Tahoe!

Dan and I just spent last weekend in Tahoe with our friends from House Church. I have known most of these people since I even moved to San Francisco. Dan was actually introduced to the group through such a random set of circumstances. A friend of ours from college was out in San Francisco in the fall of 2007 (when Dan moved here) visiting both Dan and a friend of his from a summer job (Gillian). The three of them hung out and ended up going together to one of the first get-together's that this group of Northwestern alums shared. After that, Gillian and the rest of the gang kept telling Dan to come back.

Since then, they have been a consistent source of support for both Dan and I. They have listened to our struggles, celebrated our new beginnings (from marriage to pregnancy), prayed for us no matter how lonely we have been out here or how excited we have been about different events, and on top of all of that, they have loved us for who we are and been some of the best sources of support we could have ever asked for! Generally, we meet every other Saturday evening from around 6pm until...midnight or later. We have a potluck style dinner where we catch up on how everyone is doing, laugh a lot, etc etc. Then, we usually transition into some worship music, sharing/study, and prayer. For a while there, these guys were our main church presence and this weekend really demonstrated just how much of a blessing they continue to be.

Not only was this weekend amazing because we shared it with friends, but it was also set in one of the most beautiful areas in California and the weather was just gorgeous. Here are some pictures from the days there along with captions to give you a better sense of what we did for the three days. Sorry these are a little out of order!

Dan and I getting ready to take a small hike near Emerald Bay in Tahoe.

Dan and I right outside of the house we rented for the weekend. The water is FREEZING, but the flowing river was just gorgeous!

The group that hiked at Emerald Bay (that little island in the background holds old Viking ruins! Archeologists have used some of these to point to the fact that Vikings were among the first Western explorers to reach the Americas). From left to right Me, Dan, Annie (who is 3.5 months pregnant =), Hainan, Hanna, Natasha, and Wenhei

During the last night we built a campfire in the property's fire pit. This ended up being quite an adventure as our fearless friend, Hainan,built a raging fire which ended up freaking out the neighbors who subsequently called the fire department. A fire truck did end up stopping by, informing us that Tahoe was in red alert for fires, but assuring us that (since the fire had died down a bit) we were ok. I was absolutely shocked that we didn't get a fine...though we did get a call from the owner later who asked us what we were thinking when we built the fire in the first place. Note to self: always check the fire warnings and permits before building a fire!

One of the many feasts we shared at the house together. This night was steak, slamon, biscuits, salad, some kind of Asian popover thing (yummy!), baked potatoes, etc. I was STUFFED after this weekend! To my right is Diana who is a mother of a 1.5 year old little girl (Rebecca). She and her husband (Minyang) have been really incredible about giving us so many things for our little girl - from a bouncer to a car seat and loads of needed advice in between!

Our "whitewater" rafting trip at the end of Sunday. Most of this trip was really mellow, though there was a time when we ran into a tree stump and I fell to the bottom of the raft, and then couldn't get up again because of my big belly and because I was laughing so hard! Haha! The other rapids were not all that bad, though we did have some first time rafters with us, so screaming ensued almost immediately =) From the back to front: Dan, Craig, Hainan, Judy, Annie, Me, Hanna

Our group picture out the back of our house on Sunday before Wenhei and Natasha left. From left to right: Me, Dan, Wenhei, Natasha, Craig, Judy, Annie, Hainan, Hanna, Diana, baby Becky, and Minyang.

This was from our hike at Emerald Bay. Dan wanted to swim really badly and Hainan dared him to try to make it to the island with the Viking ruins. Well, the water was absolutely frigid and Dan made it about 1/3 of the way before he decided to come back. But, he had a blast and they topped it off by skipping rocks in the lake. During our hike back, we found a sign that said, "No swimming to island". Another oops!

Dan and Craig making breakfast during our first morning there - English muffins with ham, cheese, and eggs...YUM!