Sorry the pictures aren't working. We shall see when I get around to fixing it. I just have other things that need to get done, you know?
It has been super foggy lately but yesterday and (it seems like) today the sun burned the fog off and was a lovely day. We went to the park and got some lovely Vitamin D yesterday, and we will do that this afternoon too.
I feel like we are obligated to watch the Super Bowl and to support the Seahawks. Usually, I don't watch or care about the Super Bowl, and if we didn't live in the Seattle area, I would root for the Broncos, so it is kind of weird to feel obligated in this way.
Speaking of that, we learned that Rachel is afraid of fireworks when people around us set off fireworks after the win on Sunday. I can only imagine the noise people will make if the Seahawks win, when the Seahawks win. It will be bigger the the Fourth of July, and that was big.
We are trying to deep clean our house to rid it of demons in preparation of Chinese New Year. It is always something I begin with gusto and then have to drag myself to do finish it.
We have friends living in Belgium and friends who will be living in the UK at the same time and we thought we should go visit them. Unfortunately, Andrew does not have enough vacation time. Well, he does right now but we have to save it for the summer when we go to Lake Cascade with my family and then when we go to Utah for a wedding. Sorry friends living in Europe.
In February, Rachel and I flew on a lovely airplane to Utah for my friend Erika's wedding. We flew without Andrew, but things went pretty well.
Rachel liked looking out the window. I'm not sure what she was looking at, but she was looking.
Rachel in the thing that always makes me sing, "We'll put on the armor of God!" (See this clip for what in the heck I am talking about, at about 10:00 the song begins, but the part I always sings is at the very end.)
Rachel sitting in our seat on the airplane.
We survived the plane ride! Rachel was very good. She was hungry when we were taxiing, but I wanted to feed her when we took off. Oh well, I gave her the binky and she was just fine. When the businessmen saw us on the plane, they all rolled their eyes. But after the flight, they all said, "Oh, what a good and cute baby you have!"
After the wedding, we went back to Washington to be back with Andrew/Dad. Our flight got delayed by an hour and a half. It was bedtime.
Rachel enjoyed the delay and took a great nap.
After another successful ride. She slept (was passed out) the whole flight until I started moving around to get our things.
She is destined to travel the world. Hopefully I will be with her.
We drove to Utah with a nine-week-old baby! Snoqualmie Pass was beautiful. Rachel slept well and, more importantly, stayed awake well.
Snoozing.
Rest stop in the Pass! We have Rachel on an approximate three-hour schedule. I'm flexible with it. So we stopped to feed her pretty often. She did great and I am much better at nursing in the back of the car than before! It worked out very nicely. There was a rest stop nearby every time we needed to stop! Breastfeeding at a rest stop is way better than doing it at a gas station.
Rachel wearing my sunglasses at a rest stop in Oregon.
Rest stop in Idaho!
We made it all the way to Utah in one day. We were all pooped, and Rachel slept when we got there because we had kept her awake pretty well during the drive.
I have been working on the scrapbook of our summer trip to Victoria, BC, with my family. Andrew took some beautiful pictures of flowers when we went to Butchart Gardens in June. He has been working on photography and I think he is getting better and better.
In Washington, we planned to spend two days apartment hunting, but we found an apartment that we really liked on the first day, so we had an extra day to play. Andrew found a Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley and we decided to go. I was happy to know you could grow tulips in the Pacific Northwest, since I had heard somewhere that the bulbs rot in the ground because of the rain, so you have to supposedly dig them up each year. I learned that such is not the case, and that tulips and daffodils grow quite well there!
Tulips growing in a tree...
Me amongst the daffodils--my favorite flower!
Seeing all of those tulips and daffodils was really fun. They are such beautiful flowers in small quantities, and they are stunning in large quantities. It made me want to go to The Netherlands sometime to see their tulips.
Well, yesterday I realized that it was March 27, and the last day I can defend my thesis and walk at the hooding ceremony is April 27. And that was in one month from yesterday. BUT yesterday I finished writing my thesis! Yay! So now I am going over it and making revisions and will give the whole dang thing to my adviser David on Friday, March 30. Then I will get it back from him a week later, so at the latest April 6. Then I will make more revisions, arrange the defense, and get some paperwork to the Grad School. And somewhere in there, my sister will have her baby and I will be an aunt! The paperwork and so on needs to happen by April 11 because that is the day Andrew and I are leaving for Washington to go apartment hunting. And then two weeks later, April 25, 26, or 27, I will have my thesis defense and turn in the final paperwork. The moving company will come on those same days and box everything up and put it into a truck. Then I will scrub this place down and move out on April 30! I will either couch surf or live with my parents for the week. The hooding ceremony is on May 4, Andrew will walk on May 5, and then we will fly up to Washington to start our new grown-up life on May 6. Then his parents will come up and we will get ready for the wedding. Then Wesley and Maren will get married in the Seattle Temple on May 11. And then the movers will come May 14. And then life can calm down and get back to normal. And all summer I will work on thesis revisions and getting it printed and bound. Fun fun times.
Yesterday after my swim, I decided to sit in the steam room for a few minutes. I walked in and it was all steamy. I was excited. I like to sit in saunas and steam rooms. I actually really like sweating. And I like breathing that air.
But I didn't sweat. I didn't even feel hot.
