Chet Tanner

 Chet boy is nine...I can still remember his deep little toddler voice saying "Yook Mama!" all day long. Not that that has changed much, he still says it all day, he can just pronounce his L's now. But a lot of other things have changed over the years. This boy is on a mission to grow up and he just won't slow down. 

He was really excited to bust out the machete to cut the pumpkins from the vine. I was really nervous that someone was going to lose an appendage...But Chet just moves forward with confidence and rarely hurts himself. He is a great problem solver when it comes to physical labor and if he's excited about something he goes all in. 

Chet keeps plugging away at the piano and is getting better and better. He even played in church the other day. He didn't get as much time to learn the song as he originally planned but I was so proud of him still being willing to do it. After playing he sat down and said, "that could have been better!" With a big grin on his face. He doesn't let little mistakes get him down. 

Chet has a knack for catching random animals. This was a little chipmunk that may or may not have had some illness...he was bummed when I made him put it back in a tree. It's not uncommon for me to look out the window and see him holding one of the cats in the air Lion King style. I'm sure they love it.  

This boy is always coming up with funny things. He was so proud of the doll legs at the bottom. He wanted to be a "huge person". 

He is always trying to crack jokes. He was very proud of his pancake Ed that he made. 

But that wasn't enough...He then made this "tombstone" to tape on his stomach. It says, "RIP Here lies edible Ed". 

Chet has developed a real love for fishing. He takes advantage of our neighbors' pond almost daily, usually begging Austin or Eliza to tag along. 

Chet has now decided that when he grows up he wants to be an NBA player, but if he gets injured he'll become a professional fishermen. Though he feels conflicted because he doesn't want to be so busy that he doesn't spend time with his family (I'm not making that up!) so maybe he'll just be a cowboy. I know that whatever he does, he will do it well. And he is going to be a wonderful father. 

Chet read the whole Book of Mormon this year. He decided that a pizza party and watching Star Wars would be the perfect way to celebrate. We are so proud of his dedication in reading his scriptures every morning. 

Some mornings he is a little too optimistic on how early he wakes up and I find him like this...

The other day when we were at a performance I looked over at Chet. His hoodie has been on a hook all summer and I thought his "horn" was pretty funny. 

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Chet: Food... (he thinks he is so clever)

Mom: What is your favorite color? 

Chet: Green

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Chet: Horse and Dog

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Chet: First Harry Potter

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Chet: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

        

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Chet: Perhaps by Cake (such a random song that he requests all the time)

 

Mom: Who is your scripture hero?

Chet: Mormon because he is the one who took care of the plates and buried them. 

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?

Chet: Brownie (Alice made Chet delicious brownies for his birthday at their pond, I didn't even have to make a cake!)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun? 
Chet: Play Basketball (Chet is excited to start Basketball this winter. He goes out almost daily to practice and thinks he'll "probably be the best player there". Oh the confidence of a 9 year old boy)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

Chet: Listen while somebody reads to me and you scratch my back.

He is my snuggliest child who always feels like he "never gets to" sit by me but strangely seems to always be by me. I know I'll miss it one day so I'm so glad he loves me that much. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Chet: Listen to him read books and play basketball with him. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mariah?
Chet: Playing freeze tag

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Austin?

Chet: Play downstairs

They get sent downstairs because they are so loud. These boys play rough and hard. They love to explore on the property and work together too. 

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Eliza? 

Chet: Play dinosaurs with her and I do that just to hear her talk because I really hate playing dinosaurs. (The love of a big brother. These two are probably the most alike in the family so there is a lot of clashes, but also a lot of love.)

Eliza made Chet a "cup of dirt" for his birthday

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Vivi? 

Chet: Try and get her to say certain words. (Vivi said Chet's name before any other siblings')

Sometimes Chet is tasked with trying to keep Vivi awake on drives. He may fail at times...but you can't say he didn't try. 

Mom: Who is your best friend?

Chet: My family

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Chet: NBA player

Mom: What makes you happy? 

