Fall

Just my mother-in-law and I sitting by a huge pumpkin.  I had a nice little weekend to say the least. It started on Saturday when Zac and I decided to invite his parents out to our winery.  I still kinda feel bad about being a wine member because I feel like its a waste of money ( mostly cause the hubs and I drink pretty cheap wine). However, when I get to sit out on there beautiful patio overlooking their pond and fountain…..I don't feel so bad.  The winery is just beautiful.  One of the many reasons I fell in love with this specific place is not only the beauty but also the many options to enjoy the winery. They have a hike you can go on with your dog! And we all know that I just love dogs.

So after we enjoyed our wine and cheese we were pretty hungry so we thought we would go grab some food.  We decided to head over to a new restaurant in Santa Rosa called the Bird and the Bottle.  I was excited to try it because it is the same owner of Willis, Starks, Montys and Bravas.  Willis is one of my favorites.  We tried a few things and it was pretty good. I even tried octopus which I never thought I would ever try but when in Rome. 

Sunday we decided to head over to lake sonoma to shoot our bows.  It had been awhile since we shot.  Im hoping that once we get our yard together we can possibly make an area to practice with our bows.  I must say I was a little shaky when shooting and it wasn't my best day but it was still fun and defiantly a good arm work out pulling that bow back.  

Later that afternoon we headed over to Sonoma.  My friend Jen from work had been telling me that she wanted us to come to her winery.  Her winery is in Sonoma but there is a tasting room right on the square in the city of Sonoma.  We met at her boyfriends house and had a glass of wine and some cheese before we walked over to the tasting room.  I always think that Im a summer gal but I must say that I am enjoying this fall weather (at least when we get it).  
After our tasting it was back to Jens boyfriends house to enjoy some pizza and a fire pit.  It was a great day!

The next day Zac and I decided that we would take huddy on a little hike.  I thought that we would try out a new hike in Lauganitas…..but I don't think that it worked out to well.  The place that I found was really just a bike path…..pretty but not a "hike".  The one good thing about it was that it was by a little river and Huddy enjoyed that. 

After our none hike we took hudson home and let him rest while we ran a few errands.  Zac and I were going to make our halloween costumes but he finally took my advice to just order them.  His brother Nick is having a halloween "pump track" party on Saturday.

Alright, I think I need to stop with my blog for tonight. I really can't concentrate right now.  The hubs and I are watching prison break.  So there is a little update. Peace.

Birthday Weekend

Fall is definitely here.  I think this is the first day that has actually felt like it though. Right now I am sitting on my front porch looking at my freshly mowed lawn and listening to Zac grading the driveway with a mini excavator. There are some large white puffy clouds in the sky and a cool breeze making it a little chilly out here.  I thought while Zac was keeping busy that it would be a perfect time to give y'all an update on my weekend.

October is a birthday month for both Zac and his mom.  Zac was working on his birthday but Cindys birthday happened to be Sunday (today).  I thought it might be fun to plan a little over night trip out to the coast so we could A) Get away B)Celebrate both birthdays and C) Cindy and Steve could enjoy their vintage trailer that they worked so hard to restore.

We decided that we would leave after work on Friday and spend the night so that Steve could have all of Sunday to work.  It was another very busy week at work for me but strangely enough every day seemed to feel like a Friday.  I was happy when the actual Friday arrived because it was time to head off to the coast.  I had been checking the weather every day and it said that we were going to get a little rain on Saturday morning.  I actually don't mind the rain when I am camping, especially at night time and you can listen to it hitting your tent.  I find something very calming about it.  We left for the coast a little after 4:30.  It probably took us about an hour and a half to get to Ocean Cove.  None of us had been there before but we had heard about it from a few people so we decided we would test it out for ourselves. 

When we arrived we found a spot right out on the bluff.  It was a little windy when we first got there but it soon stopped and we ended up having a beautiful calm, star filled night.  Once we got our campsite set up we got a fire going and starting on dinner.  Steve cooked us salmon and steaks.  Dinner was perfect, it tasted SO good.  For dessert Cindy bought a chocolate cheesecake and I had made some brownies for all of us.  We enjoyed our dessert and Zac and Cindy were able to open their presents.  Nick had come out with Dozer but he didn't end up spending the night, so after dinner and some fire time he headed back into town.

