Mom 'n' Dad

Dear Family,

Today at school we had lots of free time due to testing. My friend Nora brought her baby, and everyone had fun playing with her. Another teacher bragged to me about his three wonderful grandchildren. I let him carry on for a few minutes, then said, "Ask me how many grandkids I have. Go ahead!" I know, shame on me, but sometimes I just can't help myself. It's so much fun to watch their amazement when I answer, "Sixteen." I really don't think anyone can blame me though. Just look at how beautiful and smart every single one of them has turned out. It's absolutely the highlight of my life. And when bad things happen, like my traffic ticket for no front license plate, I just think to myself that this miserable old highway patrolman can't even begin to imagine how many more blessings I have than him!

I visited the Arizona grandkids for spring break, and what a fun time we all had playing in the park, going shopping, telling stories, and checking for cold feet! Sometimes I wish my alarm clock woke me up as reliably as Lyle and Hyrum. I can't wait till they get old enough to want to sleep in, so I can wake them up early in the morning. That sounds like so much fun it just makes me chuckle!

Sunday Ken was away, and I spent the day with Leslie and Madyson. We went to church together, then came home and played dress-up with some of my vintage dresses. We read stories together, then made mini pizzas and cookies for Sunday dinner. Now that's my kind of party!

Today when my students came in for testing, I seated them all alphbetically, gave them all the test introduction, then told them we would be doing the reading test. After about a third of them freaked out, I said, "April Fool's, it's really the math test." It's so much fun when they still fall for my jokes!

Poor Ken still struggles with his memory. When he finally remembered to place a want ad in the Sunday paper, he was incredulous to see they forgot to put it in. He called up the Review Journal to complain, and the clerk patiently informed him, "But, sir, today is Saturday."

Ken was silent for a moment, then he replied, "So that's why no one was in church today..."

April Fool's?

love and prayers,

Mom & Dad

Chris 'n' Summer

March has gone by so fast. I can't believe that tomorrow will be April. We started March out with a bang, or a cart wheel. Madyson had a gymnastic performance. She improved so much that she moved up to the next level. She is very excited. She also got her report card and received all 'E's on it. Madyson is turning into a young lady, and she likes to act very grown up. It is so nice to have the extra help. Leslie is doing wonderfully in school. Her report card was great, 4 'A's and 1 'B'. She is working hard on her Canada report for school. With the help of Grandma Whitney she will have a lot of items to take in. She joined an after school club and has made many new friends. Bronson is in preschool and loves having friends. He is learning his numbers and letters. Sage is a joy to all who know her. She is talking all the time and she is putting words together. She loves to play with her dolls, and she is such a good little mother. Kids are so cute and say the funniest things. Easter Sunday we made a big brunch before church. While we were eating, we asked the kids if they knew why we have Easter. Bronson asked, "Well how do we pray if Jesus is dead?" Chris started to laugh and tried his best to explain to a four-year-old. In the end he just told him that it was okay to say his prayers. And Bronson shrugged his shoulders and said okay.

We spent spring break in Utah. I took the kids up to meet my parents at my grandparents. We had a blast. We had Easter egg hunts and colored eggs with my cousins' kids and ate ice cream. I enjoyed some awesome spring skiing. Wednesday we went to Huntsville to visit my 95-year-old grandpa. He had not been feeling well, but he still chased Sage from room to room with his walker. She would scream and giggle and he would laugh out loud. They shared crackers at the table and played dolls all afternoon. Les and Maddy played in the snow all day. They climbed the snow bank and got on the roof of the shed and slid off onto the other snow bank. There is still about four feet of snow on the ground, and the snow banks are about six feet high. Bronson made snow tunnels and snow angels. We all had a great time. As we left Grandpa hugged all the kids and told me how much he loved me. I am very close to my grandparents. We headed for home early Saturday. I received a phone call that morning telling me that my grandpa had a stroke. We turned around and went back to Huntsville. I was able to tell him good-bye and how much I loved him. He died Sunday night. I am glad that I can say I have no regrets. I was able to say everything I needed to say, and he knew how much he meant to me.

