So...

I decided that yesterday and today were going to "sick" days, so I called in sick. In reality, my plans were to do pretty much whatever I wanted and just take a couple of me days. Then, I actually got sick! What the heck is up with that!?!?!

On a lighter note, my family will be making the trek up to the Bay area for my cousin's wedding next weekend and I must say that I am WAY excited about that. There's always room for our own family brand of crazy, which I do, honestly, love! HA! Our whole entire family will be there...all 5 "original Musketeers" PLUS my parents and the more recent additions (Joey, Aaron, and Cy), and of course, our Wiss, who is a Wheeler, though not genetically predisposed to be so (just to be clear). ; ) I love my family!

Road Trip to San Francisco

Just before going off track for a couple of weeks, I was talking to my mom and telling her that I wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary during my break. As mentioned in my last post, I have created a California Bucket List to keep track of all the uniquely CA things I want to see before I potentially move someplace else. Among many other things, I want to do a session in each of the California temples and my mom suggested that I could go to a couple of the temples in Northern CA. So, I decided to go for it! Then, my dad suggested that I might like to have some company on the trip and suggested that my mom go too...and that's how it became a mother-daughter trip! I had never really been to San Francisco before (at least not that I can remember), so I was really excited! We didn't do tons of sightseeing, but we had a nice relaxed trip in which I got to spend some much needed and appreciated quality time with my amazing mom. We had stuff to do on Monday during the day, so we decided to leave around 5 pm and head up to Fresno. It was supposed to be totally clear, but as soon as we got out into the middle of nowhere it started to pour huge drops of rain! Argh! BUT we arrived safely in Fresno about 3 and a half hours later. We checked into our hotel and, to our surprise, we got a huge and very nice room for way cheap because it's off-season. Score! : ) After we put our stuff in the room, we went to see the Fresno temple because I wanted to see it all lit up at night! It was so beautiful!My poor mom was freezing cold!The next morning we went back and got to do a session.
Afterward, we headed up to the Bay Area and stayed in a place called Hayward. We dropped off our stuff and we drove to San Francisco. I was SO excited because I got to drive on the Bay Bridge, which looks super cool! I am way easily amused and made my mom take a picture of me driving across the bridge like a big kid! HA!We went to Fisherman's Wharf and walked around a bit and saw some cool stuff! We also had dinner at Boudin's Bistro and had some delish clam chowder in fresh sourdough bread bowls. Yum!




Then, we drove by the Oakland Temple so we could see it all lit up. I had always thought this was a little bit of an "ugly" temple because I thought the golden spires looked odd, but in person, it is absolutely breathtaking!
The next day, we went back to the temple and got to do a session there!
The Oakland Temple has a terrace that you can go up on and walk around. There are pretty gardens and more amazing views of the San Francisco Bay.Here's the view of the Bay from the temple. Below, is the view of the landscaping in front of the temple, as seen from the terrace.
Next, we went and changed clothes in the visitor's center and then drove back to San Francisco. I wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, since we couldn't really see them in the dark the night before.Here's a picture of the cool Bay Bridge that you take to get into the city.The Golden Gate BridgeI was excited to see it, but I was a little disappointed because it looked WAY cooler on the opening credits of Full House!
Here's Alcatraz Island My mom and me on Pier 39 right next to the ocean
When we were done here, we went to San Jose to tour the Winchester Mystery House. It was pretty cool, but the lady who had it built was crazy for sure!



We decided that before we started on the next leg of our trip, we'd get some dinner, so we found a Denny's and ate there. We thought that our next hotel was just a couple of hours away, but when we put it into the GPS, we discovered it was actually about 5 hours away and nearly 300 miles down the coast. However, I was tired and got us there in about 3 and a half hours instead. We stayed at a Days Inn by Solvang and it had a cool windmill in front of it and the room was super cute! We started out by visiting the Santa Ynez Mission, which is in Solvang. It was pretty, but all-in-all...kind of lame! I'm told that other missions have a little bit more to see.The scenery was really pretty, though!
Then, we walked around Solvang a bit.As my souvenir I bought a cute clock that is almost exactly the same as the one that my parents have. It hung in our living room my entire childhood and when I saw it in the store I knew I had to have it! After Solvang, we drove to Santa Barbara to see the Santa Barbara Mission. We didn't get to tour it because we got there too late, but we did walk around it and take some pictures.

We had a great trip and saw so many cool things! Coolest of all, however, is the time I got to spend with my mom!

