T-Man

Tuesday was the birthday of the great Tanner Shawn Gray! Boy do we all love this kid! Tanner is super smart, super athletic and has a great sense of humor. You know how there are some people in life who seem to be blessed with an abundance of personality Wit and charm? Well that is Tanner. I love hanging out with Tanner, anytime he is around he keeps me laughing, smiling AND thinking. More than just having a great personality; this kid has brains, he is always asking profound questions and always seems to have a grasp on more than you think he would at his age. I have had a couple of rare chances to spend some one on one time with Tanner this year and was able to see even more of his talent and intelligence. I am always impressed with how well he does everything. He does well in school and is the starting catcher in baseball he is an AWESOME snowboarder and although I have not been able to see any of his games, I hear is a star basketball player too. Most importantly he is a good kid with a kind heart. When we were skiing in Colorado for Spring break I got really sick and Tanner and Bryce were really sweet to try to help me and take care of me. Tanner came over and asked me if he could get me something or do anything for me. Although, I was too sick to tell him how much it meant to me, it meant a lot that he would try to take care of his aunt Nena. Happy Birthday Tanner! I am so glad I have the honor and privilege of being your Aunt! You are one FANTASTIC kid!

Spring Break!

Sunday March 24 Bryce Tanner and Aunt Nena drove to Colorado to begin our vacation with some Spring Skiing. We arrived in Farmington New Mexico just in time for dinner at chili's. This turned not to be such a good idea for Nena as she was sick all night. Nevertheless we all got up early the next morning and went skiing anyway. Nena tried to take it easy but her boys were always pushing her to do the difficult runs. She survived it but was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. We had a blast skiing though. Bryce and Tanner did a lot of jumps and tricks on their boards and as always Aunt Nena was very impressed.

The second day Bryce's Friend Trevor and his family skied with us and we all had a great time! It was great to have Trevor their for the boys to board with. They all did really well and had a lot of fun together.

Monday after skiing we started back to Aztec where we were staying and our car broke down. We ended up having to have it towed into Durango and our friends Linn and Tweeti were nice enough to bring us a car to use until ours was repaired. Thankfully it was ready to go by the time we finished skiing the next and we promptly got in and drove all the way back to Arizona that night.

Wednesday we slept in after having gotten home at about 2 a.m. and had pancakes for breakfast. Bryce and Tanner, being the great kids they are, went out and completely cleaned out Nena'a car including a good vacuuming. They are such thoughtful boys!!! After all the morning activity we went up to Scottsdale and hiked Camelback Mountain. While we were there we saw several Gila Monsters. It was a really fun hike! That night we went to see a movie and had a fun Taco dinner. The boys loved the Taco's and did not even notice they were made with ground turkey instead of beef. :)

Thursday, we got up and had waffles and bacon for breakfast and Tanner broke a bacon eating record by consuming 10 pieces of bacon!!!! After breakfast we went to Peralta Trail and enjoyed another great hike and a lot of rock climbing. The trip down the mountain was eventful as Bryce saw a snake!!! Yikes!!! Tanner didn't seem to mind but Bryce and I were a little skittish after the sighting.

After some yummy omelette's for breakfast Friday morning we took a drive to Sedona and went up Oak Creek Canyon to Slide Rock. We climbed some rock and wading in the water a bit. Bryce ended up pushing Tanner in the water and so I pushed Bryce in to get even. Somehow Nena avoided being submerged in the freezing water.

The next morning we had to get up early and drive to Lordsburg to meet Meme so she and Papa could take the boys home. Nena was sad to see them go! She loves her time with her boys. These great guys are funny, adventurous, energetic, thoughtful, kind and helpful! Aunt Nena cannot wait until the next adventure together!

Taylor turns three!

On March 23 our little guy turned three years old! What a great day celebrating the birth of our cute little Taylor with family and friends. We had a party at the house and lots of friends and family came over for food and fun. Taylor loved all his gifts and had fun playing with the big kids. He especially loved driving his truck around trying to run over the rest of us.

The day after Taylor's birthday was Easter Sunday. It was wonderful for all of us to celebrate the birth of our Savior together and enjoy a great day at church.

Massive Air!!

This weekend was so fun! Amber and Tanner and I got to go to Telluride and Durango Mountain and ski all weekend. It was Awesome! The weather was great and the snow was fantastic. We loved the atmosphere at Telluride and they had a huge all terain park with half-pipes, jumps and lots of features to play around on. We only did the half pipe and some small jumps. Tanner is so Awesome. He made several jumps and was touching the bottom of his board really well on jumps. He was tearing it up! We really missed Bryce and wished so much he could be there with us. We hope to be able to go in March once Bryce is released by the Doctor to snowboard again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi guys! How are my three favorite boys today? I hope you have a really fun Valentine's Day and I hope you know I love you more than anything in the world!!
Tanner - Congratulations on your last basketball game. I hear you are a great player and really hustle! I love that!! Good luck tonight! And good luck with your cell phone Valentines Box. I am sure it will be really fun!

Bryce - I heard you got your sling off! That is great news. Take it easy though, you wnat to be sure it heals really well so we can keep doing all the fun stuff we love. I hope you have a fun Valentine's Day. We need to talk abou this girlfriends thing!!! I thought your mom and I were the only fun girls in your life... :)

Taylor - Keep your mom on her toes! Love You!

Meme and Papa's visit to Arizona

Meme and Papa came to visit me in Gilbert this weekend. We had a great time! Friday night we went to a Suns basketball game. It was awesome. The game was really good and of course we won! Saturday morning we got up and went hiking to the Wind Cave. We had a great time. Meme stayed on the lower trail and visited with people and did a crossword puzzle. Papa and I went to the top of the mountain! It was a beautiful day! Later we went to see a movie and then had a nice dinner at home. It was a really fun weekend.

Also, Saturday was Tanner's first Basketball game! Way to go Tanner! I cannot wait to see one of your games! I hear you have another one tomorrow so Good Luck, Bug!!

High Adventure...

I was just going through some pictures of our supper fun trip last summer! It is not thatn long unitl summer comes again. We need to start planning our next big adventure! Any ideas???? I have thought about a few different things but nothing definite yet. Maybe a backpacking trip to the bottom of Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon? Maybe a trip to Mexico??? Maybe a trip to The Outer Banks in North Carolina? A trip to Canada is always a fun adventure!! So many places we could go! We need to start planing right away so let me know if you have any ideas!