The Daily Dose

My husband started school yesterday! I am so proud of him. He was a bit nervous, but really loved his first and second day. Let the four years begin. This is him yesterday morning before his big day! All smiles and ready to go!

Lions, Lifetime, and tears, OH MY!

Zach starts school tomorrow. We are excited, remember that it IS the reason we moved to Utah in the first place. He will be in school full time for the next four years, give or take. Yesterday he bought himself a new backpack/bag and a notebook, just one. He has received most of his books in the mail, and he is just counting down the hours now. I can't believe how fast they grow up and mature, I'll be posting pictures of his first day...you can count on it.

This past week has been an altering one yet again. Work has been work. I could complain all day/post about it, but I won't. On Monday I made an appointment for the four of us to go to a gym by our place. We have been looking forward to this step in our stay here. The gym is called Lifetime, it's pretty awesome. They have variety which I prefer so I don't become bored out of my mind. There is all sorts of fun activities to do like rock climbing, classes from spin to yoga to kickboxing, running and cycling clubs, there are even water slides there (extra plus). It was pretty much a no brainer, given that we would choose any gym that offers what we all want. Even better, us four have each other to work out with. Hector and Zach have already been lifting and doing all their intense workouts together, and Zach has been swimming laps almost everyday. We are looking forward to this new place to spend our days bettering our healthy lives.

Other then that we have been doing the usual. This week was a full 60 hours of work. And I can feel it. As I sat in my pod sometimes bored out of my mind, sometimes on the verge of tears because people are rude, I would send Zach these drawings...

Or when I would leave for work and he would be sleeping like a baby, he got this one...

It is the best way to describe how I feel about my job.

On with a different note...
Friday was our date night, the usual, we got some frozen yogurt at U-Swirl after some dinner in town. We were sitting by a drive through when in the corner of my eye I see a truck driving in with a, what I thought, huge dog. It was too big to be a dog so I looked over and almost cursed. It scared the crap out of me...I had to take a picture.

SIMBA. Never expected it to be a stuffed lion. And never would I have that in my house. He said he brought it back from Africa...just taking it for a nighttime stroll I guess...

It made my week needless to say.

Poor Lion. Now he's just a show and tell.

Today is my only full day off, and I am not taking it for granted. Tonight we will have dinner with our landlord and his little family. He is right next door to us, so that makes it simple to plan everything. We love our neighbors and our home here. Dinner smells delicious, and I am off to make some cookies for dessert. Tomorrow is back to the grind at work, and then more work and finishing the week with work. I will try to blog during that time and be more active and exciting!

I miss my family and home. Rancho, come back to me!

Tonight's pizza tradition is on hold, due to our BBQ with the neibs. In honor of our special Sunday pizza tradition here is a collage of some of our pizzas that have passed. We will miss you on this Sunday.

Week 10...and an infinite more to go.

Today I was scheduled to work at Five Guys from 11:30am-11pm, until the lightening storm came and we lost power for a few hours. All of our appliances are electric, so we were S.O.L. I left work and got home around 6pm and now I get to continue spending the weekend with my husband. I have had a three day weekend, and it has been wonderful! Marriott closed the call center for Friday and Saturday. and they gave every employee two free tickets to Lagoon which was set to use yesterday. Lagoon is much like a Knott's Berry Farm/upgraded Scandia. It was fun while it lasted. Some roller coasters definitely should NOT be running...like the old wooden one that we continuously jumped tracks on. Freaky. We lasted only a few hours until we were sweating bullets and decided that it was a Red Robin kind of day. That's when we did our normal Red Robin routine, that's right, endless root beer floats and fries with a delicious burger. We enjoy eating processed food way too much sometimes. The day was pretty great! I'm just thankful we weren't the ones that the roller coasters decided to stop working on...Lagoon probably won't be on our list to visit again anytime soon. No offense to anyone.

cooking in the dark..the last burgers for awhile.

It was awkward when the place was dead silent.

Any second now, this thing will be a pile of sticks.

The Icee bear looks like he's auditioning for the next season of Breaking Bad.

Our bad habit.

Check out this sweet comic book shop Zach and I found....to all the nerds out there, I think you'd like it!

Nerd alert!

Last night we also had our weekend visitors come into town. Hector is finally here! Yay! His parents, one of his sisters and brother-in-laws, and one of his nephews came along with him to check this state out. It's fun having company around here, it can get pretty quiet with just the few of us. They all drive back home on monday, but Hector and his dog ChiChi are here to stay. Which reminds me, Hector and Zach start school in less then two weeks! Crazy. 

The weeks are flying by. Which I won't complain about. Everyday is a day closer to finishing up our little/big adventure. I'm enjoying all of it though, don't get me wrong. I feel bad that I don't blog as often anymore, I will try to make more time to stay up to date. This past week my sister in law invited me to learn how she does new born photography. She was doing portraits of 10 day old little Jesse James. He was so tiny and adorable! I give her all my respect in being a newborn photographer, geesh that is one talent you have to have patience for. We were there for a few hours, and surprisingly it DOES take that long. It was all worth going to see if it strikes any interest. I'll keep you posted on what I end up doing. My life and activities are so sporadic to even have an idea of what I want to do and how to do it. But that's alright! I'm thankful for the opportunities that come my way that allow me to decide what's best for me. 

