Monday, December 21, 2009

Goodbye

Well, I realized that I have created this blog to share with friends/family. But since no one reads it (I'm assuming from a lack of commenting on posts) I have decided to suspend it until my life gets more interesting for others to read... Meaning, until we have kids. That might be a few years, but oh well. Anyway, peace out!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Sugar Blues

Got on the scale this morning. Yikes. I gained two pounds this week. Honestly, I knew it would happen after eating tons on Thanksgiving then last night going to Cafe Rio and the Cheesecake Factory for dessert.

Guess it's time to up my workout (which shouldn't be hard seeing as I've worked out maybe 10 times this entire semester) and get on a low glycemic, low sat. fat diet. Justin will be so excited when I tell him..... not.

Anyone have any good low sugar, low sodium, low sat. fat recipes? I'm starting to get tired of lentil soup and vegetarian pastas.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always in my top three of favorite holidays. Something about dedicating a day to be thankful is so relaxing and wholesome. Justin and I slept in til 8:30 that morning! Then I spent an hour with Justin preparing food, cleaning up the kitchen and eating breakfast. I know it's silly to post about what we ate and made, but I'm a food snob so I'll do it anyway. I made a salad with pomegranate, walnut and gorgonzola with a raspberry vinagrette. For breakfast I had some beets with lemon juice and a fried egg over sunflower bread. Delicious!

We left the house around noon, visited our friend Marianna Stringham in Holladay and her adorable malamute, Whistler (named after the resort). Then we picked up the Henderson family dog, Zoey to take for a hike. We adore Zoey. Not only is she sweet but we kept getting compliments about how pretty she is. Our desire to get our own dog is getting worse and worse. Zoey, of course, loved the snow (being a purebred Alaskan husky).We hiked up Millcreek canyon. The trail was so muddy we didn't make it to the overlook, but the hike was beautiful still.

After dropping Zoey home we headed to my parents house in Highland. My Aunt Cathy and Uncle Karl came over with their sons Eric and Ryan. Eric is a junior at Skyline High and Ryan is a sophomore at UC Berkley studying Physics and Music. I love my family!Dinner was sooooo good. My sister Caroline and her husband brought their chihuahua puppy, Buster. My parents have a 2 year old dachschund named Devo so the two little dogs played together all night. I wish I had pictures, they're so funny to watch. After dinner we watched the best movie EVER: Twilight.... with RiffTrax! So funny. If you are a Twilight fan you may not appreciate it, but since my whole family thinks Twilight is literary garbage we loved it. After pumpkin cheesecake (which Caroline made) my mom, my sisters Caroline and Hilary, my Aunt Cathy and I made earrings! The boys watched football. These are my creation.
Love Thanksgiving! Now we have more holidays and vacations to look forward to. In the next month my niece Rylee will be having her one year old baby Luau, Caroline will be turning 22, my nephew Ashton turns 5, Christmas will be here and then we are leaving for Brasil! Yay!!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Anniversary

This is a little recap of our anniversary. Justin was so sweet. He planned it perfectly. We went hiking and trail running up Dry Creek canyon near our apartment in the avenues. It had snowed earlier in the day but not enough to need snow shoes. It was gorgeous!

Afterwards he took me to "The Five Alls" on foothill. I had never been there and was pleasantly surprised by our five course dinner. They served us so much good food! I got the Filet Mignon Roquefort and Justin got some chicken Kiev. Yummy!

The next day we followed the tradition and took out some of our leftover wedding reception cake. Surprisingly, it was just as good as it was a year ago. I ate way too much of it, as German chocolate cake is one of my faves.

Justin liked it, can you tell?


Monday, November 16, 2009

Random



Check out the picture of a methodist church my dad took while visiting the grandparents in Nelson County, Virginia. The road sign is telling of where this church will lead you.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

One Year





One year anniversary today. Loving every minute.

Friday, November 6, 2009

7 weeks!

7 weeks til we go to Brasil!


Some things I'm looking forward to:

Sunsets in Brasilia.

The waterfalls in Cuiaba.

Real Brasilian churrasco.

