What We've Been Up To.......

So here I am, sitting on the couch with a mild case of the flu, and absolutely bored to tears. That's when you know it's time to post! A ton of things have happened since June, although I'm not so sure I remember half of them.......I suffer from dying brain cells (also called pregnancy). So obviously, that's something that has happened since June. We found out that we are expecting a little buddy on April 10th. So far, the pregnancy has been very healthy, and I've been doing great! Jason is beyond ecstatic, but is a little annoyed that his buddy can't come out to play for several more months. He is also determined that his buddy will be a boy. We will find out for sure on November 19th.

A few weeks before finding out about our little guy, we moved back to Provo. We love our apartment and being close to family and friends, but sometimes we miss the small town feel that Rexburg had. We don't miss the lack of variety. There's lots to do and see and eat in Provo.

We've also started new jobs- I work as a teacher's aide at Canyon Crest Elementary, and Jason is working as a programmer for Quomation- a company that designs software for insurance companies. We both enjoy our jobs, but look forward to crashing together after Jason gets home from work.

We also have new church callings! Jason is a Webelos leader, and is enjoying getting back into scouting. I am a Sunbeams teacher, and those four year olds are giving me a run for my money.

We start school in January, and then life will change again. In the mean time, we will be focusing on getting things ready for the baby and enjoying the holidays.




These are our most recent photos, which are sadly from the Fourth of July and August. They slightly misrepresent us- yes, my hair is no longer red, but Jason is currently sporting a full beard, and loving looking like a lumberjack. It looks good on him.

Tex-Mex indigestion + spandex= bad idea

Life in Rexburg is business as usual. We have been tolerating the rain, and enjoying the occasional sunny day. Last weekend, Jason convinced me to go camping in Island Park. We thought that it wasn't going to rain. Just as we were finishing our foil dinners, the downpour began. We played Scrabble in the tent, where Jason proceeded to kick my sad butt with his spelling genius. We were so glad to discover that our sweet new sleeping bag was plenty warm. The next morning, we took down camp and headed home, but not before we found this HUGE salamander hiding under our tent. The poor guy was lucky that he didn't get stepped on.

This last Tuesday, Jason's family- Mom, Dad, Jessica, Amber, and Grandpa Wells, came through Rexburg on their way to Yellowstone. We all went out to eat at Amigo's (which actually turned out to be pretty good- figures we would find this out a month before we move) and then we went swimming at the hotel they were staying at. It's an interesting sensation to be wearing a skintight bathing suit, when your belly is bloated from a huge Mexican dinner! Anyway, it was fun, and Jason enjoyed having the chlorine on his skin. The fam came back through on Friday night, so we all just hung out at our place, ate dinner, and played some games. On Saturday we toured BYU-I campus, ate some Subway, and said goodbye. It was so fun to see them! We enjoyed their visit immensely.

What else? Oh yes, Jason and I are having some luck in the apartment area, thanks to the wonderous and oh-so-fantastic Megan and Brian. We will be moving down to Provo during the last week of July, and I honestly cannot wait. I'm ready to pack up now and head out. Unfortunately, we still have to finish the semester. Lame.

We survive off of Otter Pops and Friends

I am officially resigning myself to the fact that this blog is my responsibility. So I am taking the heat for not posting anything for a while. We have been busy to say the least. Here is what has been going on:

-We visited Jason's Aunt Sarah and Uncle Blake in Vancouver, Washington right before Spring Semester began. We had a ton of fun seeing the sights and hanging out with their family. Here's a few of the things we did:

Hiked Multnomah Falls

Checked out Saturday's Market in PortlandAnd walked through Chinatown (empty)

-Summer semester is in full swing. Midterms came out last week, and we are both doing well in classes. Jason is "enjoying" statistics and databases. I am learning how to sew a straight line and bowl. The sewing is going well. The bowling is not. I have also read at least 47 children's books in the last several weeks for my children's literature class.

-We are collecting camping gear so that we can go on a official trip before this summer ends. Jason is borderline desperate to go.

-I am continuing my experimentation in the kitchen- sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn't. But I am just waiting to try a recipe for cream cheese cinnamon rolls from Joy the Baker.

- We have eaten through a box of 100 otter pops in the last two or three weeks. We have two pinks, one orange, and about a million greens left. Why do they even make a green otter pop?

- Jason was accepted into BYU, and he received his Associates degree! Huzzah!

-We are trying to coordinate our move to Provo in August. We are so ready to get back to civilization!

