We were able to take Josh, Tim and Sara away for a long weekend in San Diego, so Josh could show us his mission and friends before Tim took off for his mission. It was a wonderful weekend!
Friday morning we went to the tide pools at Ocean Beach and met the Nielsen family. Erik and Melisa were great to Josh when he was serving in their area. She sent me lots of pictures and videos of him when they would have the elders over for dinner or meetings. Erik was the ward mission leader. It was great to finally meet the people we have grown to love over texts and facebook.
The rocks were covered with thousands of tiny crabs. They scattered every time you took a step.
It was gorgeous! Such a nice reprieve from the hot desert in mid July.
We walked out on the Ocean Beach Pier.
Then we went and had lunch with the Putts at Colima's Mexican food to have California burritos, carne asada with french fries, guac, sour cream etc. all wrapped up in a yummy tortilla.
Josh with Brother and Sister Putts
Josh showed us Grant Hill Park, one of his favorite places to meet people or to study. The view was amazing!
We met Michelle and Junior. They were baptized a few days before Josh finished his mission. They were so sweet. It was wonderful to hear how they felt about Josh and all the things Josh was able to help them with. There was a lot of love.
We were well entertained as we drove around to different places. Always laughing.
We had dinner in Poway at the Guanuna's house. They are a delightful family. I could see why Josh felt so at home there. They have lots of kids like us and love to tease and be silly. They gave us a walking tour of their neighborhood and of old town Poway. We fell in love with their family!
We went to visit one of the ward missionaries Josh worked with, Stan, and when we got to his house the elders were there. Josh was able to see his last companion, Elder Kersten.
Then we watched Doctor Strange on Stan's 3-D TV. It was pretty awesome! Stan was a cool guy. He told us lots of ghost stories. It was interesting.
Saturday morning we went to the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful inside and out!
After that we went to Alyssa McVay's house in Ramona. Her property was so cool! Her backyard has a creek that runs through it, lots of wildlife and just beautiful nature. We watched a hawk in the trees for awhile and then played with the tiny frogs. Alyssa was super friendly and sweet.
Next, we visited the Perfect family. They told us they are Perfect in name only. What an awesome last name! Josh had fun with their cute little dogs. This photo cracks me up!
The Perfects are so adorable! They are expecting their first baby.
Josh and Tim had fun with the gecko too.
While in Ramona, which is a pretty small town, we found a Thai restaurant! Pinto Thai did not disappoint. I guess pinto means lunch box in Thai. We loved our food! Everyone said that it was the only place to go to eat if you didn't want tacos. It was a pretty little restaurant too.
Sara had the pumpkin Thai basil chicken.
Rich got the massaman curry.
Josh got green curry.
Tim got massaman curry with peppers and Thai basil.
I got the Panang Curry. The eggplant in it was DIVINE!
We hurried to the Salvation Army to get Josh another pair of shorts before they closed. He didn't have time to go in a dressing room so he tried them on over his pants. Pretty classy!
The Heaps were the kind couple that housed us for the weekend. Brother Heap is in the mission presidency. We stayed in their basement. Their neighborhood is gorgeous!
Sunday at church we got to meet KenaDee's brother, Mikal, aka Elder Anderson. He is serving in the Poway ward that we went to. It was like meeting new family, since we are so close with his family and also since he and Josh served together.
It was so awesome to finally meet him!
Sister Young gave Josh a belated Christmas gift, foam swords. She was the Relief Society President in the ward when Josh was there. She said that she loved how great Josh worked with and served the members of the ward. She was so touched when Josh homemade chicken noodle soup for her on the night she had cancelled on feeding the missionaries, because she was sick. She had never had a missionary do something like that for her. It was so fun to see all the lives Josh was able to touch for good.
Sister Young, Josh and Sister Casados
The Casados family had us over for lunch. They are a hysterical family. I don't know if Sister Casados ever says anything straight out, everything she said was so funny. She called Tim "Eyebrows". She loved his eyebrows and couldn't get over how perfect they are. Kylee, on the far right, was someone Josh was able to teach and see baptized while he was serving there. It was great to meet her too.
After the Casados, we went to the Jorgesen's house. Brother Jorgesen is the bishop of the Poway ward. They have 7 kids so Josh felt very at home there too. Bishop Jorgesen served his mission in Korea so he and Tim had a lot to talk about. He even had kimchi on hand for us to try. It was surprisingly good. We like vinegar, cabbage and spicy food, so it wasn't crazy weird to us.
Here is Tim's first bite. He actually ate quite a bit.
The Jorgensen Family
I was trying to catch Tim and Bishop Jorgensen shaking hands Korean style and bowing, but I missed it.
Sunday night, we went to a special missionary program. It was put on by the missionaries of the San Diego Mission for the community to learn about the church. It was FULL of beautiful musical numbers and powerful conversion stories. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.
At the program we were finally able to get a picture with our hosts, Brother and Sister Heap. They were so kind and generous to us during our visit.
We got one more picture with Mikal since Tim won't see him again for a couple of years.
Monday morning was beach day! I dropped everyone off at the Scripps Beach and I went shopping at as many Goodwill Stores as I could squeeze in. I loved the Hillcrest Goodwill. They had a lot of nice things at Goodwill prices. I got a cute dress!
Rich and the kids had a wonderful time at the beach even though the kids got fried! They even reapplied sunscreen. We think it was an old bottle that didn't do it's job well. Tim had it the worst. He was lobster red.
This is pre-sunburns.
After the beach they rinsed off and changes clothes and then we drove home. They were crazy funny the whole drive. In this picture Sara was reading the book Personality Plus out loud in a really weird voice. We were all laughing hysterically. Josh was crying.
It was a memorable trip for sure. I will treasure this special weekend forever!
