Music

I love music. Always have. Always Will.

On Mondays I volunteer to teach music to the Kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms for the past 3 years. It has been a lot of fun. I've gotten to know the kids and also gain a connection with my children's teachers. I've played piano since I was 8 years old, and I've taught steadily for the past 6 years. I love it. And I don't know what I would do without it.

Music is a part of everything I do. I walk to music, I talk to music, and I dream to music. My favorite is when I'm cooking dinner: I turn on the music and dance with my kids. Of course I'm molding their taste of what music they'll grow up to like, but they'll grow to appreciate my good taste. ;)

What I'm listening to now:
Hot Chelle Rae
Jessie J
La Roux
Cobra Starship
Lucy Hale
Cady Groves
Selena Gomez
Mindy Gledhill

Grandma, you'd love the last one (Mindy Gledhill). I'm going to burn you a cd and mail it to you. Enjoy!!!

Why does muscle weigh more than fat?

New Year's Resolutions - that is the subject.

Right before Christmas Ryan's sister, Chelsea, asked if I wanted to join her and some friends exercising. I try to keep myself active in my life and have been lucky to not have to worry about my weight too much. However, now that I'm getting older, I've been more concerned about keeping in shape. I'm reaching 35 years old this year and my metabolism has changed. I guess I'm not 16 anymore...even though my mind thinks I'm the same.

So, i took the opportunity and decided to exercise with my sister-in-law. I go everyday unless I'm teaching preschool or music at the school. It's been hard work but a lot of fun. I'll tell you that these women I exercise with are diehards. Sometimes they do two workouts. Crazy!

This is where my concern is. My muscles have never felt stronger, but I've gained weight instead of losing it. I haven't gained tons (just a couple of pounds), but it's enough to make me feel discouraged. Ryan tells me it is good because muscle helps you burn more calories. But, seriously?! Come on!

Anywho, I'm going to keep on trucking and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

Title for my Cinderella Book

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 is to finish my final revisions for my book by the end of January and send it to my publisher. Am I on track to do it? ...yes. :-) Today I'm working on page 184 out of a total of 320 pages of my book. Woohoo! It's turning out nicely, and I'm really excited about the things I've added. I actually had an editor look at my manuscript and give me some pointers. So, when I'm done I'll have to send you an updated manuscript. :-)

One of the things the editor told me was to maybe switch up the title. At first I had it as:
I'm Not Cinderella; a Tale of Ashes in Time

She said it was too long. Right now 1 word titles are really popular. Therefore, here are some titles I have been optioning:

I'm Not Cinderella
Cinderella's Territory
Charming
Ichtaca
Far far away
Enchanting

What do you think?

My name has been immortalized

How fun to come across my name in a book. And not just any 'old joe' book. A book from a national best selling author.

My path to stardom begins about a year and a half ago when my mother, sister, and I attended a retreat with one of our favorite authors, Deeanne Gist. She's this amazing Christian author. We got to go to North Caroline and visit the Biltmore Mansion. What a trip! So fun!

Well, anyway, this author was working on a new book and I just barely started reading it a couple of days ago. What to my surprise when I stumbled across a character with the name of Mrs. Chadaz. What!? I exclaimed. I called my mom and sister, and we giggled with the tribute to my mom.

But wait. The story doesn't end there. Tonight, while I was reading (I'm almost half way through the book), I came across two characters who are sisters with blonde hair and brown eyes. Guess what? Their names were Torie Cutler and Tarrah Montgomery. Not Mrs. Cutler or Mrs. Montgomery but the actual names spelled out.

So this is my documentation of my name immortalized forever...well, while this book is kept upon the face of the earth. I shall demand every person to read it. ;)

My 12 days of Christmas

Christmas is almost here. What is it about getting older and time moving too fast? When I was a kid, time couldn't move fast enough. Now I just want it to slow down.

The kids got out of school last Friday so we have a full 2 weeks of Christmas vacation. Yeah! We had a 2 hour marathon of games last night & the kids slept under the Christmas tree the night before. I love having kids for Christmas. I love my life!

So, here's my countdown to Christmas:

12 - plates of cookies from neighbors that I'm trying desperately not to eat
11 - gifts for Tytan's classmates
10 - preschool kids who sang Christmas songs to their parents for our program
9 - times 10 Christmas cards ordered and mailed...phew!
8 - logs of wood burned each day in our fireplace to keep warm (and to look pretty)
7 - fun-filled stockings (including 2 for the twins) hanging by the fireplace
6 - hands (from my kids) that like to help me wrap presents
5 - $500 dollars spent @ Wal-Mart on Black Friday...wowza!
4 - days left until Christmas Eve
3 - excited CUTE kids ready for Christmas
2 - strings of lights on the Christmas tree
1 - plate left of cookies from neighbors (that I unsuccessfully tried not to eat)

Tape & gingerbread houses. Who would have thought?

Do you say giblets or jiblets!

I wish I would have taken a picture of our yummy Thanksgiving turkey. But, alas, I did not. I'd like to say it compared to the picture of the turkey in my last post, but I'd be lying. It just didn't have that full-on (picture perfect) brown color throughout, but it was good. So maybe it was good I didn't take a picture.

