Winter

Last week winter hit us, and it hit us hard.  In the period of like, twelve hours, we got at least a foot of snow.  Last Wednesday Zak ended up walking to and from school because we could not get the car out of our parking spot, let alone the parking lot.  The roads had not been touched since it has been snowing constantly, and it was still snowing hard.  Zak had quite the walk to school, as he had to forge the way most of the time.  I thought by the time it came for me to pick him up, the roads would be better or it would stop snowing, but I was wrong!  So Zak walked home and enjoyed the rest of his afternoon with me, snowed in.  U of I cancelled classes on Thursday, so Zak and I had a lazy, snuggly Thursday.  The snow had slowed down, but it was still snowing most of the time.  Zak ended up going into work for a few hours, by came home early.  I drank lots of cocoa and was grateful that our power only flickered a few times, and not go out, like some of our friends' had.

Friday it continued snowing hard, and it took us about 20 minutes to get the car out of its spot.  It had only moved once, when Zak went to work, and it was a difficult situation.  The guy plowing the snow had created a pretty big hill for me to back up over.  So we had to shovel and salt and shovel some more, and eventually, Zak helped push the car out!  It was scary getting out of the parking lot (why is it that parking lots are always, no matter what, awful? I don't understand why it's so difficult to keep them decent), but the rest of the roads were ok.

 A week later and almost everything has melted!  It feels almost too good to be true, as I'm sure it is.  But it's nice to drive places normally again.  Now we have rain, so whatever!

Other than that, our lives have been about the same.  We're getting adjusted to Zak's new school and work schedule.  At least his earliest class is at 8:30 and not at 8, like last semester!  His labs are in the morning or early afternoon, which is a nice improvement from his 7-10pm lab from last semester.  This weekend we are pig-sitting again for our friends, yay!  Chad will often bring him over when he comes to hang out.  We love having Hampton around!!

In other news, I am going to California in June for about a week!  Zak most likely won't be able to make it, especially if he gets this fire crew job--we have no idea what his schedule would be like.  If he can make it work, he'll come with me.  But we're both ok with me going by myself.  Plus, I get to fly out of Pullman, which will make it easier on Zak, not having to drive to and from Spokane twice.  I get to be in L.A. with my family, and my dad on Father's Day!  I'm excited--we couldn't make it to CA last year and I'm still having a bit of a hard time transitioning from that vacation.  And it'll be Kenny's first trip since he's been home from Sweden.  It's going to be a good trip.

Here are some pictures of the snow.  Blah.

from our bedroom

same location

our car on the right, after we failed to get it anywhere

the parking lot during a brief lull in the storm

while Zak was at work

January Update

We don't have a whole lot going on, and until last night, didn't have snow that lasted for more than a few hours. Well, we finally have some snow on the ground and it's starting to feel like winter has come.  Oh well, it had to happen sooner or later and I'm grateful it took as long as it did!

As some of you might know from Facebook, I had a rough week with my back.  I've had some back problems before in the past, and since I've been working out and doing yoga, they have stayed, more or less, at bay.  But last week was a first for me.  It was the worst pain I've been in and what is frustrating is that I am not 100% what even happened.  Last weekend I had a busy few nights at work.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just some big parties and running around busing and cleaning, etc.  Just like I always do.  When I got off Saturday night, I went to hang out with Zak for the last 30 minutes of his shift before closing.  I remember he rubbed my back and shoulders a little bit.  Then we came home, and I noted that my shoulder area on my right side hurt a bit, so I had him pop my back and rub it a little more.  He had some plans to start networking for a job he wants this summer (more on that in a minute), so he went over to a friend's house for the night.  I didn't mind, and decided to read on the couch for a few hours.

