Jason & Amanda

Birthday Weekend

2012-02-21T15:50:00.002-07:00

Jason turned the big 24 on Friday and we celebrated all weekend long. It's lucky when your birthday falls close to a weekend because you get to have a full birthday weekend instead of just a birthday day. At least that's the way we roll in my family. It's especially lucky if your birthday falls on a holiday weekend. which was the case this year for Jason. Since Jason claims that I sort of ruined his previous two birthdays (due to break ups shortly before) I wanted to make this year as good as possible. His wish list included fly fishing waders, a fishing vest and a crow bar. I have no idea what he wants to do with a crow bar. I didn't get him one. But I did get him waders and a fishing vest. They look very nice.

This is how happy he was to get them.

I also got him a sweet new pair of aviators.

He also got a gift card to Home Depot (his favorite store) from Mama and Papa M and some cash money from Mama and Papa C. He seriously scored. And we had delicious food all weekend. We went to Wingers with Mama and Papa C and David on Friday night and then just us went to Tucanos on Saturday. I'm seriously still full from the non stop stuffing my face all weekend.

On Saturday we decided to go snowshoeing. We bought snowshoes in the fall because Costco had a really good deal. We figured that we would go all the time. Well, we hadn't gone once until Saturday. There hasn't been much snow this year and hardly any free Saturdays. The bad news is that we were pretty disappointed with our first outing because there really wasn't much snow even in the mountains. We looked like idiots too because we were all decked out with our snow pants, hats and gloves AND snowshoes, while everyone else were in jeans and hiking boots. We ended up shedding 5 layers and carrying our snowshoes for most of the time.

Here is Jason at the beginning...happy...the trail was packed down, but at least there was some snow on the ground.

Then we ran into this...

We were both pretty irritated..

We were only out for about 20 minutes before we decided to turn back. I mean it was a pretty day, but since it was such a nice day we were dying of heat because we definitely had too much crap on.

So snowshoeing adventure numero uno was a bust. We had a nice rest of the day though and Jason got to spend some of his birthday money. On Sunday we went to Mama and Papa C's for a delicious rib dinner after we got worked over by ten 8-yr-olds at church. Some weeks it's seriously a battle zone. Next week I might be on my own on account of Jason getting his wisdom teeth out on Friday. Wish me luck...

Can I just say that having Monday off is the best feeling in the world? Seriously, I love Sundays, but I always get depressed Sunday evening knowing I have to go back to work in the morning. I love having Monday off and being able to 100% relax on Sunday. If only it happened more often. We actually got quite a bit of snow Saturday night/Sunday so we decided to go for snowshoeing outing round 2 on this holiday Monday. It was so much more fun. There was actually untracked snow! And let me just say that snowshoeing in actual snow is actually kind of hard. It was a really good work out though and lots of fun. Jason even brought his poles...

We went with Jess and Brian which made it even more fun. Brian also chose to bust out the poles..

So happy for real.

Unfortunately, my camera died so that's all the pictures I have. Hopefully we get more snow so we can go up again soon. I'm pretty sure we're going to have snow in May again this year because it just really hasn't dumped much so far this year.

Then Monday evening we had a few friends over for a little birthday party. It was really fun and a great way to end the long birthday weekend. That's right, that cake has sprinkles and all 24 candles. It was glorious.

Also, Ben is THE stupidest bachelor ever!

Happy Day of Love

2012-02-16T18:09:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely Valentine's day. Our first ever being married or dating for that matter... I made Jason this lovely cake. The good news is tasted a LOT better than it looked.

Jason got me some delicious chocolates from C. Kay Cummings. I only have two left.

And a pretty flower...

So happy

We gorged ourselves on snowball shrimp from the Dragon Diner while skyping my parents and then watched Crazy, Stupid Love. So funny. Why did Michael Scott leave the Office? So all in all I'd say we had a lovely evening.

And guess who's birthday is tomorrow??...

I love him.

A Sicky Weekend

2012-02-07T13:41:00.004-07:00

Poor Jason woke up on Friday with a pretty bad cold. He had to struggle through the day because he had 2 tests back to back. He works so hard. But Saturday was a sick day. Even though he was kind of miserable it was really nice to have a valid excuse to not do much. We watched lots of movies including Jurassic Park and In Time. Jason had a hankering for a little JP and it did not disappoint. Although I do remember the dinosaurs being a little more realistic the last time I saw it years ago. Those velociraptors (sp?) are still more than a little scary though. I mean they probably should have only cloned the herbivores and maybe a t-rex since they can't see you if you hold still. The raptors were definitely a mistake. Anyway, after a lazy weekend I think Jason is on the mend. And I'm hoping that I don't get sick, but also kind of hoping I do so I can have a mid-week lazy day. Those are the best.

In other news, I'm running a marathon in Spokompton in May. I'm pretty excited about it even if I'm not excited to start the 10+ mile training. The other day I went on a 5 mile run and it was fabulous. It was a beautiful day and I hadn't run outside in a long time so it felt great. I wish I could run outside year round. The good news is the days are getting longer so hopefully I can start getting out on a more regular basis. A Planet Fitness opened in our neighborhood a few months ago so we joined and have been enjoying having a gym close to home. And even though I really like it a lot and it is the official sponsor of the Biggest Loser and all, I still would rather run outside. I just don't love treadmills. But I do love watching TV while exercising, which you can really only do at the gym. So I guess I will survive the winter.

Speaking of TV.. has anyone been watching the Bachelor? It's so ridiculous, but I think that's what makes it so addicting. I'm not really the biggest fan of Bachelor Ben...I liked him a lot more when he was vying for Ashley on the Bachelorette. I just really hope he doesn't pick her..

She is vile. And there's something weird about her eyebrows/eyes. And she's always shiny! Oh and she's not a nice person.

I also have not been loving the Biggest Loser as much this season. I miss Jillian. And I feel like there's just a bunch of whiners this season. It's kind of annoying to watch. I haven't really felt inspired by anyone so far. I also miss Michael Scott.

But the good news is...Jason's birthday is only 10 days away! I'm excited because I think he deserves a little bit of celebrating. Maybe I'll make a paper chain tonight.

Last Day of January Post

2012-01-31T16:40:00.005-07:00

I've been meaning to post for quite a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. It's been busy and I've been lazy. I've recently discovered lots of new tv shows on Netflix so that's kept me pretty busy. So here's what we've been up to the last month or so...

The end of December was filled with lots of ugly Christmas sweater/white elephant gift exchange parties. Jason found this beaut at the DI. It won him several prizes including subway and i tunes gift cards. It definitely paid for itself after the second win.

We always love to go see the lights on Temple Square. So pretty.

Finally it was time for us to make the journey back to WA to celebrate Christmas with my family. Here I am putting together my wedding photo album in the airport.

The fun started as soon as we got there with a little shopping on our way home from the airport. At one of our stops my mom wanted something that was being displayed too high for us to reach so we thought hey, maybe Jason should just climb in the cart and try to reach it...

All was going well and he was able to get the right jacket down...

The trouble came in the dismount... He got hung up on the cart and went down hard. Poor Jason. Kinda funny though.

We had lots of fun on the mountain and it even snowed on Christmas Eve. Jason had lots of fun playing in the snow with Baxter.

Kelsey even made us pre-Christmas present. Sabrina and I got Christmas aprons and Devin and Jason got some sweet HP scarves. Luckily Jason is a Gryffindor.

We got to spend lots of time with baby Josee, our newest niece. (Josh and Angela's baby)

She's adorable. See..?

We frosted some sugar cookies..and ate them. They were delightful.

Jason got so tuckered out by all of the festivities that he started waiting for Santa at like 6:30 on Christmas Eve.

We woke up Christmas morning and got to open our stockings. Then we got all dressed up and went to church.

Then we changed into our ugly sweaters. Even Evelyn had one, but I think hers was pretty cute.

Jason got pretty worn out after playing with the nieces all day that he crashed.. horse puppet and all.

We had a lovely Christmas with my family and we spent the rest of the week eating, playing games and watching movies. It was wonderful.

We flew back to Salt Lake the day before New Year's Eve and got to open presents with Jason's family. Yay for two Christmases! Then on New Year's Eve Kelsey and Evelyn flew in and partied with us e.g. more food, more games and more movies. Then on New Year's Day my parents, my grandma, Steven, Sabrina and Devin all came into town. We were able to catch the last day of the lights downtown. My parents had never been so they quite enjoyed it.

Everyone was in town all week geting ready for Sabrina and Devin's wedding. We had lots of fun just hanging out. We rode TRAX downtown and saw Hubble 3D. Amazing. I can't really remember right now all the stuff that we did, but we had a really good time. Sabrina and Devin were married on January 7th in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a lovely wedding and they are so happy. I didn't get any pictures on my camera (I suck), but Kelsey took some amazing ones that are on her blog. Click here to see them.

So basically everyone is married off now. And we are back to normal life, meaning work and school. Jason started a new semester and is crazy busy. He has homework all the time and he doesn't get home until after 9 a couple of nights a week. So basically I have a lot of time on my hands. I've been trying to go to the gym a lot and I also watch a lot of tv. I'm open to suggestions on new shows I can watch on Netflix. Busy, busy days. Well I think that pretty much catches me up for now. I've got a new episode of the Bachelor to watch.

2011 in Phone Pictures

2011-12-20T13:59:00.004-07:00

Hello December

2011-12-01T10:15:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to blog all month long, but I didn't and now it's December so here is a summary of our November... Starting the last weekend in October... I ran the Halloween Half Marathon in Provo with my friend Alicia. Since I decided 10 days in advance and had no time to train I was really hoping just to finish. The good news is that it was a pretty easy course (mostly downhill) and I finished in 2 hrs and 36 seconds...dang those 36 seconds. I really wanted to beat 2 hours. However, I decided I'm taking about 3 minutes off my time because they stopped us halfway through the race so they could let traffic go through. So there you have it... I have unofficially beat 2 hours. It was a really fun race even if I was more sore than I've ever been in my life for about a week after. People were dressed up in crazy costumes...I went with the pumpkin shirt cause there was no way I was running 13 miles in some bulky, heavy costume.

Alicia wore a wig the whole time! Crazy girl. She said it wasn't a big deal though. I almost painted my hair green, but I thought I'd have green sweat dripping into my eyes after the first few miles so I opted out.

Jason and Marilyn were so nice and came down to cheer us on.

Then a few weeks ago we went down to St George to see these two lovelies get married! Miss Kaylee Childers is now Mrs. Jacob Gwilliam. We're seriously so happy for them. What an eventful year it has been for the girls of the Turnberry Express.

Here we are back in February up snowshoeing by our ownselves.. boy drama galore.

Then came June 18th...

And then August 5th...

And finally November 19th...

Phew...who would have thought? What a blessed year it has been!

Here we are with the beautiful bride

Me and Jas outside the St George temple. We've been married for 5 months now...can you believe it?

So while we were in the vicinity of St. George we just had to check out the Biggest Loser's Fitness Ridge Resort. We drove around the whole campus and checked out the facilities. No Bob or past contestants to be found... We did see a filming crew walking in though. I <3 the Biggest Loser.

And finally, we had a lovely Thanksgiving. It was basically 4 days of eating nonstop and watching movies with a few outings for some black friday shopping madness. We also stayed those 4 nights at Jason's parents house because Jason wanted to be "home" for Thanksgiving. Yes, we do live less than 10 minutes away, but it was really fun having a 4 day slumber party. In his free time Jason created this beauty... That's right, it's almost as tall as him. I'm not sure he's ever been happier.

And the best news of November is that I'm an Aunt again! Josee Lynn was born on the 29th and she is adorable. I can hardly wait to meet her. Congratulations to Josh and Angela!

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

2011-11-01T09:29:00.001-06:00

The creator and first wearer of the girl scout costume was indeed Kelsey.

