north fork of the american river.

this summer ricks and i have gone down the american river a bunch! it has been so fun. we floated a chill section on the fourth of july and then i went back a few times with some girlfriends which was awesome!!

recently, ricks and i rented an inflatable kayak and went down a class III section of the river (enough rapids to keep it fun and get us wet but not so crazy that it was scary... except for a couple of rapids... yikes! jk. or am i?). ok, ok, so there were a few moments where i may have shouted some choice words and there was that one time that ricks sacrificed himself and fell out of the kayak so that i wouldnt get hurt but, all in all, it was a super fun saturday and i cannot wait to go back!!


image via

labor day.

over labor day weekend, ricks and i went to lake berryessa and checked out glory hole - a bell spillway. the water wasn't high enough to be working but it was pretty crazy to see. lake berryessa is in napa county and is dammed by the monticello dam. the water from the lake feeds into the putah creek which seems like a really popular fishing spot. it was only a 40 min drive from door to shore and we cant wait to buy a boat and tubes and to go back ; )

on monday we were invited by some friends to visit point reyes! it was so fun to hang out together on the drive there and back. the hike we took was super chill so we had some good conversation and were able to enjoy how pretty it all was! it was actually super lush and gorgeous! it was fun to come up on the shore and to sit and enjoy the waves from the pacific ocean.

ricks is a jd/mba student!

it has been a summer of hopeful anticipation but ricks has finally made it into the business school! i am so proud of that boy and how hard he works. i am so glad the business school wanted him and made it possible for him to be there. i am so excited about the many different opportunities that are now available to us and the chance that this gives ricks to work at doing something that he will actually enjoy!

its been a long, hard battle but we finally made it! congrats, ricks!!

employment!

so.... out of the blue, i have a job. a real-live, 40-hours-a-week, paying job! what the what?!

since starting school, my attention has definitely been focused on being a full-time student and i havent been looking too hard for a job. plus, ive had a few part-time gigs that have kept me busy and i just havent felt the need. essentially, i was passively looking. i would apply when opportunities came up that sounded appealing to me.

a few weeks ago, a friend from my church posted on facebook that there was a job opportunity for an administrative assistant position and asked if anyone was interested. i replied yes, assuming nothing would come of it.

then, i was called to come in and interview - since that is such a rare response for me to get, i got cautiously hopeful. when i went into the interview, we talked for a few minutes and then i was offered the job! SO COOL!

so now i am working at a construction company here in davis. the commute is about 10 minutes and i really like the people im working with and what i am doing. ill be doing mostly administrative work initially and will slowly pick up other tasks, such as accounting work, as needs be.

its a great job for me especially because it is a perfect stepping stone towards librarian work. i also love it because it is close and because it is a small company which solicits growth on my part - more opportunities to different jobs!

i am so grateful for the chance to learn, contribute, and begin to establish more financial independence for my little family. phew! what a relief : )

america!

for the fourth of july we partied with the pinnegars and christina! we woke up bright and early and made our way to the american river where we did a float trip! afterward we went swimming and made some great dinner - delish cheesy rolls, super yummy fries, italian sodas, and peach/chorizo pizza. what?! so good. AMERICA!

this was the best photo i got... hahaha!

lake tahoe.

here are a few pics of the fun week my family spent in kings beach this year.

grandma jane was on baby patrol at costco:

grandma connie is the triplet tamer. they loooove her:

romina and adriane went on the three hour tour:

true love at the mini golf course:

 romy, stef, paulina, muah, ricks, dad, mom, and ady

 its pretty good lookin:

 yep, cant complain:

 LOOK at this sweetie pie - flashing me the cutest smiles ever:

water babies:

love them:

the month of may.

early this month i dragged ricks to a performance of cinderella by the sf ballet. it was a lot of fun to head into the city, eat good food, and to check out the civic center part of sf - which we had never done before. the performance was at the war memorial building. we bought the cheapest tickets which were surprisingly good. the performance was a fun adaptation with really great production value and some great comedy mixed in. it was a lot of fun. the minute the performance ended ricks and i gave each other knowing looks and then rushed out of the theater. we ran down all the stairs and then rushed to our car so we wouldnt get stuck in the parking garage/traffic. it was definitely memorable!

