2007 Year in Review
Posted: January 1, 2008 Filed under: Nineteen Eighty Four Leave a commentJANUARY. 2007 started (and ended) with a celebration at the Hillerys’ in Bluffdale. Back in Provo, I met my new roommate Mandy, who has been tons and tons of enjoyable someday-we’ll-go-to-hell-together fun. Jarom and I spent a terrifically prehistoric day at the dinosaur museum with Kimberlee and Quentin. The next weekend, after I casually mentioned to Krista one day that there was a “minimal to low chance” that the Romgi would propose that day, he did! We got engaged on our way to see Stranger Than Fiction with Kimberlee and Quentin. Oh, what fun.
FEBRUARY. I didn’t waste any time getting a wedding dress picked out. I’ve seen several other girls with the same dress since then (no surprise), but the Romgi assures me that it looks best on me. Together we started watching 24, visited my cousin Bethany and her family, and got Mandy hooked on 24. A successful month altogether.
March
Since the Romgi and I dropped our religion class at the beginning of the semester (it was dumb), we felt obligated to go to Institute at least once. We were engaged, though, and it was March before we really tried going. That was a disaster. And we never went again. On the bright side, we managed to find an apartment (we still live there, even!), and I wrote a tolerably insightful paper on PEPFAR. Then there was the wedding invitation fiasco. THAT was a disaster.
APRIL. Hooray for my other roommate Jaime, who got engaged in April and started planning her own wedding! And speaking of weddings, Kimberlee threw me a bridal shower with the best decorations ever. The Romgi and I got tricked into listening to a timeshare sort of thing at Trendwest up in who-knows-where, which was not so much a disaster as a royal waste of time. Luckily, it wasn’t long before we got to go back to sunny California, and I loved my first experience at the Sacramento temple.
MAY. I suppose May counts as an important month. Oh, yes, because I got married. It was actually quite lovely. The Romgi and I even got to go on a honeymoon afterwards; we spent a week in Pajaro Dunes and then stopped for a night in Columbia on our way home. Back in Utah we opened presents, presents, and more presents, both from the reception and the open house we had in our new apartment. A few days later we got to be part of the IKEA grand opening, where we bought all the furniture we could possibly afford.
JUNE. The summer really got going when the Romgi and I got hired at the same company (Platinum Protection), working in the call center taking calls from sales representatives and installation technicians. Not the best job in the world, nor the best company, but it paid well, we got to work together, and the hours (6am-2:30pm) made sure we went to bed early. For some reason (probably because I begged and pleaded) we bought a pet rat. Puppy sure was adorable.
JULY. Most of July was spent reading, whether at work or not. Harry Potter 7 came out the day after my birthday, so naturally I stayed up to get a midnight copy!
AUGUST. Most of August was spent recovering from disasters. First the Romgi and I locked our keys in the car; then we took Mu to the vet, who ripped his jaw out; then I had to get an ultrasound to see if I had a bloodclot in my leg; then I accidentally flooded our bathroom (and the bathroom downstairs…thanks, gravity).
SEPTEMBER. September’s theme was lizards. Thinking maybe Mu needed a friend, I got a tiny baby water dragon to keep him company. Mu didn’t seem to care much one way or the other, and the Romgi never really liked the little guy, so we traded him for a baby bearded dragon named Remington Steele (he got his own cage). Krista got free tickets to the Utah Baby Fair, to which I happily tagged along. We didn’t win any prizes, but we sure got lots of business cards. We also went up to the Relief Society general broadcast (tickets courtesy of Krista, again), braving the cold and the rain. I’m pretty positive I got sick from that. My favorite part about September, though, was that the Romgi and I started talking seriously about a baby.
OCTOBER. School took over most of my life for October, but there was a happy break when the Romgi and I went to my cousin Jennifer’s wedding in Salt Lake. It was the first wedding I’d been to since my own, and it was beautiful. We took the afternoon to go visit my old roommate, who had just had her second baby. And for Halloween? I had class that night. O joy.
