Mom 'n' Dad

Dear Family,

Somehow I put off doing the March newsletter until half way to May. I kept thinking I'd get one more piece of news from someone, but I didn't. So here's the official announcement: April's news is due April 1st, and I'll get the newsletter done by the first weekend, if not sooner. It wouldn't hurt to start your news offerings right now!

February treated us rather well. We took advantage of the cold weather to do some ice fishing at Otter Creek Reservoir. Although we drilled through 18 inches of ice to drop our lines in, the weather blessed us with warmth and sunshine, creating a constant shudder of creaks, groans and thuds from beneath the ice. It sounded a bit spooky, but we had tons of fun and pulled out enough fish to make a big bowl of ceviche.

This week I'm enjoying Spring Break with a week off school and the relief of knowing I'll go back with just a week and two months left, in other words, a piece of cake. Dad still enjoys working with Uncle Vern, and most days we carpool together. Overall life is good, and we count our blessings.

love and prayers,

Mom & Dad

Martha 'n' Jeremy

February sped by with relatively few diversions. Valentine's Day was a highlight for the month. We had pink heart-shaped pancakes with pink scrambled eggs and strawberry milk for breakfast. Jeremy was a little grossed out but the kids giggles with excitement. Holidays are so much fun with kids.

Lyle gave us a scare with complaints about stomach pains. By the fourth night he was crippled over with pain. Jeremy and I panicked and called different stomach pain experts we knew, aka MK and Mom, and then decided to take him to the emergency room. That little stinker fell asleep in the waiting room. The doctor, a big stinker, didn't believe us that this sleeping angel had any pains at all. She took some x-rays and sent us home. On the way home, Lyle woke up in the car and was up crying for the rest of the night. In the morning, I took him to the ped. and they concluded the pain was from constipation. When I heard that, I wanted to ground Lyle in the bathroom until the problem was solved. She gave us some potion combinations and Lyle has been a regular boy ever since.

We like to go on family walks in the desert behind our home. We've walked out there a few times in hopes of seeing a train up close. We usually come home without seeing one. The last time, we were lucky enough to see one. It chugged slowly up to us. Hyrum's face beamed with pure delight and his body shook with excitement. It was more fun for me to watch Hyrum than the train. As far as Hyrum was concerned, the train was coming for him. As the train approached he started waving. The conductor rang his bell, tooted his horn and waved back at Hyrum. At that moment, there couldn't have been a happier boy in the world. Hyrum walked around the rest of the day with a smile on his face.

Jeremy enjoys work and prides himself on making patients cry, not because they are in pain, but because they so happy to have found a dentist who doesn't inflict pain. He brings home some of the most fun and random stories. The other day he was presenting a crown to a patient. The Dental Assistant needed to rinse the crown with water and accidentally dropped it down the sink. She panicked and ran out of them room saying she needed to call a plumber. Jeremy calmly called her back in and told her it would be okay. He went over to the sink, pulled it apart and retrieved the crown. By the end he had a crowd cheering and impressed everyone with his man-skills. I'm sure this was a lot easier than the time in Philly he had to pull the toilet out and retrieve a brush Hyrum had flushed down in the middle of the night.

Elizabeth is convinced she is as old as Lyle and Rummy. When they are playing Transformers, she has one in her hand too and walks around them in circles talking non-stop. When the boys are playing trains, she has an engine in her hand and does the same. When they are on the trampoline, she wants to be on too. Although, she can't really stand or jump yet, she has just as much fun rolling in circles while they jump around her. She is Lyle's "little sweetheart" and will respond to that name as quickly as Elizabeth.

We're taking the boys to a Monster Truck Rally tonight. All three boys, Jeremy included, have had trouble sleeping the past few nights because of their excitement and anticipation. I'm excited to go and see the looks of joy and excitement on my boys' faces!

Love, The Tanners

McKay 'n' Keresa

Lots happened in February.

A guy I sit by in Property had a news headline pop up on his computer. He then whispered over to me, "The Mormon president died. That cult..." So I whispered back, "You know I'm 'Mormon,' right?" He didn't believe me, and it led to some funny discussion. Given our many previous conversations and our friendly joking relationship, I didn't feel offended, and he didn't feel embarrassed after apologizing. It sprang some interesting deep thoughts for me though - how could I prove to anyone I was LDS? I couldn't show him my underwear, I didn't want to flash my temple recommend, so I ended up showing him that I have various LDS magazines downloaded on my computer.

I was very touched that many youth wore their Sunday best to school on the first day back after Pres. Hinckley's death. How cool. Also, what a vision of how the church could mass communicate from one another. For any who are unaware, the LDS newsroom site has a press release describing it. Someone decided they would wear Sunday best to school, they texted their friend, who texted their friend, etc. etc. until there was massive text messaging traffic that spread through Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, and other western states.

We've got Sydney trying to memorize the Articles of Faith. Keresa's favorite saying of Syd's is "...that man's gunna be punished for his own sins..."

