Camping in Lake Tahoe

I'm pretty proud of myself for posting this less than a month after it happened (what is my problem?).  Honestly, you should just head on over to our friends Paul and Amy's blog and read about it there.  Amy did a wonderful write up about our extremely fun camping weekend.  We just love the Nash's.   It is hard to find couples who enjoy doing the same things as you, and who actually follow through with doing them.  They are the best. Here is a quick recap of our weekend.

Amy and Paul made us the most delicious breakfast Friday morning.  I love breakfast food so I was in heaven.  At the end Amy had some batter left and didn't need to make anymore pancakes, so she made one more giant pancake (as you can see below).  

The place we stayed, Zephyr Cove, had a beach across the street from the campground.  Friday after breakfast we headed over there to let the kids play in the sand.  They loved it.  

 All of us in front of our campsite.

After the beach we stopped, picked up some lunch then headed to Inspiration Point at Emerald Bay for a picnic.  After that we went to Eagle Falls and did a little hike and checked out this cool waterfall.  

 Each night we had smores.  My kids were in heaven, because they LOVE marshmallows and I don't so I never buy them.  And while I don't like plain marshmallows, I do enjoy them roasted with chocolate between two graham crackers.  This night we also made tin foil dinners.  Amy and I took a lot of time to try to perfect them and I must say we came pretty close.  I even took notes so I would remember what to do next time we go camping. 

We all stayed in our camper at night.  It worked out really well.  Amy and I were concerned about getting the kids to bed in the camper, but they all did really well.  I think this is just the cutest picture that Amy took of Max and Clara playing on my phone.  I love when we are with the Nashs because Amy and Paul are both extremely gifted photographers, and they take so many great pictures that they later let me steal and put on my blog, print on canvas etc.  

 Saturday we went back to the beach.  Poor Clara got a little too close and took a little dip in the water.  She was a trooper though and Amy scooped her up quickly, took her back to camp and got her changed.  She kept her distance the rest of the time we were near the lake. 

This is straight from Amy's blog because she wrote it up so well:

After a lunch of roasted hot dogs, we drove to Tallac Historical Park to see some of the cabins built in the late 1800's and early 1900's by the wealthy to use as summer homes.  It was beautiful and very interesting and it felt like we were stepping back in time to the 1920's through much of it aside from the fact that it was right on the lake and we could hear motorboats every now and then.  Mostly we just wandered here and then found Pope Beach - a beautiful beach with incredibly soft sand for a mountain lake - where we hung out and skipped more rocks and had rock throwing competitions for distance and accuracy (trying to hit a buoy in the lake).  

After Tallac, we picked up some pizza and salad for dinner and brought it back to camp. 

 We went on a walk, Jason and I are clearly out of shape.  

 Amy took this cool group picture.  She had Jason take one of their family, but he totally botched it (and I don't think we will ever let him live it down).  Like I said before, we love the Nash family and can't wait for future camping trips with them.   Here and here are links to a couple other camping trips we took with the Nashs.

It's A Girl

On April 27th we found out that the little baby growing in my body is a GIRL!!!  I was completely shocked.  I was so sure she was a boy.  Oliver has told me since the beginning that it was a sister.  I guess he knows best.  He wants to name her "Bubbles".  Once I got over the initial shock, I was so excited.  I'm not very girly so I don't know what I will do with a girl, but we will figure it out.  She was very active during the ultrasound.  Now that she is getting bigger I can tell she is an active one.  I love feeling her move, and just last night (May 18th) Jason felt her move for the first time.  Everyone asks about names and honestly, we haven't ever discussed girl names much.  A few that we like so far are Scout, Kate and Zoe.  We have a while to decide.  We can't wait to meet her and are so excited for our little girl to arrive around Sept 27th. 

Girls Week in Vegas

A few months ago my sisters in law texted me about going on a girls trip to Las Vegas.  I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work, but I decided it WAS going to happen.  We had the best time ever!

I flew in Thursday afternoon.  My flight perfectly coincided (not by accident) with Jenny arriving by car.  She picked me up and we headed to the Venetian to check in.  Our suite was so nice, probably the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed in.  We got settled then went back to the airport to pick up Michelle.  We hit up PF Changs on the way back and then spent the rest of the evening at the hotel.  

