Labor Day Tradition

As far as holiday tradition goes, Garrett and I don't have much that we do the same each year. We've spent a Christmas in Colorado with friends, a Christmas by ourselves in Utah, and a Christmas back home with family. I feel like every year we're asking ourselves what we're going to do, 'cause it's never been the same. 

But there's one holiday that we automatically know what we're gonna do. No question about it. 

Labor Day. 

For the past four years, we've driven the long road North to Brad & Sharon's in Calistoga. (Brad is one of Garrett's older brothers) They have two girls that we adore, and they live in a small town where the pace is slower. All the locals know each other, and they know who the tourists are, so we usually get asked where we're from. The weekend is always so relaxing, a nice break from the much more crowded Southern California. It's a place riding bikes to the store, or to a bakery in the morning for fresh coffee and quiche is the norm. On our way in to town this year, as we rode behind Brad, Sharon and the girls on their bikes, Garrett and I looked at each other and said, "We've got to live in a small town." We love it. It feels so very right. 

In the summer months, May through October, there is a local farmer's market in town where townies bring their delicious foods, crafts, flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables (the list goes on) to a parking lot where they set up canopies and sell these delights to the crowds that gather. There's usually music playing in the background, and it's so fun to walk around with our four year old niece, who takes her money to the tamale tent and orders up her regular. She knows so many people in town, and they all smile at her and say "Good morning, Monica!" as she makes her way around the temporary thoroughfare. We enjoyed some tri-tip kabobs, a tomato/mozzarella/basil/oil salad, and blackberry pie. 

Brad, who owns the town's bike shop, usually stays pretty busy while we're there, as Labor Day is a great weekend for business. He does sneak away as much as he can to join us for whatever little adventure we're doing. This year we spent a couple of afternoons at the pool, where Monica has become quite the little swimmer. She's jumping off the diving board now, with no floaties, swimming to the edge of the pool, climbing out and doing it all over again. 

We also always come knowing that we're going to eat some very good food. This year we had all kinds of stuff, from tuna steaks and delicious salads, to gourmet burgers and sweet potato fries, broccoli salad, grilled pizzas, guacamole, corn on the cob, and many more mouth watering treats. For dessert, Brad whipped up a delicious strawberry/blackberry topping for vanilla ice cream that I just couldn't get enough of. So good. 

The drive is long at 7-10 hours (depending on traffic), but it's so very worth it. The company is great, we always get lots of good time outside, biking or hiking, running or walking around town. And it's just nice to be with family, even if it's a quick trip. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend. So fun. 

Vineyards in Napa Valley. It's beautiful this time of year. The grapes are almost ready to go! 

A castle at one of the vineyards! 

Uncle G throwing Mo in to the air! :)

Makin' silly faces with Myka and Monica

Sweet girls. 

Mykie was a little wary of Uncle G at first, but when she discovered that he was the only one who could teach her how to shell peanuts (we all pretended we didn't know), she eventually warmed up to him and ended up sitting on his lap the last day we were there! Win! We think the beard throws her off.

Already lookin' forward to our next trip up! :)

Swimsuit Season is Coooooming!

It's the end of April. 
This means a few things. 
The weather in California is gorgeous. 
Garrett and I have been married for three years on the 26th! 
MB is very pregnant and due in 9 days! 
Lil' Sis Sarah isn't far behind and due in 5 weeks! 
I'm heading home to Virginia on May 24th! 
Annnnnnd.....
Summer is coming! 


With summer comes sun, lazy days, family time, and...of course...swimwear. 
Yahtzee. 


It wasn't long ago that I started thinking about what exactly I was going to wear to the beach this summer. 
I just don't think I'm a bikini girl.
I never feel comfortable in them.
I'm always afraid I'm exposing something I shouldn't be. 
And how do you know those things are going to stay on??!?!
You get hit by one good wave and...jeepers. 


So I've been peeking around some websites and thought I'd share some of my favs. 

J.Crew

Paradis Paisley Twist Front Tank

Retro Dot Underwire Tank

Water Lily Ruffle Halter Tank

Whisper Gauze Beach Dress

Ralph Lauren

Ruffled Halter One Piece

Tommy Hilfiger

Halter Striped Tankini Top & Striped Foldover Bottom

Target

Merona one piece with ruffles

Mod Cloth

Beach Blanket Bingo Once Piece

This last swimsuit from Mod Cloth is actually an exact replica of a swimsuit I received from my friend Robin today! We are both thrilled by thrifting and she found a vintage swimsuit that is identical to the black and white polka dot swimsuit above. It looks like it's never been worn and it was much cheaper than Mod Cloth's price of $89. She picked it up for $4. Awesome. It's good to have people lookin' out for ya. :)

Lookin' forward to beach time with my family! 

