Life as of late...

I haven't blogged for a LONG time but life has been pretty crazy lately! I decided I should try and catch you all up with our life.

I now have my first big girl job, I work at Kolob Regional Care and Rehab in St George. The first day of training I came home and cried in the shower, I thought there was no way on earth that I could do this job on my own. Training was finished and I finally felt good about the job until I started working on my own, the 25 patients were kinda overwhelming and I went home crying on multiple occasions. Luckily I have AMAZING co-workers that have saved my life! I actually started smiling at work a few weeks ago and I realized I was beginning to like my job...YAY! Going to work is getting a lot better. I'm starting to really get to know my patients and I just love them, they are all so cute!

Jordan's working hard in school right now. He has a pretty loaded schedule and actually has to "study" which is new to him. He doesn't even consider o-chem hard, he says it requires more studying then he's ever done in his life but it's not killer. His other classes aren't easy, I would study my butt off for them, but he can review his notes and he's fine. I'm so glad that he is so blessed, I would go crazy if I had to wait for him to finish studying!

CLEAR back on Labor day we went camping with my family up Fairview Canyon. We had just gotten home from Oklahoma and it was so nice to be with family in the mountains...it was also our first camping trip together which was a blast :) we enjoyed frisby, yahtzee, four wheeling, dutch oven, fires, and swatting bees like crazy since they were all over our campground. One night Jordan's family came up and we had dutch oven dinner, it was a blast! Here are some pictures...

The Moyers...

Classic

Little Miles LOVED the fire!

In October while the men were out hunting and watching football the girls decided we needed to get out and do something fun too so we went shopping and up to Gardeners Village! It was so nice to all spend time together.

Colin finished off his senior year of football. It was fun going to games and watching him play because he really is such an amazing athlete. We're excited to watch him play basketball this winter!

For my birthday back in September we went to Vegas and saw the Lion King, something I highly recommend to everyone. It was amazing. The details in the costumes and scenery was amazing! Such a fun birthday present from my hubby :)

Lately I've just been working and Jordan's doing school. We are looking forward to the holiday season, especially me. I can't even wait for Christmas :)

Blessed

The lesson a few Sunday's ago in Relief Society was on family roles....basically what women are responsible for and what men are responsible for in the home. There were so many women whinning and complaining about how her work is never done and her husband needs to help more around the house; they all seemed so unhappy. For a moment I wondered when I would become that woman, the woman complaining about doing the dishes and picking up toys but I soon realized that I don't have to ever be, and I wont be "that" woman because I'm too happy and too in love to ever become her and that is all because of Jordan.

Jordan and I truly are perfect for each other. While watching tv he can tell me what he was just thinking and that was the exact thought running through my head. We both LOVE to cuddle and we are both so weird.

Once my little brother Spencer told me that I was the "weird" one of the family....I didn't take offense, I know I'm weird. I'm not normal. I like to talk in all sorts of accents. I dance all over...I'm just weird. i don't act like this all the time, only with people that I feel completely comfortable with like my family and close friends. Jordan saw this side of me in no time, and I saw a side of him that matched me pretty well. Jordan told me that I have been the only girl that he has ever been able to be his complete self with, his weird self that I love him for.

Last night while we were looking up dinosaurs on rareresource.com I smiled at how happy and in love we are. I mean what couple looks up dinosaur fights and watches them online? We do...and we love it. Our summer in Oklahoma is coming to an end which we are very happy about :) we are homeward bound in the morning! Although the summer was kinda boring it was still amazing due to the fact that we are together. The saying is true, when you're with the one you love you are home. I love you Jordan!

Of July!!!

July in Oklahoma is not like July in Utah. The fourth of July was lame in comparison to our hometown parties! I had researched all of the festivities going on in our town of Edmond Oklahoma and I was pretty excited about it! CNN rated the celebration as one of the top 10 celebrations in the nation! We woke up ready to party and the girls in the office headed to the parade. Of course the boys had to knock but there was no way i was going to stay home because I love the fourth of July and wanted to enjoy everything!