Monday Jen found us a place just outside of the strip to get massages and facials (1 hour each).  It was delightful.  I had never had a facial and I really enjoyed it.  We stopped at Winco and got some snacks to keep in our room.  We had a fridge in our room, which is normally $25 extra per day, but because Jen was pumping for baby Jonah, she embarrassed the front desk guy enough by explaining why she needed it, that he gave us one for "medical purposes".  That afternoon we went to the pool and just relaxed, read and people watched.  That evening we ate at Grimaldi's in the Venetian.  The pizza was superb.  Michelle wasn't feeling well so she headed back to our room and Jen (nursing) and I (pregnant) finished off our large pizza :/  So good.  

On Tuesday, Jen went to the gym, while Michelle and I stayed back and chatted.  We tried the Grand Lux Cafe for breakfast/brunch.  It was so good.  I LOVE breakfast food. We ended up eating there each morning for the rest of our trip, requesting Lisa for our waitress each day (she was pretty awesome).  If anyone ever goes there you must try the Banana Pecan Pancakes, Michelle got them one day and they were like dessert.  

After that Jen and Michelle went to the pool for an hour or so, while I read/napped in the room.  That afternoon we headed to the North Las Vegas outlets.  It was a very successful shopping day.  Outlets can be hit and miss in my experience, so I was happy.  After a long afternoon of shopping we had dinner at Cafe Rio.  Jen gets it all the time in Utah, but Michelle and I are not so lucky .  

On Wednesday, we all went to the gym (although I didn't last long).  Had our breakfast at the Grand Lux again and then headed to the pool.  After that we came back and Jen hit up the Direct TV convention (the reason we got such an awesome room), while Michelle did my make up for our big night out on the strip.  We also toasted to a great trip, with chocolate milk.  

Michelle did such a great job on my make up, I loved it.  It was the prettiest I have felt in a long time.  Too bad Jason wasn't there to see it.  We walked through the Venetian, which is so huge.  You could stay the whole week there and never go outside.  We were super bummed because we missed Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who were performing at the Venetian the night after we left :(

We headed to the Bellagio for the buffet.  Last time Jason and I were in Vegas the Bellagio buffet line was so long we ended up at the Cosmopolitan buffet instead.  I assumed the Bellagio must be better, so I really wanted to try it this time.  Well, I was a little disappointed.  It was good, but the Cosmopolitan's buffet was much better.  Now I know.  I did love my desserts though.

We watched the water show at the Bellagio a couple of times before we were able to get someone to take a decent picture of us with the water.  On the way home we bought matching Vegas shirts.  

Here are some pictures of our room. 

Thursday morning we packed up, ate one last time at the Grand Lux and then Jen dropped Michelle and I off at the airport.  It was the best week ever!  I'm so glad I married such a great guy (who let me leave him with the kids), with such a great family.  I'm a lucky girl.

Catching Up

 I am forever trying to catch up on the blog.  I think between facebook and instagram I feel like everything is out there, but I really want it here so I can look back and remember.  So here is a bunch of stuff we were up to in February.  

We went to a kid day at the mall and on our way out Max grabbed this hat.  He was quite pleased with himself. 

Jason got us (and my dad) tickets to the Kings vs. Jazz game. It was really fun.  I really enjoy going to sporting events.  Even though we had fun, all I can remember when I look at this picture is how sick I felt.  I also remember that when we got home that night, my mom, who had been watching our kids, had cleaned my house.  It was so nice, and so needed, I thought I might cry.

The card I made Jason for Valentines Day.  I think he enjoyed it way more than a sappy store bought card.

We had dinner at Tsuda's bakery.  It was a delicious five course meal.  We had crab cakes as an appetizer, a delicious salad with butter lettuce, avocado, some kind of citrus vinegarette, a wild mushroom soup, my entree was filet mignon and lobster, Jason had a seared tuna, and then cheesecake for dessert.  Seriously, everything was so good.  Unfortunately, I could only eat small portions at that point, I couldn't help myself though and ended up throwing it all up when I got home.  I really dislike the first trimester.  

We had dinner with our friends Adam and Darcie.  They are living in Utah right now, but have a house here and plan on getting back out here soon.

