Finally... California Trip Highlights

First Stop: San Francisco, California. My good friend from Mesa, Jessica, was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. We stayed at her apartment and then went out to breakfast the next day.

Highlight: Meeting Annabelle for the first time. She is the cutest little mix of Jessica and Chad. Jessica was one of my first close friends to have a baby, and seeing her with little Annabelle was really special for me.

After breakfast David's family met us in the city to do some shopping. If there is anyone in the world who is a perfect shopping partner it is my mother-in-law. The first photo is the closest I got to a trolley. I've always wanted to go on a trolley ride, but shopping took the best of us all that day.

Second Stop: El Dorado Hills, California

After a full Saturday, we were happy to enjoy our Sunday with the family. We went to Caren's ward. Also, David's stepdad Steve burned me another stack of DVDs. He knows I love to watch movies and every time we visit he burns me more. So kind.

Highlight: Being there for Caren's Relief Society lesson. She is such a perfect teacher with fresh flowers, a cute tablecloth, and treats galore. No wonder she is the favorite teacher in their ward. She also shared one of David's mission stories. He has shared the same story with me, but hearing it from his mom's perspective was even better.

Their extended family is really close. They get together for family home evening and dinner once a month with all of the uncles, aunts, and cousins and the most wonderful people in all of California- Grandma Jean and Grandpa Frank. I'm sure you can tell just from the photos below that they are the sweetest couple. I just love them.

The next few days we pretty much shopped our little hineys off. We always find success when we go to Nordstrom Rack the closest I can get to Last Chance in California and I found some very cute things at Anthropologie's sale rack which I was excited about. David got a million compliments on his tan linen/cotton suit He got so many that he was even a little embarrassed and I think he looks exceptionally handsome in it if I do say so myself.

Highlight of the shopping days: Spending so much time with Caren. Every day we'd go to a new mall or Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's, Etc. and then she'd buy us lunch. We rarely treat ourselves to lunch. Usually we pack our own lunches or have leftovers, so we enjoyed being spoiled for the week.

We also spent a lot of time with Jordan. David and him played their fair share of video games and we were excited to see Jordan's new truck. He's really good with cars and has a lot of fun fixing them up.

Huge Highlight from the entire vacation: Going to the Sacramento temple with David's grandparents, aunt, and uncle. It's a fairly new temple and absolutely gorgeous inside. Grandma Jean and Grandpa Frank wanted to go to the temple and then to a steak dinner after to celebrate both of our brithdays. They are so thoughtful and we enjoyed every moment of spending time with them. There was a lot of talk about Prop 8 during dinner and I was educated on a lot of things. Sometimes I feel out of the loop with these things since we live out of the country, but I was glad that they informed me on certan things. They are all very dedicated and I was impressed with their efforts to protect marriage and family.

Caren wanted us to take Christmas card photos before the week was over, so these were the results. It was a last minute thing. We got ready in ten minutes, drove down to a park near their house, and Caren snapped away with the camera. Some of them turned out pretty cute, but of course we all find something wrong with ourselves in every single one- especially Ashlie and I. But, come on could Ashlie ever take a bad picture? She's absolutely gorgeous! "Look at that skin. Who does her hair?" Movie quote... Does anyone know what it is from?

So, The Crandalls are dog people. They love doggies. They think they are humans. I mean, look at Ashlie's little Isabella in her Juicy Couture bag, dress, and pearl necklace? I remember when David and I were first dating he told me about the pugs: Jake and Lilly. He talked about them for so long that I really thought in my head that he was a little weird. He seemed so perfect to me that I figured his one weird thing or flaw was his obsession with Jake and Lilly. I guess it shows that he'll be a very loving father someday if he has that much love for a couple of dogs!


Later in the week we were sad to say bye to Caren, Ashlie, Jordan, and all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had so much fun with all of them. The extended family gave us great reactions for our color changing gifts from Del Sol. We get so sick of the whole, "Have you been to Del Sol before? The shirts are black and white indoors, but they change color magically with the sun," gig but his family got a kick out of how it all worked.

The latter part of our vacation was wonderful as well. We drove down the California coast to visit David's dad and his family in Santa Cruz. Talk about a gorgeous drive. The pictures are nothing compared to the real thing. I was in heaven. We rented a car for a couple of days. I loved how on the XM radio we could listen to different decades of music from the 40's until now. We didn't have to use the iPod once.

Highlight: Fruit stands on the side of the road, lighthouses, and the biggest highlight of all was Carmel. I want to retire in that little town. It's adorable. The cottages made me feel like I stepped into a fairytale. We didn't have a lot of time there, but we will surely go back the next time we are in the area. The only picture from Carmel is this stupid one of me in front of the pink cottage. I feel like an Asian taking a picture in front of the Disneyland Castle. It seems like anytime I am at Disney I see Asians taking single shots in front of different things with a serious face on their look. I love it.

Third Stop: Santa Cruz, California


Isn't my father-in-law's house beautiful? It's surrounded by redwood trees and they have the cutest little guest cottage where David and I stayed. I've decided that when we buy a house I need a matching guest house for all of my visitors. I think I'll also need a matching playhouse for the kids too (I had one growing up that was the exact same as our house, only mini. So, so cute).
Kili, David's stepmom, is a really cute decorator. I was in love with how the whole house looked.

Highlight: Dave's delicious steak dinner and spending time with him. Another highlight was playing the piano while Alex and Max sang primary songs. It was so sweet. Alex is a little performer. He's only five and he loves to sing. He sang a solo at their primary program this past month and at Max's baptism he sang a solo as well. The kid was born with a talent. Kili shared some great ideas that she did for singing time for the program that I might just use myself. Ours is coming up.

Last Stop: San Francisco, California again.

And the grand finale of the trip: More time with Chad, Jess, and Annabelle. We spent the entire Saturrday with them. We ate at the best Chinese food restaurant and the huge lunch portion was a mere $4.50 for shrimp dishes! I can't even get chicken nuggest at Wendy's in Grand Cayman for that. The thing that still haunts me to this day is that I completely forgot to tip the sweet Chinese waitress. It is one of those places where you pay before you leave and I was chatting and forgot to tip. I asked Jess to give them an extra tip next time they go for me, but I still feel so guilty about it! I might have to mail a tip just so that I can sleep at night.

After lunch we went to the tourist attractions that we missed the week before when we were shopping and eating. I wanted to go to the Full House house, so that was fun. We did take some pictures but the one of David and I is so bad. I remind myeslf of my mom in one of her PREGNANT pictures. It's on Jessica's blog, so if you are dying to see it you can go there, but if you love me you'll skip that part of her post. Anyway, after that we did the tourist stuff- took pictures at the bridge, went to Ghirardelli square and ate ice cream, but unfortunately my dream of riding a trolley was shot down. The line was long and it was $11! I'd rather eat at that Chinese place two more times.

Highlight: Walking the bridge that night and talking with our good friends. Jessica and I ended the night perfectly by going to Marshall's and Ross. Next to Caren, she's one of my favorite shopping partners too. We've had many memories from junior high and high school finding buried treasure in the Last Chance piles and other discount stores.

We woke up at 3:30 AM the next morning to return the rent-a-car and catch our early flight out. We had a straight flight to Miami where we had a four hour layover. David enjoyed the football on TV while I watched a favorite movie of mine: Pride and Prejudice. I could watch it over and over and over again and cry over and over again while watching it.

What a fun trip with family, friends, the gorgeous land of Northern California, and Nordstrom Rack. Boy do we love America.

Back to Cayman...


And finding that we still love it here.