Other Oceans: May 2010

4:57 AM

Happy surgery day Mom! We love you and will be thinking of you all day. You are truly the best mom in the world and we hope that your recovery goes smoothly.

Sorry I didn't have a more recent family picture, but hopefully this brings you some comfort :) Love you!

4:03 PM

This post may be a little random, but my Mom is dying for a post and to be honest, nothing that exciting has happened in the past few days, but for my mother's sake I will chit chat about a few things that have been on my mind.

Vacation

Ryan and I have been trying to save money and so our vacations this year will be quite limited. With my new job I'm fairly certain we will stay here for Christmas as well so it is no surprise I have been counting down the days until our Arizona trip!! Soon we will be living it up with our friends in desert paradise and I will not even feel bad about missing a few days of work. Sometimes your sanity is more important than money...but money is always good too. I will be posting lots of pics when that time comes.

Resident Assistants

One huge blessing in our lives is our R.A. position at our apartment complex. Working down our rent has helped tremendously with our finances and has been a great experience so far. While not in school, Ryan has taken the brunt of the responsibilities doing check-outs while posting our fliers and doing 2 building's cleaning checks. We are also having to work the clubhouse about 4 or 5 times a month. Since technically only one of us is getting paid Ryan has been sweet enough to give me a break once and a while. Still the job has kept us on our toes and has been a great experience overall.

Television

Evenings are Ryan and I's time to spend together. We love to cook and relax with our FRIENDS...i.e the TV show. I seriously have seen all 10 seasons of friends probably 20 times. sad, but true. But the show is a classic and it still cracks me up, even now. We have gotten addicted to many other shows since getting together. House, Lie to Me, Castle, LOST, Cougar Town, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice...just to name a few. I think you get the picture that we really enjoy our TV watching. Don't get me wrong...we are active too and have been too busy in the past to catch these shows as they are scheduled...insert DVR. Oh if I could hug the inventor of DVR! It has been great because we may be busy during the week, but whenever we have time we can lay in the comfort of our own bed and watch our shows til our hearts desire. Sigh. Whoever said television was bad did not have DVR.

LOST

Though I have just posted a whole paragraph about TV I feel like I need to lay LOST to rest. Ryan and I were introduced to the show last summer and would spend hours and hours catching up on the then 5 seasons of the show. We would stay up late and even act like we were "busy" so we could stay at home and marathon watch as many episodes as possible. I can say, by far this is the best show I have ever seen on TV. I know there are skeptics out there, or people who stopped watching after a few seasons, but you are doing yourself a disservice by not watching this show until the end. I suggest watching it on DVD/Internet because it was so much easier to understand and follow when the episodes are back to back. I really enjoyed the finale, but it took me a few hours to digest everything. I even dreamed about it last night. I really started to think about what happened and each character and I was so moved by how the writers pulled everything together. No, they have not all been dead since the plane crash, no, they will not answer every stupid question you have, but it will answer questions about humanity and stay true to what this show is really all about, it's characters. I know there are a lot of haters out there and a lot of people are angry or still very confused, but when you truly understand what the writers were trying to say I don't believe anyone can hate LOST. They left it up for interpretation, but my interpretation was that Jacob brought people to the island that had hardly anything going for them. He chose his candidates because they were like him...alone. The Island became their home, their life and it brought these characters together in a unique way. Their life on the island was real and though we don't get too may answers in regard to the light, what it is, why Jacob needed to protect it, or the island's unique powers, I believe these are all things based upon faith. Science and faith played a huge roll in the show and as each character was featured I do believe the story started and ended with Jack and his test. I do believe Jack passed his test and started as a man of science and ended a man of faith. The sideways life was real, but everyone in this life had passed on. They didn't necessarily die on the island, but had passed whether on the island or sometime long after. The sideways life was the Lostie's way of meeting up again to pass on to their next phase of life, however you interpret this will probably be based upon your religion. They needed each other to help remember their life, i.e their flashbacks, on the island and then to be reunited and to move on. I thought it was beautifully done and am sad to see it over, but I will always have fond memories of the show. Love it!

Callings

Ryan and I are teaching the Teacher Development class in our ward. It has been so fun having a calling together. We have both had busy callings in the past and it has been so relaxing to prepare a lesson together, give the leeson and come home on Sunday and relax. I love this class and Ryan and I are excited to get people involved and learn how to be better teachers. My mom told me to live it up because it may be the only time Ryan and I have have a calling together. Believe me I am!

