Yellowstone and SLC Trip

The 9 Tanner grandkids and Grandma & Grandpa Tanner in front a geyser.

A quick summary of our family vacation 2007:

We flew to Salt Lake and hung out with both of our families. Then we packed up my grandpa's truck and drove with my parents to Yellowstone. We met up with my 2 sisters' families and stayed for 3 nights in cabins. We had a great time with 9 kids and 8 adults! We saw all the traditional Yellowstone stuff and then some. The cousins were so cute as they got reacquainted (living in 3 different states makes gatherings hard!) and they enjoyed driving and sleeping with different combinations of family members. We had a perfect stay: long enough to enjoy the scenery and the company, but not too long that we got sick of each other and the many buffalo & elk herds we saw. The only thing that would have made it completely perfect would have been to have my brother Brian there, too. We miss you Bri!

We then headed back to Salt Lake and enjoyed a family gathering with all of the Omers. We had a little surprise party for Mom & Dad Omer for their 30th Anniversary. Tom's sister Melanie made a beautiful quilt of each family member's hand. Very cool.

I posted way too many pictures here, but here's a summary of our fantastic trip:

Jacob & Braden watching our second Old Faithful show inside the lodge while eating ice cream.

Uncle Tom with the nieces & nephews at the head of Uncle Tom's trail :)

We spent quite a while here on the 4th of July. An out of the way river where the kids could play and some of the boys could fish.

First time fishing and about 30 seconds later, Jacob catches a fish while fly fishing with Lance!! Too bad it won't always be that easy.

The kids with their Yellowstone rock necklaces that they made with Grandma.

Not the greatest family picture, but these are the beautiful falls and canyon.

Julie & I quickly hiked down the many steep stairs to get a closer view of the falls.

Our closest encounter with a buffalo. We were looking at the falls by a chain link fence and then turned around to see this guy walk by. We were cornered for a few moments as he looked at us, but then moved on.

Back in Salt Lake. The 6 Omer grandkids, the youngest was 2 weeks old: Adam, Jacob, Isaac, Bria, Allison, & Abby.

Jacob & Bria had a great time playing together. So fun to have an Omer cousin that he can play with now.

Mom & Dad Omer & the beautiful quilt. Way to go Melanie!

Time Flies

when you're having fun in So. California!! We recently hit our one year mark since moving here. We took a hike several weeks ago, almost the same hike we did a year ago. Here we are in July 2006, next to the same waterfall:
Now that I look at these pictures together, I guess we don't look that different, but boy at least the kids have changed a lot.
I thought I'd take a moment to make a little list of the fun things we've done in CA thus far. We have a lot more to do, but we feel like we've been taking advantage of the area.

• Many hikes around the area
• Many different beaches, mostly in Ventura or Malibu
  
• The small Moorpark College Zoo
• Hollywood several times
• The Getty Center several times
• Yeah for having an IKEA in the area for us to visit every now and then!
• City Walk in Universal City
• Disneyland on Jacob's 3rd Birthday!
• A concert at the Hollywood Bowl
• The LA Temple many times
• La Brea Tar Pits
• LACMA (LA County Museum of Art)
• A ride on the Metrolink to the Burbank Airport
• Ronald Regan Library several times
• Jacob and I walked in the Moorpark Country Days Parade with his preschool
• Underwood Family Farm
  
• A short vacation to the small town of Paso Robles
• The Festival of Books on the UCLA campus
• Geocaching around Moorpark with the Gredings
• We've now flown through 3 airports in the area: Burbank, LAX, and Long Beach
  
• Plus so many parks in the area!

We have also tried to break into the housing market here, but have failed so far. We've spent a lot of time looking at condos in the area, but prices haven't quite dropped low enough to make it work for us yet. Maybe someday.

Anyway, there's still a lot more to see and do, but it's been a fun year and we look forward to many more years here!