Grandpa "Tick"

A week ago from this past Saturday, my dear Grandpa, and last surviving grandparent, passed.

I honestly hesitate to write about such an influential and wonderful human being he is/was, because I am not naturally elegant with my words, nor could probably every fully portray the feelings I have about such a wonderful man.

My Grandpa was the one of the most selfless people I've ever known, coupled with hard working, and even had a great sense of humor. I have many great memories of him and what kind of person he was during his life, and I have prayed to God that I'll never forget that.

The funeral in NV this past weekend was beautifully done, and even though there were many tears in the congregation, it was a wonderful celebration of his life, and knowing that one day we will be reunited with him again through God's love and mercy and through Christ's Atonement.

I am so happy for him to be reunited with his wife, and many other family and friends who have gone before him.  I envision him walking freely with no pain nor ailments with a big smile on his face and that brings me happiness and peace. All those who knew him were touched by his example of how to be a man, a father, a husband, and a productive citizen.  I look forward to the day when I can see him again in his perfect state, and with open arms says, "Welcome home, my favorite grandchild."   (ok, I had to pull a funny somewhere) 

Me and Grandpa

Him in the middle. He was SO handsome! My Grandma did well.

The physical representation and reminder that my Grandparents are now reunited.

What a beautiful thing.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we celebrated it with my cousin Danielle, and my second cousin, Bassie in PA.  The feast was delicious and the visit was enjoyable; we may or may not have had three pies for dessert (no we did not eat them all in one sitting, thank you very much!) among the 3 of us.

 Mostly the doings of Danielle

Nice Bird!

Bassie.  (Sorry I didn't get a better pic of you!)

Besides the turkey feast, we also went to Hershey's Chocolate World (one of the 'sweet' (har har) perks of Danielle working for Hershey's!).  For the tour portion of the experience, think Disneyland ride, kinda like "It's a small world" but MUCH better and more interesting.

View of Hershey Park from the "Kiss Tower"

Mmm chocolate syrup!

Danielle also let us join her in chopping down a tree!  Turns out we are kind of bad at it, luckily the tree guys fixed the gnarly base. 

Working hard, or hardly working?

Danielle may also be the best hostess, because not only did she let us feed her dog way too many "Beggin' Strips," but she also gave the best Welcome gift.

Gettysburg

About a week ago, my cousin Danielle invited us for a half-day "field trip" if you will, to Gettysburg.  We were quick to say yes, I brushed up on my history (Wikipedia, of course) and off we went, last Saturday.

It was a quick trip, but enjoyable nontheless.  It was nice to see Danielle, and I'm happy that we have her relatively nearby.  Bassie (the dog) was missed, by Wolfgang especially, but I think that was Danielle's  secret tricky way of making us come visit her in PA.

(some photos courtesy of Danielle)

Actual awkward family photo!

I should have known he was being Asian behind me.

 Attempt at awkward family photo with Abe. Me: FAIL

90

Today is my Grandpa's 90th birthday!

This past weekend we celebrated it in Vegas where he lives with my aunt.

My aunt and mom put together a book for his birthday, full of love notes and memories of my Grandpa from family members and friends.  He is such a good man that is loved by many; I loved hearing the kind words and funny stories about him over the years.

Love you Grandpa!  Happy Birthday.

Utah.

Thursday night Wolfgang's parents flew in from Austria. Friday morning we all caught a flight to Salt Lake City, to attend General Conference. It's been a great weekend to become spiritually uplifted, enjoy the beautiful weather, and to meet up with friends and family.

When you are a member of the LDS church, the world seems to become a lot smaller. I have never been to Conference without seeing at least a few people that I know from home, or more in particularly, from school in Idaho and Hawaii.

Yesterday I randomly came across a dear friend of mine from high school who was a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school. The last time I had seen him was when one of my best friends and I had said our excited, yet sad goodbyes to him, at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. We knew that it could possibly be the last time we would ever see him again in this life, considering his home in Brazil wasn't exactly just around the corner to visit.

As we had a few minutes to say hello yesterday and to catch up, we realized the day we said our goodbyes, was around 5-6 years ago. Say whaaaat?? We couldn't believe it. Oh, how time flies.

