New Years Eve

NYE post a month late?  Why not!?  I don't know why these photos fell off my radar but they did ... so without further ado here are a few photos from our NYE celebration.  Caleb and I spent the evening with our good friends, lots of food, and lots of games :o)

Snowflakes, my Tripod & lots of Hats

Each year, I like to get a 'family photo' of our family and this year it seemed like the whole year snuck by before I could really plan out a time to go somewhere to do it.  It had been on my mind since Spring, but being out of town each month, projects and life, it seemed to never 'work out' in our schedules.  With the year quickly coming to a close, I decided to wrap it all into 1 photoshoot - 'family photo' our 'holiday photo' and our '3 year anniversary' photo - check, check & check! I've been playing with Photoshop all day, so I decided to take the opportunity to share some other photos that you did not see on our holiday card ...

Leavenworth bound - a car packed with lots of hats, warm clothing, and my tripod, we headed East. Snow was in the forecast, so I had my fingers crossed, but it was still pretty early in the season (Nov) and we all know how 'accurate' the weather man is (insert LOTS of sarcasm.) As we drove over the pass I got really excited because there was a ton of fresh snow, but then right as we hit the 59er Diner (base of the pass on the East side) there was NOTHING that even resembled snow - DARN!  After some quick thinking I decided our best bet to find the white stuff that I SO wanted in our photos was to head out Icicle Creek - I knew it was high enough that there could be a chance for some snow.  We pulled off on a random spot on the road and set up my tripod and began shooting away. We had a great time and the snow flurries were falling the entire time we were shooting.  Needless to say we were a bit chilly after and headed into town to have some brats and beer - a perfect way to end the day.

Homemade Treats & All Things Lemon

Meyer Lemons

Growing up, living in Southern California, my Mom always cooked & baked using lemons.  And as long as I can remember, I have always LOVED lemons.  I still find any excuse to use them in anything I cook or bake and Caleb is now used to me ordering a side of lemon slices with any meal I get at a restaurant.  I just love citrus & sour and a lemon is BOTH = LOVE!  My Mom now has this amazing Meyer lemon tree outside her kitchen and the smell itself is amazing, let alone the taste.  I have actually packed back (in my suitcase) a few lemons from my Mom's tree, just because they are THAT good.  Now, for those of you who have never been introduced to a Meyer lemon, they are not the ones that you typically come across in a grocery store.  The skin on a Meyer lemon is much thinner and the amount of juice from one lemon can sometimes equal 3/4's cup !  A Meyer lemon has the lemon taste but with a slightly less tart bite to it, this is probably because a Meyer is a cross between a lemon & an orange. 

A couple days ago, while we were picking up a few things at Costco, we came across Meyer lemons ... but in a Costco size container (so there were LOTS!) But my thought was, No Problem! I can definitely use up all those lemons before they go bad - EASY.  Well, I am well on my way!!  I think I have already used 1/2 of the bowl in just the last 2 days, hah!  I told you ... I LOVE ME A LEMON!  Today, the coveted Lemon Bar recipe arrived in my Inbox from my Mom - score!!  I could not wait to get home and make my very first batch EVER of lemon bars (yes, I know its shocking that I've never made it given my love.)  Well, they did not disappoint!  They were just as good as I remember from my childhood and luckily Caleb loved them too.
Me: "Like? Make again?" Caleb: (mouth full of lemon bar) "YES! I can now see why you like lemons so much!"
SUCCESS!! 
Happy Friday!

Anniversary at Sea

Crystal Symphony

Our 3rd and final port of call on our Mexican Riviera Cruise was Puerto Vallarta, which also happened to fall on our 3 year wedding anniversary.  Our day started out with an adventurous morning drive through the steep and narrow one way streets on the hillsides of Puerto Vallarta.  What were we looking for ... good question!  We were on the hunt to find the Cathedral of Our Lady Guadalupe which we had heard was beautiful.  My dad was driving and Caleb was trying to give directions off of a tiny map that has some (no, not all ... just some) of the streets and a few pictures of random tourist attractions.  Words with a pineapple truck, Dad asking for directions in 'Spanglish' and a scratched bumper later, we made it!  The inside was nothing compared to the Cathedral we saw in Mazatlan (pics in previous post) but the outside was much more impressive.  After seeing the cathedral Caleb and I split off on our own and ended up at a cute little bar called the Cheeky Monkey.  A drink, some grub and a shot of tequila later we headed out to explore the town ...

