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.

SCOREBOARD

Rick and I love to play games. We will keep you posted on what our scoreboard looks like.

• Risk - C1
  
• Settlers - R1 - C1
  
• Puerto Rico - R1
• Five Crowns - C2
• Pass the Pigs -C17 - R9
  
• Yatzee - R1
• Blink - Corene is the always the champion of this game, hand down.
  

Fun Weekends

While dating, we did a ton of fun stuff. Here are some of the fun weekends we have had...

Pismo Beach
We hooked up for our first time on my 4th Annual Pismo Beach Trip. We had about 35 or 40 people there. Each year we have a big bonfire on Friday night, a dutch oven breakfast Saturday morning, a football tournament in the sand, quad riding in the sand dunes, BBQ at Moe's, hot springs Saturday night and then another bonfire. It is always a great trip. This year was by far the best!


Wakeboarding
I surprised Rick for his 31st birthday. We went boat camping on Lake Don Pedro. Friday night I gave him a homemade raspberry napoleon which is his birthday favorite. One of my pastry chefs made it for him. It was delicious. Saturday morning his friends surprised him at the dock and we spent the day wakeboarding and eating cupcakes.



















Magic Mountain
One of my favorite trips was to Magic Mountain. I had been wanting to go there for many years and finally Rick took me. I love roller coasters so it was great fun. The rides were amazing, although I must say, I did have a headache all day long. It is much more difficult to handle all that shaking around when you're a little older.


















Tahoe
We took a few trips to Tahoe our first summer of dating. One was with my family - a family reunion with all the relatives and the second one was with his family. We love spending time with the nieces and nephews. Rick is such a kid and the nieces and nephews love him to pieces.




















Henry Coe State Park
Rick and I went back packing last summer at Henry Coe State Park in San Jose. It is close by and easy to get to. We packed in after work and hiked in the dark to our camping spot. Rick made me pancakes and bacon for breakfast and we spent the day hiking and playing in the water. We hiked through tons of poision oak and luckily did not get it this time. I am pretty excited to go back packing this year because I got a new back pack for my wedding - yeah!




















Splunking
Rick and I went splunking with my family. My family has all been to Moaning Caverns before so it wasn't new to us. This was Rick's first time meeting my family. It was a fun time.






















4 Wheeling
Sometimes I go 4 wheeling by myself without Ricky. He doesn't like it as much as I do. I grew up doing it with my dad, and I must say I am pretty good at it. Only one accident and it was because of a bad spot not the driving.























Alcatraz Swim
Yep, that's right. We swam from Alcatraz. Rick, my dad and I did the Alcatraz swim/race for my dad's 60 birthday. I blew them all away, although I must say they all did a fantastic job.