Dress and other plans

I picked up my dress yesterday and I'm so excited!!! I'm not going to post it, just in case Scott happens to see my blog... but if you want to see, just let me know! Plus, in the picture, my sash is too wide (I made it, so I'm just going to sew it skinnier) and it's not tied on very tight, so it's not a true representation :)

We're getting closer to finishing everything! PLUS, Scott sold his spring/summer contract so we are very grateful for that! I just have to get flowers arranged and a cake. Then we just have to order the catering, pick food for the luncheon, and settle on ties and bridesmaid dresses (we are just doing siblings... which totals a lot).

Hurray!

Why we Build Temples

I found this on Tricia's blog and loved it. This is a recent response made about why we build temples. I love that the Harvard Dean of Divinity states that he could see himself taking part in baptisms for the dead. It's short, but wonderful.

Painting!

Wednesdays are fun days because we have our oil painting class at night. Scott couldn't make it tonight because he has a huge O-chem test tomorrow and needed to keep studying for it.

We finished our first painting last week and they turned out great! This is Scott's first time oil painting and I think he did a great job! I've taken a class before, but mine didn't turn out like everyone else's clear crisp paintings... (they never look as good in photos as they do in real life either)
Mine:Scott's:

An Even Better Day!

Well, it's the day we've all been waiting for! Scott and I are officially engaged! We are getting married on May 5, 2009 (Cinco de Mayo!) Continue reading for the complete story...

Thursday night Scott kept suggesting we go to bed at 10, I was all for it since we both had been fighting a cold and I was thinking about sleeping in a few hours in the morning for work again. As we ate and talked a little, Scott finally told me that I wasn't going to work the next day and he had already told my co-worker Jim. He said we had to go to bed early because he was picking me up at 5:30am. I just knew that this was the day so of course I couldn't sleep! Scott said he couldn't sleep either and had only slept a few hours before arriving at my door at the aforementioned time. He told me to wear warm clothes and to bring a normal set to change into later.

First on the surprise agenda was a hike up Ensign peak in Salt Lake City. This hike is significant because only a few days after meeting (after a walk together and a double date with Jen and Lance), he went with me at 4am to drop Jen off at the airport on May 5, 2007 as she was going to Ecuador for nursing. That morning he had suggested we hike Ensign Peak (a very short .5 mile hike to an outlook over the Salt Lake Valley) and watch the sun rise. It was the first time he held my hand. Here's a picture of us THAT morning: May 5, 2007
I can't believe that was almost 2 years ago!

Anyway, continuing with the story, Scott drove us to Ensign peak and we hiked to the top. Just as before, we spread out blankets (although this time there was snow on the ground!) and cuddled underneath to watch the sun rise. We packed everything up and before walking back down, Scott said, "before we do anything else today..." and he knelt and proposed. It was perfect! I said I would marry him before he even pulled out the ring! We were freezing before, but couldn't feel the cold after!
Before:














After:














The rest of the day was just a celebration of the beginning of a new chapter! First stop on the agenda was a great breakfast at Denny's (after changing at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building... both are things we did that first time). Then off to Heber to ride the train! We saw lots of wildlife on the trip--A bald eagle sitting no more than a few feet from the train window, lots of flying hawks, deer, llama (okay, that one wasn't wild, but it was fun), and a fox!
After the fun train ride that took us past another "first date"--Deer Creek Reservoir where we went fishing with Katie and Wayne (This time though the lake was frozen as you can see in the picture)--we went to Park City to see the World Championship Bobsledding!! We got to stand about a foot from the track and watch the bobsledders race past us. We walked to the top of the track to see the teams from USA, Italy, and the Czech Republic push off! Check out our cool video! Be sure to turn your head... and you can stop it after the sled goes by... Scott was trying to turn it off :)



After bobsledding we each went to our homes to clean up before heading over to Greg and Aubrey's. They made us a great dinner and we had fun with them! Scott still wanted to surprise me, so he had blindfolded me and drove through all sorts of crazy side streets (including over speed bumps in a gas station) so I wouldn't know where we were going.

All in all the day was perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything better! Scott is such a thoughtful planner and makes me feel so special. I am so grateful for him and so excited to be able to stand by him forever. He means the world to me and I can't express the overwhelming joy I feel when I look at him. I love him so much and am so happy to know he will always be my valentine!

Oh, and here is the ring... I think it's beautiful, but even more it's the love it represents that makes it special. Now I can hold his hand even if he's not standing next to me :)

A Good Day

Even though I woke up this morning with a sore throat, it turned out to be a pretty good day.

