chris & stace

albert einstein!

2011-10-15T14:03:00.005-06:00

and in case you need a visual reminder of the REAL albert einstein {i couldn't tell the difference either}

butternut squash lasagna

2011-10-09T16:11:00.002-06:00

i've been trying to slowly get back into the groove of cooking yummy food again. in the halloween issue of martha stewart magazine there was this recipe for butternut squash cannelloni that looked pretty good, but it was missing a few things and it seemed as though it might end up being dry and not very flavorful. i tried looking online and couldn't find what i was looking for either so i improvised. the results were pretty tasty, unfortunately i didn't get a picture because we devoured it too quickly. but here's the recipe:

squash layer:

1/2 a large butternut squash

4 TBS butter, divided

dash nutmeg

cheese layer:

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 egg

white sauce:

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 TBS flour

2 cups milk

topping:

8-10 fresh sage leaves chopped

parmesan cheese

1/2 package of oven-ready lasagna noodles

peel and dice butternut squash and steam until tender (about 10 minutes). mash with 2 TBS of the butter, salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg. set aside. in another bowl combine ricotta cheese and egg until well combined and smooth. set aside. in a saucepan melt the other 2 TBS of butter and cook onion and garlic until soft and translucent. add flour and cook until flour is well combined with onions and garlic and smells cooked (like pie crust). gradually whisk milk into flour mixture until smooth and continue to cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until the milk is thickened and simmering. remove from heat. to assemble the lasagna: ladle a small amount of the white sauce into the bottom of an 8x8 pan, cover with two noodles. layer squash, then ricotta, then noodles and white sauce. repeat twice and top with parmesan cheese and chopped sage leaves. bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes until top is browned and filling is bubbly. let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

what's naptime?

2011-09-25T20:29:00.002-06:00

yesterday we were home for just long enough for stockton to have a nap. we'd been out rock climbing with friends all morning and of course the little dude didn't want to sleep through any of the excitement. when we got home we fed him and stuck him in his crib. we didn't hear any crying and so, of course, no crying usually means he's asleep. all of the sudden we started hearing "dad!" "dad!" "dad!" from stockton's room. we went in to check on him and we found stockton standing up in the corner of his room yelling for his dad. when he saw chris he pointed at him and yelled "dad!" again and started laughing at himself. it was probably the cutest thing ever. i fear what naptime will be like this week... yikes.

flying baby!

2011-09-25T20:26:00.002-06:00

stockton is quite the busy body. he loves climbing on any and everything lately. it's scary and crazy. one of his favorite things to do is crawl on top of things and then fly by flapping his arms and legs like a maniac. here he is on top of his toy basket and some red bull from costco (i guess red bull really does give you wings!)

watching tv with daddy

2011-09-13T10:22:00.002-06:00

stockton loves to watch tv, for about 5 minutes. then he's off to the next most interesting thing, like the electric cables running around the floor, or the garbage, or the closest pair of shoes. we recently acquired a little mini rocking chair (my mom and i both used as a baby) and he will sit in it and rock back and forth while watching tv. it helps also if he has a remote in his hand.

back to the future

2011-09-08T13:00:00.003-06:00

one week ago today, we turned in our applications to residency programs. hopefully over the next few months chris will travel all over interviewing for a spot in an anesthesia program where we will spend the next 4 years... it's exciting and nerve-racking. i'm happy that we survived the application process and that the apps are in. now for the interviews! here's a list of where we've applied so far, for those of you who are curious. it's pretty spread out and we really could end up anywhere:

mayo--phoenix, az

university of az--tucson, az

uc davis--sacramento, ca

university of co--aurora, co

university of fl--gainesville, fl

university of ia--iowa city, ia

harvard--boston, ma

university of mi--ann arbor, mi

mayo--rochester, mn

duke--durham, nc

dartmouth--lebanon, nh

unm--albuquerque, nm

ohio state--columbus, oh

ohsu--portland, oh

penn state--hershey, pa

vanderbilt--nashville, tn

texas tech--lubbock, tx

ut san antonio--san antonio, tx

ut southwestern--dallas, tx

utah--salt lake city, ut

university of va--charlottesville,va

virginia mason--seattle, wa

mcw--milwaukee, wi

these are in alphabetical by state, not by where we want to go the most.

