Mini Golf Outing

So if you remember from before I mentioned that Zac and I decided to have a group activity night every Thursday with our friends Kaylee and Ryan, and Cat and Jesse. We had the first night, and we did an awesome night of Badminton. Cat and Jesse had the second night which was a fun game night of Balderdash and Cranium. And our most recent night was hosted by Kaylee and Ryan and we went mini golfing. Jesse actually brought a camera this time, so these are our first game night pictures, but we decided that we need to take pictures every game night! So here are a bunch of funny pictures...

This is us tee-ing off.

Somehow Zac's ball mangaged to stop right on the edge of this volcano! Crazy! This is him trying to blow it down.

Cat, Jesse, Kira, Zac, Kaylee, and Ryan doing our best crazy pose.

Kira, Cat, and Kaylee holding our mushroom umbrellas.

Me next to the loop.

Zac attemping a pool shot.

Zac of course got the lowest score so he was the winner. This is me fawning over him and his awesomeness.

This is Kaylee, Cat, and me with our eraser lipstick prizes. So fun!

This is the boys doing machine gun poses at the end of the night.

Jesse, Cat, Kaylee, Ryan, Kira, and Zac ending the night with a totally awesome picture.

The Chalk Incident

OK so Zac was home for lunch, and then he asked me, "what would you give me to eat a piece of chalk?" and I said, "Nothing! Why do you always ask me to give you something to do something totally stupid?" and he answers, "well do you dare me to do it?" and so I said, "okay, sure." So he did. Zac ate chalk. So I decided to document it with photos. Just looking back at the pictures makes me want to throw up all over again, and I wasn't even the one with the mouth full of chalk! So you decide for yourself... is Zac really funny or just really dumb? (Of course my vote is really funny, but I do think he may be missing a few brain cells to be willing to do this. Especially since he actually did it twice because he wanted another picture!)

Labor Day Weekend

Ok, yes I realize Labor Day weekend was actually quite a while ago, but you all know it takes me a long time to post things!

So first up, as you can tell we got to watch Pupface again! Yeah! Jesse and Cat went to Panama (I am so jealous!) for a whole week, and they let us watch Pupface while they were gone! I had an absolute blast being with her all week long! She is just so darn cute! And just to preface here, since we don't have a cute baby to take lots of pictures of, and Pupface was like my baby for a week, this blog will be FULL of pictures of my "baby." This first picture was of Zac and Puppy napping during Zac's lunch break. Too cute right? This other picture was of Zac putting his tighty-whitey's on poor little Pupface. Pretty sad huh?

So we had lots of ideas of what to do for Labor Day, but we decided to make sure we did something that we could take Pupface with us. First of all we wanted to make sure we spent as much time with her as we could, and second, she gets really sad when we leave her home alone, and so she barks a lot, and since our apartment complex forbid dogs to even be on the premises, we didn't want to leave her home barking all day, getting us in trouble. So we decided that we would go down to Monterrey since Zac had never been there before. Its about an hour and a half drive from where we live, and Pupface loved the drive! She loves sticking her head out the window, even though it is too windy so she has to squint so much that she can't see anything at all!

When we got there we found a place to park near Cannery Row, and got out to walk around and explore. We found a cute little restaurant that would let us take Pupface out on the patio to eat. They had really great clam chowder, and seafood. Of course Pupface begged for food the whole time, like she always does. And so we spoiled her, like we always do, by giving her a few bites of clam and shrimp, she actually really liked it. This was after we finished eating but she kept begging so I brought her up on my lap so that she could see that there wasn't any food left. Zac managed to snap the picture right as she was sneezing, priceless right? Then we had our waiter snap a picture of us right next to our table that overlooked the ocean. It was so beautiful!

Then we went out and walked some more. We found a place that let you down to the ocean so we went down to explore. Of course Pupface loves the ocean, so she was stoked! She practically pulled Zac down the steps and into the ocean. She thought she was so brave running full throttle toward the ocean, but as soon as a wave that looked even remotely big was coming in she took off like a speeding bullet, dragging Zac along.

After that we headed back toward the car, but along the way we found this cool statue/fountain. Well Pupface thought it was pretty cool too, so she decided to play in that too. We called her a little Redneck Puppy since she was showering off from her play in the ocean in a public fountain. Nice.

This is a picture of Monterrey. It was really pretty. We were actually surprised by how hot it was there. It was really hot when we left San Jose, but we were assuming that it would be about 10 degrees cooler at the beach like it always is at Santa Cruz, but it was actually still really hot on the beach.

