Provocative Dessert!

A new restaurant, Ling and Louie's, opened next to our office a week or so ago. The PR team went there today for lunch to say goodbye to one of our associates who is moving to another department.

This was part of the dessert menu:

THAT caption with THAT image?
Pretty sure I blushed.

2010 in Review

This has quite possibly been the biggest year of our marriage! Here are the highlights:

• In April we graduated from BYU-Idaho
• We made our first big and semi-permanent move to Meridian, ID
• I got my first real full time job doing public relations for Scentsy
• In September Chris started his first semester of pharmacy school through Idaho State. The first year is supposed to be the hardest and he did wonderfully!
• In October we moved into our first house! We couldn't love it more!

More recently...

• I took a work trip to Toronto, Canada and to Ohio for work. Since I was already back east I took a few days and was able to visit my sister Traci and her family in New York! I hadn't seen them in 2 years! I cried at when I saw Traci at the airport! I couldn't believe what a baby I was being, but sometimes you forget how much you love your family and how important they are to you until you see them face to face. It was such a great trip!
• We are loving our new ward! Chris teaches the 14-15 year old Sunday school class and I teach the 4th Sunday (teaching for our times) Relief Society lesson. I was also on the "fruit basket committee" as I called it, literally that is what it was! haha! But unfortunately that ended with Christmas.
• We hosted our first Thanksgiving! It was chaotic but a success none the less.
• We were unable to go home to AZ for Christmas this year because the didn't want to face the scary roads and we waited too long to buy plane tickets before they were way out of our price range. This was my first Christmas away from home and family. I was sad about it at first, but the closer Christmas came the more fun and exciting it was to have our own little Christmas. We got a tree (fake, but with the Christmas Tree Scentsy Bar, who needs real? :) ), I stuffed our stockings and we got each other all sorts of fun gifts. It was a wonderful Christmas after all!
• I have had this week off of work for the holidays. It has been one of the best vacations ever! We have literally done nothing but lounge around in our PJs all day, eat, sleep and watch movies. I feel so well rested and refreshed and ready to take on a new year!

I can already tell 2011 is going to be full and eventful year! I cannot wait to see what life has in store for us! I am starting it with a bang thanks to work: I am going on a two week Scentsy tour of the Southern US. I will travel to Washington, Oregon, two cities in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas in just two weeks for the Spring Sprint! It is sort of a traveling, mini, one day convention in each city. We will be traveling on these awesome decked out Scentsy RVs and will see thousands of Consultants along the way. Since I end in Texas, I'm going to fly home to AZ for a few days to see my family. Its gonna be fun!!

Happy New Year from us to you!

I have been such a bad blogger lately, I'm sorry.

I am even more sorry because I am not going to give a thorough update right now!
But in short...

• We are buying a house that we are head over heals in love with
• It is so stressful
• I feel-- strike that-- I am... so poor. and it's not cute, glamorized, newlywed poor. It sucks. Zero fun sir. But what can you do? It is what it is.
• I still love my job
• Chris is turning 28 on Monday!
• I love my husband so much, he is my perfect match.

and lastly, I was at Sonic the other day and while looking at their drink menu I saw this:

I know its hard to make out in this picture because it's blurry, but there is a trade mark symbol next to the flavor cranberry! Seriously? Can you trade mark a fruit? If I order that is some cranberry man getting .5% of the cost of my drink?? It blew my mind.

That is all.

May in review

I'm sorry for the lack of updates! life has just kept me so busy! Here is a bit of what we have been up to:

• I love my job-- at times it can be stressful but I love what I do, the company, the products, and mostly THE PEOPLE I work with! With so many new grads unemployed out there (including Chris) I feel so blessed to have an amazing start on my career.
  
• We got some AMAZING deals thanks to Craigslis!

The executive's chair, table and leather chair cost us $230 TOTAL! What a steal!

• Yesterday we were called at CTR 4 teachers in Primary! We have NINE rambunctious little 4 year olds! Yesterday was our first day...and church will never be the same again! Chris and I taught Gospel Doctrine in our old ward so going from that to this is so different, but equally challenging! Its fun to get to spend all 3 hours of church together and brush up on our Primary songs!
  
• Chris and I swapped holidays this year and I got him the best Mother's Day gift! I got him a golf pass to a golf course in Eagle! The pass comes with 4 free 9-hole rounds, 4 free 18-hole rounds, a bunch of buy one get ones, $1 bucks of balls for the driving range, plus a ton of other discounts. HE LOVES IT! He has been going to the golf course with his brother or friends almost every other day-- and I'm super happy about it because I would much rather him be out golfing than playing stupid video games! :) The best part of all is that I got the card for half price from one of the local radio stations here! It pays to listen to the radio!
  
