Just Words

Hello everyone! Here's a little update to let you know that we haven't melted {yet} in this dry Arizona heat!

Like I said, it is VERY hot here.  You Idahoans that are complaining about 100 degree weather? Girl, please. Try a LOW of 100 degrees EVERY DAY.  Then, and only then, can you complain.  Try getting in your car after an 8 hour workday and having the sheer 150 degrees melt your face off.  Seriously. I feel like my face is melting.

We kind of like it here.  I mean, it's good. We live in a really good area of Mesa, we have a super fantastic ward, and everything here is so accessible, but it's missing a few things. Like mountains.  We have a few but they are SO far away, and made of rock.  Ok, I know that ALL mountains are made of rock, but the ones back in Idaho look like they are made solely of trees.  We miss that. It is so so flat here.  Not really a lot to look at.  We also miss all the fishing spots.  There are a few places here, but it's so hot, you can't get outside to do anything.  One day we were at Wal-Mart and Brennen was telling the cashier that it was supposed to cool down.  Being the witty person that I am, I piped in "YA! In December!" Seriously.  SO HOT.

Brennen is doing really well in school! He studies about 6 hours a day, not including the time he spends at school, and it shows!  He did a FANTASTIC job on all of his midterms.  He is really loving what he is learning, even if it is hard and requires a lot of work.  He has to practice physical exams, and who better to practice on than your lovely wife? Last night he did a bunch of stuff.  The worst is when he shines the bright light in my eyes for about 10 minutes and then I can't see afterwards... the best is when he feels for the lymph nodes (i think?) at the base of my head...feels like a massage.

I hate working at the plasma center here.  I'll just throw that out right now.  I dread waking up in the morning because I know that I have to make the 25 minute drive to work.  And I'm terrified of driving on the highway.  I know that earlier I said it was fun, but that was before a highway patrolman pulled me over for no good reason and threatened to give me a $1000 ticket and made me buy a new windshield.  I guess as soon as you get a job here you are considered a "resident" and have to change over your license and plates and stuff.  Pfft. No thanks.  I'll just try not to get caught next time.  So when we come back up to visit, we'll be spending time in the DMV transferring the tiles and registration all into Brennen's name.  Since he's a student, he doesn't have to change anything.  So at least if I do get pulled over, I can't claim the vehicle as mine. Mwahaha.  Anyways, my hobbies nowadays consist of loading the dishwasher and watching TONS of TV.  It's awful.  Because after I get home from work I'm too dead to do anything besides mindlessly stare at the television.  My favorites right now are TLC (Toddlers & Tiaras, and Bride-day Friday) and the Bachelorette. I was hoping to come home with a sweet tan, but it's too blasted hot to even step outside, let alone lay in the sunshine.

One of the hardest things for us out here is making friends.  There are a bunch of people our age in our ward and that live in our complex, but they already have their little cliques and don't need anyone intruding.  So Brennen is working on finding some friends from school, and I'm working on getting together with some people I already know down here.  Friday, my friend from the Rexburg Biomat Brittany and I have a craft date!

Speaking of friends, Saturday we drove down to Tuscon to spend some time with one of Brennen's friends, Nathan.  He had us over for a BBQ and then we went swimming and to the mall.  After that Brennen and Nathan played some COD while I took off to visit one of my best friends from college, Melissa and her adorable little boy.  It was really good to see her and catch up on everything.  They will be moving back to Rexburg in August.  On our way home from Tuscon, we drove through a massive monsoon!  It was so scary!  The rain came down in sheets!  I would say it was scarier than driving through an Idaho blizzard.
But the best part was getting back into Gilbert and seeing the nearly finished Gilbert Temple against the backdrop of the most amazing lightning storm I have ever seen!

Well, that's all for this month!  Maybe I'll post again before August?!  Maybe.  So here's a little recipe for all my girlfriends that I discovered last night that is pretty much amazing.  I was looking on Pinterest, and when I do, I don't search for specific things.  I usually just find the category "Everything" and scroll through and pin things I like.  I stumbled upon this jewelry cleaner recipe and thought I'd give it a try.  And it's a good thing I did! It was amazing, especially on my sterling silver CTR ring that had about 8 years of dingy on it.  Girls.  Try this out, then comment on how amazing it is! Seriously.  You won't regret it.

