Merry Christmas Y'all...

...that's what was on some guy's shirt as we exited the Wilmington, NC airport baggage claim. It cracked me up and if I hadn't been so tired, I would have laughed. By the time we reached the beach house where Andy normally stays when he goes to visit Emma, we were sufficiently exhausted. We slept for a few hours and then went to pick up Emma at 3pm so we could spend about 3 hours with her on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, as most 6-year-old kids do, she stayed up late with anticipation and woke up early to find out what Santa brought for her. By the time we picked her up, she was in no mood to do anything. She fell asleep within about 5 minutes of arriving at the beach house and didn't wake up until it was time to go home. Rather than fight fatigue, we postponed our Christmas celebration for the next day.

Wednesday was a lot better. Emma was well rested, cheerful and we were able to celebrate Christmas during the 3 hours we had to spend with her. We read the Christmas story with her and she opened the gifts we had brought from her Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and Grandparents. The main thing she got was an 18-inch doll from Grandma Carol and Grandpa Jon and a trunk to carry it in. She really liked it and she loved the little outfits that Grandma Carol made--one of them even looked like the school uniform that Emma wears. She also dressed up the doll at night so it was ready for bed in its pink pajamas and each morning, she would dress it up so it was ready to play.
We also got her the board game, Mouse Trap--which I remember playing with at Grandma's house, and she loved it. We played with it several times and she got pretty good at setting it up in order.

On Thursday, we spent the bulk of the day at the Wilmington Children's Museum. Emma created colors in the "science lab" and then Andy put on a very entertaining puppet show. He used a variety of animals and was so entertaining that Emma got inspired and she put on her own puppet show with another little girl. It was hilarious!! They also had some new exhibits where the kids could sing karaoke and dance on stage. Emma loves stuff like that. She really enjoys performing and seeing herself on stage.

We then went and saw the movie, Enchanted. Emma enjoyed it. After the movie, Emma got ravenously hungry, so we went to a McDonald's and she got a Happy Meal. On the Happy Meal box, there were instructions on how to do a dance called the Strawberry Shake. In an effort to entertain, (and because I'm convinced that Andy LOVES to embarrass himself--a quality that has entertained me on numerous occasions) Andy announced to the McDonald's workers that his daughter wanted him to perform the Strawberry Shake for them. When he was done, they applauded and then it was Emma's turn to do the Strawberry Shake. The McDonald's employees must have appreciated her performance a lot more because they gave her a free ice cream cone!! Andy got nothing.

We capped off the day by going to Emma's favorite restaurant, Hiro's. It's similar to Benihana. It was very entertaining. The chef makes food in front of you and Emma's favorite is when he turned some onions into a volcano. The food was great and we really enjoyed it.

Emma spent two nights with us at the beach house and we spent most of Friday and Saturday there playing with her toys. We did go to the Aquarium on Friday and the Library on Saturday. It was a lot of fun.
After droping Emma off, we had to hurry back to the beach house, finish packing and get to the airport where we would have missed our flight...if it hadn't been delayed. We did, however, have to reschedule our connecting flight out of Charlotte, but it worked out in the end because we ended up flying into LAX instead of stoping in Phoenix and then Santa Ana. All-in-all, it was a good weekend and it's hard to believe that Christmas is over--even though our Christmas went on for four days.

Pre-Christmas Fun

We spent Sunday evening with Andy's family in Irvine. His sister, Melanie, was in town from Las Vegas and his brother Jonny and his family were there as well. Since we were leaving on Christmas Eve to go visit Andy's daughter in North Carolina, we had to exchange presents early. It was a lot of fun to have Evan and Seth (Andy's nephews) there--kids just make Christmas so much fun. After dinner, we read the Christmas story from Luke and then sang Silent Night. It took a lot of patience for Evan to wait that long to open presents.

Seth--Waiting patiently for Evan to hand out the presents.

Evan--showing off his loot!
The boys got a lot of Disney Cars paraphernalia, a train set and a Mr. Potato Head family. Andy got a UCLA Aloha shirt, power inverter and a broom/vac (which was really a present to me). I got cookie cutters, decorative baskets and Michael Buble CDs.

