Christmas 2008

This year we were able to make the trip back to Indiana for Christmas. We left December 19 and drove 12 hours until we made our first stop in Derby Kansas where Klaine's brother and his family live. It was a great stopping point, almost half way. We stayed there a day and the kids got to play with their cousins and we got to visit with Travis and Brittney. Then on the 21st we left Derby and traveled 10 more hours and reached our Indianapolis destination, my parents house. We were able to stay for 2 weeks, and then made the trip back. It was not a bad drive, but there sure isn't a whole lot to look at but desert and lots of farm land. Before we left I made sure to tell Santa where we would be so that he would deliver our presents to the right house. And sure enough good old Santa remembered.

Here are some pictures of what our Christmas morning looked like with each of the children's favorite present.

The Christmas tree before we opened presents. The kids had to wait until Grandma, Grandpa, Katie, and Kristi woke up before we let them open their presents. They were excited!

Chloe got a baby and a stroller.

Jonathan got the treasure box that he had been asking for, so that he now can have somewhere to collect all his treasures!

Hailey wanted a white board. I think she wanted it so she could play school.

We were truly blessed this Christmas by many people. Klaine lost his job in November so that put a damper on Christmas gifts this year, but we had lots of kind and generous people help us out so that we could limit our spending over these holidays. Thank you to all that helped us out! Heavenly Father truly was mindful of us, and we now have a deeper respect for the Savior and what it means to be humble and to receive. Hopefully next year we can be the ones giving generously to those who might need it!

Super Heroes

We went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis over the Christmas holidays with our good friends the Coffmans. We went to a new exhibit with Super Hero's. Here are a few pictures that I took.

This is Jonathan and his friend Devin.

Jonathan posing, what he does best.

Cheese!

Chloe showing her super powers.

Jonathan coloring, what he does best!

Hailey and Chloe fishing at the ice holes.


Even Frosty the Snowman made an appearance! Chloe of course was terrified, and Jonathan was so excited!

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Hailey lost her two front teeth. Here is what she looks like.

Klaine Plays the Bagpipes

Our ward had a sing along and everyone was encouraged to bring instuments with them. Klaine decided to get out his bagpipes and bring them along. He played a few songs and he did awesome.

Nativity 2008

Our stake has a big nativity and singing event every year. Each ward has a room they decorate with as many nativity scenes as they can find. Many have been collected from other countries. They also have this nativity scene that each family can dress up and get their picture taken. So this is our family. Hailey is Mary, Chloe is Joseph, Jonathan is a wiseman, and Klaine and I are Shepards.

Klaine's Birthday

Klaine turned 32 this year and we had a small family birthday party for him. We made him a yummy pumpkin spice cake with blue icing. The kids and I bought him a Lego Crane set that he had been wanting for a while. He was so excited. He put it together that night and is on display in our house.

La Mesilla

Another place we were able to take Sam and my Mom while they were in El Paso was La Mesilla, NM near Las Cruces. It is a small touristy town with some little shops and good mexican food.

La Mesilla is a square with a little grassy area in the middle with this cute gazebo. This is a picture with Jonathan and Chloe. Hailey was at school.

Here the kids and I are on the streets of La Mesilla. It is a cute little town. Not really too kid friendly though with all the shops and their breakable items.

My Mom and Jonathan at the resturant, La Posta, where we ate.

Sam, Jonathan, and Chloe at the resturant where we ate. It had a little bird sancuary in the waiting area. Some of the birds were really loud. They also had some fish.

Thanksgiving Indian

At Jonathan's school they had a Thanksgiving feast, and made costumes. He got to taste a little of everything. I just thought that this was so cute.

Cuidad Juarez

While my Mom and Sam were in town visiting we were able to go across the border to Cuidad Juarez. We got a babysitter for the kids and all the adults went out for the afternoon. It was my first time walking across the border as was for Sam and my mom. We went to the Mercado, which is a big indoor flea market kind of thing.

Here I am inside the Mercado.

This is outside the Mercado. This is one of the restaurants.

This was what the Mercado looks like inside.

This is a street in Juarez. You can't see it in this picture, but there were lots of Mexican Soldiers walking around with huge guns. There has been lots of violence over there, so the soldiers have to walk around. It was weird, we could tell we weren't in the U.S.

At one of the street lights, there were a couple of Jugglers entertaining the cars waiting in traffic. It was pretty funny to watch.

This is the start of the walking bridge going to the United States. You have to pay $.35 per person to walk across. On some days this bridge is lined up with cars and people trying to get across and hours of patience. It is amazing.

This is my Mom and I getting ready to walk the bridge.

Klaine and I on the Mexican bridge.

This is the line of cars waiting to get into the United States. Like I said before, sometimes it takes hours to get through this line. And in the background El Paso.

Kelley's 30th Birthday

On my birthday our family, and Sam had a little celebration. Little did I know that a surprise was planned for the next day.

The day after my birthday, my mom flew into town! Then later that night Klaine invited some girls from the ward over for a surprise birthday party. I was so surprised! It was a lot of fun. He made this cake.

This is a picture of all the balloons and some of the friends that came over.

Klaine put together some party favor bags. The had princess crowns, lotion, stick on earrings, and a nail file. It was very creative. We all played Apples to Apples until almost 11.
Klaine told me he had to do something special for my 30th birthday! It was a wonderful day.

