North and South!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge sucker for a sappy love story, which is why Hannah suggested that I watch North and South. (Thank you Hannah) They also know that I LOVE Pride and Prejudice! Mr. Darcy is such a lovable character with his "faults that can't be laughed at" and he will always have a special place in my heart. But Mr. Thornton has captured another part of my heart. He shows his hard exterior, but his vulnerability is almost enough to make me cry. I just want to jump into the screen and tell him everything is going to be ok and that he will get Margaret in the end. I know, I know I need help. The great thing about love stories at least for me is that I fall in love with Jonathan all over again because I compare these characters to him and I always find the attributes in him that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The tenderness, patience, integrity, honesty, humor, soft kisses and passionate ones. I have so much to be thankful for in my husband. So I send out a thank you to Miss Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell for their talents of insights into the males psyche. I highly recommend watching this movie. Just make sure that you have your warm blanket or someone to snuggle with. Yep, it's that good. You can watch it on youtube if you don't want to wait to purchase it.

Blueberry and Peach Picking!

On Friday Jonathan took the day off so we headed out to the country with the boys to pick Blueberries and Peaches. We know that Fall is on its way when we get to start harvesting our favorite fruits. There is nothing like picking a handful of blueberries off the bush and popping them in your mouth. Isaac was an amazing picker as usual and Owen was a huge eater as usual. You will notice from the pictures that Isaac's bucket is almost full while Owen's is empty. I made a deal with the boys that if they picked 5 blueberries then they could eat the 6th one. Isaac did well with the deal, but Owen was 5 for me and the 6th for me. After a while the boys got tired so Jonathan took them over to the playground that is next to the farm house. I stayed behind in the trenches and ended up picking 10 pounds of blueberries. GO ME!!! After we refreshed ourselves with our vanilla ice cream cones w/ rainbow jimmies and blueberry donuts we headed out to the peach trees to pick our bushel. The boys had a better time picking the peaches due to the fact that they are 500 times larger than the blueberries and much easier to get at. The whole ordeal lasted about 20 minutes, which was perfect for the boys attention span. We had fabulous weather, very tasty fruit and an awesome family day.

The Tanner Sybling Reunion!

Jonathan and I headed out with the boys on Monday morning of the 4th, and after arriving at the air port and being told that our flight was canceled due to the fact that our pilot didn't show up for work, any guesses why?, then being booked on a new flight for later that afternoon and re arriving at the air port then being told that our flight was delayed for about 3 hours because of a part that needed to be flown in from NYC that could have been done the day before because that is when they found out it needed to be replaced, then being booked on another flight, we finally arrived in Las Vegas 23 hours from the time we started our trip. To reward the boys for being such AMAZING troopers we booked a night at the Excalibur. The boys thought that it was pretty cool that we got to sleep in a castle. The room was pretty nice and we had a rockn' buffet breakfast the next morning. Any of you who know Jonathan know that he has a passion for the "Buffet". After breakfast we took the boys out to the small water park that they had at the hotel. Isaac had a great time on the water slide and Owen loved the "Hot Pool". I took Owen up to the water slide kicking and screaming and made him come down with me. When we made it to the bottom he was yelling "I did it mommy, I did it. Let's go again". He is such a crack up. After we had our fill of water sports we packed up the car and headed up to St. George to the condo. We had two days to ourselves before everyone started heading in for the reunion. I'll give you one guess as to what Jonathan did, yup he golfed and we took the boys to the driving range. I bought them golfing gloves. They were so cute I could have gobbled them up. We also spent a good amount of time in the pool. It was so relaxing! A much needed break for both of us. I fear that I was a bit more relaxed because Jonathan was still fine tuning his notes for his paper that he had to present in CA. So, on Wednesday everyone started rolling in. . . .

