I have gotten involved in a small group of military wives for a Bible study and made some great friends. Last month I was really surprised when they threw me and Krista (who is also in the group and due 9 days after me) a surprise baby shower! I couldn't believe their kindness, I mean I just met these women a few weeks ago! Megan's house was BEAUTIFUL! Everything was decorated in white and silver. We had a great time talking, eating appetizers, playing games and we enjoyed (my favorite, how did they know?!?!?) cheesecake for dessert. Yummy! Thanks, ladies.
The other day we were driving in Spokane and saw a car dealership with an inflatable Santa on the roof. Without skipping a beat, Elena cheerfully exclaimed "It's Noah!". Apparently she's been paying attention to all those Bible stories we're reading to her! :)
Elena recently wanted to have a baby in her tummy, too!
When we got here we were happy to find an apple tree in our new backyard, loaded with apples! The tree hasn't been cared for in a while, it is overgrown and the tons of apples are really wormy.(By the way Mom & Dad, thanks for the awesome pruning job when you were here). The apples are perfect for applesauce! It took awhile to get them peeled, cored, and de-wormed (mmmm protein!) but we have our first batch of warm, chunky, low sugar homemade applesauce! Here is Quality Control checking it out.
...we get pictures we don't usually get-pictures of ourselves! I'm happy to be getting more pregnant pictures this time around. I didn't get enough when I was pregnant with E.
My parents and grandma-"Grandma", "Grandpa" and "Nanma" just left from a week-long visit. I'm so thankful that they're able to visit and have a relationship with Elena. I grew up really close to my grandparents and I think it's really important for our children to know their grandparents. It always makes me sad when I hear people say that they didn't really know their grandparents, or that they saw them once every couple of years for the holidays. Anyway, my heart melted as I watched Grandpa giving horsey rides and reading to her in Spanish, Grandma playing games and being so patient and encouraging, and Nanma and Elena snuggling together on the couch, reading. It was so cute when E would wake up and tell them "good morning!" and they would give her big hugs and kisses.
.......and we are having a BABY GIRL!!!! We have two daughters! The first question we seem to be getting so far is "do you have any names picked out?" Actually we are just starting to think about names. We are open to suggestions.
The ultrasound tech did a 4D during the exam and we got to watch our baby girl move, yawn, drink and she even smiled while we were watching her. Her eyes were even open! I (Adri) was never interested in a 4D but after seeing her I feel more bonded and motherly toward her. We are so excited, girls are so precious and so much fun! We can't wait to hold her in December!
When we had our first ultrasound in July, it was a bit early and baby didn't cooperate, so we didn't find out if our new little one is a boy or girl. Well, long story short, we will be able to get another ultrasound and the appointment is tomorrow! We considered just waiting a few more weeks to be surprised but are just so curious! We'll post what we find out! To be continued...
We've been back from the wedding for a week and what great memories we made there! The wedding was amazing-from the setting to the personal vows. And let's not forget what a stunning bride Katie was! The ceremony took place under a canopy of shade trees in a private park in front of a gazebo. After the ceremony (which took about 10 minutes!) the couple dismissed each row of chairs personally, then people mingled over to the tent to enjoy hors d'vours, lemonade, tea, cotton candy and later some of the best wedding cake I've ever had! We had a blast during wedding week with the family, playing Guitar Hero, visiting the Air Force Museum, sitting around and talking, going to the rehearsal and to Graeter's ice cream after that-fun was had by all!
The flower girls were so lost-it was adorable!
The Tanner girls-Schanina, Kristen (with baby Michael), Adri and Mandy
We made it to Washington! We unplugged out computer on July 30th-come to think of it, I should have posted a note about us not having internet for a few weeks beforehand. Well anyway, we pulled out of Altus Air Force Base on August 1st at 6:32 pm, Jared driving our Ford Ranger and me driving the Honda with E in the back seat. Both vehicles were packed pretty heavily with our temprary household goods. That day it was 107 degress outside. Needless to say we wanted to leave pretty badly. We spent the first night in Oklahoma City. The next morning we left OKC around 9:20 and drove 15 hours until we got to Faulkton, SD at about 12:30. We spent a few days at Nana and Bompa's house relaxing and visiting and had a really good time.
On Tuesday Jared made a joke about leaving E at Nana and Bompa's for the week-after a minute we looked at each other and voiced it-could we really do that?!?!?!! Nana and Bompa said they'd be fine with it (Mom was a little reluctant at this point) and the next morning Jared and I set out, once again in separate vehicles, our 2 kitties in the car instead of E. It was hard saying goodbye to our little girl!
We drove about 533 miles to Billings, MT where we spent the night at the Friesen's house. We had a good time, and it was so good to see them again. We ate some awesome food, visited with the family, and got to meet Molly, JR's fiance. They were so gracious and hospitable to us AND our kitties. Thanks for giving up your room, JR!
