The Acropolis in Athens, Greece

This is the location of the Olympics in Athens. This was the only picture I got.



















The Acropolis is especially beautiful all lighted up at night. It's up on a hill that can be seen all over in Athens.


















An olive tree... There are many different types of olive trees. I think our guide said there were over 30 types of olives.





















This is where the American company "Nike" got their name................








More shots from the Acropolis.

Temple Ruins in Corinth, Greece, where Paul Taught

Before we get to where Paul taught, this is a canal the Turks dug by hand. It took 13 years and is much deeper than it appears in this picture.







A view of the coast from the temple ruins............



















Those of you that have read the Bible remember the city of Corinth. We spent more than an hour walking around the ruins - it was that big that it took that long. Charity and I did some speed walking so we could count it for our daily exercise. These are the temple ruins.














































Some beautiful postcards that I wanted to buy but they were all so beautiful that I decided to take a picture instead.











A picture of Charity on the tour bus....










Our lunch which was a phylo pastry with spinach ad cheese - very delicious! Charity looks so happy!

The Road from Athens to Corinth (Greece) 11/13/09

This is a view of Athens from the coast line.














Views from the coast........... So beautiful.....




























This was an interesting house in Corinth, Greece. Pretty in pink............ A cute little car too... It seems like the car should match the house.

Athens, Greece (11/13/09)

Just a few sights from the city tour of Athens. I thought the parking was quite interesting.







The architecture was so beautiful. Athens is a lovely city.


















This white building is a government office. People are camped and live there in protest for various causes.







Just another city view with all the taxis.

Paris, France (11/12/09 and 11/23/09)

Charity and I just had the dream trip of a lifetime. We changed planes in Paris, Frances going and coming. Can you guess what Charity had her mind on? Pastries! They are the same in Paris as her mission. We had pastries coming and going and they were awesome - apple tarts, chocolate......

On our return flight, we were cutting it quite close time wise and were the last two on the airplane as we wanted pastries for the flight home. When we walked to the gate - they greeted us both by "Ms. Tanner"..... Sure glad we didn't miss that flight! I left Charity buying pastries while I went to the gate to make sure they didn't leave without us. Charity was on the run to the gate! We made it and enjoy our treats!

Thanksgiving 2009

Misty cooked the whole Thanksgiving dinner all by herself and the meal was DELICIOUS!!! I ate so much that I didn't have room for dessert! Nate said the pumpkin pie she made was terrific and I have no doubts about that.

Charity, this first picture is for you - Adalei reminds me of you as she covers her face and doesn't want me to take a picture of her.....





This is a picture of the table before we said the prayer and ate. You may notice the yellow paper goods - left over from Brielle's birthday party!

Misty's cranberries were fabulous and the yams just awesome! Turkey was perfect and I got to carve it. The rolls were great. The corn was even great and we ate it all!






As you can see, Nate was holding Elijah and talking on the phone while Misty made dinner.

Look how fast Elijah is growing. At 6 weeks he was growing out of his 0 to 3 month clothes!















This was the best Thanksgiving ever because I had no cooking to do! Instead I was able to play with Adalei and Brielle. They made these name cards for the dinner table. I thought they did a great job.

Brielle's early birthday party!

Since I was out of town for Brielle's birthday, I had an early birthday party for her. I just loved this little cake that I got at Walmart for $4.88. I thought it was so cute and it fed all 5 of us perfectly.
You may be wondering why the decorations are in yellow. When I asked Brielle what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said "yellow." When I asked about the flavor of ice cream, she said "yellow." We don't think she knows what "yellow" is but she's always wanting things that are yellow - at least that's what she says verbally. I just had to do the decorations in yellow as a result!

I found these cute little baker hats and aprons at the dollar tree. Adalei and Brielle look so cute and it was fun to have them wear their outfits for the pizza making part of the party (above). For Brielle's birthday party we made our own pizzas, opened gifts, and then had cake and ice cream.

Here's Nate holding the baby and helping the girls make their own pizzas. I had a lot of fun doing it myself (above).

Here's Misty making her pizza - what a great smile and she's looking terrific after just having a baby! (below)

As you can see below, Nate was great with the three kids - he's an amazing dad and insists on giving Misty a break.
This picture below is Brielle opening up her birthday gifts from grandma. I'm really proud of the cute head band that I made her. (Ashley, thanks for the lesson to teach me how to do it!)
I just had to add this cute little face!
Adalei just loves books and was the first to read this book before Brielle finished opening her presents.
Eating their own pizzas after the baking was finished..... The pizzas were delicious!
This is a darling picture of Brielle with her beautiful smile and her birthday cake.
I think she loved the little icing lady bugs best.
As you can see, Brielle sure loved her birthday cake! I think chocolate is her favorite! I'm sure she'll know that by her next birthday!

Halloween 2009

For Halloween, Adalei, Brielle, and I made chocolate and vanilla covered pretzels with Halloween molds. They were really good, cute, and delicious. I think we'll do it again next year too.


(Charity, thanks for the tips to help us do it!)







Adalei really liked the chocolate covered pretzels best.


















Brielle was excited to eat any candy flavored pretzel covering.













A cute little expression.....

















Adalei was the cutest little witch! Brielle is just a darling lady bug!

















This is Brielle's favorite time of day when her dad throws her in the air. She was running around and Nate was trying to keep her from using up all her energy before we left for trick or treating.

Unfortunately Brielle had no desire to walk or run by the
time we left to go trick or treating so Nate carried her almost
all the way.











This picture shows all the pumpkins they carved for Halloween. Misty later cooked all the pumpkin to make pies and roasted the pumpkin seeds with olive oil. The pumpkin seeds were great! I'm sure the pie was also but I didn't taste it.

Nate, Elijah, Brielle, Misty, and Adalei...







This is Nate going trick or treating - Brielle was on his shoulders 99% of the time. He got quite a work out with carrying two kids. Elijah was so good - I don't think he cried at all. I think he slept the whole time.















The girls were a little intimidated by these decorations so Nate went to the door with them.












I hope you can see what's really happening in this picture - Brielle is sleeping and still holding on to her bag of candy. Nate carried her quite a distance after she fell asleep and you can see that he is still holding the baby at the same time. Misty was watching to make sure Brielle didn't let go and fall off Nate's shoulders.





This is Adalei trying some of her candy. After she went to bed that night, her parents said she never asked for her candy again. Of course, Brielle was fast asleep and missed eating any of her candy. Brielle didn't get much candy as she only went to a couple of doors.





Adalei went to most of the doors herself. She is a brave little girl.

What a fun Halloween we all had! I was so happy to be invited to go along.