We all enjoyed the fire for a bit more and then it was already time for bed.  So I usually don't sleep very good my first night camping.  When I laid down I felt pretty tired and had high hopes that I would fall asleep.  However, there was a LARGE group of people making A LOT of noise.  I just figured that once 10:00 hit they would have to be quite…..I was wrong.  These people were so loud! They were screaming, yelling, laughing singing….you name it they were doing it.  They were even playing music super loud.  I kept thinking it would go away but it only got worse. So needless to say I had a rough time falling asleep.  Once they finally shut up ( who knows when….1:00…2:00?) I was able to fall asleep.  Note to self, ALWAYS bring a pair of earplugs because you never know who your neighbors are going to be.  Finally early that morning I heard the rain that they had forecasted. I couldn't help but hope that the large group of drunk people had left some of their stuff out and it would get soaking wet! 

When we got up it wasn't raining but since we were out at the coast it was foggy and misty.  We didn't mind though because Cindy and Steve had their cute little trailer and we were able to enjoy our coffee/hot chocolate inside!  After our warm drinks were done Zac started up another fire to help get rid of some remaining wood from doing our garage project and we also started on breakfast.  

Once breakfast was done and cleaned up we thought we would explore a little.  We headed out to the end of the bluff to check out all the abalone divers and kayakers.  Then Zac wanted to check out the "launch".  I say that in quotations because it really isn't a launch at all.  Its a super sketchy curvy dirt road that you would have to back your trailer all the way down and then a small cement slab surrounded by rocks that you would have to launch your boat from.  Only inflatable boats and kayaks are going on from this "launch". We did happened to walk by the fish gutting station and I was happy to see the trash cans were FULL of ling carcasses.  I guess that sounds strange to be happy about that but it just means there is good fishing there.  On our way back to camp we stopped to get a few pictures taken because we all know how much I love pictures!

After our photo shoot we headed back to camp for a little more fire time.  While we were sitting out by the fire it started to get pretty misty.  We thought it might be a good time to start to pack things up and head back to the sunshine.  

On our way back into town we stopped at a little restaurant to grab some lunch.  One thing you have to know is whenever you go anywhere with Steve and his COE truck people always come over to it!  We had multiple people come over to our campsite to check out his truck and even when we stopped for lunch people come over to take a look. He's famous! Its a pretty sweet truck and especially when you see the cute little trailer its towing, its quite the site.

We ordered some drinks and some fish and chips and enjoyed eachother company while we ate.  The fish and chips were delicious!  After we filled our bellies it was already time to head back home.  It was a quick little trip but it was well worth it (even with the lack of sleep).  Happy Birthday to Zac and Cindy! Cheers! 

  

Pool, Guns and Garage Stuff

I started out my weekend pretty relaxing….to say the least.  This last week at work was killer. We were SO busy, just none stop every day.  I was so happy to see Friday come my way.  

I started my weekend by heading over to Calistoga to meet my mom and sister for brunch.  They had told me awhile back that they were taking a trip to Napa with some friends and would be in Calistoga on Saturday for brunch and massages and would love for me to come hang out with them.  Any chance that I can see my mom and sister, Ill take it!

Brunch started at 9:30 at Solbar.  I was a bit worried because it was SO foggy in Santa Rosa but as soon as I drove over the hill it was nothing but sunshine.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful view.  My sister was especially excited to be in town because Friday was her last part of her first section of her masters program…..which means she doesn't have to pick up a book for two weeks! So it was really time for her to relax. When brunch was over we had massage appointments at Mount View.  I must say that my massage was not the best Ive had. For some reason the masseuse I had just liked to apply pressure instead of actually massaging! Still I can't complain, I still had a some kind of massage and then got to go to the pool afterwards. It was a gorgeous day too!  Not one cloud in the sky and perfect temperature.  

