Random January

I think it goes without saying that if you have three little boys in a row, there's going to be contests & competitions, in a good way most of the time. They love to have races in many areas, see how fast they can run, and a favorite lately has been to see how many push-ups and sit-ups they can do. Even daddy gets in on these competitions!

The boys have enjoyed playing together with toys they got from Christmas & birthdays. This 'color-changer' car station has been a big favorite for them (and me! since it allows me to get things done too!)

We did a fun Family Home Evening on putting on the whole armor of God. The boys loved it, probably partly because they got to play with a sword and wear armor. It's great for getting a good message across though.

Matthew has had a big fascination with wearing baseball caps lately. He loves to run around with them on, forwards, backwards, you name it. We just think he's cute!

Surprise Party

Jacob and his good friend Colin have birthdays a day apart. I wanted to do a party for Jacob this year, and my good friend Jordan came up with a fun idea to have a combined surprise birthday party for them with all of the boys in their class.

It was fun to plan the details and put everything together. The best part was that neither Jacob nor Colin had any idea that it was going to happen. All 12 boys in their class were invited and every single one of them ended up coming, plus an extra brother, and each of our 2 extra boys. It’s a good thing Ben & Jordan have a little extra space in their apartment because we sure needed it with the 17 boys & 4 adults that we there! Jordan and I were a little outnumbered that night! It was definitely crazy, but a lot of fun too.

Colin & Ben had picked up Jacob to go get some pizza and come over to play. As soon as they left, I loaded up the car and we headed over. It was fun to watch Jacob and Colin walk in and have everyone yell “Surprise!”

We had a fun and yummy dinner, played some games, sang happy birthday, had a lego cake that I made, and mostly tried to manage the fun chaos. I’ll tell you what, 5-6 year old boys are crazy! It was a wild, but fun and memorable night. I’m glad that both Colin and Jacob had a fun surprise birthday party!

33 Weeks

I’m officially 33 weeks in the pregnancy. It really has gone by fast! I had a dr’s visit yesterday, and got the usual lecture since I haven't gained much weight and when they take the fundal height measurement, I only measure 28 weeks. (What do they expect? When you lay down of course everything is going to sink in!) So the doctor is sending me in for another ultrasound to make sure all the measurements look good. I’m right where I’ve always been, I feel good and I’m definitely eating healthy & exercising. The only bummer is that with this news, I’m afraid my chances of being induced early if needed are slim. I really don’t mind being pregnant & I don’t mind if a baby comes closer to their due date rather than super early, I would just really like my husband to be there with me during the labor & delivery!

Happy Birthday Jacob

Jacob turned 6 years old today! He’s really getting into the birthdays and loved making food plans down to the last detail. I guess for a 6-year old boy the food details are some of the most important! For breakfast we enjoyed crepes with strawberries & whipped cream- we had to get up a little earlier to still be on time for school, but it was worth it! We took cupcakes to school to share with his class, and after school we took him to get his free birthday ice cream cone. For dinner we had his requested fish (pan seared tilapia- thanks Teresa!), homemade mashed potatoes & gravy, and vegetables.

Without me knowing, Jacob had invited a bunch of his friends to come over that night to celebrate; but without Jacob knowing, we were planning a surprise birthday party the next night so I had to explain that his friends couldn’t come over because it was a school night.

We had a little celebration that night with our family. Jacob opened his presents and was excited with his new telescope, missile launcher, movie, shirt, book, and BYU jersey- that was a favorite and it sure made Jeff happy! The boys even braved the 15 degree weather that night to go try out the telescope outside.

After making cupcakes for his class that day, and knowing that I was making a cake the next day for the surprise party, I didn’t really want to make another cake just for our family- most likely it would just go to waste so I was glad when Jacob agreed that donuts sounded like a fun alternative. He picked out 6 donuts and we put them in the shape of a 6 with candles in them for him to blow out. It was perfect & we didn’t have to worry about a bunch of leftover cake.