Andy and I spent Christmas Eve opening the remaining gifts. I had gotten Andy a bunch of UCLA clothes--shirts, a sweater and b-ball shorts. Andy got me a membership to Massage Envy, so I'll have a year's worth of massages. We then packed up and got ready for our flight to NC that night and then we met up with Melanie to play tennis (with my ball machine) and then Andy and Melanie played a little one-on-one basketball. I wish I had taken video of the "match" because I'm pretty sure Andy's primary tactic was to make Melanie laugh so hard that she would miss her shots. No such luck. While Andy's expressions and innovative moves were...impressive, Melanie's ball-handling skills prevailed and she won, 11 to 9.

We then got ready to take the red-eye flight to North Carolina to see Emma.

The Flu

On Friday, about half way through the day, I started to feel really queasy. Andy had come home for lunch, so when I mentioned it to him, he thought maybe I had eaten something strange--but I had eaten the same things he had. Much to my dismay, the queasyness didn't go away. It slowly got worse. Andy and I were planning on going to a marriage class at the Costa Mesa institute. It was a holiday potluck and I figured that we should at least go for a little while. Once we got there, I really wasn't feeling much better and had no appetite to eat anything, so we left early and Andy made me some couscous (it was the only bland thing we had in our cupboard). After eating about a spoonful of couscous, I horked. Andy was a good boy and cleaned up the mess (I mostly made it to the toilet). Almost immediately, my stomach started to feel better, but I also started getting achy all over. I had the flu.

I spent most of Saturday in bed resting. The sad thing was that with Andy's family coming into town, we had arranged to go to the temple that afternoon and then all the Pearson women were to come over to our place for a pre-Christmas estrogen fest. I passed on the temple, but they did end up coming over to our place afterward for a panini and chocolate fondue. Unfortunately, I had no appetite and had to force myself to eat half of a half of a panini. It's no fun to have a party full of good food that you have no appetite to eat. At least we were able to watch BYU beat UCLA in the Las Vegas Pioneer Bowl!! What an amazing ending!!

Fortunately, after getting plenty of sleep I started to feel a lot better...and not a moment too soon because I had to sing in church for our ward Christmas program. The program went well and our choir director is very good about putting together small groups of people to sing. I sang in two groups and although I'm pretty sure I came in a measure early on the song I sang solo (Mary's Lullaby) it went well and I'm glad it's over. Singing can be nerve wracking enough, but when your stomach is still unsettled and you're nervous....I was just wishing it could have been under different circumstances.

Andy and I will be leaving the night of Christmas Eve to go see Emma in North Carolina. It should be a lot of fun. We'll get there Christmas morning and will leave on Saturday afternoon. We will be celebrating Christmas a little early so we don't have to pack everything across the country. I hope you all had a much better weekend than I did and that you will have a wonderful Christmas!!

School

I registered for school today. You're probably thinking, I didn't know Jamie was going back to school?!?!? Well, yes, but not really. I've registered for a Saturday Ceramics class at Golden West Community College. I enjoy doing ceramics and it's really cheap to take classes at a community college--only about $100 for 16 weeks. Not too shabby. Andy and I are going to watch for a Saturday Golf class that we can take this summer once he's done with UCLA.

So, if you are in need of a pencil holder or toothbrush holder or ceramic bowl or a plate or ANYTHING, put in your orders now!!! I don't intend on keeping everything I make because a household can only have so many toothbrush holders--if ya know what I mean.

The class doesn't start until February, but if you want anything, let me know now so I can plan accordingly.

Christmas Parties

Andy and I both had our work Christmas parties yesterday. Since Andy works in the housing industry and since his company has laid off about 1/3 of its employees over the last year, his Christmas party was scaled way back from its normal grandiose affair. They usually rent out the ballroom of a hotel in the area and have dinner, a professional photographer on hand and entertainment (like Cirqe de Soleil or something). They also invite all the spouses and it's not uncommon to see a whole lot of bling, booze and evening gowns. Because of the cutbacks, they had a mid-day lunch and it was for employees only. I'm not complaining. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

For PIN, we had talked about what we wanted to do for a Christmas Party on Monday and ideas were tossed around. I suggested that they all come up to Orange County to attend the Orange County Mormon Choral (OCMC) performance. They all agreed and we arranged to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then to go to the OCMC performance. The OCMC was started this last year by some relatively young brothers (probably about my age) and their objective is to encourage members of the community to seek out uplifting music. I was VERY impressed with the performance. They had several different choirs; the Sunbeam Choir, a children's choir, a youth choir (or two), a women's choir and and adult choir. Some of the songs were accompanied by a small orchestra--which was quite impressive. The kids were mostly cute and their performances sounded more like a recital, but the adult choir was really good! They could have recorded an album for some of the songs they did. I really enjoyed the performance and am contemplating joining next year. Andy, who didn't want to go when I mentioned it to him on Sunday (especially considering he'd have to pay $16+ per ticket) actually enjoyed the performance and was glad he went after all. He even said that if I joined the choir next year, he would come listen to me sing. For now, I'll stick with singing a solo or two in our ward choir.

