A Fast Update

Here's a fast update on what's been happening to us these past few months:

Andrew: Called as Executive Secretary at church; started playing for the softball team at work; gave a talk a few weeks ago in Sacrament Mtg about missionary work.

Nancy: Called as 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency; wants to cut her hair; also gave a talk a few weeks ago in Sacrament Mtg about missionary work and doing Sharing Time in primary.

Aurora: Has been playing with 3 loose teeth the past few weeks; wants to go swimming all the time; is excited about her Kindergarten program coming up; will not ride on the bike we bought her for her birthday.

Jesse: Wears "rainbow" pj's Grandma Tice made him for Easter every day; likes to eat cereal more than anything else; showed us he can walk on his feet with his toes curled up underneath it(like Nick used to do).

Regan: Talks ALL the time; loves to put on her pink (pronounces pint) shoes by herself; picks out dresses to wear all the time.

I'll post something spectacular later....... (yeah right?)

Tale of the Toothless Girl

Okay! So who was supposed to tell me that kids start losing their teeth around 5 years old? Because that person really messed up! I thought I had a few more years still to go. I'm not ready for this - all the blood and pain and MEMORIES of having my teeth pulled, etc. Seriously, I need more time....

Yeah, I had to pull that teeny little bottom tooth this morning over a bowl of Frosted Flakes, screaming, and tears (the bowl of cereal was Aurora's, tears and screaming were me). Well, actually all I really had to do was grab it and it just sort of fell out, but it was still traumatic for me. Next time Andrew will have to do the honors. I just can't handle this!

So, I guess the Tooth Fairy is coming tonight! Now, what am I supposed to do with that bloody tooth? Seriously, it's still bloody. I even tried to wash it....

Read All About It.....

My sister-in-law, Kiersten, posted this on her blog and I thought I'd return the favor and post it on mine. I'd love to read everyone else's responses!

Someday: I won't be so concerned about the balance in my checkbook.
I usually: forget how nice my life really is.
I regret: inadvertently hurting a friend a few years ago.
I love: days full of thunderstorms and wind.
I care: too much about what others think of me.
I always: tell my children I love them everyday.
I am not: going to change the world.
I remember: the music in movies.
I believe: a little lie is just as bad as a big one.
I dance: where no one can see me.
I sing: at the top of my lungs when I'm in the car by myself.
I don’t always: shower every day.
I argue: because sometimes it's the only way I get to use my brain!! :)
I write: stories in my head.....
I lose: my memory more every day.
I wish: that I was healthier.
I listen: to my mother's advice....she's usually right about everything!! :)
I don't understand: how anybody can be mean to kids.
I can be found: with my nose in a book most days.
I am scared: of the things my kids will have to face as they grow up.
I need: to be told I'm loved.
I forget: what I wore yesterday.
I am happy: when I roll over at night and see my husband's face!

The Sweet Bookshelf Blog

If you LOVE reading books, check out my friend's blog at: http://thesweetbookshelf.blogspot.com/

She has a free book giveaway and if she gets 200 followers by Sunday, then she will have 2 winners!! Check it out!!

Our Game of Life

Every Christmas, the Tice kids make a scrapbook page for Mom and Dad Tice commemorating the previous year. This year I wanted to do a scrapbook page that looked like the "Game of Life." So, I thought I'd cut out all the little orange, red, green, and yellow squares and glue them all onto some paper....maybe add some pictures.....but the more I thought about it the more I convinced myself it would take too much time and cost more money than I wanted to spend. I decided instead to put my computer skills to work and created this picture in Photoshop. It was so much fun to create this and Andrew was duly impressed (every year I usually have to come up with the idea and create it and he just nods and says looks great!). It was a really fun to look back and remember all the things that happened to us this year and think about the "journey" that we took from DE to UT during the year.

Boys Night Out

Ok...I just don't get it! Monster Trucks???
Someone please explain the appeal to me 'cause I seriously would be so bored if I had to sit through one of those shows.......

Andrew and Jesse had a "boys night out" last night. They went out to eat and pigged out on spaghetti (Jesse) and lasagna (Andrew). Then they went to a monster truck rally with a group of Dads and sons from church. From what I've heard of the night, Jesse loved the fist-size meatball he got with his spaghetti, went to the bathroom 4 times, ate a gigantic bucket of popcorn all by himself at the rally and then fell asleep on the drive home at 11PM!!!!

Jesse thinks he's going back again tonight......(sigh)

Eight Years and Counting!

I first met Andrew when I was 13 years old. I can remember his family marching down the hallway in the Parkersburg Ward building. All the young women were impressed that a family with so many boys had moved into the ward. I noticed Andrew and decided then and there that he was going to be my boyfriend and I went about (the way young teenage girls do) trying to achieve that goal. See what a good little girl I was??....I made a goal and I worked towards fulfilling it!!!

A few years later, and lots of flirting, we were "boyfriend and girlfriend." We went to his (he went to the rival high school) senior prom together when I was 16. Not the greatest experience....We ended up breaking up right after that.














After prom, Andrew moved out west to work and as I completed high school we lost touch. Then, in 1996 Andrew came back to WV for his mission farewell. We wrote each other while he was in the MTC and I started college at BYU. We planned on starting a relationship again when he got home in 2 years. However, things didn't go the way we planned.









When Andrew returned from his mission we both were in different places in our lives and so we decided to go "our separate ways" again. Nothing official, we just lost contact with each other. I finished college and Andrew ended up moving to CA to work again. I never forgot Andrew though. I knew what was going on with him through his sister. When I heard that he was getting married I was devastated, but what can you do? After college I went back to WV to work and unbeknownst to me, Andrew had called off his wedding and moved to DE where his parents were living.









Around April or May of 2001, Andrew said he felt this need to contact me. So, he called up my parents and got the phone number of the family that I was babysitting for at the time. I NEVER answer the phone when I'm babysitting, so even I was surprised when I felt like I should answer it that time. I didn't recognize his voice at first. We spent a while on the phone while the kids I was babysitting watched a movie.

When I got home that night, my mom said that she was confused.... She thought I'd moved on and didn't want anything to do with Andrew anymore, but I explained to her that I'd always thought of Andrew. In fact, no one at BYU had ever looked as good to me as he did. After a few more months of talking on the phone and getting to know one another again, we met again and I think we both knew by then that we wanted to get married. Every weekend we visited each other - I went to his place and then he came to mine. On September 1, 2001 he proposed and then on December 28, 2001 we were married.

A long-time dream come true!

And it still continues......