American River Half Marathon

Evan and Chris Pre-Race

Chris Finished!

Evan and Chris Post Race

Yipeee, Graduation!

The time has finally arrived. Chris has graduated. We've been looking forward to this for a very long time. I am so excited for him and all he has accomplished. He still has a class to complete this summer, but it made the most sense to graduate and finish the one class then wait to graduate at the end of the year. It was such a nice weekend and I am so grateful for Chris' parents and his two sisters, Hilary and Jenny, for coming to town to help celebrate.
Hilary arrived on Wednesday night and we had two fun days hanging out and playing. Mike, Debra, and Jenny drove in on Friday afternoon. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Zozo's Italian Restaurant with some gift certificates from Christmas, thanks to our mortgage lender. Saturday morning graduation was at 8:30, bright and early. We got there around 8 and were able to get seats in the shade and still able to see what was going on. It was a little more rowdie than the BYU graduation, but still nice. There were a little over 1,300 graduates, but it went very quickly. They had asked all the graduates to stay until the end, I bet 2/3 of the crowd and graduates left by the end, but it was still nice. We had great weather and a good time. Chris chose a low key lunch at In-N-Out afterwards. We had such a nice afternoon and are grateful to our family for there service. Chris and Mike build us 2 garden boxes, Jenny and Debra mowed the lawn, Hilary and I painted some pots and planted some flowers, and there was a lot of help weeding. It wasn't the most glamorous event, but we are so grateful for the help that would have taken us many weekends. The best graduation gift ever, thanks to the O'Neils. That evening we invited our good friends, Eric, Melanie, and Cristian, Dan & Christy, and Hailey and Jeromy. We had fresh meat from the Carniceria (beef and chicken), we grilled and had fajitas, salads, fruit, churros and ice cream. It was a great ending to a great day. Fun to share with our friends and family. Thank you for all your love and support.
Sunday to church in the morning and the O'Neils left around 11:30. We took naps and had some friends over for left overs. Such a fun weekend. Yay for graduation!

Chris and I at graduation

Chris and His Family

In-N-Out Lunch Celebration

Thanks Jenny for Mowing our Lawn

Good Weekend

I wish conference lasted a week. I could listen and be uplifted all day long. I had to work on Saturday and tried watching on the internet, but seemed to have a constant flow of people all day long, it would have been ok if someone wanted to buy a house. I got home that evening and with the miracle of modern technology I watched the recording on DVR. I cried through the last song from Saturday morning session, it was so good. Apparently the closing hymn in priesthood session was even better. I want to hear it.

I had hoped my seminary students had loved it as much as I did, but found they were like I was in high school, watching Sunday morning and maybe Sunday afternoon. They enjoyed what they saw. There was so many wonderful things said that provide such strength and give such power. We need all the help we can get.

We enjoyed a nice Sunday at my parents house watching conf., eating breakfast, watching conf., napping, eating leftovers. It was a great weekend to be spiritually fed and uplifted.

We are excited to be going to Palm Springs for Easter this weekend. We are going down with my parents; Whit & Ryan, and Cami are coming as well. It should be really nice to all be together. Have a great day!

Stye in My Eye

I woke up yesterday with a sore eye. I was a little worried it was an infection that my dad has had in his eye, I washed my hands all day, wore glasses and didn't touch anyone, hoping it wasn't the pink eye. Everyone kept saying, maybe it is a stye. Who gets a stye and what the heck is it? Today I woke up and my eye was half swollen shut, I look like I have a lazy eye. Chris called an opthamologist friend to see if I needed to come in. No, just hot wash cloth for 5 minutes 4-5 times a day. I've got a stye (infected sebaceous gland of the eyelid). I hope it goes away soon, it is kind of an annoyance.

Lifes Callings

I've decided when things start to get comfortable, we should expect things to challenge us and stretch us. I just got called to be an early morning seminary teacher. I have been teaching for 7 days now and it will be a challenging opportunity. I've enjoyed studying the scriptures in order to teach, but the early mornings are a bit more challenging. I tend to be somewhat of a night owl and if I don't go to bed it is tough in the morning. If anyone has any suggestions for what made seminary great or terrible for you. I would much appreciate any help. My first week of teaching also was the the week I catered a wedding the first in almost a year. It required a little juggling, but it should get easier. As for the weddding it seemed to be a success. It was for the Shane and Lauren Dyer (wedding we attended in DC a few weeks ago). There was approximately 160 guests and it was a beautiful evening. I hope the food was good for everyone. I spend so much time with it all, by the end I can't tell if anything is good or not. I will hopefully have some pictures soon that I can share of the display, I think it turned out pretty nice. Now things are settling down and maybe I can spend more time preparing for seminary. I am excited about general conference and the spiritual boost it brings. Have a great weekend.

