Anniversary Trip Day 1: Solvang and Morro Bay

I've been putting off blogging about our trip because...honestly, going through nearly 600 pictures is overwhelming.  But, I'm over it.  Here we go!

We began our wonderful trip up the coast by driving to Solvang.  Neither of us had ever been there before, which is funny, because I only found out last month that it's less than an hour from where I grew up.  What a cute little place!  We asked lots of friends before we left about places we shouldn't miss while on our trip, and many of them said we had to go to Paula's Pancake House.  So we got to Solvang in time to go there for brunch :-)

We were a little surprised, though, that as we drove into Solvang, we saw lots of people dressed up like this:

Since when is red lingerie suitable cyclist attire?  Especially when the majority of them are male cyclists?

Turns out, there was an AIDS LifeCycle June 5-11th from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  We were thankful that we were going exactly the opposite route (Los Angeles to Solvang, Morro Bay, Hearst Castle, Monterey, San Francisco, Napa, Big Sur, LA).  Otherwise, we probably would have had these guys in ALL of our vacation photos!  As you can see in the rest of our pictures from Solvang, they were everywhere.

We were excited to get to go to Paula's Pancake House!  It lives up to its legendary status :-)

So cute with the pretty patio and little umbrellas...just an adorable little place!

We enjoyed some amazing pancakes, as well as eggs, fruit, swedish sausage, and biscuits.  Yum!

We began a tradition last year of buying Christmas ornaments on our anniversary trip, so we were set on finding some on this trip, too.  We were so excited to find an entire Christmas shop there!  Now we'll remember our fun times on our second anniversary trip each Christmas as we put up our tree.

I still got my craft fix --even on vacation!

This is such a cute little store...owned by the sweetest lady!

Jesse was very excited for find a family heraldry store.  We bought him a proper Brubaker stein (should be arriving any day) and had a lot of fun learning family history from the lady who works there

For example, we didn't realize that although Brubaker is a common German name, it originated in Switzerland.

There we are!

Jesse's Superman impersonation

There were about 50 of these guys all over Solvang.  It seriously felt like they outnumbered the rest of the tourists!

We liked the windmill :-)

And this beautiful dolpin bench and fountain

The afternoon was the perfect time for a raspberry gelato and a chocolate milkshake :-)

I love all of the cute little shops!

blond braids and cowgirl boots.

What a day for Jesse to wear red!

Cute little wishing well

Everything is just so pretty

Even the public restrooms!

"Hey there, Hans!"

Farewell, Solvang!

Back on the road...Morro Bay, here we come!

(I have rotated this pic so many times...it's destined to be sideways, apparently.)

Pretty flower fields along our drive

Our tent site was perfect!  We were right on the edge of the campground, with the moor to our left, and the bay to our right.  The harbor was right in the middle.  It was gorgeous!

This was our first chance to get to use our beautiful new tent, an anniversary gift from Jesse's mom.  It's so wonderful to have one of our own instead of needing to borrow from someone else!  Hopefully, this is the beginning of many memorable trips with our great little tent.

pretty view

Exploring Morro Bay

The Famous Morro Rock

So pretty!

My handome grill man ♥

Travel Scrabble, hot chocolate, and stars...the perfect way to end our first night!

Our Anniversary

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Tuesday, June 8th.

Ami used to always leave "cards" on the bathroom mirror for Papa...following suit made me smile this year :)

On each little heart, I had written something I love about Jesse.

Jesse had to work all day, and the school's 8th grade graduation was in the evening.  It was a busy day, but we found time to sneak off for dinner together at our favorite sushi place. 

♥ ♥ ♥

Jesse even gave me a corsage!

Two roses for two years ♥

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...Sushi!

I was surprised by how quickly we left church after the graduation...usually we're there forever after any event!  I was even more surprised when Jesse drove us to a classy restaurant for drinks and dessert instead of driving straight home.

The waitress who served us bustled around whispering to everyone "It's their second anniversary!  How cute are they?!?"

We enjoyed a yummy raspberry cheesecake.  So good!

I felt so loved.  Even though it was a busy day full of work and big events for Jesse, he still found time just for the two of us.  I love him!

4 Years of Loving My Guy, 2 Years of Being Married to My Best Friend

Jesse and I celebrate our 2nd anniversary on Tuesday. 

Here are pictures from the 4 years we've been together!
(We just put these up in our new, beautifully painted living room, so I thought I'd share them with you here, too!)

There's a big gap since I'm not posting any pictures past April 2009, but they're all on my old computer (internet card is broken) and I haven't transferred them over yet.  But you know what we've looked like recently!