Also while we were at Mike and Alisha's Zach offered to watch our neice Savvy the next day for a few hours...all by himself. Up until then he had never babysat by himself and wasn't fond of the idea of changing a diaper. I thought it was hilarious. Wishing that something wild would happen. Savvy was picked up by her mom in one piece, so it seems that everything went just fine. 

What a cutie.

One last remark! Zach and I love to experiment with food! Since I met Zach I learned quickly that he loves flavor and making up new recipes. He's also happens to be a great cook, score. Anyways, its become habit that we think of something that sounds real good, and then try to make it. Or more like BS it. Shockingly it sometimes works out to be not half bad. Last week we decided that we wanted something sweet but also easy to make. We have a few cake box mixes and chose our favorite, Funfetti of course. Side note- Funfetti was the cake of choice for our wedding day. You know it, it was seriously the best wedding cake ever. Just sayin. So instead of baking a cake we made cookies. They were pretty dang good. Now don't get me wrong, there are recipes on those handy dandy cake boxes but we made them to accommodate our needs, and those needs were met. Check em out...

Until tomorrow, pizza and sweets day, I'm OUT.

BBQ chicken pizza

He would, if I let him. 

And why not add this in..every one is beautifully unique yet the same.

South Jordan Temple, about three miles from our house.

catching up.

Sometime after work last week Zach and I went to the Urgent Care to get my eyes checked out. For some odd reason my eyelids have been irritated and swollen lately. After going to two different "urgent" cares that closed at 5, real urgent huh?, we found one pretty close to home. It wasn't worth the hassle. The man that helped me told me, "well I don't know what it is or how you got it but I can find something to get rid of it." The plan originally was indeed to get rid of it, but after he said that he literally pulled out a little pocket book dictionary and chose which eye ointment I should try. I could have done that. He then proceeded to inform me of how I will need to rub it on my eyelids, that sounded about right. Anyways after that $25 co-pay Zach and I headed to the dollar theater. First stop was frozen yogurt and Cafe Rio. We were a bit behind schedule so we decided to hide the Cafe Rio inside my purse. Genius idea. My purse was perfect for the two containers. We got it into the theater and unloaded everything...then of course the people in front of us started to smell it out and get aggravated that we had it in there. Oh well get over it. Of course after the looks we got from them these three young kids come to sit next to us and say, "Oh no way you guys got Cafe Rio in here?" Almost ratted us out...just almost. The night was great as usual, our dates never fail us for something exciting.

See, no signs of the Rio being in that...

 Saturday morning we headed out to a very small city called Oak City for one of Zach's cousins baptisms. Their town is very small and about an hour off the freeway. It was great to see family that we don't visit often with. It was even better to see Faith get baptized, what a special young girl she is. After the baptism we headed home, I really wanted to go and see a temple being built off the freeway, so we pulled over to check it out. The Payson Temple is looking beautiful already! It was very neat to see it getting put together. Once we got home we baked for one of our Sunday school students. Josh's favorite treat is brownies, so I bought mint oreos and dipped them into the brownie batter and made him a few of those bad boys. So delicious. We have the best kids to teach, they are such individuals.

Zach said this was Oak City's water park...it was a long drive that morning

food at the baptism, always a plus.

Temple under construction

Sunday after church we baked again for my mother-in-laws birthday dinner. Zach's sister and her husband were having a dinner for Wendy that evening. Alisha, my sis-in-law made the best enchiladas and cilantro rice, it was all so so good. We of course got to hang out with our favorite niece as well, the highlight of our day. Anyways I baked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberries on top, my mother-in-law loves chocolate and Zach insisted on making it all chocolate. It was pretty good. As we were heading to Provo for dinner, the cake was melting and strawberries were sweating, not so good. But it was still edible. That night we all kicked back and enjoyed ourselves. It was great having Wendy in town!

This was take two, the first time around the fan blew the candles out...so we sang to her again and she got to them in time.

Now for this past week...Zach finished up his summer job and is back at home for two weeks until school starts. For me, I'm still working both jobs, but Marriott is definitely getting easier for me. So that's good news. I am now out on the floor taking calls on my own and making owners "happy". It's becoming more relaxed and enjoyable. Sometimes it's too relaxed and we are so slow that people snooze a little bit on the clock. Here's the perfect example of that, it's pretty funny...

"Thank you for calling Marriott owner services, how may I assist you today?"

Our managers also made and brought breakfast to our desks this week, too kind.

 Also this week we went to the Golden Corral for the first time, worst idea ever. Zach has been dying to try it for a long time, so we decided to check it out. Buffets are so gross. I've never felt so full in my entire life, right when I got back into the car I reclined my seat all the way back. Never again. 

How appropriate for the Golden Corral to be next to the Medical Plaza. First stop the buffet, second stop the emergency room. 

