Big Trees State Park

Brad was supposed to go with the Young Men to Half Dome this weekend, but couldn't make it last minute because of work. So we improvised! We left REALLY early Saturday morning and drove up to Arnold, CA for some fishing and camping. It was absolutely beautiful! The fishing was pretty successful... I think our count was at 15 by the end of the day. We weren't there for too long but it was still nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful nature that surrounds us. We plan on going back sometime later this summer... but this time with bug repellent ;)

Getting ready to fish! Can you tell he's excited?

The Stanislas river was so beautiful!




We took a break from fishing to have some lunch and explored the "big trees", and they sure aren't lying about that name...




We finished off the evening with, what else, more fishing! I even got in on the action this time, but that picture will not be making it onto the blog, so you'll have to take my word for it!
He got a bite!

He missed it!

What a cute "little" guy


(And here's a video for Brad's family, proving that he really did catch a fishy!

In need of some advice...

Being apart of all of the wedding festivities a few weeks ago got me reminiscing about my own wedding over two years ago. I thought about the beautiful weather, the friends and family who came far and wide to be there, I thought about the things I loved and the things I would have loved to change... (don't we all?)

And then I thought about how it's been almost 2 1/2 years and I have still yet to do any work on my wedding album. Nothing. Zero. Zip. I still haven't printed my open house pictures. How sad is that? And so, I decided that that is my summer project. Except...I don't even know where to start!!

Our photographer gave us DVD's of all of the pictures that she took. I love having digital copies of the photos... all 1,000 of them... but sorting through those will be a challenge in and of itself.

So I am asking for any advice, tips, points-in-the-right-direction, etc. that you can give me! Has anyone else attempted or completed their wedding album or am I the only one? Is it worth my time/effort or should I pay to have someone else do it?

I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed and am starting to remember why I put off this project in the first place...

Here's to good friends & weddings!

2 weekends ago I was able to fly down to San Diego to be apart of my dear friend Janelle's wedding. She was married on 5/9/09 in the San Diego temple and everything about the day was just perfect! She looked beautiful, the weather was perfect, and reception was wonderful! I loved being apart of all of the wedding festivities and being able to spend some time with her and her fiance in the days before the wedding. They are just about the cutest couple around and I'm so happy for them!

Everyone at girls lunch the day before the wedding

Janelle is one popular little lady because just about everyone came into town for her wedding. I was able to see my best friends from high school-Tonya & Kaylee- and my 6 roommates from college. (Janelle and I grew up in the same ward and also roomed together in college for a couple of years).

Me, Kaylee, and Tonya at the reception

College friends at the temple

Me, Janelle, and Tonya... all old marrieds now!





Lovely NW1 roomies!





I consider myself so lucky to have so many really great friends! Janelle, Tonya, Kaylee, and I were the "fearsome foursome" in high school and even though we all went our separate ways when it came time for college, we have managed to stay close. Every time we are together, everything goes right back to how it always was! And then, on top of that, I had 6 awesome roommates back in 2005-2006! I went into the apartment not knowing any of them except Janelle, and came out with lifelong friends. Not many people can say that!

It was so nice to visit with old friends and spend time with my family! Let the record show that despite all the fun I did miss Brad... he who opted to go fishing, instead of take part in the girls weekend. :)

Susie Momma came to visit!

Brad's mom came out to visit us two weekends ago, and we had a fun time showing her around the area. She came out from Utah, which is apparantly having a really long winter. It snowed there the day before she came out, so she was glad to get some sunshine. In fact, we were actually having a heat wave the weekend she was here, and the temps were in the high 90's. A little too hot for comfort, but definitely better than snow in my eyes!

On Friday, she and Brad went into the city and she got to see San Francisco in all its glory. Brad took her to his office, and then they explored Union Square, China Town, the Cable Cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, etc. Here are a few pictures:

Outside Brad's office

Cable Cars

Having fun in the old arcade games

Quite possibly her favorite part of the visit- all of the beautiful flowers!

I met up with them after work, and we went to dinner in downtown Walnut Creek and got some frozen yogurt after. Yummy!!

Saturday we all went down to Santa Cruz and enjoyed the warm weather and the beach! (And some people watching, because, well... it is Santa Cruz...) The water was pretty cold, but we enjoyed laying out, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful scenery!



