divine design

All I have to say is that Heavenly Father is one smart man.
It completely amazes me how He could create snowflakes, cell division, and electricity.
It is amazing to me, because he could have made it magic haha... like everything just magically worked, but everything that happens has a science behind it and is so intricate. The gospel is true, and the divine design is just more proof of it. Heavenly Father didn't just flick his finger and everything was created.. He thought it out. He planned it all. And NOTHING was an accident.

It's beginning to look alot like... COLD.

It is a getting really cold in Rexburg. The windshield has ice over it every morning, i wear scarves every day for warmth instead of just for style, we turn the heater on every day, and the pink snuggie has become a favorite of Chase. Lately we've been obsessed with 30 Rock on Netflix. We literally laugh out loud. We are also obsessed with a new recipe.. called chicken scalopini. It's chicken coated in italian bread crumbs with a lemony chicken sauce over it... i'm salivating. I seriously want to eat it every night. But i also made banana bread yesterday... actually because we didn't have any bread pans, they were banana muffins. So delicious. Also, in our lovely little apartment i regret to inform you that we have only a standing shower. In these cold Rexburg days my greatest desire is to plunge into a nice hot bubbly bath. BUT not to worry! My parents are going on a mexican cruise with Lindsey and Shawn next week... and you may be wondering why i'm telling you this in such a joyful manner... Chase and I will be stuck in the cold while they're enjoying warm Mexico.. WELL we get to house sit... which means the point of this horribly structured sentence is.... JACUZZI BATHTUB EVERY NIGHT!

Well, Utah this weekend. Jake's basketball game, BYU football game, and seeing family! YAY!

Below are two old pictures from conference, and pictures from this last week! :)

A couple old ones from general conference:

Halloween!

Chase's and Ali's, Lindsey's and Travis', Brandon's and Robyn's, and Brad's and Haley's

Peter Pan and Tiger Lily! (not the most flattering picture of us, but it shows our costumes nicely! ha)

Chase up to bat at his softball game!

HOME RUN! ...ok maybe not.. but he at least got to first! He was the pitcher anyway!

Our mini white pizzas! They were so delicious.. and EASY!

On Saturday, for Halloween we didn't really go and do anything.. so we stayed in and i made yummy baked apples with homemade carmel sauce! they were what you call.... delicious!

And the best way we celebrated the "day of the dead", our fishy died. Sorry, this is a bit nasty maybe.. but it had to be documented!

Time passes so quickly.

This week has gone by so fast.

Highlights Checklist:

-A's in all my classes at midterm: CHECK!

-Birthday party in IF for Ryan and Chase: CHECK!

-Chase finishes his first full week working for Med Source: CHECK!

-Chase gets a refresher session at Aeropostale so he can work there too: CHECK!

-We bought meat other than chicken (meaning steak): CHECK! and YUM.

-We did a WINCO run, and now have enough groceries to last us at least a month!: CHECK!

-Our sink is leaking: CHECK! :(

-Chase has two huge scabs on his face!: CHECK!

-The scabs are a result of a little off-roading accident!: CHECK!

-We went to the ice caves with Brandon, Robyn, Travis, and Lindsey: CHECK!

-The adventures at the ice caves resulted of the off-roading accident!: CHECK! and whoops.

-We have no curfew now, but stayed out for the first time past midnight this week!: CHECK!

-Reading Frankenstein for my art and culture class, and think it's amazing: CHECK!

-Took a giant anatomy lab test, where i had to know blood vessels, anatomy of the heart, and anatomy of the ear and eye.: CHECK!

- Making the steak we bought!: CHECK! (I found a recipe on foodnetwork.com for grilled steak with a bacon balsamic glaze and it was so GOOD! It was a really unique flavor combination!)

I think that's about it. This weekend, Chase and I are looking forward to seeing Jamie and Nicole tomorrow here in Rexburg, possibly seeing a movie for our date tonight, going to the temple tomorrow with Sarah and Eric, taking a Middle East test (and getting an A! (hopefully)), going to the art gallery at the Spori, studying ALOT for my test this week, helping Lindsey and Shawn and the kids with family pictures and picnicing with them, and who knows what else!

