Archives:
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
June 2001
May 2001

SOMETHING from SUMMER & CHRIS

Hello family,

We hope everyone is doing great! We are wonderfully busy. Chris just started a new job in Mesquite for Meadow Valley. It is going to take about 80 hours a week for at least 6 weeks, and since Don Whipple moved across the street, we won't be seeing much of him.

Leslie is in Sunbeams and she loves it. You know, there are the kids that cry and hang on to their mom's legs, and then there are the kids that cry when it is time to go home. Well Leslie could stay at church all day and not miss us one minute. We are not sure if we should feel bad. She also goes to preschool two days a week for two hours a day. She has learned the pledge, and we are so proud. We also have an exciting announcement: Leslie has not had to go in "time-out" for three entire weeks!!!!!!! For those of you who don't know, this is BIG news!!!!!!!! Leslie is excited about getting to see the baby on the TV. That is all she has been talking about. We are going to have an Ultra sound on the 6th of February. Maybe we will be able to see what it is. Leslie told Chris that it would be okay if we have a brother, as long as it is a girl. We think she is a little confused!!!!

I have managed to stay busy; school started on January 21sy, and I am taking 8 credits, and that is plenty. I had a wonderful Christmas break. It included reading and more reading. Martha got me started on the Harry Potter books, and I read all four in about three weeks. I finished just in time for school to start. I am now awaiting the release of the next book. We are looking forward to seeing everyone for Easter, but we are also dreading it. For McKay's sake, I hope the time until then flies.

Well I have to run...chat with you all later.

Love to all,

Chris, Summer, Leslie, (Sally) this is what Les is calling the baby.

MELODIES from MELANIE

Am I reporting news for Dec or Jan? In December I got really sick and so did Michael. Looking back, the illness began as a cold before Halloween; it persisted throughout Nov with some days better than others. The turning point was when Michael began to have a fever the week before Christmas. I took him to the doctor, and she found pneumonia in both lungs, I went the next day and was also diagnosed. We were feeling good again by Christmas and enjoyed some very special family time with Andy's undivided attention and happy, excited children. Then on the 28^th, Andy's parents came, and McKayla got strep throat. We just felt happy that no one else caught it, especially Andy's Dad, he is so susceptible to everything.

I was so surprised on Christmas when Andy gave me a scanner and a portable mp3 player! I can't say that I have used the scanner just yet, but I will eventually. As for the mp3 player it actually fits in the palm of my hand, and I have used it almost daily on my runs. Last week I ran a total of 22 miles. It is amazing what can be done when the mind is distracted.

I took a job working 6 hours a week in the health club childcare. This saves us big money (I get a free membership plus free childcare) and allows me to meet other club members that I never would have talked to before. I love the experiences we are having right now with so many close friends doing school and babies with no money. It is a very connected time for us. On the other side, I really hate being so far from family and friends left behind. Martha and Becca, thanks for the news on James L. It came as a total shock to me, and it really makes me sad that I wasn't there and didn't know.

Andy does his school thing, and the kids are so active and fun. I just wanted to write about Melanie today, remember her?

Love, Melanie

MARTHA'S MARVELS

With the New Year putting life a week behind, January has sped right by. I'm not complaining one bit! Jeremy and I are well and have enjoyed little bits of excitement here and there. No, I'm not pregnant - but yano, the other exciting stuff . . .

MK called us a few months ago and told us that he was looking on the internet for cheap tickets, and he found a killer deal to Oakland. I told him not to waste another minute, and buy it! He came back with us to California after our Christmas trip to Logandale. I have to say, it is a lot easier saying good-bye when you can take someone back to help ease the pain of leaving your family. Every time I started getting sad when we were leaving, I'd think about MK and how we'd still see him, and I'd feel better again. I usually pout for most the trip back to Turlock because I can't talk Jeremy into turning the car back around to Logandale, and this time I only pouted for about an hour. So it was great taking MK back with us. We showed him around town, took him dancing and even set him up on a date. It was raining the entire time he was here, so we couldn't do a lot of the activities we had planned. Also, more places were closed than I planned on because of the New Year's holiday. Despite that, Jeremy and I still had a blast. I loved going places with both Jeremy and MK. Man, those too can sure get crazy when they are together for long periods of time! It's funny because whenever we went places, I felt pretty cool because I had a good-looking guy on each arm, and no matter what we did those two kept me laughing. The only place I didn't fool people was at the temple. We were waiting in the chapel for a session, and one of the workers came up to us and asked if MK and Jeremy were missionary companions, and then questioned me for sitting so close next to them. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. It was a lot of fun and memorable being able to share with MK my life here in California.

