It was bound to happen eventually....

Sydney had her first fender bender. Unfortunately (or fortunately from an insurance perspective) the car she hit was mine. She was pulling in to the spot next to me and scraped along the side of my car. The damage looks fairly minimal, but we haven't taken it in yet to be sure.

I forget sometimes how much she has going on this year.  She's working and swimming and still getting straight A's. The night in question, she was leaving the district swim meet to rush to her choir concert. She was trying to get there on time because she had a solo and wanted time to warm up. She also was taking the PSAT the next morning. No pressure, right?

I think we handled it okay. We still try to impart the importance of driving safely, but we've all made silly mistakes behind the wheel. Our saving grace is that we have more experience and can often times recover before it's too late.

I'm pretty confident she will be a lot more careful from now on. She was pretty darn freaked out!

Unfortunately, while this was her first accident, it may not be her last. Hopefully if it does happen again, it will be equally as minor. 

For now, she's just having to deal with a whole lot of teasing...and a lot of parking practice!

4 Weeks...

Peyton has been away at college for four weeks. So far, so good...

I remember when we were so proud of ourselves as parents for keeping her alive for four weeks! It seemed like such a big milestone.

She seems to be loving college life. She dyed her hair the first week, so our cute redhead now looks like this:

I think she expected us to be mad. Honestly, I kind of like it. Go figure.

I'm assuming classes are going well. We really don't hear much from the "Great White North."  I think that's a good thing? Also, if you got that reference, you are SUPER cool...hoser.

We did get to see her over Labor Day. She and Emma sweet-talked Mark into letting them come home for the long weekend.

Macie was probably the most excited to see her...

 I think the feeling was mutual.

I'm sure Peyton was super excited to hop in the car again the next morning...

 It felt a little like this:

We put her to work at the Catholic fair booth at the Twin Falls County Fair Saturday night. I think Uncle Scott was happiest to see her there. He needed all the helpers he could get! We've been helping for the last several years and I think Peyton would have been bummed to miss out.

We got to have a little fair fun, and a lot of fair food on Sunday.

Mark missed his baby a wee bit I believe...

Not me though. I'm stoic...

We will get to see her for Homecoming the first weekend in October. I think we'll totally play it super casual though. ;-) Oh, and....Go Vandals!

Sweet 16!

It doesn't get much sweeter than this girl!

It's hard to believe that our "Absent-Minded Professor" is 16 already! Syd is one of the smartest people I know. She also has moments where I'm completely terrified for her. We have story after story of times when Sydney just made us shake our heads in wonderment. Both good, and bad. Ha!

One of the things that has always struck me about Sydney is that she is seemingly fearless. When she was really little, she would jump into any pool she saw. Whether she was wearing clothes or not...and even though she couldn't swim. It was extremely difficult parenting her through the toddler years. Childproofing was just a challenge that she was always willing to tackle. We never did find anything that would work to thwart her. Thankfully she was (and is) adorable!

As she's grown and matured, she has transferred that fearlessness into other areas. Including this:

Mark took the girls to the Basque picnic a couple weeks ago. Syd decided she wanted to try the weight competition. Maybe it's the fact that I'm pretty timid when it comes to things that could end up making me look foolish, but I'm always surprised when she volunteers for something like this. She never, ever worries about looking silly! Amazing. Oh, and I guess she actually did quite well, especially for never having seen this competition before!

She is also fearless when it comes to performing in public. 

 Even if she's wearing a swim suit!


I've never met someone who is more comfortable in their own skin. To be honest, I'm a little jealous! Whether she's cutting her hair super short, being into totally "geeky" things, or wearing whatever she wants, she definitely stays true to herself.

One of her other amazing qualities is her willingness to work hard. She's definitely willing to do the work and try to improve. I really love watching her determination in the pool!

I do think she's a little nervous about her sister heading to college. Not only will they really, really miss each other, I imagine she's terrified that she'll be our sole focus. I think Peyton's big personality has always let Syd fly under the radar. A role which she plays quite well. Hopefully we can temper our helicoptering a little. 

I am pretty thankful that she still likes to hang out with us. She really is about as sweet as they come!

Happy birthday, Tommy Waffles! We love you and are so humbled to be your parents. I'm still not sure how we got so lucky!  XOXO

Adult-ish

To borrow a phrase from one of my friends, we have a "newly minted adult" at our house. Yep, Peyton turned 18.

What is even happening right now? The joke has always been that our goal was to keep her alive until she turned 18. Nailed it! But it wasn't always easy...

 In honor of her birthday, I decided to catalog a couple of the big events in her life. 

Starting with:

Probably the first time we were a disappointment as parents...still in the hospital

And then there was this:

Her baptism...this was right after we had to fish her pacifier out of the baptismal font...

Or this:

The first, but not last, time we broke her...

Her arm was actually broken in this photo...

And her first haircut, as if we hadn't traumatized her enough already.

Or this:

30 photos later, and this was the best...

I will say, this was probably one of the biggest life changes for all of us!

There are so many other momentous events that have taken place. This post could go on forever and ever!

But, I'll just post one more event:

Happy 18th, Dude! (Peyton on the right...)

The above tattoos are in memory of this lady. She loved us like no other and we still miss her every day.

Next up is graduation and college. It really has flown by in the blink of an eye. We are super proud of you, Peyt!

And I promise I won't tell anyone about you getting pulled over on your birthday last night. ;-)

There is something about 
a red-headed girl.
She'll make you crazy, 
and shake up your world.

Ninteen years...

Apparently, things have been pretty boring at the Tverdy house. But today...today is our 19th anniversary. That seems like something blog-worthy for sure.

