Day 3:

Okay, sorry for the delay... Day 3: We woke up the next day and decided to check out after we took showers and felt like the place would fall down if you turned on the water again. So I went to check out and my friend came with me, while Paige decided to start packing up the car. I was waiting in line and the guy in front of me was arguing with the manager of the hotel about how he was being charge $150.00 over what he had originally agreed to pay for the room. While standing in line, Paige came in and told us that they were arresting some people who had stayed the night before... one of which was a guy who had been "eyeing us" the night before! CREEPY! After 10 min. the manager was starting to fold, and then without any hesitation checked me out (which i was not sure he would do since I had reserved a room for the whole weekend). So, I went upstairs, got my stuff & we were OUT OF THERE!!! It was quite the experience!

After all of that, Paige, Preston & I met up with Preston's friend Sonya. She grew up in San Francisco and was kind enough to take us EVERYWHERE you would ever want to go in San Francisco! I was so tired by the end of the day that I could barely keep my eyes open - but it was really AWESOME to have our own personal tour guide!

Here we are on the top of a hill by Sonya's Parent's House:



Then we went to see one of San Fran's many stair cases:


And then we are at the beach...


Golden Gate Park: (they had some gardens there that were BEAUTIFUL!)




And along the way we got gas and used the bathroom...


And we went to another famous hill to get a view of the city:



We also stopped to see a building (I can't remember what it's called) that's by the observatory. There were some plants there and Preston said that they LOOKED like you could sit on them. SO, we decided to take some pictures of us "sitting" on them. Pretty convincing huh?: (maybe not...)



We visited the famous Gold Gate Bridge! And actually I enjoyed the flowers that were planted near the observation area just as much as I did the bridge! (It's the florist in me:) )




And we also drove down Lombard Street (the curviest road in the world):


Then we ended the day down near Fisherman's Warf... We had a lot of goofy pictures down here. The Lobster Picture was taken without me knowing what was even on my head! Preston snuck up behind me, put it on my head and then started taking pictures... man I was good looking! The others are of Paige and I practicing our statue poses...




At the end of the day we found headed to this really NICE!!! Hotel that we paid 40% of the original price to stay at. It was MUCH better than the previous night and made for a Great night's sleep! So that wraps up Day 3!

DAY 2:

We woke up early, showered, and headed out the door by 8:45. The plan was to make it to Reno in time for a sacrament meeting at 1:00. Again, we were on the road and it was less "exciting" but do-able. We stopped once for gas and a bathroom break, but pretty much just drove, drove, drove. We made it to Reno, but missed the first 15 min. of sacrament. After church we headed to a gas station to change our clothes and make some sandwiches with stuff from the cooler we had packed. One of the things we packed to eat were cherries.




I know I am a little barbaric and a bad influence on people in general - so once the sandwiches were gone I taught Paige and Preston how to spit cherry pits as far as they could... we were basically having a contest in the gas station parking lot - People kept looking at us kind of funny... not sure why?

After the contest fun we headed for San Francisco. Along the way we saw a sign for Lake Tahoe and I told them we HAD to stop. I have only been there once for like an hour but it is so beautiful that I couldn't let them miss it! So, we stopped and took a look around on this nice, quiet little beach. It was at this moment that we started the "photo frenzy" which continued throughout the remainder of the trip. I will share a fraction of them...




In this last one you can see that Paige is writing in the sand...

She was writing...





A few days prior to our departure on the worlds greatest road-trip, a friend of used this phrase to describe what he'd be "up to lately"... We decided to "Live The Dream" on out trip after Paige wrote these inspirational words in the sand - So, of course we all took more pictures :)





After these fabulous photo's Paige decided to take her "photo shoot" for the day.




And then we ended our visit with a grown up "picture war" where Paige and Preston tried to take pictures of each other... I guess I didn't care if I got my picture taken because I am the cheese ball that's just standing there smiling...



