Carlie and the Chocolate Factory

Recently we went on two tours.

Tour #1: Lulas Chocolate Factory 

Our friend's family owns and operates a chocolate factory in Monterey, so one Saturday she invited a bunch of people to come take a tour/do a chocolate tasting. We were pretty excited, and had a grand plan to make a day trip out of it. However, due to group member tardiness, traffic, a stop for lunch, and the Nike outlet store, we didn't get there till late afternoon. So the only stop we had time to make was Pt. Lobos. But sometimes, discounted discount Nike shorts are worth it. 

We had just enough time to walk around, and then headed to the chocolate factory. 

Our friend, Victoria, also provided a delicious tri tip dinner for everyone. There were centerpieces and everything. She clearly only does things 110%.

When it was time for the tour, we got to wear these super flattering hair nets. 

The tour included a chocolate dipping, and a chocolate tasting. We decided that because this was a special occasion we weren't going to hold back. We tried almost all of the chocolate they gave us and we regretted nothing. 

Tour #2: Google 

Our friend Chris works at Google. We have been talking about getting dinner at Google with him for a while now, and we finally made it happen.  

 No one even checked to see if we were wearing these, so we might just pop on over to Google more often for free dinners...

Google provides all 3 meals for their employees and the employees are allowed to bring visitors to come mooch. There were a plethora of options for dinner with multiple cafes to choose from.  

Chris then gave us a brief tour of Google, and a photo shoot ensued.  

Tiffany just couldn't believe we were really at Google HQ

Wait, they provide unlimited snacks too? 

 Why yes, I am wearing the exact same outfit from the chocolate tour. Thanks for not passing judgment. 

Chris had to get in on the action. 

This was Tiffany's face when she saw arcade room. 

These were our faces when we cheered on the sand volley ball game that was happening in the middle of campus. 

Almost everyone walking around had backpacks on and looked like they were in their early 20's. It was like we were on a college campus. 

Naturally, there was a T-rex.

There are bikes randomly placed throughout campus, so we we snagged some and went on a bike ride through Google. The bikes of course, are Google colors.  

 Since Google is about 15 minutes down the road from our house, we might just pop down there more often. 

The next day I may or may have not applied for a job at Google. A girl can dream. 

A Holiday Weekend in the Bay

July started with a bang with the Forth of July weekend. For breakfast on Saturday a few of us decided to go off the beaten path, but to the very well know, Alice's' Restaurant. 

It was a beautiful drive through winding mountain roads full of redwood trees. Though Tiffany and Nate didn't get to enjoy the scenery as they spent the entire ride being car sick. Despite it being by itself tucked away in the mountains, there were many people there.

 If anyone is wondering, the price you pay for being healthy and getting the oatmeal, is $7.25. 

I tried not to think about all the Quaker old fashion oats I could have bought for the same price. Nate is struggling in this picture, but Tiffany and I look fine so on the blog it goes. 

Everyone agreed that the food was delicious. 

That night we also decided the holiday weekend provided a perfect chance to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies. So Saturday night we watched the 1st one, and we watched the extended edition-which is 3 hours and 28 minutes long, not counting credits. 

Sunday July 2nd 

                                            

If you don't take the opportunity to color coordinate according to holidays at church, then what are you even doing? Also do you think the caption on the picture is a little conceited? But I mean, #whatswrongwithbeingconfident

We also continued our Lord of the Rings expedition and watched the second movie that night. This time we watched the non extended version, but don't let that fool you, it still ended up still being 2 hours and 59 minutes.

total weekend LotR watch time: 6 hours and 27 minutes.

Monday a lot of people had the day off, so some of us went south to Capitola. We stood in line for way too long to get a slice of pizza, and then decided to go to natural bridges beach. 

We relaxed, played spike ball, looked at the tide pools, and decided the 3 people in the ward we would bring with us if we had to be stranded on a desert island. Very important discussion. These are things you have to know, you know? My formula was simple: 1 person with survival skills, 1 person who knows how to have a good time, and 1 person you'd want to date. Obviously. 

The sun came and went throughout the day. 

That night we finished our Lord of the Rings expedition and watched the third and final movie. We decided to go all out and watched the extended edition, and all in one sitting. It was 4 hours and 11 minutes not including credits. It was quite the feat.  

total weekend LotR marathon watch time: 10 hours and 38 minutes.

We could have ran multiple marathons in the time it took to watch a Lord of the Ring marathon. But why would we ever run a marathon?

