Self Proclaimed American Idol Nut!...a confession by Lindsey's husband...

He..hEl...hello? mmm...Hi...Tyler here.

I'm the other half (the weaker, less interesting, and incredibly less spontaneous/less"crafty" half) to the amazing Lindsey Fish Kearl...and daddy to some amazingly cute and fun kids...Hi. For Almost 5 years now, I've been watching Lindsey do this blogging thing. Ok, I'll admit it...i'm a closet blogger...well, reader, observer, sideline contributor, etc. Anyway, I finally have a comment worthy of blogging by myself. Perhaps my little tidbit of insight, prophesy, prediction, hope, dream, whatever will inspire the inevitable as I see it.

Well here goes...I think David Cook and Carrie Underwood should hook up. There, see, I've said it.

Now you know a couple things about me that you didn't before.
1) It's true. I watch American Idol (imagine Seacrest saying that with extra ummph on the "erican" part of American and it will have come across as intended). I watch every week and nothing gets me more worked up, than the few times I had to miss it this season.
2) I watched two seasons ago when Carrie Underwood was on it. (I also watched 3 years ago when what's-his-name, gray hair man sang songs only our grandparents were rocking to...and of course the unjustified early exit by Daughtry.)
3) Ok. I watched the lip sinking Sparks win last year as well...
4) Ok...I'll just throw this in because you couldn't possibly know by what I've already said...but I have purchased American Idol music on my IPOD...ahhhhhh...that felt good to get off my chest!

Perhaps I'm the only one in the virtual blogging world that has expressed this thought--i'm talking again about the future Carrie Underwood Cook. David, buddy, did you see her on the finally tonight? Holy smokes! (Don't worry all, Lindsey is well aware of my Carrie crush).

Tonight the best man did win the competition (by 12 million votes, need I remind you). Kudos to Archuleta (and White for that matter) for representing.

Yours truly,

~Ty

PS...Guess who has tickets to the Idol Tour in San Jose on July 8? Yup, Lindsey and I do.

PPS...Guess who bought them? Me. (Don't worry mom, there will be tons of parents at the concert too...)

A Sad Day!

Auntie Sara and Uncle "Gog" (Jon) having been staying with us the last couple weeks, but this morning they left us for the British accent and HobNobs. Yes, they are moving to London. We tried (quite desperately) to make them stay this morning, but no, they are currently in their cozy business class seats to the UK, sipping on never ending Diet Coke and snacking on more than nuts. We are so sad to see them leave for 2 years...we are tempted to join them. Sara and I joke about always following each other around our whole lives (we are content with the idea, whether the twins are or not). It has been so nice to have family here California. Ava and Christian LOVE their auntie and uncle. They have been around the most of any family for almost all of both of our kids lives. We will miss you guys a ton and can't wait to meet back up...or for Jon to find Ty an opening there :)

Before they left they gave the kids these darling little outfits. Could the Star Wars shirt be any cooler, especially with the shorts. Ava looked so cute in her little dress too. The top pic is the kids with Gog and Sara right before the tears fell and they drove away.

Below is a classic Ava face.
I am officially depressed! We love you guys!

A boy and his Ball.

Sorry for the slacking as of late. No excuse, just life, which I suppose is an excuse. The other night we went to Ty's soccer game. This little boy had so much fun, he didn't know what to do with himself. He really wanted to run onto the feild and play. When Ty was on the sidelines he wanted to be held by him and him only. The rest of the time he kicked the soccer ball and threw the baseball around all night. It was really cute.

I really enjoy having a boy that LOVES balls and cars and a girl that loves babies and princesses. Ava's been asking, "Mom, can we go to Disneyland and see the princesses."

Enjoying April

This month has been quite nice. We've enjoyed ourselves...here's how...

Christian discovered how to get these pans out, then I found him like this...love it. He is really funny. I am loving his personality lately. I am starting to realize he really has an opinion, and he expresses it. Lately, when I take the kids out in the double stroller (which is side-by-side) Ava walks most of the time, but when she wants to sit, Christian flips. He thinks it is his throne. Same thing when she sits on my lap...so funny.