We drove home Saturday afternoon. Chris and I went back up to Utah Thursday night for the funeral. I had the honor of being one of the three speakers. It snowed like crazy at the grave side. I had to laugh because my grandpa loved the snow! Chris was a great support, and he kept the mood light for everyone he talked with. My grandma told me how much the family loves Chris and what a great guy he is!!

We look forward to seeing everyone in June! I hope you have a nice April!

Love, Summer, Chris and kids

Mel 'n' Andy

Martha 'n' Jeremy

March 2008

We've had some random experiences this month. Two of our children at different times received head wounds and our home housed a family of killers. It's the end of the month now and we've recovered and are all happy and well.

A few weeks ago I was outside with the kids when Lizzy fell and hit her head on a sharp rock. She screamed and I ran to pick her up. Blood was gushing out of the side of her head. I got the bleeding to slow down but it never stopped. Jeremy came home and I showed him the damages. He thought for a minute and asked me if we should attempt another ER visit. Remember Lyle's stomach pains experience? I just shook my head and cried. He took a deep breath and told me to give him a minute. He left the room and a few minutes later came back with a needle, some alcohol cloths and a few packets of stitches. He asked me to get a towel and then laid Lizzy down on our kitchen table and went to work. I acted as both a nurse and a crazed parent. She's recovering nicely.

Last week Lyle got stung by a bee. After I got him taken care of and calmed down, he told me he knew where the bee lived. I asked him where and he took me outside in front of our home and pointed to a spot just under our roof. Sure enough, there were a swarm of bees there going in and out of a small crack. If any of you keep up on bees, you'll know that the Africanized Bees/a.k.a. killer bees have chased out all the other honey bees in Arizona. I called our Home Rep. and threw a fit, and we had an exterminator at our home the next day. He killed the queen bee, found the hive and said we were fine. I'm a little nervous though because I still see a lot of bees up there.

Two days ago Hyrum was playing upstairs while we were watching a movie downstairs. He went into a closet, climbed on a T.V., stood up and bumped his head on the edge of a shelf. He continued his exploring until he noticed blood dripping from his head. He ran downstairs to tell me. By this time, he had blood dripping from his forehead and smeared all over his face, shirt and hands. I've never seen so much blood and thought he was dying--except he wasn't even crying. He was doing a little fake cry whimper, but that was all. I panicked and called for Jeremy. We threw him into the bath tub to wash away the blood. He had a small gash on top of his head. Jeremy got out his stitches again, and Rummy is recovering nicely. Anytime someone gets near his head, he backs away and says, "Be careful, I have stitches!"

I'm hoping next month will be slow and boring!

Love, The Tanners

Becca 'n' Nick

Elissa has been having a little trouble sleeping through the night this last week. One night around 1:00am I decided she could just sleep in my bed. The child is a night owl as she played and sang until 4:00am. About this time Nick jumped out of bed and made a comment something like, "Although her singing is cute, I've got to get some sleep." Back in her crib she let us know how much she didn't want to be there. I'm not sure if it was only for a few minutes, or if we both just fell asleep.

Jonathan started t-ball this month. He is still learning the game because if it wasn't for the moms and coach telling him when to run, I'm not sure he'd ever leave the batting plate. Jonathan has also displayed the start of the family talent of writing backwards. Some people call it a disability. He copied and wrote on a piece of paper for Estelle, " reggiT Pooh.”

Estelle had a princess party this week thrown by the young women in the ward. She got her invitation at church on Sunday and talked about the upcoming party at least once an hour until the actual party on Wednesday night. At the party, one of the big princesses painted her fingernails purple. So Thursday morning Estelle came out of her room wearing a purple T-shirt and purple pants, exclaiming, "Look Mommy! I got dressed to match my nail polish!"

Nick got a chainsaw last month and has since been spending all of his free time, no exaggeration, cutting down trees and slicing up firewood. He finally finished this week after burning the last of the pieces that were just too small for firewood. Yesterday the kids helped him plant a few fruit trees in his new prized land.

