Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

Sadly, when I moved out of my mom’s house, I had to leave Coti. He was my 40th birthday present, and I’ve enjoyed him for 9 years. I will miss him, but I get to see him often. With that said, I knew us Hays would adopt a puppy of our own. In fact, for my 50th, this is what I wanted. I want it not only for ME but for Tot and Doug to enjoy as a family!

So……. we went to pick one out on Sunday, May 5th. Emma (the mommy Coton) had a 5-puppy litter on March 25th. They’d be ready to go on May 20th which is perfect timing for Tot being out of school.

We immediately fell in love with this little guy. Why??? Well, so you know, he was born 5th out of the 5. This teeny little guy is the smallest of all (3 boys and 2 girls). When I picked him up (he had a little coloring on his ears which I thought was unique), he and I had the strongest eye contact and connection. It was LOVE!

Then, he snuggled up to Tatum and didn’t want to leave her!

Daddy held him and guess what? They both were in love. (I could tell)

When Emma (the mommy) came in to feed the litter, he waited patiently for his siblings to have some milk and then went in. (there he is at the end right)

Tatum and I came back to visit in a couple of days. He came right out of the crate to greet us while the rest stayed in. HE KNEW!

More snuggling.

We can’t wait to bring you home little one.

I think we have a name, but that will be revealed later. In the meantime, we are getting ready! Lot’s to learn so we can all be on the same page with training.

We will welcome you in 2 weeks! Thank you, Jesus for bringing us the perfect puppy for us. We know this is from YOU!

They’re gussied up and ready for some fun. Golfing and Chick Fil-a

• 

• 

A DEFINITE hole in one, Daddy!

On a date. He surprised her with a card last night, and she couldn’t wait to open it.

Ridiculously cute.

This dinosaur is humongous because look at the size of that love!

After she read it, she was so speechless that Daddy had to read it to her.

OH BOY! Lucky girl. She will be spoiled I’m sure because that is how Daddy rolls.

Saturday is already here! We do have tomorrow, but that will be a travel day.

Another nice morning and for some reason, the coffee was especially delicious today. We needed an extra cup for sure. The beauty of our room is my honey can make a Keurig cup in 3 seconds flat. Takes the edge off before a workout. (we’ll attempt it anyway).

This time, we decided to carry our bikes in the back of the truck. Definitely a bonus of having this Ford beast! That way when we get to Rutherford, we could ride since we didn’t want to ride a cruiser for 20 miles, right?

We drove up to St. Supery, our first appointment. Isn’t this a beautiful drive? A bikeway in our case.

Huffing and puffing, we arrived for our tasting. Our special room was ready for us.

After freezing to death in our special room we were ready to head to our next place, Grgich. We couldn’t get in, but we got a welcome taste of Rose and snapped a few pics.

• 

• 

Isn’t he the cutest?

Ok, our goal was to hit MUMM since I love sparkling wine. The crowds there gave us a doubtful feeling, so we hit the gift shop.

The bell reminded us of his past home bell that we want to put in at our new home. Exquisite and unique!

Since we couldn’t get in for a tasting, we headed to Hess way out in the boonies. The Ford beast took us there in comfort since it was way up in the mountains. The architecture was quite modern and regal. My honey gets inspired often with architecture as you can see by this door. His brain works in creative ways.

We were pooped out and opted out of our reservation for dinner. Whole Foods again was the answer, and guess who got to drive the monster??

It really was quite the monstrous piece of metal, but it was a joy to drive. Not to park, however.

OK, so while all of this is happening, Tot is hanging with Pierce, Kellye’s boy. They had a blast playing!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Knowing Tatum was having fun made all the difference. Also, just being with my honey was so special. We don’t often get to spend this amount of time together. However, we were ready to get back to our home and our routine. I missed the Tot immensely too.

We said goodbye to our Napa friends, including our Ford buddy. I gave Doug a Kleenex as he wiped a tear.

Oh, baby, what a great trip. I am so grateful for you!

Tot, we got you some neat mini-hoop earrings and a HUGE HUG. Thank you to my MOM for taking such amazing care of Tatum too.

All in all, it was the HAPPIEST HAY HONEYMOON!

Up and at ’em early (kinda- wink wink) for a nice workout and delicious breakfast.

Did I mention it is free? That made it taste much better, right?

We had a winery appointment at 1:00, so we decided to visit a winery before this. The hotel had FREE (the savings keep adding up) bikes to rent, so we figured we’d ride the 5-10 miles.

