My New Hobby

So I'm not really sure why, but I have always LOVED making cakes and decorating them. John and his family have been feeding this obsession of mine by giving me tons of cake decorating books/pans/frosting stuff. Maybe one day I will find the time to take some classes and learn how to properly decorate cakes, but for now I have the Wilton website, and this:

Here are a few pictures of things I have made:

Football helmet cake for John's Birthday

Moose Cupcake

Football cake for Superbowl Sunday!

Owl Cupcakes

Lately :)

We completely fail in the blogging department. Last semester brought the craziest 4 months of our lives, and we're still working on recovering. With John working full time and me taking 15 credits of graduate level math classes, teaching a statistics recitation and tutoring, we had our hands full! I honestly think I only really cooked dinner about 5 times in 4 months, and our apartment was constantly cluttered, always with a sink full of dishes. We are now professional at our "10 minute clean up," which had to take place anytime we found out someone was stopping by, in order for me to not feel totally embarrassed at the mess. We can de-clutter, take care of the dishes and vacuum our living room in no time flat.

We also went through the adventure of buying a new car. The poor Jetta had a new problem every two weeks, and we needed a more reliable way to get around, especially with all of our trips through Sardine Canyon to get to Salt Lake. We were able to find a 2004 Acura MDX that was in great condition for a really good price. We have lovingly named him Winston. It has been so nice to have a reliable car, and one that John actually fits in haha.

My grades turned out really well last semester, and we were lucky enough to spend our Christmas break in sunny Arizona with John's family. The new semester is going really well. I only have 12 credits and will graduate with my bachelor's degree in Math and Statistics in May! I am also teaching two recitations this semester for Math 1050, and enjoying it very much. John is still working, and has taken up raquetball as his new favorite activity. He has had me play with him, and I'm horrible, but we have fun.

I have been thinking a lot lately about finding ways to be happy. Last semester, I had a really hard time being happy because of all of the stress and busyness that was going on. I always felt like I didn't even have time to breathe. All I could find happiness in was the fact that I would be graduating in May, and that I only had one semester left to get through before I could finally have time to do what I really wanted. I have thought like this my entire life. In junior high, all I wanted was to be in High School, and once I was in High School, I only wanted to be in college. I have always wished that I could be in the next stage of my life, and once I got there, where I was just wasn't good enough.

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows." - President Thomas S. Monson

This quote came as an answer to my prayers. I needed to find a way to be happy NOW. Not when I graduate, or when we're finally able to buy a house of our own, but right now, while I'm still in school, living in this little apartment. This has helped me put things into perspective and focus on what is really important. Even though things aren't perfect, and I don't have time to get everything done that I want to, I can find happiness in the fact that I have an awesome husband, a place to live, and that I am able to get an education. I have so many reasons to be happy, and I wouldn't trade the place I am in now for anything :)

Trying to Pass the Time

It has been way too long! John got a new job working at Conservice, which has worked out really well for us, except that I get super bored while he's gone all day. So I've had to try and find new things to do. I've been doing a lot of cooking and cleaning, and luckily I've had a bunch of tutoring jobs to keep me sort of busy, even though the people I'm tutoring just don't seem to be understanding a word I'm saying most of the time. One drawback to all the tutoring: the buses aren't running during the summer, and I'm getting bored of walking through the cemetery to campus, which is why I have had a sudden obsession with this:

I wish. Maybe someday :)

We have been enjoying summer, but it's sort of coming to a close for me since my summer class starts tomorrow. At least it's only one class, and it's only seven weeks long. I just keep thinking that it will all be worth it do be completely done with school by next May.

Our plants are doing good, except for the attack of the black flies, but we're working on getting rid of them. Our tomato plants are HUGE and we found our first little awesome surprise yesterday:Yay for our first baby tomato!

Let's just hope that we can keep hanging our tomatoes off of the balcony...but that's a story for another day. We'll just say that there was a bit of a tussle with our new R.A. :(

We mourn the loss of our most trusty friend, Old Plaid. He has had such a profound affect on so many around us. He first began with our family when he was discovered at a yard sale by my brother's wife's sister. He served their family well, and was then passed on to my brother, Corbin. Plaid also served them well, but suffered a tragic accident while being moved and was never quite the same in the years following. He then followed my brother Tim and his wife Andrea into their new home, where he was shown much love by their two children, and many others around them. He held their small toys and crayons until they were to be found again. Plaid spent a short amount of time in their garage, where he was later invited to join our family. He cared for us well, until we were able to find something else that suited us. He will be truly missed, and we will never forget his great journey. We hope that he may be able to go on to serve another family, even though he is not in the best of conditions. We'll miss you old friend!


