Content

By definition content is : In a state of peaceful happiness.  Thats how I am feeling right now and its a good feeling to have.  Its raining outside and I am nice and warm in my house. Im drinking some tea and my BoBsweep is vacuuming my house for me.

The other day I was looking at some of my old blog posts.  I like being able to go back in time a few years and see what I was doing. Did you know this time last year Zac had just bought me my jeep!? I can't believe I've had it for a year. As you might know us Fleckners go through vehicles quite quickly and the fact that we have had the truck 2 years and my jeep 1 year is kind of a big deal! So congrats to us.  At the end of May 2013 it will mark 3 years since we purchased our house!  I still remember the day we got the phone call from Courtney. I had just gotten off of work and Zac and I were standing by Nicks big glass table. That weekend we were going to be going camping at Lake Pillsbury. We still have work to do on our home but I will tell you we have done SO much in the last three years.  More then most people will do to their house….ever! I posted a picture on instagram the other day just so people could see the difference.

Makes me wonder how we ever saw through all the ugly! Luckily my husband is one of the hardest workers I know! And he is just as crazy as I am, so I believe that is how we were able to get all of this hard work done.  And what feels good is that we did it all ourselves! We painted the house, we put in the lawn, we put in the bark, the vineyard the patio…..we did it all.

Now I told you in an early blog post that we had a big BBQ for my 30th birthday.  I mentioned to Zac how it would be cool if the patio would be done before the party he told me there was NO way that was going to happen.  Well before we knew it every weekend we were out working on it and we finished it just in time!  Turning 30 wasn't the most exciting thing to me, I feel better about it now but I wasn't to pumped about it at the time.  However, it meant the world to me to have the people I care about with me to celebrate.  I feel like its a pretty big millstone in the age bracket.

I thought on this post I would share a little bit about my party and also show a before and after picture of our patio.

Can you believe that is the same space?! I mean, wow! We did good hubby, we did good!

So Zac had to work on my actually birthday so we decided that we would celebrate the day before. I was a little nervous at first because you just never know what the weather is going to be like in spring. And when I could first check is was showing some rain.  But then I remembered we have a high 24 x 40 shop…and a covered patio. So I knew we would make it work. As the day kept getting closer and closer the weather was getting more perfect! By the day of the BBQ it was like 82 degrees! I couldn't have asked for better weather.  I think we ended up having about 30 people.  I was thankful that my mom, dad and even my grandma were able to make it up to celebrate with me.  My grandma had never seen my house in person so it was nice to show her around.  My mom and Cindy were such a huge help! They did all the decorations and food for the party (it was over the top)! I asked for no gifts this year because I just wanted help on the patio and did they ever! Cindy, Steve and Nick spent a whole day helping us put in the gravel, bark and vineyard! It was the best gift! My mom and dad helped with buying all those red chairs that you see. Its the gift that keeps on giving. 

Anyways, we said on the invitation that it started at 3:00 but we were actually hoping that people wouldn't show up till later then that. And thats exactly what they did. I would say the bulk of the people were there at 4:00.  Zac was on the BBQ cooking chicken and tri-tip and I was trying to be a social butterfly and say hi to everyone.  I told Zac that it felt like our wedding….saying hi to everyone and thank you for coming and not getting to eat! Everything went very smoothly and I think the last people left around 10:30ish.  Zac and I stayed out by the fire pit a little later to just soak it all in.

This weekend is finally a chill weekend. We have been non stop for the whole month of April.  We are going to walk over to the fairgrounds today to see monster trucks with some friends and then tomorrow we are going to celebrate mothers day by having a BBQ at our house for Cindy.   I already sent my mom a gift and she texted me today and said that she got it and is going to wait till tomorrow to open it. I hope she likes it! I think for Monday we will probably just be working on our boat.  Zac was able to get the new motor mocked up in the boat the other day so now its just figuring out where it needs to sit and hooking things back up.  This time last year we had already gotten limits at fort bragg! That was such a great trip! Two hours and 6 fish. I know Zac is super excited to get back out there. Well I hope that everyone has a nice weekend! Until next time!