the following week my mom came to CA again! she and i had planned to party it up just the two of us this trip and we definitely kept busy. we stayed in a little hotel in the marina neighborhood and then set out to explore the shopping and food of sf. we had a list of stores we wanted to check out which took us to the mission, richmond, hayes valley, soma, tenderloin, union square, nob hill, north beach, the embarcadero, chinatown, alamo square and lower haight neighborhoods. some of the stores we went to were a bust but others were great finds! for example, there is a store in richmond called kamei restaurant supply where you can buy a ton of kitchen stuff for super cheap and pretty much any souvenir item that you might find in chinatown is there for a fraction of the price. there was a fabric store called discount fabrics that was a great find and a few other odds and ends that we were happy to come across.

we also ate well, too. we did go to ghiradelli square twice because, lets be honest, ghiradelli square is the best. we also ate at a restaurant at ghiradelli square called mccormick and kuletos that had pretty good food and great views! we ate at big 4 which was delish and had a really fun ambience. we found a yummy breakfast place called stacks and another across the street called la boulange. yum! we also ate at mamas and learned that you can do take-out there....! there were a few other fun restaurants that we went to as well.

we did a few real touristy things, too. we went to coit tower and paid to go to the top for the 360 view. we drove all the way through and around golden gate park and found a huge windmill that neither of us knew was there. we drove across the golden gate bridge and stopped at vista point before going on to check out the shopping in sausalito. and we went to the exploratorium. after going once, ive decided i need a membership to the exploratorium- there is soooo much to be seen.

on our way back to davis, we stopped in berkeley and found an awesome crate and barrel outlet. this is where we made most of the weekend's purchases and we were beyond thrilled to find it. we also stopped at the vacaville outlets which i had never been to. those outlets were crazy crowded but there were some good finds there, too.

once we got back to davis, she and i decided to increase the storage space in my apartment a little and so we worked on that. of course ricks and i took my mom to freebirds, our newest burrito obsession, jacks urban eats, and we also went to try the firehouse in sac, which was excellent and a lot of fun. my mom really wanted to see sutters fort so we went there, too. sutters fort was actually really nice. since ive been to nauvoo and williamsburg, there wasnt anything new for me to see but they have done a nice job with it.

it was sooooo fun to have my mom around and we had a really great time together exploring sf and sac. i cant wait to see her and the rest of the fam again soon in tahoe!

chocolate wrapped to look like baguettes. cuuuute.

a great find: a super gorgeous sideboard with bone inlay!

pretty sky, bay bridge, exploratorium.

small scale tornado at the exploratorium.

ghiradelli. duh.

endless discount fabric.

view from the coit tower parking lot. because duh.

busy april.

My handsome grandma and grandpa on their wedding day.

My grandpa's mom, Merrilla - she raised her own 4 kids and her husbands 5 kids all by herself.

There she is with her biological kids - her husband died 6 mo. before my grandpa (lower right) was born.

My great-great grandma Zina (Merrilla's mom). She was pretty awesome, too. She had a rough life but kicked butt the whole way through.

 

last time i bloggity blogged, spring break had just ended. between then and now i have completed all my final projects, completed my first year as a grad student, visited utah again, and ricks has started his finals.

to recap april, there were lots of stressed out moments on my part as i tried to successfully use a specific allotment of time to complete all of my projects in a quality manner. when i finally turned in each of projects and gained freedom, i quickly remembered that unless i stay discplined and keep myself busy, i get bored and go crazy. so this summer, or at least for the time being, i am working part time writing about herbel supplement ingredients, working part time on maintaining social media for a green design-build architecture-construction company, and trying to add photos and stories of my ancestors to the fancy, newly-updated family search website, amongst other things. that last thing is my favorite. its fun to learn about my ancestors, some of them were pretty bad-a (if thats an ok thing to say about ancestors).

i got to go to ut again because during the last part of april, delta ran a weekend special from SMF to SLC and so i took advantage of the good deal and went to see family. while there, i had a lot of fun playing with the big 14-month triplets, chatting with my mom, teasing my dad, eating good food (black sheep cafe in provo is so good), bowling at an all-you-can-bowl alley with my siblings (scored 141!), seeing both of my sweet grandmas (who are 92 and 83, respectively), seeing fun movies (42), and having lots of fun all around.

