Happy Gnu Ears!

We didn't get enough of the Southwest this January so we ended 2004 by traveling with Li's mum and brother Damon to visit the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly, Painted Desert, and the Petrified Forest National Park. Our Navajo guide, Leander, in the Canyon regaled us with stories about petroglyphs and cliff dwellings. The Navajo mutton stew and fry bread fortified us against the sub-freezing temperatures.

Standing above the 240m Spider Rock

Li is just a few months shy of graduating from Boalt, where he is writing a paper about how lawyers' professional norms affect their ability to serve the needs of Latino and Asian Americans. He also loves participating in a seminar in which the students each assume the identity of a Supreme Court Justice, discuss pending cases, and write opinions and dissents. Last summer Li worked at the Silicon Valley law firm, Fenwick & West, where he did lots of research on copyright, trademark, and patent issues. He also went to circus school in San Francisco to learn the trapeze. His fellow Boalties also keep him busy with hiking and climbing and troublemaking.

Yvette has taken a break from singing and birdbanding and instead has focused on her reaccreditation for her registered dietitian's license . . . something she has neglected to do for the past two out of five years. She continues to work for Alameda County Health Care Services serving as administrator for the county's eleven adolescent school health centers.

Niece Taylor with ruby-crowned kinglet	Liwen on Snake Dike, Half Dome	Dad's 70th birthday fiesta

Chewing bubbles at Cabo San Lucas	In August, we celebrated Yvette's father's 70th birthday with her family in Mexico. It was wonderful to spend time with the entire Leung family, eating, swimming, rock climbing, and competing in Karaoke Idol. Yvette and Li saw lots of lobsters, eels, and rays while diving in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, where we were most impressed by the marlin tacos and a street vendor's tamales. BUENO!
The week before, Li and Yvette spent backpacking around Mitre Basin and the Cottonwood Lakes in the Southern Sierra Nevada. A side trip up 14,000-foot Mt. Langley reinforced how spectacular this part of the world is. After a sobering visit to the nearby Manzanar National Monument, where our government forcibly relocated thousands of Japanese Americans fifty years ago, we were especially grateful for our remaining freedoms to explore our country.	Backpacking at Rock Creek below Mt. Langley
	Twin sister Yvonne beat us out by delivering a baby girl, Annalise, in November. For every pound Yvonne has lost postpartum, Yvette has gained, now 17 weeks pregnant while diligently doing her prenatal yoga.

Li believes that the real point of law school is to learn to be more sensitive to the needs of others, and after reflecting on 2004, we are motivated to be more in touch with our local community and to focus on working for positive change close to home. La esperenza muera ultima. We hope that despite 2005's imminent distractions of baby talk and bar exams, we will soon share good times with you.

Peace and love, nizhonigo nanina,

Liwen & Yvette