1/10th of the Way There!

Both sets of my grandparents have now made it 50 years in their marriages. I've always hoped for the same. Maybe it is my compulsiveness that requires me to make all these goals, but that's a biggie.

It was Brady's year to come up with our anniversary plans. While we wanted to do a weekend trip, there were no available weekends. I started school, he started the busy time at work, and that's life. So he planned a day trip.

We took the BART early, and got to the city in time for a tasty breakfast at Sears Fine Foods (where we ate last year...YUM!). Then we hopped on our bikes and headed across the Golden Gate. As evidenced below, it was quite foggy. In fact, they call it a drizzle when it is like this.

I've been begging Brady to consider getting road bikes now that we have our mountain bikes (and I want to get more involved in triathlons). In fact, I spent the first few miles in the city complaining that we didn't have skinny, non-traction tires to cruise around on. Then, I discovered the glory of mountain bikes. You can bike off-road.

I know, what a mystery, huh? Well, I have never been off-road. It was breathtaking!!

We biked a LONG time uphill. It was challenging, but there were a few flatter areas, and plenty of drink breaks. The first few miles I couldn't get over the thrill and uncertaintly of gravel.

In this picture, Brady says I'm ready to join Harley. (Check out the gloves.)

Finally, we started in on some downhill. That simply took the workout from the legs to the arms for me. I think I was just so tense and nervous that my arms were constantly flexed.

Brady made sure to find some wildflowers along the way. (He also made sure to get some flowers for me on Friday...)

We found a different trail to go back to the city, and ended up seeing the bridge without all the "drizzle."

All said, we went about 27 miles. (We know that due to Brady's Google Earth hobby.) It was a new adventure, and one we plan to repeat with different trails. We discovered areas to park so we can skip the city next time around. Not that we mind the view...

Sweatin' to the Oldies

We love the oldies, and we don't mind a little sweat. We also don't mind Richard Simmons.

We are, however, pretty sick of this California heat wave. We are reminded daily that we don't live IN San Francisco!

We are currently on a "heat advisory." No one really had to tell us that. That fact is easily established by walking outside at 7am, and still getting drenched. It's been over the 100s for over a week. Saturday, it hit 110. Today, it "cooled off" to a mild 106 degrees. Fantastic.

I was self-conscious about my excessive sweating--especially around all the faculty at my new job. Then I realized that everyone else had neck rings and back sweat stains, too. Eww.

Everyone around here keeps assuring us that this is "out of the ordinary" and that they just "can't believe this crazy weather." Each time I hear these phrases, I make a threat to the weatherman..."It BETTER be out of the ordinary." Or else, right?

What do you do? I suppose even the CA climate isn't always ideal.

Remember the Blues

Sometimes work gives you perks...and this was one of those times. The company I work for is a large sponsor for the Wente Vineyards Concert Series in Livermore, CA. The concerts are outside among beautiful vineyards and golfing greens. Supposedly, cameras are not allowed--so naturally I took only a few pictures.


Karen and I were given tickets valued at $150/ea to listen to music while sitting on tables next to the stage, and also eat from the best buffet I have ever had. I had to be sneaky to snap these pics.

After being stuffed with salmon, chicken, and delectable fruits we awaited the main event..."The Blues Traveler." I remembered a couple of their songs, but the most impressive performance was John Popper on the harmonica(hat and glasses). I promise their concert was better than this picture. Real cool, huh.

Date Night in San Francisco

8 Things You Can Do in San Francisco:

1. Eat really great at The Slanted Door.

2. Have intelligible conversations with intelligent people.

3. Walk to Coit Tower, which means climbing stair after stair after stair. We actually found a secret set of brick stairs (found below in #7).

4. Notice things along the way that we would have never otherwise noticed.

(What happens when this guy stands up?????)

5. Enjoy serene scenes from Coit Tower.

6. Watch Kristen kill a large bug with her eyelashes.

7. Pretend like we're taking engagement pictures again.

8. Enjoy some time with our hot wives.

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Does anyone else remember chanting that spelling the day you learned it? Over and over and over?

Today, everything ended early in church, and teachers all over were struggling to maintain the attention of their classes. After doing every "enrichment" activity I could with my class, I gave in to the all-popular game of hangman.

Each kid had a turn to spell out something--preferably from the lesson. It went smoothly, then a self-proclaimed "smartie" girl in my class said she had a word that was really going to stump us. With just 2 minutes to go, I was skeptical. Aside from the kids of the spelling bee craze that has taken the nation, I would be surprised and embarrased if a 7-year-old could take me.

Several minutes later--after church was over--the class had to give in. I had absolutely NO IDEA what her word was, and figured it must be in Japanese or something (a language she says that she knows). She excitedly filled in the letters to the hangman puzzle, loudly and enthusiastically adding, "The state! See!? I knew I'd get you!"