We had a date night with the Rahlfs.  We went to the temple and then out for dessert.

I love this picture of my boys during storytime at the library.  

Jason served his mission in Madrid Spain, and so when we received the catalog for the local community college and they were offering a Spanish cooking class, he signed me right up.  It was a lot of fun, and the food was delicious.  I was still pretty sick then and I know I would have enjoyed it even more had I been able to keep it all down. 

This is the giant Paella our teacher made. 

My new friend Susan and I were in charge of the Spanish tortilla, which is a dish I remember Jason making for me when we were dating.

Our Spanish tortilla is on the left and the Bocadillo de Calamares Frito is on the right (that is basically a fried calamari sandwich, they are delicious, I remember eating them in Spain).

Oah'u Hawaii 2013

We had the best time visiting the White family in Hawaii.  They moved to Oah'u about a month and a half ago, so we helped them explore the island.  We packed so much into our week there that we all need a rest.  Hopefully I can remember everything we did, and it will be long so if you just want to look at the pictures feel free. 

We flew in on Wednesday afternoon. I received an email that morning from Hawaiian airlines letting us know that our flight was moved from 9:50 to 11:40am.  I appreciated the email, but we had already woken up at 6am to get ready and weren't able to go back to sleep.  The flight was long, but went really well.  The kids did great and we had a couple people tell us how impressed they were by the boys. 

 Chrissy and the kids picked us up and took us to their house.  My brother in law is in the Army, so they live on base at Schofield Barracks.  We made dinner and relaxed that evening.  I was really tired because I am requiring a lot more sleep than normal these days, so we went to bed pretty early.  

The next morning we got up and headed out to hike this cool trail that takes you past a lighthouse.  We were also able to do some whale watching (from afar) along the trail.  It was a beautiful day and the trail was paved and not too steep.  The kids all did it (although there was a bit of complaining along the way).  

After the hike we drove home the long way, stopping along the way when we saw something that interested us.  We stopped at Bellows, I think it was an Air Force base.  There they have a private military beach.  It was awesome.  We played for a while then hit the road.  We planned on getting back to that beach, but it didn't happen.

Ollie LOVED the beach.  He was so happy running around on the sand and in the water.

 We also stopped along the way and got shaved ice in Kahuku.  It was so amazing.  We found the Kahuku grill which looked amazing.  We tried it later in the week and it was amazing.  We got back to Chrissy's that night and made dinner and put our tired children to bed.

Jason adopted this Miller Lite cup as his for the week.  We had sparkling cider one night and we thought it was funny how it looked.  

Friday morning we got up with the hope of going to Pearl Harbor.  We got there and quickly realized it was not a place for children.  It felt very reverent and our kids were running around chasing birds etc.  We decided that Jason and I would come back Sunday and Chrissy would watch our kids.  

After that we headed to the West side of the island to Ko Olina where there are a few resorts and a man made lagoon.  It was perfect for the kids because there were no waves.  They had the best time playing in the sand and swimming, and it was nice for the adults to just sit back and relax.

 We came back to Chrissy's that afternoon and showered and got ready, then headed to the Dole Plantation.  We ate the pineapple whip that was so delicious, rode the train, learned about how they grow pineapples and other fruits and fed the fish in the Koi pond.  We went at the end of the day so it wasn't too busy, which was nice since we thought it was fun, but definitely not worth fighting crowds.  

 Saturday morning we hit up the swap meet at Aloha stadium and picked up all our souvenirs.  It was fun, but the kids were tired and hot after a while so we headed out.  We had tickets for the Polynesian Cultural Center, which didn't open until noon.  We waited for Dave to get off work and then headed for Laie.  The traffic was really bad and about half way there we realized that by the time we got there we wouldn't have much time to explore.  I called and had our reservations moved to Monday and we stopped at Turtle Beach and checked out the turtles.  The kids loved it.  They have the beach roped off so you can't touch or get near the turtles, and volunteers there all day long.  When we visited Kauai in 2007 we would see turtles all over the beaches and they weren't roped off at all.  Oah'u is quite a bit bigger with way more people so I see why they do that there.  

Jason asking the volunteers all of our questions.  For those of you who know Jason, you know this is classic Jason.  Lots of questions, and willing to ask around until he gets answers.

