The Main Men in My Life

May has been a CRAZY month! But two of the highlights of the month involve my main men, Brandon and Tanner. (Oh, how I love them!!)

The first major event being GRADUATION! May 1, 2009

I am so proud of Brandon and all the work he has put into the last four years! Even graduating with honors, he always made sure to give us the time we needed. It was taxing for all of us at times, but Brandon always made school time, school time and home time, home time. Thank you for all your hard work and sacrifice, Brandon! You made it!!

(Can you tell it was an emotional day for me?)

Brandon's mom Sherri was able to come out to Memphis for graduation. It was great to see her and feel her love and support!

After having a great visit in Memphis seeing good friends (that we will continue to miss) we came home for a couple days, turned around and drove up to Idaho and Washington for some job interviews. When we go back Brita (my lil' sis') and Ace where here just in time for Tanner's birthday on the 12th of May.

Yes, Tanner turned 2 this year! I know everyone thinks their kid is a genius, but Tanner has continued to surprise us over and over the past 6 months or so! He knows all his colors (even the not so colorful ones like white, black, brown, and gray), he can count to 10 (and now is starting to learn into the teens), his vocabulary continues to skyrocket, he speaks in sentences and is over all just one smart little cookie! He's also a little joy to have around! He's been experimenting with throwing tantrums and the "terrible two's" kind of stuff, but so far he is mostly a pleaser. (We'll see if he has some curve balls in store for us with the months ahead!) He's got just about everyone he meets wrapped around his little finger -- his church nursery teacher, his doctor, ladies at the grocery store (everyone has a story about red-heads), and of course, his aunts, uncles, and grandparents. My mom has always said that God made two-year-olds cute so their mothers don't kill them. Tanner seems to be oozing with that kind of charm!

Here he is helping me on the morning of his birthday make his cake.



He was very pleased with his puppy cake (I find a great deal of motherly satisfaction making a fun birthday cake), but even more pleased to have everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him! He giggled the whole time!

And then presents!
Tanner was super excited about his tricycle, but as soon as he climbed on he looked at us and asked, "Helmet?" Thank goodness Gramma was ready with her present for him! Tanner is really into motorcycles right now and often calls his trike a motorcycle. In this picture he is revving his engine saying, "Vroom! Vroom!"

And here is one of the reasons for his fascination with motorcycles -- Uncle Jeffy!

Now he can be like Uncle Jeffy and Papa Dennis with his own "motorcycle" and
helmet!

A quick up-date for us, Brandon got a job in the Tri-Cities area in Washington. (It's in the south-eastern corner of the state, not the rainy side.) We didn't expect to end up that far away, but we love the area and are really excited about this next chapter in our lives! We've really felt the help of the Lord as we've planned and prepared for this. We're moving in the middle of June, getting ready for a baby at the end of July and Hailey will be starting kindergarten this fall. Whew, summer '09 is gonna be an exciting one!