it's about time, hijole!

I have said it before and I will say it again, I really hate summing up big events in a blog post. Tanner coming home from his mission is no exception. No exception at all. In fact, I have about 300 pictures from our 2 week stay in California for the occasion. I'll try to keep it short and sweet. I know no one cares about every detail of our drive out and back, and what we did every.single.day. I'll fill you in on the best parts.

First off, a few more highlights of Tanner coming off the plane. Coolest moment. Unforgettable.

The day after we drove in, the day before Tanner came home, John, my mom and I took the kiddos to Pixie Playland, aka, Ghetto mini disneyland. Boss LOVED feeding the ducks, although he called them "chickens."

No trip to the Bay is complete without at least one Crab Salad Sandwich and Black and Tan Sundae from Fentons. (we ended up going twice!) We ate here and then sadly, John flew home and left me and the kids in Cali for 5 days while he worked and we played. So sad...

So sad in fact that this picture is the perfect illustration of how we all felt about daddy being away from us for so long. Ugh, this was the worst.night.of.my.life. We needed dad to come BACK!

After everyone arrived, Summer and Paul and their kids, Randy, and John - Tanner had his homecoming talk. After that, we headed to Carmel for a few days in an awesome hotel

The highlight of the trip for me, besides seeing Tanner of course, was the 2 nights we spent in Carmel, and it was such a blast. We took a day trip to Big Sur and found this beach there. The only problem was that we had to drive our vehicles through a small river to get there. It wasn't a big deal, but watching Paul drive my dad's Porsche through was a little nerve racking...

The trip isn't over yet, but I love this picture of my parents, and wanted to tell them how much we appreciate all the work it took to make this happen. They went all out to make Tanner's homecoming special and getting all 5 kids living in 4 different states with 6 young children all together was quite a fete. I'm sure everyone thinks they have the best family and the greatest parents, I definitely think I do.

After our trip to the beach we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I feel like we have been there a lot the last few years, but it has to be one of the best in the world and the kids LOVE it. Boston watched a video of a Seahorse delivering it's babies and he got all close to the screen and said in a high pitched baby voice "bebe bebe aww bebe bebe - ewww, SICK" He thought it was cute until he realized what was happening. It was hilarious.

There is also an awesome play area for older kids and young kids and babies. Naomi and Madden had a blast in it, and my dream home would have something exactly like it built in!

This post doesn't do the 14 days we spent in California justice. I actually am very surprised that I don't have WAY more pictures.

Other highlights of the trip not represented in photos are:

Getting to see Tanner report to the High Council. What a neat experience, much cooler than I even expected. This was one of the BIG highlights of the whole trip. ("freakin Randy!")

Naomi body slamming Madden

Boss and Naomi wrestling Tanner

The best meal of my life at The Waterbar in San Francisco

ALL the food we ate actually. I haven't bothered weighing myself after this trip. I would surely regret it.

Tanner's mission stories (my favorite one is about the MTC and bigote)

Despite the rainy weather, it was at least 10 to 15 degrees warmer than SLC.

Tanner's spanish translation of "gracias, gracias"

Watching Modern Family

Celebrating Paul and Alex's birthday at Fentons.

Sushi for the 4th time in my life... really starting to like it.

Boston's obsession with my parents backyard. He asked to see the "wogger" a million times a day! (They have a creek running through their property in case you are wondering)

Boston's reaction to John coming back from Utah.

Watching the Olympics on tivo every night.

Naomi crawling with a high chair strapped to her back.

Other things worth remembering but not quite highlights are:

Losing my semi-new cell phone for a few days.

Losing our iPod

The most ridiculous traffic we have EVER seen in Oakland. People driving the wrong direction on the freeway and everything - it was insane.

Dads car accident.

The kids being sick basically the entire time, and over a week later they are still sick.

All in all, it was an amazing 2 weeks. Exhausting but awesome and so worth the effort. Now, Tanner needs to get married so we can make it happen again. But not really Tanner, you are still a little too weird. : )

One last thing, just for you Tanner - the theme song of this trip and now the song that will forever remind me of you!

note: an entire box of Samoa girl scout cookies was consumed in the making of this post. blogging is bad for my health.