See how cute she is?

The rest of this month seems to be just as busy as our previous months. This weekend we head to Dream Mountain Christian Camp to support our friends Cheree, Marcos, Carl and Jesse as they have their open house for the camp they just bought. It’s so amazing to see how their dream of opening a camp has come to reality, all by the grace of God. It’s amazing how God can open doors when you just rely on Him and His provision. We are so happy for them! Then the following week is, of course, Thanksgiving, which we will be spending with Garrett’s parents. I’m excited for some good eats! After that, I will be going to see Wicked with my friend Brittany in San Francisco. Then Christmas is just around the corner….

We hope everyone has a blessed holiday season with family and friends!

We FINALLY asked our landlord if we could get a pet (and by we, I mean I begged Garrett to do it!) and she said yes…then Garrett immediately went out and adopted a cute 4 week old grey tabby. He told me I would love her, and when I came home he was right…love at first sight! She is very friendly, playful and sweet. She loves to chase her mouse toy, her ball, your toes, anything! But she also loves to be pet and cuddled.

We have to give credit to Brittany for coming up with the name…she came up with it immediately when I asked her for help. We both thought it was a perfect fit for her. Thank you Britt!!!

I love cats, and I’m so excited to watch her grow. I’m sure I will be posting more pics later! Although we have found that it’s really hard to get her to stay still or look in the right direction…so this is the best we’ve got!

The following weekend we had a bbq at a park in Pleasanton with the Graff’s, Oberg’s, Munoz’s and Jake. It was a fun time, James loved the water park area, and it was a beautiful day.

Gotta love Britt…

We are excited for our next adventure with our friends…a canoe trip in August! Should be a great time =)

Now we will be starting of July with going camping at New Melones this weekend…can’t wait!

Academy of Sciences in San Francisco
On Saturday, the Graffs, the Munozs and the St. Johns went to San Francisco to visit the California Academy of Sciences.  I’d never been there before, but it was really cool.  Not quite what I expected as it was mostly biological sciences, but still good.

First thing we did was tour the indoor rainforest.  Definitely a cool experience with lots of butterfly, birds, bugs, and flowers…all inside of a dome.  There was artificial UV light and misters to recreate the environment of the rainforest.  It was a bit muggy and I think Nicole and I pretty much decided that the Amazon is a “no go” for future travels.

After that we toured the aquarium.  Tons of people and felt like Disneyland.  I’d say it wasn’t the best aquarium I’ve ever seen, but not too bad either.  There was a good variety of fish, penguins, eels, etc.

We cut out of there around lunch time and had a picnic lunch in the park by the Academy of Sciences.  It was so-so outside, but warm enough.  We sat around a group of people and found that it was the regional yo-yo championships.  Pretty bizarre really, but they do some crazy stuff with those things!  We did not partake, but we did throw a football around and played games.

After lunch, we walked through the gardens and saw the flowers.  There weren’t a lot…maybe too early in the year?  Nicole went into the Japanese gardens and said it was a lot better.

Memorial Day
For Memorial Day, we went up to a park in San Ramon to hang out with friends.  It was a great time and there was way better weather than what I had planned.  It was potluck so we brought some sides and ate our faces off…at least I did =).  I think we played about every sport that exists yesterday…squash, softball, volleyball, frisbee, football.  I’m feeling it a little in the back muscles today.  It was a lot of fun and good to get out and get some sun.  After our party, we both relaxed and enjoyed the long weekend.

We have a ton of stuff coming up in June.  Trips, graduations, birthdays, Doug’s bike race…more fun posts to follow!

We left last Thursday from San Jose and flew into Denver.  It was a pretty easy flight.  Caught the RTD bus into Boulder where we stayed with my Grandma Eloise.

The reason for our trip was to pick up our new car.  My grandma was nice enough to work out all the details for us to get her car.  She wasn’t using it too much and we needed a new car.  The Tacoma was starting to get a bit old and show it.  I definitely miss the truck, but the new car (2006 Toyota Corolla) is pretty cool too.  Definitely gets better gas mileage, but lacks the ability to carry anything and everything.