Ok, so our reunion ROCKED! We didn't camp like everyone else did because it would have been quite the interesting task to get all of our camping gear on the air plane, so we opted for the "pansy" out which was sleep at the posh family condo with AC, kitchen, soft beds, electricity, hot water and pool. We did have some company after a night or two, so I guess we weren't too pansy. It was great we went hiking, swimming, had some good laughs, more swimming, good food, more laughs, more swimming and then there was the Talent Show. Hannah and Eve thought that it would be good to have everyone tell a little bit about what we have all been doing over the years to get reacquainted since we haven't seen each other in so long. It was fun, we learned about new talents that we have acquired over the years, but the best was when Mike, Scott and Jonathan got a jiggn'. Here is a link to my sisters blog http://www.theshakespearskinny.blogspot.com/ once you watch this video you will never be the same again. On Friday Jonathan left to go to California for the Academy of Management Conference where he presented his paper on "Organizational Scope and the Returns to Focused Experience: Evidence of Complementarity from the Hospital Industry". Yah, long title and long paper. I was told that he did a good job, I just wish that I could have been there to watch him. But I was in St. George with the boys having a blast and living it up in the pool and relaxing. The boys and I flew home without a hitch. it was a great vacation.

July!

I know, I know, I have been a bad blogger this last little while. Shame on me. July was a crazy month, it was one of those months that so much went on that it feels like a year and a half ago that it all happened.

The month started out wild and crazy. The 4th of July weekend was jam packed with tons and I mean tons of events for us. In addition to the trip down to the Charles's River, with some of our good friends from HBS, for the famous "Boston Pops" music and fire works celebration and our annual drive down to Pawtucket, RI for our "Paw Sox" game and fire works, we had Jonathan's family and Rebekah's (J's sister-in-law) family in town for little Rachel's baby blessing. which was a lot of fun to see everyone. In addition to all of that family I also had a long lost Aunt which I must refer to as "My FAVORITE" Aunt or she will cut me out of her will, drive up from CT with two of my cousins and their family that I haven't seen in 15 years or never met before. Like I said it was a whirl wind of a weekend.

Later in the month Jonathan and I took the boys up to Tangle Wood to watch the John Williams concert. I had been wanting to go to this for the last 3 years so I was happy that we got to go this year. It was great to hear all of the music from our childhood movies like E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jaws etc. etc. The big focus was on Indiana Jones because of the movie that came out this year, which I have yet to see. Steven Spielberg even showed up to do some readings and put his spin on things. The night was very entertaining and I hope that we get to do it again next year. Now on to August!

New Hampshire was Super Sonic!

After Jonathan finished up his week long General Exam, we packed up our camping gear and headed for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We arrived on Wednesday and set up camp, which was pretty easy since Jonathan wanted to rent a cabin instead of roughing it in a tent. The cabin was really nice. We rolled our sleeping bags out on the beds and unloaded the rest of our gear into the cabin. Then we drove into North Conway to grab a few things at Wal-Mart.

The next morning we headed out to Story Land! This was the first time we had been, but I have been hearing great things about it for years. It lived up to all of the hype! The boys had such a great time running from one ride to the next. Isaac was tall enough to ride every single ride in the park, there were only a few that Owen wasn't tall enough to ride. Owen's favorite ride was the family water raft, we sat in a huge inter tube with seats and rode on a lazy river while water was sprayed on us. Owen kept saying "Mom that was awesome." Isaac's favorite ride was the Polar Coaster. After his first time on the ride he got off and said; "Mom, that ride is Super Sonic. Can I go again?" He was cracking me up. Jonathan's favorite ride was the Flume ride. It gave Isaac really bad butterflies so he wouldn't go on it again, which made Jonathan a bit sad, but the Polar Coaster made up for it a bit. The boys got there faces painted like the "Incredible Hulk" and we went to the circus. They got to meet Cinderella in her castle and we got some really yummy fried dough and ice cream. After we got back to our camp site we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. It was a fun day.

On Friday we headed over to Attitash where we rode on the alpine slides, the water slides, jumped on the euro-trampoline, and played in the toddler water park. Isaac's exclamations were; "Mom, this place is RECORD". When I asked Owen what he thought of the rides, he said; "Yeah, sure mom this place is Awesome". Jonathan and I had a great time as well. The only annoying part of the day was when we were going down the alpine slides and the people in front of us didn't understand the meaning of "Alpine Slide", they thought that it meant go as slow as you can so that 25 people get backed up behind you and it takes 15 minutes to get down instead of the 4 minutes that it is suppose to.

