Here are some of our most memorable experiences in 2011.
- We reunited on Jan 20 after being apart for almost a month.
- Celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Jan 21.
- Held our receptions in Utah and Colorado.
- In summer, we drove to California to attend Juj's wedding in our no-AC car. Weston had to hold an ice block the whole time on our way back. I think we got pretty sick after the trip. Also, we stayed with couch surfers in San Diego for two nights. The first night we stayed with a French couple who were the nicest people. And the second night we stayed with a post grad student. They are non-members who are very successful in what they do. They are very kind and accepting. They sure made our first experience with couch surfers humble and unforgettable.
- We hosted a couch surfer from Australia. He stayed with us for almost a week. Hopefully, we paid it forward and made his first experience with couch surfers memorable as well.
- Dealt with car problemsssssssss. We were so glad when we finally got rid of that car. Thanks goodness.
- Deep cleaned the house before we moved out. The biggest cleaning I've ever done in my life!
- Visited Norway for 2 weeks! We stayed with Weston's host family when he was an exchange student for a year there. The country is so green and beautiful. The quality of life is great. Food is healthy. So healthy that we actually had to hide our snacks & sodas in our room because we felt like we were gonna pass out all the time (Sorry Gunn). Anyway, living cost is really high so we didn't get to do anything much. We visited Weston's old high school where he learned Spanish in Norwegian and got nothing out of it. Hahaha. We got on the sailing boat owned by Weston's host family. We had lunch on the boat and swam in the freezing ocean water. We did manage a one-day trip in Oslo and that was awesome. But because transportation fares were expensive, we walked a lot. I remember we felt like our legs were about to fall off. Will I visit Norway again? Of course. When I have money.
- Traveled to Jordan for Weston's study abroad and stayed for 4 months. Awesome! We got to visit so many amazing historical sites. So many! The country was brown. The buildings were brown. Weston actually thought Jordan had a law that every building had to be brown. It turns out that everyone is just conformist. The food was not so impressive. I guess it's a curse for being a Thai. We have very picky taste buds. I do like their dessert though. Anyway, the apartment we stayed in was nice. Half of the tenants were BYU students and professors. The other half were prostitutes. Hahaha. The water situation was tight. We had to preserve water as much as possible. Weston understood the condition well and took a bath at least once a week. Hahaha. There was a strayed cat that liked to play no-blinking game with me and tried to sneak in our apartment when I didn't look. I learned (was forced by my own choosiness) to cook many dishes. No Thai restaurants in Jordan. My daily routine was to wander in the Muktar Mall. When I was more comfortable, I went to fresh markets nearby. I had to wear baggy clothes all the time which I didn't mind. Jordanians like to say Nee How Mah to me because they thought I was a Chinese. We got pretty sick with the gas truck and its annoying music that drove around our apartment 5 times a day. We heard the call of prayer many times during a day. I actually really liked it. Our youngest traveler, Locke, started to mimic the sound "Bok Bok". The coolest place we visited in Jordan was Petra. I love our trip to Jordan.
- Ended our amazing trip in Israel. What a perfect way to end the trip! Again, we got to visit so many amazing historical/biblical sites. Israel was so beautiful. The food was great. The people were beautiful. Weston was like "What the heck?! Natalie Portman is everywhere here!" Hahaha. We were in Israel for 10 days. The first couple nights we stayed at a nun's convent in Nazareth. Beautiful. The next couple nights we stayed at a hotel on Galilee. We got to swim in the sea of Galilee. Beautiful. The rest of the trip we stayed at the BYU Jerusalem Center. We got the whole view of Jerusalem from the sacrament meeting auditorium. Love love it. We got to visit the Western (Wailing) Wall, the Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb and many many more. Oh man....how much I love being there. I would definitely revisit.
After living in suitcases for almost five months, we were ready to be back in America. We flew in to Denver and stayed with our loving family for Christmas. We opened our gifts and shared our memories. There was no better way to end our 2011.
Image by Kristi Boyce (She's such a good photographer).