Here comes the sun

Summer is on its way folks, and I am so excited! Summer means camping, birthdays, 4th of July, family reunions, warm weather (cross your fingers), swimming, and even a trip to California this year! Can't even tell you how awesome it's going to be. Pretty much every weekend of our summer is already booked.

Tom and I have been doing lots of fun things over the past few months to include:

Easter weekend in Utah (aquarium, City Creek Mall, Temple Square, the works);
another trip to Utah which involved a dance competition, visiting friends, and going to a Clay Walker concert in West Jordan with dear Bekah (so much fun!);
fishing at Warm River and visiting Mesa Falls (gorgeous!); and,
celebrating Tom's 25th birthday and scoring some awesome gifts like a grill and a movie projector. (I made him a four-layer red velvet cake but unfortunately the shaved chocolate on top ended up resembling sawdust.)

Sadly, all the photos and evidence of these happenings are trapped inside other people's smart phones. Friends, family (you know who you are), if you are reading this and have photos of us on your phone, please forward them to me asap. Gracias.

American Idol

I think I've become obsessed.

I don't know what it is, but I think about this show all.the.time.
I anxiously look forward to Wednesday nights.

Have any of you every daydreamed about being on the show?

I have. Several times.

I imagine what songs I would sing, how nervous I would be, etc.

I think the most challenging part for me would be finding something suitable to wear on stage. (I spent 3 hours at the mall the other day with Tom and did not find a single thing to purchase. Not one.)

But really, I like to fantasize about being good enough to actually be on the show. With the right song choice maybe I could make it to Hollywood . . . just maybe?
Ok, who am I kidding, really. Let's be honest here. Natural singing ability is one talent I wish I really had. And I'm talking about a really wow voice if you know what I'm saying.

Every week these young people get up on that stage and astound me with their talent. They are so incredible, and at such a young age. In my opinion, they possess much more talent and natural ability than many of today's top performers (including some of those who have had guest performances on the show).

At this point in the competition, all the performers are such amazing singers that you really have to choose whose style and character you prefer. My favorite this year is Hollie. She is so cute, and can really belt it. I love the tone of her voice. And part of me loves rooting for the under-dog. She has been in the bottom three so many times, but she's made it through this far! I feel like the judges are really tough on her and influence people's votes. If she gets elimiated tonight I will be incredibly disappointed, and probably start yelling at America like I did last week when Colton Dixon was kicked off. Of course, since I don't vote I really have no right to be disappointed when everyone else doesn't vote the way I would have. haha

But, I actually voted for the first time ever last night!

So tonight I'll see if it did any good. My guess is that either Elise or Phillip are going home. So far I don't have a good track record about predicting these things though.
Happy watching!
Go Hollie, and Skylar!

My Grandpa

Remember the extra-special blog post I have been promising?
Well here it is at last.

This post is a dedication to my grandpa, Robert Anthony Rodrigues, who passed away over a year ago now. I think of him often and miss many things about him. Here is a compilation of photos and memories that I have of him.
I look forward to the day when we will see each other again.


My grandparents on their wedding day.

What a great looking couple!

With me as a newborn.


This is me also. And I am guessing the cake in the photo is a Buckland Cake,
which was my grandpa's favorite.


With my younger sister, Amber. I love his smile!


Three generations - taken in 2002.

Some of my most cherished memories of my grandpa come from when they were still living in their house on Carmel Drive:

• I remember making "soup" out of loquat tree leaves and other backyard treasures which we ate out of abalone shells on the back deck.


• I remember playing Lode Runner with him at his computer, probably my first introduction to computer games. I would always freeze up as the evil monks approached and consumed my character with horrible bone-crunching noises.


• I remember the bedtime stories he would tell to Amber and me about the adventures of "Reggie the Raccoon" who one day climbed into a hollow tree trunk which then turned into a rocket ship!


• I remember him faithfully watering the front and back yards. The well-tended green foliage served as a "forest" for me as a child when I would be exploring, looking for bugs, or playing cops and robbers with the neighbor kids.


• I remember him sitting in his armchair in the morning while reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of tea or coffee.


• I remember sneaking into his bedroom with Amber so we could eat his large chewable vitamin C's that he kept on his night stand. They tasted like orange candy.



Eating our "soup."



My grandpa helped instill in me a love for baseball, and made me an Oakland A's fan at a young age. I remember taking the BART to the games, meeting up with his friend Richard, and munching on pistachios as we watched. Baseball will always be my favorite sport.




Working on the car with Grandpa. He loved his cars.
And I love the fact that I look like a little boy in this picture.


