Tanner

Homecoming was September 17th year. Tanner wanted to ask Natalie Leavitt. She had asked him to Sadies last year and was his first date. So, he decided to  buy a dozen roses and on the first day he gave her a card that said:  "When thinking of homecoming, your name 'a rose'.  Will you go to homecoming with..."  He then took the note and a rose and left it on her car.

The next day, he wrote a note with something to the effect of you'll get a letter a day after 6 days unscramble the letters and give me your answer.  He left a letter of his name and a rose somewhere at her house everyday.

Unfortunatly, the roses started dying and Natalie was getting anxious and he was getting tired of remembering everyday, so on Labor day, he got a balloon bouquet and the rest of the roses and letters of his name and said he needed to hurry things up.

The next day, he got a container of real fish in his car with this note.  Of course, it took us awhile to figure out that the fishies swim in the sea and si is spanish for YES!

In the meantime, it was spirit week at school and him and Amanda stuck to their tradition of being twins for twin day and made these super twin outfits.

and wore them to school together.

He also dressed  clownish one day.  The theme for the week was circus and it was kinda lame, so he only dressed up those two times.

He also got together with his History partners and made this poster using my cricut and papers.  He had to convince his teacher to move to his colony.

The day before homecoming, he asked Talon to cut his hair.  Talon did it a little short, but it turned out o.k.

The day of the big date, here he is.  We bought him a tux online for $80.00.  It came with a jacket and pants.  We bought a tux shirt and a cumberbund and tie set.  We figure he's got three more formal dances in his high school career and so we spent about what we'd spend on one rental of a tux. 

They met as a group and met for pictures, then they headed to the Stratosphere to ride all three of those psycho looking rides.  Then they went to Claim Jumpers for dinner.

Afterwards, they broke off and Tanner and Bryant took Natalie and Heidi to the church.  Tanner had made a CD of music because he and Natalie love to waltz.  So he had his own little dance instead of paying $80.00 for a ticket to the dance.  They had the whole floor and waltzed all over.  They loved it.  Then they took the girls to the park and had brownie sundaes and star gazed.  They had such a fun night.  It was fun for me to as Natalie is in YW with me and I got to hear all about it from her point of view and she said it was the most amazing night of her life!!

Family Pictures

When we were in Oregon this summer, we got family pictures taken as a present for my mom and dad's anniversary. It was quite a challenge dealing with the heat and a two year old.  But I think we managed to get a few good ones. 

Grandma and grandpa and all their grandkids.

Mom and dad and all their children.

Mom and dad!

Taz turns 13! Eek

Taz turned 13 while we were in Oregon. He wanted to go fishing for his birthday, so we took a picnic up in the mountains and caught a few fish.

He wanted a party when we got back to Vegas, so I talked him into having a "death" party to celebrate the death of his childhood and the rise into his teen years.  I totally copied this idea from my bff Toni as she did it for her son a few years ago and I thought it sounded like such a fun idea.  We all know Taz's favorite desserts are:  rice krispie treats and no bake cookies.  So I made some tombstone krispies and stuck them into the no bakes as the dirt around the tombstones.  They turned out cute.

I lined the walkway with tombstones of every guest at the party and their "death dates".  The tombstones had little sayings on them like:  Josh Edleman, no longer a baby...on second thought!

I had the table decorated with black balloons and black table cloth and black plates and cups. 

We had a black sheet draped over the ottoman and Taz was laying on it "dead" as the guest arrived.  Then I gave a eulogy and the guests were allowed to share a favorite memory of Taz as a child.

The night before, I had Talon draw me a giant picture of Taz...

We covered it with balloons filled with whip cream and played "pop the pimple".

Then we played some more "teen" games.  We had a minute to win it tournament with gold presidential dollars as prizes for first, second and third place.

One of the challenges was a gross food challenge where they had a minute to eat everything on their plate.  The worst thing on there was pickled pigs feet.

After the tournament we showed the guest how to play spoons.  Only one boy had ever played spoons!!  So after we did a couple of rounds of that, we moved out to the pool and played suicide spoons where you put the spoons at the bottom of the pool and when someone gets their match, they have to head to the pool.  That was funny!!

Then we had dessert and opened presents. 

Taz has solemly sworn to be a perfect teenager and NEVER give his mother (or dad) any grief.  Yeah right, we'll see how long that lasts!!

