.setting the example.

.im going to write something that i have always had an opinion about, but haven't taken the time to write about it.

.until now.

.now that its summer, and i see it more.

.and because its MY BLOG...i can write whatever i want.

.and hey, maybe i'll finally get some comments on here from others and their opinion.

.little girls in sleeveless stuff.

.it drives me INSANE.

.i remember when i found out i was having a girl, my mother in law saying to me "just promise me one thing, to always have your daughter modest."

.i remember promising this to her, and blowing it off, like "yea okay"....but I can honestly say that there is maybe 2 times my daughter wore a spaghetti strap top (one- someone else was watching her, and got her dressed) and another time, i just did....and andrew noticed first thing walking through the door.

.for me, i want to be able to talk to brooklynn about being modest...and make her live it...even at a young age. i want her to get mad at me when she is a teenager and say "why do i have to wear this" and for me to be able to tell her she has since day 1. she has ALWAYS been modest. and the pictures can prove it. 

.people use the excuse that its hot. umm.....hello. i LIVE IN TEXAS. i know heat. at 8 this morning it was already 80 degrees with a high of 97. i know heat. but does that make you take off your extra layer. 

.i guess i have noticed it more with the summer being here. cute dresses....throw a t shirt underneath. guess what...if you think your daughter is SO cute....she STILL will be. even with a tshirt underneath. brooklynn has already started to pick up on things that are not modest. sometimes while watching a show, she will point it out....and everytime she does, i grin from ear to ear because i know that even though it hot here, and she is "only three" she still is listening and learning. she is living the gospel. she is setting an example. an example i am proud of. she is standing out among others and living the standards that have been put there to protect us. 

.and when it comes time to "wear the extra layer" its not going to phase her. its not going to be a total shock as she gets older and goes clothes shopping and her mother is no longer letting her wear dresses or shirts with no sleeves. i have always made her, and it wont be new news for her. at what point do you say "okay, your too old and now you have to start wearing sleeves".

.i think this has stuck even more since i have been called to primary. i am in front, teaching these children gospel principles, and im living them. me, and my family. even my kids. some of these children come with their grandmas, or single moms, or were newly baptized, and look to ME as an example. look at me, and listen to me. im not perfect. andrew will testify. i know that. i have a lot of work to do. but when it comes to being modest, setting an example in my home, and enforcing a standard in my home. i can honestly say, "i am".

.i am super thankful my parents stuck with being modest. im not saying i was perfect. there was many times in high school i would get there and change. but when i went through the temple...it was no surprise to me. my wardrobe barely changed. it was a little hotter some days...but i was reminded that i am doing the right thing. 

.brooklynn- you may not like me when your older, but you will thank me when you have already set good standards that you wont have to change. guys wont be looking at your in the wrong way, and will see you for your beautiful, fun, energetic, bubbly, sensitive, caring personality....and your absolute beautiful self. 

.our love story-part three.

.our love story part one here.

.our love story part two here.





.ice skating.

.the date that left us liking each other...but not doing anything about it.

.february came around. my birthday month, as well as andrews best friend emma. she was SO fun to be around, and so bubbly. she was having a "byu football" party because it just so happened one of the big games ended up on her birthday.

.february 5th.

.she had invited a 6-7 friends over to eat and watch the game, and just hang out. 

.andrew had offered to transport me to the party and back. so up we went to emma's house. 

.we had such a blast. just being normal teenagers. hanging out in a good environment, with no worries in the world. laughing and enjoying our time together. 

.on the way home andrew had pulled over into the school parking lot. my heart started pounding out of my chest. "what was he doing?" i thought. 

.somehow he mumbled out the words "will you go out with me" ...of course i said yes, and we drove the rest of the way to my house holding hands.

.february 5th is special to us now. not only is it a special day for us and "when it all started" but its the birthday of a very special friend whom we love, and miss dearly.

.we continued to date throughout the remainder of his senior year. we went to prom, we went on dates, we hung out at basketball games. we hung out at his house, at my house. 

.he actually got grounded shortly after we started dating. he had told his parents he was going to drop something off at my house and come straight back home. he didnt have his phone on him, and an hour or two had pasted. they began to worry, and could not get ahold of us, and him. they drove looking for his car in ditches, on the side of the road, etc, all the way to my house. they knocked on our door, and walked in finding him sitting eating cheesecake with my family. he was grounded for 2 weeks. whoops.

.andrew graduated in june, and decided to go to byu for the summer. i drove with his mom the 12 hours to utah. got him all settled and ready to take on the "college life" and drove the 12 hours back with her. .i must have been too "in the moment" when i said yes to going with them to utah and back and not realized i would have a 12 hour drive back. alone. with only debbie. and no andrew. i still remember the first 10 minutes into our drive back to washington when she said, "so whats your intentions with andrew?" 

.i about died. thankfully the drive home ended up being really nice.

.the time came when andrew received his mission call. 

.Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

.our time together was growing slim. we tried planning something every opportunity we could when he didnt have things to do to prepare for the mission. there was a fun little get together where all the school was invited. it was a concert (all the boys attended our school who was in the band)...and so we figured we would meet there. 

.i was at my best friend's house ashley....and we had planned to meet andrew and emma at the concert. emma was going to andrews house and they were going to drive over together. i remember talking to andrew on the phone before drive over to make sure we were on the same page, and they too, were planning on meeting soon as well. i heard emma's voice in the background yell "hi tasha!" and i dont remember why, but i ended up hunging up the phone upset at andrew for some reason. 

.we left and drove over to the concert. on the way there the road was blocked off. i saw firetrucks, ambulances....i remember thinking there was SO many of them. i also remember the pit in my stomach, that i just pushed aside. we pulled into the driveway when we saw andrew's brother walking quickly to his car. we ran after him asking him where he was going.