Whitney and little LillyAnna came along with Heidi and I. Went. luckily it was overcast and the weather was bareable. LillyAnna liked the parade at times but she got a little bored at times too.

 The worst part of the parade was that there was no candy being thrown! It was very disappointing.

After the parade I dropped the girls off and went back to our apartment and waited for Jordan to get home because nothing else was going on. I was so excited for the "Freedom Fest" celebration that night. We left our apartment at about 630 to go see what it was like. It was held at the Central Oklahoma University Campus and when we arrived people were just sitting in their lawn chairs on the hot asphault. We were so confussed. We walked up to the area with booths and games and found out that not much was really going on. I was so sad. When we were leaving we ran into one of Jordan's high school friends, talk about a small world.

We decided to go to Pops and get us some Soda and then got a pizza and found a place to camp out while waiting for fireworks. The pizza might have been a bad idea....the box was infested with ants by the time the fireworks were over.

The fireworks were really good, it was still pretty hot outside even though it was 10pm and there were bugs everywhere but they put on a good show. This was the first time that Jordan and i have been together for fireworks and that made amazing. It's so fun just being together, it makes everything better.

After fireworks we went home and swam in the pool. It was midnight but we didn't care! We had tons of fun :) 

Now the 24th of July was a different story. Of course nothing was going on here so we went out to dinner with some couples in the office and then went and played at the arcade. Jordan played the basketball game like crazy and I played some shooting game. For some reason I love those games at the arcades, maybe its from playing duck hunt when I was little.

All in all we can't wait to be home. Utah is definitely the very best place in the world to be during July!

It was fun, but was just like any other day. I cannot wait to be home in July and be able to spend time with our families. It will be amazing!

Oklahoma HEAT!

Well Jordan and I definitly didn't think Oklahoma would be like this....so so hot. During June there were over 3 weeks where it was hotter than 100 degrees and July isn't slowing down. i constantly see 105, 106, 107 degrees on bank screens when passing and I don't doubt it because all I'm doing is sweating; we are currently on day 29 of 100+ and they say August looks like it will be the hottest month in Oklahoma HISTORY! I don't really understand why people live here, it's too hot in the summer, still snows in the winter, and gross disgusting bugs are everywhere!

This summer has been pretty uneventful with Jordan on the doors and me hanging out all the time. My goals have really given me something to work towards and I'm loving it! P90x is still a killer, after my workout today I couldn't lift my arms haha, but i am enjoying it as well. After spending some time on facebook and seeing all of my tan friends back home I realized i need to start working on my tan! I haven't really wanted to because it is just way too hot outside that the pool is miserable but since all I have is time I feel like I should use a little of it at the pool.

Today Jordan and i went out to the pool after I worked out and before he had to go knocking and it was crazy hot. When we first got their we had to get right into the pool because we were already sweating and we knew we wouldn't last long laying out. Our pool is pretty gross, since the heat is so intense leaves fall like we are in fall, they are just dead, and they land in the pool and it doesn't get cleaned out. Well while swimming around for a little bit and listening to Jordan complain (he even told me I was going to get a disease from the pool before he got in) he told me I would want to get out...because there was a dead FROG in the pool! I looked over and thought it was a leaf until I took a closer look! There was a frog in the pool! Well there are frogs/toads all over here, especially at night, but in the pool? Thats disgusting! I started flailing around trying to get away ASAP and when I got out I realized it was just a little baby and it was alive! jordan saved it's life by pulling it out of the water, he's a hero.

This is a picture of one of the toads that are jumping around our apartment ALL the time!

Anyway after we layed back and started working on our tans we started sweating, intensly. The humidity here makes me sweat way too much. Jordan had sweat literally dripping off his face and my belly button was collecting a little pool of sweat (sorry if that's TMI). I told myself that i had to stick it out until my belly button was filled with sweat, I know that's gross but I have to set goals for myself! I definitly got some sun today thanks to my goal!

