Tanner Family

Chase loves folk tunes

2012-01-26T14:02:00.001-07:00

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chase is Learning

2012-01-17T09:26:00.001-07:00

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Emily as Gabrielle in High School Musical

2011-12-13T20:31:00.001-07:00

Emily's theater class performed "Status Quo" from High School Musical tonight at her Junior High. When the theater teacher was picking parts for the girls, she called boys up according to their height.and had them stand next to Emily. The boy who played Troy is nearly 6' tall, some of the boys are catching up. Here are a few pictures from her performance.

Here is a video we took with Emily's iPod. It is a nice view of some lady's head. you may not be able to see Emily, but you can hear her. She sings the duet with Troy. She sounded amazing, I couldn't believe it was Emily.

Emily and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

2011-04-08T21:26:00.000-06:00

Emily participated in her first play. She was a member of Potiphar's/Pharoh's Enterouge from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She had so much fun and made a lot of good friends. I think she was most excited to get her own makeup. I am so glad she goes to a school where she has opportunities to do things like this. Thanks to all the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that came to see her. Grandma and Courtney even drove here Saturday morning, spent 24 hours here, then drove home the next day just to support Emily.She really appreciated it.

Chase is 4

2011-03-28T20:00:00.000-06:00

Our baby is 4. He started the morning with opening up one present. It was his favorite cereal and he thought it was a great present. He waited patiently all day to open the real presents. We spent the day playing games, listening to music, and baking a cake and some cookies. Here are some pictures from the much anticipated event.

Dad thought he looked dorky, so he fixed his hair.

He is a little video to remind us of how he was on his birthday.

Not a girl anymore

2011-01-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Chase's hair had gotten a little long, he was overdue for a haircut. Our beautician made a house call and here he is as a boy. Before I took these pictures, he told me he had an accident so he had better change. He had been asking to wear his Jazz shirt (and basketball shorts) all day, so I think he made up an excuse to put them on.

First Day of School

2010-09-01T11:45:00.001-06:00

Emily, Anna and James started school - grades 6, 4, and 1. They (and me) were so excited for school to start and have been loving it since. Anna loves that she and Emily have a recess to share. I am not sure that Emily is as excited about that as Anna.

In celebration of having a day alone with just mom and Chase, we went to Thanksgiving Point to see the gardens. It was pretty cool.

Emily has started a blog

2010-08-12T12:22:00.002-06:00

Emily wanted to start blogging and I thought it would be a good way for her to keep a journal. Her first entry was a book review - I guess she was inspired by Sean. Here is a copy.

The Secret Garden

By Frances Hodgson Burnett

Mary Lennox is a young, ugly and selfish child who lives in India when her parents die from a disease. She is then sent to live with her uncle at Misselthwaite Manor. While she is there, she finds a secret garden that belonged to her passed aunt. She also finds her sick cousin Colin and helps him find the strength to walk.

I liked this book because it had some of my favorite things. Gardens, animals, friends, and a few secrets. It also showed me that all you need is friends to have a good life.

Sean quits Facebook, now tries blogging

2010-08-10T23:11:00.002-06:00

If you know how to read - and really, if you didn't, would you be reading this blog? Sean has started his own blog about what else . . . books. You can find it here.

Cascade Springs

2010-08-09T11:33:00.001-06:00

Sunday we drove the Alpine Loop and walked up Cascade Springs. It was so beautiful up American Fork Canyon.

Sean told the kids if they spotted a badger, moose, bear, or elk he would take them out for ice cream, but all we could find was this yellow bird and that brown fish. It was still fun looking though.

We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls on our home, it was so crowded.

End of Park City Tournament

2010-08-07T14:18:00.000-06:00

Anna's team lost their last game 0-1. It was heartbreaking because the other team scored with 1 minute left. Her team played so well. I think with a little more practice, they are going to be really good.

And Soccer Begins, Day 2

2010-08-06T22:01:00.009-06:00

Check in with the refs.

Boys being boys.

Almost a goal. It hit the post.

SCORE!

