thai food

i am in love with thai food. especially yellow curry {mmm mmm good!} after transformers on tuesday night, we went to bangkok grill with jake, gretchen, brandon and becca. the food was really good and not terribly priced. chris was a little sceptical at first since he had never experienced thai food before. he seemed to enjoy it and said it was good. i like the idea of getting out of the normal round of restuarants, you know, the ones you go to all the time. trying something new is exciting and can turn out to be a favorite. great idea to go thai, jake and gretchen, hopefully we'll go back again soon!

movie review: TRANSFORMERS

chris and i went with jake and gretchen to see transformers on tuesday. i was actually surprised. i did not want to see it. at first i kept looking at chris with a "i-can't-believe-i'm-watching-this" look. but as the movie went on, it got better and better. the thing actually had a pretty good plot with more than just the transformer storyline going on. it also helped that the effects were amazing so it was entertaining to watch as well. i would recommend seeing this, maybe as a good date flick or as a saturday matinee.

biomedics...

is the name of my new place of employment. that's right, ladies and gentlemen, i got a new job...FINALLY! i have to admit i'm rather sad to be leaving this cush job where i sit all day and do absolutely nothing, but i am also very excited to begin something new. biomedics is a plasma donation center and i was hired as one of their receptionists. instead of answering phones all day i will recieve the donors as they come in, and i complete their initial screening with them {hematocrit, urine, height, weight, blood pressure, questionare...etc.} before they are allowed to donate plasma. the facility is rather new and very nice. i will also be getting a little bit of a pay raise, which will be helpful as i will be working less in the fall and still make the same amount of money i'm making now. there are also several benefits such as free health care, bonuses, eligibility for raises every month and paid time off. i started on wednesday and i'm still going through the training process, which will take about a month to complete. when i told my boss at goldtip that i had found a new job, i made her aware that i would stay if they could match the pay i would be getting at biomedics...there was no response to that. i am excited for the new challenges and opportunities that are ahead and i hope that i enjoy this new job!

mia

i just finished reading harry potter and the deathly hallows yesterday afternoon. boy oh boy was that one a page turner! for the first time during the series, i have not been around a bunch of HP lovers and i didn't feel like i had to hurry and finish the book to feel like i was part of the "cool crowd" but i still hurried and finished because it was simply amazing. lots of great intense action and lots of just plain harry potter greatness. people ask me why it's so great and i really have no answer. between the amazing characters, enthralling plot, superb action....i could go on and on. i sat on the phone with my little sister mckenzie for almost 20 minutes recounting our favorite parts. she listened to the book on cdand told me she spent at least 10 hours a day listening. can you believe that??? she finished the 760-page book in 3 days. i finished in 4. i love reading a great book, but it's also sad when you finish. i always feel like "well, what am i gonna do now?" and i usually have to take a little break before starting a new book because i have a hard time getting out of the groove of the previous book and into the groove of a new one. i'm just really kind of bummed that i have no more harry potter book releases to look forward to. but i have to say, that ole' j.k. rowling did a superb job of putting the series to rest. i wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

pioneer day

here in utah {and possibly in other LDS communities} it is pioneer day. widely celebrated and including the day off from work, fireworks, BBQ and other festivities. i like to relate it to a mormon version of the 4th of july. people get festive and put flags up in the yard. i even saw a woman this morning decked out in pioneer garb {think big flowy skirt, apron, bonnet--yes she was wearing a bonnet}. utah natives are crazy in love with pioneer day. i think it's great and all, but i'm convinced that i'm not part of the club because i wasn't "born and raised" here to fully appreciate it. oh well. i can still watch fireworks and i still get to leave work at 1:30 today because of it.