Chase and I have been blessed very much, especially lately. Chase was able to get a job and Medsource of course, but then was able to get on at Aero. (... which also means some excellent discounts! This is especially good for Christmas, so we can get inexpensive presents.) We have this home where we get dirt cheap rent, we get to see Chase's family here in 2 weeks, go to the temple with TJ, and see Jake play ball. I have been doing well in school, we have solid meals everyday, and things i have been studying have just been awesome. I mean.. could life get any better really? We have had the opportunity to learn that we receive these blessings from living the way that we are suppose to, and continually trying to do better. We've come up with a little system on our white board calendar. We have prayer, scripture study, temple, and journal writing on there. We only get prayer points if we do morning and night. We have to go to the temple at least once a week, and write in our journals at least on Sunday. (we haven't been as good on the journal part! ha) But depending on how well we do, measures how good of a date we get that Friday! It's been awesome to track our progress and also be able to realize how much more smoothly life goes, and how much more patient and loving we are. The gospel is so true, and it changes our lives every day.

Lately, we have also been somewhat obsessed on dreams of our future home. (Or at least someday having a living room.. haha). We've even been devising some plans to make our little apartment even better! We want to paint the wall that goes around our bed area, and it may sound crazy, but we want to do it an almost purple color. It's a almost plum color. But it's mostly a brown with purple undertones. It sounds crazy, but it's actually a really cool color! Anyway... but we have also been obsessed with deciding what art we want in our home, whether it be religious or not. It's been so fun, and maybe i'll post some pictures of the ones we love. But, just the other night i drew out what i want our future living room to look like haha. We love our little apartment, and this stage of our life, but we are so excited for the future and everything that entails.

But anyway, that's a little bit of what life has been like lately! It just keeps getting better!

This one is pretty intense, but Chase and I love it.

And this one is awesome. Very sublime.

Birthdays, Bruschetta, and shoot.. i can't think of anything else important that started with a B lately.

So i'm really bad at blogging, obviously. I said i would be good, but school has gotten the better of me. Actually, all truth be told i should be studying right now. But my brain is fried. I actually am suppose to take a test tonight. I'll get to that.. haha.

Well school is going great! I have A's in all my classes and have gotten A's on all my tests so far. Chase was working road construction, but as the season has ended, he is about to start working for a company called Med Source. It's located down in Utah, but he got the job because of his best friend, Chad, who also works there. He goes down to Salt Lake next week to train, and they give him a headset and he'll work from home. 2 to 8 pm every day. He just calls people to sell diabetic supplies. Luckily, the people he calls have already filled out surveys to say that they want the products, so he won't get any angry people yelling at him. He will get 8 dollars an hour plus commission, and Chad has been getting alot more than 8 dollars an hour with all the deals he closes, so we hope Chase will too!

Last week was my mom's birthday and i was in charge of dessert for the party. I wanted to do something a little different, so i found a recipe for deep fried candy bars. As weird as it sounds it was absolutely delicious! Chase and i ate twix and it was unbelievable with the carmel and chocolate all melted inside.. YUMM!

Also, it was Chase's birthday this week! We got to spend the whole day together. We started off the morning with a "hot and cold" gift hunt, Chase went to my classes with me, we ate lunch on a hill overlooking Rexburg, i had to study in the afternoon unfortunately, i made yummy chicken bruschetta alfredo (which i will post the recipe for at the end.. I know people wanted it!), ate chocolate peanut butter cookie trifle, and we opened some more presents. And it ended falling asleep to the movie Big. What a great day! ... at least compared to wake up, school, food, study, food, study, sleep. haha.

We went to General Conference last weekend and got to spend time with Chase's best friends Jamie and Chad, and their wives Nicole and Claire. It was actually Chad's birthday on Saturday so we got to celebrate that with all of them. It was awesome to be able to spend time with them and to be able to get to know them and their wives better!