Alaska Flowers

Just wanted to post a couple of my favorite flower pictures from Alaska. Isn't God amazing?

A somewhat different Thanksgiving

What comes to mind when the idea of "Thanksgiving" is tossed into a conversation? The essentials; turkey, sweet potato casserole, rolls, green bean casserole, numerous pies and ice cream. Oh....and most of the time family! But this year was a little different for the southern California Suhr household of two. Instead of spending the holiday fighting traffic driving somewhere or loads of moolah flying home, we decided to spend it camping in a tent in a little place called Yosemite. Lodging? A cabin with a nice bed, fridge full of food and hot showers, right? Nope. Not even that. We went for the camping experience and it turned out to be a good one. We had 3 nights of freezing (literally) temperatures, but thanks to our numerous ground mattresses, blankets, and queen size sleeping bag we slept like babies! And our food....was goooood! Beth suggested "pigs in a blanket" for thanksgiving dinner and so that's what we did. Here's how. Roast a hot dog over the fire. Once it is done cooking, take a thin slice of cheese and place it around the hot dog and then wrap it in croissant dough (from the can), and finally in aluminum foil. After you roast it over the fire some more it starts sizzlin' and boy does it taste great! Oh...and speaking of fires, we had roaring fires at night. They kept us nice and toasty as we cooked and ate out meals and waited for the uneventful sighting of a bear. They were supposed to be in camp every night but we didn't hear or see any sign of them. Beth's beginning to think that animals don't exist where people say they do. On our honeymoon in New Hampshire we looked and looked for a moose for a week and a half and never saw one. We were up in the Boundary Waters canoeing for a week and didn't see one up there either. Now, no bears in Yosemite?! She might me on to something.

The interesting part of camping though at this time of year in a deep valley, is that the sun sets around 4pm and it's dark by 5. The game then becomes, "what can we do to stay awake for like 4 more hours till it's bed time?". The answer was NOTHING! Ahh.....going to bed at 8pm was actually a treat. We got about 12 hours of sleep each night.

During the days we hiked to gorgeous water falls via hiking trails that were near vertical. I looked at the hikers guide and it said that the hikes would be strenuous and then very strenuous, but I didn't believe it. But let me tell you, it's not 3 days after the hikes and we are both still so sore from it! The people on the trails were very friendly and everyone was wishing each other "happy Thanksgiving!" and we even got to hike with a man from San Francisco for a while. His wife and girls were staying down in the valley for the day and so we some good company for a while. One thing that seems to happen on our hikes is some sort of miscommunication. Beth says something, I don't hear it right for some reason and then the aftermath leaves us trying to sort out what happened. Neither of us like it, but it happens each time we go out! Every couple I talk to says that communication is the hardest part of a relationship....and I'll agree whole-heartedly on that one. A constant tension that we'll be learning about for years to come.

Back to the end of the trip...we came home and relaxed friday evening after thanksgiving and it was so nice to be warm, clean and sleeping with a down comforter! Saturday ended up being a huge day for us as well. We made our first, all by ourselves, thanksgiving dinner for us and 6 others! It was a hit and the people that came loved it. We really enjoyed the evening with our friends and just wish it could have lasted for longer. The day ended with a slice of pumpkin roll and some sparkling cider and laughter in the living room!
That was a different thanksgiving, but one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'm going to put a few pics up just so you can see where we were for our fall holiday!

9,600 Miles

9,600 miles. That's the end count, folks. We drove 9,600 miles in 7 weeks. It was a crazy summer. We ended up seeing circling the United States as well as being a canoe ride from Canada and an interstate exit from Mexico. We could see both places but weren't able to visit either. Another time. Here's the mapped out version of our trip. You can see it outlined in blue with stopping points along the way. We started in California, headed north, and then circled around, stopping at several places and seeing lots of family and friends.


