4th of July

About two weeks ago we decided that it would be fun to spend the 4th of July weekend in Tahoe. Neither of us had been to Tahoe before, so we weren't sure the best place to go, activities to do, etc. I did a little research and found a great resort in Tahoe City and we booked it! We decided to just go and play the rest by ear... and it was a great trip!

If you know me, you know I am a planner. So it is very rare for me to say I went on a trip without a plan. But everything worked out great! Lake Tahoe is absolutely beautiful. I decided it was the perfect place for us because a vacation is not complete without water (for me) and mountains (for Brad)...and Tahoe has both.

Here's a summary of our weekend:

This was our resort- "Granlibakken"...yeah, try to say that 5x fast. It had a unique setup where you stayed in separate cabin-like buildings. It was secluded enough to make it quiet, despite the holiday weekend, yet within walking distance to the lake. It had a pool, tennis courts, a walking trail, a fabulous hot breakfast every morning, and a delicious BBQ on the 4th. It was a great little place!
Our first view of the lake Friday morning. I couldn't believe how blue & clear the water was. It is so clear that you can actually stick a white dinner plate 75 feet below the surface and still see it. Absolutely gorgeous!

We parked ourselves on a little beach in Tahoe City for most of Friday morning. We took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some reading and relaxing! The weather was just perfect, and the water was a pleasant 60 degrees. Friday afternoon we drove down 30 minutes to southern Lake Tahoe, to Emerald Bay. I know I've said it before, but it was beautiful!


Around Emerald Bay we saw signs for Eagle Falls & Eagle Lake. As soon as Brad saw people carrying fishing poles with them to the Lake he was sold. As soon as they told me it was only a 30-40 minute hike I was sold too. We hiked it and even though the fishing wasn't too good in the lake, Brad found success in a stream along the way.

Ready to hike!
Eagle Falls
Emerald Bay in the background
Beautiful Eagle Lake

Saturday morning we rafted the Truckee River. Some professional company with professional quality rafts wanted to charge you $35/person to raft the river. Us, being the bargain hunters that we are decided we could buy our own raft and do it ourselves for only $25. It was definitely an adventure! We knew our raft would be done with if it hit a rock, so we tried to avoid them at all costs. Brad was a trooper and steered us the whole way. It was really fun and the water wasn't even cold. Which was a good thing, because we got really wet.

After our rafting adventure, we decided to drive about 20 minutes and explore the northern side of the lake. We drove to Incline Village, crossed the Nevada border, and trekked down to this little gem of a beach. The pictures don't do it justice, but this water was almost turquoise! I was in heaven. We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading, and floating around the lake in our raft.


We wrapped up the night with a 4th of July BBQ at our resort (all you can eat food, including frozen Snickers... sooo good!) and fireworks over the lake.

Sunday we went to church in Tahoe before heading home. When they opened up the meeting, the overflow was already halfway into the cultural hall. Then they asked the members, not visitors, to stand. I think there was about 30! Everyone else there was visiting, and there was easily over 300 people. It was so cool to see how many people had made an effort to go to church while on vacation.

It was the perfect weekend and a great little trip just the two of us!

2 1/2 years

Last Monday was our 2 1/2 year anniversary! Where has the time gone? In honor of our half-iversary here's my tribute to my terrific hubby.

August 2006 (Look at how young we are!)

Let's start at the beginning: We met at the tender (ie: young) ages of 19 & 21. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight... he asked out my roommate first. (Brad loves it when I bring this up! ) Luckily for me, it wasn’t meant be and the date never happened. After a little flirting and some magic-working on my part to get into the same Statistics class, we were together and the rest was history. We dated for 8 months, were engaged for 4, and have been married for 2 ½ years. Even though I never thought I would get married at 20, I couldn’t imagine it playing out any different.

Brad is the best because:

1. He gets ready in the dark so I can sleep while he gets ready for work.

1a. He sets out my lunch and gets my toothbrush ready because he knows that I push snooze for 15+ minutes and am always rushing to get out the door on-time.

2. He goes to the gym with me (even during the NBA finals) because he knows I won't go alone.

3. He makes dinner on those nights when I just don't feel like it, even though he has a commute of at least an hour and I don’t have one at all.

