California part 1 {Paradise}

I always love traveling to California.  It is were I was born and raised.  I love seeing my family and friends, all the beauty, and eating the delicious fresh produce!  I heart California.  

This was a very different trip for so many reasons though.  The biggest is that it was our first with Norah.  There was a mixture of emotions throughout the trip.  There were some things that were very difficult, but there were many moments of happiness.  Since there were so many things that we did on the trip I am going to break it up into several parts.  The first one

Paradise 

 (take me down to the Paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty...)

Going to Paradise was such a completely different experience than it has ever been.  Paradise is were I spent my years growing up, it is were most of my childhood friends used to live, it is where most of my family used to live......now so much of that is gone.  It was so strange going back and not seeing Carrisa, or staying with her......we stayed with a family that I really had only met once (Norah's grandparents).  I really didn't see any of my old childhood friends, mostly just Carrisa's circle of friends, and I didn't even go to my old church, we went to Carrisa's.  It was like I was somewhere else...... The hardest thing for me though was knowing it was going to be the first time for everyone there to hear Norah call me "mommy" and Brett "daddy," something that not to long ago was someone else's roll, my sisters roll......

My sister, Danae and brother, Jordan still live there, seeing them was probably the highlight of Paradise, it made things feel just a touch like home.  

And the weather, totally amazing!  I think the girls were outside 90% of the time.  Norah's grandparents are wonderful, they made us feel like family, opened their home, let us take over, provided food and just loved us.  Maya took to them very quickly! She wanted to follow grandpa Larry everywhere!

Spending time with grandpa Larry

They had a fresh garden (something rare to see in Colorad) and a lemon and limeade tree! so jealous!

So green, trees so big!

Look at all of the beautiful roses that grow so easily here!

Baby Sarah's first time in Paradise

Time with the Condits, Maya said she never wanted to leave!

Time with Grandparents

Although the trip was very different, it wasn't bad, it was good in many ways. New friends, new family and many reasons to go back!