My 100th Post

This is blog post number 100. That's crazy. Probably a very small number for someone who's had a blog for about four years, but an accomplishment nonetheless. So, I think for my 100th post I will write about when I turned 21. Two milestones in my life. I spent my twenty-first birthday in Boise, ID with the Day family and it was an amazing weekend away from school and work. Blake and I took a picture before we left:

Turns out Blake is a little bit tall.

The second take was better.

We got some snacks and drinks and we were on our way.  After a couple hours we were in Idaho.

 We went straight to Mason(Blake's brother)'s basketball game in Les Bois and met up with Blake's parents. We had some pizza for dinner and then headed to Tyler(Blake's other brother)'s Varsity basketball game. We arrived back at Blake's home and started watching Despicable Me with Mason in the media room, but I soon fell asleep, so we decided to call it a night.

Friday started out with a morning walk with Diane. She told me lots of fun stories of how she met Stephen and stories about little Blake that melted my heart. After we got ready for the day, Blake took me on a mini tour of Boise and we picked up Tyler from high school for a little lunch date. It was so weird walking through the halls of Capital High School because it was nothing like my high school. First of all, there are boys there. Second, there aren't uniforms. Third, everything else was different. I told Blake it was like a kind of high school you see in the TV shows with inside hallways and lockers and sophomore couples walking hand in hand in the hallway. WEIRD.

We went to a cute little ice cream/burger joint called Delsa's.

I love ice. Delsa's has good ice. I love Delsa's. 

We went to Sakura for dinner that night and had some sushi and tepanyaki. I'm really good at catching the shrimp. I'm 3 for 3. We went to see The Eagle and then finished Despicable Me. We made an executive decision to celebrate Mindy's and my birthday starting at 7 AM and then I went to bed. Blake woke me up at 7 AM sharp and everyone sang happy birthday to me as I walked into the kitchen. I had candles in my homemade cheesecake and I made a wish as I blew them out. There were two piles of presents on either side of the kitchen table. One for me and one for Mindy. After we opened our presents some of us got ready for the Worldwide Leadership Training and enjoyed that meeting for a couple hours. 

We played some fun games in between lunch and dinner: The Game of Things... and The Wrong game. I would recommend them. They are pretty fun. Then it was time for the special birthday dinner at The Mona Lisa. I've never been to a fondue restaurant, but it was simply wonderful. I ate way too much, but I'm allowed to do that on my birthday. 

That's our pot of turtle fondue. Delicious. My favorite chocolate was the white chocolate with vanilla caramel and toffee bits. 

Throughout the day I received so many wonderful messages and phone calls from my wonderful family and friends. Thank you all for making it such a special day. I love being twenty-one!

On Sunday we had some homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and went to church. We were able to hear Diane say a few words during the combined Priesthood/Relief Society meeting and I met so many family friends. The ward members couldn't say enough nice things about Blake. It was such a wonderful weekend and one I will always remember. 

My New Job

These days I work at the Open Access Computer Labs on campus. Perks: Flexible hours, homework allowed, free printing, and I get to wear a cool lanyard with my name and picture on it. Downside: Not a whole lot to do and I feel guilty when not doing  my homework.

So of the two jobs I've held this year, the first one was boring because I was always busy and did the same thing over and over again and this one is a little boring because there isn't enough to do. I'm glad I don't have to have an on campus job for the rest of my life. I hope that I will find whatever work I'm in enjoyable and while I know I might have boring or hard days, for the most part, I hope I will love it.

So, like I said, I feel guilty when I don't do homework. Like today. I decided I would be crafty and make some customized valentines.  I found them on Shabby blogs. They're super easy. You can download them for free and then I just added my own text on PowerPoint. Let me know if you want any tips. The final product looks like this:

They're lollipop covers. Super cute, right? Anyway, hopefully I can get them where I want them to go by Valentine's Day. I love trying to be crafty. It can keep me occupied for hours...like today. Homework will have to wait till later.

I like food...

especially when it is homemade. Last Friday, Blake and I took on the task of making a homemade BBQ chicken pizza, all from scratch. We even made our own dough! After mixing the dough, we went for a quick run in the Smith Fieldhouse on the indoor track and we let our dough rise. We came back STARVING, so instead of being patient and letting the dough get to the right size, we just decided to flatten it out onto the pan.

Blake did the most wonderful job. I was so impressed by his cooking skills. I hopped in the shower real quick while the pizza was baking and came back to a beautifully set table. We DEVOURED our pizza and my oh my it was delicious! Some of the best pizza I've had. Maybe I'm biased, but it was just so incredibly good. I'm craving it right now as I type this at work...

