Mom 'n' Dad

Dear Family,

Summertime . . . and the living is easy . . . Oh yeah, we love the summer! School's out, the kids are home and they get to unlearn all the bad habits they picked up at school. I'm unwinding after the end of another strenuous year at Mojave High School. I have a dream schedule to look forward to in September including 3 classes of advanced French, English 101 for dual credit, and of course, yearbook. The family reunion is fast approaching, and we can't wait to get together in sunny California.

I spent a teary day today saying good-bye to Dawn and Jake. Kevin drove away yesterday with Dave and Mark. After twenty years of being next-door neighbors, I can't believe they're gone. Of course it's only been 16 3/4 years that Jake's been around, but just thinking about how we've watched those three boys grow up since they were babies makes me marvel at the passing of time and the strong bonds of friendship that develop over years. Their empty house symbolizes the empty space in my heart because I know we'll never see such caring and giving neighbors again. Now they're off to start a new life with a new job and new adventures in Arizona, and life goes on.

Ken's working in Ogden and American Fork, so I may as well spend my time visiting kids: first down to Arizona to see Becca, Martha and hopefully Matt. I look forward to lounging around Martha's pool while Lyle, Hyrum and Elizabeth entertain me with all their latest pool stunts. I can't wait to see Becca's brand new baby. She'll be more than three weeks old by the time I finally get to hold her. Can you believe I've lived through waiting so long to see her? I expect Jonathan, Stelli and Lissy to do a good job of introducing their brand new sister to me. After Arizona, I hope to spend some time in Seattle visiting the Atwoods. The cool Seattle weather should really be a treat, not to mention the cool Atwood family!

As I look around at so many people struggling through economic strife, I do feel fortunate to be so well provided for. Not only do we have a secure home and employment, but so do our children. Although we have recently heard from various friends in need of aid through hard times, we're proud to say that our kids are managing well. You should all pat yourselves on the back for living the frugal practice of staying within your means. The wisdom of resisting the temptation to over spend, go into debt and splurge on luxuries beyond your budget will be the saving grace that gets you through this economic recession. I recently read an article advising us to live in a manner that avoids schemes of "get rich quick" replacing them with "get rich slowly." While the latter may lack the short term appeal, it offers long term security, integrity and satisfaction. So once again, we council you all to live your lives with wisdom keeping the spirit of preparedness in mind.

We can't wait to see everyone at the reunion and throughout the summer.

Love & prayers, Mom & Dad

Chris 'n' Summer

Becca and family, congratulations on the new baby. She is beautiful and it sounds like you have everything under control. Well it is all easy sailing from here on out or until school starts!!! Today was the last day of school, and it didn't come a minute too soon. It is going to take a month to recover from the month of May. I am going to fill you in on the crazy month we have had. We kicked off May with a BBQ we hosted on the 3rd. It was tons of fun. We invited Bryan, Jill and son, Don, Regan and sons, Rod, Christy and twins and son, and all of us. It was a great success, but a ton of work. The following Wednesday, we had Bronson's Birthday party and had a visit from the McKay family, which ended up being a late night Wii party !!! On Saturday the 10th I took Leslie, her friend and Madyson to the mall in Henderson to Libby Lu's for a birthday party makeover. This was for Leslie’s Birthday. Libby Lu's is an all girl store that hosts parties. They do their nails, hair, and lots of glitter and lip gloss. They looked so cute and acted all grown up. With their purses in hand, we set out for a full day of shopping and lunch. It was so fun to hang with my two girls. They spent one hour in the Hello Kitty store, my favorite. By the time we got home it was 8:00 pm. I couldn't even walk!!

Sunday was Mother's Day, as you all know, and I had finals later that week, so I spent most of the day and night studying! My finals went great. I got "A"s in all three classes. After my last final on Thursday the 15th, the three little kids and I left for Utah. I needed to take care of my grandma while my aunt went out of town. The kids had a blast. They rode bikes all over town and to the park and played in the attic. Sage was so cute; she absolutely loved my grandma. Sage called her "Baby Grandma." She would pull a chair over to the wheel chair wherever it was to sit by Grandma. She even pushed her all around the house. When I walked in the front room one afternoon, I heard Sage asking Grandma, "Baby Grandma, do you need to go potty? I will take you." Sage even kept climbing in Grandma's bed at night. It is amazing to me that a child as young as Sage could see that Grandma needed help with even the simplest things. Sage spent most of our visit sitting with her watching old movies and assisting with everything her Baby Grandma might need. I am so grateful to be able to share my children with my grandma, and how rare it is that children get the opportunity to visit and help a great grandparent. A good time was had by all!! It was great weather. I think it was about 75 or 80 every day, except the morning we left, it was raining. Leslie and Chris were glad to have us home after 6 days on their own, although I think they had a good time spending some time together.

The last week of May was 4th grade country reports. Leslie did Canada, and with the help of Grandma Whitney it was a great success. She took crepes and some of Grandma's homemade jelly. This was a hit. Her display was so neat, and she could tell you just about anything you wanted to know about Canada.