Playing ball in the backyard.
We took Papa Jim and Grandma Kearl to Pigeon Point to see the whales...all bundled up.
One evening while I was cooking dinner, I looked out the back door to find both my kiddos chillin- relaxing with the sippies.
On Thursday a bunch of friends went to the beach. It was gorgeous and finally nice enough to actually wear our suits. The kids had a great time.
You might notice that in half the pictures Ava has on stripes and the other polka dots. Well I looked over to see her with her swimsuit off peeing on the sand. (I thought this was only a problem for boys...help me now) Needless to say, we made a switch to the reverse side during the pottie-break.

Julia, Ava, Ava, and Taylor being silly.

Cute little Maddie.

Christain surprisingly didn't love the sand (although he was a little sick so his judgement could have been altered) but just wanted to play on this chair forever.

Hayley and Avi.

All tuckered out. While loading the car back up Ava climbed on in to rest.

So fun to be spending time outside with beautiful surrounding and such good people. BTW- girls the rest of the fun pics I took that day are on my smugmug site.

Motherly Woes

So I might say that often mothers are bombarded with what to do and what not to do in EVERY aspect known to man of your sweet little child's life. I'm certain you've all heard millions of things...don't feed them this, make sure you feed them this- only not until they are at this age...don't use this product, unless of course you want to chance killing your child...blah-blah-blah. These so-called helpful bits of information are sometimes overwhelming for me. Usually I take them like a grain of salt and stick to the way I feel good about raising my children, but occasionally I will take some to heart and give them a fair trial.

Here is one that has effected us more than most for the last year or so...

When Christian was 4 months or so, someone mentioned to me that you should not use a bumper on a baby's crib because it increases the chances of SIDS. I thought about it for awhile, then while we were moving I decided to just pack it up and try without. What these people didn't mention was that it causes late night crying and odd bruises on chubby little arms and legs. One night we had decided that Christian would have to "cry it out" since he no longer had a paci to go to bed. After 45 minutes of letting poor Christian "cry it out" Tyler went in to find his thigh stuck in between two posts and if you have seen his thighs you realize how painful this must have been. There we bruises...we felt bad...really bad.

So, instead of solving this problem by bringing the cuter and now safer (in my mind) bumper back he has learned to adapt. It will just make him stronger, right? So when I found him like this the other night, I smiled, thought of this story and took a picture.

A Relaxing Getaway

Oh, Tahoe! First of all, Tahoe is so beautiful. We had great weather too which always makes things pleasant. I went with my friend Kelli and 3 other girls that I hadn't met, one from here in Cali and 2 met us there from Utah. It was so great to meet these fabulous new friends. We stayed at Kelli's place which is basically a cabin in a resort. Here are a few highlights of our fabulous, relaxing weekend.

We hung out scrapbooking and making cards.

We totally pampered ourselves. This is Kaylene, me and Kelli waiting to get our massages. I did a hot stone massage and it was awesome.

In our robes, with our martinelli's, ready for the hot tub.
One day we went in the the lake, it was beautiful.

After the lake we went to Northstar (a ski resort) and walked around. We ended up finding a tasty little sushi place. None of the girls I was with "liked sushi". I am proud to say that I changed their minds (I think). It is all about the soy paper instead of seaweed. They wouldn't do the raw fish, but it was a huge step forward.

It really was a fantastic weekend. It was so nice to wake up whenever I wanted...which ended up being about 7:30 each morning, but at least it was on my own. I was able to workout at my own desire in a great facility, and we even got a private yoga class which I loved. Chatting with girls until wee-hours of the night about anything and everything...mostly our kids that we were supposed to be having a vacation from :) It really was wonderful, thanks Kelli.

Oh and BTW- Ty did just fine with the kids (not that I doubted him :)) I even called one day and he was finishing the laundry. The house was in great condition when I got home too...what a man!

Does anyone else want to adopt a family of brothers from Africa after last night? I really liked one comment last night (I can't remember who said it) ...I will paraphrase...

If everyone would pay half as much attention to the situation in Africa as they do to celebrities lives, we could accomplish a lot more.

Amen to this...I will try to do better myself :)


On a different note, I am headed to Tahoe today with a group of girlfriend. The kiddos are staying at home with their dad. I can't wait. See you when I get back and am 100% more relaxed :) Thanks Ty!