i stand corrected.

so i must have forgotten,and was reminded by my dear sister, that this is actually my favorite Christmas song. what was i thinking?

 don't be surprised to find nicole and i frolicking around to this classic at any time during the holidays. how could you not? also, don't let the maniacal santa on the front fool you, its quite fantastic. 

my favorite Christmas song.

today i am remembering my first Christmas in south dakota and the many long drives my companion and i had to make to visit investigators and attend meetings. we listened to this song a gillion times. i am grateful for Mary's perfect example of faith in the face of great hardship. this song reminds me that even though i am small, i always have access to heavenly help if i am obedient. 

oh Christmas tree.

nick and i decorated our first Christmas tree tonight. it may be small and smell like plastic, but it is fulfilling its purpose by making it feel a little more Christmasy in our home. it is much a appreciated. it doesn't quite feel like Christmas time to me when its 60 degrees outside and there's a palm tree in my back yard. 

 also, it is very important to note that last week was nick's 25th birthday. if you forgot, its not to late to send birthday wishes his way. you all know this, but nick is an exceptional person. i love him very much and he is one of two people that i am very grateful were born this month. 

happy birthday nick!

our weekend of thanks.

we decided to be adventurous for our first thanksgiving and headed down to monterey and Carmel for a romantic get away. for those of you who have not been to this part of California, I highly recommend it. we really had a great time. its nice to spend some time with nick, other than sitting next to him at the table/couch while he types out mysterious codes that most people do not understand. 

  on wednesday we visited the monterey bay aquarium. its definitely the best aquarium i've ever seen (sorry sea world). we saw lots of fishies, sharks, penguins, and sea otters. we liked the giant octopus, the jelly fish, and the sea horse exhibit and all the variety of sea horses. (there's a lot of different kinds, who knew?) we also enjoyed the little shops and delicious seafood. we climbed out on the rocks to the ocean to watch the ginormous waves and the brave surfers who dared to face them. we were impressed.

 

 thanksgiving day we ventured to the "17 mile drive" that took us along the coast where we awwed at even more giant waves. we found the coast with its rocks, rolling waves, beaches, and impressive old fashioned houses incredibly beautiful.

 we also got to see nick's favorite part of the drive which was the "lone cyprus" (if you've never heard of this one, ask any dad) and the pebble beach golf course and lodge. the weather was rainy, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the beach and sites along the way. we even took a long stroll down the beach and decided that we really love the ocean.(i know romantic right?)

 

 

we continued our stroll down the streets of carmel, home to the cutest shops ever including one that looked as if Christmas itself had thrown up all over it. it was delightful. dinner was also delightful. we slaved over our hot credit card at the chart house. the turkey was perfect and we ate way too much. just the way it should be.

we really had a great time. i am a lucky one, i'll tell you that. i have an amazing husband who likes to do fun things with me and i am grateful for that. we are grateful for our little life here in california and all of the things the Lord has provided for us as we've moved here, including a little time to enjoy each others company.  

advice.

 good to know.

weekend up-date. (sorry no tina fey.)

last weekend was a hoot. and a holler. a hoot and a holler of a weekend because my favorite people came to visit me! (no it wasn't santa clause or steven tyler, although i have a special place in my heart for both of them. sue me.) it was....

dad

(master of tai chi) 

 mom

(not so good at tai chi but really good at being a babe. especially when posing with tourist sites that are too far away to see.)

romney's

(a great photo of them all.)

 I will admit to the public, at least the ones who read this, that I am quite the mama's girl. and daddy's girl. I'm kind of a parents girl, and thus was in a blissful state. and having rebecca there with me was just the cherry on top. so here are some highlights...

alcatraz island. 

little authentic chinese food restaurant in china town.

(my first, and last, helping of tongue.)

segway tour of golden gate park.

(the dahlias were my favorite part. amazing.)

yummy chowder.

embarrassing football game.

i should also, perhaps, mention that nick and i survived our first 4.something earthquake that happened in berkeley. the three seconds of shaking did nothing but cause confusion as we sat at home and at school wondering why a train had just gone past us. when we found out it was actually an earthquake it made a lot more sense. 

well, thanks parents and romney's for a delightful weekend. we hope we have convinced you that berkeley is a great place to visit, and that the jenson's are super cool. come back soon!

noted.

1. the bay bridge is cool. 

2. my husband is really good at birthdays. at least my birthdays. he gave me large packages of my favorite treats, a cozy new Cal hoodie, and tickets to see alvin ailey in the spring. not to mention a nice dinner at the cheese cake factory, complete with cheese birthday cake. thanks nick! 

3. i've been reading "the help." its a good one. i recommend it to those who like books that you can't put down. 

4. nick does not appreciate asparagus.  

5. conference was exceptional, as always. i especially loved all the testimonies about the Book of Mormon. i'm excited to be almost done so that i can start over with "i Nephi..."

6. my nephew jack is going to be a pirate for halloween. that's pretty cool, i thought. i'm excited to see all the rest of the little ones in their costumes. i really like dressing up. last year nick and i did a great job. 

7. i work at a Chinese restaurant, hence i have an overload of fortunes in my pockets, in and around my purse. i keep the good ones. 

8. i have great friends and family. thanks for all of the birthday wishes from everyone. they were all greatly appreciated. 

