another party?

We've had many celebrations, but here is the FRIEND party. 

That is different than family duh, cuz family just isn't good enough ;)

 

No really, Tanner would have been suffice, but he has great friends and he deserves BOY time with friends his age, since he always says he's girl smothered at home.  ha ha.

 

 

I was sick of pirates, so I strategically implanted ALLSTAR theme ideas into his head, and it worked!  yay!! 

We played different games, had races, musical chairs, pizza, cake and ice cream.

It was so fun!

Tanners friends are so awesome.

 

 

Lil sis ALWAYS eager and ready to participate!

 

 

Tanner's best friend from school, Connor.

 

Best friends from church are Ethan, Rylee and Landon, Joab and Malachi.

Awesome family friends, Riley and Bailey, Abbey and Jake, Alexa and Makinley.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUD

Tanner we LOVE you so much.  Will you please stop growing!!??

Kambrie the comic

I can't remember if I wrote about Kambrie "coming off" the binki.  lol.

She retired her binki, not by choice, but accepted it well.  When we were in Utah in August, one night I couldn't find a binki in sight.  I'm sick of running to the store in haste and just wasting my money on more plastic.  So I decided it was time she needed to be done.  )(but it is the best cork solution EVER).  We simple explained to her that the binks were all gone.  Pirates came last night and stole them.  (she loves mermaids lately, so we added a snippet that they were given to mermaids)  She bought on to the idea and seems to love it!  It's been almost 2 months now and she's asked for them on occasion, but I remind her the pirates came like stealth in the night and took them.  She emphatically exclaims, "No, Captain Hook took them!"  Yes Kambrie, Captain Hook took them and he never returns a blasted thing.  So long...binks you were good to us.

Kambrie is totally into princesses, and barbies.  She has tiny figurines of Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Rapunzel, and also 3 mermaids from The Little Mermaid.  She plays with them every day!  They are our new lifeline.  She pretend plays and makes them have conversations and sings with them.  It is the cutest thing in the world!  I need to post some pics and video's of it.  Priceless.

 

Kambrie loves "bones" aka RIBS.  Daddy also loves ribs and orders them whenever we go out.  Kambrie cleans up after him like a ravenous dog.  It's hilarious, she begs for his bones!  The other night we went to Chili's and decided to just order her own plate of bones.  It was impressive...a 2 year old ordering a plate of ribs.  Is that normal!?  She made a mess like a masterpiece and downed that meat like it was her last meal.  Landon and I just laughed and enjoyed the entertainment.  Oh how we love our unique and beautiful Kambrie!  And I can't leave out her one of a kind, random and out of the blue, snot rocket blowing.  Yes, just like it sounds, out of no where she'll throw her head back like she's about to sneeze, but instead crinkles up her nose and releases a blast of forced blows as much snot she can rocket out of tiny nostrils!  Oh how we are so proud of our daughter ;)

 

Kambrie is so lively and there's never a dull moment.  She started preschool this year and LOVES it.  She talks about playing outside, eating snacks, learning about apples, friends, and that in chapel time they pray with their hands clasped, not arms folded (as she taught us during family prayer).

She loves nursery just as much and shouts for joy when it's Sunday.  She loves singing in there, laying on the ground when she sings "Once there was a snowman" and jumps up and down when she shouts "Jesus wants me for a sunbeep!"

Today we start a new dance class..."movements."  She is SO eager and I'm anxious to see how she does.  She loves to sing and dance and as she says "shake your booty!"

Kam doesn't let me give her smooches anymore.  She'll wipe them off her lips and say adamantly "NO MORE KISSES!"  Ahhhhh.  It breaks my heart.  But then she'll say kiss here and point to her neck or say kiss my head and I can kiss her scalp!  It's so funny...and so sad.  And she doesn't let me call her my baby anymore either!  What the?  She says "I'm not your baby, I'm a big girl, I tall."  Little does she know, she still IS my baby, whether she likes it or not.  Bwaaahahaha.

Baptism

Tanners Baptism day

September 1, 2012

 

Tanner was baptized in our home town, Osage Beach, in our home ward church building.

The service was only for him.  We don't do them on a stake level here.  It was special because we were able to personalize it just for him!

We started at 10:00 am on Saturday morning with a brunch including all of Tanner's grandparents (minus Susan) who traveled from Utah and Oklahoma, and our close friends.