My highlight of the month was a visit from Mom. It is just nice to have another lady around to chat with about this and that. I just couldn't believe how easy it was for me to cook and clean up meals with her around. At first I thought it must have been all the good conversation, but then I realized that it probably had more to do with her washing all the dishes and helping out. It was a little ironic because there are times when I don't feel appreciated for all I do, especially at mealtime, and then when mom was doing so much to help out, I didn't notice how much she was actually doing either.

Anyhow, I better write in a farewell or the editor will for me!

We love and miss you all!

Love, the Bryces

McKay 'n' Keresa

yo yo yo

Early in March we had Spring Break. The weekend before, we got plenty of snow, by Grundy standards. We built a nice snowman. Sydney was very excited to see if the snowman would come alive when we put a magic hat on him.

After the snow, we drove to nearby Gatlinburg, TN. While there we went to a petting zoo, complete with camels, emu, zebra, cows, horses, deer, and of course, goats. We went in the goat pen and they thought Sydney was one of them. They would come close to her and butt her in the chest with their horns. She fell down a lot. One just wanted to be near Jackson, but after he watched what happened to Sydney, he just walked away. It followed, and it looked like a slow speed chase. He kept stopping and looking over his shoulder, then in terror keep walking away from the stalking goat. Keresa was most excited to see the zebras.

Also in Gatlinburg, we swam. The boy is a chip off the ole block. He loves to kick and splash in the pool. Sydney swam and swam and even went in to the spa with Mom to play in the bubbles. Mom and Dad enjoyed how much the kids were worn out after swimming, so they would take good naps.

Finally in Gatlinburg, we found a park with slides, monkey bars, and all sorts of toys. After watching Ninja Warrior, a funny show from Japan where people go against an obstacle course of giant foam blocks, rolling logs, and other funny things, and they fall in swampy water if they can't make the jumps, we thought we would try out our ninja skills at the park.

When we got home from Gatlinburg, the snowman had melted, and we left the pile of rubble (his eyes, mouth and nose) for a few days in his memory. The kids wore their snow boots one last time, but they didn't wear any other snow apparel. (see pics)

When Easter came, the girls dyed eggs and the boys ate the eggs in delicious sandwiches. When Keresa asked Sydney to help her dye some eggs, Sydney replied, "That's not nice mommy to make the eggs dead!" We snapped a few shots in their Easter outfits, dug up the front garden and put in some flowers, then the egg hunt began! Keresa went outside to hide the eggs. I was supposed to keep the kids occupied indoors until she was ready. I was pretty tired, so I sprawled out on the couch waiting for Keresa to come back in. Before long, I heard a laugh and a frustrated/ laughing Keresa outside yelling, "HONEY!" I looked up and in my snooziness, I didn't even notice that both kids had been standing at the window watching Keresa hide all the eggs. Oops.

Sydney led with Mom close behind. Since she found them all before Jackson even realized what was happening, I took a few from her basket and each time Jackson would bend down to get one, I would pull another from his basket and put it up ahead a few feet. So he "found" 10 or so, but only ended up with 3 in his basket. Weird.

We will be on the road to Vegas in only another month. My last day of school is May 2, so we expect to be there some time around May 6 or 7. Is Tucson on the way there? ;)

mk kgw srw jgw

Matthias & Megan

Spring break was a much needed break from the oppressive semester Megan and I have been having. To celebrate warmer temperatures, we bought a Frisbee, and we've even had time to throw it twice! There's only about 5-6 more weeks of school. Any one can survive that, right?

In Seattle for Spring Break, Melanie, despite being super busy with all the things her life and family bring, was able to play amazing host and cute tour guide. She took Megan and I downtown to see the Space Needle, the Science Center and other fun places. We also went on a hike to Twin Falls Park with Mel and kiddos, then up to Mulkitio to visit a lighthouse and eat dinner at Ivar's on the pier.

Then when Mel couldn't play host, she lent us a car to let us attempt downtown on our own and discover another lighthouse in a park near downtown Seattle. We also enjoyed several flavors of gourmet hot cocoa from a coffee shop near Melanie's house. It was a blast of a trip, and Seattle is absolutely gorgeous. I think I'm going to look at what kind of work Optical Engineers do at Boeing, based in Seattle...

Con Amor,

Matthias & Megan