What's in a Day?

Chris & Cindy took us to Sundance Steakhouse for our birthday dinner (a couple months early since we'll be at sea). After the delicious meal there was even presents and hula pie! If I didn't know better I would've thought it was really my birthday! Bamboo pajamas (the comfiest ever!) and Christian got a Cutco Fillet knife...he can't wait to go spear fishing!

Matinee at Giants Stadium

I'm still not quite sure how there's enough people not working at 1pm to fill Giants stadium, but we were there to join in on the fun. The Fields gave us their awesome tickets (Thanks Mike & Mary!!) and Doug & Cassie joined us for game day in the City! It was probably the nicest weather I've ever seen in San Fran. We came with coats, scarves, and hats, but what we really needed was sunscreen!

Santa Cruz!

The Taylors invited us up to their beach house in Santa Cruz for the weekend. Their house is amazing and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Christian, Doug & I went up Friday morning and spent the day riding bikes, running, surfing, and kayaking! All the Taylor boys were there and Greg, Madeleine & Aubrey came up that evening. Thanks again Taylors for an awesome weekend!! We rode down to Capitola for ice cream.

Brotherly Love...sharing a wave in.

Some things never change...27 going on 14.

Kayaking started our perfect. We went out, the sun was shining, we caught a ton of waves, saw sea otters, and then it turned ugly...

When we came in it was high tide, the beach was gone and it was all rocks. Christian told me to jump out and swim in so I tried, but couldn't. I got back in the kayak so we could try a different beach and immediately a wave capsized the boat. The other beach was finally in sight when another wave capsized the boat. All the while Christian is just yelling "Whatever you do, don't let go of your paddle". Somewhere between the avalanche wave and kayak on top of my head I let go of the paddle so I had to swim out and find it. On our third attempt to ride a wave in the boat flipped and the wave took the boat all the way to shore. A bunch of spectators who were all lined up watching this "spectacle" held onto the kayak while we swam in. We then had to carry the kayak, which is sooo much heavier than it looks, several blocks back to the house. Haha. It might be a long time before I get in a kayak again.

Trying to recover before we made the trek home. In the evening we all played cards, ate brownies, and then ate some more brownies.

Easter!

Easter basically consisted of food, food, and more food. Chris made waffles, strawberries, and whip cream for breakfast. Then the Easter Bunny delivered a huge basket of treats for everyone that we devoured while we watched conference. Doug and Cassie stopped by for a visit. Then Shelly, Jason, and Heather came over for a delicious turkey and ham dinner. We didn't take any pictures but Chris snapped a couple during the day... A little hair gel from the EB!

Doug and Cassie found their treats!

Post-dinner crash.

Home Values

Just a couple situations you might want to avoid if you are trying to increase the value of your home. After picturing this scene at the Hansen's I couldn't help but think...if only they had a home version of that show "What Not to Wear".

Change of Weather

We just arrived in Los Altos after spending a week in Utah! It was our first taste of winter for the year and we spent hours trying to dig out our winter clothes so we didn't freeze for the week. We originally went to ski, but ended up spending much more time with family and friends because Christian's knee started acting up. It's been bothering him since last season when he followed Doug off some cliff (despite having knee surgery only a few months prior). We stayed with the Eastons for the first few days and had an absolute blast playing with the kids, staying up late talking to Jeff and Camille, and of course eating Camille's amazing home cooked meals is always a perk! We then headed up to Park City for a little relaxing and skiing for the rest of the week.

For Lauren's birthday we gave her a kit that had a oyster with a pearl inside. You had to open it up to get the "treasure". the kids kept asking how much it cost and we kept telling them nothing was too expensive for Lauren. At the U of Utah gymnastics meet. Christian almost got thrown out for taking the picture...no flash photography allowed.

Big decisions at the Dollar Store...Extra or Bubblelicious. We babysat one evening and after the twins went to bed high roller Uncle Christian took the older kids to pick out a treat at the $ Store. Christian came back wondering why I'm not that easy to please!

i heart n.y.c.

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to NYC. We flew out for a diamond training for work and then stayed a couple extra days with my good friend & old roommate Rachael. We had an absolute blast and the weather was amazing. I think we saw more shows and more of the city over the past 4 days than I ever did in a month while actually living here. Here's the breakdown of the last few days...

10,000 Diamonds
60 Degrees in NYC

5 Slices of Pizza

3 Broadway Shows (Rock of Ages, Hair & Fela)

2 Old roommates
1 Big Apple

Our training group (Geoffrey, Megan, & Mike the trainer) at Rockefeller Center on our way to...

The Top of the Rock above the NBC studios.

Grading a couple diamonds.

Just a handful of 3 carat tanzanites.
Rachael (one of my best friends since 5th grade) and her boyfriend Andrew.

Tune In

Christian and I are sitting in the second row at tonight's show...it's gonna be a hit.

Oh the places you'll go...

2 years ago today we tied the knot and had no idea what kind of adventure we were about to embark on. Our plans to "put in our time" at Ernst & Young and Marcus & Millichap quickly went out the window. Instead we moved to St. Maarten & have since visited 35 different countries (including 29 islands) while on cruise ships! I can't wait to see what the next 2 years has in store!! Happy Anniversary Christian!!

Surf's Up

Since I've known Christian there are only 2 things that I've seen him get really excited about--Spear Fishing and Surfing. We are now back in surfing land. Unfortunately, this also means we've (Christian by choice, myself by default) been waking up several hours earlier on vacation than we ever did while working because "the waves are calling". Since all of his gear is in Los Altos Christian told me he just needed to get a couple things so he would be all set up to surf in LA. He has been scouring craigslist and so far these "essentials" have included:

-2 surfboards (1 long & 1 short)

-wet suit

-surf racks for the car

-surf racks for the bike (this has been used once, the day he put the racks on)

When I told him it seemed like a bit much he said it's way less than I spend on Diet Coke for the year. Whatever.

Room with a View

My mom is working in Irvine this week so we traded our timeshare for a place closer to her office...not that you need an excuse to spend a week in Newport Beach. Jenna, one of my best friends since 6th grade, came up from San Diego to hang out for the weekend. Christian (Mr. Anti Southern CA) even admitted that he could move here...I should've got it on tape...baby steps:)

Hot tube with ocean views...a little slice of heaven!
Sunday afternoon walk on the beach! "Buddy Shot"...reminiscing on the standard pose from high school tennis!

My mom's corner office