After Santa Cruz, we hit up In n Out for dinner and then Susie worked her magic green thumb and helped us buy a flower box and flowers for our railing. We decided on some gerber daisies, and I am happy to report that 2 weeks later they are still doing great! Here they are planting the flowers:

After church on Sunday, we drove to the Oakland Temple. We 'ooh'd and awe'd' over the beautiful flowers and beautiful temple.

Notice how the flowers have been changed since this post, only 1 month ago! Those gardeners are working overtime!

Monday morning's flight came too quick. We were sad to see her go, and look forward to seeing all the Hardcastle's in July!!

Driving in SF!

Yesterday morning Brad went into work for some training. Since he was already in the city, we decided to make the most of it. We made plans to meet up with some friends for lunch and then do some hiking in Muir Woods. All I had to do was drive into San Francisco to meet Brad at work and then we would head out from there. Sounds easy enough, right? That's what I thought. I wasn't worried. I've BARTed in mutiple times, and we have a GPS so I knew there wouldn't be any problems finding my destination. Haha.... right!

Problem #1: Assuming all exits off of the Bay Bridge are on the right side. This was a bad assumption because my exit was off of the left and so I had to cross 5 lanes of traffic in 1/4 mile.

Okay, so that was a little stressful, but I made the exit and then followed my directions through downtown. I took careful note of one-way streets, no left turns, pedestrians, etc. Before I knew it I had made it to my last turn: California Street, where Brad's office is.

That's when I froze. I had two of these guys moving past where I needed to turn:
Problem #2: Can I drive in a lane where the cable cars are? The answer is YES, but it felt wrong at the time! For some reason it didn't seem safe to drive with the cable cars, so I panicked and turned left instead.

Now, I was driving away from Brad's office. But for some reason my GPS unit thought I had reached my destination, so instead of "re-calculating" my destination, it congratulated my on my successful arrival. So now I was on my own. No problem, I thought. I just need to back track to where I just was.

Problem #3: The aforementioned one-way and no left turn streets that are so abundant in SF.

Just then Brad called to see where I was. I didn't have my hands-free headset hooked in (oh, the joys of living in California) so I put the phone on the passenger seat and put him on speaker phone. He tried to navigate me back to California Street but was having a hard time recognizing where I was at. I continued to drive and call out street names until Brad recognized one. "Turn left" he said. And I was about to... when I noticed a large amount of motorcycle cops coming towards me from the opposite direction. Two stopped right in front of me, preventing my left turn!
Problem #4: A walk/march was coming! Yes, of course there would just happen to be a MARCH on the street I needed to turn on! So I sat there patiently and waited while the "Walk against Rape" made its way past me.

At that point, I just started laughing. I couldn't talk to Brad, because I was afraid the cop perched right outside my window would see the phone on the seat and (knowing my luck so far) write me a ticket for not beings "hands free". So I just sat there while Brad tried to figure out why I had suddenly turned silent.

Well, the march finally past and I was able to make my turn and find Brad.

Needless to say, HE drove to lunch!

Easter Weekend

Brad and I started our Easter weekend on Saturday by coloring eggs and going to Wicked. Okay, so Wicked really had nothing to do with Easter, except we happened to get tickets for that day. But it was amazing and deserved an entire post to itself (see below).

I have to apologize to the rest of the Hardcastles for being a party pooper this year. Our colored eggs were just that: colored. Brad was a little disappointed, and I promised him next year I would be more on top of things and we’d make the family proud! For those of you who aren't familiar with how Brad's family decorates eggs, please see this post. They go all out and are always so creative. I think being creative is dipping an egg into two colors instead of one. Yes, I know, I have a lot to learn!

Brad and his inner "Iron Chef"

Monster eyes

Go Cougars!

Sunday, we found the Easter baskets that we had made for each other. Brad surprised me with some gardening tools (which have already been put to good use... stay tuned for more info), a bundt pan (for monkey bread... ulterior motive on his part), and some other cute things.

That night we invited some friends from the ward over and had a yummy Easter dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, string beans (from Grandpa’s garden- yum!), and salad. Dessert was covered by the massive amounts of Cadbury eggs, and Reeses peanut butter eggs we got earlier that morning.

The best part of the day was being able to attend church and give thanks to my Heavenly Father for His Son, who sacrificed so much for all of us. As I reflect upon His life, death, and resurrection I am overwhelmed with how much love He has for each and every one of us. I am truly grateful for the knowledge I have that He lives, and we will all be able to live with Him again.

Happy Easter to all!

