One Year Down

Congratulations Jason!!

The first year of dental school is officially over and Jason did awesome! After watching Jason's dedication at BYU and preparing for dental school, I knew I had married a hard working, self-motivated man. However, after watching him work so hard through his first year of dental school, I have seen a whole new level of persistence and dedication. I could never study the amount of material and for the length of time that he does. But his ability to exceed the demands of an intense dental program isn't what amazes me the most. What I don't understand is how he is able to excel in such a challenging program and still make time for me. I feel so blessed to have a husband who always makes me feel loved and important even when he is under a great deal of stress. I couldn't ask for more. Way to go Jayce!!

Gardening in Southern California

We are so excited!! Yesterday we planted our garden. Small, yes. But it's ours and we are excited to try out our green thumbs (or lack of...who knows) here in L.A. The apartments we live in offer few of these little garden spots. We got the awkward shaped one on the end, but we're ok with it. We had fun picking out our veggies to plant yesterday, and then it only took about a half hour to fertilize and plant it all- the benefit of having a small garden (and it won't take long to weed either!!)

Looking down the row of gardens. You can't really see ours too well, but these will be our fellow gardener's plots. Maybe this will be a good way to meet some of the neighbors we haven't meet yet. I'm sure our harvest will be plenty to share with all, right?! ;)

We only planted 7 plants. Of course we did 2 kinds of tomatoes, 3 bell peppers
(we eat lots of bell peppers), 1 zucchini (Jason made me choose between zucchini and squash), and.....

STRAWBERRIES!!!
We probably won't get much from just one plant, but we had to try it out. We hear they grow great here in Cali. So, we'll see. Hooray for our first California garden!!

Our Escapes

Since my last post, things have been rather busy for us. Jason's been super busy with his classes, research, and leadership positions (which have him flying all over the country!). I've also been pretty busy with work and required educational classes. So, it seems like we haven't seen each other a whole lot until the past week or so. We decided since it's been kinda crazy, a little "vacation" might help us make it through this quarter. So Wednesday afternoon, we escaped L.A. and headed down to Anaheim to do a little R&R. We were lucky to be able to use my parents condos for a night and way lucky to have free passes to Disneyland from some friends! I really think everyone needs to take a few days at Disneyland to remind them how to be a kid again!!

Here we are with one of our favorites, Goofy! When we saw Goofy, I got a glimpse of what Jason must have been like as a kid. Jason says if he were to work at Disneyland, he would for sure be Goofy!

Outside one of our favorite rides... Indian Jones!

This band of pirates was awesome!! They were pretty funny and had some great pirate jokes as well. Can you imagine being a pirate as your career? I'm so jealous!!

Last weekend we took another escape with our friends Kirk and Cheryl. We hiked Timber Mountain, near Mount Baldy in the Angeles National Forest. It was kind of a steep hike, but really pretty. As you can see, there were patches of snow, but it was melting quickly with the sunny weather. We're glad to have friends here who like the outdoors too!

A Little Shake

This past week Jason and I became true California residents- we felt our first earthquake. I was sleeping and poor Jason was studying at 4:00am Monday when the earthquake hit. My bed rocking and the shower doors rattling woke me up. By the time I came to and got up, it was over. Jason didn't feel it as much on the couch, and so we were both a little unsure if it was an earthquake, due to our groggy state of mind. But sure enough when we turned on the news later that day, a 4.4 earthquake had hit the LA area. I was very grateful that it wasn't any larger, in fact, it was kind of a good thing for me. How you say? Well, it fixed a little maintenance problem that has been annoying me. Our bedroom door hasn't been latching for some time now and Jason hasn't had time to look at it and I don't want to call maintenance about such a small thing. But, it really bugs me. However, after our little rumble the other day, the door shuts like a beauty!! Who new earthquakes could actually be in your favor? Hopefully this is the largest one we feel while we are here. Unfortunately, LA is due for a bigger one any time now! :(

The Bridge To Nowhere

We had an awesome day on Saturday. Some friends in our ward invited us to go hiking. Something we've been wanting to try since we've been here in Cali. We've been a little sceptical about finding good hikes and places to "get away". However, Cheryl and Kirk helped us realize that there really are pretty places to see here in So. Cal, besides the beach. We did an 8 mile hike called The Bridge to Nowhere. It was in the Angeles National forest only 45 minutes from our place. In the 30's, a road was built through the San Gabriel Canyon, with a large bridge toward the middle of the canyon. However, shortly after it was destroyed by floods. The road was taken out, but the bridge remained. So now there is a bridge out in the middle of nowhere. It's kinda funny. It is now used for bungee jumping and sight seeing. Here we are next to the river that we followed the entire hike. It was very pretty. Different terrain than we are used to, but very pretty.
Our guides, Cheryl and Kirk. Thanks for opening our eyes!!
The Bridge to Nowhere. (with people trying to get psyched up to jump off the bridge!!)

