Sixth Anniversary

In July, Ben arranged a date for us to celebrate six years of marriage, complete with Grandma Rowan & Aunt Emily to babysit!  We drove over to The City and had, arguably (or not), the best dinner we've ever eaten at a fancy restaurant called Boulevard.  Next time we're in SF I think we must go back.

a tandem bike across the golden gate bridge

Lately, I've been perusing a blog written by a group of Mormon women.  I've been reading mainly posts that deal with infertility, but there is a lot of good stuff on there.  One lady gives this short description of her soul during the trial of infertility:

{{ ...by the end of my experience my soul had been scrubbed raw.  There are many mentions of "the refiner's fire" in the scriptures, but not being a jeweler or a blacksmith, those metaphors don't really connect with me.  Since my day is filled with dirty dishes and more dirty dishes, I picture my spirit being scrubbed with an unseen S.O.S. pad.  By the end of my infertility saga my soul was standing there pale and pink and very sore. }}

This resonated with me.  I've been feeling rubbed and raw and sore.

{You can read the full post, which is actually about prayer, here.  I find it thought-provoking and inspiring.}

But this weekend, Ben and I had a really, really great time!  We ate good food, we got outside, we did something we don't do every day, and we LAUGHED.  We laughed a lot.  What a boost it has been to my mood/mentality and what a buffer to the pain/anxiety I've been feeling!   A year or so ago, I was asked to speak at a Relief Society meeting on the topic of "Laughter as Spiritual Medicine."  I didn't feel super confident in the topic and it went eh.. so-so.  But after this weekend, I fully believe that laughter IS spiritual medicine!  Ben and I laughed so much and just enjoyed being together and doing something outside of our normal routine.  How healing that was!  How wonderful!

On Friday evening, we ditched our ward camp-out (we. do. not. camp.) and went out to ice cream at the creamery and watched a couple episodes of Coach . . okay, not so out of our normal routine, but we had a great time, especially people-watching at the creamery (it's always fun to watch people try to conquer the "kitchen sink").

On Saturday, (after 2 1/2 years in the Bay Area) we checked something off of our bucket list - bike across the Golden Gate Bridge!  On a tandem bike!

We had to test out the bike and feel good with it before we could leave the rental place . . little did they know that this was NOT our first time on a tandem!

The beautiful view after biking up our first big hill of the day . . high five!

The actual bridge part of the bike ride was RIDICULOUSLY windy and cold!  But we made it, biked down into Sausalito, and dined on hamburgers, fries, and an ice cream cone in the warm, sunny park.  Then, we ferry'ed back to San Francisco and called it a day!

We had a great time, and our laughter has continued into today, and man, what a blessing.  So nice to "get away" and have fun and relax.  I am so glad I have this wonderful man to go through life with and I'm so grateful for laughter as spiritual medicine.  HA!

Ben's Century Ride

Last Saturday Ben did a 100-mile "century ride" in Marin County with our friend Ross.  Go Ben!  

Ben said the road were really bumpy, the hills were really steep, and the wind was turbulent.  Yet, for some reason, he had the best day and finished with a big smile on his face.  Then, he concluded his ride with a Double-Double.  What could be better?  (Well, I hit up the outlets for some shopping . . and that was pretty awesome.)

Check out these beautiful shots from his day.

Emily Stays

Last weekend my 8-year-old sister was our's to take care of.  What a trip she is!

The week before, I took her to the airport to fly UNACCOMPANIED to New Mexico to spend a week with cousins there.  Ben happened to have a flight at the exact same time for business.

Emily and her American Girl Doll, ready to fly by themselves.

A week later, Emily flew back, and it was our turn to take care of her!

New Mexico was clearly exhausting because any time we were in the car for more than 15 minutes, she fell asleep.  This is on the way home from the airport.

Friday night - Giant's game with Ganon/Laurel!

Asleep again, on the way home from the game.

Saturday morning - Mormon Helping Hands project with our stake at the Fred Finch Youth Center in Oakland.

Do you see the Oakland Temple in the background?

Asleep on the way from the fabric store to our afternoon hike.

My little model - Lime Ridge Open Space.

The Olde San Francisco Creamery.

Doggy print pajama pants for my little girl.

