Adventure #2 California - LA, San Francisco, Sacramento

After Sonya and Tyler's wedding in AZ, we drove to CA for half a week for their reception in Sacramento. We took a little detour and stopped off in LA at the Chinese Consulate so I could pick up my visa. Unfortunately, leaving at 3 am didn't cut it. We didn't get there early enough to get it back the same day. Thus we spent the rest of the day in horrendous LA traffic looking for a hotel on the way to Santa Monica beach. This doesn't even do it justice :)

Let's just say we spent a little more than I wanted to on the road....about 4 hours (that's only to go 15 miles folks). Yuck! Disgusting! Ew! Are you kidding me?!
It took us a little longer than we had expected to get to the beach, but we finally made it to Santa Monica. No time for swimming however, or bike riding.

We also spent one day in San Fran. I hadn't been since I was about 10 yrs. old so it was fun to go back. My favorite part was riding the cable car! It's no ride if you don't ride it the right way....hanging off the side! I'm surprised they still let you do that actually.

We hung out at Fisherman's Wharf, ate fresh fish, and the best of all - sourdough bread! Dee-lish-ous!

Checked out China Town.....

So I really wanted to bike across the Golden Gate bridge, but there just wasn't time. At least we got a great view of it!

To top it all off, we drove down Lumbard Street - the crazy back and forth road. Good times!

Before Sonya & Tyler's reception, we spent a few hours in Old Sacramento, the old part of town. My Mom grew up here and this is where my Grandpa lived before he passed away. I'd been as a kid and remembered it as a train town. I'd don't really have pics adequate to show, but Sacramento is gorgeous! Lots and lots of trees and really green.

Sonya & Tyler Holt

Friday, June 11 was the day of all days for Sonya and Tyler......they were married in the Mesa, AZ Temple. Here are a few pictures for your delight of my little sis and new bro in law. Welcome to the family Tyler! We're so excited to have you!

Later that evening there was a luncheon (slash dinner) at the Arizona Grand Resort to celebrate. Lots of family and friends came to share in the special occasion, enjoy the delicious food, preview the wedding video, give toasts, and listen to Sonya and Tyler give their thanks and appreciation to each other and their families.

It was such a wonderful day and the weather was very cooperative, not too hot despite it being the middle of June in AZ. Everything was SO nice. The reception in Thatcher was last night and now they are off to Cancun, arriving back next weekend for the next reception in Sacramento, CA. Pics to come!

All photos by Erik Lono

Thatcher Reception

Sonya and Tyler's reception was AMAZING!! Sonya had come up with all of these ideas from looking at various blogs so we put them all together and the final result turned out much better than expected. Her colors were Tiffany Blue and Yellow with a hint of green and pink. Here are some pictures from Erik Loño, my bro-in-law, with his artistic eye. Probably one of the best receptions Thatcher has ever seen! The time flew by too quickly chatting and catching up with old family friends. It was so good to see everyone again!

Adventure #1 Moab, UT

Sunday afternoon a group of us left for Moab. I had never been before so I was super excited! I wasn't disappointed either! I love Moab! It was a way fun trip. We hiked to Delicate Arch as soon as we got in. Here's the whole gang below with the arch in the background.

We ate at Slickrock Cafe while enjoying some live music then set off to the desert to find a camp spot. We found one alright, but pretty much in the middle of no where. We just camped out in the open under the stars. I've never done that before but I loved it.

The next morning we did the Double O hike. This is Landscape Arch, on the way of the trail. A section of it on the right has actually fallen off, the very narrow part.

This is actually ON TOP of Double O Arch, which is actually one arch on top of the the other. The boys just couldn't resist going all the way to the very top. Figures :) Boys will be boys.

You can actually climb on top of the double arches. Here we are! How rad is that?! You can't really tell you're standing on top of an arch though when you're up there. It was quite the climb.

That was probably my most favorite hike. It was just really cool with lots of different rocks and very scenic.
Afterwards, we went to the local Hippie Hole as they call it, a place to cool off, swim and jump from some cliffs. This was also one of my favorites. You hiked up to this swimming hole surrounded by red rock. There were different levels to jump from, but you had to land it just right as it wasn't very deep. I jumped from the shorter level and just couldn't resist the higher one. It was about 20-25 feet high. They caught a video of me jumping too. You had to just barely step off the ledge, right over the tree branch you can see, otherwise you would hit too shallow. Man, was it an adrenaline rush!! My heart has never felt so frightened before. What a thrill. I liked it so much I jumped twice, haha! Oh man, what a trip! Good fun with good friends.

Ya, I am Swedish

Elise, Erik, Ryan, Maranda, my cousin Nick, my Aunt Jeanie, my Uncle Norm, and I all went down to Ephraim on Saturday to visit the cemetary for Memorial Day. That's where most of my grandparents and great grandparents are buried, including my Grandma Anderson who just passed away a little over a month ago.

Then we went over to Scandinavian Days to enjoy some delicious Swedish food and entertainment. Of course I had to take a picture with the Viking. He wasn't as cool as last year though.