A little drive

A couple days ago, Jon and I decided to go for a drive. We hadn't planned anywhere in particular but we ended up going towards Mesa Falls. We didn't have a lot of time and the roads were closed anyway so we didn't make it all the way to Mesa Falls but it was nice to just go. Here's a picture from our mini adventure:



Too bad these roads made me soo car sick or it would have been even more enjoyable. I might add some more pictures later but it took me forever to download just one so that's all there is for now.

Victory

So, 2 months and 12ish pounds later, I've won the competition against my sister-in-law. We had an agreement that we had to put $1 in the "pot" for everyday we missed working out. Whoever missed the least amount of days, wins. It's hard for me to work out 5 days a week but the determined/stubborn side of me comes out when I'm in a competition I know I can win. I don't think anyone has beaten my stubborness. It's a quality that Jon finds endearing and extremely frustrating. At least I think he finds it endearing...frustrating for sure. It's sad that now that the competition is gone, my willpower goes drastically down. However, it's still a goal of mine to work out 3-4 days a week and now I know that the only thing that really works for me is running and lifting weights. And eating healthier, of course. I hate running but I love lifting weights so at least I can look forward to that when I go to the gym. Thank goodness BYUI gives spouse I-Cards. I also noticed how sad it is when I barely recognize 12 pounds gone. When I was in high school that would have been a huge deal but now it just means my "fat pants" aren't tight anymore.

Snow!

Guess what? It snowed! Everyone is cursing it and I'm loving it. Is it too early to play Christmas music?

So, I'm super excited about these next pictures. Preface: Derek got a little schnauzer last year(Jasper, who now lives with my parents) and he bought him a little sweater because it was winter and cold outside. When we got Abby, Derek gave us the sweater in case we wanted to use it. We found a different one for Abby but we still kept the sweater. Now Abby has a little boy puppy and I randomly found Jasper's sweater and decided to see how it looked on him. I know, I'm ridiculous. It's just a dog for heaven's sake. In my defense, I think a lot of married couples start treating their dog like a child when they don't have their own children right off the bat. I know we're not the only ones. Anyway, the sweater is too big but he looked soo cute I could barely stand it. I was oddly giddy about it which is weird...and rare. Jon would probably like me to mention that most of this stuff isn't his idea. He is super wonderful with Abby but I'm the one that takes a million pictures and dresses them up.




Isn't he cute?




He's gotten quite a bit bigger since I last posted pictures of him



On a non-puppy note: I'm developing a love of cooking. Up until now, I was pretty good at putting anything in a tortilla shell. Burritos, tacos, quesadillas...you name it. Tortilla shells were more of a staple for me than milk. But, I know Jon likes more than fake Mexican food so I've been venturing out. Lately, I've been on an Italian kick. We found a few different Olive Garden recipes that are super good, and my latest find, were the Italian nachos from Carinos. If I do say so myself, they taste as good from my kitchen as from the restaurant's kitchen. It's sort of become an obsession with me. If I taste something I like from somewhere, I want to figure out what they put in it, and how they did it. I think I'm doing pretty well with the Italian and Mexican food but honestly the hardest thing for me to cook is plain old meat and potatoes. Potatoes are simple enough but for some reason I don't feel like steak is cooked enough unless it looks like shoe leather. Jon's nice enough to eat it and say it tastes great but I know it's no good. Anyway, my next recipes to perfect/figure out are: lasagna frittas(just tried them at Olive Garden tonight-terribly unhealthy but incredibly delicious), pumpkin cheesecake and black tie mousse. I think the cheesecake will be the hardest. Cheesecake out of a box is...fine but not what I'm looking for. I've tried other recipes from scratch and they've turned out horrible. So, if anyone knows of an amazing cheesecake recipe, let me know. One that's better than what you'd find at an average ward party. It's a phase. I'm sure I'll get out of it but until then, I think Jon's sort of enjoying the bigger diversity in our diets.

Another week down...

Update for this week:


Jon and I worked. I know, our life is soo exciting. Jennah(the other employee at Ferguson Music Company) was out of town for the last half so I worked a little more than usual. Here was my day: teach a lesson in the morning, since Jennah was gone-I had to reschedule students, work till 6, eat, go to a rehearsal or a concert till 10ish. Jon's day: Go to work for 9-10 hours starting a 11:45 PM, come home and sleep till I got off work. Then we both eat dinner together, then I run to a different rehearsal. I come home, go to sleep, he goes to work. I know...you're all jealous. I mean, how much more glamorous does it get? On top of that, I needed to get my exercise in(I'm having a competition that I'm determined to win with Jon's sister) which usually happened around 10:30 at night until Jon went to work. Bad thing is they weren't as productive as before because I've been unusually tired lately. But, we found that it's really nice family time to take a walk/run together with Abby. She loves it, we like it, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise.


The reason for the extra rehearsals this week was because I got to play backup for Collin Raye. Now you can all really be jealous. He's actually a really cool guy. And, surprisingly, pretty talented for a country singer. Can you tell I'm not normally a country fan? However, last night I sort of felt like a country rock star and I really enjoyed it. That puts my celebrity gigs up to two. David Archuleta and Collin Raye. I think I've found my new calling in life. Being a celebrity. Totally kidding, but it was fun. The only disappointing part was that I didn't get a picture with him. Two nights ago we had a rehearsal and he was walking around talking to everyone but of course, I didn't have my camera. Last night I had my camera but he ran off stage right after the show and I was too shy to run up to his dressing room to get a picture after the concert. Go figure. Next time.

Another nice thing this week was that we've been getting some super nice weather which was soo great. Honestly, I'm not a fall lover. I like the color of the leaves, Thanksgiving...that's it. It's sort of sad to me because I am a summer lover and fall tells me that my summer loving days are coming to an end. It's also not quite early enough for Christmas but cold enough that it can't be summer. Don't get me wrong, I sort of like Halloween(ok, I don't really) and I really love Thanksgiving but I just don't like the cold. If it's cold, I love snow. So picky aren't I? Anyway, I think I go through this end of summer depression starting every September-Thanksgiving and then Thanksgiving cheers me back up. I'm glad Jon puts up with my weird, crankyness. He loves fall. He loves walking outside in a jacket and having it slightly cool and seeing the leaves change color, and everything that comes with loving fall. I envy you all who feel that way.


On a more domestic note: our puppy is learning to walk. He's soo cute while he does it. He's making a lot of noises and he pretty much grunts or whines if he can't move in a way he wants to. He also is making this bird noise that I can't describe. I never get tired of it. Jon knows I'm obsessed with the little guy so he recorded a video of him trying to walk a couple days ago. It really is adorable. If we get rid of the puppy, I think I'm going to struggle with that one.

Well, this is my first super long post that doesn't have pictures. I've had long posts before but they've had lots of pictures. This is just me writing my thoughts. Sorry about that. Normally, I hate people to read what I write so I guess this is good getting me out of my comfort zone. Please don't judge my writing skills.