The bad part came when I tried to get up.  I could barely move.  And the pain was so bad I was taken aback.  I had never felt like that before.  It was like my entire right side of my back, and some of my side, has frozen up.  It took me awhile, but I finally willed myself upstairs.  And of course, Zak had forgotten his phone at work so I was on my own.  I tried to brush my teeth, and even that was an ordeal.  I took some pain killers, painfully and slowly change into my pajamas and crawled into bed.  I remember a lot of crying, praying and wondering what had happened to make me some immobile, so defenseless.  It was awful.  I couldn't think of anything and started to worry that I had maybe done something that was irreversible.  I don't know how, but I eventually fell asleep, half paralyzed and rigid on the bed.  When Zak came to bed a few hours later, I woke up and told him how scared I was and he rubbed my back, put some icy-hot on it and helped me get into a less painful position to sleep in.

When I woke up the next day, he suggested I take a hot shower to relax my muscles.  It helped immensely!  I hobbled downstairs and found the Tylenol and Zak put some more icy-hot on my back and I tried to sit in a position that wouldn't hurt.  The next few days showed slight improvement.  I took a hot shower before bed and in the morning, went through almost a whole bottle of ibuprofen, and a lot of icy-hot.  When I could bare it, I did several types of stretches.  All throughout the week I talked to my dad about my insurance predicament.  Since we live where we do, there isn't really anything Kaiser can do for me, short of treating me at the ER or urgent care.  By the time we got it sorted, my back was considerably better and I was so frustrated I decided to not even bother.  This is why we need simple, universal health care, people!  But he sent me some of his pain killers to help me out, and they really improved the state of my back.  It was a really rough week and now I am almost back to normal.  I can move and do almost everything I used to do without it hurting.  So I am thankful I didn't ruin my back, and that it eventually healed.

So that was my week.

Zak's week was more interesting.  Well, like I said, he wants to get on one of the local fire crews for the summer.  His co-workers have a brother and friends that are on the crew, so Zak has been networking with them lately, hanging out and the like.  If he got the job, it would be a life changer for us: at least 2 times more money than he makes now, it would help with future job placement and for his major, and he would be doing something that interests him.  We're crossing our fingers.  He has to make an appointment for mid-February, when they start hiring.  It looks like he'll have some of the guys' recommendations, which will be very helpful.  He's really excited about it, and we both hope he gets it.  It'll be nice for him to be out in the forest instead of behind a jewelry counter.

He also started school this week.  He is taking: biology, economics of natural resources, forest conservation and physics this semester.  So far, his classes seem interesting and comprehensible enough.  His MWFs are stacked, and he has one of his two labs on T and TH.  His friend from last semester's chemistry class is in a few of his classes, so that's nice for him, too.

That's been our life for now.

The Gun

So Zak has been ruminating the idea to purchase a gun in his head for months.  This is just how he operates: he thinks about it, does some research, thinks about it some more, weighs the pros and cons, thinks, budgets it out, convinces himself, and then--tells me, which surprises me.  When he told me he had seriously thought about buying a gun and figured out the costs and logistics, I was definitely caught off guard and immediately wrote him off.  I was, and am, still kind of anti-gun.  I didn't grow up in a family where there were guns, never really liked the idea of having a gun, or the need.  And having lived in Idaho for the past few years, seems to have only solidified my position of not owning a gun, since everyone here has at least A gun, if not more.  And they are realllllly into their guns.

the gun. it has yet to be named.

Well, with that being said, Zak bought one anyways.  He used his Christmas money and bonus from work to buy the pistol, a "Ruger Security-Six".  Initially, I wasn't too pleased, because it happened too quick for me.  But once it happened, I did come to the realization that Zak would actually be a very responsible gun owner.  He's smart, and will teach me and our future kids about the dangers and safety precautions.  He won't be one of those redneck white trash people that live nearby, drunk and waving a gun in the air on July 4th.  So that helps me feel a bit better about having a gun in the house.  It's still a weird thought and difficult to adjust to, for me, at least.  He is thrilled about it.  And once he brought it home, I knew it was the gun for him.  It's totally his style, very sleek and simple.  I like that it doesn't have a clip, and that it's easy to check if it's loaded or not, there is a roll-out barrel with six slots for the bullets.  So that helps calm my nerves.  It's a nice looking gun and he's pleased with it.

look how happy he is to go shooting with the boys! and in his new vest!

