and carry at the same time. She always steps on the cord or drops the control, then has to stop and readjust until she can go again. For some reason Tessa is always determined to do it no matter what though. Sometimes she'll let me put the control in a little purse for her to walk with which makes it easier but usually she has to be the one to do it all on her own. I have no idea where she thought up this idea or why she's obsessed with the control, but she does not like to push the cart without it! I had to record this memory cause it just makes me laugh. Here are some pictures that might explain it better.

Tessa with her control

Getting ready...

And she's off!

Balloon Festival 2009

Every August our family goes to Trapper's Ridge with the Rogers family for the Eden balloon festival. This year we went to the art festival, the lighting and launching of the balloons, hung out, played lots of poker, and discovered oh so good snowballs (a dessert). Like usual we had a blast! We just love hanging out with everyone, the Rogers are so much fun. We can't wait for next year. Here are some pictures from our cold, but fun weekend.

The balloons

How awesome is this GIANT Energizer bunny!

These pictures are at the lighting of the balloons which is so cool because the light up all the hot air balloons in the dark and it's so pretty!

Tessa checking out the glow from the balloons

The girls

Me & Tessa, Abby, Chelsea, Megan, Annie & Addison

Brando & Addison, Alan & Oliver, Robb, Jeff, Nate & Tessa

Alan with the 3 little babies! They had so much fun playing together

Tessa all bundled up and ready to go home to bed

Nate and Robb on the scooter, they look like dumb and dumber

Feeding the horses

Florida

This August we went with Nate's family to Florida for his cousin's wedding. We had so much fun and didn't want to come home! We went for a week and pretty much just relaxed the whole time. The weather was perfect for the beach and pool. Tessa absolutely loved the ocean! She wanted to play in the wet sand and have the little waves come up by her the whole day. She went under twice but wanted right back in the action. She would crawl right into the ocean not realizing how deep it was getting and then get soaked. I can't wait until the next time we get to take her to a beach. The wedding was beautiful and so much fun as well. Here are A LOT of pictures to show what a good time we had...

The girls were very good and entertained with the DVD player on the way down even though we were traveling from basically 4:30 am to 4:00 pm! The way home was a little different story for us though. Being on a plane when Tessa is suppose to be sleeping, is not a good idea. I finally got her to go to sleep but when we started our descent into Salt Lake she woke up and didn't know what to do with herself. It was a parents worst nightmare! She just started screaming and didn't stop until I got off the plane 20 minutes later! Of course I couldn't stand up with her or walk her around since we were descending. On top of that it was 11:30 pm so everyone on the plane was trying to sleep! People were really nice and understanding though. I just hope that never happens again.

(Addison's first airplane ride!)

The girls watching a movie in their matching car seats on the way to the hotel to keep them entertained

Our little family at the wedding

It was Sophia's 3rd birthday while we were there.
Check out the cute bubblegum machine cake!

Tessa was prepping for her own birthday cake soon

Future cheerleader! She's already mastered a qupee

Here are a bunch of fun beach pictures that Bobbie took

I love this picture of her! My little water baby

Jumping the waves with uncle Parker

All four of the cousins just love each other and have so much fun together, but these two are something else! I think they may be a pair of trouble makers!

This was how she went under once, but it was too cute and fun not to do

Sophia, Addison, Tessa, and Ella

Nice face Nate!

We went down to the beach one night and had a photo shoot

I love that she can walk holding our hands now

She was so amused with the sand, shells, and water. She just looked so precious

She loves her Daddy

This was the cutest thing! The girls saw us walking with Tessa so of course they had to too. Tessa loved it and thought it was so fun

The Whitney cousins
4 little girls that love each other

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Today was the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication. It was extra special to me and Nate because it's only a few blocks away from our house. We have watched this temple being built from the beginning and now it's so neat to see it complete. We are blessed to have so many temples around the Salt Lake valley but I would have never guessed I'd live this close to one. We are so excited to be able to walk to it and see it everyday to remind us of its importance. Here are a few pictures we took with Nate's family after we went through the open house. It is absolutely beautiful inside! I can't wait to go in again!

Tessa went through her first temple on July 21st 2009

4th of July weekend!

We went up to Eden for the 4th of July to stay with Nate's family at their second home. We had so much fun! We went on walks, to the pool, golfed, and just relaxed. We had the most fun though on Saturday at the local 4th of July festival. We watched kids do mutton busting, try to catch a greased pig, and saw a parade. Parker and his friends did the hot dog eating contest and tried to catch fish with their hands in a pond. It was so entertaining! Annie and I took a ride with the girls in this caterpillar train that was pulled by a lawnmower! I love going to all the activities up there. Maybe next year I'll try the greased poll or something! ha ha Tessa had so much fun playing with her cousins all weekend. She just loves them so much and loves to be around them. Can't wait for next year!

Family picture on the 4th

I love Nate's face in this, he looks like a monkey!

Tessa loves her Nana

Cute pictures of Addison and Tessa in their adorable 4th of July outfits! Ashlee was so kind to make them for us. She is so talented, they turned out so cute. Thanks Ash!

This is the caterpillar train, yahoo!

Watching the games and looking at all the animals

All tuckered out

Addison and Tessa in their cute twiner outfits

Mommy and Tessa

Learning to walk

Sweetest little face after a morning walk

Tessa with her Daddy the golfer!

Great News!

Yesterday we were blessed with some great news! Last week we took Tessa to see a cardiologist about her heart murmur her pediatrician had heard at her 9 month appointment. Unfortunately the EKG showed that the right side of her heart was working harder than the left side, and the murmur was louder than a usual innocent heart murmur. The doctor thought Tessa could possibly have a hole in her heart that may or may not require surgery later. So we had to take her in yesterday morning to have an echocardiogram done to see if there were any holes anywhere. Tessa did so good getting the IV and recovering from being drugged. It was kind of funny watching her get loopy but so sad as she became more and more out of it. Of course being the wild child she is she never fell completely asleep. She kept trying to move and talk but was unsuccessful. When they were wheeling her up to the recovery room she kept trying to crawl but her head looked like it weighed 100 lbs! It was so funny! Later that day we got the call from the doctor that everything looked great! There wasn't even a small hole anywhere. I'm so happy and relieved to hear that her heart is perfect! The murmur is an innocent murmur after all and nothing to be worried about. We couldn't be happier and are so thankful! We love our little Tessa so much!

This was a picture when they did the EKG. She loved watching the monitor and was so interested in it.

Summer Fun!

We finally took Tessa to the zoo for the first time. We were so excited since she loves animals so much! The monkeys were her favorite but she loved all of the animals. We had so much fun spending the day together.

Family picture

Tessa at the famous water globe

Checking out the groundhogs at their level

What kid hasn't had a drink from the lion

Checking out the giraffe

Tessa is so lucky to have her best little friend and cousin Addison. Annie and Addison came out to Daybreak to go swimming, we had so much fun. These two get along so well and just love each other so much. This was Addison's first time at the pool!

So cute

I just love this face Tessa is pulling

Trying not to burn by using the giant sun hats

Here is Tessa with a few of her friends. Unfortunately Bentley and Levi were there but didn't make it into the picture.

Kate (5 months), Tayci (17 months), and Tessa (10 months)