Pancake Party

A few friends got together this month for a 'Pajama Pancake Party.' We all wore our pajamas and met up at Marjorie's house where we enjoyed some yummy buttermilk pancakes and visiting together. We see each other a lot at church and at the gym, but there isn't always a ton of time for socializing, so it's nice to meet up once in a while. The kids love playing together and Nicole had put together a fun bird-feeder craft for them to do as well.

Emily didn't want to wear her pajamas to leave the house, but she did have a lot of fun playing with all the other kids.

Me, Shelly, Nicole, Marjorie, Val

January Temple Trip

Normally when we take a temple trip, we get up early on a Saturday morning, drive a couple hours to the temple, take turns going through sessions, then turn around and come back home. It's usually a full-day event. We decided this month to go down on a Friday evening and stay in a hotel. The kids were so excited, especially since we were able to go swimming that night. The next morning, Jeff went to an early session while I took the kids to breakfast and got them ready for the day. Then Jeff came back and I went to a session while he ran some errands. We got back home about 5pm. I don't know that we'll do this every time we make a trip to the temple, but it was a fun weekend. Even though it's a bit of a sacrifice to make trips to the temple, we're so grateful for the opportunity to go and hope that our children will always recognize how important and wonderful it is.

New Year-New Changes

At the beginning of the new year, I got a new calling at church. I am now the Primary Pianist! I was thrilled! The primary pianist is pretty much my dream calling. I love the chance to watch the kids during singing time, and I love that it's an excuse to spend more time on the piano. I used to feel guilty when I would spend time playing, but now I call it my 'lesson prep' time. I hope I can keep this calling for a long time!

Jacob is now in an advanced placement program at school. His teacher has been so impressed with his work and abilities that back in November, they put him into a program for advanced students called Tiger Trek. There are only a couple kids chosen per grade and they've done some really fun things. Jacob's favorite so far has been the study of China which included learning to eat with chopsticks.

The new year is a good time for changes- I got my hair cut. Not too much, about 5 inches, but it's a fun change. I didn't take a picture, but all the future pictures will show. :)

Fun Distractions

One Sunday after arriving at church, we happened to lock our keys in our car. Fortunately, church is a great place to do it because there are lots of people you can catch a ride home with to get your spare keys. While Jeff went home with Mike Homer, the kids played with friends in the gym. Then they found another fun distraction and spent the next 20 minutes giving each other rides around in a box.

Our little runner trying to escape once we were finally on our way to the car.

It's a good thing Daddy can catch her

And good thing she's so darn cute.

2012- Kids

I've seen this idea a lot, and thought it would be fun to start a New Year's tradition of asking the kids questions at the beginning of each year. Then we can look back through the years and see how their answers change.

