6 Weeks in California

I'm finally back from a 6 week vacation in California!! 
And once again, I didn't update this blog once! I really need to get better at that!

Here is my vacations recap:

Weeks 1-3:
The main reason for my trip was to receive my endowments with with cousin Zach, who is also serving a mission, he gets to go to Brazil! On Saturday September 21, all of my family went to the Newport Beach Temple to be with Zach and I as we went through the temple for ourselves! It was one of the best experiences I have ever had! However, once we got out and started taking a bund of pictures, this couple told us congrats as if Zach and I had just gotten sealed! Eww! NO! We are future missionaries! After that day I was finally an official temple recommend holder and that means I can go into any temple! The next 2 week my mom and I went to the Los Angeles Temple and Redlands Temple together. Zach and his mom went with us to the San Diego temple too. Being able to go to all those temples with my mom was such a blessing and great experience, and I will never forget the feelings I had in each temple.

Weeks 4-6:
After my mom, dad, and Annie and her kids left, I stayed at Christie's place. If you guys know me, you know that Jaxon, Christie's youngest, and I are super close! I'm HIS Bobby! My last weeks consisted of a lot of Jax and Mikie time. Every morning I woke up at 5:45 to take Mikie to surf. Some mornings I watched him and others I ran. Watching Mikie is super hard! You literally have to keep your eyes on him the WHOLE time or you lose him for good!  You can't even try to lie to him and say you were watching because that kid will test you! But as the time went on, I got better at watching him and finding him if I lost him. After surfing was over, it was Jaxon time. Man, that kid is a ball of crazy, energetic, sneakiness! But I love him! Christie and I started potty training him, and he actually did really good! Only downside was that whenever I had to go to the bathroom, he would follow me and keep Bobby company. Christie and Mike even let me babysit Jax all alone for a whole weekend! And oh boy, was that a weekend! Every night Jax stayed up till 3 in the morning! He's more of a party animal than I was in college! In the end, the was one of the best weekends I have ever had and its awesome knowing that Christie and Mike trust me that much to leave Jax with me! Then, I got an awesome surprise visit from my best friend Joss! She initially came down for a concert, but got to spend 3 days with me! We went to 1,000 Steps Beach and explored this awesome cave, shopped around in Laguna and HB, and just hung out. I'm just glad I got to see her before I have to leave for my mission!! I also went to Universal Studios for the first time thanks to Zach and his mom! It was so fun and definitely like no other amusement park! Finally, the time came for Zach to leave for his mission. The Sunday before he left was a busy, busy day! In the morning we had his farewell, then his open house, later that night we went to set him apart, and finally ended the night when he got his patriarchal blessing. His whole family left the next day to take him up to Provo. The day I got home was his first official day in the MTC. So far Zach is doing great. He said he learned more Tongan in a week than he learned Spanish in two years! That's probably what happens when the Spirit is teaching you. I know Zach is going to be one of the best missionaries and the people of Tonga will be very blessed to have him. Sadly my vacation came to an end, and I had to say goodbye to my California family. I guess what made this goodbye so hard was the fact that I won't be able to see them for 20+ months and 18 of those months I can only communicate with them through letters and emails! But all will be well...I just hope they know I expect weekly letters and emails from them all!