My First Tag

Well, I guess you aren't an official blogger until you get tagged! So here I go:

8 TV Shows I Like to Watch
1. Prison Break
2. NCIS
3. Bones
4. The Unit
5. House
6. Numbers
7. King of Queens
8. Top Chef

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. I set up 50 computers in a lab to get it up and running for a training today.
2. Lincoln had his 15 month checkup at the doctor and he is above average all the way around!
3. Had Justin attempt to make dinner by following a recipe. He did fine except he followed the wrong recipe for the marinade! :) But it turned out just fine anyway!
4. Finally finished filing my piles in my office that I created at least 3 months ago!
5. Shredded files I pulled out of my filing cabinet that I had saved from 2004 after deciding there was not much use in a Power bill from that year! Other than to make me ill by seeing just how much the cost has increased over the past 4 years.
6. Stayed up too late trying to spend "quality" time with my spouse by watching the DVR episodes of Prison Break.
7. Washed and Folded Clothes! As if that is not an every day thing!
8. Took the garbage to the street and wondered just how a family of 3 can make such a large amount of trash.

8 Favorite Places to Eat
1. Rosemarys
2. Sweet Tomatoes
3. AppleBees
4. Gandolfos (If I'm in Utah or Idaho)
5. Red Robin
6. Lone Star
7. Wendys
8. Jersey Mikes

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To
1. The Election being over!
2. My new campus being completely done and not having to look at boxes in my office every day!
3. Lincoln's first "official" word
4. Being able to take the child locks off everything!
5. Finishing Lincoln's room
6. Seeing how Lincoln reacts to Halloween!
7. Lincoln being allowed in to the Nursery!
8. All my days off in November!

8 Things On My Wish List
1. An organized pantry/Food Storage Area
2. To lose 20 pounds and get back on an exercise routine
3. To spend more time at home with my little boy.
4. To have more hours in the day.
5. To snap my fingers and have dinner ready! :)
6. Travel to China, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, Samoa, Germany, and many more interesting places.
7. To stop worrying about how to make ends meet.
8. To find those friends who I have lost contact with over the years.

7 People I Tag
1. Lisa M.
2. Ann L.
3. Erin L.
4. Danalin F.
5. Sarah C.
6. Autumn L.
7. Brooke C.

How do you eat an Oreo?

Well, it seems like Lincoln has already got this figured out. Forget about the Chocolate wafer, he goes right for the good stuff! He pulls the Oreo apart and eats off the cream center. And then he leaves the chocolate wafer for someone else to eat! I'm not sure where he learned this trick as both Justin and I prefer the dunk and eat method! What a crazy kid you are losing out on the full flavor profile of an Oreo when you don't eat the whole thing! I guess we will have to teach him the proper way of things!

What is Your Love Language?

The speaker at TOFW spoke on ways to find Joy in your relationships. And one thing that he touched on in his talk were the five different love languages. Now maybe I have been out of the loop, but I have never heard of them before. So I found it very interesting and I started to try and figure out where I fell and more importantly where Justin fell. As his advice was to discover what your spouse needs to feel love and then make every effort to fulfill that need. Just because we might need one type of "love" does not mean that is what our spouse needs. And we have a tendency to show love to others in the way that we most enjoy being shown love. The problem is even if we feel that gifts are the epitome of love out spouse could think gifts are ridiculous trinkets.

The Five Languages are:

1) Quality Time: Quality time is more than mere proximity. It’s about focusing all your energy on your mate. Quality activities are a very important part of quality time. Many mates feel most loved when they spend physical time together, doing activities that they love to do.

2) Receiving Gifts: Some mates respond well to visual symbols of love. If you speak this love language, you are more likely to treasure any gift as an expression of love and devotion. People who speak this love language often feel that a lack of gifts represents a lack of love from their mate. Luckily, this love language is one of the easiest to learn.

3) Acts of Service: Sometimes simple chores around the house can be an undeniable expression of love. Even simple things like laundry and taking out the trash require some form of planning, time, effort, and energy. Just as Jesus demonstrated when he washed the feet of his disciples, doing humble chores can be a very powerful expression of love and devotion to your mate.

4) Physical Touch: Many mates feel the most loved when they receive physical contact from their partner. For a mate who speaks this love language loudly, physical touch can make or break the relationship.

5) Words of Affirmation: Verbal appreciation speaks powerfully to persons whose primary Love Language is “Words of Affirmation.” Simple statements, such as, “You look great in that suit,” or “You must be the best baker in the world! I love your oatmeal cookies,” are sometimes all a person needs to hear to feel loved. side from verbal compliments, another way to communicate through “Words of Affirmation” is to offer encouragement.

So the question is are you speaking the right language? And is your spouse speaking the language that works the best for you?