It's a New Year?

Today I read an inspired post from my sister-in-law Amanda, it was all about being positive and how things happen for a reason. I know I am always talking about my boring life in Oklahoma but after reading her post I am going to take her advice and try to be patient and learn from this experience instead of worrying about my unemployed self. Her post was in the back of my mind all morning, I even told her it was like the talk in sacrament that you knew was just for you because I couldn't get it out of my head. At some point today I thought, I can't wait for the new year, it will be so nice to set new goals and work towards improving myself....and then I thought, I don't need to wait 6 more months...I'll just set them now!

Last year Jordan and I had an awesome New Years Eve but we didn't set any goals, we were too busy wedding planning to even think about making changes...wouldn't getting married be change enough? Now I can't wait to set new goals with one another for the year 2012 but for now I am going to set new goals for me :) there is so much I want to improve on but I don't want to set too many goals so I am overwhelmed and wont succeed.

There are a few goals I know I want to set...

1. Read and PONDER the scriptures daily

  

In high school I read my scriptures everyday no matter what but since graduating and becoming so busy with memorizing drugs instead of scripture I haven't done as well as I know I should. When Jordan and I read the scriptures together at night I am amazed at all he knows about the scriptures! Yeah of course he did spend 2 years of his life in "mission land" focusing only on the gospel but he knows soooo much! I want this knowledge, it makes it so nice to understand. He also quotes so many prophets and apostles....which brings me to goal #2

2. Read a talk from a prophet/apostle at least 3 times a week:

We receive the Ensign every month but I know that I have not read it like i should have, and I'm going to change that! I love reading talks, I understand them. They inspire me. I am going to take advantage of the living prophets and apostles and read and PONDER on what they have to say.

A few years ago I got a book with all of President Hinckley's talks in it and I have not yet read it, I am going to change that too. I love President Hinckley so much and I am so excited for this! Jordan wakes up and leaves for his ten o'clock meeting in the morning and I just stay in bed, not that I need to but I just do. As pathetic as it is sometimes I sleep in past 11! I need to start waking up with Jordan and take advantage of this time that i have this summer and do things worthwhile like reading the scriptures and talks each morning  instead of sleeping my life away.

3. p90x Six Times a Week for 90 days

Jordan and I started doing p90x two weeks ago. The first morning after working out i rolled over and couldn't even reach to get my phone I was so sore. I felt as it I had been hit by a train! I hurt everywhere! We kept going and although I still get super sore and want to throw up during the workout things are going better. BUT p90x is HARD ...sooooo HARD! It's hard to wake up each morning and know that you are going to hate yourself as soon as you pop in that dvd but after it's done I feel great that I finished the workout! One thing that really gets me is that I am very weak, I usually run when I workout and due to this my muscles are pretty small, I showed Jordan my bicep the other day and he laughed and said "you would make a funny cadaver...."? Seriously? I guess I need to increase my strength so one day I can make a not funny cadaver? Looks like we have until the first week in September to accomplish this goal!

This is Tony Horton, he is the instructor of p90x and SOO annoying. Today while working out Jordan said, "I think the real challenge is seeing if you can listen to Tony for 90 days!" haha you would appreciate it if you knew how this guy is.

4. Set a Budget - $150/month for groceries

Now that I am actually cooking/baking I realize how expensive it really is! Grocery bills are killing us and although we have cut back on spending I want to cut back even more! I was talking to Lety the other day and she told me that her and kennon only spend $150 a month on groceries! How do you even do that? I'm going to try. I want to make 2 new recipes a week while here in Oklahoma and I'm nervous I wont be able to do this on the budget! If you have any advice PLEASE let me know!

5. Keep caught up on my blog.

Like I said in a previous blog I want to keep caught up with this so I can have a "journal". This is something I will do and I want to be able to look back at our life and remember those funny moments that we shared :)

Welp I guess we start today! I have enough time each day that I know I will master this and i can't wait! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

We Love You Daddies!