After we spent some time at the pool I figured it was time for me to head back over the hill. Zac had been at work for the last few days so I wanted to go home and spend some time with him. When I got back home I saw that Zac had parked his Power Wagon on the new garage foundation.  It was such a beautiful day out we decided to sit out in our new garage and enjoy the afternoon together.  We are excited about our new garage.  Sounds like it will be delivered on November 4th. They usually can put it tougher in about two days.  Zac is outside right now doing some tractor work.  We were originally planning to do asphalt for our driveway but Zac recently decided that he wants to go  with cement instead.  So his goal is to get everything all done before the new garage is delivered.  Here is hoping it works out!  I can't even imagine how our house is going to look once everything is cleaned up with a nice garage, everything put away and a nice driveway.  So exciting!

Sunday we had plans to go out to Cazadero to go shooting with my friend Rebecca and her boyfriend Seth.  They both live out in Caz out in the sticks so its easy to go shoot out on their property.  It took us about 2 hours to get out there.  Once we got there we loaded up the jeep and the quad and took it down to the creek just to do some plinking.  Seth had made a pretty sweet little target out of metal so as soon as you hit the target you can not only here it but see it swing all the way around.  We started out with some smaller guns like the .22 but it was still a lot of fun to shoot.  I always like using Grampa Garys (Zacs Grandpa) gun, its a single shot bolt action and it is really easy to hit the target with that gun.  After we did some shooting we headed back up to the shop, stopped to eat some cheese and crackers and then headed out to a different part of the property to shoot the big guns!  Zac and Seth mostly shot the big ones, Rebecca and I were fine with shooting her 410 shotgun and I really enjoyed shooting our "wedding rifle" which is a .243.  I must say we killed those pumpkins! It was defiantly a good time. After the sun started to get a little lower in the sky Zac and I decided it was time to head back to the big city. We probably got home around 6:15.  Another good weekend for the books.

Tomorrow is Tuesday and I am back to work.  Zac has the day off and will be working hard putting in our retaining wall and drains for our new driveway.  This Wednesday is Zacs birthday, he will be 29. He has to work on his birthday but since his moms birthday and his are so close together we are planning on doing a small overnight camping trip out on the coast.  I think it will be a fun way to relax and celebrate, plus Cindy and Steve get to use their cute trailer that they have worked SO hard on.  Hopefully by Monday Zac will be laying the rebar for our new driveway!

I can't believe we are working our way through October. It is going very fast but I am very excited for all the things in the future.  November is  going to be a great month! Especially if some certain plans work out….I don't want to get to excited but weather dependent we have a very fun trip planned! You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

Hope y'all had a great weekend! Im going to finish cleaning my house, watch the Chargers and then cook some dinner for my hard working husband ( that is, if he ever comes back in).

What happened?

I blinked and September was over. I can't believe that its October and I have been REALLY bad about blogging. So sad. Luckily my good friend Rebecca has recently gotten into blogging and it has inspired me to get back in as well. I have a lot to catch everyone up on….to say the least but tonight Im just going to talk about our garage progress. 

Lets start at the beginning (Picture overload):

So the picture above would be our garage.  When we first bought our house we knew that this thing would need to come down! I mean, just look at it. So at the beginning of the year we decided it was time to save our money up and get going with our new garage! Of course we weren't just going to re-build it. We were going to make it bigger and better.

So once we did a little research and decided what size and what type of building we wanted we ordered our plans. It took a bit to get those back but once we did we sent them off to the city to wait for our approval.  Zac waisted no time to tear that sucker down. And she came down pretty easy.  

 Once the building was down it needed to tear up the old foundation.  We were hoping that it would break down pretty easy but we found out that there were some really thick areas that were difficult.  Zac was able to rent a skid steer jack hammer that helped the process move a little more quickly.

 After everything was demolished it was time to clear everything out of the way. Zac made a few trips to the dump.  It was time to rent test another tractor to smooth everything out and rough dig the footings. About that time we got a letter back from the city saying we needed a soil sample. Just the news that you want to hear. We were both a little frustrated with the news but knew that doing this the right way with permits wasn't going to be easy. So LONG story short we got our soil sample and sent that back to the city and they told us that we needed to get rid of the adobe dirt we have on our property and replace it with a "better dirt" for the garage to sit on.

Months went by…..Zac did all the research on what dirt we needed and who would deliver and how much we would need.  We finally heard back from the city and our permit was approved (6 months later). Well, it was time for things to get moving. As soon as we heard bad it was game on and we were having our special dirt delivered. 

