3 years ago...

I became a married woman. I've loved every minute of the past 3 years and am looking forward to oh so many more!


To celebrate, we took an overnight trip to downtown San Diego. We ate dinner in Coronado at Il Fornaio, a delicious Italian restaurant with a fantastic view of the San Diego harbor.

Isn't it beautiful!

After dinner we checked into our hotel, which was the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel.

Highlight of the hotel for me was the beautiful view our 21st floor room had of the San Diego harbor. For Brad it was seeing Mike Stoops, head coach of the Arizona football team, in the hotel lobby. Are you really surprised?

I love you Brad! Thanks for 3 incredible years!

My talented siblings!

On Christmas eve we had a small musical program with my family. Ross played a few Christmas hymns on the piano, Taryn sang a 'Pinata' song, Luke & Grant performed 'Silent Night', and we ended by singing my grandparent's favorite Christmas hymns.


It was a really special way to start the night, as music always has a way of inviting the Spirit. Okay, maybe not Taryn's song, but the hymns sure did! I didn't record Ross's songs (sorry Ross) but I did get Taryn, Luke & Grant.





I'm probably a little biased, but I think they are pretty darn talented kids!

Mannheim Steamroller

As an early Christmas gift, we got tickets for the Mannheim Steamroller concert on December 12. The concert was in the city, so we left a little early and walked around Union Square and enjoyed the Christmas lights and music. (Not to mention, crowds too!)

I love going into the city. I don't think I would do very well living there- with the crowds, crazy driving, and fast-paced everything, but it sure is fun to visit for a night!

The concert was in the Golden Gate Theatre, which is architecturally similar to the Orpheum Theatre where we saw Wicked back in April. We snapped a couple shots while we were waiting... before we found out that was a no-no. Whoops. The lighting did wierd things to our pictures, so this was the best we got:


The concert was awesome! It was their Christmas concert, which happens to be the #1 Christmas tour in America. They play songs from each of their albums over the past 25 years. All the songs were great, but my favorites were 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman' 'Good King Wenceslas' and 'Deck the Halls'. Brad's was the song they played while video of a medieval man galloping through the forest on his horse played on a screen that covered the entire stage... you think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It actually was a really cool song.

Merry early Christmas to us!

Thanksgiving Week

Brad and I got to spend Thanksgiving in Utah this year with the Hardcastles. We were busy from the moment we stepped off the plane to the moment we stepped back on a week later. It was a great trip and a much needed vacation.

First activity of the trip was a BYU football game. We went straight from the airport, and Brad knew it was going to be a good trip when we saw this guy on the freeway:

What- can't tell? It's none other than Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Utah Jazz. After slowing down and speeding up 3 times just to pass him again, frantically waving our hands like idiots, and yelling "Go Jazz" as loud as possible... he finally acknowledged us. Brad even captured it on video:


The game was a bit cold for this California girl (40 degrees and windy!) but the weather was much better than originally expected so I can't complain. Harvey Unga & Max Hall broke BYU records, BYU won, and it was so fun to cheer on our Cougars.

The rest of the week was spent seeing some of Brad's high school friends, going to lunch with Brad's mission president and wife, catching a quick visit with my grandparents visiting from Escondido, getting our hair done by the best hairdresser ;), going to the new Oquirrh Mountain temple for a family session, playing some Wii, and eating way too much!

Perhaps the most productive activity of the week was the 10+ hours Brad spent scanning and digitizing hundreds of family history records. We are burning the DVDs this week and will be sending out copies to the family soon. Brad has caught the 'spirit of Elijah' and is working hard on his family history. Way to go Brad!

I wish I took more pictures, but we were just too busy having fun!

Now we are home doing this:

Besides catching up on laundry, we are also preparing for Christmas with the Urry's next week. Can't wait!

The 'Joy' of Christmas

While we were in Utah for Thanksgiving (post coming soon!) the Hardcastle ladies got together for a girls afternoon. There were 7 of us ladies: my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, two of Brad's aunts, two of his cousins, and me.

We started off the day with Cafe Rio. So good. Why don't they have these in California!?

Then we dove into our Christmas craft, which was painting & mod podging JOY blocks. About 3 hours into the project we all came to the conclusion that it was a good thing we picked "JOY" and not "CHRISTMAS" because these blocks took a lot longer than we expected!

Everyone's blocks turned out really cute and I was excited to get mine home and put them on display!

I couldn't help myself

A couple weeks ago I got a call from my mom. Apparently the San Pasqual ward got a new missionary. Apparently he could pass for my brother's twin. For those of you who don't know, my brother Bryant is currently serving a mission in South Carolina. Which means my family hasn't seen him since July 2008. My mom said her heart "skips a little beat" every time she sees Elder Lammert.

