Merry Christmas

There are lots of things I love about Christmastime -- the lights, the music, the treats, the gift-giving and receiving. But with all that Christmas brings, I can't help but occasionally come back to the simplicity of what it really is all supposed to be about -- remembering the miracle that our Savior came to earth.

Merry Christmas!

Let it Snow!

It's cold and rainy here in California today, so I can't say it doesn't feel at all like winter. But, really, with Christmas coming I must say I'm missing a good, old-fashioned Rocky Mountain snowstorm. So, I've been digging up some tricks to make it feel a little more "snowy" around these parts, including this great snow-falling-on-the-blog trick, and a couple of fun winter pictures from days gone by. So, for anyone else missing snow right now, I hope you enjoy.

Happy happy turkey weekend

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend with my family in town! Here's a recap:
We saw Stanford campus.
We went shopping in Chinatown. Christian was in heaven . . . Kaitlyn was not.

We hung out at the Bay.

And met a long lost "cousin" on the Trolley car.

We went to Monterey.

Christian was in heaven again (a crab and a sand dollar, what could be better!)
That's about it! Oh yeah, we had turkey too.

Things I'm Thankful For

One thing I've been working on lately is being more positive with myself and with others. I truly believe that gratitude is a major antidote for all sorts of problems (real and imagined), and so I've been trying to put that into practice in my life. And, with Thanksgiving coming up this week, I think it is especially apt to make a brief list of things that I am grateful for:

• I'm thankful for having an internship/job where I get to work at something that is both challenging and fulfilling. I'm also thankful that I can go play in kindergarten pretty much whenever I want.


• I'm thankful to live on the fifth floor of our apartment building, and the lovely view from our living room windows -- particularly of the sunrise each morning.


• I'm thankful that we upgraded from the crappy Stanford issue mattress that we started with, to a newer, more comfy mattress.


• I'm thankful for the Stanford campus -- there's lots of open space to go walking and running.


• I'm thankful that our gas bills have gone down since my commute is only 10 minutes every morning.


• I'm thankful that my family is coming to visit for Thanksgiving this year!


• I'm thankful for the Milk Pail and the Dish.


• I'm very, very, very, very, very thankful for an amazingly patient and loving husband who works so hard at whatever he does (including making me happy!)


• I'm thankful for God's love, and the perspective that His love gives me on life and its challenges.

That's the short list, maybe I'll add more this week. I will add that I'm also thankful for you, because if you are reading this that means you are someone who cares about me and who likely has had an influence for good in my life. So, thanks!

Happy Veterans Day!

Okay, I'll admit, Veterans Day generally goes by unnoticed by me. But, this year, school is out here for Veterans Day, which means no work, which means I am totally celebrating Veterans Day this year! It's kind of weird, though, since we had school on Monday, then no school Tuesday, then school the rest of the week -- like this random floating holiday in the middle of the week. But, hey, I'm not complaining!
However, lest this become all about me, I feel I must put a word in to those who made this restful day possible for me. So, now, a bit about the history of Veterans Day (Jon will be so proud!) ... which was actually originally named Armistice Day for the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended WWI (which ended hostilities on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918). President Woodrow Wilson originally signed the holiday into law to commemorate all those that served in WWI, and then Pres. Eisenhower extended it to all veterans. It is always celebrated on 11/11, unless that falls on a weekend, in which case it moves to Friday or Monday.
Well, there you have it, I hope you learned something new today, that you take a moment to pause to remember those who have served our country, and that you have a lovely Veterans Day wherever you are! (Oh, and for a bit of an English lesson as well -- the correct spelling of the holiday is, apparently, Veterans Day with no apostrophe in veterans. Thank you Wikipedia!)

Weekend of Woods, Water, and Will

This last weekend Will came to visit us for a test he had to take. We had a fun weekend exploring some new sites with him.

On Saturday we traveled north of S.F. to a national monument called Muir Woods. This was awesome! It's just north of the Golden Gate, and is one of the few remaining redwood forests. The trees were so tall, and so beautiful. We took a long hike through the woods, and I must admit, it felt good to be back in something akin to mountains.

Along the way, we discovered that at certain parts there were millions and millions of ladybugs all gathered for mating season. It was amazing to see so many ladybugs!

Will, of course, couldn't come to California without visiting the ocean. After a day of hiking we went to the beach, and Will talked Jon into doing some wave swimming in the freeeeeeeezing water. Not only was it super cold, but we found out too that we were at a frequent shark attack beach . . . nice, huh. But as Jon and Will's wise scout leader used to say: the amount of brainpower is inversely proportional to the number of boys (aka 2 boys=1/2 brain), and these two boys were not going to be deterred by a little thing like cold or threat of sharks! They jumped in enthusiastically, and were shivering all the way home (I'm pretty sure because of the cold -- not fear of sharks :)

All in all, it was great to have Will around for a few days, and we had a great time!

To Stanford and Beyond

Sorry, all, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Well, for fear that my older brother will call complaining about not having anything new to look at, I decided today that I'd better get around to posting something. We've actually been having a good time starting to explore the sights around Stanford, and I've been meaning to post some pictures of our explorations.

Near Stanford, there's a nature preserve, and we saw on the map that it had a Felt Lake in it. We got all excited to check it out. When we actually saw the lake (a.k.a. practically dried up pond), we did our best to maintain our enthusiasm.

Our ward hosted an activity one Saturday where we took a ferry from San Francisco across the bay to Alameda. It was a fun chance to move a little further out and see more of the Bay Area.

Probably our most exciting outing thus far was last week. It was "Fleet Week" in San Francisco, which means that a whole bunch of the naval fleet comes into the bay, and they host a bunch of events, including an air show. Lots of stunt planes, including the famous Blue Angels, performed, so we went up with some new friends, had a picnic, and enjoyed the show. It was pretty cool to sit right by the Golden Gate and watch the planes come in over - and under - the bridge! This one is likely to become an annual event for us!