The City by the Bay

This is another marathon type post! I went to San Francisco with my friends Bridgette, Kelly, Monica and Jen and we had a great time. We were there for food, and to take classes and to have a great time. Mission accomplished! We went to Monica's house the first night and then went to S.F. the last 4 nights. It was a great trip (despite the outbreak of what we called the Frog Flu...)!

So, this may look like a crazy picture of the hotel we stayed in, The Parc 55, but it is actually a picture of the type of room we stayed in. It's a long story, but let's just say that Bridgette and Brit's anniversay mishap was to our benefit. We ended up having a penthouse suite for the time we were there. Rediculous and awesome...I mean seriously, the penthouse?? Awesome.

We went to Tartine bakery each morning we were in San Francisco. I joked that we ordered enough food for 11 men each morning - but I think there was some truth to it...there's just so much to pick from and it is all so, so good!

One of the great meals was from Farina. They are literally known for having the best pesto in the world - they have won the competition in Italy! It lived up to its reputation...

Christopher Bleu who used to have a shop in Alpine, now has 2 shops in Berkley. We went to both shops (one of them twice) and had all of our favorites from him plus some new things we hadn't tried. Christopher didn't let us down and we got a great tip from Max, his employee, who told us about a wonderful local Mexican restaurant...the good just kept getting better...

This was my favorite meal of the trip. We went to Chez Panisse for lunch and it was delicious. I had a great meal and the most wonderful dessert (which the server actually got me the recipe for)...can anyone say, "heaven"?

On Saturday I had an extra special treat (like I hadn't had enough during this trip) and got to see Connie, Dan and Grace. Connie happened to be in S.F. for the Nike women's marathon on Sunday. We met up at the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across the bridge together (and back). It was an awesome birthday present!

Last, but not least, we took 3 different classes from Baking Arts. This is a picture of the petit fours from their website - the ones we made were actually round...I'll have to post the pictures of the real ones once they get downloaded...

Here is the chocolate souffle...we also made a savory souffle with goat cheese, thyme and rosemary...the souffles were so delicious!

We also learned how to decorate cookies in this way. We did butterflies, Christmas trees, snowmen, and two types of snowflakes. I can't wait to use these techniques!

It was a really wonderful trip with great friends and great food - hello?? Is there anything better than that? And I didn't even cover the shopping, Acme bread, Cowgirl creamery...

Our 10th Anniversary Trip

Here we are after 10 years of wedded bliss!! We took a wonderful vacation to Carmel for our anniversary and had the most perfect time.

Here I am standing in the doorway/courtyard to our hotel room. It was such an awesome place...I think there may just be someplaces that are like home...

This was the lobby in the hotel...we loved to just sit down there and drink their house soda. It was a delicious soda made with lemon grass...I could have sipped it all day long!

Here is part of the courtyard...you walked through this area to get to all of the rooms. There were individual stairways to the upstairs rooms (this building was originally an apartment building in the 20's)

Here is the front entrance to one of the greatest places I have ever stayed (and I have been to some good ones). I would highly recommend this hotel...they treat you like you are the king and queen of somewhere and have all of the wonderful treats and ammenities you would think a king and queen might need...we will definitely be back the next time we're in Carmel.

We went to Hearst castle on our actual anniversary. It really is an amazing place. I loved walking around and seeing someone's vision of what a perfect place would be. We did have a tour guide that was like someone out of a SNL skit - lots of telling us not to touch anything, lots of telling us to stand in the shade, and lots of her own little strange quirks put into the tour. It made for some good laughs...

Inside the pool house - the entire thing is hand tiled - even the ceilings - and the floors have gold tiles in them...it's pretty impressive!

The outdoor pool...

Some of the beautiful gardens...it was an awesome piece of property even without an amazing castle.

It is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area...

This is one of the spots where we stopped when we were on vacation for our 1st anniversary. We love the views from this drive.

Here's one for Holly...holding a bird on the pier...it almost pecked my eyes out...okay, well not really...

We went to the mission in Carmel and walked around. They happened to be having a festival that day and so it was really fun to be there. Even though I am cut off in this picture, it was really supposed to be a picture of the flowers and the architecture. We loved how everything looked here.

After the mass at the mission, there was a mariachi band leading a parade out of the church...it was really fun to watch (and quite different)

We had a wonderful time on our trip. I can hardly put it into words...we had so much time together and had so much fun...a perfect combination. Can't wait for the next 10!!!

Ahhh, the sport season is over!

I love having the kids in sports and I love going to watch their games. I also love when the season is over and you get your evenings back. Andrew had a great time playing soccer this year and he did so well. It's amazing to watch your kids actually play soccer and not just be out on the field randomly kicking the ball (which is pretty cute too). He's excited to play again next year and we will be excited to watch him!

This is the "silly face" team picture...a job well done by the team...

This is the wide shot of the same silly face picture...we wouldn't want to miss any of the silly faces!

Andrew's soccer team!!

Random crafting

These are all crafts that I have seen done somewhere else and copied...you know I love to copy a good craft!! This top one is a fall soup basket. It has the potatoes, celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes for a stew - with a few other little treasures tucked in. This was for one of my friend's birthdays.

Here's the Halloween tutu for Ava's costume! Holly and Jonna have been trying to get me to make a tutu ever since they started making them for their little girls. I finally had a reason to make one and now I'm hooked - I can see why they love them so much! If you look closely, you can see that this one is bedazzled...

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw this idea was in Utah when Tiffany made a diaper cake for Corie's baby shower. If it isn't, then I am still crediting that as the first time because it made the impression! I have made a few of these over the years. This one was for Greg's nieces' baby shower a few weeks ago in Hutchinson!

On my honor...

Andrew had his first cubscout meeting this past week. I was up late the night before sewing all of his patches on his shirt so he would be ready...he was so excited! He's really looking forward to earning badges and having more for me to sew on his shirt!

Here we are learning how to fold his neckerchief...we're a quick study!

By the way, some of these are two-for-one pictures...you can see the flaming red maple tree we planted last week!

Isn't this how time is really counted?

Greg and the kids planted a flame red maple tree in our yard tonight. It follows the same line of the trees on 25th. Greg had really been wanting to add another tree there (especially with the loss of the birch tree this season) and tonight was the night!

It's too dark to take an actual picture of the tree, but I will take one tomorrow with the kids standing by it. I figure this way they can look at the tree someday and remember how big it was and how big they were when it was planted...our little (hopefully big some day) time table!