Bryce loves his new clubs!

The "big whackin' spoon"

Carter and I watching Bryce after our walk

Bonding with the new clubs

Practicing putting

The new putter works like a charm!

Bryce sinks the long putt!

Christmas Day 2006

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Bryce and Carter are enjoying our festive living room as we prepare to open presents on Christmas morning. It was about 9 o'clock by the time we got up, ate breakfast and were ready to open presents. (Carter was up at 4:30, but we decided to train him to be a Christmas morning sleeper!)

Carter takes a peek into his stocking.

Look what Santa brought Bryce: a set of erasers!

New pj's! They are cute and soft and pink! Bryce got me a cute pair of pink, fuzzy slippers that match perfectly. I'll be one stylish mama!

Bryce's present from Carter- a new wallet. (really, it was about time!)

Carter got a fun new book about colors from great-grandma Madsen. He'll be reading in no time!

Cute new Christmas clothes from Gramma Tanner. Look at the ADORABLE sweater! I can't wait to put it on him- it's even the right size for our little tiny boy.

Bryce, our lover of all things WWII related, received this book about Hugh Nibley's experience in the 101st airborne division. I was extremely excited when I discovered this book a couple of months ago- I could hardly stand waiting to give it to him.

Web Cam! I love it, Bryce loves it, and obviously Carter is very excited! Thank you!!!
Hooray! Thanks Nana and Papa! We love our webcam- we've already tried it out. In fact, we've tried it and decided that we need a LOT more practice before we're ready for the big screen!
My last gift from Bryce was a downloaded CD of the Hawaiian singer Brother Iz (Trena probably knows who he is). Bryce searched high and low for a CD but had no luck. Fortunately he was able to find some songs online. We've been enjoying a Hawaiian morning- it's great!

Carter's present from Dad

Carter is (sort of) helping open his present. He was a little confused about the whole process!

What could be in this big, beautifully wrapped box?

Carter's first piggy bank!

The bank says "College Fund" and the piggy is wearing a blue mortar board and tassel. BYU, here he comes!

After all of the other presents were open I told Bryce that I just remembered one more present, but I'd forgotten to bring it out. He went into Carter's room and fished out his final present from its hiding spot under the crib. What could it be????

After lugging the box into the living room we speculated on its contents. I observed that it was about the size of a full grown alligator. (Buzz would be so proud!)

Nope, not an alligator... Golf Clubs!! Hooray! He carefully unrapped each club and nestled them into the bag along with golf balls and tees. The balls and tees are separated into "game day" and "driving range" quality. He also lovingly put the "hats" on each of the clubs. He's ready to go!

All of the festivities wore Carter out. He passed out on me on the zubag. (Thank heavens for the zubag!)

The Christmas Photo frenzy

this year's Christmas present

The "BYU Hopeful"

Carter and the Christmas bear

A post-bath picture

He seems to be getting more used to the idea of baths. He does his bathing in the kitchen sink and he's as slippery as a little bar of soap! I love the hoodie towel- Thanks gramma Tanner!

Nana, look how big I am!

Here's our little boy in his "big boy" courderoy overalls; does it get any cuter?

My Favorite Pictures

Look at my thoughtful little old man. He seems to be contemplating the cosmos. He's a week old going on eighty!

We're pretty sure Carter was trying to sing to us. He is one cute baby!!!

Bonding time

I arrived home from our Young Women's activity to find baby and daddy bonding and watching a Christmas special on TV. Cute!
Like father, like son. Here are my two boys asleep on the zubag looking like twins (sort o!)

Nana comes to visit

The Clark Clan missed the baby by a few days when then came out here for Thanksgiving. We saw the sights and I waddled around "pregnantly" taking my turn as a tourist. We rode the trolley, wandered down Beale street and ate ALOT of bar-be-que! We had fun, but... no baby! However, much to my surprise (and delight) after the baby was born Mama Clark called to tell me that she would be flying back to Memphis to take care of us after the Tanner family left. Two weeks of mamas??? What could be better than that??

Here's Mama Clark practicing her newest role "Nana"! She anticipated my every need and scurried around making life quite wonderful. However, even Nanas need naps. Carter decided to help her out with that...

After a few nights of jumping up to help me with middle of the night feedings, Nana was in need of a nap. Carter supervised the effort, but eventually he too succombed and fell asleep.

A few more home pictures

Here is a picture of Carter in his very favorite spot. When Bryce gets home from class he assumes "the position" and he and Carter take a well-deserved nap. They both seem to love the ritual.

