Finally Settled in San Diego

There is a reason this blog is entitled "Sea to Shining Sea." Not only does it cleverly incorporate patriotism and the ocean (you know, that whole Navy thing that we do), but it describes what we have been doing for the last year.  I figured out the other day that in the past year, between the two of us, we have flown cross country at least 12 times. We have covered all four of the extreme corners of the United States. We have lived in or visited Oregon, Maine, Key West, and now San Diego. For someone like me who has never moved in her life except for going to Utah for college, this is a new, exciting, and terrifying experience. On the days when the stress of it all overwhelms the exciting part, I have to remind myself how blessed we are. We live in a beautiful place, we are less than an hour from Kelson's grandparents, and I am seeing and experiencing things that I never imagined that I would. Now for a few pictures from our first week in town...

My first view of downtown San Diego.

 Our first priority was to find a place to live. We were blessed to have a place to stay in the interim. Kelson's grandparents live in Escondido, and we slept in their home gym for a little over a week. Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!

After a few stressful days of apartment shopping, we finally settled on a place about 10 miles from the base that we really like. It was a huge relief to finally have a place to live and to start unpacking all of the stuff that has been boxed up for 6 months.

After we chose an apartment, Kelson decided that I needed a break. He took me on a day trip to the charming little town of Julian, which is up in the mountains above San Diego. It did me a lot of good to get out of the busy city and enjoy the scenery. They had the cutest chapel I had ever seen. It looked like a little old schoolhouse.

Julian is famous for its pies, so of course we had to have some apple pie at Mom's.

That night was Kelson's grandparents' ward Halloween party, so we had fun passing out candy at the Trunk or Treat. I'm afraid we were a complete failure in the Halloween costume department. It was a little tricky with all of our stuff still being packed up in boxes. Next year we will come up with some awesome costumes.