"If it didn’t bring you joy, just leave it behind.
Let’s ring in the New Year with good things in mind.
Let every bad memory go that brought heartache and pain,
And let’s turn a new leaf with the smell of new rain.
Let’s forget past mistakes, making amends for this year."
-Anonymous
It does seem like time passed by us and we did not even notice it. There was so much going on, and the next thing we knew, 2011 is almost over. Carl and I have been blessed with so many things this past year, we learned many things, and we've been reminded of the many wonderful things that we so often take for granted. The Lord, in so many ways, took us by the hand and helped us create a wonderful year.
Here's a quick rundown of the year that was...
JANUARY
We spent New Year's with friends and family in Southern California, complete with a road trip and a day well spent in Disneyland. I started my second semester in graduate school while Carl started his last term. Work continued to go well with Carl, and that kept him really busy. My brother turned 21 and received his mission call to serve in the Butuan Philippines Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl fell in love with snowboarding, and he went up to Sundance with friends a couple of times. It was our first real winter, I guess, and we tried to keep ourselves warm!
FEBRUARY
We had two Valentines day dinners -
an advanced Valentines date at Joe's Crab Shack, and a romantic dinner at home on Valentine's day itself.
It was also little Keana's first birthday!
MARCH
My brother, Yken, started his 2-year LDS Mission in Butuan, Philippines.
Carl's brother-in-law, Ricky, also got baptized on Marrch 27th, and we all drove to Long Beach to witness it. Carl also confirmed him on the same day.
APRIL
I worked on a project about interracial romantic relationships and presented it during BYU's MaryLou Fulton Conference.
Carl and I also took a trip to San Diego (all expense paid, YAY!) to attend the 4th Annual Clinton Global University Meeting held at UC-San Diego. And we also got to see the San Diego Temple, which, more than meeting a US President, was the highlight of our trip.
Also, my parents were granted 10-year multiple entry US tourist visas, and so they boarded a plane (actually a total of three planes) and visited us! It was the best spring break of all time!
MAY
Carl earned his Masters degree in Information Systems from Minot State University, and we flew there to attend his graduation.
Ate Lei also visited us for a couple of days and I got to spend a day with her and Jasmine and Keana.
We also had a lot of fun with my parents during spring break. We did a lot of activities together and we made sure it was a well deserved vacation for them.
JUNE
Since my parents vacation was almost over, we decided to pack their last couple of weeks with us with things on their bucket list. Mama wanted to visit every single temple possible, Papa wanted to see Las Vegas, and both of them wanted to see snow - like the real kind falling snow. So we did just that!
JULY
AUGUST
We celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary!
I turned 25 :)
And we took our 5th trip of the year - to San Francisco - to take care of some personal stuff and reconnect with Carl's past love (San Francisco Mission)...
I started my last year in BYU, which entailed working on a thesis and teaching a class. And Carl got promoted from a systems analyst to a software engineer. And the Wymount Filipino community grew from 2 members to 4 (and some adopted family members) :)
We had LOTS of visitors on General Conference weekend...
And we carved our first pumpkins for Halloween!
I went to Orlando to attend a research conference (which was also my first trip in the US all by myself).
And we had an AMAZING Thanksgiving - with a lot to be thankful for!
It was a wonderful year and we wrapped it up with all the joy and happiness of the Christmas season!
Disclaimer:
We did not intend to end the year with our 100th blog post - it was purely coincidental. But then again, sometimes, we find it a really fun coincidence!
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