Weekend BlogLog

Weekend of May 16th
On Friday night we headed down to Santa Cruz to visit our friends Justin and Silvia. We played some games with them, Silvia won, so we didn't get to add any tick marks to our scoreboard. We stayed the night and Saturday morning the guys woke up bright and early - 5:00am to go surfing. The girls, however, stayed in bed a little while longer to get some beauty rest, although, we did have bacon, eggs and toast ready as the boys walked in. We then headed down to the O'Neil and Rip Curl Pre Memorial Day weekend sale for the locals. I got the very warmest wetsuit their is as well as some booties. Yeah!!!! Now I have no excuse not to get in the water with the surfboard or kiteboard and do some body dragging in the wind.

We then headed to Cafe Brazil (which is where our friend Silvia is from) and had Acai, which is my newest favorite thing. Then a small group of us headed to a water hole off highway 9. It was very cold water - I was wishing I had my new wetsuit with me. We jumped off the rope swing and swam around a bit. Rick and I then headed to my old high school friend Cyndi's house for dinner. Her and her husband made us a great BBQ dinner. Sunday afternoon, Rick and I went to the lake to have a picnic with a bunch of couples and all the little kids in the ward. It was a fun and productive weekend with great weather.

Below you will see a few pictures from the swimming hole in Santa Cruz. One is a picture that I took of Rick swinging on the rope swing. The other is a picture that Rick took of me swinging on the rope swing. Opps - a little too late, I am under the water. However it is a great shot of my awesome splash.















Weekend of May 9th
We were so boring this weekend. Friday night we went to IHOP for dinner because we had a gift certificate that we got for our wedding. We shared one of my all time favorite dishes - mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken strips, onion rings and french fries with ranch dip. The server said "Finally someone who is not into their health." On Saturday we ran some arrands and Rick went kiteboarding while I watched a "girl movie" by myself. Saturday night we went to Jack London Square for some chicken and waffles at the House of Chicken and Waffles. What a combo huh? There are a few of them around here in Oakland and I have been dying to try them, not necessarily because I crave chicken and waffles but more because it is just so random. Our plate came with some fried chicken right along the side of a big waffle covered in syrup. We also had some gravy, corn muffin and biscuits of course. I was a little disappointed in the fried chicken. It was a little on the old dried up side and the waffle was just okay. I would like to try the other chicken and waffle place called Roscoe's. I hope that one is much better. On Sunday we went over to my mom's house for mother's day. Rick made some delicious caramel brownie treats for dessert and did all the grilling and the dishes. He did a great job on the steak and the chicken. He was such a sweetie! Hopefully next weekend is a little more exciting.

Weekend of May 2nd
Friday was our 3 month anniversary so we went to College Avenue in Berkley for dinner. We ate at a Northern Chinese restaurant. It was pretty good. We had mu shu chicken (of course, one of my favorites) and spicy mongolian lamb and rice. 

On Saturday we went to the Norwegian Day Festival in San Francisco at Fort Mason. My Norweigan Bunad costume was just recently finished so I was pretty excited to wear it to the festival. It was fun. We ate stinging neddle soup, lefse, krumkraker, and norweigan hot dogs wrapped in lefse. After the festival, Rick wanted to run over to the sports basement, and of course I had no spare change of clothes. The first guy that saw me (a worker at sports basement) loved the costume. He thought it was a little red ridding hood costume and was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. I think he liked the idea of a girl in costume. The rest of the people just looked at me through the corner of their eyes trying to figure out what I was wearing. Rick thinks they probably thought I was from some wacky religious cult and that Rick probably had multiple wives. After our time in the city we headed to Alameda Beach. Rick was finally able to get out there with his kiteboard.























Weekend of April 25th
Friday night we tried a new Burmese restaurant in Alameda. We had some rice noodles with chicken and curry sauce and red curry with beef and coconut rice. The dishes were ok, not spectaular. The coconut rice was the best part of the meal. 

Saturday morning we ran some arrands and finally got a bed spread - yeah! The weather was amazing (80's) so we headed down the street to Alameda Beach. There wasn't enough wind to kiteboard so we laid around on the beach in the nice sun. In the afternoon we did a service project "Rebuilding Together" for the city of Oakland. 

On Sunday I spoke at a stake fireside about my experiences in the Philippines. It was a nice and relaxing weekend.

Weekend of April 19th
Rick and I went to Costanoa in Pescadero along the coast. We took off work and drove down Highway 1 along the coast to Pescadero. We stopped off at Pasta Moon for dinner in Half Moon Bay. It was pretty good. We had asparagus and scallop risotto and stuffed chicken breast with sun dried tomaotes, fontina, capers and procuitto. We stayed in the tent bungelows at Costanoa. It was a canvas tent with a queen size bed and heated mattress pad. I called it camping for the super rich. In some ways you really did feel like you were camping. It was out in the forest and you had to walk to public bathrooms (although the bathrooms had nice showers and saunas). They even had bonfires already made for you. You could just walk up to any bonfire and roast marshmallows and sit by the fire. We went in the hot tub and sat in the sauna on Friday night. Saturday morning we had a hard time getting out of that nice warm bed. We ate a big breakfast at the lodge and took a hike down to the beach. It was fun to get away for awhile.

Weekend of April12th
We had our first camping trip as a married couple and our first camping trip with another married couple. We filled up the Land Rover to the ceiling with all our new camping gear, and it was just for one night. After unpacking all that stuff, I decided it's better to go camping for two days if we are going to bring all that stuff. We went to Mt. Madonna with Justin and Silvia on Friday night. It's in the Santa Cruz mountains so isn't too far away. We played games and sat around the campfire making smores. Saturday morning Rick and I made our famous french toast with cream, warm spices and homemade lemony zest syrup. We then took a short hike in the mountains and hit the beach. We met up with Rob and Meghan at the beach. The guys went surfing in the freezing water while the girls laid around the beach talking about our men. We then went to a taqueria in Santa Cruz and Marrianne's for ice cream. We then headed over to Justin and Silvia's for a game of Puerto Rico.