it's all in a night's time

I watched the boys on Saturday night in order for Shell to have a night out. We had all kinds of fun!! I took over a huge bag filled with all sorts of stickers and ribbons and markers and glue and we went to town making cards for Mommy. Lincoln loved it...Griff, not as much. He was more into reading a book and watching Ninja Turtles. But Linc and I had fun. Here's Griff with one of his books.
And then he showed me how he can write. He wrote his name first...
...and then he wrote "Sissy" as I spelled it out. I was pretty impressed!
Here's Linc and Auntie HeeHee (as Linc says it) playing arts and crafts
Here's the finished project!
Then we did some somersaultsThen Uncle Josh came over before he went to play cards with Danny. Linc shot some hoops with a little help from J. (Not sure what those creepy orb things are...they showed up on 2 pictures...cuuureeepy!)
Then Griff jumped around on one foot for a while

Here's Griff giving Uncle Josh bear hugs

Here is a cute picture of Griff playing his guitar

We had such a fun night and the boys were really tuckered out. (So was I!)

our first 5K!

We did it!! We completed our first ever 5K race this past weekend. Josh and I have spent months and months getting prepared for this and are so happy to have done it. Shell did it with us and we had a really great time.

This is our only action shot with us in it. One of Josh's employees was sweet enough to take lots of pictures for us, but I forgot to charge the camera so it died right before we crossed the finish line.

We all did pretty well. The goal that Josh and I set out for was to just run the entire thing without having to walk. Then, we thought that we should try to do it within 40 minutes. But after running our 3 or so miles several times a week and realizing that we were coming in at much under 40 minutes, we decided that 35 would be a good goal. We did it! Josh finished in just about 31 minutes and Shell and I finished in just over 34. He finished and then waited for me by the finish line so that we could cross together holding hands, just like we do every night when we run at home.

There are a few races that we've looked at and we're hoping to do one or two more 5Ks before the end of the year. Then we'll start increasing our distance to prepare for a 10K next year. This was so exciting for us.

bitten

It is no secret that we have some spoiled rotten dogs on our hands. We are the first to admit that we probably shouldn't let them sleep in the bed and that we (I) treat them far too much like humans as opposed to dogs. Cesar would be very disappointed in us (me).

Well, our little attack dog has struck again. She bit me the other night while in bed. I take full responsibility because a.) she shouldn't be in bed with us in the first place and b.) the whole thing came about because I felt bad and didn't want to move Lukey off of my pillow, which put me too close to her.

But taking responsibility doesn't make it hurt any less. So I decided to take some pictures...you know, the same way that abused wives sometimes do so that if they end up murdered, you know who to go after...
I ended up with 4 stitches. It hurts and I've had a headache for 2 full days now, not to mention that I was trying to get back on schedule after being on California time for 8 days. So, yeah...it's been a bit of a rough week (which you can probably tell from the bloodshot eyes!). But I will survive and I'm not nearly as worried about the scar as Josh seems to be. I think he's afraid I'm going to look like Frankenstein after these stitches come out! I keep saying that I don't claim my face as one of my better qualities anyway, so it's not a big deal to me.
So along the theme of evil dogs, I treated myself to some evil puppy chow. Evil because I could eat pounds and pounds of the crap and the calories aren't helping me get ready for this 5K! Evil, but oh, so wonderful...just like my little girl!
As a side note, the devil dog is going to the Vet tomorrow. I'm not sure what Dr. B. will do, but hopefully she can refer us to a reputable trainer. And, in case you're wondering, they have officially been banned from the bed. But one trainer that I talked to told me an interesting story that I will share, in a small way of defending my maneating little bunny (yes, I call her bunny...what of it?!). She reminded me that Lhasa Apsos were Tibetan guard dogs, which we knew. But she also told me that their small stature was helpful in having them protect the monks, as they would lie under their robes or inside their huge sleeves while the monks napped and if anyone approached too quickly or with too much force, the dogs were trained to attack. This makes sense, as every time that Kowe has bitten someone, it has always been almost an instinctual thing and a reaction to someone moving too quickly or getting too close. Just a little food for thought before anyone calls the dog police and has her locked up!

the san francisco treat, day 2(+)

So our second day in San Francisco, we decided that we would take a trip up through wine country. How could we be so close, and right near our anniversary, and not take the trip up?!? With some great advice from our concierge, we decided to head up through Napa Valley and come back down through Sonoma Valley. Talk about the views!!

But first we had to check another thing off of our list and drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!
What a cautious driver!

Then we stopped for some breakfast at a local little mom & pop kind of store and then headed for WINE! We ended up stopping at almost a dozen wineries over the course of the day and tried over 35 different wines.

