The California Leg

It was really hard to leave "home" in WA again (where did the time go?), but I was excited to be getting to CA. I really wanted to see my family. The California part of my trip proved to be rather bittersweet. As you may recall, my dad had been there helping for a long time with my grandmother who had had several strokes. It was really nice to see him and the rest of my family there, meanwhile it was heartbreaking to see that my grandmother would never really be herself again. I didn't really do any sightseeing, that wasn't the point this trip- it was to see my family and I'm so glad that I was able to. 

Anyhow, on the photos...

Kinda random, but I got to see very old televisions in the SF Airport- kinda neat! This one was from 1947 and had a screen that popped up somehow- isn't the cabinet beautiful?

I am never in SF in February- I got to see the plum tree in bloom! 

Got to see the new plant shed- though it's too nice now to be called a shed!

I went to the high school with my aunt who works there- it's been awhile since I've been in the schools so it was nice to dip my toe in again- and really nice to get to observe and not have to do anything!

It was great observing the art classes.

I want a clay camera! (In progress)

I love this beat up old desk!

How can you be sad when you have buckets of colored pencils?

Spent a couple of days slowly getting ready for my aunt's birthday party...about the easiest party prep I've done!

One of the kids said,"It's not an official birthday party unless there are balloons." 

Good thing we were legit!

Grma and her helpers did the hard part of baking the cookies! I did the brownies...from a frozen batter! And the yummy raviolis were from the caterer! Too easy!

You know it's a good party when someone's under the table, lol.

It was nice to have a houseful and see family friends!

 We did manage to get to our fave restaurant, Nick's!
Had a nice time with Mom's side of the family and some family friends.

I did not take any photos of my other grandmother in the nursing home, I thought about it and decided not to. It wouldn't give her the dignity she deserves and I don't need a photo to remember how sweet she is or how heartbreaking it is to see her in this state. And really, what would I do with the photo?

I made a memory of her in my heart instead. She was happy and smiling, cheerful and loving, but more childlike. She knew who I was and would ask me how Mom and Laura were doing. She remembered the mall had gotten remodeled. But she also kept thinking she was in Utah and that Dad and my grandfather had come out from CA to see her, things like that. 

It was really touching when out of the blue she told me that she was so proud of me for graduating. And another time she told my dad that both she and he have good kids. Many sweet memories. 

It was so hard to have to leave her room when I visited on my way to the airport to go home. I knew it would be the last time I'd ever get to see her in this life. I held her hand and kissed her forehead. She told me she loved me, but I just couldn't say it back- I knew I'd start bawling. I'm probably going to regret that one day. But I know that she knows that I love her. I touched her feet on my way out and blew her a kiss. 

I'm so very thankful that I got to see her when I did- she's had more setbacks since I left and is not doing very well. My other grandma as of now is in the hospital and had to have surgery. Thankfully she's doing alright and will be coming home soon. It pains me to have my loved ones in discomfort and pain.

I'm so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge that this life is not all there is- if it was, it'd be so unfair. We have hope of a resurrection through Christ's sacrifice for us. I always love Easter, but now it means even more. I'm so thankful that our families can be together forever. 

The WA CA PA trip

I spent the last part of January and the beginning of February on a two week trip. My bestie, Stef, was getting hitched in WA and I was glad to be able to go. I considered this trip my graduation present and it was a nice reward for the last four years of craziness.

I wound up flying three one way flights for my trip- it was only $50 more to do that than the price it would cost to fly roundtrip from PA to WA. I'd be that far West, what's a two hour plane ride down to CA? I was thankful for the opportunity to also be able to go to CA to visit family- you can understand why from my previous post.

All the while I was very careful to keep my travel plans on the downlow on FB so that I could surprise my home ward that first Sunday. Hee hee! In preparing for the trip, I was also kneedeep in a sewing project- an apron for Stef as part of her wedding present.

I need one for me!

The first few day of my trip were spent in preparation for the wedding; I started to lose track of how many times I went to Target and Michaels. On my first Saturday, I helped move Stef out of her parent's house and into the apartment she'd share with David. I tagged along as her fiance David and her got their hair cut/done and followed them around while they took some pre-wedding photos (so there could be "wedding photos" at the reception). I went shopping with Stef and her friends, and I went to her bachelorette party in a condo rec room that was pretty fun. Whew!

