Lake Tahoe or Bust! (And Reno too)

A few weeks ago, I was offered a promotion at work from assistant editor to associate editor. As kind of a way to celebrate, in addition to John and I having a four-day weekend that we didn't know what to do with, we decided to take a road trip. I have never been so spontaneous--I usually plan trips months or even years in advance! We had three weeks to spare so we booked some hotels, found some Groupons for some cheap entertainment and dining options, and we were ready for Lake Tahoe (or BUST!). We had a great time. We stopped in Wendover the first night, and then drove to Tahoe where we spent two nights. Our last night we spent in Reno. It was SO much fun! Pictures below to show all of our fun times (in no particular order)!

The road went from looking like this...

...to this! Much better.

John just hanging out at Heavenly Village.
He didn't even know I was taking a picture...

At Heavenly Village! It was so bright.
I think both of us closed our eyes, haha.

Riding the gondola to the top of the mountain to see Lake Tahoe!

The view of Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain.

John pretending like he wasn't scared to ride a ski lift.

Cave Rock. It's a 75-foot long tunnel that's sacred
 to local Native Americans. Really cool!

Beautiful Lake Tahoe!

John and I at the lake.

Another gorgeous view.

All ready to go hiking!

The beginning of our hike. It only got better!

John and I before our hike.

Check out the size of that pine cone! They were all huge!

The trees were massive...we had to demonstrate just
 how big! This is me trying to hug a tree...

...and this is John showing how short he is compared to the tree, haha.

All the pine trees were amazingly beautiful!

We made it to Vikingsholm! An easy hike down the
 mountain, but going back up was not so fun.

Vikingsholm, a Scandinavian castle built on the
shores of Lake Tahoe in the early 1900s.

The water was so clear!

John pondering life and stuff while standing in the lake.

Eagle Falls. A steep but short hike. Worth it!

John inside a tree.

And me inside a tree. We had to take this pic fast, I'm pretty
sure there were a million spiders in there.

At the Nestle Tollhouse Café. Yum!

We got a kick out of this soda. I wonder what it tastes like?

Emerald Bay

Vikingsholm again.

We went to the Wooden Boat Classic, a boat show for
wooden boats built in the 1930s and 40s. Really cool!

One of the most beautiful boats!

We of course had to stop for milkshakes during our road trip,
because it's not a road trip without a milkshake, right?

My handsome John!

Reno! It was party central downtown. People were literally dancing in the streets.

We went to a place called The Chocolate Bar, that specializes
in all things chocolate. How could I resist? Fondue for two!

*Side note: I realize I have posted a lot of junk food. I promise we
don't eat like this all the time. And we did eat fruits and vegetables too...I think..

While we were in Reno we found out our best friends Chris & Alysia
got engaged! These were our shocked and excited faces. So happy for them!

Beautiful corvette we saw at Heavenly Village during their Hot
August Nights car show. There were a ton of beautiful cars, but I really love corvettes!

Bear Lake 2014

John and I recently got the chance to spend a long weekend at Bear Lake with two of our favorite people, Becky & Charlie. Their family has a cabin so they generously offered for us to come stay with them for the weekend. We had so much fun! We played a lot of games, had a surprise party for John and Charlie (they both have July birthdays), and ate lots of good food. The boys also went golfing and we watched quite a few movies. It was such a relaxing time! Can't wait to go again next summer! Pictures of some of our adventures are below:

 

Me and Becky!

John and I in front of the lake.

Becky and Charlie in front of the lake.

Beautiful views from the golf course where we had lunch!

The boys all ready to go golfing!

While the boys golfed, Becky and I set up for the party.

We even had pin the tail on the donkey!

Our cute hubbies!

Cute collage Becky made from our weekend. John and
Charlie "DTR'd" and decided they are best friends.

Charlie getting ready to swing!

Me and Becky hanging out at the cabin!

Summer Lovin, Had Us a Blast!

I can't believe summer is basically half over! John and I have had so much fun so far. I have a bunch of random pics from the last month or so that I'll put in this post.

As far as life goes, things have been pretty good for us! The most exciting of which is a promotion I just got at work earlier this week. I was promoted from assistant editor to associate editor and I couldn't be more excited about it. It's going to be a challenge, but I know I'm ready for it! John is still doing great in school and has just 8 short months left until he is officially done with his master's degree. Yay!

Anyway, back to our summer of fun...here are a few pics. Enjoy!

Fate loves to ride shotgun in the car. We think she was a dog in another life.
I've never met a cat that actually likes car rides. She goes a lot of
places with us. She especially likes to visit her grandparents. :)

John and I at Lava Hot Springs for our anniversary! We had a fun weekend trip there.

We found this beautiful home on a drive we went on near Lava Hot Springs. Isn't it cute?!

We also saw a moose on the same drive. It was so cool! It was right by the
road and even stopped and looked at us before it ran away.
 I think this was the first time I've ever seen a moose in the wild.

One of our summer projects has been to paint and organize our garage.
I wish I would have gotten a before shot, but here's the after shot. It was a lot of hard
work and took a couple of weeks, but it's so nice now!

Another view of our organized garage!

And another view. This is technically John's "man cave."

Me and my handsome hubby! I think this was on a random date night.

John and I at Red Butte Gardens for Fitz & the Tantrums. Such a good band
and an amazing concert! We have loved Fitz since we first got married so it was pretty
cool to able to see them in concert together.

The crowd at Fitz...this doesn't do it justice! So much fun!

 

John and I on his birthday. He turned 29, can you believe it?!
Also, John's experimenting with a beard. I'm a fan!