We love visitors!

Okay so some very exciting things have been happening around here! First off, my parents came to Sacramento to visit for the weekend :] They got here Thursday evening just in time to give Brady a hug and kiss goodnight. We had a very relaxing time here in Cali.

On Friday we slept in a little and hung around the house until about 11. We all piled in to my parents new 2013 Honda Accord Sport :] My dad was happy to take me for a spin in it and show off all the details. It was a very smooth ride, and my mom definitely deserved a new car after all these years! We strolled around the mall for a while and headed home to put Brady down for a nap. After, we went to Target to pick up a few things (seriously, who doesn't love Target?). It got up to 108 degrees on Friday and I was DYING. I enjoy my 75 degree weather much better. We grabbed a pizza for dinner and hung out at home watching a movie until Jordan got back from work. 

Saturday was our exploring day! My dad loves to go to pawn shops in Boise and look for guitars, amps, or whatever he can find. Meanwhile, my mom will look at the jewelry or a quilt store nearby. We mapped out our route and headed out after Brady's morning nap. First stop was a pawn shop downtown. They didn't have much as far as music, but they had a huge jewelry selection that my mom and I were checking out. 

Next stop was a little yarn store, Rumpelstiltskin. My mom was in heaven :]

They had so many different kinds of yarn, but she was specifically looking for sock yarn. She found one she loved and will make a pair of socks with it to always remember her trip to Sacramento! She is such a talented woman!! Meanwhile outside the store...

The boys waited patiently :] 

Our last stop was at another pawn shop close by. This was a legit pawn shop... You had to ring a door bell and they would look outside at you and then electronically open the door for just you. The workers were behind glass like at a movie theater, but I'm sure it was bullet proof. There were bars on the window too! It seemed like a sketchy area from all the security in the store haha. They had more of what my dad was interested in!

This time, Grammy and Brady were waiting around!

Oh and it got up to 108 degrees again on Saturday. So we were ready to head back to the air conditioned apartment after this! We had a fun time chatting and reflecting back on memories from my childhood. They gave me some advice on parenting with things they wish they would have done different, or things they liked doing. 

After Brady's nap, we met Jordan and the rest of the sales team at The Cheesecake Factory for a yummy dinner!

It was hard to say goodbye on Sunday after church, but we had such a fun time with them here in Cali!

OTHER EXCITING NEWS:

1 Brady has been eating solids for a few weeks now. He usually eats twice a day and will finish off a whole container of baby food throughout the day - on a good day. Over the weekend, our schedule was crazy and I wasn't as good about feeding Brady solids on schedule. Tonight I opened up a new jar of sweet potatoes and Brady ate THE WHOLE THING in one sitting!!! I was so happy. 

He got a little messy during the process :]

2 I ran today for the second time since I was pregnant with Brady. I have had a really hard time making time for myself and getting motivated to exercise. I ran for 22 minutes and it felt amazing :] More days like this will definitely be coming up.

3 Okay and just for fun :] Here are some pictures I took of Brady Sunday afternoon while Jordan was taking a little nap.

Love this little guy so much!

What's so great about Pier 39?

Yesterday, Jordan, Brady and I took a day trip to San Francisco. We left thinking that we would go to Pier 39, see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, and also go to the zoo. Little did we know, that is A LOT to do in one day. We parked about a mile away from Pier 39 and started to walk. It was about 11:00 A.M and we were freezing!! I didn't realize how windy and cold it would be by the water, it's always so hot in Sacramento. Luckily we brought lots of blankets for Brady and he stayed nice and warm.

I'm a little embarrassed, I honestly didn't really know what was so special about pier 39. We were walking past like pier 25 and pier 32 and I was having a negative attitude (partly attributed to the fact that I was a little chilly) and I said to Jordan, "can't we just take a picture by one of these piers instead of 39? What is so special about 39?". We kept walking and I got really excited when I started to see the flags for pier 39, we were almost there - then we could go see something else, right? ;)

So as we got closer, we saw tons of shops, places to eat and the huge aquarium! I realized why this was the pier we wanted to be at :] It was so much fun to walk around and see all the shops and vendors as we were walking up to the pier. After walking around for about 45 minutes we decided to grab a bite to eat. We had a recommendation to try Neptune's, and we were so glad we went there! It had an amazing view over the ocean and you could see Alcatraz perfectly. Oh and of course, the best clam chowder bowls you've ever tasted.

Okay the sky light made it hard to get a good picture of Jordan, but you can see our view in this picture. We were literally sitting right next to the water. It was so much fun to watch the sea lions splashing around and the sailboats going by.

Brady would only look at Jordan when I pulled out the camera... little stinker! haha

Jordan got a hamburger (of course), and I tried my very first clam chowder bowl. Yum!!

After we finished eating we stopped to watch a magic show for a few minutes and started to walk back towards the aquarium and the entrance. As we were walking back I saw one of those booths that lets you open up an oyster to find a pearl! I remembered that my mom and sister both did this when we took a trip to San Diego. They both got their pearls set into jewelry and I wanted one really bad. Jordan made me walk around for a few minutes (because he said my buying temperature was really high lol) and we looked in a few more stores. I still really wanted one so we went back to the booth :]

The woman working there told us that it is more sentimental if the husband picks out the oyster. Jordan picked out the hairiest, shortest, and fattest one in the bucket. Apparently they said the uglier the oyster, the prettier the pearl.

After he picked the oyster, we had to welcome the pearl into the world. I tapped it 3 times and we all yelled, "ALOHA" as loud as we could. 

She opened the oyster and found this beauty inside!!

All the workers were surprised by the size of the pearl. It was pretty big compared to their sample pearl that they guarantee you will get. Woot woot!! Jordan picked out the best one :] So the worker rubbed it down with salt to clean it, and then she let me be the first one to hold it with my bare hands.

I was seriously having so much fun! Jordan let me pick out a ring setting and I went home one happy girl :] 

We will definitely be going back to San Francisco again! We didn't get nearly as much done as we were planning, but we had an amazing day :] Next time we are planning on taking the tour of Alcatraz, and we can't wait to go back.