Our Christmas Tree

Andy and I got our first Christmas tree last Monday. We live across the street from a hardware store and had gone over last Saturday to check out prices, sizes and the quality of the trees. Fortunately, the prices were great. Unfortunately, the trees had been there since Thanksgiving and were getting dry. However, we found out that there would be a new shipment of trees coming in the next Monday. So we waited all weekend for a fresh tree.

After work, we rushed over to the hardware store and, sure enough, there were a bunch of trees still wrapped up and on the palates. Since we were in a hurry, we picked one out, asked the guy how much it was and when he said it was $26.00, we bought it and carried it home. It's about 6'7". We set it up and unwrapped it and let the branches spread out overnight and we were very pleased to discover that we had picked a wonderfully shaped tree after all. The needles are in pretty good shape and it smells great. I had gotten a bunch of decorations at post-Christmas sales last year. I didn't find a tree topper that I liked, so the Santa hat was the best I could do. So here's a picture of our decorated tree. Enjoy!

School and Work

Just some quick updates as to what's going on in our lives. Andy had a final presentation yesterday for the "GAP" program at school. For about the last 6 months, he's been working on a business plan for a company (SEPA) located in Italy. Their presentation was yesterday and prior to coming to UCLA for the presentation, one of the executives at SEPA traveled to China and he was able to use some of the ideas Andy's group had come up with. So it went well and we're all glad it's over. It was a very time-consuming project.

In other news, I worked out a profit-sharing plan with my employers this week. So hopefully that will translate into increased earning potential for me. Of course the best news is that they are pleased with my work and I can continue to work from home.

BYU Football

Last Saturday, we went to the BYU vs. SDSU football game. Originally, the game was supposed to be in October, but due to the fires in San Diego, the game was postponed to December 1st. We were thrilled to be able to have gone to the BYU vs. Utah the week before and then to go to the game in San Diego. (It's likely we won't make it to ANY games next year, so we've got to take advantage of the schedule when we can.)

We had arranged to have a tailgate party with Andy's brother and his wife and his cousin and his wife. We arrived at the stadium with plenty of time to eat. I should also add that the bleu cheese burgers were EXCELLENT. Here's a picture of Andy playing football in the parking lot before the game. In California, we RARELY get any rain, but it just so happened that the day before it rained almost the whole day and then on Saturday there were scattered showers as well. I'm not complaining because California REALLY needs the rain. Part of the reason the wildfires were so devastating is that the landscape is soooo dry. So I was grateful for the rain, but it made for a VERY cold afternoon. In fact, Andy and I agreed that it was colder at the San Diego game than it was at the game the week before in Utah.

We had to get up during half time to walk around in order to try and warm ourselves up. Here's a picture of Andy dancing on the mezzanine to stay warm. Look out Cougarettes, Andy's got jazz hands!!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and were very pleased that BYU won and has had such a great season!! Go Cougs!!

Shock and Awe

I am married to a guy who absolutely LOVES to surprise me. I'm pretty sure he gets more joy out of it than anything else. Aside from being surprised on our anniversary or with all the fun activities he had planned on our honeymoon, there are plenty of other times when he gets all excited by surprising me. Case in point; last night, our ward had its annual Relief Society Christmas Dinner. Andy had asked me the day before what time it started and casually mentioned that he'd probably end up staying late at work and would get something to eat on his own. I thought, no problem.

True to RS fashion, the cultural hall was well decorated and the food was being served by members of the Elder's Quorum. So I''m sitting at the dinner table enjoying my salad and someone leans over to me and says, "So how did Andy get roped into this?" Totally and completely baffled, I say, "What are you talking about?" They point across the room and there's Andy....serving dinner salads and filling glasses of water and, I'm sure, reveling in the fact that his wife is clueless as to his whereabouts.

