SNOVEMBER

As the calendar rolled into November, the storm clouds started rolling into Tahoe.  We had friends coming into town from North Carolina, exactly the same night that we got our first winter storm of the season.  Luckily, their flight made it to Reno without difficulty.  The forecast for snow accumulation amounts fluctuated.  The average forecast called for about 3-5 inches at 7500 ft which is where our house is.  In addition to the storm, we got some lake effect snow which brought us up to a FOOT of snow at our house, even more in the higher elevations.  Thanks again for coming to visit us Nick and Jessica!  You guys must have been a good luck charm.  You are welcome to come back ANY time you want!  Congrats again on your wedding and we wish you guys a LIFETIME of happiness together!

We had a blast with them here.  It was a quick visit so we tried to fit as much in as possible.  The very first night was a little bit of an adventure.  We decided to head down to Heavenly village for dinner at a local pizza place.  We bundled up in our winter gear, piled into the car, and drove 1/4 mile down the street before hitting PARKED traffic on Kingsbury grade (the mountain pass going into the Tahoe basin).  So, we turned around and headed home.  I began cooking dinner and we all began drinking... next thing you know... no power.  Awesome.  Luckily we have a gas stove so I was able to continue cooking.  We broke out the camp lantern and had a nice warm meal.  It was pretty cozy.

MONDAY MORNING... JUST BEGINNING

AND YES, WE STILL HAD SCHOOL.
THIS WAS ON MY COMMUTE TO WORK. 

BY THE TIME I GOT HOME FROM WORK, WE HAD
ABOUT 5 INCHES! 

BY NIGHTTIME...
UP TO 10 INCHES! 

WHEN ARE THEY GONNA PLOW OUR STREET???

OUR NEIGHBOR THOUGHT OUR HOUSE STILL
HAD POWER... PRETTY BRIGHT LITTLE LANTERN.

Tuesday, Mike and I worked while our guests headed out to see the sights of Tahoe.  We met up Tuesday night for dinner.  I took Wednesday off to spend some time with our friends before they headed out.  We did some sight seeing in some of the "less touristy" areas.

EARLY MORNING VIEW FROM OUR DECK

ICICLES! 

 We headed down to Taylor Creek to go on a bear hunt.  We saw a few salmon still trying to make it upstream, but no bears!  We saw lots of other wildlife (coyotes and even a porcupine).

THE WATER LEVEL IS MUCH HIGHER THAN
JUST A FEW DAYS AGO! 

HOW CUTE ARE THEY? 

PORCUPINES ARE BIG!!! 

LOOKING OUT OVER FALLEN LEAF LAKE. 

LILY LAKE.  

MT. TALLAC FROM KIVA BEACH! 

 Wednesday afternoon they headed out for Reno.  I decided to do some laundry, lay on the couch, and watch Christmas movies.  I KNOW... it's not even Thanksgiving yet BUT when it looks like THIS...

...outside, I think you be able to watch Christmas movies without judgement!

Mike and I were hoping to go get a workout in by skinning up one of the runs at Heavenly.  But, it didn't work out for Wednesday.  But, fast forward to Saturday and we finally made it out!  It was MY first ski of the season... Mike had already been out a few times.  It was an absolutely beautiful Tahoe blue sky day.

MIKE SETTING A SKIN TRACK JUST AFTER THE STORM. 

 Since I forgot my phone, but Mike had his, all the pictures are of me.  Which is probably a good thing because usually all the pictures are of him and/or the dog.

NOTICE LOTS OF OTHER TRACKS.  LOTS OF PEOPLE HAD BEEN OUT. 

I have a LOT of cobwebs to shake off when it comes to skiing.  I've never felt very confident as a skier and even less so in powder.  I actually struggled to get down the mountain.  That should've been the easiest part (after climbing up 2000 vertical feet).  But, it's like I had totally forgotten how to ski.  I'm looking forward to a BIG snow year (hopefully) so that I will get LOTS of practice.  I really do want to get better at it so hopefully this is my year to do that.

Speaking of a big snow year... we are currently waiting on another storm to hit us tonight and tomorrow that should bring us a few more inches of snow.  Let's hope it continues!

Riding Yogi and Jerry Of The Day

There's a mountain bike trail in North Lake Tahoe called Yogi's.  Saturday, Mike and I met up with some of his friends to ride it.  It's a slow and steady climb up a fire road followed by a nice long downhill ride.  I'm so glad we went with someone who's ridden it before because finding the trail is actually pretty tough.  You have to carry your bike through the woods until you find the trail.  Weird.  Anyway, it was pretty fun and definitely a great workout.  The views weren't bad either.

BIG THANKS TO THESE GUYS FOR LETTING A GIRL TAG ALONG! 

