Carving out our niche.
28 years ago today–also on Mother’s Day–I was born. Thanks mom, for loving me as extraordinarily as you do, and for shaping me into the man I’ve become. And much love to mom Tanner, for delivering the coolest girl in the world, and for being such an awesome mom-in-law. We love you guys tons and can’t express enough how much you mean to us.
Here are a couple photos from the Sunday brunch we had up in Ogden:
[how adorable is that mom-to-be??]
The Wagstaffs (family friends of the Tanners) invited us up to their beautiful cabin at Solitude ski resort this weekend. Being the ski bum that I am, I was beyond excited for another opportunity to get out this season. So Friday night we picked up Houston and made our way up a snowy Big Cottonwood Canyon, arriving at our destination just after dark. It wasn’t long before we settled into deep couches to watch the Vancouver Olympic opening ceremonies with a big group of family and friends.
The next morning a bunch of us struck out early to the lifts, hoping to get in as many runs as possible. It had snowed a bunch the evening before, and it snowed the entire day…so conditions were perhaps the best I’ve ever skied. Since Denny had been coming to Solitude his entire life, he and his son Drew were able to take us directly to the best stashes of thigh-to-waist deep powder. I decided to forgo lunch and ended up skiing for seven straight hours. Pure bliss.
Kristie “I Don’t Want to Squish the Baby” McConnon wasn’t feeling quite up to skiing, so she decided to run 9 miles at their home gym and play with Therese’s adorable nieces back at the cabin instead. That night we watched moguls, short-track, luge, biathlon and a bunch of other awesome Olympic competitions, taking a few breaks to play Scatagories and some other fun games. Watching Apollo and Kearney take silver and gold respectively were certainly highlights.
[check out that gnarly curling iron burn on Kristie's neck. That has to be some kind of record, poor girl]
On Sunday we went to church at the Brighton Branch, which was literally at the base of a ski hill. It was one of the prettiest churches I’d ever attended. Later on we had a big family dinner and dessert, complete with a Valentines Day party put on by the little kids.
We were planning on heading back that evening, but one of Kristie’s client’s rescheduled and I didn’t have work, so we didn’t have to take off till this morning. All in all it was a wonderful weekend escape with great skiing, great activities and really great company.
At about 2:30pm on Thursday I got a text from Kristie at work, informing me that she’d prepared a Valentines evening and I wasn’t allowed home till 6:00. Suffice it to say I love that girl.
So about a week before the cruise Kristie and I decided to modify our itinerary. Instead of heading back to SLC after the cruise, we thought it would be fun to head back to Massachusetts for an extra week of vacation. We knew mom would be really excited about this idea, but I only discussed it with dad, and we decided to keep it a secret. Coleman was flying back to Utah with us, and had really wanted to go home too, so we switched his itinerary to match ours without him knowing.
So when we got off the cruise ship, we all headed to the Orlando airport. Coleman, Kristie and I went to one terminal, and mom, dad and Andrew headed to another. I had wanted to see how far we could get Coleman before he realized the final destination, but he ended up figuring it out at baggage check-in. The guy said, “so your final destination is Boston?” and Coleman nodded, then looked really confused, and said “wait…no.” Before too much protesting we caught his attention and shouted “surprise! Merry Christmas!” It was pretty funny to watch his confusion give way to excitement.
So we boarded a Jetblue flight to Logan Airport in Boston, while mom and dad flew Southwest into Manchester, NH. Dad made up some excuse about having to drive over and pick up a package for work at Logan, and mom (somewhat annoyed) said “fine.” When they drove past us along the curbside pickup, we saw mom in the passenger side window and began waving. Her face was priceless, she looked like she just woke up in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was just glad she managed to wait till dad stopped the car before she launched herself out of it. I think she was trying to figure out what state we were all in at the moment.
Anyways, at the last second I pulled out my camera and switched it on to video…here was the latter part of her reaction:
This year we spent Christmas with the McConnon family. On a boat. In the Caribbean. It was so, so much fun.
After Coleman wrapped up his finals, he drove down from Rexburg, and the three of us flew out to Orlando on Saturday morning. Mom, dad and Andrew met us there and the next morning we boarded a massive, decked-out-for-Christmas Royal Carribean cruise ship, to set sail for 7 days. Arriving on the boat :
Our rooms looked over the 5th deck promenade that you see behind us, which was filled with shops and stretched from one end of the massive ship to the other.
