Christmas in Tucson, Arizona

Christmas Eve with the Highams

Follow the Star

So Doug and I were asked to play the part of Mary and Joseph in our church's live nativity. Here is a pic of us in costume...the pillow they had me stuff in the dress was enormous!

The Attorney's Oath of Office

December 1, 2006 Doug took the Attorney's Oath of Office. It is official. My dad and grandparents were able to make the trek to the Riverside Court house to witness the event. The firm's partners were also there to support Doug as well as many associates and staff.

Judge Larson gave some great advice to the the newest attorneys. The three key points he stressed were to always be prepared, be honest, and be kind. Very wise counsel for life as well.

Road Show...the Rameumptom

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun with family and eating all of the yummy food.

Well, Road show has come to an end. We have posted some pics of the final performance. Our youth were amazing!!! The Road show was basically an American Idol parody mixed with the story Alma 31. The youth were awesome and so creative; some even added their own lines to the Road Show, which were hilarious.

There's one pic of another ward's Road show (they based it on the OC) the youth were dressed up as Mickey Mouse, the Angel's logo, palm trees, an In-N-Out cup, the Paul Frank logo, and a South Coast Plaza shopping bag....so cute!!!

BAR RESULTS are in and...

Doug PASSED the BAR exam!

Congratulations Doug!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!! Doug's firm had a costume contest and Doug came in 2nd place with his Clark Kent-Superman costume..pretty neat. It's been fun having trick-or-treaters this year and seeing such cool costumes. Hope everyone is having lots of fun on this Halloween night!

Kevin and Jessica's Temple Wedding

Kevin and Jessica had their Temple Wedding on October 7th at the LA temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and the weather was perfect. We enjoyed spending time with Kevin and Jessica's friends and family. Stone fire grill was amazing as always. Congratulations Kevin and Jessica!

New Home

Doug and I have put a deposit on a town home located in the Corona area. Crazy and scary to think that we're jumping into this crazy California market and home ownership. We are so excited about our new home and wanted to show everyone a few pics. The town home with scaffolding is ours and will be ready early next year...the port-o-pottie is not included. The other pics are of the model home; same layout except ours will have a few modifications, different cabinets, tile, granite etc. I am so excited about all the cupboard space in the kitchen and Doug is very excited about the walk in closet in our bedroom (the boy has a lot of clothes and shoes...well we both do!). Our town home is 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a loft. It's definitely more space than we need, so feel free to visit anytime because we will have a guest room or two.

MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This

Can't touch this! Ahhh...the Roadshow dance. Our dance is to MC Hammer. Funny to think that the kids I'm teaching this to probably have never heard of MC Hammer. We're also using some moves from the Thriller video...can't beat thriller.

Dance from Thriller

Thriller!

Roadshow

It has officially begun...Roadshow. This year's theme is "modern day scripture heroes." As many of you may not know, Doug and I have been called to be a part of the Roadshow committee. Yes, me with very little singing and dancing ability will be attempting to teach the youth to dance. Doug just gets to learn a dance routine and help the youth learn it, should be funny to say the least.

Last night was our ward's roadshow kickoff. We had approximately 50-60 youth in attendance (and some youth didn't show up, our youth goup is pretty big). The youth seemed to have lots of fun and are excited to be a part of Roadshow.

Growing up I loved Roadshow, I participated in three Roadshows and had so much fun. I don't think Doug participated in any, he was just too cool for that. I think it's funny that he HAS to participate now and get the kids super geeked about Roadshow. We will let you know how it comes along and maybe put a clip on the blog of the final performance. [editor's note: I HAVE PARTICIPATED IN MULTIPLE ROAD SHOWS....LIZ IS WRONG!!!] As a curtain boy!

Please share any thoughts you have about Roadshow.

The Happiest Place on Earth

For our 5 year Anniversary Doug and I went to Disneyland!!! We had so much fun. The lines were not long at all; an average wait time of 10 minutes. We went on the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was awesome. Space Mountain is faster and darker.

Doug does not like the teacups, which is one of my favorites. I didn't want to ride alone, so next time Livy will have to come with so we can ride the teacups together.

Doug also ruled me in Buzz Lightear's Astroblasters ride, as you can see he doubled my score and then some.

We had tons of fun!

Here we are at California Adventure. Doug is standing by the Golden Gate replica reminding us of San Francisco.

We loved the roller coaster and soarin' over California; so much fun. Doug made me go on the Hollywood Tower of Terror...since I'm not a huge fan of rides that just drop you from high heights, you can imagine how pleased I was going on this ride.

There's also a few pics of us on It's A Small World.

