Glen decided to retire. He had been threatening to do so for quite a while and then he set a date for the end of July. It was at the point that I realized he was serious. 😏
It was the perfect time to plan a fun trip. Sarah had invited us to be the guest speakers at her girls' camp retreat on Friday night.
Glen had turned in his work car and his work computer and monitors the day before, so he was a free man!!
Sarah had been warning us that there had been a lot of rain in their area and she was worried about her time with the girls on Mount Charleston.
As we drove closer and closer to their campground, the blue sky overhead was merging into storm clouds.
Notice Jeff and Lincoln (their backs are to the camera) at the camp. The other three boys were keeping themselves busy at their tent and elsewhere around the campground. They were having the time of their lives as boys are wont to do in the great outdoors.
After dinner we gathered around the [propane] campfire for our messages. It was such a beautiful area to be camping. It was not far from Sarah's home and the best part was the temperature was cool--notice the jackets we are wearing.
After we spoke and the girls were making s'mores, we were watching the dark clouds and the lightning in the distance. Sure enough the storm rolled in and we took that as our cue to leave.
Sarah had been so nervous about the safety of everyone. As we were driving down the mountain, it started to hail. YIKES!!
We hadn't been at our hotel long before Sarah texted to tell us they had all bailed. Sad it turned out that way--especially for Sarah's boys who were so excited to be sleeping in a tent.
The weather had gotten so bad they had run to their cars for cover to wait out the storm. When it became evident it was going to last for a while and there was lots of lightning, they drove home--leaving all their stuff behind.
After sleeping in their own beds, a few of them went back up to the campsite in the morning to gather up everyone's stuff. The blessing of it all was everything Sarah had planned had gone without a hitch. The only thing left was sleeping and packing up in the morning to come home.
I had to laugh about her saying she had thought about and worried about various things as she was planning this event. Something she had not even considered in the heat and desert of Las Vegas was a huge lightning storm. She said they have barely even seen rain the whole time they have lived in Vegas.
That evening we went to Ohjah's which seems to be a popular place for the boys to want to eat. It is enjoyable to watch the chef cooking at the table. Throwing the shrimp into everyone's mouths at the end is always entertaining.
We attended church with Sarah's family.
They had such good meetings as it was the week everyone in the Church was talking about missionary work. It was so interesting and touching listening to people's conversion stories in both sacrament meeting and Sunday school.
SUCCESS!! Sarah is always very creative and enjoys thinking up and making things like this for others to solve.
Sarah fixed us some great meals that day and, of course, it wouldn't be Sunday without eating popcorn and watching a family movie together.
We loved our time spent with Jeff, Sarah, Eli, Carson, Lincoln and Jonah.
First thing on our to-do list was go to Carlsbad Coyote Grill to eat some ribs. For these past years we have lamented about how much we love and miss eating those ribs.
We would always get there early, before the party crowd arrived, when we were on our mission. This time, we sat outside on the party patio enjoying the view and listening to the karaoke performers later in the evening.
It was very interesting watching probably 25-30 senior citizens congregate on that patio so they could participate in the karaoke entertainment. They all seemed to know each other as they greeted each other warmly and would get up and dance with each other.
Glen insisted we walk the sidewalk along the Carlsbad beach to watch the sunset. That used to be one of our favorite walks on Mondays. It is so relaxing to watch and listen to the ocean waves.
There were a lot of surfers in the water the days we were there. Must have been some good waves in that part of the ocean.
The next morning we headed off to another favorite Monday morning walk--through the Carlsbad Campground. Once again there were so many surfers we almost didn't get a parking space.
As we were walking along and a couple was approaching us, we hear, "Thomases?!?!?" Turns out Clark and Kathleen Wardle also enjoy walking through the campground. How random that we both would choose that walk that morning at the same time of the day so we could run into each other.
Yup! This is another of Glen's happy places. He absolutely loved walking through the campground looking at all the campers and their camping set-ups.
Kathleen was the person Klarissa told us to look up once we got to Carlsbad. She knows Kathleen's daughter and highly recommended their family as great future friends for us.
Shortly after arriving in the mission, we had to host a dinner at our home with all the stake presidents, the area seventy, the temple president and their wives. That seemed so overwhelming since I hadn't really even learned where things were in the mission home kitchen.
Thankfully, the previous mission president's wife had arranged for someone to decorate the tables, cook the food, and serve the meal to all of us that evening. Turns out the person she had gotten was Kathleen Wardle. She was a lifesaver to us!!!!
She got her daughters to help with the evening. Here's picture proof we were blessed by her service to us!!
We decided to spend some time that day in San Diego. We went to Point Loma to see all the things located on that point of land overlooking the ocean.
We walked down to the tidepool access (but saw no tidepools as the tide was too high.
We drove up to the Cabrillo National Monument visitor center.
Another landmark off in the distance--the lighthouse.
The road we took drove us right through Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. It is a federal military cemetery and was very impressive with the neatly-lined up rows of white markers that span quite a distance.
I insisted we go to Ghiradelli's for ice cream at the same place we took the assistants while we were waiting for the new batch of missionaries to arrive after we had dropped off the departing missionaries. What a great way to spend that extra time!
We enjoyed it as our lunch snack this particular day.
Our next stop was La Jolla Cove. Steven and Patricia took us there when they came to visit us on our mission. We saw lots of pelicans sunning themselves on the rocks.
There is a walkway that takes you right in the ocean. At the very end is the wet zone from the violent splashing of the waves.
The last time we were there, the whole cove was full of seals. This time there was not a seal in sight--only people. I guess it is not seal time like it is not whale time??
We took the coastal highway on the way home, stopping for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.
We had bought a bunch of gift certificates to that restaurant and then all the restaurants in Utah have closed. So, we wanted to use some of those certificates in California.
What a great day we had in San Diego!!
That evening we went to see President and Sister Marin at their home. They have very recently returned home from serving as mission leaders in the Mexico Cancun Mission.
Princessa, me, Glen, Linda, Israel, Natalie and Israel. Their son Jacob is serving a mission in Ethiopia and Ezra was not there.
What a wonderful way to end the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment