reasons to celebrate

Pedersen's Sports is going out of business. Everything is at least 50% off. My parents gave Klane a Pedersen's gift card for Christmas.

Klane just got brand new amazing ski boots for $79. Regular price: $579.

He is celebrating. I'm happy for him.

Also, I got to sit next to my honey at church today. It was Stake Conference in the singles' stake, so Klane was relieved from his bishopric duties for the day. Hooray! I may have sneaked in a mini pack of peanut butter m&ms to get us through the two hours. And along with all the singles, we learned how to find an eternal companion. (Check!)

And lastly, there are just 7 weeks and 5 days till I never have to step inside the MATC building at UVU ever again. (!!!!!!!!!!) I can't wait. The only problem is that between now and then are the three most important exams I will ever take in my academic career. Because if I don't pass these, then the rest of it will really have been for nothing. In case you were wondering, the National Board exam (the written portion with 800 or so questions) is in 23 days, the Western Regional Board local anesthesia written/clinical exam is in 47 days, and the North East Regional Board clinical exam (for which I'll be flying myself and one lucky patient to NYC) is in 54 days. The culmination of my academic career is upon me.

well, folks...

It's as official as it's going to get before it's actually official, ok?

photo from davenyc2007 on flickr

So I'm officially announcing that Klane will be going to NYC for an internship this summer! We still don't know what advertising agency he'll intern for, but we'll let you know when we know. Jeff Sheets, the Ad Lab director (director...? sure.) is in NYC as we speak, negotiating with agencies to place his interns.

Some of you may have noticed I said Klane will be going for the internship. I have decided after much pondering, stewing and praying that I'll be staying with my parents until mid-June when the internship ends. The more info we got, the more we realized how much money we'd save if I stayed home and worked. Surprisingly I actually feel really really great about the decision, and so does Klane. I'll be coming out to stay with him for the first two weeks of the internship, and again for the first week in June. And if the internship is extended or Klane gets hired like we're hoping, then our Manhattan experience will be a lot more permanent than a seven week internship. (Think two to five years.) That is the plan anyway. Hopefully the economy doesn't mess with our plans.

We've really known for a while, and for the last month I've become obsessed with searching all things NY on the net and looking for cheap apartments. "Cheap" in Manhattan is about $1500 a month... for a 500 square foot studio. (Heaven help us.) But I've found a favorite new blog, Rockstar Diaries, about a fabulous LDS couple living in Manhattan. I found it today and I'm LOVING it. Check them out, they will have you dreaming of the city. I am obsessed.

And can I just say, I love my husband. I'm so proud of all the hard work he's putting in and the talent he's developing. I can't wait to see what he'll create next.

Also, it's my beautiful sister in law's birthday today, so Michelle, I wanted to send my love over the net, and I hope it reaches you down in sunny AZ. You deserve to be celebrated!

Portraits

The latest project in my photo class was portraits. This first one is what I actually turned in; the others were in the running. Maybe it was the subject matter (handsome husband's face...?) but I enjoyed this assignment way more than the first one. On Tuesday I was really panicking about boards and entering the work force and was having a tough day. But then I went into the photo lab and spent two hours processing film and making prints of Klane's sexy mug. It was very relaxing to be in the darkroom, doing something artistic and working with my hands. It's so cool to put your print in the developer solution and watch your image appear for the first time.

I turned this in on Thursday and my teacher passed it around and told everyone to notice the sharp detail in the eyes and the shallow depth of field (the nose is out of focus, the ears are out of focus, but the eyes are in). That's exactly what I was going for with the shot, so I was really pleased!

The other two have funny stories. I wanted to get a shot of Klane doing something sort of candid, so I thought of taking one through the mirror of him shaving. He has an electric razor and doesn't actually use shaving cream. Wonderful husband that he is, he wanted me to get the shot I wanted. That is hair mousse all over his face. I love my husband. The last one he took of himself when I wasn't home, so I can't take credit for it. It was a fun surprise when I developed the film to find a secret picture on it that I'd never seen!

Smoke...