NOVEMBER. I think November tested my endurance. The Romgi and I spent a superbly long 20 hours doing ALL of our laundry at his parents’ house, then came home to find that Puppy had died. The best we can tell is that he was sort of sickly, being a pet-store rat, and we just didn’t know what symptoms to look for. To make the season complete, our car battery died on the way to Thanksgiving dinner (#1 of 2), which meant we were late to dinner #1 and missed dinner #2. And because nothing helps a bad day like standing in the cold for eight hours, the Romgi and I went to Black Friday at Best Buy. (He bought me a Zelda DS Lite!)
DECEMBER. The first half of December was brutal. School did not want to let go of my life. It turned out alright, though. Our biology final was cancelled (who does that?) and the others weren’t half bad. Of course, at the time, I thought I would die (or fail and then die) before the semester ever ended. But I did in fact survive and we spent a nice evening having a pre-Christmas dinner in Bluffdale before taking the train (yes, the train) back to California. The Romgi and I had a good time hanging out with my family, although perhaps our favorite part (no offense, family) was the gorgeous weather. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be able to walk around with short sleeves on. The year took a turn for the worse when we got back to Utah and discovered that, despite our best intentions and the help of the Romgi’s brother, our thermostat was defective and had heated the apartment to about 125°F, completely dehumidifying everything and (tragedy!!) killing both Mu and Remington. We feel terrible about this, but there’s not much we can do at this point, so we tried to send 2007 out with a bang. Here’s hoping the best for 2008!
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2006 Year in Review
Posted: January 1, 2007 Filed under: Nineteen Eighty Four Leave a commentJANUARY. The year started off nicely with New Year’s celebrations at the Hillerys’. krista and I had fun buying useless things at the dollar store, and making a nice bridesmaid dress for me. Kimberlee and Quentin’s wedding was quite lovely. it was chilly and windy, but the sun was shining beautifully at the Oakland temple. I started working a lot harder on my independent study classes, trying to finish 8 classes in time for the March 15 deadline to apply for fall semester. Jarom’s dad got a new car, gave the Saturn to Ben and Krista, and had Ben and Krista give Jarom the Tracer.
FEBRUARY. Jarom got me hooked on Winter Sonata, a 20-episode Korean soap opera. I think I qualify as a fanatic now. For Valentine’s Day he made me a delicious korean dish, which has become one of my favorites. School was going fairly well until I took the second midterm for my Hist 400 class…I got a 19! Out of 100! Luckily I think my test scores can only go up from there. For a different independent study class I interviewed Grandma Hillery and used it as the basis for a personal history, in which I highlighted general historical trends in family life since the 1920s. I did get an A on that paper. I found out that Aubrey and Jardan, who got married the same day as Kimberlee and Quentin, were expecting a baby! Around the end of february I made the decision to apply for spring term, since my chances of being accepted would be greater than for fall semester. This meant I planned to stay in Utah all year, and not move back to California at all.
MARCH. The deadline! everything was set to be completed, but of course, there was a problem. I had retaken the midterm I failed, and the teacher was extremely slow in grading it despite my numerous reminders and pleas to process it quickly. I was unable to finish in time to apply for spring, summer, or fall. However, I did get a better grade when I retook the midterm! For Jarom’s birthday I made him a big breakfast of buttermilk pancakes, orange-cranberry bread, eggs and sausages, and blueberry muffins. Unfortunately I didn’t read the recipes very carefully beforehand, and the batch of pancakes made enough to feed about 20 people. Oops. Julia, Jaime and I mailed off a birthday package to our friend Elder Gustafson.
APRIL. The weekend of General Conference, Julia and I planted flowers in the window boxes outside the Provo house. I got my grades for my independent study classes, and hurrah! I did really well. My roommates made a scrumptious Easter dinner. Mmm, ham. We found out that the Hillerys were looking at moving out to Utah. Ben, Kimberlee, and Julia all graduated from BYU, something I have dreams of someday doing. At the Congratulations Ben dinner, he and Krista finally announced they were expecting a baby (in a few months!). Ryan and Amy got married; the last I saw of him was to give him a wedding present. For the drive back to California, Jarom and I borrowed walkie-talkies from Ben and Krista. We were so excited to be going home again, but…it turned out to be less spectacular than we had anticipated.