*Favorites* January 2012

EMILY

22 Months [21.5 Pounds (3rd %) 33.25 Inches (49th %)]

1. Color: pink

2. Toy: doll, stoller, & cars

3. Fruit: watermelon

4. Show: Dora

5. Treat: sucker

6. Movie: Cars

7. Game: Trick-a-roos with daddy

8. Snack: milk & cheese

9. Animal: puppies & kitties

10. Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

11. Book: Little People Look & Find Farm

12. Friend: Lilah, Matthew & her family

13. Cereal: Lucky Charms (the marshmallows)

14. Outside activity: Being outside & riding the tractor

15. Drink: Chocolate milk

16. Holiday: All of them, especially if they involve candy

17. Breakfast: scrambled eggs

18. Food: pasta

19. What do you want to be when you grow up: mommy/gymnast

20. What do you like to do in your free time: play pretend & play with brothers

MATTHEW

4 Years 2 Months [36 Pounds (44th%) 41.5 Inches (65th%)]

1. Color: blue

2. Toy: cars

3. Fruit: watermelon

4. Show: Dora/ Leapfrog

5. Treat: 'Wowiepop' (lollipop)

6. Movie: Cars

7. Game: Duck duck goose

8. Snack: cucumbers

9. Animal: deer

10. Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam/ Dynamite

11. Book: The Gingerbread Man

12. Friend: Varity Kocmick- our cute little neighbor

13. Cereal: Frosted Mini Wheats- he loves these!

14. Outside activity: riding bike

15. Drink: chocolate milk/ hot chocolate

16. Holiday: Halloween & Christmas

17. Breakfast: waffles

18. Food: pasta

19. What do you want to be when you grow up: I don't know

20. Sport: soccer

21. What do you like to do in your free time: play with cars- race them

CALEB

6 Years 4 months [(54 pounds (80th%) 48.25 Inches (82nd%)]

1. Color: green

2. Toy: legos

3. Fruit: watermelon

4. Show: Phinneas & Ferb

5. Treat: giant cookies

6. Movie: Kung Fu Panda 2

7. Game: Car racing kinnect game

8. Snack: apples

9. Animal: tiger

10. Song: Dynamite -Taio Cruz

11. Book: Cars

12. Friend: Max Carlson

13. Cereal: Peanut Butter Captain Crunch

14. Outside activity: ride bike

15. Drink: rootbeer

16. Holiday: Halloween

17. Breakfast: waffles

18. Food: pizza

19. What do you want to be when you grow up: paleontologist

20. Sport: basketball

21. What do you like to do in your free time: dig up bones, color & draw (This one made me laugh, Caleb's class has been doing a focus on dinosaurs so he's so excited about digging up dinosaur bones, but he also really loves to color & draw)

JACOB

7 Years 11 Months [ 66 pounds (82nd%) 54.25 Inches (95th%)]

1. Color: blue

2. Toy: metal detector

3. Fruit: pomegranate

4. Show: Phinneas & Ferb

5. Treat: butterfinger

6. Movie: Star Wars

7. Game: Kinnect Star Wars

8. Snack: chips & salsa

9. Animal: all of them

10. Song: Dynamite- Taio Cruz

11. Book: Star Wars

12. Friend: Michael Pruett

13. Cereal: Peanut Butter Captain Crunch

14. Outside activity: Playing outside- riding bike, sports, everything

15. Drink: rootbeer

16. Holiday: all of them

17. Breakfast: waffles

18. Food: salmon

19. What do you want to be when you grow up: horse owner/paleontologist/eye doctor

20. Sport: football

21. What do you like to do in your free time: read

2011 Year in Review

I have a tradition of doing a 'Year in Review' at the end of each year. I love to go back through my calendar and see all the events and happenings. It sure brings back a lot of memories. Goodbye 2011! You were a busy, changing, but wonderful year.

JANUARY

- Start off the new year by taking Jeff to the airport for an 11-day trip to India. I have fun playing single mom for eleven days. Lots of projects and fun times with kids.

- Lots of playing outside. Baseball is the current favorite for the boys.

- Jeff signs contract on his new job.

- Emily 10 months old

-Lots of scouting activities for Jeff. Our family enjoyed watching & cheering the pinewood derby.

- Jacob turns 7! Birthday party with friends. Mom & Dad come to visit for the weekend. Brian Regan concert with Colemans and party weekend with family!

FEBRUARY

- Date nights. Going to the gym is a favorite to play tennis together & enjoy the hot tub.

- Start to pick up a little running again. Enjoy the bike/walk trail near our home.

- Daniel Forman's mission homecoming. Fun weekend in California with the family. Lots of tennis, running, laughing, mission stories, homecoming talk, and wonderful time with family. Beautiful weekend.

- Special Family Valentine's Dinner

- Solo trip home with kids on President's weekend. Fun weekend with family. Boise Valley Junior Miss Program. Grandma & Grandpa Haworth visit. Run with Kristie. Head home on Monday.

- Emily is 11 months old.

MARCH

- Lots of regular day activities- preschool for Caleb, church callings & activities, visits with friends, dinners with Mohlmans, housework, date nights, playing outside together etc.

- March Madness- BYU's amazing basketball year with basketball sensation Jimmer Fredette. "You got Jimmered, Fredette about It" Sweeps player awards.

- Lots of studying for Jeff for the Boards. Takes his boards.

- Grandpa Haworth's 80th birthday party. Traveled to Franklin alone with kids. Blizzard over the mountain. Stopped to visit Michelle along the way. Lots of time visiting with family. Fun weekend with games, talent show, playing at the gym, and just enjoying time together. Haworth girls sing in church. Big Sunday family dinner. Travel home on Monday.

- Emily turns 1 year old! Birthday pictures. Birthday dinner and gifts. Party with family. Emily completely destroys her cake. Our sweet baby is one!

APRIL

- Travel to future hometown for house hunting weekend. A couple of very long days. Finally find a home to put an offer on. Exciting times. Kids had fun with grandparents.

- Jeff turns 34! Birthday party at home for Jeff with family. Kids having fun with cousins.

- Jeff and Angela's amazing 10 day trip to Kauai. Solo time together and time with Dean, Linda, Daniel, & Joseph. Pretty much the trip of a lifetime- swimming, boogie boarding, snorkeling, hiking, boating, sight-seeing, luaus, warm sandy beaches & gorgeous scenery. So thankful for wonderful parents & family helping to make sure kids had just as much fun as we did.

- Easter weekend with the Cahoons. Run for Risa half marathon with Tami, Easter egg hunts, exploring by the creek, and games, so fun.