He went shooting with his guy friends a few weeks ago.  Our friend Chad also bought a gun; I have no idea what type it is.  Their co-worker, Kandace's boyfriend Gabe has recently returned from his third tour in Iraq and has several types of guns and knows the area well.  So they took off and had a morning shoot out past town in the woods somewhere.  I was a little upset I didn't get to go the first time, but he told me they wanted to take me the next day.  I've never been shooting before, so I was a bit anxious.  And I was happy to have Kandace there with me, who hadn't shot a gun before, either.  

gun + bullets

We went to the same place the guys went the day before, about 20 minutes north of town, off some backwoods road, in a nice open area.  It was actually a very nice day, especially for January, temperatures about 45 degrees, clear blue skies with wisps of clouds, no snow or ice on the ground.  The boys bought some orange targets and set them up on an old tree stump for us to shoot at.  My reaction to shooting Zak's gun was interesting.  It didn't kick as much as I expected, but still enough to freak me out.  I was glad to have ear plugs in because it was way louder than I thought it'd be.  But it handled nice enough.  It wasn't bad.  Gabe brought (and I'm quoting), a "spring-field arms 1911 and .45 cal" and a "Smith and Wesson .40 cal".  We all took turns shooting the different guns.  The two Gabe brought kicked really hard and were a bit more frightening to shoot.  I wasn't a fan.  

shooting round 1

my first time, very concentrated

unsure of how I feel after my turn was up

posing only

the target on the right is all Zak

shooting some more

where we went shooting, on a very nice day!

Zak had a fun time.  He shot several near and in the bulls-eye on one target, so that was neat.  Kandace and I both shot all the guns, and decided Zak's was the nicest to shoot.  And after our afternoon of shooting, it didn't solidify or change my opinion about guns.  It was an experience, but it wasn't my favorite or least favorite thing in the world.  Zak's so cute, he bought a gun cleaning kit with a gift card and is meticulous about cleaning it, storing safely and now is looking online for a nice holster.  He tries to tell me that if he's working in the forest this summer, it will be helpful to have, in case of bears or large predators.  I still am not convinced, but whatever, right?  Zak has joined the circle of gun-owners and there's no going back.  I guess my only hope is to not let him get another one anytime soon, so we'll see how well that goes...

Our California Christmas (part 2)

Well, once the Christmas festivities were over, we had a day off to relax a bit.  We headed over to Kohl's and  Costco and then us kids took Kenny's car and went to the mall briefly.  We also played some video games while Mom made a really delicious dinner: homemade chicken tenders and perfect onion rings.  They were amazing!  Then we watched a favorite movie of ours: O Brother, Where Are Thou? (my sister and father can quote the whole thing, more or less) and played cards for a few hours.  It was a nice, low-key day.  Especially since my mom had a bit of a cold and on Tuesday we were headed into the City.

my dad commissioned Zak to draw a shark and a unicorn fighting for Jenna. yes, he specified that the unicorn was the clear victor, but both animals had taken heavy damage. needless to say, she was thrilled.

delicious Costco hot dogs

Our day in San Francisco was fun, the weather was perfect and the shopping wasn't too awful.  Zak enjoyed briefly popping into the Rolex store and another fancy watch store.  I enjoyed shopping with my sister at Sephora for some fun make-up to use our gift cards on.  Zak also enjoyed going to this music/entertainment store called Rasputin's, there are a handful of them in California, and they are always huge and have tons of music, dvds, etc.  He was like a kid in a candy store.  It was nice to spend some time in the City, and not being rushed around too much.  Around 5, Dad met us and we got all pretty to head over to the fancy restaurant we go every year, L'Olivier.  It is an absolutely delicious French restaurant and a major treat for everyone.  Zak has been once before, two years ago, and wasn't as thrilled with his choice then, but this year he understood why we rave about it.  Everything was perfect, and it was so nice to be all pretty and dressed up, talking with all of my extended family.

Jenna excited to be near a shark balloon

Zak wanted a picture by the Rolex store

Jenna with Annalise

we're hoping that one of the many pictures we took will be nice enough to replace our last nice picture...
from when I was 15...this one looks good, right?

meeting Annalise for the first time, unfortunately she was a little fussy. but cute!

