The Twins turn 19!

The twins turned 19 and it was a little tricky this year finding gifts for them.  Ashlyn was scheduled to leave for her mission in the next couple of weeks and already had pretty much everything she needed for her mission.  So what to get her?  Char gave her a projection necklace with a picture of the family in it and Bronson gave her a Philippines sunshine necklace.  Ian gave her some mosquito bracelets for her mission to help with the mosquitos.  And Zac and I gave her a few items to fix up her car, which needed some love.

Bronson has to do regular height checks with Ash, as he knows he is close to overtaking her and wants to be taller than her when she gets back from her mission.

For her birthday dessert, she decided she wanted all Italian desserts.  Italy is her dream vacation and the desserts may be the reason!  So we ordered some Macarons from our neighbor who has mastered them, and I tried making some chocolate peanut butter macarons of my own.  They turned out fabulous!  We also bought a little pack of cannoli to try and Ashlyn talked Zac and me into buying a Tiramisu... which we didn't know what was.  When we got looking at it on the way home, we realized it is a cake that is soaked in coffee.  Ashlyn ever pining over wishing she could drink coffee knew what it was and was glad we didn't figure it out till we bought it.  Zac wasn't thrilled, but when he wasn't looking, we cut it up into little bites and let everyone try a piece.  All of us thought it was fairly gross except Ashlyn, who would definitely be a coffee addict under different life circumstances.

Tanner was serving in Grand Island Nebraska during his birthday, so we sent him a birthday package with some pants that fit, though we almost screwed that up again.  And we sent him some treats and little knick nacks that we thought might be useful, like lasers and a leatherman.  We also sent him some birthday cake via door dash and it was left in the bushes.  He called us on his birthday and I had to sneak out of Mission Impossible at the movie theater to answer his call and wish him Happy Birthday.  The stinker wouldn't take a birthday picture for me, so I had to screen shot our phone conversation.

10 Things About Ashlyn

1. She is positive.  We have been amazed with Ashlyn as she has graduated high school, started new jobs, gone to college, and prepared for her mission.  She looks forward to everything and always finds ways to make it fun.  She looks for adventures and is always happy!  She is such a good friend and sibling to others helping everyone see the good.

2. She is creative.  She is impossible to beat in a pumpkin carving contest or any other contest that involves creativity.  She has such an intelligent brain and comes up with such unique ideas.

3. She is artistic.  She creates beautiful art.  She was pushed to her limits at college taking art classes at a college level and pushing herself as she had not taken high school art classes.  Not only did she do great, but often found that her teacher had selected her art to hang on the walls!

4. She is friendly.  She is a friend to everyone!  She has made friends with a wide variety of people in high school, college, and co-workers.  She is fun to be around and so happy and positive.  People gravitate towards Ashlyn.

5. She is a hard worker.  Even though she made more than enough money through scholarships and high school jobs to pay for her mission, she still found ways to make money to contribute to her account, like selling her blood and slinging drinks at a coffee shop.  And on top of it all, the smarty kept a 4.0 GPA at college!

6. She has an amazing testimony.  She has had a strong desire to serve a mission for a long time and when she bears her testimony of the gospel it is powerful.  She has worked hard to know for herself i the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and she is so good at sharing that warm message with others.

7. She likes to be warm.  She is always cold.  Always.  She is so excited to be moving to a place that stays consistently 70-75 degrees year-round.

8.  She loves simplicity.  She hates clutter and nick-nacks.  She had her dad build her an interim bedroom at home that had white walls and white accents and had only the bare minimum of decorations and 'things".  It did feel very clean and organized in there, which are two qualities that she also excels in!

9. She is a plant mommy.  During her stay at college, she found a love for plants, and every time we went shopping she had to check out the plant aisle and I would have to talk her down from buying more.  She named her plants and worried quite a bit about leaving them in Charlotte's care as she left for a mission.

10. She has a very funny sense of humor.  She is SO funny.  We are looking forward to playing Jackbox games when she leaves on a mission so that someone else will have a chance to win at some of these games that require witty drawings or answers.

10 Things About Tanner

1. He has a strong desire to be righteous.  Tanner always wants to be on the side of righteousness and he thinks hard about his actions wanting to make sure that he is always on a good path.  It has been so nice as a parent that we don't have to worry about his trajectory.

2. He is very obedient.  Along with his righteous desires, he is very obedient.  Mission life can be difficult with lots of rules guiding your choices every day and Tanner strives to make sure that he can always be counted on to follow mission rules.

3. He knows a whole lot about boats and cars.  After our boat crapped out on us AGAIN during the 4th of July, we started looking at other boat options.  Tanner completely amazes me with how much he knows about boats!  He is just very interested in them and knows a lot about the various makes and models.  He is also very interested in cars and trucks and knows a lot about all of the makes and models and even has some fairly good mechanic intuitions.  Little matchbox cars were his favorite toy as a child and it's fun to see how that translates to his adult years.

4. He loves to play basketball (and is learning to love soccer).  Tanner is an incredible athlete and is very good at almost any sport he picks up.  He can play a pretty good game of P-day basketball but has also been enjoying learning to play soccer with the Spanish branch members every week.

5. He is a good trainer/ teacher.  He is patient with others.

6. He is a man of few words.  This guy does not like to write e-mails and loves to be on the phone with us, but would much rather hear us talk than tell us about his week!  Good thing he has parents who push him to talk!  And when he does write an e-mail, they are awesome!  

7. He has a funny sense of humor.  Like his twin sister, Tanner also has a very funny sense of humor and can catch me off guard and crack me up with his witty observations.

8. He chooses naps over cooking.  Missions are exhausting, so when Tanner gets home for a lunch or dinner break, he will 9 times out of 10 choose a quick freezer/ microwave meal like chicken nuggets, so he can pound some food and have a nap!  However, he assures me that all my cooking lessons haven't gone down the drain.  He will occasionally cook himself some chicken and rice.

9. He is a daredevil.  Tanner has always been the kid to try to flip off a table or a dock or try something new and crazy on the boat.  So it was no surprise one of his first mission videos home was him jumping off the second-floor balcony of his apartment and landing on mattresses.  This kid seriously has guardian angels around him because he has never broken a bone yet.

10. Tanner is a hard worker.  He does what he is asked, but also goes above and beyond doing the best job he can.  Ian just shared with me an experience of riding to an event with a previous employer of Tanner and the man remarked what an amazing worker Tanner is.  He catches on quickly is self-guided and gives you your money's worth for the time you pay him.  Tanner was always this way at home and I now watch in delight as he goes above and beyond with his mission.

We are so grateful for Tanner and Ashlyn in our family.  We love them so much!