That was it, a fun, fun party!  Here are a few extra's that I want included in my blog book, so if you're not interested, you can stop reading now:)

Here was Taz's invite.  It was in a column like it would appear in the newspaper and had a picture of him above it:

On August 15, 2011 at 12:40 p.m., Taz Kiefer Goon succumbed to the dreaded teen years. He is survived in childhood by his sister Cynjyn and two brothers, Talon and Tanner have previously passed on. His parents, Garry and Kim, mourn this occurrence. A memorial service will be held to remember his lost childhood on Friday, August 26th @ 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. at the Goon home . Anyone wishing to share memories of Taz’s childhood will have the opportunity. A dinner will be served promptly after the services. Wearing black is optional. In lieu of flowers, please bring a birthday gift. RSVP regrets to Kim.
This was his eulogy:

Taz Kiefer Goon was born on August 15, 1998 at 12:40 pm. He was a feisty stubborn child and he proved that right from the get go as he was supposed to be born August 2, but waited 13 long days to arrive. He was born one day after his parents 13th anniversary and made them miss Garth Brooks farewell concert! He was a fussy baby and wasn’t happy until he could start moving on his own. Once he learned to crawl, he never stopped going…and going…and going. From early in his childhood, he wanted to be a bull rider. He loved going to his grandpa’s farm and watching the big black bull. He loved cowboys, but especially bull riders and rodeo clowns who helped distract the bulls after they bucked the cowboys off. He wanted to be a bull rider or clown when he grew up. Taz was a daredevil and would try anything physical. He excelled in any sport he took on and once when he was about 7 or 8 he did a season of wrestling and he came up against a wrestler his age who had been wrestling about 4 years and Taz beat him quickly. This made the boy cry and then later on in the tournament, the boy drew Taz as his opponent and when he saw Taz he started crying even before the match started. Taz loves any sport and wants to try them all. Taz was pretty accident prone and usually always had a scratch or bruise. He has splashed boiling hot soup on his forehead, cut the top of the inside of his mouth with a recorder and fell on the sharp edge of an abacus and has the scar to prove it. Taz had a wonderful childhood and he will be greatly missed. BUT, we look forward to what his teenage years will bring. Is there anyone now that would like to share a memory of Taz and his childhood?

R.I.P. March 17, 1996-September 13, 2011

When we got back from our summer in Oregon, we noticed how skinny and frail looking Mowgli had become. Garry said he was super skinny when he got back. He figured his teeth were getting bad and so he switched him from regular cat food to the kind in a can. We were hoping that would help him gain some weight.  Well, it didn't and he just went downhill from there.  Pretty soon he would only eat the gravy out of the cans and not the actual wet food.  Last Friday, he stopped eating all together and would just drink and lay around.  As the weekend went along, it was increasingly hard for him to walk.  The first available appointment to put him down was this morning.  Talon stayed home from work all day yesterday to help with him because I started preschool.  Talon would take him and put him in the litter box and then take him out because he didn't have enough energy to get in by himself.  The only time he would wake up and meow was when he needed to use it.  Last night he crawled under our bed and we thought he might not make it through the night.  He did and at 8 am. this morning, Garry took him to the vet.  He has been a wonderful cat and we all had a teary weekend as we knew it was our last with our beloved Mowgli.

He was:

• funny
• adorable
• cuddly
• always purring
• a fraidy cat
• gentle
• well groomed
• well mannered

He brought much joy into our lives, we would often laugh and talk to Mowgli.  He was always there to greet us after we returned from a vacation.  He slept curled at my feet for many years.  He always wanted to be in a room where the majority of us were and he always greeted company and strangers by loving on them to death. 

Oh how we will miss you, but we all know that you are in a better place!

A Golden Celebration

In December this year, my parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  My brother had the idea that we should celebrate it this summer as it is easier for people to travel and get time off and the weather is better in August.  So since my whole family was there, we decided to throw them a celebration.  We reserved the church in La Grande, sent out invites and decorated with my sister Krissy's leftover reception decorations.  Mom's colors were pink, white and red and Krissy's were red, white and black, so we made it work.  We had a huge picture display that my two brother's and sister in law set up.

 We had a table displaying their various awards and trophy's through out their careers.

 We had a card table.

 And a big food table.  We decided to have a fruit and veggie tray and then made a bunch of different fun dips for them.  We also had crackers and a homemade cheese ball and dip and three different homemade salsas and chips and some fun mostly homemade snack foods such as chex type mixes and sweet snacks.  That was a lot of work, but fun trying the new recipes.

                                  
 We had just ordered cakes from Costco.  My mom's wedding cake was stacked rectangles with homemade sugar latices and pink flowers and we couldn't find anyone nearby to replicate the cake, so Costco was good enough.

 We had a great time visiting with all the extended family that came.  Here I am with my cousin Jennilynn from my mom's side and Taz of course.

 My dad is the oldest of 8 boys (two died shortly after birth) and all of his brothers were there.  So we got pictures.  My dad is the one in the red suspenders.  Then Dennis, Richard, Alan, Wayne and Reed.

 Here they are with their wives.  Mom, Peni, Martha Christy, Penny and Debbie.

My mom's the middle child of three girls and here she is with her sister Billie Jo.  Her other sister Jackie passed away a few years ago.  It was a fun evening and I'm glad they've set such a good example of a happy, complete marriage and the importance of family.  Happy 50 years!!