We were in 23 states this summer (Garrett was actually in 24. He made it to Florida for a game of golf when we were in Alabama). I got to see 5 new states that I'd never been in, and Garrett had several new ones as well. And, we've now been in 34 states together as a married couple. Garrett has now been to all of the lower 48 states, and only has Alaska and Hawaii left to complete the list. Pretty fun! For pictures go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053594&id=69600685&l=70eb21f279

Two New States to the List!

Since we've been married, Garrett and I have started keeping track of all the states that we've been in together. I don't remember the number exactly, but it's somewhere up in the 20's. Well we just added two more to the list with Oregon and Washington! Being from the east coast, these states have always seemed so far away. It's cool to actually see them for myself! Our first stop, Tuesday, was Harris Beach State Park. We ended up camping there for two days. We had a great big campsite and we could see the ocean through the trees and hear it crashing below us. We did some biking around as well as walking on the beach and reading. We just started a new book by Andrew Peterson, who happens to be one of my favorite christian music artists. I was at a concert of his a couple of months ago and found out that he also writes books. Throughout his concert, Andrew's hilarious sense of humor comes out in both his lyrics and his personal stories. So naturally, I thought his books would be great. We're a little ways into it and I think we could recommend the series. We're really enjoying it!


Anyways, we're only a couple weeks into the summer trip. It seems crazy that we won't be home for another month and a half. We're enjoying ourselves so far, though, and we've got many new states to visit!

Times, they are a changin'...

Bob Dylan said it right. Times are changin'. Changin' lots of things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgECKj9LSH4

And currently, in the Suhr household, Times are changing the following things:
1. The marital status change of '08 caused the following changes to occur (refer to #2 and #3)
2. The title of this blog as well as the blog address
3. The authors. Garrett has been invited! Can't wait to read some blogs from the man, eh?

SummerTIME is changing our residence for about two months. No longer will we reside in Stewart Hall, no siree. We are moving our residence to, what some might call, a mobile home. It is quite mobile. We'll see how the home part works out. Our residence for June and July will be our "new-to-us" Isuzu Rodeo. A 1998 beauty with a mere 65,000 miles, this firecracker (who is yet to be named) is going to be driving us around the country. Literally. We are CIRCLING the United States of America.


Unfortunately, Sheep (Jeep) will have to stay behind and soak up the California sun while we are gone. And she doesn't know this yet, but we are also planning on selling her, though we will miss her TREMENDOUSLY. She's quite the perfect little vehicle for California Residents.

Anyways, the trek is going to look something like this:
The trip begins on May 31st as we head North to Brad and Sharon's in Calistoga. We'll enjoy their company for a day or two and then continue on from there to Oregon along the coast and tent ourselves down at Columbia River Gorge, head to Olympic National Park in Washington, as well as Seattle (still need to call Lisa...check), and the Cascades. From there we'll head to some family property in Idaho, and on to friends in Bozeman, Montana. This will take up our first two weeks. From there we'll head to Wisconsin, spend some time at camp, then to Hopey and Tyler's wedding on the 20th in Janesville! (Congrats!)(Congrats to Jessie and Paul as well, who are getting married on the SAME DAY!) Following the grandios celebration we will make our way to Virginia via Chicago, possibly Mishawaka (Lunch, Kim?) , and roads through Ohio, West Virginia, and finally Home Sweet Home! We'll spend one week in Harrisonburg with my family(We want to do a sleepover, Sarah and Stuart...and Stephen!), hit up my first high school reunion on the 27th (Yay, BRCS Friends!), and drive to Roanoke that night to head off to our first beach week with the Suhrs. We'll leave the 28th of June and be on the Outer Banks for a week, wrapping up the food, fun, and BEACH on the 4th of July. The next week we'll spend in Roanoke hanging out with the Suhrs, checkin' out Jason and Rachel's new house, and playing with the kiddos. Then we'll meet up with my parents and drive to Gulf Shores, Alabama for our SECOND beach week with the extended Harrison family. Yeehaw! Grandma's cookin', more sand, and aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, as well as the Friedrich's are gonna make for one crazy week. After this week ends (July 18th) it'll be time to pack up and head back home. We'll take the southern route, meaning I finally get to see Texas! Don't worry, I'm bringin' my boots.

The big question of the summer is, will Bella be joining us on our way back?
Only time will tell. (Meaning, I'm still trying to make that decision) :)

At any rate, we are PUMPED. We'll try and keep this updated. We may be having too much fun!

Here's to summertime, and jobs that give you summer's off! Hip-Hip-Hooray!