Brasilian lemonade.

Seeing a tucan (hopefully!)

Meeting Justin's friends who he served with and baptized. We're staying with the Reubervans in Brasilia.

Also, I've chatted with one of the girls Justin baptized in Brasil. Her name is Andrea. She sent me a Christmas card and we've chatted online a few times. She is becoming inactive in the church, but still has a testimony of the restored Gospel. I'm looking forward to meeting her and spending time her in Cuiaba. Hopefully we can remind her of the true happiness the Christ's message gives us. I have already come to love this girl!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

To Anyone Who Doesn't Support Health Insurance Reform: GO TO HELL

It's time for my soapbox.

Here's the issue. I got the letter today telling me that my health insurance premium is going to rise in January costing my husband and I an extra $200 a year. I know this is a standard practice among the corporate health insurance monsters. It still shocked me.

Why?? WHY???? Tell me why I should pay more in 2010!!! Here's a little recap on my health costs this last year: 1. I got a regular check up required by my OBGYN that my insurance company covers as a preventive screening which concluded that yes, I was healthy and nothing was wrong. 2. I am on one prescription: birth control.

The end. TWO BLOOODY EXPENSES IS IT!!!! How does it make sense that health insurance companies can just randomly raise your prices for being in good health??? It doesn't work that way with auto insurance! If my bank called me and said, "You've had a positive balance all year and have saved up quite a bit of money, so we're going to raise your banking fees," I would say, "Great, and I'll be finding a new banker." And soon they would be out of business.

A lot of people say that it's going to make us socialists. I disagree. How about opening up state lines for the insurance companies to be able to compete with other states so prices will go down? How is more competition a socialist practice? Most insurance companies will charge the same amount for someone who is healthy and at a good weight as someone morbidly obese. How come a 23 year old female, with only a history of kidney stones in my childhood, with a BMI of 21, who is extremely active, who is going to college, has never smoked, drunk or done any drugs, who is in a monogamous married relationship is paying a ridiculously high insurance rate?!?!

Yeah, a universal health insurance plan would not be smart for the whole country, I agree. But how about a government health option for people going to college, in poverty, etc.? The rest of you could continue getting insurance through your jobs, and the rest of us could be covered.

Bottom line, the system DOESN'T WORK. It doesn't make sense. There's no competition among those heartless corporate leeches, there's no limitations or laws preventing them from screwing people like me over, blah blah blah. I could go on and on.

That's why I say without hesitation or regret to those of you in the world that don't support any sort of health insurance reform: GO TO HELL.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Just Call Us the Bean Bandits.....

It all started on Friday night when Justin called me on my way home from work. "I have a surprise from you. You'll think it's funny, but I don't know if you'll approve."
Bracing myself for the worst, I came home to find 3 gallons of food. A gallon each of coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad. He proudly said, "We had a BBQ today at work and they gave me leftovers!!" I said, "Oh? And how the heck are we going to eat 3 gallons of summer food before it goes bad?" He said, "I dunno..." Spontaneously, I replied, "How about we give it away?? Like maybe just leave it on people's doorsteps."

That's how the prank began. We decided to leave it anonymously on our friends', the De Poixs' doorstep because they are moving soon and we wanted to send them away in style. I'll refer you to their blog for the actual pictures.

http://depoix.blogspot.com/2009/10/bean-bandits.html

The first night we just left a bowl of baked beans with a note, "Here's some beans!" Saturday night after reading Jody's repulsed response on facebook we left more with a note, "Please give the beans another chance." Sunday night we left a bowl of coleslaw with a note, "Here's some coleslaw!" and another bowl of beans by their van with a note, ".... and some beans!!" Monday night we left potato salad with a note, "How about some potato salad?" Then Tuesday night we left a huge metal bowl with 1/2 a gallon of the baked beans with a note, "Here's a lot of beans!!"

Wednesday night we decided to reveal ourselves by just leaving a note, "Sorry, no beans tonight. Love, the Hendersons." On his way to deliver the note, Justin realized the door was wide open so he quickly ran away and came back later. Apparently, Alex had been hiding out for 1/2 an hour to catch us and almost did but mistook Justin for another neighbor, Todd Warczak.