crazy man in sacrament meeting

one of the girls in chris' sunday school class gave a talk on sunday. in the middle of her talk, her grandpa {i have no idea how old he is but he was walking very slowly and had very white hair} comes up to the stand and puts his arm around his granddaughter. at first i thought this was a little interesting but cute nonetheless. at the end of her talk, the grandpa said he wanted to say something and proceeded to go on for 10 minutes telling stories about WWII and nonsense that had nothing to do with the girl's talk. pretty soon the granddaughter whispered "that's enough grandpa" but since she was in front of the microphone, everyone in the audience heard and started to laugh. the grandpa then said, "well, i guess i better be done then," and stepped down. just before he was about to sit down he said {loud enough so that everyone could hear} "i just had to get in on all the action!" everyone laughed. for as long as i have been going to sacrament meetings, i have never seen someone do that before. it was hilarious. when i told chris he said, "cool stuff always happens when i'm gone!"

single-ish

so i was alone all weekend while chris was in boise and saturday, i spent the evening with some of my single friends who i haven't seen in ages. rachael and i met up for dinner and then we headed to the BYU men's soccer game. after that we met up with tiffany and chase and sat and laughed and played and talked until 2:30 am! it was a lot of fun, but definitely made me appreciate my married life.

home alone

yesterday my better half left me for the weekend. he has had some serious drama with his little business endeavor in meridian and was forced to drive up there yesterday to try and remedy the situation. because i've already maxed out my time off and i am scared of my boss {especially when she has a menopause moment}. so here i am in provo while my spouse is in boise and i have no idea what to do with myself. last night i made granola AND zucchini bread, went to the gym for an hour and a half and then watched biggest loser {AKA the fat people show} and iron chef america, before finally tucking myself into bed...alone. i'm thinking that tonight will involve going on a short run, loading on some pasta {i'm running 8 miles in the morning} and watching one {maybe two} of the chick flicks in our collection that chris won't watch with me. if you're alone like me you're totally invited...it's gonna be a party. sshhh. don't tell chris

bridal shower

lex and i drove up to salt lake last night for angeli's bridal shower {this was number 3 of 5 (!!!)}. craig's sister-in-law sara put it on and it turned out really nice. the food was yummy {imagine chicken salad sandwiches, fruit and veggie platter, little lemon bars, mini eclairs and petite cakes, don't forget the sherbet punch!} it was fun to sit and chat with ange and her mom and dorothy, craig's mom, and sara the host {we didn't know anyone else}. sara also put together a cute "game" where she had video taped asking craig various questions about angeli {i.e. the names of both sets of grandparents, what she was wearing on their first date, where she went to elementary school, the names and ages of all her siblings, etc.} it was fun seeing craig answering those questions and telling the camera why he loved ange and why he wanted to marry her. after the video she opened her gifts and left mine and lex's for last. {don't know if this was good or bad because we definitely didn't get her something she had registered for!}

croquet champ

let it be known far and wide that brandon has been officially de-throned. we played a short game of croquet last night after dinner {short because it was dark, not short because the holes were easy}. we decided to cut the game short and make the red fire hydrant the point at which you become poison instead of the stick at the end of the course. it was a huge battle to get to the hydrant. we were all crowded around the last hole. brandon was first to be poison and excited at the prospect of hitting somebody out {i think it was quinn} he knocked himself back through the hole. as poison the only rule is you have to avoid going through the holes in any direction or you're out. brandon was done. in the final moments it came down to becca, quinn and i. honestly i was tired and wanted to be done so i kept telling becca and quinn to just hit me out. they tried. but i ended up victorious, i guess, in the end. just call me staci the great for now.

thanks

i had the luckiest thing happen yesterday. i was sitting at my desk trying to decide what i was going to fix for dinner when becca calls me and asks if we wanna come over for dinner. yippee! i was so excited. i even decided to run over there so i could get my run in. six miles. yikes. i walked in the front door soaked. brandon and becca let me use their shower to clean up. after my shower we feasted and the food was so yummy. becca made spaghetti, lex brought garlic bread and i brought canned green beans {i know i know. but i love green beans} . becca even had whole wheat spaghetti noodles {which i must say are pretty darn good and way better for you}. thanks becca for being so great and letting me shower and drink all your ice water.