 Well after we got all that beautiful fancy new dirt Zac had to spread it all out and pack it down.  We had to have our soil guy come out and check that everything was to code. We got the approval so we kept moving.  It was 239 tons and 10 1/2 semi truck loads later and we had our dirt.

 What do you think of our new dirt? Isn't it wonderful. Well after you have all this dirt in place its time to add the drain rock. So another truck delivering a bunch of rock was our next step in the process.

 Arn't you learning so much about garage building? So exciting, I know. Well after you have the drain rock then you need a plastic vapor barrier. 

 And then sand, lots and lots of sand.

 Once you get the sand all spread out it was time to get our form boards up! Once I saw the form boards it was feeling more real, like it was actually happening. I honestly didn't think we would be able to be getting our garage only 3 years after moving in.  Zac wanted to go with a 24 x 40 garage and he is hoping to be able to put his boat and power wagon in there.

 I must say I am excited about having our yard look a little nice with our new garage. I am also excited that I will get a back patio area with a fire pit. For my birthday this year Cindy, Steve and Zac bought me a beautiful redwood slab with some wine barrels. I plan on making a bar area on our back patio. I can't wait for that!

 Once the footings were up and the re-bar was in Zac went ahead and ordered our building. We didn't want to order it to soon and have it show up before our foundation was ready. The building should be here by the end of October at the earliest and into November at the latest. With how slow this whole process is Im not getting my hopes up.

 So last Friday the cement was here! Zac had everything orchestrated to the "t".    I can't tell you how many things he had to plan out with time, who, what, where, amount and cost! He amazes me.

 Here we go….

 Its probably about a 10 inch slab. He should be able to put whatever he wants on there!

So this is where we are at as of today.  I must tell you that we had a little hiccup.  Zac was really unhappy with how the foundation was finished, which is understandable because when you walked around you could see a bunch of lumps and bumps.  With Zac actually using his garage to work on things he needs to be able to roll car jacks and other heavy things around without it getting caught.  So last Monday we spent the entire day grinding it down to make it smoother.  It was quite a job and took us ALL day, but he feels much better about it and that all I care about.  

It might not look that large in the picture but two of those squares would fit our Dodge 2500….so we could probably fit 6 of them on that slab. Anyways, Ill keep ya'll posted. I'll also try to update you on my month of September. Its been busy to say the least!

Good news!

Okay so with this picture it might not exactly be "good" news but Im going to give a little bad news first and then get to the good stuff. This picture although sad, is just so beautiful in a creepy way.  So as some of you might of guested my sweet hubby has been sent off to the fires going on in Humbolt county.  He is not a big picture guy but he knows how much I love them so he was sweet enough to send me this picture of the fire that he's out. 

So the bad news is that the hubs worked a 96 hour shift and then headed straight off to the fires which means that I haven't seen him in a week and who knows when he will come home, could be tomorrow could be next week.  The joys of having a husband in the fire industry.  But while he is working hard to support our little family we did get some good news so now we can talk about that.

So when Zac and I first moved into our very own house we knew that one day we would need to replace the garage.  It was a REALLY old and looked like if the wine blew hard enough it would topple over. Anyhoo, the beginning of this year Zac and I decided that it was time to tear that sucker down and build us a new one! So we started saving…and saving….and saving. March finally rolled around and we decided to take action with our new garage. We did a lot of research , finally found what we wanted and then hit up the city.

Heres where things SLLLOOOWW down. Because we decided to do things by the books and get permits for everything we turned our plans into the city and waited….and waited….and waited some more.  When we finally DID hear back from the city they wanted us to get a soil report. Yup. A soil report. Who cares that there is already a house built on the property, they need a soil report to see if we can re-build a garage.  Well that took a long time too. Soild people are pretty busy.  So we paid some more money and waited some more and then turned MORE information into the city. A lot of waiting was involved but let me tell you… Four months later Wah-la! We finally heard back from the city and we got our permit to build our new garage!!! Long story I know but thats the good news!! I was getting a little worried because with tearing down our old garage we just have a large dirt pit in our yard, a lovely 23' boat and Zacs project truck just sitting out there being REAL redneck.  However, with all that aside a larger concern for us would be the fact that everyone keeps talking about the huge storm that is coming this winter and we have a giant dirt pit!

