The Weekend

This past weekend I flew out to California to visit Jake for the first time since he's been out there working. I left Salt Lake City Friday night. After waiting out a slight thunderstorm, Delta got me safely to Oakland. I hadn't even been waiting at the airport for 5 minutes when he pulled up to pick me up. Perfect Timing. We had such a fabulous weekend.
We stopped and ate dinner in a town north of Napa called St. Helena. Cute little town. We ate at a Mexican Restaurant called Armadillos. Jake says he's eaten there with the guys and it was good. He knows how I LOVE Mexican food.

(Just so you know, I had to climb through a barbed wire fence to get these grape pictures)

Saturday night we had reservations to go to the Culinary Institute of America for dinner. It was a once in a lifetime experience. The food was absolutely to die for- only ever seen on TV by my eyes. I am so lucky to have a great husband who would share this with me. Below is a picture of the building.

So, we were in "wine country"...why not do a wine tasting session?? Well, we have a few reasons whey we shouldn't have, but when are we ever going to have this same experience again? They had a few different "sets" of wines you could choose from. We chose the "Flights of Fame". It seemed like a good sampling of local Californian wines. They called it "a snapshot of wines from the vintners who pioneered the Californian wine industry". They brought out 4 glasses and set them on a paper that described each one to you. It was an awesome experience to sip them and think about when the grapes were picked and how it happened so close to where we were at. Jake and I both decided that we would never become wine drinkers, but had a great time together finding that out.

California also produces supreme Olive Oils. So.. why not do an Olive Oil tasting too?? We did a "Super-Premium Olive Oil Tasting". It was amazing how these oils influenced the flavors of our food. On the left was one from the "Reserva Familiar Picual" in Spain. The middle one was from McEvoy Ranch in California. The one on the right was from "L'Olio Di Cosimo" in Italy. We were told to use these oils like we would you Salt & Pepper to season our dishes.

This was my appetizer: Crispy Soft Shell Crab with cherry tomato, corn & arugula salad, Ancho chile puree, & Chipotle aioli

Jake's appetizer: Watermelon & Watercress Salad with Ricotta Salata, pickled onions and a lime vinaigrette

My main course: Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with sweet white corn, mushrooms, sugar snap peas and a basil pesto

Jake's main course: Crispy Skinned Wild Salmon with beets, baby fennel, King Trumpet mushrooms, and beurre rouge.

Dessert: A Sweet Finale- Complete with Olive Oil ice cream! There was also a creme freche ice cream on top of a blackberry/peach cobbler, a lemon curd tart and a chocolate mousse. The waiter told us to put the Spanish Olive Oil on the mousse, and to even put a little more on it that what we thought we'd like. It sounded a little strange, but I can not tell you how yummy it was!

Sunday Morning we had an excellent breakfast at this little cafe called "Sarafornia". so cute!

After breakfast we went and did a wine tour at Chateau Montelena. It was so beautiful! It was like a castle back in the woods. The grounds were kept gorgeous, with beautiful water scenes too.

And while Mom & Dad played in California...Kanyon & Ridge played at Grannys!!!

Kanyon likes to play dress up with Ridge.

2 posts in one day?!?..please don't faint

One of the things that Jake likes to do during the summer is watch his garden grow. I know he is missing walking out back with Kanyon, scouting out all the new produce. So, I thought I would show him a couple of the things Kanyon and I found while we were out there last night.
First, Kanyon spotting our Blackberries right off the bat. That girl LOVES them. I would give her one and she would say "more". I'd give her another one and she's say "more". Then, when I finally ran out, she said "I need more!". Here she is showing off her collection of berries.

We have several watermelon that are growing.

And we planted peppers this year too. These, obviously are the green peppers, but we have a purple one growing and some jalapenos.