The basket was a nice touch. Doug felt so manly with it. Well, he can come back and drive the truck and he’ll get his man card back. Do you like our matching hats? We were wondering why everyone was stopping us and asking about that Cardinal trade. What did we think of that new quarterback Kyle somethingorother. The hats. Aha…our hats. Oh, how cute we look all matching.

Ok, off to the road. The shoulder of the road was barely existent and this gave Doug a bit of heartache, but we made do. Focus, Steph. Focus! How gorgeous it is!

We arrive at our first stop, Monticello.

OH, look! We are welcome, so we head in.

We decided to split a Rose and sit outside, enjoying the scenery.

Then we headed to our destination, Materra wines.

They made us feel so special! The views were exquisite! We also got a tour of the barrels and the winemaking process.

• 

• 

We tasted the Viogner, the Sauvignon Blanc, and their Rose.

• 

• 

We also cleaned up the cheese plate. Not a problem…glad to help.

Pedro was a superb host, and the winery was just beautiful.

Now, the rest of the day, we’d ride around a bit, but then we’d head back to the hotel for a siesta. Why? Because we could.

Dinner was a special treat. I made a reservation at Celadon which is global cuisine at its finest. Before we went in, we wanted to see the back patio. Isn’t it lovely with these arches? The night would be even more lovely.

Here we are in front of the restaurant. Doug loves this pic because I’m all Marilyn Monroe. The wind was sweeping and strong.

They surprised us with some celebratory champagne. We are getting very spoiled!

I wanted to try the mussels and they did not disappoint.

The dinner, we talked about Date 2 which proved to be very fruitful. We always learn things about each other, and sometimes the most obvious things need to be discussed.

Lamb Shank, Halibut, and great conversation, we had a great time!

After, we had to snap some pics of the environment. Now, it’s all lit up! The place came alive, and guess where we were headed?

Back to the hotel…yes!!!

We were both spent from a full and physical day. I love you honey!!!

Tatum had fun with Ethan. Thank you, Cana!!

The day ahead promises to be amazing. I’m having so much fun, Baby!!

Doug and I had the blessing of receiving a gift from some friends. A lovely couple from our church, Mark and Robyn, own part of a hotel in Napa (The River Terrace Inn). This was where we wanted to go anyway, so it truly was a gift for us. The next step was to find help for Tatum. My mom kindly watched her each evening (Th, Fri, Sat), but during the day, I wanted her to have some different options. Each of my dear friends took a day! Sharon would pick her up from school on Thursday, Cana on Friday, and Kellye would spend the day with her on Saturday. Wow. Now, my honey and I could truly relax.

We packed up and headed out on Thursday.. off to the airport!

Can you tell I’m excited!?

We parked and documented because….well, your mind is really mush upon return.

We decided to work on this 10 Great Date book on our trip.

Homework on the plane for Date 1. Baby is working hard and focused on his answers.

Arrived early and headed to the rental place. They only had a Ford truck and my honey almost lost his snack sized bag of pretzels. This is usually TWICE the money.

Do you like the ride honey? We have about 90 minutes of traffic.

It’s roomy and very cozy. Although he is about two arms length away from me.

After fighting CA freeway traffic, we arrived and were greeted by the lovely staff.

A glass of wine was our welcome. Oh, and a killer riverfront room deeeeeeply discounted. We begin to cha-ching the money we are saving and there is great rejoicing.

Mark and Robyn welcomed us too!

Since it was so late, we decided to walk around and find some dinner. I wanted to eat in the room with my honey. I brought the bluetooth speaker, candles, and cozy room clothes. Now we just needed some chilled wine and a nice …..salad? Actually this sounded really good, so we headed to Whole Foods and loaded up. We figured we could have a jumbo salad chock full of heavy ingredients (they weigh it!) since we were saving money by not going out. Don’t you love our rationale?

It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow so we were glad we stayed in.

Meanwhile, back in AZ….Tot is hanging with Sharon and Coco. (her new puppy)

It’s all good!
Tomorrow is going to be lovely!

These guys. Their sole job is to break stuff. Seriously. All they do is demolish and bust. It must be great anger management for them.

Today their job was to get rid of all the cabinets. Tom had to keep an eye on them so they didn’t bring down the retaining wall (a minor detail).

Look at all these before pics!

You get a feel for the foyer, living room and kitchen. Soon to be completely different!
Go Monty and Tom team!
Stay tuned!