We left our apartment tonight to take Justin birthday treats and returned ten minutes later to find three cop cars, an ambulance and a fire truck outside our apartment building. Huh? How did they all get there so fast? Anyway, apparently smoke was coming out of our neighbor's vents. This was about an hour ago and nothing has happened so we're assuming the building isn't burning down. There were firemen totally suited up, though, which was cool:

This experience caused us to take mental inventory of the things in our apartment and decide what we would grab if the building actually was burning down. Turned out to be mostly technology-related stuff: computers, the external hard drive, the Playstation, the TV... and some clothes. Oh and our wedding album. Call us vain but we decided to grab the things of most monetary value. (And isn't it great that with technology all your music/pictures/movies can be stored on one little portable device?) I'm sure our list of things to grab in a fire would've been quite different 50 years ago.

It made me realize that if there really had been a fire, we had never talked about what to do in the event of an emergency. I'm thinking a Family Home Evening is in order to discuss such things. Be prepared!

My Missionary

It's okay to have a missionary when you're married, if that missionary is your little brother. Look at this guy! He is just adorable! I snapped a few very quick photos for his mission papers. This kid is going to be one incredible missionary. I'm so excited for him! I love my little brother Justin and I'm excited to write him on the mish and we can share stories and experiences from our adventures away from home.

Mountain Escape

Klane and I went up to Midway for an overnight getaway for Valentine's. We shared a delicious dinner at the Mountain House Grill, then went to Inn on the Creek to spend the night. It was so much fun. We watched a movie on the amazingly comfy king size bed, which had a down mattress and two down comforters. In the morning the inn provided a continental breakfast brought to our room. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the outlets in Park City and scored some awesome deals! It was so much fun to spend time with Klane and have him all to myself. :) Klane discovered his previously unknown love for Banana Republic. And I discovered my previously unknown love for Klane wearing Banana Republic. Very sharp.

What are you doing for Valentine's? Share in the comments!

Breakfast in bed! I just wish Klane were in this. We took one with a timer but it was weird.

Devoured.

The inn.

The creek.

Mountain House Grill. Definitely recommend this place. This was taken through the car window as we drove by in the morning... which explains the big black thing in the corner.

I wanted to include a pic of Klane. We cleaned the cabin on our way down, and this is Klane in the middle of shoveling out a path. What a gentleman. The snow was probably 3 feet deep in the path where he had to dig, and 5 on either side!

First Attempt

I'm taking a photo class this semester so my brain doesn't turn to mush from only thinking about teeth. This is my first print that I did my very own self in the darkroom (with the help of a kind stranger who took pity on me when I realized I didn't remember anything the teacher taught last week). It's of the pond in front of the cabin. I'll be honest, I don't like this photo much. In fact, the more I look at it the more I really hate it. Don't worry, though, I don't feel bad about it. I'm sure I'll get better at this black and white film thing. It's harder than you'd think!

While we're talking about school, here is a little update. Klane is hoping to get an internship at an ad agency in NYC. We are hoping that goes through but there will be plenty of opportunities for Klane's summer internship either way. We'll let you know as soon as we have official news about where we'll be this spring!

As for me, the reality of my board exams approaching is starting to hit me. I'm still waiting for this realization to inspire some kind of action (like, I don't know, studying...) but it is still hard to find the motivation, for some reason. I know it's important, but in six weeks (SIX!!!) will I really remember stuff I'm studying right now?

Excuse me, I'm going to go study now.

yes we love our pizza

I know it seems like my blog is turning into a food blog... but cooking is the most fun thing I've done this week, so there you have it. And things keep turning out really photograph-worthy and then what am I supposed to do with all these pictures but share them with you?!

Maybe this is weird, but when my family is on vacation and we go to a restaurant and the food looks especially scrumptious, we take pictures of it. Pictures of the food, pictures of us holding a plate of the food, pictures of us taking a bite of the food... yes we are totally weird. Maybe that's where I get this uncontrollable urge to photograph the food I make.

We were eating dinner tonight, and I thought, Happiness is sharing homemade pizza on paper plates with your best friend. It's one of my favorite things, anyway.