Guadalupe Peak Camping Trip

Our camp site.

Another angle of our camp site.

Our family nature hike.

Jonathan in the kid's favorite tree. He went around collecting all the big sticks he could find. It's too bad we could not have a fire, because with all those sticks we could of had a huge one. The Ranger even saw him carrying around these huge logs and came over and told us that we could not have a fire. I assured him we knew that and that Jonathan was just starting a collection.

Last day picture of our crew!
Pictured: Malia, Dean, Pennie, Elise, Kelley, Hailey, Chloe, Klaine, Jonathan.

About a month ago we decided to go camping with another family from our ward, the Gunnells. Pennie's father told her that we needed to go to Guadalupe Peak, so that was the place we decided. It took us an hour and half to get there. We got there Friday evening and of course it was dark and cold. Klaine and Dean were great and set up our tents while the kids and girls stayed warm in the car. We then ate dinner and went to bed so we could all get warm in our sleeping bags. Saturday we went on a short nature hike. I think the kids hiked a mile or so. They enjoyed it. Then the guys went to the peak. The peak was a grueling 8.4 miles round trip, with a 3000 feet elevation change. It is the highest peak in Texas. It took the guys 4 1/2 hours to do it. It was dark and cold by the time they got back. Then Sunday the girls decided to try. It took us 6 hours, that includes a 30 minute lunch break at the top. We were hoping to beat the guys time, but since I am 16 weeks pregnant I had to take several breaks. It was breath taking and amazing!

Klaine almost to the top!

Klaine at the top.

A view of the mountain.

A view of part of the trail. This was the bridge you had to cross at the steepest part of the trail.

Pennie and Kelley at the top!

KIT Sunday, November 2

Things have been busy as usual. I had my first doctors appointment 2 weeks ago. I was there 3 hours! I had to call Klaine and tell him that he was going to have to pick Jonathan up from school and Chloe up from her friends house. The doctor was nice, but come on... 3 hours!! I have another one on Tuesday and if I am there more than 2 hours I am leaving and finding a new doctor. I had my first ultrasound at the first appointment. That was exciting. I was about 13 weeks and could actually see a baby in there! It was amazing. I guess this doctor does ultrasounds very often, which is kind of neat. I am suppose to bring a VHS next time. I am now 15 weeks. I doubt we will find the gender, that happens around 17-20 weeks, I think.

Klaine in the last couple of weeks has been collecting wood and Halloween stuff for our church's Halloween party. He was in charge of the spook alley. He got a company to donate some plywood and he made a maze-like spook alley with them. It was awesome. Everyone at church was so impressed, and had never quite seen a spook alley so well done at a church Halloween party. He spent a lot of time on it!

Hailey has been doing well in school. I think the smartness comes from the Tanner side! I know Lauren and Jacob always seem to do well also! Hailey's teacher sent home a paper this week saying Hailey is reading at a 4th grade level. I was amazed. Hailey said to me, does that mean I should be in 4th grade? I said NO. There is a lot more to 4th grade than reading. She has also had her first piano recital, and did awesome! She played her piece perfect. She has another recital with the same piece in a couple of weeks, it is some kind of contest or something. She also took the state theory test on Saturday. She said it was easy, we won't find out how she did for a couple of weeks. Yesterday I also took her to see High School Musical 3, it was her reward for doing so well in school and piano. It was a cute movie, we both liked it. For Halloween she was a witch.

Jonathan is still loving preschool! He looks forward to it everyday! He is now getting smiley faces everyday and his teacher told me he is doing very well. I guess it takes him a couple of weeks to figure out how he is suppose to act and what he is suppose to do. We are so happy that he likes school. Next year he will be in Kindergarten, I hope that the transition will be a lot smoother! And actually next year I think the kids will be going to two different schools. They are building a new elementary and it will open in January 2010, right in the middle of the school year. I hope that that won't be hard on them. For Halloween Jonathan was a pirate.

Chloe is Chloe. She is getting better at not being whiny, but I guess it is hard when you are 22 months. She wore Hailey's costume from when she was little. I think it was a tinkerbell costume, but looks more like a flower petal dress. Diane made it several years ago. She is still having a hard time at church going to Nursery. The last two Sundays she has been by herself for 15-20 minutes, then melts down. Today she made it 5 minutes! I don't know if she will ever go by herself. She goes to a friends house once a week and does fine there. Maybe that many people at church is overwhelming? Anybody got any suggestions? When we are in there she is fine. She participates and has a lot of fun, while we just sit on the side and watch her, but the minute we leave, forget it. Life comes crashing down.

Next weekend were are going camping with another family in our ward. We are going to Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in Texas. It should be beautiful. We are planning on leaving Friday and coming back Sunday. We are all looking forward to it!

Halloween

This was our front porch on Halloween. Later when it got dark Klaine got the fog machine out and had that going. We had a couple of little kids that were too scared to come up to our porch.

Here we our waiting in front of our house to trick-or-treat. We weren't sure what time it started so we watched for others to start. The kids were so excited and had a hard time waiting.

The kids on the front porch. We had to take tons of pictures to try and get one with them all looking or with their eyes open. This was the best one.

This was another picture that took forever to get!

Hailey was a witch.

Chloe wore Hailey's costume from several years ago. I can't remember what she was. Sad huh!

Jonathan was a pirate. He had to pose for his picture.