Month: September 2009

This year Bryan and I were able to keep up with the tradition and we joined 10 other couples at Hume Lake for the couples retreat.

On Saturday, we had plenty of time to run around an have lots of fun. After our team spanked all the other teams Bryan (my husband), Allison, Jared,  Bryan (my cousin),  Abbi, and I rented golf carts and raced around Hume. At one point Bryan and I were on two wheels trying to pass the other two golf carts. We had lots of fun but the hills were killer. You almost had to get out and push the golf carts up the hill. We eventually made our way up the hill to the Joshua Institute and took some couples and group pictures. I think we broke most of the rules, but as the speaker said that weekend, “all is fair in love and war.”

As per tradition we took a big group picture at the end of the weekend.

On Friday night we decided to sign up (with a little coaxing from my dad) for the GPS Adventure game. My father signed himself, my mother, Bryan and I up on a team. We were determined to kick butt and win so we all agreed to wear shorts and tennis shoes and be ready to run.

On Saturday afternoon before the game began other couples from our group came to play. So, of course I had to start talking smack and let them know that we were going to spank them. Little did I know that the night before they had signed up to be on our team. So, I had only one thing left to do, become the team captain.

Our team of  7 worked well together to quickly find all the clues. Once we got within 50 feet of the clues my dad was amazing at finding where they were hidden. It was like he had a homing beacon for the things. To put it mildly, we beat all the other teams. I felt a little bad when 30 minutes later we were riding around and saw another team still looking for clues. Guess they signed up on the wrong team.

Bryan and I went early to the couples conference with my sister and her husband. On Friday, Jared and Allison led us to a stream that fed into the lake. We proceeded to follow the stream and just take time to look around. We had tons of fun finding small waterfalls and other interesting things. We had tons of fun exploring!

While we were visiting my grandparents in Visalia the Crawford clan came by and we had a chance to visit. Blake had Bryan read to him and I couldn’t resist taking a picture!

On Saturday afternoon we went kayaking in the Ventura bay.

On Sunday, after church, we traveled to Ojai and had burritos in the Park. Then we were off on a short hike where we overlooked the valley.  Then, it was off to Santa Barbra to ride bikes and Rollerblade along the beach.

A few weeks ago we flew into LAX to visit with our friends Victi and Gumby. (Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.) Our journey began with the ever so famous Philippe French dipped sandwiches.  Since we knew that Philippe’s wasn’t our only food stop that night we took a walk down Olvera St. to work off a little bit of what we ate.

The second place we ended up that night was at Pazzo Gelato. Bryan and I split the limoncello and some other fruity flavor. Obviously, the other flavor wasn’t  memorable, but the limoncello was perfectly sour with the right hint of sweetness.

Our final stop (thank goodness as my tummy couldn’t take anymore) of the evening was at Pinks. For those of you who don’t know Pink’s is a hot dog place. I’m thinking the place is pretty popular since it was pretty late and there was a significant line in front of the place.

When we got back to their place there was even more food waiting for us. We felt as if we were staying in a 5 star hotel with a free minibar. Well, there was no booze, just some tasty treats that enjoyed at a later date.

Our friend, Tawni, was in Seattle this weekend so we took the opportunity to hang out, hike, and cook some delicious food.  First we visited the actual Granite falls. We took lots of pictures from the platform nest to the river, then we decided to get a closer look and climbed across the rocks right up next to the river.

From there we went to the ranger station and got some advice to do the lake 22 hike because there we several waterfalls along the path leading to the lake. Since it was getting late we all agreed that we would hike to the first waterfall we found and then head back. Only going so far was a good thing since we literally found a water “fall”. Tawni and I decided to climb under the bridge and across the rocks so that Bryan could get a picture of us in front of the falls. It started out as a good idea until I tried to follow Tawni only to find out I was about three inches too short and would have to find another route. Then once we got onto the rock in front of the falls I slipped and landed in a puddle. Fortunately, for everyone else, Bryan got a picture of the fall and Tawni trying to help me back up. Unfortunately, my pants were soaked for the hike back and the ride home.

Later that evening Tawni and I stayed up until midnight making the most delicious brownies. They were layered with brownie on the bottom, white chocolate caramel on top of that, then dark chocolate ganache, and candied pecans to top it off. They ended up being super delicious when we finally ate them on Sunday morning. We always have tons of fun when Tawni comes to visit so we are looking forward to our next adventure.