So we kept on walking and we found this cute little candy shop that had Carmel covered apples, and I really wanted one so I went in to get us a couple. We decided to sit down at a park bench and eat them. When we pulled them out of the bag we realized that they had just been freshly dipped and so they were still warm and sticky, and I now realized why the guy asked if I wanted them cut up to eat. It would have been a lot easier and a lot less messy! Well Zac then decided that he was going to give up trying to eat politely, even though we were in a very public spot and lots of people were walking by, and he was going to try and see how messy he could be. Lovely right? Well he wanted me to do it too of course, but I wasn't going for it, so he pushed my apple into my face and smeared it all over. So I got Carmel all over my face too. Beautiful, yes I know. So we went into the lovely public restrooms (still better than a fountain) to wash our faces off after we finish eating.

When we finally made it back to the car we headed for 17 mile drive. We had to pay to drive in, but it was well worth it because they weather was perfect the sun was beginning to set, and the beach's were beautiful. We actually ended up driving up and down the coast 3 times because we liked it so much!

Of course we stopped at the lone cypress tree and got some pictures.

As some of you may know there are about 4 or 5 really famous golf courses right there along 17 mile drive, but of course the one Zac really wanted to see was Pebble Beach. We actually drove down into the resort, which was really exciting for Zac, he said he felt so, "high class." This is a picture of Zac actually standing on the course, it was after hours, so it was alright, there weren't any really rich golfers out there getting mad at him for being in the way.

Pebble Beach is near the south end of 17 mile drive, and Zac wanted to do the drive again when the sun was set a little more so we decided to drive a little further south and visit Carmel-by-the-Sea. It is a beautiful, ritzy, little town. We parked at the top end of town and walked along the main street past all the cute really expensive little shops. The street ended at the beach, and this beach was way bigger, and way prettier than the one we stopped at in Monterrey. Again little Pupface loved the experience. Although this beach had a bunch of really big dogs that weren't on a leash, so she spent most of her time pretended to be really tough, and then freaking out and cowarding away. Zac also dug an underground tunnel that he was very proud of and decided that he wanted to have Pupface go through it. It wasn't very long, and he even dug it out some more to be a little wider, but Pupface wasn't having it. After about five minutes of him trying to push her through and her resisting his efforts strongly, the tunnel was sufficiently ruined and he was forced to abandon his evil quest. Well shortly there after Pupface walked over to her bag and sat in it, to inform us that she was ready to go now, and so was I, so we decided to head back. On the way back to the car we found another cute candy shop and Zac got to try some crazy liquorice (he loves liquorice) and I got some awesome taffy. We also got some ice cream, which Pupface immediately begged for, but she wasn't getting any of that!

When we got back to the car we head back up on 17 mile drive to see it again at night. Once we reached to top, we turned around and went back, because we had to drive out the other end to get back on the highway to get home.

It was a really great weekend, and we had a ton of fun with (not technically) our little "baby."

Our jam-packed weekend

So I am rather late on posting this since this was actually almost a full month ago! But oh well at least I am finally posting! My mom had some work stuff to do out here in the San Jose area, but this time she brought Kayla with her, and they stayed for four fun filled days! So here is the recap:

THURSDAY

On Thursday my mom and Zac had to work so it was just Kayla and me. We started the day by driving out to Santa Cruz. We thoroughly enjoyed the boardwalk! We rode all the roller coasters, and the Double Drop, and the twisting twirling sky-high Fireball. Then we went to the oh so fun: Mystery Spot! Zac and I went there when first moved here, but Kayla had never been and she wanted to go so, thus we went. Yep, it's still a hoax. . . but a cool hoax. Then we came back to San Jose and went to the San Jose Tech Museum. Its like OMSI for anyone who has been there with my family, which is a big science museum with lots of cool interactive exhibits and an IMAX theater. We went and saw the Alps movie. It was awesome! I love IMAX movies. Then we drove through little Mexico, which was a little scary, to go to Target to get me some cute athletic shorts that Kayla found, that I decided I needed too. And since I got them on sale, it ended with her being jealous of me, so that was sweet.

FRIDAY

So Zac took the day off, and my mom didn't have to work, so Friday was our first day to go out and do fun stuff! We started off the day by going to the Japanese Gardens in Saratoga. It was really beautiful and we had a lot of fun walking around and goofing off. This picture would be of me feeding Kayla Coy food.

We then continued on our way up to San Francisco. Our first stop in the city was Lombard Street. It's the curviest street in San Francisco, MAYBE EVEN THE WORLD. . . maybe not though.

Then we went to Coit Tower. Luckily my mom drove us to the top of the hill instead of making us walk up. Last time I was in San Fran with my mom she made me go on a "little walk" which involved walking all the way to Coit Tower then all the way up the hill... then all the way back! Needless to say I was seriously sore the next three days, so I was really grateful that my mom let us skip the stair-stepper butt work out.

Our next stop was Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf, where we had an awesome seafood lunch. Then we went out to look at the bay, which was windy and slightly cold as usual, but still beautiful. Then we went out to see the noisy Sea Lions, and watched them play king of the pier.

