Emari Walking

During our Sunday dinner this past week Tanner and I got to see our niece Emari walk. She is getting so big. Here are some videos from that night.

The FIRST Vocal Point Concert

Tanner and I went to our first Vocal Point concert together. I loved for the first time being able to sit next to my husband at a Vocal Point concert. He loved it! He has been so busy these past few months he has not had time to miss Vocal Point but being at the concert and not performing was the little wake up it took for him to start missing being involved in a musical group. 
It was really nice being able to see so many of his old group mates. (Is that what you call them? Members might be better.) We got to go to dinner with Aly and Ross before the concert. We really enjoy being able to spend time with them. They are incredible people and we love their company. We also got to see Aubrey there which  we LOVE getting to run into her as much as we can. It was so great to run into friends. 
The concert was wonderful. The guys were funny, entertaining and musically they were very cohesive. ( I was trying to find just one work for musically cohesive.) 


P.S. Tanner and I sometimes... most of the time... struggle to take a picture we both agree on the first or second time. Here are the tries from the concert. 

Friday Date Night

Tanner and I went to the movies last night. We had ourselves a little date night. It has been a while since we had a official date night. Tanner asked me in the morning if I wanted to go on a date with him that night. He went and bought tickets to Wreck It Ralph. Which I have been wanting to see since I saw the first preview. We had  reception to go to first for my friend Haley. We got to see Annalee and Emari there. We love getting to see them. I love that my sister lives close so that we can see each other and do things together.
For our date we went to dinner at CPK. We had to hurry just a little because we needed to make it to the movie. We got to the movies, got popcorn and a drink....after buying that I remembered why I have hidden candy and treats in my bag for most of my life. It is because a small popcorn and drink are almost 10 dollars. That is crazy!! Then we got into the theater and there are assigned seat now at the Cinemark Theaters but people did not really think that was important until people had to kick them out of there seat because many people had to get up and movie throughout most of the previews. During the movie I was laughing so hard a some part and then just throughout the whole movie Tanner and I were laughing. I would definitely recommend that movie for anyone.
To had more to our perfect night was the snow! It has snowed all day and it was perfect. Tanner and I both love winter/ Christmas love so it was the perfect date night.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween was very fun for us this year. We had a Halloween party at Annalee and Chad's which was very fun and we are happy that we can have that every year! This year for the party we ate dinner, played Minute To Win It games both in real life and on the WII. It was pretty funny. We have video of some of it that will be posted later. It was fun to get to have Allison and Dan come again this year. It is really nice to have my cousin as one of our friends. I really like it. Then Alec came with a date, she was very quite and cute.

On Sunday, Tanners grandparents had there traditional Halloween dinner. For the dinner we all get a menu and have to mark on it what we want. I got Skeleton Broth, Vampire Vittles, pumpkin puss, scrabbled brains. There are a lot of them to choose from but it is always a surprise. It always funny to get food but not utensils to eat the food with, or only getting the sauces but nothing to go with them. It is really fun. Then we get a second round to choose and then its  free for all and we can eat whatever we want. We always love this dinner. It is a must be at dinner! Then the "Spook Alley", it is the BEST part. I love getting to go to the spook alley, I am not a fan of being scared but this is my kind of being scared. This year it was outside and I was told I was only going to live 48 hours unless I drink blood, eat brains or eat eyeballs. I drank the blood (V8 Juice) and man I thought I was going to have to spit it out but I finally swallowed it. It was nasty!!

Then on Monday, we went over to my parents house and carved pumpkins. Mine pumpkin took me a long time but I really enjoy carving pumpkins. Tanner had to help me after awhile because my hand was getting very tired.

 Ashley, Tanner, Annalee, Alec, Emari, Chad

 Ashley and Tanner

Finally on Halloween Tanner and I dressed up to go to his grandparents for chili and doughnuts. It grandma is a incredible lady. She is always doing things for others. If it is her family or if it is neighbors. I hope to have that same sense for others as she does. We drove Austin up with us. We love being able to spend time with him! For the longest time while we were up at his grandparents it was just Austin, Tanner and Me. Then around nine, Tanners parents came and then Chad came up from Provo and as we were leaving Jeff and Dianne came. 

I am so happy that Tanner and I have such amazing families. We love getting to be with them as much as we can and the holidays are the perfect time to get to do that for often. 