We're actually looking into the possibility of moving to Provo next fall to do nursing at UVU. It's not set in stone, but it's a definite possibility. It would be great to be close to all of our married friends down there, and chances look very good on getting in. I just am afraid of wasting time and semesters trying to get in here. It's so competitive that it's nearly impossible. A girl we know didn't end up getting in until she had almost graduated with a bachelor's! So she ended up with her RN, and 2 bachelor's by the time she finally finished!! I don't think i can do that. I know that I am still pretty young, but I just want to finish my schooling so I can have my degree, find a job, and start our family.

Anyway. We have lots of pictures to post, but we can only do it on my laptop, and its new battery is currently being shipped! So i'll add some pictures to this next week! :) We have conference pictures, haircut pictures, and food pictures (haha).


Alfredo Recipe!!! (I kind of just figured it out by myself, so I'll try to make it easy, but it's mostly just guessing measurements haha)

Homemade Alfredo Sauce:
- 1 pint carton of heavy whipping cream
- pack of shredded italian cheeses
- 2 tsp. butter.
- 1 clove of garlic (you won't use the whole clove so you can use it for the bruschetta too)
- pepper

Melt butter in sauce pan on high. Add whipping cream and stir until it mixture starts to boil. Add as much chopped garlic as you desire. Add as much cheese as you desire! (probably about a cup. I also like to add a little bit of medium or sharp cheddar to it to make the taste a little more bold!) Mix until cheeses are melted and mixture becomes creamy. Add as much ground pepper as you desire! (I also like to add a tomato and basil seasoning into the sauce!)

Bruschetta:
-2 tomatoes
-1 clove of garlic
-1 small bushel of basil

Dice tomatoes, chop some garlic and basil, and mix together! I also like to put in a few squirts of Kraft Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing. (It's also the best if you're going to eat salad with this!) It's super simple. I like it better if it sits for a day so that the flavors really come out, so you could make it a day before even, or left overs are just really yummy! :)

Take about 2 boneless chicken breasts and season them with garlic powder and pepper. Or, I really like to use garlic salt and that tomato basil seasoning i mentioned! Just cook them on the good old George Foreman and slice then into small strips.

Oh! and boil a few cups of penne pasta or whatever noodles really. We like to use the whole grain penne pasta to make it at least feel a little more healthy!

Once everything is done, serve the noodles with sauce, then bruschetta, then the strips of chicken. Top it all with a sprinkle of italian cheeses and that's all! We like to eat it with artisan bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. And broccoli fried with extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt! It's the BEST! This meal is definitely not for counting calories on!

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing... Well that's all, this has been far too long already!

STRESS.

Just when i happened to think that i was ready to go for fall semester... I had to revise my schedule 4 or 5 times today. It was a nightmare. I'm still not even in one of my classes i need for the nursing program because it is full. I emailed the teacher, so i am crossing my fingers and toes. If he doesn't put me in, i guess I'll just show up the first day! I'm out of options!

After a sad day a couple months ago when i didn't make it into the nursing program, and realizing that hardly anyone makes it their first time at BYU-I, i have decided to reapply for next Spring semester. This was one of the reasons for the hectic schedule changing of today. I just really hope and pray this all works out. This is my last hope. Because if i don't make it in for Spring, I will have to apply for alternate track... and it would take a little longer for me to finish, mainly just because I'd be set back one semester. I'll hope and plan for the best though. I suppose that if things don't work out the way i want them to even after I have tried my best, then i guess they just aren't suppose to be going in that direction. Although i would feel like i wasted a ton of time and money. It will all work out... Stay optimistic! I'm just excited for the time when Chase and i are just finished with school so we can just move forward with our life and realize our future goals. I'm sure that's how a lot of newlyweds feel... impatient.

On the bright side, Chase is working right now. Which, i suppose isn't the bright side because I'm alone. But he is making money. He's working road work all night tonight, and tomorrow night in Sun Vally. I luckily, am working day tomorrow just in Idaho Falls. We're making money at least, even if we have to be apart it's a good thing!

Well i guess that's all. I just needed to get out my anxiety, and since Chase is working, the blog was my next resort! :)

Life as of NOW!

