Mikey's Big Day

So on Wednesday Mike turned 26!!! Its really funny to me to think about us being the age we are because it does not seem that long ago that we were in high school!!! Its really crazy because I remember when Matt turned 21... and I remember sitting there thinking "Wow!! Matt is a freaking grown-up!!"  Now here we are five years older than that age, which lets remember Matt is three years older than me.  He's almost 30... just kidding Matt!!! Have to get that in there as much as possible.  Anyways for Mikey's birthday I took him to a restaurant on Santana Row.  The place was called Roux Louisiana Style Kitchen.... super super good!! Mike has been on a southern food kick lately... so he totally loved it!! But it was his first time going to Santana Row, which I warned him was a really richy place, but he had no idea!! The sense of entitlement from people was amazing!! But whatever... it was a great night!!  Of course in Burkholder family tradition, birthdays last at least a week, so tonight we are going to Del a Torres with both families!!! Another good night about to come!!! YAY!! Happy Birthday Mikey!!!

The Olympics

One thing on my bucket list was crossed off this weekend!!! I was able to go to the Olympics!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Granted we did it by flying by the seat of our pants, but hey everything worked out!! We crossed the boarder on Saturday, and I was really hoping that the person checking passports would say "Welcome home!", but no such luck!!  However, we did get lucky with a hotel room!! We actually found one, granted it was a motel that was a little sketchy...lol.  Anyways, when we got to Surrey, the town that we were staying in, we took the metro to Vancouver, which is a lot like Bart.  Vancouver is a beautiful city and the Olympics just made is more amazing!! There were so many people everywhere!!! But everyone was really friendly and decked out in in their country's flag.  It was a little overwhelming to be honest.  The first day we were there we just went to dinner and walked over to the torch.  It was somewhat surreal to see the torch in person.  The next day we went to the area where hockey and curling were being played, to try and get tickets.  Scalpers were selling ice hockey tickets anywhere from $400.00 to $2,500.00 depending on who was playing.  We thought we were pretty screwed with tickets, but then the box office released some tickets after the game started.  So we got tickets to the Russia vs. Chech Republic hockey game for eighty bucks!!! It was so unbelievable to be apart of an  Olympic Game!!!  After the game, Mike was able to come and meet up with us.  We all went to a bar to watch the Canada USA hockey game.  

Seattle

On Thursday Katie and I drove from here to Seattle!!! It took about 14 hours to get there, which honestly wasn't that bad. We stayed at Brea and Mike's house, which is a super cute 1930's style condo.  On Friday Katie and I went to the Space Needle.  It was super cool!!! It is over 60 stories tall!! It was really nice and we had lunch up at the top... clam chowder in a bread bowl!! AMAZING!! Although the bread was definitely not as good as San Francisco!! We could not have asked for a better day... it was blue skies and you could see Mt. Rainier!! So beautiful!!! After the space needle we walked down to Pike's Place, which is a HUGE farmer's market.  It was really cool to see all the stuff and see the people throwing the fish!! after we went to the market we went to see a Washington stealth game, which is an indoor lacrosse team that Brea and Mike work at.  They got us free tickets!!! Thanks guys!!! It was a lot of fun!!! After that we went to a bar and went dancing... which was a lot of fun.  The bars are definitely different than     California. 

The next day we left for the Olympics... after we got back we spent one more day in Seattle before coming back home.  We went to Brea and Mike's favorite restaurant...which was super super good!! we just loaded up on tons of seafood!! Awesome!!! We took a ferry to Bainsbridge, which is a super cute little town, that actually looks a lot like downtown Pleasanton.  It was a really great trip to Seattle, which is a gorgeous city!! Way clean!! But it was really good to see Brea and Mike...Thanks again guys!!

Valentines Day

Mike and I actually were able to get away for a weekend and celebrate Valentines Day!!! I think it was our first Valentines Day celebration in eight or nine years!! Anyways, we went to Tahoe, to the cabin for the weekend.  We spent most of the weekend watching the Olympics... the short track speed skating was AMAZING!!!  Go USA!!! We were also able to get together with Tyler and hang out on Sunday, so that was a lot of fun.  Sunday night we went to CalNeva Casino and won 226 dollars!!! And no Gabs we didn't put in the New York jar cause the Carrolla didn't pass smog, so we used it for that.  Oh the good times of being a grown up!!! anyways we won it playing roullette...
I won most of it, not to brag ;0)  But it was a much
needed weekend away!!! I love Tahoe!!!  Hopefully, we get to go back soon!!! Cause I would love to go snowboarding or sledding... but this time there was not snow on the streets so sledding was out and Mike is still unable to go snowboarding because of his ankle.  I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day and got to spend it with the one they love!!!

Snow Gabby

When the
girls and I went to the snow we decided to make a snow Gabby, just like how Gabby and Jason made a snow Ashley.   We did our very best and worked till it was dark outside.  No one ever told us that making a snowman is extremely difficult!!! We all thought it would take about an hour and it would be human height... well none of our estimates were correct.  Snow Gabby turned into quite the project and she did not get very tall... as you can see from the pictures... lol.  For her face we used walnuts and baby carrot, which did not stay very well, so sometimes snow Gabby looked mad or had no nose.  But I guess its not too bad for a bunch of California kids and a Florida kid! Snow Gabby turned into snow Tori because the snow began to fall and collect in the bottom back half...lol Tor!!! So it was nice to have tori and Gabby there in snow form!! Cause we missed you guys!!!

Tahoe with the Girls...

A few weeks ago... yes I am a little late on posting this!! But I had a NCLEX exam to pass, which I did!! and now I am an RN!!! Whoo hoo!!! Anyways before I started studying Kim, Molly, Sam, Tweedy, and I went to Tahoe for a girls weekend away.  It was a really, really, really, fun trip!!  We went to Mt. Rose to go snowboarding... we took lessons because none of us are very good, but it was well worth it!! Kim was probably the funniest during the lesson cause she took out our instructor... lol!!! Priceless!! But we had a good instructor, so he handled the collision very well.
After the lesson Tweedy and I went on a run and
Molly and Sam went on a run... Kim went to the lodge cause she fell on her butt one too many times :0) we all got down the run without incident... but when we got to the bottom I unhooked my board and it shot down a hill!!! I went running after it while the hundreds of people around just pointed and laughed or yelled "board on the loose!" With a diving save and a snow mobile, the board finally came to a stop... only for me to return to the lodge to find Tweedy buckled over crying cause she was laughing so hard!! That night we cam home and went sledding... we had many races down the hill in front of the cabin.  Very good time!! And very, very funny!! Sam got MVP of the sledding because she could maneuver that sled like no ones business!! Although she later admitted she had now idea what she was doing.  lol.  Overall, it was a very successful trip!!! And I can't wait till we go again!!! But we definitely missed Gabby and Tori!!! So we made a snow Gabby that later turned into a snow Tori... but thats next post.