School started back up and we began preparing for out 6^th grade band and chorus concert. It took place a week and a half after we were back. I was sweating it big time up until a few days before the performance. The kids were finally ready, and they sounded good. The concert was my smoothest running one. I used Aunt Gaye's old phrase and told the kids that under all circumstances they must act dignified. So even though there were a few glitches, my cute little 6^th graders carried their heads high, held their shoulders back and acted dignified. Their teacher was very proud. It went well, and I'm going to start using that phrase with all my students now. I was flying pretty high after that concert. Now it's back to reality, and I wonder if I'll even have a job next year and what I'll be teaching. I still haven't heard if they are cutting the 6^th grader's elective. If so, that will take my 6-period schedule down to 2 periods. At first I was angry, and I wanted to take major action. Now after thinking about the circumstances, I think I'll play it a lot lower key. I'll tell some music parents and see what they do. If they do nothing, oh well. I've been looked after this long and I know something will work out - even if I am stuck teaching math or something! I'll just have Jeremy correct my papers and write the tests! Maybe Jeremy will apply to dental school early and we'll move and I won't have to worry anymore! Things are so unsure, who knows what will happen? I guess that's when faith really comes into play.

Man, I guess I should talk a little about Jeremy. One thing that I always like about concerts is that I can show Jeremy off. Since this was the first time a lot of my 6^th graders saw Jeremy, there was a lot of speculation about what he looked like. Before the concert my kids kept asking me which guy he was out in the audience. I told them to look for the really good-looking one. I meant it as a joke, but I think a lot of the girls took me seriously because the next day a handful of girls came up to me dead serious and said, "You were right, Mrs. Tanner, he was the best looking guy in the audience!" Besides showing Jeremy off to my 6^th grade students, he's just been working and taking a class from a feminist, John Lennon-loving, psycho teacher who hates white males! The stuff he reads makes me sick. Just to give you an idea of the lady, think of a hippie stereotype person (you know: long stringy hair, circle frame classes, oily face with no make-up). Okay, that's at least how I imagine them! Anyway, that is how she really looks. She spent one class period saying all the bad words I know and even a few more. She was trying to "teach" her students that day that people should not be so concerned about saying the "F" word (except she really said it and she said it a lot) and more concerned about keeping worldly peace! Anyway, it's just supposed to be an intro-to-literature class, but I guess Jeremy is getting more than he bargained for.

So we are doing well. Nothing too eventful but we get enough perks on all the daily stuff. I guess it's good life is pretty normal. We hope everyone else is okay. Has anyone tried the new Reese's Peanut Butter candy bar? I saw it on a commercial and it looks pretty good. Give it a try and let me know and I'll do the same! Take care.

BECCA BE-DAZZLES

I'm so late this month I don't know whether this article is for December or January!?? Well everything is going pretty smoothly right now in Tucson. I went to my first doctor's appointment two weeks ago. The doctor said that I'm due July 5th. He took some pictures of the baby too that are now hanging on our fridge. Yeah, we're pretty excited! We spent Christmas here in Tucson and got to play Santa for each other. I set up booby traps so that Nick wouldn't peek at the presents I set up for him. He wasn't fooled by my booby traps though and still sneaked past them at 3:00 am to set up some gifts for me from Santa. Our beautiful Christmas tree turned into a fire hazard so we had to take it down right after Christmas. Then on the 27th we went to Logandale to see the family. We got to go to McKay's endowment session. Wow! Amazing to see how grown-up our family is. Incidentally that was also the last time we saw Nick's temple recommend, so if anyone stumbles across it soon, let us know!

We got to see Martha and Jeremy for a day before they left back for CA. That's when we took the exciting trip to the Savanic Mine. Nick got to work on his 4-wheeler moves and even dodged the bear coming down the mountain successfully. Glad it wasn't me driving or I might have run us off the cliff!. Instead I just screamed and nearly wet my pants. Then I jumped off and chased Dad (the bear)around for scaring me.

Chris and Summer took us snowtubing in Pine Valley. Summer and I linked arms while our husbands took daring plunges off the mountainside on the death-sled. I'd have to say that Chris won the dare devil contest though. He also took home the gold for the ramping contest--he did a 540^o flip off the ramp at the bottom of the hill. Then Summer and I found out that the guy who went off that ramp just before him had broken his collarbone. Also, Mom introduced Nick to Super Tetras, so we joined in the Tetras championships. Alas, we didn't win. So, Nick and I had a really great Christmas break.

Now school is back in session, and Nick is back to work. I'm learning the tuba and the drums. I'm also taking a class where I learn how to teach marching band. It's pretty neat, but I still don't want to teach marching band...sigh. I guess I could have the little elementary kids march around the school with their recorders. If everything goes as planned, I'll finish my last classes this winter. Then I'll have student teaching the next semester. But that's it until I graduate. Nick will have his interview for pharmacy school in February. We won't know if he's accepted for a little while still, not that I'm worried :) :) :) ;).

Matt came to visit us. Well actually he came down for the Southwest Honor band which was held on the U of A campus. We had fun touring with him. We went to Tombstone and saw some neat sites there. We wandered around an old court house and saw the hanging nooses out back. We also went to Karchtner Caverns. That was pretty cool. But only one fourth of the cave was open. From what we explored, Lehman Caves had more to see. I tried to show off my knowledge of caves and pointed out some "bacon" cave formations to our tour guide. He said that was cheap salty bacon, and he would show us the prime bacon around the corner. He was a funny old man that asked everyone to ask him questions. Whenever anyone asked him questions he said they would have to ask a ranger inside the visitor's center, or he'd say something sort of mean to them. I fell victim to his answering methods. We got to touch all the plastic formations in the visitor's center though. I think the best part of Matt's visit was when we all went to this old fashioned theater. We saw a slapstick humor type musical. The actors wrote the play and even added in new stuff every once in a while. Since Matt was visiting from out of town, this pretty lady dressed in old-fashioned clothes brought him an ice cream cone. Oh yeah, also Matt's band concert was really neat. It definitely didn't sound like a high school band. And the trombones sounded spectacular.