 Saturday night was HALLOWEEN!  We usually don't like to dress up for Halloween and we definitely didn't plan to this year.  Then, Mike's friend invited us over to their new house in Reno and we had to come up with last minute costumes.  SO... we decided to be the "Jerry of the Day."  For those of you wondering what this means... here's a idea:

"A Jerry is an individual who exhibits a true lack of understanding for their sport, or for life in general."  If you want to see more Jerry's of the Day, you can go to jerryoftheday.net.  

The Jerry of the Day was started by a guy named Colton on Instagram and it's really caught on.  It's basically a picture or video of anyone doing something wrong or stupid in a sport.  So, naturally, there are a lot of skiing pictures.  In skiing, a Jerry would be someone who wears their helmet backwards, or puts their goggles on upside down.  It might be someone who skis in jeans and a sweatshirt... or someone who might tuck those jeans inside their ski boots... like THIS:

WE ARE JERRY AND GERALDINE OF THE DAY! 

We had a blast at the party seeing all the little kiddos dressed up.  We ate tons of good food... had some good drinks... then headed home to turn back our clocks 1 hour!  Hallelujah!  I love getting an extra hour.

Meanwhile in NC on Saturday, two of our dear friends GOT HITCHED!!!!!!  Congratulations to Nick and Jessica!  Wanna hear the BEST part of this story?  They are currently on an airplane... headed to TAHOE!!!!  They are coming to stay with US!  So pumped.  Can't wait for them to get here!

Wanna hear some other good news????  THERE IS SNOW IN THE FORECAST!!!!!  It's cloudy and overcast out (and super windy) and there's a storm blowing in that's supposed to bring some snow tomorrow!!!  Let's hope this is the start of a very snowy winter for Tahoe. We definitely need it! 

Mike's Birthday Weekend

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a LONG time.  We had a lot of fun stuff planned.  Saturday we were going to do a long bike ride in the crisp fall air... BUT, instead we ended up taking Zater to the vet for a persistent and worsening cough.  According to the vet he "probably" has bronchitis... not sure how he got it but we started antibiotics and cough medicine and he already seems a bit better.  

Saturday afternoon we went down to Taylor Creek to check out the salmon again and guess what???  This time we saw a bear!  A big one. We tried to take some pictures but none really came out.  It was pretty exciting though.  

Saturday night we went to a friends house for game night with a bunch of other people.  It was a blast.  We had chili and cornbread and salad.  Mike and I brought homemade cheesecake and oreos for his birthday.  I think we all laughed until we cried!  It was a blast.  

Sunday we headed off to Apple Hill... one of our FAVORITES!!!  We made our usual stops and ate apple donuts, bbq pork sandwiches, drank apple cider, and bought our Thanksgiving and Christmas apple pies!  We also picked up a couple of jars of apple butter and apple jelly.  Our friends have kids and it was cute to see them jumping around on hay bales and drinking cider, etc.  

So that brings us to today, which is my sweet husband's birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!!  So we're headed to our favorite sushi restaurant for dinner, probably followed by eating the rest of the cheesecake while opening his present from me.  

With ALL of those fun activities, you probably would've thought that this blog would have pictures.  Well, I was apparently having too much fun and didn't take a single picture!  Sorry for those of you who "read" this blog for the pictures.  I'll try to do better.  

Welcome Fall

It was just a normal fall weekend for us.  Friday night we went grocery shopping which was pretty lame.

Saturday, we spent all day at an Avalanche Workshop learning about how to make smart decisions in the back country.  There were lots of speakers with various perspectives (meteorologists, professional skiers/snowboarders, etc).  It was informative... and there was free beer afterwards... so a pretty good day.  It was chilly and rainy all day anyway, so it was a GREAT day to sit indoors.  The absolute best part of the whole day was leaving for lunch and seeing a dusting of snow on the highest elevations!

Sunday morning we woke up to a "brown pow day."  This is a reference to perfect mountain biking conditions after a rain storm.  The trails around here are typically sandy and dusty.  The rain (which we get so rarely) makes the dirt slightly more compact and easier to ride.  When you get fresh snow, it's called a powder day... so when you get fresh rain, it's called a brown powder day.

So we both went mountain biking... but not together.  Mike wanted to do a long ride and I wanted to do a short ride so I could get home to finish laundry, etc. It was AWESOME.  The dirt was great.  Lots of people were out and everyone was excited.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures (except a couple on facebook).  Sorry folks.  But, next weekend is Mike's birthday weekend and we're headed to Apple Hill for a plethora of fall activities!  Stay tuned!

The Secret is Out!

Whew... for the last few weeks I've been scared to post anything for fear of accidentally revealing the surprise!  Well, now it's over!  Hallelujah!  No more secrets!

