Tanner's Mission Papers Are In!

Tiff took this photo of me. This is the picture that L. Tom Perry will look at when he sends me to Guatemala I MEAN....wherever the Lord tells him to send me. My interviews are done and dad will be submitting my paperwork within the next day or two. Wednesday November 21st is the day I'll open it in front of you guys. I cannot wait! It's a very exciting time. I'm glad I get to share that experience with the entire family. Just three more weeks! See you all then!!

Tanner

Thanksgiving Gift Exchange!

So Tiff and Summer agreed to draw names for a gift exchange at Thanksgiving, so John and I drew names so that we could have time to get our shopping done.

Here is how it goes:

Mom and Dad have Summer and Paul
Summer and Paul have Clowards Baby
Tiff and Randy have Mom and Dad
Michele and John have Tanner
Tanner has Noah
Landon has Tiff and Randy
Noah has Landon
Alex has Michele and John
Baby Cloward has Alex

Let me know if any of this doesn't work for any reason. I think last year our budget was $15 to $20. Nobody pull a Michael Scott and buy an ipod and go way over budget. That would not be cool.

Gift Exchange?

So I'm wonderind if we are drawing names for this year to exchange gifts at Thanksgiving? Mom and I talked about it... I'm all for it... but leave your comments to let me know if you all want to or not. I like to do my shopping in this week if we are, so lets decide!

Our Regular Visitors

We've had more deer in the backyard this year than I ever remember before. The other day there were 6 in the back yard. This afternoon there were 3 - I wished Noah and Alex were here to show them - so I decided to take a picture. Two of them weren't too happy about it but this guy just sort of watched me while I watched him make his way across the yard.

Can't wait to see you Grandma!

Noah is on the countdown...4 more days till Grandma comes! He complains, "but mom, that will take forever!" And for several days now he has been telling me (multiple times a day) "mom, I'm going to have hot chocolate with Grandma." I guess you're usually here when it's cold outside : ) Both of the kids are VERY excited to go trick-or-treating with Grandma. I'm excited to take both of my kids trick-or-treating too, and I'm so glad you'll be here to enjoy it with me! And, of course, I can't wait to have my husband to myself for 4 whole days in warm, sunny Florida! We can't wait to see you!

And Dad, everytime we talk about Grandma coming Alex asks about her "bompa" (I'm serious)!

Celebrating our 28th Anniversary

John picked me up from the airport on Friday and whisked me off to San Francisco to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary. John continually out does himself - we stayed in a suite at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. It was pretty amazing. Beautiful room, HD TV's , even a mini TV in the bathroom, pretty view, access to a special lounge with food 24/7, plus the company of the most romantic, best husband in the world who spoils me. It doesn't get any better than that - I am a very lucky! It was a wonderful weekend!

Mission Accomplished!

The main reason for going to Utah was to help Michele finish up the baby's nursery and get all the baby bedding sewn. We finished the bed skirt and the bumper pads and sheets, we even added a little pillow. Despite some problems when we were all done we had to agree it looked wonderful. Michele has put together a beautiful nursery and I have never seen any one so happy to be pregnant. (Sorry - I can't relate. For me it was always miserable and just a means to an end. But Michele is really enjoying it) It was so much fun to work on this project together.

Thanks to John for being so patient while this project and me monoploized all of Michele's time.

Also to my John and Landon - they were good sports about being bachelors last week. Landon reports that his Dad is good about taking him out for dinner but that on day 2 he couldn't find a clean spoon in the house. Guess I have to teach him some self reliance before I head off to Cleveland in a week :)

Michele and the Triplets

I had so much fun going with Michele for the day to watch the triplets. It is so cute to see how much the girls love her and how good she is with them. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming but Michele seems to have it all figured out - feeding all 3 at once, play time, nap time. Michele is going to be a fabulous mom!

Autumn liked me!

I wasn't sure I could tell the triplets apart (except for autumn who has the dark hair) but after just an hour or so their personalities were so distinctly different it was easy. They were all so cute but I think Autumn was the friendliest. She is so cute! Spring liked me too but Winter was having a rough day and pretty much just wanted Michele.

Thanks Dad!

We were able to attend the final session of conference today. We always love going. I was planning to take some pictures but we were in a hurry on the way in because parking was a nightmare, and on the way out, we were rushing to get home because a pregnant woman can't hold her bladder for very long! John thinks I'm a baby...

Anyway, we wanted to say thanks to dad for giving us tickets. There is nothing like when the Prophet enters the room and everyone stands. We wish you all could have been there. Of all the talks I think Pres Eyrings was my favorite, about recognizing the blessings from the Lord. I realized that one of our blessings is dad being the stake president. Not only because we get tickets to conference, but because I believe we get blessings as his kids, for the service he provides. Also, Sister Becks talk was wonderful. I couldn't help but think I am so lucky to have a "mother who knows." We love you both. Oh, and dad, we were wondering which credit card we could charge our sunday brunch on? : ) Ha Ha! We LOVE you!