I still can't understand why he felt the need to take a RS Christmas dinner party to surprise me, but suffice it to say, I've gotta stay on my toes around him!!

Gobble Gobble....and a whole lot more!

Since I last wrote, Andy went to North Carolina to visit Emma, Andy and I went to Utah for Thanksgiving, we attended the BYU vs. Utah football game and we both got sick. Yay!?!

Andy says his visit with Emma went really well. She loves going to the Children's Museum and is getting smarter every day. She also sang in the children's choir and Andy said he could hear Emma's voice rather clearly. While he was there, I talked to her on the phone for a little while. She told me a joke that went something like..."Knock knock. Who's there? Emma. Emma who? (long pause) Emma Moyer."

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We both went to Utah to spend a few days with my parents, Stephen and Crystal, and David and Logan. It was a lot of fun, but Utah is certainly colder than California. I am officially a wimp when it comes to cold weather. Honestly, I don't mind my wimpy status--yay warm climates!!

For Thanksgiving, Stephen deep fried the turkey in peanut oil. I tried to pretend that this was a healthy way to eat turkey and went along with the idea. Besides, it was fun to watch the process no matter what. After we named the turkey, we lovingly dipped it in a vat of boiling oil. The turkey came out golden brown and it didn't take very long at all to cook! We had more than enough to eat--including cranberry salad, seasoned sweet potato french fries (when life gives you boiling oil...), pumpkin sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, 4 kinds of pies (for a total of 8 people--whoot whoot!), carrots and a apple-cranberry stuffed pork loin. Mmmmm.

Readers of my blog know that I really enjoy playing Family Feud. I don't know why, but I just do. For work, we used a computer program to plug in some questions and answers for a presentation we did a while back. I used the same program to generate some actual Family Feud questions and answers and the family indulged me as we played...the feud. I thought it was a lot of fun and it was good practice for when I use the game for a YM/YW combined activity in January. Heh heh heh...I'm a Family Feud machine!!

We had much to be thankful for on Saturday because Stephen and David let Andy and I use Dad's BYU Football tickets to go see the BYU vs. Utah game!!! It was sooo much fun to be in the BYU stadium again and to be surrounded by so many BYU fans. Of course we were concerned that we would freeze to death, so we came a little too prepared and about sweat to death during the game. The sun came out and there were no clouds at all, but we had sweaters and ski coats nonetheless.

My cousin Dave and his son, Alex, came down for the game too and it was fun to catch up with them. Alex just got back from his mission and is playing Rugby and going to school.

I must admit that the game didn't really get good until the last five minutes or so of the 4th quarter. Up until then, BYU and Utah just kept going back and forth with field goals (which, as Dave says, is a lot like kissing your sister--it just doesn't cut it). Needless to say, we were thrilled with BYU's win. The fans rushed the field at the end of the game and a good time was had by all.

Ia Orana!

Something I like about living in Southern California is that there are a lot of Polynesians and Asians in the area. I can readily find the foods I love and I have access to the cultures and traditions I relate to as well.

One of the girls in my Mia Maids class is part Polynesian and she had a Tahitian dance recital this weekend. She invited me to come and I just loved it. Andy knows he has to support my culture, so he was a good sport. It was a lot of fun because they have Tahitian classes for little kids...ages 4 to 10. So cute! Check it out:

They also had several other groups of varying ages and skills perform. My Mia Maid and her two sisters just started taking Tahitian lessons this past year. They did a great job!! It really took me back to my days in Hawaii when we had May Day, Keiki Hula and when I danced Tahitian in parades (and about died from the worst side pains of my life!!).

Then, the doctor told me that BOTH my eyes were lazy!

Andy and I went to the eye doctor yesterday. I know, a great way to celebrate Halloween. Unfortunately, she didn't even have to dilate my pupils or give me those cool I've-been-to-the-eye-doctor shades. I'm 30 years old. Other than those "eye exams" in elementary school where you look at a poster and point your hand in the direction the "E" is facing and of course the occasional driver's license exam, I have never had my vision tested. Andy was getting concerned because, on occasion, he will point out a street sign while we're driving and it may be fuzzy to me until we get a little closer. I figured it was a good idea to get the ole eyes tested--just in case.

