Picnic Day!

Have you ever been to a place where you could see dachshunds race, change liquid into ice cream, milk a cow, pass by giant monster bikes, race cockroaches, watch a helicopter take flight, and taste exotic fruits--all in one afternoon? As of last week, I have. Zac and I celebrated Picnic Day with hundreds of thousands of other UC Davis students, families, and alumni. I'm still not quite sure what we were celebrating, but I do know that the 100-year-old tradition is quite the event to attend. All of the departments on campus have booths or activities that let visitors see their research, which allows for a pretty interesting afternoon. Here are some of the things that we saw:

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble ... wait a second ... this isn't a witch boiling up a deadly potion. It's the chemistry department brewing up some tasty chocolate ice cream made from chocolate (of course), milk, and liquid nitrogen. My review? Delicious--tasted like a frosty.

"Got Milk?" or "Just do it"? Whatever the slogan, I bet that she was just happy that she wasn't one of the cows at the end of a loooong line of people wanting to try their hand at milking. We didn't want to wait in line, but we did see (and smell) a lot of other animals at the agricultural exhibit.

Living art--apparently a real form of art where blindfolded people slowly move into different statue-like positions.

It was pretty interesting to watch.

My favorite part of the day was probably the Doxie Derby, a derby for the cute and fast little creatures known as dachshunds. I don't know what was more interesting--watching the dogs, watching the owners trying to get their dog to win, or watching the people in the crowd trying to get everyone to do the wave (they finally succeeded). If I missed the dogs, though, I could always catch the end of the race on the instant replay screens--it was pretty funny to watch the dogs run in slow motion. For a small taste of this wonderful event, please watch the clip below.

We saw other interesting things but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of everything. We walked by a bike parade, which had bikes that ranged from a huge monster bike to a tri-andum bike (like a tandem but with three seats). We stood about twenty feet away from a helicopter as it was taking off. We saw people racing cockroaches (which I refused to do). We built a protein with one of Zac's professors. We tasted "exotic" fruit--the only one that was really "exotic" was probably the jackfruit (unlike pineapple and mango). I saw glow-in-the-dark bacteria for the first time at the microbiology exhibit. We walked all across campus and, surprisingly, ran into quite a few people from our ward. 

Not bad for a single afternoon.

Our New Couches

We finally got new couches! We bought them (a loveseat and a sofa) from a couple that lives on the other side of Davis and our home teacher helped us get them home (unfortunately, couches would not fit in little Rhonda, aka our car). Here are some pictures of our newest additions to our apartment:

The beautiful fabric.

 

The sofa with its original covering.

The loveseat with the blue covers that I got for them (the sofa has an identical cover). 

With these new additions, we had to rearrange our apartment a little bit. Our rocking chair is currently in our room next to our bed because there was no room for it in the living room. We also recently moved the piano where the desk was (see photo above), the desk where the bookshelf used to be, and the bookshelf where the piano used to be (refer to previous photos on the blog if you wish to see where they used to be). The changes make the apartment feel a little more comfortable, especially now that we don't have to sit in lawn chairs all the time or race for the rocking chair.

Some Important Terms to Know

I know that some of my family in the West was a little confused when I was talking about the things I did while visiting New Hampshire. Here is a small dictionary that may clear up some of the confusion, as well as let you know about some of the things that we did.

candlepin bowling \kan-dəl-pin bo-liŋ\ n (1880) : a fun, popular alternative to bowling found in New Hampshire. The main differences between this game and ten-pin bowling are found in the pins, the size of the ball, and the taking turn sequence. The pins are similar to . . . well . . . long, hard candles--candles that are slightly tapered at both ends.

 

A player has three tries in each turn to knock down all ten candlepins; however, the fallen pins aren't cleared off until the very end of a player's turn, coming in very handy when a player needs to knock out a stubborn split. 

The ball for candlestick bowling is a little bit heavier and a little bit larger than a softball--without any holes. 

