"Z" family update

ZACH

A few Saturdays ago my little brother (can I still say that even if he's taller than me?) finally completed his eagle scout project. I'm so proud of him and all the work he put into this. Plus, i now know he did it because he wanted to, not because he was forced to. The fact that he wasn't allowed to get his drivers license until he got his eagle scout had little to no influence on this accomplishment. I know this for a fact because he's almost 18 and only has a permit. :) congratulations baby brother!

KEITH
Also, it is my older brother's birthday to him. Happy birthday bro. He turned 26 today. Unfortunately I have no updated photos of Keith, and even though I asked my mom to send me a good picture of him, this is what I got. Either way, he's the birthday boy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!








ALSO...
My parents came up to see us in Rexburg Idaho. It's been awhile since they've both come up here together so it was a double treat. We had a great time. I think the highlight for my parents was shooting Ryans gun.
Uh huh....them city folk sure learned how to handle a gun.

Kick in the butt

Ok. I'll admit it. I've been slacking BIG TIME and it's time to get on the ball. It's been 3 weeks since my first half marathon and I have another coming in 7 and have done no running at all. I'm giving myself one more week and then hitting the gym to woop my butt into shape.

Shopping list for tomorrow: an iPod. Mine went missing and running without music is not helpful. Any suggestions of some good songs to upload??

in love

I've never written a post on something I ate before but this needed to be shared.

There are certain foods I NEVER liked eating. Some of those are still on my list (ie cauliflower), others are not. Back in the day, I think I had a few nasty tomatoes and unconciously exed them off my "foods I will eat" list. I'm talking  about the tomatoes that look pink and are soggy. ugh. Never again. However, after branching out (I'm an adult now, my tastes are maturing) I have been trying tomatoes again and after a few great tomatoes, they are allowed back on edible foods list.

Well, this week someone left us a bag of dark luscious tomatoes on our doorstep (I think my neighbor with the garden but i'm still not sure) and today, with our bare refridgerator i decided to make a sandwich with the tomatoes.

Ever heard of or seen a lemon cucumber?

Well, now you've at least seen one. I had never seen/tasted one until this past week when a coworker brought some to share. Me and my maturing taste buds decided to slice some up and make a tomato & (lemon) cucmber sandwich. What i got was heavenly.

Multi grain bread, toasted- it has to be toasted and it has to be multi-grain. it gives it more oomph.
thin slices of dark red luscious ripe tomatoes
peeled lemon cucumber thinly sliced as well
dash of salt
skip the mayo (it's on my list of "YUCK I WILL NEVER EAT" items, but if you must go ahead)
TA-DA

I should have taken a picture, but by sandwich 1..2...and 3. yes three. they were gone before i could take one. DOH! Here's one, it does NOT do it much justice but you get the idea. Plus, this one is with a regular cucumber. Boooo. It will have to do. Try it.. enjoy it... fall in love.

Nothing

Someone at work said how it sucks dreaming about work and then having to get up the next day and work. Is that true for everyone? Because it's definitely true for me. So if I'm not really working and getting paid for it, I'm dreaming about it. And usually, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong in my dream. Anyway, this morning I had a pleasant surprise. I got up at 530, grabbed me a bowl of cereal, and as I'm sitting down to eat, my cell phone rings and it's work asking if I want the day off. LOW CENSUS! hmm, let me think. YES, i will take the day off. How thoughtful of you job. (Really, my job isn't thoughtful, just not enough people having surgery today. Either way it's a win-win for me.) Finished my bowl of cereal and crawled back into bed with a fully tummy. My spot was still warm too. The simple pleasures in life really do it for me.

Back to sleep to get a total of 12 hours......zzzzzzz. Yes i'm a sleepaholic and no i'm not seeking help for it.

Okay, I'm awake now with no agenda today. Ryan is at school and won't be home for hours.  Plus it's raining. Who doesn't like a lazy day inside when it's raining. It's almost therapeutic. I started off cleaning our disastrous place. Why? Family doesn't come in until next Thursday. I'll put it off until Wednesday evening. Today I am going to enjoy the beauty of nothing. What I feel like doing, I'll do it and besides painting my toes, there's not much else I want to do...

9/11

The other day I took care of a patient who had just returned from Iraq. As we were taking him back for surgery he kept saying how grateful and appreciative he was for us and all that we were doing. I was taken back for two reasons. First, no one ever says that right before surgery. They are usually scared and don't say much. And second, here was a boy who had seen and been in the terrible conditions of war and he's grateful for us?

I want to say, that even though this country is not perfect, I wouldnt want to live anywhere else. I am grateful for every single person who is serving this country and risk their lives for freedom. God bless our soldiers and those whose lives were taken on 9/11.

a little MOAB, UT, and a lot of pictures

Location: Moab, UT
Duration: 1 week
Activities: Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point, Sand Flats, rafting down Colorado River, mountain biking at Slick Rock, hiking, camping-----> sleeping in the car, shopping, eating= a great time!

