"...and the Wine is Bottled Poetry"

"...and the Wine is Bottled Poetry". No, I haven't become a "sommelier" (wine expert), I just love this quote that refers to the beautiful Napa Valley, which is famous for it's numerous vineyards and award winning wine. This is where I was born and raised, and quite frankly since Napa was all I knew, I definately took for granted what a beautiful place it is. Now, as an adult and after living elsewhere for several years, I realize how lucky I was to grow up here, not just for it's physical beauty but also for it's smaller town feel, away from the chaos of the big city, but just an hours drive from San Francisco and Berkeley. We always make sure we take a drive "up the valley" when we're visiting.

Even when Steph was as young as 5 or 6, she used to cry when it was time to leave Grandma and Grandpa's and now at 17 she still hates leaving. (Confession: even at 38 I still choke back the tears when it's time to leave...) We kept telling Steph that registration was going on at Vintage High, it wasn't too late to sign up for her senior year. I think she was half tempted, seriously.

As you can see here, Alex is working on bottling Napa Valley's innovative toddler friendly cabernet, he likes to call it 'vin du juicy juice'.

These two cute girls belong to my good friend Christine who I grew up with in Napa. When her girls heard we were in town, they asked their mom if they could come play with Alex (lucky boy!). Funny thing is, they live about 15 minutes away from me in Salt Lake, but we seem to see each other most often when we both happen to be in Napa at the same time. Sounds strange I know, I guess our lives are so busy that we have to travel 700 miles to catch up with old friends!

Christine and I....

I once saw a license plate frame with a quote that said, "Utah plates, California driver". I think that sums up the way I think of myself...I've now lived in Utah for half my life, but in my heart I'll always be a California girl.