West Coast Belle

It is always amazing to me where we manage to find family. 

Honestly, with Matt being one of seven Woodland kids, and my two entire families of origin, it should not surprise me that we have super-secret-surprise family members all over this country!

That is why when this little lady brought her bubbly Southern charm to Southern California, we were really the ones who lucked-out!

{SOURCE}

This is my awesome-step-mother's-cousin's-daughter Sarah {WHEW!!} from Alabama and she recently came to stay and managed to change our world!  Sarah is honestly one of the coolest, sweetest, brightest little ladies I have ever met!  She graduated second in her class from her high school this June, and received a scholarship to this little place, not sure if you've heard of it??

{Goooo TIGERS!}

Sarah's one request for all of these accomplishments was to come visit all of the crazies that she is blood-related to her California family, including us!

She really had a whirlwind tour of everything California including the capitol city of Sacramento, Merced and Atwater where she met alllll of our family, a trip to Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Los Angeles including Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood (the sign!), the walk of fame and the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards take place, and then on to our little corner of San Diego, California!

Me, my dad and step-mom Cindy, Sarah and my sister Megan immediately hit the beach at Coronado to check out the Hotel Del Coronado!

{Historic Lobby}

{Cute girls!}

{Cuter Parents}

{Sandy toes are happy toes!}

And we swiftly followed all that beachy fun up with a trip to...the Mexican Border??

I forget sometimes that Mexico really is...just right there!

San Diego is really one of the only towns in America where folks travel back and forth between Mexico and USA daily for work, fun, and vacation nearly seamlessly!

{Sarah and Mexico}

After briefly considering introducing Sarah to a tattooed Marine to really complete her San Diego experience, we decided a better approach would be to indulge in some Mexican food instead...good call!

We ended the evening by meeting up with Megan and Jeff, and Matt at Miguel's Cocina in North County, San Diego.

The rest of the night was spent just chatting and hanging out.  Matt was especially enamoured with Sarah's sweet Alabama accent, as he lived in Texas for two years.  He said he wishes we all could speak that way!

I cannot speak highly enough about our cousin Sarah.

She has it all together (waaaaay more so than I did at 18!) and I cannot wait to see what amazing and awesome things she does with her life.

Even more I cannot wait to see her again! Thanks for making time to come see us Sarah, we love you!