Long-Overdue Christmas Recap

I never posted our Christmas pictures, so I thought I'd do it before it's too late in the year. For our first Christmas together, we went to California. And we had such a great time! Brent fits in with my family so well. And honestly, I think my siblings like him more than me, so it works out well. :-)

Our first day, we drove out to Riverside to spend some time with Brent's brother, Scott and his wife Tami, who were there visiting her family. 

It just so happens that Tami's family lives only a few blocks away from Kelli-- my BYU best friend and
 roommate of three years. It was so fun to see her and her cutie pie.

The next day, all the boys and I went bowling. Our family lives about 2 blocks from the best bowling alley in Simi. Dad beat us all, and I, surprisingly, came in 2nd... with an incredible score of 91. Yeah, we're not professionals, but who cares? We had fun!

Then, on Christmas eve, we had an amazing dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Followed by some quality Christmas time around the fireplace. Look at those stockings!! 

Mom put together a fun family trivia game, and then we played Christmas carols on metal pipe "bells". 

Christmas morning there were TONS of presents to open! 

I love this picture of Bryan as he opens the digital camera that all of us siblings gave him. Look at that face! Priceless!

Brent helped Grandma finish this crazy puzzle. Once he gets going, you can't stop him!

Later in the week, we went to the Ronald Regan Library in Simi, where we toured the Air Force One,

saw Regan's face printed in jelly bellies. . . 

.... and saw part of the Berlin Wall. This was especially cool for Brent, since he served his mission behind the former iron curtain.

We also visited my Uncle Kent's home. On his property there are tangerine trees that were in full production!

You could smell them from a few yards away. yum!! This was Brent's first time ever picking citrus fruit in his life. I'm not sure what that face means. :-)

We also visited the Getty Museum. This is a really cool mosaic made of stone:

And my favorite, the Van Gogh: 

Looking out over LA:

I love the museum architecture and gardens. If you have never been here, you MUST visit!!!

Mostly, we spent time with family, which made the trip so worthwhile. At the end of the week, we didn't want to leave!! 

Blue Nile

So continuing our restaurant adventures, Brent and I tried Ethiopian food for the first time at the Blue Nile. This restaurant was rated very highly on Urban Spoon, and a lot of people had told us they loved Ethiopian food. I'm all for new experiences, so I expected that I would really like it. Unfortunately, it wasn't my fav.

We ordered what seems to be the typical fare in Ethiopian cuisine: a platter of different types of spiced, cooked vegetables on top of a large piece of Injera bread. You eat the meal with your hands, using the bread to scoop up the vegetables, as Brent demonstrates:

I think the problem for me was that I wasn't really a fan of the bread. It has the same texture as a crepe, but is slightly tart and has a very unique flavor because it is not made with wheat flour. The vegetables (spinach, chickpeas, yellow peas, cabbage, etc.) were okay, but I didn't feel like the flavors were strong enough. And even though the flavors were new and unfamiliar, I didn't find them very enjoyable. Especially considering the price-- about $12 per person.

In any case, it was a fun experience. The service was fantastic, and the atmosphere was definitely authentic. If anyone visiting us wants to go, I wouldn't be unwilling. I just think there are a lot of other places I would prefer to go. 

My Valentine

This is the first Valentines Day in my life that I have a real Valentine!!! It's kind of crazy, but Brent and I didn't know each other on February 14th last year. We met on the 19th.

So as of today, we've been married for 6th months, but have not yet known each other for a year. Weird!!!

Really though, it's not that weird, because Brent is so genuine and easy to love. Our first six months have been awesome and we look forward to many years to come! 

On Saturday, Brent bought me a beautiful red rose. He knows that I think its ridiculous to spend too much money on flowers, but that I still love fresh flowers. He picked a perfect, red rose. And a huge heart shaped balloon. We celebrated our 6 month anniversary by going to the temple and then ordering pizza. :-)