December 2015

We had a lovely December and Christmas. Looking back, we didn't take a lot of photos, but here are a few.

We invested in some outdoor Christmas lights.

Jared flew to Utah to interview at BYU. It was a quick trip, but he enjoyed his time and was able to get in a bit of family time. 

Cute baby Adam started crawling!

 Jared's annual lab party was held at an archery facility. Zach thought it was pretty cool to shoot arrows like Legolas.  It was a fun activity.

We held our annual Christmas piano recital at a nearby extended care facility. This year I had seven students performing. 

Zach lost his first tooth (and his second the very next day).

Lily was silly.

We had a tree (and some cute kids).

The children did a gift exchange for each other. We let them open their gifts on Christmas Eve. 

We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese food. 

Anwyn wrote out a script, and the children acted out the nativity. Zach was Joseph, Lily was Mary, Anwyn was an angel, Adam was a sheep, Kristi was a shepherd, and Jared was the narrator. 

 We had a very warm Christmas, since everyone is still wearing their summer pajamas. 

We love BYU! Thanks for the great t-shirts from Grandma and Grandpa Tanner!

Adam enjoyed the wrapping paper as much as the presents.

Everyone was excited to go see the new Star Wars movie at the theatre.

How We Grew in 2015

Anwyn (nearly 11 years) grew over 2.5” to reach a height of 56.5 inches. As a fifth grader she now proudly wears her safety patrol badge to serve her school. She also grew in her musical abilities, completing Level 5 of Piano Adventures and now comfortably playing a number of hymns at the piano.

Lily (8 years old) grew over 3” to reach a height of 50.5 inches. She grew in faith as she chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She also grew into a love of reading chapter books!

Zach (5 years old) grew over 2” to reach a height of 44.5 inches. He grew into a big kindergarten boy and learned how to read books on his own.

Jared grew into a full-time job as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. He also grew and become a long-distance runner a few days a week.

Kristi grew a lot of pounds (and then thankfully lost them all) because she was growing a baby!

We were thrilled to welcome Adam Jacob Tanner to our family on April 20th, 2015. He arrived at 2:52 a.m. (after a 2.5 hour labor) weighing a hefty 10lbs and measuring 21.5 inches long. All of our hearts have grown in love with this sweet baby in our home!

November Family Photo Shoot (and a broken foot)

The month of November means it is time for the annual family photo shoot. We kept it simple this year and headed out to nearby San Felasco Park (just 2 minutes away).

This was the best family group shot.

We got a few other fun pictures.

If you look closely, you may have noticed that Anwyn is sporting a cast in these pictures. She fractured her foot while playing tag in the neighborhood (she stepped in a hole and turned it sideways). She got a walking boot first, but after a week when it was not improving, she got a cast and crutches. She was a trooper and never once complained, but she was sad to be missing out on her daily running at Morning Mile. After three weeks the cast came off, and after a few more weeks she was back to running normally. 

Showing off the boot.

Wearing the cast and getting some fresh air outside. 

Ready for the cast to come off!

During the month of November, Anwyn was also honored to be selected as a Citizen of the Month. One fifth grade student from each lass is chosen each month. That gave her a little something extra to focus on during the month, although in reality it also meant more traveling the halls of her school while on crutches!

Thankfulness in November

We are thankful for many things! We spent one FHE making lists of things we are grateful for. We do a variation on this activity every November, and it is always nice to do. This year the kids really got into it and added more to their lists throughout the week.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving Day, enjoying a nice dinner with the Beck family.

The children had the week off from school, but we mostly just stayed close to home since Anwyn was still on crutches.

Halloween and Fall Activities

October is always a fun month, with pumpkin activities and church parties and Halloween.

The children put up a few spiderweb decorations around the house to make things a little spooky.

We visited a local pumpkin patch.

Cleaning out the pumpkin to prepare for carving is always a fun job.

The finished pumpkin on display.

We had a fun time at the ward Fall Festival: dinner, carnival games, and trunk-or-treat. This year we kept it simple and reused costumes that we already had. Anwyn was Hermione (from Harry Potter), Lily was Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz), Zach was Superman, and Adam was a frog.

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, so we were happy that Jared could participate in our annual excursion to Boo at the Zoo. The college always does a great job decorating (mostly movie themes like Minions, Harry Potter, Inside Out, etc). We stopped to pose in the Star Wars scene with Yoda. 

It was fun for our Lily/Dorothy to find the house that landed on the Wicked Witch. 

In the evening we walked around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. We met up with some friends and had a good time.