Vollmer Family 2012 Year in Review

I personally love the new year. I love the idea of a fresh start. I also love looking over the past years and the memories made, the trials we triumphed over, the love we shared with our family and friends, and the moments that grew us closer to our Father in Heaven. Here is our year in review...

January: Breckyn's blessing day. That was such a special day that Tanner and I will never forget.

February: We traveled to Beautiful Sacrament, CA for Treg and Jen's wedding. We definitely want to visit Sacramento again. It is such a beautiful city.

March: We traveled to Boise for State Cheer competition. I am glad I don't have to do that this year. But it was such a fun experience. We battled Tanner's stomach issue. And one colonoscopy later we found out that he has ulceratice collitis. We are grateful for great doctors and medication that is able to keep it under control as long as he stays stress free for the most part...

April: We celebrated Breckyn's first Easter :)

May: Breckyn made her first trip to St. George with Grandma Dayna, Aunt DeDe, Aunt Heather and cousins Gracie and Riley. Tanner and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversay! Each Year gets better and better!

June: We enjoyed beautiful summer days and swimming at Indian Springs!

July: Family Reunions GALORE!

August: Grain Harvest! Breckyn loved riding in the combine. We enjoyed watching Bridger's Junior football season.

September: Breckyn took in her first Eastern Idaho State Fair! Potato Harvest - we stayed pretty busy...to say the least...

October: We made an unwanted visit to the ER and Breckyn had to get 3 stitches. (Saddest day of our year!) Breckyn enjoyed her first Halloween dressed up as a little cow.

November: Breckyn's 1st birthday was the highlight of the month! It was a great first year!

December: We made a trip down to the lights at Temple Square and had a wonderful Christmas!

 

Happy New Year! Here is to a great 2013!





Merry Christmas from the Vollmers

We had a wonderful Christmas season. It was full of family and friends and wonderful memories. And of course reflection on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for this time of year.

Our first event of the season was the Corbridge Christmas party. As you can tell by the picture it was a great time. Each family chose one person to be their "reindeer" Tanner of course volunteered.
We had a great Christmas Eve. We went to Blackfoot for the Polatis Christmas Eve lunch. We enjoyed the nativity scene that is put on each year. We are short on young kids on that side of the family so a few of my cousins who are in high school and new graduates had to stand in :) We then went into Karl and Mychelle's for dinner. We played Apples to Apples, which is always entertaining. We let the grandkids open their gifts and then we ended the night with pie (which was made by Bridger-he is a baker!) and watched Joy to the World. It was a perfect evening! Devonee sent me a text asking us to come to mom and dad's because dad had something for us. We were really tired but he told us it would only take 5 minutes.

To our great surprise...Heather and her family popped out! They fooled us all! I was so happy...I cried!

Santa Claus came to our house! He brought Breckyn the Disney Princess Little People Castle and a new teddy bear.

Playing around Christmas morning before we head to Grandma Dayna's for Breakfast.

Family game of Wackee 6

The best parents I could ever ask for! Love them so much!

The kids enjoyed some water color painting

My mom had my dad be the first one to try the dessert and tell us all that it was perfect-Just like in
A Christmas Carol

I kept forgetting to a picture of Breckyn with her new toys. I finally got it a few days after Christmas. I forgot to tell the funny story of Breckyn on Christmas morning. Tanner went out in the living room to video her. On her way out of her bedroom she grabbed a toy and I took it away from her so she could focus on what Santa brought. Well as a result the whole way down the hall she is crying and yelling at me until we get to the living room. She stopped, smiled and then ran towards the castle :)

At Grandma's house...

Last night Breckyn stayed with Grandma Mychelle and Grandpa Karl while Tanner and I went out to eat. They sent us this picture and I thought it was so funny I had to share. They said she walked around like this for quite a while :)

Like mother, like daughter

I loved baby dolls as a little girl, and so does Breckyn! I didn't know that I could expect this so fast. I was in the store the other day and I sat her down for one minute and she had ran across the isle and found a baby doll. She would not let it go. Luckily it was cheap...so I gave in. When she goes to my mom she plays with my old bitty baby baby doll I had growing up. My mom actually had two so she gave me one to give to Breckyn and she LOVES it. She does not like to put her down and I think it is the sweetest thing!

