Pioneer Day Weekend

My family has an app we use to keep in touch, called Cluster. It is kind of like Instagram, but for just a group. On the 24^th of July my family posted a bunch of pictures about their hiking and camping adventures as a whole group (minus Derrick and Mary). Luckily, we had already decided to take our camping gear out for a spin, so we didn’t feel too left out. For our wedding, my mom’s old roommates and a few others gave us some camping essentials: tent, sleeping bag, chairs, tarp, and lantern. We also got an air mattress (which we have been using as a bed since coming to California), but we weren’t sure it would fit in the tent so we didn’t take it this trip (we will next time). We got a little bit of a late start and didn’t realize we had to get the permit in town before we got there and had to go back and get it. So it was already dark (about 9:00pm) by the time we got unpacked. Kyle lit the fire, we set up the tent, and then ate our dinner. Then we just spent some time enjoying the peace and quiet before we went to bed. The hard ground was not my friend that night, so I woke up a few times pretty sore.

He's pretty cute

Turns out our sleeping bag came with pillows. Pretty sweet!

The next morning we headed down to Paul and Tricia Gaye’s house to shower and then went into LA to go to the temple with them. It has been a while since I did a session, so I was really glad I got to do that again. And the LA temple is simply beautiful! (Fun tidbit: I have become quite the expert at pinning on boutonnieres. One of the brides at the LA temple paled at the thought of pinning on her new husband’s before they went outside, so I ran up and did it for her.)

After the session we changed and then headed down to Marina Del Rey to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch/dinner. I had never actually been there; the food is sooooo good (I found a recipe for what Kyle had and am totally going to make it because it was that good). And the restaurant is right on the marina so it was a nice environment.

Tricia Gaye, Paul, Me, and Kyle

We went home earlier that night so we could be well rested for church the next day. We have only gone to our own ward a few times and thought it would be a good idea to do so. We also got to have dinner with another one of the interns at Kyle’s company and his wife. They are both really nice and it is nice to have some friendly faces around.