Happy 14th Tanner

I was thinking the other day how amazing it is that Tanner is turning 14! I'm the mom of a 14-year-old! Crazy. Time really does seem to go faster the older I get. There were times in Tanner's life that seemed very slow to me. He was a very hard baby, which means an easy teenager, right?? Maybe because he was my first and I didn't know what I was doing but I had a lot of anxiety when he was little. It seemed like if he made any crying noises I would hurry and nurse him which may be why he was such a fat baby. He's changed a lot this last year. He's getting so tall and seems more man than boy. I'm thankful that I get to see him grow up and change. It's a fun process to see his personality change with each year. Right now he's really close to his dad and not so much with me but that's okay. I'm glad he thinks his dad is cool right now.

Tanner and Grandpa Buddy. Probably about 8 months old.
10 years old
Most pictures that I found of Tanner lately, he's eating something. Something else that is so cool about Tanner is he was born on my dad's birthday and Jon's mom's birthday and he was the first grandchild on both sides so it was a great birthday present for them. :)Happy Birthday, Tanner, Grandpa, and Grandma!

President's Day Weekend

My sister and her family came to Utah to visit over the weekend. I kept forgetting to take pictures but I got a few. We went to Gram's cabin and had a relaxing time.

This is Katie doing her homework and Maddie drawing.
This is Peter showing how much snow the cabin got.
Thomas and Seth are trying to build a snow cave but it's pretty hard. This was the first trip that Thomas and Seth got along really well. They're both our babies and have always had a problem playing together. This trip was very easy for us adults, we got lots of talking time in while the cousins got lots of playing time in. I'm so glad my kids have cousins!!

Maddie's 6th grade dance

All of the 6th grade classes learn about 7 or 8 different styles of dance. They teach them the jitterbug, the cha cha, the waltz, hip hop, and the macarena (if you can consider that a dance) and a couple of others I can't remember. Then all the parents are invited to the dance to watch. Some dances are boy/girl dances or daddy/daughter dances. It's a lot of fun. Maddie did protest about dancing with a boy a little too loudly I thought. It was cute to watch.Maddie's cousin Katie is visiting so she did the macarena with her. They're really excited to do it.:)

Here's the waltz, Jon needed a few pointers.

Her friends Jenny, Marissa and Camilla.
She was not happy that I took this picture of them doing the jitterbug but she'll probably forgive me someday. We'll see how she feels about me putting it on my blog also...

Sledding

This last weekend the kids got Friday off of school so we decided to go up to Idaho for a visit. We took the kids sledding on a great hill. It was actually not too cold that day, which is a relative term in Idaho. It was nice to be surrounded by family.Maddie and Jakey
Go, Seth!
Go, Max!
This game of monopoly lasted 3 hours, way too long for me!
Here's the pile of snow clothes and boots after sledding, not a pretty sight.

Girls ?

I haven't blogged for a while now...that's a relative term, but it's been a while for me. Not a lot going on around here...that's relative too, a lot has been going on, just not anything blog worthy. Anyway, I decided to blog about our night tonight. Tanner is at his Klondike camp out (hope he's staying warm and not suffering at all!), Max is having a "late night" with a friend, Seth is having a sleep over with a friend which is crazy considering he doesn't even like playing for more than an hour at friends houses, but he is determined to do this and he's just down the road so he knows he can call me anytime in the night and I'll be there (or Jon will be there depending on what time of the night it is), and Maddie is home. Maddie asked if she could have a late night at our house with her friends. She invited 4 girls. I thought, that's going to be so weird having no boys in the house and lots of girls. I thought it might be kind of a quiet night but it has been super loud. They all have to talk over each other to be heard.

Snow shoes

For Scouts, Tanner's troop is making snow shoes for their Klondike camp out. The boys are really excited about this project. Tanner asked if he could have a sleep over and watch a movie and work on their snow shoes. Tanner hardly ever has sleep overs so I said sure. They put in Cloudy with a chance of meatballs and were laughing like crazy at it. It made my heart happy to think these teenage boys were enjoying a cartoon movie working on a Scout project. I know in a few years he won't want to do sleepovers anymore. I'll just enjoy this time for as long as it lasts!

Off with her hair!

Maddie's been asking me to take her to get her hair cut for a while. We finally went on Tuesday and she got a lot cut off. I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted that much and she knew what she wanted. It looks cute on her and it's easier.

Interview

Today was kind of exciting for me. Probably because it was not my usual day. Jon has been going through the hiring process at B.Y.U. and it is quite the process, I had no idea. It makes me feel bad for Jon because every day brings on a whole new reason to stress out, his poor nerves. If he gets hired, it will be all worth it. He had to be interviewed by the Dean and the Vice President and the Department people and someone else, I'm starting to lose track. Today we went up to Salt Lake to be interviewed by a General Authority. We got there early so we could eat lunch first,which is one of my favorite things to do. Then, we walked into the Office Administration Building. There was a man behind a desk to greet us and ask us who we had an appointment with. We sat down to wait a few minutes and Elder Uchtdorf came strolling by. He nodded and said hi. A few minutes later he passed again with a tray full of food and asked us if we were hungry? He was just joking because he didn't slow down his pace but it was fun to see him. We then took an elevator up and met with Elder Ringwood of the Seventy. He was really nice and the interview went well, I think. He asked me if I would be willing to support Jon in this new job and I said yes, not too hard of a question, shew! He acted like he had all the time in the world for us. Now Jon has to teach on Wednesday in front of some Professors in his department and the process is over. Then I think we'll have to wait until March to see if he actually gets hired. Go Cougars!

Leopard gecko X2

For Christmas, Jon and I got Max and Seth a certificate to get a small pet at the pet store, preferably a goldfish. They were so excited! They really wanted a turtle. The woman at the pet store steered them towards a leopard gecko and once they saw it they decided that was the pet for them. They don't move very fast so they're easy to catch. They're pretty cute and sweet, if you can use those adjectives to describe a reptile. The boys just gently hold them and stroke their heads and I'm pretty sure the geckos are happy. The boys also get to feed them 4 crickets a day. That means we get to buy crickets every week and also buy food to feed the crickets. I didn't think I would like them, but so far they're not too bad. I think they live for 15 years which is quite the commitment. Guess they'll be taking them to college with them.

We had to buy them separate tanks because apparently they are territorial. We've got a BYU tank and a U of U tank.

Hunter

Dash

New Year's Eve whirlwind

Lyssa really wanted to take us to Jungle Quest. The kids put on harnesses and hooked themselves to a rock wall, zip line or huge swing. They had exactly one and a half hours to play hard. It was so fun to watch them have so much fun. Lyssa's kids could do upside down tricks since they have been there a couple of times before. Seth hooked in and jumped off the highest plank without looking back. We thought they would probably not make it until midnight after that much exercise but most of them did.

In the afternoon we went to a movie either the Squeakual or Sherlock Holmes. Most of us chose the ladder which shows our kids are getting older. Dad and Lyssa took Max, Seth, and Thomas to the Chipmunk movie...thanks guys.

Then, that night we went to Peter's office downtown to watch the fireworks at 9. It was nice they had two shows, one at 9 and one at midnight. We got to go out on the deck. Our view was a really cool train station with rainbow lights. Tanner was amazed at the fireworks...or maybe he's just posing. Then we went home to bed. Seth has a watch on that he kept looking at trying so hard to stay up. He made it until 11:30 and Max was about 11:40. Tanner and Maddie had no trouble.

Family and Food

When we get together as extended family, a lot of the time revolves around food. I guess because there's so much of us there has to be so much food! The reason we went to Denver was to see my nephew, Thomas, get baptized. It was a very nice night and Thomas was so excited.

After the baptism we all went to Smashburger. It is a very yummy place. It was also Jon's birthday and he got to have a giant burger and shake so he was happy. Sadly we were too full for ice cream cake afterwards. We had it the next night for New Year's Eve so it worked out.

One day, to get the kids out of the house we went for cupcakes. They were also very yummy. We got take out for lunch one day at a place called "Snooze" which was awesome! I got the pineapple upside down pancakes, mmmmmmmm.

Denver Zoo

We went to visit the Krumholz family over New Years and had lots of fun. One day we decided to go to the zoo. Because it was a bit cold, but not bad, it wasn't crowded at all. Right when we got there they started throwing bones to the lions. That was very entertaining. Seth claimed he had never seen an elephant before, which I know he has, but not that he could remember. We also had to get a picture of the kids on the hippo statue. Katie could never climb up for the pose which they all thought was very funny. Tanner changed places with each picture. We also got to see a seal show which was interesting and I got to see my favorite animal...the giraffe.

I like this picture because Thomas, Seth, and Max are looking in here for quite a while and there's nothing in there.

Christmas 2009

This year for Christmas we went to Idaho Falls to spend it with Jon's mom...Grandma Marilyn. We had some super great meals and ate way too much. It was nice seeing so much family.
The cousins playing a rousing game of Clue. Lots of giggling.
Calli and Maddie sitting at the kids table waiting for Christmas Eve dinner.

We have LOTS of boys in our family, YAY!
We got to Skype Aunt Sara and Uncle Sam in Washington. All the kids fought for the front row seat to the computer.
Seth is looking a little impatient to open his presents on Christmas morning. I'm sure Jon was explaining something that was taking a little too long.
Lots of I Spy books!
I was trying to get Max to pose for me but he was kind of in the middle of something.

Maddie's Peace jammies. She loves peace signs right now.
Tanner got a quilt from his Grandma and an ipod alarm clock.
When we got home the day after Christmas, we went over to my parent's house and got to have another Christmas. No complaining from my kids. Ryan and Melanie, Donovan and Paige, and Lincoln came up also which made it a party!
Remote control car, it takes a million batteries but is really fun.
Max loves legos and was really excited to get a Great States puzzle, I'm glad he was excited for that! Tanner and Maddie got presents also but they were across the room and I didn't want to get up, by this point I was just tired. Merry Christmas!