graduation pictures

Scott Tanner and Krystine
Tanner given everyone a graduation wink

Tanner and little Grandma Dee

Krystine with Elle and Emma

Sisters Emma and Elle for every and always

Tanner and his friend Shweda

Grandma was on drugs!

Weekend Get-Away...but from what?

Scott and the girls at the hotel
Krystine and the girls at the hotel

The girls thought they would be bond girls!

Emma and Elle had a great time together!

We sure missed Tanner on our trip but I guess we have to start getting use to it!

Well I meant to blog last week but didn't seem to find any small amount of time to do it. I am just as busy this week (if not even more so) and knew if I don't just sit down right now I will never have the time again for another week or two or even three. It seems that summer always starts out this way... with a big bang and then some time in July it slows down to a manageable pace.

This week the Grandparents will be arriving!! We are looking forward to this event with much anticipation :) I actually wish they were staying longer but at the same time I have many other activities I must concentrate on and so it is probably better that their visit will be a short 7 days.

Today is Tanners last official day of high school!! His graduation ceremony is Friday night which is why the grandparents are flying all the way to the grand ole state of Minnesota to visit. I never thought I would be just glad to get this through with but after the last two weeks of Tanner doing last minute projects and almost (and I mean almost) not getting a necessary half credit to graduate (we weren't even sure last week that he would be graduating, some times I guess it is the least likely child that always surprises you!!) but as of today he will be receiving his degree!!! Yippee Dippy Hooray!!

I have been stressing a little bit about all the activities I have going on in my life right now...if I can get through girls camp in another 2 weeks I will be on my down hill slide! I just need to make it through the next two weeks. It seems it is always a rush to get the last minute things planned but I know I can do it (yeah, right)

The girls and I went with Scott to Cedar Rapids this weekend. This is a city in Iowa about 3 hours away from Rochester. It was a nice break from things here and over all it was enjoyable. Except for the fact that Scott really wanted to go golfing and didn't get the chance and the girls threw a fit when their dad told them that he was taking them golfing, it was a great weekend. I only went crazy a little with Elle's complaining about the radio station and the fact that Scott wanted to listen to MammaMia for 3 hours straight it was rather a nice get away!

Now I am starting to gear up for the out of town visitors...that means I have to go and clean my bathrooms and do some shopping and wash some sheets...and 100 other items on my list!

Tanners Prom Pics and more....

Tanner and Shruthi running off to catch the group
The weather looks perfect but actually it was rather chilly!

Shruthi family comes from India and she is the first generation American.

Shwada, Tanner and Shruthi posing for pictures.

Tanner was only one of 4 boys in a group of 12. He loves being out numbered by girls!

Shruthi actually goes to another high school then Tanner.

Tanner asked Shruti to the prom by asking her in one of his news paper colums

(it was his moms idea!)

Don't I have a hansome young man?

Emma, Tanner and Scott....looking good!

Tanner looks strapping with his sister Emma

Hello everyone :) I am happy to sit down and do a little blogging today. I feel very happy today and I don't know why...probably because I have such a peaceful feeling because I know my life has a purpose and Heavenly Father loves me and knows me better then any of you out there reading this. He could even get 100% on my "do you know Krystine Greer" face book quiz which by the way Kylee didn't even get 50% on!!

Tanner had his last prom of his high school life!! Next time he puts a tux on he will probably be getting married!! What do you think of that Tanner?? We are almost to the end of the school year which I am very happy about! The kids are all looking forward to having a break and so am I. I think Tanner is very much looking forward to being finished with high school. I use to wonder if we did the right thing by bumping him forward a grade, I knew it would mean he would finish quicker but I think Tanner is ready to take on the world and leave this little place behind him. I hope he always remembers who brought him into this world and just how much he is loved by me!

Emma has had some restrictions placed on her and I can see she is trying harder to do her school work in order to earn them back...I know that her favorite time of year is summer because there is no school. Someday she will look back at this period of time and wonder...what in the world was I doing wasting all that time screwing around and not getting more serious about my school work!! She will deny it until her death but one day in her heart I know she will think that :) Maybe, just maybe she will be a mom and have to try to encourage her own daughter to turn in her assignments and graduate from high school! (I hope so!!!!)

