The burning of the tie..

Wednesday, August 20 was Alex's 6 month missionary anniversary! I really never thought I'd say it's gone fast, but I have survived the summer without him, and we are on our way into the holidays.. so maybe fast is a good description.

A normal missionary tradition is to burn a tie at 6 months, so here is the "burning of the tie" ceremony on Wednesday!

Also- in his e-mail today, he said he is being transferred tomorrow (Tuesday, August 26). He has also been called as District Leader! Go Hijo!

Also - Congratulations to Mom and Dad who have been in Guyana for a year! We love all our missionaries and are so proud of you!

Family Resemblence?

My sister Donell was in town for a few days last weekend with her daughter Betsi and Betsi's kids! It was so fun to spend time with them! They are such fun kids and so entertaining. Both Adrian and Emma are always looking for an audience - and we were happy to be so entertained. In the meantime, Ty was following in her mothers, and grandmother's artistic footsteps and drew pictures for everyone! I miss you guys so much and I'm so glad I got to see you!

When I looked at this picture, I couldn't believe all those brown eyes! :) Cute girls... Oh and Adri!

"How I spent my Summer Vacation".. by Kris Tanner

Just wanted to give you all a flava for my summer vacation! We went to Cancun, "Meheeco" (as Dustin would say), with our friends Clay and Marie! Super blue water, nice hotel on the beach and very relaxing.. by the time Thursday rolled around I had forgotten that I had a job, a calling, or any other responsibilities.

Favorite moments... in no particular order

"Beargin" Pina' Colada's every day

Restaurante Margarita (chips and salsa to be specific)

Cold Diet Coke by the pool

Not dying

Parasailing / jetskiing

Attending the Branch on Sunday in Playa Del Carmen

Yummy "Boofay with the feesh, and the cheekin"

Our cool matchy handmade bracelets

Shopping and Haagen Daz

Marie eating those apple pie things at McDonalds

Missing the whole Mariachi thing because I visited the ladies room.. (ok not my favorite part, but it happened)

Tulum - "The Father, The Son and Nobody"

Clay and Kenyon "watching and warning"

Birthing and holding hands with Marie

That's "how I spent my summer vacation"!!

"I miss carpet"

Just an exerpt from Al P's e-mail this week! He got a new comp- they are getting along well! He said he's a dancer, so occassionally there is a random pirrouette in the kitchen, but other than that - they are doing great and working hard!

Two things he misses this week:
1- carpet
2- driving a car

Funny - I don't miss either of those things this week!

What's the difference?

Conversation that Kenyon and I had in the car yesterday while driving past a big farm..

Kris: "Wow - Look at that!"
Kenyon: "Oh - those are Elk, for a second I thought they were Reindeer"
Kris: "Aren't Elk and Reindeer the same thing"?
Kenyon: "No!"
Kris: "What's the difference?"
Kenyon: "Elk are wild"

Voices in Kris' head: "Oh and Reindeer live at the North Pole with Santa, so they are not wild."

Hmmmm...

Shiny, Happy People

I got home from Camp on Saturday afternoon! Good to be home, but SO FUN at camp!
Our Camp Theme this year was "Anchor Yourself to Christ" which worked out perfectly, because we had started our year with New Beginnings at the beginning of the year and our theme was "Steadfast in Him" and we did a nautical theme as well! This camp tied together perfectly.
My friend Wendy was called as the Stake Camp Director and there could NOT have been a better director for this year. Some of my favorite things about Wendy are.. She's fun, dramatic, creative, artsy, introduces me to new things that I don't get, super spiritual, a great mom, and she's one of my dearest friends.. (plus she helped me with my mailbags totally last minute - as if she didn't have anything else to do).

On our first day we were given sailor hats, and each girl, prior to camp had made 15 individual pins that were to be traded with other girls, to make new friends at camp. When I first heard this idea, I was like - wow - that sounds like a pain, and a lot of work, but they turned out SO cute.. I totally get it now! It was super fun to see all the girls with their hats on and their cute collection of pins! I LOVED IT!

The second day was the hike - which I usually hate, but this year, I got to hike with my new 2nd counselor, and new BF for Life.. Melonie! She was so super fun to hike with, and I feel lucky to be able to work with her! We spent a lot of time getting to know each other and she now knows a lot about me like, what a smart mouth I have, how I mock the girls, and that I'm not as cool as I try to pretend!

Third day was a highlight this year.. for one reason - it's testimony meeting, and that is always the best part of camp - but the 2nd best part was that we had the MOTHER OF ALL WATERFIGHTS!! So fun - the leaders snuck squirt guns to the creek, but they were kind of leaking and not very powerful - so the girls pretty much just laughed at us and said "next year, you might want to buy more powerful guns".. but little did they know - that in the trees was a giant pail of water! I went up and got it and doused the same 2 girls 3 different times. The best part was they totally saw it coming, but were in the creek with croc's and couldn't move, so they pretty much had to stand there and take it ALL THREE TIMES! They got me back though.. I can't explain how - but let's just say my clothes were soaked to the skin when the bishop got there.. I mean ALL of my clothes!! I had to make sure not to hug anyone too tight! If you were there - you know what I'm talking about.. If you weren't - sorry! But it's dang funny!

Why do I love camp so much? Maybe it's permission to act like a 15 year old! Maybe it's staying up in the leader tent making Julie laugh ALL NIGHT, or maybe it's that there is such a great spirit - that going home to a clean bed and shower, just feels wrong! I LOVE CAMP! Every last yellow inch of it!

A perfecto combinacion

Two of his favorites (not together).. Cholula and Ben and Jerrys - Courtesy of Walmart!!

Just an update from Alex today, Monday, July 14th. His e-mail sounded great! He said that there are some changes coming and he'll be getting a new companion on Tuesday. Elder Polendo has been a great companion for him - I'll be forever grateful to him for showing Alex the way for the first 2 1/2 months.

Al's spirits are great, he had another baptism - a woman who he has been working with for several weeks. Actually, he and Elder Polendo taught her, but her son was able to baptize her. Very cool!

One great quote in this weeks e-mail "You will never see a homesick missionary in the baptismal font". As usual he is looking on the bright side and as always - it's all in the attitude! He's working hard and say's that time is flying - before you know it he'll be burning a tie!

I love you Elder! Keep up the good work!

My District