Happy 20th Birthday, Nick!

This is a rather late post, but last Saturday night was Nick Rocca's 20th birthday. Nick is at Cal Baptist in Riverside, but came home for the weekend, so we went out to their house to celebrate with them. Just a little background.... Nick and Josh have been best friends since 4th or 5th grade. Jen and Katie (Nick's sister) are the same age and good friends too. We met the Rocca's when we started homeschooling and now here we are nine years later watching the boys turn 20 and the girls graduate from high school! Happy Birthday, Nick. Chick-fil-a just came to Fresno. Krispy Kreme moved out and they moved it. Before going to the Rocca's we stopped in for our first meal there. We had actually had it in Colorado Springs last March while visiting family, but not been to the one here. Most of us liked it. Nacoya was the exception...felt it was a little too greasy. I don't think we will eat there all the time, but it was fun for a change and not another burger place.

Christy made two delicious cakes...spice and chocolate with cream cheese frosting. YUM!


Is that fire extinguisher a statement?

Dave and Nick - like a proud papa

So when we left I forgot to take the camera. When I turned it on after getting it back, this is what I saw. I laughed out loud...true colors, Nick!

Let it SNOW!!!

Tina has snow! It's amazing how the weather can change from moment to moment in Colorado. Yesterday was warm, today there is snow. We are heading there for Christmas and we want snow for Toboggan Hill;I'm sure we will have it. It's like fog in Fresno...you can just count on it at Christmastime.

Happy Birthday, Diesel!!!

Diesel was born one year ago today. We didn't get him until Christmas Eve of last year. Here are a few pictures of his first year with us. Happy Birthday, Diesel-Bob!

Christmas Eve surprise for J & J

I love that face!
Diesel today....he is still such a puppy, just a whole lot bigger.
This is his new favorite spot, looking out the window checking out the neighborhood critter and people action. You should see the cats just sit on the sidewalk staring straight at the window (I've seen them). It's like they know he is there and can't do a thing to get to them!

Go Bulldogs!

This afternoon we were invited by our good friends, Randy and Christy to go to a Bulldogs football game and tailgate dinner.

Eating tri-tip...yum,yum.

Getting settled in at the game. Dave was busy watching the jumbo-tron screen and didn't know we were going to take a picture...he turned just in time!

Being silly with our cheering supplies.

The Band....they were great! Thank you Randy and Christy for a great time and a great friendship. The Bulldogs lost (at least I think they did). We left near the end of the 4th quarter and they scored a touchdown as we were walking out. Win or loose it was lots of fun.

Anniversary Weekend Con't.....

Saturday morning we headed up the hill as soon as we could. It was raining when we woke up and really didn't stop until we got back into Fresno today. We aren't complaining though....it was much needed and very refreshing after the long dry spell!

Coming into Oakhurst

Starbucks is a treat we don't allow ourselves very often anymore, but an anniversary trip calls for special treats, so when we got into Oakhurst we stopped at the local Starbucks and ordered up!

Dave got his favorite holiday special...pumpkin latte

I got my usual... decaf mocha with soy and light on the mocha....

After leaving Starbucks, we headed up to Fishcamp to the cabin. The road into the cabin is a good mile or so and as we turned one corner we saw this beautiful Dogwood(I think it's a Dogwood - help me Kim if I'm wrong). I was literally just telling Dave on the way in that most of the trees in the mountains seem to be gold, not too much red, and then what do we see! Pat and Mike surprised us with this basket of goodies when we arrived! It had everything in it from crackers and cheese to chocolate covered cranberries to Martinelli's. We felt like we had just arrived at a Four Sister's Inn. Thank you Pat and Mike!!!

Dave stoking the fire. It was warm and cozy in the cabin and cool and rainy outside.

Our room...we never tire of the amazing woodwork and Pat has decorated it to be so inviting.

View of the family room and entrance to the kitchen.
Dave enjoying a moment of relaxation before we head into Yosemite.

Oh this was so cool! We had always heard about the deer that like to feed in front of the cabin, but have never seen them, so needless to say we were so excited when we got to see them. We hadn't been there 20 minutes and they came out. There is a buck too, but we haven't seen him yet.

Momma at the feeder and her fawns in the background. When I was a young girl I had thoughts of being one of two things...a veterinarian or a forest ranger. It occurred to me as we were driving through the mountains that we may outgrow our dreams, but our dreams never really outgrow us, they just look a little different. I don't want to be a vet or a forest ranger anymore, but the love for nature and wildlife is still there.

