The Mike & Julie Tanner Family Blog

Boating at Lake Lowell (July)

2010-11-17T17:10:00.005-07:00

We talked Justin and Jayce into riding the tube with Marena. Mike told them he would go slow and that they wouldn't fall in the water. Well...the tube tipped over. When it was upside down, Jayce was hanging on for dear life. He was literally hanging because there was no way he was letting go of the handles. Marena told him to let go and she'd catch him. Later Jayce told Marena that she saved him! Needless to say they were never eager to ride the tube again. They were both content to just eat Cheetos and watch! And then Jayce would snooze.

Baseball (June)

2010-11-17T17:04:00.008-07:00

Jaxson played coach-pitch baseball with a few of his Waltman cousins. He really liked playing catcher mostly because he got to wear all the gear. Uncle Todd was his coach!

Germany Trip (June)

2010-11-17T14:14:00.006-07:00

In June I was able to accompany Mike to Germany on a business trip. We got to visit his Mom who is serving a mission in Frankfurt. We spent a week and a half with her. She took us on great tours of so many interesting places. We had a great time with her and appreciate everything she did for us. Marena stayed home with the kids and did a fantastic job of taking care of them.

2010-11-17T14:13:00.002-07:00

At Braunfels Castle

Niederwalddenkmal Monument in Rudesheim

2010-11-17T14:12:00.002-07:00

After taking two elevators and nearly 1000 stairsteps, we made it to Marburg Castle

2010-11-17T14:11:00.001-07:00

Some of the Castles of the Rhine Valley

2010-11-17T14:10:00.002-07:00

More castles along the Rhine River including Falkenstein & Marksburg

2010-11-17T14:09:00.001-07:00

My favorite castle we visited was Heidelberg Castle

2010-11-17T14:08:00.001-07:00

More pictures from Heidelberg Castle

2010-11-17T14:06:00.001-07:00

A Roman Fort in Saalburg

2010-11-17T14:05:00.001-07:00

2010-11-17T14:04:00.001-07:00

One of Mom Tanner's favorite places is Bad Homburg. It is a town near the town she lives in which is Frederichsdorf.

Sunday Morning Pictures

2010-04-28T16:35:00.000-06:00

For some odd reason we were all ready for church on Sunday...30 minutes early. So, we decided to take some pictures of the kids. The boys are wearing their new suits they got for Easter. They think they look very "hot" in them. Jadan is too big for his suit but we haven't gone to get him a bigger one yet. Marena and Mallary are sporting their spring styles.

Before

2010-04-28T16:00:00.000-06:00

I started trying to lose weight on January 12th and I have been at it ever since then. The first week, I lost 8 lbs. The second week, I had lost 15 lbs. The next few pounds were a bit more difficult to lose but as of April 20th, I've lost 35 lbs.!!!

I'm pretty disgusted at this before picture but I decided to share it anyway. I feel so much better...in more ways than one. I'm still trying to lose 10 lbs. more to reach my target weight. It's very hard now to stay motivated when I'm so ecstatic with where I'm at now but I will keep on going to get to my target weight.

By the way...Mike has lost nearly 50 lbs.!!!!! When he returns from India I will take a picture of him for the blog. He is skinny, skinny!

After

2010-04-27T16:30:00.000-06:00

I haven't been this size for many moons! I'm so grateful that I had the determination to lose the weight. Now if I can just lose these last few pounds!

Grandma Waltman's Birthday!

2010-03-26T15:34:00.000-06:00

Grandma Waltman celebrated her birthday on March 26th! It was during our spring break so there were lots of kids around to wish her a happy birthday!

Carolee made a cake for her and all the kids came to sing happy birthday to her.

She didn't notice that we had swapped the birthday candles...she's not really THAT old!

SPRING BREAK PICS

2010-03-21T15:16:00.001-06:00

When we were asking the kids what they wanted to do for spring break and where, they said they wanted to stay at a hotel with a pool. Okay, Marena and Jadan wanted to go to DisneyWorld but the others were content with the pool part. We actually could've stayed here in the valley but we wanted to go visit our friends, Jake and Kenna Smith. When we lived in Montana, we became friends. When we moved to Idaho, they moved to Utah. They were so nice to let us crash at their house one night and go to church with them. We had lots of fun visiting with them. The kids had fun swimming!

