Lake Tahoe

A few weeks ago I asked Grayson what he wanted to do for our anniversary.  I was really just asking if he wanted to try out a nicer restaurant we'd never been to or something like that, but he suggested going to Tahoe for a long weekend!  I've wanted to go ever since my friend Emily was a summer missionary there in 2007 (we even got to see her church on our trip!), so as soon as we started planning to move to California, it was in my plans to go since it's only a few hours from us.

We left Saturday morning, drove to Kirkwood to get our ski rentals so we could start first thing Sunday morning, & then just drove around some, walked on a snowy beach, got checked into our hotel, & walked around South Lake Tahoe a bit.

Sunday morning we were at the ski slopes before the lifts even opened.  We both love to ski (Grayson usually snowboards), so it's great that we're just a few hours from good ski slopes!  We skied most of the day on Sunday.  It was a perfect day...blue skies & no wind, so it wasn't too cold. 

We went back to our hotel & got ready for dinner.  Grayson had read online about a little Italian place in South Lake Tahoe, so we went there for dinner, which included creme brulee style cheesecake (combining two of my favorite desserts!).

Monday we left early to drive around the whole lake.  We were talking on the way home that night about how I am such a planner, sometimes too much, & Grayson is much more spontaneous.  That's good for us though.  I would never plan to just drive.  I would have every hour of every day booked with what to do.  But I've gotten used to Grayson's drives & have come to love them...when we go somewhere with no particular schedule, we just stop when we see somewhere pretty or interesting & it's a lot of fun.  (And on the flipside...I give him a schedule, so he has clean clothes & food in the pantry!)

Tahoe is definitely our favorite place.  We said that when we went to Yosemite a few months ago, but when we stood on a beach by the lake & saw the sun set behind the mountains, it won us over.

It was just the perfect weekend.  Even the drive home was so nice.  We were both talking about our favorite parts of the past year.  We have been so blessed during our first year of marriage.  We both just feel like God has clearly met every need.  He has provided just what we needed in every way, from finances, to a place to live (even picking one online from across the country), to friends, a church, & a great friendship with each other.

Some of our "greatest hits" of this year...

• The whole wedding day.  Every bit of it was perfect.
• Honeymoon.  We loved our 2 days in Atlanta & I can't wait to go stay at the Westin downtown again one day.  Then we had such a relaxing, fun week in the Dominican.
• Coming home & our apartment being our home.
• Our visit to California in February to consider moving.  Our prayers answered as God made it perfectly clear that we were supposed to move.
• The move.  You know how after all the chaos of planning a wedding, the honeymoon is such a great, relaxing week?  That's kind of how our move was.  Even though it was a drive across the country, once we were in the car, it felt like the honeymoon.  At that point, everything was done, we just had the drive.  And we made an adventure of it.
• Our weekend at Yosemite.
• Finding friends & a church here.
• Watching every episode of Friends together.  This may seem dumb.  But I love Friends.  So it was a requirement that Grayson see every episode.  We started when we were dating & finished up a month or so after we'd been married.  I loved seeing him get attached to the characters & laugh at all my favorite parts.

This has been such a great year.  Can't wait to see what all is in store for 2014.