Making Memories

For college group last night, we had a goodbye party before I left for London. We had a delicious dinner of spaghetti, french bread, and salad. The event of the night was telephone pictionary and our first round must have been a warm up because the second was much crazier. Tommy's second round series was our favorite; it started as something like "monsters in space" and here is the last picture, drawn by Heidi:

Needless to say, we were rolling on the floor and couldn't breathe. It was a good night.

Festive Memories

Happy New Year! Here's a recap of the past couple weeks in my life. Christmas was great. Isaac, Heather, and the kids came up Christmas Eve and are here through Friday Jan. 2, so we have a party house with 10 people right now. Christmas we enjoyed our 7am service and breakfast at church, then we had fun opening presents together. The day after Christmas we made a trip up to Sequoia National Park to play in the snow. We found plenty of snow, but didn't play in it much because it was only 19 degrees and we were really cold. We still had a good time though. Tuesday was my last day of work at Tazzaria and it was with mixed feelings that I said goodbye. I'm excited to go to London for a semester and it will be nice not to work for a week before I go, but overall I enjoyed my job at Tazz. It was harder than I thought to teach Rosa how to bake bread, not because the teaching was hard but because I had a hard time letting her take over doing it. We had our annual New Years party, but this year Michelle and I broke tradition and did not participate in the polar bear swim. After 8 consecutive years of dreading the swim, we decided to watch instead of suffer. It was more fun that way and I don't regret it. Today I finally finished my album from our trip to France and I'm so excited with how it turned out and that it is done. Welcome to 2009!

Ouch

It is not feminine to brag about wounds, but sometimes you have to and this was a good one. I was at work yesterday and went to put a hot pan back in the oven, but it hit the edge of the door and smashed back into my arm. It hurt quite a bit for awhile, but since has been fine. My boss, Michelle, made me get some burn gel that is supposed to help me heal quickly and not scar, we shall see. Day 1: Day 2:

Cookie Decorations

On Saturday we had fun decorating gingerbread cookies. Mom and the boys made the cookies and Heather, Jonah, Evan, Micah, and I decorated them. Micah was funny because he was squeezing the frosting out with both hands and it reminded me of myself when I was little. I would make my gingerbread people have huge eyes that were too big and I would have to lick them off and start over.

The Show Must Go On

Michelle was in the COS dance show this past weekend. Heather and I went on Thursday for the dress rehearsal to take video and pictures, then I got to go the next night with a group to watch the show. It was a fun show, although I was jealous. The past 3 times, Michelle and I have been in the show together. Here are pictures from ballet (representing heaven) and modern (representing hell). This is a dramatic shot of Michelle, in the back center. It was hard to get good pictures because the stage was dark and they were moving around, but some of them turned out pretty well and it is fun to have the pictures as well as the video.

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt!

For our family, the day after Thanksgiving is steeped in tradtion. It is the day we get our Christmas tree. This year we have a video of our hunt.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanks to Heather for putting this video together.

I'm almost famous

This is a picture from a local magazine called, "Lifestyle". My boss, James, writes an article for each months' issue and when he was getting ready for the photo shoot for the December issue, he said he wanted me to make a molten chocolate cake to complement the meat he was preparing. I was happy to oblige. James found the recipe and we modified it, then I got to bake a fancy dessert for a photo shoot for a magazine! I like to bake desserts, they are delicious and artistic. It is fun to see something I made looking tempting in a magazine.

Helping Michelle

Michelle had a lighting assignment for her photography class, so Mom and I helped her get the pictures she needed. The silhouettes were the most fun to do. Here are some of our favorite results:

Happy Thanksgiving

Our house is the party house again. Isaac, Heather, and the kids are here for the week of Thanksgiving. Micah and I got to help Isaac make pumpkin cheesecake.

Dad and the boys watching WALL-E.

Our family enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, we have much to be thankful for.

Racing Against Hunger

Thanksgiving morning Isaac, Heather, and I participated in our first 5k run, to benefit the Visalia Emergency Aid. We got there early because we thought the race started at 7am, but it really didn't start until 8am so we had awhile to wait. There were just over 700 runners. The race started out with some starts and stops, but once we got going we kept a steady pace. The weather was great, cool but not cold. It sprinkled on us a little, just enough to notice. It was an exciting way to start the day, although the sudden stop at the end to keep us in order made me feel sick. Overall, I wouldn't mind doing it again next year.

Another Ticket

I am not a spontaneous person; you all know that. However, I suddenly find myself with another plane ticket, this time to London. I have wanted to study abroad for some time and was looking at the Fresno State website and found information about the London Semester. It looked like a good program and the classes offered fulfill the upper division general education I still need, so I talked to my family and was planning to go to an informational meeting scheduled for Sunday the 16th. However, when I called to get more information about the meeting, I found out it wasn't really a meeting, they were having a weekend orientation for the students going. I went and then signed up for the program on Monday and have been working on getting paperwork and money turned in and getting a plane ticket! So, I am scheduled to be in London from January 8 to April 4, 2009 with 17 or 18 other Fresno State students. It is crazy, but very exciting!

A Calvin Crest Wedding

Heidi and Phillip were married at Calvin Crest on November 8 and it was beautiful. We got to stay in Mountain View for the weekend and it made it feel like a party all weekend. I loved being up at camp and getting to help decorate and take pictures. It was fun to hang out with the bridesmaids and the Larson sisters (Heidi's mom and aunts), plus see so many friends at the wedding itself. So here's a bunch of pictures from the weekend:

The rehearsal

Rehearsal dinner

Yoga the morning of the wedding

The girls getting ready

After the wedding

Haircuts

Sunday morning