Chet: When I'm unhappy, I go do something and slowly it just makes me happy. Like Basketball, thats a thing that usually calms me down. (Chet is doing a good job of learning what to do when he feels overwhelmed with emotions. I'm so proud of the growth he has made.)

Mom: What's something that you did this year that you're really proud of. 

Chet: I made some friends. (Chet spent a lot of time at the diving board this summer and made several friends most of which thought he was older than he actually was.)

Mom: What helps you feel peace? 

Chet: Probably reading the scriptures because most days when I don't read them I feel grumpy and don't get through school as fast. 

Mom: What do you like learning about most?

Chet: I like learning about history. 

And though they are getting fewer and farther between, here are some funny things Chet said this year: 

It's a good thing Daniel Tiger doesn't have privates because he doesn't wear pants. 

For the longest time he called Jolly Ranchers Jolly Rogers and it was so funny to me every time. 

One day we only had four cookies left. I gave them to the oldest four and without hesitation Chet gave me a bite of his cookie and the other three promptly followed. He still wants everything to be fair and tries his hardest to make sure it is...usually a good thing. 

One night we decided to sleep in the basement because of a tornado watch. "I brought down some of my valuables: my scriptures, a book, and my pocket knives." I love that those were his top possessions. 

Chet came into the kitchen after playing pirates with his younger siblings and Tanner called him a "bilge rat". Chet's face lighted up and after declaring, "Thats a good one! I'm going to go say that", ran right back to the game. 

I overheard him saying to Mariah, "I'm not going to have a girlfriend before my mission because thats just dumb. I don't want any distractions on my mission so I'm going to wait to have any girlfriends." Wise boy. 

He once told me, "I'm just going to try being an adult for a few years and then if I don't like it I'll be a kid again. But I'll still get to keep my phone and car." Well if it's that easy...

Chet lives life to its fullest. He is full of emotion, loves hard, and plays hard. He has big dreams and works hard to achieve them. He also has a desire to do what is right and tries to learn from his mistakes. We love this Chet boy with all our hearts. Here's to another year! 

September

September flew by. School started and I now have four kids doing school (Eliza insisted on preschool this year and she makes sure every day that we do it) I forgot how hard it is to do school with a toddler. Vivienne is a destruction/distraction machine and it's a miracle we get anything done when she is around. But we're surviving and my kids are very forgiving when I become overwhelmed and am not my best.  

We also started fall soccer and for the first time in three years it was in town. It was so nice not having to drive thirty-five minutes both ways. Eliza made great progress. She started out with me having to stand right next to her and by the end of the season she was running right in with no hesitation. She doesn't really care much about chasing the ball but she was out there and she did run around some, so we're calling it a win. She mainly was there for the snack at the end. She would not wear her soccer shorts until the last day of soccer and was so excited to find out that they had pockets...I should have included pockets in my pitch. Rookie mistake. 

Austin scored several goals this season and loved playing with kids his age. 

I was too cheap to buy the soccer photos and didn't get one of Mariah and Chet's group.

Mariah and Chet enjoyed the coaches they had. Chet especially loved it when he got to move up with the older kids and Mariah. They didn't play any formal games but I think they learned a lot because the coaches were out running around on the field with the players giving tips and feedback the whole time. They both scored goals and were really happy with their experiences. 

There was a shindig downtown that the kids begged to go to. Tanner stayed home with Vivi while the big kids and I waited in line for two days...just kidding, but man did we earn that free ferris wheel. 

Chet was not a fan, but he said he wanted to do it so Austin could have a buddy. Eliza made sure to get the handle nice and sticky for the next people getting on. We got to see an acrobat do some cool stuff and then we got rolled ice cream with the money Aunt Mandy sent for her Birthday. She wanted all her family to get ice cream on her birthday...she's a real gem. 

We ended the night taking a photo with a showgirl. Chet declined being in the picture. 

I got to go to Nauvoo with youth from church for a temple trip. 

