I Left My Heart in San Francisco...

As promised, here is a more detailed account of the adventures Andrew and I had in California...Texas to come soon. I'm going chronologically here so as not to leave anything out.

On August 25th at 10:00 am, Andrew's flight was supposed to be arriving from Texas. I was SO excited to see him again after our dabble with long-distance (We hadn't been in the same state from April-July, then we saw each other for about a week in July, and then he was back in Texas). I hardly slept at all the night before, and I was off bright and early to drive to Sacramento to pick him up. I had a blast singing along with my iPod and zipping down the highway- I don't drive, I fly. Ha ha. When I got to the airport I was there about 20-30 minutes before Andrew was supposed to land, and I hadn't heard anything from him since he got on the plane, so I stopped at that Chevron station just before you go into the mess of that airport and picked up some water for us both and a pack of gum. Y'know I wanted to have fresh breath for when I ...talked to Andrew face-to-face again. Hehehe. At 10:00 on the dot I walked through the doors, so excited to see him come down that escalator. There were no room for butterflies in my tummy, because I had pterodactyls in there instead!

So I'm standing in front of the elevator, staring at it like a moron, and all of a sudden I feel someone's hand on my shoulder and feel them moving in freakishly close to my face. I jumped! and even screamed a little baby bit. As I turned though, I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief as I realized it was only my Andrew, and not some new Sacramento serial killer. Once the initial shock wore off I was really glad to see him! We hugged and kissed a bit, then we drove home. Along the way we stopped off for lunch. Andrew really wanted to try In-N-Out because he'd heard so much about it, so that's where we went. I'll be honest: he wasn't too impressed. After that, we drove the rest of the way home. Andrew met Mr. Darcy, which I was nervous about because Darcy doesn't usually like men, but he loved Andrew.
      

Darcy loved Andrew immediately. Translation: Andrew passed test #1! Ha. 

After Andrew became acquainted with Mr. Darcy, he got a chance to meet my Mom. Once again, he passed with flying colors! Soon after he met my Dad, Nana (my paternal grandmother), and Aunt Anna. It was a big day! Thursday night we just kind of hung out and took it easy and everyone got a chance to get to know one another. OH! And I gave Andrew a tour of "the sights" in Turlock that day. I showed him everything there is to see- the hospital where my parents met and where I was born, the church where our reception will be held, the schools I attended, the local hang outs, homes of friends and family members... I chatted his ear off about what each place was and why it was significant, and the whole dang tour took about 30 minutes.

The next day Andrew and I went to breakfast at Latiff's with my friends Monica and Alicia. It was so great that we got to do that, because I know they really wanted to meet him, and I hadn't seen them in a while either. We had a blast making jokes about all the old people at Latiff's and watching Monica squirm! Ha ha. After that Andrew, my parents and I headed into Modesto so that Andrew could meet Nita, my maternal grandmother. We also made a pit stop at....the jewlery store! in Modesto that Mom and I had scoped out. We showed Andrew the ring I had my heart set on, ordered his ring while we had his hands there, and took care of some very sparkly business :)

The next day was Saturday, and we had been planning all along to go Yosemite, but on the Friday night news we heard there was a pretty major fire blocking the entrance we always take, so we made a small change of plans. Saturday morning we set off for "The City" (San Francisco) instead! Andrew was really excited about that, he had never been and always wanted to see it. And boy did he! We dragged that boy all over as much of the city as we were able to cover. Oh! How could I forget! Before we went to The City, we stopped off at the Oakland Temple, so Andrew could see where we're getting married for himself :) Oh, and here's a funny piece of the story...We get to the temple (where we ran into some friends from my home ward, the Jones family. Love them!) and start to walk around, Andrew breaks out his camera and hands it to my Mom so she can take our picture....yeah, she got about 2 pictures before the battery died! Silly Andrew who was so (mock) insulted that I reminded him to bring his camera, "You think I would forget to bring my camera to SAN FRANCISCO! Do you realize how excited I am to be going there?!" Yeah, that Andrew...he forgot to charge it! Hahahaha! So the rest of the pictures we have from that day are from my Mom's phone. I have to say, it has a pretty good quality camera...

So we walked around the temple grounds, up on the top deck, and took a brief trip through the Visitor's Center, and then it was time to be heading over the bridge into the city. We pointed out the sights from the bridge, like AT&T park where the Giants play, the TransAmerica building, Coit tower, etc. We bee-lined for the Golden Gate Bridge, which Andrew could not possibly have been more excited about driving over. It was a super foggy morning (I know what you must be thinking, "Fog? In San Francisco? Shocking!") but it was suuuper foggy. We could hardly see the bridge and we were on it. Anyway, it was the thought that counted. We tried, and we even stopped at that lookout spot just off the bridge before you get into...Sausolito..? Is that the name of that pretty little town just down the road? I'm having a senior moment here...

Anyway, after the bridge we drove around a bit and showed off more of this beautiful city. We drove past Union Square, and down by Pier 39 until we got hungry. Then we went to one of my parent's favorite restaurants, Scoma's. Scoma's is a hidden gem in San Francisco, the food is so fresh it all but swims to your plate!

Here we are at Scoma's where we had a delicious meal and fantastic service!

 After lunch we walked around a bit, and decided Andrew had to ride the trolley cars. He and I went ahead of Mom and Dad to get our tickets and get in line. Let me tell ya, that was an experience we'll never forget, because what with it being San Francisco, there were street performers there....notice I did not say talented street performers. There was one man, who I have o admit was pretty funny, chaining himself up to a tree inside of a straight jacket, his trick was getting free. But he had a pal there who for any Turlock High alum reading this, sort of reminded me of Mr. Huth...but only if Mr. Huth had long hair, and was seriously in need of a shower, clean clothes, and some talent. This guy was "a singer," but I prefer to think of him as a butcher, because let me tell ya he was ruining some of my favorite songs! And he kept going on and on about how talented he was and how he had musical training. His trick was making people's ears bleed. Eventually when he discovered that good old fashioned heckling wasn't going to deter this guy, my Dad slipped him a few bucks to get lost. Worth. Every. Penny. Once that hellish ordeal of the singing hippy was over, it was just about time to get on the trolley. I think this may have been one of Andrew's favorite activities.