Definitely the funniest prank we've pulled since the time we filled Justin's brother's A/C vents with fine pink glitter so when he turned on his car it got everywhere.

Last night they retaliated by seran wrapping our door and bringing back our metal bowl filled with spaghetti, ketchup, mustard, A1 sauce, and other nasty condiments.

http://depoix.blogspot.com/2009/10/spag-royale.html


We'll miss you, Jody, Alex and baby Elsa!!

Love,

The Bean Bandits

Thursday, October 15, 2009

A few things I just gotta say....

-I'm totally loving fall. The weather is nice, the food is delicious (lots of squash, pumpkin pie and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies), and Park City is looking gorgeous with all the fall leaves.

-This week is Fall BREAK!!!! We've had fun shopping, eating out and catching up on homework. My only complaint is that we still have to work. Still, it's fabulous sleeping in til 9 am every morning.

-I had the BEST fish sandwich on Tuesday I've ever had in my entire life! It was lemon pepper halibut on a pita made in a wood oven with jalapeno cream cheese, cucumbers and red onions. Holy crap! So good! (Made by Red Rock Brewery in Park City.)

-We started our Christmas shopping early this year. I can't tell you how much of a stress relief it is to be getting this done early. By the time December rolls around we're so stressed about finals that shopping is a nightmare. Plus, this year we're going to be getting ready for Brasil so it's gonna be kinda hectic.

-John Mayer came out with his new single "Who Says." Okay..... WHAT THE CRAP??? Why did he write such a terrible song??? Man, I can't complain enough about this stupid, ridiculous, mid-life crisis/immature song. Not only is it completely musically uninteresting, his lyrics are basically all the ridiculous antics of his personal life that most people despise him for. John Mayer, I've been a loyal fan since the first time I heard "Room for Squares." This new stuff is insulting. I know you're in your 30s now, but seriously, get a grip.

-My grandma got a specially designed back brace so hopefully her back pain will be more manageable now. She's still at 85 pounds, but we're hoping that she'll make some improvement if she's around her family. My Dad was optimistic in saying that hopefully we'll be able to move her and my granddad out to Utah soon. My granddad had an interesting episode a few weeks ago. He took off his clothes in the middle of dinner in front of all the other Alzheimers patients. Later on a nurse was telling the story to my aunt. My granddad overheard them talking about it and asked who had gotten naked. The nurse replied, "You did, Mr. McAvoy!" He grinned really big and replied, "Well you gotta have fun while you're still young!"

-So when Justin bought our Brasil tickets, he booked me under my married name. My driver's license and Soc. Sec. card are in my married name. However, my passport is still my maiden name. We spent all week calling the airlines, the airport, the brasilian consulate and the passport office about if I need to change my passport or if I can just bring a marriage license with me and show it at customs in Dulles and Sao Paulo. Here's what I found. The airline suggested I just change my name on my ticket... which would be the cost of buying a new ticket (about $900). The airport said I would "probably" be okay with a marriage license. The Brasilian consulate wouldn't give me the time of day because I wasn't fluent in portuguese, but told Justin that I'd be fine with a marriage license. The passport office said I needed a new passport which would cost $135. Since I got 4 different answers we decided that we'd do things the Brasilian way and just travel with the marriage license. So hopefully I'll be let into Brasil or back into the US. If not, I guess I could live in the Sao Paulo or Dulles airport like Tom Hanks did in that one movie.... ugh.

-Last thing. Justin is the best husband ever. I really believe that. He's been such a great companion and is so loyal, trustworthy, fun and he treats me like a queen. We have been married 11 months and I can't believe how fast it's gone by. I still feel like we're the cuddly newlyweds we were 11 months ago. Being married to Justin is definitely the best decision I've ever made. Love you, babe!!!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

In between school and work....