Elle is doing great if she isn't on the phone talking to one of her friends she is on the computer IM them. She too is looking forward to this summer. She is working hard at reading horse books because she would like to buy a horse (this summer, she hopes) she has started babysitting for others outside of the family and I think she is going to be a favorite to be asked because she is so much fun!!

Scott and I are looking forward to many days on the golf course this summer. We probably won't be making a summer trip out to Utah this year because we are planning a great trip to Hawaii in the fall when Tanner goes to school. We are officially certified to be foster parents now and so I feel like I am pregnant and just waiting for the arrival of the blessed event!! I wish it would be that sweet :) We will probably be taking older kids and sibling groups. I really wanted to take younger kids but I was told they don't come up that often and that is the group everyone wants. So I am happy to take older kids I just hope it doesn't take forever.

I am really looking forward to having my mom and dad as well as Grandma Dee come out for Tanners graduation!! They should enjoy it much because it is soooo beautiful her now and not humid yet :) Well Heather just ordered me to get ready for my day so she could come over and hang with me for a bit!! You all should be getting to know her because I have decided to adopt her and her little boy Caiden (lol) Any way Heather and Caiden are very special to our family and I feel like maybe we were sisters in Heaven. I can't wait to blog next week!....

Behind Every Great Man/Woman is a Greater Mother

My mom and girls about a year ago in Utah.

I love mother's day! I think I enjoy it even more then my birthday because it always falls on Sundays and I love Sundays! This year I had a very enjoyable day of resting and relaxing while Scott made the family breakfast and dinner and the kids tried their best not to argue and fight with one another. Overall it was great!

I just have to say a few words in honor of my own mother. I love her!! She has taught me many lessons during my life and I am grateful to have had a mom that I always felt love from. She is always willing to do anything for her family and I have learned all my crafting skills from her!! She always had a beautiful home and that has influenced me because I also like to try to make my home an inviting place for all to enjoy. Most of all I love her because she is my mom and she gave me life, thanks for being so great mom!!

I would like to share the article that Tanner wrote for the Post Bulletin this week. I have been asking him to dedicate an article to his mom all year long! I think it is the most wonderful gift I could have gotten from him this mother's day. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Tanner Greer: Behind every great man is a greater mother
5/6/2009 9:05:02 AM
Comments (0)
The problem with sneaking a successful prom invitation into one of your columns is simple: Some people are bound to get jealous. Like my mother.
"Tanner" says she, "this girl is just going to prom with you. I birthed you. Don't I deserve to have my very own column too?"
I gave my mother a skeptical look, let out a small laugh and continued on with my work, wondering from where she gets these crazy ideas. After all, I am sure the readers of the Post Bulletin would soon become tired of reading dedication after dedication every time my column appears. It hardly seems sustainable. And heck, this dedication will not even result in a date.
My thoughts continued on this path for quite some time, dwelling on the silliness of the proposal she had given me. But wait -- I stared at the calendar hanging on the wall in front of me -- Mother's Day would fall shortly after the publication of my column. Perhaps it would not be too hard to write a celebratory piece after all.
Certainly mothers, as a whole, deserve celebration. While it might be cliche to say so, mothers, particularly those who forgo careers to stay home with their children, are one of the most unappreciated segments of our society. The lessons mothers teach their offspring stick long after the trigonometry equations and historical trivia fade out of memory; the values mothers instill will last lifetimes. Today's mothers have the power and privilege to mold the next generation.
I am not the only one to make this observation. Writing in his diary 233 years ago, John Adams reflected, "the surest criterion by which to determine whether a republican government is practicable in a nation or not" was the "domestic virtue" of a nation's mothers. Adams believed that schooling provided by academies and universities was in vain if the "foundations of national morality" were not laid properly in place by the "earliest and most important instructors of our youth" -- mothers.
No doubt Adams' own childhood experience with his mother helped shape this view. He is hardly the first to credit motherhood with his own greatness. Abraham Lincoln famously declared, "All I am or can be, my angel mother made me." Napoleon Bonaparte also believed in the defining role mothers play in their children's' lives. "The future destiny of the child," he said, "is always the work of the mother."
Indeed, it is not hard to think that we might have been repeating the adage "behind every great man is a great woman" the wrong way all along. If the words of Adams, Lincoln, and Bonaparte are any proof, what we should be saying is: Behind every great man is a greater mother.
So I tip my hat to my mother and all others like her. Please, have a happy Mother's Day.
Tanner Greer is a senior at Century High School. To respond to an opinion column, send an e-mail to life@postbulletin.com.