It’s hard to believe that our Jacob is already 6. When he woke up his first words were, “I’m almost 7!” I hope he’ll slow down and just enjoy being 6 for a little while! He’s grown up so much and is such a great oldest child. He’s a great example to his younger brothers and we’re so grateful for him!*

Carseat...Check

One thing we knew we would have to get with our new baby is a car seat. Our previous one was used for all three boys and well...it was pretty much done for it. Despite the wear & use, we might have been able to use it again, had it not been that it had been stored in our trailer and due to the heat, the plastic had warped out of shape.

After having three little boys, I was really excited at first to get a really girly-looking car seat. However, after a lot of looking around, I decided that I didn't really love the 'girl' looking car seats and decided to just go for a classic, gender neutral one.

Regardless of colors and themes, car seats are expensive and I wasn't looking forward to dishing out a bunch of money, but a car seat is definitely a necessity, and I agree with advice of not buying a used car seat from someone I don't know.

One day while looking around on Kohls.com for a going-home outfit (early, yes... but can you blame me?) I discovered that Kohls.com carries baby gear, including carseats! One of the greatest things I love about Kohls is their sales; especially when they're combined with promotional deals. Well, it just so happened that they were having a sale on all their baby items & also having a promotional deal that if you used a Kohl's card you could save an additional 15, 20 or 30% off your purchase. We use cash for our purchases, so it was fine to use our Kohl's card and then pay it right off with the cash set aside for the car seat anyway.

After looking around, I found a car seat on their site that I loved! The colors are perfect, the design was great, and it's gotten great reviews. The best part of all, the car seat was normally $130, but it was on sale for $116. After using the 30% off coupon, I was able to get the car seat for about $80! You really can't beat that for a nice, brand new car seat. I've already gotten the car seat and I love, love it! It really is one of the most comfortable, high quality car seats I've seen & I love the special extra features like the extra removable padding for newborns, and extra length so babies can use it longer before outgrowing the height requirement.

As an added bonus, the 30% off coupon also applied to the cute going-home outfit that I found which made it cost about $10 (which is more than I usually like to pay for an outfit, but you only get to choose one going-home outfit & I figured it was worth it). Since the total amount was over $75, I got free shipping as well. I love it when you can find great deals! I still have a lot more to do & things to get before we'll be ready for a baby, but it's nice to know that a few things are taken care of!

1st Lost Tooth

Somehow amid the craziness of the holidays, I forgot to write about Jacob. He lost his first tooth on December 23^rd. He told me about a week beforehand that he had a loose tooth, but I didn’t think it could really be loose yet. Sure enough though, his bottom tooth was loose and the new one was already coming in. One night when the boys were brushing their teeth, Jeff asked to see it and just pulled it out real quick. Jacob was pretty excited, especially because he got a little visit from the tooth fairy that night. I can’t believe he’s lost a tooth already! Now one of his top front teeth is also loose and I imagine it won’t be too long before we have a boy with a cute toothless smile. I guess with him turning 6 this month that probably goes right along with the schedule. It was just another reminder of how quickly our kids are growing up, even if we’re not quite ready for it!

Showing off the new bottom tooth!

Warm Winter Day Fun

After weeks of high temperatures in the mid 20’s, we got lucky with a beautiful holiday Monday on the 18th. It was sunny, beautiful & almost warm at 54 degrees! The boys didn't even need their big coats, a jacket worked great. Of course the perfect way to spend the day is enjoying being outside!

The boys were able to get out their roller blades & bikes and spent a couple hours playing outside. One of their favorite things was to hold onto Jeff’s hands while he ran as fast as he could through the parking lot. They also liked going to the top of the hill in the parking lot and riding down to the sidewalks. Even Matthew is a little speed demon- he would chase after the boys on his little tractor bike as fast as he could go & also loved going to the top of the hill to ride down as fast as the bike would carry him. I’m glad he didn’t ever tip over because that could have been a bit painful! He just really thinks he’s one of the big boys and loves to do whatever they’re doing.

It was so fun to see them having a great time together outside. Jacob and Caleb were only sad when I told them we had to stop so they could go to their swimming lessons. I’m hoping we get to enjoy many more days like this one this winter!

