Happy Independence Day!

I love living in such a great country. I am grateful for the men and women who sacrificed so much to make our nation such a wonderful, free country! Happy 4th of July!

Last weekend, Logan held its annual Summerfest on the lawn of the Logan Tabernacle. They have arts and crafts booths, food vendors, entertainment, and a children's area. (It reminds me of Fresno's Vintage Days.) We took the kids and met our friends there for an afternoon of fun.

The first little while that we were there, the sun kept poking in and out of the clouds. The kids played in the children's area at the "Bubble Tower" for a while, and really enjoyed it.
Brooke and Autumn liked to watch the bubbles coming down.
Chloe picked up one of the buckets and caught bubbles in it. (You can't tell from the picture, but her bucket is full of bubbles.)
Ciera tried the bucket walking. She was really good at it. After we played around for a while, we went to the bandstand to listen to a band called "Leaping Lulu" which plays celtic music. Just as they started to play it started to rain. At first it was a light rain, then it got heavier. By the time we left, it was pouring. So, we packed up the troops and went to a local restaurant for lunch. All in all, it was a fun time!

12 years ago...

Twelve years ago, on June 20, 1997, Dave and I were married for time and eternity in the Oakland California temple. It was one of the best days of my life. I love Dave more today than ever before... and that is saying something. I thought, on that day, that my heart could not hold any more love than it did.
Dave has been my best friend, my sweetheart, and my companion. I am so grateful for the twelve years we have had together, and I look forward to many more.
I love you Dave. Happy Anniversary.
(Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures! We have no scanner, so I had to take pictures of our pictures. It didn't work that great, but you get the idea!)

Summer fun in California

Last week we spent time with our families in California. It was a very fun week. We swam a lot, and played with cousins. I was a very bad blogger and only took pictures the first day of the girls swimming, and I failed to get pictures the rest of the time we were there. Oh well... there is always next time, right?

Awesome Family Pictures

While we were in California, we had a friend take some pro-pics of our family. They turned out SOOOO good! (Thanks Stephanie!!) I thought I'd share a few of my favorites...









There were so many great shots, that I would have liked to share them all. Unfortunately, Blogger was super slow, so this is all I had the patience to share. (But they are my favorites!)

Ear Wax (I know... gross!)

Have you ever wondered why we were made with wax in our ears? I have. I mean, I know a little bit of the waxy substance that lines our inner ear is meant to keep our ear dry and healthy. Why, then, does it build up until you have so much wax obstructing your canal that you could make a decorative taper candle for your table centerpiece, or add a bit of perfume to it for a nice scented votive?


We, the Tanners, decided to take our earwax issues into our own hands. We purchased ear candles (yes, there is such a thing) from our local health-foods store. After placing said candle into your ear, you light it on the end and let it burn down for a good ten minutes. When you have had enough fun, you extinguish the flame (hopefully without anyone, or any carpet, getting burned) and check out the treasure inside the candle. You may be wondering about what treasure I am referring. Well, the ear candle sucks your earwax out of your ear and collects it inside. When you have finished "candling" your ear, you can cut open the candle to see how vile your ear really was. Let me tell you... ears are disgusting. After each one, my girls chorused "Ewwwww" and "Yuuuuck". It was fun, and educational. All of us did it, (except Autumn, who cannot lay still for ten minutes) and can testify to you that they really work. It is amazing, and well worth the three dollars a pair. If you ever have the desire to see something really gross, try an ear candle... you won't regret it!

We Camp.

Last weekend we went camping with the Hamblin family. We drove up Friday afternoon, found a great site, set up camp, explored, cooked dinner, had Smores, played games... had lots of fun. We had apparently taken a great site for climbers, for our site had a rock wall. We had a couple of college students come by and climb it, while we were there. It was a little weird. They did, however, have a child's harness (for a nephew), so they let our kids try to climb. They loved it. There was a cave in the rock by us, which the kids loved to explore. All of the kids got filthy! It was our kids' first camping experience that they remember, and it was great...especially when we saw the deer Saturday morning on our way out. Our next camping trip is already scheduled for mid June!