attack of the mosquitos

last night we went down to the lake {utah lake} for a little bonfire {which we found out later is not allowed} and some games with quinn and lex. we spent the majority of the evening far from the fire because it was too hot and played a game of "how well do you know your spouse". lex and i would ask the boys a question like "favorite vacation spot" or "closest sibling" or "biggest dream" {we didn't come up with the questions, we had a list} and then they would whisper their answer about themselves to each other and we had to guess it. if we guessed right our couple would get a point. then the boys would ask us a question. it was fun guessing and watching. quinn and lex ended up winning by 3. but just as it was getting dark we heard this loud buzzing noise and all of the sudden we were in the midst of a gaint mosquito cloud. swarms of them. at first it didn't bother me because i don't usually get bitten by mosquitos but pretty soon i was swatting at them just as much as everybody else. frantically, we packed up our chairs and ran up to our cars to wait for the fire to burn out. now today i'm playing connect the dots with my mosquito bites on my legs.

mountain biking in millcreek

saturday morning we met up with quinn and lex and drove north for a bike ride on pipeline trail in millcreek canyon. we had heard about the trail from brandon who said that the trail was really steep in spots--so steep that in a few places he actually had to get off his bike! the trail has several entrance and exit spots along it so we drove to the top of the trail and left one car at the bottom. we got started and it was beautiful, the trail was nice and hardpacked dirt, not to steep up not to steep down, just nice and flat. then out of nowhere we ran into a couple of switchbacks. on the first one, i wasn't paying very good attention and crashed as i was turning. luckily a huge bush and rock were there to catch my fall {my left leg is very grateful} i have a pretty good side bruise and scratches that run up my thigh and down my calve. quinn was the next to bite the dust. his tire ran smack into a sharp rock/stick combo and caused him to fly over his bike and then the bike to fly over him. he scraped is arm up really good and he was covered in dirt. luckily he didn't get hurt any worse. his bike didn't fare as well though. the bike had tubeless tires and so he was stuck with a flat tire and no spare. we were a little over halfway down at this point, so chris and i decided to bike the rest of the way down while quinn and lex would walk out {we were right by an exit point} and wait for us. as we continued to ride, chris and i kept saying how the trail wasn't steep at all. we were really starting to wonder when the trail was going to head down because as far as it looked to us, we weren't going down like the road down below us was. then, almost out of nowhere, the trail turned and headed sharply downhill. i was squeezing my brakes as hard as i could and trying to avoid the large rocks scattered all over the path. a couple times i fell over off my bike. so i got off and walked a little ways. chris was way up ahead of me. i didn't give up though, i kept getting back on my bike and pretty soon i was slowly picking my way through the rocks {i was scared the whole time, gripping my handlebars for dear life}. when we got out to the parking lot my adrenaline was pumping and i was feeling pretty good. it was only about 5 or 6 miles and the scenery was perfect. we will definitely be riding pipeline trail again sometime soon.

running in the morning

saturday i woke up early and had chris drive me up the canyon for a run. it was so nice and cool and i felt really great. if only i could just remember how good it feels to run in the morning when my alarm goes off at 5:45!

flickr

i've been uploading all my pics from our wedding that i have along with pics from this summer on my flickr account. you can access it here.

catching chipmunks

at my grandparents cabin they have little piles of birdseed everywhere. they attract lots of neat birds but the fun thing to watch are the chipmunks. there is a large stump on the back porch that always has birdseed on it and the chipmunks love it. you can hear their little feet scurrying across the wood porch all day long and they fight over the seeds and it's just funny to watch. well my grandpa told chris he didn't think chris could catch a chipmunk. wrong thing to say. next thing i know, chris is out on the porch with some gloves on, waiting to catch a chipmunk. after a few failed attempts he had one pinned between the side of the stumpt and his hand. the poor little guy was scared to death. i grabbed a pair of gloves and chris handed the chipmunk to me. after a few pictures and passing him back and forth between chris and i we let him go. i figured that after that the chipmunks would be afraid to go back to the birdseed for fear of getting caught. no way. within seconds, they were back at it, fighting and scurrying around the stump, feasting on birdseed. i couldn't help but be grateful for the fact that humans are the smartest creatures on earth.