-During Memorial day weekend, we visited my family and Jason had the unique opportunity of ripping out my parent's front sidewalk (8" thick) with my dad, brother, and brothers-in-law. They also rerouted the sprinkler system. Afterwards, they shot up zombies in the basement.

-Jason is currently resistant to the idea of a haircut. We are trying to work through that. I have tried to convince him that he is no longer a midwest beach bum, and that he must look like he belongs in polite society. His answer is still no.

-We have watched the first 2 1/2 seasons of Friends since borrowing the discs from Dani two weeks ago. Hi, my name is Megan, and I have been addicted to Friends for two years now.....

-My little sister graduated from Riverton High School this month. We are so proud of her!

-We saw UP! last night and loooooved it. I have not laughed so hard, or banged my head on the armrest so often since I was......somewhere else?

That is our life in a nutshell. I could go on, but then you would be bored and never speak to us again. That would be bad. I will try a shorter post next time, which will hopefully be within the next week or so.

How well does Megan know Jason?

I've been after Jason since December to do a few things: write Thank You's, write one blog post, and fix the blinker (okay, not really nagging, but definitely needs to be done). The thank you's are done. The blinker has been investigated. But I'm still waiting for that blog post. So in the meantime, I'm posting this note that's circulating around Facebook.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
ESPN- Tennis, basketball, or baseball. Or Colbert Report, OR the Daily Show.

2. You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
He gets a Caesar, without question.

3. What's one food he doesn't like
Coconut, almonds, pickles......

4. You go out to eat and have a drink...where would he choose?
Arby's

5. Where did he go to high school?
This one is really tough without looking but he graduated from Heritage, right?

6. What size shoe does he wear?
9 or a 9 1/2- I know this one, we just bought him Nike Airs, after about an hour at Famous Footwear, and after I brought him about ten different pairs of shoes. It was fun, really!

7. If he was (were) to collect anything, what would it be?
High tech gadgets

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
The recently discontinued Chicken Bacon Swiss from Arby's. It's a sore topic.

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Meat and potatoes, or Peruvian food probably.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Ohs! If I even mention that I want some of his cereal, than he gets a super sad lip and the puppy eyes going.

11. What would he never wear?
Purple

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Detroit Tigers

13. Who did he vote for?
No way are we going to reveal this. We want to keep this blog friendly. We voted the same though.

14. Who is his best friend?
Me, of course. But he's awfully fond of his siblings, and the former Elder Smart: Logan.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
I pick off my nails, out of boredom. He really pushes using the nail clippers. I just think my nail clippers are built in.

16. What is his favorite color?
Red

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday what kind would it be?
Funfetti with rainbow chip frosting, or Tres Leche Cake, using the top-secret recipe.

18. Did he play sports in high school?
Tennis, oh, and he was an avid dater. Hey, it counts as it involves strategy.

19. What could he spend hours doing?
He can and does spend hours on his computer, working on programs, playing one of two games, looking up music, and reading from Digg.

20. What is one unique talent he has?
He can brighten up any room he enters. He has this way of being able to focus individually on every person in the room, all at once. He's quite the quivering ball of energy.

Jason is wonderful. I love him dearly. And you will hear from him soon, I promise.

Food Blog Junkie

Jason likes to eat. He gets really grumpy and lethargic when he's overly hungry. It's a good thing I've learned to like cooking and baking so much, or we'd be up a tree without a ladder. So thank goodness for my first two years of BYU, during which I learned how to feed people without giving them food poisoning (the apple juice and milk incident was not my doing- I never told Kayleen and Ron to combine them). But in the last six months of marriage, I've had little else to do with my free time except cook up a storm. And I've learned lots of fun tips along the way. Do I follow the recipes anymore? No way! Not exactly anyways......

But my newest favorite hobby has to be reading food blogs! What can get better than professionals' or other great cooks' recipes, tips, and notes? A-mazing! Seriously, I have gotten some great ideas from these people. And yeah, some of the stuff is kinda weird. A lot of these bloggers are vegans and gourmet food junkies. But at the same time, there are so many different recipes that do use stuff that you have around the house, that you are sure to find something. Here are a few of my favorites:

http://everybodylikessandwiches.blogspot.com/

http://canadianbaker.blogspot.com/

http://www.fuzzymelon.blogspot.com/

http://smittenkitchen.com/

http://littlebirdeats.wordpress.com/

So if you have some extra time, check these out. And it's great, because these blogs change weekly. Be careful though, they can be super addictive!

Happy Birthday to Jason!

