{McQuays visit SF - Part III - Sunday Drive}

After we went to church with the grandparents we loaded up in the car again and drove down the coast to Ano Nuevo state park. 

It was beautiful - The weather couldn't decide if it wanted to be warm or cold, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

There weren't as many elephant seals out as there was last time we went, but it was still fun to go see them.

This little munchkin was completely worn out by the end of the trip (sweet baby running all around the city and countryside with us!) that she necessitated a piggy back ride back to the car. But of course, only I could give her a piggy back ride. I'm usually not first pick for this little lady (she's a daddy's girl) so it was kind of nice (and sweaty!) to be needed.....even if it was a mile back to the car through the sand.....

On the way back home we stopped in Butano State park to show the parentals the beautiful forest.

We took some windy roads on the way home and little Miss Evette got super carsick. I mean, carrot and strawberry chunks everywhere. I was catching it in my hands and throwing out of the car. So gross. Poor baby. We all made it home in one piece, barely, and she woke up the next morning just fine -  just car sick.

It was kind of a stressful drive home, but overall, it was worthwhile Sunday drive lol.

{McQuays visit SF - Part II - Hike and Beach)

On Saturday morning Sean and his Dad headed off with the scouts to go on a hike. Some good old father/son bonding time :)

We ladies stayed home, had a nice slow morning, and went to the farmers market together.

Once the boys came home (much later than we had originally planned) we all jumped in the van and sat in traffic for a long time and finally made it to the beach!

While we were not prepared for the sun for our day in the city, we did prepare for sunshine at the beach but were instead greeted with clouds, a breeze, and 59 degrees. Not ideal beach weather, but kind of nice since we were still a little warm from the day before. 

Daddy and Papa were adventurous enough to play in the sand and splash around in the water a little bit as well. 

Kristen, Miriam, and I sat back with blankets and ate the pizza

The day didn't turn out as planned at all, but it was fun nonetheless!

{McQuays visit SF - Part I - The City}

We were lucky enough to have Sean's parents come out and visit us for a few days. It was so great to be able to see them and to show them around a world a little bit.Randy and Kristen were kind enough to rent a van so we could all pile into it and drive around for our adventures all weekend.

We spent one full (FULL) day in the city which was an absolute blast. We haven't spent hardly any time in the city since we came out in April for the interview - and we went to see a bunch of things.

We drove up to Twin Peaks to start our day to get a great view of the city!

Our next stop was the Sutro Baths. Randy suggested we stop here and I'm so glad he did - it was beautiful! Kinda crazy! 

Here's a little bit of history about the bath house - Sutro's dream for the Baths was to provide a healthy, recreational and inexpensive swimming facility for thousands of San Franciscans. A classic Greek portal opened to a massive glass enclosure containing seven swimming pools at various temperatures. There were slides, trapezes, springboards and a high dive. The power of the Pacific Ocean during high tide could fill the 1.7 million gallons of water required for all the pools in just one hour. The Baths could accommodate 10,000 people at one time and offered 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels for rent.

Our next visit - Also Randy's suggestion (10 points for him, again!) - was to the Palace of Fine Arts Theater which was built for the World Fair in 1915. 

It was absolutely stunning.

It made me heart ache as it reminded me so much of our trip to Europe.

Next was a visit to Crissy Field.

Evette had so much fun playing on the beach!

So much fun that she got soaked and we had to make a quick stop into Baby Gap to pick her up some new shorts (which are adorable and totally on sale. win win ).

Miriam was such a trooper and caught naps whenever she could and smiled whenever she wasn't in the carseat and didn't scream too much in the carseat.

We also stopped at Ghirardelli Square. Delish.

And we stopped by the warf and Pier 39 as well. At this point we were all pretty tired and sun burnt....So we didn't linger too long.

Our final stop for the night was dinner at a dim sum place in Chinatown. Delicious.

Overall it was a wonderful day! It was so much fun to explore the city with the parents!

{To know the end from the beginning}

Oh man, friends. Sometimes life gives you a real swift kick to the face, you know what I'm saying? Or sometimes two or four or seventeen. I think right now I'm looking at about 13 or so kicks to my face. True story.

Last week in Sunday school we were discussing how sometimes it's tricky to take a step of faith into the darkness. And it is. And then someone made the comment, "If only we could only know the end from the beginning, it wouldn't be so hard to take that step!" And everyone kind of mumbled and laughed in agreement. And it's true. If we would but know how things would turn out, it'd be easier to walk forward.

But that made me stop and think.

Wait, I DO know the end from the beginning.

We can know about the Plan of Salvation which is the beautiful blueprint for our lives that our loving Heavenly Father has set up for us, his children.

Our time on this earth is only a small fraction of our eternal lives - and it is certainly not "the end". So, although we may not know how some things will end up during our earthly lives, that does NOT mean that we don't know the end from the beginning. We can know that.

Here are some scriptures from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants to illustrate how we can and should know the end from the beginning.

Jacob 6:4
"And how merciful is our God unto us, for he remembereth the house of Israel, both roots and branches; and he strethces forth his hands unto them all the day long; and they are a stiffnecked and a gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God."

Alma 7:19
"For I perceive that ye are in the paths of righteousness; I perceive that ye are in the path which leads to the kingdom of God; yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight."

Alma 41:4-6
"And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame - mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption - raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other -
The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.
And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness."

Matthew 5:10
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

D&C 6:13
"If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation."

Matthew 25:34-36
"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

This one is my favorite of these:

2 Nephi 9:18
"But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever."


We must believe and endure and then we WILL inherit the kingdom of God. Which He prepared for us from the BEGINNING!!! The end from the beginning. He knows how it's going to be. He has given us scriptures and prophets to tell us how it's going to be. We need to trust and know for ourselves the end from the beginning so that our joy can be full forever.

Have faith + make good choices = eternal happiness.

The end is our mansion in heaven which Christ has prepared for us so we can live with Him and our Father forever in joy.

Everything else is just the details. I'm going to try to keep this bigger picture in mind.



In case you were wondering - this is what full joy looks like.