Other than these few differences, the game is very similar to ten-pin bowling.

• Some example sentences:
• If you try to pitch a candlepin ball like a softball, a couple turns could end with embarrassing gutter balls or one-point turns.
• Candlepin bowling has gutter protectors just like regular bowling, but they won't stop a player from throwing a gutter ball.

*Special Lewis term:
Meh strategy n (2009) : a strategy used in candlepin bowling. The main idea: if you don't care too much about the number of pins that you knock over and don't try too hard, you will score more points.

• Example sentences:
• Trevor and Kierra, while employing the Meh strategy, became the champions of the evening, winning one game each.
• After Amanda stopped trying to throw the ball the fastest down the lane (the lanes had radar guns) and tried the Meh strategy, she scored a lot more points.

sliding \sli-diŋ\ vb : a recreational activity in which children or adults use sleds, tubes, or plastic disks to slide down a hill. This activity usually involves snow, but it may also involve ice or prickly branches. This word is also commonly known as sledding or tubing.

• Example sentences:
• The Lewis family went sliding on New Year's Eve Day on a hill of freshly fallen snow, which was near the sap house where Zac and Amanda became engaged last year.
• If you don't watch where you are going when you are sliding, you may end up in the prickly branches at the end of the hill.

The Freedom Trail \thə fre-dəm tral\ n (1630) : a trail of red bricks found in Boston that leads tourists around to the historic sites of Boston.

A sample tour:

"Follow the red brick road"

As we begin our tour of Boston, we will pass by the Granary Burying Ground. Let's take a peek inside. . .

 

"Listen my children and you shall hear

of the midnight ride of Paul Revere"

Actually, you won't really hear it, mainly because you're reading, not listening, and because I'm not going to tell it right now. This, however, is the grave of Paul Revere, who is hopefully resting peacefully despite the tourists. Paul Revere is in the company of more famous people than he would be if he were buried in any other small graveyard in America--including John Hancock (no relation that I know of), Elizabeth Goose (popularly known as "Mother Goose"), Samuel Adams, the victims of the Boston Massacre, Ben Franklin's parents, and other signers of the Declaration of Independence and governors of Massachusetts. It's fun to read the old(er) English carved into the stone: "ye body of . . ." (read: "the," y used to be used for the sound th and the small e is usually carved over the y to save space). 

After you've had your fill of all the famous people, we can continue down the trail . . .

"One if by land, two if by sea"

The Old North Church, the oldest church building in Boston, once briefly housed two lanterns in its steeple to warn that the British were coming by sea. The church is still used for worship, but you can still do a self-guided tour when it is not.

Let's take a quick stop at another burial ground . . .

 

As you take a look around the King's Chapel Burying Ground, you will find the grave of John Winthrop, passenger of the Mayflower and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His famous "City Upon a Hill" sermon was a closely-studied sermon in one of my history classes at BYU (incidentally, Zac and I had the class from the same teacher so we were able to talk about it while we were there). 

Continuing along the path will lead us to the Old State House. . .

Although this building is now a museum, it used to be the capital of the Massachusetts Colony, the site of the Boston Massacre, and one of the first places where the Declaration of Independence was read to the people. In short, it used to be a political building that housed both the British rulers stationed in America and the elected ruling body of Boston, a ideal situation for any group of enemies (it wasn't--it caused a lot of conflict). A stop at the museum will thaw out visitors during the winter and provide a shelter from the hot sun during the summer. 

Further along the trail is the New England Holocaust Memorial.

The six towers represent the six concentration camps; etched into the glass are six million numbers that represent the six million Jews who were killed in those camps.

Our last stop for the day will be across the Charlestown Bridge at the resting spot of the U.S.S Constitution.

 

This spot offers a nice view of the ship as well as the skyline of Boston. 

The U.S.S Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship (that is still floating) in the world; her fame comes from being invincible in war--not many can claim that for their career.

Well, that ends our tour of Boston for today, but join us again soon--there are still many more historical and interesting sites to see. 