Once my hubby gets back from his fire it is going to be time to get to work!  Can't wait for our new garage! Anyways, thats whats going on over here!

Concert time

I feel like its been awhile since I have been to a concert, I was due. My friend Rebeccas birthday is actually today but about a week ago I mentioned do something fun for her birthday like going to a concert.  It just so happened that Dierks Bentley was in town ( and when I say in town I mean Mountain View).  I mentioned it to the girls and they were all down to go! 

My friend Stephanie does't listen to country but she likes a good concert so we convinced her to come along with us.  The concert wasn't till 7:00 but with he drive and the traffic we decided we would leave a little early.  The girls came over to my house a little early so that we could all get ready together.  Before we knew it, it was already 3:30 and we thought it would be best to hit the road!  I think it took us about 2 hours to get down there which we expected but most of the traffic was actually getting into the arena instead of on the freeway.  We were thinking about sitting down and getting some dinner before we headed in but the mexican restaurant we wanted to try was packed! So instead we walked right across the street and got some Taco Bell. 

For some reason when we finally were parking I was thinking we would need to pay. I think that is only for the VIP parking so ours was free which was cool.  When we bought our tickets the week before we decided to go for cheap ones.  We were happy with sitting on the lawn section and I was able to find us tickets for $32 a person including taxes.  By the time we got through the "security", got some drinks and found a place to sit it was already close to 8:00.  I was fine with missing the first couple of acts but we were in time to see Kip Moore.

We found a perfect  place on the lawn where we could see the stage and if we wanted to sit there was no one standing in front of us, but its a country concert so we were standing and dancing around the whole time!

We all had a great time together! (Even Stephanie) It was a fun way to celebrate Rebeccas birthday….and it was her very first concert! 

Anyways, today is Saturday and I am taking it easy!  My body doesn't do to well with not a lot of sleep and with getting to bed around 2:00 Im not running on a lot of sleep.  

Zac has been at work for the last 4 days and I just got a text from him that he is going out on a strike team today so now who knows how long its going to be before I see him.  They can hold him up to two weeks.  We do have a camping trip planned with some friends in a couple of weeks but now Im thinking that he won't be home in time to go. You just never know with this stuff so we'll have to wait and see.  Im going to get back to my relaxing. Happy Weekend!

Sunday Funday

This is how I spent my afternoon, on the river. I think the high for today was 103. So it was a HOT one!  Last time Zac and I were at the river I saw a sign that advertised paddle boarding and since no one wants to fall into the Petaluma river I thought this would be a great place!  I have been paddle boarding before but it has been a few years and I was on a lake.

I decided to write an "invitation" on the white board at work so that everyone was invited.  There was only going to be 5 of us but my good friend Jen had to cancel last minute. Anyways so I had been in contact with the "paddle board guy" John for a few weeks to set everything up. Im a planner. 

This morning finally rolled around and it was time to get ready for the river.  I DID have a water proof case for my cell phone but I found out that it was in Zacs truck and Zac is at work today.  So I figured I would pick something up on my way over, which I did…..and it is pretty crappy.  Most of the pictures came out burry but luckily our boy John was able to take a few. Anyways, so our meet up time was 1:00. We got there a few minutes early but with having to walk to the river it took us a little extra time, we might of been 3 minutes late which is really not a big deal but I hate being late.  John had our 4 paddle boards waiting for us right on the river edge. He went over a few helpful instructions with us and then let us go!  Im glad we only rented them for an hour because I didn't feel like we needed any more additional time then that.  Plus he wanted us to stay in his sight probably for liability and so that we didn't take his boards!

The sun was so hot today that it felt so nice to take a dip in the river. The water was pretty cold though! It was hard to get in but once I was back up on the board it felt REAL nice. The hour went by pretty quickly but we had a good time paddling around.  It was really nice that Rebecca and Steph had never been before, trying new things are always fun!

That was my afternoon in a nutshell! So now I will just share some of the non-blurry pictures from today.