Tanner and Ashlyn's Birthday

Tanner and Ashlyn turned 17!  I can hardly believe it.  Just one more year until these two are no longer legally kids.  

They have both decided that they are way over birthday cake and instead Tanner chose brownies this year.

And Ashlyn wanted Coconut Lime Swig Cookies.

We surprised Tanner with an autographed photo of Steve Young, who is by far his favorite football player of all times.  He absolutely loved it.  We also footed him a little cash to help him with his purchase of a jet ski!

Ashlyn got some concert tickets to Gabby Barrett, a popular country artist and was able to take a couple of friends and have a fun night out.  She also got some money and beads to expand her jewelry shop!

 10 Things about Ashlyn:

1- She is incredibly ambitious.  She has signed up for about every AP class and dual credit class she can take.  Normally, Seniors have a light schedule, but she is up until 11 every night studying Calculus and it's not because her parents are pushing her.  We keep telling her to take it easy.  She has also been selected as a STAR scholarship finalist and is working hard to get all her paperwork in for various scholarships.

2. She is an entrepreneur!  She has helped me on my graphic design Etsy shop for several years, but decided she wanted to have her own Etsy shop this past year and has sold various bracelets, necklaces, and anklets that she designs.  She loves having her own business.

3. She is a hard worker.  She has worked at the same dishwashing job for the past almost four years now and is still willing to take on extra babysitting jobs or Harvest jobs.

4.  She has an amazing testimony.  She fills her callings without complaint, going the extra mile to be a ward missionary.  She has invited non-member friends along to activities and the temple open house.  She sought out a Patriarchal blessing on her own this year and she is constantly striving to do what's right.

5.  She has a silly but wonderful group of friends.  The fantastic four can be found together almost every night of the week until all hours of the night!  Her friends like to sneak into her bedroom window and hang out in her room with or without her knowledge.  They are so good, we just love them to death.

6. She loves to create her own crazy recipes.  She is never happy to just follow a recipe as is, she is always adding her own special ingredients or instructions.  Sometimes it turns out and sometimes...

7.  She LOVES all things Italian food.  Let's just say Olive Garden is her dream date.  Any kind of pasta, soup, and salad, are what she craves for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

8. She is really good at music.  Her orchestra teacher recommends her for performances and you can just tell that music comes naturally to her.  Though she quit piano lessons, she still loves to jam out on the piano or violin when she has a spare minute.

9. She took tennis lessons this year and got good at tennis!  She also signed up for a gym membership with her friends and got in really good shape!

10.  Ashlyn is very funny.  She has a sophisticated and witty sense of humor.  And we just love her.

10 Things About Tanner:

1. He is a hard worker.  He took on a job as an electrician's apprentice this summer and constantly put in 50-60 hour weeks.  He learned so much about electrical, it is fun to see him put it into use!

2. He is a dedicated runner.  He loves being on the Cross Country and Track team and he knows how to pace himself, yet push himself at the same time.  He has some big competition this year and he is setting lots of personal bests.  It is fun to see him learn and grow.

3.  He is hairy.  I have to beg that dude to get a haircut constantly.  His hair is so thick and grows so fast, that he is constantly looking a little shaggy, which is apparently the style for boys his age, so he never wants that haircut.

4. He is becoming a mechanic!  He has bought several well-used toys of late that require lots of mechanic tinkering.  He is constantly having to work over his snowmobile and jet skis to get them to run, but he is learning so much.

5. He loves his truck!  His 91 Ford is named Truck and he loves it.  He has spent hours upgrading the radio, adding bass and sub-woofers, undercarriage lighting.  He has repainted the door and added steps.  He loves his truck so much, it's almost like a living breathing thing to him.

6. He is very knowledgeable about the scriptures.  He constantly blows us away with his knowledge of the scriptures when we are having family scripture study.  He has an incredible testimony and has given a couple of talks this year that was so filled with the Holy Ghost, it melted my mama's heart.

7. His favorite things to do in the world are to go the cabin in Island Park and to fish.  He is constantly threatening that he is going to drop out of school and move to the cabin and just do nothing but fish.  He is lucky to have some fun friends who enjoy fishing just as much as he does!

8.  He is very smart.  Like his sister, he signed up for several AP and dual credit classes.  He is on track to have a 4.0 GPA and I love that he and Ashlyn constantly work together to help each other on their homework.

9.  He is a peacemaker.  It is almost impossible to fight with Tanner.  He is just so mild-mannered and easygoing that it takes a lot to provoke him to anger!

10.  He has a really hard time being on time.  It will be his downfall someday and he has already had to serve detention this year for being late to school.