half marathon

so i registered back in april for a half marathon. i was excited at the prospect to get back into running and get serious about training for something again. but let me just tell you that when the temperature doesn't get below 100 until after 9 at night, it gets a little discouraging. i have also been experiencing some serious potty issues on my runs {i'm told this is normal, but i've never experienced it like this before}. so i've been clocking between 5 and 10 miles a week and the race is in a month {yikes!}. i've gotta get serious here. the past two days i've set my alarm for 5:30 so i can run in the morning before work so that a) its not so hot and b) i'm not completely beat. but alas, the past two days my alarm goes off and i turn it off and lay in bed until 6:45...i know i know! i'm so lazy. i'm going running tonight...i hope!

secondaries

'tis the season for secondaries in the little world of medical school applications. about a month ago, chris submitted his first application through AMCAS {american medical college application service} to 12 schools around the country:

1. university of washington {seattle, wa}
   
2. loma linda university {loma linda, ca}
   
3. university of nevada {reno, nv}
   
4. university of utah {salt lake city, ut}
   
5. george washington university {washington, d.c.}
   
6. georgetown university {washington, d.c.}
   
7. rochester university {rochester, ny}
   
8. wake forest university {raleigh, nc}
   
9. university of wisconsin {somewhere, wi}
   
10. ohio state university {cleveland, oh}
    
11. penn state university {hershey, pa}
    
12. st. louis university {st. louis, mo}

after the school received his AMCAS application, they send out their own application which they call a secondary. each secondary is different which has made things fun. we have wrote several different essays and try to make each one cater to that specific school. we spend many evenings writing essays, copying transcripts and charging the credit card {that's right people, these things aren't free}. and while i have to admit it's not my favorite thing to do, i am glad that it gives us a chance to do a little more research on the schools we may be attending. we're hoping and praying that we go to washington for school but will be grateful to get accepted anywhere.

corn on the cob

last night i cooked some corn on the cob to go with dinner. chris was amazed that i just knew how long to cook it. even after i told him that i really didn't know how long to cook it, i just did, he was even more dumbfounded. i love that every time i cook something he is just so amazed. little does he know i follow recipes to the T and that anybody can do that...but it makes me feel important just the same.

bulger reservoir

chris and i spent the weekend with my grandparents at their cabin. although we didn't have utah fishing licenses {shhh, don't tell} my grandpa let us fish anyway. we spent the majority of the day at a little pond called bulger. for the first couple of hours we watched as everyone around us reeled in nice sized fish while we couldn't even get a bite. i was hot and frustrated and just wanted to catch a fish. i handed my rod to my grandma so she could fish for a bit and the very first cast into the water she had a fish on the line. i was so mad. soon after, she had another one. my grandpa was next to catch a fish. chris and i kept looking at each other in disgust. it wasn't fair! my grandpa cast the line and handed it to me "here you sit in this fishing chair and you'll catch a fish" sure enough after a little while of sitting in the fishing chair i had a yank on my line. i reeled in the line to reveal a little rainbow trout. yippee. chris looked at me with a sad face. he's the only one who hasn't gotten a fish yet. after a few more fish caught by my grandpa, chris finally feels a pull on his rod. he reels it in to find a small fish, probably the smallest one we caught all day. my grandpa caught a few more fish and once we ran out of worms we headed back to the cabin with 9 fish.