High Priest Group Dinner

On Friday, the 15^th, Jeff headed up the annual high priest dinner. It was a nice evening with members of the high priest group. I guess that’s pretty much self-explanatory, but at the end of the night I just couldn’t help but feel for gratitude and love for these wonderful people in our ward. We missed some people who weren’t able to be there Friday night. There are some truly remarkable people with amazing stories. I feel so grateful to be able to be surrounded by them. At one point we were playing a game, sharing little bits of information/stories about ourselves with the group. Brother Davis bore a very sweet & sincere testimony during his turn that nearly brought me to tears. I just can’t help but feel so grateful for these sweet people and so touched by their faith and strong testimonies of the gospel. We are really going to miss so many people, and are so grateful we’ve had the chance to spend nearly 8 years, our whole married lives, in such a place as this!*

The Tolleys

The Chappell Family & Sister Green

Brother Heiffit & Trevor Griffits

Kayla & Ernie Williams

Caleb & Brother Davis

Marc Tolley & Ron Lee

Things I Love

A few things that I love that make my life easier!

Back in 2007 we were getting ready for baby #3, and I wanted better organization and simplification, so I made up these charts & have used them ever since.

Call me silly, but I love having my very own personal chore chart. It's laminated and hangs on my fridge. Maybe it's the fact that I can cross off my jobs with a dry erase marker when I'm done, or maybe it's because I can do a few things every day and the house stays organized & clean without me feeling like I'm cleaning all the time! Every day I know what I need to do, and once the jobs are done, I have no problem feeling like I can spend the rest of the day doing what I'd like to do. The jobs change from time to time & place to place, it's easy to make a new sheet. Obviously I'm not perfect all the time, but it works great for me.

(It's also great for when your husband says he doesn't know what to do, or asks what to do, just check the list. :)

This one is pretty self-explanatory too. For some reason, just knowing what's for dinner can make life so much easier and less stressful! (For me anyways) I like having it planned out a month in advance, and then I can go shopping at the beginning of every week and I have everything I need for the dinners for that week. I switch things around if I want, but it's so nice knowing dinner ideas in advance. I don't laminate this one, I like to print out a new sheet each month to write on. The kids can give their input for meal ideas too.

Love these!

Last of all, with the beginning of a new year, we decided to try a new alternative to our normal Excel worksheet budgeting. I do the budget every Tuesday, and would find myself dragging about the time to enter all the information on the worksheets. With many recommendations from friends & family members (thanks Tom & Kristie!) We decided to try Mint.com. Have you heard of it? If you haven't, look it up!

It was designed by the same people who created TurboTax. We haven't used it an extremely long time, but for the time we have, we've loved it. I find myself wanting to do the budget a couple times a week! It's quick & easy and allows you to see everything at a glance. We'll even be able to add student loans to the mix when we start paying them off. (Well...maybe it won't be so great to stare at those numbers every time we budget...) Just another great little thing that I love that makes life easier!

2009 Year in Review

I'm slow getting around to this post, but I love to do a Year in Review post at the end of every year. I love to see all the things that have happened over the past year. Here are a few of the highlights.

January

• Caleb starts Primary as a Sunbeam
• Time spent with friends in Wilkes-Barre, dinners, sledding, fun afternoons.
• Lots of cold, snowy days. Even some sledding & snowman building.
• Start making baby quilts
• Inauguration of President Obama
• Card-making opportunity
• Jacob turns 5!

February

• Last weeks teaching gospel doctrine
• Jeff’s 12-days of Valentine’s
• Happy Valentine’s day- date night with Jeff
• Packing to go back home from Wilkes-Barre, saying goodbye to wonderful new friends
• House we’re going to rent gets flooded & move-in date is postponed. Apartment search ‘fun’, sign temporary 2-month lease at SP apartments.

March

• Great to be home & see all our old friends again
• Jacob & Caleb excited to get back to preschool
• Back to running with friends and gym time, missed that!
• Register Jacob for kindergarten
• Preschool Fire station field trip
• Birth of new nephew Tyler Menssen!
• First day of spring, lots of playing outside at the park

April

• General Conference and Easter celebrations
• Lots of errands, ebay selling, running, playgroups, preschool, etc.
• Jeff turns 32, takes OKAPS
• Cousins come out to sell security systems, time with Tiffany.
• More packing, short term lease is up, put everything in storage, continue waiting on rental home.
• Preschool graduation ceremony for Jacob and Caleb
• Leave for trip home. First time back home in over a year. Fly solo with all three kids…survive.
• Enjoy time with family, dance festival, errands, playing etc.
• Grandma & Grandpa Tanner, and Jonny Stevens return home from missions to Mexico & Argentina.
• Jeff & Angela’s long awaited trip to Mexico gets cancelled due to outbreak of silly, overrated “Swine Flu.”

