We Interrupt This Blog to Bring You---TAMA'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Once upon a time, we had a girl and a boy and when the boy was about 5 months old, we discovered we were being blessed with a "surprise"! (yes, it was a surprise. Believe me, we were taking all the precautions short of a restraining order against Blaine!)

On July 8, 1981, our last baby joined our family and we named her Tamara Koren. She was beautiful! Her big brother had just learned to walk about two weeks before she was born and her big sister turned three just about three weeks after she was born! Good thing we were so young because we had a very busy household!

Tama was the quietest little thing! Half the time we didn't even know when she was crying until we looked at her and she would be standing there with her little head down and tears rolling down her face not making a sound!

Tama was also a very shy little girl. Her dad jokes that she didn't even like him until she was twelve! But she did and still has him wrapped firmly around her little finger.

She loved to stay in the house and hang out with me rather than go outside with the other two and hang out with dad. We always called her our "house mouse".

I can't believe how young Blaine looks in this picture! Talk about babies having babies....

See, I told you she was our "mouse"!

She would probably deny it now, but this picture proves that she liked Garth Brooks and country music at one time! Actually, she has always loved music and singing. I like to think it comes from me always having the tunes going when she was little.

Oh the days of big bangs and big bows! So cute! Tama was such a girly girl!

All of a sudden, she blossomed and grew up! What happened to my baby?! She was now a young woman! (and still beautiful!)

She has always had a fun time with her brother and sister! While it was a lot of work, I am glad they were so close in age. They grew up as friends and are still very close.

Tama was always our song-bird. She sang all through high school. She was in the choir, jazz choir and even got a singing scholarship for college! She still has her love for song and sings with a women's choir in Idaho. This is one of her choir pictures from high school.

Tama has also always had a flair for the dramatic. We used to think she was so quiet and shy and sweet, but man...this girl had a temper! I remember when she was about 4 and learning to ride her bike without training wheels, I looked outside to check on her and there she was--crying while she stomped every spoke out of the wheel on her bicycle because she had wrecked!

There is also the story her siblings tell about her getting mad at them and them locking her out of the house. She put her hand through the window of the front door and came in after them! (I'm pretty sure she gets this from her dad!)

Tama made a grand entrance to her graduation party! Her brother delivered her right to the door in the bucket of the bobcat! It just doesn't get any more redneck than this!

Tama went off to college and met and fell in love with Karlo. We are so lucky to be blessed with our two kids who came to our family through marriage. Robin and Tama have gone on to bless us with our five gorgeous grandkids! We know there are more waiting to come to our family. Now, to convince their parents!

Tama was never as into the horses and big animals that the other two were. Her joy came from taking care of the goat, ducks, and dogs. She did get on Blaine's horse last year though just to show us she could still ride!

Tama is a wonderful mother! She has been given challenges with both her girls and she handles them beautifully! Abbie is so opposite from everything Tama is that it is a challenge for her to find things to keep Abbie occupied and out of trouble. Tama's degree is in early childhood education and development so that has helped her quite a bit with Abbie. Abbie is one of the smartest 5 year olds you will ever meet!

Kallie is a full-time job all by herself! Tama stays on top off all the medical visits, therapies, information, and is very involved in learning all she can about Turner Syndrome and the challenges that come with Kallie. She is truly Kallie's best advocate.

In her spare time (I don't know where she finds any!), she enjoys canning, gardening, tending her flower garden, traveling, walking, reading, playing with her girls, spending time with Karlo, and singing. We couldn't be more proud of our baby and the wonderful mom and wife she has grown to be!

I love the picture below. It shows the love of a mother for her girls. Last summer, Tama and Karlo went on a handcart trek with the youth from their ward. They went to Martin's Cove in Wyoming and we kept the girls for the week. When they were coming in from the trek, we met them at the Cove with Abbie and Kallie. The girls were playing on the grass and we saw the handcarts coming in. Tama spotted her girls and, even after walking miles and miles all week, she darted out of the group and RAN to her girls! It made me think of how it must have been when the saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and were reunited with their families that had traveled on earlier. This is one of my favorite pictures of Tama and her girls.

WE LOVE YOU, TAM!! HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY!!!