Addictions

Things Mike and I have been addicted to lately:

Shark Tank—holy friz we are going to be on that show one day, we are racking our brains!

Rib City—I think we have eaten there about 6 times

Watching Movies—I think we can go down in history as the top movie viewers, we LOVE Red Box. Seriously after studying my brains out all day, everyday, there is NOTHING I love better than relaxing with my babe and a good flick on the weekend.

Skinny Cow sandwich ice cream—only 140 cal each! and so yummy!

Snuggling and talking before we go to bed.

More TV favs: American Idol, The Bachelor, Modern Family, The Office, and Deal or No Deal (another show we want to go on).

Taebo (well we were doing it for weeks in a row TOGETHER, but that recently died down) :).

Nika is addicted to her feather toy and HAS to have it with her whenever she follows us up stairs to bed.

Frozen Yogurt—holy friz, can you get enough? Froyo, Hello Yogurt, Red Mango, Alpine Junction. . . I think Utah was once noted as consuming the most ice cream out of any state.

Speaking of ice cream, I LOVE twist cones—McDonalds or JCW's YUM!

I have been addicted to carmel apples lately—such a good dessert!

Lately I have been addicted to Ellen, I watch her while I work out at the gym, she cracks me up.

Fondue at home. There is this yummy swiss cheese you can get at the store and it is so good with "everything" french bread—YUM!

I have, for some strange reason, also been addicted to celery with ranch dressing—YUM!

Lately I have been addicted to making all my snazzy, stinkin cute hair accessories!

And because Mike is coming home in minutes—I am going to be addicted to MIKE!!

Are all addictions bad??? :)

Nika

Two weeks ago Nika got her claws out. It was sad to see her roaming around the house for four days in these little yellow booties. I felt bad having to take them out but she was scratching up our $4000 leather couch pretty bad and it was time. It was crazy trying to take them off of her, she was in so much pain, and they were pretty bloody. Little trooper; she got through it and is fully recovered.

Thanks to Andrews dad who did the surgery and even ran a free x-ray for us to check on a condition we were concerned about. He is so nice!!

Mike has been in California over the weekend. He went down with Jay to try and get some pre-season sales. It is amazing how in just a few days you can start missing the love of your life; realizing how empty life would be without them. I am so thankful for his hard work and dedication in supporting our little family (yes Nika included) :). Thankfully he misses me or I am afraid he would never come back, he loves California so much! Who knows maybe we will opt to move there this fall instead of Washington :). If it wasn't so darn expensive we probably would!!!!

UpDATE

It is hard when you are both in school full time to keep up with a blog. To be honest there isn't much going on in our lives other than school. Mike is enrolled in two classes: a math class, and a U.S. Government and Politics class. I am enrolled in Swedish (ugh), my Senior Course which is Bible as Literature, an Evolutionary Psychology class, and an American Lit class. Although school is a serious pain in my butt, I love learning new things. I am thrilled to have this be my last semester! The only thing that terrifies me is thinking about I am going to do with my life once this chapter is closed.

I have so many things I want to do: work in politics (as a speech writer), write for a magazine, travel and help those in less fortunate circumstances, keep up with my DTUT business and make it actually flourish, write a book (which I actually might envelop myself in this summer), and keep learning :). WHO KNOWS!! Turning 30 this year makes me reflect on a new decade of my life and all of the things I want to start taking an ACTIVE approach in accomplishing. I know, I know, I have already accomplished and experienced much in my life to date, but there is so much more to do, see, explore, and be apart of! It is an exciting adventure!

Speaking of my DTUT business, I am in the process of adding a new line of hair accessories. They are so stinkin cute! I am using a combination of fabrics and ribbons, but the main line is going to be a vintage look. Mike and I were browsing through the shops at Thanksgiving Point, and I just happened to be wearing one and I had people coming up to me and complimenting me on it, asking me where I bought it, etc. One of the employees gave me a business card and told me to bring them into the store to show the buyers because she thought they would be interested in selling them! Kind of exciting! I obviously don't have an incredible amount of time right now, so we shall see. I will post them soon on DTUT, maybe a few here, and if any of you want one just let me know :).

