Acalias' first trip to California

SURPRISE!! This video speaks for itself.



Acalias and I spent 9 days in San Francisco with my mom. I had to keep the secret for three long months but it was so worth seeing her reaction. It was as if she had won a million dollars. I love seeing how my mom interacts with Acalias, she loves him so much.

From the time I arrived, until the time I departed Acalias spent the majority of the time in Grandmas arms. Good thing we have a swing and other bouncy toys for him at home, otherwise we would go crazy feeling like we need to hold him all the time.
When I visit Mom, I typically visit my mission but this time I spent the majority of the time with mom. We visited the Golden Gate Park and Bakers Beach (both of which I had never visited before). Acalias is easily entertained anywhere, as long as bright colors or people are involved.

Grandma and Acalias at the Golden Gate Park & Bakers Beach


I met up with a couple of my close college friends as well. It’s crazy to think back to my college days. I made great friends, and I’m glad that we have kept in contact with each other; I have so many great memories with them.

Jolynn and I shared two classes together at the U of U. We studied for tests together and became great friends. I can’t believe that we are both mothers now:)



Umu and I were in the Pacific Islander Student Association. We traveled to San Diego to support our basketball team and Tonga to present our research together.

It was great to catch up with both of these ladies, they inspire me.

Mom received a second surprise on Friday morning. Mom would typically take me to the San Mateo shoreline trail to run while she walked with Acalias. On Friday I told her that I preferred to walk around the neighborhood. I had planned with my siblings for them to be at the door once she opened it. Surprise! I was so jittery that I missed the bulk of it when I tried to record it. Then when I finally got my camera on, I was so excited to see everyone that the footage is of the wall and floor as I made my rounds hugging everyone.

Watching my nephews interact with Acalias was priceless, Audric was happy to sing Acalias a song in this next video.


Unfortunately, it rained the entire weekend that my siblings were in town. Derek flew in on Saturday and presented at the AOA Conference on Sunday morning. We thought it would be nice to support him until we found out that it would cost $150 dollars just to get into the conference. We made due by playing card games, puzzles and coloring. We had fun catching up, I hadn’t seen my siblings since last November and Derek hadn’t seen them since last July. I’m super excited to go home and spend more time with my siblings in December.









Proud Grandma!



The weather cleared up the last few days that we were there, just on time for the AOA 5k on Tuesday morning. It was cold so we left Acalias with Grandma.


I also had my mom take family pictures of us at the beach. These are a couple of our favorites along with the new header picture we have up above.



We had a wonderful time with mom, it was hard to say goodbye.

Our flight was scheduled late, our total travel time would be 12 hours. Acalias slept the majority of the time, thank goodness. When I realized our layover in Atlanta,Georgia would be 4 hours, I called my sisters and invited them to come and meet their nephew. It was so good to see them, I hadn't seen them since their graduation in May 2009.




I have over 200 pictures of the trip. I will post the remaining pictures on Facebook for you all to see.