Elder Tanner has 6 months left!

Houston just hit his 18 month mark on the 22nd of Feb. We are all amazed at how fast time has gone. He is enjoying his area in Chillan. He has found some wonderful contacts and they are so grateful for the missionaries. The sweet sister, Elsa whom they just were directed to last week called them 'angels sent from God.' What a wonderful blessing it is to have a missionary in the field, not only Houston there but G'ma & G'pa Tanner who will be home in May. Here's a picture of Houston & companion with some American candy bars they found in a little store.....it isn't common at all so they bought everything they had...which wasn't much.

Super Fun Grandma!

Mom was always so fun when we were growing up....(and still is). I still remember how she made whole chickens come to life when she washed them up to bake them.....I loved that!.....wish I had a video. She is an amazing woman with so many wonderful talents and attributes. This picture gives you a glimpse of her wonderful attitude and love for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren!

Wedding, Family, and Fun

During the wedding festivities we were blessed enough to have all 7 sisters there.....now that is fun...we laughed and talked and just had a great time. I will forever be grateful to my parents for such a wonderful family.

Tiffany & Kolby's Wedding

Tiffany & Kolby were married Feb. 7, 2009 in the Logan Temple. What a neat day! We had such a wonderful time being together with all the family that was there....we missed Angela & Jeff & family & Houston. I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures. There were so many cute ones. Tiff & Kolby are such a beautiful couple. We love you guys! Congratulations!

Elder Tanner in Chile!

Houston was transferred to Chillan this past Monday. This is the first area he started his mission in but a different ward. The neat thing is he is going back as District Leader. He is so happy as you can see here. He is doing so well with the language and truly loves the people. This is a picture of one of his recent baptisms. We sure love him. What an awesome Elder!

Cole's 15!

We celebrated Cole's 15th birthday recently. It's hard to believe that our baby is 15. He is so fun and adds so much to our family. We had a party here with about 40 people. Cole has so many friends! I wondered how it was all going to work but with tons of food, games downstairs, games upstairs, karaoke, and some of them even found the coloring books....it all worked out great! We had a fun time and not once did the TV go on to watch a movie. Now that's success! We love you Cole!

Watch Dog or Culprit?

You would think that the toilet papering season of our lives was kind of over but nope, Cole is just moving up into that place where the girls are going to let him know that he is thought of. Our supposed "Watch Dog" was out there with the rest of the girls enjoying the fun and even got into the act. I opened the door later on the evening to let her in because it was cold and here she comes with a cute toilet paper bow around her neck and wagging her tail. I quickly looked outside and assessed the damage. Yep, we got it good. I snapped this shot which shows a very guilty dog and then I laughed. It was soooo funny! What a sweet dog! It is fun to be loved by the youth.

Incredibles!

Lacey is having fun her senior year even if it is stressful at times. She asked a neighbor, Cees Hofman to Sadies and the theme was "Super Heroes." They had so much fun dressing up I thought that I would post a couple of the fun pictures. We couldn't find the T-shirts anymore so I made them from scratch, well, a red t-shirt and then pieced the incredibles patch. It's so fun to be a Mom! They do look incredible!

Do blondes really have more fun?

Since it had been almost two weeks since my first chemo treatment, I decided I'd better go get my wig so that I was prepared when I started losing my hair. Cathy's Wig Boutique was the perfect place. Wow! Talk about so many wigs and fun styles. Rick, Lacey & I had fun picking out different ones to try on. I had never even ventured to think that I would do anything but blonde. As I was looking at the different styles the sales lady said, "Oh, and by the way, we have colors in every style so if you like the wig, try it on." I found a cute dark wig that had a style and length I liked so I picked that one, as well as a long one down to my waist since I had always wanted long hair from the time I was small. Then I also tried on several blonde ones. As I started trying them on I noticed that all the blonde ones seemed fake. It looked like I was definitely wearing a wig. Then when I tried on the dark one I loved it. I thought why not? I could do whatever I wanted. If I want to wear a dark wig what the heck, this was the time to do it. Besides all my family had dark hair and they looked so pretty! With Lacey there I felt more brave since she said that I looked really good in it. Another woman's opinion....that does it! I bought the dark one. Here are some pictures of the weird blonde one (Rick's favorite...sorry sweetie... I love you just not the wig) the long one and then the one I got. I guess I will find out if blondes really do have more fun!

Getting prepared by cutting it short

I start my chemo on Tuesday the 16th (Sept) so in preparation and in talking to a lot of other people who have already been through this, they recommended that I cut my hair short before so that when it starts to fall out that it isn't such a shock. I had always wanted to try this certain style but I love long hair so I didn't want to take the time to grow it back. Well, I have no choice now or should I say I have an excuse now so this is what I did. Might as well try a lot of different things so when my hair does grow back I can do what looks best on me.