One thing people always noticed about my grandpa, is how cheerful he was. You could almost always find him with a smile on his face. My grandpa definitely had a goofy side to him which would come alive when the whole Rodrigues clan got together.
I wish that I could hear his laughter again.




To me, this photo is the epitome of my grandpa's goofiness. :)


At my dad's wedding - May 1, 2010.




I regret that as I grew older, time and conversation with my grandpa became less frequent. I suppose he wasn't sure what to do with me now that I wasn't a little kid anymore. Both of us are quiet by nature and so not much was said between us. I always wondered what his thoughts and opinions were as he sat in his armchair, listening to others' conversations. But I never got the courage to ask. I hope others don't pass up these opportunities with their loved ones due to fear. You never know how much time you have left.


Probably the last picture we took together as a family before grandpa passed away.


I think this is my favorite picture of them all.

Love you, Grandpa!

A Valentine Treat

Yes, St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, and I told you that my next post would be more meaningful, but I came across some photos from Valentine's Day that I had forgotten were on my camera and I just had to share.

I'm not going to go into all the details of our day; it wasn't all that romantic since we were watching my 10-year-old brother while my mom was out of town, and to be honest, I don't care for Valentine's Day that much. All the mushy gushy stuff makes me uncomfortable. BUT, I did feel obligated to do something to make the day a little special. . . so I decided to try yet another wonderful recipe from our Roof cookbook.
Feast your eyes upon this!

Isn't it beautiful?

It was truly quite delicious.

Ok, you can stop drooling now.

But seriously, I have plans for a very special post coming, so be on the look-out.

random facts

I have found myself at a loss lately of what to blog about. Nothing big and exciting has happened in our lives lately, and since I don't always feel comfortable sharing my everyday, innermost thoughts with the whole world, I am left with nothing. We have slipped into habitual everyday life and find the weeks meshing together. They look a lot like this: work, FHE, work, eat, Zumba, work, sleep, work, dance, eat, work, do the laundry, sleep, etc. See why I can't think of anything?

So, I have decided to make this post a list of random facts about the two of us. 8 random facts about me, and 8 random facts about Tom. Hopefully I can come up with some good stuff that not all of our readers already know about us. Here we go.

Kimberly
1. I can't curl my tongue.
2. I have been hang gliding twice.
3. I am half Portuguese.
4. I've had braces (twice on the bottom).
5. I get the hiccups a lot. This was even a common occurrence for me while in the womb.
6. You can find me (as a little girl) on the cover of two books. look up "Lizzie Logan Wears Purple Sunglasses" and "Lizzie Logan Gets Married"
7. I hate the smell of carbon paper.
8. I do not like bacon. And why is it found in everything? There is a Jack-in-the-Box billboard by our apartment that says "marry bacon". Gag.

Tom
1. Tom knows a few African words that he picked up on his mission, and we're talking the cool "clicking" type of words that sound like something off of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
2. Tom hates celery. He'll pick it out of soup, salads, stir fry, everything.
3. A few years ago, Tom had surgery due to an over-bite and now has metal plates in his face.
4. He is a big animal lover, especially cats.
5. Tom is super super ticklish.
6. He loves to draw blood and is always checking out people's veins. Creepy weird, I know.
7. Tom's most favorite snack ever is jerky.
8. Before he learned how to play the violin, Tom would play the spoons in his family's band.

And there you have it! Random facts about us. I hope you learned something new.

Tune in next time for a hopefully more meaningful and fulfilling blog post from yours truly. Cheers!

Scrabble!

Pretty much Tom and I are addicted. . .

His parents gave it to us for Christmas, we just opened it, and have played it every day for the past three days.

We are spending time together, we are using our brains, we are expanding our vocabulary - life is good. :)

Christmastime

I think it's appropriate to just now be posting about Christmas since it is just now beginning to actually look like Christmas outside.
"Dear snow, where have you been the past three months? Just curious. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind your tardiness. Just please promise that you'll be gone by my birthday. Thanks."

Tom and I chopped down our own little tree the day after Thanksgiving.

I loved having Christmas on a Sunday this year. It gave us the opportunity to go church, sing Christmas hymns and remember what the day is really all about. As you can see, I didn't even take the time to change out of my dress before opening presents. I was too excited! I should have changed back into pajamas though. I find them more appropriate and much more comfortable when opening gifts.
Tom and I loved our first Christmas together as a married couple!

And we were blessed to be able to spend it with both of our families.

As crazy as they may be, we still love them!

My favorite gift? That is a tough question, but I would have to say the electric blanket that Tom gave me. I use it every night and it keeps me toasty warm. We may not have had much snow this season, but it's been COLD!




What a wonderful time of year! We are so blessed.
Merry Christmas everyone!