{Thanksgiving III - Wednesday}

On Wednesday, I (Sean here!) took my side of the family on a trip to Santa Cruz while Heidi, Scott, and Cami got things ready for Turkey Day and otherwise relaxed.

First stop, world-famous MYSTERY SPOT.

There was a bit of a wait, so we spent the first hour in the gift shop, enjoying surprisingly ethnic and delicious samosas, and otherwise just mulling about.

Then, onto the MYSTERY SPOT itself! 

It was pretty cool - a shack on a steep incline where gravity appeared to work differently. It was fun (1) just enjoying it for what it was and also (2) figuring out how it all worked. (Note: the funnest part was picking apart other people's theories for how it worked. One guy who was annoyingly vocal about his skepticism obviously thought he was doing everyone a favor by explaining how it was all a sham. The funny part was that he was completely wrong, which our tour guide took advantage of with a smirk).

Beyond our tour guide tearing the guy's theories apart, though, the tour guide was just funny in general.

Inside the house:

After our turn in the house we spent some time on the back-porch where he showed us some more of the magical properties of the place. See for yourself!

Caitlan and Megan switching relative height...

And a lot of us switching relative height! (the guy in the fleece next to me was the misguided nay-sayer)

Miriam got pretty tired of the place though...

After THE MYSTERY SPOT we went to downtown Santa Cruz. I was hoping to spend more time on the Boardwalk there (an amusement park), but only a couple kiddie rides were open, so we did those rides but mostly just walked around.

After that walk we went out to dinner at a super nice restaurant (not overly expensive, just an amazing location!). It's located on a steep slope above Capitola (right next to Santa Cruz) and is only accessible via gondola. It was also huge.

That evening we lounged around and my mom, dad, and I made pies

{Thanksgiving III - Tuesday}

Tuesday morning we all crammed into the van and headed up to the city. Our first stop was Fort Point. Unfortunately the fort itself is only open on the weekends, so it was a short, cold windy, photo op. 

Our next stop was to Crissy Field to enjoy the view and the beach - but it was freezing and windy again. But beautiful nonetheless. 

We walked along the shore and made it to the wave organ. It's this really beautiful idea, but the tide was low and it didn't quite work as anticipated, but I still enjoy going there. A spot out in the middle of nowhere created just to make music for those who venture over there. 

Next we went to Golden Gate park to the Botanical Garden. It was beautiful!

Nerdwallet was our next stop to pick up the husband and to show the fam around the office. It's a pretty sweet office. 

Caitlan and Megan were driving from BYU during this day at met us in time for dinner... sorta. There was bad traffic and they were kinda late....but all is well that ends well, right?

 Which is good because it didn't start out quite right... there was stressful parking and switching cars and carseats and driving in the city in the rain and looking for parking, etc.... BUT we made it.

Randy and Kristen took the babies back to the house for bedtime, and the rest of us headed to the Great American Music Hall for the Copeland/Eisley concert!!!!

 Look at me leaping for joy!

The venue was so cool! We were afraid that we were going to be late, but we were actually pretty early. There wasn't a "start" time for the concert, just when they'd open the doors. So we had some standing around to do, which was fine... mostly. After this long day, a number of us were feeling a little worn out, a little sick-ish. Which made the opening group even more un-enjoyable. Seriously - they were so not my type of music at all. I thought the whole thing was a joke, but alas, it was not. 

But that's alright, because Eisley was next! I didn't know them by name, but I did know quite a few of their songs and I'm so happy that I was able to see them live. They were amazing - great music  and great performances! I love them.

Here's a picture that we discretely (NOT) took of Megan with the boy that was totally crushing on her.... good times. 

And then the long awaited Copeland! It was so so so great to be able to hear them live! I loved it. So many favorite songs, so many memories with those songs....it was incredible!

By the time the concert rolled around, many of us were pretty tired and there was a wave of sickness that was about to start and go through most of the family. Scami were pretty sick by the end of the Eisley portion of the concert so they bailed and Scott laid feverish in the car during the remainder of the concert. Sean sat cross-legged on the floor in between acts, and I found a spot in the back of the hall by the sound guy where I could have a little bit more breathing room for the last few songs. 

All in all, it was a great day, with many high spots, but pretty much all of us were under the weather by the end of the day. Be it sheer exhaustion or an ailment, whatever it was, not a fan.

{Thanksgiving II - Monday}

On Monday we had a lazy day hanging out at the house, mostly. But we did venture out in the cold fog to go visit the Oakland Temple.

Though the fog impeded the view, it created it's own beauty. 

We also did some Thanksgiving shopping...

And of course, some parks and rec and ice cream!

Scami stayed at our house while Randy and Kristen were at a hotel just about a mile and a bit from our house. 

{Thanksgiving I}

It has been nearly 2 months since we last blogged. That is the longest time in the 5.5 years that we've been running this blog. We've been a little busy! So, time for massive catch up. This is our journal, our family record, our memories, our lives, so it'll be written.

A few months before Thanksgiving, we started inviting all our family to join us up in CA, halfway joking, halfway praying that people would come! Invite them and they will come - and they did! We were lucky enough to have my brother Scott, and his wife, Cami drive from BYU, Sean's sisters Caitlan & Megan from BYU as well, and Sean's parents flew in form Houston. It was so fun!

Scott and Cami (who we will hereby call "Scami") came up first on Saturday, followed by Kristen and Randy the next day.  

It was so good to have our house filled with people that we love. 

Sidenote -Cami is an amazing photographer and any picture that you see from this trip that you think, wow, that's beautiful! It's because she took it or made it beautiful. the end.