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-28T13:00:00.002-06:00

So our ward/neighborhood trunk or treat party was on Wednesday. I volunteered us to do a trunk, but I didn't want to spend lots of money on decorations so this is what $10 buys you at the dollar store (see picture below). I think it turned out alright. Jason's costume was a big hit. People thought it was pretty funny although they kept offering him work..here's the thing: he doesn't actually want to work for candy. I went with the trusty ol' girl scout costume that has seen many a Halloween. Halloween always seems to sneak up on me (probably because I'm too focused on my birthday) and I never have a costume planned, which leaves me running around frantic at the last minute having to buy overpriced, stupid wigs and things. I wanted to be homeless with Jason, but I couldn't figure out what to wear so girl scout it was. The party was a huge success I'd say. There were tons of people and TONS of kids. We ran out of candy, which is pretty unfortunate since that leaves none for me or the kids that may knock on our door on Monday.

That beard is legit...courtesy of Folgers.

I decided to pay homage to the girl scout costume by posting some previous wearings. I must also give proper credit to Kelsey for making the outfit and being the first to be a girl scout for Halloween and then for letting me wear it for multiple Halloweens. Here are Jason and I in 2009. That's right 2 years ago when we had just about been dating for 2 months. Pretty cute, huh? We haven't changed, have we?....

And here are Aud and me in 2004! This was at my 20th b-day party. I honestly cannot believe this was taken 7 years ago. SEVEN! I'll be honest I had a bit of a break down last night when I was trying to find this picture. It's just hard to believe college was really that long ago. Sometimes I hate getting older. But such is life and the last 7 years have been full of great things like graduating from college, going on a mission, meeting Jason and finally getting married! So I guess 27 isn't all that bad even if I am officially entering into my late 20s...I'm excited to see what the next few years will bring!

Another Delightful Mountain Hike

2011-10-26T13:32:00.001-06:00

Winter is fast approaching... at least that's what they tell us on the news. Monday was supposedly the last nice fall day so we decided to take advantage of it and go on a little hike up Milcreek. Most of the leaves have fallen by now, but it was still pretty and we always like to get out. If only it didn't get dark so early...it seems like we barely get started and we have to turn back. It was still a lovely time though.

I heart fall.

Catching up on October

2011-10-20T13:52:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that we are already 2/3 of the way through October! I have quite a few pictures that I've been meaning to post so here goes...

First of all... Taylor. Swift. The concert was awesome. I mean there were quite a few little girls and screaming teenagers, but we didn't expect anything different. She really puts on a great show with lots of effects and fireworks and dancers and all that. And I may have teared up a little when she came out on stage. I mean I just couldn't believe that I was actually there.

Waiting at the TRAX station

The only picture I got of the stage.. the camera battery was near dead as it turned out :(

We did manage to fight off the crowds long enough to buy me this sweet T.Swift t-shirt. I say $30 well spent. Sometimes I just get so caught up that $30 seems like a small price to pay for memorabilia such as this...

So basically the concert was great. I mean it was kind of expensive, but I was really sad when I missed the last time she came to town and I just had to go this time.

Then... it decided to SNOW the first week of October! We're talking full on blizzard like snow. Luckily it didn't stick in the valley, but the mountains still have snow on them.

Here is our lovely apartment building with good ol' snow covered Mount Olympus behind

Luckily, after the blizzard week the weather shaped up quite nicely and it's been in the 60s and 70s every day for the past couple of weeks with even a few days near 80. Fall really is my favorite season. I just love the cooler temperatures and the beautiful changing leaves. Jason had fall break last week and we tried to take advantage of his free evenings and go hiking as much as possible. Here are some pictures from up Milcreek canyon...

Here's a view of Oly post blizzard.

We went up the temple quarry trail another evening...

Then last Friday we rented Jason a mountain bike for the weekend so we could do some trail riding. It was seriously so gorgeous, but I didn't take any pictures on account of me being on the bike. We drove one car up to the top of the canyon to start and then we rode the trail down and then we had my car at the bottom so we could shuttle back up to grab the other car. Well when we got to the top and I tried to start my car again it wouldn't start....turns out somebody was out of gas... Luckily it did make it all the way to the top and Jason was able to coast it on down to the gas station at the bottom of the canyon... My bad on forgetting to get gas..

On Saturday we ran our annual 5k for the Christ Lutheran School. This is the 3rd year that I've run this race and it's pretty funny because it's really small and basically the only ones that run it are friends and parents of the students...and me and my friends. This year my friend Alicia (who's done it the past 2 years) couldn't so I recruited a few friends from work and of course Jason. The reason why I love this race so much is because everyone is a winner. We all walked out with trophies and medals. And this year I won a $10 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods and a hoodie and Jason won a free massage in the raffle, which I promptly traded him for my gift certificate.

Josh, Heather, Me and Jason

I was 3rd overall female (9th overall)

Jason was first in his division

On Tuesday we decided to take a drive through Guardsman Pass which goes from the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon into Park City. Unfortunately, we were about 3 weeks late because most of the leaves had already dropped at that elevation, but we did discover this super pretty lookout at the top. I think we need to do more exploring because there are seriously so many trails and mountain roads that I've never been to and it's all so close to us. So even though there weren't a ton of pretty leaves it was still a really nice drive and we got to see the crazy nice lodges of Deer Valley Resort. And we got 7 eleven hot chocolate on the way home. I say an evening well spent.

Also in case you ever need to remove a venomous snake I now know what number to call...

AND I signed up for a half marathon yesterday with my friend Alicia...for October 29th! I hope I don't die. There's pretty much no time to train and I'm definitely not in half marathon shape. The good news is that a lot of people will be wearing bulky costumes so maybe that will give me a slight advantage. I think I'll just wear a pumpkin shirt or something and hope for the best. There will be medals for those who finish...

Family Mountain Getaway

2011-09-26T20:50:00.000-06:00

This last weekend Jason and I got to spend the weekend up in Weber Canyon with Jess and Brian. Brian's family owns a sweet cabin up there. It's such a beautiful area and we had a great time enjoying some time up in the mountains. I only wish we could have stayed for longer. Work and school always get in the way of all the fun.

We went on a nice little hike exploring the property.

How awesome is this cabin?

And we of course couldn't miss out on the opportunity to take some jumping pictures...

Here we are plus Winston

If you haven't played Life recently, you're really missing out. It's seriously so much fun although it pretty much teaches you that money is all that matters in life... Whatever. We had a great weekend. Also, we teach primary now. We have the 8 turning 9-year-olds. And there are 10 of them... Holy cow, it's been so much fun, but they seriously rip us around some weeks. We barely survived last week. It's getting better though and we bribe them with candy. So far it's working. We really do love it even if it's been a challenge for us.

And the best news ever is...
....

WE BOUGHT TICKETS TO TAYLOR SWIFT TODAY!!!

The concert is on Wednesday. I can not even wait!

Wedding Pictures!!

2011-09-19T12:55:00.002-06:00

These are just a few of my favorites. I put the rest on Picasa. You can see them by clicking here.

The rest of the bridal shoot are here. I'm so happy with how they turned out!

The Lumey's Latest Trick

2011-09-16T16:40:00.001-06:00

So the Lumey hit 100,000 miles yesterday! So I'm thinking this baby is a '97 and it only just now hit 100K..it's going to live forever, right?

Well it decided to play a little trick on me on my way home from work yesterday to prove to me that it is in fact an old car by refusing to roll up its passenger side window. It started out half way down and wouldn't roll back up so I tried to roll it down farther... It sure did roll down farther, but it sure wouldn't roll back up. So now it's stuck all the way down. And...it's raining.

Classy, right?

So I was thinking about annoying things that I do that I didn't really realize that I did until I got married. It turns out I don't flush the toilet all the time. I don't know why. I guess I just forget because I don't intentinally not flush. Kaylee tried to tell me that I didn't, but I didn't really believe her. Turns out I'm a non-flusher. I also don't close my drawers. And I always leave the kitchen cupboards open too. But, I'm not the only one that does annoying things...turns out my husband is a cheese brick biter...

Also, we're both addicted to Donkey Kong. No joke. We've been logging considerable hours. We just want to beat it so bad. By we, I mean I want Jason to beat it so bad. It's too hard for me now so I just cheer Jason on and make fun of him when he makes dumb mistakes like getting killed by a stupid armadillo. He still lets me play all of the bonus levels though because he loves me. And he doesn't even get mad when I only get 2 free lives instead of 4. We've stayed up way too late pretty much every night this week and we've been slacking at scripture reading. We need to exercise a little self discipline so hopefully this will help...

The best news is that it's Friday and we have the whole weekend to play as much as we want. The snow world is going down.

The Great Outdoors

2011-09-14T21:43:00.000-06:00

And just like that fall is here. It seems like the temperature dropped 10 degrees as soon as September hit. I can't complain though; fall is my favorite season I think. I love the cooler evenings and I can't wait for the changing leaves. If only winter didn't always follow... We're trying to take advantage of the last month or so of good weather so we've been getting up in the mountains as much as we can. The other night we went up Big Cottonwood canyon to hike donut falls with the family. It's a really short hike, but real pretty.

This is the donut part.

We also had a camp out at Camp Christensen aka Jason's parent's backyard the other weekend. It was a great time. We roasted mallows and dogs and then slept under the stars in the yard. How's that for camping in the wilderness?

Last week Jason and I went up Millcreek to hike part of the pipeline trail. It's so gorgeous up there. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time so we didn't make it very far, but it was still nice to get out and do something. I think we're going to take the mountain bikes up there on Saturday and ride the trail. Hopefully nobody crashes...

Also, we retook our wedding pictures at the temple the other week. They turned out a lot better than the first go round. I'll post some as soon as I get them...hopefully I'll get the cds soon.

Isn't he handsome?

Now we're never going to get to bed on time...

2011-09-13T08:33:00.001-06:00

The last couple of weeks Jason has been talking about Donkey Kong on Super Nintendo...about how it's his favorite game ever and how much he used to like it. Well, he thought that his parents still had it, but they didn't so unbeknownst to me he found it on Amazon and ordered himself a copy. It came in last week and he was so excited. He packed up the old Super Nintendo that his parents had and brought it all to our house. He hooked it up last night and let me tell you it is every bit as fun as I remember. We didn't even start playing until like 10 because Jason was working on homework all night...so you can imagine we did not get to bed on time at all. Seriously though, Donkey Kong is the best game ever. When I was in college, Audrey brought their Super Nintendo from home and we played it all the time. I'm pretty sure that's how we made most of our friends...challenging them to Tetris wars. Not many people can turn down the ol' Super Nintendo. I'm pretty excited to have one again. Maybe it will help us make friends in our new ward. Anyway, we're pretty excited. We're going to beat Donkey Kong. I don't think I ever did..what with those crazy thorny bees and the jumping lizards it gets pretty hard. But do you remember how you get to ride the dolphin in the water levels? And then there's the rhino and the frog that jumps really high.. Seriously, so fun. I guess this is just one more reason to come visit us.

Yeah the graphics are pretty awesome...

Also, the Biggest Loser is starting again one week from today! I can't even wait.

Friday Night Lights

2011-08-29T12:52:00.002-06:00

On Friday night we went to Matthew's (Jason's little brother) football game. It was such a lovely summer night. I cannot believe how gorgeous it is here sometimes. I mean seriously, such a beautiful view of the mountains. The other highlight was the delicious hot dog I got from the concession stand (thanks Papa C).

On Saturday we went over to Jason's parents' house to find this deliciousness...

Look at all those tomatoes! We took home a couple of bags and I have every intention of using them to make some pasta sauce to freeze. Also, Jason went through his room again to get any remaining items that he wants to keep. We loaded up a few huge boxes with clothes, mementos, Jason's cash box from when he was 12 (which he still won't let me rob), little league trophies, year books...you get the idea.. Well we also stumbled across his (or Steven's..I can't remember which) marine hat from high school history class. He put it on and didn't take it off for the rest of the night...
I only wish I would have gotten a picture of him playing with his Egyptian Lego set wearing his ratty quicksilver shirt from junior high that does not fit anymore along with the hat...oh he sure does make me laugh.

Weekend in Idaho

2011-08-22T15:06:00.003-06:00

We went up to Shelley, Idaho this weekend to go to Jessica and Brian's reception up there (that's were Jess is from). We had such a good time and we ate so so so much food. Seriously, I don't know why we feel like we have to eat like there's no tomorrow on every trip we ever take. The reception was beautiful at the Idaho Falls Country Club. We snuck down on the grass and took some pictures of the lovely sunset. For whatever reason we always have to take jumping pictures (or at least attempt them). I get an F for capturing Jason in mid-air. See below for my multiple failed attempts...