Kayak fishing last weekend in Paradise Cove. Although it was WAY to windy to do any real fishing. Still felt good to be outside!

Catalina

Oh Catalina, you did me good! Its funny that I grew up in southern California and not ONCE made it out to Catalina. Well I decided that it was time to go and what better time then to celebrate my big 30th birthday.  I did have a BBQ at our house on my actual birthday weekend which I will blog about soon, but for now we are going to talk about Catalina.

So VERY early Saturday morning we headed off towards southern california.  We booked our ferry to leave at 1:30 and we figured it would probably take us about 6 hours to drive down there.  We were hoping that we would have time to stop in Santa Monica for lunch but with all of that LA traffic we made it to the dock just in time! (Which means 30 minutes early) I had never been on a ferry before so I was interested to see how everything would go down.  It was very easy. You walk right into the terminal (for lack of a better word) and check in to get your ticket. They had a little cafe where you can get drinks or something to eat.  Zac and I both got sandwiches that were actually pretty good! There was already a line outside at the gate to get on the ferry but we wanted to enjoy our food so we waited until we saw the line start to move before we walked outside. They actually allow dogs on the ferry but I guess you have to have them in a muzzle.  The ferry filled up quickly but Zac and I were able to find seats together.  They are pretty comfortable but you pretty much feel like you are in an airplane.  Before we knew it it was time to head out to the island.  The captain of the ferry came on over the mic and told us that the trip would take us about 70 minutes and that the weather was pretty nice although there was some left over wind waves from the day before.  Zac asked me if I would get sick or if I needed to take dramamine……hmm…..I didn't even think about it, I just assumed it wouldn't be an issue in such big boat.  

It wasn't an issue, for me.  However once we got going the boat crew was walking all around handing out these mini trash bags for people to throw up in. Gross.  However, this is the only way to get to the island unless you take a helicopter or plane. 

Well before we knew it we arrived on the island and it was beautiful! Just what I had imagined.  When we left the dock we had a shuttle waiting to take us to our hotel.  This is not something that ALL the hotels do because most of them are within walking distance from the ferry but our hotel was more in the canyon.  We COULD have walked but it was to easy to hop on the shuttle. Once we arrived at the hotel we checked in and my mom had champagne, cheese and fruit waiting in our room! Thanks momma, so sweet of you!  Once we dropped off our bag and settled in a bit my sister and Matthew arrived to pick us up and take us on a little tour of the island with the golf cart they had rented.  My sis wasn't able to make it to my BBQ so it was so nice to be able to spend some time with her in Catalina.  

After driving around the island for probably over an hour we were ready to get some food!  Since it was such a beautiful day we decided to have dinner at the Bluewater grill which is right on the water. The "downtown" area is SO cute! My sister wanted to get one more ice-cream before she left.  Her and Matthew had been on the island since the morning and they were taking the last ferry so after dinner Zac and I walked them back to the dock and said our goodbyes.  The night wasn't over for us though we decided to do a little wine tasting! There was a small little restaurant that does flights so we were able to sit, sip and people watch!

Day Two! We slept in. Like REALLY slept in.  Since we were up so early the day before we didn't get our of bed till probably 10:00 on Sunday! But we had nothing to do but lay out by the beach.  I had rented to lounge chairs for us at Descanso Beach.  I did a little research and by the pictures….I wanted to go try it out! We took the shuttle down town and then walked to the beach.

       Iwas VERY impressed with Descanso Beach, I would go back in a heart beat! The view was amazing and the service was very good! They were very accommodating and quick to get you anything you ordered and check in on you to see if you need anything.  We spent MOST of the day there until we decided to walk back into town to explore and get some dinner.  The next morning we had to get up around 6:00 because our ferry left at 7:45 so it was off to bed fairly early.

