San Francisco

Christmas this year came and went so fast for me. I think part of it was because we spend a week in California right before Christmas. We went to visit my sister Beth and pick up Jon's sister Amy from her mission. Girls missions just fly by don't they? I can't believe she is already home! Anyway it was a great trip until the day we were supposed to come home, but I will get to that later. Beth was gracious enough to put us up for the week. Her condo is so cute! They live in the hills of San Carlos and it is just gorgeous. They have spectacular views from their balcony. We spend some time in the city with Beth going to Ghirardelli square, the Boudin sourdough bread factory, and doing some other tourist stuff. Jon and I also went back to the city so that I could shop at H&M because it is my very favorite store in the world. We also got to drive down Lombard street (the crookedest street in the world) and just enjoy the uniqueness of that city.
Amy was such a wonderful missionary. It was so fun to see her in her element in the visitor's center. The Oakland temple is so beautiful and the view of the bay is just magificent from the temple and the visitor's center. We got to see Amy in action as she took us on a tour of the temple terrace (the Oakland temple is the only temple with a terrace on it). She also got us involved by taking us to China town in Oakland to pass out flyers encouraging them to come to free English classes. But I think the highlight was the Luau that the Tongan people threw for her because we got to meet some of the people Amy had taught and others she had blessed and served.
We also got to see where Jon's mom grew up. She showed us the Catholic school that she went to and her old house. It was so fun to see that as well.
Ok so the day we were supposed to leave we were late for our flight and we were rushing to the airport and first we got pulled over because Jon was going a little too fast, but luckily got off with a warning when he found out we were late for our plane. Then we got to the airport running all the way and praying that our plane would be delayed or something only to find out that our plane had mechanical problems and was canceled. Our first thought was "Wow, what a blessing because we really would have missed our flight" then when they told us they couldn't get us on a plane until two days later (because it was the holidays and they had to reschedule everyone on our whole plane) we weren't sure it was such a great blessing. Well anyway after a night in a hotel, a rude Delta lady that made me cry, trying to go standby despite the fact that every flight was overbooked by like 8 people, and almost running out of diapers we finally made it home the day after our canceled flight and it really felt like a Christmas miracle. Overall it was a great trip and Addie was mostly a little angel traveling.