So here's the bottom line. I am terrified of the "puff test". That thing is horrible! Why has no one ever warned me of this experience?!? I startle easily--like tropical fish! What were they thinking?!? Anywhoo...my eyes are a little funky because one is slightly near sighted and the other is slightly far sighted. The doctor said I was very borderline and it was up to me if I wanted to get glasses or not. I chose the latter. ;-) I am sooo pleased and grateful that my vision has been this good for this long. Yay for my eyes!!

Andy, on the other hand, had Lasik eye surgery a few years ago. (Cheater!) So his vision is actually BETTER than the average human being. Which explains why he can see road signs from ridiculously far away. I am saddened by the fact that Lasik eye surgery does not change one's DNA because if our kids' eyes take after Andy's, they'll need glasses when they're 6 years old. Poor little buggers.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Wiggum

I got tagged...

According to Logan, I'm supposed to list 6 facts/habits about me (Jamie). Here goes nothing...

1. Ya know that fishy smell? It makes me want to HORK!!! I therefore hate seafood. I endure a lot of criticism for my unwillingness to eat something that defecates in its own drinking water, but I just can't bring myself to enjoy it. I will openly admit that 40% of my dislike of seafood is the smell, 58% is mental--I think seafood is slimy, gross and undeserving of becoming a part of me and 2% of it is fear of overcoming my dislike of seafood.

2. I think I'm funny. I often crack myself up and have been known to go so far as to wake up laughing because of a funny dream I've had. Andy can attest to the fact that I think I'm so funny because I tell him how funny I am all the time. I'm just a joy to be around!

3. I respect money. I am an Investment Advisor and have long had the belief that having money will not make you happy, but not having enough money can make you miserable!! I think it's very important for people (especially teenage girls) to learn how to window shop and not feel like they HAVE to have something. I often find myself having to talk myself into making a purchase--even though I know I can afford it. Saving money is very rewarding. There's a certain joy in watching a bank account grow. Wahoo!! Some day this will pay off big time! (At least that's what I tell myself.)

4. My favorite movies/TV shows are: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Office, Oprah, Family Feud, various house flipping/home decorating shows, The Colbert Report, The Big Bang Theory and Carpoolers. As a side note...if anyone has connections to the Colbert Report, I've been trying to warn Stephen that Snapple Fact #123 says that Beavers were once the size of Bears!!! (You have to be a fan to appreciate that one.)

5. I hate meaningless or "heartwarming" forwards that tell me what to do. Whenever I receive a forward that has some kind of warm-fuzzy message and a promise that if I forward it to 20 people then something good will happen to me within 24 hours. I think we all know that promises like that are ridiculous and serve no purpose. I never forward those...and I'm still alive....and happy. Amazing.

6. I love a good coupon!! Someone gave Andy and I a $20 gift card to Cold Stone a few months ago. Normally, I am not a fan of Cold Stone--my feeling is that their ice cream is waaaay over priced just because someone gets to play in it. Anyway, because of coupons, we've been to Cold Stone like three or four times and each time we've gotten a free "Lovin it" Ice Cream bowl. We still have about $4 left on the card. Yarrr! The Entertainment book is my friend.

I'm not going to "tag" anyone specific. Should you feel so inclined to tag yourself, go for it.

DVR

Aside from being a faithful watcher of the Office, two new shows I have been recording this fall are "The Big Bang Theory" (Sheldon is my favorite) and "Carpoolers" (I heart Marmaduke--he has finally replaced my TV-watching need for a 'Buster'--an inexplicably strange character that serves no other purpose than to do and say strange things). I think the shows are very clever--maybe not kid approved, but any show that makes me burst out laughing more than once in a 30-minute time slot gets a gold star in my book.

Has anyone else discovered these tasty morsels? or am I all alone?

Sadly, we gave "Chuck" a chance, but he has been removed from our scheduled recordings. Too many attempts at being funny and the "action" sequences are just plain lame. Not like 24--now that's believable TV I can buy into!

Yay Halloween!

We've had a fun weekend full of Halloween parties. We went to a Halloween Costume Party Friday night. It was a lot of fun. They had a costume contest and while our Bowling Ball and Bowling Pin costumes didn't win, we were pleased that the Slurpee and 7-11 Employee did win. Here's a picture of our costumes-- they're not that great and a lot of people mistook the bowling ball for a domino.
Andy had a basketball game to go to on Saturday evening. It's a stake league and our ward played a Huntington Beach ward that just so happens to be his cousin Dan's ward. I'm proud to report that Andy's team won. We then went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat activity. I think it's a lot of fun to see what costumes people come up with and which costumes crack me up--most of them do.

