Will's Photo Shoot

Today I went and had Will's photo taken....Finally. He is 6 months next week and so it was now or never. He did great and the photos are all so cute. It makes me want to become a photographer! He is our precious little guy, we're so glad he joined our little family.

This one is my favorite!

What a doll, and he is all mine!

T'was the Night Before Friday!

T'was the night before Friday and the house seemed to shutter
Due to the size of all the chaos and clutter.
Mounds of wash to be found this way and that,
There was so much to do, I just sighed and I sat.

The dishes were scattered, no order was found
Off to the mad house, for sure am I bound.
With homework to do and baby to feed
A heavenly miracle was sent for indeed.

Discouraged, disheartened and tears at the ready
I braced myself, to be divided among many.
Where was my pep, my vigor and vim?
Pack up and shipped out as all the lights did dim.

Amazingly enough, the heavens did hear
And sent me some aid from those who were near.
The relief did not come with a bang or a boom.
It came with my children who were all in the room.

Through Art work and songs a smile did appear
The answer to the stress and the strain was so clear.
The days will come and go without hold
One can come in and enjoy, or be left in the cold.

So the next time order and patience take flight
I must remember not to lose sight.
Success of my day is tallied in Kisses,
Not in ironing, laundry or washing the dishes!

(Mom wanted me to add that I did not get this poem in any book, I wrote it tonight amongst all the chaos!)


Spencer showed me this drawing he did, it made me smile and laugh inside, because while he was drawing away, I saw him stand up and make some of the poses in order to get the hands and arms just right! (Allen: I think that is Mom at the left at her 8th grade dance)

Espen drew this a while ago, I just love it and thought I would post it for Kenneth! I love your glasses! I also Love Espen's clouds!

State of Michigan

This little entry is really for Kenneth's benefit, so he can see Spencer's poster for his "State Fair" he had at school on Friday. He was assigned Michigan, I should have taken a photo of the things we got together to display, but alas I didn't quite have it together that morning. I did hear through the grapevine that his display was GREAT, and he was will informed about his state! It may not have been Florida (the state he desperately wanted), but all in all, a great report and thank goodness the last one of this year!

High School Musical!

At East High in SLC, Where High School Musical was filmed!

The famous E!


Sabrina was loving this little side tour to see the school. We've been on a slight High School Musical kick lately. We were ready to Pop To the Top, and start singing "Summer Time" from HSM2!

Family History at Hand

This Saturday (April 17th) we decided to go on an outing to the Salt Lake City Cemetery to see if we could locate some family graves. After a few phone calls as to the wear abouts of the cemetery, then another for the exact location of the grave site, we hit gold.

John Tanner is my children's 5-greats-grandfather (6 generations back). There has been a recent movie made about his life and contributions to the church in the early years. My children thought the movie was fantastic
and were rather excited about finding his grave site.

Spencer has been studying US History this year in his Social Studies class and thought it was exciting to think he had a ancestor that was born 2 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Tanner's life was extraordinary, it amazed my children that they had ancestor that not only met but knew the Prophet Joseph Smith. I have been so grateful to be able to share with my children the stories of their great pioneer heritage, and hope that I can cover all the bases in Utah before we leave in May. I am excited to be closer to England and hope to get all the people, places and their stories put together, that I may do some great family trips there as well. To be able to go where my Grandmother Betty's family joined the church and sailed across to America will be an adventure I can't wait to take! Not only England, but Belgium will be close at hand, my Grandmother Julianna was born there, it would be fun to go see that as well.
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This is the grave site of Nathan Tanner Sr. and Rachel Tanner his wife. Nathan was John Tanner's eldest son and is the line we come from.

The children had to stop and take a photo next to President Hinckley's grave. Down a ways was President McKay, close to John Tanner was President Woodruff, James E. Talmage, George Albert Smith and many more. It would be a great family home evening to have a list and see if we can find all the sites for all the prophets that are buried there. Maybe I'll get that together before I leave!

BYU Spring Fever!

My cousin Dalin Tollestrup is playing football this year for BYU. Today they opened the stadium for all the
fans! There was a 1 hour clinic for the children, then there was a practice with a bit of a scrimmage involved. It was super fun and as you can imagine a complete nut house. People were everywhere, trying to get as many drills in and autographs as possible. I don't know who were more amusing to watch the children doing the drills or the fathers with their super lens camera catching every moment on film. I guess I can understand, it isn't often we get to step foot on the hallow grass of LaVel Edwards Stadium, so you gotta soak it up while it lasts! The kids got to see Dalin and put some "hits" on him!

Here is Dalin (27) getting ready for some sort of drill.

Spencer was called out a few times for wearing his Tebow jersey from some fans, but the players smile and said "Here Comes Tebow!" He was able to do a running back drill and a wide receiver one as well, all and all it was a fun day.

Content to Watch

Tristan was just content to watch Spencer play our new DSi. He sat there for a while just entranced by the game. Spencer was excited to have an audience as well!

Ouch!

I ran into the store on the way to the movies to mail a get well card to Grandpa, and when I came out, Espen had this lovely reminder from Mia. Apparently there was a struggle, a push followed by a swipe!

My poor little guy, but he lived to tell the tale!

Off to the Show!

During Spring Break it is tradition to go to the movies. This year Megan, Tristan, and Bella joined us for How to Train Your Dragon. We took up entire row of the movie theater! Mia is hidden behind Bella, who is sitting on Sabrina's lap!

Tristan loved the movie and his popcorn and cheese! (Aunt Bonnie was under instruction to bring cut up cheese for Tristan to add to his popcorn!)

Loving the movies!

The whole gang (Tristan is on the other side of me, out of shot) Baby William did great, he watched the previews, and then ate and sleep through the rest of the movie!

Big Brother the Babysitter

Whenever asked to watch over William, Spencer always does this while catching up on Sports Center. He flips up the recliner and props baby Will up and plays peek-a-boo and tickles him.

He is a great help with baby brother!

Growing too Fast

Little Will is growing too fast for his mother. Knowing that this is my last little baby has made it seem like time is moving at a rapid pace. William is growing so quickly, playing with toys now, sitting up almost and giggling and smiling all the time.


I know when Kenneth sees these photos he won't believe his eyes, but yes Pappa, this is your little guy. Just 2 1/2 more months and we'll be there! Smiles and all!

Easter Basket

I thought this year I would break with tradition and have only 1 Easter basket for the entire family. I also decided that we wouldn't get tons of candy. I opted for the pricier but much more wonderful Chocolate Bunnies from See's Candies. They were really good, you know what? It was all we needed.

I had a trail of little eggs from the kids' bedrooms coming down the stairs to the basket. Fun idea I pinched from Megan. The kids loved it! Happy Easter it was here even though Pappa is so far away.

Coloring Eggs!

We made our way up to Clinton to visit Aunt Megan and the gang to color Easter Eggs.
Before we could start though, we had to have a Hot Chocolate Break!



This didn't turn out so good, but Tristan's hands are all blue. He and Bella didn't take the time to get the "scooper" to get the eggs out of the cups, so we had blue and pink hands! Tristan tried to scrub away the blue later on in the sink, wasn't too successful but was super cute! Why does it seem to take FOREVER to get all the eggs cooked, dye set up, table covered etc and then only 5 minutes and all the eggs are done! Then we mothers sit back and wonder if it was really worth all the effort! Hopefully the kids will have fond memories about their 5 minutes of dying eggs every Easter!