Life of a married working couple

Is busy.

I work 40-45 (occasionally +) hours a week.  Derek works roughly 30-35 hours a week.  It is all well and good, because we are mostly at work during the same time.  But there have been some changes....

First of all, there has been a new addition to our family.
We bought our first car.  Literally a car.  I know, i own a car.  (my whole life i've been taught cars are evil death traps), nevertheless, we own a honda civic.  It's great!  it gets 40 mpg on the highway and is a manual.  What more could i ask for?  it has cloth seats, a cd player that works, nice trunk space, a new engine, the benefits of this car go on and on.  But i still drive the truck cuz my work is closer.  yay!  Her name is Rosie.  (She is a lesbian.  Her former owner striped her down and drove her like a race car, hence the new engine etc.  so she's been used and abused by men, and has racing pedals (manish) so we decided she's a lesbian.  and is named after Rosie O'donnal.)

Other changes.  These haven't been to the marriage, but in my work.
I am doing an internship at Westridge Academy.  It is a residential treatment center for at risk youth.  It is really great.  This past week (Monday morning-10 pm last night (thurs)) we went on Parent Retreat.  It is a chance for the parents and kids to reconnect and have fun together.

Schedule of events:
Monday: leave Westridge at 9 - 9:30 am, arrive in Green River around 2 pm, set up camp etc.

(the scheduling for the groups is the same.  We did the same thing 3 times in a row)

4 pm: students and parents begin to arrive, get to know them etc. 5:30 pm dinner.  6:30 pm therapeutic games - this is where what we do best kicks in.  We played games and used them as therapy and there were some major break throughs with the parents and the kids (esp. the girls).  The kids felt how the parents feel/felt, and understood their actions affect more than just themselves, the parents started learning to trust their children.  it was awesome!
After that was campfire/dessert/games (big booty, screaming viking, and ninja)

Next morning - breakfast and rafting the daily section of the green river!  it was awesome!  it felt SO GOOD to be back on the water in a raft again.  oh my goodness.  it was so cold the first day and i didn't care.  Next day nice and warm.  last day beautiful.  perfect.  i was on an open faced kayak and then we did another run just the staff and eli's family once all the kiddies left.  1 man duckie baby!  so fun!

then we went home.  it took an abnormally long time because....the trailer popped off the hitch whilest we were driving.  popped off going over a cattle guard.  luckily, we were only going around 35 mpg.  few.  practically no damage.  don't ask me how.  but we got that all fixed - creatively.  we were feeling blessed.  so i worked 84.5 hours this week and john gave me today off.  yay!

Hip Hip Hooray!!!

Derek is done with the GRE!
HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!

That's all I have to say.

The Great Escape

What did I escape????  Did you really need to ask that question?

You'll have to excuse my nieces....it's hard to make young children focus after a painful 3.5 hour college graduation.  (it was hard for me, so i can only imagine their pain...)

Anyway. To celebrate my escape from Brigham Young University and our escape from Provo (we are shackin' up in my parent's basement in South Jordan), we took a little tropical getaway...

                                ALOHA!
Yes, we went to O'ahu for 6 days.  And it was great!  For a more complete detail of the trip, see Derek's album on facebook.  But here are a few highlights.

I woke up the first day with food poisoning, but i didn't let that stop me.  I went on the 8 mile bushwhacking hike anyway...

i threw up 3 times, and once more in the parking lot of Pearl Harbor...so i retired for the day.  Derek was a wonderful husband, per usual, and bought me sugar free calorie free sprite and some crackers.  he went and played at the beach while i layed in bed and watched 4 episodes of the Office.

Do not despair.  I woke up day 2 rip roarin and ready to play.
Itinery: Diamond Head Crater (hike), Hanauma Bay (snorkle), Koko Crater (Hike), Spitting Cave of Portlock, Dragon's Nostrils/hike, Pearl Harbor Take 2, Munoa Falls (hike)...quite the day.

Day 3: We checked out of the hotel and hit up the Lai'e Temple, Lai'e Falls Hike, Polynesian Cultural Center.  Sweet as.