Yeah...he was kind of irritated by the end of it. But after a few scoops of Reed's ice cream he was back in high spirits. And today Jason started a new semester... Yay for school!

Last Week of Summer....

2011-08-18T10:41:00.004-06:00

Jason starts school on Monday :( Boo. We've been enjoying the last couple weeks of summer. We love going on walks in the evenings when it finally cools off a little. We live really close to a McDonalds and a DQ and our favorite frozen yogurt place. Awesome, but kind of hazardous. On Monday, I left my phone at Top It (outside on the curb where we had been sitting) and a nice man found it and called my mom to tell me where it was. It's always a little embarrassing when your mom has to call your husband at 10:00 at night to tell him where to pick up the phone you didn't even know you were missing...

I had some books reserved at the library so last night Jason and I walked down to get them... all 7 of them. Then I treated Jason to some dairy queen for his half birthday (Aug 17). He says I don't have a half birthday since April 31st doesn't exist...I said well, my half birthday would be May 1st. But he said that would mean that the Nov 1st half birthday would be on May 2nd and that doesn't make sense...so skunked again I guess. I don't have a half birthday. On the bright side it's buy one get one half off of blizzards this week at Dairy Queen. So I enjoyed myself a raspberry truffle blizzard and some delicious fries in honor of Jason's half birthday. Oh and I'm pretty excited about all the sweet books I got from the library thanks to Audrey's good reads list. Gracias bff.

On the not so bright side, I think my computer is on the down slope. It wouldn't turn on the other morning. It finally fixed itself, but I think it's only a matter of time till she goes down.
In other good news Jason's brother, Steven, got married last Friday. Yay for the summer of love! Seriously, it's insane how many weddings have happened or are close to happening this year. I'm going to give a lot of the credit to President Monson and his talk at the April conference.

"I realize there are many reasons why you may be hesitating to take that step of getting married. If you are concerned about providing financially for a wife and family, may I assure you that there is no shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is generally during these challenging times that you will grow closer together as you learn to sacrifice and to make difficult decisions. Perhaps you are afraid of making the wrong choice. To this I say that you need to exercise faith. Find someone with whom you can be compatible. Realize that you will not be able to anticipate every challenge which may arise, but be assured that almost anything can be worked out if you are resourceful and if you are committed to making your marriage work."

"Choose a companion carefully and prayerfully; and when you are married, be fiercely loyal one to another. Priceless advice comes from a small framed plaque I once saw in the home of an uncle and aunt. It read, 'Choose your love; love your choice.' There is great wisdom in those few words. Commitment in marriage is absolutely essential."

This talk meant a lot to me and I think Jason and I both give a lot of credit to it in helping us (me) finally have the courage and faith to make the decision to be married. Actually, Jason asked me after conference if I was going to follow the prophet. We were engaged 3 weeks later. And... it was the best decision ever. Marriage is wonderful and I'm so grateful to have such a kind and patient (and funny) husband.

Anyway, back to Steven and Danielle. They were super cute and their wedding was a blast. The reception was in Danielle's parents' awesome back yard. They had twinkle lights everywhere and a delicious Mexican feast. We decided it's a lot more fun to be at a reception where you're not the one in line for the whole night.

Here we are waiting for them to come out in our get up.

Check out our sweet shoes

With the brothers

With Grandpa and Grandma C

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Christensen

The car decorating crew

It was a very nice wedding and we're super excited for them. They're still in Puerto Rico...lucky ducks. And tomorrow we're heading up to the big city of Shelley, Idaho for Jessica and Brian's reception. And then real life starts again on Monday.

July Update

2011-08-04T12:30:00.009-06:00

I started my new job and my hours are significantly longer and busier so the ol' blog has been on the back burner lately. The summer is flying by and I don't even want to think about Jason going back to school in just a few short weeks. It's pretty much been the best summer ever...it has to be, right? Since we got MARRIED and all. Plus we've been doing lots of other fun things like...

Learning how to use our new blender...

Seeing the final Harry Potter in Imax 3D. I normally hate 3D cause of the stupid glasses, but I must admit it was pretty sweet. (I realize this is not a fantastic picture, but the people behind us got seriously mad after the first flash so we were too scared to take another).

Going to Lagoon... It turns out I can't really handle the big kids rides anymore. I seriously felt sick after like 3 rides. It was pathetic. I didn't want to hold Jason back so I just watched him from the side lines and took pictures with all the other moms... I suck.

He still had fun without me..

And some wakeboarding... Which is so much fun while you're actually in the water, but seriously miserable the 3 days after when you feel like you got ran over by a train...maybe even 2 trains. We both had to bust out the icy hot patches and sleep with them on our backs. It was absolutely miserable. So as much fun as I had I'm gonna have to say it might not be worth the pain and agony and 2 nights of terrible sleep.

And watching our wonderful friends Brian and Jessica be married this morning in the Salt Lake temple. Can't wait for their reception tonight. We seriously love them. Jess was my roommate for the past year and a half so we've seen their relationship from the beginning. They really are perfect for each other and we're so excited to have another newlywed couple right down the road.
We'll be married 7 weeks tomorrow! It's been an amazing summer. And we still have 3 weeks left! I sure wish it were more though...

2 Strikes and You're Out

2011-07-13T12:02:00.003-06:00

That's right in slow pitch softball you only get 2 strikes. You would think it would be enough. I mean, it's slow pitch. Well, let me tell you, sometimes it's not. I struck out not once, but twice in our game last night. Luckily, we were up by a lot so it wasn't that big of a deal other than the embarrassment. Seriously, there's nothing worse than swinging and missing a ball that is traveling at a top speed of 5 mph. Then there's the walk of shame back to the dugout... On the bright side Jason played really well and even hit a homerun. I think he felt pressure to compensate for my suckiness. He got on base every time and had several good hits. Afterwards, we went to McDonalds to get Jason his home run treat. He chose a rolo McFlurry, which was delicious even though it had caramel in it. He also got me a diet coke even though I didn't earn it. What a nice husband I have.

I Heart Summer

2011-07-12T15:51:00.001-06:00

Happy 7/11

2011-07-11T10:09:00.006-06:00

I hear they're giving out free slurpies today at 7/11. Just sayin... We are finally back home and settling in. It's been a crazy, but wonderful three weeks. We went on our honeymoon to San Diego (post to follow), then we were back for a few days and then spent a week up at my parents and had our reception up there (post to follow) and now we're back in SLC. We went to our ward for the first time yesterday and there were two other couples that had just moved in. And one of them were also Christensens...whatev. It looks like it will be a fun ward with lots of diversity. We'll probably get put in the primary. It looked like there were at least a thousand kids. So this last weekend we went camping up in big cottonwood canyon at Spruces. Jason's fam used to go there every year when he was a kid so he loves it up there. We had to drive up the canyon 4 times that day to make it happen first to put our name on the waiting list, then to set up our stuff, then to rain proof everything and finally to camp. I guess I only came up 2 of the 4 times. We had a great time even though there was a crazy storm that night. We managed to keep dry, but we didn't sleep very well because it was SO loud. I seriously thought we were done for at one point. I also didn't sleep very well because I ate like a half a pack of oreos and made myself sick. I seriously thought I was going to puke. Who does that? Let me tell you...I have learned my lesson. So other than that...it was a lovely time.

Jason saying "welcome to the mountains"

Please excuse my total lack of make up.

So excited for jiffy pop and blueberry pankcakes. Too bad somebody forgot the spatula so pancakes were an utter failure.

Also, I got a JOB! I start the 25th, which works out quite nicely since my last day at Glycosan is on Friday. So I get a week off. Booya. I think we're going to hike King's peak sometime during the week so that will be fun. I hope it doesn't snow like it did last time I tried to do it. I also hope I survive it. I haven't excercised in a month and it's 30 miles round trip...

This being married thing is great. It's so awesome that we can take trips together now all by ourselves whenever we want. It's also very nice when I get a flat tire and I have a husband to come save the day. When we got back from Washington I went to go to work the next day, got in my car, drove for a block and a half and then realized (from the terrible clunking noises my car was making) that my tire was completely flat. I think I changed a tire in driver's ed (10+ years ago), but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to jack my car up so Jason came to rescue me.

So happy.

I think that's all for now. I'll post pictures from the WA reception as soon as I get them.

p.s. Can I just say that I think my number 1 pet peeve is when the automatic flushers keep flushing while you're trying to tuck in and zip up. Seriously, the toilets at work flush like 7 times before I get out of the stall. It makes me more angry than I can say.

Mr & Mrs C

2011-06-27T15:02:00.005-06:00

We are officially Mr. and Mrs. Christensen! Our wedding day was absolutely perfect. I was so grateful to have my family there and so many great friends. So thank you to everyone for making it wonderful. Here are some lovely photos that Kelsey took. More to come later...

And now it's Monday and we're back at work... Luckily, we leave on Wednesday afternoon for our Washington reception. Getting married is the best :)

Picture Update

2011-06-06T11:43:00.005-06:00

So I finally took some pictures of the house. They're kind of like preview pictures cause we still have a lot of stuff in boxes and nothing on the walls...

Here is the living room with our awesome ksl couches and lovely coffee table (thanks Sahra and James!)

Kitchen. There's not a ton of counter space, but there's a nice dining area and a huge pantry.

Here is the Master and the beautiful quilt my grandma Day made us.
The lovely walk in closet and the jewelery center Sabrina set up for me.
Audrey made me this awesome t-shirt quilt. It's a pretty good representation of how we spent our time in college basically having the time of our lives.

I'll post more house pictures once we get really moved in and get things decorated which probably won't be for quite a while... We're really happy with the place we found. It's seriously perfect for us. Someone keeps parking in our spot though. Maybe they don't know that someone moved in. If it happens again I think I'll write a nice note asking them to park else where.

Jason's younger brother David graduated from High School on Thursday. So here we are with him.

So we wanted to give David a little cash money for his graduation cause he was going on a trip with his friends this week. We forgot to get him a card on Thursday and by Saturday we stopped by the house and he was about to leave so I quickly wrote him out a note...turns out I spelled graduation wrong. He noticed it immediately and made so much fun of me. He's a real smarty pants. It sucks when you spell graduation wrong. You would never guess I have a college degree.

I've been getting a lot of groupons lately to restaurants. I just can't seem to quit buying them. They always seem like SUCH a good deal at the time. Maybe in the end we go out to dinner more and spend more money because we just have to use the groupon, but I love eating so I say bring on the groupons. We went to this place called Enrique's House on Friday night. It was pretty much fantastic. They had some sort of birthday party going on in there so there was a mariachi band and all sorts of singing and dancing. I felt like we were IN Mexico. Also, the food was delicious.

We get married in 12 days!!!

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa C's

2011-06-02T10:30:00.004-06:00

Last night we drove up to Ogden to get our couch that we had stored at Jason's grandparents' house. While we were down getting the couch Jason's grandma pulled out the toys that Jason and his brothers used to play with when they were kids. Ok Jason was as happy as a fat kid (or me) in a candy store. It was so funny. He remembered exactly how all of the little pieces fit together and all the details of all the little toys. I think it was the best day of his life so far.

Playing cowboys and indians.

Here's all the loot that Jason was setting up.

Grandma and Grandpa were getting into it too

Grandpa putting together the merry go round

Jason was telling me all about how to put the guys together so they could go on an Alaskan expedition. They had a sled and dogs and they had to carry their cameras to get some good footage, but they also had to carry their guns just in case they saw a polar bear... So funny.

Setting up the tent and the ambulance

Concentrating so hard...pretty sure his tongue is sticking out

SO happy

See Manda...the top goes off and you put the wheel chair guy in like this and then you can strap this guy to the bed and hook him up to the iv.... and this guy has a walkie talkie... It was really cute. Next time we're going to have to go up for longer to make sure we have time to play.