The next morning 6:00 came way to fast! We were up, packed and out the door by 7:00.  The shuttle took us to the dock and we were ready to go.  As we walked towards the ferry there was a man sitting on a bench who asked us if we getting on the next ferry…..well….yeah….So then her starts to tell us that because of the wind the ocean is to choppy and the wind waves are to large so the ferrys have been canceled.  Uh, how are we suppose to get off the island!? So then he says that there are helicopters that can fly you to long beach but the company doesn't open till 7:30 so he is waiting to call.  Well, if thats the only way off then thats what we need to do! We figured spending the money for a helicopter would probably be cheap then having to get another hotel room for the night along with meals.  So we sat on the bench in the cold wind waiting for the helicopter place to open.  More people started to arrive to get on the ferry and then found out the same news that we had.  Before we knew it there were multiple people with the same helicopter ideas as we had. When 7:30 rolled around everyone was on their cell phone! Zac kept re-dialing and re-dailing.  That poor helicopter company was probably getting bombarded with phone calls…..oh wait….at $125.00 per person for a 15 minute ride I don't feel bad for them at all! As Zac kept calling the man next to us who had told us about the ferry got through! As I sat there listening to him set up his flight out of here I kept thinking….what if we don't get through? What if we can't get one? What if everyone else gets one and we are stuck here another day? (Not that it would be the worst thing in the world). So I leaned over to Zac and said "Im going to ask him if we can ride with him" Zac gave me the nod to do it so I did! I merged right into his phone call and said "Hey, can we come on the helicopter with you if they seat 4?" And that sweet, sweet man gave me a nod and asked the person on the phone! I felt a sense of relief! Once, he as off the phone and everything was set we thanked him and offered to take him to breakfast.  We had a few hours before our helicopter left so we might as well get some food! So thats how we had breakfast with complete strangers.

After breakfast we all walked back to the ferry to get our refund on our rickets and then chose to walk to the helicopter pad. It only took us about 20 minutes.  It was pretty windy but it didn't seem like it was windy enough that the ferry boats would have any trouble.  It was only suppose to get worse as the day went on so we were happy that we found our way back to the main land.  I wasn't to upset though because helicopters are so cool and I was excited to get to go in one!  We were back to long beach in about 15 minutes and then back to the jeep for our drive home!

If you ever have the opportunity wether by boat or helicopter I highly recommend checking out Catalina for a nice relaxing vacation! I will definitely be going back one day!

Mexico

Last weekend Zac and I headed over to Mexico. I make it seem so casual but there was planning involved. Its probably been about a year and half since Zac and I had planned our Cancun trip.  We wanted to celebrate his birthday and finally being off an 18 month long probation at his job.  That happened to land in October. Luckily when we booked our trip we decided that we would get insurance on both our hotel and our flight.  As the time got closed and closer for us to go the weather was getting worse and worse.  Who wants to go to Cancun when its pouring rain the whole time? Isn't the idea to be laying out but the pool or on the beach? So last minute we decided we would cancel our trip.  We got most of our money back (thankfully) and our airline tickets were credited back to us knowing that in the future we would need to use that credit.

Long story short I told Zac we should use those flights. we both looked at the calendar and decided that my spring break (March) would be the best time to go.  Zac would only have to take/trade two days and my office would be closed anyways so I wouldn't have to request off any time.  Needless to say prices are go up a bit more during spring then they do in the fall with hurricane season.  We talked it over and although it would be fun to still go to Cancun we decide we did not want to spend the extra money or time to fly over there so Cabo it was.  It was only about a 2 hour and 40 minutes flight on the way there and about 3 hours on the way home.  