Zak was brave and decided to try the escargot for an appetizer.  He let a few of us have one, and let's just say that I checked that off my bucket list.  We're glad we tried them, but probably wouldn't get them again.  I had a delicious appetizer of baked brie, which I split with my brother to get some of his awesome crab cakes.  Zak and I also split french onion soup and a really good Caesar salad.  My cousin Grant and his wife Ali had their sweet baby along, Annalise.  She's about 5 months old and it was fun to see and interact with her.  For our entrees, we decided to go for steak, I got the filet mignon, and Zak had a New York, both of which were divine.  We tried to eat as slow as we could to savor the flavors.  For dessert we each got a souffle, because we figured we might as well get it at a French place, right?  Zak got the Grand Marnier, and I had the chocolate.  Both are good, and while Zak may think he chose the winner, I will beg to differ.  Stuffed, we drove home, happy and exhausted.

with those snails, after popping on into his mouth

pretty girls: Allie, Sasha, me, Jenna, Ali & sleeping Annalise

Sasha, me, Zak, Jenna & Allie eagerly waiting for food

Kenny, Jordan, Brandon & Matt looking handsome

Wednesday was my (24th) birthday!  We had creamed eggs on toast for breakfast and I opened some very nice gifts.  Zak got me a beautiful ruby ring with diamonds on either side; I totally was not expecting it, although he has told me many times he wanted to get me that ring.  Doy.  Jenna and Kenny got me some awesome mugs, a cute one with elephants on it, and a nice bug one with the S.F. city skyline on it.  My parents got me a nice, fancy rice cooker that I've already used since I've been home and love!  Wednesday flew by too quickly, in my opinion.  Around noon, I headed over to Jamba Juice to have a little chat with one of my friends from high school; it was so nice to see her, even if it wasn't that long.  After, us kids met up with our Robison cousins and went bowling for a little bit.  No one was super awesome, but Jenna wasn't exactly great. :)  It was just a goofy, fun time and I was happy to spend time with everyone.

Zak made me wear ALL of my diamonds

L-R: wedding/engagement ring, newest ruby & diamond ring (24th bday), diamond ring (20th bday), blue and white diamond ring (23rd bday) == fancy, lucky girl

We had a family dinner at Grandma's, which was absolutely amazing.  My parents have perfected this recipe my dad made years ago for a Priesthood cook-off night for church (and won), Macadamia Nut Chicken.  It's essentially marinaded chicken coated with breadcrumbs and crushed macadamia nuts, cooked.  But then there is a papaya-mango-pineapple marmalade that goes on top that is wonderful.  Add sides of macaroni salad, rice and broccoli, and you're good to go!  I invited Amy over to dinner, since I wanted to spend time with her/I love her.  It was awesome.  Everything was just great.  We all had a great time and I got some wonderful presents, including some more Disney movies to add to my collection, make-up and lotion, as well as this book I've wanted for awhile, The Art of the Disney Princess, and the first book of the Hunger Games [side note: I made my family tell me about these books, since I knew nothing about them, and then my aunt got it for me, and I read it in mere hours.  I then found the next two books on-line (because I couldn't wait for the ones I ordered with a gift card to arrive) and read them in like, a day and a half. Awesome trilogy/can't wait for the movie!].  We had chocolate roll and German chocolate cake for dessert and oh, everything was just the best.  I enjoyed talking with my grandparents and aunts, and cousins, and just everyone.  It was a pretty rockin' birthday.

this was taken right after we took a nice one, but Zak covered his face with a balloon at the last minute!

cousin (& friend) picture, L-R: Matt, Jordan, Brandon, Jenna, Zak, me, Kenny, Amy, Grant, Sasha, Allie -- almost everyone!

