It's Your Birthday....

Shout Hooray! My younger sister celebrates her birthday today! She is so much fun. I love going home to go to her sports games, musical activities, plays, etc. She always has something going on.

We love you Jenn!

Quick Weekend Getaway

Nate and I just got back from spending the weekend in Merced, CA with my sister, her husband, and their little boy. Bryce, my sister's husband, is doing one of his medical rotations in his hometown of Merced. The timing was perfect for various reasons and on a whim Nate and I decided to go visit. Jessica and I met up in Dublin on Thursday. I took the Bart and she drove from Merced. We spent the day shopping and came out empty handed, suprisingly enough, but we still had tons of fun. Nate drove out after work on Friday.

Saturday was a full day. We started out the day with a hike near Yosemite National Forest towards Hite Cove, where the wildflowers are in full bloom and very abundant. It was so beautiful! We had a lot of fun discovering all the species in the area. My favorite was the poppy with it's bright oranges, although there were many other beautiful ones as well.

The whole group.

Looking at the Wildflower Guide pamphlet

The "Chinese House" flower

After hiking we went out to Bryce's dad's property and went skeet shooting. We also tried our hand with a BB gun. My sister is a sharp shooter! Isaac, my nephew, laughed every time the rifle went off. It never got old to him! It was so funny! I tried my hand at throwing the skeets. It's a lot harder than it appears. After about 20 tries I think I barely got it out of the thrower. Bryce's dad also saddled up his horses for us and we went riding for a bit.

Nate Shooting the Rifle

Attempting to throw the skeet-notice that it is still in the thrower! My body is torqued funny because it didn't come out.

The "smiler"

Overall, we had a great weekend. If anything, it was too short! We hadn't seen our nephew since his baby blessing in December when he was a little over a month old. He has gotten so much bigger and is definitely a smiler.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was sunny and beautiful out here in the Bay Area. Jaime and I decided to make the most of the 70 degree weather on Saturday with a little picnic and a friendly game of Bocce. We stopped by Subway to pick up lunch and then drove to a park in Burlingame that has great views of the bay. Our game was pretty competitive, but I edged out Jaime by one point!

Look at that form!

My form: ugly but effective!

On Easter Sunday, we went over to the Bailey's home for a potluck dinner and Easter egg hunt with a bunch of families from our ward. The Bailey's were great; they provided most of the food, their home, and some sweet prizes in the Easter eggs. Jaime found the crown jewel...a movie pass!

Searching for eggs

New Obsession?

Many of you reading this blog may remember my previous post about digital scrapbooking. Off of that post a whole NEW WORLD was opened up to me! (Thanks Kristen for the great website suggestions.) I have spent hours and hours scouring those websites, learning different techniques through tutorials to improve my Photoshop skills, and signed up for newsletters that give a daily freebie. Every morning I can't wait to see what that days email newsletter will bring me - not only for the freebie but for the layouts, the cool technique suggestions and much more. Some might call it an obsession. I like to think of it as developing new talents. The great thing is that my sister has gotten into it too, so we are always chatting about it.

So-now when people ask me what I do with all my free time I can tell them digital scrapbooking! I'm working on a book for our pre-marriage years. Below are the latest 5 layouts I have done in the last few days.

Christian and Steph's Wedding

This weekend I took Friday off so Jaime and I could head out to Fresno to go to a wedding. This wasn't just any wedding though...this wedding may never have happened if it weren't for me. Well, maybe I'm taking too much credit.

It was great to see two people that I really admire tie the knot. The wedding was between Christian, who I lived with for three years in college, and Steph, who was in the accounting program with me. I have a lot of very fond memories of both of them, and I am so glad that they are married. I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't all gotten together for a Saturday wakeboarding trip a year and a half ago?




The other great thing about weddings is that it brings people together. We saw a lot of friends from college that we haven't seen for quite a while. Even my parents came out for the occasion since Christian spent enough time on our boat to be considered a third son.



The wedding also made us reflect on how great the last 6 months of marriage has been for Jaime and me.

Don't Tell Me You Have a Map

Last weekend cousin Ashley came to visit. The weekend was full of laughter, reminiscing, exploring and sight seeing. It reminded me a little of what it was like to have a female roommate again, especially since she and I had lived together just a year ago. However, Nate and Ashley get along really well too. It could be because their first meeting took place when Nate had a rather scraggly beard and Ash was just fresh off her mission. From that point on, a bond was forged. She was Nate's advocate all along and helped me see the way I felt about him was more than just the friendship I thought it was. Often, Nate and Ash would stay up late talking on the couch long after I had fallen asleep while sitting there. Needless to say, we were both very excited to have her come stay for a few days.

Nate had to work on Friday so Ashley and I decided to go explore on our own. There were a few times that day that the song - One of These Things is Not Like the Other-from Sesame Street came into my head. The first time was when we stopped at a gas station in Oakland. Ash didn't even wait to fill the tank all the way. No more needs to be said. The other time was when we missed our exit and somehow ended up in the mission. We had a good laugh. One of the funniest moments is when after staring at her atlas for about 10 minutes because we were lost, I was suddenly reminded that I was carrying an excellent street map in my purse that I had put in that morning for such situations like these. Duh!

We finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and celebrated by walking across on foot-a 1st for me. We then met up with Nate and went to Golden Gate Park. We spent a little bit of time walking around the de Young Museum. There are some pretty cool artifacts there. We were mesmerized by various tribal items from Africa and Papua New Guinea. There is so much more still to be discovered.

On Saturday we headed to the Marin Headlands. Before doing some hiking we stopped at Point Bonita, a lighthouse on the northern side of the entrance to the bay. Although it was very windy, it was sunny and clear. What more could you ask for? Afterwards, we found a trail in the headlands and went hiking. It was fun and the fresh air revitalizing. No good hike is complete without a little refreshment. We stopped at Polyanne's for ice cream on the way home. Feeling a little crazy we spun the wheel and lucked out. Nate's was the worst. He had ginger. Ashley had pineapple-coconut and I had Honeydew Melon. Saturday night ended my favorite way, falling asleep on the couch to Nate and Ash talking. There is something relaxing about falling asleep to voices and it's something I've enjoyed my whole life.

Overall, we had a great weekend and loved having Ashley visit.