May

• Jeff & Angela instead go on last-minute planned vacation to Las Vegas. Boys enjoy spending time with grandparents and cousins. We have fun together.
• Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K with family members in honor of Grandma Forman and Mom Tanner
• Lots of fun times with family, park visits, game nights, shopping trips, movie nights, birthday parties, date nights, church meetings, library visits, lunches, long runs, boating, Memorial Day fun, trip to Haworth farm, Tanner home, more extended family, old friends, teachers, & some of the most fun of a vacation home.
• Benson Tanner farewell, Jonathan Stevens homecoming, Grandma & Grandpa Tanner homecoming. Lots of visiting with family.
• Say goodbye to Jeff who has to return to work, even though we have nowhere to live yet. He stays with friends for a couple weeks.
• House rental falls through, we scramble to find place to live with only 2 weeks notice. My ‘3-week’ trip turns out to be longest vacation home I’ve ever had-6 weeks, because we had no home.
• Finally find, and sign a lease on a new apartment at SG apartments.

June

• I return with the boys on the 3rd, again flying solo…survive.
• Lots of unpacking and getting settled into new apartment, unloading storage unit. Finding “new” furniture on craigslist & slowly making the apartment a home. Slowly come to realize what a blessing in disguise the whole house/apartment situation really was, even though it was very frustrating & stressful at the time.
• Ward temple trip
• New calling in Young Women’s, camp fundraising, weekly activities
• Jeff busy with work and new residents
• Boys start soccer at YMCA
• Olsens visit from Wilkes-Barre, spend the weekend sight-seeing.
• Swimming at the apartment complex, running, playgroups, etc
• Birth of new niece, Alyson Ruth Sorenson

July

• Find out we’re expecting baby #4!
• Jeff starts 4^th & final year of residency! Wow- 8 years of med school & residency almost done. Busy with work & new residents.
• Family fun day at Hershey Park. Swim park and amusement park.
• Spend a fun day with Tiffany. Time with cousins.
• 4^th of July BBQ with friends at park. Softball game, and fireworks
• Youth Conference for young women, church activities, busy with callings
• Trips to the beach with friends & family, fun times!
• More running, playgroups, errands, date nights, soccer Saturdays, swimming at the pool, catching fireflies, time at the gym, etc.

August

• Celebrate our 7-year anniversary
• My first doctor visit
• Hot summer days, swimming, fountains, and beach trips, Rita’s water ice, and lots of afternoons at the park
• Memorable date nights, Harry Potter.
• Angela turns 25, wow-quarter of a century, get to celebrate with Kristie & Tom- best birthday present ever!
• Jeff has 4-day business trip to Texas for ophthalmology conference
• Houston gets home from his mission to Chile!
• Leave for Outer Banks, North Carolina for week long vacation with friends

September

• Spend a week in OBX at a beach house with friends, have a blast despite the less-than-ideal weather. See sights, play games, hang out at the beach, date nights, and finally even soak up some sun.
• Caleb turns 4! Starts preschool.
• Spend weekend with Menssens on way home from Outer Banks- great BYU football game
• First ultrasound- get to see our sweet little baby
• Jacob meets his new kindergarten teacher & starts kindergarten!
• Home for a few days from Outer Banks before we leave for Idaho! Fly home for Jeff to interview for job positions & for Houston’s homecoming. Enjoy a fabulous week with family playing games, Jeff’s interviews/meetings, sports, tennis, girls shopping trip, play together, Kaden’s baptism, enjoy extended family & share the news that we’re expecting baby #4. Week goes by way too fast!
• Get back into busy life of school, preschool, church, work, and everyday life.
• Car accident #1, takes out our little black jetta, down to 1 car.