• We are starting to look for a house to buy! Here is one I LOVE, it is close to my work and Chris's school, it is only 5 years old, there is no way we could grow out of it in the next 4 years, and it is in our price range!


• And lastly, I am getting bored with my hair! I promised myself I would grow it out until I had a baby but I made no promise about color! So what do you think? Stay blond or go brown?

Wednesday Night Date

Chris and I had the funnest date on Wednesday! Since we are leaving Rexburg we wanted to use up all of the free things on our Starving Student Card. (and for those of you who don't know, a Starving Student Card is a card with tons of listings for discounts and buy-one-get-ones for local restaurants, retailers, activities, salons, etc.

Here is what we got for dinner... and yes, it was all absolutely FREE!

• Fries from Dairy Queen
• Fries from Arctic Circle
• Tater-tots from Sonic
• Chips and Salsa from Bajio
• Frozen Yogurt from Mill Hollow
• Frozen Custard from BRC
• A hand-made chocolate from Florence's
• Crazy Bread from Little Caesars
• A Lion House roll from Deseret Book

Yes, it was a little awkward just asking for the free stuff, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! :)

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BIG NEWS! Yesterday we found out that Chris was accepted into Idaho State University school of Pharmacy!!! Whoohoo!! **Tara doing a happy dance**

We are (obviously) thrilled!! I am so proud of Chris! The entrance process is based on a point system, so he not only had a high enough number to be admitted, but a high enough number to get his preference of location! So he will be attending the Meridian, ID campus which means we are moving to Boise!! in like a week too! ah!

So I am on the move trying to find us somewhere to live and sending out resumes! I will keep you updated on the move!

Graduating, Grad School, and Moving!

It feels like its been a while since I have written anything significant, plus I am tired of seeing that gum photo thing whenever I come to the blog... so here is an update for you!

• Chris is in the process of applying to pharmacy school at Idaho State. After sending in his transcripts, letters of recommendation, application and all that jazz, he was invited to interview! We were so excited that he made it through the first elimination. He interviewed on the 9th and now we are just waiting to hear the news! They said we should know the first week in April.
• Here are the numbers: 500-600 people apply, they interview around 160, and 70 get in. Of those 70, 75% are Idaho residents. So he made it through the largest cut, and being a resident is in our favor... fingers crossed!!!

• We are GRADUATING 3 weeks from today! I can't believe we are done! It doesn't feel real at all, its such a weird feeling knowing I will never take another class.
• Since we're graduating we are moving away from Rexburg! I feel so conflicted about this because I am ready to get be done and move on with life, but honestly this has been home for us the past 4 years, and the only place we have lived since being married (living out of hotels for 4 months in Louisiana doesn't count!) I have a feeling I am going to be very sad when we drive away for the last time.
• Rexburgians- we are selling our apartment contract! So if you are looking to move or know someone who is, let me know!!! Our apartment is less than a year old, has high ceilings, granite counter tops in the kitchen and bath and rent ($635) includes cable and Internet!! We really love our place and hate to move, but we have nothing holding us in Rexburg anymore.
• So yes, we're moving, but we don't know where to yet because of Pharm school! If he is accepted we will either be moving to Boise or somewhere between Pocatello and Idaho Falls (maybe Blackfoot?) and if he isn't accepted we might move to Boise or we might move back to Arizona! Its such a tough spot to be in right now because since we don't know where we are moving we can't look for housing, apply for jobs, or even transfer our mail!! I am such a planner so this is super hard for me!! I can't believe our future will be held in an envelope in our mailbox in 2 weeks!!! gah!!

I will keep you all posted with our plans as they happen in the next month!

Oh yeah, and I have lots of sewing/quilting projects in the works, so look forward to that too! :)

and for good measure, learn how to make Grandma Betty's Nacogdoches cake from last weeks Food Friday!!

P.S. I have already won two $5 Amazon gift cards from Swag Bucks and its been less than a month! If you want to do it click here and start with 30 free bucks!

Can't Live with him, can't live without him

I asked Chris to help me hang up some laundry and this is what I get...

Monopoly

Back in the summer, Chris's brother Cody lent us his Monopoly game for X-Box. We LOVE it! We play at least 3 times a week...sometimes 3 times a day! I normally don't do very well (Chris is just super good at games) until now!

Check it out...