Tonight, I capped off our weekend by making some festive Halloween Rice Krispy Treats. I made a regular batch of Rice Krispy Treats and added orange food coloring. I shaped them into balls and added a green stem (made from a sour apple "Xtreme Sour Belt" candy) to make pumpkins. They're pretty easy to make and they're pretty darn cute too! Check it out.

Fire Update

This is a picture of the sky I took from our balcony this morning at about 10:00am. It's so dark and hazy outside that it seems like it's 6:00pm. I'm sure you've seen the NASA satellite pictures that show thick clouds of smoke blowing out to the ocean. Well, this is what those clouds look like from the ground.

The conditions here in Fountain Valley are not that bad. You can see the fires on the mountains in Irvine from higher ground in Fountain Valley. It doesn't smell too bad outside until you go further south. I went to the gym this morning and could really tell that there was a difference in how bad it was. We're lucky.

Our office in Vista was closed again yesterday because of all the smoke and power outages. There are a lot of power lines that have been destroyed in the San Diego area. They get power from either the North (San Onofree) or the South (near the border of Mexico) and since the fire took out huge chunks of the middle of San Diego (Rancho Bernardo) and since there is a NEW fire on Camp Pendleton, they're having to deal with rolling blackouts. So who knows how much longer the office will have power.

Fortunately, the winds have subsided and it looks like the firefighters will be able to make more headway. However, they still think that it may be another week or so before they can contain all the fires. It will be interesting to see the aftermath of all the destroyed homes and stuff. At least this will give So-Cal home builders a much-needed boost.

Halloween Party

We had our annual Stake Halloween party last night. It was a combined Young Men/Young Women activity and it was a lot of fun. I must admit, I get a kick out of funny costumes. Here are some pictures I took.

This is Berklee. She always has a very girly reaction to scary or gross things. I'm surprised she managed to dress up in such a frightening costume!


Here are some of my other Mia Maid girls. The girls in black dressed up as the I-pod dancers--the ones on the commercials/posters. Pretty creative.



I used Andy's costume from last year and went as a bowling ball. Without the matching costume--a bowling pin, people thought I was a domino. These are some of the ladies I work with in YW.

The Stake YW leaders dressed up as Peeps--you know, the marshmellow candies you get at Easter time.








This kid in the Sponge Bob Square Pants costume (I don't even know which character from the cartoon he is) was sooo funny. He kept going up on stage to dance around. He cracked me up.

Our Pumpkin

We attended a newly married Family Home Evening group and we carved pumpkins on Monday. It was fun. It's been a long time since I've carved a pumpkin. If you can't tell, it's a spider. We used a template--something I've never done before. It seems like they didn't have templates and special carving tools when I was a kid. Just knives and imagination. We put our pumpkin out on the balcony and I checked it this morning to see if it was still there or had blown away. I don't think it's handling the smoke and wind all that well. It looks like it has maybe one more day of festive-ness left before it turns to mush!

State of Emergency

So last night, as we were driving home from Andy's parent's house, we were on the 73 freeway and noticed that it smelled like there was a fire nearby. There were billows of smoke and as we got closer to the 405 Freeway, we could see the ominous glow of flames off in the distance on the other side of Irvine. As soon as we got home, we turned on the TV to find out what was going on. As it turns out, there were about 12 fires throughout California!! Fortunately, none of them are close to our house.

When we woke up this morning, all the major news stations were broadcasting live coverage from a variety of fires from Malibu to Lake Arrowhead to Irvine. Since I usually go down to the San Diego office on Mondays, I headed out to go to work confident that the freeways were all open. As I was getting closer to San Diego county, I was listening to various radio stations and learned that homes in Rancho Bernardo were being evacuated. Rancho Bernardo is a 20 minute drive from our office in Vista. I felt like an idiot driving TOWARD all the dark billows of smoke. I got to the office and worked on a few things that needed to get done--all the while feeling that what I was working on was relatively meaningless compared to those who were evacuating their homes knowing they would return to a very different, life-changing situation. My boss didn't even come into the office. He decided to stay home and clear debris and dry brush from his yard in case flying embers were to land near his property. At one point, the wind changed and everything in our office went dark. We have a large window and a sun roof and the dark smoke all but blocked out the sun. We finally called it quits around noon as we heard reports of people in Fallbrook and Rancho Bernardo were evacuating.