We thought it was pretty funny that in the last post i wrote, Chase was referred to as just "my friend" ha. Well... alot has changed since then! We're now married, managers of THE Castle Apartments, live in a tiny studio apartment, and are happy as clams. In an effort to explain all that's happened in the past months, we'll just post some pictures. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words! ;)

The wedding day: June 26, 2010




The cake was hand painted by my mom! props...

The honeymoon: We were pleasantly surprised when the Berglinds and Sherwoods gave us our Las Vegas honeymoon as a wedding gift! Thanks guys!

Sitting by the pool. We went every morning when we woke up. 100+ degrees!

After the open house in Enumclaw i became weak... i had my hair chopped. Thanks to Chase's talented sister Claire!

We went and saw The Lion King musical. As we were laughing while reenacting the characters, the lady taking the picture commented on how great of shot the picture was haha. what a joke.

The view outside our hotel room window.

In front of our hotel - The Excalibur

We managed to get a picture with the KING! What's a Vegas trip without a picture of Elvis?

We also went to Phantom! in the custom built Phantom Theatre at the Venician

At the Luxor

Our nice dinner at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant.

The apartment:

The view from the front. No, we don't get the whole house... just the small room in the back ha!




The caption on the cabinets says "Choose you this day whom ye will serve..." painted by my mother. Once again... props...

And we close with the bathroom. what a site! Well that's about it thus far. We'll definitely be posting about our exciting married life from now on ;)

If ifs and buts were candies and nuts we'd all have a wonderful christmas.

What an interesting week. Or for that matter... month. I have been quite horrible at writing on this, and I really don't think many people actually read it anyway so it's not much of a loss. But I guess I've just been sitting here pondering about what an amazing life i truly do have, and well.. I thought i should blog! Although school is busy and stressful, I've realized a lot lately how many wonderful experiences and opportunities i get to experience each and every day. I can't even express the difference in the semester from last semester, and I know i have definitely said that before so i won't dwell! I've realized such a change in myself, in my testimony, in my attitudes, and just in my conduct. It's such an amazing thing. I've had the opportunity to be on Student Spirit Events Council. Which i guess is now called.. GET PREPARED! We've been planning Get Connected and all of those activities involved, recruitment for i-leaders, and I-Night. But it has been such an amazing experience to meet such wonderful people, have so many new friends, and be able to see, even more, the Lord's hand in my life. Over Valentine's weekend, i went with a few friends from council down to Zion's National Park and got to go hiking and just relax in the warm weather! I even got a bit of a tan! Although... by warm weather i mean like 60 degrees haha. Anything is better than the fridged cold of rexburg! Man i started this blog post last week! I'm so bad at this.. At least i'm finishing.. it's march 6 now by way.. not the 28th anymore!
The weather has been so nice though lately. I even go without a coat every once in a while! WOW. I feel like i have ADD right now, but I'm switching topics again. I'd like to express to the blogging world how wonderful my life truly is lately. Bewteen school, council, dating, friends, the gospel, everything. Every night i just lay in bed and ask myself why I'm so lucky. Why i'm so blessed. I'm just in awe. My friend Chase and I were discussing finding joy in our lives the other night, and I realize that my state of happiness right now truly is joy. Kayleigh and I talk about it probably every night in pillow chat. Lately our nightly pillow chats reach about one in the morning. We're losing sleep, but the amazingness of my life just compensates for it all. Between the life changing service I have the opportunity to be involved in every day, the wonderful people that surround me, and the wonderful school i attend, the Spirit just testifies to me every day how true the church really is, and how life changing it is. I can't even imagine my life without the church. Devotional has been so amazing lately, and my testimony of marriage and the Plan has grown even more. I've always felt like that has been something so close to my heart, but everything lately has just built upon it, and i find myself recieving so much, and having so many experiences lately that strengthen everything. WHAT A BLESSING. I probably annoy my roommates alot but i just have to say it.. MY LIFE! :) (In a joyous tone of voice ;) haha.) Wow. The only down side to my life lately is that I've been pretty distracted lately, and my grades were not so good this week! But i just need to put myself back into gear and just truck on through the rest of this semester! I was thinking of staying on track in the Spring to do some more classes before the nursing program, but everything is just sort of working out so that i don't think i'll have to. I need to work anyway so that i can put myself through school. But it will be nice to have a break, and just be able to work. I'm pretty excited actually. Although, i'll probably be up in rexburg quite a bit to see everyone. Man, life is beautiful. Anyway.. I haven't been able to catch this all up on everything that is going on, and my mind is pretty full and crazy right now so i'm not even sure if any of this is coherent, but I figured i may as well try. Anywho.. until next time, HORSE GIRLS RULE. DRAGON BOYS DROOL. ;) ... nah i love them actually :) ... P.S. i'm not quite sure how the title of this blog is relevant, but it was in my head. i'm actually not even quite sure what that saying means... oh well. :) that's me!

