Do you have wonderful friends? We sure do. We were lucky enough to visit 2 (now 3) of them earlier this month in California. They have a beautiful new baby boy and were kind enough to let us visit while he's still so fresh. I should begin by telling you that when they came to visit us last fall we did exactly one fun thing: Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The rest of the time, they were compelled to ooh and aah over our baby. Poor souls. So in theory, they would respond in kind and have us stare at their handsome baby boy, taking a break only while he sleeps to watch paint dry. Well, my friends, they did the exact opposite and planned a weekend full of fun for us, starting the day we got there.
First stop: Surprise trip to see the Oakland Temple. Gorgeous temple. Gorgeous views. 
We popped into the Visitors' Center, mostly to give Teagan the opportunity to see a Christus statue for the first time. She ran straight up to it and said "Jesus" over and over. It was so beautiful to watch her interact with it (as much as one can interact with a statue), touching His feet, staring at His face and just saying His name over and over, looking back at us from time to time with a big grin on her face. One of the highlights of parenthood so far. A not-so-great parenting moment came next when we had to apologize to the sister missionaries and tell them that "we didn't have time" to listen to the presentation. Those words didn't taste good coming out of my mouth.
Second stop: Surprise lunch at Fenton's - the creamery frequented by Pixar animators that inspired the ice cream stop at the end of "Up". Please note that while Brandon stopped shoveling the cookie and ice cream goodness into our pieholes and paused to take a family photo, our industrious daughter saw an opportunity to monopolize the deliciousness. She's goin' places, people!
Third stop: Two words - FULL HOUSE. The Morrells did a lot of research for this particular leg of our tour and found out not only where the row of houses was, featured in the opening credits of the show, but the very house they used for outside shots. We didn't pack a picnic, since we were full to the brim with Fenton's, but we saw the spot where the Tanners squatted. Then they navigated the hilly city to take us to THE house. The Full House House. Dream come true, ladies and gents.
Fourth stop: Lombard Street. Eight sharp, nerve wracking, hair-pin turns expertly navigated by Kaylinn. I couldn't believe that people live there! We were one car in a long parade of cars that must be parading by all day, every day. Great views of San Francisco, though. It was kind of awesome.
Sixth stop: Brandon and Mark hit a Giants game while Kaylinn and I took the babies home and spent an evening with our budgets. She is the queen of budgeting and was kind enough to give me a personal seminar. Not the way some would want to spend a Friday night, but we both LOVED it. One of the many (nerdy) reasons we're friends. The boys had a great time and a late night, braving public transportation and everything. Buddy's a HUGE sports fan, so imagine my shock when he told me this was the first pro baseball game he'd been to since infancy. Another dream come true...even though they lost.
SO much fun and so many surprises and this was just the first day. Seriously love these guys. Who needs predictability after all? I will hang on to evenin' TV, though.
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