shooting hoops

2011-09-08T12:53:00.003-06:00

last month, we spent another 2 weeks ups in boise doing an away rotation, this time in anesthesia. we had chris' parents huge house to ourselves almost the entire time because the family was in new york supporting chris' brother damen in the babe ruth world series {go damen! the team placed 4th which is pretty amazing if you ask me}. one night we went outside just before bed time to watch chris shoot around in the backyard. stockton was mesmerized and followed chris and the ball wherever they went. it was really cute.

day thirty

2011-09-06T22:01:00.002-06:00

day thirty {where you see yourself in 10 years}

wowee... day thirty. it only took me about 40 days to get here. {i had to post the party hat picture, because it's a party over here, we finished!}

let's see in 10 years i hope:

we have a couple more kiddos

we are done with schooling and have a real job

we own a home

we have our loans paid off {that's a bit ambitious}

we are still happy

day twenty-nine

2011-09-06T21:42:00.003-06:00

day twenty-nine {a person you love}

if i were going to take the obvious route, i'd write another post about the handsome hubby or my cute son. but i'm going to take the not so obvious route i guess and tell you about my great grandma brinkerhoff...aka GB.

i fondly remember my grandma GB. there were lots of funny things she always did. she swore a lot and it always took her all day to drink a cup of coffee. she always had a tissue tucked under her sweater and she had the most pristine black curled hairdo i have ever seen. she was always so kind and loving to all of us kids, even when we constantly played in her flour and sugar drawers in the kitchen (yes, she had a DRAWER for flour and sugar) when we were at her house for memorial day. she often came to visit us in albuquerque for weeks at a time and we would sit and watch jeopardy together. i loved her waffles with homemade maple syrup and i still dream about her donuts. she really cared about our family and i loved the way she watched over my mom.

for years and years, GB had an eating disorder that went undetected. it destroyed her heart and ultimately took her life. she died when i was pretty young, i wasn't more than 12 or 13. my mom was pretty devastated as he life went by. watching her relationship with GB has been a great example to me of how important grandparents are in our life. i love GB and i'm grateful that she and my mom had a lasting and strong relationship. i only hope to have such with my two awesome grandmas.

{the picture above is GB and my little sister McKenzie on her blessing day, 15 years ago}

day twenty-eight

2011-08-29T09:17:00.003-06:00

day twenty-eight {a place you love}

well, this one is easy peasy. i love love LOVE lake powell. it's the best place on earth to go. it's beautiful, it's fun and usually i'm there with people i care about the most. i love the morning ski rides, the cool hikes and slot canyons, cliff jumping, fun boat rides, tubing, eating tons of good food, the scorching heat--it's all awesome (except for maybe the potty dock). we've been going there since i was tiny tiny. we would camp on the beach. i remember sand, windstorms, more sand, trying not to get sunburned and more sand. when i was 8 or 9 we started renting a houseboat. that was awesome because we could sleep on top and sometimes our rental had a slide. now, my parents have a share of a houseboat and we go more than ever. i love that our boat is old and not very pretty. i love the dance parties we have doing the dishes, the games we play, jumping off the top of the boat, showering off the back. this summer we took stockton for the first time and he had a ball. i hope we can keep going there and that he will love this place as much as i do.

day twenty-seven

2011-08-29T09:06:00.004-06:00

day twenty-seven {what's in your purse}

well, i don't carry much of a purse around any more. i like to wish i did, because purses are cute and fun and usually don't have crumbs or sticky stuff inside. but here's my diaper bag/purse as it stands {i didn't know this post was coming up and i actually cleaned out my bag yesterday...good thing}

-diapers

-wipes

-butt paste

-sunscreen

-lotion

-hand sanitizer

-lipstick

-puffs

-kleenex

-wallet

-random key

-pen

-binkie

-my sunglasses (red case)

-stockton's sunglasses

-baby tylenol

day twenty-six

2011-08-26T11:14:00.003-06:00

day twenty-six {who do you admire}

i really admire people who do hard things in life. people who have hard trials, people who go out of their way to do something extraordinary, people who go outside their comfort zone, people who don't always get the easy road, people who are positive no matter what. i feel like many of us, myself totally included, have life way easier than we think we do. i think my life is so so hard or that i can't make it through next week, or i tell myself i'll be happy when..., but there are people out there who choose to be happy and have hard lives, people who choose to see the good in even the worst of situations. people i admire are those who have been examples to me and are people i would like to emulate.

day twenty-five

2011-08-26T11:12:00.003-06:00

day twenty-five {a favorite photo}

i'm pretty sure that every picture of my kiddo is my favorite, and i'm also pretty sure i just spent an hour looking through photos and i've determined i need to cut my hair short again, have another baby and go on vacation.