Monday: Coco Cay, Bahamas
We were the first passengers to arrive on the island (excited much?) and spent the day exploring the island. We saw stingrays, starfish, and all kinds of other cool stuff. After lunch we joined a volleyball tourney and layed out for a while in the island sun.
Sunrise on the beach
Florider surf park on the back of the ship
Cantilevered hottub...look below and there's nothing but ocean
On the way to dinner
Late night surfing
Tuesday: At sea
We spent today running around and exploring the ship. The enormity of the boat, and the quantity of available food, still had us in awe.
Dodgeball tournament on deck.
Kristie and Tom on the ship's climbing wall
Wednesday: St. Thomas
Afternoon at the secluded Lindquist beach
A McConnon family portrait
The boys
Thursday: St. Martin
Philipsburg, St. Maarten (Dutch Side)
A huuuuge live lobster that was about to end up on the grill
Kristie, island fairy
Coleman leaving the runway
Kristie lee
Sunset on the pier
Singing carols on Christmas Eve
Friday: At sea
The dining room
Custom-made cookie sandwich
Candid shot
Saturday: At sea
Mom, conquering her fear of heights
Filming "On a Boat." L-R: T-Pain, Andy Samberg & Kiv. Don't ask.
Our excellent wait staff
Brothers
Andrew "Sprinkles" McConnon
Pharaohs Lounge
Kristie and I purchased our first real Christmas tree this year, and had a blast making our home feel all kinds of Christmas-y. Here’s a shot of Kristie putting the finishing touches on the lights and ornaments:
**Special thanks to Joe Meservy who has provided the soundtrack to our last three Christmases in the form of a classic mix, lovingly dubbed Christmas Nog.
This Thanksgiving we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Tanner’s home in Ogden to spend time with the extended Tanner family. Grandma and Grandpa did a great job organizing dinners, events and activities to make sure we all had a wonderful extended weekend.
Before leaving we had a little time to hang out with Coleman and Lacey (down from BYU-I). Coleman suggested we hit all-you-can-eat-night at Wingers and I was completely feelin’ that. We took this picture before they had to wheel us boys out of the joint.
We also acted on a little pre-Christmas spirit and made sugar cookies with Nathan and Kendra. Which we ended up eating all ourselves, despite our best intentions to share.
Up in Ogden a few of us went out bowling, and it was a pretty awesome event. Here’s a great group shot of the boys:
On Thanksgiving day grandma organized a trip to the temple, where we took this neat family picture.
By the time everyone arrived for the dinner, we had quite the gathering…so much so that we had to borrow a bunch of tables and chairs from the local church. The food and company were terrific, and we found ourselves incredibly grateful for an untold number of blessings in our lives.
After eating we headed over to the annual Tanner Turkey Shoot…a double-elimination, skeet shooting contest. There were some surprise contenders, but Houston ended up taking the trophy with a particularly strong showing.
That night I had a pretty epic adventure of my own. I’d never participated in any Black Friday shopping madness, but decided that it was about time. I saw a killer deal at Wal-Mart for an HP laptop that dirt cheap and light years ahead of my current machine (the $298 one pictured below). It was totally worth it, so long as you were willing to pay the price in sleepless hours and hysterical crowds. Which I was.
Coleman and I arrived at 10:50 pm or so, and he kept me company until they let the official line form, from which point 22 of us were cordoned off in the chilly produce isle to wait until they issued the laptops at 5:30 am the next day. Luckily Kristie suggested I bring a couple big body pillows to sit on, which turned out to be the best idea ever. It was a long, long night. We played Bop-It, complained, tried to stay warm, and shared stories with the complete strangers that gradually became friends. At long last I got my machine, and Coleman came, bleary-eyed, to pick me up by 6:00 am. He was quite a good sport.
All in all it was a terrific weekend that was full of highlights, and we left it feeling very thankful indeed..
Andrew George, breaking a Ute “tackle” to win in overtime. Glorious bragging rights for a full year. Loving it.
(P.S. – Hey Max, you sound like me last year)
Unfortunately our Halloween-night plans didn’t quite work out, but at least I got to dress up with a few friends at work. I went as our former intern. Not funny unless you knew him. Check out this attractive bunch:
Tonight we got Thai at our favorite restaurant in Park City, Bangkok Thai on Main. It was two years ago today that we had dinner at the same spot, hours before I proposed. Happy 24th baby!