throwback to san francisco (part two)

The next day of Thanksgiving Break was Thursday. Thanksgiving Day.

I spent the first part of it doing homework. Then we all went over to Isaac's in-laws. And then we stuffed. It was a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. I wish I had taken pictures of the food as it was beautifully prepared, but alas, pictures are not a first priority when it comes to eating Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner we went to see the new Twilight movie haha. No shunning. It's a family tradition apparently--to go see a movie after Thanksgiving dinner. And while I'm not the hugest Twilight fan, I still enjoyed it. Obviously, it had its flaws...and there was this one part (maybe a couple parts) where I just wanted to laugh out loud. But hey. Let's be real. There are parts like that in most chick flicks.I'm not going to hate on it just because that's what everybody seems to be doing.

On Friday, we went to Santa Cruz and visited the beach!! I walked into the Pacific ocean and it was magnificent. And really really cold. So much fun.

Sea Lions!!

change, yo.

After we had finished the beach, we drove back home, with a stop for a delicious lunch at a little diner. We went home for a bit, where I worked on my Spanish research paper.

That night, we went to the Oakland temple. It was a great experience, especially right after Thanksgiving. Such a blessing.

so beautiful.

After doing some temple work, we walked around outside. Since the temple is on a hill, we could climb the stairs to the second story of the temple, stand at the balcony, and just stare off at the huge expanse of city. I've already expressed my love towards the city in another post, so I'll spare you here haha.

Anyways, we drank hot chocolate, ate doughnuts, and got some authentic Mexican food before heading home. Mhmm.

The next day (Saturday) we went to the Muir Woods, the redwood forest! Holy cow, was this place beautiful. Absolutely took my breath away. And I think it was here I realized how much at the same time I absolutely loved being out of the city and in the middle of nature. Whatta paradox.

We headed back to home, eating Korean tacos on the way. Such good fusion food. That night we went back to the temple to see it all lit up for Christmas. I <3 Christmas so much. 

We got ice cream afterwards, at another notable ice cream place. We had to wait about twenty minutes to get a table. It was called Fentons. You know, the ice cream place in Up [oh, so so cute].

epic sundae.

And that was the end to Saturday night. We left for Provo, UT Sunday morning. What could have been a boring, lonely Thanksgiving break in Provo turned into something exciting, new, and so much fun, thanks to Sarah and her wonderful family, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

Now I'm at home for Christmas break with my own family, and I'm loving it more than ever. It feels so good. Every bit of it. I love traveling, seeing, living, and experiencing new things...and at the same time, I'm realizing more than ever, how wonderful it is to have a place you can call home.