They won this game 4-0. Anna scored 3 of the 4 goals. They did have a mighty wind to assist them for the first half of the game, but Anna played well. It was exciting! Tomorrow morning they play again and if they win, they have another game that night to determine 1st and 2nd places.

And Soccer Begins

2010-08-05T20:25:00.001-06:00

Our first game of the season. Anna has a new team this year and I thought they did really well. They lost 0-2, but the team they lost to won their first game 5-0.

One of the parents commented on her improvement over the summer. They said she could kick a lot further (farther?). Thanks Kevin!

Here was one of 2 missed goals by Anna, she was so close.

We will see how the rest of the tournament goes.

Chase Singing

2010-08-05T13:41:00.000-06:00

This is how much Chase loves Little Einsteins.

My Recipe Collection

2010-08-03T21:15:00.000-06:00

I have started putting my recipes online. I thought it would be a good place to organize and record the foods and recipes we like. I especially want to be able to teach my kids how to cook before they leave home. Here is a copy of my first entry.
http://tannerkitchen.blogspot.com/

Salad

6-7 cups mixed green lettuce - romaine, spinach, red leaf
1 large chicken breast, grilled (or deli chicken) and chopped
1 crisp apple, cored and diced
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 bell pepper (preferably red, yellow or orange), chopped
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Dressing

3 fresh tomatillos
1 package dry ranch dressing
1 cup cilantro
1 cup mayo
1/4-1/3 cup buttermilk
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Puree all dressing ingredients in blender and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Toss first 6 salad ingredients, add dressing then toss again. Sprinkle avocado and sunflower seeds evenly over top.

Serve with flour tortillas (uncooked tortillas found in deli aisle)

Main course

Colorado Trip

2010-07-28T16:36:00.006-06:00

We spent the last weekend in Colorado and as always, had a lot of fun, especially the kids - their Grandparents like to spoil them.

Courtney let James spend the night with her and he loved that he is old enough to do this.

We took some pictures of the kids, I can't figure out how to take a great picture, they were in the shade for these pictures, so their eyes were open.

...but in the sun for this picture - better picture, but hard not to squint.

This is where Grandma works and I thought this was a good picture of all of them.

Enjoying the front yard.

We went to see lots of movies, went out to eat, went swimming, visited the American Girl store, went on a lot of bike rides, and of course, scooter rides.

Sean was getting tired of them by this point.

Safety first.

Enjoying the Outdoors

2010-07-20T18:28:00.014-06:00

I thought today would be a good to day to remember the things we have been doing as a family.

Our summer has finally begun. Here's why it's been so crazy.

We are trying to sell our house. And despite a herculean effort by our Realtor - Dustin A Gilbert,

not much is happening besides spending a lot of money fixing up the house that we didn't want to fix up or spend money on. The big project that ate up so much time was roofing. Sean had to squeeze in a major project around his 2 weeks out of town for work and the 1 week at the US Open at Pebble Beach with his dad and brothers.

To our great relief, our home teacher replaced his own roof during the day, then came to our house in the evening to instruct and help Sean repair part of our roof. He also sent over any surplus workers he had helping him - Sean was very....... grateful for any help; Greg and Kevin also came over to help.

Here is the mess in the backyard after we realized that we couldn't just repair the roof but had to strip it and replace it. Poor planning = many nails through the foot, but it's okay, the kids are current on their vaccines.

Emily flew to CO (going out with Grandpa, but coming home all by herself!) to spend a little one on one time with her Grandparents. They took her out to eat, to the movies, to the mountains, shopping. I was glad she was able to go, but I really missed her.

Anna went to soccer camp at BYU; Tuesday through Friday, 8-noon. She had a blast, while the rest of us sat around and watched her, FOR FOUR HOURS FOUR DAYS IN A ROW! I was

ready for that week to be over, but Anna is getting really good. She is also very good at juggling the soccer ball; her record is 14.

We took swimming lessons for 4 weeks. The kids all did well - especially Chase, just ask him about the monkey, airplane, soldier.

