California Tour

Our last month living in California had us on the go! From Yosemite to San Francisco to Santa Barbara to Orange County...and it was amazingly fun and a great way to bid farewell to living in California for a few years!

After getting back from Taiwan, we had a few days of rest before heading to Yosemite. It was my second trip there, my parents' first, and one of several for Adam. We had an amazing time there- we were blessed with great weather and because of the snowmelt from the winter, we saw some great waterfalls! Unfortunately, I had planned out a detailed itinerary that included a hike on the Yosemite Valley floor and through the meadows but most of it was underwater from all the extra snowmelt!! We had a phenomenal time nonetheless! I did take my parents on a 5 mile hike to the upper Mariposa Grove on accident (meant to just do the lower loop but I wasn't paying attention to the map! Mom and dad were troopers for sure!!).

Mom, Dad and I in front of one of the big sequoia trees (before we really got to hiking!)

Dad showing his exhaustion for the camera! 

At Swinging Bridge in Yosemite- even the bridge was under water! Gorgeous waterfalls though!

From Yosemite, we headed to Sacramento to see my aunt, uncle and cousins. It had been a really long time since we'd gone up to visit them and the last time we saw the family, I'm pretty sure it was at Susan's wedding nearly 5 years ago!! We had a lot of great meals with them, we were able to visit my granparents' burial site, and we were able to catch up because it had been to long!

Mom and Dad with my aunt and uncle

State Capitol

During that same weekend, Susan and Paul were in San Francisco for a pharmacy conference, so of course we also had to head out to SF to see Susan and Paul and celebrate Father's Day with our dad! Unfortunately Betty couldn't come out that weekend but she was there in spirit.

Happy Father's Day!!

Cuong was able to come in and hang out with us! Fun!

Then Adam and I headed out to Victorville to hang out with Sarah and Jeff (Sarah scrapbooked, I cut things out on her Cricut, and Adam and Jeff watched action movies!) and to meet Margaret, Gaby, Catalina and Julienne. They were doing us a gran favor by hauling a Uhaul trailer full of our junk!! It was fun seeing them all again (and of course Catalina asked if Uncle Adam had eaten any seaweed lately!).

The following weekend, Adam and I headed to Orange County. It was a lot of fun- we potlucked, went to the beach, bought avocados and hummus at the Farmer's Market, and had a good time! Jennifer went with me to the Scrapbook Oasis where we got to catch up with Jennifer and Jess (I didn't get any scrapping done but I did buy some cute monster paper!!). Adam and I were also able to head out to Temecula to see Jeff and his wife Heather and we also met up with our friend Minna!

Visiting Jeff and Heather

Betty came down and we ate Chipotle

Seriously, this was ONE burrito that Betty and I shared. It was huuuuge!

As always, Jennifer played hostess to the pot luck quite well, ensuring there was an abundance of goodies, including these vegan chocolate cupcakes (with Joe Joes on top)

We won't be seeing these kinds of sunsets in Colorado!

Ray, Mitch and Adam grilling it up!

Renee, Jennifer, Julie and I (with Ray in the background!)

Our amazing friend Minna!

While Jennifer was at work, Adam and I had all-you-can-meat kbbq at Cham Soot Gol. Super yummy and incredibly filling! Lunchtime is way better because you don't leave smelling like meat sweats!

On our way home we FINALLY saw Alex! We hadn't seen him since last February!

We did go back to Ridgecrest for a few days again, but were off on another weekend trip to Santa Barbara to visit Danny. Again this was full of good times. We cooked, watched movies, explored SB, chatted it up, and had a blast!

Just for us (and if you can't read the sign, it says "Bienvenidos Amigos")

I love farmer's markets

Homemade carnitas tacos with homemade gaucamole and salsa! Yummy!

We made it back into Ridgecrest in time for 4th of July, which we spent with Sarah and Jeff. Who let Sarah be in charge of lighting the fireworks?! Haha. She did a great job and we had a blast hanging with her and her family, as I always do!

And before we knew it we were into our last few days in Ridgecrest. It didn't feel like we were about to move to a new state, so I don't think I took enough photos or spent enough time with my parents. We watched t.v., cooked, baked, and had many coffee breaks together (and Betty also came home again for the weekend so it was FUN TIMES!!!).

And now we are off on new adventures once again! Goodbye California, hello Colorado!