The smashed penny swap...

Since we found out a couple months ago that Ashley's parents would be coming out to visit, Ashley and I have been so excited and began thinking of what we should do when they arrive. However, about a month ago we knew exactly what we'd be doing.

Our excitement continued to build and they finally arrived this past Thursday. I was in Florida for a conference and didn't arrive to the party until late that night. We chatted for a bit then went to sleep. In the morning we made a bee line for Tillamook cheese factory. It's an hour an a half drive on a windy road, toward the end Ashley was starting to feel car sick. We even had to pull over for few minutes so she could get some air.

Finally we arrived. Ashley and I were bursting with excitement. The first thing we did was head to the penny smashing machine to smash our pennies. Ashley and I do this everywhere we travel and so does Ashley's mom. We all love it. So we thought it was a perfect way to surprise Gaylene and Bruce with the news.

If you look closely you can see that Ashley pulls a smooth move by switching the penny that came out of the machine with one she had in her hand. This one:

Gaylene and Bruce had no idea it was coming! It was so fantastic!! Poor Bruce was left in the dark for a half a minute as Ashley and her mom hugged it out. I love the video so much! Gaylene had such a fantastic reaction. It's too early to know if it's a boy or girl but we couldn't find a smashed penny that said, "We're having a baby" or "I'm pregnant". So we bought a girl and boy penny and Ashley picked between the two. We'll find out right before Christmas whether it really is a boy or a girl.

Ashley did such a great job keeping it a secret until we could tell them in person. Even that morning on the drive over, when Ashley felt "car sick" it was in fact just morning sickness. The timing of their visit really could not have been better planned. At the time Ashley was 8 weeks pregnant and we were able to schedule our first ultrasound visit for that Monday right before they left.

The past month has been so fun for me. So fun to watch Ashley. The baby is seriously the only thing she talks about. It's the cutest thing ever. All day long it's, "Patrick what do you think panda will look like?" "I just love panda so much!" on and on. She been all smiles. I swear even when she sleeps she has a smile on her face and is dreaming of little panda.We are so excited for our panda cub to come!!!

Road Trip Part Two...

 Day Four: San Francisco

 We met up with friends from BYU, Todd and Roo, and grabed lunch at an Argentine food cart.

 The portions were outrageously huge.

 It was a bit of a challenge to eat. But worth it of course.
 We wandered around the city with them for a little while then we parted ways.

 We discovered the mother land of salt water taffy. We each picked out three pieces of whatever we wanted so we could each try them. I sorted them for us later in the car. We had fruit flavors to maple bacon, cinnamon bun, and red hot.

 We drove over this beauty! Someday I'd like to bike it.

Day Five: Sausage and Sonoma

 After attending sacrament meeting we were hungry and found a small restaurant featuring homemade sausage.

 It tasted as awesome as it looked. The sausage flavor combinations were subtle but oh so good. And the fries were topped with feta and lemon juice. To say they were fantastic would be an understatement. 

 We found Linda's ice cream store in Sonoma!

One of Patrick and my favorite times throughout the trip was when we were back at the hotel playing cards, chatting, and eating cookies.

 Day Six: Goodbye :(

 We walked on the very cold beach area.

We wandered around a little more before eating In-N-Out and going to the airport.

We had a lot of fun exploring some new places together and are glad we will get to spend time together this winter.

Road Trip...

With our extra time between school ending and Patrick's new job starting we planned to visit Linda. We then realized that maybe we could drive up the coast together over a few days. When we suggested the idea to her she immediately said she was interested. So after our weeks in California the three of us began our drive.

Day One: Soup and Solvang

 Our first stop was Andersen's for their famous slip pea soup. Linda was really looking forward to this. This was her face after her first bite! Turns out the soup isn't that good and our lunch experience was less than we imagined.

 We walked around downtown Solvang and had fun checking out the shops. We ate some Aebleskivers and got some delicious desserts from a bakery.

 After checking into the hotel we got pizza and enjoyed dinner on the beach.

 We found a bunch of cool shells and sand dollars.

Day Two: Hearst Castle

 We were all looking forward to seeing the castle. It has been on Linda's to do list for a while. Since we were excited we splurged and took two tours!

 We learned that Mr. Hearst basically collected art ranging from paintings, lamps, and tables to ceilings and so he built the house around everything.  His idea was to create a museum type home.

 We stopped to check out Big Sur after touring the castle.

Day 3: Monterrey & Santa Cruz

We ate dinner in Santa Cruz. Our hotel was pretty close to the downtown area so we walked there. We ate at Pizza My Heart. It was tasty!

For dessert Patrick found a place called Penny Ice Creamery on yelp. It was fantastic. Everything is made with local ingredients and tasted so fresh. We were able to sample some before picking our flavors. The mint tasted like real mint leaf, it was crazy.  I went with burnt cinnamon.

Linda enjoyed strawberry. It tasted like real fresh strawberries.

Patrick stuck with the classic chocolate. His was topped with marshmallow fluff and then the worker used a blow torch to toast it. After dessert we enjoyed window shopping downtown and then headed back to the hotel for the night.