In between work and school we did a few things since the semester began. One night we climbed Ensign Peak and looked out over the valley. It would have been romantic had an entire single's ward not decided to climb it at the same time. Annoying!
Then Justin and I made a sweet creation the other night before diving into homework. COOKIE PIZZA! I had leftover chocolate fondue from when my sister and her husband ate over so we made a giant chocolate chip cookie and covered it with the fondue and strawberries.

Yesterday my friend Emily taught me and our friend Jody how to make Chinese treats. She lived in China for a year with her husband. Their maid taught them how to make bao zi (pork rolls) and Emily passed the cultural knowledge onto me! Jody and Emily are new moms so it was a like a cooking/baby party.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Babies EVERYWHERE

So everyone at church is sick of hearing me talk about this so I'll just blog about it instead. Has anyone else noticed that this is a year for having babies??? I swear, something in the water has impregnanted everyone around me. Here is just a list of women that I know of in my church that have had babies:

Jocelyn and Todd had baby JM
Chris and Emily had baby Brooks
Jody and Alex had baby Elsa
Jessica and Jon had baby Emelia
Stephanie and Doug had a baby girl last week
Marci and Bromley are having a baby soon
The Harveys had a baby this year
Brad and his wife are having a baby
And I think I'm missing a few couples...

Then at work my boss, Michelle, had baby Marshall. My co-worker, Tiffany, just had baby Lila. My other co-worker, Flor, is having a baby this month.
A bunch of my friends are also preggers. I went to Charise's baby shower yesterday and she's having a boy in 3-6 weeks. My friend Elizabeth from Telluride is having a baby soon. There are countless others on facebook that are posting ultrasound pictures.

You would think this would make me baby hungry and make me want to beg Justin to consider it. But no, actually. In fact, it's just turning that "mother" button inside me off. I don't want kids for A LONG time. And by long I mean like 4-8 years. Haha. Don't get me wrong. All the babies I've seen this year are adorable and make cute cooing noises and wear adorable baby clothes. I like looking at them and holding them for a few minutes but after that I'm happy that I get to just enjoy being newlywed with just me and Justin. We stay up late studying together, travel a lot, spend time up in the mountains and buy nice gear. Our lives are actually pretty darn fun right now. (Minus the homework.) Anyway. Good for all you mothers and fathers out in the world. I think you are all amazing people and very self-sacrificing. Maybe one day I'll know what it's like. :)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

*****IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT******

In light of recent spontaneity and desire to travel Justin and I have finally decided we are....


GOING TO BRASIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I think I'm going to wet my pants I'm so excited. December-January... so New Years in the Brasil?? HECK YES!!!!!! We have our plane tickets now just need to update my passport and get our travel visas! We're staying with Justin's friends in Brasilia and Cuiaba. I CAN'T FREAKIN WAIT!!!!!!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Our Married College Life

I know that one day I'll look back and miss these days... but studying ALL day long and still having piles of crap to study is exhausting. Justin and I are barely able to drag ourselves out of bed each morning at 6:30 am.
Here is the basic layout of our day:

6:30 Wake up
7:30-2:30 Classes
2:30-3:30 Unwind at home and eat linner (lunch and dinner)
3:30-6:30 Study
7:00-8:00 Test Review back on campus
8:30-11:30 Finish physics and study for test in the morning while eating french toast and drinking coke slurpees

GAHHH!!!!! Where did my free time go??? When can I go back to the mountains and hike??? Oh yeah. FALL BREAK. That's not for.... like.... ever!! Lame.

So I'll just go back to my chemistry and finish my french toast at 11:00 pm. I'm looking at Justin lying face down on the floor sleeping with a organic chemistry book laying open next to his head. Poor guy.

That's all for now. Just had to complain a little. But on the bright side at least I can afford an education and am getting a quality one. Some people don't. G'night.

Monday, September 21, 2009

AMAZING COOKIES!!!

So Saturday was a fun day for us. After working all morning we went to dinner with a bunch of my friends from high school. I set up the time and place and invited everyone (since everyone else is way too passive.) We went to Cafe Trang and had a great time. If I had a picture I would post it. But I'll just say that my girlfriends, the twins-Becky and Heather- came. Ryan Himmighoeffer, who just returned from his 2 year mission in Germany/Austra came as well as my long time friend Cory Klein who was recently engaged. Everyone brought their spouses, girlfriends and fiances. It was way fun and I had some amazing vietnamese pork Ha Noi noodles. We spent most of our time talking about how most of us met/starting dating our significant other via Facebook. The rest of the conversation revolved around making fun of Becky and Heather. Good times!

