2009 - Year in review

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

My little sister Dannika got married.

MARCH

I went to visit my brother Aaron in Texas.

Daffodil Hill

My 29th birthday

APRIL

Prom

MAY

Memorial Day in SF.

Wrapped up my 2nd year of teaching.

Visit from Melissa.

JUNE

Attended our first Juneteenth celebration.

Went to Las Vegas to visit Ryan during his 3 month absence (he was getting NLP training). Met up with an old friend, Kara, from Hawaii.

JULY

Annual trip to Bodega Bay, this time sans Ryan =(

AUGUST

Celebrated Ryan's 29th birthday at Alicia's cabin.

SEPTEMBER

September 14 - Welcome Zoe!

OCTOBER

1st year anniversary - October 31st.

NOVEMBER

Attended Ryan's brother's wedding: Jordan + Priscilla

Enjoying parenthood.

NOVEMBER

Family hike to Hidden Falls.

DECEMBER

Making gingerbread houses with the Kelseys.

Happy New Year to all of you!

Awww.... shoot! Photo shoot that is.

We recently found an awesome photographer and had our pictures, ok, mostly Zoe, taken. Please enjoy:

Creativity?

As a dedicated member of my ward at church, I recently attended the monthly enrichment activity. For those that don't speak "mormon," it's a once a month activity where the women of the ward get together to be "enriched." There's usually food and some sort of craft involved. So, I had planned on going to this Christmas enrichment and had received an email or two about it. I didn't read the email too closely though... well, I did, but by that time it was too late.

After a yummy dinner of fajitas with Ryan, here's what I discovered in the email about what enrichment would entail: Dinner, ornament exchange, dessert potluck. Ok, so I wouldn't be eating dinner because I was stuffed. Strike one. Ornament exchange? Ryan and I scrounged around the apartment looking for something we could "turn into" an ornament. No such luck. Strike two. Dessert potluck. Now I knew I could whip up something quickly (seriously I had about 5 minutes and no time to stop by the store). Ryan opened the fridge, bless his heart, and suggested I take some leftover pumpkin puff (a cousin of the much loved pumpkin pie), but it was in tupperware and I couldn't make it look presentable like that. I didn't have time to cook/bake anything so I had to get creative. Hostess cupcakes? Nah. Too elementary school lunch-ish. Butterfinger bars? Nope. Too Halloweeny. Chocolate covered cherries? Perfect! I had happened to purchase a box that week when grocery shopping. I got out a pie dish, placed them in and filled in the many gaps with some much loved hard Christmas candy. It was no Martha Stewart, but it fit the bill. It was a dessert.

I felt a little sheepish bringing it, but Ryan insisted I blog about it because one day I'll look back and laugh at it. I was actually laughing at myself as I walked out the door to enrichment. And I learned to pay closer attention to those emails.

This just in - literally

I just took that picture 5 minutes ago. Here's the random story behind it. About 20 minutes ago Ryan said he was going to take a walk around the perimeter of the building. As apartment managers, this is one of our duties. On his stroll today he found the blue cooler you see in the back of the picture. Inside the cooler we found everything else you see in the picture, including 2 pairs of boxers. There were purses, wallets, dresses, skirts, and pants inside that cooler. Here's the funny thing: all the items are brand new - the tags are still on the clothes. Here's what I think happened: someone has stolen these clothes, kept them in a cooler, and in a moment of panic stashed his/her stash behind the bushes in our complex. Not sure what to think about this whole thing, but pretty random, yeah?