Meeting the Familia

Derek and I spent the weekend in Boise for Derek's cousin's wedding.

It was fun.  I've never really ever been to Boise.  And that is where Derek hails from (until he was 11).

Here are the Highlights of Boise
1. Staying with Aunt Susan, she is absolutely delightful.
2. Actually meeting the fam not at my wedding so I remember who people are now
3. The Sealing at the Boise Temple - very beautiful
4. Walking around the Boise Temple with my shoes off because the cement was warm
5. Having to be wearing a sweater + 1 or 2 coats everywhere I went because it is FREEZING in Boise
6. Seeing every place Derek ever lived and/or went as a child
7. Meeting the Grandparents
8. Chillin' at the reception with all the cousins
9. Being pleasantly surprised by McGrath's Fish House - good fish tacos (better than Cheesecake Factory)
10. Going to church in the morning and discovering it was the Spanish Branch
11. Getting physically sick from drinking so much water - i got a "jumbo" water.  I downed 64 oz. like it was nothing...I wanted to die

But alas, we again forgot our camera.  We are terrible.  Sorry.

Privatizing

Hey all, we've decided to make our bloggy-thang private.  so if you wanna still read about our incredibly exciting lives, get me your email and i'll send you an invite.

Much loves!

India

This isn't for sure, but I think it's worth blogging about.

Derek has officially changed his minor to International Development.  Yesterday he had a meeting with the dept. head of the Int. Development minor to see if he can get credit for the Hogar del Nino project we will be doing in El Salvador next May.

Good News!  Dept. Head said Yes!

Better News!
Dept. Head is working on putting together a program for people with spinal cord injuries in India.  He needs a Recreation Therapist and a Pre-Physical Therapy Student.  hmmmmm.....who does that sound like?  Yes, Derek and I.  He has asked us to help he and his associate at the University of Utah to spear head this project.  We don't know if it will go through or not, but we may be spending a nice chunk of next year in India.

Oh, did I mention this is for the University of Utah Hospital's Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Clinic?  Did I mention I want to work there more than anywhere else in the world?  Did I mention Derek and I really want him to get into the U's PT School?  Doing this project could have bright futures for the both of us.

We are psyched out of our minds!

Weekend Adventure

We went to St. George this last weekend.  It was full of adventure, and SUNSHINE!  Yes, sunshine.  I broke out my shorts for the first time since it decided to get cold.  And boy oh boy did that sunshine do wonders for us.

We started the weekend with a 10k race in Snow Canyon.  It was a beautiful run.  Derek was kind and ran with me.  But I shaved 30 seconds off each mile to finish in 47:05.  I was proud of myself and tired.  Best of all, Lisa only beat my by 9.5 minutes!

After the race and a delicious lunch prepared by Matt Fuller's parents me, Derek, Lisa, Matt, Dad, and Clayton (Matt's Dad) went mountain biking.  And after that, on a hike.  It was just so great to be out in the sunshine we didn't want to stop moving.  Then, we crashed.

Sunday we went to church and on a lovely walk to the Emerald Pools in Zion National Park before heading home.  One thing I will say, Springdale (the town outside Zion), definitely had a "Green Jell-o Bake Off" and a "Scripture Jell-o Contest".  I haven't figured out how to "bake" jell-o, or make a scripture out of it, but I assure you, I will.

Sorry, we forgot our camera...so Matt has all the pictures.  Maybe next time.

Ode to King Bob and Elyssa

I dedicate this post to King Bob (my former jeep) and Elyssa Nichole Morrill because once more, I will be blogging about food.  But I can't help it, I LOVE food.  Not only do i love to eat it, cuz i'd be crazy not to.  but i love everything about it.  i love buying it, preparing and cooking it (i love that part most), thinking about it, coming up with new recipes or ways to change them so i'll eat them.  i just love food!

So elyssa and KB, this one is for you.

If you didn't catch it in the dedication, we sold my jeep.  Yes, King Bob is no more.  He has moved to Price to fulfill a young teenage boys high school dreams.  He'll be great!  He's been through a lot.  But we always treated him right, except for properly cleaning him according to Derek.

But alas, he is gone.  We sold him Sunday for a whopping $5250.00!  I was amazed!  I didn't ever dream i'd get that much of a 1998 jeep cherokee with 106,000 miles on it.  but we did.  i sniffed a sniff when i heard him drive out of my life forever.

But it'll be ok.  We're going to meet up with Bob's new family in Helper for the Annual Christmas Light Parade.  December 4 at 7 pm.  I am so excited, I sense a new Storrs Family Tradition coming up!

Anyway,

Vive le France!

