Message from Mom, Etc.

Dear Family,

It's finally May, and just like the rest of the kids, I'm counting down the days till school's out. What a unique time of year this is. Everyone's restless for summer, and we're making plans to get the most out of it. Right now the big plan is how to coordinate a family reunion with Matt's wedding all around the 4th of July, right after Martha & Jeremy's big move, just before McKay and Keresa's big move, and how will Melanie and Andy manage a temporary move south for their summer extended family activities. Doesn't that just sound mind-boggling? As we wind down the school year, we're thankful for our family, health and the many blessings we enjoy.

Love & prayers, Mom

Chris & Summer

Melanie & Andy

Rumor has it that the Atwoods have been busy with their developing business. Check out this link to see what's been keeping Andy sleepless in Seattle.

Kambri

I've got to admit this year's been a crazy one! I've been so busy all day with all my school "stuff" and talents. As you all may know, I do dance and music and my latest marvel, French and Italian!!! My mother and I made a deal: as soon as I learn French and Italian I get to go to France and Italy.

I've been working on my grades also. We are in the middle of WASL, (Washington Assessment for Student Learning), the biggest, most stressful test of the year.

My family is taking a trip to Utah and Logandale for ten days. Aunt Rebecca just came home from her mission in Argentina, and she spoke in church Sunday. It was fun to visit all my friends I miss so much who live in Spanish Fork. On the way to Logandale, the van broke down. As we coasted off the freeway, Mom gasped, "We've lost all power!." Michael panicked, "How will we charge the DS???" He meant the Nintendo DS, the only thing keeping him alive on the long, boring road trip. Luckily, after three hours, we were back on the road with a new alternator and recharged air conditioner.

In Logandale, we relaxed playing with Whitney cousins and helping Grandma finish the newsletter.

Love, Kambri

P.S. my email address is princesskambri@yahoo.com

Martha & Jeremy

April 2007

I'm not ready to talk about the future yet, but my kids are sure cute and fun!

Elizabeth surprised us this month by rolling over and then growing her first two bottom teeth. Her personality continues to blossom. I forgot how good it feels to smile at a baby and then have her look lovingly back at you and coo, smile and laugh. Elizabeth would probably do it anyway, but it sure gets me happy to see her react so excitedly! One of her new favorite pastimes is to sit on my lap and watch her brothers put on a show for her. Lyle and Hyrum will do anything silly or crazy to get a reaction from Elizabeth. I guess we all like to see her smile at us! Elizabeth has also started eating cereal. I think we like feeding her more than she likes eating the cereal. She doesn't eat that much.

Hyrum likes to feed Elizabeth more than anyone else. I finally figured out why. He always is so enthusiastic when I ask him to feed her. When I showed him how to feed her, he caught on pretty quickly, so I let him do it all by himself. For some reason, when ever he feeds her, she always finishes her entire bowl of cereal. I just figured it's because he has a way with her and can get her to open her mouth better than the rest of us. The other day I decided to watch the two and see how Rummy gets her to eat so much. Once I saw his secret, I was no longer impressed. Instead of feeding her, he feeds himself! I had a hard time acting stern when I saw him. He would give her a small bite and then quickly shovel heaping spoonfuls of rice cereal into his mouth. Then he would give her another small spoonful and repeat the process. When he noticed that he was caught, there was nothing he could do but offer me a spoonful. I tried it and it tastes a lot better than I would have guessed! I guess I can't blame him.

Lyle turned four this month. Jeremy and I can't believe we have a four-year old. It's amazing how fast they grow. I remember looking at Lyle's baby clothes when he was a newborn and wondering how he'd ever grow big enough to fit in a size 6-month outfit. Now he's four and blowing us away with his thoughtful interpretations on life. My favorite comment he made this month was about a burrito. We had burritos for dinner one night. I gave everyone their own toppings and let them make their own. Then I taught the kids how to roll it up. When I finished, I held up mine and said, "Look at this beauty." Lyle quickly finished rolling his and said, "Mom, my bootie is bigger and better!"

These pictures are at my favorite spot in Philly. I took the kids there yesterday and we had a blast. It was Rummy's first time. This is part of the Fairmount Park, the nation's largest park within a city. Believe it or not, this spot is nestled right in Philly. Who would have guessed! Also, believe it or not, the kids never did fall in the water! They did get wet splashing in some mud puddles though.

Mouse happenings: I was in my bedroom one morning with the kids. The boys were watching a cartoon and I was nursing Elizabeth. A dark, still silhouette caught my attention. I've really become an expert at sensing small fast moving objects. What caught my attention this time was that it was still. I turned my head and fine tuned my senses. My eyes focused in at the bottom of our box fan. There was a tiny, dead mouse laying there. I never knew what it meant to be desensitized to something until that moment. Did I throw Elizabeth off my lap and do a dance, no. Did I scream, no. Did I even tell the boys, no. Instead, I calmly thought, "huh, I wonder how long that mouse has been there; funny it doesn't smell." I put out Decon in the house a few weeks ago and I guess it's working. Only sorta though because I did see one dart around the corner a few weeks ago . . .

Take care and have a good month! Love, The Tanners

Becca & Nick

Estelle wants a pink cat. And anything else that doesn't or does come in pink. Now that we've been using our swamp cooler the curls on top her head have become so bouncy and lively. I love to see Estelle bopping around the house with her wild curls boinging along.