Tis the Season

The Christmas season is finally upon us and I am loving it! I have my tree and other decorations up. I am playing Christmas music in my house and car any chance I get. All I am missing is some snow. :) We decided to take a quick weekend trip down to Utah and visit Heather and Devonee. We hadn't seen Heather's new home in Orem yet and we just needed a quick vacation.
We drove down Friday afternoon and met Dev after she got off work. We walked through the new City Creek Mall and then we took in the lights and Nativity at Temple Square. We all loved it, especially Tanner. He could not remember ever going there and when we were on our way out he said that we needed to do that every year with our family. I did not disagree :)

Breckyn enjoyed the ride in her new, big girl car seat. She loves to take a book where ever she goes

On Saturday Heather took us to the new Traverse Mountain Outlets and then we back to her house and relaxed.

At abou Tyler and Tanner were super nice and watched the kids while we got to head off for some sister time and it was so much fun. We had a blast in Target and I spent too much money :) and we enjoyed some great laughs and made so many wonderful memories.t 7:30 that night us girls decided we needed to make a trip to Target.

 We had to take a picture with our matching, $8 sweats from Target. We had Tanner take the picture and we weren't quite ready but we laughed so hard at how it turned out. I love my sisters.
We were sad to go but we definitely look forward to the next trip we get to make down there. The kids had so much fun running around together. Can't wait till Christmas!!

These girls love their Aunt DeDe

Tuckered out from all the fun



Temple Dates are the Best!

This post is short and sweet and to the point. I just wanted to post this picture to remember this night. It was a perfect date. I pray and wish for more perfect nights like this one.

Wreckin' Breckyn

Grandpa Karl has officially given Breckyn the nickname "Wreckin' Breckyn." And she sure lives up to it! She is into everything and running around every where. Karl gave her that nickname the other night while they were watching her. She is a determined little girl. I put up the Christmas Tree yesterday and I quickly realized that Breckyn and the tree were not a good mix. Something had to be done.

So we came up with the blockade. It took two chairs!

Tanner gave Breckyn this rocking horse last year for Christmas. (I gave him a hard time because she used it so much last year ;) ) I had had it in her room and she dragged it out of there the other day. I was folding laudry and I looked up to see this. She was determined to get up on that couch!

I love these two pictures. This basket was on its side and she was trying to use it to climb on the couch (again) and it tipped and she fell inside. At first she was very mad and started to cry a little bit and I was just laughing. When I went to take her picture she made this funny face :)

I love her hair after she gets out of the bath :) I am determined that this little girl will have curly hair. After she gets out of the bath i put lotion in her hair and I scrunch it up like crazy. Naturally curly hair would be a blessing to this hair styling challenged mother of hers!

Out with the old...

This is a little bittersweet for me. My parents moved into their new home a few weeks ago, so that means we are able to go ahead with the remodel of their old home(our future home). Tanner went over there the other day with a few guys from work and started taking out the kitchen cabinets. He sent me these pictures...

I didn't dare send them to Devonee. I didn't want her to cry. And I am not going to lie...I almost did. There are so many memories in this home. But I am so excited to share those memories with my own little family and make so many new ones.

Give Thanks

I can't believe this is the only picture I got of Thanksgiving. At least it is a precious one and a moment I want to remember. After we spend the day with Tanner's family we went and visited my parents for a little bit and watched a portion of It's a Wonderful Life (A tradition for my family). I am so glad I got a picture of this moment.
Through out the month I kept a small journal of the things I was grateful for. Some are very random because different situations showed up on different days and sparked certain feelings :)
1: my incredible parents
I would not be who I am today without them and their amazing examples. I love then beyond words

2: Tanner Dee!! I love him with all my heart!

3: miss breckyn Fay! Her sweet smile makes everyday worth it.

4: this Time of year. I love the cooler weather. I love that harvest is over and I get to see my husband again. I love that it starts to bring family together and we think back to our savior

5: Having a roof over my head

6: this great nation and the freedoms that we have due to the brave and selfless men and women.

7: our extended family. For the love and support they unfailing give us.

8: a car that allows me to easily travel. So grateful I don't have to walk or push a handcart

9: technology the ability to connect with people In Our day is amazing

10: Snow...I simply love snow!

11: my sisters. They are my best friends. I dont know what I would do without them and their amazing examples to me

12: the scriptures. The wonderful lessons I learn each time I read

13: the prophet. I am so grateful for modern day revelation

14: hard working husband. I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with our children

15: my calling. I love working with the primary children. My testimony always grown when I witness their sweet spirits and unwavering faith

16: good books. I love days when breckyn naps and I am able to curl up in my bed with a good book

17: clean clothes. I did a lot of laundry today and I am loving the smell

18: medicine...today it finally helped my poor sick baby but I get cuddles out of it

19: my wonderful mother. Her beautiful spirit and example. Her help with breckyn

20: true love. It makes life wonderful. I love the giddy feeling it gives me.