MK

My tentative program for farewell is : Talk by Matt, Chris, Musical number by Martha (accompany) Becca and Mel sing. Then Mom and Dad talk. Oh ya, also I talk. Opening prayer Jack, closing prayer Grampa.

Yesterday Matt and Brady and I went to Bunkerville Mountain to ride fourwheelers. It was great fun seeing the natural beauty that mountain has to offer. There was a little snow, and the ground wasn't too dusty. We rode up to the top of the mountain and took a picture of Logandale. It was fun. We finished our day by riding back to the truck and cooking dutch oven meat and potatoes, and apple cobbler. What a day! Everything went well and nothing broke down (surprise).

I have been working in LV everyday for Uncle Vern. It's a fun job, and I get to practice my Spanish. I work with all Mexican laborers. I figured out I have 8 Saturdays left until I move to Provo, so I want to go riding or at least something fun for all the rest of them. I get a lot of calls on firewood still, so am keeping busy delivering loads of wood to Vegas. I can't believe how fast January went by, and it makes me realize how quickly April 3 will get here. I have decided that while I am gone, I will send letters home and Mom can put them on the newsletter for ya'll to read. Hope everything is going well for everyone.

love, mk

DAD & MOM

As winter storms its way through Southern Nevada, we bundle up for school in the mornings, and snuggle around a roaring blaze in the basement in the evenings. Thanks to the boys' work project in Brian Head last summer, there's plenty of aromatic firewood to burn. Of course, our winters are nothing compared to other parts of the world, like Iowa, but we did see a few snowflakes last week! I can just imagine Melanie rolling her eyes at that.

I'm anxiously awaiting McKay's missionary farewell. It's March 24^th at 1:00pm, that's a week before Easter, and the day before our week-long Nevada spring break. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone come home to celebrate together, but I'm feeling rather anxious about having to say good-bye to McKay. Two years is such a long time, but then I have to tell myself that it will be the experience of his life!

I've also made another preparation for McKay's farewell. This Christmas as we sat around our vintage decor in the basement, the last straw broke. While Dad was in Utah, McKay & Matt cleaned out the old couch and easy chair, then accompanied me to the Boulevard Furniture Store in St. George. We now own the most comfortable sectional sofa in the store! The basement looks like a brave new world! Even Dad admitted it felt good. I have to say that it's medicinal for both the body & soul!

Dad & I had our first Webelos Cub Scout den meeting last week. Neither one of us has a uniform anymore. I must have given mine to DI, and Dad vaguely remembers handing his down to one of the boys. Nonetheless, the meeting went forward. Try to picture five ten-year-old boys in the house after school. Luckily, one was absent, but unluckily, it wasn't the rowdy one! For our first month, I decided to work on the Fitness and Artist Badges. Can't you just imagine them all doing jumping jacks and squat thrusts in the front room? After that we settled around the table to create great masterpieces. One of the boys, the rowdy one, has trouble with patience, so he just dumped the paint onto his paper and smeared it around because that was faster than using the paint brush. Pretty soon paint was flying, and the other boys grabbed their papers and jumped up and down yelling, "Chandler's throwing paint on our pictures!" In about ten seconds, Chandler declared he was finished and wanted to go outside to play in our yard, but I convinced him to start another masterpiece. He still finished before anyone else, and continued to keep the excitement level at a peak, when suddenly he heard his mom honking outside. He raced out like a road runner without even a good-bye. The rest of us took a deep breath and finished the works of art. Later that evening as we sat peacefully around the table at dinner, I noticed a blotch of red paint on one of the chairs.

Dad has recently received an honorary distinction. Last month, the governor of Nevada, Governor Kenny Guin, appointed him to the governing board of HELP of Southern Nevada because of his outstanding achievements through affiliation with Cappalappa Family Resource Center. At his first HELP meeting, Ken contributed his insightful wisdom to guiding the spending of millions of dollars toward community agencies throughout the state. From here on, we can all address him as "Governor."

Meanwhile, our home has turned into a quiet little almost-empty nest. We're looking forward to seeing you all in April. It's always such a joy to be around all my favorite people. Remember this picture from the reunion?? It just brings back a wealth of wonderful feelings, basking in the delights of having fun being altogether. Reunion 2001 was definitely the highlight of our year! Let us know when you're coming and how we can best accommodate you all.

Love, Mom & Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

Happy January Birthday to Jeremy on the 14^th, and Chris on the 17^th.
Happy February Birthday to McKayla on the 9^th, McKay on the 16^th and Kambri on the 17^th.

FROM OUR FAMILY HISTORY