Birthday Fun

Chris's 26th birthday was on January 16th and we got to celebrate twice. The weekend before his birthday we went to visit my parents in San Diego. My mom made Chris's favorite dessert, lemon meringue pie, and he got to open his presents. I really enjoy finding great gifts and from his response I think I succeeded this year, yay! I even enjoy the process of wrapping the gifts, it's a little nerdy I suppose.


The weekend after Chris's birthday we visited his grandparents in Santa Barbara and his grandma also made lemon meringue pie, he's so spoiled. It was great to visit them and a nice sunny weekend in Santa Barbara.


It's a good thing we got to celebrate the weekend before and after his birthday because on his actual birthday he worked until 3 am! That was a miserable week.

A Brand New Year

We had fun bringing in the new year with our friends Andrew, Erinn, Dan, and Jazmine. Jazmine and Dan are house-sitting for a family in our ward and that family has a very VERY nice house with fun toys and games. Games like Rock Band, lots of arcade games, a golf simulator, a bowling alley, a pool table, etc.

Andrew and Erinn are our friends from work and we know Jazmine and Dan through the ward. The two couples had never met before and sometimes I get a little nervous mixing groups of friends but it went splendidly and we all had a great time.

Here's our band totally candid (wink wink). We definitely don't have the pleasure of having so many games at our apartment but it was so fun play.


Chris and I have enjoyed our first month or so together and I am excited for what the new year will bring. My sister Diane and her husband Dave had a baby boy on Christmas Eve, Andrew William Jones. That makes one girl: Talie and one boy: Andrew for the Rane clan but Scott and Lacy are expecting another girl in February, yipee!

The Holidays with LEK

Last Friday, December 7th, Chris's office threw a holiday party for their LA and San Francisco offices. It was fun for me to meet some of the people Chris works with so I could put faces with all the names I hear.


And there are several other LDS people that work in the two offices so we all got to chat while sipping our sparkling cider and hot chocolate. Chris participated in a silly movie the first-year employees created which was a big hit. Overall the night was fun and a nice way to start celebrating the holidays.

We Did It!

Sorry we don't have any wedding pictures up yet but we will soon. To see some of the photographers favorites go to bykelli.com and click 'blog'
Chris and I were married in the San Diego LDS Temple on November 24th! I don't know how we got so lucky but the day was pretty perfect. We had great weather, everything was on schedule, our friends and family were there, and the reception was great.


The following day we flew to Cancun for our honeymoon. We had a layover in Dallas where we ran into friends Tom and Ashley Swapp who got married the same day as us in the Oakland Temple. They were also on their way to Cancun for their honeymoon. We did a couple fun activities with them and having each other there made picture-taking so much easier.


Our honeymoon was also practically perfect and now we're jumping into real life together and so far it's been great. Chris is working 70-hour weeks and I'm busy organizing the apartment and getting ready to start school at UCLA in January. Hooray for being married!

Encounter With a U-Haul

Last Saturday we had a fun day of moving! We rented a U-haul to move the couches, mattress, and some wedding presents up to our apartment... notice how very full the U-haul is haha. Because it was much less expensive to do a one-way trip with towed my car up to LA so we could drive it back to San Diego.

Both of us are novice U-haul drivers so the long drive wasn't a very calm one. Fortunately, our stuff, Chris, and I made it successfully and we were able to move everything into the apartment and return the truck as they were closing.

Despite having no electricity in the apartment and therefore no light the moving experience was as pleasant as could be expected. This marriage thing is becoming more real now that we've moved some of our belongings into our apartment. Yippee only 10 more days!

Bridal Showers = Fun Fun Fun

I was lucky enough to have two bridal showers. Saturday Nov. 3rd I had one in Utah since the majority of my friends are in school up there and I had another great bridal shower Wednesday Nov. 7 with all the lovely ladies around and in Encinitas. I'm waiting on some pictures from the Utah bridal shower but here is one with Jenn and Heather.

I feel it is a general assumption that one will be poor when first married and Chris and I are certainly not excluded from that generalization. We are so grateful for any help or gifts we get from friends and we have definitely been spoiled after two bridal showers!