Sunday Jason and I headed out early since Pearl Harbor opens at 7am and we were going to try to make it back for church at 1:30.  We got there right at 7 and decided to get the package that allowed us to see everything.  We spent the next 7 hours touring everything there is to offer at Pearl Harbor.  It was all so interesting.  We toured the Bowfin submarine and the submarine museum, the USS Arizona memorial, the Pearl Harbor museum, the USS Missouri battleship, and the Pacific Aviation museum.  It was all so fascinating.  We had a great day, and we were so grateful to Chrissy for keeping our kids.  They had a nice, much needed relaxing day.  

Inside the Bowfin.  This little volunteer Japanese lady took my camera and told us where to go and what position to assume, then she took pictures of a bunch of other stuff inside the sub, it was really funny.

Jason looks awfully happy to be at such a sad place :)

 We met this guy, Dick, who was there at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7.  It was cool to get to chat with him.  He retired to Oah'u and volunteers there twice a week.

When we got back to Chrissy's that night my cousin Chad and his new wife Malia came over and ate with us.  It was fun to visit with them.

Monday we headed to the PCC.  We left early so we could stop at a burger place that a friend from home recommended in Haliewa on the North shore.  It was delicious.  

We had the best time at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We had talked to a lot of people and decided to skip the luau.  I think most people plan an entire day and then the evening luau and it is just too much.  We just spent about 3 hours and it was awesome.  We could have even spent another hour or so, but things were closing up. The weather was awesome, a little overcast so the sun wasn't beating down on us.  The kids got little passports that they got stamped at each village.  The grounds were so beautiful and everyone that worked there was just so nice.  It was a really great day.  I feel like it was more fun with the kids (I don't find myself saying that very often).  It was a bummer because Dave had to work and so he wasn't able to come with us that day :(

Oh man, it was so hilarious to watch Jason try to climb a coconut tree.  

After his attempt, this Samoan guy showed him how it was done.

On the way home we stopped and took some pictures at the temple

Tuesday morning we took it easy in the morning and did some grocery shopping at Costco and the commissary.  Then we headed out to hike Waimea falls.  It is a botanical garden with a waterfall at the end where you can swim.  There is even a lifeguard there.  It was a little pricy, but I think it was worth it.  The kids had a blast running around.

We swam in the water and while it was a little frigid, it felt really good and refreshing.  Ollie was not a fan, he has never liked cold water.  I climbed up and sat right under the waterfall, it was really cool.

After our hike/walk we stopped for lunch at the Kahuku grill that we had seen the week before.  It was SO good.  We ate lunch in the car as we headed to Kualoa Ranch.  My cousin Chad works there and his wife use to work there.  He was kind enough to take us on his day off.  We went on the Jungle tour.  It was so fun, and the kids loved it.  We rode in these old World War II jeeps.  

 Ollie was one happy kid.  I swear multiple times on this whole trip I would look at him and he was just grinning ear to ear.  There is just nothing better as a parent than to see that.

The views along the way were so beautiful.  This is a picture of Chinaman's hat.  

This is what a week of little-to-no naps looks like.  Poor baby was OUT.  

There was a petting zoo.  Ollie was very fond of this bunny.

After we left the ranch Chrissy drove me and Jason to the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki.  It was nice to have some alone time with Jason and to sleep in.  We got there and showered and then went to dinner at a Thai place that was VERY mediocre and overpriced.  The next morning we got up went out to breakfast and then walked around Waikiki.  It was fun, although we both agreed that we prefer the less city like parts of the island and would way rather stay on the North shore, but we wanted to check it out once.  

We took a shuttle to the swap meet again to pick up a few things I forgot.  Chrissy picked us up there and we headed to the Lagoon again.  It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon (of which I took zero pictures of).  

Our flight home was Thursday afternoon.  Jason and I really wanted to go through the temple, so we got up early Thursday morning and did the 7am session.  It was a perfect end to our trip. Everything went smoothly on the way home, although we didn't get home until really late.  

We had THE BEST TIME!!  Thank you so much Chrissy, Dave, Alyssa and Nathan for showing us their new home.  Chrissy drove us all around the island, fed us, and was generally an awesome hostess.  I hope we can visit again soon!!