Courtney came out for a weekend, the fun sister was in Florida during Courtney's summer vacation, so she was stuck with me. I made her babysit the kids one night, run a bunch of errands with me one day, then go to my in-laws one day. That is probably why she prefers to go to Texas rather than Utah. But we did go to the movies, get her hair cut, eat some great fish tacos and In N Out burgers and stop by Wheeler farm for a short time - I'm not such a bad sister.

There was also a piano camp for the girls. So now, summer has finally begun. We went hiking with the dog, which at the time sounded like a really good idea at the time. We started out all smiles.

At this point we still didn't realize anything was wrong with Rosie, but if you look closely, she is starting to swell.

We had apparently poisoned her with bug spray. I thought I was helping her out by protecting her from the mosquitoes, they were terrible. A little after this picture, she vomited and that was when we realized that her face had swollen up like a mastiff. At the time we didn't know what was going on, it was our first time hiking with her. I ran her down the mountain as fast as I could because I didn't know how Sean was going to carry a dead dog down the mountain. When I got to the bottom we tried calling a vet, but in the Uinta Mountains there is no phone service. By this point, her eyes had swollen shut. She may be a dumb dog, but she is pretty tough, she never even whimpered, every one else was bawling (not Sean, but you didn't really think Sean would cry over a dog did you?) - we really thought something was wrong. We gave her some water, put out a blanket in the car so she could lay down and turned the air conditioner on full blast. By the time we called the vet she looked much better. We took her home, bathed her and the next day she was back to her normal dumb dog self. We love you Rosie.

The next weekend we went camping at Crystal Hot Springs. It was a very public campsite, and a train ran right next to the camp site 3 times during the night, but we still had fun.

Here is a video of James overcoming his fear of the water slide. It took us 2 hours to talk him into going down the slide.

Monkey, Airplane, Swoiljur (Soldier)

Dad's Party

2010-04-13T14:44:00.000-06:00

For anyone that has not quit reading the blog since my last post was almost 6 months ago.

Here is what happened in October. My sister Mary and I spent the better part of 2009 planning a surprise party for my Dad's 60th birthday. Here is the invite.

We rented a barn by my parents home in Colorado; my Uncle Tom and his band provided the entertainment; and we (meaning my Mom) had the event catered with cattle fare - beans and meat. The barn is a modern barn, so it almost looks more like a very large garage inside than a traditional barn, but we thought it would be fun. We totally lucked out when someone booked the barn for a wedding the next day. They decorated the barn and all I had to worry about was not destroying all the hard work. My dad thought I was coming to Colorado the next day, so I spent the day shopping for food with our sponsor - Mom, and making sure the barn was ready. Mary was with my mom and dad and convinced my dad to come to the barn for a "hayride" she had heard about. The plan was simple, when he started walking toward the barn, Courtney, Jack and the band were going to start singing "Birthday" by the Beatles.

He showed up on time, and despite being frustrated with everyone because my mom had on church shoes and Mary and Ben weren't bundling up their kids (it was a cold night for a hayride). they started into the barn. When James saw them coming in, he ran out the door to say hi to Poppy. I was so mad because I had just spent a year planning this, and in 10 seconds, my son had ruined the surprise. Lucky for me, my mom acted fast, grabbed James and ran him towards the door. Not expecting to see his grandson, my dad didn't even think twice about his wife running some stranger's child into the barn. When he finally started toward the barn, it took him a minute to figure out what was going on.

It was a great night. Here a bunch of pictures. Some were of the weekend we spent together - blessing Gavin and celebrating Olivia's 3rd birthday; other pictures are of my dad's past.

New Soccer Updates

2009-09-28T21:54:00.003-06:00

This was a very exciting weekend. Anna and James had games. Anna's team lost (by a lot) to Sparta, the team had yet to score one single goal. James team might have won, we really don't keep track, so it is kind of handy when you think it might be close to just assume you are in the lead. The best part was that James scored 2 goals. After scoring, he looked up like he wasn't sure what just happened. I hope that he may be starting to understand that if you don't just jump around the ball and actually try to touch it, you can move it.

