Easter Weekend

One of the perks of living in So Cal is that its just a short drive away to the beautiful, and FREEZING ocean. We got to be with family this Easter, which was wonderful. Shelby flew out from Utah and we drove down to Newport Beach to see Carme (mom) and Rick. This first pic is a shot of Jesse and Rick playing catch.



And this is the wifey, I mean Jesse. We tease eachother because I'm usually at work most of the time so he gets stuck with all the household chores. Actually mom made these delightful raspberry cream cheese filled muffins for breakfast before we went off to church!


This is a picture of the inside of the church we went to on Easter Sunday. It was called the Mariners Church and I have never seen anything like it. They had their own campus, complete with bookstore, cafe, auditorium, everything! The choir was amazing and the message was by Kenton Beshore, on the Resurrection of Christ. It was incredible. I'm so glad we got to experience our first Easter together with our new family. Oh, and they even had a helicopter come that dropped Easter eggs out of the sky for the kids to find.


So Rick had this board on a cylinder thingy and it is supposed to be similar to skateboarding. This is a picture of Shelby attempting to balance.


And of course I didn't want to be left out so this is me on the balance board thingy. What you don't see is Shelby holding his arm out next to me for me to grab on to each time I almost fall :)


And this is us on the beach at Newport. The water was even colder than Utah (haha). I lasted about 3 minutes in the water and I almost died of hypothermia. Rick was the only one who could stand the freezingness. Jesse, Shelby and I did go for a run along the shore though for some exercise. We ran from one pier to the next one. I think it was maybe a half a mile-ish. If you ask Shelby or Jesse it was 2 1/2 miles one way though. We're not real sure who's right. The cool thing though, was that a group of dolphins right by the shore followed us the whole way back. They were so amazing to watch. In case you can't tell by the background, I LOVE dolphins!!


The weather could not have been more perfect. It was clear blue skies and 80 degree weather. What a great weekend! Thank you mom and Rick! We love you :)

I PASSED!!

This entry isn't going to say much but I am just happy to be done studying. I passed my life/health insurance exam for the state of California today. Yay! Oh yeah, and its 81 degrees today with a nice cool breeze. I think I'm going to go for a run. Life is good.

Just thought this was funny :)

I just got this emailed to me from a friend (thanks, Court) and I thought others might get a kick out of it...

I just found this true conversation (ad posted and the reply/comment to it) from NY Craigslist back in December'07 - hilarious! Those of you in finance field will particularly enjoy this. Here you go...The ad/question posted on the Craigslist:What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy. I'm not from New York . I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all.
Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?
Here are my questions specifically:
- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt myfeelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?
- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY
Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

And this is the answer:
I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how I see it.
Your offer, from the perspective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a cr@ppy business deal. Here's why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!
So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!
So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease. In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.
Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful" as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.
By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.
With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way. Classic "pump and dump."
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

Our Fairytale by Gayle (Mom Parkinson)

You'll have to click on this to enlarge and read our charming story. I scanned it on here so its a little hard to see. I wanted to put it up and show off mom's creativity. There are some inside jokes that others may not get but its a cute little story with pictures of us in our Halloween costumes when we were little. Someday we can show our kids! :)

Date Night!!!

Even though we are poor we try to go out at least one night a week for some couple time. We decided to splurge and do something really exciting this week. I saw some Lakers tickets for sale and on a whim, I decided to surprise Jesse, knowing what a sports fanatic he is. Little did I know that he HATES the Lakers! I know there are a lot of Laker haters out there but I didn't know I married someone who so passionately did not like them. Now that we are official Californians and close to LA, I told him he has to convert. I mean, how can you like LA and not be a Lakers fan? It's in the name! LAkers! As it turns out, he does like the Clippers though, so this game was an intense one for us. We made a bet that if my team won, he would owe me a massage. If the Clippers won, I owed Jesse a massage. PLUS... the length of time for the massage depended on how many points they won by. Oh dear, my poor husband.... So, here are some fun pics of our night out:

Can you believe these seats?!! Jack Nicholson and his daughter were sitting right in front of us! Ok, maybe like 50 rows in front of us but seriously we did get to see them from a distance.

And here we are!

Jesse said he would be mad if anyone saw these pics. His strong dislike for the Lakers stems from his ever so strong dislike for Kobe Bryant. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the person, but the guy sure can play basketball! I think this is a life size poster. I can't believe we only make it up to his armpits! We need to grow up.

The nice lady in front of us took our picture. This was while we were still smiling and had our hearing. The little red headed step child boy maniac behind us made me think twice about having kids, or at least about taking them to places where they can scream at the top of their lungs and make all those around them deaf. Good thing Jesse knows sign.

Notice the scoreboard. This was only the beginning. The Clippers were never ahead the entire game, and by the end the spread was much much worse... or much better, depending on your perspective :)

Just making sure we drink every last drop of that $4 Dr. Pepper. I think it equalled out to be about 50 cents per sip...

And the final score was..... Lakers 119, Clippers 82

A quote from the Los Angeles Times sports section: "Derek Fisher led a steady attack with 17 points and the Lakers took their largest victory over the Clippers since a 126-92 laugher in November 1986, the Clippers' third season in Los Angeles."

I'm so sorry honey, I can't wait for the 37 minute massage though!!

Unfortunate Events #2 & #3

We are having to backtrack a little because we are so behind in our entries. So... our Honeymoon was on Jan. 19th. We went on an 8 day cruise in the Western Carribean. We had a wonderful time up until the last day, when our cards stopped working due to the identity theft, and that is when our never-ending sicknesses began. Alicia started getting sick the last day of the cruise with a horrible sore throat, cold, flu, fever, you name it, she had it. After the long plane ride home, with a 5 hour layover in Atlanta, we were exhausted by the time we arrived in LA. We decided it would be best to take a day off of work so we didn't die and didn't spread our diseases.
Of course, since Alicia was sick and dying, Jesse didn't want to feel left out. After several days of suffering with a cold and fever, Alicia was starting to feel better so Jesse decided it was his turn to get sick. After we both finally recovered, it was time for round 2. Alicia woke up in the night with the stomach flu and this sickness lasted several days as well. Once again, Jesse decided he would jump on the sick wagon and start up with the sore throat and cough again. We are now in to the first week of March and I don't know if we've made it through one healthy week with both of us un-sick since we've moved. This past weekend we both stayed in, sick as dogs. We are feeling better today so we're hoping this was the last of it and we can finally move on with our lives!
Ok, so the episodes of sickness was our 2nd unfortunate event. The third unfortunate event was Jesse's nearly-broken foot. Jesse is on crutches right now. Earlier this week Jesse called to tell me he had hurt his foot. He likes to downplay injuries so I knew it was probably worse than he was telling me. By the next morning his right foot was twice the size of his left and he could not walk at all. He borrowed a cane from Linda, the lady we are staying with, and he hobbled to the health center on campus. They told him to go to the hospital and get an x-ray. The good news is that there were no broken bones. However, they did tell him to stay off his feet for the next week or so and that he had torn the tendons in his foot. I think Jesse was a little happy he didn't have to go to football for a few days.