I very much enjoy making pizza. It is super quick and easy since I use rhodes dough, but you can make it really yummy! Lately I've done pizza about once a week. It's always different and it's fun to mix it up and try new things. Tonight was BBQ Chicken with a parmesan crust. Here's another pizza from a few weeks ago. Canadian bacon, avocado and tomato. Yum!

I love sitting down with my husband to eat dinner together. That's one of the reasons I like to cook. I grew up in a house where dinner as a family was a priority. I like that. So I've made my home that way. I like making something nice that Klane will enjoy. And I love spending time with him and hearing about his day. Here's to home-cooked meals! Now go out and buy some rhodes rolls and mozzarella and make yourself a gourmet pizza.

Sweet Success

Who knew it took four hours to create 4 dozen cupcakes? But it was fun. And the result? Delicious. Thanks for the tip, Martha. And I apologize for running out of confectioner's sugar so my frosting wasn't as beautifully plump-looking as Billy's Bakery's frosting (it still tasted fantastic). Thanks to Annie Porter for referring to the recipe on her blog!

Dear Visiting Teachees,

I had a lovely idea today. In light of the valentine's day spirit, I was going to make these for you:

So I got home from a long afternoon of teeth-cleaning ready to bake. I was even going to make them heart-shaped!

With white frosting and pink sprinkles! Can you just feel the love? I sure could.

p.s. there are no calories in batter. just in the baked stuff. so i lick everything clean.

And then when i opened the oven, this is what I found:

"WHY?" I said aloud. I left a pleading comment on Martha's webpage from which i got the recipe, asking if anyone could help me. I then re-read the recipe. Cake flour AND regular flour. Not just cake flour. Shoot. Half the flour will certainly cause problems. Quickly I attempted to erase my stupid comment, sitting there for all the mini-Marthas of the world to see, and realized it was impossible. I sure hope Martha herself doesn't see it, that would be embarrassing. Do you think she looks at her own website?

Now I have the correct recipe, but I just don't have the heart to try again after all that effort and cursing and dish-washing and muffin-pan-scraping. I'm sorry, dear visiting teachees. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

Jazz Game

We had a great time at the Jazz game last night with my cousin Sheralee and her boyfriend Casey. Dad was nice enough to let us sit in his 3rd row seats! It was fun getting to know Casey and spending some time with Sheralee, who I never get to see anymore. Thanks for coming guys! It was a blast!

Oh, and the large black guy in the middle of our photo was an announcer who decided to sneak in when we weren't looking. haha we're friends.

Extreme Sledding at Sundance

It pays to know someone in the sign business. Sara got us a couple huge sheets of plastic sign material which we took up to Sundance and used as a giant sled. Four people on a huge sheet of plastic so slippery you can hardly stay on it when it's stationary?! Craziness. I promise you we had to have reached speeds of 30 to 35 mph! The only way to stop (and avoid hitting the trees at the bottom of the run) was to roll off the side of the sled and slide/roll for 30 feet, arms and legs tangling up with the people next to you. By the time you figure out which way is up you are laughing so hard you can barely breathe. It was crazy and really fun. We'll be sad when we go on our internship this summer and won't be able to see Mike and Sara all the time and do crazy things like this. We are definitely four peas in a pod. We love those two. But we will soak it up while we can!

the Nie is Back!

after 5 months of recovery, Stephanie Nielson is back in action. And I couldn't be happier for her and her family! How exciting. Check out her first post since the crash here. If you haven't heard of the Nielsons' story, check it out, it's a story of love, faith and courage and it will inspire you!

guilty pleasure

I know it is silly but oh i just love american idol. i think watching people make fools of themselves on tv is just so entertaining. I love laughing at the ridiculous people and I like hearing when someone has real talent. Right now i'm watching this boy who totally looks like a girl, wears makeup, and makes homemade horror movies. He has an ok voice.... but he is creepy. Oh I love it. On with the madness!
And may i say i like Kara, the new judge. She is talented and spunky. She had a spontaneous sing-off with a contestant who challenged her and she was good.