So I decided yesterday that I'm going to start riding my bike into work every day. It worked out pretty well yesterday, but I got a bit of a late start today. Jason came over to the new apartment this morning to unload the couch we picked up last night. It's looking quite wonderful I might add. But after all was said and done it was like 9:00 and I still hadn't left so Jason said that I should just jump in the truck with him and he would take me back to his house (about half way to work) and I could just ride the rest of the way in. However, I already had my helmet on and felt no need to take it off... so here I am riding shot gun with my helmet on...

Yep, that's right I ride to work in my stretchy pants and then just change when I get there. I think it's time to get a pair of actual bike shorts though. Two days of riding in a row equals a very sore under carriage.
Anyway, I'm glad it's summer and I'm glad I can ride my bike around. It's seriously fun and it's good exercise. I do wish I had a road bike cause I get pretty irritated when those guys zoom past me. Whatever though... And I'll be walking to subway for lunch cause I don't have a bike lock. Oh happy days.

Hello June

2011-06-01T10:38:00.004-06:00

So it's June today. That means I'm getting married in 17 days! Holy cow that seriously came up SO fast. I guess that's what happens when you have a 2 month engagement. We have been so busy every day that the time is flying! Yesterday we had a softball game ( I swear I will take a picture next game). We look pretty cute in our matching t shirts. We did pretty well our first couple of games, but we got absolutely destroyed last night. They called the game early on account of us being 20-runned. I guess they didn't see a real chance of a comeback. Oh and I struck out. And Jason hit a dribbler to the catcher and he was promptly thrown out. And everyone made about a thousand errors. So I guess you could say it wasn't our finest showing. We also went to costco and got ourselves signed up. We received this...

That's $10 in costco cash. So thanks to Kelsey for the coupon. She gets $10 as well for her efforts. I seriously love costco. We got there just in time before the samples shut down. Lucky day. Jason wanted to buy a 10 gallon bucket of sunflower seeds to bring to the game. Maybe next time. We did share a hot dog and a frozen yogurt. So delicious every time. We also went to IKEA and bought this...
I'm so excited to put it together and put all of our books and games in it. IKEA is also awesome. And they have a food court there. Yesterday's special was the Swedish meatballs. Only $2.49! Unfortunately Jason shut me down on account of our unhealthy eating lately and the aforementioned hot dog at costco. I also rode my bike to work today to try to get back into a work out mode after the shmorgazborg that was Memorial Day weekend. It's only 8 miles, but I swear it's uphill the WHOLE way. It's good for me though. I'm getting married in like 2 weeks and I don't want a double chin in the pictures. Who cares if I'm sweaty all day...sometimes we have to make sacrifices.

Leaving the Turnberry Express

2011-05-31T11:05:00.003-06:00

Well it's pretty much official. I have left Turnberry. All that remains is my bike. I slept in the new apartment for the first time last night and it actually went surprisingly well. I was pretty worried I was going to be scared, but I slept like a baby. I think I could get used to getting a queen sized bed all to myself. It was a super busy weekend. Sabrina came down and helped me out. Lucky for her most of the stuff was already moved. She did the honors of helping me unpack and organize. Unlucky for me, she does not appreciate my hoarding tendencies (apparently neither does Kelsey who is cleaning out my room at home) and made me DI tons of stuff. I guess I don't need two of the exact same shirt or the skirt I've held onto since high school... whatever... at least now there's room in the closet for a few of Jason's things. I seriously love the new apartment. It's super cute and in a great location. I'll take some pictures once we get it put together a little more. We've got it pretty much furnished thanks to the KSL classifieds, yard sales and nice friends. I think the only other thing we need is a study desk for Jason. Sabrina and I spotted a little entertainment center on our way home on Saturday. It didn't quite fit in my car, but with a little bit of yarn and a micro fiber towel we got the job done. All in a days work...

We also were up in Layton on Sunday for Jason's cousin's missionary farewell. We found this classy little number in the parking lot...kinda reminds me of home.
More pictures to come soon...

We Have A House!

2011-05-25T15:21:00.002-06:00

So we officially have a house...well an apartment. It's super cute and has TONS of space. Which we had to trade for a covered parking spot, washer and dryer hook ups and a dishwasher :( Oh well, you can't win them all. I didn't have a dishwasher on my mission and did just fine so we'll survive. We got our keys last night and it's so fun to be able to start moving stuff in. It will be so nice to finally have our own space. I'm not thrilled about having to live there for 3 weeks by myself. I'm afraid of the dark and being alone so...looks like I'll be sleeping with the hall light on. But it will be nice to be able to get things mostly arranged before we get married. Sabrina is going to come visit me this weekend so she's excited to help me move stuff... Invitations are in the mail so let me know if anyone didn't get one yet. I'm paranoid that half of them aren't going to get where they're supposed to be. So wedding stuff is going pretty well. Other than that I'm still looking for a job. Hopefully something will come up soon cause things are starting to wrap up here. Although I did get some free movie tickets from the used car lot just for stopping into their big event (even if I had to go back 3 times to bug them until they finally handed them over) so I guess you could say life is pretty good right now.

Busy Busy Busy

2011-05-21T19:32:00.003-06:00

So the count down is on...4 weeks from today! Boy did that come up fast. We picked up our invitations yesterday so I've done a lot of stuffing and addressing for the past 24 hours, but hopefully they'll be in the mail early next week. We've had a busy couple of weeks with my mom and sisters in town the first weekend in May for a family bridal shower here. Kelsey took our engagements that weekend and they turned out great! Click here to see them. Then last weekend we drove up to Spokane to do another family bridal shower and spend some time with the fam. Aud even got to drive over with Austin and spend the weekend with us. We had a blast even if we didn't end up getting to help plant the garden (sorry daddy) on account of the rain. So with all the company and trips and working the time is seriously flying by. It's going to be a dash to the finish, but we're happy and enjoying our engagement. I had a seriously productive day today...I went yard saleing this morning and made a serious haul. Two bookshelves, two lamps, shoe rack, big pretty mirror, two wall hangings, a kitchen table, four chairs and a couple of shirts all for $80! I seriously love a bargain. We found an apartment too! We'll hopefully be moving in by next weekend.. Until then my poor roommates are going to have to look at my bargains sitting in the living room...

I Need A Job Or Else....

2011-05-03T12:33:00.003-06:00

Maybe we'll at least get some gym memberships for our wedding (thanks Brian)...

Other Adventures of April

2011-04-29T12:02:00.006-06:00

I have a little bit of catching up to do for April. So a few weeks ago I went to Orlando for another (and last) company conference. I told my friend Sarah that I would only go on one condition, that we go to Disney World for at least a day. She quickly agreed and we decided to go over a day early. We picked to go to the Magical Kingdom (pretty much the same as Disneyland) because it was directly across the street from our hotel. Which actually worked out great because we could go back and forth and set up our booth and still get plenty of park time in. It was a really fun day. We worked the fast pass system like champs and got to do everything we wanted to at least twice. The castle was amazing. So much better than the one they have in Disneyland. My only complaint was the food. The food was terrible. It was terrible in the park, it was terrible in our hotel AND it was expensive. So pretty much the worst kind of terrible food. We did go into downtown Disney one night and had a delicious Italian meal. Here are a few pics in front of the awesome castle. They even have a restaurant inside of it (which unfortunately, probably isn't very good).

So then the last night of the conference we got to go into EPCOT for free. They let us in from like 8 to midnight and we were like oh there's no way we'll stay here that late, but after watching the big fireworks/laser show it was already 10:30 and we had to at least ride a few rides. By the time we were walking out it was past midnight and we were pretty exhausted, but it was super fun to be able to see another park. I say you gotta take advantage of what's free. Although, I think I could have done without the super intense mission to mars ride. They offer you a less intense ride or a more intense ride...I say take the less intense one unless you want to have to use the barf bags that are conveniently provided. I must be getting old or something.

So in other news, Jason and I have been trying to find stuff to furnish our new apartment (which we don't have yet). The other week I was looking on KSL and found a sweet deal on some couches. Then I saw that there's tons of these mattress outlet places all over so we decided we should go ahead and buy one of those too. We had to drive to Bountiful (about 20 min) to get the mattress set, which Jason successfully strapped to the top. Then the couches were in Ogden (another 30 min north) so we decided to just go ahead and keep on going and pick up the couches. We managed to stuff them all in the truck and luckily Jason's grandparents live in Ogden and were kind enough to let us keep the couches at their house until we find a place. So there you go...we feel like big kids now.

Also, my car registration needed to be renewed this month which means my car must pass the safety test. Last year my tail light was broken, but they let me patch it up and call it good. This year, they said no dice. So Jason went out to the pick n pull and found several Luminas. Unfortunately, all but one were missing the passenger side tail light. The one that still had it had a locked trunk and the geniuses that made these cars didn't install a trunk popper. So Jason had to rip out the back seat and crawl through to unhook the tail light from the inside. But he got it done and installed it successfully so the Lumey is good for another year. And I'm pretty sure he had the time of his life doing it. The picture below is a before picture....
And lastly, one of my companions got married last weekend. She was my greenie and so much fun. I'm super excited for her, but sad that her and her new husband will be moving to Arizona shortly.
These are all girls that served in the Catania mission. None of them were my companions, but I love them just the same. It's funny how serving in the same mission at the same time creates such unique bonds. I'm seriously grateful every day for my mission and the people that are in my life because of it.

Finally!!!

2011-04-26T17:31:00.003-06:00

We're engaged!!! Jason officially proposed to me on Friday. We're getting married June 18th in the Salt Lake temple with a reception that night. Our Spokane reception will be at my parents on July 2nd so save the date!! I knew the proposal was coming since I had already picked out the ring, but he was still creative and super cute about it. He came and picked me up on Friday afternoon and told me that he wanted to go on a walk cause he'd been sitting at work all day. So I reluctantly agreed after I threw a fit because I couldn't find my keys... We walked over to a softball park that is close to my house that we hung out at a lot last summer. When we got a little closer I saw that there was a blanket in the outfield and I figured out what he was up to. When he went to set everything up it was totally secluded and empty, but by the time he got back there with me the entire landscaping crew had shown up so there were like 6 guys mowing the lawns all around us. He was a little disappointed, but we just laughed about it. So he got me some pretty roses and he made me this very sweet photo album with all of our pictures since we first started dating over a year and a half ago. I'll be honest it made me cry a little and then he just asked me and I of course said yes. He also got me a huge wall calendar (see below) because we always joked that if we ever got married we would get a 5-yr calendar and just start planning. Mostly because we've bought a lot of last minute plane tickets for him over the months because we were never quite sure if we'd still be dating by my trip home in July or my trip to Denver in September or my trip to WA for Christmas...the list goes on. SO now we can finally plan ahead AND be on the same flight together. Oh the blessings of marriage :)

More Updates Without Pictures

2011-03-30T15:06:00.006-06:00

Finally, another post. It's been a very busy couple of weeks. Well, mostly it's been busy at work which is where I do most of my blogging. But as compensation for all of the recent hard work we get to take Friday off. So I can't complain at all because I've got a long list of things that I need to do. I finally took the GRE! I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but I did well enough I think. I still might take it again because I think I can do better. I hate timed tests. It was very stressful and I couldn't believe how stupid some of the problems were, but I was glad to finally take the long awaited test. We'll see how I did on the analytical writing section...I won't get the results for another week or so. I haven't signed up to take it again, but I think I probably should sooner than later so all of my previous studying doesn't go to waste. I will say that I learned a lot of new words and now they seem to be popping up everywhere and I can't believe I didn't know what they meant before. I'm reading Gone With The Wind right now and it has all sorts of GRE vocab words. Also, the book is great. I highly recommend it. It's super long, but quite enjoyable I'm about two-thirds of the way through now and I'm excited to watch the movie when I'm done.

My marathon training is actually going pretty well. I've managed to get two-10 mile runs in and I'm hoping to do a 12 or 13 on Friday. So I guess I still have a ways to go with only 5 weeks left, but whatever. I'll make it happen.

I still haven't found a job, but I'm sure something will work out before June. I am going to Orlando next month so as much as I'm not looking forward to sitting through a conference I do get to go to Disney World.