Jonathan is becoming more grown up as we sit and have a conversation or two. During one conversation he maturely recollected the bathroom on the airplane. "Mom, remember the bathroom on the airplane to Brazil? Remember there was a toilet in it and a sink and soap? I remember that." It blows me away what he remembers, after all that was a year and a half ago. And the two of them, Jonathan and Estelle, have been spending a lot of the day playing Peter Pan. Peter and Wendy throw all the pillows off the couch, jump aboard, buckle their seatbelts, and then ride to Neverland where they fight pirates including "John Captain Hook." Jonathan, or Peter, uses one of Estelle's play knives as a dagger that he stores in his belt loop. While Wendy, or Estelle, carries along one of her kitchen forks mimicking every move and word Jonathan makes.

The other day while I was holding Elissa I could have sworn there was a dishtowel following me around. Turns out there really was a dishtowel following me around. At some point Elissa had grabbed on to a towel with no intention of ever letting go.

I'm learning about some of the blessings we keep being told we'll gain while Nick serves as a counselor in the bishopric. For the first time Estelle gave no protest as I did her hair for church. And on top of that we were early for church for the first time this year. That is an especially big deal since the clock in the chapel is a few minutes fast and church starts at 8:00 am. Also I love all the key access! I didn't have to chase down the young women's president to get a tablecloth out of the closet. Nick just coolly used what he suspected to be an all-access key from his ring. Talk about blessings!

Love, The Bryces

McKay & Keresa

Well we don't have anything exciting like kids with broken arms. . .

April brought the Fair, and we spent an afternoon looking at animals, eating fried stuff, and Sydney even tried the bungee trampoline.

Sydney has learned to say a lot of things. The other day she had a snotty nose and she asked Keresa for a "TISH-me." She also listens all the time then asks, "What is that noise Mommy? (Daddy)"

We have been attending a number of high school volley ball games to watch Keresa's little brother. The players often wipe the sweat from their brows, then wipe it on the bottoms of their shoes. The idea is it rinses the dust from their shoes and they have a little moisture to aid in their ability to grip the floor. Sydney has been trying to jump really high, and Keresa found her wiping the bottoms of her feet like the players as she jumped.

Jackson is trying to learn to crawl, but so far he is not getting far. He has gotten up on his all fours and rocked back and forth, but that is about it. He is a happy little guy as long as we keep him full of food.

We set up the pool a couple weeks ago and left it to warm up in this sunny season. We swam on Saturday and it is still a little chilly, but our kids appreciated a fun dip with their parents.

We will be moving to Virginia this summer to prepare for law school in Grundy at the Appalachian School of Law. We are planning to use a moving service that parks a semi-trailer in front of your house, you load it up, then they come pick it up and you meet them at your new house. We figure we will order the trailer a couple days before we leave for Mesa for Matt's wedding, then attend the wedding, then drive on the Virginia to meet the moving van.

To relax from all the application and waiting, we are planning a trip to San Diego for a couple days. We will relax, come home and pack our stuff, then we will be outta here!

MK KGW SRW JGW

Matthias

Querida Familia,

I am happy to report that as of today, there are 11 calendar days until the end of the semester, officially! Or so tells me my countdown I have set up on my Google home page. I finished my big push last week with two more exams and a lab final to get me through to this week, which is the last week of classes. Thursday is what is known as "Dead Day": the day after classes but the before exams, then Friday is the first day of exams, which go through a week from Friday. I am pleased also to report that I am on the verge of getting an A in nearly every class. Best case scenario, straight A's! Worst case scenario, straight B's! We'll see how exam week goes.

Megan and I happily count the days until July 6th (67 days according to my Google Countdown). We occupy ourselves with activities such as FFHE (future family home evening), studying, scrabble, sudoku, swimming, skydiving, well, not really skydiving but I wanted another 's' one, and other fun things. We don't have a whole lot of plans yet about the wedding, but we did agree that we definitely will have Eegee's drinks at the reception. July's flavor of the month will be watermelon.

So I guess since I didn't write anything last month, I've never written our engagement story. So during our spring break, I went down to Logandale to take care of some things and stop by MJ Christensen's. Then I drove back to Sierra Vista where Megan was staying with her family. Early that Friday March 16th in the morning, I drove with Megan to a hike in Sierra Vista called Brown Canyon. As I was exiting the car, I was searching for a way to sneakily secure the ring in my pocket. I didn't want to have a loose ring just bouncing around in my pocket, but I didn't want to have to carry around the bulky ring box either for fear of being discovered. I searched around for anything in the car to solve my situation. Aha! I spotted a half-empty packet of gum. I slipped the ring inside and stuffed the gum in my pocket. During the hike, we stopped off on an alternate path (well, not really a path at all) to kind of go up the side of a hill. On the hill, we found a nice cozy rock where we could over look the canyon and just talk. After a while, I got up some nerve, turned to look into Megan's eyes and asked her, "Megan, would you like a piece of gum?" And she said yes! So I handed her the gum packet, only for her to kind of halfway pass it back to me saying thoughtfully, "Would you like a piece also?" So I told her to look down deeper inside where she discovered the ring and asked, "For reals?" Then she said, "Heck yes!"

We've kind of started working on our announcements in an informal sense. The institute of religion has a wedding announcement board with the banner reading "Anxiously Engaged" where all of the engaged couples post. Since we're in the last week of classes and students have already stopped visiting the institute for the semester, we wanted to hurry and post an informal announcement. So we had a little photo shoot, then took 10 minutes and made a little card in Office Publisher to hang up. I'll be sure and enclose a copy for the newsletter.

It sure will be fun to see you all in July. We'll try and put on a good show for every one!

Con Amor, Matthias

PS, Megan says hi.