The picture is a map of the San Diego area that was evacuated. Our office is off of the 78 freeway about half way between the I-5 and I-15 freeways. The areas being evacuated this morning were just north of the 56 Freeway and several miles south of the 78 freeway.

The drive to and from work was depressing, at best. It's usually a very beautiful drive to and from work as I go up and down the coast. Today, it was dark, hazy and billows of smoke were coming from almost every direction. The smell of smoke is everywhere and I have a mild headache from the poor air conditions.

In San Diego, they were using Qualcomm Stadium and the Del Mar Fairgrounds/Racetrack as emergency shelters. As I was driving home, they announced that those locations were full and would no longer be accepting "refugees". It really is bad--probably worse than the Cedar fires 4 years ago.

The factor that's making the fires sooo bad is due to the "Santa Ana Winds". Basically, this means that there are high winds (up to 70 miles per hour--hurricane-force winds) that come from the desert (yay Death Valley!) creating dry, dangerous conditions for fires. I am including a picture I took from our balcony and you can see that the palm tree in front of our place has been so battered by the strong winds that two fronds haven given up the ghost. You can see some of the haze in the distance toward Irvine. Fortunately, it's not too bad where we live. The really sad thing is that they're reporting that the fire in Irvine was set by an arson. I hope they catch him/her.

It's amazing to see the news coverage of these massive fires being fueled by the dry dry brush and the fierce winds. All the people who insist on staying near their homes to somehow defend their homes are officially stupid. What on earth do they think they can do?!?!

Given the fact that I was sent home and that the air outside is giving me a headache, I decided to go home and make cheesecake. Last week, I made the "mistake" of buying cream cheese at Sam's club thinking that the large box would contain individually wrapped packages of cream cheese--but no. It was a large (48 oz) block of cream cheese. You know what they say, when life gives you cream cheese, make cheese cake! So that's what I'm doing now.

Stephen, are you sure you want to be a firefighter?? It looks hot out there--not to mention overwhelming.

QUACK!!!!!!

Andy and I went to a hockey game last night at the Honda Center where we saw the Ducks vs. the Nashville Predators!! Andy got the tickets from work. I have never been to a hockey game before and Andy had been to maybe two or three. I must admit, the last time I had even been remotely interested in hockey was when I was roommates with Carmen. She was weaned on hockey in Canada.

I have concluded that hockey games in person are a lot more exciting than watching them on TV. I also like the sound the puck makes when it hits the hockey stick. I'm not too crazy about the body checking and stuff. Andy was pleased that the Ducks won (3 to 1), a fight broke out and the crowd went crazy, and his hand was on the big screen. We had a great time!

YW Standards Night

We had a really fun Young Women's activity last night. For all of you who are in YW, you need to do this. We had a standard's night where we had a speaker who presented ideas on the importance of the way we dress and how we present our bodies. She covered everything from how your appearance changes the way you feel and act as well as how we are responsible for the kinds of thoughts we may put into other's heads depending on how we dress.

Someone also created a slide show of all the girls showing how they can dress modestly in their day-to-day lives. Ever since I first got involved with the Young Women program, I have been so impressed with how well our girls keep their standards high. I know it can't be easy since they live in California and are constantly faced with the pressure to look or dress a certain way. They do a great job at looking good and dressing modestly at the same time.
We then had a fashion show in which the Laurels class (girls ages 16 to 18) modeled some modest prom dresses. A lot of preparation went into the activity. A few weeks ago, they had all the girls go to a leader's house to try on a variety of dresses that they had borrowed from various women in our stake. Each girl chose two dresses to model. Another leader and I narrated each dress as the girls walked down the aisle. We invited the Relief Society and the girl's mothers to attend as well. (We should have invited the Young Men so as to encourage them to ask these girls out on dates!!) Since I was narrating, I had one of the girls in my class take pictures for me. Here are a few of them:



Our Young Women are GORGEOUS!!! I hope they learned that they can be fashionable while keeping the dress standards of the church. I feel bad for anyone who feels like they have to show a ton of skin in order to get attention or to feel like she is beautiful.