The other side of the Bay....

This past Friday Josh and I decided to go on a little road trip...only about a 30 min. car ride both ways.....we decided to go and see what was on the other side(north) from us. We knew that the city was Santa Cruz...but we were curious as to what it had to offer. Well...let me just tell you that that is where we should have been all summer! While we have the cool mild temps....they have the real heat....with palm trees....big beaches....and surfers....! It was fun to walk along the water and see all the surfers out waiting to catch a wave! That was the first time I had actually seen real surfers surfing in real life! We also found another mall....that is just about as far as the mall we usually go to but in a different directions.....and it has better stores and isn't as scary as the Salinas mall. If you don't believe me look up how many shootings and homicides have happened in that city this year a lone......CREEPY! Anyways.....Josh and I decided to go and see a movie while we were there and then drive back along the water. On our way back we found another super cute little town called Capitola! It is my new favorite place! It is a little beach town...will a bunch of cute little shops and cute little water front restaurants.....I know you may think that it sounds like Monterey....but Monterey is WAY touristy....not so quaint like this little place.
In other news...Josh got a 4.0 is first Quarter (straight A's in all classes). I am so proud of him. He is really enjoying being back in school and learning....NERD! He started his 2nd Quarter yesterday. He isn't too excited about his Monday Wednesday classes this quarter because he has to be at school from 8am to 5pm......heaven forbid he actually go to school the same hours as civilians go to work....at least he only goes til noon on Tuesday Thursday and still has no Friday classes!
Have a good week!

Surfers waiting to catch a wave...
A few of them caught one....
One of the Santa Cruz Beaches.....

1 Quarter down....? to go....

Just wanted to update you on Josh. He has officially finished his firt quarter at NPS. It had two finals on Monday and two yesterday. He now has 5 days off before starting his next quarter. He will be taking Statistics for Management and Economics, Managerial Accounting, Principles of Corporate Finance, Primer for Policy Ananlysis, and Management of Defense Acquisition Projects. Sounds boring to me. Anyway...only one of is final grades has been posted and he of course got an A. Which I am sure there others will have the same result. This Sunday we have a new membership class at our church so we will get to know more about the church and how we can get connected.....and for those wondering my Monday night bible study is going good so far. This past week was week 2 and we discussed the homework material ( or nightly devotions) from the week before...and next week we watch another video. Have a good rest of the week...and oh....Happy Late Birthday to Aunt Kathy!

Got Wine?

Josh and I have been keeping pretty busy lately. He has finals on Monday and Tuesday of this coming week so he has been busy with final projects.....papers.....and getting his final reviews. I have been busy with work as usual....but we did have a chance this past Friday to go on a wine tasting bus tour. We just had to pay $4.25 and could ride the bus all day long to any winery....and back home. It was so much fun. We only stopped at 5 wineries...we figured that that was more than enough tasting for one afternoon. We started out at Morgan winery...which some of you may be familiar with...A LOT of restruants in 48 states serve their wine.(www.morganwinery.com) We picked up a Sauvignon Blanc at this winery. I really liked it...Josh couldn't decide what he liked the best so I got to pick. After Morgan we hopped back on the bus and headed out to Carmel Village...which by the way Aunt Kathy and Daddy would LOVE! It is definitely a must see if you make it out here Aunt Kathy and when you come back to visit Daddy! Anyways...we went to the other 4 there. There was like 8 with in walking distance in Carmel Village....it was a wine lovers DREAM! Our first stop in the village was Boekenoogen winery (www.boekenoogenwines.com) We really liked the wine there but ending up getting a wine that they were showcasing for another vineyard called Pacheco Ranch and we got the Cabernet Sauvignon. After Boekenoogen we decided that we should stop for lunch and get some food in us before we regreted it...so we stopped at Will's Fargo (www.willsfargo.com) and the food was really good and the atmosphere was even better! After eating we headed over to Chateau Sinnet winery(www.chateausinnet.com) . The guy giving the tastings was CRAZY...but that is a whole nother story in itself. We got a dessert wine there it is a Blackberry Chagall...I think we will be using that one for cooking with steak and what not. Our fourth stop was Bernardus winery (www.bernardus.com) but didn't really like their wines much so we didn't buy anything from them. Our final stop was Joullian winery (www.joullian.com) and had made it just in time for a special release party and got free cheese and crackers and got to meet the owner and maker of the wines. We picked up and Zinfandel Rose there. That concluded our wine tasting tour for the day. We were pretty tired and full of wine by that time so we decided to head back to the house.

This past Monday was the first night of the womens bible study that I joined at our church here. We are doing a Beth Moore Study- Believing God. It is suppose to be a 9 week series but we are doing it slower because it is so intense....so it is going to be a 20 week series and we meet every Monday night. There are about 15-20 women in the study....and of all ages. I am really excited about the study and about getting to know the other ladies better. Here is a website for the church we go to here....just in case anyone is interested.... www.shorelinechurch.org

On Tuesday Josh and I went to the Farmers Market. I forgot my camera so I couldn't take pictures of the market like I keep meaning to. Unfortunetly none of the flowers this week were anyhting that I really wanted. But I did get this really cute hand made dress! I absolutely love it! It is probably my favorite dress right now! Here is a picture of it......

I couldn't get a good picture of the full thing but I like that it has long sleeves....
This is a close up of the bottom....my favorite part

Back in the Days.....

I found this funny thing on one of my friends blogs and decided to try it with Josh and I! It turned out pretty funny! You all should try it too.....

PS...I will update the blog on what has been going on tomorrow when I am off work! Enjoy!

Amanda.....in the year


1950
1954
1960
1962
1968

1976
1984
1994
2000
Josh...in the year....

1952

1968

1974
1976
1984
1990