.i still remember the sick feeling that came over me, and feeling like i was going to puke, when the words came from tylers mouth

"andrew and emma were in a car accident just outside our neighborhood."

.our love story-part two.

.love story part 1 here.

.and there i was.

.finding myself talking to "awestensee" often in the evening while doing my homework.

.was a growing attracted to him.

.heck no.

.did i still think he was a geek?

.heck yes.

.did we become good friends and talk more on a friend level outside of class.

.no.

.apparently, we just liked being "homework friends" and thats all it was for 3-4 months.

.than december came around. december 2005. we had a church christmas party. i was helping clean up, and andrew was too. there were stages that needed brought back to another building about 20 minutes away--andrew's job. i offered to help load them up for him to take over. once loaded, i saw that he was driving alone, and offered to go with him to drive over and help put them away.

.he was shocked, that

a.) i offered help

b.) a girl offered help

c.) that i talked to him outside of just messaging back and forth

d.) that i offered help. lol

.the drive there and back flew by, as we just talked. about nothing in particular. just had a good conversation...i was really starting to like this boy.

.i always remembered andrew promising EVERY girl in our ward that he would take them on a date when they turned 16. of course, before I would of never even wanted to go on a date with him (and on my 16th birthday i was still in a relationship)....but now, it was something that i was interested in. 

.i teased him and teased him about "owing me a date" and at the time he was NOT excited about it. he finally set up a double date with some other friends. (i later found out, he set this up just to get it over with...and of course, the other girl on the double date andrew ALWAYS had feelings for). we went to goodwill and tried on ridiculous outfits. we picked out one thing for everyone to try on. that was the day andrew walked from one side of the store to the other in alligator skin high heels. we left with gloves for our next adventure. 

.ice skating.

.it was a complete blast. i think we ice skated for 1-2 hours and just had SO much fun. on our way out, we bought hot chocolate and headed to the car to go home. somehow, i spilled hot chocolate ALL over Andrew's hand (covered by those thin gloves)....he wasnt mad. we still laugh about it to this day. and i kept those pink thin gloves for a while, because they smelled like hot chocolate still and reminded me of the day i really really started falling for this guy.

.andrew had gone into the date, just trying to get it over with, and for me to leave him alone....but left also starting to really fall for me.

.may madness.catch up.

.another month has flown by.

.and yet again, i am behind on blogging.

.i have a feeling that im going to be behind on blogging for the rest of the summer.

.it just hit me that we have a special visitor coming to see us in 4 weeks.

.and we leave for our washingon/ idaho/ utah trip in 5.

.5 weeks!.

.SO much to do, and so little time.

.and with our special visitor getting here in 4 weeks. . . we wont be doing anything but FUN that week....so a lot to do in FOUR WEEKS!

.and with the weather being so awesome lately, its hard to get things done inside.

.our month has been a lot of playing inside, being lazy, going swimming, getting together with b's very best friend ella, lunch dates, scout campouts, trying to get order back in the house, and so forth.

so i figure i will just upload our pictures, and tell about them, since there is nothing too exciting to report this month.

We had the missionaries for dinner. I was in NO mood to cook, so I texted them, and gave them a few different options for dinner. They picked IHOP. 

 .Andrew sent me this picture from work. He knows he is NOT to touch my dr.pepper.

 .b fell asleep coloring...this is what we found when we went to tuck her in.

 .it was mothers day....my kids were SO grumpy by the end of the day, so no pictures with them...ops...but here is my pretty mama and me. i CANNOT wait to see her!

 .We went swimming one day....the water was FREEZING but it was hot...so b sat and drew.

 .and parker ate....surprise, surprise.

 .this girl is such a DIVA.

 .since buying her sunglasses...she wears them EVERYWHERE.

 .ward party.

 .we got to go meet our friends, the mccann's little baby. jake. he is adorable as ever and the kids could not get enough of him.

 .parker cried and cried when we took the baby away from him for someone else to take a turn.

 .andrew worked from home one day, i made him fruit and yogurt crapes. they were delicious.

 .this kid grabbed his blanket, laid on the couch and went right to sleep one morning.

 .b kept wanting to touch him while he was sleeping and would say, "but he is so cute."

 .b built this and said, "its grandma westensee's house"....crazy enough it does look alike like her house.

 .this kid.

 .daddy got the kids dressed...b is as bad...but parker...oh my goodness. 

 .kids alseep on our way to IHOP to meet the missionaries for dinner.

 .parkers new favorite thing. scares the crap out of me.

 .can you spot him.

 .andrew weeding the front flower bed....we plan to use the extra rock from the backyard to build up a small flower bed.

 .parker was NOT listening one sunday, so andrew tied a "leash" to him.

 .i dont remember what b was doing to andrew, but she was laughing SO hard.

.lived in san antonio for 1.5 years and first time i got this alert.

 .one night i had to send this to my kirby family. i had NEVER heard of apples and peanut butter until i started nannying for them...and now i cannot get enough. my FAVORITE late night snack.

 .same cheesy grin.

 .when i look at this picture, i see why i get asked whenever we are out if they are twins.

 .we went with our good friends kailee, ella, and treyden to the temple. we walked around and let the kids feel it....than we finished off with a visit to great harvest bread...yum!

 .best friends forever.

 .this kid wants to get potty trained SO bad. but he still poos in his diaper. not ready just yet (and im not ready either)....but he was in the tub and got out and said "pa-pa" (potty) and climbed on the toilet and went.

 .b built another tower, and she wanted to take a picture of it.

 .prepping parkers room for some paint. FINALLY.

 .worn out after 3 hours at the pool.

.b taking advantage of brother being asleep and drinking our watermelon with nerds candy slushee.