Jewelry Cleaner:

Line the bottom of a bowl with aluminum foil.
Place:
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Tbs Dish Soap
on the foil.
Pour 1 cup of hot water (I just heated mine in the microwave) over ingredients.
Drop jewelry in and let soak for 10-15 mins.
Use a toothbrush to loosen up any leftover gunk, rinse under cold water.

I will definitely use this instead of taking my ring to the jeweler to get cleaned! It looks just as good as if a pro did it.

Oh, Hey!

Um...I realize we pretty much dropped off the face of the planet. But this past month has been SO crazy. Just so you all know...we made it to Arizona! We got here last week and its been great! Aside from the weather, anyways. Gives a literal meaning to "Drop it like it's hot." Its consistently above 100 degrees and dry as..a desert. Go figure. But truth be told, I'll take this hot summer over an Idaho winter any day. One of the great things about being out here is that everything is within 5 minutes of you. Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Winco, In-n-out, Cheesecake Factory, the mall, you name it. Its so convenient. Right now i'm working at the plasma center. I know, I know. You all are thinking " Wait, didn't she just graduate from college?" The answer is yes, yes I did. But, I can't teach without a license, and I've been waitng for my Idaho licence for about 6 weeks now. I can't apply for my Arizona license until I get my Idaho lisence and I can't apply for jobs until I have my licence. Hence, the plasma center. Oh...the interesting people I have met. Anyways. Brennen started school this week and is already studying in the cadaver lab.  Yay. Maybe someday I will post all the pictures from my phone  so you can see what its really like out here.  We love our apartment! Apparently we live in the "nice" part of town. Five things I love about this apartment: garbage disposal, dishwasher, washer, dryer, and walk-in master closet. None of which we had in rexburg. It's also on the first floor which is amazing. We requested the first or third floor (third floor because we wouldn't have to worry about hearing the neighbors above us) and I am so so so SO glad we got the first floor because I can't imagine hauling all our crap up to the third floor! In 100 degree weather. Everything is unpacked except for the spare bedroom which will likely stay in boxes until we have a legitimate use for it. Our bedroom has been turned into the beddroom/study area and is the hottest room in the whole building, I'm sure. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too. The water here is extremely nasty. Like worse than Utah water nasty. Luckily we got a Pur water filter pitcher for our wedding and never needed it until now. It makes the water 100 times better. I just learned that there is a temple being built about 10 minutes away from us in Gilbert and another in Phoenix in addition to Mesa, Gila Valley, Tuscon and Snowflake! What an exciting time for Arizona! I am hoping to go to the Gilbert temple open house and dedication! I read some info about the temples on the church's website and they said that no one formally filed a complaint on building the Gilbert temple. But the Phoenix temple has recieved a lot of opposition. So much, that the Church completely redesigned the temple from the original plans in hopes that those opposing the construction would be assuaged. Interesting stuff, and I'm excited to be a part of it. Well, that's all for now. Here are some pics of what we've been up to.

Haircuts

It's now 12:04 a.m. and my husband decides its the perfect time to give himself a haircut. Sweet. Here's to falling asleep alone tonight...boo. in other hair news, I managed to get my hair into a pony today! Woop! Behold:

Pageviews and Health

Alright. So the last few weeks I have been seeing the pageviews for my blog skyrocket. And when I say skyrocket, I mean go from maybe 3 a day to about 12. Whooooo. But then I look at that cool map thingy that tells me where all the views are coming from and it says USA and Russia? Ummm...cool. Thanks Russia for viewing my blog! Anyways...life after student teaching has gone about like this: wake up, do nothing, go to bed. Seriously, all this stay-in-bed-til-noon crap has got to end. I know, I know, all you moms out there are thinking that I should just be grateful I get to sleep past 7 or 8, and it's true. I should be grateful. But I just feel so darn lazy. And I am. Because here I am, in bed, at...11:36 a.m. typing this up. Pfffffffft.