That was totally WICKED!

Okay, cheesy title... but I couldn't resist! When else will I be able to use that? The long awaited day finally came! Saturday the 11th Brad and I went into San Francisco to the Orpheum Theatre and saw the musical Wicked.


The first thing we noticed was how beautiful the theatre was! It is based off of 12th century Spanish architecture and the details and carvings were so incredible. And then, of course, the show was absolutely amazing! I have known the songs for about 4 years, but to finally see the show and how everything falls into place made it that much better.

I was just a *tad* more excited than Brad (okay, a little more than a tad) to see the show. I had been giving him pep talks that whole week and trying to get him excited about it. In the end he came around and ended up really enjoying it! Just how much did he like it? Well, let me just say that it wasn't me singing "Popular" for the next week....

Battle of the Bay

Last Friday night Brad and I BARTed into the city for the "Battle of the Bay". What exactly is the Battle of the Bay? It's the series between the Giants and A's... San Francisco's two baseball teams. This was our first time to AT&T park, and it is so cool! It's right on the harbor and has an awesome view of the bay. We got to watch the "Big Unit" (Randy Johnson) pitch, and enjoy ever-so-healthy baseball snacks. It was a pretty chilly night, and there weren't any homeruns, but we had a fun time nonetheless. (Probably due to those previously mentioned baseball snacks.)

Look at the bay! Oh, and the Coca Cola bottle in left field is actually a HUGE slide, for both kids and adults. From what we could see, the adults were enjoying it more than the kids. Or they were just a little tipsy... probably that actually.

Notice the glove on his hand? He insisted we bring it... just in case we got a foul ball our way. He never got to actually use the glove, but it somehow made its way into the picture.

Brad decided that he is an A's fan... and I'm still holding onto my hometown team. I can't wait for the Padres to come into town so I can cheer them on! Did I mention how much I love baseball season??

Girls Weekend!

A couple weeks ago, Brad went to Chicago for work training. He was gone for 11 days, which was a bummer for me since I was home alone, but more of a bummer for him since he had to sit in training from 8-6 M-F with homework on weekends... boo. Anyways, my mom and sister came up for a long weekend in the middle of his trip, to help me pass the time. We had a wonderful girls weekend!

They flew up on Thursday night and then took the BART into Walnut Creek. Taryn sure thought that she was hot stuff getting to ride in an airplane with her very own TV and pink earphones. It was a full flight, so she sat in the middle seat and made conversation with a perfect stranger the entire flight. He was a middle-aged guy that had carried on his dog. He was so sweet to Taryn and listened to her chatter the entire 1 1/2 hours. What a nice guy! And then, as if her trip couldn't get any better, she got to ride in a "fast train" for another hour! She was on top of the world... and she hadn't even gotten to my house yet!

I was able to take Friday off of work, so we had the entire day to play. We went to Color Me Mine in Lafayette and painted our own ceramic mugs. They all turned out really cute! I didn't get any pictures of us painting, but here is Taryn's final product:

(With a little help from Mom!)

After, we went to lunch at a yummy salad place called Buckhorn Grill. I knew my mom would love it because she absolutely loves salads. (We ended up going back there for lunch on Monday because she liked it so much!)

At lunch

Then we went home and gave each other pedicures and watched Enchanted. Even though I picked the movie because I thought Taryn would enjoy it... I think my mom and I enjoyed it even more than she did!

Drying her nails out on the porch

On Saturday morning we visited "PixieLand" where Taryn got to ride rides made "just for her". She was in 7th heaven.

Riding the airplane

Carousel

With mom on the roller coaster

With me on the teacups (wish her eyes were open!)

The rest of the weekend was full of shopping, Chipotle, making homemade bread, movies, walks, naps, and relaxing!

Taryn looking so stylish!

They flew back on Monday afternoon, and I had to work for a half-day before they left for the airport. During the morning while I was at work, my mom cleaned my entire house (ok, it's only a 2 bedroom, but still!) and reorganized my linen closet. It looked so much better! Aren't moms the greatest?

With they could have stayed longer, but I'm so glad they came! Can't wait to see them and the rest of the family in May when I got home for Janelle's wedding!

Oakland Temple

A few weekends ago, Brad and I volunteered to chaperone Youth Conference for a few hours. It was at the Inter-Stake Center, which is a large multi-use building on the temple grounds. During lunch we walked around for a bit and Brad took some pictures of the temple. It is so beautiful!