MAY. I started working at MHA associates again, this time as a peon making manager’s pay. It really seemed to be the best of both worlds. For most of May we were doing a job in Pleasanton, which meant commuting every day. The nice thing was that I got to ride in the van instead of driving myself. Jarom, Elizabeth and I took a trip to Monterey one weekend, and it was fabulous! We all had a great time, even though our waiter forgot about us at lunchtime. At the end of the month…something great happened…Jarom and I started dating again!
JUNE. Where to start? Kendy graduated from Armijo, Jena had baby Evelyn, Jarom and I went up to see Elizabeth, I started doing a special job in Pleasanton twice a week, and we got a pet! I came home from work one day to find that Kendy had gotten a pet bird; in the name of fairness I demanded permission to get my own pet. Jarom and I spent a few hours at Petco trying to decide what to get. In the end we bought a Chinese water dragon, who we named Li Mu Bai (Mu for short). Sadly, it turned out that mu was very sick. We didn’t find that out until we took him to the vet a week after buying him. I decided to return him to Petco so they could nurse him back to health. Originally I was going to wait for him to get better and then take him back, but due to some poorly communicated information, I changed my mind and got a new lizard: Shu Lien. She was adorable…and died four days after I got her. Jarom marched us back to Petco where we got Mu back, since we saw that he was healthier and could be taken care of easily. During all this lizardness we took a trip to Columbia, the heart of gold country. We panned for gold, took old-fashioned pictures, bought souvenirs and candy, and tried to survive the 107 F weather. The next day, Jarom told me he loves me!
JULY. The weekend of the Fourth of July, lots of family came out for Evelyn’s baby blessing. It was quite interesting to go to the Berkeley ward. My contract with T-Mobile ended and I switched to Sprint. Somehow during the “let’s-clean-and-sell-the-house” frenzy, Jarom’s passport got…misplaced. Hours of searching had no result. We thought all was lost and he couldn’t go to Korea. When Jarom’s mom came back from house-hunting in Utah, she found it! We went to San Francisco the next day so he could get a visa, but as luck would have it, the embassy was closed for a Korean holiday. Instead we went to Chinatown and ate at a terrible Chinese restaurant. Yuck. I started learning a little bit of Korean. Elizabeth and her friend Sidney humored us by coming with us to the Sacramento Zoo, where we played a game of Exotic Bird Bingo. Fun-my-fun! For my birthday, Jarom got me a gorgeous amethyst and white gold bracelet, which I had sized to fit me perfectly. I love it. Towards the end of the month I took a short vacation in San Diego, where I hung out with Julia and Jaime. We got to see Nate come home from his mission. I had a great time at the beach and almost got a tan!n
AUGUST. One of the best days this summer was the day Jarom and I spent exploring the creek at Oakbrook. We caught minnows with our bare hands, picked wild blackberries, and climbed trees over the stream. I decided Sprint was not for me; Jarom and I switched to a family plan on Cingular. This meant I got a new phone–the Mika-sized Pantech C300. Cute! Jarom’s car sort of blew up while he was rescuing me in Pleasanton. It got donated to charity the next day. We finally tried the deliciousness that is Mel’s Diner. Mmm, turkey dip. One more trip to San Francisco got us Jarom’s visa, and afterwards visited the Legion of Honor museum. Kimberlee and Quentin surprised us by showing up in Fairfield one night! The four of us went down to the beach at Half Moon Bay. The whole Hillery family took another trip to Chinatown to eat at a dim sum place they loved. I wasn’t too wild about it and actually threw up later that night. The day before Jarom left for Korea was spent packing, packing, packing. And Krista had her baby! Welcome Brandon!
