A San Fransisco Treat

For Valentines Day, David was going to be out of town. (He is most every year, but we always find a way to celebrate at another time) But this year, I decided to meet him in San Fransisco. He had been there for several days already and was going to go straight from there to China. So, I met up with him a quick weekend getaway. 

It's always a liberating feeling to fly alone. Only one other time have I gotten from the airport of a hotel all by myself. (the other time was in Tokyo) I felt so nervous about having to get a cab all by myself. But my prayers were heard when the nicest young lady drove up in her cab and gave me a ride. She immediately put me at ease and I felt so empowered when I arrived at our hotel to meet David. 

We right away hopped on the first trolley car that came by and rode down to Fisherman's Warf. Then we walked over to Ghirardelli Square for some of the best ice cream.

 This was the beautiful view of the Bay from our hotel.

I was super excited about a little surprise that I managed to pull off by surprising my dear friend Danelle. I conspired with her husband and he managed to trick her into thinking they were going to the Temple, but then ended up bringing her to their favorite restaurant as a "Valentines surprise". She was of course upset that they didn't go to the temple until she saw us standing inside waiting for them!! We had a fantastic dinner at Scala's and then chatted for a long time in the gorgeous hotel lobby. 

 This next day I was really itching for an adventure. We've been to SF many times and I really wanted to do something different. After some convincing, David agreed to "Bike the Bridge" with me. We rented some bikes and rode them under and then up and over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was amazing and offered some really spectacular views.

 It quickly got very foggy, to the point we couldn't even see the bridge anymore! I was a little disheartened, but things eventually cleared up as we went up and over the top.

 But first we explored the fort that was built before the bridge, and then the engineers of the bridge built it to accommodate the fort underneath.

 Going across was a bit scary, in that there was two way bike traffic on one side of the bridge. The other side was for foot traffic. So, pulling over to take a picture or even look at the view was often scary because the "professional" cyclist didn't really like you stopping. BUT, I wasn't going to let their rude attitudes stop me from enjoying myself. David, who isn't too fond of heights, was a good sport. But he really just wanted off the bridge!

Once over the bridge, we wound our way through some gorgeous neighborhoods and biked through our honeymoon location of Sausalito. It's such a quaint little town and I just love it there. We ate ice cream and talked with a wonderful couple from Idaho for a long time. Then we waited in a ridiculously long line to catch the ferry back to San Fran to return our bikes. 

This was the amazing sunset we witnessed on the ferry ride back. The ferry returned us a fairly long distance from where we needed to return our bikes. It was already dark, and my bum was so sore from biking all day that I couldn't even sit down! The 2 mile bike ride back to the store was excruciatingly painful. But we were surrounded by beauty the entire time. Once the bikes were returned, we caught an UBER ride back to our hotel.

It was a quick two days, but it was so wonderful to spend that time with David. We both learned a lot about nurturing our relationship. We both learned that sometimes there are things we really don't want to do, but the other pushes us to do them, and they turn about being such a blessing. Marriage is such a beautiful ride!

February Little Things

Every year my kids have enjoyed decorating these little mailboxes for Valentines Day. Last year, however, I thought would be that last year since they didn't seem to put much effort into it. I thought they were outgrowing the fun little tradition. But boy did I hear it when it was already February and I still hadn't gotten the things to make these. They still wanted to do it! I happily obliged!

This sweet girl is really growing up. Look at her use that computer with such ease and confidence!

That very same day she went with her dad to get this adorable haircut.

Every Thursday Dallin has show and tell at preschool. This is what he chose to take this day!

The Activity Day girls had a talent show and Carmen was the MC.

Carmen and Peyton being flannel twins. Peyton just dies knowing Carmen is taller than her. 

 A fun trip to the toy store to pick out some birthday presents.

He unfortunately thought he was getting this truck....

Moving - the beginning

***This obviously consumed my mind for the first part of the year, because I've done two blog posts unknowingly about moving.... oh well, I'll keep them both.

We've lived at 373 Bayberry Way for nearly 6 years. About 3 years in, we knew it wasn't our forever home and we started looking for something else. But with no pressing need to move, we were really picky. After living in 5 homes, we really knew what we wanted and didn't want in our forever home. We looked at 100's of homes, nothing really that made my heart sing. Our realtor was extremely patient with me. We would go through periods of being really serious and zealous in our searching, to periods of no interest in moving.  

But over Christmas break, we felt strongly it was finally time! We knew moving was what we wanted and we took a giant leap of faith and decided to put our house on the market. Right after the new year, we started cleaning out the house like crazy! The poor garbage guys really loved us. We put everything we didn't really need in a POD and kept only the basic necessities. We painted and repaired most everything! And we got that house looking in tip top shape. 

This paining was being finished minutes before a showing! We had to tell the clients not to touch the walls because the paint was still wet...

It was so hard to me to see my home "depersonalized" and the paint color was so boring to me. 

What do you do on a Saturday morning when you have a showing? Go to IHOP!

I don't remember the exact day we listed our house, but we got an offered that same day! It was all crazy fast. We still had no clue where we were going to move because we figured we'd have some time to keep looking. 

Here's an excerpt from my journal about the whole ordeal:

We just put our home on the market. It's kind of a bitter sweet feeling. I love this home. We've lived here for nearly 6 years. It's the only home Charlotte and Dallin know. Charlotte was much to young to remember ever living in California. And of course this is the home to which we brought Dallin home from the hospital. So many amazing memories here. And we have put an incredible amount of work into it, making it better and more beautiful.

But, we feel strongly that we need to be somewhere else. We aren't sure exactly where that place might be, but we have a general idea. We want our kids to grow up surrounded by stronger youth from church. We want them in better schools as they enter middle and high school. And we want more space. More house, more land.... I'm worried that this house is going to sell faster than we planned. It just went on the market today and we've already got an offer. Where are we going to live now?! A hotel, an rented townhouse or home, someones basement? We have nowhere to go. I'm also worried that I'll regret moving. I don't deal well with change....

I've learned a lot about us as a family since we've listed our house. Although just listed today, we've already had 4 showings in the past week. I've learned that I really do have time to keep a clean house, and exercise, and grocery shop, and keep up with laundry and read my scriptures. ALL things I've neglected greatly in the past several years. I always used the excuse that I never had enough time. And my kids too! They can make their beds every morning, and keep their floors clear of clothes and crap. I've also learned that my kids need very few "things" to keep them entertained. We've pack up most of their toys and all of their personal treasures.... their rooms are bare, with only their beds left. They have a few toys, which they could play with, but they want so badly to keep things neat and tidy. This past weekend the kids started a make believe game in which they are ALL playing together. They had never really included Dallin before, but now he's willing and happy to play right along with them. And they've played for hours and days this make believe game. It requires very few "things". Just their imagination. And my, how they have gotten along! It had been incredible.

That's not to say that listing our house hasn't been stressful. It's one of the craziest things I've ever done. And often time the stress level associated with keeping the house in "showing condition" is not worth the frustration is causes between us all. And I have to let things slide bit. But we are quickly, with a moments notice, back to "showing condition".

So, although seeing the "For Sale" sign is the front yard makes me really sad.... I am eager to know what our future holds for us. And I know that we can make just about any house our new HOME.