I figured she was probably exaggerating a bit. Then I saw the pictures. They really could be twins.

So I had a little fun.

I forwarded the pictures to my hubby and told him that Bryant had come home for the weekend for some medical reasons, but that everything was taken care of and he was back in South Carolina now. (When someone leaves on a mission, they are gone for two years and do not come home, except in rare occasions. So saying that he had come home was kind of a big deal.)

Brad fell for it. I asked him, "Don't you think Bryant looks good?" and he said, "No, I think he looks like he should be back in South Carolina". Ouch. Haha. Later that night I had to tell him. He was a little mad (read: embarrassed) but quickly got over it and wanted to know who we could trick next. That list now includes: his parents, brother, and our current bishop, Bishop Hunt, Bryant's former scout leader.

We are heading down to visit the family in a couple weeks and I can't wait to meet Elder Lammert for myself. We are thinking about having him stand in for our family pictures, what do you think?

Two of these pictures are my brother, the other two are of his "twin". Can you tell who's who?

It's about time.

I checked my Google Analytics this morning for the first time in a long while. It was a little scary.

So, with that in mind, we've decided the pros outweigh the cons and we are going private.

Please leave a comment with your email address if you would like to keep reading! (Your comment won't be published.) We will be going private December 1.

(Dad, I know this might sound a little confusing, but it just means that from now on you have to put in an email address and password to see our posts. If you have any questions, give me a call!)

Apple Hill

Last Saturday Brad and I drove into Placerville, CA to explore the very popular Apple Hill Orchards. Apple Hill has over 50 ranches, full of pumpkin patches, christmas tree farms, wineries, u-pick fruit farms, and of course all things APPLE: apple juice, apple cider, apple pies, apple turnovers, caramel apples, etc. The apples were the best I've ever eaten, the juice was the best, and so was the caramel apple... and, well, it was just one yummy treat after another!

It was the perfect time to visit, all the leaves were turning and colors were so pretty!

One of the pretty wineries

I was loving this vintage car

Brad was loving his caramel apple. (PS- Ask for it sliced. Makes eating it 10x more enjoyable!) This place had every type of caramel apple you could ever imagine- and some you would never think of- but let's be honest, traditional caramel and nuts is the best!

Our last stop of the day. They had the best Golden Delicious Apples and the prettiest flowers!

We are so lucky to live where we do! Although California certainly has it's downsides (traffic, state budget crisis, cost of living) it is such a beautiful place to live and we love it!

'Double Double' Toil and Trouble...

Hope you all had a great Halloween! We sure did!

Fleet Week & The Blue Angels... kind of

Last Saturday Brad and I ventured into San Francisco to check out Fleet Week. There are so many activities during it, but our main goal for the day was to watch the air shows- which conclude with the Blue Angels.

We took BART into the city and walked around Union Square, North Beach, and of course China Town. You can't walk around San Francisco with Brad Hardcastle and not go to China Town.


After the excitement of China Town, we made our way down to Aquatic Park where we snagged free cans of Cherry Dr. Pepper (wohoo for Brad!) and In N Out for lunch (wohoo for us both!). We found a great little pier where we watched the air shows for a couple hours.

Alcatraz Island (which acts as a center point for the air shows) in the background

It was a little chilly near the water, like it always is in San Fran, but it was a beautiful day. That is, until 3:00 when the Angels were supposed to fly. That's when the fog rolled in, and apparently Blue Angels can't fly when fog settles below 1,500 feet. So all we got were 3 'fly-bys' of the Angels before they cut the show and headed out. I wasn't too disappointed because they were sooo loud and my neck was hurting after 2+ hours of looking into the sky. (I soon realized that many of the people we were next to didn't take the news quite as well!)

Their precision is incredible! And I couldn't believe how close to the ground they fly. Wow!

It would have been nice to see the whole show, but there's always next year! We would love to watch the Parade of Ships next time too. Overall it was a great day with my hubby, and would have been a great day for Flat Luke if we hadn't already mailed him back ;) Darn!

Does this make me your favorite sister?

A couple weeks ago I got a call from Luke, my 7 year old brother. He had just read the book Flat Stanley in class and wanted to send his own "Flat Luke" out to explore beautiful Walnut Creek.

(Who knew, but Flat Stanley is a story about a boy named Stanley who gets squished flat as a pancake and gets to explore the world through the mail.)