Happy Birthday to Emma

I LOVE EMMA!

Emma with Hannah and Edna

Elle thinks she has some magic in those fingers....and she is mad it is not working

Emma couldn't wait to open presents

SURPRISE Emma

Emma Bridget and Courtney having fun

Tanner and Ashley enjoying the camp fire

Well another Monday morning and I am able to find time to Blog! I love blogging...I am sure it is all just jibber jabber to you but to me it is quite therapeutic.

We threw Emma a surprise birthday party for her 15th on Saturday and it turned out really fun. She had no idea and so I think she was really happy with the surprise. I left the inviting to a friend of hers and I wish I had given her a little bit more input because I think there were some kids left out that should have been invited.

Yesterday we had a small family party and I made Emma her request for dinner which was BLT's and cheese cake. It was very nice to celebrate with the family and spend some time together. We had a wonderful weekend!

Today Tanner had to take an A.P. test downtown and it was a very stressful morning trying to get him there on time...which was all blamed on me which was soooo wrong in so many ways! I don't want to go into the details, just suffice it to say Scott and Tanner could have been more helpful in the whole affair! But luckily my morning has slowed down to a nice pace.

Elle is staying home today because she is sick. I think she might just have a cold with a cough but with all the swine flu stuff going on I am not sure if I should take her to the Dr. I had something similar last month when I went to Utah but Elle doesn't have a fever so I am not sure.

Teenage Troubles...will they ever go away??

Emma in the subway with Flat Stanley, boy did they have fun this week!

Emma after braces are put on :) it hasn't even been a week and she has broken a wire!

Emma with Flat Stanley before the braces!

Hey people out there...I will take a couple of minutes to write. Scott and I are having to deal with another speed bump in the parenting department of life. Why don't kids get it??? I always remember "getting it" when my parents were lecturing me as a 15 year old (ha,ha)!!! I don't know what to do to get through to my two lovely girls. One hates school and doesn't think that it is worth the effort to do any school work, she doesn't seem to care if she even graduates. She is a wonderful person otherwise and has great qualities, she is very caring about other people and is kind to her sister and brother as well as to her parents for that matter. I love to be with her she is fun and interesting and we have a great time together. She just doesn't like school and we can't seem to motivate her with anything! I thought she would get it by now? I am at a loss I am not sure what to do. The younger one on the other hand is getting obsessed with vampires and seems to becoming a little dark. We have a little worry that she is going Emo on us and she is only 11! I am not so sure I will make it through my girls teenage years. Any advise out there?

My Life!!

Hello my fans! I just wanted to touch bases with myself and the rest of you that follow the exciting adventures of my life!!

It has taken a month but I am finally over my flu and most of all the cough that came along with that. I am feeling great and healthy and feel so blessed to have a body that is able to give service to others especially I am able to take care of my family!! I have been on the other end of the spectrum and been in need of help in order to just take care of myself let alone my families needs, it feels so wonderful to be able to do for myself as well as others.

