3 Year Anniversary

Thanks for paying me for 3 years... and giving me pulsing headaches and ulcers (I forgot to mention that part!!)

I <3 Numbers

I love numbers... (OCD... cough cough)... As of today we are about:

25 Days till Dan goes to Arizona!
30 Days till I go to Arizona!
60 Days till I walk at Graduation and we get our Endowments out
80 Days till Dan's Graduation
115 Days till I am done with Spring Term and BYU Forever!
135 Days till my 23rd Birthday (as well as 1 year anniversary and Sealing)
205 Days till Dan's 23rd Birthday

We have a lot to look forward to, which gives me a glimmer of hope as to a light at the end of this tunnel.

Saturday's are days to relax right?

In the next 7 Saturdays till graduation, I have exams 4 of them and will be gone 2 of them... UMM booo

Reading Old Journals

I have kept a journal since the beginning of my Freshman year here at BYU. I have not looked at those old journals in a long long time. Yesterday I took an hour or so to look through them. Sometimes I think about burning them and other times I look back and see how much I have grown.

I realized last night that all the heart felt pain I experienced was only for my good. I thought back to some crummy times living here and had honestly forgotten some of them. As I read it was like little doors to my memories opening up and thinking, "Oh ya, that happened?! Why did I do that!?"

I often talked about feeling alone and being sad that I was alone. I was confused by those around me and looking back I see what I learned. In those moments I thought life would not go on. I thought I was done for. Here I am, life has moved on. I married the best person I know and look back in my journals about other guys I liked or dated and thought, how different (and sometimes HORRIBLE) my life would be now if I had married them.

I think to myself well if this didn't happen then this wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't be where I am today. I have changed and grown up so much in the last 5 years. So today I am saying I am thankful for the life I have lived and hope the things I am going through now will in the future be stepping stones for greater things in my life. It is hard to see that in the moment though.

Halfway Done

Although I say I am halfway done, its only with this semester... I still have to find a Gerontology internship, do my Gerontology internship and finish my 3 online classes before I graduate. And I want to be done by JUNE!?

I am very stressed and don't have much time to do anything... aww life.

Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich - I want to make this!

This sandwich provides two grain servings from the ciabatta, a little more than two servings of meat from the chicken, and half a dairy serving from the cheese. Serve with orange wedges and baked chips.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (about 2 ounces) sun-dried tomato pesto (such as Classico)
• 2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
• 3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 (8-ounce) loaf ciabatta
• 12 large basil leaves
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced bottled roasted red bell peppers
• 1 large tomato, thinly sliced

Preparation

Combine pesto and mayonnaise in a small bowl, stirring to blend.

Sprinkle chicken with pepper and salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken to cutting board, and cool slightly. Cut chicken lengthwise into thin slices.

Preheat broiler.

Cut ciabatta in half horizontally. Place bread, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove bread from pan. Spread pesto mixture evenly over cut sides of bread. Arrange the chicken slices evenly over bottom half. Top chicken evenly with basil leaves, and sprinkle cheese over top. Place bottom half on baking sheet, and broil 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Arrange bell pepper and tomato over cheese, and cover with top half of bread. Cut into 4 equal pieces.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

394

Draper Temple Open House

Dan and I went with his parents this last Tuesday the 10th to see the Draper Temple. It was a great experience for the four of us to talk about temples and be able to see it together. I look forward to going there again. I want to fast forward the next 10 weeks (or skip it all together). I am so very much at that point that I am ready to be DONE with school. I know I won't be officially done but so far this semester has been a beast. 12 hour days, working full time and taking 4 classes.
This gives me something to look forward... so does the possibility of MOVING!

Weekend Update

We have had a great weekend, but its not over yet!

Matt and Kandace came down from Rexburg, Idaho to visit this weekend . We were able to hang out with them Saturday and Sunday (and hopefully some tomorrow!)

Saturday was Valentine's Day and we went to Applebee's for lunch and had a family dinner with Dan's parents and Matt and Kandace at Carrabbas.

One of the best parts about this weekend was finding out that Matt and Kandace are expecting!!! I am going to be an AUNT! I Hope more than anything that in just a few weeks or months we will be hearing the same amazing news again and we will be blessed x2 in the niece/nephew category!

We are having Calkins Christmas this year and it will be really neat to have a little 2 and a half month old in the family for Christmas! It will probably be our first chance to meet Matt and Kandace's baby, but we are so excited!

