Katelyn returns to the Mitten

I'm back! After 8 days, two different countries, meeting so many new people, and a TON of food...I'm officially back in my house and in the mitten. Alex and I flew from Lansing (my brother works for an airline so he helped us out with cheaper tickets...thanks again Brandon!) to Los Angeles. From there we rented the van we were going to use for the next five days and headed to San Diego to meet Alex's mom. So the purpose of this trip was to visit the families that Alex and his mom (and a ton of other hard workers)  built houses for. After over 20 years, they STILL come back every winter during Christmas and bring gifts and spend time with them. Here's our first group shot in San Diego:

Here are a few more photos from visits we did with the families. 

I adore this last photo of Mary with the family here, so much joy!

This little man could use lots of prayers from everyone. He'll be having surgery on the frontal region of his brain and then be in an induced coma for 3-6 months. He is SO precious and so full of life.

Our last stop was to Carmen's house before we crossed the border into California. Here's Alex modeling one of his favorite food groups: Mexican sope's. 

Alex smooching on Carmen (who also made the sope's).

After a few goodbyes Alex and I hit the road from San Diego to San Francisco. Here's a view from our drive up:

After a shameful stop where we ate way too much In-N-Out, we picked up Mary from the airport and made our way to Napa Valley. Alex got really into wine this past year so this trip was really special to him, and I got to try a lot of good, and other not so good wines...but I wasn't too picky :)

Perfect View ;)

A few more photos of the vineyards. Unfortunately, it wasn't the harvest season so we did not get to see grapes and lush greenery on the vines. Regardless, it was breathtaking.

This last photo is of Chateau Montelena which was the first winery in Napa Valley to really put California wines on the map. There also happens to be a movie about it: Bottleshock. Check it out!

We even managed to make it to San Francisco for a half day and saw the golden gate bridge and even took a small walk on it. The scenery in California and Mexico is so different than Michigan that it felt like a little treat every time we saw mountains. I'm also still trying to figure out what makes this bridge so special...I personally think our Mackinaw Bridge is way more impressive :D

Overall it was an amazing trip with amazing people. I was so happy to go to Mexico with Alex and see something that was so important to him and made him who he is today. I guess our next big step is to finish planning this wedding! 

Until next time! Xoxo, K