My last week of February was spent plotting Jason's birthday celebration. That week was fun. I went decoration shopping, and ordered Jason's birthday present. We also went out to eat. A lot. But you see, we had so much to celebrate! Not only was March 1st Jason's birthday, it was also his one year home-from-the-mission mark. And the day before, February 28th, was the six month anniversary of our wedding (time passes so quickly when you're having fun/you live with Jason). So anyways back to the birthday boy.

I got creative with construction paper and balloons and trashed our living room with birthday cheer. I also got very creative with Starbursts in order to decorate his cake. I tried to keep this all as a surprise from Jason (he didn't want any hullabaloo about his birthday). Yeah, that didn't work out......It's difficult to have a secret when you live in a 450 sq. ft apartment. And have you ever tried to keep a surprise from Jason? It requires superhuman strength! So sufficed to say, Jason knew all about how his birthday was going to go down.

March 1st was also fast Sunday. That was interesting, let me tell you. Have you ever met a hungry Jason? Gru-mpy! So instead of breakfast in bed, we did present in bed. And boy, was Jason sooo excited about the nice new Nixon watch he had picked out himself. He thinks it's pretty baller. Then the rest of the time before church was spent collecting fast offerings (Jason), and baking bread and making the cake (Megan).

After church we came home, and I made one of Jason's favorites- what I call "Dirty Chicken and Zucchini." He tells me that he knew for sure he loved me when I first made this for him when we were dating. Then, we played our own version of the game, "Celestial Companions" that Jason's sister Jessica got for us. And then we ate cake and ice cream. And went to bed.

So overall, maybe not the most exciting birthday, but we got to spend it together, and that was the best part.

Can I really be a beach bum when I grow up?

The first or maybe second to first description I was given of Jason was that he was a beach bum. He was verbally painted as a boy who lived in board shorts, board shirts, flip flops, and a fro. This description was incredibly appealing to me for reasons I will reveal later. For your information, Jason has graduated to tee shirts, jeans, and tennis shoes (only because the Honor Code says so) but that appreciation for everything oceanic has never disappeared. If you look at pictures of Jason as a teenager, you will notice a few things: his bedroom had an island theme; he wore a hemp bracelet and shell necklace, constantly; and whether it is in pictures or not, he had and still has an aversion to shoes. I don't know. Maybe it's because Jason was born in Honolulu. Actually, that's the only reason I can think of.
Anyways, this appealed to me because if I could be anything I wanted to be, I would probably be a beach bum. Honestly. Jason insists that being a beach bum takes a lot more thought and effort than just deciding to be one. He's probably right. I need to learn to swim better. But anyways, I was also born close to the ocean: about an hour away, in Southern California. However, in the six and a half years that I lived there, we never went to the ocean, probably due to my mother's irrational fear of sharks. I have visited the ocean exactly once. I was fifteen, and even though I came out of the water with a sore throat and stinging eyes, I was hooked.
Now, I have this unquenchable longing to go back to the Pacific Ocean. I dream about being at the beach frequently. When I can convince Jason to go into Hollister, I stand in front of their live feed of Huntington Beach and gaze longingly at the waves. The sound of crashing waves is one of my favorite sounds. Arghh. I just really really....want to go to that place. And that's basically it. Just one long, rambling, random thought.

Life in Southern Antartica

So I've come to accept the fact that at this point, it's a little late to post about Christmas Break. It has been an absolutely insane month. Jason started a new semester and in now fully immersed in his five classes- four computer courses (Java, C++, networking, and web design in case you're interested) and family history. He has been.....busy, but he loves having his own website. It's pretty and he would recommend you visit the site: flipstock.net. So while Jason has been slaving away on his computer, I have been doing, well, what would you expect from someone who doesn't have homework? Well, here's a typical day for me: I get up at around 6:20 and get ready for the day. I get to the elementary school at around 8:20. And then I wait for Treyson to show up. He's usually late. The first 3 1/2 hours drag by with me trying to pound times tables and sentence structure (which at this point mostly consists of reminding him to leave spaces between words and to capitalize and punctuate). The rest of the day is a fight between us to see who can win the battle of wills and attention span. The last bell for the day is like the flippin symphony for me. I rush to go run errands- we always run out of basics all at the same time. It's obnoxious and scary, I swear that people here do not pay attention to their driving. I then hurry to force myself to work out. Jason comes home and I try to figure out dinner. The rest of the night may include a movie in some form, food blog exploration, and usually a crossword. I know, not very exciting whatsoever. Sometimes, though, things get pretty sketchy. Like the day the cougar was wandering around town, or when it dropped to 22 below and work was canceled for me. On the upside, I did apply for a passport. So we could leave the country, if we wanted.