day twenty-four

2011-08-26T10:58:00.002-06:00

day twenty-four {about your childhood}

whew, i've kind of fell off the wagon. but i'm determined to finish this thingy so here goes:

my childhood is filled with fun memories. like the winter it finally snowed enough for us to build a snowman. like the times we would jam to my parents top gun and dirty dancing records while jumping from couch to couch in our living room. like the hours my sisters and i spent out in the blue and white playhouse my dad and grandpa built for us. like the summer we filled up our pool for the first time, even though the water was 60 degrees we swam in it anyways. there were fun trips camping in the mountains of colorado, utah, idaho and new mexico. there were vacations to disneyland, lake powell and grandmas house. there were super cool birthday parties (like the time my parents threw me a surprise birthday party and we played bunco all night long) and memorable holidays (like the christmas we got a handmade barbie mansion). my parents wanted us to experience life to the fullest and i'm so grateful for that. they made us do hard things we didn't want to do, like learn to ride a bike or try to get up on waterskis, that we now thoroughly enjoy. all in all, i'm pretty lucky. i had parents who loved me and little sisters who let me beat up on them, it was a grand time, my childhood.

day twenty-three

2011-08-22T09:52:00.003-06:00

day twenty-three {something you never tire of doing}

let's be honest here people.... i love to eat. when i'm not eating i'm thinking about it. i love good food. i was visiting my parents a couple months ago and made myself a quesadilla for lunch one day. (my parents can get the best tortillas down there) anyway, i was enjoying my quesadilla with some guacamole, salsa and sour cream, because, hey, i don't mess around with my food. as i'm enjoying my lunch, my dad starts laughing at me. when i asked him what was so funny he said he'd been watching me eat and thought it was so funny to see how i was enjoying my food. wow. fat girl right here! when i was pregnant with stockton my dad got a picture of me practically making out with a bowl of ice cream at a jazz game. yikes! although i do love to eat, it has to be good food. so yes, as long as it's delicious, i am never tired of eating, even if i'm stuffed to the rafters.

day twenty-two

2011-08-22T09:41:00.004-06:00

day twenty-one {your current relationship}

though medical school is not over yet, we can see the silver lining and i'm happy to say that my current relationship with the hubs seems to have weathered the worst of it. we've been through a lot in the short and fast almost 5 years we've been married. we've had MCAT drama, infertility, three moves, STEP 1 drama, stressful rotation schedules, deaths, marriages, a new baby, applications.... and the list goes on. i'm grateful that i have had a great guy by my side to support me in all i do, and that i can hopefully be a support for him. our marriage isn't perfect, we obviously have our ups and downs like everyone, but through it all i can honestly say that i'm glad he's the one i landed and that we get to work at our relationship every day to try and make it better.

day twenty-one

2011-08-22T09:37:00.002-06:00

day twenty-one {your fears}

spiders

talking on the phone

our house burning down

getting caught in an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, tsunami

losing the ones i love

day twenty

2011-08-20T09:08:00.001-06:00

day twenty {a hobby of yours}

i would have to say that i have three hobbies that i could occupy my time:

cooking

exercising

crafting {sewing, making jewelry, paper crafting, etc}

day nineteen

2011-08-19T11:11:00.005-06:00

day nineteen {a favorite memory}

for christmas last year i remember wanting so badly to have my baby here and be at home as a new little family of three. as the days to christmas grew less and less, i started to worry and stress that christmas would be terrible and that we would be spending it in the hospital or worse, at home, away from family, and baby-less. at my last appointment the doctor gave us the choice of scheduling an induction date two days before christmas. i went back and forth on the idea. if everything went smoothly, we could be home for christmas. but if something went wrong and i had to have a c-section, we would be spending christmas and then some in the hospital. finally we decided that it would be best to try and get that baby here. i was extremely uncomfortable and from what the doctor could tell, my body and the baby were ready.

flash through the delivery.... it's christmas eve morning and the doctor and nurses are telling me that stockton and i are doing well and that we can plan to be headed home in the afternoon. i was beyond elated. at 4pm on christmas eve we loaded the baby into the car to head back home and enjoy christmas together. we didn't have a fancy homecooked dinner (but our friends the stringhams were so wonderful and brought us cafe rio on their way to their family christmas eve dinner). we snuggled with our brand new baby and watched the christmas story on TV while our christmas tree lights twinkled in the corner of the room. the baby slept so well that first night, i think he only woke up once. christmas morning was perfect. it was just the three of us and it took us almost all day to open our presents because we were so enamored with our new little guy. it was the best. when i opened my present from chris i just broke down in tears. he was worried something was wrong. but i was just completely overwhelmed with happiness. it was the first time i can ever remember feeling so happy.

when we first found out we were getting a baby in december i was a little bit bummed. but it turned out to be the best christmas ever.

day eighteen

2011-08-17T21:09:00.003-06:00

day eighteen {what you like best about each person in your family}

i'm assuming these family posts apply to my little family, the one where i'm the mom, and not my family as in the one where i'm the daughter.