Saturday we hiked up to Arethusa Falls, which is the tallest water fall in New Hampshire. It was a 1.4 mile hike each way and Jonathan ended up hauling Owen most of the way. I back packed him for a while, but the credit must go to Jonathan. When we got there it was well worth the hike. The falls were so beautiful. It was a perfect day to hike, we had over cast skies and a bit of drizzle, which helped cool us off while we were climbing the mountain. After we made our way back down we decided to reward ourselves with a movie. We had promised the boys that we would take them to a movie theatre to watch "Wall-e", so we climbed in to the car, got some lunch and then made our way over to the theatre. The movie was really cute and the boys loved it. The day had been a success.

Sunday morning we started to pack up, but the weather made it difficult because it was raining so hard. We had so much lightening and thunder. It was so amazing. We just sat on our front porch and watched for about an hour and a half before we could start loading up the car. It was such a great vacation. A much needed and long anticipated one as well.

Happy Father's Day!

This one goes out to the one I love. The most amazing husband and father that I will ever know. Jonathan and I were recently having a conversation and I asked him what he has sacrificed for me and the boys. He thought for a while and then said that he guessed that he hadn't sacrificed much for us. Since then I have been thinking about our conversation and ALL of the things that he has sacrificed. Here are a few of them. Every day for the past eleven years he has sacrificed his time and energies by working towards his Ph.D. so that we can have a better life. He sacrifices his time and talents by serving in our church and teaching the boys that it is better to give than receive. Every day when he gets home from school no matter how tired he is, he will wrestle, play baseball, super hero's and many other games with the boys. He takes on extra work so that we can have a little extra money to enjoy a little family fun. He has always made sure that we are taken care of before his needs are met. Jonathan is the most wonderful person that I will ever know. He is kind, generous, funny, full of integrity, compassionate, extremely talented, an amazing father and the list goes on and on. I am grateful to have him in my life. He is always anchored and steadfast in the gospel. He has this calmness that radiates to whom ever he is around. When ever I am in his arms all of my cares melt away and I know that I am safe and nothing can hurt me while he is there. The boys adore him as their father and can't wait to grow up and "be just like their daddy". We are grateful that he is ALL ours. We love you babe.

Relaxation in Phoenix!

I flew out to Sunny Phoenix a few weeks back. It was a very fun, relaxing and eventful trip. I actually killed three birds with one stone. I was able to meet my new nephew Reagan for the first time. He is such an adorable little tike. We got to have some real bonding time while Bekah and Scott had some alone time. I have convinced him that I am the coolest and most favorite Auntie. He agreed whole heartedly because I wouldn't give him his bottle until he did agree. I know I can be mean, but very persuasive. No really, I just showered him with kisses and that reeled him right in. He really is a very sweet boy and loves to snuggle the way my boys do. You did done real good Bekah and Scott. Also thanks for introducing me to "Guitar Hero". I am now "Pink Ranger, Rock Princess". I have Owen to thank for the name. Every time I play Super Hero's with he and Isaac I am the Pink Ranger Princess, so hence the name "Pink Ranger, Rock Princess". I even have a t-shirt, it is pretty awesome!

The second bird I killed was watching my stepbrother Greg get married to his fiancee. He looked very handsome and she looked really beautiful. They were so happy, a bit nervous, but very happy. It made me think about when Jonathan and I got married. We were both very calm and ready to be together, but I was also worried about weather or not Jonathan would really want to stay with me forever. I guess the glue they used at our ceremony was pretty good, because we are still together and we love each other more now than then. I also got to meet the rest of my step siblings which was so much fun. They are awesome people. I just wish we could have had more time to visit. Greg was the last of the bunch to get married so I guess we will have to make up reasons to get together. Congratulations Greg and Kristen.

