NiCk AnGeLa IaN tULL zAppA

NICK PASSED!!!

2008-11-27T08:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I am finally done with my language training here at the Defense Language Institute!!! I passed the final tests (the OPI and DLPT) and after Christmas we'll be off to San Angelo Texas for a few more months of training then we'll go to our duty station in Maryland, thanks for everyone's prayer and help! Happy Thanksgiving!

HALLOWEEN 2008

2008-11-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Halloween was fun, we're sad it's over. We had fun decorating, we went to a Murder Mystery Dinner, Handed out candy and went to a Halloween party here on the base, we miss all of you, our families and friends and hope you had a great time! We keep trying to download photos but they have not been working, keep checking back for updates.........

2008-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

2008-10-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Well, it's one of our little families favorite times of the year! We've put up decorations, put scary music on our iPods and have made a list of Halloween shows we want to watch... We miss being in Utah for Halloween but it's better than last year's Halloween, Basic Training. We miss haunted houses and neat Halloween stores, Monterey is so boring and unfestive, we are excited to go to the Half Moon Bay Harvest Festival in 2 weeks and we'll keep you all updated with our Halloween activities......

2008-07-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

More Home Photos

2008-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

HOME!!!

2008-07-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

From July 5th to July 12th Nick had class break, we were very happy to get out of this dive and go home to beautiful, hot, Utah! The days were packed, as a vacation it wasn't too relaxing but it was fun and fulfilling. We drove all night and arrived on Saturday morning as the sun was coming up. After some sleep we went to a Family Reunion with Nick's extended family then swimming at Grandma Brimley's house. Next day we went Savannah's birthday party. Monday we went to Lagoon all day with the Walkers, it was really fun! Tuesday Angela had 2 dental implants put in (with pictures!) and Nick had to go and spend 5 hours getting one of car's tires fixed, that night we hung out with friends, Brad and Amy, Mike and Hailee, and Shanae, we had a ton on fun catching up and the guys ended up making a stupid youtube video poking fun at Barack Obama.... Wednesday we spent the day with Colleen and Jenessa and made some more visits, that night we went and ate dinner with Les and Betty. Thursday Nick went the auction and got Vietnamese food with Joe, while Angela got to know all of her friends many new babies, that night we went and hung out with Cam and Janica. Friday we had a breakfast up in Milcreek Canyon wit the Pfeifers, after that we packed up tried to tie up a lot of the remaining things we wanted to do and we had the awesome chance of going flying with Jim. Saying goodbye to everyone was not fun at all but inevitably early Saturday morning we made the long drive back to Monterey, at least we were able to kidnap Jenessa and bring her with us for a few weeks.

Now we're back to work and back to school and if all goes as plans we should be done here in a few short months!

ANGELA'S FAMOUS

2008-06-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Angela participated in a Wellness Expo for her job at the Gym and they ended up taking her picture and putting her in the bases' newspaper "Monterey Military News." If you know Angela you know she's embarrassed but it's cool and it goes up on the BLOG!!!

Cookery Day

2008-05-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was great, we spent the whole day as a Farsi Class preparing Iranian dishes, we cooked for about 5 hours and then had a great feast. It was fun and now I can attempt to make the stuff at home.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

Memorial weekend wasn't too exciting. Thursday we went to a really neat Memorial Day Ceremony presented by the different Armed Services on the base. Friday we didn't have class but we did have to attend a safety day that all services were a part of, also that morning we were told that there was yet another couple of Airmen who were arrested for alcohol related problems and that the whole flight was being punished because it's all of our responsibility. So Saturday we all had to come in at 6 in the morning which really threw a wrench in a lot of peoples' plans. We all had to live in fear the whole weekend because they threatened to make us come in on Monday if anyone else was stupid enough to break the rules.
Saturday Angela and I had few friends over for a barbecue. We watched alot of movies and then on Sunday Me, Angela, and our friend Levin decided to drive through Napa and the vineyards around there. It was pretty but also kind of boring, we had no plan and we don't drink wine so.... pretty uneventful. They way home was probably the best part of the trip, we cut through San Francisco on the way home by way of the Golden Gate Bridge, we cut through the center of town, and drove up and down famous Lombard street. It was fun. Memorial day was just for relaxing which is pretty uncommon here.

