Carters Come to Cali

My parents got to come see us last October, which was great, but they only got to stay for a few days.  With my mom out of school for the summer, this time they got to stay for ten days!

They got here last Thursday night & we left Friday to spend the weekend at Yosemite.  Grayson & I had been wanting to go back every since we went last fall.  I got a new camera lens for my birthday in January & that made me want to go back even more.  And my parents hadn't been & wanted to go, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

Five minutes in Yosemite & you feel so small.  In a good way.

I should also mention that ever since a Reader's Digest article about 10 years ago that left my mom scarred, she has been terrified of bears.  An unnatural fear since most of the time she would only ever even see a bear at the zoo.  And I had told her about how when we went, I looked for bears the whole time & didn't see a single one.

And then when we'd been in the park for less than an hour, we run into this guy.

Thanks, bear.  Great start to this trip.  You just had to go for that snack that some not-so-bright campers left for you.

Our initial reactions were funny to me though.

me: With shaky hands I changed to my zoom lens & started taking his picture, of course.

Grayson: Ran back to the car to store the pop tarts he was eating.  Because the real catastrophe would be if the bear got his beloved pop tarts.

Mama: Ran back to the car & got irritated with Grayson for not unlocking it fast enough.

Daddy: Walk closer to the bear.  The apparently hungry bear.  Good idea.

Thankfully there were no more bear encounters after that.  A few almost-encounters when we came to an area that a bear had just left, but we didn't ever see any more.  I asked my mom if she felt like now she'd conquered her fear & was a better person.  Her answer: NO.

My brother got my dad some binoculars for Father's Day, & they were definitely put to good use all weekend.

Squirrel with a view :)  While we're on the topic of squirrels, I should say that it was a squirrel that alerted us of the bear.

Last time, we didn't get to go see the giant sequoias so it was great to get to go to that part of the park this time.

Snow in June!

After we got back from Yosemite, the week was pretty relaxed.  A day in Santa Cruz, a short trip to San Francisco (basically couldn't see anything because of the fog), a lot of trips to the pool & hot tub, a few games, & losing at putt-putt, as always.

Great visit with my family!  Grayson's dad & stepmom come in a week or so & then his mom & stepdad in September.  Then we'll be making the trip home for Christmas this year!

Now we've just got to get these people out here so I can meet Everly before she's grown!  She's 2 months old...about time she sees some of the world.

P.S. Our shop is having a little sale this week to celebrate our one month birthday!  Use the code ONEMONTH for 20% off through Friday!

1st Trip Home!

Last week we finally got to go home for a visit...our first trip back to Georgia since we moved almost 7 months ago.  We got to stay with Grayson's parents for a few days & then with my parents.  Thanks to the odd winter Georgia is having, they got their second snow of the season & we ended up having to change our plans around a little bit, but were glad we got to see as many people as we did!

My parents saved the top layer of our wedding cake for us, so on our 1 year (+ 44 day...) anniversary, we got to eat it!  It was surprisingly good!

Can't wait to go back as soon as possible...I'll really be wanting to after May 5th because I'll be dying to get my hands on a little baby Hollenbeck girl!

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.