Belated Posting

Well, now that we officially have our blog set up, we have a lot of catching up to do. We have a ton of pictures on Dane's camera that we haven't been able to get off due to a missing USB connection cord, but alas, that dilemma has been solved. So just a heads up, the next several posts may be a few months behind :)

Let's start with the most recent: Our trip to California for Memorial Day weekend.

For those of you who did not know, we took 5 days (F-T) and drove to the great state of California to visit Dane's mission and some good friends. (P.S. Dane would want everyone to know that we got great mileage on the way there and back in our sweet little civic: 42 mpg.)
We drove all day Friday making a stop in Woodland to have dinner with a boy that Dane taught who later got baptized. He was great. We drove around the little town and hit the road again to spend the night in Santa Rosa with Merilyn Gillis. She is and absolute sweetheart. I never thought that anyone could love Dane as much and I do, but I think she comes in pretty close. In spite of her under-construction/remodeling home, she surprised Dane and I with an open-house the next morning, inviting friends from the ward because she knew we would most likely not be able to see them any other way.
We headed out after breakfast to Nappa Valley to see the charming towns of Sonoma, St. Helena and the beautiful vineyards of NorCal, met lots more people and had some great food. It was so beautiful and so wonderful to meet everyone that Dane has been telling me stories about over the last several months. There was not a single person who didn't tell me about the legacy that Elder Smith had left behind, what a great missionary he was, and all that the next missionaries had to live up to. Again, it was great to be reminded of what a catch I have!
We spent the night in Santa Rosa again, and went to church in Fairfield the next day. Visited some more great people, drove back to Santa Rosa, and had desert with Dane's mission president, President Stoddard.
Then we got back in the car (I know, we drove a ton....just writing about it is making me tired all over again...) and spent the night with Dane's good friends, Matt and Mimi Snow. They live outside San Fransisco in Walnut Creek. They are totally fun and took us to see the big city the next day. That is when we remembered that we had promised everyone we would take pictures, so here they are:
We liked this one because you can see the trolley we rode and the crazy roads of San Fran. Look how steep it is!! (apparently no one who is actually from there calls it that, according to Dane)

We stopped at Pier 39, it is a pretty famous, touristy spot, but was one of the only places open on Memorial Day. It was fun. This is an old pier that is not used anymore, and for some reason no body knows why, hundreds of sea lions decided to make it their home years and years ago. They were pretty funny to watch. I think they were showing off for us.

More sea lions.
We stopped at a bakery on the pier and got soup in these amazing bread bowls! mmmmmm.

We really had great food on this trip. Dane took me to In-and-Out Burger and made sure that I got my burger "animal-style", way good. AND even though the one in the city we were planning on going to was closed, Dane did all he could to get me Baja Fresh Monday night when we went back to Walnut Creek. MMMMMMMM! It made me so happy.