That's it for now. Oh new favorite movie we rented and watched last night: 500 days of Summer!! There are, of course like all movies, some iffy parts, BUT all in all I LOVE IT!!! It is kind of like my other favorite: Elizabethtown in that it's a little quirky but so funny and so adorable and so REAL!! And it has become my new favorite soundtrack. Check some of the tunes out listed on my playlist. Love you all!!

Last Week

Last week of RELAXATION! I can't believe I start my last semester tomorrow! Crazy! I am happy to report I did great last semester—pulled 2 A's and 2'A-'s!!! I don't know how I did it but it truly was a satisfying moment for me! It was one of the hardest semesters and not only did I make it through, I learned so many profound things!

This week was perfect—eventful yet relaxing. We had Mikes family over to play games and eat dinner at our home on Tuesday, which was a blast! On Wednesday Mike and I went to lunch and then I finally used my spa certificate he gave me LAST Christmas, and went and got a facial and a massage; both were amazing! I needed that pampering session after getting through this crazy semester. The massage was so good that I booked Mike with my masseuse the next day, which he loved!

New Years Eve we went out to dinner and went to the movie Invictus, which truly has to be one of my all time favorites; so incredibly inspiring!! Then we watched the ball drop in my favorite city in the world—NYC!!!

Dave, my bro, came into town to go boarding this weekend and Mike was fortunate to go with him. I was happy they could spend some one on one time and get to know each other since we don't get to see Dave that much. They both have such similar personalities so it was easy for them to hit it off. They had a blast boarding together; Mike taught him how to do a 360 and he nearly landed it! Then when they were finished, Dave came down and we met up with Donovan and Mindi and had dinner at one of our favorite places to eat: RIB CITY! YUM! Seriously the best ribs!!! It was so much fun being together and catching up with everyone.

We came back to our place after dinner and I was able to share with Dave some of the things I learned over the semester and to have some good conversations about some deep questions I had been having since. I am so grateful for him and his listening ear, his comments, his advice, and for being someone I can relate too. I honestly feel like out of everyone in my family we are the most alike just with the way we think about things. It was nice, as well, to have someone that knows what I am going through me tell me to be proud of and embrace my accomplishments, especially when it comes to working so hard towards attaining my degree, and to be confident in my intellectual abilities. Although he did mention, after listening to all of my deep inquisitiveness, that he can see how I don't relate to 95% of girls and don't really relate on the same level as most of the LDS "community," he encouraged me to be confident in who I am and the way I am. "You are very unique, not a lot of a people think the way you do," he said, and he encouraged me to find a venue where I could interact with people that I can talk to on a deeper more philosophical level. I know there is a part of me that needs that kind of fulfillment in my life and I wish I had taken more opportunities to get involved with programs at BYU that offered such venues.

I am so grateful for Dave. He truly means so much to me. He is the reason why I decided to pursue an education. I remember when I went to his graduation, seeing him stand there on that BYU platform and being overcome with pride and emotion for being the first graduate in our family. I remember saying to myself at that moment, "that will be me one day, no matter what I have to do, I will get my degree." I used to keep his graduation picture on my mirror my first few years of college to inspire me to keep working even though half the time I wanted to give up and felt so defeated. And even though it has taken me 10 years to do it, being set back by so many obstacles, stupid decisions, pain, defeat, trial, and hard work, I will accomplish that goal in 4 months! Dave said something so important to me, he said that no one can take that feeling away from me—standing there in my cap and gown knowing I worked so hard to get something that 90% of the population in the world either never has the opportunity of achieving or can't make it through it, is something to be proud of and embrace. I love my bro! I love my family so much! They have been such an amazing support in my life!

Oh I chopped my hair on Saturday! Thanks Tracy! I love love love it! It is the shortest it has ever been but it is just want I wanted—super sleek, kind of wild, and sexy!

Oh and one more thing: MIke got called to the nursery with me!!! :) So now we really have the perfect form of birth control! :) HAHA