Hot Passionate Kisses

A friend told Andrew about this, I have no idea why they call them "hot passionate kisses" but they do. First you take a grasshopper cookie and you bite a little bit off of opposite sides like so.
Then you hold the cookie partly in your mouth and stick the other half in the hot chocolate.

Suck until the hot chocolate comes all the way through the cookie and into your mouth, then eat the cookie.

When Andrew told me about it I thought he was crazy, then we just happened to be having cocoa and toast for breakfast so he tried it, he said it was amazing so I gave in and tried it too. He was right it was AMAZING!! Go ahead try it!!!

Half Marathon!!

Andrew kept asking me why I didn't blog about the half marathon. I kept telling him that I didn't have pictures since he took my camera (and lets face it, pictures make a post more worth reading), and that Lindsay posted about it so I would just be repeating what she said, plus I don't think that many people read my blog so it didn't really matter if I posted. But I stole some pictures from Lindsay's camera and since this is a form of family journaling he finally convinced me to write about it.

On March 20th I ran a half marathon for the first time in my life! 13.1 Miles!! My two goals were 1. to not walk at all and 2. to finish in under 2 hours. The last five miles were way hard and I gave up on goal #2. Who cares about time at that point? I just wanted to finish! But when I went into my sprint for the finish I was pleasantly suprised to see that the timing clock said 1:57.17 as i crossed the finish line! Yay!! I did better than I thought I would. My chip time was 1:56.08. Right after I finished my mom asked me if I would do it again, I said I would have to forget how hard it was first. But it was a ton of fun and I think everyone should experience the starting line of a race with almost 4,000 runners, craziness.

Andrew's Spring Break!!

So I just went on a service trip to the Dominican republic a couple weeks ago with a group of students from SUU along with a local doctor, two nurses, a dentist, and a dental hygenist. We left Cedar City Friday morning at 11 am and arrived in Jaibon sometime in the afternoon of the following day, there meeting up with well over a hundred volunteers from around the US. It was an amazing trip, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! I got to know some great people from around here, and we got to help the people there and learn a TON! There is too much to list everything so I am including a list of top 10 things that impacted me the most from the experience:

10. Traffic Laws (I mean really... do they have any?)

9. No AC. The only times we had air conditioning on the trip were on the bus rides and in the airplanes (I think the airport in the DR had AC too).

8. Sticky heat (at first I wondered why people were just sitting around but then I realized they were lounging during the day b/c it's too hot to do ANYTHING)

7. Food was amazing! I was ready to get back to American food when the week was over though...

6. Living conditions (we saw countless shacks constructed of plywood and just whatever people had) (Below: an abandoned food shack)

5. Medical professionals that came with us and other groups were very selfless, humble people ready to help wherever they could (Below: Dr. Rick Barnes the Dentist and Tressa the dental hygienist)

4. People -I loved being in a position where I was able to give to these people. We taught in the schools, helped provide medical and dental care, and I even helped build the footing for a small rock wall in front of the orphanage (Below: Greg playing frisbee at school/masses at medical clinic)

3. Getting to know the Doc from here in Cedar City and hearing a little about his experience becoming a physician and about his being a physician (Below: Andrew and "Dr. Dan" en route to the DR)

2. I missed Megan more than I expected. I thought about her more and more as the week progressed. Because she was gracious enough to let me take a pic of her the night before I left I had this pic of her on the camera I got to look at from time to time so I wouldn't miss her too much

1. Monday afternoon I translated for a Doc at the medical clinic. It was as though I were the physician because I asked all the questions and explained the diagnoses. It was awesome and got me so excited for the future!

