Celebrating 1 Year

Jason and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary with a fantastic dinner at Rainbow Lodge.  I had been wanting to try this restaurant for a while so we figured an anniversary dinner was a good excuse.  It's such a cozy restaurant with a great atmosphere.  It is built like a log cabin and is super rustic.  They have a very "gamey" menu different from anywhere I have been.  We ordered the "taste of the wild" appetizer that had venison skewers, some kind of sausage, and wild game tostadas.  We each had the beef tenderloin for an entree.  Since we had the anniversary tier of our cake at home, we bypassed dessert.  I love trying new restaurants and definitely would recommend this for a special occasion.  When we got home we each had a piece of our wedding cake that Jason's mom kept in her freezer for us for the last year.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was still very yummy.  Neither of us got to have cake on the night of our wedding other than the bite we fed each other for the pictures so we enjoyed finally getting to indulge in a piece.  We also opened up our box of cards that everyone wrote to us at rehearsal dinner.  Some were funny, some full of advice, and of course some asking if we are expecting babies yet (which we aren't).  I really love that my family has this tradition, and Jason and I both enjoyed laughing and reading all the cards.  I decided that my favorite was written by Olivia (Jason's grandma) which said "Marriage is give and take...Katie, you take!!"  haha  This has been a fantastic year, and I look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries with Jason.

 Jason surprised me with this beautiful vase of flowers on Sunday.  They were gorgeous and made our entire second floor smell so good.  I just love them!!

 Jason and I posing after dinner

 Cutting our anniversary cake

Happy Anniversary

Happy 1st Annivesary to my wonderful husband!  I can't believe a year has already flown by.  Marrying you was one of the best days of my life.  I love you and look forward to many more years together.

Memorial Day

We had a great long-weekend filled with golf (for Jason), pool (for me), and tons of BBQ'ing for both of us.  I love the summer, and it seems like Memorial weekend always kicks it off.  Unfortunately, I only took my camera out for this one picture below.  Hopefully, you all enjoyed a fantastic weekend and an extra day off of work.  :)  Thanks to all of our former and current troops and their families for dedicating their lives to protecting this great country that we are so priviledged to live in.  We appreciate everything you do!  Your hard work and bravery does not go unnoticed. 

Jason, Daniel, Connelly, Shane, and Amethyst enjoying some burgers

San Francisco

Jason and I stayed at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square while in San Fran.  It was an old, quiant hotel with alot of charm.  The room was small, but cozy and had a pretty chandelier above the bed instead of a fan.  We kept the windows open in our room alot and enjoyed the cool, California breeze.  We slept in on Saturday morning, got ready for the day, and headed out to enjoy a yummy breakfast before site-seeing in San Fran.  We ate a restaurant called Sears, which is apparently known for their mini-pancakes. 

 After stuffing ourselves with pancakes and waffles, we walked around Union Square and then headed over to China town. 

The weather was very chilly on Saturday and the hills in the area we were staying were very steep so walking around got old pretty fast.  We debated what we felt like doing that day and finally decided to try out the on-again-off-again double-decker red busses that drive around the city.  I am usually not a huge "tour" person, but we actually really enjoyed riding around on the bus.  The sun came out and we liked sitting on the second level and seeing the sites.  The tour guide was very entertaining, and we definitely saw more of the city that way than if we had just walked around.  The bus also let us off down at the wharf which worked out well since that is where the boat leaves from to head to Alcatraz.

 Jason and I on the bus

Lombard Street

We got off at Pier 39 and walked down to see the hundreds of sea lions laying around on the pier.  It really is amazing to me that these animals come back to the same spot every year and that they congregate at that one pier.  Although they're really stinky, they are still neat to watch.

We had a little more time to kill so we decided to walk through the aquarium that's down on the wharf.  They have an area where you can touch baby sharks and sting rays as well as tons of starfish.  I really like aquariums and thought it was neat.

 Jason looking thrilled to be touching the sting ray.

 I am a little more excited about the starfish  :)

We then had an early dinner at Fog Harbor and had a great window table with a view of the Golden Gate bridge.  We had a crab cake appetizer and grilled fish for dinner.  After dinner, we walked down to Pier 33 to board the boat for the night tour of Alcatraz.  We both loved the tour.  It was super informative and pretty crazy to get to walk in the cells where the former prisoners once lived.  The views looking back on San Francisco with the sun setting were incredible and possibly my favorite part of the tour.

 Yes...Jason is holding my purse.  I had been carrying it around all day, and it was stuffed full of junk and was super heavy.  My arm was about to fall off so he carried it for me for a while.  Just another reason why I love him..haha

Once we arrived back at the harbor, we took a cab back to Union Square.  We hung out together at a piano bar across the street from our hotel for a little while before heading to bed.  Sunday, we got everything together to check out of the hotel and headed out to lunch for one last meal before leaving for the airport.  We went back to China town to enjoy an authentic Chinese lunch at a restaurant called House of Nanking.  It was recommended to me by some people I worked with while in San Fran last year.  The food was super yummy. 

After lunch, we walked around some of the shops in Union Square for an hour or so before heading to the airport.  We made one more detour on the way out of town to stop and see Candlestick Park where the 49'ers play.  Jason was a huge Giant's fan when he was a kid and since the Giant's used to play at Candlestick as well he wanted to stop and see it.

Although we were sad to leave, it was nice to be back home and back in our routine.  I feel so blessed that Jason and I were able to get away and celebrate our first year of marriage together (a little early). 

Spanish Bay

On Friday morning, Jason had a 9:00am tee time at the Spanish Bay course. This course was at our resort so we just walked over to the clubhouse that morning. Jason was paired up with a father-son twosome from the Northeast who were super nice and made the day really fun. I'm not sure if my expectations were lower or the fact that it was the second day of golf, but I thought the Spanish Bay course was just as beautiful as Pebble Beach and felt alot more relaxing. The course ran right along the Pacific Ocean with 15 of the 18 holes being right on the water. The entire day was filled with stunning views and wildlife scampering around the course. We saw a ton of deer and several pretty birds and geese waddling around a pond on the course. Once again, I was the designated photographer and took a ton of pictures. Jason played well and shot a 95. The wind was brutal at Spanish Bay making the golfing more difficult and the air more chilly, but the sun was shining making it a gorgeous day to be outside. As soon as the round of golf was over, we headed back to our room, packed our stuff up, and checked out of the hotel. We were really sad to leave after a couple of great days but were also excited to enjoy the weekend in San Francisco. On our way back to San Fran we also drove through Stanford's campus and saw the golf course where Tiger Woods got his start. After a long morning of golf and a couple hour drive back to San Francisco, we were tired and just felt like hanging out so we got in our cozies and ordered room service, read, watched tv, and just relaxed. Enjoy the pics below from golfing at Spanish Bay. One more post to come on our weekend in San Fransisco!