San Francisco, California

After Monterey, we drove a few more hours north and toured San Francisco for a few days. Ryan has been there many times but I had never been and I've always wanted to go! We stayed in a Marriott right on Fisherman's Wharf (honestly, it was the cheapest hotel that was semi-close. Why? I don't know, but I'm not complaining!). We had a great view out of our window at the bay, some little shops, In-N-Out, the wharf, and street performers. We were smack dab in between Ghirardelli square and Pier 39, which allowed us to have a quick, easy walk anywhere we wanted to go! The only thing that wasn't so fun was the FREEZING cold temperatures. It was in the mid-50's at the hottest point of the day and I wore two sweatshirts the entire time (the same two sweatshirts, as you'll see). All in all, it was a blast and I'm glad I can now check this city off of my list of places I still need to visit.

Our great hotel. They even upgraded us to a suite. You can't even see the other half of the room behind me.

We didn't waste any time when we got there. After throwing our stuff in our room, we headed out to sightsee. Here's one of our first stops- the Palace of Fine Arts.

Hopefully everyone knows what this is:

About 4 days before we went, I learned that San Fran is known for their sourdough bread. Once I found that out, the need to get some suddenly became something that I've been waiting for my whole life. This was at Boudin's-- they had all sorts of animals and things made out of bread. Pretty cool.

For {my} viewing pleasure, here's Ryan on the cable car, looking hot... and I don't mean temperature-wise because it was only approximately 51 degrees at this point. Or at any point.

We drove down Lombard Street, a.k.a. the "crookedest road" in the nation...besides Wall Street (ba-dum-ching... thanks to our cheesy tour guide for that lame joke).

It's normal to park like this here. I would hate to drive a clutch around this hilly city.

Is it pathetic that the only reason I knew about the Coit Tower was from the Bachelor? Thanks Jake and Tenley.

Our boat ride out to Alcatraz. We did the "night tour" which was voted their best tour. We got a walking tour of the outside, an audio tour inside, and then they opened up special areas (like the hospital and the bomb shelter basement) for us at the end and told extra stories and such. Totally worth the few extra dollars.

The camera bag with maps hanging out the side... hello tourist.

The city hall was so extravagant that I kept thinking it was the capitol. It's the nation's most expensive city hall. Of course I took pictures of the cool trees out front instead of all the real gold on top of the beautiful dome. I guess I'm just easy to please and non-materialistic (although I think Ryan still needs to be convinced of that. Just kidding).

"Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, (there's a heart), there's a heart. A hand to hold onto..." We said a quick hello to Danny, Jesse, and Joey. These are the famous "painted ladies" but a painted lady is actually just one of these victorian homes that has 5 or more colors of paint on it and the more colorful, the more expensive it is. The painted lady the farthest to the left was for sale and the asking price was "only $3 million" compared to a normal one that's about $8 million, because tourist buses stop in front of it all day long. I won't even bring up my future home that I found on Sausalito island for $18 million.

China town was cool... for about .2 seconds. We went, we bought fortune cookies, we left.

Ryan requested some good fish 'n chips for his birthday dinner, so we strolled up and down Fisherman's Wharf for a long time with no such luck ($9 for 2 small pieces of fish and a few fries? No thanks). We finally found a good restaurant on Pier 39 (forgot the name of it) where he got his fish 'n chips.

It was such a fun trip, but like many good things, it came to an end and now we're back to regular life again. The good thing about this trip was that we were gone long enough to really enjoy being away from work and responsibilities of that sort, but also long enough to feel ready to be back at home. And that's a good thing.

Monterey, California

After the Family Reunion, Ryan & I headed up the coast and spent an evening in Monterey. It was the perfect amount of time to get a quick little taste of what the area was like. When we first got there, we went on the "17-mile drive" through Pebble Beach (famous golf stuff...). Then we checked into our hotel and strolled down Cannery Row, the main street in the city with all of the shops, boutiques, restaurants, etc. We stopped and had dinner at Bubba Gumps and then washed that down with a Ghirardelli sundae. It was such a cute, quaint town and I was glad we decided to go there for a night.

This was the gorgeous view we had for a long time up to Monterey through the vineyards:

The lone Cypress tree... reminded me of Africa.

The sign doesn't lie: "moments of timeless pleasure."

Our first of three Ghirardelli sundaes in a row on this trip. Don't judge- it's allowed on vacation.

Hemet, California

After Arizona, we ventured over to to So Cal to go to the Tibbitt's family reunion from July 4-7. It was nice and relaxing and a good time to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while! The first day everyone got a tour of G&G Tibbitts new home, a trip to the infamous "candy closet," family pictures, and just hanging out. Day two was a swimming day at the Jergensen's, complete with popcorn, snow cone, and cotton candy machines, a bounce house, the tennis courts, etc. The next day was our beach day, where we all went to Oceanside. It was freezing cold but once you got into the water, it seemed warmer. We missed the people who couldn't come this year, but we definitely had a blast with everyone who was there!

Our family with G&G Tibbitts:

A glimpse of the "candy closet" (or more like a convenient store):

We played lot's of games in the evenings that were fun for both the little kids and adults.

Our swimming day at the Jergensen's pool:

High School Musical, maybe?

We made Jackson and Calvin chicken fight in the water. They liked the idea while they were just on shoulders... but that changed when they got to the "fighting" part.

My attempt to not get sunburned (and I was just being too lazy to go put on more sunscreen).

The amazing picnic cakes that Tabitha and Caitlin made for Pam's birthday (this was all edible and made out of cake and candy):

Uncle Myrl (these kids great-great Uncle) has a "money jar" where the little kids get to take a handful of money out of the jar and if they get fake coins then they get to trade it in for a dollar bill. I think the kids felt rich afterwards. :)

At Oceanside for our beach day!

This is how I felt about the temperature of the water (but I'm glad Ryan made me get in):

The waves were huge that day. Here's Jonathan and Craig surfing (actually I think Craig is under the wave in this one):

A bunch of the cousins waiting for good waves to boogie board on:

Since Rod passed away in October, this was the first family reunion without him. Of course we all thought of him and remembered him throughout the whole reunion, but we ended with a balloon release in his honor (BYU colored balloons for his favorite school/teams, of course).

The family is getting to be so big so fast that we don't know how much longer these reunions will be going on, so we were really glad we could make it to this one and we can't wait to see everyone again!