This particular winery (which wasn't our favorite because of the prices) was suggested by the concierge and it was gorgeous and the wine was great!! But with prices up around $140/bottle (and lower, too, but not by much), I thought the wine should probably give me a massage or something, too!

Here is a picture of J outside that winery.
And this friendly cow greeted us as we were driving up to the winery, so we decided to get a picture with it on the way back down.Here is Josh at an organic winery that we stopped at.
And a picture that we took in Napa. The scenery is so picturesque!

This is the entrance to Sterling Winery. You take a tram up to the actual winery but we didn't hang around long enough for that. But the entrance was so beautiful that we decided we needed a picture!And here we are in the vineyards of Sterling...so beautiful!Then we headed toward Sonoma and found another cute and small winery as well as a place with all sorts of olive oils, basalmic vinegars, honey, mustard, etc. Needless to say, Josh enjoyed the tasting about as much as he does on Sundays at Sam's! But we got some fun stuff there before heading to the town of Sonoma. They have a quaint little town square and happened to be having a mexican-themed party in the square park. We intended to find a restaurant but could not pass up the amazing food!! This might have been our favorite meal...that or the chinese from the night before...but either way, it was fantastic!After this, we got some Mexican ice cream and headed to a cheese shop where we got a few blocks of cheese with the intention of having wine and cheese at some point during our trip. (That didn't happen but J still enjoyed the cheese!)

After finding our favorite winery of the day on our last stop in Sonoma Valley and loading up with a few bottles of wine from there, we headed to Muir Woods. A coworker had told me about it and I knew that Josh would love it because of the Redwood trees, and then someone else mentioned it while we were tasting so we decided to check it out.

Here's big tall Josh looking little bitty beneath the gigantic trees.

Tree hugger... (I can't figure out why this one is sideways.)
We were fortunate enough to see lots of deer during our little hike. Here is a buck eating...you can barely see him but look for his antlers.
Then there were two fawns who hopped over the fence and onto the hiking path. J got really close to them and I was waiting for a reinactment of THIS so I stayed away! I was staying on the daddy's good side! But seriously, isn't it so sweet!?!Here's me being silly and trying to be a little hiding tree dweller...mind you, it had been a LONG day and we were both a little silly by this point!US being tree dwellers together. :)Finally, we headed back down Route 1 (the PCH) to see the gorgeous views of the water. We pulled off at a lookout point and walked down the path to a cliff. It was freezing but the view was worth it!After this, we made our way back into the city and found a little local pub to have dinner in. You can imagine how exhausted we were after 2 very full days, plus travel, so we turned in early so that I could get ready to work. On Monday, I had visits down near Golden Gate Park, so after lunch, the alum that I was visiting with took me to Alamo Square so that I could see the Full House houses. Silly, I know, but I always think of them when I think of San Francisco, so I really wanted to see them! They were beautiful and J had no interest, so I was glad that she gave me a little tour.

As a side note, she took me by her office which is a gorgeous Victorian style that she owns, much like these houses, and coincidentally, Anne Rice used to own the home and wrote Interview with the Vampire in the room that she uses as her office! Pretty cool! On Monday afternoon after my visits were through, we headed down the PCH so that we could meet Jeremy for dinner. We stopped by a beach along the way and took a few more pictures.
Talk about some cliffs! I'm afraid of heights and had images of the car running over cliffs at many different points. Freaky, but beautiful!Finally, on Tuesday, after a long day of visits, we were lucky enough to get to meet up with Jeremy again for our anniversary dinner! They got to visit for a bit before I was done working and it worked out so well that we could meet up! Who would have thought that trips to the entire other side of the country would have brought us together, but we were so glad it did!Here they are outdside. We ate at a Jamaican restaurant and I got tipsy...on one drink! But it was a great anniversary dinner!It couldn't be an anniversary (or a day at all, for that matter) without me pestering J a little bit. Doesn't he look cute in his sweater?! Jeremy poked fun because he wears pink but I happen to think he is pretty dapper!And here is a pretty bad picture. But it had to be posted because it's our only one together from the night. And, for the record, I did pack a really cute dress but didn't feel like running into Starbucks to change, so yes, I am wearing a suit. Very romantic.

As a side note, can you BELIEVE that it has been 2 years!?!?!? It has seriously gone so fast! It feels like about 3 weeks ago that we got married. I'm proud to say that we are as happy as ever and enjoying every minute of marriage. I am one lucky girl! I couldn't have molded a husband better if I tried! I'm proud of our marriage and I'm thankful for having such a wonderful husband as well as the best in-laws a girl could ask for and I think Josh would say the same about Shell and my family! Our support systems are amazing and they lend to a very happy little life in the Wright household!

Happy Anniversary J!