CHRIS: the hubs is great at so many things, so it's hard for me to nail down just one, but since i'm supposed to in this post, i would have to say that i love watching him be a dad the most. he is naturally such a kind and caring person and he's genuinely concerned about people in general(that's one of the things that drew me to him when we first met), but watching him with stockton is so sweet. i have never doubted that chris cares for me and i surely see it in every move he makes around our son.

STOCKTON: the little man is such a good baby. he hardly ever cries or whines and when he does it's usually warranted, like he's starving or needs to be laid down in his bed. he is very easily entertained and usually does a great job at keeping himself happy. i love his infectious laugh and his adorable smile and i also think his 'do is pretty sweet.

day seventeen

2011-08-17T19:06:00.004-06:00

day seventeen {a picture of your family}

swimming at my parents pool in albuquerque

newborn shoot with a photographer

day sixteen

2011-08-15T18:59:00.002-06:00

day sixteen {your favorite food}

chicken tikka masala... w/naan

green chile cheese enchiladas...w/a fried egg on top (don't knock it til you try it. best. thing. ever.)

warm fresh baked bread...w/butter and honey and a glass of milk

day fifteen

2011-08-14T22:16:00.002-06:00

day fifteen {your celebrity crush}

i would have to say that mark wahlberg is my celebrity crush. i generally like the characters he plays in movies, and he's not too bad to look at either.

day fourteen

2011-08-12T12:18:00.002-06:00

a sad attempt at a family photo in the mountains

my boys @ doughnut falls

stockton and me feeding the super aggressive geese @ sugarhouse park

day fourteen {things you love and can't live without}

::agua, water, the wet stuff. i can't get enough. i have always been a water hog, but add nursing to the mix? forget about it. i drink tons and tons

::sleep. obviously we all need sleep, but i literally cannot function without it. there were a few weeks/months where stockton was waking up every 1-2 hours during the night. i was a zombie! before the baby i totally slept for 8-10 hrs every night. is it terrible that i want to go to bed at 7 when we put stockton down so i can have more than 6 hrs of uninterrupted sleep? yes i know. yikes.

::fresh fruits and vegetables. there is nothing like fresh strawberries in the spring, peaches in the fall, tomatoes right off the vine, corn on the cob, zucchini and fresh peas...yummy.

::washer/dryer, wait let me clarify, my washer and dryer (as in one no one else uses). in college while living at liberty square, which is coincidentally where chris and i met, i always washed my clothes in the laundry facility. i didn't have a car to drive up to my grandma's house on a regular basis and it's just what everyone did. well lets just say that someone else's unmentionables ended up with my clean clothes and i literally felt gross for weeks. it's stupid i know, but from then on, anywhere i lived it was essential to have one in the apartment. i'm spoiled i guess.

::tivo/dvr. i really don't know how we ever watched TV without this little contraption. what a novel concept, record a bunch of shows to watch later! it's completely awesome, mostly because the only shows chris and i can agree on (seinfeld and now modern family, which, on a side note is COMPLETELY HILARIOUS!) i really enjoy watching project runway, survivor and biggest loser (yes, i'm a complete reality TV junkie) and since those come one when chris is home at night, i just record them to watch when he's not around. perfect marriage saver, we never have to fight about TV!

::time together as a family. we went hiking thursday night after chris got off "work" and it was so nice. we have really played a lot this summer and it has been so fun to be able to go and do things together as a family and expose stockton to what we enjoy.