9. my husband is listening to "fergalicious" while he studies. he is singing every word. he does not know that i can hear him. should i be concerned? 

10. quidditch is real in berkeley.

something about inspiration.

as of late i've been doing a lot of blog surfing. because did you know that on blogs there are lists on the side with the blogs that each particular blogger likes, and then again on that blog, and then again on the next one....
and so on and so forth. this phenomena turns into me getting very distracted over and over again whilst trying to do productive things like stalking friends and family...
the point of the story is, on a lot of these blogs i read i find little pictures, or tid-bits, or quotes, or tid-bits with quotes on them that are meant only to inspire. they are cute. really they are. and i want to be cute so....
i went searching for my own bit of inspirational cuteness to share with all of you people, so that you might be inspired and cute as well....
and i found a lot of cute things. extremely cute things. too cute of things. things that were flirting with the line of cheesy and i don't want to be cheesy, just cute....
but then i wasn't sure and i was about to give up and then i found this....
little thing that said just what i would say if i had one chance to give any advice. its something that i have been following faithfully for a while now but have found an incredible amount of use in this past month. so here it is. the inspiration...

 


it works. at least it works for me. maybe just to be safe it should say....
"keep calm and call brooke's mom." yeah. it should say that because she has proven her self several times. this week in fact....
but we won't go into that.  
so thanks mom for dealing with my phone calls relating to cooking, where to hang pictures, how to dress for fall when its still summer where you live, when i need someone to tell me how great i am and my husband is at school, when i'm overwhelmed or underwhelmed or just whelmed....


and sometimes just because.

September Eleventh

Most people remember where they were when these came down.

I do.
But I won't lie, I didn't really get it. 
When I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into a building, I thought it was intense. I didn't imagine that it was what it was.
I admit. I didn't know what the World Trade Centers were. 
It wasn't until I saw the flames, and the smoke, and the chaos, and the president, that I knew it was a big deal. 

Any time an anniversary comes around, especially one of ten years, it causes reflection. This one has certainly done so for me. Its hard for me to connect to an event that happened so far from me, to people I don't know. My heart hurts for those who lost love ones, but I've been trying to think of how the events of 9/11 have directly affected me. To be honest I'm not sure I know, but I will tell you what I do know. 
I know that I am grateful that I have had a happy ten years since that epic day in 2001. I am an incredibly blessed individual. I owe a lot of my happiness to the United States of America. It is this free country that allowed this man

the religious freedom to speak openly about Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ appearing to him in a sacred grove of trees, and his assignment to restore priesthood keys to the earth. It is this free country that allowed these guys

 
to cross the plains and establish the church in the "tops of the mountains." It is in this great country that I have received an education and lived safely in a home with people that I love. I can choose to dance. I can choose to marry. I can choose to go to church every Sunday. 


Maybe these things have nothing to do with 9/11. But because of this anniversary I have reflected on these things and the many, many, blessings that I enjoy.

Visits

Last week we had our first visitors! Nicks parents came to check out our new turf, and we had a great time. We went to San Fransisco and did a go-cart tour which was just a hoot. We got milkshakes at Ghirardelli  square, ate some yummy chowder, visited Nick's new home on campus, and finished putting our little apartment together. They even gave us a nice housewarming gift, a step ladder so that I can reach our shelves! (I was pretty stoked about about it because now I can reach the oreos. Nick was stoked about it because now he doesn't have to get up and get them every time i want an oreo.)

This is the beautiful Oakland temple. We are excited to have a temple just as close to us as when we were living in Salt Lake! It is up on a hill that has the most spectacular view of the bay.

This is the view from the temple. You can't really see anything, but trust me its amazing.

This is at Fisherman's Wharf. The debate was weather or not the water was colder than Bear Lake.

This is my new favorite part about the wharf. I could watch these guys for hours! (They are sea lions if you can't tell )

The Jenson boys at the tower on Cal Berkeley's campus.

This really has nothing to do with the post, but I beat Nick in Risk and in doing so took over the world with pink squares. I was excited about both aspects of the win.

 Thanks Rick and Diane for a couple of fantastic days. We hope you will now be advocates for visiting Brooke and Nick in Berkeley.

Tim Lincecum Bobble Head Day

Did you know that August 27 is Tim Lincecum bobble head day? In light of this momentous occasion, Nick and I had no other choice than to celebrate in the proper manner; attending our first Giants game. The catch is that the first 2,000 fans at AT&T park were awarded a free Tim Lencecum bobble head. Unfortunately Nick and I were not among the lucky, but we were still glad to be there. It was my first MLB baseball game and now I can scratch something that I have always wanted to do off my bucket list. 

It was a great game. I would even say intense, as far as baseball games are concerned. We found ourselves tied at the bottom of the 10th inning. One guy on 3rd, 2 outs, and 2 strikes. I was prepared to go into another inning, which was frightening considering that 1. I wanted the Giants to win and 2. After drinking a jumbo sized coke with my hot dog, I really had to p.... use the ladies room. (that one was for you mom.) Luckily, with one chance left Jeff Keppinger hit one mid-fielder and we won the game. It was awesome, and you better believe Nick and I gave each other a nice two handed high five. 

Thanks for the fun date, Nick. You've made a Giants fan out of me.