Luke was so cute on the phone. He said we could take him to the park, to the Golden Gate Bridge, to San Francisco, etc. I had to laugh because in the 1+ year we have lived here, I've only visited the GG Bridge once-- and that was with my family last Thanksgiving! It's not exactly a frequented stop on our weekly agenda.

After much persuasion, I was able to get Brad to take Flat Luke with him into the city. He got a picture of Flat Luke with the Bay Bridge behind him.

Can you tell how *thrilled* Brad was to ask a coworker to take this pic?

When we called Luke to tell him about where we took Flat Luke (is this getting confusing to anyone else?) he said, "No Brad, that's not the right one! You need to take him to the red bridge." It was pretty cute.

Well, Flat Luke never made it to the "red bridge", but we did take him on a few other adventures before we mailed him back, which included:

Hiking Castle Rock

Hiding in secret caves

Exploring Lafayette Reservoir

Thanks for sending us Flat Luke, Luke! He was the easiest house guest we've had yet! ;)

Another year older!

In celebration of our recent birthdays (Aug 24 & 29) we decided to get a new picture for the house. We went to the church bookstore and looked around. Brad fell in love with a 5 ft x 3 ft picture of Christ. It was a stunning picture, but since our entire place is only a few feet bigger than the picture... it wasn't going to work. (Well that, and it cost about as much as my yearly salary.)

So we settled on my first choice: a picture of the San Diego temple, where we were sealed almost 3 years ago. I love it and it is perfect!

The picture is antiqued and has the dedication day written at the top.

Last weekend we also finally finished the wall behind our bed/headboard. It only took 1 year to decide what I wanted, but I really like how it turned out.

Labor Day Trip

Brad and I were able to go to Utah for Labor Day weekend to visit family, friends, celebrate birthdays, and (in Brad's case) get one last fishing trip in before summer was over.

Friday we spent the morning at BYU where I was able to have 'lunch' with my freshman roommate Nicki. I hadn't seen her in about a year (since we moved) and I had never met her husband. We had a great time catching up, and meeting in the CougarEat (where we used to meet for weekly lunch dates) just added to the memories!


Brad joined us for the first 45 minutes, but then decided he had had enough "girl talk". He called up a couple of his old Priests who were just wrapping up their first week at BYU and he met them for lunch. After hitting up the bookstore for a few essentials (alumni license plate and BYU sweatshirt) and stopping by Wells Fargo to see Brad's old boss, we were on our way.

Walking on campus for the first time since graduation brought back so many memories. I loved my 4 years at BYU, and would love it if future school opportunities (MBA) took us back.

My second lunch date for the day was with Janelle, my gal pal from high school and old roommate. We met at Cafe Rio, which I have been craving for a year and she was sweet enough to agree to ;) For some reason we didn't get a picture, so this gem from high school will have to do.

Friday night we had a BBQ with a few of Brad's high school buds. It was so fun seeing Ryan/Laurie, Brandon, Marcus/Brittany/Jolie, and catch up with how everyone is doing. I mostly spent the time doting over Jolie, who is quite possibly the cutest little baby ever. If only we could convince them all to move to San Francisco for law school/dental school/work, we'd be good to go!

Saturday was fishing day for the boys. They left waaaay early in the morning, and although it wasn't the most successful trip they've had, from what I hear they still had a good time. But hey, if you had this beautiful face to look at during the drive, how could you not have a good time?

(Love ya Spencer!)

Ron and his catch of the day

While they fished, Susie was kind enough to give me an extreme makeover. Okay, not really.... but after 5 months without a cut/color, it kind of felt like it. I went dark and I'm liking it! Then she took Angie and I to Rod Works, a fun home decor shop in Draper. It was a good thing that I flew in and had minimal travel room, because otherwise I would have bought the whole store!

Saturday night Brad and I went to Alpine for my cousin's wedding open house. My mom had flown in to help with it, so I got to see her and my aunt and cousins (again, no pictures...grrrr). While I helped serve food, Brad watched the BYU/Oklahoma football game. By the second quarter, just about every guy between 18-30 at the open house was watching the game too. If you haven't heard by now, BYU pulled off the upset and it was a GREAT game.


The rest of the trip was kind of a blur. We laid low and had some good ol' fashioned family time. Brad's grandma passed away rather unexpectedly Sunday morning, and we were really grateful that we could be with everyone during that time.

In more than one way, it was a very timely visit.

Look at those crazy boys... at least the girls look cute ;)

After heading back this past weekend for the funeral, we are now trying to get back into the swing of things... slowly but surely we'll get there.

And, as if you had any question of what we're doing this weekend: chaperoning a youth activity, of course! ;)