We did it. We survived having house guests. Specifically my brother and his now *fiance* aaaaaaayyyyyyyy!

Like Blake said, we started the trip dating and now we aren't. So smooth. He had some real gems this trip.

We started in Yosemite and hot damn. We stayed in the cutest little cabins ever and we found a Living Social deal online so it was even cheaper! It had just enough room for two nights and then it probably would have caused some fights.

#outdoorsy

We hiked up the Upper Falls trail and, you guys, it chewed me up. I'm not in great shape, like I do a lot of walking and occasional running, so I was thinking it would be okay. It was almost not okay. Thankfully, my husband is the most patient human being and had the perfect mix of encouragement and tough love so I got my butt up that mountain.

My lagging behind also allowed Blake and Laura (they are really in shape) some time to be alone so that he could propose to her. AHHH I still cannot handle it.

We made it to Columbia rock and this was our view.


It looks like a desktop background. It was amazing. It took a long time but it was so worth it. We came back the next day and did some more hiking, because we are crazy. We hiked up to Vernal Falls which was also crazy beautiful.


Almost half of it was stupid crazy steep stone steps. My thighs have never burned so bad. My top butt (anatomical term) is still sore. Also how majestic does my Eagle Scout husband look?

We left our fun cabin and headed to Napa Valley to visit our California mom, Judy, and got an amazing tour of her winery. We also were able to sample their wine and it was so so so good.



So cool. It was the fanciest work environment ever. They have an amazing kitchen staff to make lunches, a lap pool, a basketball court, a soccer field, an ENTIRE gym, multiple theaters, and 12 bars. For drinking. Not during the day. I don't think.

Anyway it was so cool.

Overall the trip was amazing. It was so fun to show off Berkeley, to experience it with fresh eyes, and to check off a lot of things on our CA bucket list. In the end I'm slightly shell-shocked and missing my family like crazy but so incredibly grateful that we were able to spend time together.

Ahh feelings. Anyway, sorry a lot of the photos are just Instagram duplicates buuut I love Instagram. I'm sure I left out a ton of details (like how Edge of Tomorrow is surprisingly good, and that I successfully meal planned a camping trip, and that we named some stray cats Will Smith and Kevin James) but my brain is foggy and a little mushy. In the best way.

Go Gonzaga!

This post is probably going to be sappy and drawn out and a little over-indulgent. But I want to write it down now, when I remember it, when I'm still overwhelmed in the best way and still in awe of what all happened.

So, if you aren't into those things, I don't blame you, you can click clack away.

Buuuuuut if you are into those things, please make yourself comfy.

John and I were blessed to spend the whole week before our wedding to be with our families, finish final details, and sleep in. It was awesome.

Hannah threw a perfect Bachelorette party which included wine, underwear, fries, brownies, popcorn, and a mouse. Perfect.

The rehearsal was Friday and apparently we picked readings that weren't actually approved...whoops. We thought we pulled them from a Catholic website but we were wrong. But, our priest, Fr. Holdren, called the chancery and got them okay-ed...so there you go.

Besides that, there were no snags, no problems, no issues. Unless there were and I just didn't hear about them. And then we got married.

our teammates, Maya and Leanne

old farts reading by a vineyard

Mendocino coast

Mendocino coast

redwoods

Sacramento Cathedral

Wine tasting at Duckhorn

 We had a wine tasting and it made me realize that I know nothing about wine. Just that I like it and I like it red.

The Oh Hello's in Sacramento

 The Oh Hello's are potentially my favorite band and we saw them live in Sacramentooooo. It was such a gift. In October we saw that they were doing a West Coast tour and we thought, there's no way we would be able to see them. But, oh, we did. And they were amazing. You know when you go and see a band you really love and you are so nervous they are going to be terrible live, or they won't sound good, or they will be jerks and snobs, or they will sound different?

None of that was true. They were humble and gracious and crazy talented.

we got new books for ourselves before our flight out

Inn-N-Out is my favorite

Every experience we had was amazing and we wanted to call it quits because how could it get better? But it always got better. We are so blessed. Then we drove home on Saturday night and when we got home our apartment was arranged, unpacked, and beautifully decorated. Our teammates (and some students) had a key, let themselves in, and spent the day organizing a-TLC-Hoarders-episode level of chaos into HGTV level beauty.

I cried like a baby. It's amazing and such a beautiful gift.

Anyway, that's what happened. It was so great. Let me gush a little bit more.
But not right now.

Thanks for reading, y'all.

I knew there would be a lot of perks to moving to Berkeley and being a missionary here.

1. I would be with John. That's the main one.
2. Berkeley is a cool place.
3. Our offsite retreats and planning weekends take place in Napa Valley.

Game changer.

It takes a lot of get FOCUS onto a campus, but it takes even more effort to get it into a diocese or a state that's new. Getting FOCUS to CA took literally 15 years. One of the main reasons why there are even missionaries out here is because of Judy Barrett.

Judy and her late husband Jim own a winery called Chateau Montelena. In 1976 there was a wine tasting in Paris, now called "The Judgement of Paris" and no American wine had ever won the competition, or taken seriously, but the Barrett's entered their chardonnay and it won a blind taste test and won the whole dang thing. They basically put Napa on the map. Also there is a movie about it, which is grossly fictionalized says Judy.

Anyway, they are amazing people. They love FOCUS and Judy is our Berkeley Mom. She has a sweatshirt to prove it.


She just loves us. And we are so grateful since we don't know a lot of people out here and we are desperately missing our family and friends. It was such a gift to be in a home and not a barely unpacked apartment.

She gave us strength for the journey and I am so grateful.