We were apart from our dad's this fathers day but we were able to talk to them on the phone, we love technology. We both were born into such amazing families with such amazing parents. Both of our fathers have been such great examples to us throughout our lives and supportive in all that we do.

We are so grateful for these amazing men!!! We missed them so much that we decided to have a little "fathers day" of our own.

Fathers day of course means that our dads were out on the grill so I decided although we were away from home we should have our own Fathers Day celebration and got to work: we were going to have a mini bbq and make ourselves some hamburgers and fries.

I have been wanting to make these homemade buns for a while, (I love making bread now) so we got to work. Since it was a Sunday Jordan was a help in the kitchen and we mixed em together and let them rise only to find out that after their second rise they were huge, and i mean HUGE! We didnt know if we should roll them down or leave them, so we did half and half...

You can see the little ones on the lower right corner of the pan...and the monsters everywhere else.

Here is Jordan's hand so you can see how big these buns really were!



When they came out of the oven we learned that we should have rolled them all down to a smaller size but we also decided that BBQ beef sandwhiches would be delightful on such a large bun.

The finished product, they were delightful!

I suffered an injury in the kitchen this time, burned my arm :( it hurt.

Dinner turned out amazing, Jordan even said "This is delicious, people should pay US to eat" haha. He's so cute.

We had a great fathers day although we did miss our dads! We wished that they were with us so much to enjoy our meal and us enjoy their company but that was not the case, hopefully next year! We love you daddy Marty and daddy Ken!

Back Blogging

One of the biggest reasons blogging has attracted me is it's use as a journal. In high school I used to keep a journal, it wasn't about everyday things, it was only about boys (I'm scared to go back and read it!). I wish that I had kept a journal when Jordan and I started dating so that I could look at that in years to come but I didn't and now i'm kicking myself for it and for this reason I am going to blog about our lives, although you might find it boring because it kinda is.

Since I haven't kept up with blogging I am going to do what I now call "Back Blogging" and blog about things that might of happened a little while ago but need to be blogged about! Like....

MEMORIAL DAY 2011

The office got together and we all had a barbeque, it was so fun. We filled the evening with eating, a little basketball, and just chatting :)

LIGHT HOUSE

After an office dinner at Red Rock Grill, which was AMAZING! Little Lillyanna sat with us for a little while and we fed her lemons which she loved, she is so funny!

After dinner we walked out to the light house on lake Hefner. It was hot and  humid with bugs buzzing everywhere but it was still kinda fun!

Jordan had fun covering the light and then jumping off it once it was pitch black....he's such a cutie and easily entertained!

PIZZA PIZZA

Due to the fact that I stay home lots, ok all the time, I have started learning to cook. A few weeks ago I made homemade pizza crust and it was amazing!

Before

After

http://annies-eats.net/2010/04/29/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust-tips-and-tricks/

Ok back blogging is completed for the week! I hope I don't have to do it again but I know I will!

Get your Kicks on Route 66

I haven't been very good at updating my blog according to what we are up to and I have no idea why...I have ample amounts of time to do so but I just don't, I'm going to change that though.

Now that we are in Oklahoma and the boys knock long days we don't have much time to do anything other than Saturday nights which is always filled with dinners with the team; the guys have a "dinner goal" and they have been doing so well that each Saturday Rove is kind enough to take us out to eat. After the first time we went out to dinner we decided to take a little trip to what we call "Pops"...it's a little gas station on Route 66 with over 500 different kinds of soda! Talk about crazy! Glass bottles line the walls with all sorts of crazy flavors!

These one's were called SODAGUSTING, with flavors like
Bug Barf, Dog Drool, Kitty Piddle, Toxic Slime, and Monster
Mush who could pass this up?!

Jelly Belly Soda?

I chose Waialua Pineapple Soda....it wasn't that great.

Jordan got Route 66 Rootbeer...it was that great!

