Friday, April 29, 2011

Easter

Better late than never right?
Well considering we just got home from our big trip last night, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.
Our trip home was a whole different disaster that I will go into later. I really wanted to post some pictures from Easter.
Because of all the wedding festivities going on we didn't do a ton for Easter. Not that I'm complaining- Sarah's wedding was wonderful and more than made up for the fact I didn't get to have my annual Easter party. But I don't have a ton of pictures. We left Sarah and Johnny's reception at about 9:30 and drove up to Smoot Wyoming to visit some friends from college. We arrived at there house around 12:30 am extremely tired and sleepy. We didn't get to go to church on Easter Sunday, which was a bummer, but it was nice to get to relax and sleep. Even Tanner was tired after the wedding.
We woke up and had breakfast, got ready and dressed for the day and then we brought out Tanner's Easter basket. (Be impressed- I actually remembered to bring his basket from home) We didn't put much candy in there- besides fruit snacks- because he's not even two and doesn't really need the sugar. We mostly filled it with toys and he got a new "Little Miss Spider" book.
Here is Tanner with his Easter loot

Even though I had my camera on the wrong setting and the picture isn't great- I LOVE HIS LITTLE FACE. This was the "casual" Easter outfit I got for him because I knew we'd be traveling on Easter..and I figured this wasn't too dressy. Love the bright orange shirt! I had made him a tie to go with it, but decided he didn't need to wear it....it was also obnoxiously bright-which I loved.

He loved the new toy truck. He drove it all over Michael & Heather's furniture while he made truck noises. What can I say- he's all boy.

He also found a toy duck in his basket that kept quacking at him as it laid its candy eggs. He wasn't too sure about the duck though.

No smiles...


Then he discovered the bubbles and fell in love. I fell in love with these too. The bubbles came with a "no spill tumbler" so Tanner can dump the bubbles upside down and nothing comes out and yet when he pulls the wand out he can still blow bubbles. I LOVE TARGET!

So we had to play outside with the bubbles for a while.


Eventually we went back inside and he looked though the rest of his basket. He did finally discover the "Buddy Fruit" applesauce that he loves. (Thank you Pam for turning me on to those-- they are wonderful!)


That afternoon Chris and Michael took Tanner out to explore and I got a nice nap. Then we went over to Heather's grandma's house for Easter dinner. They were really nice people and made us feel right at home. Tanner loved it there. They had chickens, goats, dogs, cats...he was in seventh heaven. Dinner was so delicious and we were happy to spend it with friends.

After we got home from dinner Chris hid Tanner's Easter eggs around Michael and Heather's property. Unfortunately, they are still working on their house so their yard is kind of a construction site. So the pictures aren't that pretty but he had a good time looking for them.

The hunt

Tanner putting the eggs he found in his basket

Yeah- he loved that he could open them and get the fruit snacks out



It was so fun to get to spend some time with Michael and Heather. They were some of our best friends in Idaho and we miss hanging out with them.

The next day we left for Montana to go visit one of my best friends- Adrian and her hubby Luke. We hung out with them for about a day and a half and then headed back down to Utah to catch our early morning flight. We had so much fun visiting Adrian and Luke though. They are both so good with Tanner, we all felt right at home. We spent our first day in Helena playing around and shopping a bit. We didn't have much time and we would have liked to have stayed longer, but it was still fun to see old friends.

Wednesday we drove back to Utah and stayed with my Aunt Jan one last time. We ate at "Sushi Ya" that night and it was so good. I could only have cooked fish like crab and shrimp but it was still so delicious! Well it was delicious until about 2 am when I woke up really sick and spend the next 1 1/2 hours throwing up. Then at about 4 I woke up with a ridiculously high fever and I couldn't stop shivering. Chris had to hold me so I could finally get warm enough to fall asleep. All-in-all I figure I got about 3 hours of sleep that night. We woke up at 5 am to catch our flight, only to get there and wait 6 1/2 hours because of a dead battery. Then we had a 5 hour layover in Denver. Because of the delay that morning, we missed our connection into Branson so they had to fly us into Springfield. That would have been fine except our car was parked in Branson.
So we landed in Springfield at 11:40 pm- waited for our luggage and rented a car. Drove down to Branson, picked up our car- returned the rental and then drove the rest of the way home. I fell into bed last night at 4 am. And because Tanner wasn't up until 4 am last night- he was up and ready to play at 9:00 am this morning (which is pretty late for him usually, but I'm still so tired).
But atleast we are home and can relax. Frontier did give us each $200 vouchers for our next flight and $15 meal vouchers for the airport. So we're hoping we can now afford to visit our Oregon family earlier than planned. With Tanner turning two he won't get to fly free anymore, but with these vouchers maybe we can swing it. Hopefully we can fly out to visit them for Thanksgiving to New Years. YAY!!!