So now let me tell you a little bit about our trip:

We arrived in Mexico about 3:00 in the afternoon on Thursday.  Everything went very smoothly we finding our bag and our way out of the airport.  My sister had been here a few times so she already warned me about the people who try and rope you in the the time share stuff.  As you are headed out they will ask "Hey what hotel are you staying at?" and try and get you to go with them.  Zac was about to get sucked in but I grabbed his arm and said NOPE this isn't our ride and we kept walking. 

Once we exited the airport we were looking for our "Cheap Caribbean  sign for our shuttle to our hotel. We chose to do an all inclusive hotel which definitely has it pros and cons. Our shuttle was very easy to find and they said it would just be a few minutes and we would leave.  When you exit the airport its like a party….they have bars outside.  So we sat down and had ourselves our first Mexico margarita.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to the hotel. It was so weird being able to take our drinks with us in the shuttle.  I don't recommend spending the extra money for a private shuttle. We paid for the group version and Zac and I were the ONLY ones! I think it might of taken us 30 or 40 minutes to get to the hotel. It really didn't feel long at all. Plus I could not stop looking out the window, Mexico is not the cleanest place.

Once we arrived we were greeted with complimentary drinks and walked right over to check in.  Everything went very smoothly.  We dropped our bags off in our room and went to explore!  We ended up staying at the Riu Santa Fe.  My sister had been to both the Palace and the Riu Santa Fe and she seemed to like the Santa Fe better.  They have 3 pools at the RSF (Riu Santa Fe) there was one but by our room, one that was centered in the middle that had chairs in it and a volley ball net and then the last one is the party pool that was right by the ocean. The ones further away from our room had the best view but they were also the busiest and noisiest.  

 The pool by our room

 The "center" pool

The party pool is actually off to the left of this photo so I guess technically they have a total of 4 pools. This one definitely has the best view!

And finally once you make it past all the pools you can head down to the beach. They had a bunch of chairs to lay out in, a volley ball net and a bunch of people trying to sell you everything….and I mean everything.  If you don't want to be bothered by that then I recommend staying up at the pools.  Its interesting that a lot of the hotels in cabo tell you the beach is not "swimmable".  I was expecting to see these monster waves and no one in the water but that was not the case.  I think because of the current they don't recommend you swimming in the ocean but I saw people doing it.

When Zac and I went on our honeymoon we did everything…..rode jet skis, parasailing, snorkeling, luau, etc. On this trip we didn't want to sign up for a bunch of stuff but rather take it easy and if we felt like doing something then we would decided at that time to do it. Our first day was coming to an end and we were hungry! We headed back up to where the restaurant was ( and Im using the term restaurant loosely) and we saw they they were setting up a taco station outside.  We waited in line and got some tacos before heading into the "restaurant".  Here is one of the biggest cons (in my opinion) of the all inclusive places. They get you with saying EVERYTHING INCLUDED…..well it is, but its not good. Our first night we ate at a buffet like setting for dinner which I kind of expected.  I knew we would need to make reservations for the restaurants so the next morning we made sure to do that.  There was a line in the lobby to make the reservations.  They do book up quickly. We made a reservation for the Mexican restaurant on Saturday night and the steakhouse on Sunday night.  Im sorry but the food was just no good. 

Friday was our first full day in Cabo.  We decided that it would be our pool day.  We took it easy and hung out by the pool all day.  Nothing to exciting but very relaxing.  We really wanted to go into town so we thought Saturday would be a good day to give it a try.

Before we knew it Saturday arrived.  We made it down to our buffet breakfast, decided to schedule a fun activity for Sunday and then grabbed a taxi and headed into town.  I was excited to check out the marina.  Zac and I had both agreed that we did not want to spend the money to go fishing.  It is so expensive! You can spend $500 to go out and not catch anything.  The downtown area was nicer than I expected.  They had a pretty decent mall that they drop you off at and then when you walk through it you are at the marina.  We were there right about lunch time and were both excited to have some lunch other than the food that was at the hotel.  I really liked walking around the marina ( minus the people trying to sell you stuff). Here are some pictures from our day.

