Anniversary Celebration

Well I said I would write about our real anniversary celebration when it actually took place. As mentioned 2 posts ago we were busy with other things on our anniversary so we didn't get to celebrate. The day after we did do something. We went out to dinner. We decided to try this place by our apartment. It's called Rosie's Country Kitchen. It's a Denny's style diner but older and family owned and operated. It's run by people from India which kind of surprised us. Most of the food was American but they did have a little section on their menu of Indian food. We ate the American food. It was really good. We enjoyed it and it was nice to get away to celebrate our 2 years of marriage. We didn't just go out to dinner. Again, as already mentioned in the previous post, we went to the zoo a month ago as part of our anniversary. So the celebrating is over but every day is a celebration that we have survived each other this long. Just kidding. It's been a great 2 years!

Christmas 2009

Well Christmas came and went way too fast. I always get a little sad after Christmas. It means we wait for a whole year again before we get to celebrate. Yeah the presents are great, but I love how the famly gets together and we get to play, and there is Christmas music, lots of food and candy, and just the whole Christmas spirit. I know I'll be seeing family throughout the year, but there is just something special about coming together at Christmas. Anyway, I'm not trying to be depressing, I love Christmas time but it's sad that it has to end.

We did have a wonderful Christmas. We spent it with Dave's family this year. I'll start with Christmas Eve. We had a very large and delicious dinner, like Thanksgiving. Then we loaded into the car to look at lights, sing carols, and deliver goodies to friends. When we got back, we all shared a spiritual/inspirational Christmas story. It was great to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Then we watched a video called, Joy to the World, which is the nativity story. Then we went to bed.

We woke up at 8:00 and waited at the stairs for the annual picture taking on the balcony. Then we got to come downstairs and look in our stockings. All the presents are passed out and then starting from youngest to oldest we open a present each until they are all opened. Then we ate cinnamon style goodies for breakfast and then we started playing with toys and games. We took it pretty easy all day. I even snuck in a nap. I called and skyped with all my family and then before you knew it it was bedtime again. I sure do love Christmas. Here's what Dave and I got for Christmas: clothes and some jewelry, movies, games, money, a handmixer, reading books, songbooks, a webcam, candy, a Leatherman, decorations, and few other little things. It was a wonderful day and I hope the spirit of Christmas found you this year too! Merry Christmas!

Mom finishing up the chocolate covered candies.

Waiting for storytime.

"Oh Christmas Tree."

This is Dave trying out his new Leatherman.

Playing on the new Wii.

2 YEARS OF BLISS

Today is Dave and I's 2 year anniversary. Dave went to breakfast with his friends. I had to work. Then tonight, we had a party at his parent's house with lots of family and friends to watch the BYU Bowl Game. BYU won! I know what you're thinking. That is the coolest anniversary ever. Right? Well maybe you weren't thinking that. It's not exactly what I had in mind but we are going to celebrate tomorrow when neither one of us has things going on. Celebrating your anniversary is hard when it is in the middle of the week and especially during the holidays. We actually did a little bit of celebrating about a month ago. We went to the zoo. We did it early so that it would be warmer. It was a really nice day and we enjoyed ourselves. Tomorrow we are going out to dinner. It'll be great. So here are some pics of our real day but I'll post more later when we actually celebrate it.

Dave having breakfast with our friends the Smiths and Harrisons. They're not in town very long so I'm glad Dave got to see them while they were around.

We had a full house for the BYU Bowl Game. There were almost 30 people there watching the game, eating, or playing games. It was a really fun night.

I'm so grateful for Dave. I'm glad we get to spend eternity together. He is a wonderful husband and is so good to me. He has such a strong testimony and helps me to be a better person. He is very patient and has a great sense of humor. He makes me so happy. I'm very blessed. I love you Dave and Happy Anniversary!

Photo Shoot

I was getting bored of our pictures and decided Dave and I needed a Christmas picture. The setting is our apartment. Here are a couple we took.

This is one of my favorites. I was getting mad at Dave for not being serious in the picture.

This is us reenacting an engagement picture.

We were testing the camera. I was thinking of using the pillow as a prop, but that has a high dork factor.

Another picture. The end.

Thanksgiving Break

Dave and I went to Utah for Thanksgiving. On our way down to Enoch, we first met up with some of my old roommates. We went to Thanksgiving Point and visited, ate some great ice-cream, and goofed off at the store. It was great to see Alicia and Betsy. I miss those girls and my other old roommates. We sure had a great time when we were living together and so it was really fun to meet up. Here are some pics.

