Revamping Blake's Room and Alphabet Wall

It's finally done! I have been working on transforming Blake's room into a big boy room since July, throughout all of my other projects. I think I am most excited about this room out of all of the revamping I've done around the house these past few months. I just want to hang out in Blake's new pad all day long.

It all started with the chairs. Blake loved sitting in satellite chairs at my parents' house, so when I found similar chairs, I just had to get them. I could only find the chairs in navy, and since navy didn't match the old décor, the wheels in my head started turning for a total room makeover. Troy even agreed to let me paint the walls which is a big deal for him. I was only planning on painting one accent wall, but Troy didn't like the look of that, so I ended up painting the whole room. Blake and his crib were temporarily moved into the guest room for a week while I painted.

My favorite addition to his room is the alphabet wall. I've been collecting alphabet letters for a few months and I finally finished painting them and hanging them up over the weekend.

Here are some of the other details. I mostly just repainted or added to what was already there. I used a lot of fabrics, ribbons, and papers. I also got a little orange-spray-paint-happy.

I am really excited now that we know that Blake is going to have a brother because they can eventually share this "big boy" room. I think we'll keep them separated until their sleeping schedules are similar, but Troy is very happy that I'm not going to get pink-spray-paint-happy anytime soon.

Proud To Be a Tanner

I was incredibly privileged to marry into a family with a great legacy of service and dedication. This legacy started with a man named John Tanner, who was the first in his family to join our church in 1832. John Tanner was Troy's great-great-great-great grandfather.

Last night, we attended the premiere of "A Treasure in Heaven: The John Tanner Story" in the Conference Center Theater. This 21-minute film will be released on November 3rd to the public, and will document the story of John Tanner, a man among giants in the early days of the church.

John Tanner was a wealthy man with a large family. He loaned thousands of dollars to the building of the Kirtland Temple, saving it from impeding foreclosure. He lost the last of his wealth when the Kirtland Safety Society failed, forcing his family to beg for food as they made their journey to Missouri. When John Tanner was called on a mission to the Eastern States, he went to settle the manner of the temple loan with Joseph Smith. John ripped up the note that Joseph had previously written and told him that he was welcome to the money loaned. Joseph then gave John the prophetic blessing; "God bless you, Father Tanner, you and your children shall never beg for bread again."

That prophecy was amply fulfilled, and the story of this blessing has been handed down and remembered by all of the Tanner posterity. It is often quoted as being the reason for the financial prosperity and success of many of the Tanners. Each of Troy's 13 aunts and uncles display a painting in their home depicting the prophetic blessing given by the prophet Joseph to John Tanner.

John was a faithful follower of Christ. He gave his all to the gospel and the Church. He created a legacy of faith that blesses my life and the lives of countless others every day. This film was a real heart-wrencher for me as I considered the hardships and sacrifices endured by this faithful man, and I increased in my feelings of kinship towards the Tanner family.

The Conference Center Theater's 900 seats were filled to capacity with descendants of John Tanner for the premiere. Even though there are now tens of thousands of Tanner posterity, I was still shocked when we entered the theater and joined with hundreds and hundreds of relatives to honor this great man. Among his descendants were prominent church members including apostles N. Eldon Tanner and Hugh B. Brown, Presiding Bishop Victor L. Brown, Fern Tanner Lee, wife of President Harold B. Lee, and Presidency of the Seventy member Franklin D. Richards.

What also made this premiere so exciting is that Troy's parents and sister starred in the film as extras. The producer tried to cast a lot of actual Tanner descendants. My father-in-law had to grow out his beard for several months to be able to participate. He grew that beard with style in his professional career and during an African Safari. The scratchy, unkempt look paid off because he actually scored a speaking part as one of the members of Joseph Smith's council. It was fun to see our family on the big screen.

One of Those Days

See this angel face?

Not so much today. The day started out with Blake opening the refrigerator door by distributing half of his weight onto the freezer door for leverage. He's been working on opening the fridge door for months, but was not successful until today. This opened a whole new world for him of spreading shredded cheese, grapes, and condiments all over the kitchen floor.

Our next adventure of the day happened when we were returning something at Carter's and Blake refused to sit in his stroller. He doesn't sit in his stroller in general at stores anymore and will barely endure shopping carts. He just begs to get up so that he can run around. I don't really blame him in this instance because there was a LEGO table and other children to play with, but it made my job of keeping an eye on him while trying to browse much more difficult. 

As I was checking out, I kept my eyes glued on him as he slowly made his way towards the open doors, when all of a sudden he bolted for the sidewalk. I immediately ran after him, merchandise in hand, and grabbed his wrist just as he was half way into a parking spot that a car was pulling into. Scary! When I got back to the counter with my crying toddler, the sales associate stated "It's scary when they run off like that!" I responded, "Yeah, especially when the doors are open!" I get it that my child is my responsibility, but why would a children's clothing store leave their doors wide open? That's just asking for a child to get loose and run straight into the parking lot. We had a similar instance in another store, but luckily the doors were closed so I could grab Blake before he got away.

Finally (at least I hope, the day isn't over yet), we had a third incident at the grocery store. Blake was begging for a box of unopened crackers that was in the shopping cart, which I denied him because he had just devoured a cookie that the bakery lady gave him. In his frustration, Blake grabbed the carton of eggs, dumping the entire dozen. It was embarrassing. I'm sure that the naughty days of testing the limits are just beginning, but it just seemed to pile on today, all before noon!

Here are some lessons I learned from our experiences:

1. Buy a child lock for the fridge. I'm not quite ready to let Blake have free reign in that department. He already tears apart the pantry.
2. Obtain some sort of child leash. I used to laugh at the parents and children I saw at the mall with their leashes, but it can be pretty scary when your curious child runs off in the flash of a second.
3. Do not leave a full carton of eggs within the reach of a toddler at the grocery store.
4. It's a good thing I still love this boy so much even when he is naughty.

Finally Fall

We finally had a wave of cooler weather around here. Blake loves that he gets to wear his coat now. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying the cool, rainy weather while watching General Conference and eating yummy food with family.

Blake gets really nervous when I don't immediately shut the compartment that holds my garage door opener.

I'm not sure if it is the fall weather or just the second trimester itch, but I decided that my hair needed a change.

After battling traffic to attend the BYU/Salt Lake Real Soccer game on Friday night, we headed up to the Tanners' cabin for conference weekend. One of the fun things about the cabin is that Blake's Grandma has collected tons of rubber ducks for him to play with in the tub.

We enjoyed some hammock time on the deck in between conference sessions.

It was really cold and rainy outside and I absolutely loved it. I don't know where this desire for cold weather is coming from because I usually detest any sign of fall. It must be the baby.

Blake thoroughly enjoyed himself in his little cocoon.

Boy or Girl?

To our great surprise, we will be adding another

boy

to our family!

We are one step closer to the Twelve Tribes of Tanner.