My Bucket List

Recently I have really been thinking about life and what, exactly, is next for me. The more I think about it, the more I see myself living outside of California. I am a California native and always thought I would live here forever, but I'm starting to realize that the California I knew and loved has gone by the wayside and left me behind. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of amazing things about this crazy state, but those things have lost out to the more important elements that, I believe, have disappeared. So, I have decided to create a California Bucket List so that I can make sure I get to every landmark and see/do all that I want to do in California before I move to a different state. The list grows everyday, but it's pretty exciting to look at and I'll be posting many of my exploits here on this blog as I go! Honestly, I'm not positive if/when/where I'll be going...nothing is a done deal, yet. I just figure that this is a step in the right direction. We shall see!

I Love To See The Temple

About 2 weeks ago I found out that I would be getting a new calling, which I was officially sustained as today. I am my ward's new temple prep class teacher. When he extended the call, my Bishop suggested that I consider going through the temple sooner, rather than later, though he made it clear that it was not a requirement for accepting the calling. I had been considering going to the temple for quite some time now, and I knew that this was no coincidence. So, about a week later,on Friday, February 12th I went through the temple for the first time! My dad and Daniel had the day off and my mom and I ditched work for the day. We headed over to Newport Beach...just the 4 of us. Since I have absolutely no desire to be the center of attention and avoid big "to do's" at all costs, I just kept it simple with only the few people that live in my house. I think the Newport Beach temple is SO beautiful (aren't they all though?). Plus, that temple just holds a special place in my heart for a few different reasons, which I'm not really going to go into on my blog. Anyhow, we went to the 1:30 p.m. session and it was pretty awesome! I definitely have so much I still need to learn, but I am grateful that I can now go there and be completely at peace. Truly, it is the House of the Lord and it was a huge blessing to go there. Here are a few pictures from the day:








Afterward, we went out to eat and then headed home. We got stuck in traffic. Rush hour traffic + holiday weekend traffic = a very, very long ride home. BUT I'm glad I decided to go through Newport Beach for my first time through. The next day, I got to go through the Redlands Temple with David and Melissa and it was awesome too!The feeling in the temple is indescribable and I can't wait to go back again and again!

My Magical New Year Celebration

So...this new year's eve I wanted to do something a little different. I decided against going to any of the parties going on, in favor of spending a little time by myself. I looked online and found a super cheap room at the Howard Johnson in Buena Park.I was extra excited because my room had a kitchen in it, which meant I could bring my own food and not have to have fast food the whole time. I went out and bought Pop Tarts, cereal and milk, microwave popcorn, and some other snacks. I thought that the kitchen would just be a mini-fridge and a microwave for TV dinners and stuff like that. Instead, this is what I found:
There was a full size fridge, a sink, and a stove with an oven. Since my TV dinners and popcorn were now out of the question, I took a drive to find a grocery store.Here is the Stater Bros. down the street from my hotel. It was the most old school grocery store I've ever seen AND the most crowded! I bought some cooked chicken pieces, juice, a frozen pizza, mozzarella sticks, dish soap, and a sponge, since now I was going to have to use pans to cook. After that, I was on a quest to find someplace to buy a pizza pan and some foil, and cooking spray. Look what I found!YESSS!!! Target aka the Place Where Dreams Come True! And my dreams certainly did come true! I had wanted to buy a Christmas tree and some decorations for my hope chest on the day after Christmas sales, but the Target near me sold out of that stuff before I could get there. Sad! BUT at this Target they had stuff left and I got my Christmas tree, a way cool tree skirt, and some cute decorations! Score! Somehow, I just knew Target wouldn't let me down! haha! I bought my stuff and then went back to my room. I just relaxed, colored in my trusty Care Bears coloring book, put on the New York New Year's Eve thing in the background and took some time to read "the news" Here's what I consider to be "the news":haha!

At about 11:15, I decided to have some Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, but I couldn't get the bottle open! AHHHHH!!! It isn't New Year's without sparkling cider and I knew that both Target and Stater Bros. closed at 10:00. So, at about 11:30 on New Year's Eve I found myself wandering around a strange city on the prowl for a liquor store. I went to one and the guys in there were WAY too creepy, so I went to another and was in and out with my bright purple key chain bottle opener...just like a genuine alcoholic! HA!

Anyhow, I rang in the new year and went to sleep on my way comfy king size bed!The next day, I just chilled in my room and watched "Night at the Museum 2", colored, watched TV. Then, I made the frozen pizza and had some Martinelli's for dinner. MMMM!

Later that night, I realized that my vacation was almost over and I decided that I wanted to go on an adventure. I thought of all the places I could go and then decided on my favorite:The Newport Beach Temple
It was a beautiful, clear night with a huge, bright moon! The temple is gorgeous and I really feel like it was the perfect way to start off my year!
The one bad thing about a solo vacation is that there's nobody to take a picture of you. so here's my self-portrait from my new year's adventure!

HAPPY 2010 EVERYBODY!!!