Lauren is home in California for the weekend. Lucky girl. I wish I could be there as well, seeing my family and celebrating my grandparents birthdays. Which means we are left "lizardsitting" Quicks, her pet. So far it's not eating, hasn't moved from the same spot in hours, and it's heating lamp blew out. Just fantastic! So we now have it in a box with a heated bean bag and towel, Zach cleaned out its cage, and he also bought the new light bulb. What better time for these things to happen then now? Lauren seems to be having the best time though, and I'm sure she's really happy to see Hector again. I forget what he looks like, maybe she will bring back a photo of him. Anyways, it's nice to be home with my husband. Last night he went over to his buddies house to play some sort of video game. Nerds. He was there until 6am gaming it up with ten other guys. What a life. Pizza, soda, chips, smelly men, and gaming for hours. No thanks, I'll pass. I stayed home all by my lonesome and made a nice cooked dinner for only me. I had also gone to Costco for a few things and while I was in the rush of everyone there I saw this thing....WHAT THE HECK?! Why did it take them so long to figure this out?

There's even a handle on top to carry it around with you.

11 pounds, 27,000 calories, only 14,850 of those are fat, 1320 grams of fat, 2835 grams of carbs...only. And all for a great low price of $37.99.

Today has been different. Zach and I slept in until noon! That was a first in such a long time. We are usually early risers and hate sleeping in past 8. But of course he was a goner from gaming and I was just exhausted from work. Once we rose though we decided to go play some tennis...we have never played together, so that was pretty cool. We like being active. Anyways, it ended up being hot and frustrating. The sun was blazing and we suck at tennis. Maybe we will attempt that again on a much cooler day.

Zach trimmed his beard, so maybe now our neice Savvy won't think he's Jesus. True story. She was shown a picture of Christ and asked who it was, she said Zach. After which Alisha, Zach's sister, called and told Zach to shave his beard off. Haha too funny.

That is it for this day...
Happy weekend!!

I, I, I work out!

This was last month, I never posted it---I went running today. It was in the 90's for sure, but then again I chose to go at noon-thirty. On the asphalt road with no shade or water, genius. I apparently left my brain at home as well. I always run with the Nike + app which tracks distance, pace, and keeps you motivated as you run. Or so it says. Usually Zach runs with me unless I'm at work then he goes by himself. This morning he was off to work which left me to decide if I was going to burn some extra calories. So after contemplating for two hours whether to go on my own or not, I got out the door. That IS the hardest part for me. I can sit around ready to go for ever and ever and then decide nah I'm good, and grab a bowl of ice cream instead. But later today I work and I know I wouldn't get the chance back, or this day. Also on my app it said Zach was ahead of me by a few miles so I had to catch up! All in all it was all worth it, it always is and we all know that.---

I have to say if you aren't feeling motivated to do much these days, find something you love to do. I love boxing and running. Mostly boxing. Zach knows that when I don't want to do a video workout or some routine we made up he tells me to box because I love it. And it works. Moving is moving, and those little alterations you make have an impact on the way you feel.

Thankfully I married someone who is encouraging and supportive. He is my workout partner, and we always push each other to our limits. This morning I went for a run and came home to a healthy packed lunch and a note...

A few years ago when I got home from Denmark I weighed 190lbs, and some days a few more then that. That was my highest weight I've ever been, and most honestly the unhappiest I've ever felt. I wasn't happy with my choices of eating crap and not being active. It was my year off to vacation and enjoy my time, and food took over a lot of that time and energy. My point is is that I noticed how unmotivated I was and I wanted to change and feel confident as a woman in my early twenties. That's when I decided to start running around my block. It took doing that for a few weeks to improve to two blocks, and then a mile. And then enjoying how easy it got to run that mile. I got up before work every morning to run one mile which eventually turned into a 5k. In the meantime I was eating healthy, but also treated myself to my favorite snacks here and there. I had a friendly and healthy relationship with the scale, but most of all I was becoming HAPPY. I joined the gym and started kick boxing again, along with spin classes and lifting. That changed my perspective on working out. I didn't have to run for miles on a treadmill, I could be in a class with other people trying to improve themselves and work hard alongside them. I also joined a MMA gym and went with dedication during the week, meeting new friends and challenges. I set goals. I reached them and then set other goals. I struggled A LOT and had some tough days and even weeks. But I was making a difference and feeling it. When Zach came into my life we started to run and lift together. We packed lunches for work and helped each other make healthier choices. And we continue to this day. When our wedding came we had reached our goals for that time, and it was a great feeling. Overall in the last two and a half years I have lost fifty pounds, Zach has lost just about that much as well, and we worked hard for every single one of them.

The reason I share this is because being healthy can definitely make anyone happy. It's within every choice we make, and those little choices make the biggest difference. I am happy now with how I feel and look. Continuing to challenge myself to work harder and being more dedicated. I realize it's all about the individual to know what happy is for them. But I encourage everyone struggling, or not, to get moving and get healthy.

This is a huge part of Zach and my story.