Aunt Grace

My Aunt Grace passed away in early June. She was actually my great aunt. My mom's aunt. My mom lived with her for 5 years growing up. I didn't think I would be able to go to the funeral because Kevin was out of town for work and would not get home until the day before the funeral and I would need to get to California. My parents plus all of my sisters and my brother were all going to go so I knew I needed to figure out a way to get there. It was not smooth but I got there.

First I had to reschedule a couple of appointments and get a bunch of work done...while Kevin was out of town. Then Kevin was scheduled to fly in at 12:30 and I would fly out at 4:30. I figured we would pick him up come home so I could pack my stuff in the one rolling bag we have and then take me back to the airport....however his flight was delayed. He finally got in at 2:30. I picked him up, we pulled over on the side of the road, moved all his stuff out of the bag and put my stuff in and then drove back around and dropped me off...it was a mess for sure. Once I was checked in and waiting for my flight I looked up and noticed the status had changed for my flight to delayed. After waiting in the airport an extra 2 hours we finally boarded the plane. Then we had to wait another hour on the plane before we took off. Needless to say I was happy to finally get to San Fransisco. Too bad once I got there I had to wait another hour and a half for Heather to get in (her flight was also delayed out of Atlanta). Once Heather and Jared arrived at like 11pm we finally got to the BART and took the hour + ride into Hayward so my Dad could pick us up at after midnight. It was a long long day.

The next day (Saturday) was the funeral. It was nice to see all the family on my Mom's side. It was the first time that all of my siblings were together in 7 years! Some of the grandkids came as well. Heather brought Jared. Fawn brought Fara. Cassie brought Chynna and Hudson. After the funeral we visited my Grandma Rose's grave. Then my mom drove us around and showed us all her houses growing up. It was fun to see them.

Fawn, Heather and Me.

All of us.Grandma Rose's grave

Aunt Grace's house
my mom's house when she was 6-12 (about)
My mom's house at the end high school. My grandma still lived here when my parents moved in for a few months when Heather was 1 and Fawn was born.

Dusty, my brother, is living in Santa Cruz in a yirt with his girlfriend Mali. Most of the family visited his yirt on Friday before I arrived so I was not with them but I have pictures :)

the yirt

inside the yirt

the bathroom, really I am not kidding

the hillbilly hot tubthe shower
the ovenDusty and their lamb....named "Mr Lamby Face...or Mr Lamby Butt" depending on my brother's mood. He wants to eat the lamb and his girlfriend wants to keep him as a pet...

On Sunday we went to Santa Cruz area. Our first stop was at some Redwood trees. We went on a nature walk, the trees are just amazing. Then we went to a beach near Dusty's house. It was a great beach...it was just super windy. After we parked on the side of the road we had to walk up at step hill (in the sand in flip flops) and the cross some rail road tracks and then down a step hill to get to the beach. We decided to cook dinner on the beach so we had to carry all sorts of stuff up and then down the hill...in the wind...in flip flops. We wondered around the beach for a bit it was nice and empty. Off to one side there were some cool rocks that the waves (very large waves) were crashing into. We walked over to the side and climbed up on the rocks only to discover a group of people on the other side nude sun bathing! Since we had the kids with us we quickly moved back to the other side of the beach!! The wind was making it quite cold so Cassie decided to make a fire...out of dried seaweed. No a very good idea. First it was so windy that you could not get out of the way of the smoke. Second burnt dried seaweed does not smell good AT ALL! Dusty was in charge of cooking, also not a very good idea. We were all ready to eat and leave. Once the food was ready I took one bite and realized it was covered in sand, yuck! That was it for me. A few people enjoyed there sandy chicken and then we packed up and carried all the stuff back up and down the hill! Not the best day at the beach.

inside a tree!

Monday we decided to go into San Fransisco. We visited the Golden Gate Bridge, of course, and then headed down to Fisherman's Wharf. I was driving and I only ran one red light and almost hit one person....ooops. I was trying to follow my dad and it was hard to see the street lights on the side of the road. We had fun wondering around downtown. We took the cable car to China town. Cassie wanted us to eat Dim Sum so she picked a small shop and just started ordering all sorts of stuff. It was fun to try all of it but I can't say I thought any of it was especially good. It was getting late so we walked back to our cars and dropped Heather off at the BART station so she would catch the red eye back to Atlanta. That night we got all backed up to leave early the next morning.

the Bay Bridge

funny sisters

from the Golden Gate Bridge...it was super foggy/hazy

JaredChynnaFara

Tuesday morning bright and early we were all getting ready and everyone but me (I was flying home) loaded in my Dad's car to drive home (to Utah) and the car would not start! They called AAA and got it started but it took like and hour. I was flying home so I was to return the rental car. I didn't plan well and almost missed my flight! I had to return the rental car to the Oakland airport...on the way there I hit traffic. Once I got there the agent was not out there and took 5 min to show up. Then I didn't know that I would have to take a 10 min shuttle from the Oakland airport to the BART station. Then I just missed the train and had to wait 10 min for the next one. I got to the San Fransisco airport 55 min before my flight. Luckily when I got in line to check in they asked if there was anyone for the Denver flight and I got to move to the front of the line. Then at the security line I was able to move to the front of the line again. I got to my gate right as they were boarding.

It was a great trip but it was full of craziness! I missed the kids and Kevin so it was good to be home!