::sweets. this my friends is why i have to run and exercise. to feed my crazy sweet tooth. i usually always end up feeling crummy after eating too much good sweet food, but i. just. can't. stop! i love cupcakes, ice cream, brownies, cookies, pie, you name it i will eat it, by the bowlful.

day thirteen

2011-08-12T12:00:00.004-06:00

day thirteen {something you want to buy}

i have been really wanting to re-do my bedroom decor, but i go back and forth between wanting lots of color and wanting no color (i.e. whites and grays with a little aqua).... so here are two lovely bedroom set

s, completely opposite of each other, that embody what i want. both from here

the price point on these is a teensy bit out of my budget. so i'm hoping to save up the money to maybe be able to get one of these pretties when we move next summer.

day twelve

2011-08-11T21:12:00.003-06:00

day twelve {something you purchased recently}

i bought some eyeliner at sephora today, one in plum and the other in copper. i thought it was a great deal ($5 for each). i've been wanting to try the colored eyeliner trend but have been too much of a chicken. i randomly saw a gal at the grocery store with blue liner the other day and i thought it looked really cool. so here goes, i guess. i also purchased a birthday present for chris, but since he looks at this blog every day, i can't really show and tell what i bought him.

day eleven

2011-08-10T09:25:00.003-06:00

day eleven {nicknames you have & why}

stace

staci lacy

stacer lacer

jonesy

fred

stabi

i go by stace most of the time, family, friends and people i've been around a lot call me stace

my mom always called me staci lacy, she's really the only one who calls me this and i don't really know where it originated. occasionally my dad will call me stacer lacer

in high school i went by jonesy (jones was my maiden name) in sports and most of my guy friends called me jonesy.

growing up my dad always had a hard time with four girl names in sequence, so he just called us all fred. he still calls us fred, though he has lately come up with clever adjectives describing us... for example i'm "mama fred" because i'm the only one of his daughters who's a mama. but any of us girls will respond to fred. he's the only one who can get away with calling me fred.

maren, you may have to correct me on this one--back in the days of predictive text on phones my name always came up as "stabi" instead of staci. one night we were over at the sundahl's house (our good friends from orem) and mike kept calling me stabi because he'd received a text from maren asking if chris and stabi could come over for dinner. it totally stuck. chris calls me this all the time and most of my sister-in-laws call me stabi too. so thanks mike, for that one!

day ten

2011-08-09T07:18:00.003-06:00

day ten {a photo of yourself taken over 10 years ago}

i did a 50th anniversary photo book for my grandparents last year, so luckily i had tons of oldies to sift through. i like this one because it shows one of the things i loved doing as a little kid. my dad's parents have a farm, they don't run it anymore, but growing up they always had horses or someone else had horses on their property. we always got to ride them around the yard and up and down the fields and it was something i really enjoyed. this is such a funny picture because you can totally tell i'm freaked out of my mind that this animal with giant teeth is eating from my hand, but i love it at the same time. i'm that way about a lot of things. i hate the idea of it, but once i'm doing it, actually like it.

day nine

2011-08-08T10:27:00.002-06:00

day nine {pet peeves}

i wish i could say i have no pet peeves, but that would be a lie. i would consider myself a fairly easy going person. i'm easy to please and there aren't too many things that bother or annoy me. that being said, my top pet peeve would have to be a lack of sincerity among people. i absolutely HATE when people are not sincere and genuine in their interactions with each other. why even bother being nice? or acting interested? or interacting with other people at all? there is nothing worse than walking away from a conversation and thinking to yourself that you might as well have been talking to a brick wall. don't ask me questions and pretend to be interested when you could care less. this probably sounds super harsh and rude, but the fact of the matter is is that we are busy people, all of us in this world. if i am going to invest time in a relationship with someone, i mean like a real honest to goodness relationship, i have got to be willing to be invested in them, and genuinely interested in their life. and you hope, that by the same token, they are invested and genuinely interested in your life as well.

ok, whew, enough soap box.

other minute pet peeves:

>open mouth chewers

>nose pickers

>interrupters

>one-uppers

>inconsiderate smokers

day eight

2011-08-07T22:46:00.002-06:00

day eight {things you'd like to do before you die}

well there's probably about a thousand things i'd like to do before i die, but that is not what i'm about to do. here are some things i know i'd be amiss if i didn't mention:

1--grow old with the hubs by my side

2--watch my kid (hopefully kids) grow up

3--buy a home

4--see the world

5--learn another language

6--create lots of fun memories

7--make others happy

day seven

2011-08-06T20:02:00.003-06:00

day seven {things that make you happy}

the two things that make me the most happy are the boys. the hubs and mr stockton man. they make my life meaningful and fun. i am lucky to have them both. i love when stockton looks right in my face and then grabs me to pull himself closer, and i love holding hands with chris when we walk places.

other things that make me happy are, in no particular order: a good run, water skiing on glassy smooth water, ice cream in any form but especially milkshakes (i just finished a pineapple malt that was to-die-for), the smell of a clean house, jumping into a cold bed with fresh sheets, being surrounded by friends, browsing anthropologie, good hair days (few and far between), and sleeping in (this never happens anymore, boo).