PS Did I mention we went to the beach Wednesday? And then to another on Saturday?? (Below: Beach at Puerto Plata ...I think)

agression

Do you ever wonder what your family members think of your spouse? Sometimes I do, but you don't really have to wonder what your sister thinks of your husband when she lets out her pent up aggression. Lindsay just happens to hit Andrew with the ball every time we play racquetball together, I no longer believe it is just coincidence. Tonight she let it all out, the pictures don't show it very well, but his lips are pretty swollen. One side of his face had a nice red circle on it and of course being the supportive wife that I am I laughed every time I saw it. When it happened I was laughing so hard I had to leave to spend some time in the bathroom.

Indoor triathlon!!

A triathlon club was started on campus and yesterday they hosted an indoor triathlon. Those who can complete a full triathlon would call it a wussy triathlon because it is even shorter than a sprint triathlon, but I thought it was perfect. Three miles on a treadmill, ten miles on a stationary bike and a quarter mile of swimming. It was a ton of fun and I would totally do it again!

Mental note, don't pick the treadmill in front of the window when the sun is coming in.
The running was my favorite part I was so proud of my time and I felt really good when I finished that part.

I don't bike, that is why participating in a triathlon on a stationary bike appealed to me, no hills and I probably won't fall over or knock anyone else over. I didn't train for the biking at all and it was by far the worst part for me. My timer told me to put my level high so I would finish faster, BAD IDEA!!!

Transitions, notice our timers dutifully following.

The swimming was the part I was the most worried about, but I ended up enjoying it a lot.

Andrew had the hard task of taking pictures and he did a wonderful job! Then he took Lindsay and I out to dinner at the Pizza Factory last night because we are so awesome!

Family Fun!!

My little buddy Parker was baptized on Saturday, we are so proud of him for making this great decision in his life!!!

It was so great getting to share his special day with him and it was fun that we got to be together as a family.
My dad took us hiking and we had so much fun! My dad is so great, he is always willing to show us new things and make sure we always have a good time!

The boys wanting to get as high as possible.

Its so fun to be together! We missed Tonya though, but the babies are doing better so maybe next time everyone can be there.

Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our activities for the day included a romantic picnic and dancing as well as candy and cute socks.
The fun ended with decorating sugar cookies, my Valentine's tradition.

Thanks for making the day so fun Andrew!! Love you!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day!!!!!!!!

Just Life

This is me avoiding studying for a Geography test. Spring semester is always so much harder to stay focused for. I am very ready to be done.

My blog was feeling neglected but I sadly don't really have anything exciting to report. I spend my days in class and running and doing homework, my highlights are cooking and getting the house clean. Andrew spends his days at school and work and doing homework his highlights are sleeping and eating. And of course we both cherish the two hours after work but before bedtime that we get to spend together!

Such exciting lives!

Last First Day and Christmas Fun

Today was my last first day of classes!!! (Well if I pass all of my classes this semester)

Here are some of the highlights of our Christmas festivities!!

Lindsay came home!!!

Some people tried unique food from China
We of course played games

Sugar Cookies!!

My WHOLE family (cept Jeremy, sad) staying in my little home so we could go to the Forgotten Carols together!! So much fun!!

Andrew's birthday party!! Happy Birthday babe!!!

Sledding against my will and popping Nathan's tube. Sorry again. Parker and Payton were so helpful in pushing us down the hill. We didn't ruin the fun though, with some rope and a 4-wheeler everyone still had a good time, and a few of the big boys had sore behinds.

After the trip to Moab the camera never made it out of Andrew's backpack but we had a fun New Years party with his parents and siblings and then went to Jacob's baptism. We played games (Andrew and I are amazing at Twilight Scene It) and went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie, so good!!

We hope everyone had a great holiday season!! We are excited for the new year, hopefully we will improve ourselves and have tons of fun!!!

Christmas Time is Here!

Here are the new additions to our home!! First is Freddy the fir tree in his green, gold and red glory.

The pictures do not do his beauty justice!!

The next addition is the beautiful Christmas Village!! I came home from school to find that my wonderful husband had set it up on the amazing chest that my mom gave me for my birthday! Thanks mom and Andrew!!!

My home truly feels like Christmas now and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!