These were a couple of pictures from the Treehouse Museum this morning that I forgot to post on the last entry. They have a "Doctors Station". Its set up with white lab coats the kids can wear, a real working microscope they can look through, some dr toys, and a few babies in the nursery. Here is Dr. Kanyon listening for the baby's heartbeat. Its hard to tell in this pic, but when she would listen for the heartbeat, she would cup her hand up to her ear like she's trying to hear it. She's so much fun.

Here is Kanyon playing at the "Music Station". They have all sorts of instruments that the kids can play with ...and make A LOT of noise.

Kanyon going through one of many tunnels they have set up for the kids.

Tonight was Kanyon's last night of swimming lessons this summer. I can't say that she learned alot, but she sure has a great time splashing in the water. One of her favorite things to do is jump into the water, or do a "Kanyonball" like her Daddy taught her. Tonight I brought Ridge to the pool with us, so I couldn't get in the water with Kanyon, but it did open up a great opportunity to take some pictures.

Sidenote: (To Deborah: I had a REALLY cute picture of you and the 2 kids playing in the water, but I forgot to upload it...and if I do it now I don't know how to reposition it so its not at the top of the post!)

Here is her report card. We have to re-take the class, but it was fun anyways! Congrats Kanyon!

New Years Resolution...in August

Is it too late for a New Years Resolution?? Should my resolution be to update my blog more often? I can see all of you nodding your heads in agreement. To be honest, that was my Resolution back in January...but you can see how good I am at keeping commitments to myself. Well, now I am going to try to update more frequently, with my motivation being Jake. As most of you know, he has been working in California for the last month and we believe that he could be out there until Christmas. When he left, I told myself that I would keep a journal while he was gone so he wouldn't miss his babies growing up and learning new stuff. I put my journal on my dresser, right next to the bed, ON TOP of the TV remote (that way there would be NO way I would forget, since I have to watch TV). That worked well for about a week. I hate writing. My hand hurts and my handwriting is just terrible. So, I got the bright idea that I would blog. Its a good idea right? Being able to post pictures AND tell about our daily experiences. And its easy for Jake to look at while he is in California.

So, there is no better place to start than today:

The 3 of us went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. It really is so much fun. There are so many little "stations" of things to do. We met our friends Jessie, Emma (4 yrs old), & Lane (2 yrs old).
**Sidenote: Jessie is the wife of Josh. Josh is the guy Jake is living with in California. So, Jessie and I have been playing "Single Parent" while our husbands work in CA. She has been taking her kids to the Treehouse Museum once a week and we have been joining her.**
**Another note: Some of the following pictures are "grainy". I have been using our camcorder to take still photos, but the resolution on the photos is low and I don't know how to fix it. However, it does take fabulous videos!

Here is Ridge, hanging out as the "big kids" play. He is usually strapped in a pack that I carry around with him in it, so he's happy to be free of that for a little while in this picture.

The Museum has a little "farm" station. Here Kanyon is feeding her pig a bottle. This was one of her favorite "stations".

Here is Kanyon & Lane milking a cow. Yes folks, when the kids pull on the utters, "milk" comes out. Its a FAKE cow, just in case you were confused, and its really only WATER that squirts out, but Kanyon and Lane have so much fun getting each other wet.

And at the "Farm Station", they have little farm toys so you can create your own farm. She had fun putting a fence up around her animals.

There is a "Rodeo Station" where you can dress up with hats and overalls and get on a horse or a bull and pretend to be at a Rodeo. They have a crowd of people painted on the wall- its so much fun! Kanyon didn't go for the dress-up part of it, but I snapped a quick picture before she could throw the hat on the ground.

The "China Station"...has stuffed pandas, Chinese art, and even a table full of sushi.

This is a huge book that is placed in one of the sections. She was amazed at how big it was!

Lane & Kanyon playing dress-up in the Safari

They have the cutest little kitchen area. It has a stove, fridge, sink, and all sorts of food. I think Kanyon plays at this station every time we go to the museum. She loves to make hot cookies and give them to everyone! Here she is cooking some sushi she found at the China Station.

Lane is at the sink doing dishes after Kanyon made cookies. Way to go Lane!