The third bird I killed was getting some rest and relaxation since Jonathan will be traveling this summer to do research for his dissertation. Also to give the boys some time with their dad. They have missed him so much lately because he has been studying for his General exam which will be over in the next two weeks. Monday he has his "written part", Tuesday he has his "take home part" and next Monday he has his "oral part" of the exam. I have to say that Jonathan is truly my HERO! The man is a machine. He just keeps going and going. Every time he gets shot down he gets back up and goes. The Ph.D programs at Harvard are like firing squads, they blast you with so much force that you are not sure if you can get back up, it is brutal, but if you can clean and patch your wounds and let them heal. You emerge on the top of your field. I guess that is how the "Best Minds" are born and Jonathan has an amazing mind and perspective. It will be nice to have the General Exam over so we can move on to the next mountain in the Doctoral world.

Isaac Turns 6!

I can't believe that my little boy is no more a little boy.

As you can tell my boys are obsessed with Super Hero's. Isaac wanted a Power Ranger Birthday Party, so that is what he got. We had 17 wild and crazy boys running all over for 2 hours fighting off the evil of the world and saving everything around them including themselves. It was quite comical and a lot of fun. I made balloon swords, super dogs and a number of other configurations that I am not sure what exactly they were.

Jonathan made up a few games for them to play. He had them play the quiet game, it actually worked for about 15 minutes. Kids crack me up, they are so funny. After the games and fun we sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake. The cake was really good, it was chocolate cake with strawberry moose in the middle. I wouldn't mind having a piece right now. The most important part though is that Isaac had a great birthday with his family and friends.

Euphoria!

Jonathan has had his last class as a Student, the next time he steps into a classroom, he will be the PROFESSOR!! It is pretty crazy to think about. I personally soaked in the nostalgia of it. I don't think that Jonathan was quite as excited because he still has his General Exam, Special Fields Exam, Dissertation Proposal, The Dissertation, and Defending still to do. We'll have to take it one day at a time and over celebrate the small accomplishments. I love this picture that Isaac took of Jonathan, he was so relaxed on the hammock just enjoying the peace of the moment, that doesn't happen very often. I still have to ask him what he was thinking about, if you notice he has a bit of a smile . . . . :)

HBS 1/2 Marathon and Closing Social

We had the HBS 1/2 Marathon a few weeks ago. This is one of my favorite events that the LDSSA does. I love the feel of the pavment under my feet and the rythum that my body gets into when I run. It feels so good the feel all of the stress just melt away. I was bummbed this year because I wasn't able to run on account of my shinsplints, I have never had shinspints before, but one of my girlfriends that is finishing up her Ph.D. in sports medicine said that because I have had two babies my body has shifted and my muscles need to become realigned. So insdead of running this year, I helped out with the goodies at the finish line and cheered everyone on. I plan on being there next year. I am actually running a 10K in a couple of weeks, so I will blog about that later.

We also had the LDSSA Closing Social. We had good food and great company. It was fun to see all of the MBA's, we were the only Ph.D's that came. It will be sad to see all of the second year's leave, because we have made some good friends. I guess that is the nature of education, though. The positive is that we will have friends all over the country so when we travel we will be able to see them.

11 Years Baby!

Time flies when you are having fun! It seems like yesterday that we were walking out of the Salt Lake Temple greeting all of our family and friends for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan R. Clark, but the fact that Jonathan has been in school for 10 years and has a few more grey hairs and I have given birth to Isaac and Owen and have gained a few pounds keeps my mind from playing tricks on me.

Our wedding day was so perfect it was a beautiful April morning; the sky was Utah blue and the sun kept us nice and warm. I was with the man I loved and we finally belonged to one another. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

The best part is the fact that I love Jonathan more now than I did then. Oh, sure he has fallen off his trusty stead and his knightly armor has been tarnished a bit and I am not the perfect princess that he thought I was. But I prefer the rugged tarnished knight as appose to the shiny one, there is more wisdom and depth and love with the tarnish. Besides the real test is looking past our faults and failings and just loving ALL of the good that each of us posses. And Jonathan truly posses all that is good. He is my comfort, my strength, my lover and friend. He will always be my everything!