Anna played another game tonight and Liberty won their first game of the season. Anna (drum roll please) scored the team's first goal!!! I was sooooo excited. My throat hurts from screaming so much. And to make it even better, almost scored the second goal, but her teammate tapped it in just to make sure it made it, so Anna had a great assist. She played so well. We were so proud of her. She came running off the field shouting that we owed her $2. We had made a deal that we would pay her $1 for every goal or assist she made. It was well worth the money.

Soccer Games

2009-09-12T22:59:00.003-06:00

Here are some great pictures of James and Anna, thanks to Grandpa Greg, playing soccer . James had a great game, he almost scored twice.

Anna did wonderful as well. She had an awesome almost assist, unfortunately, they didn't score. They lost the game, but Liberty (Anna's team), is a B team playing up with the premier teams. We thought her team did really well. This is definitely the most aggressive soccer game we have been part of. There was a lot of pushing, kicking, tripping, and bloody noses. These girls are only 8. They played hard, but at the end, they had fun and were still friends with the other team.

Father/Son Camp Out

2009-09-12T22:40:00.005-06:00

Sean and James went on a Father/Son camp out with the ward. James was soooooo excited to spend some time alone with Dad. They were only there one night, but as you can see, he didn't mind the short trip. The highlight was apparently smores and marshmallows.

Park City

2009-09-12T22:40:00.003-06:00

We went to Park City with Sean's family and celebrated Karen and Erin's birthday. Neither were too excited about the public humiliation, but they both smiled and shared their birthday desserts.

Some enjoyed the sombreros better than others.

First Day of School

2009-09-12T22:15:00.009-06:00

First day of school at the new charter school - Early Light Academy. There is no grass, no cafeteria, and the school looks like a prison; but James has now learned the 7 principals of becoming a leader, Anna has discovered a new found love for Ancient Greece (resulting in a trip to the library for several books on the subject), and Emily has discovered the horrors of slavery in early American History. My kids are so excited to go to school and love the math, history, science, music teachers and classes. Anna has even discovered why there aren't any unicorns about - Shel Silverstein wrote about it and Mr. Goff (the music teacher with a banjo-which incidentally was first formed from animal byproducts and some parts of a tree, as learned by Anna) sings about it. Apparently it was Noah's fault - still working on separating fact from fiction. I believe enrolling in this school was a good thing. It is defiantly worth the drive, it's only 10 minutes away, but when you add up the drive plus the wait - day after day - it is a lot of time spent in the car.

Colorado

2009-08-29T19:38:00.006-06:00

For our summer vacation we headed to Colorado. We spent a couple of days at my parents house in Centennial, then headed to the mountains for rest of the week. The kids had a blast. We went out to eat, to the movies, parks, hiking, swimming, alpine slide, some time on a trampoline, and even a boat ride around Dillon lake - definately the highlight. We ended with a stay in a cabin at Silvan Lake found in Eagle, Colorado. It was so beautiful, I love Colorado. Every time I visit, I wish I was living there again.

The first hike we went on was too hard for Courtney, but she didn't want to miss out on all the fun. She grabbed her hiking stick, and joined us for a hike around the lake at the cabin.

This trail is just right behind my parents house, I used to take my dog Cookie down here to walk all the time when I was at home. Can you believe places like this are found everywhere in Colorado? The trails go for miles.

A Colorado trip isn't complete until everyone gets a ride on the scooter.

Long time, no blog

2009-07-14T16:40:00.006-06:00

Here is what we have missed.

Emily's 10th birthday - Heelys were the big hit.

Anna's 8th birthday - Heeley's were again the big hit.

James graduated from preschool. This is his best friend Gideon and teacher Mrs. Balls.

James was quite nervous and would not smile until the whole thing was over.

Anna passing 2nd grade and doing quite well.

Emily passing 4th grade and also doing well.

James learning to ride his bike without training wheels. It took a total of 10 minutes.

This guy is just so cute.