Thursday we drove another 500 miles through gorgeous Montana, Idaho and Washington. We got to the base at about 4:20 pm and got to the housing office just in time to walk through a couple houses, pick one, sign a lease, and start moving in!!! That night we unloaded both vehicles. The next day Fairchild hosted an air show so we went to the flightline and got to see our good friend Brian and a couple other friends who had brought a C-21 to the airshow from Scott. It was sooo good to see friends and hang out with them.
Over the rest of the weekend we moved in, got beds made, rooms set up, pictures on the wall, etc. etc. It felt REALLY good to leave the house ready to live in when we left for Michael and Katie's wedding.
On Wednesday we flew to Dayton, Ohio for the wedding and had yet more good times with family. Elena had a blast with Nana and Bompa but it was sure good to hold our girl again. We missed her like crazy!!
So, we are home now, settled, have internet, cell phones that work, and an extra bedroom, which means we're up for company anytime!
Well everybody, sorry for the long break. We've been super busy (almost done at Altus!) and a bit under the weather. I (Adri) had the same procedure done last week as when I was pregnant with E (email if you want the details!). The procedure went great but I got a spinal headache from the anesthesia and oh, boy, it was a doozy! I had to lay flat or else I would immediately get a horrible headache that went into my spine, my neck was stiff and strained and it felt like my brain was going to explode through my temples. Eventually it was treated with IV caffeine (go figure!) and lots 'o Starbucks Doubleshot and iced mocha. Baby is doing fine, we're just hoping s/he won't be born with fried hair and bloodshot eyes. ;) We will be leaving Altus next week Lord willing and if Jared passes his check ride. We're planning on making it up to SD in 2 days, spending time with "Nana" and "Bompa", picking up our kitties, and then dropping by to see the Friesens on our way through Montana. If Jared and I (mostly Jared) have worked things right, we'll have a 3 bedroom house waiting for us when we get to Fairchild Air Force Base!
For those of you who haven't heard yet, Tanner baby #2 us due December 28th! We're pretty happy and are hoping to find out if we're having a girl or a boy in a few weeks. We don't really have a preference. E is going to be a wonderful big sister. She'll thrive on having someone around to play with all the time. I can't wait for our family to meet this new little one!
Ok, I don't assume that our child has made any sort of personal profession of faith but I am happy to say that she prayed~voluntarily~for the first time this week! It was so cute. I put her food in front of her and said "Ok, E, it's time to thank Jesus for our food". She immediately held my hand and said "Jesus" (which sounded more like "Dee-dow"). So I said "say thank you Jesus for our food" and she said "ti-ti Dee-dow food. E-mee!" (amen) :)
For those of you who are not familiar with what a KC-135 looks like or what it does, here are a few pictures. This is the KC-135 R model. The R model is the newest version of the 50 year old KC-135 and has much bigger engines (22,000# of thrust each) than earlier models and upgraded avionics.
My job will be to be an airborne gas station for everything from fighter aircraft
to jumbo jets (like the C-5).
I'm looking forward to flying it : )
Jared
This is Jared:
I just returned from 2 hours of studying at Starbucks (one of my favorite places in the world). I have my first KC-135 flight on Tuesday so I have quite a bit of studying to do. I find it easier to concentrate when I get away from home, sip on a Venti Iced Mocha with light ice, and listen to Yo Yo Ma on my new iPod nano (B-Day present from Adri).
So we just turned 27 and 29. It seems like the older we get, the less celebrated birthdays become, so I went into this one with lower expectations than in previous years. And that was a good thing, because it ended up being an awesome day!!!
Jared & Elena let me sleep in until 8:30 and I can always get more sleep these days. It was such a luxury! Jared went to work and E and I stayed home, did some things around the house and generally had a lazy day. Last night we went to this little hole in the wall place we had heard about from several friends here. It's called "Meers" and supposedly it's the best burger in OK. So we drove the 50 miles and loved the trip there-it was through a nature preserve and we got to see buffalo!
It was beautiful back in the hills-almost mountainous. As Jared said "It's almost like we're not in Oklahoma!". The atmosphere of the restaurant was old-fashioned, like something from the early 1900's. And the food-WOW! The food was incredible. We ordered their specialty-the Meersburger, with potato wedges and for dessert they brought us a bowl of cherry cobbler, peach cobbler, and homemade ice cream. The 3 of us ate maybe one-fourth of it-it was HUGE! I'm still full as I write this!
And let's not forget what Jared got me-something I've been wanting for a while! My first Tiffany piece of jewelry, which I thought I would never have. At least not this side of raising kiddos. :) My husband has quite a history of getting me nice jewelry! We had a great time together and now we have good memories of my 29th birthday!
.....a blog site so we can keep in better touch with our friends/family. One of my goals for this summer was to create a blog while I have nothing to do and housekeeping service (it's true!). It was so easy! Thanks to my new friend Natalie (whose blog I was reading when I saw the link about how to create your own blog). I'm glad I did it.....now for the regular postings. We have pretty slow internet here at Altus so hopefully that won't be too big of a problem. I'm off to figure out how to post pictures.....drop us a line and keep in touch!
