California Nomads

We're HOME!

First off: we are back at BYU now. While we were gone, the neighbors we shared internet with moved! And we couldn't get our hot water to work for the first week and a half back... So those are my excuses for not posting about CA sooner :)

As much as Clark and I loved living on the east coast, California will always be our favorite state. And both of us think our hometowns are absolutely perfect. Folsom and Danville are pretty much tied as the best place to grow up! And Northern California is hands down the best part of California. Since we only had a couple weeks in paradise we've tried to enjoy as much as possible. That included us driving all over Northern California, aka a nomadic life. Here's a brief run down of what we've been up to the past couple weeks. PS - there's going to be a LOT of pictures.

We babysat my siblings for a weekend. We went to a huge pool party, football games/practices, saw Planes, went swimming, and made banana boats. I sure love my little munchkins! And we said bye to my cousin Jacob. Elder Smyth is serving a mission for 2 years in the Fortaleza, Brazil mission. We're so proud of him! He's the first of my cousins to serve a mission!!

Because we're from Northern California, we had to stop by San Francisco. It's such a beautiful city. We went to the Giants vs Red Sox game, saw some of the America's Cup sailing races, walked to Pier 39, and stopped by Ghirardelli's for some free chocolate. Perfect day! While in Danville we went on a long bike ride along the Ironhorse trail, walked through Osage Park, visited downtown Danville (with tons of DARLING shops), and enjoyed some Peterson cooking. We even made homemade potstickers. YUM! 

^How adorable is this?! On the left is the rose garden at Osage park, and on the right is one of the many vintage stores located in downtown Danville^

We then made our way back up to Folsom to see my family. As soon as we arrived in Folsom we squished into my family's car to drive up to Lake Almanor. Lake Almanor is up by Chico, and it is basically a mini, less busy, Lake Tahoe. It's beautiful! We had so much fun up there. We went golfing, boating, paddle boarding, fishing, and we played tennis. We loved Lake Almanor! 

There were tons of these little fishies!

^Seriously, isn't this place beautiful?^

After our super fun weekend at Lake Almanor, we headed back to Danville for more Peterson family fun. While in Danville, Clark golfed every morning with his Dad! AND for those of you golfers out there... prepare to be jealous. Clark got a hole in one on the 17th hole his last day of golfing in Danville! Woot woot! It was the best! He was so excited.  I went out to lunch with Shelley a couple times, and we even celebrated my birthday a little early (I'll do a birthday post soon). I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family members. Our time in Danville was so great. We even took a day trip to Los Altos to see my Nana and Clark's friend Sam! We love this area, and really hope to end up there. The final day, we all drove up to Folsom to see David and Adam's football game! David is my little brother, his best friend Adam happens to be cousins with the Petersons! Isn't that so cool? They both played so well. It was so fun to watch them. We said our goodbyes to Mike, Shelley, and Anne, and the next morning we made the long trek to Utah. Our time in CA was too short, and we can't wait to get back there!