MISS ASJUPE

SMILE!

This is the face of two people who just went to the dentist yesterday and HAD NO CAVITIES!

You might think, "Well, they just went to the dentist 9 months ago and had a lot of work done. Why would they have more cavities?"

We both had a few teeth that were on "cavity watch." (In fact, I had 4 teeth in this category.) And they aren't cavities! Yeah!!!

AND...the dentist said I really need to consider getting braces, because my gums are starting to recede on my front tooth based on the angle it is sitting. That's happy news, since I've been trying to justify them for about 5 years, and couldn't get over it being a vanity issue. Vanity issue or not, that's a lot of cash.

But at least WE DON'T HAVE ANY CAVITIES!

Eatin' Well and Then Burning It Off

My appetite for seafood led us to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf over the weekend. Karen and I arrived early enough to even find free parking.
We found this little place right on the pier that is nationally recognized for its seafood--Scoma's Restaurant. It was the best food since the cruise.
One of the highlights of the Wharf is the Bush-Man. I snapped this shot of him in action. Karen was a victim of his tactics last year, so we (and about 40 others) took a moment to laugh at the startled reactions of others. The guy on the right could not figure out what we were all looking at, but in a split second, he understood.
A shot looking on to Alcatraz.
After some casual walking around the piers we spotted the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory. The brownie sundae with both milk and dark chocolate was delectable.Following a terrific feast the night before, Karen and I hopped on our new bikes for a beautiful two hour ride Saturday morning around the trails near home. Do bike seats come with any more cushion these days? We are both feeling it today.

Our Second Trip to Elko, Nevada

Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do...so we decided to make the most of it. After our clutch burned out last week, we had a 15-hour drive ahead of us to rescue our car. We went all out, left on Friday, and got a motel room in Elko for $50. Livin the high life, I tell you. No, folks, we won't be going to Hawaii with Cory, Kristen, Ang, and Paul, but we really shell it out for a good Travelodge.

The Lodge was courteous enough to provide labels for the ammenities. The lounge was labeled, the room numbers were labeled, and the shampoo was labeled. Thank heavens...one of the perks of this Travelodge was that it was pet-friendly. Without the label (and based on the smell), we could only have assumed that this shampoo was not meant for humans.

We also decided to take our camera for pictures along the way. We figured there had to be something scenic. Then we remembered that we were in Nevada. The only thing scenic in Nevada is the California border. However, the airline that we took our rental car from sure thought highly of the view.

We almost went for Premium gas at this Shell...

We also immensely enjoyed passing "Boomtown" four times in the last 2 weeks.

Finally, we found joy in the simple pleasures of a road trip...like clean bathrooms at pit stops, continental breakfast, lots of time to chat, and a bag of grapes to snack on.

Good times.

*YOU ARE HERE

Where we are...


Where our car is...

Gotta love road trips! More to come next week, after our 15 hour drive to recover the Altima.

The Cars

My work sponsored an event at the Danville Auto Museum to introduce our new community "Trilogy at the Vineyards." I thought I would share some of my favorite cars I spotted. My overall favorite was this 1957 Astor Martin racing car....a huge gas hog.


The Ferrari's also caught my attention....also gas hogs.


This car was likely the largest and most expensive in the entire museum-- a 1960's Rolls Royce formerly used for royalty. It is estimated to be worth several million dollars. But is that just the yearly expense for gas?

So...when all said and done, I'd rather have my 1995 hatchback Ford Escort that costs me $0 per month and gets over 30 miles/gallon......and real beauty!

Atta Boy Luther!!

That's right. I have officially graduated. It doesn't seem quite real, especially since I have been going to school so long ("Dr. Edwards"). The picture above is right outside the Marriott Center after the university commencement exercises. Afterwards, Wayne and Nada Miller took us along with Roni and Coleman out to Ruby River for a delicious steak dinner.


The next morning was the real graduation. As I walked across the podium to recieve my diploma I was assured that my family had made it when I heard "Atta boy Luther" echoing off every wall in the building. I was the second in line to graduate which meant my family had a long wait to the end. Let me just say that when you get this bunch together.....

your liable to find them looking for other things to do, like finding people in the congregation doing this. (Can you spot the couple making out--top left) Interestingly, Karen had taken so many pictures of couples making out during graduation that we ran out of memory just after the ceremony.

After this final graduation we all went out for breakfast. Well, all but Ryan had breakfast. Being a single college student, his biological clock is a little screwed up. Check out Ryan's light breakfast.


In a matter of two days, I graduated and moved all our belongings to Brentwood, California.
Ryan made the 12 hour journey with me and helped me move in. If any of you are considering moving to the third floor, I would consider finding something a little lower. We were exhausted.
The worst part is Karen is back in Utah finishing up teaching until the end of May. Not fun.