still to come this month: ricks and i are going to see the sf ballet perform cinderella, my mom is coming to visit (our goal is to become acquainted with the personality of some of the sf neighborhoods via shopping and eating), and ricks will complete his second year at the law school and then begin studying for the GMAT which he will take in june (so he can apply to the business school for a joint JD/MBA - heres to an acceptance from the business school, fingers crossed!).

the end.

spring break 2013.

spring break this year was super duper awesome. it was to start officially on wednesday with the arrival of my parents. however, mother nature decided differently. i got stupidly sick monday morning. it was the flu to the 9 billionth degree. i totally lost my appetite, my energy, and then tossed my cookies, too, so to speak. so i ate nothing monday or tuesday and, as you'll remember, my parents arrived on wednesday. i ate nothing that day, either. so, we hung out on the couch and chatted. thursday we had tickets to alcatraz so to SF we went where i still could not manage eating anything. i cowboyed up for the alcatraz night tour, which was super fun even if i was totally sick.

during the alcatraz night tour, they open the hospital and kitchen and the rangers tell stories. it is pretty cool. plus theres the SF skyline lit up at night which is stunning. as a bonus, the bay bridge has an art installment right now so it lights up, too. pretty! that night, the only thing that sounded even slightly appetizing was a cup of noodles. like the kind you buy at 7-11 and microwave. what?

friday we rode the trolleys to union square and shopped around a bit, we went see the painted ladies, and we went to the mission district and saw the mission and ate, yes, ATE! really yummy burritos. it was a chill day but really fun.

saturday was breakfast and the walt disney museum. none of us had very high expectations for the museum, but, surprisingly we super loved it! it was so interesting to learn more about the business of disney. good stuff. and, since my appetite was back, we got dim sum and then drove back to davis.

the second half of spring break was a utah party. we got together with family, i played with the triplets - who are so big at 1 years old, ricks was a lawyer boy, and mindy had her new baby mint (aka calen).

even despite the sickiness. it was such a fun and good break! happy easter to all!

here are pictures:

painted ladies

 amelia and the meringue

 babies and dog

 sf at night from alcatraz

ricks and mickey

guns and stuff.

This past year has been completely stupid when it comes to gun violence. I don’t know enough/am not smart enough to get into that whole debate. That being said, I do think some things need to change because the number of gun deaths in our country is just unacceptable. I am feeling particular sore on this subject right now due to a recent experience…

On Thursdays I volunteer at my local library. This past Thursday, when I arrived at the library, there was zero parking. Sometimes there is a program going on that makes it hard to find parking but on this particular occasion it was impossible! I finally slipped into a little spot in a close-by residential cul-de-sac and started walking toward the lib. Just as I was about to cross the street, a police car came whizzing by. I found that to be odd, crossed the street, and went inside. And then, right as I walked in to the library, they locked the door behind me.

A librarian I knew rushed up and filled me in on the details. At the high school next door, there was a rumor that some former student had shown up with a gun. They had locked down the high school and the library just to be safe. And, for the next hour or so, everyone was pretty nervous before the police caught the kids. After everything was said and done it ended up that the kid just had a bb gun.

What is really weird is that recently I actually had a thought that it was only a matter of time until I or somebody I knew got caught in crappy situation with guns. I literally thought to myself the only way to avoid it is to become a recluse and not go anywhere- but even that isn’t a sure bet. When I was initially told what was happening, I was not surprised. Every single day I read about some new horrible scenario where someone takes a gun into a public place and does something stupid. So, although I wasn’t surprised, I was mad. I’m mad that I live in a world where I have to accept the fact that my loved ones and I are exposed to gun violence just by living our lives. Not cool, America. Not cool.

vday and bday.

