Okies in Cali

Katie Lester and her family stayed with us 2 nights as they were traveling through on their summer vacation.  I grew up with Katie in the Grove Branch.  When I think of Katie (Webster, at the time) I always think of her being baptized in a horse trough and her sister Jenny.  The first, funny and the last, sad.  Both memorable.  I remember going to the Webster home to play with the girls.  But I will never forget sitting at Grandma and Grandpa's kitchen table having dinner when Grandpa got the phone call that Jenny had died, being hit by a semi.  Odd how some things never leave your memory.  I guess odd to me, because my childhood memory is horrible.  I just don't remember a lot but this I remember everything.  Even what I was eating at the time.  I had a roll in my hands, something I loved very much, and I couldn't finish it.  I left the table and went into the bedroom that me and my brother and sisters stayed in while Mom and Dad were at work.  I remember Grandma coming down and making sure I was ok.  I remember going to the Webster's house after Jenny died and crying in Rhonda's (Jenny's mom) arms.  Here I was, around 9 years old, and the mother who had just lost her child was consoling me.  Jenny was the first friend that I had lost to death.  Only a few months later, Katie/Jenny's Dad died.  That poor family.

Just before Katie left today, she was telling me the story of how her Mom and Dad met.  She was so cute as she went into detail...even down to the car that her mom and dad were driving, separately, when they met.  I wonder if that is what it is like when you lose someone or something important to you.  That you remember every detail, whether it be what you physically saw or what you were told.

 But Katie is grown now and has her own family and I was grateful they wanted to spend time with us on their vacation.

(Brigham, Levi, Hyrum, Micheal, and Mia)

First we took them to the Oakland temple.  It has a great view of San Fransisco there.  Next to the temple is a visitors center where this Christus was  inside.  It was a wonderful reminder, in everyday life, of what our Savior did for us.

(Katie with Mia, Alisa, Micheal, Levi, Hyrum, David, Brigham, and Mike)

Then we were off to cross the Golden Gate Bridge...which isn't golden at all.  Both David and I were thinking it, as we were passing over, but it was Brigham who verbally said, "It isn't very big."  We thought it would be bigger and longer but either way, it was fun to say we did it.

As we were leaving we went threw this tunnel.

Gay Pride.....Welcome to San Fransisco, baby!  David and I got a big kick out of that!

Then we took the Lester's to Muir Beach.  It is only 6 miles before Stinson Beach, which is where we went last time, yet the beaches were very different.  One of the things were these jelly looking things all around.  Levi picked one up and showed it to me.  I urgently told him to put it down in case it was a Jelly Fish!  I scared him but I didn' want to see tears that could soon follow if he messed with it for too long.

Sure enough, David and Mike put them in water and they were Jelly Fish!

Then, the boys were digging when Brigham found a sea centipede.  My pictures of it didn't turn out well so I found this one on the internet.  It looked just like this but a little more green in color.

Katie and I saw some dolphins swimming and we heard a guy passing say that he saw a sea otter.  This beach was FULL of new things to see!