Chris is "Sumo Man" on the left (see his sumo character?) and I am that weird circle symbol on the right.

That's right! He had a pettily 2.22 million and I had 122.56 million!! Woohoo!

As my wonderful sister-in-law Monica would say, "Sucka-fish!"



:)

President's Club

[This post is way late, but better late then never]

(and sorry for all of the repetitive photos, they're all I had to work with!)

Back in October Chris and I were asked to host and emcee at LDS Philanthropies' annual President's Club event. President's Club is where all of the University donors from across the country are invited on campus for a dinner (or a lunch in this case) to honor and thank them for their contributions to BYU-Idaho.

Chris and I were excited to get to attend the event at all, and were honored to be asked to emcee it. Here are some photos from the event take by the University photographer Mike Lewis.

The event was held at The Crossroads, which is a newly opened student union sort of thing in the Manwaring Center.

LOVE these panorama shots!


Vice President Henry Eyring introduced us and then we opened the event.




After we had our meal, Chris and I were able to share some of our thoughts and experiences about being at BYU-Idaho.


A combined University choir surrounded the entire facility and sang for us, it was AMAZING.

Here they are almost tip to tip.

Lastly, Chris and I were able to introduce University President Kim B. Clark.

He is such an amazing man. This was only the second time I have met him in person and I am just in awe of the spirit he carries with him.
This was definitely an experience we will not soon forget!

Look-A-Like

I don't know how many of you watch this show, but doesn't Erin Kaplan from MTV's The City look just like the character Marage from The Incredibles?

A mosaic of me

want to make one of your own?

step 1: go to flickr.com
2: in another window open http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php
3: choose 4 columns, 3 rows
4: answer the following questions in the search bar of flicker.
pick your favorite one on the first page and paste it into your mosaic

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your nickname.

Gettin Crafty...

I have found a few craft blogs lately that I am obsessed with. There are so many incredibly talented ladies out there, they make me feel completely inadequate! I am so envious of the the great things they come up with that I wanted to try my hand at it "crafting" too.

So I bought this NASTY looking frame and clown man at DI for $10.

I paid too much.

Yes- it is a neon clown painted on black velvet.

I intentionally bought the biggest frame I could find because I am trying to fill up this big wall here...

I started by removing the clown and sanding the gold paint off as best I could

Then I painted it a dark glossy brown I had...


Much better already, right?
Once that was done I wrapped the clown in some fabric I found to match our curtains (Here is the rest of the room, so you can see the color comparison...)

Ta-Da! The finished product!
I added a cool star wreath and gold ribbon too...

What do you think?

Here is a closer look at the fabric

It feels like it is missing something, anyone have any suggestions on how to improve it?

I am sort of proud of how it turned out since I have never attempted anything like this before, but I know it could be so much better. I have many more projects coming up, so keep your eye out for them!

It's Official!

As of yesterday I am officially a resident of Idaho... I finally got my driver's licence changed.

This is something I have been putting off for over a year now (since we got married) because

1. I didn't want to take the stupid exam


2. Because my AZ licence didn't expire until 2053! and you have to renew every 4 years in ID
   
3. Because part of me didn't want to admit that I actually permanently live here.

I remember when I first drove into Rexburg with my Mom the weekend before my first day of college and I was absolutely disgusted with this place. It was flat and old and none of the buildings were more than two stories high; I thought it was a complete joke. But now this place has really grown on me, and I actually consider the flat wheat fields beautiful in their own way. Don't get me wrong, Arizona will always be my home and if everything goes as planned it will also be where we raise our family. But in the mean time, "Way to go, Idaho!" ;)

June so far!

It has been a while since I have updated with REAL info about our lives. This is June so far...

Scratch that...back to May for a second.

Chris and I were both sick with the flu for a week in May, remember? Well as soon as I got over the flu luck would have it that I caught a cold! I was achy all the time, lost my voice for a few days, and was up to my eye balls in Kleenex! My nose was so raw from blowing it that one side of my nose literally swelled up! Lovely, I know! At the tail end of my cold my parents came up from AZ to visit us for Mother's Weekend!

For those of you who don't remember this, last year at Mother's Weekend Chris and I did a photo shoot for LDS Philanthropies. Just for fun the photographer took some pictures of my mom and I and said they might use them for next years advertising. As mothers weekend got closer we kept an eye on the ads. When we got this post card in the mail we were super disappointed. They obviously weren't going to use our photos after all.