Valentine’s day and my birthday were pretty low key. On Valentine’s I was supremely busy with a school project and did the lame wife thing and just gave Ricks a card. How’s that for romantic? He, in turn, gave me flowers, a heartfelt note, earrings, and several movies. Granted, those things also were for my birthday (might as well kill 2 birds with one stone if ya can, eh?). We ate a super yummy bleu cheese steak dinner on V-day and called it a night as I collapsed into bed after writing a 25 page paper over the course of 3 days. On my bday we went to Mikuni for sushi. Afterward we went bowling where I had the best bowling night of my life. During the first game I managed to get my first turkey or 3 strikes in a row. My end score was 134. During the second game I got a strike, got a strike again, and then got a spare… and, again, I scored 134! To some, 134 may not sound that good but it is the best I have ever done and it was super weird that I scored 134 twice in a row! Woop woop! We ended the night watching Crazy Stupid Love because I am going through a phase where all I want to do is watch/read comedies – SNL, Are All My Friends Hanging Out Without Me?, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Greys Anatomy, etc. You know the drill. So… Happy Birthday to me and Happy Valentine’s to all of you! Unless it’s your birthday, then Happy Birthday to you, too.

mlk day.

for the holiday weekend, the browns, the culbertsons, ricks and i chose to spend time in san francisco. we left saturday night and stopped to have dinner in berkeley at the cheeseboard collective. the food was delicious and the live music was really fun especially when the singer started doo wopping. the girls then stopped at anthropologie and paper source to do some quick shopping before heading to daves parents home. that night we played balderdash and dominion and started the movie stranger than fiction.
on sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting and then drove to the mission. in the mission we explored some thrift stores and then ate lunch at bar tartine. bar tartine was a very interesting dining experience. the food was very good with very interesting flavor combinations. ricks was a huge fan, i wasnt as much but i still enjoyed it. after lunch we went to explore the legion of honor museum. out of all the museums i have been to in sf, this one had the least appeal to me. however, it was really exciting to see so many rodin sculptures, some monets, and a suerat. the legion of honor had some really beautiful views, as well. we left the museum just in time to catch the sunset at sutro baths.watching the sunset was beautiful. the ocean is so crazy to watch. the waves are frighteningly powerful. after such a beautiful sunset, it was time for something a little sweet and so we headed back to the mission to get ice cream at birite. and, duh, it was delicious. it was the perfect way to end the day in san francisco. we drove back to our "hotel" and roasted hot dogs and mallows, played more dominion, and finished stranger than fiction.
on monday we started the day at ghiradelli square... although we didnt get anything! surprise! we then wandered until we found the sea lions. the sea lions are a favorite of ricks and mine and they were very rambunctious this day which was very fun. we ate lunch at boudin (clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl) and then drove (for our first time!) across the golden gate bridge - i decided it is cooler to look at than it is to be on. we drove up to the marin headlands and stopped a few times along the way at various viewpoints. we then hiked to the top of the fort barry battery mendell where there was a great view of the city, bridge, and ocean. afterward we drove a little further and hiked to the point bonita lighthouse. as we crossed the tension bridge to get to the lighthouse, the bridge would sway back and forth! scary! again, it was such a beautiful view and so fun to watch the waves roll in to the rocky shoreline. we then made the trek back to davis where the rest of the holiday was spent preparing for tuesdays classes.
our adventures over the weekend were memorable and very fun. we love the browns and culbertsons and love to play with them. as always, we cant wait to go back to sf!

pics:

The GG in all her Splendor

Point Bonita

Husband and Wifey: A Portrait

Suerat

Sutro Baths at Sunset

(i failed to take any group shots. oops.)

five.

for family night yesterday, ricks and i wrote out our 5 year plan. i think that putting all our hopes and dreams and even expectations into writing like that really helped me to realize how much happens in such a short amount of time when you first become an adult.
just in the last 5 years i went from an 17 year-old girl wrapping up my senior year of high school in orem, utah to a 22 year-old married college graduate and MLIS candidate living in davis, california. and those are only the formal changes to say nothing of the less noticeable, gradual changes that have taken place over the last 5 years. i like to think that i am a totally different alexis now than i was then and i think in a lot of ways i am. i know in some areas i have certainly improved and become wiser and yet, at the same time, new flaws have creeped into my life or perhaps are only being noticed for the first time as i have worked away the more noticeable imperfections.
i think what im trying to say is that 5 years from now, i hope i can look back on the challenges i faced and the way in which i handled them and be proud. i hope that i can quit yearning for attributes i once had, as i sometimes do, because the present me is the best me and with each future trial and challenge that i overcome, i will only get better. i really am proud of myself and how far ive allowed myself to come in the last 5 years and im grateful to god for how he has pushed me and yet, at the same time, handled me so gently. i have definitely faced some major personal hurdles that have left their mark on me but those are there only to serve as a reminder of what i am capable of and im quite ready to face the next 5 years with gusto! i know it is cliche, but in all seriousness, bring it on!