4. He makes me laugh at those times when all I want is to be angry, and then I can't.


5. He converted me to the sport of Jazz basketball

6. He served an honorable mission and helped change the lives of so many Koreans.


6a.He brought his mission home and has not forgetten about the people. (Example: this post)

7. He is so good with kids... people are always commenting about it. I know he’ll be the best dad ever!


8. He is the spiritual leader of our home with prayer, scripture study, FHE, etc.

9. He lets me have the sofa and always takes the loveseat, even though I am not even 5 feet tall and have no excuse for taking the bigger couch.

10. He always gives me thoughtful gifts, takes the time to surprise me, and gives me flowers ‘just because’.


11. He wears business casual so well (because he’s one handsome dude!)

12. He is an organizer, planner, crazy goal-oriented person. What can I say, we’re two peas in a pod on this one.

13. He took me to the temple on 12/29/06 and every month (except 1) since then.


He’s one great guy, and I'm one lucky gal. I love you Brad!

Various Activites from recent months

Due to my major blog-slacking I forgot to document some fun events from the last couple of months:

1. We went into the city and had lunch with our good friends Ricky and Maggie. We ate at a Yaught Club right across from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a little windy, but an awesome view!
After lunch they took us to Lombard Street... we were going to park and walk around, but it was a little busy. So we took a picture and kept driving!

After that we went over to the Muir Woods and went on a little hike (haha... or what was supposed to be a little hike). Only 2 hours, and 3 backtrackings later we finished.

We've really enjoyed getting to know Ricky and Maggie. We're bummed that they are moving back to San Diego in a few weeks, but we wish them luck!

2. Our good friends, and most favorite neighbors, the Andrews also moved on us! We knew it was coming but it was still sad to see them go. Before they left we finally had the fondue party we had been talking about for months. We had chocolate & cheese for dipping and oil for meat. It was so yummy!


3. Almost 8 months ago (oh my!), Brad and I drove to Napa to see the vineyards. It was the perfect time of year to go, as they were just changing colors and we got to see everything from dark purple to red to yellow. We stayed away from the wine tasting, so our day trip consisted mostly of driving, but if you know the Hardcastles you know that they LOVE to drive ;)

(This picture is for my dad, whose high school choir was none other than Opus One.)

Memorial Day Visitors

Over Memorial Day weekend Brad and I had some visitors from Korea come and stay with us! I had a hard time with their Korean names, so we gave them American names for the trip: Justin and Spencer (much easier for me!) Luckily for me, Justin's job is to teach English in Korea, so we were able to communicate in short & simple sentences. Spencer (his 10 year old nephew) didn't know any English... but Brad was able to serve as translator and it all worked out.

We had a great time making Korean food, going to church, exploring Berkeley & the Oakland temple, golfing, and eating a great American dinner of pizza and cherry coke. Yum!

Brad also introduced Spencer to the game of football. They went out into our front yard and played catch for a couple of hours. When Brad told Spencer he could take the football back to Korea with him, his eyes got so big and he couldn't believe it. He couldn't wait to get home and show his 2 brothers.

The day before they left, Justin asked Brad what I would like as a thank you gift. (That is a big part of Korean culture.) Brad told him that I liked fruit... so they went to the grocery store and came home with: 5 lbs of cherries, 2 lbs of strawberries, 2 grapefruits, 4 oranges, 10 peaches, and 1 lb of various berries. I couldn't believe it! (Not to mention, he had already brought me a beautiful hanbok dress that was more than enough thanks!) Brad tried to tell him that just a few pieces of fruit would be enough, but Justin wanted to get me a little of everything. It was so nice. We affectionately called Justin the "fruit king" after that.

Despite the language & culture differences, I loved having Justin and Spencer stay with us. It goes without saying how much Brad loved it. His love of Korea has not faded one bit since he returned from his mission almost 4 years ago. He has stayed in contact with many of his converts and friends and calls them regularly. His Korean isn't half bad either!

We really hope we can get to Korea sometime in the next couple of years and see them all!

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!!