Sorry for the word vomit post...hopefully I have made my mother happy :)

8:13 PM

Ok so I've debated about even letting people know about this, but I'm kinda hoping there are more people like me out there so we can all feed off each other and get inspired.

simply sarah jane

Let me know what you think!!

xoxo

4:58 PM

Yesterday we celebrated Emily's 23rd birthday! I got Em a super cute framed Families are Forever print for her house and we also went to get mani's at the mall. It was so nice to enjoy a few hours together. That night we went to dinner at Outback and after had cake and played games at Emily and Derek's house. While we were at the mall someone asked us if we were twins. We just laughed and said no, but I think Emily and I are about as close to twins as two opposite people can be :) I'm so glad we got to share our special day with you Em! Love you!!

Friends forever

Emily and Derek already had their pieces from the top of the cake earlier.

Seriously one of the funniest couple we know! Another classic shot.

Yes...that is bread in Derek's mouth. This was the best shot I could get.

4:48 PM

So a few of my friends have been wanting me to post some more recipes on the blog. I really love to cook and thought I was a good cook until I Ryan and I got married. One cooked meal a week does not a cook make. So in our quest to eat healthy I have been cooking a ton more and am finally finding little tricks of the trade. I haven't ever burned anything or had anything be inedible, but I think my chicken is more juicy and things are becoming more flavorful without heaping on butter and salt. Here is a recipe I found on Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipes. No I'm not on a diet, but I want to make healthy foods to help me feel better inside and out.

What you need:

2 tsp Olive Oil

2 lbs Shrimp (I got shrimp pre-shelled and deviened)

6 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

2 limes (it only called for one but I used two)

salt and pepper

Heat your pan to medium-high and pour in your oil. Wait until your pan is hot then add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes then flip shrimp and add garlic. Cook for a few more minutes until shrimp are fully cooked. I then transferred the shrimp into a mixing bowl and added the juice of two limes and the fresh cilantro. Toss and enjoy! Seriously, if I can do it so can you!

7:18 PM

This is what I came home to on Monday. Actually I was stuck behind our mattress because it was wedged in between our door and the entry way. I actually had to yell for Ryan to come and move the bed...I couldn't hardly step two feet into our apartment. Why does our apartment look like it got hit by a tornado you ask? Because Ryan is seriously the best husband ever. I had been finding these tiny black beetle-like bugs in our bedroom. They seemed to just creep up out of nowhere and they only seemed to like me. I even found one in my ear! Yes, sick! I had had enough and said , once I found the bug in my ear, that we needed to deep clean our bedroom or something to get rid of those bugs. What I should have said was "I want a million dollars." because when I got home the next day Ryan had taken everything out of our bedroom (i.e.the picture) and deep cleaned the entire bedroom. He even sprayed for bugs! Even though the living room was crazy messy I didn't even care because Ryan was so proud of himself. I was so touched he would even think to do that for me. This picture below is my favorite picture...Ryan so proud of his accomplishment and being the man and killing all of the bugs.

I'm the luckiest girl ever!

6:59 PM

Thank you gift card! Cheesecake Factory treated us well on Saturday with heaps and heaps of food. One thing I love about eating out is the leftovers and I had some seriously leftovers with the portion size of a small country. Ryan actually ate his entire burrito. He could hardly talk afterwards because he was trying to just digest his food. It took about a 1/2 hour and he finally came around and started acting normal. He was very proud of his accomplishment though, it was really cute :) After dinner we went to Nordstrom Rack and Bed Bath and Beyond to peruse. Why can't every day be Saturday?

6:49 PM

This post is quite a few days late, but I wanted to do it anyway. Everyday should be Mother's Day so I don't think our Mom's will be too upset that it's a little late.

I can't hardly type without crying when I start to think about my mother. She has always been the rock of our family and has been a true example of faith. My Mom is a convert to the church and is the only member of the church in her family and I have always admired her testimony and strength. She seriously had no idea what her life would truly be like marrying my dad. Meetings, crazy callings, long hours of selfless service...as a newer convert you really don't think of your life as being filled with times away from your spouse, but my mom has been such an example to me of faith as she has sat by herself most of her life in church as dad was away on assignments or sitting on the stand. My mom is educated and has always pushed me to be my best self. She always made my friends feel welcome into our home and has allowed me the freedom to become my own person without any judgment. I know one day I will have my own daughter to mess up in my very own special way, and I hope I can be half the mother to my daughter as my mom is to me.

My in-laws are nothing like your typical in-laws. I can hardly even type the words because from day one I have felt like part of the family. I have been so blessed to have gained another set of parents. I now have two amazing examples of mother in my life. I can't wait for the time when Kristi and my Mom will "fight" over who gets the grand kids and feel so blessed to know that no matter where the kids go they will find themselves surrounded by amazing women and mothers. Kristi thank you for taking me under your wing and for being the amazing mother I know you have been to Ryan. He is the man he is because of you and I am forever grateful.