 And I didn't have to spend $500!

 All the fishing boats

 A sweet old man offered to take our picture at lunch

 #Cabo

Beautiful day walking around

We headed back to the hotel to have some more pool time before it was time for dinner. Sunday was our day to ride razors around and I was SO excited!

Sunday morning we got up, head breakfast and walked out to the lobby of our hotel.  We were looking for a van to come pick us up that said ATV Cactus tours. At about 10:00 they arrived and we were off! I want to say it was a 40 minute drive.  It seems to take a little longer than going to the airport but I was still distracted by looking at the scenery. Just driving around seeing everything made me more excited to go back to Sonoma County!  When we arrived we had to check in and get all our info. It was quick and easy to do. When they explained everything to us I was thinking we would all be in a lone going slow and not very exciting…..I was wrong. This had to be my favorite day in Cabo!  Riding around in that razor through the desert and on the beach was SO much fun!! Zac and I loved it. I know Im kind of over doing it on the pictures but I feel like pictures are worth 1000 words.

 Ready to ride. You get really dusty so the bandanas are a must!

 Some of the desert scenery

So much fun!

I think we were out there about two hours but I felt like I could ride all day! Our van came and picked us up when we were all done and it was time to head back to the hotel.  We had some other people in our same van that had to get back to their hotel so we dropped them off…..while we were close to down down dropping off another couple Zac and I decided to ditch the van and get some lunch! I was craving some GOOD mexican food ( not the hotel stuff).  So now that we knew our way around we walked over to the Marina and had lunch outside enjoying the beautiful weather! It was the perfect end to our little vacation.  

Monday came and it was time to head back to the good ol USA.  I was SO excited to go back home.  I don't want to sound like Im not grateful because I am but this just wasn't my favorite trip.  When Zac and I go up to the Smith river and have our own cabin….now THAT is my kind of vacation. Mexico was fun and I am glad that I was able to experience it but I don't know if I'll be going back any time soon. 

Stay tuned because my next blog post will update you on my birthday present! Im so excited!

Rain

So rumor has it we are in a drought. Well its been raining non-stop for the past few days! And its driving me kinda crazy.  Im not saying I don't appreciate the lovely rain we are getting right now but I like when it rains and then we get a break from the rain.  Plus I haven't been feeling so well and having it be dark gloomy and you're stuck in the house all day is not the best feeling in the world.  Although I guess its better then being trapped in the house when the day looks gorgeous and you feels to crappy to go out and enjoy it. 

My last post was all about our patio area that we have been working on.  Well it is still in process and the rain has been slowing us down.  The roof is all finished and the bricks are down….well….half of them.  We ran out of the type of brick we need to finish the area.  So hopefully we will be able to purchase some more bricks to finish.  While we are shopping for bricks Zac has been perfecting our fire pit.  We bought all the items we needed to get it going this weekend and while I was picking up our bedroom earlier today I saw fire! Looked pretty nice out there (minus the rain of course). I think tomorrow is our first day in awhile where the rain is suppose to stop for awhile. I am hoping that I will feel a little better and I can work on cleaning up the yard a bit.  With all this rain the weeds have been crazy!  

My mom and sister are coming to visit this coming weekend and I am very excited! I think the rain is going to stop so we can really enjoy our time together.  We will have fun no matter what but its always a little nicer when its not pouring rain.  Plus my mom got us tickets to go to a cheese festival in Petaluma on Sunday so no rain will be ideal for that day! Who doesn't love cheese!? So that is whats to come, now I am going to go back a little bit to a week ago:

This is Rebecca and I last week at Kunde.  Awhile back she had told me that her and Tyeler were going to be in Santa Rosa beginning of March to visit.  Because they live a few hours away and we don't get to see them very often I decided to take the day off of work so that we could spend some quality time together.  So Thursday came around and we decided we would have a girls day, do brunch and go wine tasting.  I was excited to take her to my winery even though this time of year its a little gloomy looking without all the leaves, vines and flowers.  We started off with a little brunch and then headed to Kunde.  Because it was in the middle of the day on a week day we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.  A man named Bob did our tasting and he was GREAT!  He was so knowledgeable about everything and was able to answer all of our questions.  Time flew by while we were there.  We had a lot of fun drinking wine and catching up on each others lives.  We also did quite of bit of wedding talk which was fun!

