Heaven and Hill

When you say you are from California most people assume that means southern, which therefore means you are a surfer or hang out at the beach a lot. California is great, but I don't love it for the beaches. Michigan actually wins in that category (CA-2,439; MI-1). That is just my opinion, and granted, I don't have a whole lot of beach exposure. I'm a mountain lover myself. Which is why it was so therapeutic to spend over a week near the Sierra Nevadas. Matt's parents may be beach lovers, but they live in heaven as far as I'm concerned. Here is their backyard:

It would be hard to not visit them if they were the typical annoying, nosy in-laws because I'd want to be at their house. However, they couldn't be more understanding, supportive, non-nosy, and just fun, so staying up there in the hills with them was a week of bliss. I even slept on the floor and I'm still saying that.

We did go swimming 2 whole times while there. We squeezed both of them in right before we had to head back to MI because that was the only time it was warm enough. So we sort of took a lot of pictures because it was momentous.

Grandpa Rich was there for entertainment purposes. He's very good at that job. I think parts of his brain are still 6 years old. No wonder the kids adore him.

This is rare: Keturah acting cute and innocent.

Oh good, she's back to cute and loony.

Hmmm...I should have put on my arm floaties to match the others.

Maybe it is just me but we look like we are overloaded with children.

The big event of the week was Aunt Jenny's and Uncle Eric's wedding. It was so fun to go to a sealing in the Sacramento temple. The advice that was given was invaluable, the love in the room immeasurable, Jenny's glow and beauty incomparable.
This is a bad picture (my fault), but this is where my leg decided to betray me for a good week and start swelling and aching for no reason whatsoever, so I wasn't very focused on getting good pictures.

Here is a great picture of mosquito bites. Keturah woke up one morning with 4 or 5 of them all right between her eyes. It's like the 4 of them just set up a picnic there and sucked those lines dry. She sort of resembled a cling-on, not that I watch Star Trek, mind you.

Gee, Bekah really stands out here.

I just like this one.

Matt's Grandpa cannot even be serious in a wedding picture. He has to hold a paper over his son's head. I love it.

So besides that good stuff, we went on numerous trips to visit Matt's mom for lunch. We also spent a rainy afternoon wandering around Costco. Unfortunately, so was half the county, so it wasn't very relaxing. It was beneficial in a way, because you get go back at least 10 times for the same sample without the lady noticing because there were just too many people that they couldn't remember who had already come up. They had a whole table with fancy cheeses that I hovered around for some time. Anyway, we made a trip to Cattlemen's for some steak and we had a big Pirates of the Caribbean party at the movie theater, not to mention watching several movies back at the house. We had fun just hanging around the house.

Painting toenails with Aunt Jenny

Wrestling with Grandpa

Playing cards with Great Grandma and Grandpa

Wrestling with Uncle Eric

Sacking out next to Grandpa

We also had a day to ourselves because some people still have to work, so we went up to Bridal Veil for a hike. It can't get much prettier that this.

The falls

Michael exploring

A snack by the river

An awesome trail that ended abruptly because the river was too high. Still fun though.

But, as long as you get to throw rocks in the water, that is all that matters.