We ran into some awesome mountain goats along the way. I think they liked the photo shoot because they stood up there for a while looking in different directions and waiting for us to get our pictures!

As you can see, they were pretty big. We saw 3 total. It was a really fun day!! We are excited to start exploring other canyons and hikes around here!!

Oh What Fun!!

I know it's only January, but I figured I would enjoy a Valentine background for a little while before that holiday flies by...like Christmas did!! Although it seemed to fly by much to fast, we had such a great time in Washington!! It was so nice to have a long break and to be with so much family. Here are just a few of the highlights from our trip.

-Visiting Emily and Ryan's home in Seattle for the first time
-Playing with Maya...thanks to Falycia and Kirk- you guys are great for bringing her!!
-A girls day out (plus Jason) at the Olive Garden and The Nutcracker
-Caroling with my sister Amelia and her family
-Spokane Discount (one of Spokane's best kept secrets...being so great, it must not be a secret anymore)
-More shopping
-A wonderful Christmas and New Years with several family parties
-Family Flag Football with minimal injuries and lots of fun
-Games, Games, and more Games
-Oh, and lots of partaking of delicious holiday treats!!

We really did have a great time. We also loved getting a taste of winter. We miss being able to cozy up next to the Christmas tree and enjoy the lights and having everyone around. Here's a few random pictures from our trip.

Jason and Brandon at Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Maya being lazy and spoiled on the bed...where she got to sleep every night.
Amy, Sarah, Peggy, Becca, Lori, and I on Christmas Eve. Peggy taught us how to make her mom's yummy fudge!!
Me and my bro.
Our fun girls night out at The Olive Garden and the Ballet! (Jason felt a little out of place, but there was an extra ticket that couldn't go to waste!!) It was my first time seeing the nutcracker and it was awesome! Thanks Mom!!
Our little Christmas Baby!! Mae loves Elmo, so I couldn't really pass up this little Christmas dress at Spokane discount...especially for 2 bucks! She's just so darn cute and so fun too!!
Some of our cute and maybe a little crazy nieces and nephews.
Beth and Avery at the Christmas party!!

A Much Needed Visit

As some of you may know, this week Jason is wrapping up his first quarter of dental school!! What a stud! So this week he has been taking finals, which has been pretty brutal. With finals this week, it meant that last week Jason was gone a ton studying and preparing for his 7 finals this week. Luckily, my sister Becca decided that she and Mae would come visit while Jeff was in Houston. She was here for a week and we had a great time. This first picture is the only one with Jason in it because he was only around on Sunday really. The LA temple has beautiful Christmas lights up, so we took a stroll around the grounds and Mae loved it all the lights! It's definitely the most Christmas lights anywhere in LA!!
Although the weather is starting to get a little too chilly for playing at the beach, we picked the warmest day and headed to the ocean. It was really low tide, so it was great sand castle material. Mae had a blast playing in the waves, gathering sand dollars, making sand castles, and most of all, eating the sand!! Not too appetizing if you ask me!
I loved how the wet sand looked like glass. Their reflections are perfect.
Being a kid!
Mae had a great time playing on the toys at our apartment. She was much stronger than we thought. She would hang on these rings for quite a while and not get scared. It cracked us up!
Mae helping me get ingredients out to make banana bread. She's really into cooking and baking- which I love too!!
We went to the original farmers market here in LA. I think it's the oldest in California too. We browsed and ate lunch there. Lots of fun stuff to look at. Mae enjoyed the fish pond.
As you can see, this tree was ginormous!! It was really pretty and helped me get more into the Christmas spirit...it's kinda been hard since it's in the 60's and the closest thing we get to snow is a little rain.
Proof the we were here together. I like the sign in the background too. Definitely a motto I live by. :)
Thanks Becca for playing with me all week! It was so fun to have other people around and especially a little one full of energy!! I love you guys and miss you already. Good thing we'll see you in couple weeks!