Here we are strategically posing in front of a Christmas tree.

Poor Dave is forced to do whatever we want when us girls get together.

Dave does what we want because we are so hard core. Don't mess.

After we were done goofing off, we drove down to Enoch. Thanksgiving morning was a blast. We had a Turkey bowl with all the cousins. We had been challenged by the Richey clan. Catherine Richey is one of my best friends and it was all her family we played with and against. We didn't divide teams by family, we did it by birthdays, the beginning of the year vs. the end of the year. Luckily this way made it so I wasn't chosen last. It was really fun. As many of you know, I'm not a huge football fan, but playing is different from watching. It was touch football, and then someone had flags and so we changed it up a bit. The game was a tie at the end though some think otherwise, but a tie sounds good to me. It was great. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the glorious game. After working up a sweat, we cleaned up and headed next door to my aunt's house for the magnificent feast. So yummy.

Lots of the family, lining up to get some grub.

Poor boys, don't know how to handle the feast.

The day after Thanksgiving, we have our family Christmas party. We eat pizza, make some kind of craft, dip candies in chocolate, do some service project, and have fun.

Dipping chocolates. Mmm Mmm Good.

Of course the boys were by the TV.

We left Saturday night to head back up north and this is the weather we had for about 30 minutes, but then it cleared up. At least I had some what of a white Christmas before heading back to California.

I Am Thankful For...

These People...

Meet Dave, the love of my life.

These are my parents. They taught me everything I know.

This is my oldest brother and his family.

This is my other brother and his family.

This is my sister and her family.

These are my adorable nieces.

These are my other parents. I'm glad we live close to them.

These boys are my brother-in-laws (and my husband). They're pretty cool and crazy, but I sure do love them.

My family is what I am most thankful for and I'm glad we get to be together for eternity. I'm also grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and Mother and my savior, Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the gospel, the scriptures, a living prophet, and all those who paved the way so that I can worship freely and enjoy all that I have today. I'm grateful for my friends and all they do for me and the fun we have together. I'm grateful for food. Mmmmm good. I'm grateful for a job, a roof over my head, and transportation. I'm grateful for this wonderful country. I'm thankful for beautiful scenery, colors, music and other sounds. I'm grateful for my body and my health. I have so much to be thankful for and I'm glad we have this time of year to think about and remember all that we have been blessed with. Happy THANKSgiving!

Sacramento Zoo

Dave and I went to the zoo yesterday and it was great. I got so excited once we stepped through the gate. I felt like a kid again. It has been many years since I've been to a zoo. It wasn't huge but it was good enough for me. It only took us a couple of hours to walk through the whole zoo but that was enough time especially since we both got hungry. Here are a couple of pictures of some of our favorite animals.

Flamingos are such unique and pretty birds.

This was some kind of horned-billed bird. He sort of played shy and ran away but then would come back and run back and forth in front of you for awhile.

This little guy is one of my new favorites. The Red Panda. Cool. That's all I have to say.

Dave made the comment, "That's how I used to do my hair." If you can't tell from the picture, the Emu has his hair parted straight down the middle and kind of slicked down. It made me laugh, especially since I've seen pictures of Dave with his hair like that.

It wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without a tiger. Scary.

One of the other cool animals we saw, was the parrot who could talk. Some of his phrases were, "Hello!," "How are you?," "Pretty bird.," and "Was up?" He even mimicked a lady's laugh. I was really impressed. Anyway, we had a great time and I can't wait to go the zoo again!

I (Dave) feel like writing something

Hi everyone. I haven't written for a while, but that's because I've been way too busy lately playing video games and pumping iron. I admit that part of me is embarassed to admit that I still play video games when I'm 26, but why should I be? Why do people always mock video games, but encourage reading Harry Potter and (ugh!) Twilight? Those books are not educational, no matter what my wife says. At least video games increase my hand eye coordination (some games) and make me feel a sense of accomplishment when I save the world from marauding minotaurs or North Koreans. Or both. And most games have a storyline in them that makes it just like a book, except you get to take part in the action instead of simply sidelining it. It's like a "Choose Your Own Adventure." (I loved those, but I kept getting sucked out to outter space and have my head explode or fall into a black hole in my space ship book...) The moral of the story is that Twilight is stupid, and Harry Potter could never take on a North Korean-minotaur hybrid.

In other news, I'm weighing in at about 153 these days. That's legit.

I played tennis today for about 3 hours with my friend Chris Pritchett. It was intense. It would have gone much faster (we only played 3 sets), but we almost always botched our first serve. No, I didn't wear the little tennis skirt. Since you were wondering, yes, I won.