Homecoming Junior Year

Tree swing at the church I grew up

Visit to Kansas 2007

Kansas, taken by Jesse's dad

Our Engagement, 12-24-2007

March, 2008

Graduation Day!  May 9th, 2008

Two weeks before our wedding, on Jesse's return from Handbell Tour

Cancun Honeymoon ♥

A Summer full of weddings!  Alina's wedding, July 2008

Labor Day family bbq at our house

Valentine's Day 2009

April 2009

June 8th, 2008

♥ two years of being married to my best friend

♥ two years of cuddles

♥ two years of  creating a home together

♥ two years of serving side-by-side

♥ two years of laughter

♥ two years of burned food

♥ two years of reading books together

♥ two years of dragging each other into craft stores and sports arenas

♥ two years of making reality of the dreams we had stored up while dating

♥ two years of the most wonderful love I have ever known, deepened every day with God's grace and humility toward one another.

♥ two years of Happliy Ever After with many more to come!

5:37am. Saturday.

The one day I could sleep in past 5 this week definitely didn't happen that way.  Jesse and I are still house sitting for our friends, and something got into the dogs last night.  I never got past a doze last night, because I kept being awakened by the dogs at the foot of our bed.  Usually, they're really good through the night, and I have no idea why they were so noisy last night. 

By 5:30, I'd had it.  I climbed out of bed and struggled in the darkness to find the latches on their little dog kennels and let them out.  Jesse woke up to the sound of their freedom barks, and he offered to take them outside (those adorable little fluff balls pee--or worse, leave us gifts-- everywhere if they aren't taken straight outside).  I was thankful for his offer and headed into the bathroom.  "Don't forget to turn off the alarm," I said over my shoulder.  "Ok," He said groggily, as he followed the dogs out of the room.

20 seconds later, I nearly fell off the seat when I heard the shrill siren-like alarm blaring to the whole neighborhood.  I heard Jesse run from the backyard and hastily punch in the code, then go back outside with the dogs.

As I climbed back in bed, the phone rang.  It was the security company calling to make sure everything was ok.  I told them who I was, and that we were house-sitting for our friends.  That my husband had gone outside without disengaging the alarm.  As I'm saying all of this, I hear a groggy voice coming from the phonein the kitchen.  "Hullow?  H-hullow?"
"Jesse, I've got it!"

Crisis averted, my handsome, tired man climbed back in bed and promptly passed out.  The dogs settled down and went back to sleep.  And two hours later, I'm still staring at the ceiling. 

We're not allowed to have any pets at the house we're renting, but Jesse is very much looking forward to having dogs some day.  Things like this are definitely hurting his chances.   :-P

Last Night

Jesse and I like to treat house sitting like staying at a resort...a really cool resort where you can grill carne asada in the yard and enjoy sunsets from the top of a beautiful hill.

Look at that handsome man I'm married to!

Happy for the first quiet night all week

yum!

Enjoying Jesse's amazing grill-skill: carne asada!

Gorgeous view

Such a wonderful night!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Jesse and I participated in Hope Lutheran's annual Murder Mystery Dinner last weekend.  We were 2 of a cast of 8, and it was put on like a dinner theatre with an amazing feast of tri-tip and salmon for all of the guests.

It was a 1930s Hollywood  movie premiere style theme, and everyone was supposed to get really dressed up.  That posed a problem for me: how was I supposed to find something 1930's era-appropriate that fit my tall frame AND was affordable?

I went to seven thrift stores over three months looking for just the right thing to wear, but couldn't find anything.  Mom and I looked at dress patterns, and found a beautiful one!  Jesse and I went to JoAnn's and used a booklet of coupons to buy everything we needed for a beautiful midnight blue satin evening gown--for $35!  The dress pattern came with two styles, and I liked the front of one style, and the back of the other.  My mom is an amazing seamstress and was able to piece the two patterns together to get just the look I wanted--as well as adding inches in all the right places so the floor-length style actually reached the ground on me!

Jesse's character was Stu Dyron (play on words: stud iron) and he was a dashing stunt man turned star of the silver screen.  He was supposed to be a womanizer who sought out every new starlet who came to Hollywood.  The funny thing was that my character was the only girl he had not been in a romantic relationship with!

I was Denise N. Dayer (Da niece/the niece and heir), assistant director and niece of the weathy Hollywood producer who was murdered.  It cast a bad light on me the whole time, but I turned out innocent :)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun!  Here are some pictures that Jesse's mom took:

Outside right before the dinner began

The others in the cast were Loraine, the wife of Hope's principal, Nel, one of the school secretaries, Ben, the 7th grade teacher at Hope, Pastor, and our good friends, Tyler and Stacey Stover. (Not that you can see everyone in this picture!)

I feel bad that my back was to Momma B, and Jan and Robert the whole time...but isn't the back of the dress pretty?!? :-)

Jesse and Stacey were supposed to be in an intimate relationship.  Stacey and I shared a red lipstick, and at the end of each round, I would sneak off with Jesse to add another kiss mark to the womanizer's face.  It was funny how many people from our church were genuinely concerned that the lipstick was coming from Stacey!

Taking a moment to smile with Robert and Jan

(Momma B, I'm sorry that we don't have any pictures with you from that night!)

Here is the entire cast from the evening!

We had a lot of fun.  Thank you, Momma B, Jan, and Robert for coming to see us, and thank you, Mom, for a beautiful dress that was made just for me!