Let's just say we needed a new couch. Poor Old Plaid has been well used. The cushions are finally wearing out on the edges and the frame is so busted that it hurts your back to sit on it for too long. And then there's what we call the vortex. Because the frame is broken, there is a huge gap in the back of the couch and anything you set on the couch is bound to fall in. Anytime we lose something, especially the remote, the first place we look is always in the vortex.

We're hoping we can find someone else we know to pass him on to, just to continue the legacy, but he just might have to end up at the DI if there are no takers.

Anyway, we went shopping for a new couch. We had looked at a few places, and didn't really find much, especially because our budget was kinda small, and finally found one we really liked on clearance. We weren't really planning on buying a couch right then that day, but after sitting on the display model for a while and taking some time to think about it, we decided we couldn't pass the deal up. We had to wait almost two weeks for it to get to the warehouse, and then began the battle of getting it into our apartment...

So, the boys were able to get it up the stairs alright, but started to have trouble when they tried getting it in the door... so they had to take the door off.

John said our front door weighs more than the couch did. Apparently it's solid metal. So they took the door off, hoping that the few extra inches would give them enough room to get it in...and they got it in the door, they just couldn't get it around the corner. So we had to go with Plan B.

Plan B was to lift the couch up over our balcony and onto the porch, and then there would be no corners to turn. So two guys stood on a picnic table down below and pushed the couch up to the two guys on the balcony. Let's just say Plan B worked, and wasn't as difficult as we thought it would be. We are excited for our new comfy couch, but we're trying not to think too much about how we're going to get it out when we have to move :)

A Quick Update

Here are a few pictures from my field trip to Moab a few weeks ago. It was quite a fun adventure, apart from almost freezing to death, and I was SO glad to be home when it was over.

Broken Arch--Arches National park

Goblin Valley

The next few pictures are from a hike John and I took one Saturday up Hyde Park Canyon. We found this little cave that we thought was pretty sweet, until we found some poop and tracks, and started to smell skunk...

This is me...running away from the stinky skunk hole!

Later that night we headed up Logan Canyon for tin foil dinners and Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler with Andy & Jess and Jeff & Ashlee. We had a blast eating and chillin around the fire :)
Our garden is looking good so far. We didn't end up having any pepper plants come up, mostly just because I don't think they were getting enough sun in our window. We went ahead and just bought some pepper plants and some tomatoes, and we're waiting until it's warmer to plant everything else. I have taken my mom's advice and I talk to them everyday and tell them to keep growing! My mom will tell you that talking to plants makes them grow better, and she can pretty much keep any plant alive so I figured I could trust her on that one.

We also had a mishap with our bathroom sink...It started draining really slow, so John tried fixing it, and it completely stopped draining. We had to call the maintenance crew, and when it was all said and done, they pulled a huge wad of black hair out...gross.
John and I are both looking forward to school being over. Finals are next week, and I am way ready for summer!

A Weekend of Bachelorhood

First off before anyone reads this. THIS IS SURPRISE FOR WHEN HALEY GETS HOME! DON'T TELL HER ABOUT IT!

So I was informed the other day that I am behind on my blogging... I am supposed to be blogging about St. Patrick's Day but Haley has the camera with those pictures so instead I am going to fill everyone in on my weekend as a bachelor. Haley is gone on a 3 day field trip to Zion National Park.

Just so everyone has a bit of background Haley bought some seeds and soil the other day to get ready for our garden we want to have this summer. But since we live on the second floor in Married On-Campus housing we don't exactly have a place that we can have a garden, until now! I spent the day today building Haley a planter box for our patio.


It is a 4'x4' box that has 8cft of soil and my favorite part is that it hangs out over the edge of our balcony. The sun doesn't quite shine all the way on to our patio so the box hangs out so that the whole thing can get sun. And because we, my sister helped my put it together, thought it needed something in it for when Haley got home we planted a Pansy.

Yes a yellow pansy.

And because my grandpa and dad raised me under the philosophy that every project means you get a new tool I had to get this...

A craftsman 19.2v drill with a Lithium-ion battery. Only the best in my tool box!

So my one weekend that I could have gone crazy being a bachelor I spent building a garden box for my wife. Hopefully we will have some good tastin food this summer. We are planning on growing hot peppers, bell peppers, green onions, peas, cilantro, and cucumbers. Hopefully it will all work out for the best. At the very least it has been fun so far!

We Started a Garden!

We had been talking about starting a garden for the past little while to put out on our little patio for the summer. We were wandering around Walmart last night trying to find food for me to take on my geology field trip this weekend, and figured we should probably look at seeds and stuff and get things started. We found that we only had to start our peppers inside, so we planted them, and will wait to plant the rest of everything outside when it's warm enough!