text books, chocolate, music, and friends.

HOLY! Man i have been horrible at writing this blog! Man so much has happened in the past month. Well.. let's see... Christmas was pretty crazy. It was just me and my mom and dad. Kristen was there too, but she kinda does her own thing alot. So.. not that my parents are fun or anything.. but it stopped being exciting after the first day or so haha. Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without my siblings and nieces and nephews. But everyone did come Christmas night for dinner so at least it felt a little like Christmas that night! haha. We all got Snuggies for Christmas.
It was hillarious. Probably my favorite present was highlighters. Lame i know... but i needed them for school haha. I highlight so much.
ANYWAY. So the new semester has just begun! It's been crazy so far. It's just like night and day compared to last semester. It's been amazing the difference. This semester started out so good. I had the wonderful opportunity to be an I-team leader for new student orientation. It was so nice to make so many new friends, and just start out the semester feeling confident about myself and who i was, compared to last semester where i felt so alone. It was amazing to be able to have fun with my group, but also to be able to sit down and have a conversation with them about the Spirit and the gospel.


There's a couple pictures of most of the students in my group! We were good number one... not just literally. haha

But yeah.. so classes have started and it's been kinda difficult to get back into the swing of things. Last semester it was so easy to just go to the 2nd floor of the library and sit for forever. I had no friends. haha. This semester it's so much harder. I know people now. So i go to the third floor hoping to get things done... but in reality it's mostly to socialize. So then i end up staying up late to finish. I need to fix that. A little socializing is fine.. but i just need to cut back a bit. ANYWAY. Classes don't look like they're going to be too difficult this semester, but there is alot of reading involved! So much! Like.. we'll have little homeworks assignments every once in a while.. but it's all centered around like 40 pages of reading! It's alot to do. That's why it's kind of hard for me to just sit down and do it all i guess.. Just because there is no variety. Ah oh well... I just need to suck it up! :) haha. But yeah.. I'm loving my classes so far.. foundations are much better than i expected. We get into some really profound discussions.. which i love. I love to get involved in my classes and really bring something out of them. It's awesome! My American Foundations teacher actuallly scares me quite a bit. He will yell... and then cry... and then yell some more. And none of us are really sure why he's yelling... But he is an awesome teacher! haha. That class really keeps my attention. Although... I have come to realize that my Tuesday/Thursday classes i struggle so much to stay awake during. They are Child Development, Foundations Science, and American Foundations. It's weird cuz i really like all of the classes, teachers, and discussions... BUT I'M JUST SO TIRED! AH! Crazy.

Well that was long and boring. I've recently discovered i may have a problem. A serious problem. I think i may be addicted to chocolate. Although I'm not exactly mad about it... it's probably not the most healthy thing haha. It's starting to get somewhat annoying when i go back to my apartment and i all i want to do is eat a candy bar. Or brownies. Mmmm... Brownies. Well i know what i'm going to go do now.

But anyway... I guess the whole point of this post was just to catch up. I haven't been so faithful on this whole blog thing. MY FINAL WORDS: Life is good. This semester is going AMAZING. I have friends now. Boys are stupid and oblivious.. or maybe they just don't like me. It must be my chocolate addiction. and something i failed to talk about.. my apartment has also had a sudden addiction to Phantom of the Opera.. ok maybe it's just Kayleigh and I. No big deal right? Right. :) Well i think that's all for now.
SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!