croquet in the park

last night we met up with some friends to play croquet. since there were six of us, we decided to let everybody place their own "hole" anywhere they wanted {a couple of us got to place 2}. there was a sidewalk running right through the park and chris decided to place his at the very edge of the sidewalk between the concrete and grass. it was the 4th hole in the course. we spent the next hour-and-a-half trying various shots at different angles to try and hit the hole. it was hilarious for the first while, but it soon became frustrating. several turns went by and i had only moved a couple of inches. lex made it through first, followed by brandon then me. chris made it through next and then quinn. becca, bless her heart finally made it through {i would have given up long before}. only two out of the six of us made it through the final hole to win and become poison. the game ended when brandon killed becca as she was trying to make it through the second to last hole. the good news? everybody made it through the tricky spot. the bad news? brandon gets to bask in his glory until the next rematch.

cancun bound

so last night i got a little surprise--we're going to cancun! we leave aug. 25 and come home sept. 1. i am so ecstatic i can hardly stand it. just thinking about it makes me want to jump up and down. the only down side is that it's right during when we were supposed to go to lake powell with my parents. we're bummed we are missing out on family time, but excited to go and explore a new place! thanks chris you are the best!

movie review: PREMONITION

this movie was good, except for the fact that i'm still confused how it ends. will someone please go see it and tell me what the ending means?

stadium of fire

chris' best buddy rex and his family invited us to go to the stadium of fire with them. it was seriously the best fireworks show i have ever seen. before the fireworks we enjoyed skydivers diving into the stadium, a military fly-over, dancers and brooks and dunn. but the fireworks! oh. my. gosh. imagine 15 minutes of pyrotechnics with music coordinated in the background. it was unbelievable.

left handed bocce

we met some friends in the park for a BBQ yesterday afternoon. since all the food was gone by the time we showed up, we decided to play bocce ball instead. after 2 fairly close games, heather had the idea that we play completely left handed and man were we a sight to see. it's hard to imagine that you can be so skilled at throwing with one hand and be completely retarded when it comes to the other hand. at one point in the game, we noticed an entire BBQ party had turned their chairs to face us and were laughing, wondering what in the world we were doing. so if you ever are starved for attention, just head down to your local park and play bocce with your left hand.

stewart falls--AGAIN

my friend geneva is in town from albuquerque and so yesterday we took advantage of having work off and went hiking. i decided to take her up to stewart falls. it's a relatively easy hike with a rewarding end. it was super crowded. i guess everybody and thier dog {literally, there were like 27 dogs up there} decided that stewart falls would be a great fourth of july activity. we enjoyed it despite all the people.

silver lake flats

this past weekend we went camping with some friends in american fork canyon. we took the advice of some guys i work with and drove up to the top of the canyon where there's a lake and supposedly some great camping spots. when we arrived finally {after passing full campgrounds the whole way up} the parking lot was packed. there were people EVERYWHERE. it was almost 8 o'clock and we still didn't have a spot picked out, so we headed back down the canyon in hopes to find a spot before it got dark. about 5 minutes down the road we spotted a little turnoff with a trail head. chris decided to check it out. he ran about 50 yards down the trail and came back and said "this is the place". we all got out to take a look and decided that despite the old couple making out in their truck by our cars, the spot was perfect. we set up camp in a little spot over looking the entire canyon and we could see tribble fork reservoir below. we enjoyed shooting chris' 22, eating gretchen's tinfoil dinners, making s'mores around the fire and visiiting. we were a little wary to go to bed {a bear attack occured in american fork canyon about 2 weeks ago} we finally hit the sack. daylight found us still alive {thankfully} we enjoyed pancakes, eggs and sausage before we packed up camp and headed back to silver lake at the top of the canyon for a hike. we went on a pretty little hike {about 2-2.5 miles in} up to another lake. when we got there {much to our surprise} it was packed. boy scouts everywhere, throwing rocks into the water. we found a couple of large rocks right by the water and stuck our feet in while chris and jake skipped rocks and tried to get each other to swim across the lake naked {boys, honestly}.