I'm excited for conference this weekend. It's always so refreshing to listen to the talks. I'm interested to see what they focus on this time. I have a mission reunion on Friday night and then Saturday night I'm going to see George and Reba. That's right...George Strait and Reba McIntire. I'm so excited. Kaylee's sister Sarah has tickets and so the 4 of us are going. It's seriously going to be the TOOL. Pictures to follow.

What else? I made the final decision last night that Bajio is not as good as Cafe Rio. It's just not. It was great in Rexburg when that was all I knew, but now that I've had the Rio there's no going back.

Also, I bought an emergency kit. It's legit...with tents, blankets, camp stove, lots of dried food, knives, ropes, flashlights...the works. That pretty much sums up the happenings of my life right now. Hopefully future posts will at least have some pictures... I still need to buy a new camera.

Free Lunch

2011-03-09T10:06:00.003-07:00

So I discovered this really yummy Progresso soup that tastes exactly like taco soup. It doesn't even have that nasty taste that most Progresso soups have. Add a little cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips it's like the real deal. They were on sale the other day so I bought a bunch and I was planning on enjoying a delicious can for lunch. I even bagged up some cheese and chips and had a little container of sour cream all put together. Well what did I do? I walked out of the house without my lunch! Probably because I was carrying 3 GRE study books, my purse, 2 pieces of toast and a glass of milk. Kind of a heavy load...I didn't even notice I was missing my lunch bag. Seriously disappointing...but the silver lining is that today is free Golden Treasure Shrimp day at Panda Express.

Click HERE to print off the coupon for a FREE single serving of delicious shrimp.

General Updates

2011-03-08T12:30:00.003-07:00

1. It snowed a foot and a half last night. Not cool. I was really hoping for a snow day, but no dice. I had to scrape all the snow off with the kitchen broom...which I broke. So sorry roommates. I owe our house a new broom.

2. I'm studying like crazy for the GRE. I'm taking it in two weeks. I still wish I would have started studying sooner, but I seriously need to just take it otherwise I never will. I'm skipping tv this week and everything. No Bachelor last night, no Biggest Loser tonight. Times are tough.

3. I'm looking for a job. My company is moving to San Fran so come May or June I will be jobless. I could go to CA, but I don't really want to. So if anybody knows of anything in the science world please let me know. But I may get another trip to Orlando before I leave if I stay at least through April. I mean I'd have to go to a conference, which aren't really that fun, but if I can fit in a day at Disney World it might be worth it.

4. I finally finished my mission photo book. It's awesome. And I only made 3 typos/mislabeled pictures. Not bad for a 100 page book and me being lazy and not going back and double checking everything. I did it on My Publisher, which I highly recommend. It turned out great and looks really high quality. Their program is also really easy to use. You can check out my book if you click HERE.

5. I went up to Rexburg over the weekend and visited Jill and Steven and little Juliette. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. I need a new camera. Jill took me around campus and I was amazed at all the changes they've made. I kind of feel jipped that it's so much cooler now. Jill and I had tons of fun as usual goofing off and reminiscing. I apologize to Steven who probably gets sick of the giggling.

6. I signed up for the Windermere Marathon in Spokane back in November. Guess what.. the race is on May 14th. Ok that's like 9 weeks away! I guess I knew it was coming up, but holy cow that is soon. I maxing out at like 3 mile runs these days. If I want to be ready in time I'm going to have to go on a 10 miler like this weekend. They don't do refunds. I already asked. So either I can transfer my funds to the race for next year or I get myself in gear. It's just such a time commitment..not to mention that actual suckiness of running that far on a regular basis. But the St. George marathon was one of the coolest things I've ever done and I want to do it again...so it looks like I better start running... Does anyone know if they make running boots? Cause that's what I need right about now in SLC.

7. And the good news about the snow is that I still have a day pass to go snowboarding which I'm using on Saturday and after that we're going to this awesome tubing hill. It's one of those that has the lift that will pull you back up so minimal effort is required. I'm pretty sure I'll be dead tired after both activities, but I'm excited nonetheless.

So happy Tuesday!

Off To A Great Start...

2011-03-03T11:38:00.003-07:00

I woke up late this morning. I hurried and got ready and then made some oatmeal to take with me on the road. I opened the front door...got a little off balanced...and here you go... Oatmeal on the doormat..bowl face down..milk everywhere.

The picture was taken after I took the bowl back inside and moved the mat out from in front of the door (to avoid another mishap).

And my solution...thank you Jessica for the suggestion.

A Snowshoeing We Will Go

2011-02-27T22:03:00.008-07:00

On Saturday we woke up to a foot of fresh snow so we decided to head up the canyon and do some snowshoeing. We rented shoes from REI and got our snow gear on and away we went. It was seriously so much fun. The weather was beautiful and the canyon was all snow covered and gorgeous. We just hiked our hearts out and goofed around in the snow. We seriously had a blast. I sure have great roommates. Please excuse the total lack of make up in these pictures.

Sabrina's Home!

2011-02-19T21:50:00.012-07:00

Sabrina came home Wednesday from her mission. She served in LA. She was originally assigned to the visitor's center, but only ended up spending about 6 months there after it finally opened. She loved her mission, but we're all excited to have her home. It's crazy that she's home... that means I've been home for 2.5 years! Where does the time go?

Gracie holding up the sign. Apparently I don't speak Spanish..it should have been benvenidos..I just wrote it Italian style.

My mamma and dad were pretty excited.

Gracie and Evelyn made shirts for the occassion. Well..Kelsey made Evelyn's and my mom made Gracie's. Gracie's ended up being more like a letter...Dear Sabrina, welcome home. I hope you had a good mission....

Evelyn meeting Aunt Beaner for the first time.

Gracie was so excited for her to come home. She wrote her about a 4 page letter at school and gave it to her at dinner. It was pretty cute.

With Grandma Dixie and Robert
With Grandma Day and Aunt Renee

And the cutest bathing baby award goes to Evelyn. Kinda just makes you laugh huh?

My Mom the Gymnist

2011-02-17T13:24:00.002-07:00

So Gracie can ALMOST do the splits. My mom decided to show her up.

If you're impressed by that you should see her on the parallel bars.

Welcome to February

2011-02-07T14:25:00.005-07:00

I'm so glad it's February. January is always the worst month of the year...cold, cloudy and yucky. Over the weekend I went snowmobiling with some friends and it was seriously the best time I've had in a long time. I'm thinking about trying out for the x games next year. I haven't been snowmobiling since jr hi maybe and I think the time before that I ran the snowmobile into the house... Luckily, there were no accidents this time and I even went over a big, scary jump.

And the best news of today is I get to hang out with this girl all week (and her mommy too).

Kelsey took this cute picture...I hope I'm not stealing her thunder by posting it before she does. Sorry in advance.

Blog Design Issues

2011-01-27T15:41:00.003-07:00

Can someone please tell me how to get my side bar column back up and running? I go into the template designer and everything looks right, but then when I apply it to the blog and then look at it everything is at the bottom.... I don't understand. Also, I ate Indian food today and liked it.

Dentist Rantings

2011-01-26T14:07:00.004-07:00

So I know it's been forever since I've blogged.. I guess there's lots of reasons why, but the main reason is my camera is broken, which means I haven't been taking any pictures lately. I decided to break the silence today because I'm in a bit of a rage after going to the dentist. I hate the dentist. I think we all do. I've had A LOT of trips to the dentist in the past 10 years because of the whole softball knocking my teeth out incident, but in the last few years my trips have been mostly cleanings and therefore, less painful. I still HATE the dentist. The way it smell in there, the fake, skinny, blonde receptionist/hygenist/assistant, the way they always ask you the same 3 questions every visit at the same time they stick their hands in your mouth, the way they make your gums bleed profusely... seriously, all of it makes me gag. Well, today was no exception. I left angry...again. They got me in a lot faster than usual, which was good. The hygenist didn't ask me too many questions, which was good. I guess the part that made me angry came when she viciously flossed my teeth to the point that I was afraid she was going to slice my face in two. She also knocked her knuckle on my nose more than once in her vigor. Seriously, she was going to town. It was awful. Do I floss every day? No. So yes, that probably attributed to some of the bleeding and pain. However, this woman was excessive. Maybe she was trying to teach me a lesson...I'm not sure. What I do know is that I had to take some ibuprofen on my way back to work to get my gums to stop throbbing. I also swung through the Mcdonalds drive thru to get a diet coke (even though I've sort of quit) to help calm my rage and to get some sort of a revenge. What's that dentist? You say I shouldn't drink soda? How's a 32 oz diet coke 30 minutes after my appointment sound? Take that I say.

For Old Time's Sake

2010-12-17T15:18:00.008-07:00

It's been a long day at work..I'm just so excited to being going home tomorrow. In my boredom/inability to focus I found some old pictures that I thought merited a post.

Rusty sends his well wishes of a Merry Christmas to all

Santa came!

The airband

Little Gracie when she was like 2.5 or something
Probably one of the funniest pictures ever taken to this day
My dad always wondered how the top of the dynasty got dented and scratched...
Just spreading a little Christmas cheer
Here we are all looking very stable on our ice skates.

And this one is courtesy of my mom while I was on my mission. I was afraid that all the animals were going to die while I was gone and no one would tell me...so this is my mom sending proof. "We tried to take a picture of Maggie and Josephine together but Maggie is phyco and wouldn't stay put. Dad had to end up holding her while taking the pic. Josephine is like wtf. It's pretty funny."

My Year In Phone Pictures

2010-12-10T09:40:00.008-07:00

Greetings from Hogwarts

2010-12-09T10:45:00.006-07:00

Welcome to Hogwarts! The castle was everything I dreamed of and more. It was huge and exactly like it is in the movies.

See what I mean? Huge and incredible.

Welcome to Hogsmeade. There was butter beer galore which we tasted and weren't that impressed with. I think it was butterscotch flavored. All the shops were awesome and very well done. It was super crowded, but we were happy to wait in line.

The Hogwarts Express.

I almost bought an extendable ear, but the prices were a little high as you can imagine.

I did splurge and buy a chocolate frog at Honeydukes as well as some Bertie Botts every flavor bean.
Last night we were eating them and we got a pepper, toothpaste, green pepper, earwax and salt. It's a pretty fun game really...

We almost had lunch at the the Three Broomsticks, but all they had to offer were turkey legs and other large portions of meat.

This is inside Olivander's Wand Shop. There were seriously floor to ceiling wands. And we got chosen to do the demonstration. Olivander helped us find the right wand and when he put them in our hands the room lit up and the wind (fan in front of his desk) swirled around us. He then told us that our wands were available for purchase for $30... we had to pass.

We met up with the lovely ladies of Beauxbaton and the fellows from Durmstrang and they asked to take a picture with us. It was seriously the best day ever. I sure wish I could stay at Hogwarts permanently.

The rest of the park was only so-so. I did enjoy the Dr. Seuss land because it was all decorated in Christmas stuff. We walked through it quite a bit just enjoying the fun decorations.

This is a picture of someone else's kids..weird I know, but I really wanted a picture of the Whos. They were pretty cute.

So overall I would say Harry Potter rocked my world, but the rest of the park was kind of disappointing. I'm sure glad we were able to go. It made the rest of the trip (meaning long days at a conference) worth it.

Only 8 more days till I'm home again! I can hardly wait.

Home for Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T16:17:00.004-07:00

I was finally able to get out of Salt Lake at 10 pm on Tuesday. I was just glad to be able to get out at all that night. It was so good to finally be home again. It's my favorite place in the world. On Wednesday my dad took me and the Grace meister into DP to have breakfast with Grandma Dixie and Robert. Then we had to get to work getting ourself some wood. Apparently it's going to be a long winter with 2 feet of snow before December. Me and Gracie helped my dad out loading the wood shed up. Gracie's a good little helper even though she almost clocked my dad in the head more than once...at least we looked good in our get up.

Rusty got a new coat cause he got his hair cut too short and he hated going outside cause it was so cold. His little legs would just start shivering and shaking and my mom took pity on him. Isn't he handsome?

I made a lot of Christmas cards while I was home. There's nothing better than sitting downstairs next to the fire watching the biggest loser and stamping.