But first, let's back it up a little bit.  Last weekend was pretty awesome too!  Mike and I went up to Squaw for Oktoberfest.  We had several reasons for going... 1) it sounded like a good time... beer and brats... why not?  2) Some friends needed us to watch their daughter while they worked at the event.  3) We've been wanting to hike up there for quite a while and just never made the time to do it.  So, we asked our friends to bring their hiking backpack for their daughter and we strapped her on Mike's back and we set off up the mountain.

NOTICE MIKE'S FESTIVE SOCKS... I LOVE BEER!

NOT A LEISURELY HIKE THROUGH THE WOODS. 

SHIRLEY LAKE... NEAR THE END OF THE HIKE. 

I thought this would be a leisurely hike in the woods.... NOPE!  It was steep.  And the trail was NOT well marked at all.  And it was pretty much all bouldering and very little "trail walking."  People who passed us often commended Mike on his strength for carrying a baby on his back all the way up.  The look on their faces was PRICELESS if we let it slip that it was not our baby. We got looks of shock, followed by curiosity, followed by genuine fear (I think) that they were potentially witnessing a kidnapping.  Naturally, we followed up with "we're babysitting," and their faces relaxed.

Then... there was this past weekend.  Mike and I left on Thursday afternoon for RDU!  We picked up our rental car and headed to his dad's house.  We had Friday to plan and prepare for the party. We drove all over town in the rain running errands and visiting as many people as we could along the way.  Friday night we were able to have dinner with friends... we stayed with friends... then we headed to Wendell Saturday morning for the BEST SURPRISE EVER!!!!!

For those who don't know: my parents have been married for a whopping 49 years!!!  I admit, we may have thought it was 50 and that's why we planned this surprise party for them, but I'm so happy it was actually their 49th because I think that helped us keep it a surprise!  Next year I think they would've been suspicious.  I won't lie, the rain threw a little bit of a kink in our original plans, but thanks to my awesome brother, his wife and my parents best friends, we had another place (an indoor location at that) lined up in no time and the party went off without a hitch.

SURPRISE!

MY MOM'S FACE WHEN SHE SAW MIKE AND I

LOTS OF HUGS

BLESS THEIR YOUNG, ADORABLE HEARTS!

FOR SOME REASON, I JUST LOVE THIS PICTURE.  I CAN'T
REMEMBER WHAT WAS BEING SAID. 

It was totally worth the secrets and hiding and lying to see the look on my parents faces when they saw everyone there to support them.  So again, a big thank you to everyone who drove through hurricane Joaquin to be there!  Mom and Dad - we are so proud of you both.  We admire your love and commitment to each other.  We are so grateful to have you as role models for our own marriage.  Thank you for everything.

I have TONS of pictures from the party but the lighting inside was pretty bad and they need lots of editing.  So stay tuned for more pictures to come at a later date.

It was SO unbelievably great to see so many of our family members in one place!  I haven't seen these people in sooo long and a family reunion was way overdue for me.  An added bonus to the weekend was that it was homecoming at my parents church.  So, we all got to join them in that celebration as well.  And Mike and I had a blast playing with our FAVORITE nephew and niece.

Mike and I flew back to Tahoe Monday afternoon... finished out our work week and then celebrated Tahoe in all it's fall glory on a long bike ride on Saturday.  I honestly can't pick a favorite season in Tahoe.  SPRING is beautiful because everything takes on that new green color.  I LOVE SUMMER... the weather couldn't be more perfect.  But, I also LOVE winter because it's beautiful and we still spend every day outside playing.  But, FALL!!!!  Oh my goodness how I love fall in Tahoe!  The aspens turn gold and it's just insanely beautiful!  Saturday's bike ride highlighted why I love fall in Tahoe:

SADLY, THAT MUD PIT USED TO BE A LAKE.
IT'S COMPLETELY DRY.  WE ARE DEFINITELY IN A DROUGHT. 

SNACK TIME BEFORE THE CLIMB STARTS. 

FROM THIS POINT YOU CAN SEE MARLETTE LAKE (closest),
LAKE TAHOE (biggest), FALLEN LEAF (other side of Lake Tahoe). 

THE RIDGELINE WAS SUPER WINDY!!!! 

LOOKING DOWN AT MARLETTE LAKE AND THE
BEAUTIFUL FALL COLORS. 

RIDING INTO THE FALL COLORS!

WHAT A PERFECT FALL RIDE! 

MARLETTE LAKE

LOTS OF BIKES!!!! 

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW FROM THE FLUME TRAIL
(in my opinion).
LOOKING DOWN ON SAND HARBOR.  

It's been a fantastic couple of weeks.  We are excited about things to come in the next few weeks!  Stay tuned!