Happy 30th Matt!

April 17, 2010

Matt turned the big 3-0 on April 15, 2010.

I planned a big surprise shindig for him . . . I coordinated with a bunch of his best guy pals to celebrate with Matt at the Long Beach Grand Prix for some Formula 1 racing.

(You can't really see it here, but these rice krispy treats were shaped like little cars.)

Matt doesn't have to work many weekends, but of all weekends to be slammed, he happened to have to go in to work on the Saturday after his birthday - the day his friends were going to surprise him by showing up at our place to head out to the Grand Prix together.

I called Matt at work and informed him that it was a REALLY big deal that he find a way to free up his Saturday afternoon. I ended up having to divulge my secret that I had been planning for the last few months. As soon as I told him that 8 of his favorite buddies were meeting at our house to go to the Formula 1 races with him, he let out an excited giggle and worked out a way to slip out of the office for a few hours so he could celebrate his 30th Birthday with his friends.

After the races, the boys headed to a go-cart racing track to complete their day of macho-man Birthday fun.

Happy 30th Matt!

CHRISTMAS IN SNOW

TANNER'S 1ST TASTE OF SNOW

Hmmm....what is this cold white stuff??!

I wonder what it tastes like...

Yeah, definitely not a frozen fluffy marshmallow as I previously suspected...

WINTER WONDERLAND

Big fan of the rope swing...

The tire sled was pretty sweet...

Who wouldn't like a sled with a race car steering wheel?...

But Grandpa and Dad really got carried away with the slick metal saucer...

Good thing Grandma T was there to help me calm down after my speedy ride down the hill...

Overall Opinion of Snow and Sledding: 2 enthusiastic mittened-thumbs up!

Oh yeah, the adults got to have fun in the snow too...(though Mom, Kinohi, and Sharlene had to sit out the ski trip because of their prego bellies!)

PRESENTS

Yeah, I'm a pretty big fan of Christmas.

My Little Sis Got Married!!

This lovely little lady--my younger sister, Elise--got married just before Christmas '09:

This is Ben Bowen, my little sister's new man--and my new brother!:

This is how cute Tanner looked while waiting for his Auntie Elise and new Uncle Ben to finish with their marriage ceremony inside the Draper, UT LDS Temple:

This is how cool the entryway to their reception hall looked after all the decorating:

(my creative little sis drew and designed those cool aspen trees--they were on her wedding announcement--and my brother printed them on vinyl stickers to put on the glass entryway doors. It looked soo cool.)

This is the delicious soup and bread they served:

This is the cake they fed to eachother:

These are some of the gorgeous pictures they had hanging all over the reception hall:

This is what Elise really wanted at her wedding:

So my Dad built it for them

These are the proud Parents, Steve and Tresa:

These are the Happy Siblings (+ our BFF, KLowe):

This is the new Chamberlain Family:

This is how happy Tanner was wandering around in between everyone's legs at the reception:

This is a very unhappy Tanner at the end of the night...getting taken care of by Dad:

(we forgot his blankie...a BIG no-no)

And this is the happy couple:

Congratulations Ben and Elise! We love you and are so happy for you!

THANKSGIVING 2009

Thanksgiving was full of good ol' fashioned sportin' fun, starting with the Turkey Bowl.

Immediately following Turkey Bowl, we all played a little Volleyball, then the boys jumped right into a game of Melon Ball.

The next activity: Nap Time. Tanner must have been worn out after watching all the sports and playing in the pool because he napped for over 3 hours.

Thanksgiving Dinner was delicious of course, and it was fun to spend it with friends.

Hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day!

HAPPY GROWWWLOWEEN!

Tanner is a man who knows what he wants . . .

we were shopping together at Costco and as I was pushing the cart around a corner, it got stuck on something. I checked the wheels to make sure I hadn't run into anything then I looked up to see Tanner latched onto this furry little lion costume.

He was quite adamant about what he wanted me to buy for him that day. The lion costume was only $10 - and the cute bird puppets were 4 for $7. At least he's a bargain shopper.

So, I'm a pretty big fan of Halloween . . . because I really like dressing up. I love doing the fun hair and make-up, and wearing a cool costume. And I love seeing everyone's creative costume ideas - and how adorable the little kids look all dressed up. And of course, getting a bunch of free candy isn't so bad either.

Luckily, the week of Halloween was full of fun Halloween activities. Tanner and I went to a Mommy/Baby Halloween party at our friend Christina's. The kids were so cute crawling around together in all their costumes. And we made carameled apples...my favorite!

A few days later, I hosted a pumpkin carving/Chinese food party at our house.

(My girlfriends and I were all just craving Chinese, so we thought it would be fun to order in).

Everyone's pumpkin turned out really cool. Our friend Sharlene brought over some fun stencils that allowed us all to create these fine orange glowing masterpieces.

(For all you Skyliners out there . . . recognize anybody in one of the previous 4 photos??)

Sadly, my Chamberlain artistic ability decided to escape me that night . . .

my poor pumpkin just looked really . . . well, creepy.

And not in a good Halloween way.

Tanner had a total blast crawling around on the plastic carpet covering, trying to help in the carving process, and eating slimy pieces of pumpkin. Yum Yum.

The night before Halloween, our church hosted a Trunk-or-Treat party. It was a lot of fun.

We went as the classic trio, The Firefighter, The Flapper Girl, and the Lion . . . Come on now, don't tell me your parents never read that story to you as a child?!

All the kids looked so cute dressed up in their costumes. They loved playing with our little lion.

And Tanner just couldn't get over how cool/crazy that balloon was! No matter how hard he tried to hang onto it, it just kept slipping out of his grip and bouncing lightly away.

A new, slightly modified, tricky version of the ball, his favorite toy.

HAPPY GROWWLOWEEEN!

Love, Tanner the Little Lion Man