We are also hoping that everything pans out so that we will be able to go on Calkins family vacation to California in August!

Arizona Trip!!

We bought our plane tickets to AZ last weekend!!!

Dan fly's to Tempe on Sunday March 22nd. My mom is going to pick him up (she will have just gotten home the day before from Spain!) Dan's is planning to interview with some companies that week while I am still in Provo finishing my school week. I really am praying that things fall together nicely and that Dan will have some great interviews and we will get some options that will allow us to move to Arizona!

We have not been apart a single night since we were married in June and it will be weird to not have him around for almost 5 days, I haven't decided if I am going to stay by myself at our apartment or at Dan's parents.

On Thursday night of the 26th I am going to fly in after my English class. While I am there I may try to interview at a few places. We will see what I can find. Mostly I just want to enjoy 5 full days in Arizona! It will be the first "Spring Break" type trip in 5 years!

We will fly back on Tuesday March 31st late. The next day I will start my last month of school and thankfully 23ish days later my mom will come up to Provo!

Shoes!

I finally did it.. I have been in love with these shoes since I laid eyes on them and I finally bought them. Now if they show up in a week and I can't walk, I will send them back but I love them none the less!

Mount Timpanogos Temple

On Friday afternoon, my friend Mary and I were delivering some fliers to places in American Fork and decided to head up to the Mount Timp temple to take some pictures. I went up a week or 2 ago with Dan to look at it because I was excited and we were bored! I am really excited that Mount Timp will be where we are getting our endowments out at in April.

Friday was a wonderfully cloudy rainy day, but the sun came out just for a few minutes while we were there and showered the temple with light. We both got some awesome photos (Mary's an artist and her's were better but whatever!) Another 11 weeks and Dan and I will be getting our endowments out here!!!I am also very excited, on Tuesday, Kathy, Mark, Dan and I are going through the Draper Temple open house. The last time I was inside a temple was the summer of 2005 when I went to the Newport Beach Temple open house. Ironically that is the last time and place Dan was in a temple too.

PUGS!

I really want a Pug. We are going to be moving out of our apartment by July and I really want to find a place that will let us have a dog. Depending on if our jobs will allow us enough time to take care of a puppy we will get one! We want to add an addition to our family without having a child yet! Anyway Pug is my first choice... but I wanted to look up some things first. Especially there temperament with children. The daschund I fostered the Summer of 2007 had to be given up for adoption because his family had a baby and little Charlie did not like that!

THE UPSIDE:

• Pugs are lovable.
  
• Pugs are natural clowns.
  
• Pugs are relatively clean.
• Pugs are not aggressive, as a rule.
  
• Pugs travel well.
  
• Adult Pugs will relax with you.
  
• Pugs are adaptable to many situations.
  
• Pugs are usually great with children.
• Pugs are typically not big barkers.
  
• Pugs get along with almost all animals.

THE DOWNSIDE:

• Pugs shed a LOT.
• Pugs can have health problems.
  
• Pugs can't tolerate extreme heat.
  
• Pug puppies are very active and hyper.
  
• Pugs are puppies until they are around 2-3 years old.
  
• Pugs should not be kept as outdoor dogs.
  
• Pugs can be difficult to housebreak.
  
• Pugs can become overweight easily.
  
• Pugs sneeze, snort, and snuffle. (Prepare to clean your glasses constantly!)
  
• Pugs snore loudly.

I think a little pug would fit in great in our family. He wouldn't be the only one that sheds a lot, has weight/health problems and snores!!!

Daily Universe Article: I Thee Wed

I enjoyed this article from the Daily Universe today about Marriage Age and Divorce. Being a child of parents who are divorced I know how horrible divorce can be on a family and that you can find healing after a divorce.
I have plenty I could say about this topic, but I thought this article did a good job at being subjective and discussing both sides of the story!

Dreaming

Every morning after Dan gets out of bed, I drift in and out of consciousness. During that time I dream of Dan coming to say goodbye to me before he leaves. I quickly wake up startled and unaware if it were a dream or not. Sometimes I yell out his name to see if he is still around and other times I just hear him in the next room. I do this because I don't want to miss him actually giving me a kiss goodbye. Once he leaves I no longer have these little dreams.

Thats my random thought for today!

And I wrote a poem for Humanities, but I can't share it... so you can imagine that I posted it here!