SEPTEMBER. Jarom went to Korea, and I was sad. I spent a weekend at Geoffrey’s in Monterey, and when I left everything felt so quiet and relaxed. Work was getting worse and worse…eventually I decided to turn in my two weeks’ notice, and that same day (without knowing I had resigned) Mick Sr tried to fire me! Hopefully that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There had been a question of whether I would be part of the team that went to do a job in Utah, and the fact that it was such a question was a big reason for me leaving. I did end up going to Utah, though–on my own. I got to see Brandon, who is adorable. The Hillerys moved out to Bluffdale.
OCTOBER. I found a really good deal on an apartment in Provo, so I went back to Fairfield to pack stuff up before moving to Utah again. While I was on my short trip I left Mu with my parents, and unfortunately he got a bad eye infection. The apartment I found was called Northwoods, and my roommates were Jackie, Rachel, Cami, Lauren, and Janelle. It was a nice place. Very noisy, though. I got a job as a cashier at Roberts Arts & Crafts, and had Tuesdays off–in exchange for working Saturdays through Christmas. Bethany had a baby shower for Luke, who was expected in December. Jennifer got engaged! At Halloween I went up to spend the day with Krista, who let me eat pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I decided they are possibly the best cookie ever. I dressed up as Mikachu and went trick-or-treating with Besta & Co. Hooray for candy!
NOVEMBER. Aubrey had her baby, Eve. At Roberts we had an employee craft night, which was not as well-attended as the signup sheet had implied. Brandon’s baby blessing was a lot of fun. For whatever reason, Jarom’s dad decided he would pay for Jarom to live in Provo this coming semester, so I spent a day looking at apartments. I found a spot for him in the Walker house just south of campus. Poor Jennifer’s fiancé broke off the engagement. I was supposed to work the day before and after Thanksgiving at roberts, but I got restless. Instead of staying, I quit and went to Brian and Amy’s in Colorado for the holiday. I had a really good time. Jarom came back to America and spent Thanksgiving week in San Diego at the Harrington reunion. I went back to Provo, where Rachel and I had an adventure-filled mouse-hunting day. Jarom finally made it to Utah! seeing him again after almost three months was wonderful. we celebrated our six-month anniversary the next week, complete with gifts (a nice photo album and season one of ducktales) and a cake.
DECEMBER. Ben and Krista started getting ready to move down to Provo again. I found a new job with onegreatfamily.com as a customer service representative. It pays well and has flexible hours. A few days after I got hired, we had our company Christmas party; in the white elephant gift exchange, Jarom and I got a feather duster and an eye patch. The eye patch has been a favorite of ours since. We put together a super-ultra cool package for Elizabeth, who was having a hard week. Tori went into the MTC to head for the Pocatello Idaho mission. I tried to get ahold of Kathleen, the girl whose contract I was taking at the Provo house, but never heard back from her. There was a luminaria ceremony at the cemetery where Grandpa Hillery is buried, and afterwards we ate at Café Rio–my first time. Bryan and Jena came out from California with their kids for the holidays, and we all had a good time together. I stayed at the Hillerys for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we ate the best ham I’ve ever had in my life. Christmas morning we opened presents at 6am (for Hyrum’s sake)…we got a GameCube! And Twilight Princess to go with it. I made crescent rolls for breakfast. A few days later we had an extended Hillery family dinner. To close up 2006, Jarom and I experienced the saga of the burly men. Who knows what this New Years will bring?
2005 Year in Review
Posted: January 1, 2006 Filed under: Nineteen Eighty Four Leave a commentJANUARY. My move back to California was official when my dad and I drove my car (full of stuff) from Utah. It was calming to be going home and taking a break from things, but leaving everyone in Provo was hard. Fairfield is not the most exciting place in the world; I worked at MHA on a very boring project for the Oakland School District, read a lot of books, and enjoyed the warmer weather. One Saturday my dad and I went down to the IKEA in Emeryville and got me a futon. O joy of joys! I love it. Kimberlee and Quentin decided they were in love and wanted to get married.
