Thanksgiving Part 2 - Sacramento, San Francisco and Too Much Football

During our week back at home Jacob and I had a list far too long of things we wanted to see and do.

Jacob kept talking about all the pizza he has liked in California, so first things first. I took Jacob to Zachary's Pizza in Oakland.

I am never disappointed in Zachary's Pizza. I immediately get hunger pangs as soon as I start thinking about it. Its Chicago style pizza with the sauce on top and cheese and your choice of "toppings" in the middle. This place is ALWAYS packed.

For our second adventure we took a trip to Sacramento. We visited the temple, which is beautiful and very small with lots and grass and trees around it. Then we went to the outlet malls and spent a little too much money. We hadn't even visited all the stores before Jacob and I knew it was time to go home so we didn't cause any more damage.

On Wednesday we went to San Francisco. Jacob had never been to the down town area so we went there first. We walked around Union Square for a few minutes, but seeing as we had spent so much the day before we didn't spend too much time browsing around. We loved the heart with the golden gate bridge painted on it.Union square was getting ready for the Christmas Tree lighting and there were all sorts of kids running around on field trips to the ice skating rank, so we moved on and walked to North Beach to visit Little Italy and eat some lunch. We ate dessert first. A cannoli and cream puff! Then we found some delicious paninis and ate dessert again at a gelato shop where a chunk of one of my molars chipped off. Oh well.

Then we walked some more down to the piers and back to the BART station to take us back to our car. Lots and lots of walking.

Thanksgiving was all football and food. More like football, football, football, football, food, football football. By the end of the day I was ready to start banging my head on the T.V. I was so done with football.

Friday we avoided shopping and I went to help my Aunt Holly make eggs Benedict, which I had never had or made before, for a baby shower for my cousins wife. The food was really good and it was a fun, laid back baby shower. Then Jacob and I were treated by my parents to dinner and a Christmas show to kick the holidays off. And then more football.... and more football.

Jacob and I made a pact that I wouldn't go on facebook if he wouldn't bring up football. It didn't last long on either side.

Sunday morning we made the trip home. The roads were only really bad in one spot. Other wise it was smooth sailing. Now we are home and back to school and work. It was a great, very needed break. Thanks mom and dad for flying us home!!

Thanksgiving Part 1 - L.A., a Wedding, and a Confused Cashier

I came to California sorely unprepared. I brought one light coat, flip flops and one pair of socks. Well, let me tell you, it does get cold here and it DOES rain in L.A. (This is a long post, the cashier part is a little funny.)

If you would have asked me 6 months ago if I thought Annalise would be married by the end of the year I would have bet all my money that the answer would be no. This isn't to say anything bad about Annalise by any means. Shes one of my absolute best friends, but I don't think anyone saw this coming. She met Ryan, her husband as of November 20th, while he was on his mission believe it or not. He taught her sisters boyfriend. (Yes, Ryan served in her homeward and got to know Annalise and her family very well.) I am not sure how they switched contact information, but they started writing when Annalise moved back to Rexburg. He came home after a few months exchanging letters with Annalise and before we knew it they were engaged.

We arrived at 10:30 on Friday night to a damp and cold Los Angeles. We got a Chrysler Sebring for less than $40.00 for the whole weekend! (Hotwire.com has had the cheapest car rental deals 90% of the time... for the next time you need to rent a car.) So Saturday we woke up, to not a damp, but very wet L.A. Of all days to rain in L.A. it had to rain on Annalise's one and only wedding day. We saw at least 5 big accidents during the 40 minute drive from the hotel to the Los Angeles temple. The rain must have really thrown L.A. for a loop. But thankfully by the time the ceremony was over the rain had stopped and it was just very cold. Here are some pictures of us goofing off until it was time to take pictures with the bridal party.

I wish I had taken more pictures! I didn't get pictures from the reception or anything else in L.A.

Between the wedding and the reception Jacob and I hung out with my friend Rebecca who lives in Alabama and I do not get to see very often. We decided to go in on a gift with our other friend Amy, (pictured above). Its a tradition for us to leave a basket of wedding night goodies in the get away car. You know, the kind of stuff your best friends get you. Amy had already bought her part of the gift so Rebecca, Jacob and I went to Target. (Im going to make this as family friendly as possible.) We found a set of "pajamas" and Rebecca thought they were so cute she decided she wanted some too. So I bought one set of pajamas for Annalise and Rebecca bought her own set and we split up some of the other treats, peppermint whipped cream (for their hot chocolate... of course) and a sample box of stuff that can be found in the family planning section. While we were checking out, Rebecca started chatting with cashier, and then it was my turn. Jacob had taken a trip to the bath room and hadn't found us yet. So, she had started ringing me up and got to the matching "pajamas." She looked at me... then looked at Rebecca... back at the me... down at the pajamas... back at me and said, "oh... you're together." If you only knew the assortment of wedding night goodies Rebecca and I had picked out...

"Yup!" As soon as I said it I knew what the cashier was thinking. So I quickly corrected, "Our friend just got married, so we're buying her a gift." I am not sure if it fully explains the matching set of "pajamas," but I wasn't going to let her go on thinking what she was thinking.

In other L.A. happenings, we accidentally found the W.B. studios.

We drove down Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills. Lust, LUST, LUST.

We saw the city of my birth, Panorama City. A far cry from the stereotypical glamorous L.A. No ritzy shops, palm trees and big houses. All you can see from the freeway is a big Budweiser and Bud Light factory.

We drove home with my parents who had come to the wedding too and stopped at the famous Harris Ranch in the middle of no where for lunch, then slept and slept until we woke up at home.

A Pie Maker and Distance Runner

This week at work my boss told me to sharpen pencils for his grandchildren. He has 43 of them so there was a lot of sharpening to be done. If you happened to look at my facebook that day, you saw that I was not very happy about this. Here I am, 22 years old, college graduate, and I am sharpening pencils. Where did I go wrong in my life? I have nothing to show for 22 years. So I decided I had to do something about it.

I called Jacob while he was at work because I actually was really upset about this and he told me to think about things I actually wanted to do. And so I thought of things... lots of things. But a lot of my ideas would require money to buy equipment to get started. Like a sewing machine, or a chocolate tempering machine so I can make all sorts of candies. So, I decided to break out my baking book and master pie. Last year at this time I was getting ready to make my first pie for a baking test and I had Jacob's mom walk me through the process. And we made a dang good apple pie if you ask me. With the apple pie under my belt I decided to make my first ever berry pie! Blueberry and blackberry It was a process, but it was absolutely delicious. I learned to keep the top crust thick on these types of pies so the gooey filling doesn't start to seep through like it did on mine and if I do a lattice top again, I will make sure the filling is all the way chilled so it won't be as runny. It made for hard lattice making conditions. I also forgot to pinch the crust on the edges to make it look nicer. All in all, it was a very good pie. My official taste tester, Jacob approved too. The only thing missing was some french vanilla ice cream! Next up, pumpkin pie!

I also decided that next year I am going to run a marathon. Don't know where and I don't know when, but its happening. So get ready treadmill, we'll be pounding some miles out together this winter. I don't have to buy anything for that! ... Just the money to register for the race.

As of today, I am a 22 year old self proclaimed pie master and distance runner. Next on my list of self proclaimed mastery? I don't know but I am open to any ideas.

In other news, Jacob graduated from Man to Manly Man when he replaced a car battery for the very first time. It was a very cold morning. Look at where the battery was bolted down. Did Kia just assume this battery would never have to be changed? Jacob got it done and our car has not had any more problems!