21: Temples. The amazing blessings they give to us. To connect us with our past, present and future families

22: the holiday of thanksgiving itself. The opportunity it gives us to recognize his much we are truly given and remember to always, always give thanks to out Father in Heaven

 

Bath Time Fun

If there is one this Breckyn loves for sure it is bath time! I am pretty sure if I never took her out she would play for hours. Great Grandma Glayda gave her glow sticks and toy cups for bath time and she loved it. We couldn't get a good picture with the lights off, but she had fun. I love her face in this picture.
Now that Breckyn is one...

• She says "Wow!", "Hi", "No, No","bye", "mama", "dada", and we swear that we have heard "Thank You" and so do Tanner's parents.
• Jumps up and down in her crip
• gets into EVERYTHING! nothing is safe
• Will not keep her socks on.
• She definitely takes after her dad. She loves our family dog Taz. She will sit by the back door and knock at the door and wave to him outside

Brenkyn is 1

I still don't know how we went from this...

...to this so fast

 

It honestly feels like yesterday they placed this tiny baby girl in my arms. This year has been simply incredible. I have truly felt that I have gained so much more purpose in my life as I become more and more aware of Heavenly Father's plan for me as a woman. This little angel made me a mother and I will be forever grateful to her and she will always, ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart. I remember that snowy November weekend and I was so anxious to get her here and on Saturday night I was determined to tell my doctor on Tuesday that I didn't care anymore and I wanted to be induced. Little Breckyn must have known that I couldn't take much more of it, because the next morning and all day I knew something felt different. and on November 7, 2011 at 9am, she entered this world and forever changed me and Tanner. I have loved seeing Tanner become a dad. He is so good with her and I can that she just adores him. We love our Breckyn Fay!

I decided to wake Breckyn up a little earlier than her normal time, so Tanner could see her before he left and I made her birthday cake pancakes with icing syrup...because you get to eat a little extra sugar on your birthday :)

One of the many reaons why we love her...her funny faces! They come from her father :)

We had a little party for her at Grandma Mychelle's. She didn't really know what was going on but it was still fun to see her reactions

She got lots of fun new toys!

She really didn't care too much for her cake. She took a couple bites and then started to throw is on the floor.

We are so grateful for this ray of sunshine in our lives. It is amazing how someone so tiny can make you feel so complete. We love our sweet Breckyn! Happy Birthday!



We love Uncle Bridger!

We went into town today to have a little photo session with Uncle Bridger. We loved watching him play football this year. I cannot believe he is a junior. When Tanner and I started he was in 8th grade and I always thought he seemed so much older than he was and now that he is 17(what?) I feel like he is 20! We took him to Treg's wedding with us and then to state cheer in Boise. I think it is safe to say he is our travel buddy but we don't mind at all. He is hilarious and I always wanted a little brother :)

Breckyn was hard to keep still but we made due. She absolutely LOVES Bridger. There are have been more than one occassion that she wouldn't come to me because she didn't want to leave Bridge.

Moments like this are just so sweet!





Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween and Tanner isn't a huge fan, so I loved being able to dress up this sweet girl this year. I found this little cow costume last year after halloween and got it on clearance. I love it! I know I am bias but I think she is the cuttest thing!

People kept telling me that she would hate being dressed up, but she beat the odds. She didn't mind it at all. And when I would show her herself in the mirror shewould laugh :)

We had dinner at Grandma Dayna's for her annual Halloween Taco Party. It is so much fun to get together with the kids all dressed up. We missed Eric and Vic this year and Heather and Tyler. Breckyn didn't really know what to think of Grandma Dayna as Cruella De Ville. But she did eventually warm up to her.

We enjoyed a night full of play time with cousins. 

 We got this snapped of us at the trunk-r-treat. As you can tell Tanner wasn't quite ready for this one :)





"Work is play..."

I was going through pictures on my mom's computer today and I found this gem. This was taken at our Driscoll family reunions this year at Steadman's. This family turned their back yard into a hillside of water slides. we convinced my grandparents to give it a try. I hope that when I am their age I have that sense of adventure. My poor dad was very nervous while my grandparents made their way up the hill and even mroe nervous while they were coming down but all went well and their posterity got the memory of a lifetime. My grandpa always reminds us of a saying his dad Bus Driscoll would day, "Work is play and play is work. And don't forget it because you are going to be doing it 95% of your life, so you better start enjoying it." I am so grateful for the rich heritage I have on both sides of my family and that the importance of hard work has been instilled in me.