Here are my fave pre-wedding shots that I took. I couldn't believe it when it only took 10 minutes to get to the temple- for the past four years it takes me 3.5 hours one way! Amazing! They both looked great and lucky us, the rain held off.

Funny story: As we were in front of the temple, a car drove by and a little girl stuck her head out and yelled "Congrats! You look very beautiful!". It was the cutest. Poor kid, we deceived her- they weren't married yet!

Stef looked cute at her Bachelorette party! 

I got up really early the next day and my friend Heather picked me up and was so sweet to drive me all the way to church. It was SO much fun to walk in to Sacrament meeting and surprise everyone that I went to church with for 20 years! I haven't seen them since I moved- four and a half years! It was nice to be loved and get lots of hugs. Everyone clapped for me when I was introduced in RS. And crazy to see how grown up all the kids are getting! It was a really wonderful Sunday. 

Laura's "favorite Mom" Kim, me and Melanie

Funny story: It was rather amusing when a few people came up to say hi- and then the next sentence out of their mouth was "Hey, there's a new single's ward in the area later today." Um, thanks? 

The next few days were spent shopping and doing last minute things to get ready for the big day that Wednesday. I even helped move furniture out into the garage! 

Cakepops!

Boys helping with flowers- cute!

I think I'll do a whole post dedicated to the wedding- there's so many photos!

Stay tuned!

After the wedding, I went to stay with Heather. I helped her throw a birthday party for her dad. It was nice to have a few days to relax and recuperate after the wedding. I got spoiled! Her friends were having an 80s party and I go to go too- it was so much fun to get all glammed up! We looked great. 

Blue eyeshadow and pink star earrings, always a great combo!

 Mark went punk 80s:

 Besties!

My ensemble- I LOVED it!

What a lot to pack for this trip- wedding outfit, presents, 80s outfit, etc! 

I was pretty pleased with my outfit- it's my best yet and I even had some real 80s jewelry on!

(Colored clips hanging from my neck and my sunglasses pin!)

I loved my earrings. Can I wear them everyday?

Heather even crimped her hair- I tried, but it just looked like bad 80s perm so that was ok too!

And the three of us fulfilled Robin Sparkles' request in her "Let's Go To The Mall" song- the three of us went to the mall dressed up like this, no joke! It was awesome....and legen..wait for it...dary!

My second Sunday I went to the Kent singles ward (trying to make the most of my trip out West, ha ha!) with my friend Julie. It was nice to see her and to be around young people. And super nice not to have to do a darn thing at church except show up and look good- I keep quite busy in our branch! One of my PA friends said she hoped I'd meet someone while back home- I had to remind her that this was the same fruitless area I had left!

 Me and Julie:

Jesse came by and it was nice catching up:

I even got to go to a fun sushi place where the sushi goes around on a little conveyor belt and you pick up what you want! So fun! I also got Teriyaki to eat (really hard to come by in PA!), but sadly not Enumclaw Teriyaki...I gotta have a reason to come back ;)

I also got to have a Say Yes To The Dress marathon! I love yelling at the TV! 

And I got to see Aimee, which was great. I miss her too!

Heather and Mark took me to the airport for the next leg of my journey- it was so hard to go!

Where did my week go???

I LOVE this pic!

But don't you love my Barbie suitcases?

Miss you, WA!

See you soon?

CA: The Rest

We drove from Sonora to the Bay Area, it took a couple of hours but not too long. We just aimed for the fog, ha ha. Both sides of the family reside there and we had timed our trip to coincide with my aunt and cousin coming down from Alaska to surprise my grandfather (dad's dad)- he turned 80! My grandmother knew that my aunt was coming (so she could help make sure my grandfather got to my other aunt's house) but not the rest of us were coming as well. My aunt and cousin showed up the day before we left Sonora, and my grandmother said "Wouldn't it be nice if Rob and all them came too?" and then we showed up the next day on the doorstep! My grandparents were totally surprised! They loved it. They kept joking "Who else is coming?"

My cousin Jen had baby Raegan nearly two years ago, and since they live in Alaska we'd never met the kiddo before. It was great to finally meet her and it was fun to be with her the rest of our trip.

Little Raegan:

Had a couple of Tinkerbelle tea parties, so cute!

The next week and a half was spent mostly with my Dad's side of the family at my aunt's house. Normally I spend more time with Mom's side when we are in SF. Both sides of the family only live about 20 minutes away. I even spent the night at my Chaney grandparents- for the first time. They usually don't have room.