I wish I had something important to write, but Kathryn always covers all of the "practical" stuff, and we don't have any kids to laugh at.

I've been doing a lot of medical interpreting, and I've been talking to a lot of old people about their potty habits. Why do the old men always feel the need to show me the catheter bag with their pee in it? Is that really necessary? (the answer is YES!)

The end. Thank you for your time and patience.

I LOVE SKYPE WITH WEB CAMS! THE END.

Dave, the Groomsman

One of Dave's good friends from high school got married yesterday. Dave was a groomsmen, the only groomsman. The past few days, he's been getting ready for the big day. He had a rehearsal on Thursday, and then Friday, the wedding day, he had to be there 3 hours early to take pictures. Needless to say, his mom and I met him there later. It was a very nice ceremony, short, sweet, and to the point. After the ceremony, they had a dinner and reception full of all the traditional wedding must-dos: cutting the cake, speeches, the bouquet and garter throwing, and dancing. I've met Zach (the groom) a couple of times and him and his bride Jennifer came over during the summer for Dave's birthday. They're a great couple and we are very happy for them both. Congratulations Zach and Jenn!

Dave and I just before the wedding.

Dave and his mom.

Dave, escorting a bridesmaid.

Dave, the Groom-Zach, and Chris (another school friend)

When Dave and I weren't dancing, he was posing. Lookin' good.

A Different Halloween

Well Halloween was a little differnt this year since Dave's grandma passed away and her funeral was on Halloween. We did have a lot of family in town so it was really nice but there was a lot less "Halloween" and lot more talking, eating, and playing games. Don't think we're insensitive, we are sad that Grandma is gone but she would want us to be happy, and really we are happy for her because she is in a better place and Ricks ARE known for loving games. Anyway, first to start off Halloween, my work had a party the Friday before Halloween. My boss is awesome. We closed the business for a full 2 hours to party. There was tons of food, a pumpkin carving contest, and a pinata. It was pretty fun.

Grumpy, Snow White, and a little princess.

A nerd and a 70's chick.

Mr. T- "I pity the fool."

A 50's chick, bat girl, and a witch.

Then on Halloween, as already mentioned, it was Grandma Ricks' funeral. It was a very nice funeral. A lot of family and friends came and they had great memories to share. That night we had a big dinner and some of the younger kids did do a little Trick or Treating. Mostly we just hung out and played together. It was a fun time though we met under sad circumstances, but it is nice to have the gospel in our lives because we understand that families are forever.

Some of the pallbearers.

Some of the many family members who filled the house.

The hair is kind of hiding the face, but Brandon was a Zombie.

In Memory of Focha Black Ricks

Monday, October 26th, Dave's Grandma passed away. She was almost 91 years old. She was a sweet ol' gal and I'm glad for the little time I got to spend with her. For the past few months, I've been doing "Grandma Duty", along with Mom Ricks and Aunt Rosanne. Grandma was in a wheel chair so she needed help getting in and out of bed, using the bathroom, taking her pills and eating. Grandma Ricks was not a woman of many words, at least how I knew her. She was very kind and would always smile. I will miss her but she is in a better place now.

The last week of her life they had decided to put her under hospice care when her already failing health got worse. She was no longer eating or drinking anything and most of her time was spent in bed. So it really was a good thing for her to move on with her next great adventure. She went peacefully. Her funeral was a week ago, Halloween day. It was sad but at the same time, everyone was very happy for her because they know that she is in a much better place, with other family members who love her. I was glad to hear more stories of how Grandma really was when she still had energy and spunk in her. We will miss her, but her legacy still lives on with her family.

OcToBeR BiRtHdAyS

Well, October is a busy birthday month in my family. October 6- Dad Ricks, October 13- Matt, October 17- Jenn, and October 23- Mom Ricks. I've been slacking on my picture taking because I've been forgetting the camera. But this past Friday, Mom Ricks' birthday, Dave remembered the camera. So I have some pictures! We did celebrate everyone else's birthday but don't have any pictures to show for it. Sorry Dad, Matt, and Jenn (you live far away, so I wouldn't have pictures anyway), it doesn't mean I don't love you. So here are some pictures from Mom's birthday. We went out to dinner, then came home and opened presents and ate cake. Dave and I stayed the night so he could watch the disappointing BYU football game. It makes me laugh how emotionally and mentally attached boys are to sports. Anyway, here are some pictures.

The web cam for Skype so now she can talk to and see her boys.

New soft sweater. It has fur on the inside.

Mom and Dad Ricks.

Blowing out the candles.