Nelli and Violet

 

 

 Nelli loves her little sister, Violet.  Her favorite things to do with her so far are:

listening to stories and snuggling her

kissing her



 

Laying down to watch shows with her

 

 

And many more things to come...

Violet Elizabeth

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love you so much sweet baby.
Thanks Michelle Asbell for the beautiful photos.

Welcome Violet!

Today started out pretty normal. I went to the gym and got a good work out on the elliptical machine. Went home and got ready for my weekly midwife appointment.  Taylor had stayed home to watch Nelli for me while I went in for my check up.  When Lori, my midwife, checked me she couldn't find the baby's head. She used an ultrasound machine and found out that the baby was transverse. They decided to do a C-section, which I was excited about. Not only was I ready to have a baby, but this meant that any future babies could be scheduled to come out!! Tay and I went home got everything ready and 8 hours later we had our baby Violet in our arms. The moment I saw held her she was rooting for milk. Everything went really well. We are so happy to have our sweet baby Violet.

 

Martha's Birthday

I had a great day! So many happy wishes and love from my family and friends. 

Taylor made me a delicious lasagna and did all he could to make my day great. I just love my Taylor and Nelli!

We had Ty and Ali and the kids come over for dinner and cake.  They are wonderful!

Early Anniversary Get Away

We decided to take an early anniversary to the Kitsap Peninsula since little sister will only be a month old on our 4 year anniversary this year. It was a great twenty-four hour get away while Meghann Cheney watched Nelli. 

We had a great time talking over a nice dinner at Anthony's, which happened to be our favorite part. 

This was our view from our table:

This is the view from our hotel room:

We spent the day on Saturday exploring Poulsbo, a Scandinavian town, Bremerton, and Bainbridge Island. Then we did a little car window shopping. We're both converted to the new minivans...someday.

Nelli had a blast with the Cheneys :)

Shea on the ukulele is always a hit for the girls!

Blueberry Picking

Siri invited us to join her at Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue. It was so fun to grab a bucket and pick all the blueberries we could. Nelli's favorite fruit right now just happens to be blueberries, so she especially loved the experience. I love how excited Nelli gets to learn where things come from (her most frequent question these days.  "Mommy, where did this come from?").

It was a beautiful overcast, cool morning which was refreshing from the heat of July and a great day for berry picking.

Lydia tried helping Ali pick berries too. :)

Priest Lake

Ali and Tyler invited us to go camping with them and their parents at this beautiful lake in northern Idaho, Priest Lake.  We had so much fun playing in the water, enjoying the sand and especially each other's company.

Nelli was her usual Grandma's girl :)  And she wore that life jacket pretty much the whole time we were there.  I had to draw the line when it came to sleeping in it though...

Then we went back to Jana and Scott's house and had a nice relaxing evening before traveling home from our two week vacation.  This is their new hot tub:

Tanner Family Reunion

Every year my immediate family has a Tanner reunion during the week of the 4th of July. It's becoming the tradition for it to be at Panguitch Lake in southern Utah. My dad reserves three campgrounds next to each other in a nice shaded part of the campground.

This year eight of the the eleven siblings came together for the fun. Anna didn't leave her mission in Hondorus, Miriam and her family had a lot on their plate with their move to San Francisco in a few weeks, and Sam had to work (although we got to spend time with him when we had family dinner at my parents house after the camp out).

Here are a few of the highlights from this year:

The hammock was a big hit! We'll definitely want to bring it whenever we go camping.

 From the left: Lucy, Becca, Nelli , and Ethan

The kids put on a couple little skits at the little amphitheater there which included, The Three Little Bears, Frogs on a Log and some dancing.

Nelli loved playing with her cousins! Rachel is almost six and was so patient and sweet with our Nelli.

The kids spent a lot of time playing games and coloring at this table:

James brought a fun game called Mastermind that we had so much fun playing. Even thought it sounds like a toddler game when you describe it :)

We also played Yatzee and Bananagrams

 Canoeing and fishing too:

From the front: Ruth, Becca, Lucy, James 

A kid brought his pet chinchilla to the lake... 

Our picnic at the lake:

From the left: Mary, Matt, Mattie and Ruth 

get a load of those sunglasses!

This girl's always packing! Even when she goes running she has a mini pistol in her bra...

James and his kiddos, Rachel and Alex. (I really like this pic!)

From the left: Andrew, Ethan, Dad, Taylor 

Naps:

Baths:

Laughs: (Daniel's laugh is contagious!)

Back at the Tanner Ranch (the last night together):

Porter :)

Sam is a big hit with the kids, not Nelli though. She's scared of him and hides when he's around?? Silly girl :)
She did say, "bye monster" to him before we left--a little progress I suppose.

Asher:

Petting the cow with Papa:

The airplane:

Sam working on his truck:

cutest girl!! Oh, Tracy you are irresistible!!

Goodbye Alex: 

Thanks to Esther for being my co-photographer.