Disneyland Parade of Dreams

Here we are at the Disneyland Parade of Dreams. We just happened to run into my cousin Michelle, her husband Scott and their two kids (Grant and Taylor). It was fun to see them, since we hadn't seen them in a long while. Anyways, our friend Livy told us how wonderful the parades are at Disneyland, so we decided to watch the parade. It was lots of fun, except I think I have the parade song permanently stuck in my head..."this is our family, welcome to our family..."

Last days in the bay area

We're finally all moved in and kind of getting back into a routine here in So. Cal, so now I can update our blog.

Before we left San Jose our friends from church threw a Good-bye BBQ for us a few other couples who were leaving the bay area. We are going to miss them tons!


We visited our good friends Amy and Eric in Arizona after visiting Doug's family in Tucson. We saw their beautiful house and had some of Amy's amazing cookies. We saw the movie "You, Me & Dupree" and laughed so hard. We definitely miss the late nights hanging out.

Of course before we left the bay area we had to go to a few of our favorite places. Nations (the best Burgers), Fentons (the Black & Tan sundae...awesome), Aqui (chicken taquitos, yum), Willow Glen Yogurt, Icing on the Cake (Orange Blossom cookies), Andale (chicken nachos..yummy) and of course the San Francisco bike ride(fun)!

On our way

The Bar is over finally! Yay! It is so nice to have my husband back. So as some of you may know Doug received an offer from a law firm located in southern California. Our lease was up July 31st, so we rented a truck and moved everything in storage in southern California. Seriously, moving is such a drag. But we were lucky to get everything packed into the truck, thanks to some very good friends and get things unloaded thanks to family! We'll be house-sitting for some friends until mid-August then we'll say our final good-bye to the bay area and relocate back to So. Cal. We're looking forward to these next couple of weeks to see the sites and hang out with friends before we take off.

Dumpster diving for boxes....

Well you might be wondering why I have all of these cardboard boxes, well it is because we are MOVING! Yes, the time has come to say goodbye to the bay area and move back to Orange County. Doug received an offer from a firm in So. Cal. and we are completely ecstatic. We are sad to leave the friends we've made, but so excited to embark on this new adventure--post law school life!

At this point you may be wondering about the whole dumpster diving. Well, I was out pricing boxes at Home Depot and was not thrilled on having to pay $2-$3 for one box --multiply that by 20-30 boxes and that's a new pair of shoes :). So, that's when I had the brilliant idea of checking behind the stores of Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Borders. Lo and behold there were boxes all neatly bundled beside (and I emphasize beside) the recycle bin. The boxes were just there waiting for me to pick them up and take them home. I quickly gathered my contraband and headed home to find Doug still studying for the BAR (see pic below, he has not moved from that spot for the last 2 months!); he's so studious.

Happy July 4th!

Doug and I were able to visit Orange County over the 4th of July Holiday. Sadly our trip was very short, but we were able to visit with family. Here's a pic with Doug's sisters Shelley and Sarah and their families.

Personality Profile and shopping in Milan

My friend Brittany posted a link for your 5 factor personality profile and which European city do you belong in and I thought it was kind of neat. I would say my results are pretty much right on; although I'm sure Doug would argue that I am more neurotic than my results reveal.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Milan...how lovely! Shopping and incredible food this is definitely my city. I'm there!

You Belong in Milan

Stylish and sophisticated, you want to enjoy a truly European life - away from tourists! Milan fits you perfectly. Great shopping, high quality food, lots of culture... with very little hype.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Napa Valley

Doug ran the Napa Valley Marathon in March of 2005. At the end of the marathon the sponsors raffled a lot of prizes and Doug won a trip for two to Napa. We forgot we had this voucher and it expired after one year, so we ended up visiting Napa over the President's holiday this year. We drove down the Silverado Trail (where the Napa marathon course runs) and I cannot believe Doug ran the 26.2 miles. He's amazing! Anyways, here we are walking around some of the vineyards and wineries.

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge

Our first summer here in the Bay area we had some friends take us on this amazing bike ride in San Francisco. The ride starts at Fisherman's Wharf, you ride across the Golden Gate Bridge over into a little town called Tiburon. We usually stop for lunch or take a break and walk around the shops; then you continue on into Sausalito. The whole trek is about 14 miles and if you're feeling particularly energetic you can turn around and ride back to San Francisco. However, I like to take the ferry back to the city. We usually then stop in Little Italy for some dinner. It's a great way to see the sites of the city.

Since then, we've gone on this bike ride a few other times in the summer and as you can see in the pictures you're not always guaranteed sunshine. Sometimes that classic San Francisco fog likes to roll in.



Here we are with our friends from the Santa Clara Ward getting ready to start our trek across the Golden Gate bridge.


Doug and I waiting in Sausalito for the ferry and a pic of the Golden Gate bridge from the ferry at sunset.