I'm Dreaming of a . . . Pink? . . . Christmas

An Ode to Our First Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse.

The nylons were hung by the chimney with care

In hopes that something pink soon would be there

The siblings were nestled, all snug in their beds

While visions of Wii games danced in their heads

With Zac on the floor and I in my bed

Waking up early is what we did dread

With a sound like a jet, there arose such a clatter

I peaked open my eyes to see what was the matter

"Santa has arrived in a plane!" I said.

But it was only the heater at the foot of my bed.

More rapid than eagles the morning it came

We heard Cameron shout and call us by name.

"Now, Zatry, Now 'manda, Now Kia, Now T-revor

It's time to wake up--I've been waiting forever."

And then, with a yawn, we went down the stairs

And flopped, quite tiredly, into our chairs.

The unwrapping began, the paper it flew

There were games to play and candy to chew

There were tickets to games and nice clothes to wear

Shiny, bright jewelery and things for my hair.

And then, of course, my favorite gift:

A program for editing .JPEGs and .GIFs

We got cookbooks and knives, blankets and honey,

A sheep we named Nigel, gift cards, and money.

Christmas leaves us oh so inspired--

Except the instructions: some assembly required

So with Athena's presents we began to tinker,

Noticing the room was somehow much pinker.

Our presents unwrapped, on the floor they did lay

Downstairs we did go, the Wii fit to play.

I talked with my family on phone and online

For all those in Utah I tried not to pine.

The vacation was over, it really did fly

Our bags were much heavier and we all knew why

We heard Cameron say as we drove out of sight:

"Merry Mitmas to all, and to all a good flight!"

................

Some pictures of our white Christmas:

Thanks to everyone for making our first Christmas together great!

Thanksgiving

We had a great first Thanksgiving together, mainly because I didn't have to do any cooking. We traveled to Utah to see our much-missed family and had a blast seeing everyone. Here are some of the fun things that we did:

• We went to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. The lights were beautiful, and we even got a personalized tour of the President's room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Actually, it's not quite as cool as it sounds because it was just a room with pictures of all the modern Prophets in it--but it was still a pretty neat aerial (almost) view of the trees on Temple Square. The red tree that you see in this picture is a cedar of Lebanon, which is the tree that was used to build the Temple of Solomon.
  

We also took some pictures inside.

And some outside

• We also made gingerbread houses. I must say, making gingerbread houses with my family, who were ranked as professionals by the local newspaper, is quite a different experience than making gingerbread houses with a bunch of college students. I think our house turned out well, even for two amateurs.

 

• The BYU-Utah rivalry game happened to fall during the Thanksgiving break, so of course we had to watch it. I'll let the next picture sum up the outcome of the game. (Go BYU!)
  

• We also had a great time being spoiled by all of our grandparents and family members. 

I believe I can sum up our trip in just a few words: the food was delicious, the company was entertaining and enjoyable, and the drive was . . . well . . . long (but worth it).

When we got back to our humble abode, we decided that we would decorate our apartment a little bit so we didn't feel like Scrooges.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to our fantastic Thanksgiving break.

Happy Hallow-"clean"

This year for Halloween, Zac and I decided to join the three Davis wards, who were continuing their tradition of hosting a Halloween trunk-or-treat. A trunk-or-treat is a win-win-win situation--the kids have easy access to candy, the parents don't have to worry about their children, and the adults without children still get to dress up and get candy without feeling too silly.

