i discovered these gems on kristi's computer tonight, and i laughed myself to tears.
i want to be them when i grow up.
i guess this is what they do after the kids go to bed?
or, they choreograph a dance to chris brown. this baby made a stunning (and spontaneous) public debut at the family reunion in july.
the pregnancy announcement video we never saw... the best part about this one is kristi just chilling in the background. totally normal day. and this was take five.
another reason i love noah and kristi is because they have made some stellar kids. i have had so much fun babysitting mckay, lyla and cubby here in sunny orange county this week - they crack me up!
i sincerely am grateful to this eyre family for showing me what i want and who i want to become.
on Thursday, January 27, 2011
"a sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." ~isadora james
golden threads spun this weekend:
-being with my sister-friends and my angel mom
-strolling on the beach in the sunshine
-hugs of reunion
-meeting new baby poem
-excellent conversation (the best!)
-a wide circle of pool chairs
-giggling like little girls
-being enchanted by fantastic contemporary ballet
-chinese fire drills on rodeo drive
-endless ripe raspberries at the resort's breakfast buffet
-the colors and textures in the gardens at the getty
-pearls of advice - spoken and unspoken
four sisters, four-sisters-in-law, one mum.
every year we have a "mothers and future mothers" conference.
i can't get over how blessed i am to have these women to look up to.
and - all the talk of breastfeeding, childbirth, etc. is really going to pay off one day.
p.s. speaking of my sisters - check this out. i have watched it 15 times and tear up every time! that's my sister!
on Monday, January 24, 2011
i came home a mission ago. today marks 18 months; i've been back as long as i was out. isn't that super weird?
yep - a whole year and a half (plus some) since this picture was taken on my last pday.
and 3 years, plus some (3 years - that's like basically all of college!), since i posed for the obligatory (but i loved it) mtc map photo.
still, 547 days later, everyday i marvel at the miracle of the mission. everyday i thank heaven that it was right for me. everyday i pray for those people i met and taught. everyday i use the lessons i learned. everyday i try to live like i was empowered to then. every single day a bit of me misses being a missionary! i loved the mission an abnormal amount. i think i loved it so much because before i left i made a promise with god that i would not waste a second or an ounce of energy. and i did not. it is the one thing in my life that i have zero regrets about. i gave every tiny sliver of myself.
in my farewell talk, i spoke about sacrifice. the things i was giving up to serve a mission seemed so huge to me! gigantic. they were real and significant. i spoke like i was a martyr. after, a family friend approached me and graciously complemented me on my passionate talk, and then he said, "but i think you made one error in your remarks, and you will come to find this is true in the next 18 months - it is no sacrifice. the mission not a sacrifice at all." i shrugged his comment off, insisting to myself that he had no idea how huge (gigantic!) my sacrifices were, but it took me a lot less than 18 months as a missionary to realize he was right. the blessings (such a quaint word for what i am talking about) outlandishly outweighed the sacrifices. and they still do. (p.s. to read more of my blogging about the mission, click here and here and here.)
the coming-home day 18 months ago was so surreal. i had buried myself alive in missionary work. i'll never forget standing with a clump of elders at a corner in the salt lake airport. after a long journey, there we were on home soil, and we nervously scurried out of the terminal towards ground transportation. then, we stopped, knowing that once we made a little turn we would see our families. it would be over. it would all be over. 30 seconds. no movement. a beating heart. one elder broke away and we had to follow and the "real" world hit us in the faces. that was 18 months ago today - i just can't believe it.
crazily enough, this same day also marks one year since i left for india (...and left behind a boy i loved). i've been thinking a lot about that experience lately (both). that's a post for another day (just india). but woah, time flies! i like milestones like this. i like the perspective of looking back over a span of life.
on Sunday, January 23, 2011
janer and chare at misty tennessee beach – mlk day hike
i have always idealized the concept of a childhood, then lifelong, best friend. so lucky for me, jane has been mine all through the years. we are so different, we’ve had a few falling-outs, we’ve both made other really great and close friends, but we have always maintained a completely unshakable and unique relationship that has been an outrageous blessing in my life. we’ve been through a lot together and, in many ways, with each other we found ourselves.
growing up we played in jane’s playhouse in her back yard, boogied to spice girls in her bedroom, took tennis lessons together, had countless sleepovers staying up late talking, danced and cheered together at good old east high and cruised past crushes’ houses in my car. we went to high school graduation together, and a few months later i moved away. i remember so many nights sitting on the carpet in the hallway outside my dorm room talking with jane on the phone. no matter how much distance came between us, we couldn’t go long without hearing each other’s voices. hers to me just sounds like velvety home – warm, familiar, cozy. and when we’ve reunited after months and months of separation, it’s always as if no time has passed and i’m inside myself again and things are in perspective and life is good.
except for a quick and fabulous summer stint in new york city together, jane and i haven’t lived in the same city since we were 18. that is, until five and a half months ago, when we both found ourselves in san francisco. when we were each considering moving here, i was careful to not get too giddy with anticipation, but it actually happened that we both ended up in the bay. and it has been a dream.
our days were numbered, though, as next week jane and her hubby are moving to singapore. i am so excited for them, but so so sad to see them leave san fran. on sunday mccaye and i threw a going-away party for these dear friends.
look at that spread! mccaye’s incredible desserts – chocolate lava cake, fruit tarts with snickerdoodle crust, white chocolate creme brule. she is a seriously a wonder in the kitchen! her creations amaze me everytime.