Emma got her braces on this week and she looks rather cute in them I think. I will have to down load a picture soon so you can all see. She has the camera today because she is taking Flat Stanley with her to school and then the mall today. Hannah sent Flat Stanley to her and so she has had fun doing things with him and taking pictures of all her adventures with him. He even got his own braces on! Emma is looking forward to summer and school getting over. I think it is a good thing she made it through 9th grade (that is a hard grade to get through, so many new changes in life). I am looking forward to her 10th grade year, so many great things to look forward to....turning 16 driving and dating!! Emma will be 15 in another week!!! She is growing into a wonderful young woman, I just love her!

Elle seems to be dealing with what 12 year old girls deal with (friend issues) just like I did at that age. It seems that girls that age just don't know how to be nice 24/7. But I have faith she will also get through this stage just like the rest of us girls did. Hopefully I am teaching her how to handle herself when she finds herself in a situation of meanness and can influence her friends to be kind. Elle is still working hard as a paper carrier and loves making money and now that winter is over and the weather is nice once again I haven't heard any complaints.

Both the girls are doing well with piano and seem to be getting better. They don't enjoy it much (do many kids their age enjoy it?) but they are starting to prepare for a piano recital. I talked the piano teacher into doing the recital the week that my parents will be here for Tanners graduation I am so happy they will get to attend the girls recital.

It is getting more real to me that Tanner will be graduating and moving on with his life. We put the down payment on his dorm room a couple of weeks ago. My baby really is going to move away from me!!!!!!!!!! I packed his last school lunch he needed to take on a school field trip yesterday (when he was in elementary and the first couple of years in high school I use to write him little notes on his napkins) I wrote him a note on a napkin and started to cry thinking it was going to be the last one I would be writing him. He got home from school and I asked him how he liked it and he said he didn't even know he had one because he threw his napkin away! All that crying and he just threw it away!! I thought is was so sad that it was funny!! I will have many more chances to write him little notes on napkins...one day he is just going to get napkin notes in the mail from his mom and he will think I am weird (not that he doesn't think that anyway) but I just realized that it is okay that he is growing up it is natural and something I have been teaching and training him to do his whole life. I still will have lots of chances to show him how much I love him and to do special things for him.

Well we are almost done with foster care licensing!! It has almost taken us a year to finish this process. Now I think Scott is having some reservations about it. I understand his feelings because I feel the same way. It is scary to think about taking kids into our home and having our whole life turned upside down because we are not sure what we are getting ourselves into. I just know that I have always had a desire to do this and so we will need to work through our fears and not be afraid to say no to a placement if it doesn't feel right to us. I am sure my blogs will start to deal with what our family is going through with foster care in the future.

Well I must go...I will post pictures soon!

My Dogs Stink!

Elle with Bandit in Utah.

Tanner loved monkeys as a child so I couldn't resist getting him one last monkey bag.

Emma's all time favorite snack...Cheez-It she can't get enough of them!

Caiden getting tired at the end of a long night.

Caiden was enjoying the girls counting all their money in the the buff. I think Emma has whopping $11 in change thanks to a few pennies from her rich younger sister!

Caiden loves to explore the kitchen...who can blame him?

Heather and Kelly enjoyed FHE.

Scott had to stop himself from falling over onto Caiden.

We all felt our muscles in our legs stretch as we did Tanners object lesson on choosing right from wrong.

Tanner didn't stretch very far.

Emma did a great job of being on both sides of right and wrong...

How do you like the title of the blog? I am not actually going to write anything about my dogs because the title says it all! I do wish they would stop playing by me and trying to bite each other because when they do that their breath becomes unbearably stinky and they are like two little kids that won't stop horse playing.

Well life is going great and I am starting to get excited for this summer. I think more because of the change of weather and being able to go outside with out suffering from a major case of frost bite then because of any great family trip we have planned because we don't. This is the summer of saving money...between getting both girls into braces with is costing thousands of dollars up front and sending Tanner to a far away tropical place in the fall we are buckling down and saving. I guess it is a good thing that Tanner is graduating and that means that family will be coming to us this summer instead of feeling the pressure to go to them.

We had our FHE last night and as usually we had a great time. I have included some pictures from our adventures hope you enjoy them....talk to you all later have a great week!

Spring Break!