My Baby Turns 3!

I promised that I would post after we had Owen's Birthday Party, so here goes. Where do I start? We had 14 three year olds over to our house to celebrate Owen's coming of age. He wanted a Batman Party, so everything was batman except the cupcakes. Owen loves pink because he thinks that I am a princess and I like the color pink, so he wanted his cupcakes to be pink. An extremely sweet gesture coming from an amazingly adorable little boy. And yes, I did give birth to him.

Ok, back to the party. I had a whole plan for a Batman boot camp in our back yard. The weather was suppose to be 65 and sunny, but we got 40 and rainy, (go New England weather) so much for the weather man. We had to rethink our strategy a bit. I brought a bunch of toys down from the playroom and we played pin the bat sign on Batman. The kids didn't really get the concept of keeping the blind fold on, so pretty much everyone got it in the right place, which was a new take on the game. Jonathan had asked Owen what he wanted for his birthday and he said that the only thing he wanted was a Batman and Buzz Lightyear costume, so that is what we got him. He was completely beside himself with joy when he opened the box up. He stated that now he could be a real super hero and kill the bad guys. Do you have any idea how devastating it is to hear the word "kill" come out the mouth of your three year old. I have to keep telling myself that he is a sweet innocent boy that doesn't understand the real meaning of kill. He did look outrageously scrumptious in his little costumes. I couldn't stop laughing as he posed with the most manly look that he could muster. What a crack up he is. I asked him if he had a good party and he said: "yah, sure mom, it was great!". So there you have it all wrapped up in the words of Owen.

M.I.A.

I guess I have been missing in action for a few months, so this entry is going to be a small novel that is if my brain can remember back to December!! The last entry ended with our escapades at Thanksgiving.

As soon as Jonathan was finished up with classes, we boarded a plane and flew out to Utah and Idaho for the Christmas Holidays. We started our vacation out with Jonathan getting a root canal after his tooth ache had gotten so bad he couldn't stand the pain anymore. Then that weekend we headed up to West Yellow Stone. We took a tour in one of those big "CAT" like tractors, but instead of a cab it had a van attached to the treads. The boys had a great time, because they were able to move around inside the van and look out all of the different windows. We saw so many buffalo, moose and eagles, it really was amazing and I got some great pictures. The landscape was very peaceful and beautiful. The van could only go about 35 miles an hour so it took us all day to make the trip, but it was worth it. I think that the boys favorite part was watching Ol' Faithful blow. It was a bit cold waiting, but once she started to erupt all of the cold thoughts left and all there was, was excitement. It was a good day.

Christmas Eve was a fun and relaxing day as was Christmas Day. We kept it low key and let all of the cousins run around and play. I was in charge of Kim and Sue's gift this year so I spent most of my days leading up to Christmas finishing it off. I have to say that they ended up looking really nice. Isaac and Owen had a "Spiderman" theme Christmas this year, they have both really gotten into super hero's and saving the world from "ALL" danger. We also had a large family dinner with us, the Gilbert's, the Eyering's and a few other people. It was quite delicious and fun to catch up with friends.


The day after Christmas we were able to take a tour through the Rexburg Temple. It reminded me a lot of the Boston Temple. All of the rooms were so beautiful and well built. It was a real treat to be able to have our own personal tour.

Later that week we had a baby shower for my sister Rebekah down in Utah. We had a good time, we all helped out with the spread, which was very yummy. Bekah looked really cute, much better than I ever looked pregnant. She got some cute clothes and baby things, so all in all I would say it was a success. It was also fun to hang out with some of my sisters. That night we made our way up to Salt Lake City to meet up with Jonathan, Isaac and the others for the Celtic vs. Jazz game. We had so much fun, it was such a good game. Winning, I am sure made it that much more fun, but the best part was flying home in Ian Cummings private jet. This jet was so "POSH"!! Isaac turned and said: "little boys like me don't get to do this do they daddy!?" It was so cute and insightful that Isaac understood what an awesome experience that he was having. The pilot even let him sit up in the cock-pit in the jump seat. I am sure it is an experience that he will never forget.