- Jeff business trip to take care of more paperwork and set-up for new job.

- Goodbyes and lasts. Caleb's last day of preschool. Sad to say goodbye to such a fun place. Jeff and Angela released from callings.

- Easter bunny's belated visit to our house.

MAY

- Movers finish up their work. AMAZING! After 13 moves, it was a dream to have someone else come in and pack everything up. All we had to do was clean. Fun working with Tami.

- Final goobyes to friends and family. We'll miss the Colemans the very most! It was wonderful living so close. Say goodbye to our city and head to spend one more weekend with family before our big move.

- Mother's Day Weekend with family. Shopping trips, run with Amanda, tennis, bowling, fun and games. Mother's day was the best- being able to spend time with both mothers & families.

- Start the big drive to our new home. Luckily we were able to see family on the way. Nights at the Haworths, Tanners, and time with Grandma Forman & Grandma Hiller. Long drive. Finally arrived at 5:30 am.

- Unpacking, unpacking, and more unpacking. Love our new neighborhood. Meet most of the neighbors on our whole street within two weeks.

- Jeff passes his boards! Awesome day! Jeff's first day at his new job.

- Getting settled into life. Kids love all their new friends. Build garden boxes and keep busy mowing the lawn. Summer projects & activities for kids. First trip to the zoo.

JUNE

- Sign up for the local gym and start getting back into running again. Luckily I can run outside while they're in the kids gym area. Kids enjoy the swimming lessons.

- Sign up to run Vegas Ragnar with friends in October & Pocatello Marathon in September.

- Start working on the unfinished basement. Electricians, plumbers, drywallers.

- Paint the boys room & get them registered for school.

- Ward temple trip & local hot air balloon launch. Speak in church for the first time and take kids to Kung Fu Panda 2 at the theater. First ward potluck lunch- a monthly occurrence.

- Leave for the Tanner family reunion.

JULY

- Grandma & Grandpa Tanner's 50th Anniversary celebration. Fun times with the Tanner extended family. Talent show/program, special presentations, and swimming & lunch at Coleman's.

- Tanner family reunion. Hiking the Y, running with Kristie, Stadium of Fire- date night for Jeff, Ang, Tom, & Kristie thanks to Qualtrics, testimony meeting, family movies, 4th of July parade, 7 Peaks water park, fireworks, games, laughing till we cry. Fun times.

- Stevens family reunion. Traveling to Oregon, so fun being with family, camping on the coast, chilly but no rain, running with Gina & Amanda, talent show, games, running races, swimming at the campsite pool, lunch and window shopping in Seaside, playing at the beach, family pictures, hiking, campfire fun. Wonderful memories. And camping is awesome with an air mattress! :)

- Long drive home, lots of unpacking and withdrawals from family.

- Fun times with friends, dinners and game nights. Date nights- Harry Potter final.

- Family activites- swimming, games, movies, parks, lots of trips to Home Depot & Lowes, and working on getting the house filled.

- Lots more running for Angela- Saturday long runs for the month (6, 10, 13, 15, 20). The hot, humid, muggy summer makes it a little painful.

- Scott & Amanda and kids come visit for a night on their way back home. So fun to have them even for just a night.

AUGUST

- Happy Anniversary Jeff & Angela. 9 wonderful years!

- Register Matthew for preschool. Zoo trip with friends. School shopping trips with kids. Lots of projects around the house, State Fair.

- Angela turns 27. Happy Birthday. Kids make birthdays fun! Date night with Jeff.

- Boys start soccer.

- First day of school for Jacob and Caleb. So exciting. Walking to & from school together.

- First day of preschool for Matthew. He could hardly wait!

- Church callings- Institute teacher for Jeff, primary teacher for Angela.

SEPTEMBER

- Caleb turns 6! Treats to school and family party.

- Angela travels to Idaho for Pocatello Marathon. Fun weekend with family. Run marathon with Kristie & Amanda. Great race- PR's for everyone. Angela- 3:56:10, so happy. Weekend at the Haworth's.

- Lots of soccer games and soccer practice for Jacob and Caleb. Sometimes Mom feels like she lives at the park.

- Jeff teaches Institute every Tuesday night at the church. Lots of study time.

- Drywall guys finish the basement. We start the fun job of painting. Install new carpet.

- Angela runs the Bismarck marathon. Last minute decision. Fun weekend with the family. Great race, felt good. 'Official' time of 3:36:09.

-Jeff ribbon cutting ceremony for new Ophthalmology office. Exciting times. Loves his job.

- Primary program and Relief Society General Broadcast- love both!