Some pictures I neglected to post earlier

2008-05-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I should have posted a long time ago, at christmas the Petersen Family got some family pictures taken and here's a sampling.

Bees on the wharf

2008-05-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting video my Dad shot, a table on fisherman's wharf in Santa Cruz with some displaced bees who lost their hive, apparently.

2 Weeks 2 Families

2008-05-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a a fun few weeks, couple weeks ago Les and Betty (Angelas Parents) came and stayed with us for a few days. We had a great time we went to San Francisco and all around Monterey, we went to the Aquarium and a whole bunch of other places we have neglected to see while living here these past 6 months. It was great to have some family around!
After the Petersens left, some Pfeifer's came Colleen, Joe and Jenessa, as with Les and Betty we saw things we should have seen a long time ago... we saw Pfeiffer's Big Sur National Park, and Santa Cruz and we hung out in Carmel. The dogs loved seeing both families and we all went through some withdrawal after both families left, it's tough being apart from friends and family but it sure is great to see them when we get a chance! We can't wait till July when I get a week off and we get to come home and visit.

Today was a fun day, we got up early and went to the fisherman's wharf and look at the Sea Lions with the dogs, then we bought some fish from a fish market and got some great deals: 2 lbs of Octopus for 5 bucks, 1 lb of scallops for 5 bucks and some jumbo white shrimp. I skewered some shrimp and octopus and barbecued it, it was great. Also we went body boarding at Carmel Beach with our new wet-suits, the water was still ice cold though. The weather has been great the past 3 days, we experienced a heat wave that is now unfortunately tapering off, Thursday was 95 degrees which is unimaginable here I guess, yesterday was almost as hot and today was in the 80's it was great while it has lasted but tomorrow we'll be going back to the 60's and 70's.

Schools going pretty well, there are ups and downs, but I am am slowly buy surely learning Farsi, it's been a great experience so far. Friday there was a Language Day festival on the base and thousands of schools and local residents flooded the base to eat foreign food and do "multicultural activities" seemed fun but I was stuck doing "traffic control" and basically stood in the same spot for 8 hours straight, telling dumb kids to stay on the sidewalk. i think that's all we have for now, leave us comments, send us messages, keep in touch everybody.

Welcome Emma Hope Pontes!

2008-03-10T19:01:00.001-07:00

Wish we could meet her in person but we are happy to welcome the family's newest edition!!!

2008-03-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

A beautiful afternoon in Carmel

2008-03-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

Today we spent the afternoon walking along the beach picking up seashells and playing with seagulls, it was fun and really pretty, it's one of those days that makes it hard to go to school tomorrow, and Angela starts her new job tomorrow so wish her luck!

Oakland Temple

2008-03-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

Today we spent the whole day in Oakland and San Francisco, we forced ourselves to get up at 6:30 on a Saturday and we went on a Temple trip with our Ward, and it was worth it. The drive was beautiful and the weather stayed nice the whole time. We got to the Temple at about 9:00, we went to the church distribution center then Angela and I caught the 10:00 session, after we got done at the Temple we went with a few other couples into San Francisco and at In and Out Burger on The Wharf. We hit up a Russian grocery store and the Jelly Belly Outlet on our way home. We got home 13 hours after we left. It was a long, fun, pretty day.

Our Weird Little House

2008-02-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of our weird little duplex in Seaside. We live on a former Army Base called Fort Ord, the house's are ugly but it's not such a bad place.

A BLOG!

2008-02-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

After some pressure, we have decided to start a blog. Hopefully we'll keep it current and keep everyone up to date with our adventures.

Just a quick status update, we are adjusting well, we like Monterey/Seaside, it's a fun experience. As to be expected with military life there are a lot of stressful times, but we are managing well, Angela is very supportive and we're starting to make some good friendships. We like our ward, it's a little noisy due to all the babies, but it's always really comforting to have something so familiar when you are far from home. Farsi is tough but very interesting, I can't believe I can read and write stuff like this, " ". We miss you all and feel free to email or call us.