Grandpa with sweet Ava. This is one cousin we don't know very well :(

Grandma was bossing someone around, probably Grandpa!

Me and my little sissy! I hope Kate never got sick!!

Elle's beautiful tips turned blond after she told her Grandpa they would be purple!

Our favorite little person was Talon! He just loved Emma!

Waiting at the airport was a great place to do some people watching!

Well hello everyone! I am finally feeling better and inspired to write a little bit in my blog. The girls and I were off to Utah for spring break. Tanner felt like he had better things to do then spend another week in Utah with all those little cousins jumping all over him. I understand and frankly am surprised it took him this long to say no to another Utah trip. So it was the girls and I that got up at 4:30 am so we could make the shuttle to the airport in time to get on a plane as standby passengers! This is the first time we have flown that way which was interesting. I am so grateful that my cousin was able to give us a few buddy passes to allow us to fly so much more cheaply but as it is cheap to fly that way it is also a gamble if you will actually get on the flight you want let alone any flight at all! I wasn't feeling the best that morning and not sure if it was just stress or if I was actually sick I took a chance and the girls and I ended up not getting on the flight we were booked on. We ended up waiting until a 1:00 pm flight and barely got on that one we took the last available seat! After spending 7 hours at the airport we finally were taking off! We got into Utah later in the afternoon and soon found ourselves in Grandma's brand new beautiful home in Granstville. It seemed very strange to us not to drive up to Oakley. I still felt pretty yucky but I was pressing forward trying to do my best. The next day I was able to visit with Katie and see the baby (cute as can be) all day. But by the end of that day I was feeling worse. The next day I did the girls hair Elle was very happy to finally get her tips done. I took a trip into SLC with my Mom and Dad to get some things at the distribution center and Deseret Book but by the end of the night I was not feeling well at all. I wasn't able to hold off the flu any longer and my body and mind finally succumbed. I was flat out sick and miserable for the next four days I stayed in my jammies and either laid in bed or on the couch with my mom and dad taking care of me. I didn't even get to see Allison (soooo sad ) and that cute little pooch of hers. I guess if I look at the bright side of things I was with those that love me and took very good care of me. Whenever I am here and am sick all I do is whine and cry that I want my dad well this time I got my wish!! It was a bummer that I was sick and it wasn't the best break for the girls but at least I was sick at mom and dads!

Well it looks like Tanner has decided upon BYU Hawaii!! I am going to have to start saving my money to go to Hawaii for Christmas next year! He was a little disappointed that he didn't get into George Washington or George Town but I think he is excited to see more of the world and have an experience like no other. He will be done with school in 2 months and I just can't believe it! Where has all the time gone? Emma will be 15 in another month and I can't believe she is so grown up and responsible! I have even seen a difference in her attitude about school lately she is just growing into a beautiful young lady inside and out. Elle on the other hand is just as bubbly and crazy as ever and keeps me on my toes! She is always laughing at something usually at other people's pain! If only she would put as much energy into cleaning her room as she does talking to her friends on line!

While I was in Utah my mom found out that she had a stroke a couple of years ago (it is a long story)and so the dr. ordered some tests...she has since been told that she is very fortunate that she has not had a more major stroke at an earlier age because she has a hole in her heart that has been their since birth. She is going into the hospital tomorrow to have a procedure to close the hole in her heart and hopefully she will be fine after this. You never know when it is your time to go and I feel very blessed to have had the chance to see my mom last week and give her a hug and tell her I love her in person. I think we take our lives and just living for granted and it shouldn't take a medical emergency to realize how fragile life is but most the time this is what it takes to bring us to a realization that we are only here for a short time and we should make the most out of every single day by giving the ones we love the best of ourselves and not letting the small stuff get in the way of living and loving unconditionally. I love both my mom and dad so much and feel very blessed to have had them for parents.

Well I am going to go finish some of my deep cleaning....it feels so good to de-clutter and throw things out after all they are just things! So Scott don't worry if you can't find that lamp that has been in storage for 3 years someone else is getting good use of it!