ucd and wsu.

i havent written an update about school in a while so...  here it is! ricks has officially started his 4th semester of law school. more and more he is leaning towards practicing environmental law and finding a niche within that field of law. it is likely that he will pursue a enviro law certificate here at davis and may even pursue an environmental llm post graduation from uc davis. (an llm is essentially a masters degree for lawyers). of course, none of this is written in stone but is only an assessment of our current feelings.

i have begun my second semester at wayne in their mlis program and i still like it. i am hoping to receive a digital content management certificate. this will allow me to pursue a job in any industry that has digital content that needs managing, which is everyone. i could end up working at a school, a library, a business - really, anywhere.

we are blown away by how quickly this process is going but have to remind ourselves that we still have a lot to accomplish before moving on to the next phase of adult life: joining the workforce. we still have nearly 3 semesters, graduation, the bar, and maybe even an llm to go before that becomes a reality for us. but really that only translates into about 2.5 years at most which i think we are realizing will fly by!

our favorite movies of 2012.

I think all you know that Alexis and I both really like movies. In fact we each took classes in our Humanities degrees learning about film and cinema, and I wrote several research papers dealing with film. That said, we have watched many of this year’s movies and this is our awards list. It is important to note that because we are on a tight student budget we only see movies that have merited out attention, and pass our content vetting (we don’t use the MPAA ratings because they are mainly political and not very substantive, but we do use parental guides from IMDB and other sites). To get our attention movies have to either have over an 80% on www.rottentomatoes.com orwww.metacritic.com. Both of these sites aggregate critics reviews from over 100-200 different publications ranging from Salon to the Wall Street Journal (and other very non-artsy conservative publications). Rottentomatoes aggregates reviews based on qualitative merit, and metacritic aggregates reviews based on quantitative merit. That said, with the law of large numbers we feel our vetting process is pretty sound considering we don’t have the time or money to see everything. Here is the list. 

Best Movie: 
1. Argo (rating PG-14, on our scale, the only objectionable stuff in this show is language. In fact, if it came out in the 70s it would be a soft PG) 
1. Zero Dark Thirty (rating PG-16, potentially objectionable content: “enhanced interrogation” of terrorist detainees, language, dead bodies) 

Note: It has been an awesome year for CIA movies! Alexis and I really cannot determine which of these movies is better, so they both get our movie of the year award! The acting in both these movies is outstanding, the directing flawless, the pacing perfect, the writing is tight and focused, the editing shows the perfect amount to keep things moving but does not drag down the pace of scenes, and the cinematography is great. 

Runners Up for Best Movie in order: 
3. Silver Linings Playbook (rating PG-15, Language, innuendo) 
4. Django Unchained (Rating R, strong racial based violence that scratches the surface when it comes to the horrors of slavery (note this violence is portrayed as being an evil thing), other western violence, strong language: swearing and derogatory racial terms) 
5. Moonrise Kingdom (rating PG-13, references to marital affairs, minor language and a little innuendo (less than you would hear in the halls of a UT school, way less than you would hear in the locker room of a UT school), young teens kissing) 
6. Skyfall (rating PG-13, minor violence, minor language, minor innuendo (for a Bond movie it is very clean))
7. Wreck It Ralph (rating G-PG, minor crude humor like the kind a 4 year old would make) 
8. Lincoln (rating PG-13, language, portrayals of racial discrimination, dead bodies) 
8. The Dark Knight Rises (rating PG-13, minor language, scary scenes, comic book violence) 
8. Avengers (rating PG-13, minor language, comic book violence, flirtation)

Note: We did not see Les Mis, Brave, Hitchcock, Promised Land, and Perks of Being a Wallflower because they did not reach an aggregate of 80%. We did not see The Master because it had sexually explicit material. We have not seen the Life of Pi because the source material was boring and overrated.