Well on the Monday of the week of Mothers Weekend I was sitting in class and one of my best friends, Jessie, text me this photo: I was so surprised! As you can see they ended up using the photo on a poster advertising Mother Student Photos! I forwarded the pic on to my Mom right away, she was thrilled!
When she went to class with me on Friday people actually came up to her and asked if she was "The Mom from the poster". She got such a kick out of being a "celebrity mom"!

That Friday morning we went to two of my classes and then met Chris and my Dad at the Rexburg Temple where Jessie got married!! It was the first wedding I have been to in the temple, minus my own. It was such a sweet experience. Their sealer was wonderful, and there was such a sweet spirit in the room. Jessie looked beautiful, of course, and her hubby Devro didn't look too bad either. ;)

That night we went to their reception in Territon; it was "super cute"! (Jessie makes fun of me when I say "super cute...") They had a fun dessert bar with chocolate fountains and lots of things to dip in it.The next morning we went to two "education week" like seminars on campus, and then rushed home and to the Idaho Falls temple. (It was a big temple going weekend, obviously). Since my Dad's dad is a sealer in that temple, he invited us, along with my parents, my aunt, and one of my cousins and her husband, to do sealings. Again, this was the first time I have ever done this. I loved it because it helped me remember some things I had forgotten about our sealing; which, P.S. was almost everything! Our wedding is such a blur to me!

Later that day Mom and I went shopping (THANK YOU SO MUCH for that MOM!!) and then to a BBQ at my uncle Mike's house. We came back to Rexburg later that evening and saw this guy in concert:

He is an amazing pianist from Phoenix. He has toured with Josh Groban and really just blows my mind! I would love to see him again. Click here to hear him play Kashmir, by Led Zeppelin- LOVE IT.

All in all it was a fun weekend with my parents. We were able to meet up with them again the next Wednesday because my Dad was a guest speaker in my Money Management class! He always amazes me with how knowledgeable he is. He did such a great job my teacher had him stay and speak to her next 2 classes!

In other news...

• I got a calling in church! I haven't had one in almost 2 years, if you can believe it. I was called as a District Leader for visiting teaching and am really happy about it!
• Chris and I spoke in church on Sunday, both on the topic of prayer.
• We are half way through our semester! Chris has straight A's as always..., and I'm doing OK too. :)
• We are moving into a brand new, never been lived in apartment on July 1st! So excited.
• If you didn't notice, I made that new picture at the top of our blog! It is from our Disney Land trip back in January and I just got it! I am sort of proud at how it turned out; thank you Photo Shop!
• I am getting into couponing! I am not one of those hardcore coupon Moms who know how to buy 10 tubes of toothpaste and a turkey for $2.05...yet. But I am learning some good tips and have saved same good cash from just looking for coupons online for the stuff we buy anyway.

Until next time...

Stuff!

A girl I would with there at LDS Philanthropies is getting married in December. We were talking about weddings and gift registries and I was saying how there are so many things that you have to buy after you get married that you don't even think of. So I started compiling a list of commonly forgotten things that are SO useful, even if they are a luxury.

Kitchen
· Basting brush
· Silverware organizer
· Spoon rest for oven top
· Cooling racks these are ours, they stack on top of each other to save space

· Cutting board
· Flour sack dish clothes (they are the best for drying dishes!)
· Tupperware type stuff… these are my absolute favorite:

They are Rubbermaid, they don't get stains on them from red sauce or anything, and the lids snap onto the bottom of the container so you don't lose them.
· Paper towels and a paper towel holder

Bathroom
· Draino
· A PLASTIC shower curtain to have inside your cloth one
· Toilet scrubber
· Plunger
· Shower catty
· Air freshener

We love the Melaleuca fresh rain linen mist. Chris says I should wear it as perfume- its that good

Bed Room
· An extra set of sheets
· Bed risers
· Bed skirt

Living Room
· Vacuum

I absolutely cannot say enough about this vacuum. It is the Bissell Momentum Cyclonic upright. It is the best vacuum I have ever used, I get so excited to vacuum because it pulls so much dirt and hair out of the carpet! Its amazing! I would recommend it to ANYONE, and it only cost $99 which is on the low end for vacuum's now'a days.

· Throw blanket and pillows
· Coasters, nothing is more tacky than drink rings! and we should know we have a ton!
· Curtains + don’t forget the rod!

Other
· First Aid kit (with extra IB profen and pepto!)
· Air mattress for travel and guests
· Ink for printer (especially black ink!)
· Book shelves- people have more books than they realize
· Storage containers
· Nails to hang things
· Tool kit
· Spot remover and wrinkle relaxer