Funny story: I couldn't find the giblets (I even had Ryan look inside the turkey for me). So, I cooked the turkey and later found the little bag of giblets at the other end of the turkey. You live and you learn right? So, again...I'm 34 and cooked my first turkey. Booya!

However, the ham I made was scrumptious. But I don't really think you can go wrong with a ham. You add brown sugar, cook long and low, and tada...perfection. haha.

Now, on to our next adventure:
Tytan is getting baptized this Saturday, December 3rd. We are all so excited. He's actually getting baptized in the same font as his dad. Cool, huh? A funny thing Tytan said the other day was this, "Mom, since I'm not getting baptized until Saturday, I don't have to be good for Santa because all of my bad things will be washed away." Smart Alec! Ya, I told him I had Santa's number on speed dial. haha. Funny kid!

Angel Babies

Ryan's sister, Chelsea, had a baby boy 3 weeks ago and died just this past week. He was born with a heart condition and had to undergo 4 surgeries. They all knew his chances were slim but tried everything to make him healthy. Everyone is so grateful they got to spend at least 3 weeks with him on Earth.

My thoughts cannot help thinking of my sweet angel babies, Ryanne and Tamarrah. Just like this picture, I'm sure they're taking care of their baby cousin, Brigham. What a gift it is to have these special spirits in our lives and watching over us. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Gospel and the plan of salvation. I can't wait to see my baby girls again and hold them in my arms. How lucky are we to know that we'll be with them again and get to raise them. For me, life makes sense. Death makes sense. Heaven makes sense.

May we always remember this great gift from our Savior: Families are Forever!

Cooking my 1st turkey

Shhh...don't tell. My name is Tarrah Montgomery, I'm 34 years old, and I have never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey. :-)

In my young married life, being the oldest child had its advantages because every holiday we got to go home to 'normal' festivities. I use the word normal because we celebrated Santa Claus and visited relatives houses for grand dinners. I came home to my younger siblings and got to celebrate the holidays the same as them...not as an adult. Now that my younger siblings are grown up and gone, I have had to transition into the 'adult' mode of cooking the meals for the holidays. What?! I liked it better when my grandma made the rolls and my mom made the turkey. I guess I should have watched better when my mom removed the DISGUSTING parts of the turkey. Why do they save those parts? And why do they save them in a little baggie...just so you can plug your nose and squirm?

I hope my turkey looks like the above picture. I'll let you know. At least I knew beforehand to let the turkey defrost for at least 24 hours in the fridge and then marinate it for another 24 hours. That would have been bad.

Tytan turns 8!

My oldest turns 8 this Saturday. I never thought it would happen...I mean of course I new it would inevitably happen, but I was hoping that he would stay my baby forever. But I guess it's good he's growing up and not still in diapers (at age 8). You know what I mean. :-) When he was born, Ryan and I had been married for 6 years and were so ecstatic to finally have a baby to hold in our arms. I remember wanting to remember that moment forever and thinking that 8 years old was SO far away. Well, it's here. How did that happen?!?

He will get baptized on Saturday, December 3rd and is so excited. He's funny because when someone talks to him about it he just shrugs his shoulders like it's an everyday thing to do...get baptized. I think he's mostly excited about being old and having his bedtime be 8:30 instead of 7:30. :-) Oh the small joys of being a kid.

These are the things about my sweet, smart boy Tytan:
Favorite color: red
Favorite food: pizza
Favorite movie: 'Bridge to Terebithia'
Favorite tv show: 'Phineas & Ferb'
Favorite toy: Wii
Favorite book: Dinosaur Cove by Rex Stone
Favorite Primary song (hymn): 'Praise to the Man'
Friends: William, Talum, Kye, Carter

Halloween & Candy Favorites

This is my new favorite...white chocolate M&Ms! I've never been a chocolate fan...but I like 'white chocolate'. Give me licorice and a Hershey's candy bar, and I'll always choose the licorice. When people say candy, they usually mean candybars and chocolate. When I say candy, I mean licorice, jelly beans, and anything sugary (not chocolaty). So, when I heard about these 'white chocolate' candies, how could I resist? You have to try them. They'll melt in your mouth. ;)This year, Tytan's favorite was tootsie roll suckers. I told him how my mom used to save the wrappers that had the indian shooting a star and then she got to take the wrapper to the store and get a free sucker. He thought that was pretty cool. By the way, he dressed as a ninja this year for Halloween. No picture posted for privacy issues. You can never be too careful when it comes to protecting your kids.Trista (unlike me) loves chocolate but she especially loves bubble gum. It's probably because I don't let her have it very much. I have found gum in too many inconvenient places (like in the carpet and on the couch cushion) for me to let my kids freely have gum. Trista as Supergirl for Halloween.Trey just likes candy...all kinds. The thing about him is that he eats it slowly (probably trying to have it last as long as possible. He liked the laffy taffy this year. He dressed up in his karate uniform and went trick or treating as a karate guy. You say easy costume; I say genius. :-)

Happy Halloween! And happy candy eating. Isn't it a mother's obligation to scour through their children's halloween sacks while they are off to school. I say yes. mmmmm