The BYU Black Out

Tanner and I were lucky enough to get tickets at the last minute to go to the game. I called my mom and asked her if there were any available tickets. We had a sleep over the night before with Tanners siblings and by the time we woke up it was just Chad left and he was going to the game so we thought. We should try and go to the game too. That is when I called my mom because she had mentioned that there might be tickets. She said that there were tickets left and that we could go but we had to meet them in 45 minutes about. It was a quick get ready and leave. We ended up going with my parents it a KBYU lunch and it was delicious. We didn't get those tickets because they ended up being in box seats so my parents took those and Tanner and I took my grandpas seasons tickets seats. It was such a game of mixed emotion but we ended up leaving before the game even officially ended because it was just getting sad.
We went and met up with Chad and started walking to my grandparents from the stadium. We ended up meeting my family driving back to my grandparents. We jumped in the trunk and headed to my grandparents.
It was a very fun day to be with my family.

We may have struggled a little with the lighting and with my face so we took a few pictures. 

BYU FOOTBALL

Tanner and I were lucky to get to go to a football game this session. We had asked my grandpa for tickets but there was a misunderstanding with my aunt and uncle so we almost did not get to go. Luckily there were tickets still available when I called to buy some. They were close to the Aggie fan section which was not ideal but it could have been worse right?  It was still very funny to listen to their fans verses our fans. It was pretty cold outside but it was not horrible.

We loved going to the game and hope that we can go to more in the future.

One Year Anniversary

For our first anniversary we were in San Francisco but when we got home we decided it was time to get the wedding cake out of the freezer and eat it.

2 Layers of Tin Foil and 2 freezer bags and it still tasted like the freezer

When we bought our wedding cake we got a anniversary cake for free! This is the cake we got. 

It was delicious!! 

Anniversary Trip to San Francisco

Our Trip Told by Pictures 

Flight

Golden Gate Bridge

Yank Sing 

Trolley Ride

 

Day 2:

Temple

Painted Ladies

Pier 39

Aquarium

Neptune's Palace

Union Square

Day 3:

Church

Driving down a WAY winedy road

Muir Woods'

Fisherman's Warf

Ghirardelli Square 

Flight home 

Education Week Concerts..... Tanner's Last Hurrah!

Tanner performed with Vocal Point for the last time during BYU's education week! It was a happy and sad moment. He had performances Tuesday through Friday. I was lucky enough to go to all but one when I let my mom take my ticket. This part of Tanner's life became part of my life and our life. Since I met Tanner we have had to work around and with Vocal Point. I will admit there were times where I loved it and times where I wished we could just spend more time with me. We had so many great experiences and I know that Tanner did as well.
He was able to do so much:

• Sang at a dinner where President Uchdorf was attending
• Sang for a Xango International Convention
• Sang at the Deseret Managements Christmas Party (including President Monson and 8 of the 12 Apostles.) 
• Sang in front of 80,000 boy scouts at the National Jamboree
•  Sang in front of 7,000 people at the General Assembly of YMCA's 
• Half time of B.Y.U. basketball game ( The Jimmer Years)
• Half time of B.Y.U football game
• Nauvoo Summer Tours
• ICCA's Second Place in New York and Tanner himself received Outstanding Vocal Percussionist
• Place he traveled: Idaho, Arizona, California, New York, Wyoming, Illinois, Oregon ( Many cities in each state)
• NBC's the "Sing Off"
• Utah Jazz National Anthem and Half Time
• REAL Salt Lake Soccer National Anthem
• Local Concerts and Performances
• and so so much more

Tanner had such a wonderful experience in Vocal Point and he could tell you more and more experiences he had. 

His last concerts were wonderful and he enjoyed them all but he realizes that it is his time to move on and let someone else have such a miraculous experience performing with vocal point as he did. 

Pictures from his last Shows:

From Beginning to End: 

 

Tanner's Last Beat Boxing Solo

One of the first songs Tanner sang with Vocal Point 

Moncton....Toronto......Chicago......Utah

         This was our last morning in Canada. To me it felt as if I could have spent a whole other week in Canada but after being away for two weeks it was truly time to go home. We both enjoyed every moment that we had on this vacation. As we woke up and got ready to leave for the airport it still had not hit us that we were actually flying home.
          The Pattison's extended family was all head to the beach just past the airport so they offered to drop us off on their way. We loaded in the car and hit the road after saying our good bye's and thank you's!! We are so grateful for people like them who were so generous to us while on our trip.
We got in the car's and headed to the airport. I got to sit up front and talk with Kelly! I loved it. She is an incredible lady with so much insight. I love her courage and determination to follow the spirit in all situations. We talked about work, family, differences between Canada and the States. I have to say my husband is so funny. He was sitting behind me and catching up with one of the guys he had met while up in Hampton but he still wanted to hold my hand or be close to me so he would reach up and hold  my shoulder or arm. He is so cute. Anyways, the ride was only an hour but it seemed so much shorter.
                                       