NY/DC Highlights

Whit and Ryan at the Liberty Bell

Dyer Family

Chris and I and Abe

Jefferson Memorial

Catch-up

I have to play catch up for all the posting I haven't done in the last few weeks. I convince myself that my life is so boring, who wants to read about it. Then a few weeks have gone by and I realize there are things that maybe some of you want to hear about. Please forgive me if it really is boring. My sister encouaraged me to make a goal of posting once a week, I'm going to try.

We just got back from a whirlwind trip back east with my parents. Flew on Wednesday to New York for a day and a half to see Whitney and Ryan. Love that city. It was so fun to be together. It was wicked cold, now giving me more sympathy for those of you who endure the east coast weather. I'm not sure who chooses to live like that but it is bone chilling. I wish spring for all you soon. As you may have noticed, we like to eat. We of course had some delightful culinary experiences. Jean-George, Gotham Bar and Grill, Bouchon Bakery Goodies, and New York Pizza. Haven't had a bad meal there yet. And we got to see my cousin Laurel for dinner each night, so fun to see her. Can't seem to go without shopping, which is always fun for me.

Friday we rented a car and all drove together down to Washington DC. Stopped in Philadelphia for a cheesesteak sandwich and a looksie at the liberty bell. Drove through six states, NY, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

Saturday morning to the DC Temple for the Dyer wedding. It was a very nice day. What a beautiful wedding. Shane and Lauren did such a nice job planning (mostly Lauren). They held the reception in a tent behind her parents home, which was so delightful. We are so glad to have been invited and loved being there to help them celebrate. The reception was in the afternoon, so that evening, mom, dad, whit, ryan, chris and I went into DC to see a few sites. It was really fun to walk from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial at night. Beautiful evening and lots of history. My favorite was the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. For only having a few hours in DC it was perfect. There were no crowds and it wasn't a million degrees outside like the last time we were there. Chris and I had a flight out of Dulles at 6 am. Our taxi got in an accident before getting to us so we were 2 minutes late for the 45 minute cut off. They wouldn't let us check in so we rerouted standby, but finally made it home. It was a fast weekend but well worth it.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Belated Chinese New Year to you all. We've had an adventurous month and now are back to life and reality. We were lucky enough to enjoy a trip to Hong Kong in the middle of February. The opportunity presented itself and seemed too good to pass up. We had a great time traveling with a lot of family and friends. Both sets of our parents were there as well as many friends from Pasadena and from Reno. We had the best accomodations, great tours, delicious food, and a whole lot of fun. We were there for the Chinese New Year and loved all the festivities. It is the year of the golden pig, which is supposed to be very fortuitous. It was fun to celebrate because Chris was really sick for the first of the year celebrations. We got to the enjoy the greatest fireworks display I've ever seen. We had harbour view rooms the were directly in front of the show. We could see thousands of people along the water in front of our hotel to watch the show in the rain while we sat in the comfort of our own room. It was really fun. It was a fabulous city with a lot of culture. We took a tour into mainland China for one day, it was neat to see and I would be interested in going to see more some day. Shopping is a huge part of the culture there, they have knock offs on everything, we did a lot of bargaining on purses and watches. We like to think we got some great deals. I'm such a foodie and loved the great food there. We had the best breakfast buffet ever at our hotel. We enjoyed dinners at a variety of restaurants including Cantonese, Indian, French/Asian fusion, dim sum, and yummy treats along the way. The hardest part was the 16 hour fight overthere, but it was worth every minute. I'm going to add a few highlight pictures of our adventures, hope you enjoy.

Hong Kong Highlights I

Chris and I at the Pennisula Hotel

Riding on the Water Taxi

Views of Kowloon from Hong Kong Island

The NewYears Parade with the Dyers

Hong Kong Highlights II

The Intercontinental Hotel Breakfasts

Mom and Dad at the Bird Market

Chris and His Dad