Matt took the camera that day, so unfortunately we have no fun photos to share. So, to keep things interesting, I’ll post a fun picture of us:

Now do you recognize her, wedding readers? Good! It’s so funny, people always think we’re sisters. We are also birthday buddies, so the first part of August is always a blast. Anyhoo, back to baking…

We doubled the recipe and had so much batter that we had two attempts to mix the dry and wet ingredients. We filled a bundt cake pan, two mini loaves and a star pan. Turns out, a star pan is really hard to cook evenly, in case you wanted to know.

Here’s the recipe, which we followed to a T, except that we added chocolate chips and had a little less pumpkin to work with:

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin purée
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Preparation:
Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin and oil.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; add pumpkin mixture. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes 2 loaves of pumpkin bread.
(Source)

We also made whipped cream, which Christine’s baker friend, Maxine, told us was actually sweet butter because we blended it too long. Whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious complemented the bread well!

This baker friend also had informed Christine of a time-saving, “green” tip: preheating the oven isn’t necessary for modern ovens. I tested this out last night with pizza and it came out just fine without preheating. This was great news for me, since I am an impatient cook who likes to save money and energy when possible!

Last night, and this morning, I have confirmed the fact that I’m entering into old age. We gathered up a few friends, Sara and Greg and some others, to go to an amusement park that was decked out for Halloween. Having not been there in years, the scary mazes, “haunted” rides and some of the more popular, regular rides drew us in. Plus, Matt is helping our friend and Ultimate coach put up the annual haunted house at his place, so he was looking for ideas.

Everything was all well and fun as I watched Sara get scared. (She literally pointed to a corner saying “someone’s going to jump out from there!” As if on cue, the zombie appeared and she freaked out. Good times.) Since none of that stuff scares me, watching other people scream is my entertainment.

So where did the old age kick in? I would say on our fourth ride. It was fast with lots of loops and I really had no idea what was going on until we got off. Then I started to get woozy. Naturally, I tried to hide it and keep up with everyone on the rides. After all, I LOVE ROLLERCOASTERS. We ended up breaking up the pack to meet up near the front of the park at closing time. Matt and I got in one more ride, my favorite in the entire park. It was a lot of fun, until we got off. Then it really hit me: I’m going to be sick.

We met up with Sara and Greg, who were visibly tired and ready to leave. They had apparently gone on my favorite ride twice in a row because there were no lines. I was about to commend them, when they said, “the second time was when it hit us.” They too, felt woozy.

On the way back to the car, we talked about how we used to make fun of our parents for not wanting to go on all the fun rides. Now, sadly, we were starting to understand. And I understand more as I type this, because my neck, shoulders and back are sore from roller coaster brutality we endured under the guise of “fun.”

The ceremony was held at Joaquin Miller Park. I’ve always loved this venue, with the cascades and the fountains. The reception was held at a golf course in Alameda, I can’t remember the name.

What a classic and beautiful bride! I love the subtle pattern to her dress. Maybe she could trim off the bottom and make it a cocktail dress!

At the reception we were surprised to find Sandy and Dan there, with baby Ethan Andrew in tow. That little dude was only five days old at the time!

I love this shot of Ethan. He’s already a big personality!

With proud dad, Dan:

One of the favorite parts of the night was getting caught up with some old friends, Sandy and her mom, Shannon and her parents. Back in fourth grade, we three sang “I’ve Got the Horse Right Here” from Guys and Dolls:

It was a reunion at the wedding, but once Ethan is a little bigger, maybe we’ll get a reprise.

Several times during the night, I thought to myself “how did we all get to this point?” Regardless, I am glad we’re still friends and am happy for all that we have accomplished in our lives.

Yesterday we woke up while it was still dark to play at the polo fields in Golden Gate Park. Matt even decided to play with our team! We played five games, instead of the normal four, and it was really lumpy. And this time the weather was much colder. Even though I have been hobbling around in pain all day, I had a great time again. Why have I been keeping away from the game I love?

(Click on the photos to view it larger.)

(These are all dear friends, actually. In order, Christine, Abigail, Heather and Sierra.)

We lived together during my senior year in college. She is funny, smart, loves the Internet and worked on the University newspaper with me. Yes, she’s awesome. In the picture above, she and the other awesome newspaper friends came out to watch an Ultimate game of mine. They had the banner and huge printouts of my face on their shirts. How can you not love that? And now she has a chance for the whole world to know how great she is (if they didn’t already read her awesome blog). She is vying for the chance to be a travel video blogger for Southwest! Yay!

She needs your help! So, click here, vote for her and enjoy her awesome video!