It wasn't a bad trade - we watch Emily for 4 days and receive a box of Laduree macarons straight from Paris!

dottie's/farmers' market/mt. diablo

We are so loving (a) me not working on Saturdays, (b) the beautiful 70-degrees-and-sunny weather, and (c) this fun place we live.  Saturday we went into San Francisco to brunch at Dottie's True Blue Cafe - a much-loved favorite for eggs, bacon, home fries, and buttermilk wholewheat pancakes spiced with ginger and cinnamon.  Mmm-hmmm!  To make the experience even lovelier, we only had to wait in line outside for 45 minutes.  After brunch we headed to the farmers' market at the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero for a couple hours.  It was fun to taste all the in-season fruits, some flower-flavored water, and nummy cheese.  We even bought a few things to bring home and add to our dinner.  You know, farm-to-tabling it.

Did I mention that it was a gorgeous day?!

We got an early start (7 am on a Saturday!), so we came home early afternoon and I took a nap while Ben went for a ride up Mt. Diablo.  My phone rang a couple hours later and it was Ben with his second flat tire of the day.  :(  He got his first, repaired it, and then got another, but didn't have any more spare tubes.  Poor guy!  So I headed up Mt. Diablo to rescue him.  It's quite the slow and windy drive, but I didn't mind one bit because with all of the rain we've been getting, the hills have finally turned green!

I love that California's state flower just blooms everywhere in the wild all over California.

And what a better way to end a wonderful Saturday than with a trip to The Olde San Francisco Creamery.  You will be surprised - it was our first trip there in 2014!

sausalito & rodeo beach

When I quit my work-on-Saturday job back in August, we thought that we would do lots of fun things on Saturdays, now that we had the day to spend together.  Well, we've gone to Merced once for fun and I've gone twice to babysit, but besides that we have not done much.  Granted, I have taken ballet classes on many Saturdays since then, Ben has continued to ride his bike for several hours each Saturday, and Ben has been busy working on graduate school applications.  I recently decided that we really need to take advantage of this beautiful area and all that it has to offer because who knows how long we will be here!  We picked a date and set it aside to do something fun together.  That day was yesterday and we spent the day in Sausalito and then Rodeo Beach.  What a delight.  Hopefully we can keep this up and do more fun things.

First stop: Napa Valley Burger Co.  This is my "Napa Junior" - junior, it was not.  But tasty, it certainly was!

Last time we were in Sausalito we got ice cream cones and enjoyed the view.  I suppose with it being February and all, it made sense that this time we got hot chocolate and enjoyed the view.  San Francisco looked so dang good across the Bay!  So clear and so splendid.

When we'd had our fill of Saus . . it's perfectly delightful but rather small . . we drove a couple of miles to outside of the Bay.  Rodeo Beach.  So little and cute and pretty!  We watched some surfers (freezing their bums off, we assume) and then we hiked a little ways along the coast.  We even saw a whale blowing its poof into the air!

lately in september

Sooo, even though I may have quit my job at the end of August, September was a busy month!  I had jury duty for three drudgerous days, I've had lots of doctors appointments because my body (for which I am grateful) is often a silly thing, and then we spent a weekend down the coast at Ben's (totes impressive) triathlon.  Later in September I had some time for myself and I made this way cute wreath.  I'm totally proud of myself.  Every time I come home to this door I smile.

I also tried my hand at flower arranging.  Unfortunately it was for a funeral I was helping with, but it was neat to (kind of) learn a new skill, order flowers in bulk like a real florist, and spend an afternoon working on the arrangements.

Now I'm working with some puff paint and some pumpkins for my next craft and I'm excited. 

I also signed up for ballet classes!  Hahaha ohhhhmygoodnessss - I took my first class in 4 years on Saturday and I am still SO SORE.  I told Ben that after the second exercise my quads were quivering and I couldn't make them stop.  Then he asked me how many exercises there were in the whole class and when I said "like 50!" he died laughing.  I prepaid for 10 classes so I have to go back . . but I'm not sure my body can do it anymore!  I sure am not very graceful, and none of my leotards fit me.  Ha!

Ben's New Year's Resolution was to become a Yelp Elite, and he did!  You'll have to ask him what that is all about.  One of the perks of being a Yelp Elite is free admission to events throughout each month, and last week we got free tickets to the California Shakespeare Theater.  We saw Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" and it was totally fun - it's outside so we got to bundle up and cuddle, and the theater and surrounding area are totes gorg!

The next night my parents came up to the Bay Area and took us out to dinner and then to the San Francisco Symphony.  It was really fun and we so enjoy every time my parents come to visit us!  I love them!

 Then, I went home Sunday - Monday to babysit my siblings.  Mostly they behaved themselves and were really awesome.  ;)  They are so cute and so grown up these days!  The highlight was getting to see Tommy's final cross country meet.  He finished in first place and ended the season undefeated (so proud!!).  Here he is with his gold medal.

Things are good here in the Myers household and I honestly can't believe that it's October.  Sheesh!