I was confused--isn't this place full of steam? Shouldn't it be hotter?
And then I realized something:
Hong Kong was hotter and more humid than that steam room.
And I was sad. Visible steam does not equal hot steam.
Next time I need to sweat and sweat and sweat by just sitting on a park bench, I will have to go back to Hong Kong and sit on a park bench, fan myself like crazy, and drink like five bottles of water in a day.
The condensation on the camera lens when I opened it up to take a picture. HUMID.
The hottest day of my entire life. This was before we discovered the power of fans.
The second hottest day of my entire life. Thank heaven for the amazing invention called fans.
Sweating it up on Lion's Rock. Oh yeah.
The coolest day temperature-wise we had in Hong Kong. Even though it was relatively "cool", we still NEEDED to keep cooler-ish by this point--enter the umbrellas and fans. Finally, I understood Chinese culture to a greater extent. Before they were beautiful and art pieces, they were practical so people wouldn't die.
So go to your local sauna/steam room and tell me what you think. Or even better, go to Hong Kong and take me and Andrew with you.
I love Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon. We went with Andrew's family and it was fun but there were so many people. I got grumpy a lot. There are a lot of pictures so here are just a few highlights of our California trip.
The Norco Audio Family History Tour
Heidi grew up in Norco, CA, and we stopped by. This is a crazy place.
First off, they don't have sidewalks. They have horse trails. WHAT THE WHAT? Maybe in Wyoming, but not what I was expecting for southern California.
Some girl on a horse in a city in southern California.
Then we stopped at the Norco cemetery to find Heidi's grandparents' grave. We found it! It was a miracle because she had never been there.
Hannah, Heidi, and Wesley at the grave.
That was cool to be there. Heidi thanked me for suggesting it, since she had never been and being there brought her a lot of peace.
The First Disney Day
Christmas at Disneyland, where the wreaths are all Mickey-shaped and the castle has snow on it (I know, snow in Anaheim? But by now, we know that Southern California is not what you expect--snow, horses, what's next?).
Love it.
We wore a lot of 3-D glasses. They kind of give me a headache.
The Family sans me (taking the picture) and Maren (on an airplane)
And no family vacation would be complete without a picture of me coming out of the bathroom!
We rode Splash Mountain. It was great. Maren is there in the front. She and Wes are engaged now and they are so disgusting.
Our Wild Ride.
This is how Andrew feels whenever I drive. ;)
Andrew and I in front of the castle at night. How romantic.
The Day We Only Went to California Adventure
Wes and Maren about to go off a huge waterfall on Grizzly Rapids.
Andrew and some light bike from Tron.
Not a lot of pictures from that day. Oh well. I traumatized Hannah by making her go on Screamin' with me. I forgot to tell her that it blasts you off. Oops.
The Day We Went to Disneyland in the Morning and the Evening But Mostly Went to Los Angeles
Wesley and Andrew cleaning their ears. What a good brother activity.
I had never been to L.A., so it was pretty exciting.
A clear day for L.A., right?
Gas costs $5 here where it costs $3 in Utah.
And we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, but we didn't get out and walk around.
I like the palm trees. That is a pretty good picture taken from the back of a Honda Pilot, if I do say so myself.
And then we went to Santa Monica beach and we had many marvelous adventures.
Like this dog in a tree. The owner was completely chill. His dog is awesome.
And we went down to the beach and it was just lovely. I kept thinking of the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do", where she says she wants to have fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
We also had another unusual sighting:
Glenn took off his shoes. Apparently this is an anomaly.
Jumping picture--me, Hannah, Elise, Maren. I didn't get the memo that we were making L shapes out of our arms.
The Day We Were the Dorky Family Wearing Matching Disney Shirts
An epic moment occurred when I became famous for screaming so loudly on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I am awesome. This guy said I was amazing and he recognized me later on, too.
And I pulled the sword out with my pinky finger.
Family picture time! You get a sneak peek at the Christmas card. Lucky you.
Aren't we cute? I like how Wes and Maren are freakishly tall in the back.
We went on Star Tours and...
I was the rebel spy and Yoda said I was vital to the rebel cause! It made my life.
Also, Andrew was a good big brother and got Hannah to ride Space Mountain--and she liked it! She even has her arms up and has a big smile on her face. Yay!
From back to front: me, Hannah, Andrew, Elise, Bryanna.
We didn't take a picture, but WE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF THE LOG!!! Oh yeah, we broke the family record. I'm pretty done with Splash Mountain for a little while.
The Last Disney Day and The Most Crowded One Wherein I Had A Headache.
New Years Eve was the worst day to go to Disneyland. it was way too crowded and I was grumpy. I had a headache and that was not a good thing. It was Elise's birthday, too.
I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. We had to watch "Captain E.O." to please Glenn. Weird. So weird.
And we went on Space Mountain again!
Funny Space Mountain picture. Elise is a super hero, Hannah is pumped, Andrew is screaming and I am plugging my ears (I had a headache, remember) which is opposite of how it usually is, and Wesley is proposing to Maren (I love how she looks like she's saying, "Oh my gosh, why is it you?"
Also, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. Awesome. It was fun. And then I went to sleep and woke up when the huge fireworks show shook the hotel.
Then We Drove Home on New Years Day and There Was No One On The Freeway