 



Rylee, Landon, Bailey and Riley.  Adorable sweet friends.

 

Gpa Doug and Tanman



Hueys and Labrues.  Might as well be family!

 



 

Cassie Cassie Cassie!!  We all LOVE Cassie!

 





 

 

After the brunch we had the boys change into their white jumpsuits!!  Gotta love it :) 

They glow even without the suit.

Such handsome men.

The baptism began at 11:00

 



 

 

Gpa Kirk gave the opening prayer

Gma Heidi led the music

Gpa Barry gave an awesome talk about baptism. 

He even managed to incoroprate pirates into it!!  Can you believe it!!

Daddy did the baptism

Mommy gave a talk on the Holy Ghost

Daddy confirmed

Hueys performed a musical number

Gma Jan gave closing prayer

 

It was a beautiful program and the spirit was definitely present. 

I love that before they went into the water Landon told Tanner after he dunked him to

look up and find mom and give her a big smile!

I'll never forget that sweet moment of a righteous father baptizing his obedient son. 

Tanner came up beaming from the water and gave me that huge smile!!  I'm so thankful Landon is a worthy preisthood holder and that he was able to bless our son by baptizing him.  I know that is why Randi placed Tanner in our arms, because she wanted a loving, protective, and faithful Father to lead by example throughout Tanner's life.  Tanner is so blessed to have the best father ever!!  And we are so so blessed to have Tanner in our lives!

I'm so grateful Tanner made his own decision to get baptized and understand the importance of making essential covenants.  I told him I hoped he made this choice and will continue to make other important and best choices in his life not to just please mom and dad or his friends, but to make the decisions because HE knows they are the right choices and the ONLY choices that will give him peace, happiness, and guide him back to his Father in Heaven.

 

 



 

 

We know it was too hard for other family to make it, but we still felt their love and support.

We are so so grateful that Gma Jan and Gpa Doug came out from Utah.  Gma Jan wasn't feeling very well, being in the middle of chemo treatments.  But we are so thankful for their sacrifice to be with us.  We had so much fun spending time with them.

We are grateful Gpa Kirk was able to come for the day, and missed Gma Susan.  We are lucky to be able to see them more often only living a few hours away.  We always have a good time with Gpa Kirk.

We are so glad Gma Heidi and Gpa Barry came for 9 days to play with us, help around the home, and be a great support at the baptism.  We love them so much and appreciate every chance we get to spend with them.

 

One awesome Labor day weekend we'll never forget!!

Happy birthday Tanner!

Tanner officially turned 8 on August 21st. 
I can't believe I have an eight year old. I still remember sitting in the hotel with him for the first week of his life and SO anxious to be awake all through the night feeding him, burping him, and relishing in the excitement of every experience new motherhood had brought me!! It was a dream come true for me to become a mother and Tanner was the cutest, sweetest baby.
Now he is the cutest, sweetest 8 year old!

We celebrated the weekend before having a fun little campout in the backyard.

 

Not sure why Kambrie looks possessed, but we all had a blast (until morning came and Landon and I remembered why we don't do this very often!  No rest isn't very fun).

 



 

 

The next day he opened some presents and we had another fun family night watching a movie!

Legos and Bionicles are his favorite at the moment.  He loves to create works of art with all those little pieces.

 



 

 

We had to do our own little photoshoot to capture his adorable smile at the ripe age of 8...and in preparation for  his monumental moment of baptism.

 



 

 

Handsome little devil.

More birthday cards trickled in for a few days at Tanners delight and excitement!!  That money just burns a hole in his pocket so fast he gets eager to spend it as fast as he can.

 



 

 

Due to the crazy helium shortage (seriously!  whatev) we had some lame balloons and decor, but all that really matters was the birthday cake he got completely his own.  He of course wanted to desecrate it first right out of the middle, and loved licking all the delish iced/whipped topping.  It WAS a pretty dang yummy cake :)

 



 

We're still planning to have a little party celebration with his friends this coming weekend.  There's just been too much going on to fit it in yet!  We're so happy Tanner turned eight, and even more important than celebrating this birthday and his life, was the decision that he made to getting baptized.

I'll have to post about that next.  It was a wonderful day with family and friends...

one he will never forget.