San Diego Zoo

A few weekends ago we planned a trip to the San Diego Zoo with some friends from BYU/fellow coworkers at John Deere. They live and work in San Diego so we are quite close. It was a great time to be with them. I think Jessica and I enjoyed talking to each other more than we did seeing the different animals while John, Ryan and Eliza were more fascinated with the animals than with talking. It was perfect for everyone.

Pointing to the Elephants

Pointing to the monkeys.

Playing on some stairs.

Our family

Eliza was fascinated with the Koalas. We spent a good half an hour watching them.

It was a long day, but a lot of fun! Thanks Johansens for letting us come visit!

Yummy Food

I have a dear friend who is a fantastic cook. I wish I could venture out with different foods like her and still have it taste excellent. Anyway, she frequently blogs about the yummy, yummy food she makes. It reminds me of the days when I too was newlywed and made a meal for Ryan every night for the first three months. Sometimes I wish I still did that, but alas, life if different.

I do cook, however infrequently it might be. I also, however, rarely take pictures like my friend and my older sister. As I was going through pictures from the last few months I found some of food that I did make. Ta-da. Proof.

These burgers turned out to be incredibly huge but Oh!, so delicious. Homemade burgers are always much better than those from a burger joint. Our trick, grilled onions as well as chili powder on top of the burger as it cooks. It add just the right about of flavor.

I have another dear friend from South Korea, and before I moved to California, she taught me how to make Chapchae. It turned out amazing. Eliza even couldn't get enough of it. My friend would be so proud of me, I ate my entire meal with chop sticks. That's right, no fork or western utensil. It was hard and took a long time, but that meant more time to enjoy.

While living in LA, Ryan and I have decided to try to eat lots of ethnic foods that we would not have the chance to eat elsewhere. We rarely go out to eat, but on the special occasion that we do, we try new foods. One such place was Veronica's Kitchen, a Nigerian place.

This was so much fun to go to. We were the only white people in the entire restaurant. It was awesome. Ryan ordered us some fu-fu (foo-foo) with some chicken soup. Fu-fu is a mass of what looks like and has the consistency of play dough. It is made from crushed melon seeds. You break off of piece of the ball and form it into a spoon. You then dish up some soup with it and eat the whole thing. It sounds weird, but is really quite good. Beware, it is very spicy and not for weak tongues. We even got mild and it was almost too much for me.

Me demonstrating how to eat fu-fu.

I can fix it, you can help.

Eliza's must have loved that saying from our recent "Cousin Camp" excursion with the Smith family. She put it into practice when our dishwasher went on the fritz.



It was a simple fix, but Eliza wanted to be involved the entire time :)

Birthday Girl!!

Eliza's ONE!!!! Here it is a month after she turns one and I finally decide to write a few words about my sweet, sweet girl.

First I have to say one fun fact about Eliza's short life so far. In the twelve months she has been alive she has been in twelve different States. How many people can say that. Here they are in case you want to know. Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Texas. Kind of fun.

To let you know how life has been since Eliza turned one, I figured I might as well document the cake smash for everyone's pleasure.

This is Eliza's cake of butterflies.

First taste of her cake.

When she was all done with her cake she promptly pushed it away.

Opening her presents.
I love her face as she peers in the bag.

Here are a few things Eliza loves.

water, bananas, oranges, grapes, dirt, dirt, and more DIRT, playing "horsie" on her parents' knees, tissues, friends, cousins, Grandma, music, dancing, playing peek-a-boo, bath time, the beach, running/walking everywhere, macaroni, drinking water, marshmallows, blowing kisses, "kissing" cheeks (she thinks that pointing is kissing), balls, flowers, her blankie, and reading books.

We sure love you big girl!!

Eliza's New Trick

While visiting my adopted parents, who happen to be Jessie's biological parents, we were downstairs while Eliza was playing with her grandma. As we came up, what should appear, but Eliza helping her Grandma do the dishes.


You know us Klemetson's, always service with a smile :)

Eliza's First Bikeride!

One of the best investments that we have ever made, a bike seat for Eliza. It fits between the parent's seat and the handle bars. That way Eliza is up with us and the center of balance is undisturbed.

Though she doesn't look too happy in this picture, she loved it. We took her on a ride on the beach path and she was cooing and laughing the entire time. We also invented a new game. While riding side by side, I would reach my hand out to her and she would respond by reaching and grabbing it. Then we would bike down the beach while holding hands. Amazing how the simplest things in life are the most fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

Shortly after moving to California I called my mom to tell her that she just needed to come down because I had no idea what I was doing and needed her...desperately. I was feeling nervous about the decorating aspect of moving into a new apartment. You see, up until now I have lived in either a place with cinder-block walls and where I hung pictures was predetermined, or in an apartment where I was not allowed to hang anything. So naturally I was feeling overwhelmed looking at all of my pictures wondering which to hang up and where they go.

My mom agreed to come down and arranged to drive down the same time my younger brother was already coming down for his Disneyland trip with is sweet wife, Michelle.


Eliza LOVED having her grandparents play with her day-in and day-out. Papa Smith was very good about walking her around anywhere she wanted to go. They took lots of walks together, both around the house and to the park.

Here is a sweet video of Grandma Smith and Eliza playing.

It was fun to have my parents unwind and relax with Justin and Michelle. I envy my brother sometimes, the way he can get my mom to laugh by doing things that she would roll her eyes at anybody else doing.

Wait a second...Did I just say that it was fun to have my parents unwind a relax??? That can't be right. That is simply not in my mother's nature while visiting any of her children. Dad, yes...Mom, no!
During the 3 days of visiting we successfully accomplished:
A trip to IKEA for lamps
Cleaning my fridge
Buying paint at Sherwin Williams
Stripping my end table
Staining my end table
Sanding the table and stool
Painting a table and stool
Building a garden box
Painting Eliza's mirror
Painting some shelves for Eliza's room
Convincing Jessie to paint Eliza's dressers
Hanging pictures
Fixing lots of yummy food

Several Naps (at least on Dad's part)
A play for Cousin's Camp

Mom was hooked on her books on tape.
Thanks Joel and Justin for setting that up for her.

Despite all of this work we were still able to enjoy a very windy trip to the beach as well as visit the Korean Friendship Bell.

Eliza and Grandma at the beach trying to stay warm.

Human Totem Pole

Dad next to the Friendship bell and the striker that should have been a fish.

Such a cute, cute couple. I'm glad they were able to come stay with us.

My crazy "little" brother.

My crazy husband.

Ryan and I were even able to go on a date up to Malibu for the sunset while my parent babysat.


It was a great weekend that flew by too quickly. I wish they could have all stayed a week or two longer. I have a wonderful family who is willing to come and spend time with me, if only for moral support.