- Mom diagnosed with breast cancer again. Scheduled treatments to begin.

OCTOBER

- General Conference weekend. Love, love, love.

- Find dining room table & treadmill on Craigslist. Slowly furnishing home.

- Travel to Idaho for wedding of Jonny & Emilee! Visit Rhinehart family, beautiful wedding, time with family, kids love playing with cousins, run with Kristie & Amanda, set up for wedding reception, fun at the reception, church, Daniel Menssen baby blessing, Tanner family pictures.

- Matthew turns 4! Fun day with presents and birthday celebration.

- Angela leaves for Las Vegas to run Ragnar Relay with Philly friends. (Kristen, Annette, MaryAnn, Staci, Calli, Megan, Kim, Alyssa, Jamie, Holly, Jordan) Weekend was a blast. Eating, window shopping, decorating vans, RUNNING! crazy times in the vans, blasting music, inside jokes, crazy runners, no sleep, experience of a lifetime. "Red Hot Philly Peppers"

- Halloween fun, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating with friends

- Family pictures

NOVEMBER

- Angela wisdom teeth extraction. Ain't gonna lie- not the most fun weekend, but grateful it went well.

- Jeff's work 100-year celebration. Black tie event with wonderful dinner, speakers, entertainment, and dancing. Fun night out together.

- More work on boy's room. Bunk beds!

- Miscellaneous stuff- get updated driver's licenses, lots of 'Super Duper' gym class, work on family pictures & Christmas cards, yard work, errands. etc.

- Happy Thanksgiving! Dinner with Bassetts. Shelly and I run the holiday 5K (PR 21:19) and our families enjoy the holiday parade together.

- Set up Christmas decorations. Jeff gets in the winter spirit & gets a black Friday deal snow blower.

DECEMBER

- School and preschool Christmas parties and programs.

- Gym time and lunch dates with friends.

- Date nights with Jeff

- Travel home for the holidays. Horrible blizzard. Wonderful Christmas vacation. Tanner year, all the kids home together, running together, shopping trips, wrapping gifts, cooking together, cleaning together, taking care of mom, wonderful Christmas Sunday, dodgeball, service project, date night dinner at Casa Mexico and Harry Potter night, shopping trip with Kristie, more games, song recordings with earphones, lots of laughing, love.

- New Years Eve with Stevens. Racquetball, fun games, lunch, geocaching, more racquetball, yummy New Year's eve dinner, kids playing with cousins, playing games, ringing in the new year, good times, blessing Hailey Howell. Sad goodbyes to family.

-Travel the long road home. Happy New Year 2012!

New Years

We spent most of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with the Stevens family, many of whom had traveled to be there after spending Christmas with their other sides. We met up on Saturday morning for a traditional round of racquetball. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins in the childcare areas while the adults enjoyed some court action.

It's always fun to play, and to enjoy visiting together while others play. It's definitely a family tradition that everyone loves.
A few of us managed to squeeze in some zumba between games. It was totally a result of peer pressure for me- it was my very first time trying zumba. There's no way I would have gone out without some sister-in-law moral support!
Tami even managed to get CJ out there. Actually though, I'm pretty sure CJ went out first and Tam tagged along with him. They were looking good together! Ow ow!
After racquetball, we headed back to Scott & Amanda's for lunch. After lunch, some of the group went geocaching, some had some down time, and others went back for another round of racquetball. Jacob and Caleb went with all the big cousins and Grandma. I enjoyed visiting with Nettie and holding sweet baby Hailey. Later on, Jeff and I met up with a few others for another game of racquetball.

Jacob and Eliza

(can you believe Eliza is just 13 days younger than Jacob?)

Saturday night was spent eating a wonderful dinner of Navajo Tacos, spending time together, and playing games. I went with Tami and Amanda to take James & Sam to their very first New Year's Stake dance- that was fun! Jeff and I put our kids to sleep for a few hours while we played games with everyone and rang in the new year. I definitely think we're all getting old because within 30 minutes of the new year's arrival, more than half the adults were asleep. Ha! We stuck around for one more game, then loaded our kids up and headed back up to my parent's home.

Sunday we went to church with the Tanners, then came home and finished getting everything packed up and said our goodbyes. We've had a lot of goodbyes over the years, but for some reason this one seemed particularly hard, and there were some tears shed by a few individuals. I don't know if it's because of Mom's situation right now or what, but I hated to leave. Luckily it won't be too long before we get to see everyone again.

We then headed back over to the Stevens where they were getting ready to bless baby Hailey. It was a special experience. Hailey is a sweet little girl and I still can't believe how much hair she has. After the blessing we had a yummy dinner and enjoyed spending a few more hours with the Stevens family before we had to say goodbye.