After that we headed out of town, and on our way we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. However, our impeccable timing had us driving over the bridge at rush hour so we decided it would be best not to stop at the tourist spots at each end because it would take too long, so we just opted to take pictures of it while we drove over it. Lovely huh?

After that our next stop was Muir Woods. Of course the first interesting thing that Zac found was in the parking lot. We walked past this car, and Zac just thought it was hilarious! In case you can't read it, it says "I wish my wife was this dirty." It was pretty funny. Then we walked through the woods, which were beautiful as always.

Then we made the long drive out to Point Reyes National Seashore. Of course as we drove in the fog rolled in as well, which was unfortunate, but we were undeterred and kept on our course along the small windey roads- I mention this since I got rather car sick, luckily I didn't throw up or anything. We were going out there to see a light house that we had seen pictures of, and it looked really pretty. Of course when we got there we had two problems. One the lighthouse was closed. But we were undeterred. We decided that since we had driven two hours to get there we were going to see that lighthouse! So we parked the car and walked the rest of the way. Our second problem was the fog had rolled in quite thick so we couldn't even see the ocean from the top of the cliff. When we got out there luckily we could see the lighthouse, but we couldn't walk down to it because an even bigger gate than the one blocking the road was blocking the path down. It was too dangerous because of the fog I guess, but oh well. At least we got to see it, right?

After that we drove along more tiny windey roads (I'm not sure that's how you spell windey, or if windey is even a word; I guess they were streets that were full of wind . . . not wind as in a blustery day, but wind as in a clock; windy? - Aughhh, English). So we took some CURVY roads to Santa Rosa where we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard. We had dinner at IHOP then went back to the hotel where my mom and I went to the Hot tub, and Kayla and Zac watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It was a good, long, eventful day!

SATURDAY
So the next day started on the drive, which was right through Napa valley- wine country. There were vineyards everywhere! It was beautiful!

Our first stop was at the Old Faithful Geyser of California. It goes off about every 45 minutes. They had a little goat petting farm, and we found a hole that some little rodent was digging out, it was pretty cute, so we watched it for a while. Also while we were waiting Zac went to go use the bathroom and when he got there he discovered an entire line of Asian women lined up in front of the men's bathroom. Of course Zac found this hilarious so he had to take a picture of it. The picture doesn't really do it justice; there were about 10 Asian ladies in the line but most of them scattered when they saw Zac with the camera. Then they all came back and gathered around Zac as he showed them the pictures he took of them. He tried to get them all back in the line again, but it was like herding cats; Asian cats. They probably had no idea what Zac was trying to accomplish. When the geyser finally went off it was definitely small in comparison to the Old Faithful geyser in Wyoming, but it was still pretty cool, and it lasted a really long time. My mom and Zac enjoyed standing in the spray to cool off, since even though it was only 10 o'clock in the morning it was already quite hot.

After that we drove to a petrified forest that was only about 5 miles away from the geyser. It was pretty cool. I've been to other petrified forests before, and they have had more colorful logs/ rocks but this petrified forest had really really big trees. It was a fun walk around the complex, and amazing to see how many huge petrified trees there were.

So after the geyser and the petrified forest we got back in the car for a very pretty drive through more of Napa valley on our way to Vallejo. We were headed for 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom! We had a ton of fun there. We rode all the huge roller coasters, which took forever since the lines were really long! Since the rides were actually really similar to the rides at Great America, I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see any animals while we were there. I really wanted to see a dolphin and a whale show, but oh well, I guess that means that Zac and I will just have to go back sometime! So as the park was closing my mom and I decided that we needed a funnel cake, so we ended up waiting for like 45 minutes- as long as some of the rides! Yes ridiculous I know, but once we started waiting we couldn't stop otherwise it would all be a waste!

So after Discovery Kingdom it was pretty late, so we drove back to San Jose, Zac was kind enough to offer to drive back, since it was about a two hour drive, and my mom had done most of the driving.

SUNDAY
So the next day we took my mom and my sister to our ward out here. They got to see how odd it is that our church is about a 20 minute drive away even though we happen to drive right past another ward building on our way there. We think that ward building is probably a Spanish speaking ward building. Our ward is really nice and super friendly so I was happy to have my family visit and get to meet them. So when my mom was in Chicago with my sister a while ago they got me this outfit that matched my sister's, so naturally my mom wanted a picture of us in our matchy-matchy outfits. Don't worry, we didn't actually go to church all matchy, I changed when we got home for the picture! Unfortunately I couldn't convince Zac to dress to match us- he thought it was too lame. Oh well. Zac made us an awesome pot roast for dinner (which he learned how to do from his mom- thank you so much for that Ann! We have pot roast almost every Sunday!) then we had to take my mom and my sister to the airport. Well I guess they had to go home at some point right? I was sad to see them go, but I was so glad they could come visit, it was so great to have them out here! It was a really great, really fun, really busy weekend! I am my mother's daughter so I can't imagine it turning out any other way!