anniversary weekend

This weekend was our sixth wedding anniversary! It was a great excuse for us to get out of town for a few days and just be together, without any major responsibilities. The last few months have been sort of exhausting and this trip was so refreshing and really, really fun.We knew we wanted to attend the Oakland Temple, and Jazz got us great tickets to the Yankee’s/Oakland A’s game on Saturday night. But other than that, we had no agenda.

We had sort of a rough start leaving Redding. The plan was to drop the kids off at my parents’ at about six, then drive to Oakland. You know me, I was prepared, so I had everything ready to go by the time Jazz got off work. All we had to do was load the kids and kiss them gbye. As we were dropping them off, Morgan jokingly said, “Do you guys have your temple recommends?” I always have mine with me so I was good, but Jazz realized his was at home. Sooo we ran back home and while he ran inside to grab his, I checked for mine just to make sure. Nothing is worse than getting all the way down there and realizing you don’t have your recommend with you.

I grab mine out of my wallet. Phew, I think. I check the date. Expires May 2014. As in, two weeks ago. Noooooooo.

It’s 6 pm on a Friday night and I need a new recommend. And I need it quickly.

I called my bishop, and he was so wonderful and said he could do it anytime, but that I had to get a hold of the Stake President. AWESOME. I called and leave him a message, but for all I knew he could be out of town or on call (he is a radiologist). I felt so defeated- all this planning and we weren’t going to be able to go! We drove back over to my parents’ house (oh hey kids we are back.) and because my dad is magic he had the cell phone number for the stake president (he is a fellow cyclist.) ANYWAY. Long story short, I met with the bishop and shortly after that the stake president at his home and we were on the road by 7. Really, best case scenario, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE. I’m so thankful that all that fell into place so that we could go. (More about temples, click here.)

Our time spent in the temple was extra special because all we could think about was our Maxwell. We are sealed to him for all of eternity, and because of the blessings of the temple we will see him again. I felt his spirit so near and provided so much comfort for me. What a privilege it is to be his mother.

Saturday night we had great seats at the A’s game. It’s been over ten years since I’ve been to a ball game, and it was realllllly fun to sit right behind the yankee’s bullpen and see their pitchers warm up. Those pitches are fast! Yikes. We ate hot dogs and people watched and cheered for the home team.

Sunday we spent a few hours walking around the wharf in San Francisco and the weather was gorgeous. We watched the boats moving in the harbor, ate some crab, and grabbed a peanut butter fudge sundae at ghiradelli. The best part about this trip was bring able to talk like actual grown ups- about kindergarten and Lincoln’s chipped tooth and Maxwell’s headstone. We talked about the six years we have been married and the three beautiful children we have…we talked about our wedding day and our favorite memories and reminisced about our honeymoon in Cancun.

Jazz found a cute breakfast spot that served traditional scrapple. His fav.

lots of iphone selfies this trip.

Oakland Temple (Jazz loves when I stop people and ask them to take pictures for us.)

Look how close we are! Hiroki Kuroda warming up.. he pitched about five innings

Oh Hey Derek Jeter.

The iphone panoramic feature is surprisingly fun.

guess which hotdog is mine.

Seriously the most gorgeous day.

Alcatraz.

We made it home Sunday evening about six- just in time for some Father’s Day cake with my family. Trust me, when Morgan makes a cake, you don’t miss it. We missed our kids but they had such a good time with my parents and Morgan and Margo, it was like a party weekend for them. The ultimate playdate.

It was just a quick 48 hours but it felt like such a nice break. When we were married six years ago I had no idea what I was in for- the joy we have shared having our children and being together, and the heartbreak of burying our sweet baby boy. You really never know what is ahead, but there is no one I would rather brave the front lines with than Jazz.