Visiting the new temple in South Jordan - Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I took some pictures with my family, but they are all on my Dad's camera.

Anna getting baptized.

A picture where everyone tried to smile.

2009-05-04T14:10:00.000-06:00

Our trip to Colorado was fun. We watched some movies, went shopping, went out to eat, and gained a few pounds. The weather stopped Sean from flying out for the weekend, so we missed him, but it was still a great trip.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T11:42:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter!

Chase turns 2

2009-04-07T15:18:00.002-06:00

This is Chase, the baby. He turned 2 on March 28th. We celebrating his birthday by filling a large dumpster with in inordinate amount of trash laying around our backyard. I felt a little bad, but between the need to reschedule the rented dumpster to his special day, and a sick sister, we really didn't do anything fun. I guess when you are two, helping mom and dad in the backyard isn't the worst way to spend the day. We had a birthday party the next week and I made the mistake of having Sean take the pictures; so - there are no pictures of the cupcakes, Mickey Mouse cookies, balloons, or decorations. He did catch a picture of us holding a box, and of my son sitting in his seat waiting for his cupcake. The last picture was taken of the two boys playing with Chase's new trike. It was bad weather, so they rode it around the house, James even shared a little.

Day at the Museum

2009-04-07T11:11:00.006-06:00

We had a busy, fun day. It started at the Doctors for a yearly check-up, both boys are healthy. We then met Sean for a picnic lunch downtown. Getting there was no fun, parking is hard to come by and Sean only has an hour for lunch so we wasted about 15 minutes of it trying to find a spot to park. After the picnic at Temple Square Plaza, we headed to the museum for the free day - me and every other mother in the state of Utah. It was crowded, but free, so I can't complain too much. I forgot the stroller so the visit didn't last as long as we had wanted. The upside was I left with the same number of children I arrived with, and since I was missing one at nearly all times, it was a success. We ended the day attending Emily's piano concert, in which she played beautifully. We then ate at Five Guys Burgers because it was a special occasion.

Catch-up Blogging

2009-03-12T09:08:00.001-06:00

Yesterday James refused to feed the dog which is his only daily chore, so I did it. That meant that he couldn't watch cartoons all day. He was so mad he started kicking, biting, scratching, and yelling - a lot. I put him in time out then let him finish crying it out in his room. I went to the dark and dreary basement to do laundry when I heard the door slam. James had gotten himself dressed and was running away. I sat on the front porch with him for a minute and rubbed his back while he sobbed. He then walked off towards the park. I put my shoes on and found him sitting on the curb in front of the neighbors, crying. It was actually a little heartbreaking because he was so sad. I finally convinced him to come inside and have some hot chocolate and graham crackers because it was cold out. He stopped crying after a while, but the rest of the day was a little hard for him.

This morning when he said he couldn't feed the dog because his tummy (sorry, James corrected me) I meant stomach hurt, I said that I would do it. He decided he wanted to do it himself, and here is the proof. Cartoons, here we come!

A couple of weeks ago, Chase somehow, and unknowingly, managed to put a very soft black bean up his nose. At first he just wimpered and kept pointing to his nose. Everytime I looked at him he became silent, so I would go back to eating. Once I started eating, he started crying again. I guess when I was looking at him, he figured I was going to do something about the bean up the nose which I knew nothing about. We finally figured out what was going on and the extracation of that bean was a process. I couldn't get him to blow his nose so our next step was to try and find something to suction it out. We didn't have that blue bulb we had from when he was a baby, because he isn't really a baby anymore, so we called around to find one. We couldn't find anyone around us that had a baby and was home. At this point we moved to plan C - tweezers. Bit by bit the bean came out. It took about 10 minutes to complete the removal and the whole family had gathered round to watch the process. It was a very exciting Sunday.

My Dad came to Utah to do business and spent just about every evening at the park with the kids. This night, he babysat for us while Sean and I spent the evening with Sean's family at a Queen tribute concert. He took the kids to the park, let them watch a movie and bought burgers, fries, and shakes. I think the kids had just as much fun as Sean and I did. In fact, Chase is on my lap right now yelling "Poppie, poppie!", he remembers him.