Tequila!



Awesome sandcastles along the waterfront



Local artist ... love!

Sbux in Puerto Vallarta ... it tasted SO GOOD! And we got to check our email :)

Cathedral

our ship!

Back on the ship, Caleb and I were excited to not have dinner reservations till 9pm, so we were able to relax, grab a drink of the day and take our time getting ready for dinner.  We caught an amazing sunset leaving port and even ran into my grandparents and Mom while we were enjoyin our daiquiris.  A huge perk of the cruise was the food, it was AMAZING, and we had heard that we needed to try the different restaurants onboard.  What better time to try a new restaurant then on our anniversary?  So off to Prego we went and since we didnt have reservations till 9pm we closed out the place which was fun - and they even brought over all the waiters (even a poor woman who was just walking by) to sing us a 'Happy Anniversary' song.  God my cheeks were red after that!  It was a very fun way to spend our Anniversary and I'm sure one we will always remember. 

We closed down the restaurant :) 3 year Anniversary dinner!

It was so cool that they had a shout out on the 'on board' station

Family & a Cruise Ship - part 2

Cabo San Lucas

Our first port of call - Cabo San Lucas.  My family and I have been to Cabo a number of times but Caleb and Susan had never been so we were excited to show them around.  Honestly, I could take or leave downtown Cabo ... but I love the resorts and the beautiful Sea of Cortes.  Dad rented a car so we could show the family the world famous Palmilla Resort & Golf Course and had an amazing lunch while taking in the breathtaking views.  Following lunch, we headed back into town and Caleb and I went off on our own.  We stopped by a tobacconist and picked up a couple of cigars, walked around the waterfront and through some stores.  It was a fun day but short since we were only in port from 12 - 5pm.  Back on board we sat out on our Veranda and took pictures of the amazing sunset over the harbor. 

We ate breakfast on the fantail every morning

The Pilots figuring out what they were looking at

Obsessed - seriously have like 200 photos of the coast of Baja on the Pacific side.

Palmilla Golf Resort - Cabo

Palmilla - they had the best fish tacos

Tobacconist

Cabo at sunset

Our next stop, Mazatlan.  No one in our family had been, and we soon learned for good reason.  We were in port from 8am - 4pm and honestly I felt like we saw everything we would ever need to see in Mazatlan.  But that doesn't mean we didn't have a great time! 

Mazatlan

Caleb and I really felt like we made good use of our day.  We did some shopping in the Golden Zone which was apparently the place to shop and had lunch at this cute little street side restaurant.  We figured the yummy food (specifically ceviche, my fav!) was worth the chance of food poisoning but luckily we were just fine!  After lunch we headed over to the cathedral in old Mazatlan and it was worth the taxi ride - GORGEOUS!!  They were renovating while we were there and I can only imagine what it will look like when it is finished.  After we finished at the cathedral we were looking at the map trying to figure out our next steps when a taxi driver suggested we go see the light house.  After some negotiation on the price (he was not too happy, but we were!) he took us over to what was suppose to be the lighthouse.  Basically he drove us down this long street that looked pretty shady and then pointed at this dirt path that led up a large hill (we actually couldn't even see the top.)  I thought for sure he had dropped us off some place that we would never return from.  Well, about 2 miles up a dirt 'road' and a zillion steps later (in flip flops I might add) we were at the top of this 'hill' and had an amazing view of Mazatlan.  Did I mention it was hot and humid? It was a great day, full of adventure and laughs and here are some photos from the day ...

shopping

Our journey to the Lighthouse

You can see our ship!  We are the little one in the middle.

"uhh ... do you see where we are suppose to go?!"

getting higher ...

about half way up it turned into switchbacks of stairs ...

... and higher we went ...

we made it!