Then we made some delicious great harvest cookies and ate some graham canyon ice cream from the BYU creamery. I think it may be my new favorite ice cream flavor.  Graham cracker ice cream with chocolate covered graham cracker bits. Try it next time you're at the Y. WONDERFUL.

We ended our night by watching The Sandlot. Blake is really good at quoting movies, but The Sandlot is one of his favs. He looooves baseball. We actually didn't even need to watch it, because he can just quote the whole movie. (A little bit of an exaggeration, but not much.) It was a great date.

The Christmas Season

has come and gone. I feel like I've been so busy, or at least I just haven't made any time to blog. So before I forget more details than I already have, let's have a small recap of the last little while.

Jonathan and I drove to South Pasadena for Thanksgiving. It was way too short. Mom made way too much food and I ate too much of it. She had a ridiculous list of food items and insisted on making everything herself. So, it was a long day in the kitchen, but I love bonding with mom over food. She is the greatest cook and I hope to be able to cook delicious feasts like her one day.

One thing I loved doing this December was eating chocolates from my advent calendar with Blake. I can proudly say we never missed a day.

It brought back great memories of my childhood when Jonathan and I couldn't stop ourselves from eating them. Sometimes we would say to each other, "We can eat two today, and we'll just skip tomorrow..." I think we ended up finishing all our chocolates way before Christmas Eve. But we did get some good sibling memories from it. 

Finals began and ended. It's good to have those over with. It's crazy to think that I only have to go through that two more times and then I'll be graduated. 

Blake and I took a little road trip to St. George after finals to visit with Ie Mei and Brad and the rest of the Taylor clan. We ate a delicious dinner on Sunday evening and then played some games. We also brought Vern with us. Vern is Blake's tortoise and the kids were in heaven. They all took turns trying to shove lettuce into his shell and it was an adorable sight to behold. 

This little lady put my heels on and strutted her stuff.

She also twirled around in her princess night gown and told everyone, "I'm the princess!"

Mylee gladly sat on my lap and posed for a picture with us before bedtime.

The next day we woke up bright and early to go over to the Greg and Kristi Taylor's home to help them with their amazing play room. It turns out you don't have to be a kid to enjoy it...or maybe I still am a kid? I don't know, but it is so cool. We helped paint it and as a thank you, we got taken to lunch at Cafe Rio. One of my favorites.

With little time left, Blake and I got started on our journey back to Provo. We stopped to get gas and Blake picked up some treats for us. He came back with some banana creme flavored Reese's because they were on sale. When we opened the package the chocolate was all grainy and old looking. I couldn't get myself to try it, but Blake did! It's no wonder they were only 30 cents. 

We hit a huge storm on our way back and Blake was late for work, but it was a fabulous weekend with family and friends.

Christmas was absolutely wonderful. It is a little bit difficult to fit 26 people into our humble South Pasadena home, but it is definitely worth it if it means I get to be with all my siblings and their little ones. This was the first Christmas we've all been together since Ie Li's wedding, I think, when she obviously had no kids. Now she has three! My oh my how time flies. 

Highlights included having our own nativity scene with the cast comprising of West grandkids and Hippie Hippo,

going to the beach

and running around outdoors and playing baseball.

 Eating is both a blessing and a curse. It's great to have a lot of delicious food to choose from for every meal, except when you decide that it's better to just eat everything.



Mom and Ailee at it again in the kitchen.

But lucky for me, I'm running for my life this semester with Blake!

There is a program through the intramural office that is called "Run for your Life." If you run 150 miles over the semester, you get a t-shirt! So that equates to roughly 10 miles a week. So, as of today, January 15, we have completed 14 miles. We got off to a slow start coming from break, but we'll get there! 

I have lots more to write about, but we'll save it for a different post, since this is technically supposed to be about Christmas. Yay for blogging again!

Last Week

This little girl turned 2. She is my 11th niece/nephew. And I remember that because she was born on 11-11. Except sometimes I'm not a very good aunt and I forget even though that is so easy to remember! So, I know this little post doesn't make up for not calling little Ailee Anne on her birthday, but maybe one day she'll be able to read this and know that I love her so so much.

I love Ailee Anne because she is just the cutest bundle of joy. I love her little raspy laugh and the way she says "uh-huh" when you ask her a question. I love her little waddle and that she calls me Ie Ling when I talk to her on the phone.

She can instantly bring a smile to my face. Thank you Ailee Anne, for being a source of happiness for me. I love you! Happy 2nd Birthday!