Anyways, once we were back on the road, we didn't stop until we made it to San Francisco. These last pictures are of us being excited as we crossed over a bridge into the big city... once we were there we started on some MORE exciting adventures... they involved a creepy neighborhood, strange men watching us unload our car at the strangely creepy, getto motel and a water system that sounded like a space ship taking off when you used the shower:) I'll get into more details on Day 3... that's when things really got interesting... Don't worry, the Police seemed to have everything under control... :)

"Livin' the Dream" in 2008!

OK! So I love my job because it allows me to have 2 months where I get to do WHATEVER I WANT - Okay, well ALMOST whatever I want. Anyways, this year Paige and I decided that we should go on a road trip to see the west coast. The idea was to start in Southern California and go up to Washington and perhaps even Canada - but then Gas Prices kept going up... sad!

So, with gas the price it was, and with Paige's best buddy moving from So. California to Idaho - we decided to start in San Francisco because Paige had never been there. From there we'd visit the Red Wood Forest and then go to Portland and back home! The more we planned, the more excited I got! As we were telling our good friend about this we realized that he would be in San Fran. the same time we would & with a little persuasion, we convinced him to come with us for the WHOLE trip (yeah, we are pretty good at the guilt trip - comes in handy in our profession!) Now you know what happened, I'll explain the juicy details with as many pictures as I think I can put on this baby!

DAY 1:
We didn't end up leaving Salt Lake until like 5:20 on Saturday afternoon. We started to go two times, but I kept forgetting things! Luckily we were only going to Elko, NV the first night or we'd have been in big trouble. Once Paige and I finally left the house, we picked up Preston (aka P-diddy... yeah we aren't too original in giving people nick-names...) This is us loading him up!

Once we got Preston loaded we went to grab some gas for the car. I started looking through my purse for my debit card but couldn't find it... I realized that I had put it in my pocket earlier that morning when we went to the movies, and thought "it must be in my pants!" So we headed back home and while in route I found it. So after an hour of "leaving" we were finally on the way! The drive was uneventful and we got to Elko just in time for a great dinner provided by my wonderful friend Anne and her husband Colby! They were so kind and even made us some home-made ice cream, which was fantastic! (Preston really liked it since it was his first home-made ice cream ever!) We all chatted for a bit and then hit the sack. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we were at their house! I was really mad when I realized that... Don't worry we made up for it later in the trip.

I moved!!! & Catching up!

Okay, the other day I was one the phone with my friend Jared, and he got after me for not being caught up on what is going on with my life!

So, for those of you who weren't aware, I moved at the end of June. I moved from Murray/Holladay and am now living in the big city of Sandy. Yep, its the 4th biggest city in Utah - so huge I almost feel like I could get lost here... We (Paige and I) have moved into another town house and have two new roommates. They are our "soul sisters". There names are Kelly & Ashley Kitchen and when we are all home, we have a lot of fun together... unfortunately we are not all home very often - we are all pretty busy these days and have been out of town a lot.

Our new place has three levels -two rooms upstairs, a kitchen & living room on the middle level and a bedroom in the basement (all the rooms have there own bathrooms! YES!) I am living in the basement by myself... I sometimes feel like I live in my own little world and forget to come out since I have my own bathroom and a TV in my room... if I had a refrigerator I wouldn't ever have to come out - good thing I eat a lot so I don't get stuck in there for hours!

Anyways, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who helped us with the move! We had so much help that we were basically done in like 2-3 hours - which for those of you who know how much stuff I have, means we were SPEEDY! Here's a picture! (This is my messy room... I have started to do school work and here it is ALL OVER MY FLOOR! And the side shot is of my bathroom & closet... Jamie are you happy now? Now everyone has seen how messy my life really is!)



Okay, as for the catch up... I have been out of town for about 2 weeks, and have literally 1000 pictures from the two trips... I will do my best to put up pictures and descriptions of our daily activities starting with Day 1 through Day 9 and then I'll add an entry of my backpacking trip... I also have some exciting progress happening with my new business to share with everyone - so be prepared - I have been "busy" or down right lazy and have a lot to make up! SO - Happy reading over the next few weeks!