October

• General Conference, busy weekend.
• Sell jetta, trailer, get a ‘new-to-us’ minivan. Reluctant about the minivan, but it grows on me.
• Baby showers, babysitting, date nights, helping out in Jacob’s class, walks to school, selling items on craigslist & ebay to start to downsize
• Matthew turns 2! Can’t believe our baby is 2.
• Caramel Apple Girl’s Night- lots of fun.
• Jeff takes 5 day business trip for Ophthalmology conference in California, we miss daddy & are excited to have him home!
• Find out Tom & Kristie are expecting their 1st baby in June.
• Ward, Kindergarten, Preschool Halloween parties. Happy Halloween- trick-or-treating.

November

• Big ultrasound, *It’s a Girl!*
• Car accident #2 takes out our Ford Explorer, down to 1 car again.
• Birth of new nephew, Michael Mark Howell
• Ward activities, school activities, errands, date nights, girl’s nights, New Moon Movie, doctor’s visits
• Angela gets a hair cut
• Thanksgiving in Virginia with Kimber & Mike. Enjoy a great weekend full of fun activities in Charlottesville.

December

• Jeff leaves for 5-day business/interview trip to Washington/Oregon. We’re all so glad when daddy comes home!
• Getting ready for Christmas, fun festivities.
• Jeff’s resident Christmas dinner. Fun formal evening with friends and co-workers.
• Lots of selling on ebay to earn money to pay for Christmas!
• Blizzard 2009- dumps tons of snow in the city.
• Merry Christmas! Enjoy spending time with our little family.
• Washington DC trip, fun activities for the vacation week.
• Ring in 2010, Happy New Year!

Washington DC Trip

With Jeff having some time off, and not having much time left here before it’s time to move, we decided to take a little vacation to Washington DC to do some more sight-seeing. Fortunately with it being the holidays, we were able to book a hotel for really cheap. We took off Monday morning and spent most of our day in DC visiting the Air & Space Museum, one we haven’t seen yet. There are actually two museums, one right in downtown DC near all the other Smithsonian’s, but there was enough material in this particular subject that they opened up another part of the museum away from the city. This is the one that we visited and it was definitely a hit!

Matthew in the little museum restaurant- we took our lunches in to eat them there. I was coming back after getting something, and this is what he did when he saw me through the glass windows- he's so funny.

All three of the boys were in heaven! This is a museum that they could spend the entire day visiting. There were so many airplanes, rockets, jets, helicopters, etc that it takes at least 2 hours to walk quickly through the museum. We loved being able to see everything and read brief descriptions about when they were used, where they were made, accomplishments, and other fun facts.

There were many favorites for everyone, and it would have been fun to stay even longer, but eventually the museum had to close. I was also glad we made it through the whole experience without anyone touching/breaking anything- although there was the one time where we looked over to see Matthew sitting in a little roped-off golf cart type car that museum workers would use to drive around. We got him out before anyone noticed, but I did think it was kind of funny to see him- he just loves things that drive!

After the museum we went to get some dinner. Normally we’ll pack food or get something at the grocery store, anything cheap, but this time we decided to do something fun and go to a restaurant. We had a Texas Roadhouse right next to our hotel, and they had a deal for early dinner so we were able to get dinner for the whole family with taxes, tip & everything for $29. Still a little bit of a splurge, but we never go out to eat as a family and it was fun to take the kids- they were great and sure enjoyed it.

It was nice to be able to go right next door to the hotel afterwards. After getting the kids in pajamas, we played games-UNO is our latest favorite, and then got everyone ready for bed.

Tuesday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then packed up and headed for the temple. I’m not sure what it was, construction or something, but a drive that should only have taken about 35 minutes, ended up taking almost 2 hours. We had hoped to see some more museums after we each went through a temple session, but we didn’t have time. Either way, we were glad we could make it to the temple. Jeff went through the temple first while the boys and I enjoyed time in the visitor’s center (I mainly just tried to keep Matthew from touching all the display Christmas trees). Then I did a session afterwards while Jeff took the boys to play at a McDonalds and walked around the outdoor displays at the temple. By the time I came out, it was dark so we were able to see all the beautiful lights around the temple. We would have headed downtown DC, but at that point it was just too late- all the museums close at 5:30, so we headed home. I was grateful for the chance to go as a family, and as always, enjoyed a drive home with Jeff & the kids. Even though it was a quick trip, it was a fun one with some good memories.