We slept in the car.  So after a not so great night's rest on the side of the road next to a church we played more. 

Snorkling at Shark's Cove, Visiting an Ancient Hawaiian Temple, Wiamea Bay, Turtle Bay, Pounder's Beach

Again, we were too lazy to find a campground, and if we had, we still would've slept in the car.  So we slept in a parking lot in Haleiwa.
After a delish breakfast we went to some farmer's markets, got Pippy (the jeep) stuck, the Dole Plantation, Pearl Harbor Take 3 (it took 3x's to see the Arizona), then it was sadly home again home again.

But, we are back, and I have started my internship at Westridge Academy and he has started working as a PT Aide at an IHC Clinic.  Life is SO GOOD!

Something to Brighten the Day thru the Rain and Snow on April 22!

Ok, so we all know i am in no means technilogically savvy.  But i remembered this little golden nugget yesterday and showed it to Derek this morning.  We were nearly peeing, just as funny as ever.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5jVNsiM4IU

I have a way better idea than taking finals

How about a trip to Capitol Reef National Park!

Yes, on Friday, Derek and I went to Capitol Reef with some friends and met some new friends.  It was great!  We stayed at Jesse Davis' cabin.  His grand-dad built it.  There are some interesting quirks about the cabin, which is why it's so great!

These Old Maid cards for example.  Or the fact that the stove is gas powered and the toaster is a metal plate you hook to the stove-burner...love it.

I overcame a feat that is great and mighty.  The sight may be gruesome.  If you don't have a strong stomach you may want to skip this part...

Yes, I ate spaghetti noodles for the first time in over 2 years.  Fortunately it was pesto on the noodles...

The Capitol Reef part was great!  it is such a beautiful park!  We did some great hikes and saw some incredible majesty (as Jess would put it).  I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Scott and Lindsey Hannay and us....tis tradition to take a picture by the sign.

Lots of slots to play in, lots of canyons to explore, lots of majesty to be had.   The best part was simply to be out in the sunshine and desert air exploring and loving everything life has to offer.

Life is good great and wonderful!

I'm Done.....Almost

I just would like to take this moment to say......Iwasagainstthisfromthestart.itwashisideaiwasagainstit rudely cut off by the Beast's fearsome roar.

If you didn't catch it, that is a quote from Cogsworth on Beauty and the Beast (my favorite movie since age 4), and those are my feelings about school.  But fortunately for me......I'M DONE!!!!!!

Well, almost.  I still have to make it through finals week.  But they will be a breeze this semester.

So yeah, education system you can get ready to kiss my white boot-ay goodbye FOREVER!

Bubble Wrap and Pizza

Derek and I came home from church yesterday to a surprise.
1. Our dead bolt was locked - we were in a rush leaving and only locked the handle
2. Our house was coved in bubble wrap and plastic wrap - we immediately knew....Lisa and Matt we the culprits
3. They cleverly had lots of people text us as if they had "popped" by to see us, but we were gone, but we knew who the real culprits were....sneaky sneaky.

They made us a door

And a bed......

not to mention a Sweet As Dance Floor

They also took all of our bedding and nicely folded it under our table and then plastic wrapped it in there.  (You can kind of see it in the above picture)

Anyway, why were we in a rush to get to church?  9 AM isn't bad, we're early risers.  However, we had his family over for dinner and made pizza.  So we were making pizza dough and bread dough.

And by we I mostly mean Derek.  

We have no pictures of our beautiful pizzas but i can describe them beautifully.

All pizzas were made with homemade whole wheat crust

Pizza #1: Veggie: sauce, little bit of cheese, spinach, red and green bell peppers, parmesan cheese and big slices of fresh tomato (after cooking)

Pizza #2: Hawaiian, not just any Hawaiian.  Derek and I put cinnamon and brown sugar into the sauce and also sprinkled it over the fat whole slices of canadian bacon and pineapple

Pizza #3: Mango Chicken: Cinnamon in the sauce, moderate cheese, chicken cooked in garlic and ginger, fresh mango, and green bell peppers, covered in a sprinkling of cinnamon

SO GOOD!