christmas in chico 2011

what a lovely long weekend we had in chico.
it was a little cold in the mornings, warmed up for the afternoons; couple that with lots of family, time with friends, a lot of food, juicing, coffee and good times!
christmas eve we did all the family over for dinner and gifts!
the littles make christmas gifting a blast!
uncle dave bought the boys a tee ball set and played out the backyard in the freezing cold just so they could use their new toys!



judah and silas wanted to take home some carrots for santa's reindeer...

(note, silas and his bouncy blue ball; his favorite christmas gift! :))
we did the loop in the park 3 times, totaling 16 miles of running/walking for the time we were home!


jill and sean were home for 2 nights...which was amazing.
a favored moment, when my dad can't remember a certain password.
sean to my dad, "robb, you've got to write these things down man!"
mom in response, "yeah robb, its not cute anymore!"
hilarious!
dave cooked the turkey for dinner!



next year...these two rented out a lodge somewhere in the mountains with snow and fireplaces, and enough beds for 30 people....they have asked us to schedule ourselves to be there! looking forward to a 2013 white christmas!

merry christmas and happy new year!

i love them

happy anniversary you two!

christmas themed date night in the city

first stop.
grace cathedral. boys choir at 3pm.
amazing; so glad we did it!


we couldn't take pictures inside the cathedral during the event :(
but it was awesome
(it reminded me of being at the norte dame)
after we bought tickets but before the show we walked into the fairmont to see the huge gingerbread house exhibit

umm...some tourist broke off a piece and ate it...gross!
but it was cool to look at and walk thru.

after our time in nob hill, we took a jaunt over to hayes valley for some beer and appetizers; at our all time german favorite suppenkuche.
delish!



from there we drove on over to north beach to hit up our favorite little italian resturant, cincecitta



we didn't stop at this bakery, but they had a great display

to continue on in our time in the city, we headed on over to union square to watch the ice skaters, see the tree, grab some chestnuts and stop into the sir francis drake hotel.





(so glad this isn't my store:)
can i just say, I LOVE weekend days off to spend with DB?!
ohmyword...we had a great day, ended with a great date in the city!
:)
happy.

walnut creek half. dec. 10.

today i completed my 3rd half marathon for the year!
coming in with my PR at 2hrs 15 minutes
(which includes a stop for the bathroom!!)
it was an early 7am start.
accompanied by Mel(awesome long time friend of DB/I and running friend)
and Sean (bro-in-law)!

DB was super kind and generous, setting his alarm for 515am, so that he could get us to the start line in time!!
the race was cold

the course was a simple out and back, with a 1.5 mile hill at mile 5 and a few hills at mile 7 and 12. mile 12 was the hardest, i couldn't push my legs to go faster.
i knew i was situated between the 2:10 and the 2:20 pace runners, so when i saw the mile 13 sign, i was got a little emotional; maybe i cried and attempted to pull it together for the finish.

but seriously!? so thrilled i did so well when it was freezing cold!!

mel and sean did great, it was seans first half ever...he beat us both!
(damn those long legs!)

this was mel's second half for the year, and she beat her previous time as well!
good times had by all.


even my FIL came out to stand in the freezing cold at the finish line!
(sad...no photo of him)
there were a TON of our friends/acquaintances who created a world vision team to raise money for wells and clean water to be accessible to those in africa who might not have access to such things we take for granted.

they all raised money, and ran either the half, 10k or the 5k!
super fun to see so many of our friends!

after the race, in attempt to get my body temp back to the normal 98.6 degrees, i took a long nice warm bath with jets and bubbles; and DB went to katy's korner to pick me up my favorite: a breakfast burrito with a side of potatoes!
he truly is a gem! (thanks dave!)

jill's 27th

a few nights ago we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate the life of my little sister!

we love great food, and we love when we can recommend places for others to eat.
we hit this place up for dave's birthday last month...and were thoroughly impressed the second time around.
its a must.

happy birthday jill, may all your dreams and aspirations for this next year of life come true!

hawaii, part 3. black sand and coffee.

while on a day trip we went to a black sand beach
rumor has it, there are a ton of turtles on this beach, but when we went they were all hiding.


one thing the big island has are all kinds of different beaches.
black sand, white sand, green sand, grey sand. all kinds.
i loved the different feel to each beach and specifically to the elements that created the beaches (lava vs. coral)



along the road there are a lot of local farms selling and highlighting their livelihood.
we stopped in Ka'u for a local coffee and macadamia nut tasting



we were informed that there is a co-op of farmers from Ka'u who have just recently sold their coffee to starbucks.
we also were informed that there was a beetle roaming around kona eating all the coffee trees, which significantly reduced it's crop this year.
(so either the prices are going to increase even more, or there will be much less kona coffee)
which by the way, kona coffee is in my top 3 favorite coffees of all time!
here is DB in the corner of this road side coffee/nut tasting stand :)