This guy is still my favorite person. Even on the days I have to remind myself why.

A few months ago, we had our friend Janie take our family photos. She decided to take some of just Mark and I. I'm not sure when the last time we had professional photos of just the two of us taken. Maybe our wedding?? Janie was amazing. And as you can see, we are super great at being serious.

 Y'all know this saint in the photos with me. Truly, he must be the most patient person on the planet. I am not easy to be married to. For reals. Between the insta-temper, and the tattoos, and being stubborn, and bossy, and oblivious, and occasionally ignoring everyone around me, and all those other charming qualities I possess, he's one lucky man. Amiright? Although, "saint" might be pouring it on a little thick, even for me. 

I think this last photo is actually my favorite. Even though I look like a complete dork, this is probably the reason we have stayed married so long. We laugh. Like, a lot.

Mark is really, really a good guy. He definitely has his moments, but of the two of us, he is not only the nicest and funniest, but also the most level-headed. And hardest-working. And most out-going. Plus a lot of other good things. And did I mention he's funny? He totally is.

I'm sure I bring something to the table, right? Right??

Happy Anniversary, Dude. You're pretty okay.

The Mountains Are Calling...

Camping - Take 2...

So, we hit our second camping weekend. It was fun going somewhere new. We had been to Lake Cascade several times, but never camped there.

It's pretty tough to beat the scenery...

 

And the sunsets definitely don't suck...

And just because we like to camp, it doesn't mean we are savages. This little gem is one of my favorites as far as "camping gear" goes....

The weather was gorgeous. We took a bike ride Saturday that had us all tired and probably pretty smelly. No showers = stinky Tverdys.  We decided to wait to go to Church until we got home Sunday evening. You're welcome to anyone who would have been in our immediate vicinity.

Macie had a great time running around like crazy. She was pretty tired by Sunday...

Peyton was scheduled to get her wisdom teeth out Monday so since she will have to be popcorn free for several weeks, Mark bought her some Jiffy pop. Remember this stuff? Way more fun to watch cook than it is to eat...

We roasted a few marshmallows...

But mostly just hung out with each other. So glad the girls are still willing to hang out with us...most of the time anyway.

Not sure when or where our next camping adventure will be.  Peyton only has one free weekend this summer since she's starting her job. Maybe this will be the year I'm willing to leave her home alone? Maybe...

Impulsive? Depends on who you ask...

Am I impulsive?

Nah, I'm just a good, quick decision maker. Really. You should totally ask my husband. Lololol.

If my children have any impulsivity control, I'm afraid I know exactly which parent that comes from.

We have very different decision making styles at our house. Mark thinks about things from all angles. Me? Noooot exactly my jam. This was first very evident to Mark about 5 months after we got married. I decided it was time for us to have a baby. Guess who celebrated their 6 month anniversary expecting a little bundle of joy? Good thing we were serious!

Mark often laments that hopefully I don't view husbands like I view vehicles. First sign of trouble, I decide we should start "thinking about" looking for a new car. I always swear I won't come home with something new. I do mean it when I say it. Really!

Thankfully, I DO NOT consider trading him in at the first sign of trouble. I mean even if I were to consider it, I wouldn't actually do it.

This brings me to the latest thing that I thought we should start "thinking about."

My new couch!

Special thanks to my sister-in-law Julie.  We have an agreement that husbands can be lent for furniture moving pretty much any time.  ;-)  Oh, and also, Chris and Tils should get some credit.  LOL

Our old couch came with us from our last house. It was super comfy, but not all that practical. It was light beige...almost off white. What were we thinking? It also doesn't have arm rests which makes it very difficult for some of our extended family members to get up.

I'm sure Mark knew as soon as I said I was thinking about it, we would have a new couch. I can't help it! I get obsessed with finding the right one. (Whatever the "one du jour" happens to be.) It haunts me...for real!  And that's not to say I'm anything but frugal. Which is probably part of the reason Mark rarely balks at anything. He knows I'm all about getting a good deal!

So, I started looking. And I really was just looking. But then I found what I wanted. It checked all the boxes. So, why not get it?? I'm sure Mark could offer some reasons, but I think he has a headache.

Me, as they were still unpacking and setting up the rest of the pieces.

Clearly, I am the poster child for delayed gratification.

Surprise! Surprise that we finally got something done, that is...

So Syd had a birthday...7 months ago. One of her gifts was a re-do of her room. Mark and I finally got around to the paint update this weekend. The girls were gone the whole weekend so we definitely walked on the wild side. Ha to the ha ha.

Here is the before picture:

As you can probably tell, Syd got to pick her room color when we moved to the new house. It really is as obnoxious as it looks. In fact, more than once, I've walked by thinking she left the light on when in fact, it's just the loud paint.

Sydney has had trouble sleeping for the last few years. It finally dawned on me that maybe her wall color had something to do with it? So, we researched the best wall color to help sleep. And we came up with blue.

Unfortunately, we had a little bit too much "BSU" coloring around the house for a couple hours. Thankfully, we survived the embarrassment...

Here are a few "action" shots:

Impressive, huh?

Macie was really curious what we were doing too.

Mark and I are not the cleanest painters...

This doesn't even show when I bumped the wall with my entire arm. Oops.

Here is a "final" picture. We are still trying to decide what she wants on the sign I'm going to make for above her bed.

It's difficult to tell the color from my awesome photography. But here is the swatch:

She was pretty surprised when she got home. I imagine that is mainly due to the fact that her parents are totally unreliable dolts. I also think that if she wasn't so completely exhausted, she would have been really excited. She did thank us several times. So, there is that. Parenting win? Probably...if we weren't closer to her next birthday than the last.