Well, our drive home was surely interesting.  The plan was to drive home…18 hours straight.  We figured we could do it by splitting up the driving.  The factor we forgot was weather…well, and wrong turns.  We headed out of Boulder around 11AM and were making good time.  It was cold in Colorado, but no snow.  We hit our first weather on the West border of Wyoming.  Within about ten miles we experienced everything…rain, hail, sleet, and snow.  Pretty weird.  We moved through Utah fairly well.  Intermittent rain and towards night fall we hit some fog.  It was pouring in Salt Lake City.  That’s where the trouble began.

It was pouring so hard that Nicole was having a hard time even seeing the lanes.  We were both so focused on minding the lanes, we somehow ended up on I-84 rather than staying on I-80.  Well after we got through Salt Lake and leaned back to sleep for the long overnight drive ahead of me.  I woke up about an hour later and we crossed into Idaho.  Idaho…hmm.  Didn’t sound right but I was trying to convince myself.  Well…figured out it was all bad and turned out to be a three our detour.  We got to see Idaho though!

It started to snow near Nevada and so I took over driving.  Then it started to REALLY snow.  The flakes were seriously about 2 inches diameter.  We frantically were looking for chains (I really started missing my truck at this point) and of course nobody has them at 1AM.  Well, that is except for a Chevron who wanted $119 for them.  Yeah right!  We found a Super Walmart that was open 24 hours.  I went to check that out and our chains were the only ones out of stock!  I mean really?!?  I drove on to Winnemucca, NV through a snow storm and fog in hope that their Walmart would have some.

At that point I was dead tired and Nicole was beyond exhausted.  We called it there and stayed at a hotel.  Figuring we would be home at around 6PM the next day.  Big mistake.

There was a lot of snow in Tahoe and we conveniently timed it with the end of the ski day as well.  We had to put chains on along the way and the traffic just crawled.  Ended up home at about 9:30PM.  Just barely beat our friends Ryan and Candace home (they were in LA haha).  Long trip back, but overall it was fun for us.  We survived our first road trip and we have a new car to show for it.  Now for the DMV!

UPDATE: As requested, picture from the trip and of the new car!

On Christmas Eve, we went to church at Cornerstone for service.  It was really great, everyone did a great job (I was hungry though).  After service, we went to the St. John family house and had a really nice dinner.  Presents and playing with our new gifts followed.  We got some good stuff =)  We spent the night over at my parents house on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day, we woke up at had breakfast and opened stocking gifts.  We headed back home to clean up after that because we planned to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  SOLD OUT!  Disappointment followed.  However, Nicole and I decided to go home and have out Christmas time together.  I made fillets and Nicole made mashed potatoes and salad.  We even had wine like adults.  Pretty cool!

On the 26th, we went to Twaine Harte, CA up in the mountains.  Cheree’s parents rented a cabin and a bunch of us went up to stay.  It was really great.  It had snowed not long before we went up so it was really pretty and there was fresh snow.  We even had to use chains on the Munoz’s car to keep from slipping.  Fun times.

On the 27th, Cheree, some of her family, and I went up to Dodgeridge to snowboard and ski.  I had never been up there before and I was actually pretty happy with it.  The runs are a little shorter than the mountains in Tahoe, but it had nice snow.  Seemed like there were a lot of people there though that loved to share a comment when people fell below the lift…not that I would ever deal with that .  Anyways, Marcos and Nicole stayed back and played Crash Bandicoot and made a rockin’ snowman.

Yes, that is a beer can and a (fake) cigar.

The 28th, Cheree, Marco, Nicole, and I went sledding.  We though about doing the big track the masses had made, but decided to make our own.  Let’s just say many tired climbs up the hill, spills and the bottom, and soaking shoes later, we had a blast.  Probably one of the major highlights of the trip for me.  That night we went to Black Oak Casino to play “Games People Play”.  Needless to say, after a round of bowling and some Black Jack, they sent us away in an armored truck shuttle with my $65 winnings.

All in all it was a great weekend, a great holiday, and a great first Christmas with my new wife.  I kinda love her =)

We drove down Candy Cane Lane in Pleasanton, and as always they had some amazing lights!

The one right above was my favorite! This weekend we plan to go to Deacon Dave’s and check out what’s in store there this year.

So far, this first holiday season together has been great. We have had good times with friends and family, and we are able to start our own traditions. Hopefully this will be one of them! We love all of you and hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as we are!

Now back to the gingerbread houses…I feel like the girls got cheated…because ours was WAY better….

Here’s the guys house…

And here’s the girls house….

Now which one do YOU think is the best????

Congratulations, Nicole.  I’m proud of you!