We also let Madyson have an early Birthday party on the 30th. Last year we were in AZ; I can't remember why??? So we decided it would be easier to have the party before school got out. Madyson had so much fun. She and all her friends played in the water. We had a slip'n'slid and 4 small swimming pools, pizza, and a pinata. What else could you ask for???

This week June 1st we have had end of the year parties, water day, and kindergarten graduation. And it is only Wednesday. Note: use caution when signing up to be a room mother; it may be more than you bargained for!!

So now we are done. We will sleep in, stay in our PJs, unplug the phone, and do nothing, at least until we get bored . . . did I mention I am leaving Friday, June 6th for Denver! Wish Chris luck for he will need it, and pray for the four splendid children I am leaving in his care!!! If you are still reading this I hope you are doing well and have been able to keep your self busy, and if you have stopped reading this I also hope you are well!!! See you all at the end of the month!!!!

Love, The Wild Bunch

Martha 'n' Jeremy

May

This past month was very nice and normal. I think it was the most normal month we've ever had. This was the first Memorial Day in four years that Jeremy didn't have to study for tests or have school. As a family, we put together shelves in the garage, went swimming and ended the day with barbeque ribs and potato salad. We saved having ice cream until after the kids went to bed; that way we could have more!

The kids and I spend the days doing Mom and kid stuff. It's a lot of fun. We started a chore chart this month and the kids have had a blast cleaning toilets and vacuuming rooms. I never knew work could be so exciting. Lyle's favorite thing is to scrub the toilet so vigorously that the water splashes out of the bowl. I'm trying to curb his enthusiasm a little. Rummy's favorite thing is to polish his Dad's bathroom sink faucet so much that he can see his own face in it. Lizzy's favorite thing is to dance around the boys and see how far she can go before she's in the way. My favorite thing is to watch them all. I really try hard to laugh instead of jump in and redo it all!

Tonight Jeremy and the boys are sleeping outside on the trampoline. I think he's enjoying our normal life as much as I am!

See you all at the end June!

Love, The Tanners

Becca 'n' Nick

Emilyn is here! Born May 16th at 5:04am, She weighed 6 lbs 4 ozs and measured 19 3/4 inches long. We're all home and everyone's happy. Don't tell the hospital, but I didn't wake her up in the middle of the night, like they recommended, to force her to nurse, not like I had any milk anyway! So she actually slept from 10:30pm to 5:00am! What an angel! How long will that last? Here are some pictures. . .

Love, The Bryces

McKay 'n' Keresa

Not a lot new this month. We live in a Vegas apartment. I'm working an internship for Clark County Legal Aid in their domestic violence unit. So if anyone is feeling a bit too happy and needs some depressing stories, let me know! There is a lot of child abuse, spousal abuse, etc. It makes me come home and play with the kids until they go to bed because I don't want them to be neglected by their dad like the kids in these cases.

Keresa's cousin teaches a swim lessons class, so she has been hauling the kids over there every day the last couple weeks. Those three are looking VERY TAN! She is really enjoying being close to family.

We got to attend a batman birthday party for Bronson. It was a lot of fun, and the way the Batman pin~ata was hanging, when the kids beat him enough, his body fell off and just his head was left hanging up there. It was cool.

Sydney said that she is a grand child. We asked her why she thought that. She said because she likes graham crackers so much, she must be a graham child!

Jackson is getting the same sense of humor as his dad. Keresa keeps her bobby pins in a bottle/jar that is a lot like a big film canister. Jackson walked up to her and tapped his bum while saying, "poo poo poo!" Then he stuck his hand in there. Keresa freaked (like any good mom would do when her toddler stuck his hand in his poopy diaper) and grabbed his arm so he wouldn't get you-know-what on everything. Then he smiled, pulled his hand out, and he was only holding the lid to that bobby pins bottle. That little trickster. MK KGW SRW JGW

Matthias and Megan

We are SOOOOO glad to be on the other side of a killer semester! Exams ended on May 16th, and we both scored good grades. The very next Monday, Megan went full-time at her position with M3 Engineering, and I began my internship at Ft. Huachuca in Sierra Vista. I am commuting to Sierra Vista on an organized van transit Monday mornings, then I stay with Megan's parents and work 4 ten hour days, then take the van commute back to Tucson. It's rough to be away from Megan for the four days and three nights. But really, since we get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday homework free, we still have a net more time to spend together! It's almost like a mini honey moon every weekend! Some of our most recent fun weekend activities include eating out with friends, eating in with friends, spending the day in Martha's pool with lots of family, recording more multi-track barber shop songs, creating more digital scrapbooking pages, and visiting the largest rubber band ball in the world! Things are great and we look forward to the rest of a good summer.

Matthias & Megan

The World's Largest Rubber Band Ball!

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Another Sample of Megan's Digi Scrapping

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