1-I got to sleep in for just a little while. Generally I wake up at 6:40 so that I can get in and out of the shower before my roommate needs to (although some days she doesn't get in before 7:30... it's those days that I sleep in that she'll get in at 6:55). This morning though, when my alarm went off, my roommate was already in the shower! That meant I got to sleep in until 7!! (which I normally did at the beginning of the semester but soon stopped when I had to wait everyday for her to get out of the bathroom because she'd go in moments before my alarm... even though she knew I woke up at 7).

2-Jen shared her birthday with me (it was on the 4th, but we are still celebrating) at the salon to get a pedicure. My lady was a little spacey and not really paying attention, but it was fun to be with Jen. Afterwards we went to Carl's Jr. with Lance... I haven't had a hamburger since forever ago... but it was pretty good.

3-My bedroom light came on! About 3 days after moving into this basement apartment (beginning of January)...big private room for $250 a month... not too bad... my bedroom light stopped working. Apparently it was a pretty common occurrence but nobody had bothered to tell me about the problem. I've been using 2 floor lamps for light, but it just doesn't do that well. I try to flip the switch every day or so just to see... and today it came on! It was a miracle! Now I'm afraid to turn it off! It's hard getting ready in the dark! (plus our heater doesn't work so it's a constant 63-65 degrees in here... I am grateful for a heated blanket and little space heater that doesn't catch fire)

4-(I wanted to save the best for last) My hunny gave me tulips :) He's so sweet and I love him to death! He always thinks about nice things he can do for me like writing cute notes and hiding them in my desk at work or sending me text messages in the middle of the day. He's pretty great :)

Food

So, I think about food a lot. What I want to eat, snack on, smell... etc. I like a lot of foods, no real favorites, but I enjoy eating. Personally, I can't have a meal without meat. Something about it makes eating more filling and enjoyable. Even my salads need at least some chicken (often instead of making a chicken breast, I just cook some chicken nuggets and cut those up)... and of course, honey mustard dressing. I also like making up things to make for dinner/lunch. Scott and I have eaten dinner together probably 90% of the time we've dated, so he knows the main things I will make... including pasta roni or hamburger helper. I look at recipes and wonder who has things like rosemary or fresh basil laying around, so mostly I look at the pictures and go from there. It's not too bad. My favorite has been our baked ziti (although not like normal recipies and often with a different noodle). It's really easy and delicious!

1 lb. ground beef (or less if you prefer)
Bell pepper (I'm not going to list out the amounts because usually I don't measure)
Onion
Zuccini, squash, broccoli, and/or any other veggie you like
1 can of diced tomatoes
Some noodles (enough to fill a 9X13 casserole pan about halfway)--I like to use Rigatoni noodles because of the thick spirals... ziti noodles tend to dry out
Cheese
Salt/Pepper

Brown the beef, onions and bell peppers together (often I just have chopped pieces of each instead of slices because I buy the pre-chopped bags in the frozen food section)
Cook the noodles (do not overcook! undercooking is better than overcooking)
soften the veggies in a frying pan with butter (or just boil or steam them... however you like), add to the browned beef.
Combine beef mix with diced tomatoes (undrained) and cooked noodles (drained), stir in a bowl (or just the pan if it's big enough)
Pour into a 9X13 casserole dish
Sprinkle with cheese
Put in a preheated oven (about 350) for 10-20 min until cheese is melted and everything is hot.
Add salt and pepper at the end or over the beef, veggies, etc... I've even made it once without seasoning and it was still delicious with all of the other flavors.

I hope you enjoy... if you have any really easy recipies, please share... I'm always looking for something tasty and easy! I have another great recipie that Scott cooks for me, but I'll share it later...

Yum! Happy eating!

Experience with Blood

So, I used to give blood regularly with no problem. The nurses used to love my veins and could easily get it in the first shot. Once I even did it after September 11 with my friend, Marcy, and we raced (took about 5 minutes), grabbed some cookies and ran home (literally). Never felt a thing. A little over a year ago Scott and I went to give blood on BYU campus because he'd never done it before, but wanted to. He did a great job, but felt a little faint afterwards, especially after he saw the nurses twisting the needle into my arm because the blood wouldn't flow properly. It was slow moving and they had to move the needle around in my arm several times, but I finished fine and felt fine.