Flat Grandma!

2010-03-20T15:17:00.002-06:00

Grandma Tanner sent the kids a flat version of herself so she could be with them wherever they went.

The picture of her at In N Out Burger didn't turn out but she was there!

It was a great idea...the kids are having fun with it!

Kite Flying!

2010-03-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

We were trying to decide what activities to have at Mallary's party. The weather was VERY windy so we decided to buy kites and attempt to have her and her friends fly them. I thought the kites were going to fall apart the instant they were in the air. They were only $1 each but they held up great! Jadan's job was to untangle...needless to say, he was VERY busy! It was a lot of fun.

Field Trip!

2010-03-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

In March, the Cousins' Preschool took a field trip to the Star Fire Station. Captain Chris Head showed them a DVD on fire safety and then showed them everything from the helmets to the cab of the firetruck to the "jaws of life". It was fun but Emily was scared when the fireman came out with all his fire clothes on. He did sound like Darth Vader...especially when we asked him to say, "Luke, I am your father."

More field trip photos!

2010-03-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

Best Buds!

2010-02-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

These two are crazy. The other day I heard them talking and Jayce said to Justin, "Yeah, we are going to the dentist." Justin responded, "I know! It's cause I have diarrhea!" They finish each other's sentences...weird!

Grandma Tanner's Mission

2009-03-28T10:26:00.000-06:00

Amazing!

2009-02-11T21:18:00.001-07:00

Hey, I can't believe it...I'm actually getting better at blogging. Music! Can you hear it? I figured it out all by my lonesome, no help from hubby. Dang I'm good!

Mini-Vikes Soccer Cousins

2009-02-09T15:03:00.002-07:00

Ethan (Vaughn's son), Benson (Todd's son), Emily (Valerie's daughter), Justin and Jaxson all play on the Mini-Vikes Middleton Soccer Team. It is fun to go watch them play...and when I say play, I mean play. Every now and then one of them will actually play soccer. Actually, Benson and Jaxson are pretty good. Jaxson usually scores during the games. Valerie is just happy that Emily now chases the ball instead of stand there and cry. It has been fun. Their favorite part is the snack after the game!

Grandpa Tanner and the boys!

2009-02-09T14:58:00.002-07:00

Mike's dad and his wife just sold their home in Meridian and moved permantly to California. We miss having them around. Before the house sold, Grandpa would have to come up to take care of things so we got to see him every now and then. Lynda has been in California for quite a while. Now I guess we'll have to make a trip to go visit them in sunny California.

Grandma Tanner and the kids

2009-02-09T14:47:00.002-07:00

Grandma likes to come and watch the kids play their basketball, soccer and softball games. This time she had come to watch Mallary play basketball. Mallary is on the 3rd grade Select team. She made 13 points at her last game!

Annual Christmas Pajamas!

2009-02-09T14:31:00.002-07:00

Grandma Tanner makes the kids pajamas every year. She has been doing it for 15 years and the kids (and parents) LOVE it. She is so nice to pick out the great prints and make all twelve of her grandkids pajamas. Steve and Karla didn't come for Christmas so their three kids are missing from this picture. We had a great Christmas Eve with Mike's mom and his brother Gary and his family. We had yummy food, played Christmas music with chimes and had a little Christmas program. It was a lot of fun and for the first time ever, we did it at our house. Too fun!

Waltman Family Gift & Goodie Night

2009-02-09T14:22:00.004-07:00

All of the grandkids draw names for gifts. It is quite an ordeal because their are over 50 grandkids. We all gathered at my parent's home and had a great party.

Christmas Lights

2009-02-09T14:19:00.001-07:00

Mike did a GREAT job putting up Christmas lights. He went ALL out and we loved it...but not the power bill. We decided we are switching to LED lights from now on.

Christmas Tree Hunting!

2008-12-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

Our tradition of 12+ years is going with Mike's family to find our Christmas Tree. We love spending time with Grandma Tanner, Gary & Holly, Steve & Karla and all their kids (Steve & Karla had to go back to Utah). Usually we go major sledding but there was just enough snow to have a giant snowball fight and build small snowmen. We found our tree and had tons of fun!