The 4th of July consisted of a BBQ pool party and watching fireworks. It also included post fireworks traffic, which is depicted for your viewing pleasure in this video: 

Total time it took to get home was an hour and a half. It should have taken 15 minutes.

Last Sunday evening we threw a successful taco party. Successful in the fact that a lot of people came and in the fact that no one got food poisoning. Tiffany had left over meat from a work party that we used, and the fridge it was stored in probably didn't keep it as cold as it should have been. We served it anyway. During her prayer, Tiffany refrained from blessing out loud that the meat wouldn't make us sick, but kept a prayer it in her heart. Prayers are answered. 

Last Monday for FHE the ward went down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Tiffany and I ended up in a car with three other girls, and stayed with them the whole night. One of the girls was deathly afraid of almost all of the rides, so we ended up on the children's roller coaster.  It was us, and a bunch of mothers and their elementary school children in line. 

We actually ended up having a good time on that little coaster, but I mean, in these pictures it makes us look like we are having the time of our lives. 

So happy. 

The obligatory food picture. Chocolate dipped chocolate ice cream cone. 

JUNE

Hey there, it's been awhile. 
I realize I haven't documented anything for the month of June, and that's mainly because I haven't taken any pictures. A blog post without pictures is just boring, therefore I have felt zero motivation to write anything. Then I had a revelation. I HAVE been sending videos to friends via Snapchat. Therefore, if I take screenshots of my videos I will have photos to post on the blog. Thanks Snapchat for once again being the only reason my life is documented. So fair warning, many of the photos today will be a blurry video  screen shot, but hey, it's better than nothing. I also did manage to snag three photos from my dads phone, so that's something too.

Jumping back to the beginning of the month.... 
It was NBA finals season, and I have started watching NBA games-something I have never had any desire to do before. This has mainly been due to social functions and the Warriors being in the finals. Granted I don't know if I have yet managed to sit down and watch a game in its entirety, but I have come pretty close. The Warriors won the NBA championship and since I am now a Bay area resident, that is something to be excited about. Oakland was pretty much shut down for a day of celebration and you can even buy framed photos of the team holding the trophy at Costco.

I don't know why someone wouldn't buy this.

They aren't a very hard team to become a fan of because they hardly ever lose, so an inkling of loyalty has started to grow within me. 

One weekend we went to a pool party/BBQ and it made me miss hot Utah summer nights. No one touched the pool, and lots of people migrated to the inside of the house by the end of the night. Hot summer nights are not common place around here. 

Matthew came home from his mission! I couldn't be there in person, but I saw it all happen via Facetime. It did give me the perfect reason to come home to Utah. I flew home a few days later and stayed for a week. We went on a family vacation to St. George, because we are crazy people. Only crazy people would go to southern Utah in June. 

Rachel was stoked to have her older siblings home again.

Everyday the high was around 112 degrees. Every time we got into our car it felt as though heat was consuming my body. The morning activities included tennis, pickle ball, and swimming. Then noon hit and we would stay inside the rest of the day. 

McKay was no nonsense when it came to his lunch.

Tate spent his time discussing the logical fallacies in Frozen. 

It was fun to have all the family together for the first time in 2.5 years. 

One of the nights we went to the Tuacahn to see Newsies. 

Rachel could hardly contain her excitement.

It was this hot at 8 at night. 

And here's the family during intermission, standing beneath the fans/misters. Have I mentioned it was hot?

We spent the next night taking some family photos. It may look like such a casual situation to have all the toddlers sitting on a bench together...

but behind the camera

where a bunch of adults

trying to stop the crying (as seen here)

to keep them happy

so we could get just one good picture. Here's to hoping we got it.

We heard that somewhere in St. George they sold sweet potato fries with marshmallow sauce, so we went to give it a try. It did not disappoint. 

It just wouldn't feel right to go a whole post without mentioning food, ya know?

Thursday late afternoon we drove back to Provo. The rest of the weekend was spent seeing family and friends. Speaking of friends, remember our good friend/"wintern" Austin? He's in Provo now, so he dropped by to say hello. 

If you are wondering, wearing striped shirts was planned. 

and if you are wondering, that last statement was a joke. 

Now I'm back in Palo Alto and it's back to the grind of work and real life.

I love Provo and being with family, so the searches for cheap plane tickets began the day after I got back. If anyone wants to fly me back out, my schedule is open ;)