The end of our trip to California

We left my brothers' house Friday afternoon and stopped by some good friends of ours, the Wells. They had some great snacks prepared for us and the kids enjoyed swimming in their pool while we visited. We were so glad we had the opportunity to stop and see them.

At the Wells

After we left the Wells, we drove into San Francisco for a Giants baseball game. We had never been to the new AT &T Stadium. It was amazing. I wouldn't ever think a baseball park would be beautiful, but it was. It sits right on the water and it was so pleasant and relaxing. It got pretty chilly as the sun went down but we still had a great time.

The view from our seats at AT&T park

Travis and Randy

Jared, Ashley & Courtney

The winning score - Giants 13 - Astros 0

After the game they had fireworks - We all had a GREAT time

Our Trip to California - part 4

Wednesday night we drove up to my brother's house. The kids were so excited to see their cousins. Thursday morning Randy and I were able to do a session at the Sacramento Temple. My sister-in-law was nice enough to watch the kids so we were able to go.

Randy and Sylvia at the Sacramento Temple

This is how the kids spent their day while we were at the temple. They LOVED it!!

This is how kids these days play together - they linked their DS's together and had a ball

We all went to Leatherby's for yummy ice cream

Travis, Nat and Ashley

Me and my brother

My brothers' family

Thanks for letting us come and visit. We had a GREAT time. Hope you were able to recover after we left.

Our Trip to California - part 3

Wednesday morning we packed up and said goodbye to the Andersons. We headed into Oakland and stopped at the temple to go through the visitor's center and walked around the grounds. It was a little overcast so it was hard to see the City, but was still a beautiful day.

The kids in front of the Oakland temple

We then headed over to the Oakland Coliseum to watch an Oakland A's game. Here we are waiting for the game to start.

During the game

The kids at the coliseum

The winning scoreboard - A's 5 - Tigers 1

Our Trip to California - part 2

Tuesday morning we went to the Jelly Belly Factory for their free tour. We went with our good friends, the Andersons, but at the end of the tour we went our seperate ways before we got a picture with them. Thanks Kristy for joining us and bringing Lucy.

The kids in front of the Jelly Belly sign
The kids with Mr. Jelly Belly

The kids with the Ronald Reagan Jelly Belly portrait

Our dear friends, the Andersons. They were kind enough to put us up for 4 nights. Jared adored them. I think he would have been happy to join their family. Thanks for putting up with us.

After leaving the Jelly Belly factory we drove up to Sacramento and drove by our old apartments, work places and other fun places. We took the kids to the capital to see all of the squirrels. That was one of our first dates having a picnic and feeding the squirrels at the capital.

Our Trip to California - part 1

I know it has been FOREVER since I've blogged anything. Ashley lets me know everyday that I have been a lazy blogger. I kept thinking I needed to catch up, but I have decided to just start current. Since we just got back from our vacation, it is a good place to start.

We left early Saturday morning, June 27th, to head out to Northern California. Back to where I grew up and where Randy and I met. When we arrived in Concord, it was 106 degrees. Hotter than it was in Vegas. We went to our favorite place to eat, Mexican Burritos for dinner. They did not have air conditioning so by the time we were done eating we were melted. We thought the movie theater would be nice and cool so we went and saw Up. It was a cute movie and definitely cooled us down.

Sunday we went to church at the ward I grew up in, and where Randy and I went for a few years. It is always fun to see and visit with old friends.

Monday morning we went into San Francisco. It was overcast most of the day but the temperature was perfect - about 68 degrees.


We started the morning off by driving down Lombard Street. Randy and the kids then walked up it and then down.
We then went to the cable cars. On the Internet it said a one hour pass was $3.00. When we got there, they didn't sell one hour passes. Just one way tickets for $5.00 or a $10.00 round trip ticket. This was a lot more than we budgeted for so we told the kids we wouldn't be taking a ride. They were all disappointed. As we did all of our other activities we decided Randy would take the kids on the cable car for about a 20 minute ride, get off and walk back to the start. This was a big hit. It's hard to go all the way to San Francisco and not ride a cable car.

We then went to Fisherman's Wharf.

We had lunch at Pier 39. We love getting clam chowder in a sour dough bowl, sitting by the water. We then had fun looking in all the fun stores they have there.

At the end of Pier 39 - with Alcatraz in the background.

Our last stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very windy and chilly. The kids just wanted to get back in the car. I was hoping they would want to walk across, but no one wanted to. Oh well. It will give them something to do next time they go.