Auld Lang Syne

Well, it's a little over a week into the new year, and, though I don't usually bother with resolutions, this year it seems appropriate to make some goals. 2009 was a difficult year for many reasons, and I'm happy to be putting it behind me.

After losing a friendship with someone I thought I was close to, it has become more clear to me what friendship means to me, and this year I have decided to strengthen the friendships in my life. Starting with the friendship between me and my husband. We are going to have a lot of fun in 2010!

The next friendship I'm going to turn my attention to is my relationship with my best friend, Angie. I miss her. I miss the time spent dreaming together about what life would bring us. I think it's sometimes difficult for a close friend when you get married -- when you used to dream together and now one of those big dreams is coming true for only one of you. But I'm still excited for what lies ahead -- I still have dreams, and I'm excited to share those dreams with the one person who knows about pretty much all the dreams I've ever dreamed.

In 2010, I plan to have more fun. I'm kind of a home-body, but I used to throw some really fun parties.
I plan to leave my house or have people over a lot more often. (Which means I intend to keep my house cleaner so that having people over isn't such a big thing...) I plan to call people more often when I'm sitting home wishing I was doing something fun. I plan to play and laugh and reconnect with the world. I plan to prove to myself that I am fun to be around by being fun to be around!

I plan to spend more time with Coral before one or both of us moves away. Same with Madeline, Amanda, Ali, and Whitney. And Kalee and Fathead and Andi and Cam. I intend to be my old self -- smiling, happy, and positive -- someone who let stress motivate her instead of infuriate her. Some of you have yet to meet her, and that's a shame because you would like her very much.

Sounds like a big resolution, and I'm sure I'll need help. So, call me!  Let's have fun this year!

The Pummelo

So Kristyn and I went to Smith's the other day to buy apples (for apple crisp) and tortillas (not for apple crisp). After picking out some delicious apples we turned around to head to the tortillas and were greeted by the citrus section. A little table in front of the grapefruits caught our eye because there were these green citrus fruits bigger than grapefruits sitting there. Now I wasn't aware of any edible citrus fruit bigger than grapefruits, and neither was Kristyn, so we, in our awe, decided to buy one and try it out.

We brought it home and before eating it we checked it out on Wikipedia. Apparently it's quite a common fruit in Asia and is actually grown in large production here in the U.S. Who would have thought? It is also supposed to taste like a milder, sweeter grapefruit. Not being a big fan of grapefruit (I think they're gross) I was quite worried. They have quite a thick rind, so we decided to eat it like a grapefruit.

We cut it and each took half. I labored greatly at getting out the first section (not being experienced with grapefruits--see above), and in doing so got a nice squirt of pummelo juice in my face. Finally scooping out the fruit I took a bite. It didn't taste very sweet to me. It just tasted like a mild grapefruit. I struggled, but I finally finished the whole thing. Luckily Kristyn enjoyed it much more than I did. We determined that it might not have been ripe yet, as it is supposed to turn more yellow, according to Wikipedia. But in the end I don't think we'll be buying a pummelo again.

So if you're a fan of grapefruit and up for a new adventure, you may find a new delight in the pummelo (or pomelo as some spell it). But if you're like me and not big on bitter fruit, this is one experience you might want to pass up.

Washington Trip Recap

I haven't yet taken the opportunity to write about our trip to Washington State earlier this fall, so I better do that.

Taking a leaf out of Coral's book, I'll share the pages I've scrapbooked. Let me know what you think!

We spent the first two days of our trip with Preston's brother, Courtlan, and his family. We went to church with them and took a walk around Olympia's Capitol Building on Sunday.

The next day we went on a couple of outings with the kids. I didn't document them because they were both a little disappointing, but still fun. We went to a "cider mill" in hopes of finding some awesome Washington apples. That didn't happen. But they did have goats there who would climb up a tall tower and when you put feed in thier buckets they would actually operate a pulley to get the bucket up to them. They were super-goats!  We also went to Tumwater Park, where they have salmon ladders for the salmon swimming upstream. We didn't see any salmon in the ladders, but the park was a very pretty place.

That evening, we headed up to Seattle. We were a little early to check into our hotel, so we drove out to the Seattle temple. It was a really beautiful place.

 

 

While we were in Seattle, we went to the Olympic Sculpture Park. It's outdoors at the Seattle Museum of Art, and it's free! (our favorite feature!) It was a fun, albeit wet, experience.

We then walked to Pikes Place Market (it was a LONG walk) for some lunch. After that, we went to the Aquarium.

 

I really enjoyed the Aquarium! It felt like real life Finding Nemo! I even touched an anemonie!

More to come later as I finish scrapbooking our trip. This is my first real attempt at digital scrapbooking, so let me know what you think!

Halloween 2009

We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year. Here are the highlights:

Angie was the cutest stewardess ever. Love the hair!

Emily was the perfect Maid Marian. (From Disney's Robin Hood) She came complete with a bushy fox tail!

 Mike couldn't help but be himself. He was a Lithium molecule.

The Gibbon's came as hunters. Also loving Coral's new hair-do!

I came as film legend Charlie Chaplin. The moustache made it impossible to smile (or talk, really).














And...

In his crowning Halloween achievement to date...

Preston came as Dwight from The Office! He looked so great!

Angie was kind enough to host a party. We played Guesstures and sat around talking. We have the best friends!

Happy Halloween!