On our way to Yosemite it started pouring!!
Taking a picture of ourselves in the rain...you can tell we are water deprived Californians!

Upper Yosemite Falls...we were pleasantly surprised at how full it was, because we really haven't had that much rain yet. A big, majestic oak in the meadow. I just thought it looked so pretty out there, so I took a picture.

If you live in the Fresno area and have never been down into Yosemite Valley to see the Ahwahnee Hotel, you are missing out. For one thing, it's really old and has a ton of history which makes it a very interesting place to visit. For another - it's really a beautiful hotel...very rustic, but sophisticated at the same time. Everything is BIG! Like this fireplace - it is absolutely HUGE! Do you see that man at the far right of the picture? He's sitting in the fireplace!

This is the dining room. I don't think this picture will do it justice. It is huge too and so grand looking. I love the way the lights just sort of make the whole room glow. And there are windows all around for a great view of the grounds. When we got married we couldn't afford dinner here, so we opted for breakfast. Meals are all served on China with real silver.

This is the back of the hotel.

We are standing in the meadow to the back of the hotel. If you were to look straight up (sorry forgot that picture) you would see a huge mountain of granite just above us.
This is a center foyer leading into the dining room, living room and upstairs guest rooms. While we were there, we joined up with part of a tour that was already going. The guide told how the owners wanted the guests to feel at home when they came, so the room where the big fireplace is, was built to be a living room of sorts....just a really big one...like bigger than our whole house!!!

Back at the cabin it's time for some hor d'oeuvres. We dipped into that lovely basket of goodies that Pat and Mike left for us.
The cheese for the hor d'oeuvres...specially blended goat cheese - our first time to try - very yummy!!!

Waking up this morning....It was still raining, but we wanted some of the fresh mountain air, so we took blankets and coffee and sat on the front porch to watch the rain. O.k. look closely...do you see him?

Is he amazing or what!? We couldn't believe it...Pat said we would probably see the buck, but I didn't get my hopes up, because like I said, we never seem to look out at the right time. But not this time....I was walking into the bedroom and just happened to look out the window and there he was. Dave was resting on the couch so he slowly crept over so as not to spook him. He fed for a little while and then I think he heard us. You should have seen me creeping into the kitchen to quietly get the camera out to take his picture. I never even raised up the camera. He was so alert and noticed every move we made. I just held it out from me enough to zoom in on him and shot the picture. Not a couple of minutes after this he took off, but what a site. O.k. I know I'm really excited...probably that vet/ranger thing.... but it really is something to see them up close.

That was our weekend. It was great to get away. Even when your kids are grown and pretty much able to take care of themselves, we found that time away with each other is still important. We get time alone at home quite a lot now, but it's not the same as leaving your every day worries and escaping to a different environment for a while.

We did do one last thing. When we got back into town, we went to see Fireproof - the new movie out with Kirk Cameron. It was great! If you haven't seen it, it's worth it. It's all about marriage and commitment....turned out to be a nice way to end a great weekend.

Anniversary Weekend

Tomorrow is our 23rd Wedding Anniversary, but we began the celebration last night by going to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I sang a few weeks ago for a ladies function and was given a nice gift certificate. We hadn't been to the restaurant since it came to Fresno, only to the one in San Francisco with T & T a few years ago. We remembered it being a wonderful experience, so we thought we would give it a try. We were not disappointed! We had a wonderful dinner in this sort of private alcove of the restaurant with a nice view and a great server. Of course, I didn't remember to take pictures until dessert, but given that we have gone without dessert for almost 40 days, this was a big deal...especially to Dave!!!

This is my dessert...half eaten. It was a brownie, Kahlua cheesecake...divine! As good as it was, I could only eat a few bites, but I have to say it felt really good to be able to stop and say "that was just enough." Dave savored every bite of his. It was the Cheesecake Factory 30th Anniversary special...kind of seemed appropriate. They are celebrating their anniversary and we are celebrating ours.

More of Dave's dessert. I tried it too...very good!

Here we are....

Now this one is random (as my daughter would say), but it's finally raining here!!!! After over 7 or 8 months of no rain, we are celebrating. We are headed off to the cabin for the weekend and hope to get into Yosemite too. We spent half of our honeymoon there. The fall colors are usually wonderful in the mountains by this time, so we are anxious to see it, rain and all. See you at the next post!!!