Sweet Bob

We had to get Bob in a picture with us.  One of the first things he said to us is if him and his wife had two girls they were going to name them Kimberly and Rebecca.  So meet Rebecca, Bob and Kimberly Beck.

After we finished our tasting it was time to head back into town.  The family was getting together for dinner. So off we went.  On the way back we happened to drive by a beautiful mustard flower field.  This time of year they are EVERYHWHERE and we couldn't pass up a perfect picture opportunity. 

It was a very fun day! Now rain, go away so I can have some more fun outside!

Off to a good start

Well, I feel like this new year is off to a good start.  Zac and I have been keeping pretty every weekend. I am pretty excited that we have finally got things going on our back patio!  Zac told me once the garage was done we would work on it. Well the garage is done and its time to work on the patio! We originally thought we were just put up a pergola but then decided on doing a covered patio to make it a more usable space. We talked about it on Friday night and on Saturday we started building, today is Sunday and its done! Well just the covered portion not the whole thing….we aren't THAT good.

 Getting everything into place

 Hubby design

 We decided on a metal corrugated roof

Zac set up the BBQ and my "bar" so we could see how it will look….and of course Hudson was a lot of help.  Cindy and Steve bought me those wine barrels and the redwood slab for my birthday last year and they have been sitting in storage just waiting to be used! I am so happy that I will be able to use them soon.

So our next project for the patio will be placing bricks.  When we moved into our house there were a ton of bricks in the back yard that had been from the previous fireplace.  I thought the best way to reuse them would be to make a patio out of them…so they have been sitting in our backyard since we moved in.  Finally we will get to put them to use.  Tomorrow we will be looking for a fire pit.  Zac wants to make it himself (big surprise) so we need to find some materials that will work.  Originally I wanted a wood fire pit, which I admit I still kind of want one but with the covered patio it just makes more sense to have a gas one.  If we did the wood fire pit we would either have to move it outside the roof OR build some type of a chimney. So a gas fire pit is the way to go.  We also might start the form boards for the sand (what the bricks will be placed on). We'll see how it goes. 

Once we get those things checked off our list we will need to work on fences.  The original fence that we placed is not only about 4 feet tall because of the amount of dirt we had to bring in for the garage.  So that means we need to build a retaining wall and lift the fence up a bit.  Also, the area behind the "bar" is going to be Zacs storage area so we will be needing to hide that. We plan to do some horizontal fencing which I think will look very nice.  Once that is all done it will be ready to decorate and enjoy! I can't wait to sit out there on warm summer nights and enjoy the fire and the smell of the BBQ!

We still have a whole other area to deal with on the house side.  Originally Zac and I thought we would make it a deck. However, we did a little more chatting and decided that we would LOVE for it to be a little vineyard! I mean we live in Sonoma county so why not? I think we would really enjoy trying to make our own wine and I love the look of vineyards so I think it would be a great way to use the space.  Its weird that we have added all these large things to our property: a 24 x 40 garage, a 24 x 70 driveway, 1500 sqft of lawn and a 20 x 20 patio area and it makes it feel BIGGER? How does that work?

Anyways, its a big difference from what we started out with. Ill have to do some updated before and after pictures.  This house just keeps getting better and better. 