My mamma took me in for a special day in town. We went out to Sushi and then to see Morning Glory. We made quite the scene in the movie theater because we were running late and I had texted Kelsey on our way in and she said that the movie was rated R so as we were sitting there I was frantically searching on my phone to make sure the movie was PG-13 meanwhile my mom's cane was falling all over the place making all sorts of racket. Then I had to go to the bathroom, but my mom couldn't find the tickets so as she was searching her cane fell again for the 5th time...oh boy. It was funny. But we finally got settled in and enjoyed the movie even if the people sitting behind us did not enjoy us being there. And the mamma bought me some new pretty necklaces from the Fashion Bug. I got the owl in honor of Harry Potter.

My mamma and daddy on Thanksgiving. I sure like them.

The Collins family join us every year. We sure like them and they must like us too because they keep coming around.

On Saturday we braved the snow to go see Jilly. She's got her cute pregnant belly on. It was so fun to see everyone and we laughed our heads off as usual. I can't wait to see their cute little baby girl soon.

It snowed almost every day. It was craziness. I think we got more snow than Salt Lake did. It sure was pretty though.

When I came back to my car it was buried in more than a foot of snow and I had left a case of diet pepsi in the back...it did not survive. There was a massive explosion. Welcome home I say.

The good news is I'll be in Orlando on Friday and at Harry Potter world on Saturday. Sunny and 70! I can hardly wait.

The other good news is that I'll be home again in less than 3 weeks. I sure do love the holidays and all the family time I get!

Stuck in the Airport

2010-11-23T19:03:00.002-07:00

So I'm currently sitting in the B terminal of the Salt Lake airport. All runways are closed due to the massive blizzard that hit about an hour ago. I thought I was going to make it out... we got on the plane and sat there for about an hour and were then informed that there was too much snow on the wings and we needed to deplane. The current status is that they'll update the status in about an hour...grr. The girl across from me just got telling her boyfriend how fun this is as she's sipping her starbucks... I disagree girl. This is not fun. I'd rather be A. on the plane in the air about to touch down in Spokane or B. in Jason's basement sitting by the fire. Not stuck in the airport surrounded by strangers and screaming children. Although I have made a few friends so far... On the bright side I do have a diet coke and the first two Harry Potter movies. I do not have, however, my phone charger or anything else that would be important in an overnight airport stay. Besides my computer, diet coke and Harry Potter movies I have a bag of celery and a tangerine, a book that's not that great, one cookie, 3 pieces of dark chocolate, my mittens, my purse and my ipod. I didn't want to be inconveinenced by a carry on...so I checked 2 bags instead. I sure wish I had all the stamping stuff that's packed away. I would set up a card making station right here. I also would like to have a pillow and a sleeping bag. Talk about being unprepared. I should have known to pack all the essentials in a carry on when I was told to leave work by 2 and the whole University shut down in order to prepare for what is supposed to be the blizzard of the year. I better go on a food run right now before everything is sold out and I'm left to ration my celery sticks, tangerine and chocolate.. Happy Thanksgiving.

Harry Potter Tomorrow!

2010-11-19T15:45:00.001-07:00

The time has finally arrived! I didn't go to the midnight showing because of work today... and then the tickets were all sold out for tonight by the time I went to buy them so tomorrow at 10pm it is. I can hardly wait!

My Birthday Celebration Continues

2010-11-11T16:19:00.003-07:00

Disney On Ice: Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey

"Make imagination your destination! Join Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on a journey into the magical worlds of Disney's The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Peter Pan, and Lilo & Stitch. Discover Ariel and Sebastian's enchanting undersea kingdom; vist the Pride Lands with Simba and Nala; soar through starry skies with Peter Pan and his sassy fairy friend Tinker Bell; and say "aloha" to fun with Lilo & Stitch. You'll be captivated by the music, beauty and laughter in a journey so magical, you'll never want to go home."

Ok I'm going to this tonight!! I can hardly wait. Jason gave me tickets for my birthday and tonight is the big night. We're going to a lovely pre-show dinner at Hibachi House because I have a coupon thanks to restaurant.com. I actually paid for the coupon...somehow I always get scammed..I hope we at least get some really good sushi though. Someone at work asked me what I got for my birthday and among other things I told them tickets to Disney on Ice and the new Taylor Swift album...I guess I'm a 12-yr-old girl. Whatever. I love Taylor Swift and I love Disney. In fact, I'll probably cry when Ariel comes out tonight just like I cried when I was telling Kelsey about how all the Disneyland workers wave at you in their Mickey gloves when you're walking into the park. That's how much I love it.

Weekend in Denver

2010-11-09T14:31:00.003-07:00

This last weekend Jason and I went to Denver to visit Kelsey, Steven and little Evelyn. It was a very nice weekend filled with delicious food, games, crafts and of course looking at the baby...pretty much all of my favorite things. The boys got to go to a Nuggets game so me and Kels stayed home and crafted, dyed my hair, got Panda take out and watched Shopaholic. So I would say we probably had more fun although they got nachos at the game... tough call. Saturday we went to the botanical gardens and had a nice little walk around outside. It was so warm. It was around 77 in Denver and then when we got back yesterday it was snowing in Salt Lake. Boo. We played lots of games and Jason even won a round of Settlers of Catan which is an impressive feat in the Jarvis household. Steven and Kelsey are both really good at games. One day we'll beat them at Cranium...

Here's little Evelyn all ready for the day at the botanical gardens (it was very bright out). She really is the cutest baby ever

SO excited about getting my hair dyed

Here I am with all the pins/barrettes I made. I pretty much just hot glued some flowers together, but it was fun and now I have some nice lookin pins to go on my plain ol' cardigans.

I wish I would have taken some more pictures, but that's pretty much all I have....

In other news, the Biggest Loser is on tonight and I can hardly wait. I got ripped off last week by the election taking over all the tv channels. I'm hoping for an extra hour tonight to make up for last weeks disappointment.

BHOOL (Best Halloween of Our Lives)

2010-11-01T19:15:00.007-06:00

First off, thank you November for the beautiful afternoon so I could go running. And thank you roommates for hooking me up with Taylor. She made an excellent running companion. But seriously, I love her new album.

And now presenting this years Halloween costumes: Meet Tiger and Elin woods.

Yes, we did darken Jason's skin and black out his tooth. It was hilarious.

Here comes the rest of the crew... Caddy Justin.

Mermaid Jessica, me, Rocket Girl Kaylee (she made her own jet pack. It was very creative).

The whole crew. Look at Jason's face.

Another golfing legend Chubbs Peterson

Pretty sure he looks exactly like Tiger.

So we didn't win the costume contest. It was a big disappointment. We made it to the semi-finals and then these stupid ninja turtles beat us out along with Buddy the Elf. We had a fun time at the party though.

And for your viewing pleasure... a few dance moves by Tiger and his caddy.

Here I am on my birthday. I wore a tiara over to Jason's house cause I knew it would get a pretty good response from his dad and brothers. I was right. Check out my pretty necklace got me. He picked it out all by himself. And he got me tickets to Disney on Ice! I'm seriously so excited. And I got a mani/pedi courtesy of my parents. I got lots of well wishes and felt very loved on my special day. Welcome to 26.

Mount Oly

2010-10-26T10:44:00.006-06:00

On Saturday morning Jason and I decided to hike Mount Olympus with my good friend Kristen from home and her boyfriend Gavin. I have been wanting to hike Olympus since I moved to Salt Lake. It's a very prominent peak in the Wasatch front and when I'm out on my runs I always have a clear view of it. Hiking it was one of my goals this summer, but everything was so busy that we just never had a free Saturday. I knew that last weekend would probably be my last chance before snow so we had to make it happen. The weather forcast wasn't look great and we knew it would probably rain by noon so we got a very early start.

Here's a view of the city as the sun was rising.

Jason, Kristen and Gavin. The trail was pretty steep, but very beautiful.

This was when we reached the saddle right before we had to start bouldering before we could reach the summit. I'm glad we took a few pictures here of the view because soon after the storm moved in and you couldn't see a thing.

Here's the part where we had to boulder. It was hard to stay on the right path, but we made it without problems.

There was this cool mail box at the top with a log of people that had made it. Some people wrote quite a bit. I really wanted to take some time and read it, but as soon as we got there the rain/snow started.

We signed our names.

Here I am at the summit. You wouldn't know it though because you can't see anything. Too bad cause I heard the view is pretty awesome.

This is at the top heading back towards the trail down. We had to hurry because once the rain started the rocks got slippery so we had to be extra careful.

It poured on us for a good hour and a half. We were soaked all the way through, but since we were still moving we stayed pretty warm.

We made it down in 5.5 hours. We thought it would take us less time, but the rain definitely slowed us down. It was such a fun hike. I'm really glad we did it and now I can say that I've been to the top of Mount Olympus. The trees were beautiful and we got some great views of the valley before it stormed. And there was only one minor casualty...Jason cut his finger on a rock and we bandaged it with tissue and a hair tie. Let me tell you though I am more sore after that than I was after my marathon. I guess it really was pretty steep because even three days later I can barely walk and I'm avoiding stairs at all cost.

Here are my muddy hiking boots along side our very moldy pumpkin...yum.

Here she is all covered in snow. I took this yesterday from my house. It looks like the hiking season is officially over.

Californian RV Trip

2010-10-21T12:38:00.005-06:00

In honor of Jason's brother returning from his mission, his family decided to take a little trip to California. The best part of the trip is that they took it in an RV. What a great idea, right? It was awesome. They left earlier in the week, but I had to work per usual so I met them in San Francisco at the end of the week. Jason came and picked me up at the airport. He took the public transit because the RV was a little hard to handle in the city. He made it just as I got there and we got ourselves back to where his family was even if we had to pay a non accredited taxi driver $10 to take us 1 mile (we didn't know how close we were and there were no buses in sight). After we ate we had missed the last ferry back to where the rv aka our hotel was so we had to rely on the bus system again. Unfortunately, buses don't run very often after 10 at night so we were stuck on the corner for a good hour. The bus finally passed though and we made it back in time to get some good sleep. The next day we went and toured Alcatraz. I had never been there so I was very excited to go. I loved it. We took an audio tour that told about how the prison was run and about all the escape attempts. It was kinda creepy, but very cool. When the fog finally lifted there was a beautiful view of the city skyline. Sorry, the pictures turned out a lot smaller than I wanted them to. I had so many that I wanted to make them into collages...if you click on them, they get a little bigger. I think I'll upload them to my web albums so you can click the link on the sidebar to see all of them.

The top right picture on this one has a dolphin in the bottom left corner. Sweet, huh? I think Jason's dad took it. He didn't know it was in there until we loaded the pictures onto the computer. There are a few views of the inside of the prison and then me and Jason in our prison uniforms.

After Alcatraz we left San Fran and headed north on highway 101 that goes along the California coast. It was beautiful. On the way up we stopped and took a little hike through the redwoods. At first they didn't seem THAT big, but as we got deeper into the woods I realized how giant they really were. Definitely bigger than the trees we have in Washington. It was really pretty and completely silent.

Next up were lots of beautiful, rocky beaches. Jason found a starfish. I think it was dead, but they threw it back in anyway just in case.

This beach was my favorite. We walked around for a few hours and collected our favorite rocks. It was in Crescent City, California just 10 miles south of the Oregon border. I could probably live there. It was so crazy how we could be on the beach one second and 5 minutes later we were in the thick of the forest again.

On Sunday we drove all the way from Medford, Oregon back to Salt Lake (about 750 miles). And when I say we I mean Jason's dad. He hit the road at about 5:30 am while we were all still fast asleep. Before I knew it we were almost back in Nevada. Funny how that happens. It was really fun being in the rv though. We got to see lots and also had plenty of time to eat, sleep, read and watch movies. So I would have to say it was a fun and successful vacation.

Fall Leaves

2010-10-20T10:04:00.005-06:00

Yesterday Jess and I went for a little hike up Millcreek canyon. It was seriously gorgeous! The trees are so beautiful right now. The pictures don't really do it justice...

The best jumping picture I've ever seen. She could be a cheerleader.
The leaves of fall we brought home for Kaylee and Jason.

