A Very Merry Christmas.

2010 was a California Christmas.  We travelled many a snowy road to get to the west coast sunshine only to be met with overcast skies and rain.  But the trip wasn't about the weather outside - it was about the people and memories being made inside!  Enough smalltalk about the weather.

It was wonderful to see everyone - grandpa and grandma Lorla John, great grandma Rheta, uncle Bill & aunt Jenn, Kyle, Heather, Noelle & Jackson, Ramona, Ryan & Kerry, Brittany & Ashley, Carol, and the King family.  There never seems to be time enough for all of the visiting.

At the top of Amelia's wish list was a Pillow Pet.  And not just any old Pillow Pet... a purple unicorn Pillow Pet.  Grandma and Grandpa Lorla John did not disappoint!  To this day, I think this has been her favorite gift ever.  ("It's not just a pillow - it's also a pet.  It has a hook and loop system," quotes Amelia whenever anyone asks.)

A close second to the Pillow Pet were new Play Doh sets from Aunt Monica and Uncle Aaron.  I can't tell you how many pretend ice cream cones I have now consumed.  Good thing pretend food is light on calories.

David added in a pilgrimage to GMT Games in Hanford where we took a self-guided tour of their warehouse, bought games, and Amelia played with their packing peanuts.

No self-respecting Central Valley girl would pass though Hanford without a scoop of Superior Dairy ice cream.  Yes, that's just ONE scoop.  One scoop of strawberry heaven!

One parting comment before we leave Christmas past.  Amelia cannot stop talking about her "darling Lewis" (AKA my parents' dog who tortured her in his puppy days).  She misses him, she talks about him, she wonders what he's doing without her there.  This photo best illustrates their sweet relationship.  Amelia had fallen asleep in the car, we carried her in and set her on the couch, and darling Lewis promptly ran up and rested his head next to her, just to be close.

Caught, red-handed (or purple-faced).

Isn't being a kid fun?  Toys, makeup, and markers.  Oh my!

Preschool - Fall 2010

Amelia started preschool in the fall and has loved every minute of it!  Her teachers, Miss Becky and Miss Lynn, are angels.  These are a few photos from their very first field trip - to Red Butte Gardens (in the rain).  The kids climbed in, over, and under everything.  They even fed the koi in the huge pond.  I still can't believe that no one fell in.

Every Friday is Show & Tell.  Each week spotlights a different letter of the alphabet.  For the letter "I", Amelia brought an icicle from our house.  Pretty clever kid.

Halloween was a fun day at preschool.  They wore costumes and paraded around the hallways.  Of course, everyone went home with an overflowing bag of treats!  Big thanks to Grandma Lorla's costume shop for, hands down, the best costume ever!

The class performed two songs in the school winter program - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Happy Birthday (to Jesus) in Chinese.  Amelia is a natural star!  She stands tall and performs like a champ.

Disneyland or Bust - September 2010

Since it never takes us very long to gravitate back to the Happiest Place on Earth... take a stab at the subject of this post.  Yep.  It never gets old because 1) we love it, 2) you have no cares, and 3) we meet up with different friends every time we go.  And number three is the best part of these trips by far!

Amelia had new glass slippers and was overjoyed to show them off to Cinderella herself!  And then proceeded to show them off to every other princess that she met.

The Green Men from Toy Story were so kind.  They let Amelia talk their ears off for ten minutes!  (The lines were very short.)  She felt so important.

"The thing about Grizzly River Rapids is that you don't even get wet."  Sure, Dave.  So glad the Kennedy Yoon family came coordinated their trip with ours.

So glad that we could share another happy vacation with our dear Moss friends.  It's so fun to watch the girls grow up in front of the White Rabbit's door.  They're so big that you almost can't see it at all!

Totally out of my element.

Teishi here.  The girl who hates getting into water when she can't see clearly to the bottom.  Who knows what possessed me, but 2010 found me on a raft not once, but twice.  (And I had so much fun that I just might do it again!)

Our YM/YW held a youth conference in Moab, UT mid-summer which included an all-day rafting trip down the Colorado River.  Our boat was awesome.  I've never laughed so hard in my life!  We spent the day "going to the beach" and "otter kicking".  Now, I can't tell you what that means, but those involved know and that's going to have to suffice.  :)

A month later, John Yoon bought a raft for this birthday.  (I love gifts that you buy for yourself.  They are always the perfect size.)  John, John Paul, Michael, David, and I braved the Weber River.  (Okay.  "Braved" might be exaggerating it just a bit...)  We broke several paddles - sorry John - and had a yummy lunch at Taggart's Grill topped off with a pink sugar cookie the size of my sunburned face.  Great day!

Chicagoland.

No apologies for not blogging since last summer.  Let's just move forward, huh?


Late August, David had a college blockmate get married in Chicago.  What a fabulous city.  And what a breathtakingly beautiful traditional Indian wedding with all the trappings!  Too bad we only had a quick weekend to play and explore.


In between a buzz of wedding activities around the Drake Hotel, we ran all over Chicago and its suburbs cramming in as much of the city as humanly possible.  Just for fun, we tallied our total hours of sleep over the entire weekend.  7.5 hours, total.  (But it was so worth it!)  One friend sarcastically quipped that we were "culture mavens".  We wear that badge proudly, Seth!

We grabbed bikes for a self-guided riding tour of Oak Park, home to Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio and surrounding homes.  It was really a treat to ride this leafy neighborhood dotted with such amazing architecture.

As fortune would have it, the owners of the Frank Thomas House were holding a yard sale.  We wandered through their backyard, totally ignoring the junk they had for sale.  Instead, peeking in windows and marveling at how fortunate these people were to live in a FLW original.

We also paid a visit to the Unity Temple.  A building that Wright considered one of his greatest achievements, calling it "my contribution to modern architecture".

On our last day we ran over to Millenium Park, snapped photos at the Cloud Gate, and speed-walked through the Art Institute of Chicago.  We could have spent days in the Modern Wing alone!

But we had a date to meet up with friends on a Chicago Line Architectural Cruise.  The city has a pretty fantastic story from its waterways to the growth of its skyscrapers to the mass exodus into the suburbs.


Fantastic weekend.  Dear friends.  No sleep.  Great memories.  Thanks Raj & Trina for tying the knot!