Lora is a little sweetheart. She was my special little friend and also such a sweet friend to Emily. These two were pretty much inseparable for the few hours we were there.

The Stevens girls, minus Emilee

(we missed Jonny & Emi who were celebrating a belated honeymoon)

Take 2 (sometimes it's hard to get everyone looking with eyes open. :)

Matthew and Emily with Grandpa. Can you tell how much Matthew loves his Grandpa?

Emily saying goodbyes to aunt Tami

The time went by much too fast, and we soon found ourselves saying more goodbyes, but we're looking forward to being together again this next summer for another wonderful family reunion.

Post Christmas Fun

We filled up the week after Christmas with all sorts of activities. Our whole family isn't together very often, and we wanted to take advantage of the time as much as we could. One of the nice things about being home at this time was being able to be there for mom while she had a couple treatments. The first time she went through her cancer treatments, we were thousands of miles away and I felt helpless. At least during this trip, Kristie and I were able to be in charge of a lot of the meals and cooking, and everyone was able to do help with cleanup and many other things. One day we all spent the day together organizing closets & toys, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, vacuuming, etc. It brought back lots of memories of working together when we were young. I sometimes wonder how I thought of those times as anything but fun? I love working together with the family.

Anyway, we were able to do a lot of fun things together the week after Christmas. It wouldn't be a Christmas vacation without at least one night of dodgeball/playing at the church. It's one of the highlights for the kids as well as the adults.

Kristie wasn't able to participate in the dodgeball because of a recent surgery. She was sweet enough to play with the girls out in the hallway with nursery toys while the craziness went on in the gym.

Mom & Dad got the kids these bouncy bouncers for Christmas and we decided to take them down to the gym with us. Everyone had fun bouncing around on them, and a few of us ended up having races across the gym. It was hilarious to watch! We definitely need to make that a tradition.
Another day, Dad organized a service project for our family. We were able to go to the home of a single sister in the stake and do a bunch of yardwork for her. We spent a few hours clearing out the garden, digging up weeds and stumps, raking leaves, repairing a sprinkler, and other things to get the yard looking great. The kids were helpful and we enjoyed the beautiful day outside together.




Of course there was still plenty of time to enjoy being at home together. We played games, watched movies, talked, snuck in some naps, and enjoyed being on vacation.

Travis and the boys playing a game on his iphone.

Jacob and Caleb hanging out with Brent. Brent is a student and wrestler at BSU. He needed a place to live during the school year, and my parents volunteered, so he's been living with my parents since the beginning of the school year. It's been so great to have him there. He and Cole have become best friends. He is one of the coolest guys ever, and just seems like a part of the family. He has such a fun personality and is always making everyone laugh. Jeff and Brent get along awesome because they both love wrestling and our boys absolutely adore him- and he is always playing with them and spending time with them. Brent is just another family member and we're going to be sad when it's time for him to leave.

Another night we arranged for a babysitter to be home with the kids and the adults went out to dinner at Casa Mexico. I think this was another one of the highlights of the trip. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and enjoyed some awesome Mexican food. It was so fun to be together as adults and be able to just talk and laugh for a couple hours together. I don't even remember everything we were talking about, but I know there were more funny stories shared and I laughed a lot. I'm so glad that all the siblings and spouses enjoy being together so much. Everyone loves each other and time together is our favorite. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family that loves each other.

This was a Tanner year, so we spent most of the time with family, but we were able to take a few visits over to visit with Mom & Dad Stevens and the family as well. A couple days after Christmas we went over for a few hours. We had a delicious lunch and opened Christmas gifts. Mom & Dad Stevens went all out with amazing homemade gifts this year. Mom made each child a special individual pillowcase, and Mom & Dad put together these amazing bear claw necklaces for the boys. They were a huge hit!

Emily got a beautiful initial 'E' necklace and a darling quilt that mom made along with the pillowcase and some other fun toys and treats. She was in heaven!

Matthew & Grandpa with his cool necklace and pillowcase.

Caleb loved the bow and arrows! He looked a like a real hunter holding it with his bear claw necklace.

Jacob loved the nylon bracelet Grandpa made for him, and the bear claw necklace as well. He also loved the fish pillowcase. I think the very first thing he did when we got home from our long trip was to go down and put the new pillowcase on his pillow. He loves fishing, and was thrilled. In fact he told me he wished he could have an entire bed set with the same fishing material.

Mom and Dad also spoiled us with some wonderful books, some workout clothes and shirts, some beautiful jewelry, washcloths, dishtowels, and lots of other fun things. We sure appreciate their thoughtfulness and love spending time with them.