Michelle's Birthday Celebration

Michelle's birthday was on Wednesday this week and to celebrate we had family dinner Thursday night. I was responsible for making the cheesecake. It made me a little nervous because I don't have much cheesecake making experience, but it was also exciting and I had a lot of fun. Thursday I put the finishing touches on the cheesecakes and Micah helped by eating the leftover chocolate decorations. We had two cheesecakes: a chocolate swirl and one with raspberry sauce. The birthday girl and me with the finished product. Mmm, cheesecake, I love it! We had a lovely dinner and the cheesecakes turned out well.

And the Winner Is...

We had a competitive afternoon at Wildflower Cafe today. I don't remember how it started originally, but we got an order for 2 pear walnut salads, so Mark said we had to see who could make a better one. It ended up being a tie, he got two votes for looks to my one, but I finished in almost half the time. Then we had a cake frost off. Our baker, Veronica, frosted the first cake, followed by Sierra, one of the owners. Then I got to frost a German chocolate cake, which turned out pretty good looking, if I do say so myself. Mark finished things off by frosting his first cake, but it was a tricky one that had a raspberry filling on each layer, so it wasn't fair. But we had a fun time and all the cakes turned out well, although Sierra had to help Mark a little with his, which evened things out since he helped her with hers. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon at work.

Father/Daughter Project

Dad and I replaced the faucet and drain in my bathroom sink today. The faucet was leaking and the drain drained slower every day, so I was glad to get it taken care of. As expected, there was a nasty chunk of moldy hair/soap scum that appeared as we took the sink apart. So gross. But we got everything taken apart and replaced without any problems. And here is the result. So beautiful and they work great.

TC Fair

Thursday night we went to the Tulare County Fair. It is becoming a bit of a tradition since we went last year too, although the boys were sure this was their first time. We went by the quilt/woodworking exhibit first because last year we didn't get to see that section. It was inspiring. Outside, they had a section for the kids and they had fun driving tractors, playing in corn, and roping a steer, Evan actually roped it his second throw after some Texas tips from Isaac.

Next, we headed for the rides. Micah had been sure all week that there would be a motorcycle ride at the fair, even though we tried to tell him there might not be. Sure enough, there was one, but after waiting in line we found out he wasn't tall enough to ride it. Poor little guy, he was crushed. But we did have fun going on the dizzy dragons and a train. Next, it was time to enjoy some shaved ice, then we headed off to see the animals. We saw the pigs, sheep, and cows, but went through pretty quickly because it was about the time we were planning to leave by. On the way back out, we passed through a musical instrument petting zoo where the kids got to play the instruments. They loved that, especially Micah who loves guitars. All in all, it was a fun evening at the fair and the weather was pretty nice too.

Getting Caught Up

I knew it had been awhile since I posted on my blog, but I hadn't realized it has been a month! There are two main reasons for the delay; one is that school has started and with 15 units and a commute plus starting a new job last week things have been busy. The other reason is that I haven't been taking many pictures and blog posts just aren't as interesting without them. That said, here's a brief update to get caught up. Fresno State started classes on August 24th. I have 5 classes, one is general biology and the other 4 are health science classes. They are going pretty well, with some complaining on my part about the number of group projects and lack of lecturing skills by a couple professors. I go to school on MWF and have a couple people I carpool with on Fridays. Last Thursday, I started working at Wildflower Cafe in Exeter, where Michelle and Jonah work. I'll probably be working there Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It's still pretty new, but I think I'll enjoy it and it's fun to work with Michelle and Jonah when our shifts overlap. Last weekend was a great one, we had four days off of school due to a faculty furlough day Friday and Labor day Monday. Saturday night we had the privilege of attending the wedding of Katie and Warren, which was beautiful. I caught the bouquet! That weekend was also fun because Jaime came for a visit. One more thing on my schedule is a tap class at COS. I have taken the class a few times in the past, but haven't been able to for a year, since transferring to Fresno State. But this semester it worked with my schedule to take the class again and it is so much fun! We are starting to get ready for the show in December, mark your calenders! So that's what I've been up to for the past month or so, in addition to continuing to enjoy time with family and being amazed at how quickly the kids are growing up.

