California

Okay, so a few months after we got married, Ben received a phone call from one of his buddies that he knew from the mission asking him what are plans were for the upcoming summer. Ben said we were just planning on staying up in Logan and I would work while he went to school. Then, he asked him if we would be interested in going out with a summer sales team retailing Dish Network. He wanted Ben to be the manager of the installation side of things which would include recruiting technicians and moving to "who know where" for the summer. Ben and I talked about it and decided that it would most likely be a good opportunity, so we agreed. In the early months of 2007, we found out that our destination was San Jose, California. I was VERY excited! Who wouldn't want to spend a few months in Cali, right? So we packed up in April and moved ourselves (and some of our family members) to sunny California. The summer as a whole wasn't the huge financial success that we were hoping it would be, but looking back on it now, neither one of us regret it. Ben was given the opportunity to be a manager and develop some of those skills and we had a blast with our friends and family! Here are some of the things that we were able to do and see while we were there...

First of all... the Golden Gate Bridge! We actually biked across it! I thought it would be SO cute to ride tandem with Ben, and although it made for some cute pictures, it was not so much fun! Riding on the back is so awkward and I didn't like it one bit. Not to mention the bike ride wasn't very short and there was no turning back after we started. I actually made my little sister, Cindi, get off her single and ride with Ben so I could have my own bike for a while. All in all it was really fun, but I would not recommend it on such a lengthy ride! After we got across, we took a ferry back to the other side and went through a little city called Sausalito...yes, like the cookie. It was such a cute little place where the value of property and houses is OUTRAGEOUS!

We also had the opportunity to have my parents come out for a visit. My dad is really into war stuff. You know, planes, ships, submarines, you name it, so of course he wanted to take a tour of a submarine that was off one of the piers in San Francisco. It was an audio tour and it was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. We really enjoyed having them visit!!

And last, but not least...

The BEACH!! Who could forget the beach?! We lived about 40 minutes from some really nice beaches, but we didn't get to visit as much as we would have liked. We also received a visit from my little brother, Jeff, and Cindi's friend, Trent. The first picture is of Mitch (Ben's brother), Trent (Cindi's friend), David (Ben's brother), Dan (Ben's friend), David, Ferrell (Ben's friend). and Jeff (My brother). All but Trent and Jeff were technicians or salesman.