We all (Chaney side) went to the zoo, which was a lot of fun. Haven't been to the SF zoo in forever. It was fun to show Raegan all the animals.

There was a little steam engine that went around in the zoo (it went fast!) and we all rode and Raegan loved it! There was a conductor that sat on it and ran it- I think that's what my dad needs to do when he retires!

I love the old carousel there- it has all kinds of interesting animals!

Carousels make me happy.

Uncle Gary is a diver and catches abalone- one Saturday he went diving and caught the limit- 3. He fixed them and we had seafood that my other aunt sent down from Alaska (they have a boat). Yum!

Pounding abalone to tenderize them:

The shells:

It's not often that we're all together, so I made sure we posed. I  used my timer and tripod and took us some group shots! We've never done anything like this on this big a scale! It's always a challenge to organize people!

And we realized that all the grandaughters were together in one place for the first time ever!

I made sure to take a picture documenting the four generations:

I got to see my little cousins on the other side of the family- they are children of my Mom's cousin so that makes us second cousins.

They had fun running around everywhere and playing in the yard. It was so quiet when they left! They are fun to have around.

Just before we left, we went to visit my Great Uncle Lyman and his wife Jenny. I'd never met them before, they live near Sacramento. It was a real nice evening, they are very sweet and I got to see old photos that I'd never seen before!

I love this crazy walkway in the Detroit airport- it's so hippie with changing lights and sound!

The real downer of the trip was that my grandma (Mom's mom) spent our entire trip and then some in the hospital. She was very sick with an infection (which spread to her blood) on top of all her other health problems. They were also worried aobut her heart. At first she didn't want to eat or move and we were all very worried- was this the end? After she got a transfusion and a blessing then she improved a lot. It was really hard seeing her so frail as well as hearing her scream in pain when the nurses moved her. Mom stayed nearly three weeks in CA after we left to help out. I'm glad to report that Grandma is doing much better- been home for two weeks and is even going out to restaurants. Grandma felt bad that she was in the hospital for our stay, but I'm glad that if it had to happen that we were there and could help out as well as be of some comfort. It was really strange not having her in the house while we were there- I didn't like it.

Farewell, California. Hope to see you soon. ;)

California: Days 1&2

We actually traveled to California together as a family this year, the last time that happened it was 2005! My parents have wanted to take us to their honeymoon spot, Yosemite, for quite some time and this year it worked out- we had the time and money and Dad could get time off so off we went. My grandfather was also turning 80 and my aunt and cousin were coming down from Alaska as a surprise so we decided to surprise my grandparents as well.

Day One was pretty much spent traveling- we hopped on a plane from Erie to Philly ( that's right, we had to fly East to go West!) and had a long layover til our flight from there to Sacramento. Our flight was supposed to have taken six hours but instead took EIGHT hours as we were stuck on the ground for over two hours because there was something wrong with a radio.

US Air then had the gaul to then charge us for food- and they didn't even have enough food for everyone! I was sitting clear in the back and was worried that I wouldn't get something substantial to eat (I really needed some protein for my migraine) but thankfully got the last sandwich box. Sometimes God's tender mercies include sandwiches, I'm telling you. Did they show a movie? No! Nothing!

I was basically nauseated all day from lack of sleep, turbulence, headache and a weird eating schedule. Laura got the dry heaves next to me on that long flight, I jumped up in a hurry! I felt so bad for the guy on the other side of her! She was ok though.

It then took forever to get our luggage and our rental car and to get checked into our hotel, we didn't get to bed till 2am, Western time! My body was thinking it was 5am.

The next day was calmer. We had intended to go to church in Sacramento, but we got in so late that that wasn't going to happen. We had a great hot breakfast at the Hilton, they had a short order cook! Best freebie hotel breakfast ever!

We were able to find the Sacramento temple and it's tucked away but oh so lovely. It stunk not being able to go inside or even inside the gates but we got some nice pictures. I would love to go inside someday. The flowers were beautiful and it was so nice and peaceful there.

We drove from there for several hours to Sonora, which was somewhat close to Yosemite. It was neat seeing parts of California that I'd never seen before. Many of the towns look very "Old West" with their false fronts. We passed through gold country. Our hotel in Sonora did the job fine.

We got settled in and got some rest...the next day was Yosemite!

Stay tuned!