TOFW: Time Out for Women

I spent the evening at Time Out for Women. A small conference put on by Deseret Book that caters to Women. I have to be honest that I really wasn't that excited to go. It was originally supposed to be in March, but it was postponed due to President Hinckleys funeral. And I did not know it was this weekend until Thursday evening. So I did not have much time to really gear myself up for the idea. And since weekends are really my only days I have to try and get everything done I wasn't excited about the idea of spending it in a meeting. Especially after spending all day at work today. I had much better ideas fr what I wanted to do. But since we had already bought the tickets, I did not feel like I should waste the ticket.
So I met up with Rachel, Melanie, and Chrissy for dinner and then headed over to Cashman Field. And I must admit I had a good time. Sometimes it is just nice to be spiritually fed. Hillary Weeks sang a variety of songs and we had a speaker named Elia Gourgouris. (More on him later) But my favorite part of the night was Jason Deere and the Nashville Tribute Band. They recently released a CD called, Joseph A Tribute to the Prophet as well as Trek: A Tribute to the Pioneers. And after hearing a quite a few of the songs I have decided I need to add them to my CD collection. I really enjoyed their music.

Fire and Smoke

Well, I attempted to burn my house down today! I was working on dinner when the door bell rang. Justin answered it but then needed me to write a check out for our friend Melanie. So I turned on the burner for the carrots and went out to visit a little bit. As we were standing at the door I started to smell something burning. I ran back into the kitchen in time to see a pot holder fire gaining strength. There was quite a bit of smoke to go along with the flames too!! Luckily I was able to throw it into the sink and douse it with water so there was no lasting effects. I am short one hot pad now but at least all my cupboards are still in tact! I think the saying is true, kids do kill brain cells!!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Tomorrow is Nana Fe's Birthday! She is turning 30 again!! To celebrate we took her out to dinner at Applebee's. Nothing too fancy but you can always count on a decent meal for a pretty good price. (We all would have loved to go to Rosemary's but that's a once a year type of place!)
After dinner everyone come over and spent some time chatting and looking at pictures from our most recent trip to Disneyland. It was a good time!

Disneyland 2008.. Again

What a trip. We just got home from a three day trip with my family to Disneyland. It was fun but Justin says he is suffering from Vacation Lag. :) I think I might agree as I am very tired and looking forward to a nice long restful night of sleep.
Many of my family members are big Disney fanatics. And although I do love the place, I really like other places too. So Justin and I were glad that this is considered the off season which shortens the hours at the park. (Sorry to all those who think it is fun to arrive at 8:00 am and leave at Midnight.)
I must say it was the perfect time to attend Disneyland though. There were very few crowds and beautiful weather. I think the longest line was for the new ride in Disney California, Midway Mania. A new interactive ride themed around Toy Story. It is kind of like AstroBlasters in Disneyland in that you get to shoot at things and beat your high score. But it is much more advanced. (If you have ever been to Quest at DisneyWorld it is a lot like the 3D Pirate Adventure) When Justin and I went to ride it the wait was 45 minutes. Not wanting to take that long, we decided to stand in the Single Rider line. Basically they use the single riders to fill up the empty seats. We figured we did not need to sit next to each other and it cut the wait from 45 minutes to 10 minutes!! I don't think our entire group of 17 would have been able to get away with that but it worked out great for us.
Lincoln was a little more fun this time around. He was more aware of what was going on and loved to point and ask what everything was. (Or at least that is what we think he is saying when he points and makes a noise very similar to whatsthat!) We decided his favorite ride was the Nemo Submarines. He was glued to the window both times we rode it! But he was always very interested to look at all the different parts of the different rides. He did really good, although he would have much rather been allowed to run free.
Overall it was a great time. It was nice to have all the cousins together and to make some memories the kids will remember.

Recipe of the Week: White Chocolate Macaroons

I found this recipe online and had to try it. But I probably never should have! These cookies are so yummy! And they are so easy to put together! Everyone at work raved about them- I had to take them out of this house before Justin and I ate them all!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® Create 'n Bake® refrigerated sugar cookies
2 1/4 cups coconut
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks or white vanilla baking chips
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheets or spray with cooking spray. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in all remaining ingredients until well blended. On cookie sheets, drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart.
2. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. (Surface of cookies will look underbaked.) Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Changes

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are, for what you could become...

Life looks like it is going to be changing a bit. After two years together John and Justin have decided to part ways. Which leaves Justin basically unemployed. There is still much to do in terms of the particulars, but the partnership is no longer. Let's hope that the friendship lasts as they start to figure out what needs to be done.

So although we have not had much consistency in terms of income from Justin's job, at least there was always a hope of something. Now we really are going to be living on my salary alone. Which is a little frightening. Especially in the economy of today, which we all know is not that great.
Don't get me wrong Justin is going to look for something and already has started the process, but the job industry is not booming. Especially not the housing/construction business where he has most of his experience. I guess we will just keep our fingers crossed and our prayers constant.