6:33 PM

It's a boy! Janneke and I threw Erin a baby shower this weekend. It was fun to see some sisters from our old ward there and chit chat about all things baby. It was wonderful for me on mother's day weekend to baby-sit and then throw a baby shower for my friends and truly celebrate real motherhood from start to...well a few years into it :) Erin looks amazing being pregnant and she is so happy! She is super prepared and got lots of fun gifts to help prep for the baby. We also played "guess that baby food" and that is why everyone is sniffing diapers in these photos. I thought it was hilarious! Almost everyone there was already a mom or was about it be a mom and it made me so happy to have so many friends who are so happy with their role as a woman and mother. They are all amazing examples to me of what womanhood is truly about and I was so happy to celebrate with them.

6:18 PM

Ryan and I had the chance to baby-sit little Cody on Friday night. It was so much fun! We laughed and played for most of the night until the bottle took precedence. I couldn't help but take pictures of him because he was so cute and he absolutely LOVED the camera. We only had him for about 3 1/2 hours but by the end both Ryan and I were exhausted. Cody had a bunch of toys his mom brought with him to play with, but he only had eyes for paper and the wipe container...go figure :) It was nice to have a baby around and to get a small glimpse of what things will be like when we do finally take the plunge into parenthood. We thought "Hey, watching a baby will be easy, we will turn on a movie while watching the baby and it will be no big deal." Wrong. We tried to watch a movie, but we got 5 minutes into it and just turned it off because we couldn't focus on the movie and watch the baby. Dang you Oprah for making me think I can multi-task and have it all! Cody was cake compared to some babies I have baby-sat before so I'm just praying our kids turn out sweet like him.

5:38 PM

Just another look at a sampling of the unprocessed food train Ryan and I are riding. Yes, that's right...I'm eating peppers. It's a miracle.

2:22 PM

It has been super windy all week and until yesterday I had been blow-drying my hair and trying to style it, but when I step outside instead of looking like this...

I look like this...

I need some help in the windblown hair department I guess.

9:16 AM

Ryan and I ventured to Spark this week. I like the ambiance of this place...much trendier than post places in Provo. Their food is more on the gourmet side and to top it off they serve mocktails...fake cocktails. Half the fun is going just to order the drinks, but the food really is super good too. Thanks to the value pak we had a buy one meal get one free coupon so we jumped at chance to "splurge" a little. I got a Shirley temple, which is really a virgin drink to begin with, but what sold me on the drink was it came with cotton candy on top! One of my most favorite things in the world is cotton candy so I couldn't resist and boy did it deliver.

I love how the cotton candy totally covers Ryan's head. Haha.

It was nice to go out for a mid-week date which hardly ever happens. I'm trying to take advantage of Ryan while I have him and I know I will be sad to give him back to the ME program, but when we are back in sunny Florida again I know it will be worth it.

9:01 AM

Thanks to my friend Alex I have been using this recipe now for a while and Ryan loves it! It is one of the easiest recipes so I thought I would share it. All you need is a 9x13 pan, mix in a can of cream of chicken soup, two large spoonfuls of sour cream and 3 handfuls of cheddar cheese. You can tweak this to your liking as well...put in as much or a little of everything as you want. Mix together. Defrost 2-3 chicken breasts and cut into bite-size pieces and mix in the pan. Smash up a bag of ritz crackers and sprinkle on top of chicken. Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins. I have been on a green bean kick for a bit so we paired it with steamed green beans. Try it and let me know what you think.

8:53 AM

I had to document this event in some way or my parents would never believe it happened. With Ryan and I trying to eat healthy (i.e no processed foods) we decided one night to try shrimp instead of cooking up ground turkey/beef or chicken. Yes, that's right...shrimp...as in seafood. I am not a seafood lover but shrimp has somehow wedged its way into my life and I actually really like it. Well...I like it when it is cooked. I almost backed out when Ryan brought home and started cleaning the raw shrimp. Seriously, so gross. Ryan cleaned those shrimps to perfection and we just drizzled some olive oil, sprinkled on some salt and pepper and cooked it with onions and garlic. Yum!

2:11 PM

Last night Ryan and I partied it up with the Glassmans and the Broadbents. We pretended it was already summer and BBQed some hamburgers even thought this is what I woke up to on Friday.

The food was so yummy, especially after fasting all day. The burgers hit the spot and we topped it off with a bit of bacon for good measure :) Lara made an amazing dessert and I had to get a picture of it.

She blew up small balloons and dipped them in chocolate and then piped in pudding inside the chocolate bowls and topped it with raspberries. Amazeballs! Seriously it looked amazing and tasted even better than it looked.