On the Road Again!

NAPA VALLEY

It was so BEAUTIFUL here!

Redwoods Schmedwoods. Who needs them when you have a huge tree in a park in a neighborhood in Napa?

I made Josh listen to a French CD of mine as we were driving through the vineyards.
He could not believe my antics. ( I think he secretly liked it though)

Jim would have been so proud

In Napa you have two activity options:

Wine-Tasting

or

Ride the Wine Train

But, if you keep your eyes peeled while you are driving you will find a place where you can do

OLIVE OIL TASTING!

So many flavors of Olive Oil to try:

Lemon, jalepeno, lavendar, garlic, lime, almond, grass, apple, musky, rosemary, herbal, and the list goes on and on.

I think we tried all of them twice!

My favorite was Rosemary.

Josh liked Garlic.

As we drove through some of the small towns of St. Helena, Yountville, Zinfandel, we came upon a castle called

Castello di Amorosa

Sheep were wondering the grounds.

This castle had a mote, draw bridge, and real animals roaming out front.

I can now check off my bucket list, Future trip to Europe.

I felt like this scene with the cat and the chair should have been on Harry Potter.

Let me make one thing clear though... I have never watched or read any of the Harry Potter series.

Therefore, I really have no idea what a scene on HP should look like.

Castello so magicallo

I chased down those sheep that you saw in previous photos.

Chasing them again...

I don't think they like me very much.

We decided when we have kids, we will come back here for our family photos!

Driving home that night there was the most beautiful sunset ever!

I think that it was the magic of Castello di Amorosa in the air!

Next morning we attempted to make some abelskeivers!

Abelskeiver is a danish dessert that is topped with jam and powedered sugar!

abelskeivers are puffing up quite nicely. We will need to go back to Arnie's to get a professional lesson on how to make the best!

Thank you Shelley Shaw for the pan!

SAN JOSE

We went to the Winchester Mansion in San Jose!

Us in front of the Winchester rifles.

We tried to look like scary old-fashioned people that never smile in pictures.

Sarah Winchester continuously built on this house for 38 years. And by 38 years I mean 24 hours a day and seven days a week. She was building rooms for the spirits that haunted her.

There are doors that lead to no where, windows on the floor, staircases leading up to the ceiling, and walls behind doors. The House contains 160 rooms, which includes 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens.

Those aren't statues next to us, they are ghosts.

During our tour in the ballroom, one of the doors slammed shut! Our tour guide was even shook up about it. ~Pretty spooky~

Skeptics would say it was the wind, others (Howie Harmer) would say it was Sarah Winchester.

The Door to No Where!!

On a holiday note,

The Tree Lighting at Pier 39!!

Christmas is finally here!

**See bottom for Video**

SACRAMENTO

We heard Michael Mcclean was in town so we drove to Sacramento to see the Forgotten Carols!

Ladies and Gents, the future cover of Ensign Magazine!

Ha ha just kidding but that would be funny though.

"Wow look at that thread detail" -Salesman at Banana Republic

I guess he sold us!

Raining cats and dogs at Memorial Auditorium!

Exhibit A

I think the longer you are married to someone, the more you look alike.

Ha ha Exhibit A above!

We waited in line for an hour to get this photo and for Michael to sign our CD.

From Michael and Us....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

THANKFUL

This Thanksgiving I have so much to be THANKFUL for!

Every year on Thanksgiving at my parent's house, we go around the table and name the things that we are thankful for while enjoying dinner. This is something that I look forward to every year. It is a good time to reflect on all the blessings that we are given each day.

This year I am thankful for:

Our Wonderful Families

A Great Marriage

Health

Christ and his example

Amazing Friends

Prayer

Freedom

The Gospel

Our Beautiful Country

Our "California Adventure"

Music

Having a Job

Doctors and medical technology

Sunny Days

The Ocean

Ability to See (We met a lady this last week who was blind and she had the best attitude and a love for life. It made me appreciate being able to see.)

Oppurtunity to go to school

Ability to Run

Traveling

The Holidays


I could go on listing things for years, but for time sake I won't. This Thanksgiving think about everything that you are blessed with. It makes each day seem brighter!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

What Wii did this week

One of our goals while we were here was to see the Utah Jazz come to town!!

We walked in with Pride and walked out with Shame.

Wow Yao!

The Boys!

I think we were bad luck because
This was probably the first and the last time in the game the Jazz were up.


He probably did not make this one either.
We still love ya D! .... D-Will that is


Oh man... You can't see it very well but this poster clearly had a typo on it. The V in wives, was first spelled with an F. I wonder where he got the extra poster board to cover it up... (Look on bottom right corner) This is a classic!!
I would have been ashamed if I was one of their wifes, I mean wives.

We were sitting one row down from about fifteen 12 year old girls who not just cheered, but SCREAMED AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS!! This happened for two hours everytime someone made a basket, made a pass, made a step. I felt like such a grandma plugging my ears. I was just preventing early age hearing loss.

Making some caramel apples!

Wii were having so much fun!

Josh getting his panties in a twist!

Josh: Needs Improvement

Amber: Skills and form way above average

Howie: Record breaking numbers

Melissa: Should never play this game again

On our day off this week we ate at In n' Out and then went to Krispy Kremes.

Great way to start off eating healthy.

We stared through this glass for a half hour watching them make doughnuts.

We probably left nose marks on the window.
They finally felt bad for us and brought us each a free doughnut.

This is Pacifica Beach! Just a few minutes from home! It is beautiful and has HUGE waves.

Okay, so I don't think it would be an over-statement to say Josh and I are obsessed with the Golden Gate Park. We seem to end up there every weekend. It has SO much to do and see!

Random waterfall. We had to pull the bikes over and get a photo.

We stumbled upon Stow Lake. The lake is shaped like a doughnut... mmmm that reminds me of krispy kreme..... Anyway, shaped like a doughnut and you can rent boats to go around the lake.

OF COURSE we jumped on this idea because we both live for stuff like this.

Getting on our boat for a ride around the lake.

Pedalling....

Still Pedalling....

Random chinese fort.

Random chinese man or was it a woman, climbing a tree

Seriously felt like I was in a scene off the notebook. Josh was Noah and I was Allie. And we weren't in a row boat, we were in a paddle boat. Josh knew that he could not row like Noah.

We heard some people in the boat behind us laughing at something. We turned around and noticed a seagull perched on our boat. They said that he had been there for a few minutes.

Us and our new friend

He ended up pooping on our boat before flying away! The nerve of that dirty gull!

Also at the park there is an Observatory in which you can see the whole San Francisco area.

We took the elevator to the ninth floor and saw this....

We are the PROUD, the FEW...

The Candy cane makers.

While the boys were doing the manly stuff like cutting cardboard and taping things,

Amber and I were doing the frilly stuff and making it pretty.

We started this project at 8:00 PM

11:00 PM

I spy Amber

11:45

12:52

Hey Howie did you find the color changing ring in the haystack yet?

Finished product: A 15 foot candy cane

2:00 AM