Monday, April 25, 2011

My Little Sister's Wedding

I can hardly believe its over- my little sister is a married woman! Sarah and Johnny Allred got married April 23rd, 2010.
Their wedding went off without a hitch. It was a beautiful day and she was a beautiful bride!

Bride and Groom coming out of the Temple

They had a sweet sealing in the Bountiful Temple, followed by pictures on the temple grounds and a luncheon at the Wight House in Bountiful.
The Bride with my little man

Sarah and Johnny with our Parents

Bride and Groom with the Bride's nephews

Bridesmaids with Bride

Tanner loved his Aunt's flowers

Tanner and Mom at the Temple

Playing around the grounds of the Temple


Little man all worn out

The luncheon was so yummy. There were speeches given by both sets of parents and then the bride and groom and then Johnny sang Sarah a song he'd written on his guitar. It was super sweet.
The Bride and Groom entering the luncheon

Bride and Groom at the luncheon

Johnny singing to his new Bride

Tanner clapping for his new Uncle.

Sarah loves my baby belly. (Disclaimer: this dress is not them most flattering thing ever- I look big here)

Tanner thought the food was delish!

Then we had the reception at a stake center in Layton. We arrived an hour early for pictures and prep. We hired a company to come in and decorate the gym to make it look like a reception hall and they did a great job.
Bride and Groom at the reception

Here is their cake. The colors were Green and Orange. The whole place looked amazing.

Drake Family picture at the reception

Herb Family picture

Tanner and his Uncle at the reception. Tanner being "coy"

Bride with her sisters

Tanner and Noah (My cousin Matt's little boy- he's 4 months older than Tanner) Aren't they studs?

Tanner and Papa at the reception

Tanner enjoying some wedding cake.

Tanner only got about 25 minutes of a nap all day, but he was such a sport. He smiled for pictures and didn't cry all day. He was awesome. Love my little boy!
I also got to see some old friends from College. Jon and Julie Arndt were there, Christie, Steve and their little girl Bree, and Kelsey and Katie Hogge. It was so fun to see everyone. I didn't get one of Julie and I, but here is one of Kelsey, Christie and I.
Tanner and Bree- They were giving "loves". Tanner even gave her a kiss. It was so adorable

After the reception Chris, Tanner and I drove to Wyoming to visit some friends. We got in at 12:30 am. We were so exhausted, but now we are catching up with friends and relaxing. I'll post about Easter soon.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Enjoying the Awesome Weather

We headed down to the river last Sunday to take a walk and let Tanner run around. He loved walking around the "boardwalk" on the river. He ran back and forth and kept peeking his head through the wooden planks.


Love this little face


He really like watching the fish in the water with his Dad.

Family Picture at the River

Then we let him play a little bit at the playground.

Of course he only had interest in the slide

Then we walked down to the river access and let him play in the water. Even though the river is still freezing, Tanner couldn't resist dipping his toes in the water. He really like playing down there.



We're getting excited for the water to warm up so we can go on canoe trips and fishing. We're planning a day trip to Blanchard Springs really soon too.

Anyways, we had a pretty quiet week. Tanner is cutting more teeth (Seriously- its a never ending process) and he's been sick with that. He doesn't eat hardly at all when he cuts teeth and he runs a pretty good fever. He just wants to be held.
I left for a "Girl's Weekend" on Friday but between Joseph and Chris- Tanner was in excellent hands.
Our "Girl's Weekend" was so much fun. We rented a hotel room in Branson. We shopped all afternoon and evening, ate at Olive Garden, and then swam at the pool, followed by pedicures and manicures. Doesn't get much better- right? The next day was a Relief Society Activity in Springfield. I wasn't really excited about going, but I'm so glad I did. It was awesome. I learned alot and it made me appreciate how awesome my life is and what a sweet husband I have.
Now I'm home with my two FAVORITE boys ever and enjoying every minute of it. I had a great weekend but it feels so good to be home!