Later that night Justin literally made the best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies I have EVER eaten... EVER. And Oatmeal Chocolate Chip were already my favorite! Just wanted to spread the love by giving out the recipe:

2/3 C sugar
2/3 C brown sugar
1/2 C butter
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 C oats
1 C flour (he used wheat)
1 C dark chocolate chips

Beat together, adding the oats, flour and chocolate chips last. Bake at 375 in 2 inch balls for 10 minutes. You will wet your pants they are soooooooooooooooooo gooood!!!!!

Bye now!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The infamous Lotoja

Justin trained for this all freakin summer. He and his friend, Chris Hardy worked so hard to gear up for the 2 man relay they did. Last year Justin and his group came in with a time of about 12 hours, this year they did it in 10:42!! Woo hoo! I was impressed because Justin had a busy summer and worked everyday from 6 am-2 pm and did a lot of traveling with me. Chris and his wife, Emily had a baby boy in June and he studied for the LSAT in the meantime. Finally, the day came and they were ready.

We stayed up in Logan, UT with Justin's cousins. They were across the street from the starting line. Justin's brother, Josh also did the Lotoja, but in a 5 man relay. It was fun to see everyone! I was the support crew for their relay, lazily named "Team Supercool" at the last minute for lack of better ideas.

The first leg, from Logan to Preston, ID was a breeze for Justin as he got in a really good draft group. However, right before Justin pulled in, Chris asked to borrow my car keys, then realized Justin was coming in and took off with my keys. It took me 90 seconds to realize what had happened and Justin sped off in an effort to catch him. He never caught up to Chris. The whole time I was praying Chris would remember he had the keys. Nope. So I got a call from a neutral support car telling me to find someone to break into our Subaru (luckily I had spare keys in the car!!) 30 minutes later a policeman broke into our car, and off we sped to reach Chris in time in Montpieller, ID. We BARELY made it.

In Montpiellier I asked, "Hey Chris, mind if I have my keys back??" It took 2 seconds to dawn on him what had happened. He looked horrified! But nonetheless, we made it on time and got the keys successfully. Just goes to show you that sometimes you ask God to give you Halibut, and he gives you Trout. It's still fish, just a different kind than you thought you were gonna get. Thus it was with the key fiasco.

Chris went on from Montpiellier to Afton, WY. He took all the major climbs because he rides like a madman on the hills, but can't keep up on the straightaways. Justin took it from there all the way to Jackson Hole. He just rode his hardest on the flats and drafted off whomever he could. Nothing major occured from there on out. There were some nasty crashes near Preston and Star Valley, but all in all they rode really well.


Ten hours and 42 minutes later Justin crossed the finish line and his big day was over!! We drove home straight after that (after a dinner with the meanest latina server I've ever experienced who refused to split our checks and told one of our riders she would only split them for us because he spoke spanish, and was therefore educated... freakin piece of work, that woman, I pity the man she bosses around all night). So at 3:00 am Justin and I collapsed on our bed and fell asleep. Yay!!

School sucks

I was so excited for school last year after my two year break. But then again, I was taking some of my favorite classes: intellectual traditions of the west, anatomy and nutrition. This year the night before we started school both Justin and I were feeling like this:

Anyway, I think I'm finally starting to get into the groove... 4 weeks into the semester. It's really hard to focus when there are warm summer days, farmers markets and weekend trips. I am finally panicking this week as my physics and trigonometry test are looming this Friday. But in the back of my head I just want to hang out, can some salsa and fruit, shop at Ann Taylor Loft and go backpacking in the mountains. Today is a lovely rainy day and I'm enjoying sitting on my red Ikea couch (thanks auntie liz!) while I do physics problems and check facebook intermittently while the rain pours down in the avenues.

