Benefit for Janet Wolf

Ok... So I'm catching up on some posting....
A while ago, I attended a benefit with Ty honoring Janet Wolf who has been a big voice for firefighters in Santa Barbara County. It was held at Tucker's Grove park. There was great food, some good conversation, and Kayda got to tag along too! Who wouldn't want to spend an afternoon with a bunch of wonderful fire fighters???

Boys chattin it up with Janet...


Kayda enjoying the day


Nice little set up


um...ya... he's mine :)


gotta love the tent!

Up the Trail...

So... Kayda and I are big hikers. Even though we/ I can't hike very fast, we love to enjoy the sights, sounds and water. On this hike, I tried to take some pictures of things I thought were particularly beautiful and interesting "cute and fun". Kayda and I frequent Cold Springs trail and Hot spring trail. They are semi populated so I don't feel like I will be alone for very long if my phone doesn't get service or I fall and break my ankle. The pictures from this hike are from Cold Springs trail. I posted from a hike that me, ty and kayda went on with the great waterfalls... that was Cold Springs as well... just a different off shoot from the same trail. It took us about 1/2 hour longer to finish the hike but it was well worth it. Stop and slow down the next time you are taking an everyday walk and notice all the things you hadn't before :)

Everything was sooo lush and green!


These were interesting


Happy Dog


Looking up


Leaves of 3, Let them be!


Little hazy on the horizon but quite a view!


Kayda = faster than lighting and usually waiting for me....


Remember this stuff from elementary school "Sour grass"? I would always chew on it at recess.. wouldn't touch it for the life of me now...





this thing was huge!







Pretty waterfall

Fish Tacos and Smiles

We caught up with our dearest friends Sofia, Charlie and their little (big) girl Luna the other day for some much needed laughter and sunshine. We headed down to Shoreline beach Cafe for some Fish Tacos. They are the best fish tacos you will ever have by the way :) I had grilled halibut tacos... Yum! Aside from the tacos... we had sooo much fun spending time together and relaxing!

Ty loves taking pictures ;)


Cute little girl!


Ty and Luna

Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake

Sad picture I know... lighting and my picture taking skills are poor! I promise it tastes better than it looks!


Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake

Ingredients
40 Nilla Wafers crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
4 Pkgs (8oz each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened, divided
1 cup sugar, divided
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp vanilla, divided
3 eggs
1 tub Cool Whip (8 oz), thawed


Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-in spring form pan.

Beat 3 Pkgs cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake, cool completely in pan.

Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in Cool Whip; spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours. Remove rim of pan before serving cheesecake. Garnish with fresh berries if desired.

*Recipe from Kraft Foods 2010

Optional Strawberry Sauce:
I had a bunch of wonderful strawberries from farmer's market that I needed to eat up so I found this recipe for strawberry sauce on the back of the cream cheese wrapper :)

2 cups fresh strawberries
2 Tbsp zest and 2 Tbsp juice from 1 orange, divided
1 Tsp sugar

*Recipe from Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese Box

Blend strawberries in blender until smooth; strain. Stir in orange juice and remaining sugar. Serve spooned over Cheesecake slices.

Getaway

So about one month ago, I decided Ty and I needed a little getaway. I did lots of research... asked friends for advice on where to go, what to do and any interesting things to see along the way. My final decision was to go to Avila Beach and relax. By the way... it was a suprise! I was sooo excited AND a little stressed about (a) keeping it a suprise and (b) leaving our little puppy :( So it came down to the last few days. I had booked our room at the Sycamore Springs Resort and Spa , figured out how to surprise Ty and even packed his suitcase :) The night before we were supposed to leave, he calls me from work very excited.... He asks me if I would like to get away for a couple days and go up to Avila and stay at the Sycamore Springs...... WHAT?!?!?!?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?!??! I was soooo dumbfounded. I had to let the suprise go now... I told him that I had ALREADY booked us a room and we were leaving the next day. Ty was very excited and I realized that this is one of the fabulous reasons why we are married <3 href="http://www.sunstonewinery.com/">Sunstone Winery and then paid a visit to Ty's old station in Solvang.

Sweet picnic tables


It was sunny and beautiful


We had to take a bottle for later...


Then we were on the road up to Avila. I had taken an Ibuprofin on a not so full tummy and ended up tossing my cookies on the way up... nice way to start the trip :( No pictures of that thank goodness!

When we reached Sycamore it was fairly late... about 5:30. We checked out our room which had a mineral springs hot tub on the deck :) We hopped right in to relax. We were sooo pooped after our day that we crashed at 7:30!!!! Are we old or are we old???? I guess you know you need a vacation when you get to a fancy hotel and fall asleep at 7:30!

The next day we grabbed breakfast at the Fat Cat Cafe. We both ordered Stuffed French toast!


Then met up with our friends Chris and Erin. Ty went through the Fire Academy with Chris back in April. They recently got engaged!!! They are amazing people who have tons of fun and we have tons of fun being around. We woke up early and met up with them to go on a hike. It was sooo beautiful. They live in San Luis Obispo and you can see this mountain we hiked up all around the city. I of course forgot my camera on the hike but luckily Chris had his phone. He will email me photos and I will post them soon!

After a brutal hike, we ate some lunch at Gus's. Its a popular sandwich spot in the town. Erin and I both ordered half sandwiches and what we received were hardly halves at all! Great food and a neat patio to relax on!

The adventure continued.... Chris and Erin met us back at Sycamore to take a little dip in one of the Resort's private mineral tubs. Guests can rent out the mineral hot tubs for an hour at a time and you dont even have to stay at the Resort! We even brought champagne and strawberries and made a little romantic date out of it :) Of course I forgot my camera AGAIN! Sorry this post is just a lot of words without pictures!

That evening we went to Giuseppe's for dinner. Very nice, light Italian food. Chris ordered TWO desserts... He read my mind. After dinner, we visited the local popular hang out and then headed back to our room.

Granny Biz lives up in Avila so we made it a point to visit her! We met her Saturday morning for a walk on the beach with her dog Babe.



We ate breakfast together at Spyglass Restaurant and then stopped at Woodstone Marketplace before heading home. We ATE and ATE and ATE the whole trip but it was great to relax and enjoy the company of friends and family!

Avila Board walk


Ty Swinging :)


More pictures to come soon!