Thanks Dad.

Easy Salsa

2009-02-27T16:44:00.003-07:00

I have had a few requests for the salsa I make from canned tomatoes. I don't have a picture, so if you want to look at food, you'll have to visit this blog.

http://bradleykitchen.blogspot.com/

Maybe I will get the photographer to give me a few pointers.

Here it goes, my first recipe blog entry.

Easy Salsa

Easily doubles. Arbol Peppers are dried peppers that are found in the Latin Food section of the grocery store.

3 or 4 Arbol Peppers
1 clove fresh garlic
14 oz diced tomatoes, drained with liquid reserved
¼ cup fresh cilantro
¼ of an onion
½ -1 tablespoon lime juice
salt

Step 1: Blend peppers in blender or food processor until finely crushed.
Step 2: Add the garlic, cilantro, onion and reserved tomato juice. Blend to desired consistency.
Step 3: Add the tomatoes and pulse briefly.
Step 4: Put salsa in a bowl. Add lime juice and salt to taste.
Step 5: Refrigerate until ready to use.

Chase's First Time Out

2009-02-09T20:23:00.001-07:00

Anna started screaming Sunday morning because her baby brother bit her. Sean came in and put Chase in his first time out. It only lasted for 20 seconds because Sean couldn't stand to see him crying in the corner.

Time out in the corner.

Giving Anna a love to say he was sorry.

Dad showing an increase in love so as not to scar the child.

James Turns 5!

2009-02-05T09:50:00.001-07:00

James turned 5 on Tuesday. The day consisted of Preschool, lunch at McDonalds, lots of cake and cupcakes and a family party.

We love you James!

Birthday hat.

A peanut butter chocolate cake. The Reese's Pieces on top are in the shape of the autobot (Transformer) logo. It took a little imagination to see it.

We had all the Tanners over and even Poppy from Colorado made it.

The new bike and helmet - Spiderman.

James Collection

2009-02-05T09:44:00.001-07:00

James has been doing a wonderful job keeping his room clean. This is how he does it. He has many of his toys in a "collection"; and no one, especially little brothers, are allowed to touch it.

Family Picnic

2009-01-29T10:40:00.003-07:00

This year I am going to try and do more with the family. We started out with a picnic in the family room. We roasted hot dogs and made smores over the fire. We followed by watching Journey to the Center of Earth. My kids loved it and hopefully the fact the hot dogs were disgusting didn't matter, it was fun. This month, we also had friends over for cake and ice cream, then celebrated Chinese New Year by eating Chinese food at the coffee table. Sean wasn't too excited, but eating while sitting on pillows instead of chairs was quite exciting for the kids. I had activities to do and stories to read so we could learn about Chinese New Year. I made Egg Rolls (fried), Orange Chicken (Tempura battered and fried), and fried rice. I took 2 hours to make, I wasn't expecting that, and then we were sick from eating all that fried food - but it was sooooo good. Needless to say, we didn't get to the activity portion, but we did try to eat with chopsticks, at least it was something.

I talk about the dog not so kindly some times, but this is why I love her.

Christmas

2009-01-29T10:37:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve

Christams Day - He was out there 4 times by noon.

Emily Choir Concert

2008-12-14T15:29:00.002-07:00

Emily had her Christmas Choir Concert and did a wonderful job. This is a picture of her with her friend Aubrey.

This is how the season starts.

2008-12-11T19:07:00.001-07:00

Seasong Greetings from James.

Raking Leaves with Dad

2008-12-11T18:54:00.001-07:00

Sean came home early and spent the afternoon raking leaves. The boys helped. Can you believe this is the middle of December?

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Colorado. I flew out Monday morning with James and Chase, Sean drove out Wednesday with the girls. The first day I took a 3 hour nap. I don't know if it was the Dramamine, the cold I was getting or the stress of flying with two boys that really didn't want to be on a plane and who weren't afraid to let everyone know in very loud voices (see blog below). The rest of the time involved baking, bowling, movies, shopping, early Christmas gifts, lots of talking, and a blizzard to drive through. Overall, it was a great visit.

