Weekend in San Francisco

 After our trip to the Oregon coast, I met my parents and Caitlin in San Francisco for my cousin's wedding. (I flew in the same day a plane crashed on landing at SFO and saw the wreckage as we were landing.) We spent the morning of the wedding checking out the redwood trees in Muir Woods.

The wedding was in a garden in the evening. Maggie was a beautiful bride and she and Ben seemed very good for each other and so happy. I didn't get to talk to her hardly at all (expected), but it was fun to spend time with most of my aunts and uncles, who we don't see often anymore.

Back at the hotel that night, Caitlin dropped a bottle of red nail polish on the floor and it broke. It looks like nothing in this picture, but it looked like a crime scene. My solution was to douse the whole floor in water to keep the polish from drying while we found a better solution. Not my best idea. Luckily, Aunt Michelle had bought a whole big bottle of polish remover, so we scrubbed the tile with that, bleach, and toothbrushes until that grout was far cleaner than it began.

We all flew out the day after the wedding, but we spent half the day checking out the city. We took a great bus tour and saw a lot of the city. I've never had much interest in SF, but I really liked it! When I think 'San Francisco,' I think of dirty hippies and gay pride. We saw a block or two that fit those stereotypes. But mostly it was bright and charming and beautiful! 

Pacific City 4th

We spent the beginning of July with Jim & Cheri and family in Pacific City. They rented a beautiful beach house and we spent four days relaxing. I hadn't been to Oregon for 3 years (and Todd for 2). I think we both forgot how beautiful it is and how much we like it there! 

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I have a very specific idea of what makes a good 4th, and it requires being in Provo. Nobody does the 4th better. This year, there was no parade, no BBQ, and nobody wore the right colors (except me). But I don't regret missing a 4th in Provo for this. We spent the day with family and the evening watching fireworks going off all along the beach with Haystack Rock in the background.

We don't get to see these little guys often enough. They think we live at the beach, because that's the only place they ever see us!

We were *this close* to stealing this little one.

 I'm not a big fan of sea life, but somehow Todd convinced me to touch the starfish. Barely.

We got up really early the last morning to check out low tide. Todd, Trent, Tanner, and I went way past the safety fences to watch the waves come in. I love watching the waves, somehow it is simultaneously peaceful and terrifying.

Todd, Tanner, Trent, Jodie

We were so glad we got to spend some time with Tanner before he left for his mission to Arizona. Jim asked some of the brothers to do the temple prep lessons with him, which was a very cool idea and Todd enjoyed doing.

We hit our family vacation limit Saturday morning. Trent drove us back to Portland, where we had some great pizza before I flew to San Francisco. After I left, Todd and Trent spent a few hours together driving around the places they have childhood memories and visiting Tandi's grave. 

I've never lived there, but I was feeling "homesick" for Oregon it as soon as I left! I think I like it so much because everything there reminds me of Todd. Which is usually a good thing :)

High Adventure

Despite the fact that he doesn't contribute to it, Todd really likes this blog of ours. He says I'm the better writer, so he'll just let me tell our story. It turns out this means I also tell stories I was not a part of.

Todd's last hurrah with the Young Men was their high adventure trip in June. They went out to the Nolichucky River on the Tennessee border and had an absolute blast for four days straight. 

Todd's favorite part was caving. It was about four miles roundtrip with several tight spots he could barely fit through. One of the rooms in the cave was about the size of a Volkswagen car, and they crammed 15 people into it and the guide turned off the lights. They had to figure out how to find the entrance, then crawl out one by one in the pitch dark. The return trip was through an underground river...  everyone was muddy from head to toe, but loved it.

His other favorite part was rafting the Nolichucky River. They didn't fall out at all during the 3-4 hour trip, until the guide purposely dumped the boat at the end.

Between adventures, Todd taught everyone Crazy Rook, they played volleyball, ate great food and bonded. 

Todd has loved this calling like he's never loved a calling before. He was nervous about it at first, but he thrived in it. The boys loved him! He was really sad to be released and is crossing his fingers he'll get another Young Men's calling when we return to the States.