It’ll Have to Do . . .

Time was flying by for me but probably not for Allie.  It was the last day before she chose to fly off to Utah a day early (to hang out with friends as well as a missionary can).  So we filled our day with . . .
yard work . . .

some puppy lovin’

a last meal at the restaurant of her choice

being set apart . . .

and packing.

It was a hard day, if you want my opinion.  The wait was nearly over.

Back to the O.C.

We took Leah to meet her great grandparents and assorted aunts and uncles.  I’m not sure she will remember it! 
In the process, she added both Nevada and California to her ever growing list of states she has been in.
We put the happy little family on an airplane to fly home while we continued our journey.
Since it was also our vacation, we decided to take some time for ourselves and do some things we wanted to do.
First on the list was revisiting Back Bay where a lot of bird watching hours were logged when we were in college.  Things have changed but there are still an abundance of birding opportunities.

I was feeling nosy and wanted to know what this fellow was painting.  I didn’t have my own binoculars so I used the next best thing. . . my camera . . . and I still couldn’t tell.  But I thought it made a good picture.

Since we lived there (a LONG time ago), a temple has been built.  We really wanted to see it (or at least I did and Paul was willing to take me there).  Sadly the grounds were closed but we could still see through the gate. . .

From there we headed to the shore to take a walk along the boardwalk. . .


and headed up the pier to see what we could see. .







and then we headed across the street to the spot where we had our first dinner out <3

All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day!

Empty Nest Vacation – Part 1 of Part 2

We drove down to St. George and spent the night. Then we headed out.
We drove through the beautiful Virgin River Gorge (AZ), but of course my photos just can’t do it justice.

After all that loveliness and beautiful rock formations, we were back in Nevada. . .

We did find out that the rest stops in the southern part of the state . . .
are very much nicer than any we’ve seen along the 80. (There were even a bunch of employeeS helping keeping it that way.) I guess that is where our tax dollars are going. (Correction - I have been informed that this rest area is so not in Nevada but in our neighboring state of California. That's what I get for napping!)
It was a hot day that was that much less pleasant by the lack of an air conditioner in our car. (Southern Nevada is not my favorite place. . . I thought I should let you in on that secret since I masked my opinion so well *cough cough*)
We arrived in Orange County. We headed to our old stomping grounds. We made a stop at the Newport Beach Pier

Our stroll was followed by dinner at the restaurant where we had our very first dinner date.

to be continued . . . .

Our Last Spring Break

Because Allie is leaving soon (too soon if you ask me), we decided to see if we could get tickets to General Conference since it fell at the beginning of spring break.
We managed to get our hands on three tickets to the Saturday morning session, so we were Conference Center bound!

It looked JUST like the above picture, except for lots and lots of people and the snow.
It was so wonderful to be in the presence of the prophet and other church leaders. Even though we were excited to be there, I managed to sleep during the session. I guess it was the long drive the day before, losing an hour and a lumpy hotel mattress. But I only missed part of one talk! But Paul tells me it was his favorite. (It will be the first one that I watch on-line!)

Paul had a ticket to the priesthood session, so Allie and I were left to our own devices. We headed to Deseret Book to pick up a few books I have been eyeing. We bypassed the line of all the ladies waiting outside the store lined up for Ladies Night. And who did we see inside the store?

He was singing some songs and talking to people. So I snapped a photo of him while he wasn't looking.
Then we headed off to surprise Allie's friend who moved last fall BEFORE Allie could say good bye to her. It was so fun to do that. Her mom kept mum about our plans. (She is as cute and as fun as she looks, in case you were wondering.)

On Monday, we headed down to BYU so Allie could investigate. We figured it would be helpful to actually see the rooms before she selects her dorm.
First we went to Heritage Halls which are older but are located right on campus.

From there, we headed to Wyview Park. These dorms/apartments are not on campus though they are considered to be on campus housing. Go figure! They are much newer but require a bus ride or a 20 minute walk to get to campus.

Allie's fate will be decided before month end, but at least she has a vision of what she's getting herself into!
Another highlight of any trip (for us) is the eating out! We hit up some of our favorites that we don't have around here.

As nice as it was to be gone, it is even better to be home! (If only we felt like doing all the things we should be doing now that we are here.)