And...this is what we did for the rest of the night...
And me and Jason went to Top It froyo after. I can't say I've had a better Tuesday.

Let the Fall Festivities Begin

2010-10-13T13:33:00.004-06:00

My idea of fall festivities include pumpkin carving (see below), pumpkin chocolate chip bread baking , driving/hiking up the canyon, playing in the leaves, crisp and cool afternoon runs, hot chocolate and apple cider drinking and wearing boots and sweaters. They do NOT include scary movie watching and attending any kind of haunted anything. That's right no nightmare on 13th, no castle of chaos, no nightmare mansion, no haunted hospitals, corn mazes, villiages, hollows and most definitely no haunted forests. I got chased around last year by Jason from Friday the 13th complete with hockey mask and chainsaw. I swore then that I would never do it again. Ever. So don't even ask. I refuse to participate in any sort of scary anything ever again.

Let's all just enjoy the beautiful fall colors, cooler temperatures and pumpkin flavored deliciousness. No need to taint it with terrifying creatures that breath threateningly down your neck and chase you around trying to make you cry. It really just isn't worth it.

Life in the Single's Ward

2010-10-12T11:38:00.005-06:00

Being in the Single's ward is pretty hilarious sometimes. Last night was the night of all nights. Sadly I wasn't there to experience most of it, but when I walked in the door my lovely roommate Jessica called for me to get up to her room immediately. This is what I saw...

Yep that's right her room had been TP'd. Who would do this you might ask? She went on a date last week with a boy in the ward and apparently he had a really good time because this was the aftermath. At first she thought maybe he was asking her to the high school halloween dance...but there were no flowers underneath the mess, no witty clues spelling out his name. Nope, he just thought it would be a good idea to put toilet paper all over her room. Also, we're 25 not 15. I'm pretty sure he won't be scoring a second date. On the bright side, we won't have to buy toilet paper for a while so thank you for that Prince Charmin.

Book Reccomendations?

2010-10-11T14:49:00.004-06:00

I opened an account on audible.com so I could get Mockingjay for free, but I forgot to cancel my account (serves me right). I was charged for an additional month so I had a credit I needed to use. I went to cancel my account so I wouldn't get charged again, but you can't cancel until you use your credit or you lose it. So I didn't cancel and I've now been charged for two months. I now have 2 unused credits and I can't decide on a book I really want to listen to. I really want to read President Monson's biography that was just released, but Deseret Book must have some sort of a monopoly because I can't find it anywhere else. Has anyone read a good book lately that would be fun to listen to??

I Ran A Marathon!

2010-10-05T14:28:00.015-06:00

I did it! I ran a marathon. And in 4:11:37. I placed 869 out of 2457 females and 2602 out of 5697 total finishers. Over 1800 didn't even finish. I was pretty happy with my time. I just really felt good the entire time. Well until I finished then I got really sick because it was so stinkin hot out. It was at least 95 and there was no cold water in sight, they ran out of ice and they didn't have much shade in the finisher's area. I seriously thought I was going to die. I think the few hours after the race waiting to go back to the hotel were by far more painful than the actual race. Overall though I had a great experience. We woke up at 4 and ate breakfast and were on the buses by 4:45. They shuttled us to the start line and the whole time I was thinking I can't believe we have to RUN all the way back. It seriously took us at least 40 minutes to get there on the bus. Once we got to the top we huddled up and waited for 6:45 to arrive. I was kinda nervous at the beginning when it finally hit me that I was actually going to run 26.2 miles, but once I got going I felt totally fine. It seriously wasn't as miserable or painful as I thought it was going to be. I was defintely counting down the miles the whole time, but they just kept ticking away and before I knew it I was at mile 21 with only 5 to go. The last mile was definitely the hardest. It seemed to last forever, but I eventually got there and claimed my victory medal. I'm still a little sore, but I'm feeling better and stairs are becoming less of a death sentence. So I think that there might be more marathons in my future...I'd love to break 4 hours. Although maybe I'll wait a little bit to sign up for another one. Sleeping in on Saturday sure sounds nice. It has been quite a while since I've been out running every weekend. I think I'll treat myself to a late wake up and a pedicure.

Pre-race pasta dinner

Post-race. If you look carefully you can see the pain in my eyes. I was seriously not feeling well.

Alicia, Me and Chantel

Sweet finisher's medal

Me and Alicia

There are more pics that the race photographers took in this link

Beware though...apparently I do not take good pictures while running...

Also, perhaps the best picture was the one Jason drew me on paint before I left. He made me a little marathon survival kit complete with icy hot patches, gatorade and protein bars. You can see the picture he made here.

Tomorrow's Only A Day Away

2010-10-01T10:58:00.003-06:00

Well, it's here. St. George here I come. I got my bags packed tight and I'm hitting the road soon. If anybody is up for a chat please call me...I'll be on the road from about 11:30 to 5. The race starts at 6:45 am tomorrow. I'm getting very excited/nervous. When I come back to Salt Lake I'll officially be a marathon runner. Wish me luck!

P.s. Can you believe it's Ocotber? And still 90 degrees (100 in St George)

Busy Weekend

2010-09-28T09:26:00.006-06:00

So Friday night we had tickets to the Brad Paisley concert. It was such a good time. It was probably one of the funnest concerts I've ever been to. I have to say I think I even enjoyed it more than Tim. He just put on a much better show. And they actually had huge screens so you could see him the whole time. We were on the grass aka the beer garden so we were once again surrounded by drunkards. We watched one guy fall completly flat on his face and another lady practically roll down the hill. It was awesome. I guess it's all part of the experience. Along with the overpriced food that we of course partook of. You can't just sit there without diet coke, popcorn, cotton candy and corn dogs.

Here we are before the concert. Me, Jess, Sarah, Lisa and Kaylee

Darius Rucker aka Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish opened for Brad. He was awesome and he even played a few Hootie songs.

So about half way through Brad came down to the edge of the reserved seating on this little platform. Jess, Lisa and I ran down from the grass area and tried to get as close as we could. We could have gotten even closer had we left a little sooner cause security started pushing people back once we got down there. Still we got really, really close.

This is the real deal not a screen picture. That's how close we were.

Then on Saturday morning Jess, Alicia and I ran a 5k. Alicia ran even though she had just finished a night shift and Jess had to go into work right after. We ran this same race last year. It's for a Lutheran school in Salt Lake and it's a pretty small race. I love it though because it's a great course, there's lots of good raffle prizes (even though we didn't win any...again), they give you a sweet goody bag and since there's not a ton of competition everyone's a winner.

Last year I won first overall (women's), but this year there were 50-yr-old ladies that beat me. I think I need to work on my speed. I ended up getting 3rd so I got this good looking trophy, but I did not get the dinner for two gift certificate they gave to the 1st place winner.

Alicia and Jess got 1st and 2nd in their division and got awesome medals!

Next year we'll be coming back for anothe victory and hopefully we'll win a raffle prize. I swear 80% of them went to children under the age 0f 3. That doesn't really seem fair, does it?

On Sunday, Jason and I took a drive up big cottonwood canyon and walked around the lake at Brighton resort. The leaves are starting to change and it's really pretty. We tried to get a few pictures with us in them, but they were hideous so this is all you get.

My marathon is this Saturday! I'm starting to get a little nervous, but I feel like I'm ready for it. I ate lasagna last night...just trying to start the week off right. Although, I also stepped on a nail. Hopefully the rest of the week goes better for me.

TGIF!

2010-09-24T14:25:00.004-06:00

TGIF!!! This has felt like the longest week of my life..for no particular reason. I'm just really glad it's Friday. Random thoughts of the day:

1. I think everyone should look at Jason's wesbiste by clicking here. Then I think everyone should submit a drawing. I have yet to submit one, but I currently have one in the works. Anyway, it's really funny and it turns out that you can make some pretty sweet drawings on Paint. Spread the word.
2. I struck out at my game last night. It's slow pitch. In my defense, you only get 2 strikes. Seriously though, I was embarrassed...hardly anyone ever strikes out...it's almost impossible. I mangaged though. I've done it before and I'll probably do it again. I blame it on the bat (they were all too heavy). On the bright side, we still won by quite a lot.
3. Brad Paisley concert is tonight!
4. I'm really glad it's season premiere time. TBL made me cry like a thousand times. I don't know why...it just gets me every time. And I'm excited the Office is back! Yesterday's was seriously funny.
5. I haven't studied at all lately for the GRE. I'm lacking motivation...I need help seriously.

I guess that's pretty much it. I mostly just wanted to give a shout out to Jason's blog. Happy Friday!

Guess What Day It Is?

2010-09-21T13:17:00.004-06:00

That's right it's the season premiere of TBL!! (otherwise known as The Biggest Loser). I'm seriously excited. I love the show and I watched a few of the previews online today and cried. It gets me every time. If you haven't ever watched it I highly recommend it. Every Tuesday at 7 on NBC. You won't regret it.

In other news I hiked Ensign Peak last night with Jason's ward. It's always a lovely view of the city. And some kid asked me to point him out where Karl Malone lives. He was lucky I knew who Karl Malone was...but no, I don't know where his house is.

It's All Downhill From Here

2010-09-20T15:43:00.004-06:00

I went on my longest run yet this weekend. 19 miles. It was hard and I went by myself which makes it even harder. I also had a hard time getting water. I stopped at a gas station and my conversation with the worker went like this:

me: Hi, can I please just get a small cup for water?
worker: We don't have water cups.
me: Ok, well can I just get a normal cup for water then?
worker: I'll have to charge you for that.
me: I don't have any money on me. Please, I just need a little bit of water...it's hot outside and I've been running for 2 hours.
worker: I'm sorry I can't help you...maybe try Wendy's (as he points to the adjacent Wendys that is obviously closed).
me: They're closed. Seriously, can you please just help me out? I buy gas here all the time (which is true cause it's close to my work). I'm asking for one cup.
worker: No can do miss.
me: You have got to be kidding me (as I storm out).

I think I'll only be buying my gas at 7-11 from now on because they ALWAYS give me water cups. Anyway, the good news is that that run was by far the worst. I am convinced that race day will be better for 5 reasons:

1. It's mostly downhill
2. New scenery
3. Aid stations every mile!!!
4. It's a race which means lots of energy, excitement and people cheering for you
5. I get a medal at the end

The only bad news is that it will be in fact 26.2 miles which is 7.2 miles further than my longest run. It's going to hurt.

Voldemort's a Hottie!

2010-09-17T10:51:00.007-06:00

Ok shocking statement I know, but did you know that Ralph Fiennes (the guy from Maid in Manhatten) is the same guy that plays Lord Voldemort?!?! Talk about the biggest shock of my life. See for yourself.

Labor Day Weekend in Denver

2010-09-15T09:56:00.007-06:00

On Labor Day weekend I went to Denver to spend the long weekend with my parents (who were there visiting) and Kelsey, Steven and Evelyn. Evelyn had gotten so much bigger since the last time I had seen her. It's amazing how fast babies grow. She's as cute as ever and her pretty blue eyes are open and awake a lot more often. And I'm pretty sure she really likes it when Aunt Manda comes to visit. On Saturday we decided to hit the pool. I'm not much of a swimmer, but we had a good time anyway. Even Evelyn enjoyed herself a swim in her very cute suit.

My mom's on a a bit of a sushi kick and had Kelsey show her how to make it. We had it pretty much every day all weekend. It's seriously good though. My dad even tried one...he was not a fan however and quickly spit it back out into the garbage.

We start 'em on the ol' DP at a very young age in this family...

Evelyn got this super cute push cart at the baby fair. She had fun riding around on it and when she's older she can push it all over. P.s. I'm pretty sure the blur in the bottom right corner is Daisy spinning wheelies.

On Monday we decided to go the zoo and on the way there we stopped at a car show. My dad sure likes those old cars. He made it very clear to us that we were not allowed to touch anything. Almost every car had a sign on it that pretty much said if you touch it you die. We did not do any touching...only looking.

We then headed into downtown Denver to admire the caged animals.

Pretty sure this guy was on the last Coke commercial.

If only those shark hats would have been less than $10...