Now although the soda was mind blowing one of the coolest things was the Giant Soda Bottle Outside!!!

It lights up at night with all different colors! So fun to watch but way too many bugs attracted by it!

Jordan and the "Office Baby" little Lillyanna, she loves Jordan, it's adorable!
She is so cute she kinda makes us want kids
...until we see the not so cute ones at church!

We went back again after our first trip and got several different flavors, I got a peach soda I still haven't tried and Jordan got a cream soda that was amazing!!! It's so fun to go and try these soda's from all over the world, can't wait to try my Chinese blackberry cream soda!

http://route66.com/36.0.html

Free Time Spheee Time

Now that Jordan and I are in Oklahoma I have a lot of free time on my hands. I've been looking for a job like crazy, filling out multiple applications daily, emailing multiple people on craigslist with my resume and references, and interviewing over and over again only to get turned down over and over again. They always ask "How long are you going to be here" or "How long do you see yourself with this company" and I can't lie so when I tell them we'll only be here until the end of August I get shut down. I've even had people tell me that I'm "over qualified" for a position and I just wanna slap them and say "NO I'M NOT" but talking to my dad last night he made me realize that this is a kind way of saying "I see that you have a degree, it's not worth my time to train you when I know you can get a better job somewhere else and I don't wanna waste my time when you are just going to leave me once you're bored".  Now I understand.

Yesterday after leaving another disappointing interview I was feeling a little depressed...I started talking to myself saying I was going to make this a summer for me.I would take all of my spare time and do a bunch of random things like going to the pool and tanning, reading books for the first time in years for fun and not assignment, blogging, and developing skills/hobbies.

In high school I was too busy playing to learn to cook, I never wanted to learn to couchette or sew, I'm not artistic by any means and can't paint so when I went to Hobby Lobby to look for a hobby I got a little depressed: this was the place I was turning to develop skills and talents and everything looked so overwhelming. I found a book called "What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion"

It has so many cute cupcake designs such as hamburgers, the ducks shown above and these cute apples below. I ordered it from amazon because it was so much cheaper! I cannot wait to get this book and start designing these cupcakes! 

I started reading water for elephants, I now want to go to the circus, which is coming to OKC in a few weeks soooooo much! I'm not very far in it but I take it out to the pool with me and read it while relaxing.



And I bought a whole bunch of scrapbooking supplies because I haven't put a single picture of Jordan and I in a scrapbook since we started dating. I figure I have a few things to keep me preoccupied now.

I'm also learning how to cook not only cupcakes but meals as well. I'm trying all sorts of new recipes such as BBQ Beef Sandwiches which Jordan Loved, meatloaf, cheesy chicken and the list goes on and on. Tonight I'm making meatballs and I hope they turn out! I have already started learning to make bread, it's not perfect but it's getting better every time!

I also  made pretzels the other night! They were SOOO fun to make and super easy! I was leaving the mall the other day (after an interview of course) and saw the little pretzel shop...a pretzel sounded so good but I was so annoyed I didn't feel like stopping. I was going over different recipes at http://annies-eats.net/ and linked onto another blog http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com where I found this recipe...once I mixed the dough together and let it rise I didn't think they would turn out, I'm still learning how to use yeast and I didn't think I had the water warm enough to really activate the yeast but I decided I would try to make them anyway...this is how things turned out!

First I separated the dough into 10 different pieces and rolled
them out into straight lines

I then twisted them by following an online tutorial...mine aren't perfect but they'll get better.

I put them in the oven for 7 minutes and this is how they turned out!

Instead of using kosher salt (what was called for in the recipe)
I used cinnamon sugar because this is what we had.

I was very happy with my finished product, but there was one problem, i didn't roll the ends thin enough and the middle of the pretzel was doughy since it was thicker due to the twisting. Next time I will twist the ends thinner than the middle so that the twist will bake all the way through, I think I'm going to turn the oven down a little bit too and cook them longer. Let me know how things go for you if you try this recipe out!