...Moments away from ... a terrible and fiery death!

What better way to start off the new year than to take your life into your own hands and do something you've never done before? Why not make the situation even more exciting by taking into your hands the lives of your beloved wife, your father-in-law, and a complete stranger too! Well, that is just what I did. For the first time in my life, I flew a plane. No, there was no emergency on the plane going back to Hawaii where the pilot and copilot spontaneously died and required a regular passenger to take control of the plane... but Lianna and I went up in a little four-person plane with her father and family friend.
It was truly an odd feeling when the plane, the ENTIRE plane, would surge slightly down, leaving your stomach in your throat and your palms sweaty, holding on to the stick for dear life... only to relax again after seeing that you weren't going to suffer a terrible and fiery death. But just as soon as you descend back into a state of relief and calm, the tail of the plane swings slightly out to the right and you find out what it feels like to have your stomach not in your throat, but to your right or left side, a truly remarkable and indescribable feeling.

It was a nice flight though. Nothing too dramatic aside from the feeling of being on a constant, invisible, and unpredictable roller coaster. We passed over the family's house in Hercules, and it gave a pristine view of the San Fransisco skyline.
We landed at Half Moon Bay, took a walk around the pier, then headed back to Concord. On our way back we saw many other planes, and had to keep a careful eye out to make sure we didn't fly into their airspace, but we ended up just fine with a new experience to blog about. Happy New Year! It is up to you to make it a good one.

Happy New Year!

So, to ring in the new year J and I babysat in place of Debbie for two of the most well behaved and cutest children ever. We played with them, and fed them, and put them to bed, and then played with the pets of the house and watched the Bee movie until almost 2008!
Sasha, the girl, is two. I began babysitting her when she was very young, and so she and I have kind of grown up together. Anthony is around 19 months and is very tall, and very adorable. As you can see, they are lots of fun. I really miss them, and now Joe will too since he's met them, when we are back in Hawaii. Our break is winding to a close, and I'm going to miss the Bay Area, especially knowing that I probably won't be back for a while.. But we have lots of good memories to look back on, and we rung in the new year with big smiles all around!

Happy New Year!!
All the best wishes for a new year to rededicate to life, love and family.

Last-minute Christmas

Before we left Hawaii, I envisioned long days full of cold weather, hot chocolate, fires in the fireplace, Christmas carols, and plenty of free time for blogging. Now that we are in California, we have had lots of hot chocolate, (especially JD,) and there has been plenty of cold weather to encourage us to stay indoors, but somehow we have managed to fill our time with friends, family, movies, Christmas decorating, and some shopping. Oh yes, and lots of napping. But it wouldn't be a good vacation without those things, so the blogging has been pushed to the back burner. We have, however, been keeping up (sort of) with picture taking, so before the clocks pound out the last hours of the old year, and the wild bells ring in the new 2008 (at which point all these pictures and memories will become outdated and so last year) I want to record a few of the good times we have had.

When we arrived here, the house was noticeably lacking anything resembling Christmas, so JD and I took it upon ourselves to dive into the attic and pull out boxes of things. We put on some Christmas music, and (after I and Debbie cleaned the gift-wrapping department out of the living room) the three of us commenced putting up couch cushions, red and green candles, and various other yule-tidy things. Thus we passed a pleasant 10 minutes, until JD accidentally decorated a picture off of our dish hutch, and we decided that I would decorate while he and Debbie scavenged for more boxes and bags in the attic. They found some really pretty decorations, and after we were finished the house looked great, and only lacked a Christmas tree. Once Peter returned from BYU-Provo a day later, the four of us set up and decorated our artificial tree.

And, Debbie cleaned up after our tree's annual attempt at realism - it shed many of its poky plastic "needles" all over our carpet.

Lights, Camera, Christmas!

Saturday night found us at the Hilltop 2nd Ward's Christmas party. Some of the primary children sang some songs, and others in the ward participated as well. Debbie played the piano to accompany a soloist after dinner, and the rest of us watched and ate the delicious feast provided.
Christmas day came quickly, and we all gathered around to open our gifts!
JD and I received many wonderful and exciting gifts from the Quillen famlily, and from the Henderson family. It's impossible to pick favorites, but the following are some pictures of the whole bananza.