The last two night one of my (2nd) cousins kindly let Wolfgang and I stay with her husband and adorable two boys. I couldn't believe how much the boys had grown! The oldest 3, and the other...probably about 1 1/2. The last time I had seen the youngest, we was only a few weeks old. They are both so precious and lively little boys.

It's been a good weekend, and tomorrow we continue our travels with the in-laws to southern Utah, then off to good ol' Vegas!

California.

The goal of this blog post is to effectively share about our visit to CA, with minimal amount of words and pictures; I'm usually not so good at this. We'll see how it goes.}

Back in around April or so, Wolfgang and I randomly decided we wanted to go to San Francisco for our wedding anniversary this year. We bought cheap flights then waited, and waited, and waited....and finally were able to go this past Thurs-Tuesday. We had a great time, and took over 400 pictures. Ridiculous, right? I'm pretty sure we can delete a slew of them though.

Here's the condensed version of our vacation:

We flew into L.A. thursday morning and headed up to Paso Robles, where my aunt and uncle live. It had been 10 years since I had last seen my uncle, and a few years short of that since I had seen my aunt. It was so great to see them and to enjoy their company, and of course for them to finally meet the husband. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to prove this event, but it did indeed happen. We stayed with them that night, and then again on our way back. I swear these two will never age. I hope to be like them. They are so fun to be around, and it was good to catch up, reminisce, and play with the pets too, of course. We even watched a 20 yr old home video of when we all were together on the lake, and it was pretty funny.

The next day we headed up to San Fran! We were there for 3 nights, and stayed at two Marriotts, obviously. There we did all the touristy stuff, like:

Had delicious fresh clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl from Boudin (it's a must),



while meeting up with one of our good friends from Hawaii, and also having ridiculous sundaes at Ghiradelli Square. We miss his presence.

We took our time heading up the coast, so that's pretty much all we had time for the first day.

The next day, we went to China Town. Wolfgang was overwhelmed {in a good way, I guess} by all the crap you could by in the stores. His most favorite find apparently was this: (enough to take a picture of it). Thank goodness he didn't actually buy it, or anything for that matter.


We ate at a restaurant there in China Town for lunch, and that was an experience in itself.

Next we headed over to the Fisherman's Wharf to check out the Sea Lions. May I add that they were hilarious? I could have watched them for hours; they were just naturally comical. The extremely passed out ones were my favorite.

The little light colored Sea Lion in this picture, can you see it? (below) He's completely passed out with his neck and head completely cocked back! Ouch. So funny.
These two were pretty funny also. The big one in the front kept having his mouth in the water, but he was so out of it that every time he would somewhat notice, he would take his head out of the water...then it would end up right back where it was. The little guy next to him is so cute too!



We finished the day off with good ol' Lombard Street. Such a beautiful street with beautiful landscapes and cute houses!



The next day was our 2 year anniversary! Time flies. We had an amazing breakfast then we met up with my wonderful first roommate in Hawaii. She was so great to live with, and is a wonderful hostess/tour guide. First time I came to San Fran I stayed with her and her wonderful family. We ate lunch at Ike's Place which was pretty dang tasty. We then went to the wonderfully beautiful area of Presidio with its huge mansions nearby, old military homes, and beautiful parks. It was also the first time I had ever seen a huge military cemetery. It was very humbling. There we took pictures of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge.
From there we went to "The Painted Ladies," because Wolfgang insisted on seeing the "Full House" {early 90s TV show} house. Needless to say we don't know which one it was? Pretty sure it was painted since then, or its really none of the above.



Obviously there were other more important things than us when taking this picture...



Our next big event was the following day on our way out of town, when we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was SO cool. I've been wanting to go to this for years, ever since I saw it on tv or something for the first time. Since in my next life I will be a marine biologist {didn't really work out in this life} and my obsessed love for the ocean and its creatures, I had a great time, and so did Wolfgang too. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by the beauty and complexity of God's creations, that I can't help but tear up a bit and just be in a total euphoric mood. Luckily no crying at the Aquarium.

We took way too many pictures there, but here are just a few.


Someday, I WILL pet you, dearest Killer Whale.


Well, it looks like I failed on my goal for this post.

We had a great time, even if I had an obnoxious head cold the whole time {it started the day we started our vacation. So convenient, right?}. The weather was great, a little cold but it was nice to be cold rather than dying in the heat for once. We were happy and glad we had the opportunity to take this nice little trip.