Books Read in February 2010

5. Night by Elie Wiesel 2/1/10



6. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt 2/4/10


7. The Penderwicks by Jeane Birdsall 2/20/10


8. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. 2/25/10

Valentine's & President's Day Weekend

I had a pretty good Valentine's Day this year. I kind of liked having it land on a Sunday because that made it feel like we had 3 days of Valentine's Day. Friday night we went out for dinner at Spaghetti Factory and dancing at a ward party.

Saturday I went to Lily Anderson's birthday party and then went to Manda's again for dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. We ate sticky rice, wontons, lettuce wraps (so good!), and dumplings. Then Lamoni and I went to see The Princess and the Frog at the dollar theater. It was so cute and I absolutely loved it. I have always had a fascination with New Orleans, mostly because New Orleans Square is my favorite part of Disneyland:) Watching that movie was like being in Disneyland for me. Lamoni liked it too except sometimes he couldn't understand what the Cajun firefly was saying. Sometimes neither could I. Lamoni gave me flowers and some beautiful white and gold earrings. They are so me.

Sunday I got up and made my Valentine cards for everyone that I had procrastinated. This is what they looked like:

BE MAYAN

Well, it would have looked like this except our printer wasn't printing in color. So I printed them black and white and colored in some highlights in red. Then I gave everyone the truffles that Abby and I labored over the week before. I couldn't have done it without her:)



I don't know why I chose the wonky looking ones to photograph. But they turned out very delicious. Thanks Abby! Sunday was also Evelyn Joy Stubbs' baby blessing. We went to Sam & Ashley's ward at 2:30 for the blessing then to Grandma Stubbs for food afterwards. It was a grand time.

Sunday night I drove up to Logan to be with Mandy for President's Day. We got off work weeks and weeks ago so that we could do something fun. Sunday night we went to her friends' house to play games and watch a movie. Then Monday morning we left for Lava, ID (about an hour and a half away) and we spent the day in lounging in hot springs and eating in the tiny one street town. It was a fun experience because it was snowing outside but much to hot to stay in the pools for long. So we would sit in the pool, snow gathering on our heads, then hop out and hop back in.

Mandy, Amy, Sarah, Amanda, Katie, Ashley

Amy & Mandy

The silly picture. Everybody failed except Mandy & me.

I only managed to take one picture of the trip; these are taken from Mandy's friend Sarah's camera. I really need to take more pictures.

Iaido

Forget Saturday morning cartoons or sleeping in - Saturday mornings are martial arts mornings. I have been attending a Shotokan Karate class on and off since my freshman year and I absolutely love it. Every week I come home to nurse new bruises for the week then go back for some more. The other students there are so helpful and friendly and our instructor, Noji, is such an inspiration. (we like to refer to him as Mr. Miyagi).

Anyway, there is one student in the class that actually teaches another martial art in the same studio right after our karate class. He has been inviting me and Sam to come to his Iaido class for weeks now so this last Saturday I decided to stick around and see what it is all about. And this is what it is all about:


How cool is this? Iaido is Japanese sword fighting, what you would think of as samurai style. It is very fun and very challenging. My arms have been killing me all week so far. I'm very excited to get started with this (Maddie, you should come do it too...)