Napa Valley

Doug ran the Napa Valley Marathon in March of 2005. At the end of the marathon the sponsors raffled a lot of prizes and Doug won a trip for two to Napa. We forgot we had this voucher and it expired after one year, so we ended up visiting Napa over the President's holiday this year. We drove down the Silverado Trail (where the Napa marathon course runs) and I cannot believe Doug ran the 26.2 miles. He's amazing! Anyways, here we are walking around some of the vineyards and wineries.

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge

Our first summer here in the Bay area we had some friends take us on this amazing bike ride in San Francisco. The ride starts at Fisherman's Wharf, you ride across the Golden Gate Bridge over into a little town called Tiburon. We usually stop for lunch or take a break and walk around the shops; then you continue on into Sausalito. The whole trek is about 14 miles and if you're feeling particularly energetic you can turn around and ride back to San Francisco. However, I like to take the ferry back to the city. We usually then stop in Little Italy for some dinner. It's a great way to see the sites of the city.

Since then, we've gone on this bike ride a few other times in the summer and as you can see in the pictures you're not always guaranteed sunshine. Sometimes that classic San Francisco fog likes to roll in.



Here we are with our friends from the Santa Clara Ward getting ready to start our trek across the Golden Gate bridge.


Doug and I waiting in Sausalito for the ferry and a pic of the Golden Gate bridge from the ferry at sunset.

Aloha!

Aloha! Here are a few more pics from our Hawaii trip. Tami said we should stop by the Dole plantation for some amazing pineapple ice cream. It was so yummy! Seriously, if you have the chance you should definitely make the stop. We also walked around the Hawaii temple grounds and were able to stay for a session. Hawaii is just so beautiful!

Sharks, sharks and more sharks!

In October my parents took Doug and I to Hawaii, to the island of Oahu. We went on an excursion called Hawaii Shark Encounters. We traveled 5 miles off north shore and climbed into a shark cage with two other people. The "shark experts" tossed chum (fish guts) over the side of the boat to lure the sharks close to the cage. We were advised to "keep all hands and arms, legs and feet, inside the cage at all times" for obvious reasons. Doug did not abide by this piece of advice and was very persistant in trying to pet the sharks. Fortunately, Doug still has all of his digits and limbs. The boat and the cage were really rocky; the swells were huge that day and a lot of people got seasick. Ewwww! Thank goodness for dramamine.

Doug was able to get some amazing pics of the sharks with our underwater camera. We were lucky to see Sandbar, Galapagos and Tiger sharks. Tiger sharks are pretty rare and we were lucky to see three tiger sharks. One tiger shark was estimated to be about 14 feet. It was an amazing experience! Doug now wants to go to South Africa so he can see some great whites.

Our first blog...

Hi family and friends!

Well, we thought we better jump on the bandwagon and start our very first blog. It seems like a fun and easy way for everyone to keep in touch with what's happening in our lives or perhaps the lack thereof.

Anyways, we have been living in the bay area for the last three years, while Doug has been studying law at Santa Clara University. He has officially graduated and is now studying morning, noon, and night for the BAR exam at the end of July. We are both anxious for the exam to be over and see what lies ahead for the Highams!





May 19, 2006 Doug graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law. The last three years have just flown by so it seems. My parents were able to attend Doug's graduation, which was so much fun. It was great to have them there cheering with me as Doug walked across the stage to receive his diploma. Doug's parents are currently serving as mission presidents in the Tucson, AZ mission, so they were not able to attend. However, we could definitely feel their love and support coming our way!