Sydney and I got into a discussion about our moms. I asked if she knew who was my mom -- Grandma Whitney. I asked if she knew who was Mom's mom -- Grandma Gifford. I asked if she knew who was Jackson's mom -- Summer... Jackson fell face first on our concrete. It scraped up his nose pretty badly. Usually he holds his nose and says "P-U" when we change his diaper. Well, he tried to do his normal thing, but it hurt really badly when he squeezed his nose, so he started crying.

Jackson and I had just filled our mouths up with chocolate before jumping in the shower. It was a minute or so into the shower before I realized he was still chewing on a chocolaty caramel bite. So I had him spit it out on the floor of the tub. It eventually went near the drain. By this time Keresa usually comes in to get the boy from me and go get him dressed. So she walked in and caught both of us boys trying to smash a soft brown thing down the shower drain with our heels. I got in trouble, and she wouldn't let me explain, so I'm explaining now.

Sometimes Jackson feeds me some of his cereals during church (corn chex). We have taught him to always say please or ahh to get a bite of something. He tried to feed me a cereal and instead of opening my mouth, I just caught it in my lips so I could hold it for a bit. He forced his hand into my mouth, pulled down my jaw with all his strength, then with the other hand shoved the cereal in. I was very surprised. On the next bite, he held up the piece for me and said, "Peez ahhh." As if to say, "Okay, Dad, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

In blessing the food the other night, Sydney said, "And please bless it will get warm outside so we can go out and play with bubbles."

Jackson is very interested in wearing snow boots recently. He will wear his cool camouflage ones, but only until he remembers about Sydney's cool bright pink ones! Then he carries around her purse and pretends to be talking on the phone. oh no.

MK KGW SRW JGW

Matthias & Megan

Sorry Megan and I have been a little anti-social with the newsletter, but rest assured it is not the only thing we've been anti-social with this semester. I guess I probably have the heavier load this semester, but I just feel like my brain is gonna crack some days. The other week, I came home from studying all day with a migraine, and later that night I puked. I have two classes that require a long homework assignment as well as a long computer project every week. Then other classes sprinkle homeworks and exams. We're looking forward to spring break though, which is in another week.

Here are a few little fun things though: a week ago Saturday, Megan's work had a company picnic and softball tournament. We borrowed some gloves and pretended we knew what we were doing. Then when it came time for the home run derby, Megan stepped up to the plate and won the silver medal for the womens! Last Friday, the Institute of Religion had a huge activity. Our part in the fun was hosting a DDR competition. After every song that anyone played, Megan would write down their scores on a white board and we kept a running tab of the high scores. Someone actually dethroned my number one score for most of the night! But as the evening drew to a close, he came back and I rematched him and came out on top! So Megan and I have been winners in some of the latest activities.

Con Amor,

Matthias & Megan

PS from Dad

A couple of weeks ago, we were awakened in the middle of the night, maybe it was only 8:30, by a very worried Martha. (see her article). The thought of Lyle having a serious problem raised a palpable fear in my innards, or it could have been the ice cream and fried eggs. Nonetheless, as old people, and I am one, do, I began to reflect on Martha's drama trauma. There were times many, many years ago I would awake with a hard, painful knot in my stomach. Probably from not drinking enough water or eating green fruit, I dunno, it was too long ago. Regardless, the only relief would be lying across the edge of the cold cast iron tub. Bare skin to white enamel. I don't remember Mom getting involved but in retrospect I am sure she knew. Besides I was the third of a whole passel of children, and she likely had already experienced that particular childhood malady various time in the others. Additionally I realized Martha, as well as the rest of you, have begun to regularly feel pain and anxiety as a result of what your dear ones feel/do. How we worry about those whom we love, even more over those whom we partnered creating. If you/we had an inkling of what pain and concern we cause/caused our parents, would we have been more careful in our actions and deeds? Would we do more that results in their joy and happiness? Well, to do or not do something simply to please others is a pretty thin reason. But remembering that might help tip the balance when we are undecided.

Speaking of remembering, that's another skill that is going downhill fast with the flying years. I've started writing tons of notes, and when I always put them in the same place so I can find them, and when I remember to look at them, they help. I've also been trying to encourage Linda to do the same. She's a little resistant. The other night we were watching TV or playing cribbage, I don't remember perzackly, when she offered to go dish us up some ice cream. "Good idea," I agreed, "but you better write it down." She assured me there would not be a problem. "Wait," says I, "I'd also like some of that special chocolate fudge topping you make and you'd better write it down as to not forget." Again I was assured making a note of everything was not necessary. "Yeah," I continue, "but I also would like some of those tasty St David pecans chopped and sprinkled on top. You sure you can remember all that?" Once again she reassured me and even belittled me a bit having to write things down as to remember them. Well about a half hour later she came back with a scrumptious looking plate of scrambled eggs with her special salsa and some chopped St David peppers. "I knew you should have written it down," I say, "I wanted my eggs fried."

I worry about, miss and love you all,

Dad