Thursday arrived way too quickly, and it was a bit upsetting.  But Zak and I cleverly got everything packed and figured out for carry-ons for the plane early on so we could play video games and have fun with my family.  And, for the final food send-off, my mom made my favorite appetizers: (from Cheesecake Factory) sweet corn tamale cakes.  They were better than the restaurant's, and, oh man, we were in heaven.  Just amazing.  I'm going to try making them once I get a food processor/the ingredients.  Delicious!  We briefly said good-bye to the Robison cousins and headed off to the airport.

the best appetizers in the world, oh yum!

my mom's dad used to make handles for boxes to carry on plane; she made one for the rice cooker and was so proud of it! it was awesome and survived the trip!

Our journey from there wasn't bad, we were expecting snow when we landed, but the roads were clear and aside from some rain, uneventful.  As sad as it was to leave California, it was nice to get home to our bed and little place.  But I haven't fully accepted us being back here yet, as I've only sort of put away laundry washed from the trip, and some of the presents.

We want to thank everyone, not just in California, but among our other family and friends, for such wonderful and thoughtful gifts.  We are lucky to have so many loving and caring people in our lives and are grateful for everyone.  We loved our time in CA and can't wait to visit, like always.  And thank you for all of the birthday cards and wishes for me, too!

Our California Christmas (part 1)

Let me start off by saying that we had a fantastic trip to California.  The weather was beautiful, warm and we enjoyed all the food and company immensely!

me and Amy at lunch

Our first full day in CA was Friday.  It was nice to have a day that was somewhat of a relaxing one before the holiday rush.  We met up with my best friend Amy at the newly installed Five Guys & Burgers place a few blocks from home.  We sat outside, goofed off with the fancy new soda machine, and just enjoyed the delicious food.  We spent the rest of the day playing old school Mario on the Wii and laughing at the old mix CDs I made in high school.  Zak teased me for all of the terrible bands I used to listen to, but I found a few gems here and there!  Kenny and Jenna had some evening activities to attend to, but we had a quick family meal of salmon, yum!  While they were out, my parents and Zak & I helped put up ornaments on the tree and watched the movie Elf.

Christmas Eve with my family consists of a big family dinner, a little program put on by the cousins, and cousin gift exchange.  The dinner is more or less Thanksgiving dinner, with a few holiday bonuses.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, creamed spinach, creamed onion, yam & apples, rolls, raspberry fruit jello, oh everything is so wonderful.  And you always think if you get small enough portions of everything, you can go back and have a little bit more.  Nope.  I was stuffed and sad, because it's been awhile since I had my aunt Karri's famous rolls, or the gravy my grandma makes.  But we had enough for leftovers the next day!

a nice one of us, I just wished I hadn't messed up the exposure on my camera, oh well!

waiting for dinner with Sasha and Jenna

a nice picture

and a goofier one

our whole family!

When the cousins were little, one of the oldest ones, Sasha, would help put together a little Christmas program for everyone.  It usually involved playing instruments, singing, reading Christmas books or poems, etc.  This year we had a nice program.  My grandma usually puts on the Christmas program in the Cambodian branch in Oakland for church, and we did a simplified version of that.  I played the keyboard and sang with Jenna, my cousins Allie and Sasha and/or with Kenny.  The boy cousins read verses from the scripture, my aunt read a family favorite, The Journey of the Magi, a poem by T.S. Eliot.  It was a nice time.  We did the cousin gift exchange (Zak got a $25 Amazon gift card to do what he pleases with, I had to wait until Wednesday because Grant, Ali & Annalise were in Utah with Ali's family, but that was fine with me) and eventually went home and to bed.

On Christmas, my siblings and I always got up unnaturally early to go through our stockings and open our gifts from Santa.  Kenny was bummed that initially Jenna and I weren't having that, since we now want to sleep in.  But we agreed to a little pact to get up around 7.  It was hard to say no to Kenny, who has spent the last 2 Christmases in Sweden.  So we all got up early and looked through our stockings.  Santa brought us the game Taboo, as well as some nice soaps for Zak, a set of silicone whisks, new spatula set and measuring spoon set for me, and some Thai curry cashews for Zak as well.  Zak's co-worker's roommate is the manager at our Bath & Body Works, so he scored 3 big bottles of different body sprays, and a body cream for me, I was impressed with the good choices he made.  Jenna wanted to play the new Lego Harry Potter (years 5-7) on the Wii, so we did that until our parents got up.  We heated up the tea ring (similar to cinnamon rolls, but better) Grandma made for us, got dressed and went to church for an hour.  I think it was the first time at church with my family that I haven't gone up to play the piano or sing, it was so nice to sit with Zak the entire meeting!  It was nice to see old church members and friends.  My best friend very talented family sang/played instruments, which was beautiful.

