Stem Design Challenge

Tanner had the opportunity to go with his team (Joey and Lucas) to compete in a Stem challenge at Penn State Beaver.  There were a few teams from his school and then lots of other schools there too.  The object of the competition was to use Knex to make things more energy efficient and lower your electric bill.  The day before the event, Tanner came home and informed me that he had promised his team that he would bring shirts for all of them so they could match the next day.  Wow! Ok!  So we ran to Walmart and grabbed the cheapest shirts we could find.  They have to be washed and dried before you can add the vinyl so we scrambled to get them in the wash the second we got home.  Then I went to work designing the vinyl for them.  With Tanner's help we cranked them out and got them done in time, although it was a very late night.  We both LOVED how they turned out, and even better our guesses at sizes panned out and they fit everyone just right.  Phew!  They had a great time at the competition and I won some serious mom points for pulling everything off.

Western PA Spelling Bee

Saturday was the day.  The one we've all been anticipating for over a month.  The one most of us have put in hours of study and prep for.  Between endless quizzing and looking up pronunciations, we had done our best to set Landon up for success.  Then Friday morning Landon woke up feeling awful and spiked a fever of 102.5 and we started panicking that it was all for nothing and he'd miss the whole thing.  But with some rest and prayers, and even a father's priesthood blessing, he rallied and took the Spelling Bee on with courage and excitement.  He shocked and impressed us all with how well he handled his nerves and charged up there with confidence and calm.  The first round was relatively easy.  Only one poor kid got out.  I think they give them simpler words to make them feel good about getting through, but once the second round hits they seriously up the ante.  There were words I'd never heard of, let alone knew how to spell.  Landon got up for his second word and spelled "deoderant."  Dean and I both silently celebrated that he got it right only to hear the bell ring indicating that he had misspelled the word.  Haha!  Guess we don't know how to spell it either!  But Landon handled it all like a champ.  He said he was equal parts disappointed to be out and relieved it was over.  Honestly, we couldn't be prouder even if he had gone further in the competition.  It was a great experience and now we'll all remember how to spell deodorant for the rest of time!   

And he got his name in the paper which was worth the whole ordeal all on it's own!  He was so thrilled with it that he even wrote a song it.  Hahaha!

NJHS Induction Ceremony

Last night was a bit of a milestone for our family.  Tanner was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  This one feels a bit surreal.  When did we get old enough to have a kid in NJHS?  I can totally remember my induction ceremony and now I'm the parent!?  Crazy!  We sure are proud of Tanner and his hard work to qualify for this.  He chose Mr. Marchetti to pin him and the whole audience was rolling when he dropped the pin on the stage and had to get down on the floor to look for it.  Hahaha!  We sure appreciate all those who have taught and mentored Tanner to get to this point, and to make it even more special, Uncle Jared flew in yesterday to help with Mom and Dad's kitchen remodel, so he got to come to support Tanner too.  

Birthday Surprise

It was a quick turnaround to be driving to Columbus again just three days after I had gone with the youth, but Lisa and I were so excited to surprise Cassie for her big 40th birthday.  We had arranged with Ryan to grab her for the 11am Temple session and then spend the day going to lunch and catching up.  She was SO shocked to see us on her porch with balloons, flowers, chocolates, and diet coke in tow!  Nothing but the best for the birthday girl!  We finished the day up with a trip to Hangry's Grill and had so much fun chatting the day away.  I came home feeling so very grateful for wonderful friends who are great influences and help me to get to the Temple more often.  And glad for a break from being Mom and getting some much needed girls time.  Happy Birthday Cassie!  Thanks for getting older so we could party!

Tanner's First Temple Trip

We were so excited for the chance to take Tanner, along with the other youth in our Ward, for his first Temple trip in Columbus, Ohio.  Leading up to it Dean started getting sick and we went to bed the night before not sure whether he'd be able to make it.  I prayed and prayed that things would work out and he'd be able to be there for this special day.  He woke up feeling ok, popped some ibuprofen, and we made it work.  Tanner was super nervous about the unknown, and although I assured him it would be fine and that both his parents would be there to help, he just couldn't shake those nerves.  He powered through and ended up having such a great experience.  He was able to do baptisms and confirmations, and thanks to recent policy changes he got to be a witness as well and then finished up by scanning his own names into the system at the end of the day.  I love how much more involved the youth get to be now!  On the way home we stopped at Culvers for dinner, and then Tanner popped some motion sickness meds and slept most of the way home.  Unfortunately Abriel Gruber's meds didn't work as well and we had to stop for some roadside throwing up.  Poor girl!  She's a trooper to come anyway!  Dean made it home and immediately crashed in bed for the next 24 hours, but Heavenly Father blessed him to be able to be there and for that we're so grateful. 

The next day was Fast Sunday and Tanner shocked me completely.  As he sat down in our bench after passing the Sacrament, he passed a note to Joseph Simon who is also a new deacon that went on the Temple trip with us.  He encouraged him to join him in bearing their testimonies about the experience they had at the Temple the day before.  It took notes back and forth for the whole meeting before they gathered the courage to head up, but they both shared the sweetest testimonies of the Temple.  Tanner spoke about how he could feel the presence of those who's work he was doing, and I hope that he never forgets that day.  How grateful we are for the House of the Lord and for the chance to be there and serve with our boy.     

This is just a fraction of our group that was still around for a picture by time we were leaving.  Unfortunately this is all the Young Women who came.  We'll have to work on improving our numbers for next time!  And yes, it was VERY bright! Hahaha!