It looks as though someone has shoved a penguin stuffed animal into the giant stuffed bear...who would even think to do that?...

By far the scariest picture I've ever taken. Unless you count that 4th grade picture of me with the white pirate shirt and giant, blue, plastic glasses.

The Great State of Kansas

2010-09-14T18:13:00.007-06:00

My parents are on a month long road trip across the country (well half way) and last weekend they were in a little town in north central Kansas. My dad's side of the family is from there so my dad takes trips out there pretty often. He always talks about what a great time he has and one of the highlights usually includes the Kansas State Fair, which usually coincides with his birthday. So you can imagine that when I found out that Kelsey and Steven were driving from Denver to Kansas (it's only 6 hours) I had to figure out a way to go along. Everyone agreed that I could only go if Jason could come along with me...they must like him. So we got everything all worked out and Jason and I flew to Denver last Thursday, then hopped in the car with Kels, Steven and baby Evelyn and we were on our way.

I'm so glad we got to go and spend time with family I haven't seen in a long time. The first item of business was me going on a 17 mile run on Friday morning. I had called my dad and asked him if they knew of a route that I could go on.. Sure enough him and his cousin Lonnie went out and spray painted red arrows complete with mile markers on the country roads mapping out a run for me. It was seriously funny. Jason borrowed a bike and armed with a backpack full of water and bananas rode along with me. It was really pretty and we got to see hay fields, sunflower fields, milo fields, cow fields...you get the picture. Jason said it was the best way to see Kansas. I agreed for the first 10 or so miles...after that I wanted to die per usual. And let me tell you... Kansas is supposed to be flat. I thought it would be a breeze with the lower elevation and completely flat terrain... pretty sure the neverending rolling hills made up for the lower elevation. It was still a very long, tiring run. Add 9.6 to that and it's a marathon.... only 2.5 more weeks.

Here we are after the run. I'm not sure why I'm standing like that...it's probably because it hurt to stand up straight and it was all I could do not to collapse...

After starting the day off with an intense run I definitely deserved some good eatin. We went to a delicious BBQ place for lunch and enjoyed some awesome pulled pork sandwiches.

Evelyn tried to order up a drink...too bad for her they check id's there.

Matchy matchy. So we went to the local Walmarts and Jason spotted the exact shirt my dad was wearing that day. Apparently my mom had bought it for him a few days earlier. It was seriously funny when Jason showed my dad his newest purchase. He tried to talk him into letting him wear it on the same day...no dice.

Kansas State Fair:

It turns out Steven knows how to run a backhoe quite well. He had to pick up three golf balls and put them in a plastic tube. He beat the top time at that point in the day, but apparently he was defeated later on (he went back and checked).

My momma got herself a power scooter so she could cruise around without any problems. She was kind enough to let me share her seat a time or two. It was a good time. My dad had a go at scooter driving as well. See video below.

Here's Jason testing out a tornado cellar. Funny story...every morning there's a wake up siren that goes off at 7. Well Jason was pretty worried about tornados and so when he heard the siren he thought for sure that it was a tornado warning and we were all going down. Apparently when he woke up though no one else was stirring so he just laid back down and braced himself for the worst. He was VERY relieved to find out that it was just the town's wake up call.

My dad and Lonnie always checking out the cars.

Not sure what that puppy was doing in the pig pin.

They had so many types of rabbits and ducks and chickens... this little fellow is what your angora sweaters are made of. They also had the biggest duck I've ever seen in my life.

On Sunday after lunch Gatlin decided to challenge Jason to arm wrestling. After beating Jason he challenged every single person to a match. He's actually very strong and beat me fair and square....along with everyone else. He was the obvious victor.

It was also my dad's 50th birthday on Sunday so we go to celebrate with him by eating chili and beans, cake and blueberry pie (both made by Kelsey) and ice cream. So delicious. I sure do love my daddy. I wish we could have stayed longer. Sunday afternoon came way too quickly. Maybe next year. It was great spending time with my parents and Lonnie, Shiela and Gatlin. Jason really took a fancy to Kansas...I think he's saving his pennies so he can go back next year and buy some property....

Picasa mystery solved

2010-09-07T14:08:00.002-06:00

Ok so I finally really figured out Picasa.. I just made a public gallery with all of my Europe pictures. I also put up my Meso America pictures...there's like 1000. I think the only ones that will get enjoyment out of them other than myself is Audrey and Leah. I'll probably put up mission pictures eventually as well as any other large chunk of pictures that wouldn't be conducive to my blog.

click here for Picasa web albums

Picasa web albums

2010-09-03T14:20:00.010-06:00

So I'm finally figuring out how to use Picasa. I just start uploading stuff...I started with my Europe trip last year so if you want to take a gander please do...

click here for Milan

click here for Rome

click here for Sicily

Hike in the Swiss Alps

Switzerland

Bavarian villiage in Germany

Heidelberg, Germany

More to come...

Also look what Jason made me today on Paint on account of it being one year from our very first date. I think he might have a future in graphic design. Those are some pretty sweet looking dinosaurs.

15 Miles!

2010-08-28T14:20:00.003-06:00

I did it. I ran 15.6 miles this morning. It was hard. As I staggered to my car afterwards I thought to myself how the heck could possibly run another 10.6 miles?? Marathon runners are crazy. Did you know the first person to ever run 26 miles died. He actually died. Says wiki click here It's a long ways and my body is seriously angry at me.

Meet my new best friend.

Best invention ever. You can stick them all over and not get greasy icy hot on your clothes. I currently have one on each thigh, one on my back and a few strapped to the back of my calves. Sweet relief.

p.s. never go to the store after running for almost 3 hours. I went in for a gatorade and some fruit and I came out with $30 worth of fruit, gatorade and power bars. I've already consumed half of it I think.

Provo Adventure

2010-08-27T15:39:00.002-06:00

So the other day I went down to Provo with my friend Elena to visit some mission companions. I picked Elena up at 5 from downtown and started on our way. Well...the freeway was jam packed and I saw one of those reader boards saying that there was an accident a little farther south and to expect delays. Awesome. So I got off the freeway and tried my luck on a parallel road...no dice. It was even more packed. Then I called Jason to see if he knew of any other way to bypass the accident. He told me to go on a road farther East and there should be less traffic. Well, less traffic there was until it turned into a single lane mess of road construction. Oh how I hate those orange signs. So it was now like 6:00 and I was at about 60th South which is seriously 10 minutes normally from downtown and we had already been in the car for an hour. When we finally got back to the freeway and passed the accident it was smooth sailing...although we didn't get there till nearly 7. Nothing like a 2 hour trip to Provo. So then we decided to go get Chinese food for dinner and we headed off to Sahra and James' favorite place. As we were getting there we noticed that the police had shut down the entire block and there was no way to get to restaurant. So we parked the car and started walking over....and then a police car bolted towards us and told us we couldn't walk through on account of the down power lines. Seriously? There were power lines lying practically at the entrance of the restaurant. The one Chinese restaurant in all of Orem/Provo that we wanted to go to was temporarily shut down....the gods were against me. But it all got better when we decided to go to a Chinese buffet instead. It was amazing...all you can eat chinese plus a mongolian bbq plus sushi plus free drinks!

Down powerlines...

Three plates (yes, those are all mine) and a diet coke later the world was right again. I then came home to a lovely pack of zingers that Jason had dropped off. It's funny how a bad night can turn great so quickly.

But really even with the seriously irritating drive that caused me instant and aggressive rage I had a really good time. It's always fun to hang out with my mission comps and tell mission stories (sorry James). We were laughing about all the funny stuff that happened every single day. Sorella Askalany and I practically spent half a transfer at the dentist's office. I broke off one of my front tooth crowns and she had to have a root canal. After my tooth broke off we went and bought some super glue for a temporary fix...it actually held up pretty nicely until it flew out of my mouth during the opening hymn at district meeting...talk about some grossed out Elders. Then I had to have a wooden look-alike tooth for a week as a temporary and I now have a very large and kind of dissimilar crown. My one very expensive souvenir from Sicily. We also got to go by and visit with our mission President's wife. It's crazy how much the mission has changed since I've been home. Catania missionaries are now serving in Rome and Napoli...so crazy. It's actually really exciting and I can't wait to hear more updates about the Rome temple. They should be breaking ground really soon!

P.s. I finished Mockingjay... if anyone else has please call me so we can discuss.

Happy Tuesday

2010-08-24T15:27:00.002-06:00

I'm feeling pretty good about life today. Let me tell you why...

1. I finally registered for the GRE. One step closer to actually taking it. October 23rd is the big day. I reserved lots of GRE study guides at the library and am gearing up to rock that stupid test. It costs $160.00. I really don't want to have to take it again.
2. I ran 12 miles yesterday! It was hard, but not that bad. It was such a nice afternoon; nice and cool. It's funny to think that I ran nearly a half marathon after work..no big deal. It makes me think that I might actually be able to get in all the training I want before the big day. I have a 15 mile run planned for Saturday. Although the thought of running another 14.2 miles after the 12 I ran yesterday makes me a little sick. That really is a long, long ways. The good news is that I bought new shoes and they're working out quite nicely. My feet didn't hurt nearly as bad as usual after running a long distance.
3. Mockingjay (the third book in the Hunger Games triology) came out today! I pre-ordered it on amazon, but it won't get to me until Monday. I just couldn't wait that long so I downloaded the audio version today. Thank you audible.com. I can hardly wait to see what happens. Any predicitions as to how it ends? I'm thinking either Gale or Peeta has to die. I'm not sure which one...probably Gale.
4. I found out that a 4 pack of lawn tickets to Brad Paisley is only $88. Anybody want to come visit for the occasion?

How's that for a happy Tuesday?

p.s. The Biggest Loser premiere is on Sept 21. Get excited

Back to School...

2010-08-23T10:44:00.008-06:00

Another fun weekend has come and gone... I started out my Monday morning by slicing my finger open on a piece of lab equipment. Happy Monday to me. So on Saturday Jason's ward had a boating activity so we went up and went wakeboarding. I love wakeboarding...I wish I were better. Jason's friend's mom took lots of pictures...I don't have them yet, but I'll post a few (if I look good) when I get them. I wish we could go up on the boat more often even if the after effects are quite painful. I feel like someone viciously beat me with a crowbar, but I took some advil and I'm hoping the soreness will wear off by tomorrow.

This is after a hard morning on the water (this is also a good representation of how excited Jason is to go back to school). We were super tired so we came home for a quick rest and then we went and saw a matinee of inception. This was my second time seeing it and I think I picked up on a lot more. It was Jason's first time and his mind was officially blown. It's seriously a good movie.

When we got back from the movie it was only 5 pm and still blazing hot so we decided to go finally use the pool at my apartment complex. My roommates got home from the zoo just in time to join us. We dug out our sweet blow up toys and had a jolly 'ol time. Jason tried to teach me how to swim the right way. I wish we could have gotten a picture of that. It did not go well. I'm just not a swimmer. Every time I would try to take a breath I sucked water up my nose and nearly drowned. Luckily it's only a 5' pool so I wasn't ever in any real danger...plus we had Mr. Frog-lizard thing standing guard...

This picture is funny because of the couple behind us...I thinks he was lathering her up. It was disgusting. They were both old and a little over weight and she was sporting a tiny string bikini. Gotta love community pools.

Here we are on Sunday after playing in the rain.

Jason showing me his ninja skills. We had a battle in the yard and I accidentally kicked him really hard. My bad. Sometimes my competitiveness gets away from me...it was either that or my lack of coordination.

School in Utah started today and although I'm sad summer is winding down I'm excited to get back into a schedule and not be gone so much. Not that I'm officially starting school, but I'm going to pretend like I am. That basically means that I'm finally going to schedule an appointment to take the GRE and start studying. I've been putting it off forever, but I think it's finally time to crack down and get it done. I am excited for fall because I love the cooler temperatures and all the fun fall activities (including my birthday), but I hate the shorter days. I wish there was a way to keep the sun out till at least 8:30 year round.

We watched Billy Madison in honor of school starting...it's a lot more crude than I remember, however, it's still really funny. I've included Billy's back to school song for your viewing pleasure.