Positive

The trip was amazing.  We stayed with my sister on Wednesday night and spent some time shopping on Thursday morning.  Andrea joined Cody and I for lunch, it was great to see her - but we never have enough time!  We drove to California Thursday afternoon and headed straight to Brad and Katie's house.  When I saw Katie it was like we had never been strangers!  We just hugged and laughed and hugged some more.  She had such a positive spirit about her.  There was such a peaceful, loving spirit in their home.  There was a lot of family there, lots of flowers and cards.   We visited for a few minutes and then Cody and I headed out to get our Hotel.  We went to dinner with Kate and had some time to unwind before going to bed.  The next morning was the service and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day.  Clear skies, warm, it was gorgeous.  It was a graveside service and lots of people came to show their love and support.  The service was short but so incredible - again, that feeling of comfort and love was overwhelming.  Brad and Katie were so positive which set the tone.  We hugged and talked with them a bit afterwards, I just love them both so much.  Cody and I went back to the Hotel to change and grabbed some lunch at In-N-Out.  We weren't sure when to go by the house (they invited everyone over) or if we would even go by - they had so many friends and family members, we didn't want to intrude on that time.  Cody and I did some shopping and then decided it would be cool to head down to Oceanside.  On our way I got a text from Kate saying that the family wanted some time to themselves, so Cody and I decided to wait until the next morning to see them.  Katie called me a little later and she sounded exhausted - quite a day!  Still, she was witty and positive.  She told Cody and I to have a crazy night on the town and made me promise to come by the next day before we left.  

Oceanside was so beautiful!  I don't think I have ever been there before, it was awesome.  We walked on the pier and watched the surfers.  It was evening and all the buildings were orange from the sun...  

Cody and I watching the surfers...

Sunset

We walked along the beach and looked for sea shells...it was just such a beautiful place.  On our way back to Temecula we got off the freeway a bit early to avoid some traffic which put us on the road through Old Town Temecula.  What did we find?  Much to our surprise, there was a hot rod car show!  

We immediately found some parking and started walking the street.  It was like a scene out of a movie - they had oldies blaring from the speakers (which were on each lamp post) and all these glossy, gorgeous restored cars.  The night was winding down, so we grabbed some ice cream and decided we would come back in the morning.  The next day there were a lot more cars and hundreds of people - still so cool!   It was fun looking at all the glorious cars - Cody was checking under the hoods and looking at the interior...I was just fascinated with the pretty colors and shiny chrome.  After our car fix we grabbed some lunch and went to see Brad and Katie on our way out of town.  We all sat in the living room and talked for about an hour.  Both their families were there and it was nice to just hang out and talk.  Brad's family is huge into cars and as soon as Brad's Dad found out that Cody has a Dodge Coronet he wants to restore, his Dad said with bright eyes, "Oh, you're a Mopar guy!".  It was over after that - they talked cars and parts and exchanged email addresses.  Sadly, it was time for us to go.  I gave Katie a big hug, we were sad to be parting.  Brad told us they would be coming up soon and that we needed to get together - I can hardly wait!  As we were driving away I just felt such...comfort.  I wasn't looking forward to this weekend, no doubt about it.  What a difficult reason to travel and unfortunate circumstances to see someone you love.  I know that Cody and I were both a bit nervous, we weren't sure how we would be able to comfort them.  But to enter their home and just feel this overwhelming feeling of love and understanding was such a blessing for us.  It made this weekend a great experience for us both - that positive spirit stayed with us the entire time.  It would have been great to spend more time with them and catch up, but I knew it wasn't the trip for that.  What a blessing to have the opportunity to go!  It was such an uplifting, positive weekend.  What a comfort the Gospel is.  Cody and I had so much fun together, we have never been on a trip alone (without kids or friends) and we got to know each other all over again.  I am so glad he was able to come with me!

We got home last night and we were so excited to see the kids!  I kissed their little cheeks and squeezed them so tight they were struggling to get free.  We missed them so much, it seems like they have grown a ton!   Cole has improved quite a bit on his crawling - he's figured out how to scoot himself around so he's more mobile.  Awesome.  He'll probably be driving by Friday.  Can't keep my eyes off him for a second!  Thank you for keeping Brad and Katie and their family in your prayers - you could certainly feel an uplifting spirit when you were around them.