Our Big Night Out

We went to the River Ranch Lodge in Tahoe City for dinner to celebrate my 36th birthday and my parents 25th wedding anniversary. We all had such a wonderful time!


This was taken at the house before we left for dinner. Bob and Linda watched Jacob and Justin so we could have an "adult dinner out". It was a good thing too....we spent over 2 hours at the restaurant! We got there a bit early so we had a cocktail in the bar area. It was a lot of fun and we got to chat about the restaurant and the views!

Mom took this picture of John and I at the table! We were all deciding what to order, everything looked so delicious! One thing we didn't have to worry about was what to pick off the wine list. Mom and David brought Silver Oak Alexander Cabernet for our celebration dinner. It was delicious!
We decided to share 3 appetizers, since we couldn't make up our minds! We had the steamed artichoke with garlic butter.......

The seared ahi tuna crusted with sesame seeds (my favorite for sure!!!!)

and the Heirloom tomato appetizer (it was a special for this day) with buffalo mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. It really was delicious and I believe it to be my mom's favorite!

This was the beautiful view of the river from our window side table. The waiter opened the windows by us so that we could hear the sound of the river and even feel some of the spray coming through just a bit. It was a wonderful sensation!

We all chose the filet mignon with Gilroy Garlic sauce as our entree. It was very delicious! We ate every bite! For dessert we all had something different. David had cheesecake, John had a chocolate truffle cake, Mom had the fresh fruit cobbler and I had a coffee ice cream mud pie. It was delicious! We also had after dinner drinks which was a fun, fancy addition!

Here are John and I....perfectly content after a wonderful meal, and even better company! (Not to mention KILLER wine!!!!!)

Rub a Dub Dub!

Mom and I gave Jacob a bath on Thursday morning. He is loving it more and more each time! We were all having a blast and Gram-Gram got some great pictures!!!





This was on the changing table after his bath, while I was getting him all lotioned up! He looooooves having his diaper changed on that table! In fact, that is where I clip his nails and stuff; he is so content on his changing table!

The "Pre-Big Day" Celebration

On August 6th (while my parents were visiting) we had John's parents up for dinner and appetizers. Mom thought we were just going to have a nice dinner and celebrate together, but Linda and I had a plan! Linda went to the party store and picked up a bunch of goodies for my parents' 25th anniversary. It was a lot of fun! Mom and I set the coffee table with a white tablecloth and got out the special Lenox glasses! We used some fun glass plates for the appetizers, which were tequila grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops. We served Prosecco with it. It was delicious!!

Oh Boy.....

I finally got Jacob's "Bounce Bounce Baby" put together. He's a bit small for it; he holds himself up, for only little bits at a time, but it seems like he likes it. Once he is able to maneuver himself around it a bit more I know he will LOVE it!!!

Another Hoekman at the table....

Jacob tends to be a bit fussy at our dinner time, so weeks ago I put together his high chair so he could sit at the table with us. Of course, once I got it put together he went back to napping in his swing or chilling in his bouncy chair during our dinner! Tonight we decided to try it for the first time. He sat with us for the first half of the meal, and during the second half he had a bottle.


There is something about how he holds onto his collar that makes me think of Fonzie and how he had his collar up all the time! Hee! Jacob had a blast. He was smiling and I think he really enjoyed being a "big boy" and sitting at the table with us all! I know we loved it just as much! Next up....his bouncy activity seat!! Woo!