i had a lot of fun decorating with maps, polka-dot paper and singapore postcards!
i am down south for a few weeks, and by the time i get back, my janey will be on the other side of the world. she came by tuesday night for a couple minutes for a parting hug. it reminded me of so many similar moments of goodbye – before i headed to wellesley, before the mission, before she left for san fran months prior to my move. each time it feels like a quick stab to the heart, but it is always a “see you soon” and the farewell is so fleeting. because, really, since we helped make each other every year of our lives, we’re with each other wherever we go.
and i’m excited to visit in the moores in singapore! we’ll miss you, jane and blake!
on Monday, January 17, 2011
after being away for the holidays, i’ve felt pleasantly bewildered back in san francisco. it’s fun to remember that i have a life here. i was thinking while i fell asleep the other night how i will always have such a gleaming place for this city in my heart - because one day i will tell my children and grandchildren that it was in san fran that i once grew into myself.
“life is either a daring adventure, or nothing” –helen keller
on Sunday, January 9, 2011
i think maybe at least 30% of why i like living away from home is that i love the experience of coming home. there's nothing like it, and no matter how many times i do it, it never gets old. every time, i enjoy finding that sliver of my heart that i perpetually leave in utah.
as i spent the first few days of 2011 in home sweet home, i had several moments where i felt ENTIRELY OVERWHELMED with thankfulness for outrageously good friends and an unspeakably great family. do you know that almost-kind-of-painful gratitude where your heart just literally might burst open at the seams? woah, i am a lucky girl.
sheesh i love watching basketball with my brothers, and especially my mom. we both have big crushes on gordon hayward. and there is no better sunday dinner host than my oldest sister saren (who is seriously wonder woman). love her family's new house in ogden.
i ran around like crazy to see many of my most beloved friends, even if it was just for a few minutes. i snowshoed with julie, talked politics with cath & bert, explored sugarhouse with keri, had breakfast with janey, hugged megan, and laughed with katie and amy. one of the funnest reunions was with all 5 of the girls i was roommates with during my semester at byu (brittany, jessica, lisa, abby and jeanette). these are some of the finest women in the world.
december 2006 - #396 at the colony
april 2010 - three marriages and two missions later
january 2011 - one baby later!
holy smokes, i am blessed.
on Friday, January 7, 2011
it was 4:30pm on new year’s eve in new york city, and every conceivable entrance to times square was barricaded and heavily patrolled by dozens and dozens of cops. we made friends with one officer, who (bless his heart) let us through the first row of barricades with a “good luck” and a wry smile that said “you’ll never make it into the square.” we tried several tactics at the next gate, to no avail. as we stood there musing what to do next, and determined to keep trying, a new policeman came out of nowhere and started chatting with us. i showed him this list that i had made in my phone a few weeks back (but that has been in my head for years, and certainly isn’t complete):
life goals:
- times square ball drop
- kiss a stranger
- boy haircut
- write a book
- have a home of my own
- round the world trip
- be fluent in another language
- feel an earthquake
i told him the top two simply must be completed that very night. and we told him interesting facts about ourselves, and ooohed about the interesting facts he told us about himself, begged a little and mentioned how far we had come to be there, tried to be witty and charming. his slow smile hinted at the opposite of cop #1 – we could tell he really wanted to get us in. we were in cahoots. and within about 30 minutes he was escorting us to the middle of the world’s most electric party.
life goal number one – check. we anticipated the stroke of midnight for six hours. we passed the time with chatting and laughing, watching the performances and dancing to the backstreet boys, acting ridiculous to get on the jumbo-tron (successful times 5), avoiding drunkards, loving being together, and reveling in our location. i personally spent a lot of that time scoping out the prospects to complete life goal number two. a guy was selected, and he kept catching me looking at him.
the build-up led to a fantastically thrilling last few minutes. the final countdown came and the world was a blur. 2011 arrived. i hesitated, took two great strides, grabbed his face in my hands and kissed him on the mouth. then i darted away and lost myself in the crowd. life goal number two – check.
i kissed a stranger at midnight on new years eve in times square. i still get butterflies and giggle every time i think about it, and when i close my eyes i see that boy’s surprised face. i am simultaneously quite embarrassed and outrageously proud.
the confetti continued to fly and i stood there with my arms around my most beloved of friends and swayed to frank sinatra’s “new york new york.” a glittering slice of time i bottled up and stuck deep inside me.
the three of us have been together for new years eve in times square, easter at the garden tomb in jerusalem, and holi festival in the heart of india. next stop? chinese new year in china? it was so great to have sara’s brother michael with us too.
here’s to checking life goals off the bucket list and to a new year.
on Sunday, January 2, 2011
we feel alive.
the post-christmas blizzard in boston was terrific.
included: an enchanting moonlit walk in the cemetery, and then another in the morning chill, lots of hot coco and cozy fires, sledding and snow angels, a potentially treacherous trip to wagamama’s (yum) in harvard square, a cruise around favorite spots in cambridge and back bay, eli’s famous chicken katsu curry, a trip to the boston museum of science, getting sick, late night talks, lots of saydi’s fantastic culinary creations, playing with christmas presents, movie night,
and … a visit to wellesley!
fun to go to all my old stomping grounds, and made me feel so grateful for my alma matter.
truly, it is swellesley.
wellesley girls, sisters and friends. saydi has always been and will always be my hero.
perfect christmastime. thanks for everything sayds!
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