Fun Finding a Tree

2008-12-09T11:29:00.002-07:00

We went up to Idaho City to find our tree. We ended up going over Mores Creek Summit and just on the other side. We did find a little bit of snow. We had rolls and hot chocolate and lots of fun.

Just me and the kids!

2008-12-09T10:44:00.002-07:00

While we were waiting for Mike, who was helping Gary and Holly get their extra tall tree, we posed for this picture.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Gary & Holly's for dinner, which was way too good. It was good to see Steve and Karla and their kids. Then that night we went for dessert to my parent's house. It was wild and crazy with everyone there except Lance and Becky but we had a great time.

HALLOWEEN

2008-11-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

MORE HALLOWEEN PICS!

2008-11-04T12:03:00.004-07:00

We went trick or treating with Gary & Holly and had a great time. Holly's house is always the best decorated in the subdivision. Justin and Jayce were supposed to dress up as cowboys but Mike decided to let them pick what they wanted to wear. Justin went for comfort and Jayce didn't want to dress up. So...after a bunch of kicking, screaming and bribing with the duck call, he decided to be a hunter.

HUNTING!

2008-10-29T12:12:00.000-06:00

We had a fun time hunting with my family this year. We went to Snowbank Mountain for 3 days. The weather wasn't too bad and even though we didn't see many bucks, we still had a lot of fun. Mike surprised a bear that was only 10 yards away and it stood up on it's hind legs so he shot and tagged it. Preston was the only other hunter that was successful. Oh yeah, Jadan got a badger!

JAYCE

2008-10-21T15:45:00.003-06:00

Jayce is two years old now and is pretty cute and fun. He LOVES Justin and for some reason he calls him "Momma". Don't ask me, I have no idea why. He can and will say everyone elses name but when it comes to saying Justin, he says "Momma". It is fun to hear him talk. He tries so hard to put sentences together. We can usually understand what he wants but it's more like broken english. He's fun!

MARENA & MALLARY

2008-10-21T15:40:00.002-06:00

This picture was taken on our trip to Seattle and to the Flake Family Reunion this past summer. We had a great time and had never taken our kids to the west coast before. Marena just started Driver's Ed (scary that we are old enough to have a kid driving soon) and Mallary is so excited about Halloween. The other day Mallary asked me when she was going to get braces because she said her teeth are the only thing that's not good on her whole body. That made me smile...she's pretty funny.

JUSTIN

2008-10-21T15:29:00.003-06:00

Justin is 3 years old and loves to pose for the camera. He is our funny kid. He does crazy things and can't seem to keep his hands off of the kittens. He and Jayce can get into quite a bit of trouble when they want to.

JADAN

2008-10-21T15:24:00.004-06:00

Jadan turned twelve this past summer and is ready for hunting. He got to go duck hunting for the first time and LOVED it. His Uncle Lance took him and Mike and others to a pond in Jerome. I think the gun is taller than he is!

JAXSON

2008-10-21T10:52:00.005-06:00

Jaxson is 5 years old and started kindgergarten this year. He LOVES it! He got these teeth from the Treasure Box at school. Jaxson is a good boy who loves the XBOX, riding his bike and playing with his brothers and cousins. Anyone know of a good dentist? Ha

OUR NEW HOME

2008-10-21T10:28:00.006-06:00

On September 15th, we moved into our new home...WE LOVE IT!

We got a great deal on it...short sale. It has 5 bedrooms and sits on an acre. We LOVE being home owners again.

We took this picture about a week before we moved in. We have pulled the weeds since then and mowed the slowly returning front yard. It had been vacant since it was built (2 years ago). They just let the yard go, as you can see.

I didn't take a new picture because currently our camp trailer is parked in the driveway (way too ugly for a picture)!

FINALLY!

2008-10-21T09:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I finally started this thing they call blog (with Valerie's help). Sorry about the quality. I know it is bad, I've seen others and they are awesome. I'm still trying to get the hang of this. Why can't I make the title bigger and with a font I like (I don't really like the 5 fonts they let you choose from). No fancy halloween backgrounds or music for me. I had NO IDEA how to do that!

At least I'm trying? :0)