Happy Birthday to Tanner and Ashlyn

My babies turned 14!!  And every year when I relive their birth story for them, it just amazes me how fast time goes.  This year was so much fun because both of them have a fun group of friends who like to hang out together boys and girls.  So we combined for a fun cook out and outdoor movie party.

Both Tanner and Ashlyn decided that a pan of brownies and some ice cream would be a good dessert to share at the party, so they made it pretty easy on me this year.

Lighting 14 candles is no small feat, but when you light 14 candles on 2 cakes... you get a lot of dripped wax by the time they blow out the candles.

Their actual birthday was on a Sunday, so we decided to pull out our pancake art skills to make them a breakfast worthy of a birthday.

For Tanner we had to make him a fish pancake, because fish are his whole world!

Next, it was time for presents.

Ashlyn, Ian, and Whitlee pooled their money together and bought Tanner a long board, which he learned to ride and enjoy when he went to basketball camp with some buddies for a week in Colorado.

Ashlyn received a calligraphy set, a BYU shirt, an inflatable chair for her room, and a blow drier.  But her favorite was probably the real live baby bunny that Charlotte bought her.

Tanner received a book, a model truck, and a life jacket.  And together they both received a Zup Board to share on the boat, which is a combination of a knee board, water skis, a wake board, and a surf board.  It should be lots of fun!

Grandma Kris cooked the kids a great birthday dinner and I actually did make an ice cream cake to share for dessert.

And Tanner got a chocolate pie... which I did not make, but to be fair I had already made two pans of brownies and an ice cream cake, not to mention Marie Calendar just makes pies way to good, cheap, and easy to buy.

Having teenagers is actually so much fun!

10 Things About Tanner:

1.  He is obsessed with fish and fishing.  He would fish every minute of the day if he could find someone to take him.  Not to mention all of his shirts have to have some sort of fishing logo on them.

2. He loves animals.  He got to pick out a chick around Easter time to add to our menagerie and even though CAL Ranch assured us that the chicks were 98%  guaranteed to be hens, Tanner got a rooster.  He loves that rooster.  He picks it up and hauls it around like a baby.  He stares into its eyes and speaks to its soul.  His biggest goal in life right now is to get a dog and he begs for one every day.  Maybe someday.

3. He loves to read.  Especially inspirational sports stories.  His favorite book is Steve Young's autobiography and he has probably read it 6-7 times in the last year since he received it.  He is also very into Calvin and Hobbes right now.

4.  He is becoming quite the practical joker.  He loves to tease and prank.  My favorite recently was when he threw a banana into the ice dispenser in the freezer and it cut up chunks of banana for us and threw it in our drinks for a week until we figured it out.

5.  His favorite sport is basketball and he lived and breathed it this summer.  He joined a basketball club through our local high school and they played non stop tournaments for the entire month of June.  I think we counted over 40 games that he played.  He also got to go to Colorado Mesa University an participate in a camp and tournaments there.  It was a very fun adventure and he got to stay in the dorms for a week.  He learned so much!  If I ever can't find Tanner, he is usually outside shooting hoops.

6. He is super smart.  Even though school is getting harder he still managed to pull a 4.0 this year.  He is assertive with his teachers and is vigilant about staying on top of his work.  I never have to nag at him about school or getting homework done.

7.  He is still a dare devil and was the first one of us to master a wake board this year.  He is our brave bridge jumper and is always trying out new tricks on the trampoline.

8. He loves Scouting and worked very hard this last year to earn his Life advancement, which is the last advancement you earn before Eagle.  He has everything done to get his Eagle except his actual Eagle project which he hopes to accomplish soon.

9.  He is very dependable and a great leader.  He has served as the Deacon's Quorum president for the last two years.  He never slacked or failed to fulfill all his duties in this requirement.  He made passing the Sacrament a serious and sacred responsibility and was very faithful in being there on time and prepared.  He has taken fast offerings around without a complaint every month for the last two years.  And he always calls all of the members of his quorum to remind them of activities and makes sure they feel included in all their responsibilities.  His leaders know they can count on him.  He is not silly or light minded.  He fills in to lead music or play the piano and has been a great example and leader to those boys.

10.  He is so easy going and easy to get along with.  Tanner has always been a peace maker in our family.  No body fights with Tanner because he is just so pleasant and agreeable.  If anyone needs a friend, they know they can find Tanner.

* Tanner has grown so much this year and is finally taller than mom!  He is now 5' 6" and is growing like a weed.  Sometimes it makes him a little uncoordinated and his aunts and cousins have started calling him Kramer (from Seinfeld) every time he trips over his feet.  It is fun to see how big he will grow!

10 Things about Ashlyn:

1.  She is very artistic and loves to create.  She still loves a good sewing project or needlepoint project and will sit and doodle these amazing little artistic doodles.  She is very into fonts and lettering right now and has the most beautiful handwriting.

2.  She is a hard worker!  She began her first job this year and is such a good and dependable worker.  She works at a little take out restaurant here in town and she operates the cash register and helps in the kitchen with the dishes and some of the cooking.  It has been a great job for her.

3.  She is great with kids.  She has quite the baby sitting monopoly going on in our community.  The kids just love her and it isn't often that a week goes by that she isn't babysitting.

4.  She is getting so pretty.  She is developing such a cute style and is so good at picking out outfits and can do her hair so cute.  She needs to teach me some hair tutorials.

5.  She is a great cook.  She loves to bake and has become an expert at cookies especially.  It is so nice that she is so handy in the kitchen because she is such a help at dinner time.  I rarely make desserts any more as Ashlyn has become such an expert.  She loves a good baking challenge and recently tried to make macaroons, which were very tricky to make, but actually turned out decent.

6.  She is not afraid to try new or difficult things.  She signed up for a softball league this year that she knew might be challenging because she hadn't played for a few years and never very competitively.  She knew she likely wouldn't know anyone on this league and it didn't deter her.  She knew she wanted to learn softball and get better and so she jumped in and has done her best.  She also let us sign her up for engineering and robotics camps this year, which was hard because we knew it probably wasn't her interest, but she had such a positive attitude and was so willing to jump in there and learn and figured out how to make the best of it and had fun in the process.  I admire this quality in her so much.

7.  She is incredibly smart.  She maintains a 4.0 gpa and even took difficult honors classes last year.  She is always so on top of her homework.  I never have to remind her to do it and she always does her best.  If she knows she has a project or assignment, she gets it done in record time.

8.  Ashlyn is very motivated and driven.  Whenever there is a project to complete or an assignment or any kind of checklist, she is all over getting it done.  She has flown through our church's personal progress program in record time.  And only has one more goal to finish before completing the program.  And when she does a project, she puts her time into it to make it the best too.

9.  Ashlyn is so friendly.  She is kind to everyone.  She has a beautiful smile and can be friends with everyone.  We are starting to miss her this summer as she has become quite social always invited to parties and get togethers with friends.

10.  Ashlyn is very musical.  She loves to play songs on the piano or pick out songs on her violin.  She is very good at sight reading and can sit down and play a piece beautifully on either instrument the first time she plays it through.  She is a good singer, though she doesn't love to sing in front of people, but I love to hear her sing in the car or in her room.  She is especially fond of country music right now and has converted us all to her favorite musicians.

* Ashlyn really is a sweetheart and can be so kind hearted to her brothers and sisters.  She is so cute with Whitlee doing her hair, cuddling her up, and reading her stories.  Ashlyn is always fun to play games with and has the funniest sense of witty humor.  She always makes us laugh.  We are so happy to have her in our family.