For our anniversary/ryan's birthday gift (rafting trip)/finishing my orientation at work/back to school trip, we headed to Moab, UT. First timer for me and I have to say to anyone who has never gone.. GO. It is one of the most prettiest breathtaking places I've been to and it's great because there are so many things to do outside and enjoy nature. However, pick a good time of the year to go. The end of August was still too warm during mid day, but it was the only time we could go with our schedules.

 The Lazy Lizard:

If and when we go back, i would love to stay here again. It's a hostel (technically) but they have little small cabins to rent as well, which is what we did. It has a queen size bed, a small table with chair, and a little patio. perfect for a party of two!

Arches National Park:

If you are hardcore you can probably do this in 2 FULL days, but it's a lot of hiking and you would be rushed. We spent 3 days and hiked almost every site and we would go early morning to afternoon. There are certain arches they recommend seeing during sunrise and some at sunset. We went and hiked to Delicate Arch (the one on the Utah license plates!) at sunset and that was well worth it. A must! and both of your favorites. It's perfect because as you're waiting for the orange sunset to hit the arch, the surrounding rock forms comfortable stadium seating where all the photographers are waiting to shoot pictures.

Dead Horse Point

Best view of the canyons by far! And the model isn't bad either. :)

Rafting down Colorado River

Thanks Groupon! Half day rafting down Colorado River with lunch for two- I'll take it! B-e-a-utiful day. Partly cloud, warm with a breeze. Plus, there had been rain so the water looked extra muddy! Just imagine the chocolate river from Willy Wonka.

 Camping at Sand Flats

We went camping one night at Sand Flats recreation. We were surprised that out of the whole park, we saw very few people. YES! the WHOLE place to ourselves! We found the best spot, with the best view. Ryan set up camp as I cooked dinner. (Thanks marilyn for the camping stove!) Do you see those dark clouds coming in? Yep. We ended up have a short storm come in and had to wait for it to pass in the tent.

Don't we look so happy? Let's just say this was the last bit of happiness we had before laying our weary heads down for rest. That's when the wind kicked in. And not just kicked it, it kicked, and punched, and beat up our tent SOOO bad. We threw pillows over our head, stuffed our ears with toilet paper, Ryan even wrapped a shirt around his head to try and mute out our tent being blown around like a piece of paper in a tornado. 3 am we headed to the car. And there we slept..Ryan in the driver seat, me in the passenger, trying to salvage some sleep before the beating sunrise came up. Rough night!

Mountaing biking

Next morning: Started out pretty rough from the rough night. It was a little hard to get motivated to go mountain biking, but we sucked it up and took off. I have to say, Ryan was a natural, me not so much. It took awhile to get used to but it was freaking awesome! Beautiful views and a great work out. If only we had some hardcore mountain bikes that took out some of the bump everytime we went over a bumpy rock. Our butts would have thanked us the next day...

Well, now that this has turned into a travel blog i better wrap it up.

Go visit MOAB! :)

one down...one to go

August 27

I ran my first half marathon!

why do people do that to themselves? i'm not sure. but i'm one of them now and i wouldn't say i'm hooked on running, but i love the high you get from it... you runners feel me right?

it went really well. i'm ended up walking more than i wanted to for the last 3 miles. there was a hill that was a killer and i can only blame myself for only doing ONE measley day of hill training. never again will i do that to myself. also, i need to figure out the proper way to hydrate myself properly. those last 3 miles required more walking than i wanted for two reasons

1. i was getting dehydrated and didn't carry water with me. big mistake. ( i'm investing in one of those fanny packs that hold your water bottles )
2. and i had to pee really really bad. so at the aid stations it was hard to rehydrate myself when my bladder was on the verge of bursting.

after i crossed the finish line, ryan was waiting for me with a big smile and all i could do was give him a hug and keep running for the port-a-potties. phew. i made it just in time.

anyway, it's a great feeling to accomplish something you have trained hard for. and come november, i have another half marathon i'm going down to arizona to do! this one will go much better. i'll have my water bottle strapped to my waist and hopefully this one will have port-a-potties along the way. :)

after my run! a friend from work who did the 10k and waited to watch me finish. :)

so happy it's over so i can wear my medal

ok, now i'm feeling pretty sore and tired

wearing my tshirt and medal for the day!

3 year mark

August 30

Just thought everyone would love to see a kissing picture from our anniversary trip to moab. gag i know. but i like it. :)

3 years ago Ryan and I wed. We just celebrated last week and we both agree that the whole marriage thing  is easy. fighting? never. loving? always! we do everything together and have all the same hobbies. we can read each others minds and finish each others sentences. we're debating of starting a marriage blog and giving advice to other couples. ok ok..... maybe i'm stretching it a little. But we do feel older and wiser, especially when couples who have been married less than a year think we've been married a long time. What? How did that happen? Either way, it is great looking back though on how far we've come along in such a short time. These three years have been awesome and i know it will keep getting better because i'm married to my best friend.

And as far as the marriage blog goes, maybe we'll wait until after kids where we are seeking advice..yah that sounds more legit. :)