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.

Our most appalling secrets

Weird things you probably never needed to know about us:

-I can not get off the couch if I am laying down and another person is on the couch with me. They have to get off so I can roll off the couch. I also roll out of bed, onto my knees, every morning.

-Jason moves more in his sleep than any other person I have ever met. Usually, he ends up lying in an L, with his head and shoulders above my head. However, once the alarm starts going off, he will change positions every 5 minutes. Oh, and he doesn't sleep with a pillow under his head. He hugs it.

-I can do almost anything imaginable with hair. Except for a french braid. It's pretty ridiculous.

-We call Jason the Encyclopedia. I consider it an incredible victory if I can tell him something he doesn't already know.

- In high school, I was on the Academic Decathlon team. Jason thinks it's hilarious that I ever did anything that nerdy.

- Jason doesn't know what a homophone is.

-I read about three books a week. But we refuse to buy books. They're too heavy to move.

-Jason is the epitome of pent-up energy. He frequently bounds. And sticks his tongue out at me. And hugs me with his head against my tummy. So basically....he's a three-year-old in his mind.

-I have learned more about computers being married to Jason, than I ever did in my computer classes in school.

-We watch a lot of home redecorating shows- I don't even have to twist his arm. We talk a lot about architecture, and what kind of house we want one day.

-I hate odd numbers.

-Jason squeezes from the bottom of the toothpaste tube.

- I squeeze from the middle.

- Our apartment is always clean and organized, always. But my purse is basically a glorified garbage can- I have to have one thing that isn't pristine.

-Jason is OCD about his desk, his computer cord, his toiletries bag, and his scripture case.

-My clothes have to be folded in a certain way, and are stacked in specific order, or hung up by color. A defining moment in my life was acquiring matching hangers.