I came home from work on Monday delighted that it wasn't dark yet, and to my pleasure the house was filled with the most incredible aroma.  My husband is incredible.  In the kitchen and out.  But he made ratatouille!  it was delicious!

the recipe says to stir it, i think next time we won't, then it will look more ratatouilleish...it was so delicious that we scarfed the whole thing, i'm glad we were able to get a mid-meal picture though.

St. Patty's Day was fun.  I went to Beth's and watched the girls for a few hours.  It was great.  My niece is 5 and a genius.  She passed of her 3rd grade reading level book to me before checking the basement toilet water to see if a Lepercaughn had turned it green.  Alas, only upstairs toilet water was green.  But her macaroni myseteriously turned green....odd.  I think not.  and the little one is nearly 6 months and ADORABLE and fat.  She just sits there and smiles at you.  She reminds me of my Great Grandma Williams because it's a giant toothless grin.  (gma williams flushed her denchers down the toilet.  purposefully and refused to get more.  she was awesome)

We later celebrated with a green and orange meal.  it looked like a Lepercaughn.  Pesto with chicken, salad (spinach, peas, cucumbers, and pears), and sweet potato fries.  delicious!

Other Perks of the Week

1. i stayed up til 1:30 am on Monday (i go to bed between 10 and 1030 every night)

2. i got a 93% on my abnormal psych test that i didn't care about and figured i'd bomb

3. i officially diagnosed myself with senioritis due to the fact that i have cared about school not even a milimeter this semester.  

4. derek bought an itunes card with some of the obsurd amounts of money we have to target and i bought soul sister by train (my favorite right now)

5. it is on repeat cuz derek isn't home

6. derek fixed our shower head and toilet paper holder!

7. we're going to st. george for the weekend for a race, mnt. biking, sunshine, and family fun!

8. i FINALLY solved the mystery about Helper, Utah's Christmas Town, and will be participating in the celebrations

World Travels

Skiing is awesome!
Have we ever mentioned that before?  We spent last Saturday up at Alta with Dad, Lisa, Matt Fuller, Mark Hancock, and Scott and his sons (for the 1st 1.5 runs.  sons pooped out on us after that!  don't ask how...i guess we were hikin' pretty hard...)

Anyway, the powder was Sweet As!  Face Shots ALL DAY!  Virgin Pow.  Euphoria.  Worth the work to get to it, every time.

Hunger Banquet was Derek and I's Date Night on Saturday.  We were on the floor sharing a serving of rice and beans between us.  We learned new things.  It was great.

Every year I leave with a renewed sense of wanting to do my part to save the world.  Derek and I have been planning on going to Argentina to serve next Winter Semester (hiatus between his graduation and PT School).  But now something is actually getting done.

Derek is switching is Minor to International Development instead of Business.  Something we are both passionate about.  Although I'll be done, I can learn right along side him.  We are looking into a program called Hogar del Nino.  (The funny thing is we wanted to go last year after the Hunger Banquet but it never worked out because you either must be same sex, married, or siblings...)
Well, we're married now.  One person must be fluent in Spanish (Derek), one needs to be a Rec or TR Major (that's me!)  So we're hoping to be on our way to El Salvador, working in an orphanage for people with disabilites (ages baby to old person) and running recreation activities and rec therapy for them.  We are super excited!
We'll hopefully take off in May???  (next May that is.)
It is a long way out.  But we have to wait until after interviews for PT School are over.

Monday Night Travels
We went to Hawaii.  I know it's not technically foreign, but we have LOTS of leftover Hawaii Haystack Goodness from Sunday night.  (We had all Derek's old roommates over for dinner).  Plus, it was an excuse for us to get excited about our trip to HAWAII IN APRIL!!

Eclectic Tuesday
Matt made saag.  Healthy saag!  So we went to India.

Middle East
Wednesday we traveled to the Middle East again.  Or even to Turkey (in NZ they call these Turkish Kebabs...)  I all the sudden was craving kebabs.  For those of you who don't know what a kebab is, it is not a shish kebab.  A kebab is similar to a Greek gyro.

So, we made pita bread.  It is quite easy.
Then we made kebabs.  MMMM.....chicken, taboule, homemade yogurt sauce, spinach, and tomatoes.  all inside a homemade wheat pita!  talk about delicious!

Time Out For Friends

So I don't get to see my high school friends very often anymore, which is a crying shame cuz they are a riot of a good time.

Anyway, yesterday we all had a time out from our lives and got together to eat food.  (because that is what people do when they get together).
But it was really really fun to see everyone and be back together again.  Everyone is still as crazy as ever and about half of us have spouses now.
But it was fun.  I lava my friends more than a fat kid loves cake and nachos and I want to hang out with them on a more regular basis!