Some shirts J and I bought for Peter, a Family Favorites cookbook for JD from Mom Henderson, and lastly a sadly washed-out picture of Debbie, and an old filing cabinet JD and I cleaned out and cleaned up for her to hold her mountains of sheet music. At any rate, we loved everything we received, and we loved the smiles on everyone's faces whom we gave to. =)

We've also been blessed to be able to gather some furniture and other household supplies from my Grandfather and Grandmother's old apartment. My Grandfather is now in a nice home in Fresno, with good medical help for his Alzheimer's, and since my Grandmother passed away some time ago, my family is now getting the old apartment ready to rent out. Everything must go, and so JD and I have been able to look through it and store what we like in my mom's house. We have also been lucky to see some of my old friends - many of whom are between the ages of 1 and 12. We hope to see more of my old friends before we leave, and we wish everyone else a wonderful New Year!

A Little Christmas Sprite, or Two

So, now that school is officially over, it looks as though we will probably be blogging more often! And doing a whole collection of other silly things. For example, this little Christmasy gismo - something JD's dad sent him, and that I saw at work. It's very goofy, and I think it's rather in keeping with the holiday spirit. Below are several pictures from the wonderful treat.

And, the finale..

To see the dance in its full glory, go here! And, have some patience, or do something else while you are waiting for it to load. =) It may take a little while.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1417782750

Somehow, though, they put a girl's body on him, and man's body on me... maybe because hes grinning and I'm scowling? (Does that say something about stereotypes of men?) At any rate, it's a fun way to gear up for Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!

Take-Your-Kid-To-Work-Day ... not for every profession

For those of you who think Take-Your-Kid-To-Work-Day is a great idea, well, maybe some professions should be exempt. Click on the link below for a good smile.


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/12/10/foam.mishap.in.hangar.cnn

But hey, if you want a white Christmas, call up the kid responsible for this one! Enjoy!

It is done! cries a voice from the South. (Campus is South of our home.) So classes are officially over. They were pretty much over for me on Thursday, even though I thought they were going to end on Friday. My teacher got sick and so he just dismissed class on Friday without a lecture (yeah!).

So now it begins... the feverish, frantic cramming for finals.

Lianna has three this week, Psychology, English, and the dreaded Physics. I remember the days when I studied for the Physics final. It was like a recurring disease that wouldn't go away; the thought of the Physics final looming ominously overhead, casting a dark shadow over all thoughts and daydreams, all plans and entertainment. But alas, soon it will be over for her. No more physics final, well, at least until next semester.

As for me, I only have an Immunology final, Biochemistry final, and an Analytical lab practical. Not too bad, or at least I think. I'll probably find out just how grossly wrong I was while sitting in the respective classrooms, staring blankly at the finals about which I was so unconcerned.

On a different note, the Christmas season in upon us. As a result, we have started decorating using the means of our meager salary. Now, our apartment looks like Christmas is coming, and a warm radiance shines from our home.
(Ok, it is warm because it is alway warm in Hawaii, and it is radiant because we have power back, so we can turn on the light).

So, the semester is almost over! And, just as we are facing the last few days of class, and the first few days of finals, our little paradise was rocked by very harsh winds. The weather websites said they were 40 mph, but in reality they were strong enough to knock down several power poles from Kahuku to Ha'aula. So, for those of us who live between the two towns, power was nonexistent from about 3 am (I don't know if that's the time for sure, but that's what I've been told,) until about 4:30 pm today, and the roads blocked our passage away from the North Shore. Luckily, we did have hot water, and we have a gas stove and plenty of lighters. Also luckily, today was quite a beautiful day: sunny, warm. AND luckily, because the power was out, the school was closed down, so we were allowed to enjoy it!
Unfortunately, that meant that JD couldn't take his analytical chemistry lab practical today.. and that annoyed him pretty badly; it's a once-a-week lab class, and there is no other time available to give the practical without interfering with other finals.
But, on the whole, we enjoyed our day without school =)

When the power finally came back on, the first thing I did was check my email; the first thing J did was turn on his x-box and play x-box Live.
In the ensuing hours, I did homework, went to the TVA office to pick up a package from Mom Q, ( a cool Christmas decoration, our official second one,) and then I decorated our door with the wrapping paper from the package, and did some more homework, and made dinner.. and took pictures of J still playing x-box!
Isn't he cute?

Our very first Christmas decorative Snock
( a Snowman sock I made last year. Not the prettiest decor ever, but certainly one of the squishiest):

Our lovely package from Mom Q, set up and posted on our wall!