Together, for a time

BJ came out right before Thanksgiving. I have to say, I was really worried that for some reason I wouldn't recognize him, because I fail at recognizing people out of context. Seeing him in California was certainly going to be out of context for me. Luckily enough, when I saw him at the train station, it wasn't a problem. I knew him immediately.

We and my parents then explored Old Town Sacramento, ate late lunch and just wandered around. It was a lot of fun. Ironically, it was rather dreary outside and we Californians were a little chilled, but BJ seemed to hold up! Then home we went. He met the family.

My youngest brother took an immediate shine to BJ. One of my other brothers had just left on his mission the month prior. As a result, he was missing Ben and was really grateful to have BJ. I was just glad that he didn't say anything too embarrassing to BJ. I'm the eldest in my family, and none of my other siblings has yet to seriously date someone. Let alone had this individual come out to California to visit. I was worried that my family in general was going to be really odd. I didn't know how they were going to react. They were awesome though. I'm so blessed to have them as my family.

BJ and I at the YSA Thanksgiving

That first night he visited, I took him to the Young Single Adult Thanksgiving dinner they were having. I wanted him to meet some of the people I knew there. Plus, it was an activity I thought I should attend. We had a lot of fun though. Many of the people just assumed he attended one of the 3 YSA branches that met together, so the talent show they had, one of the members of one of the Branch Presidencies asked if he could be in charge of the sound system. He's a really helpful, kind guy; it's one of the reasons I like him. Plus, he does have that spirit around him. No wonder people thought he attended one of the branches!

As a family, we all went to San Francisco and explored all over the place. We went to Lombard Street. Explored China Town. We visited Coit Tower. We visited Fort Point right on one side of the Golden Gate Bridge. We visited the Exploratorium. We just had a lot of fun together in San Francisco. It was pretty awesome. Especially since that's where he held my hand.

BJ and I Lombard Street 

Fort Point with BJ and the rest of the family.

Fort Point with BJ and my siblings

Showing BJ San Francisco

♥ BJ and I ♥

BJ being Napoleon

It was so much fun. On the way back, I pointed out the Oakland Temple. It was a great day. Then it was Sunday. He met my ward; those that were there. It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving so many were gone. My entire family was singing in the choir, so BJ and I sat in the congregation. It was so fantastic.

Over the next few days I showed him around my city. I showed him my High School, downtown, my sister's school, etc. It was really fun to show him. Then we were trying to figure out what to do next. We decided to go visit Yosemite. That's what we did. We went there. Totally unprepared. If you've read a previous post entitled "The Hike of a Lifetime (a.k.a. The Hike of MY Life)" then you know exactly what we did.

The next day I drove him back to the Sacramento train station. We sat around for awhile and then it was time for him to get aboard.

He gave me a kiss and off he went.

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