After the temple we went on a wagon ride and learned all about pioneer life in the arrival center. I love Nauvoo! 

Tanner and the kids survived the rainy day without mom by watching three movies. Best day ever!

And this was the month that we figured out why Gertrude was so much bigger than the other hens...Gertrude is actually a rooster, and he's a punk. He has cornered me in the chicken coop and will not back down from a fight. He also loves to get on our deck and crow. After that he usually tries to sneak into the garage to eat the cat food but always gives himself away by crowing. The dude is way too cocky. We may just have to eat Henry. 

Our dear friends had us out to their pond for Chet's birthday. We had a blast playing in the water with all their fun toys. It wasn't as relaxing for me this year as it was when Eliza was Vivienne's age. Vivi spent the whole time trying to climb off the tube into the water and then would cry because it was cold. Bless her little heart. 

At least she's cute...brownie crumbs and all

Eliza was super brave jumping into the pond and swimming all around.

Just another photo to show how relaxed I was...

Perfect birthday activity for Chet

We love the VanderMartins and are grateful for all that they do for our family.

This year we had a pretty successful harvest from our garden. Tanner did amazing planting it all and after his injury the kids were great at watering every day. We made delicious salsa through August and September and also made a big batch of jalapeño jelly. Tanner pickled some jalapeños and banana peppers as well. We didn't think our cucumber plant was producing until Chet discovered that it was just really good at hiding the cucumbers. He was the master at finding them and they were so much better than store bought. 

We were especially excited about the pumpkins, which I thought were watermelons for a very long time...So there I said it, "Tanner was right". 

We did an Africa unit in school and Mariah and Chet each picked a country to learn about: Gabon and Botswana. Austin made a box and filled it with things that represented Africa. Chet especially loved learning about the food in Botswana and was most intrigued by the chicken feet. I said we could do a traditional meal but passed on the chicken feet. We had Sheba and Sap with Sausage. I don't think we got the Sap quite right but it still tasted really good. And then we represented Gabon with macaroons because our dear friend Serge said that French desserts are popular there. 

Mariah and Chet were great helpers with the meal

The week after Chet's birthday, Tanner's coworker took the boys out on Thunderhead Lake to fish. They had a breakfast of hot chocolate, donuts and root beer. And they even got to keep the leftover worms. They were in heaven. 

When Chet and Austin went fishing the girls felt like they needed to do something special too. So I put some makeup on them and they had a tea party with hot cocoa. Eliza was not a fan of the mascara and had to wash it off pretty fast. 

That same day we went to our friends the Snakenburgs to ride horses. We had originally planned on going on Chet's birthday but it had rained the day before so we had to postpone it. We rode horses and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. The Snakenburgs even got Chet a rope for his birthday. "A real roping rope!" He was thrilled. 

Colton was a great coach! And Redwing was so patient with Chet. 

They got out their roping steer and towed it behind their 4x4. Chet roped it twice off a horse and he was ecstatic. 

Austin didn't want to give Eliza a turn on the horse so Colton gave him a "ride" around the arena. 

Even Vivi got on a horse and didn't want off. 

It was such a wonderful night. Redwing, Poco, and Frosty were just perfect for beginner riders and made the kids feel so confident. And the company was just as good. We are so grateful for good friends. 

We ended the month with our annual trip to Autumn Acres. 

It wouldn't be complete without getting covered in corn dust.

Vivi would not sit on the seat and then when the tractor started pulling the barrels she just fell apart. Eliza was yelling, "she's crying" over and over until I ran over and got her out. She was fine...just dramatic.

Pretty sure this was the same kind of tractor that I used to rake hay in and freeze to death while looking longingly at my dad in his closed cab tractor with heat. It's great for character development.  

At the end of the field trip Mariah got to ride home with her friend Stella and spend the evening at her house. When she got home that night she couldn't stop talking about everything they had done. 

September was a wonderful month. And a big reason why it was so good is because of wonderful friends who know how to make us feel so special. It's always sad to see summer go but we're excited for fall!