Tahoe 2009

Nick and I went to Tahoe this weekend for a ski weekend with the Lopers. We started off Saturday by ourselves at Sierra at Tahoe. The weather was AWESOME! And it was a good day for me to get warmed up and ready for the Loper boys - they ski on the hard ones.
























We met up with everyone at the south lake Tahoe place and proceeded to have dinner at Mo's Bar or something like that. Now don't let the name fool you, Mo's served up your typical bar food along with some Asian inspired dishes - Tandori chicken, curry and some ginger stir fry. Weird. But good (from what I hear). I had a cheeseburger.


Day 2 (day 1 for Chris and Steve) was spent at Kirkwood. Another beautiful California day! And it was also a day for testing our skiing limits - or at least I tested my skiing limits. Word to the wise - if you ski with Chris, be prepared to go ANYWHERE! But I conquered some pretty huge stuff (including THE WALL) and didn't break a bone!

That evening was spent watching superbowl commercials, eating Thai, watching The Office, and Uno with Larry's rules. Ask me sometime about Larry's rules, they are fantastic. Speaking of Larry, we skied Larry's Lip. It was a little treacherous.

Day 3 was spent at Heavenly. After a gondola ride and some "skating" we were off. Oh, BTW, skating at 10,000 ft will wind you for sure. It was a relatively "Tame" mountain compared to Kirkwood, but I needed an easy day. The views were great and we had a fun time watching Chris do some tricks. Watch the video for a recap.

My first video. It might give you a little motion sickness....skiing while videoing is tough.

Costco Muffins Update

But first, a shoutout to Katie Musar, she still reads my blog (Thanks Katie!)!  She also asked a very good question, "What type of muffins did we choose?"  Well, we got maple/apple and bran.  Yeah yeah, I know, bran is lame.  But I was trying to be healthy.  The maple/apple were delicious. 

Costco Muffins

So I've been having costco muffins off and on since I can remember.  Church functions, family gatherings, random school things, camping etc.    And they've always come the same way - 4 chocolate, 4 poppy seed and 4 blueberry.  I noticed over the years that they have changed up the flavors - maple, apple, and most recently - pumpkin!  

Well, hold onto your seats kids.  Nick and I went to costco to pick up some muffins for the Tahoe ski trip.  And this going to blow your mind - it's mix and match.  And to be honest.  I don't know how I feel about that.  They come in packs of 6 - all the same flavor.  Then you pick your TWO favorite and put them in a box.  So here's the thing, Nick and I spent far longer than necessary trying to determine which 2 to get.  Had we been allowed 3, it would not have been a problem.  I propose selling them in packs of 4, so I can mix match my own 3 flavor 12 pack.  

So costco, I'm not too fond of this.  Clearly didn't bother me enough to keep from purchasing - although I did so grudgingly.

Playing hooky

The boss (work boss), organized a group trip to Dodge Ridge on Monday.  It was for his church, but he invited work people.  I took full advantage.

And it was AWESOME!

First of all, we were like the 10th car there.  And then we parked and literally walked 50 feet to the lift ticket place and then another 50 feet to the lift.  None of this hiking up the hill, getting warm, peeling of layers business...I'm talking to you - the switchback hill at Summit Central.

It was incredible.  And did I mention no one was there?  Yeah, it was empty.  We were in heaven.

We topped it off with a bread bowl at lunch, followed by some light snow.

The boss picks good days to go skiing.  Probably why he's the boss.

Moch held down the fort.  Thanks Moch.

We're headed to Tahoe this weekend.  Check back next week....I think my quads will have grown a few inches by then.

Week in review

It was a pretty lazy week.  I spent Thursday at Berkeley doing some recruiting.  We recruit with Lockheed, so I'm wearing my blue Lockheed polo in the picture below.  I'm also holding Mochi.  He's so freaking huge.  I realize I'm not the tallest person....but let's be honest, he's really big.

We had some visitors over to help us bake a cake.  Don't worry, Nick was a foot away, and standing guard to make sure the girls didn't fall off the "stool."  The best part was when they stole licks of the frosting.  How can you not laugh?!   After the cake making festivities we headed to Rockridge for an engagement party.  For the most part it was good times.

Sunday was Pretzel day!  It was incredible.  Auntie Anne's should look out.  Caresse Jerue could give her a run for her money.  And Caresse will never divulge the secret ingredient.  Incredible.  That's all I can say.  

Post-its

I'm a little OCD and it comes out from time to time.  

When I was little, I washed my hands repeatedly and I would only use "non-toxic" pens and crayons.  Kinda weird, but I grew out of it.

I don't like getting my hands sticky, and as a result, I can't stand scooping ice cream from a container that is less than half full.  Might get the knuckles sticky.....sick.

And the newest one.  I was sitting in a class where we were suppose to write on post its and put them on the wall.  By the way, these post-its were 4x6 and lined.  The girl in my group (who was very nice) chose to write HUGE and not straight.  As a result, she had crooked words on lined post-its and used at least 4-7 lines per word.  What a waste!  And it drove me nuts.  Please, use a fine tipped pen (sharpie will do) and please at least write straight and try and fit a few more than 3 words per post-it.  She also hung the post-its crooked.  She shouldn't be allowed to have them.  She doesn't understand.

House guests!

Last Sunday the girls came over and dropped off a hot chocolate pitcher.  It was incredible - we used the chocolate

 from Europe and I was on a sugar high after a single sip.  They dropped in mid guitar hero, so we had to teach them how it worked.  Both girls got a turn. Below is a picture of Zoe jamming with uncle Nick.

When we were cleaning up, mochi ended up in a box...it's just a funny picture.

Brian - grad school roommate, recently got a puppy.  He was headed out of town for the weekend so we watched little Duncan.  

Napping after a LONG day of playing.  

Mochi staring at Duncan from his perch on the couch.