These warm days have been getting me excited for summer! When Zac and I aren't working on the house we have been going on hikes, wine tasting and bike rides.  I have also been working on updating our master bathroom. That is on pause now that the patio area is full steam ahead but I will get back to it soon enough. Hopefully I can get a little better at my blogging as well because I feel like Im getting behind and I know Ill regret it.  It is so much fun to look back at all my old posts and see what I was doing years ago. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

The drought

We already only have two weeks left of January and the first month of 2016 is over with! It goes by so quickly. Everyone was so concerned about the drought that we were in but its been raining….a lot. Im happy to have the rain but it can make your days off more limited with the things you can do. 

I am still sitting here in bed on a Sunday morning.  Its very cloudy outside and you can see some sprinkles of rain in the left over puddles from the day before. Zac brought me some hot coco in bed and I thought this would be the perfect time to catch up on some blogging.  Zac and I decided to go over to storage and move the barracuda to our new garage.  On one of our non rainy days we took her out for a drive.  I had found a "cheese trail" where you go around to different places that make chess and you can taste and buy them.  We actually only ended up going to one called FreeStone. We were able to try a few cheese and then saw that they made crepes! So of course we had one cheese crepe and one Nutella crepe. Yum. After that we drove around to some more places but some seemed closed and some were at actually dairies.  So we hit up the Hop Monk in Sebastopol because we have had their cheese plate before and its amazing!

Driving around in that car makes me excited to one day fix it up how it deserves. The nice thing about it, is that it drives. You can just get in it and go.  I know a lot of project cars aren't so lucky. So for now she is safe and sound in the new garage waiting in line to be worked on. 

As I mentioned we have had a lot of rain in the schedule. Yesterday was no exception. So Friday night when I got home from work I suggested to Zac that we try and find some snow for Hudson to play in. He liked my idea so we did a little research to see where we could take him.  All the snow right now is about 3 hours away….a bit of a drive, but we really wanted to take Hudson.  So saturday morning we were up and ready to drive to the snow.  It took us exactly 3 hours but we were lucky enough to not it any traffic and the weather wasn't to bad to drive in.  The first place we stopped they were charging people to come in and use their sleds…we told them we just wanted to let our dog run around so he gave us a few suggestions.  We did a bit more driving and finally found a road that had not been plowed, so we knew only 4 x 4s or vehicles with chains would try and make it down the road (which means less people). We wanted to let him off the leash to run free in the snow!

So we walked up the road a bit and unhooked his leash.  Its funny how he has changed in his older age. When he was a puppy he would of taken off! But now that he is older he doesn't move as fast and stays pretty close to us the whole time. He also preferred to stay in the tire tracks instead of hoping around in the deeper snow.  He had so much fun! At one point he laid down in the snow and was just eating it. He was in his element. If he only knew we drove all this way JUST for him! It didn't take long to wear him out. Once we were done for the day we walked back to the truck and he hopped in and slept the whole way home.

My cute little family! So today is another rainy day. Zac and I are probably going to clean the house and then we might head out to our winery to do a tasting.  Like I said, this weather can really limit the outdoor activities but we are still trying to have some fun!  Tomorrow Zac is back to work.  I am going to be getting together with my girlfriends to do our own mini Christmas. I know we are already in the new year but things have been so busy this was the first day we were all able to get together.  I have a little surprise for them tomorrow night and Im excited. Hope they like it!

Well I should probably get out of bed and help my husband pick up the house! Hope everyone else has a good weekend!

2016

Well, just like that 2015 is over and we are 4 days in to the new year!  I must say that I absolutely loved 2015 it was an amazing year for me! When I look back over the year at all my adventures it makes me happy and I can't wait to have even more. I think that 2016 is going to be even better (if thats possible).

So to catch everyone up on everything we will start with Christmas.  For the very first time in my life I hosted.  I was a little concerned if I could pull it all off because all I have to compare it to is my mom….and she puts on AMAZING Christmas' each year.  It was so nice to have my family up here at my house this year.  It was also very nice because my dear sweet husband had to work on Christmas day so I was able to spend that time with my family.