Morro Bay

We took a family trip to Morro Bay on Wednesday. Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History. It was small, but pretty good. Then we went into town and ate fish and chips for lunch at Giovanni's.

They were tasty, but I missed having them with vinegar, which is what we got used to in London. We walked down to a shop nearby and got cinnamon rolls for dessert. Then we headed down to the beach. It was cold and foggy, but still a nice day at the beach. The boys were covered in sand almost immediately. Evan playing frisbee, he is such a big boy. We had a nice nap on the blanket while Heather and Mom took the kids to the ocean to play in the water. Morro Rock began to appear as the fog lifted a little, but never cleared completely.

I think, just maybe, the boys had a ton of fun.

And Natalie too.

Jonah and Evan dug a tunnel to each other, I remember doing that at the beach when we were younger.
They all got even more covered in sand as the day went on, it was crazy.
But we know where they got it from.

Michelle and Jonah made a sandcastle. Then we cleaned up and climbed back in the van to drive home. It was a great day.

CC Staff Concert

Jonah, Michelle, Heidi, Jaime, and I drove up to Calvin Crest Saturday for the annual end of summer staff concert. It was good and we were excited to be at camp and see a number of friends and breathe the delicious air and hear stories from the summer. After dinner, Michelle, Heidi, and I went on a walk with Rachel, one of my roommates from my second summer on staff. Rachel and me. We stopped by this log and Michelle and Heidi posed as mannequins. The five of us spent the night at camp, then had breakfast at Mountain House in Oakhurst. We drove to Fresno and split up, Jonah, Michelle, and Heidi came back to Visalia while Jaime and I met some camp friends, Tyler, Christina, and Andrew, for lunch.

Off to the Beach

After a long night at the airport, my best friend Jaime flew into Sacramento Tuesday morning. I got to go up later that day to meet her at her sister's house. We had a great time playing with the kids, going to the store (Jaime's dinner request was to have choices), making dinner with pazookie for dessert, and watching a movie together. The next day, Jaime and I drove over to the coast for a couple days. It was wonderful. The first thing we did when we got there was have BBQ for lunch, and a large basket of garlic fries. We stayed in the Capitola area and the first afternoon/evening we got settled in then went to the beach to walk along the shore. We went down to the pier and saw the cement ship, which grossed me out because it was covered with birds and poop. Back to walking on the beach, Jaime got her feet wet and a little more besides, oops. We stayed to watch the sun go down, which ended up being disappointing because it just disappeared behind some clouds, but it was pretty before that happened. Then we checked out the town and went to Mr. Toots coffeehouse, quite the happening place. Thursday morning was interesting, we had to switch rooms because they were booked, so after breakfast they asked us to just hang out and they would tell us when our next room was ready. That sounded fine and we made tea and drank it on the balcony. However, it ended up being longer than we expected and we started getting hungry, we weren't able to move to our new room until about 1:00. After that we drove into Capitola again and got food and pastries from Gail's bakery; mmm, so good. We took a drive to Santa Cruz and wandered around the shops over there for awhile and found a great deal on canvases. Returning to Capitola, we got Pizza My Heart for dinner and ate it on the beach. Jaime made me get in the ocean with her, which wasn't as cold as I was worried it would be. We were planning to sit in the spa afterwards, but it was already crowded, so we jumped in the pool instead. We woke up early the next morning to go on a walk along the beach while it was cool and foggy, then had breakfast and checked out. We stopped at Hanks for lunch and got great sandwiches then went to a little ice cream shop where they make their own waffle cones. Then we made the drive back home, arriving in time to unload the car before Jonah's birthday party. There were a lot of people who came to celebrate and it was fun to see everyone and eat good food and an amazing cake that Heather made with the boys. It was 4 layers and alternated between chocolate cake and funfetti cake.