Then, we were at the airport. We checked in and waited about an hour. We got on the our first flight of the day to get to Toronto.
           We got to Toronto. Everything was normal until the plane was loaded and they announce that Chicago is having some thunder storms so all planes departing to the Chicago airport are to say on the ground until further notice. Tanner and I start to watch the rest of The Hunger Games. An hour passes by and the movie ends and we are still on the ground in Toronto. I was getting a little antsy. Then just a few minutes later they announced we will be taking off. As we landed in Chicago, all I could think about was how we probably missed our connecting flight. We got off the flight and headed to the United Airlines desk thinking they could help us since that is the airlines of the flight that we missed our connection with. WRONG. They did not help us but mess our tickets up. So, we head to the Air Canada desk since they are the airlines we flew in on that had made us late. They said we need to go out and ask the people at the main desk. We proceed to leave and head to the Air Canada desk. The lady was nice and said, we have already booked you tickets on the flight that departs later tonight. We said perfect! We then directed up to the United Airlines check in desks so we could print off our boarding passes.
            We get to the next terminal over. Wait in line to get our passes printed off when..... the old man tells us that they in fact do not have tickets for us and that they do not even have control over our tickets. That is when we realized the first United Airlines helper put our names on a Delta flight in the morning. I was on the verge of tears. I did not really wanted to say a night in Chicago. The man did give up stand by tickets for the flight the Air Canada said we had seats on already. After all of this, we head back to Air Canada fill them in on the story that United Airlines gave us and letting them know that they are responsible for our hotel if we do not make it on the standby flight. Tanner and I get through security and head to the gate where our flight should be taking off. After about 10 minutes of waiting they switch our gate to being downstairs. Tanner was getting hungry so we head down and put our stuff in a spot where I can sit and watch it while he goes to get food. After 30 minutes they are calling the standby names and Tanner and I are number 2 and 3. I had to go up and get the tickets for both of us which the man at the desk did not like much. It was strange though. Our tickets were the only ones with our names on them and least of the other 6 I saw. After that I amused we had a spot on the plane the whole time they just had to wait to see if some of United Airlines members needed some of the seats.
             So I go to get in line to board the plane after they have called all the rows and Tanner still is not back. I am starting to freak out a little. There are only 5 people who arent on the plane yet. I call Tanner right as we is walking down the stairs. We rush onto the plane and ask the people we were sitting by if we could sit together since we are married. They were so kind and said yes. We sat down and finally could relax because we knew we were going to be home in just a few hours.

Our flight was okay. It was bumpy and load but we were just happy to be getting home! 

Prince Edward Island Day 3

It is our last day in P.E.I and we were very excited about getting to spend the rest of our day there with the Westhaver's. The boys were excited too. We were going to go hang out on the beach with them and the Peach family.
Tanner and I got ready and headed to Tim Horton's, its very popular up in Canada. They are on almost every street corner. So I thought I need to have the whole experience of Canada so we got breakfast there.
We then drove around the island for about the next 2 hours, waiting for the Westhaver's boys to be ready to go to the beach.
We got to the camp site were the Peach's were staying about 30 minutes before Tanner and I needed to head back to Hampton.
                                     
We got just a few minutes with them and the beach. Then it was time to hit the road. Tanner and I took pictures a long the way back from the beach to the bridge.

                                                                     

We then crossed this bridge that was from the island to the main land. It was over the ocean. You just need to see pictures.
Tanner and I had a great drive back to Hampton. We stopped on the way in Moncton so I could see where he served and to get some food. I had a way good sandwich and Tanner had donair. They are all the rage up there. It was actually way better than I thought it would be.
We finally got back to the Pattinson's. They had there whole family there and we just added to the bunch of them. That night some of the members that Tanner wanted to see came over and sat and talked. He was really happy to get to talk with the Greens, and an old bishop of the ward in Hampton.

Then time for bed!