Holiday catch up

We spent Christmas at home this year and it was quite busy for us. We have 6 sets of missionaries serving in our ward and they needed somewhere to go Christmas morning, so naturally Steven volunteered to have them over. It was really quite fun to have such a full house but we spent lots of time cooking! I made mom's cinnamon rolls successfully (last time I killed the yeast), monkeys, and bacon while Steven cooked the biscuits and gravy.

Before all the boys ate us out of house and home, Tanner got to see what Santa brought him. He was super excited about his new tool bench and tools. He looked super cute in the outfit that nana sent for him. Tanner was feeling a little overwhelmed so he decided to sit down in his Elmo chair. He sighed a big sigh of relief and started listing off all the different new toys he had to play with. That was the best part of the day!

We went to Orlando to spend new year's eve with Serena. We had started a harry potter marathon but ended up switching to a new discovery firefly and serenity. I gave Steven tickets to the last Bucs game of the season for his birthday. We were 8 rows from the field! Serena was nice enough to watch Tanner so we could go enjoy the game. It was 19 degrees outside with the wind blowing! the Bucs lost, but it was really fun to watch Steven get so excited about his very first pro football game.

Happy New Year!

Tanner's new favorite thing seems to be playing the wii. He will often say, "Play games? I play games? Dadda play games? Momma play games?" When we are tired of playing, he usually throws a fit b/c he's not done playing. Steven brought home the new Mario Brothers game and we played it until 10:30 last night. Steve jumped and missed something and said, " Oh Crap!" Tanner immediately said, "Oh Crap!" I looked at Tanner with a surprised face and then he gasped, "Oh no!" I couldn't help but laugh! time to start screaning what we say, do, and watch around our child(ren) in August!

It could've been worse!

Tanner started preschool at a Jewish Preschool called Temple Isreal in August.He goes to school 2 days a week from 9-12 and loves every minute of it. I have had the chance on several occasions to come and play with him during my lunch break. During his open house,we had snack together and ready books.
We went to a fall festival in the next town over Havana where Tanner went on a pony ride with Grandma Martin.

On the Thursday before Halloween they had a parade at school and Tanner wore his costume. He picked out his costume this year and was Brobey from Yo Gabba Gabba. I was a little bit nervous because he never leaves things on his head, but with this costume he did. The night before Halloween, I was setting up trunk or treat at the church when I got a call from Steve. He simply said," Tanner just fell and took a chunk of wood with him!" I rushed home trying not to panic. Luckily, he had a bruise a 1/4 of an inch from his temple with a tiny cut on it. It could've been worse! By Sunday, the bump had evened out into a bruise the size of a fist. You can only imagine my embarrassment at church! I only had to answer a few people's questions.

Halloween night we went trick or treating with some friends from my school. By the 5th house, Tanner got the hang out it and would run up to the door and say trick or treat. He wanted the person at the door to place the candy in his hand and not in the bucket, so he got mad anytime it was tossed in the bucket for him.

Catch up time

I am openly admitting that I have been slacking in the blogging department! 5 days after our trip to UT,my Grandma Howe passed away. I was so blessedto have those few precious days with her and will cherish them forever! The trip up to the funeral was long and lonely without Tanner and Steven by my side, but it was nice to be with my siblings and parents who Idon't see near as much as I should! I got to spend a little bit of time with my cousins and enjoyed playing years of catch-up! The best part of the trip by far was just being with my mom, dad,and siblings.You never really know how much you miss your family until they are not there anymore! Thank you mom & dad for making that trip possible for me.

Noles go to Provo

As we come to the close of our Utah trip, I can not help but reflect on the amazing trip it has been! We started the trip off at Grandma Howe's in Bountiful, Doug & RoJean's in Centerville, and out and about with Chelsea and her daughter Brianna. Tanner and Brianna were so cute together. They kept voluntarily kissing and hugging. Tanner let Grandma Howe rock him to sleep. It was so fun to just to hang out!

Richard and Loura took us to an amazing restaraunt in Salt Lake called the Mayan where divers dive off of rocks into shallow pools of water every 20 minutes. I'd never experienced such a unique dining spot!

We went to Temple Square where we ran into the principal of my school. We did a self guided tour and I was amazed at how much things have changed in just 4 short years. Steven & Richard played around in the family history center and found census records of their grandparents that were previously lost in a fire. the Lord truly works in mysterious ways!

Saturday was game day and we were sure that our team would lose b/c BYU was ranked so high. Granddad even told me he'd wear his FSU hat but cheer for BYU!

We got to visit with some of our favorite missionaries that served in our ward. All are still bachelors and super cute!

The Holmoe's gave us tickets to the game in the visiting section of course. We got to slap hands with the FSU players as they entered the field. what a rush that was!We were very loud, proud, and are now super hoarse! Imagine how exciting it was for us to win! We can't wait for next year's match on our own field!

Catch up!

Lots has happened this summer! Tanner and I went to Arizona to visit nana and pops and go to Adam's wedding. His favorite thing by far was swimming with nana. We ended up having an extended trip with stops in Vegas and Utah. Tanner was very excited to play with his cousins and to meet his great Grandma Howe.
Next was our annual 4th of July bbq. The missionaries always come. This year, they watched the hot dog eating contest. Carlos brought his girlfriend and new baby Kassandra. We switched Tanner to the twin bed because he grew accustomed to sleeping in big beds while on vacation. He has done so well!

Tanner is officially a 2 year old. We had a fun Wall-e themed party a Zoinks. It's full of moon walks and we had a jumping good time. I can't believe my baby is already 2! He is walking confidently, and his speech therapist told us he has the vocabulary of a 5 year old! How's that for catch-up!