I went on a Picnic

with Blake this week. When Ie Li was in town a couple weeks ago, I babysat baby Mi Na at her in-laws' house and noticed that the park across the street had the most beautiful autumn trees. So, ever since then I've wanted to go back. 

Well, we made it happen this week. Blake packed some really funny and cute food:

Menu: PB & J on blueberry bagels, Keebler peanut butter crackers, baby apples,  oatmeal cream pies,  a cosmic brownie, and some milk. (I added some banana muffins to the mix.)

We ate and talked while the sunset.

Then we made our way to the swings, because I LOVE SWINGS. (Sad side note: This swing has disappeared. I hope someone will put it back. I miss it a lot.) It got dark and cold pretty quick so we made our way back toward home where I continued my night at institute. Then Blake and I reunited at the library. There's nothing quite as awesome as the Harold B. Lee Library. 

There's nothing better than picnics, autumn leaves, parks, swings, and the Harold B. Lee library especially when you get to experience all of them on the same day.

Thank you, Blake, for a wonderful evening at the park.

The Best Halloween Ever

When I was a senior in high school I decided to run cross country to stay in shape for soccer. I've never LOVED running, but I do LOVE the feeling that I get after I do run. My sister, Ie Li, was never a runner, but has recently taken it up in the last few years. And my sister, Ie Mei, trained for and completed her first triathlon. How cool are my sisters?! So, I would say that they've been a great inspiration to me and because of their examples, I decided that I wanted to set a similar goal and accomplish it. So, this summer when I was in Virginia, I researched some half-marathons in Utah and found one that gave me sufficient time for training. 

I remember I was supposed to start training on August 9. Why do I remember that? Because that was the day I got my wisdom teeth pulled. I wasn't feeling that bad and even attempted to go, but then my mom scolded me and said that if my body was trying to heal from running that my mouth wouldn't heal. So, because I decided to take my mom's advice and rest that week, I was already a week behind. 

I started training in September in Provo, but hesitated to sign up for the race because I wasn't sure I could really do it. I decided that if I made it through my 8-mile run, I'd sign up. So one Saturday, I woke up and ran 8 miles. When I got home, I signed up for the Halloween Half-Marathon. 

Well, this past weekend, I completed my first half-marathon. I'm not sure I have the words to really express how amazing it was. Friday night I filled up on pasta and was in bed by 10:30. Saturday morning I was up at 5:50 and put on all my running gear and made my way to University Mall to catch the bus up to Aspen Grove. I talked with a girl my age and her two twin cousins that were running. The two cousins were 13. I was so impressed with them. I can't even imagine running 4 miles at that age. 

It was pretty chilly up at the start, but they had a heated tent to keep us warm. We all lined up at the start and then the gun shot went off. I thought to myself, "this is it, i'm really doing this." I put my headphones in and started my run with my awesome "run, girl" playlist and clutched my hand warmers tight as I started my way down the hill. 

It was perfect weather for running and the scenery was beautiful. Most of the time we ran along the Provo River with beautiful autumn trees covering us. I was grateful for the water stations along the way. I think most of all I was grateful for people along the route cheering everyone on. Even though we didn't know each other, it gave me the happiest feeling and kept my legs moving. I am grateful for the little kids who gave me high-fives. It's amazing what the slap of the hand can do when you're running. 

I remember when I passed the Mile 7 sign. I wasn't sure if that meant that I was beginning my seventh mile or I had just finished the seventh mile, so somehow I just decided that it meant that I was starting my seventh mile. I got to Mile 12 thinking I had two more miles to go and was then pleasantly surprised when I got to Mile 13 and realized that I could easily sprint to the end. 

So, with the finish line in sight, I kicked up my legs and crossed the finish line. It was the most amazing feeling. But even greater than the feeling of completing the race, was that of seeing my wonderful friends at the finish line. I'm not sure why, but as soon as I saw them, I started crying. Happy tears, of course. I'm so grateful for wonderful friends who support me in what I do. Thank you, Kylie, Cassie, Jordan, Ben, and Britton. You're the best!

(I was interviewed for and quoted in the Monday, November 1, 2010, edition of the Daily Universe)

My final time was around 2:04 and it was a great day. I was prepared for the race, but definitely not prepared for the soreness after. I'm pretty sure I walked like a grandma for the two days following, but it was all worth it. And a little shoutout to my mom. Thank you for all the lessons you've taught me my whole life, especially:

If there's a will, there's a way.

You can do anything you set your mind to. 

They're true.