This was taken Carter's first night home while we were waiting for the Tanner clan to arrive. Mom and Dad Tanner and Karla came to play with us and to help us take care of our new little one. It was WONDERFUL to have them here! There were able to take some time to play in Memphis and Vonnie got me through our first night home- wow!- I have no idea what I would have done without her! Fortunately we all survived and had a splendid time together.

Here is Carter snug in his car seat awaiting his first visit to the pediatrician. He likes to throw a fit for a few minutes before he realized that he loves his car seat and settles in for a nap. Unfortunately we had several trips to the doctor for jaundice tests and I was beginning to worry that he would start associating the car seat with people taking his blood. The good news is that he seems no worse for the wear!

Homecoming!!! Here is our tiny baby in his "huge" car seat. (Only Bryce knows how to actually install the crazy thing!)

The first thing Bryce did when we got home was play "Take me Out to the Ball Game" for Carter then they sat in the rocking chair and practiced holding the football.

It's good to have a daddy!

First Photos

Obviously this was taken BEFORE the contractions became unbelievably intense (before the sweating and vomiting) while I was still able to smile!

The official weigh in! Our little Carter weighed in at 7# 9oz and was 20 inches long. HE HAS GAINRD 2 WHOLE POUNDS SINCE THEN! Before we know it he will be leaving on a mission and we'll be left wondering where in the world the time went!

Carter Clark Tanner

Hi everyone! I only have time for a few pictures, but I thought I'd better get them on the blog before our loyal viewers get violent. All is well in our little world, we're all healthy and happy! Carter is already growing and eats like a small horse (there may be some uncle Stu in him!!) Bryce is back in school, in fact he missed his first day of classes this quarter so that he could hang out in the hospital with me! I went in at 5:00 Monday (November 27th) to be induced and our little one made his official appearance at 2:29 in the afternoon. It was a grueling day, but we're so excited to have him here with us.

Here is Carter and dad enjoying their first night of TV together. Monday night football!

Our brand new baby, Bryce was able to hold him as soon as they finished their tests and got him all wrapped up. Look at the proud daddy!! There I am looking puffy and tired, but VERY HAPPY, in the background.

Here is Carter asleep in his bassinet. He likes to practice flexing. Maybe he'll be a body builder like uncle Boyd! The other night Bryce was commenting on his arm muscles and he started flexing and showing dad his "guns" it was really amusing!

Two baby shower pictures

I have to give myself a time limit for posting things on the blog or I will end up spending ALL DAY working on it. I managed to get these two pictures and the two convocation pictures uploaded in a relatively short amount of time. I guess I shouldn't push my luck!
This sign is hanging in the baby's room and was made by my incredibly cute RS president. The little words inside the "Carter" say "I love you to the moon and back". She also got me the book that line comes from. (I think it's called Guess How Much I Love You.) Cute, cute, cute!
This is my marvelous new rocking chair! Here I am taking it for a "test rock" it's absolutely perfect- I'm so excited! I'll add more pictures in the near future so "y'all" can see who was there and some of the fun things I got.

Professional Pictures of Convocation

You've seen my attempt at picture taking during the Convocation ceremony, here are a couple of professional shots. You can look at a larger class picture on SCO's website www.sco.edu under the new pictures link on the first page of the photo gallery. Finding him is kind of like playing "Where's Waldo" except he doesn't have a red and white striped shirt on (that would have made it a lot easier).

SCO's annual convocation

Thursday afternoon was SCO's annual convocation. All of the school is there and the teachers are all dressed in their doctorate robes- it's quite an event! The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students take their seats, then the faculty parades in followed by the first years. All the while an accomplished organist was pounding out a peppy tune that was making the baby wild and wiggly. (Maybe we shouldn't have an organ in the house!) There was a long process of giving awards and scholarships to faculty and the other years. After that was finished the 1st years stood together to repeat the Optometric Oath and then were called forward one-by-one to receive their white coats.

This is a shot of Bryce being helped into his coat. He was able to get in without difficulty, but there were several students who had quite a time trying to get their coats on! Afterwards Bryce confided that he had been very nervous, fortunately, all was well!

This is a picture is of Bryce walking (jauntily) back to his seat. Apparently most of the students have names at the beginning of the alphabet, so Bryce was one of the very last ones to get his coat. I managed to sneak up to the front to get a shot of him. The chapel was so dim that I had a hard time getting any clear shots, but they turned out okay.

SCO's LDS contingency

This is a shot of the "Mormon Boys" they are all first years and they are all members of the Church. They spend quite a bit of time together so it seemed appropriate to take their picture together. You'll probably see many more of these over the next few years. Here is a sideways picture of Bryce and I after he received his white coat. Doesn't he look dashing? Regal? Doctor-ish? Cute-as-a-button?