Anyways, on to health. Although I think it's important to get into a healthy exercise routine and eat healthily, I pretty much laothe working out and I would choose cheesecake over carrot sticks any day. However, that being said, I still think you should do all those things so you don't have a scare like I did last night.

I work out a little, not as much as I should, but some is better than none right? Lately I have been getting sick more often. This doesn't have anything to do with colds or the flu, but its been something similar to IBS. There is something funky going down in my digestive system and I don't like it. It always changes. Lately it's been a burning sensation down in my gut. Like heartburn only 10x worse and down by your bellybutton. Usually when it happens my blood pressure plummets and I get really lightheaded and weak. Usually I throw up from the pain. I get super sensitive to sounds like a migrane and smells like morning sickness. Usually I just have to wait it out until it stops. So I'm sitting there trying to breathe deeply and evenly, because that's usually the only thing that helps, when I feel my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest. Except it was beating really funny. Not the normal lub-dub you should feel. So I called over my husband who, very handily, is a paramedic. He checked my pulse and declared me bradycardic. Bradicardic means your heart rate is under 60 bpm or 1 beat per second. I was measuring in around 30 bpm. That's 2 beats per second. Not good. My stomach was feeling a little better after taking my blood pressure about a zillion times so he had me get up and walk around a little to try to get it up. I never could get it above 47, but after about an hour he declared me well enough, told me to keep an eye on it, and let me go to bed. So what's the moral of this story? Take care of your body and it will take care of you. We will be keeping an eye out for any indicators that it may be a more serious issue, but for now I will making sure cardio is an integral piece of my workouts so I can strengthen my heart and hopefully not have another scare like this one!

Finished

Dear everybody: I am officially a college graduate! Who would have thought I would ever live to see this day? It feels so strange not having to go to school or worry about planning lessons for tomorrow. Now it's worrying about finding a real job that pays well and actually lets me use my degree that took me 5 years to get. Its so weird. Anyways, I just thought you should all know that I am officially a grown-up now.

Game-changer

This week my second-graders were reading a story called "Jalepeno Bagels." Mrs. Havens and I thought it would be fun to make some sort of bread since the objectives for the story were to follow directions and recipies just happen to have mixed numbers in them which is what I had been teaching in math. So Friday was the day and I brought my breadmaker to school just so we could make double in the same amount of time. After the dough had risen we let the kids make it into any shape they wanted, and then baked them in a little convection oven. Oh. My. Lanta. Our classroom smelled like heaven. And I am here to tell you that this bread recipe has changed my life. And I want it to change your's too.

Easy Breadsticks

1 cup warm water
3 Tbs Brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp yeast

1. Combine all ingredients. Mix well.
2. Let rise for 20 or more minutes.
3. Shape dough into whatever tickles your fancy.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden.

That's it. You're done. There's oh-so-much you can do with this stuff. And its delish. I made some rolls and pretzels with mine. I even braided it. You can put in any add-ins you want. Before I put minein the oven, I brushed some butter overtop. Next I want to do some garlic salt and parmesan cheese...mmmm! Great easy recipe for family night with kids or dinner with your hubby. Seriously, guys. This stuff is so great. Try it out.

Lasagna...soup

Ok, so I've been thinking about ya'll lately and just thought that it wasn't fair if I kept this gem to myself... Here's another recipe for you. Brennen and I love it. Super delish and makes plenty of leftovers that you'll want to every night until it's gone.

Lasagna Soup

1 lb ground turkey, hamburger, or sausage
1 chopped onion
1 qt chicken or vegetable broth
Two 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes
Two 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1Tbs Brown sugar
1 pkg Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups broken lasagna noodles
1 cup Italian cheese blend
Cottage cheese

1. Brown onion and meat. Drain fat.
2. Add remaining ingredients except noodles and cheeses
3. Add remaining ingredients. Cook 30 mins on medium high.
4. Add noodles and cook until tender.
5. Add cheeses just before serving.

Feel free to cut it in half...or fourths. This will keep the two of us happy for about a week. Also super easy to make, and tastes JUST like lasagna. Enjoy!