This weekend Mike and I had the honor to travel out to California to celebrate the life of our dear friend, Curt Ziemke.  Here are some pictures of our journey to wish him farewell! 

Since the trip was last minute (just like it was when I went out two weeks ago), we had a layover in Phoenix to keep it affordable… which worked out great 3 out of the 4 travel days to Cali this month… save the best for last!

 

I loved these pretty glass flowers in a Phoenix airport gift shop but just didn’t have it in me to protect one all the way home, so I took a picture instead!  :)  We stayed with the Ziemke’s great friends, Mark and Kelli Hunter.  Their house was so pretty and felt so warm and inviting.  I loved this HUGE Charlie Brown Christmas tree sticking up over their neighbor’s roof in their back yard.  They have the coolest varieties of trees here!

Friday night, we ate Mexican food by the beach!  It was beautiful, and our evening was relaxing just being together!

Saturday, we got to both grieve our loss and celebrate the life of Curt, father to these great kids; Cayden (17), Clarissa (19), and Corbin (13)!  He was the best!

 

Clarissa with me and Zachary.

Cindy and her awesome employees at American City Pest and Termite, Inc. who knew and loved Curt so much!

 

Curt had the best friends in high school!  Here is a picture of Cindy with some of their wives.  So sweet!

The Ziemke ladies… so beautiful!

 

Toasting to Curt and enjoying being together, just as Curt would have wanted!

The weekend was overcast, rainy and dreary… totally fitting for the occasion and how we felt.  However, it was cleansing and refreshing too!  I felt really connected to our maker and his love for us as we were hurting.

 

After the most delicious, hand squeezed OJ on the planet, Cindy and Corbin took us to the airport and we said our goodbyes… until next time!  I enjoyed taking scenery pics this trip… with a layover in Phoenix, being so low to the mountains was breathtaking.

I’m always so amazed at the miles and miles of perfect crop designs.  I never stop staring out of the window once we are out of the clouds.  It’s fascinating to me.  People are cool!

Check out these houses surrounding this lake!  We were somewhere over Phoenix.

I loved that we were flying on top of the white clouds but the mountains could still be seen.  I took these pictures, mostly for the girls to see what it looks like but am glad I have the pictures because this was an emotional flight that I’ll never forget.

 

 

After a 4 hour layover due to a delayed first flight and missed second flight, we were ready to get home!  We stretched a good meal and conversation as far as we could, but 4 hours is a long time!  When we saw this play land, that just topped it all off; made us miss the girls even more.  We couldn’t get out of there quick enough! 

On the way home, I saw this high heel made out of lights on a lake and knew Noelle would love to see that!  We had a long day of traveling, delays, and missing our layover, but it was so worth it to say farewell and celebrate our friend!  We love you, Curt!  Always will.