Since our whitewater adventure, we went boating two weekends ago and Justin did his huge bike race of the year: the Lotoja! I'm totally stealing Brandi's pictures of our boating trip, but here they are:

My brother-in-law, Josh, surfing with 4 year old nephew, Ashton... WHAT??!?

Justin got up on the wakeboard... AFTER the camera died. So here is a failed attempt.

And after surfing, everyone just left me stranded in the lake. Probably to help my fish phobia.

Oakley ate 1/2 of my sandwich. The reason it's interesting is because the sandwich had sprouts, lettuce, tomato, pickle and havarti cheese with turkey. How many 3 year olds do you know that love those???

Josh and his wife, Melissa were way good at wakeboarding.

Zach got up on a fluke attempt. Melissa wasn't paying attention so she drove 28 mph, 4 mph+ than the pros board at. He ate it pretty bad in the end.

And here we are, chilling in the end. I'll post Lotoja pics later. (BTW, it's LO-TAH-JAH, not LA-TOE-JAH)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Wedding and Whitewater

Last week was a friggin blast. We only had to work a few days and the rest of the week was monopolized by a wedding and vacay to Jackson Hole. Justin's best friend, Tyrel married his girl Samantha. Tyrel is the kid that looks like Frodo and was nicknamed that in High School. We thought it was funny that Frodo was marrying Sam. Here's the recap:Monday: Justin threw Tyrel a bachelor's party. Okay, semi-bachelor's party. In the Mormon world a bachelor's party usually consists of XBox or poker. Justin and the boys went mountain biking on the Crest trail from Big Cottonwood into Millcreek Canyon. Afterwards they ate at Braza Grill (A Brasilian churrasco restuarant) and then played XBox at someone's house til 1 am. I thought they were too tame so I spiced things up by sending Justin off with some jell-o boobs. I made flesh colored Jell-o in some round bowls and added cherries for the nipples. I would post a picture... but it might be a little inappropriate for some. Tyrel's friend pinned him and his brother in law shoved the boobs in his face.

Tuesday: Tyrel's mom threw him a block party. Justin and I manned the giant inflatable slide so that the little kids wouldn't get out of control. They also had a climbing wall, jumping pin, snow cones and cotton candy.

Wednesday: The wedding!
They got married in the Bountiful temple and the sealing was beautiful. I cried. Haha. Afterwards we watched them take pictures on the temple grounds. The rest of the day we lounged and went to their reception that night.

Thursday: Scott and Briley flew up from Phoenix. Justin met Scott on his mission in Brasil and Briley is Scott's girlfriend. After work they picked me up in Park City and we drove to Jackson Hole where we all crashed after a long day of travel.Friday-Sunday: Justin guided the rafts 3 times as we ran the Snake River. He's a pretty studly guide in my opinion. It's the cyclist farmer tan that makes him so hot without a shirt on. Lunch counter is a baby rapid now and Big Kahuna is HUGE. We discovered that the best boats to hit the rapids are the smaller more gooshy ones so here is a huge hit on the red one. Once when the people on our boat wouldn't paddle so we got stuck on a rock I got thrown to the middle of the boat with three other people on top me. I incurred a slight injury. At one point it got way cold, started to rain and we had to pull over to wait for another boat to pass. After 20 minutes it was miserable.Between river trips we roasted marshmallows, played cards and Jeff (Tyrel's dad) made about 10 different dutch oven cobblers. I never realized how much I love cobbler. Listen to the insanity of these varieties: peach, blackberry peach, cherry peach, rhubarb, apple, cherry and a bunch of others. The 60 of us on the trip went nuts. Especially since most of us were young starving students. The night before we left we went into Jackson and got candy at Yippy-I-O and dinner at the Bunnery. The next day we left in the morning as the clouds had rolled in and a mist settled on the river. That night had been creepy because everybody but the 4 of us left leaving the group campground empty and quiet. Every little noise freaked us out. But after a prayer and getting ready for the night we calmed down and slept through the cold night. It probably got into the high 30s that night. Well, that's the end of our 3rd trip to Jackson this year.