Here we are on the trolley.

 Once on the trolley we met some really nice people. The ones that really stick out in my mind are Liam and ...Liam's Mom...can't say I remember her name...but I remember they were on "holiday" she said "holiday" not vacation, because originally she is from the County Core in Ireland, from Vermont and they were on their way to see the Giants play. Liam was wearing a much beloved Yankees hat, and we advised him not to wear that to the stadium. His mom thought that was sound advice, so she held it for him; but at some point during the ride it slipped from her grasp and Liam became very upset that his hat was now gone. Without missing a beat, Super Andrew jumped in to help. Literally! Andrew lept from the trolley, grabbed the hat, and was back on faster than I could say, "Stop!" I had lots of fun teasing him about that and reading every single sign we saw after that incident- you know the ones about safety tips while on the trolley...like STAY ON THE TROLLEY for instance! Anyway, other than Andrew's act of heroism, or foolishness...still can't decide how to classify that one, the trolley ride was very pleasant.

After the trolley ride we walked around some more. I showed Andrew some of the people who hang out on Market street. He was taken aback by the break dancers, sign-holders, and...let's just say it: by all the crazies. Ha. Anyway, then we headed off to Ghirardelli Square because we wanted to pick up some chocolates for Jenny (Andrew's mom), and...well, do I really need another reason? We wanted chocolate! There. I said it.

Along the way we passed by this little shop, and Andrew insisted on taking a picture of it. Oh and by the way, he stood in the middle of the road to do so. I think I may need to put this guy on a leash or something. He keeps putting himself in harm's way! Anyway, I learned the reason he just had to have a picture. Apparently this is where he and my Dad had "the talk." You know the one..."Y'know sir I think your daughter's pretty swell. I know she's your baby girl, but uhh...would you mind if we got married?" Or something like that. I don't know what was said, I only know that Andrew asked for my Dad's blessing and got it, then lied to me about it. Oh yeah. How could he not? We're talking about a scheme that involved Paul Harrison. Of course they had to tease me. Dad sent Andrew back from their little chat with the instructions, "Tell her I said 'No' and let's see what happens. Tehehe." ...I was not amused. Well...I kind of was. Once I realized they were just razzin' me. 

This is where "the talk" went down.

Once we made it to the Ghirardelli shop we all ordered our treats. Boy, they really charge you an arm and a leg for some ice cream! But it was sinfully delicious.

Here we are in heaven (aka the Ghirardelli shop) waiting for our treats to come. We had to bust a few caps to find 4 seats together, but it was worth it. By the way my court date is set for AFTER the wedding, so no need to worry about that anymore. [DISCLAIMER: This is a joke. No need to call.]

LOL. Mom got whipped cream on her nose. Isn't she cute?

After Ghirardelli, we went to the Bouhdin factory and picked up some real life San Francisco sourdough. We bought a few loaves to take home to Turlock, and a few to bring to Texas. They traveled very well :)

After we drove home from the City Andrew and I dropped the rents off at home, and then we headed to the taco truck to meet up with Adam Bishop, Mary Rowan and co. These 2 events were a Turlock necessity (meeting Mary & Adam, and eating at Taco Truck). I feel kind of bad about meeting them then, because we were both pretty tired and Andrew just wasn't his normal vivacious self. But Mary and Adam were very understanding about that, and they liked him anyway...Test #47- ACED IT.

The next day we went to church. This was a much anticipated event. During Sacrament meeting he captured the attention of the Jones' kids, Abby and Bobby, in the pew ahead of us. They LOVED him. Mom leaned over to me and said, "He's a kid magnet." Very true, Mom. Very true. Mom wasn't the only one watching and appreciating Andrew in Sacrament meeting. I had a few people come up to me throughout the block to offer me their congratulations and positive comments about Andrew. (Everyone had their eye on Andrew that day. What can I say, my ward family loves me and they were lookin' out for me.)

After church we came home, changed our clothes, and hung out for a bit. Then we headed over to Nana's house so that Andrew could meet the WHOLE gang- aunts, uncles, cousins, dogs, the whole motley crew. It was really great. Andrew helped Uncle Joe BBQ the ribs, and he and I had fun helping out with the dishes after the meal was over. It was nice seeing all of my extended family members who I hadn't seen in a while, and it was nice to just sit back and relax with family after the long day we had in the city.

The next day we got up, packed (this was stressful and I forgot a ton of stuff...hairspray...scarves...basically all of my cute clothes- I am never doing this to myself again!), and dashed off to return the rental car and to get up to the airport. We had fun talking with Mom on the way to Sacramento and hearing lots of stories.

After that it was just your basic airport routine: check your bags, stash your drugs in your carry-on, remove your shoes, belt, jewelry and any last stitch of dignity, then sit around and wait. We flew from SAC to Phoenix, had a brief layover, then went from Phoenix to Austin. Jeff [Andrew's Step-Dad...btw I don't like that term, it has such a sour connotation and he is a really great guy, so just remember his name so I don't have to explain again. Deal?]  picked us up around 11:30 and then we drove back to their house...now we're verging into Texan territory, and I promised to let that be a post all it's own. And as y'all ought to know, you "don't mess with Texas," so I'm going to keep my promise and keep you in suspense! Muahaha!

Peace and Blessings :)