The Sunday before Halloween, the activities committee chair in our ward notified us that there was going to be a prize for the best decorated trunk as well as the best decorated adult. Therefore, Zac and I were on the lookout for some good ideas to win the big prize. Initially, I wanted to dress up as a pirate and turn our turnk into a pirate treasure box, as piracy has been a theme for me for the past few Halloweens. While we were at Wal-Mart one night, we saw something that I thought would make our trunk perfect--a little rubber ducky that was dressed in a pirate outfit. Zac, however, didn't quite take to my pirate idea, so I had to come up with something new. Because there were multiple ducks that were dressed up in different outfits, I came up with the idea to turn our trunk into a bubble bath--the ducks were dressed up specially for Halloween and Zac and I could dress like we just got out of the shower. Zac convinced me that it was an original idea, and thanks to Google, dollar stores, and Target, this is what we came up with:

Although I was handing out the candy, I think the children had more fun at the "bubble car" watching the bubbles that Zac was blowing. Sometimes, they would sit and watch the bubbles and then leave without getting any candy. And I thought that I would be the popular one with the candy. Oh well. Luckily, the judges for the contest liked our trunk as well because we won the award for "Best Family Theme," as well as a gift certificate to In-N-Out. Mission: accomplished.

Later that day, we decided to carve some pumpkins. I think they turned out great--they might even look a little bit like us.

All in all, I think we had a pretty good first Halloween in Davis.

Our New Home

Welcome to the virtual tour of our new abode in California. This is our apartment in its decorated, mostly-unpacked state--pretty much the way it will be for the rest of the time we live here. Unless, of course, we get a couch for our living room. When you walk into the door of apartment 29, you will see our living room first. Behind the chair is my desk, which is where I spend a lot of my days studying and doing homework.

If you turn to the right, you will see . . .

Our "entertainment center," complete with the occasional bike (sometimes we have to keep them in the apartment if there isn't a place on the rack). We also keep our BYU lawn chairs on hand so we can have a place for visitors to sit. This is the second best part of the living room. If you turn around, you will be able to see the best part of the living room . . .


also known as the "music wall." This ends our tour of the living room on a good note, and now we can move into the kitchen.

In front of you, you will see our kitchen table, courtesy of the missionaries in our ward. The table is actually a dark red (you can't really tell in this picture) and the chairs are black with a strip of padding on the seat. The window gives us a beautiful view of our backyard, which consists of a small concrete patio, a tall tree with Christmas lights still on it, and a small area blocked off with wood and filled with dirt. Next summer it may be the home of our first garden. Now, if you'll follow me, we will make our way into the main part of the kitchen.

The stove didn't make it into the picture, but it is just to the left, next to the refrigerator (the table is directly behind us). There are also two other cupboards to the left and to the right of us. The beautiful apron that you see hanging under the clock has been used more and more lately. Yes, I am finally learning how to cook and not burn our apartment down. Except for today, when I didn't notice the smoke . . .
Finally, we can go into the back and to the bedroom area--which doesn't really have much but the bed, the ironing board, two closets, two night stands (one on either side of the bed), and a medusa lamp.
We also have to put a curtain over our window so we can sleep at night--otherwise there is too much light in our room. The ironing board is to the right of the picture and next to it is a black filing cabinet (it matches the desk in the living room) that holds my printer.
Now, if you turn around, we can make our last stop at our vanity/bathroom area.

To the left of the picture is our sink, a clock (that doesn't work because the ticking keeps Zac awake at night), and our laundry. It's actually quite nice compared to the last apartment we had because the sink is not in the same room as the shower. Speaking of the shower, and to end this great tour, we would like to show you our decorations in the bathroom.

Yes, there are still some remnants of the Noni. We just couldn't let a huge Tahitian Noni mirror/replica of the juice bottle go to waste. Every time we shower, we are reminded of our five year supply of Tahitian Noni cosmetics. We are comforted to know that if a disaster happens in the Davis area, we may not be able to eat, but we will be able to wash our hair.

Well, that ends the tour for today. Hope that you enjoyed yourselves and that we have something to post again soon. Oh, and we don't want you to leave without seeing our happy, smiling faces.

~ Amanda and Zac

Q: I ______ Amanda

Your answer choices are

A: Love
B: Think the world of
C: Like to do things with
D: Create your own... extra points for creativity

The correct answer will be posted the next time I get a chance to update the blog.

~Zac

Hi. Our post spot looked lonely.