Flying with the Boys

2008-12-08T09:32:00.002-07:00

This is James and Chase at the airport. I don't know if you notice how much stuff I was actually carrying, but it was an armful, plus a baby. This is the before picture; I didn't take an after picture, but this is what it would have looked like.

This is a picture of a bleeding ulcer.

I was so glad when I got to the Denver airport and saw my dad. He gave me a hug and then took the booster seat that James was carrying to help out. I'm sure James was grateful to have the burden lifted. I just followed behind with the large carseat, the backpack, the purse, the jackets, and oh yeah, the baby.

New Background

2008-11-17T11:28:00.006-07:00

I had a few complaints about the background, mainly Sean, so here is the new winter scene. It may be 50 degrees outside but we are dreaming of snow.

Halloween

2008-11-03T10:40:00.002-07:00

The best part of Halloween was listening to Chase laugh and laugh when seeing James' face after the makeup was put on. He thought it was hilarious.

New Heights

2008-10-07T11:20:00.003-06:00

In preparation for Disneyland, we measured the kids to see what rides they could go on. I last measured their heights in June. Here are the results.

Anna coming in at 49", up 1/2 " (57th percentile) - shortest height gain

James coming in at 42 1/4", up 3/4" (64th percentile)

Emily coming in at 57 1/2", up 1" (95th percentile)

The winner is Chase!

31 3/4", up 1 1/2" (48th percentile)

Head: 20" circumference (greater than 97th percentile)

In the last 3 months my children have grown a total of 3 and 3/4"

September

2008-10-07T11:00:00.006-06:00

Busted.

A possible career choice.

Hasidic Judaism is hot right now!

Watching the garbage trucks.

James Soccer

2008-09-17T10:30:00.000-06:00

James had his first soccer game last night and was so excited. Those little boys are pretty cute. There was a lot of movement - jumping and running, but not much actual contact with the ball. James kicked it a couple of times at the end, but it was more of a running into the ball than kicking it, but he was really excited anyway. It was a great game.

Butterfield Canyon

2008-09-17T09:37:00.000-06:00

Sunday evening we took a drive up Butterfield Canyon to see if the leaves had started to change colors. It was beautiful. Oranges and reds are starting to appear, but in a couple of weeks it should be even better.

Soccer Begins

2008-09-06T16:18:00.000-06:00

Most of Emily's team has been playing together for almost 4 years now. They have fun and do well. Emily is great at defense and knows how to play smart so she doesn't have to run after every ball. The team played well, but lost 3 to 1.

Anna and a group of girls from her team have been together for 2 years. Sean coached for the those two years and is glad to just be able to sit and watch a game. This is the first year they are in an all girls league and they did really well. The score was 8 to 1, Anna scored 3 of those goals. She had so much fun.

Cecret (Secret) Lake

2008-08-31T15:12:00.001-06:00

Took sandwiches to Cecret Lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon yesterday. The kids had fun feeding Cheetos to a squirrel and finding salamanders in the lake. Back at the trailhead, two moose (mooses? meese?) crossed the trail about 20 yards away.

Picaso

2008-08-14T15:22:00.000-06:00

James's first drawing at preshcool, a family portrait, we couldn't be more proud; our little Picaso.

Back to School

2008-08-07T19:18:00.000-06:00

First day of Pre-Kindergarten. As I dropped him off I could hear a few kids crying and wailing. James nearly forgot to give me a hug as he ran in the door. He is a big boy and potty trained (for at least 12 hours, I guess in 4 year old terms that counts).

This was an exciting day. Not only was it the first day of 2nd grade, but also the first full day with no front teeth. Speech therapy, here we come!

Can you believe she is already in 4th grade? In the line at school she realized she already knew everyone in her class. She was quite excited to have all her friends in class with her.

Okay, nothing new here, just a little poke the tethered dog with a stick, isn't he cute?