FEBRUARY. Sarah Mansfield got pregnant! A baby! I was offered a better job at work, and started training to take over Lauren’s position as Data Manager. This meant quite a bit of overtime, which meant more money. Saving money is a very good thing. Besides, I didn’t have much to do besides work.
MARCH. My car died. The timing belt broke. Poor Gabe. Mick Sr, ever concerned for his employees’ well-being, asked what I wanted; I didn’t know he was serious when he said I could ask for anything, so I told him I wanted a plane ticket to Utah. He gave me one. Free. I scheduled a trip to visit Ryan the next weekend.
APRIL. Ryan was rehearsing for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem, and hearing the choir practice was amazing. He and I ate at Olive Garden and watched a few movies. Not an adventure-filled vacation, but it was a nice little break from the loneliness of California I’d been feeling at the time. I became much more of a workaholic, and then started getting restless. This time, instead of cutting or dying my hair, I bought a “new” used car. At the end of the month I decided I wanted to move back to Utah come fall semester.
MAY. At work we finally finished a six-month project. It should only have taken one month. There was much rejoicing when we were done. Lauren, Tim, Mick Jr, Daryll and I went down to San Francisco to be interviewed and fingerprinted by the FBI. One of the two Fairfield Stake Patriarchs passed away, so I attended the third funeral of my life.
JUNE. Jarom came home. Things were beautiful.
JULY. We went on our very first date ever. Flying kites was a lot of fun. Harry Potter book 6 came out; it took me about four and a half hours to finish. Jarom kissed me on a breezy Sunday afternoon, and it was perfect. I turned 21 and got a Korean name. Va Yee came home. July was altogether a pleasant, relaxing, enjoyable month.
AUGUST. I finally sold my old car! Alex came home, but the next day I drove out to Utah with the Hillerys. During their family reunion I looked after Grandma Hillery’s dog Licorice, and had fun up in Park City. I did feel very included in the festivities, whether or not everyone wanted me to. Back in Provo I moved into the Gustafson house, where I met Jaime and Tom. I also was rehired at my job in Mapleton; seeing the girls again was great. Krista and I started becoming buddies. She still hasn’t gotten me to iron for her.
SEPTEMBER. Jarom broke up with me. I thought I might never stop crying. I bought a fish. Amy had another boy, Alexander James Lewis, born September 10.
OCTOBER. Sarah had her baby! Peter Brandon Mansfield, born October 5. My Aunt Sue passed away, so I went to the funeral in New Mexico. When I came back I came down with the stomach flu, which I (unintentionally) shared with Jarom, Quentin, and all my roommates. Aubrey got engaged. Finally. Ben and Krista threw a really fun Halloween party, and I even got to dress up. They had specially-made Peter Pan costumes with Anna as Tinkerbell. How cute!
NOVEMBER. Ah, the first real snow of the season. Ryan got engaged. Even though I was absolutely thrilled for him, it meant the end of our friendship, so it came with a little sadness mixed into the exuberance. Ben got hired at a company up in Salt Lake, so they started making plans to move up. We all spent Thanksgiving at Grandma Hillery’s. She decided I am a decent person after all! Shopping on Black Friday was a mess, but well worth the chaos. Julia and Jaime bought the coolest Christmas tree ever.
DECEMBER. I threw a bridal shower for Kimberlee, and I think it turned out well despite the stress of planning it alone. She and I went to Aubrey’s bridal shower the next weekend. Provo got lots and lots of snow. Ben and Krista started moving carloads of stuff up to Grandma Hillery’s. I decided to forgo making a Christmas list for my parents, and instead donate to the Church Humanitarian Aid fund. Jarom and I saw the lights at Temple Square and watched Fiddler on the Roof. I got awesome Christmas presents from everyone, which made my holiday magnificent. Crossword puzzles and sudoku became my new obsessions. My broken heart finally mended. Spent New Year’s Eve at the Hillerys’. Happy 2006!
Jarom
Mika
hilleries 