We also go to go skiing up at Grand Targhe. Isaac took ski lessons, I took snowboard lessons and Jonathan just got to go wild on the slopes. Poor Owen was too sick to go with us so he got to stay home with Nana and Papa and play with them. Isaac took to skiing like a duck to water, he had such a great time and he really liked his teacher. He was flying down the bunny hill by the afternoon. As for me, I have to say that for only skiing twice before in my life, I did pretty good on the snow board. It took me a bit to get used to having a board stuck to my feet, but after a couple of hours I was staying up and I made it down the mountain about 5 times before my body said "OK, I have had enough"! I did had a few face plants when the lip of the board got to close to the snow, but all in all I had a good time and now I know the fundamentals of snow boarding.

New Year's Eve was pretty laied back and relaxing and then the next day we drove down to Utah for Will and Jessica's wedding celebrations. We staying in Nephi with Eve and Scott in there new house. We had a good time. Isaac and Owen loved playing with Jessica and Joey. It was fun to hang out like we did when they lived in Philie. Scott was also generous enough to fit us into his busy work schedule, which ended up being a bit embarrassing. You think that you brush and floss well enough and then you come out with Isaac having 6 cavities and Jonathan having 4 cavities. What am I going to do with them?? The good news was that Owen and I were cavity free.

Will and Jessica's wedding was very beautiful. It was nice to meet Jessica even though it was for only a few minutes. The sealing was really nice and full of good advice. I hope that the sealer sends them a letter with everything he said in it. Everyone on the Tanner side is officially married, how crazy is that. We wish them all the best luck as they settle into married life and all of the twists and turns that it takes you on. It was also good to be in St. George were it was warm. We stayed in the condo and was able to visit with family for a couple of days before we headed back home to school and real life. I am sad that we didn't have more time to visit, but the boys were so ready to be back home. With the time change they were going to bed at 10 or 11pm and they usually go to bed at 7:30pm, so they were fried.

January was pretty cold and slow, it basically consisted of us getting insulation blown into the walls of our 1893 home and put in a new heating system as well as an AC unit. We had forgotten what is was like to have warmth.

The first weekend of February took Jonathan and I to Camden, ME where we celebrated Valentine's Day and our 11th Wedding Anniversary (early). We went with a couple of friends from our church congregation. It was filled with great food, relaxation and a lot of laughter. When we arrived home, I became a single mom as Jonathan threw himself into school. He is working on becoming (A.B.D.) "All but dissertation", so we don't see him as much as we would like because of the study groups that he has for his "General Exam" and "Specialized Exam" as well as all of the work he is doing with the cases that he is writing, plus his dissertation writing not to mention the classes that he is taking. Needless to say we will be happy when August rolls around, the tests will be over and we might all go to California to watch Jonathan present one of his papers at a conference there.

In the midst of all of life we packed our bags once again and flew out to Salt Lake City for Julia and Dave's wedding. Elder Scott sealed them, so it was nice to hear his advice to them and the wisdom that has gained through out his life. Julia looked beautiful and all of the events were timeless. We even got to get pedicures and manicures. It was a great time. We also celebrated Sam's 2nd birthday, which was fun. He is such a funny kid. It cracks me up how much he, Isaac and Owen look alike.

March brought us the Butler Elementary P.T.A. International Fair Fundraiser. I was in charge of concessions, which meant that I got to plan, prepair and feed all of the people that showed up. It was fun, but also stressful. I became the only Modbe Fashion Consultant in the state of Massachusetts. Jonathan got sick with a bi-lateral ear infection which left him partially deaf for about two weeks. Then I got sick with a sinus infection, then Isaac came home with a fever, then Owen got the fever, then I got the fever and everything that went along with it and then Jonathan got the fever so we spent the last part of February and the month of March on our sick beds. It has not been much fun.

April 1st brought us Owen's 3rd birthday. He will get his own blog when we have his party. And that pretty much brings us up to date.