Best Directing: 
1. Ben Affleck: Argo 
2. Kathryn Bigelow: Zero Dark Thirty
3. Wes Anderson: Moonrise Kingdom

Best Actress (The movie industry is extremely sexist. There were not enough roles written for strong women characters this year and, as a result, our nominees for both best actress and best supporting actress are limited by our selection from Hollywood. However, the women that we chose did an extremely good job. But there were only 3 performances to choose from and, as luck would have it, they all did well!). 

1. Jessica Chastain, no question: Zero Dark Thirty
2. Jennifer Lawrence: Silver Linings Playbook
3. Noomi Rapace: Prometheus

Best Actor:
1. Daniel Day Lewis, no question: Lincoln
2. Bradley Cooper: Silver Linings Playbook
3. Jamie Foxx: Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Sally Field: Lincoln
2. We haven’t seen Les Mis, but Anne Hathaway is reportedly amazing
3. Jacki Weaver: Silver Linings Playbook
4. Jennifer Ehle: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Robert Di Nero: Silver Linings Playbook
2. Michael Fassbender: Prometheus
3. Jason Clarke: Zero Dark Thirty
4. Javier Bardem: Skyfall
5. Cristoph Waltz: Django Unchained

Best Acting as a Cast creating a clear synergy between cast members, basically the sum is greater than the whole of its parts
1. Argo
2. Django
3. Zero Dark Thirty
4. Moonrise Kingdom
5. Avengers

Best Writing (Adapted and Original combined):
1. Christ Terrio: Argo
2. Mark Boal: Zero Dark Thirty
3. Quentin Tarantino: Django Unchained
4. David O. Russell: Silver Linings Playbook
5. Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, Jim Reardon: Wreck it Ralph

Best Written Scene:
1. Quentin Tarantino: Django Unchained, “The Raid”
2. Tony Kushner: Lincoln, “The Congressional Debates”
3. David O. Russell: Silver Linings Playbook, “Dinner Party”

Most Overrated Writing:
1. Lincoln – the thing that held this movie back from being great was the writing. The focus was spread over 2 very compelling topics which spread the film thin. If the writer had chosen to focus on either just the 13th amendment or just the man, it could have been spades better. 

Best Cinematography:
1. Django Unchained 
1. Moonrise Kingdom
2. Argo
3. Zero Dark Thirty

Biggest Surprise (in a good way):
1. Silver Linings Playbook (we were expecting a romantic comedy but found an insightful, funny movie)
2. Wreck It Ralph (we were expecting a love letter to video games but found that it had much more depth, good writing, beautiful cinematography, and strong character development)

Biggest Letdown:
1. Prometheus (we were hoping that Ridley Scoot would reinvent sci-fi again, no such luck)
2. Lincoln (the writing really killed it (in a bad way)/mom and dad Davis used their phones the whole movie)
3. Django Unchained (we both love Tarantino so much that, even though it was one of our favorite movies from the year, we were still slightly disappointed (ie not as good as Inglorious))

Best Movie Moments:
1. Seeing The Avengers after a Constitutional Law final and wanting to “smash” everything
2. Watching Lincoln with mom and dad Davis while they texted and answered phone calls in the theatre
3. Seeing 2 movies to celebrate 2 years on our anniversary

Notable Movies that we happened to see, but didn’t make our “bests” list include The Hobbit, Bourne Legacy, Looper, and Pirates: Band of Misfits. Also, we have yet to see Beasts of the Southern Wild and are planning to do so. 

a truckload of photos. enjoy.

my dad and ricks at communal.

take 1. 

take2.

take 3. there it is!

lunching with babies. 3 babies. craziness.

elli and her nutty hair.

ethan, who always is wearing a smile!

a rare but sweet smile from amelia.

bundled up and ready to go!

bundled up, buckled up, and ready to go.

breakfast at treasure island.

adriane.

motsu, stefan, and paulina.

dad, mom, dan, and alicia.

stefan and paulina.

me and carnation polar bears.

ricks and flowers.

merry christmas from the bellagio.