My parents came up early.  I was working my last day and then headed home to relax for the next few weeks!  On the 23rd my sister was flying into Santa Rosa, I felt lucky that I didn't have to drive all the way to San Francisco or Oakland to pick her up….especially because her flight ended up being delayed!  She was suppose to get in at 10:45 and we didn't end up picking her up till 12:45 (way past my bedtime).  

Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve day.  We layer pretty low and didn't do much.  I had made sure to get ALL of my grocery shopping done before my family came up because I did not want to go out in all that holiday madness! So I thought that it would be a good idea to spend Christmas eve with the whole family.  It was Zacs last day before heading back to work so we planned to go over to his parents house for dinner.  We had such a good time spending it with everyone.  I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be part of a family that makes me feel like their own.  I know a lot of people marry into families and don't get along with them. That is not the case for me. 

So after stuffing ourselves full of delicious food and talking the night away we thought it was time to head home! I think we didn't end up getting home till maybe 9:30 or 10:00. Not to late but with Zac having to get up early for work AND still needing to open his presents for my parents it was time to get going.  My favorite part of Christmas is watching other people open their gifts, its so much fun!

After enjoying our Christmas together we had a few more days before my parents and sister left.  My mom and dad left pretty early on Sunday the 27th and my sister left Monday the 28th.  Before my sister left we were able to head over to Kunde ( mine and Zacs winery) to enjoy a small tasting.  I still feel like being a member of a winery is kind of a waste of money but I must say we sure take advantage of it a lot so maybe its not as bad as I think! Everytime I get to go there I just love it, its so beautiful. 

And just like that before I knew it Christmas was over.  It was time for Zac to come home and enjoy the new year! Now, Zac has worked the last few new years….probably for 4-5 years. I say that because I can't remember seeing him for that many years.  For some reason this year he was suppose to work but the stars aligned and he was able to get it off! Lucky me.  We didn't make any big plans for new years eve but we were able to spend some QT together and ended up going on a hike earlier that day.

 We were headed over to Calistoga that morning for some breakfast and thought might as well head up the mountain for a hike.  It has been pretty cold these few weeks and so we were prepared for a cold hike.  Cold hike = Huddy hike.  I have read about this hike before but have never actually done it.  I always like to take Hudson whenever I can but he needs cooler temps or water along the way.  Since it was only like 40 degrees out I figured this would be a great hike for him to go on without getting to hot.  The total hike was about 8.5 miles for us.  I think if we would of gone up to the north peak it would of been about 10 miles total.  We were surprised that when we hiked around to the east side of the mountain we found some snow!  We haven't had snow up on St.Helena in a LONG time….maybe since the last time Zac and I had a new years together. So I was excited to see it.

After our hike we were happy to warm back up in the truck.  It was already about lunch time and since we were in Calistoga we thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of food we don't get over the hill.  Busters.  Nothing like some warm BBQ after a cold hike!

We headed back home to get ready for our "Big" new years ( aka try and stay awake till midnight).  We barely made it to be honest and as soon as that ball dropped we had our new years kiss and headed to bed!

To start our new year out we layed low.  We thought it might be fun to do a date night in the Barracuda so we picked her up at storage.  We needed to bring her over to the new garage anyways so it was perfect.  Every time I see that car I love it even more.  Even though it is old and crusty and needs to be restored its still a fun time. So my hubby took me to go see a movie ( the new star wars) which I loved and then we thought we would do a late dinner.  After the movie we drove out to Sonoma and had dinner at the Girl and the Fig. I had heard a lot about this place but had yet to try it.  They were open till 11:00 and we probably got there around 9:00. The place was packed.  We maybe waited about 15 minutes before they sat us.  The food we got was good but nothing special.  I felt like it was a bit overpriced. It was still fun to go out on the town!

We have had a great start to our new year can't wait to see whats to come!