Part 1
Picking up Sister Carlson was an awesome experience.
We got on an airplane from the Provo airport and landed in Rainy San Diego around 11:30 am on Thursday, December 22nd.
I was so excited to pick up our rental car and drive over to La Mesa where the Mission home was. I guess you could say I was a little crazy for a while but I'm sure most missionary moms understand! Meeting President and Sister Schmidt in person was wonderful and of course finally hugging Jessie was the best!!
I was so excited to pick up our rental car and drive over to La Mesa where the Mission home was. I guess you could say I was a little crazy for a while but I'm sure most missionary moms understand! Meeting President and Sister Schmidt in person was wonderful and of course finally hugging Jessie was the best!!
President Ouderkirk released Jessie on Google Hangouts. It took about forty-five minutes and was a very spiritual experience. He asked Sister Carlson to stand at the end of her release and share her testimony. We all cried a lot.
After visiting for a while and saying our goodbye's we were off to Los Angeles. Jessie was a little hesitant about leaving her mission and missionary life but the three and half hour drive up north really helped. Yes the traffic was horrendous!!
December 30th we spent the entire cloudy day at Universal Studios. It sprinkled in the morning and finally cleared up at noon. Around 7:00 in the evening it started to rain again which made the Jurrasic Park ride very realistic. Harry Potter World was probably our favorite part of the day. We kind of splurged and bought front of the line passes so we could go on our favorite rides twice and not have to wait in line. Jen and I got a little motion sickness. We ended up pacing ourselves. The Shrek movie gave us an option to sit in the moving seats or the normal theater seats. By the end of the day we were done being moved around so it was nice sitting in normal seats.
Jen was pretty serious when it came time to pick out a wand. She is our Harry Potter expert and was the main reason for visiting Universal Studios.
The lady in the background decided to photo bomb this particular photo.
GW spoiled us with Hogwarts scarves. Speaking of GW he is probably the funnest person to go on vacation with! His back bothered him for the first time due to sitting a lot the first day. Walking in the wet weather didn't help his lungs either, but he was a real trooper!
I also enjoyed the Universal Studios tour ride which lasted about an hour. GW and I Honeymooned almost twenty-seven years ago at this same park and it has totally changed. Needless to say we were exhausted at the end of the day, but it was all worth it!!
