Monterey and a Joint Baby Shower

I was so excited to have some fun things to blog about from last week, but the unexpected news of my grandfather dying delayed my entries. So . . . after attending Grandpa Karl's funeral on Saturday and spending the bulk of the week with family (I got to see my sister, Susan, and her little boy, Sam, which was really exciting), I can now settle back down in my normal life.

My parents' turn for the Monterey Beach House came up on Thursday, January 24. They were not able to go because my dad broke his kneecap earlier in the month. My brothers and their families couldn't go either, so Scott and I decided we would go and invite some friends to come with us. So Thursday night, the Morgans and the Perrymans took off for Monterey.

Our first morning there, we woke up and went to First Awakenings where Andrew and Tiffani discovered that indeed it was not a church, but a restaurant with really good breakfast foods.

We spent the day walking on the beach, playing a little Jenga, watching "Edward Scissorhands," and meeting up with Hilary, Brian, and Brennen Wiest (they used to live up here, but moved for Brian's assignment in the CHP).

Tiffani, Hilary, me

Carson is always smiling. He is so happy, even when it's sprinkling and cold outside, and he even had a cough.

The Wiests introduced us to a new restaurant in Monterey called Hula's. I was skeptical at first, thinking everything was going to be loaded with pineapple, but was really impressed with the food (I craved it for a week after). They had amazing sweet potato fries (which I had never had before and highly recommend), really good fish tacos, and I had really good cheeseburger with caramelized onions, bleu cheese, and lettuce and tomato. It may be my new favorite restaurant in Monterey. After dinner all of us went back to the beach house and talked and played Yahtzee.

Brian and Scott

Brennen eating sweet potato fries. Yummy. Our second and last day in Monterey, we went to the aquarium (thanks to Hilary getting us free tickets from the library). Scott plotted out our tour where we saw all kinds of beautiful and strange fish and other ocean life. The strangest fish was this huge square thing called a Sunfish. It was in swimming with the white shark, hammerhead sharks, and massive tuna.

Energizing for the aquariumThe sunfish. It's so weird looking! And it's HUGE!Andrew and CarsonTiffani and Carson checking out the hermit crabsScott making friends with a seagull

That night, we watched "What About Bob" and just relaxed. (We couldn't decide when "What About Bob" was made, and we couldn't find it on the DVD case, so I called my beautiful, wonderful sister, Susan, to have her look it up. It wasn't until the next day while driving home that I had forgotten that the day before was Susan's birthday. I'm such a dunce).

Anyway, we had a great time in Monterey and can't wait to go back again.

And tonight, our friends, Brad and Reiko Lamb, came up to visit. They stayed with the Ashby's who threw them a joint baby shower (they're having a baby girl name Caylee). Scott was at work, so I went by myself.

The ladies (Catherine, me, Tiffani, Reiko, Leslie, Amanda)The gents (Tommy, Brad, Ben, Josh, Andrew)Brad and ReikoJosh and Catherine (she's pregnant with a baby boy)Tiffani, Ben, and Andrew all performed karaoke