Now, as a side note, I've always felt like I should give because I'm type O neg, the universal doner. Anyone can take my blood (and those with O neg can only have O neg). Well, I recently got an email saying that they were in need of O neg blood. I went in today to give and well... it may not be again for a while. The same problem happened that after a little bit it slowed and then they twisted, after about 20 minutes I only had 70 grams left, then 60, then 50... then 10... then it stopped. They moved it around again and again to see if it would help. Nothing. So, when I had about 5 grams left to go, they had to take it out. Therefore, I gave the entire amount (minus a few grams) and they can't even use my blood! (They have to fill up the additional tubes in order to test it before they can use the bag) I felt fine (after 30 minutes of pressure on my arm though and squeezing the ball, I felt like my arm was going to fall off), but when she sat me up, everything got a little hazy. I didn't go completely out, but they laid me back down, put some cold packs on me and made me sit for another 30 min or so until I felt better. Sad story I know. I decided to come home from work (I have a lot of sick hours saved up) and lay in bed and watch a movie. Ahhh.

Settlers of Catan

So, Scott and I have been playing Settlers of Catan for a while. We first played the game a little over year ago with his sister, Katie, and brother-in-law, Wayne. They dominated us... which is to be expected, but we really liked it (the game, not being beat of course). I got Scott the game for Christmas 07 and the expansion pack, Seafarers, for his birthday in March last year.
We played a few times by ourselves and had fun with it. We shared the fun with Jen and Lance, and they ended up buying the game too. THEN, not too long ago we shared the game with our friends Greg and Aubrey (Greg is working towards dental school too and is taking a lot of the same classes, so they study a lot together). Now we are addicted and obsessed. :)

Not only do we play with them almost every week, but we have now created a points system that we keep track of from game to game. First one to 100 wins a prize. (We keep track of the total number of points we acquire each game and the one that wins the round gets an extra 3 points). We are crazy :) It's really fun though, we are learning not to be so competitive though and not get so uptight during the game :) It's really a learning experience!

Try it out... maybe you'll get hooked too.

It's been a while

So, I know it's been a while, but life has been busy! I'm taking a stats class this semester because I never took one before I graduated, but I thought it would be worthwhile. It's been pretty easy so far and we've almost covered the material for the first test!

Scott and I are also taking an Oil Painting class together! We have a lot of fun taking classes together, especially ones we get to interact in. I'll post pictures once we get something worth documenting :) This week we started on a "black and white" still life, really just looking at lighting *using raw umber (not black), and some white to create different tones of the same color. I love painting... but there are some crazy people in that class... enough said! One of the assignments in class is to look at a contemporary artist and get some "inspiration" from their work and make our own painting. I'm having a hard time getting "inspiration" without just copying the work. Any suggestions?

Happy 2009!!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I can't believe 2008 has already come and gone! We had a great Christmas here in Provo with Jen and Lance. We got to see the Nutcracker (previous blog), spend Christmas Eve together, and wake up to presents a plenty! We woke up at 5 am because Jen had to go into work. It was early but very fun!

On Christmas Eve we made a special ham dinner. Lance made the delicious ham, while Scott and I made potatoes and green bean casserole. Jen had made some rolls before work (she worked both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Scott and I also brought home the Christmas tree from work to borrow it for the effect. I think it worked out nicely. :)

Here is our dinner:
Preparation-


About to EAT-

After dinner, Jen retold our family tradition story: How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas. We didn't have the story in front of us, so she retold it from memory including voices! After the funny story, we read the Christ story from Luke. It's always nice to remember the Savior on Christmas. Scott and I went to a Planetarium show a couple weeks ago where they talked about the Star of David and some theories behind it. They also speculated as to why we celebrate on December 25. What a special time that must have been for those who lived on the earth, and knew of the promises made. I hope to also keep Christ a part of Christmas. When we finished the story and talked a little about what we had learned, we each opened one present. Generally in my family we open all of the "family gifts" on Christmas Eve and then open "Santa" presents on Christmas morning. This way the gifts are somewhat separated. But, this year most of the presents came from family, so we decided to just open one. I wanted Scott to open one from me because I had gotten him a stocking! I'd wanted to get him one, but I couldn't ever find one I liked. Finally on Christmas Eve, I ran to Roberts to see what they had left. They had ONE stocking left... no others, I checked. I loved it!! He was so surprised. I didn't want Santa to pass him by! It was a Christmas Miracle! Here is him opening the stocking:

I opened a game called "Buzz Word" from my little brother, Christopher. Lance opened a new Wii game from Christopher and Jen opened, from Lance, new hair ribbons. We played Buzz Word (Jen and Lance won, but maybe I shouldn't mention that), and after Jen went to bed (she had to work)--Scott and Lance stayed up playing the Wii.
I just laid on the couch and fell asleep. Christmas morning came early! Scott got me a new NorthFace Apex jacket (which I love!), Smartwool socks for outdoor fun, the short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (we went and saw the movie yesterday and LOVED it... it's nothing like the book though). It was a very successful morning :)
Thank you all for touching our lives in one way or another. I wish you the best year yet for 2009!