Northern Cal

This little school was the elementary in 1906 which stands close to my elementary, Westside School. At the Memorial, I ran into my librarian from Westside! I loved her! I also worked here before leaving for college. (It was a preschool then.)

Me with the hitching post. One of the only things that has stayed constant about this house! I always tried to envision the horses lined up on the post back in the glory days of this old home!

This is where I spent my entire life until I left for college!

Mmmmmm! Fresh oranges picked in an orchard near my old home. Kelly was probably trespassing but hey, it's the country!

Me and my "pops" in front of a giant redwood in the Healdsburg Plaza. Not quite Muir Woods but we didn't have time! I miss these trees!

Me and my mom in the Plaza after a quick jaunt around the cute shops and bakeries!

Speaking of bakeries, this is the best place I know of (outside of France of course) that sells divine croissants! Kel and I stopped on our way from Petaluma to Healdsburg for a treat-almond, dark chocolate raspberry, apricot, cinnamon walnut....they were GOOD! Luckily my mom hadn't been there before us because she would have taken all the good stuff! She loves this place!

I love nurseries! This one was on our way to Half Moon Bay. It always catches my attention because I love how the moss grows on the building, plus it has really wonderful plants!

We had brunch in Half Moon Bay and then ran into this antique shop. Both Kel and I love to hunt through places like this. I found a few things but the prices were sort of high. Kelly found an 1800's addition of Homer's Odyssey for $12 so that was our big purchase. But I did ease drop on some ladies shopping there and found out about the Oakland "White Elephant" flea market so I'll keep that in mind. Isn't this stove so cute?

This is the kind of art you find in Northern Cal. I love all the quirky stuff that people make and sell here.

There were blossoms EVERYWHERE! AND it was sooooo green and lush! Flowers were in bloom in February! Not fair!

These California weekends don't happen near enough. Being with my extended family doesn't happen near enough but when it does, I am reminded of just how special these people are and how lucky I am to be a part of their lives. Unfortunately I was too busy yapping to get any photos when I was with them! Anything I did get wasn't worth posting. This trip wasn't really about these frivolous things in the pictures but the PEOPLE, just want to make that clear. I LOVE my family! It was soooo nice to see all my cousins, aunts, uncles and my PARENTS! (They drove from UT to CA for the Memorial.) First stop was the East Bay though, to see my friend Jennefer and her family. We also stopped by a ward gathering put on by my old ward in Castro Valley on Saturday. I got to see the people who were my life for 7 1/2 years! It was wonderful as usual! Then on Sunday I met up with my Mom and Dad in Healdsburg for church at the ward we grew up in. Believe it or not there are still families there in that small ward that we still know and love! Some of these families helped shape my life and it was a sweet experience! The reason for this trip was my uncle's memorial that day and so we made a slow drive down Westside Road to Bishop's Ranch which is were the service was and also the road that takes me by my old house! My Mom and Dad and Kelly and I stopped for a few pictures, picked some oranges, absorbed the views, the GREEN rolling hills, the mustard flowers blanketing those hills, the gnarly old oak trees with mistletoe caught in their branches, grape vines, old barns, and wineries. The memorial service was beautiful! My dad gave a life sketch of his older brother that was basically a compilation of memories from their lives! It was light hearted and full of wonderful detail. The best part though was at the end of his "speech" he expressed his deepest feelings about life and his religious view on death. It was very sweet and heart felt and something that I know he's always wanted to do. His family is Catholic and so they have slightly different perspectives but this didn't stop him! He has always been courageous in choosing to depart from the church and join the Mormon faith and this was a shining moment for him! He did an EXCELLENT job on the whole speech but the end touched my heart and brought me to tears. His family did such a beautiful job with the music, photo slide show, and their shared memories of their father. I had fun catching up with cousins later and had to literally be pulled away by Kelly so we could get my parents back to their hotel. We later ventured to SF for a scrumptious dinner with Patrick (Kelly's good friend from Visa) and got to see his wife and baby son as well. So, we covered a lot of ground in 3 days from East Bay to Sonoma County to SF, and all those miles brought us to some of the most important people in our lives! It was a weekend I won't soon forget! In memory of David Dale, "Jesus bless you!" and "Praise the Lord!" (he said this a lot!!!!)