Playoffs + Conference + Family = Great Weekend

Conference weekend is always a weekend to look forward to! Our church leaders gather twice a year at General Conference to give us inspired messages and counsel, and it is just so uplifting. On top of the anticipated spiritual uplifting, we had another reason to be excited for that weekend: The Oakland A's made the playoffs! David has always been a big fan and grew up watching games with his dad and brother. Once they made the playoffs and we realized it was in Oakland, I called my sister and we decided to drive out for the games. David, his brother Daniel, and I made the trip out. It was completely last minute and totally worth it! 

We drove through the night on Thursday and got there just before sunrise on Friday...hello long drive. After we got a few zzz's, we went to meet my brother-in-law for lunch at his work. He works at Apple, which is amazing and we enjoyed eating outdoors in the perfect California weather (while it had just snowed in Utah). Here we are at Apple Headquarters after lunch:

 

 

This is my cutest nephew ever! (Don't worry...he's my only nephew). He loved playing with the stickers from Apple, so got a quick shot:

After lunch, we headed up to Oakland to beat traffic and get there in time for the game. It was a perfect evening at the ballpark and we had a blast!

Plus it was very entertaining:

 

Unfortunately, the A's lost. But it was only the first game of the series so there was still some hope...until the lost the series a few days later. World Series 2014 maybe?!

On Saturday we woke up to donuts thanks to Carrie and Andrew, and then watched the morning session of General Conference. After that, we headed to Santa Cruz to enjoy the beach for the afternoon. It was perfect. Carrie always talks about how amazing the beach is in October, and she is definitely right! It was around 90 degrees and perfectly sunny, which is very rare for California beaches. Here is cute little Ty:

David and Daniel playing in the water. The boys had a blast, but I still can't believe they went all the way in in that freezing water:

My love:

 My sister, Carrie, and me: I love this lady so much!

After the beach, David and Daniel went to another A's game (where they won!), Andrew went to Priesthood session of conference, and Carrie, Ty and I went out to eat with Carrie's friends. It was so great and Ty was just so stinking cute with his "milk mustache" from the ice cream, but he just didn't want to show it to the camera:

Sunday morning we had a delicious breakfast and watched the morning session of General Conference. It was fabulous and Carrie and Andrew were just amazing hosts! I love them so much and always am so impressed with their generosity and willingness to let us stay with them last minute! After that, we hopped in the car and made the trek back to Utah. Although we missed a few sessions of conference, the boys considered this a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we are currently catching up by watching the ones we've missed. Please watch the sessions if you missed them, they are great and will inspire you to be a better person!