decorated mantle

our pretty tree

still looking nice, after church

a decent one of us

in our "jim-jams"

After church, we changed back into our new pjs ('jim-jams', as Jenna calls them), and opened our gifts.  Zak got me some beautiful pearl cluster drop earrings that I've been in love with since they got them in the store.  He also got me the Sims 3 game for the PS3.  Neither one of us have played anything related to the Sims before, so we were excited to try it.  I got him a nice leather belt he specifically told me about, two visual companion guides to a show we love dearly, Firefly, and, unfortunately, the wrong cologne.  I felt really bad, but explained that there were four similarly named ones, but I was smart to keep the receipt and we exchanged it for the correct one back home.

I was excited to give out the presents we got for my family: Dad got all of the Oakland A's World Series games on DVD, as well as a cool puzzle with all of the vintage pennants from the MLB.  I made Mom a series of magnets from places and of people she loves: a scene of fall back east (she grew up in PA), Hawaii (born there), the Oakland Temple, Yosemite national park, a picture of all 6 of us from this summer at the California Academy of Sciences in S.F., and a collage of some pictures of all of us: a wedding picture of me & Zak, Kenny & Jenna at Disneyland, all 3 of us siblings at the airport when Kenny got home from Sweden, and a goofy one of us 3 trying to do one of the jumping pictures in S.F. right before Kenny left.  I was really pleased with them.  I made Jenna this cute calendar journal thing I saw on-line: I took a bunch of index cards, cut them in half, then stamped the date on them.  And then found 12 vintage postcards to use as month dividers.  So every day she can write on a card about something fun or significant that happened that day on that year.  And then the next year, do the same.  I made my mom one for her birthday and she loved it; I also made one for myself and it's a cute idea.  We got Kenny the show I mentioned previously, Firefly.  We made him watch it while he was here and he got just as addicted as we did!  He was thrilled.  They all were.

We opened some nice and fun gifts, including: the book Earth, by Jon Stewart (been dying for this book!), some brown 501s for Zak, a coat for me, a nice big saucepan, a California calendar, some weird art things my siblings found at a thrift store, and the movies Serenity & Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Jenna was pumped about her boys shark slippers from Old Navy (she's been super into sharks and marine biology, she's planning on majoring in it), Kenny was happy to receive a George Foreman grill (our cousins also got similar grills, oh the joys!).  My mom got these beautiful plates from Williams & Sonoma, it was so cute to see how excited she was.  After all the wrapping paper was thrown away, we lazed about for a bit.  Mom wanted to make her famous thick, soft Christmas cookies with eggnog for later, so I helped her frost and decorate them.  It was fun to help her with them; I had tried make them previously for our friends' party and while they were a success, nothing beats my mom's, who has made these for years.

pretty and tasty cookies!

We headed over to the grandparents' mid-afternoon.  We had waffles, sausage and quiche for brunch on Christmas day.  My mom recently got a fancy waffle maker, so she brought that and made delicious Belgian waffles.  The rest of the day was low-key.  We opened presents from my grandparents.  Well, actually, my grandparents sent us some money before we left, so we just enjoyed watching other people open stuff.  Although I was jealous of Kenny getting the complete Star Wars collection on Blu-Ray, sweet deal.  Then we played Taboo for awhile, which is always fun.  We eventually had the cookies and eggnog, leftovers from the previous night and stuffed ourselves, again.  And just sat around and talked.  It was a nice day.

Since that turned out to be a huge post, I will write about the rest of our trip later!

*if I can get my act together to get some pictures of our gifts, I'll post them, but you'll have to do with this for now :)*