Platinum Pumpkins

A little spin on the traditional:

Troy hates carving pumpkins and Blake is still a little too young to enjoy such an activity, so I took the pumpkin decorating into my own hands this year. They went platinum.

Pumpkin Patch

I asked around to find a pumpkin patch in our area and no one seemed to know of any. Everyone just buys their pumpkins at the store I guess. I had this picture in my head of what the Michigan patches were like; the apples, the cider, the pumpkins, the hay rides...

After some searching, we found the greatest little pumpkin patch. We didn't get the apples and cider, but I wasn't one bit disappointed. It made for a great outing and it was just what I had pictured.

For starters, they had fun tractors to sit on.

A little boy's paradise.

Troy generally dislikes festivities associated with holidays but he was a good sport for my sake.

Another great perk at this place was the corn maze for children.

The corn maze was Blake's favorite part. He kept walking through the stalks instead of on the laid out paths. It was a like a little jungle for him.

We also went on a hayride and enjoyed the fall colors.

 Finally, there were pumpkins!

We started the quest to find the perfect Blake-sized pumpkin.

It was a struggle for Blake to hold any of the big pumpkins.

My pumpkin and my little pumpkin.

Blake kept picking out the random misfit white and green pumpkins. He finally settled on a perfect little orange pumpkin.

Teaching Yoga At Last

I am officially employed. Even though I completed my yoga teacher training in January, my national certification took months to process and didn't become official until May. Then, alas, I got pregnant and was sick all summer, making teaching in the evenings about the last thing I wanted to do. Now that I am very obviously pregnant, I wondered how I could teach a yoga class without looking ridiculous. The solution was so easy; teach a Prenatal Yoga class! This is a class I have been interested in teaching ever since I became involved with yoga, and of course now in my current state it makes perfect sense. So, with a little paperwork, interviewing, and preparation, Granite Peaks School District was kind enough to hire me to teach their first ever Prenatal Yoga class. Luckily, I am in the baby capital of the world, so hopefully I will have a good turn-out.

My class starts in just a few weeks, and I will run a brief 4-week trial session before the holidays. Then I will start up full swing in January and run a few longer sessions (and have a baby somewhere in there). So, if you know of anyone in the Salt Lake area who is expecting and would benefit from this class, please pass the word on! Here is the flyer with all of the information:

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.