day six

2011-08-05T13:18:00.004-06:00

day six {places you would like to travel}

i love to see new places, even if it's just around the corner. over chris' summer vacay this year (which was a whole 2 weeks by the way), we took the scenic route driving home from albuquerque and saw some neat stuff i'd never seen before in colorado and utah. but since this little ditty doesn't take into account time or money.... here are some places i'm dying to visit:

thailand: i've heard the beaches are amazing as is the shopping, kayaking, hiking and rock climbing.

australia: i'd love to see the great barrier reef

new zealand: this place is b.e.a.utiful!

morocco: this place seems so exotic to me

inda: i have this strange fascination with all things indian. i took a class on indian history in college and i could eat tikka masala every day, plus i love the beautiful clothes the women get to wear

peru: i really want to see machu picchu

nepal: i would love to hike to k2 or everest base camp

paris: i need to see the lourve and the eiffel tower and visit the city of love

normandy, berlin, and austria: my great grandpa served in WWII and landed on normandy beach the day after d-day... i would love to walk where he walked, plus chris is FASCINATED with WWII history

brazil: this place always looks so awesome in photos and on movies

greece: the white and royal blue architecture all around those islands is amazing, and i think greek mythology is very interesting

day five

2011-08-04T14:31:00.003-06:00

{let's be honest, most of us just look at blogs for the pictures, so to keep those people interested, here's a shot of the bebe and i at lp...aka best vacation spot EVER, please ignore the fact that i am not wearing makeup and haven't brushed my hair in three days, basically just stare at my cute kiddo}

day five {a habit you have that you wish you didn't}

i am FAAAR from being even close to perfect and so i have obviously, many habits i wish i didn't, but probably number one on the list would be wasting time doing mindless things....browsing the internet, watching tv, looking at magazines, playing on my phone etc etc etc. today's world is so littered with things created to suck time it's pretty amazing. and i'm probably one of the best targets out there, because i get sucked in baby, every time. i have a hard time not plopping down in front of the computer every time i look at it (which is a lot because it's in our living room), or playing that stupid doodle jump game on my iphone when i have nothing better i want to do. these distractions can be good sometimes, but a lot of the time they keep me from doing things which are productive are better for me. kind of like that talk that Dallin H Oaks gave a few years back in general conference. Good, Better, Best. i am not very good at doing those things which are BEST for me.

day four

2011-08-03T07:43:00.002-06:00

day four {top 10 favorite books}

these are in no particular order

1: Hunger Games Trilogy (suzanne collins)

2: Snow Falling on Cedars (david guterson)

3: Breakfast of Champions (kurt vonnegut)

4: Ten Little Indians, aka And Then there Were None (agatha christie)

5: Much Ado About Nothing (william shakespeare)

6: Pride & Prejudice (jane austen)

7: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (charles lutwidge dodgson)

8: The Princess Bride (william goldman)

9: Memoirs of a Geisha (arthur golden)

10: The Smoke Jumper (nicholas evans)

day three

2011-08-02T09:47:00.003-06:00

day three {10 facts about your hometown}

even though i haven't lived in corrales/albuquerque for almost 8 years (gasp! has it really been that long?!?) i still consider it my hometown, since that's where i grew up. so here goes

uno~ you can get green chile on ANYTHING. hamburgers, subway, eggs, pizza, soup, salad, ice cream (no not ice cream, but pretty much). in my opinion in really makes everything taste better. i love a good sandwich or slice of pizza with fresh green chile on top... mm delicious

dos~ the place i grew up has "village" in the title.

tres~ rain is a sparse commodity, but when it does rain you can always count on a fast ferocious and very insane storm with spectacular lightning and thunder

quatro~ every year during the first week of october there's the international balloon fiesta with tons of hot air balloons. it's pretty neat. that's where the picture above was taken

cinco~ corrales, albuquerque and much of the state of new mexico is on indian land. corrales is part of a string of pueblos along the rio grande river.

seis~ it never snows in albuquerque, but it did snow on my wedding day, more than they'd had in 50 years.

siete~ much of the water for fields, farms and gardens comes from irrigation from "the ditch". in the fall, the ditch would drain out and dry up. we liked to look for crawdads and other treasures...gross

ocho~ it's very dry and everything is brown. trees, grass, and other greenery are not super common forms of landscaping and usually if they are used, they turn brown pretty fast.

nueve~ you can't find better mexican food anywhere but here. every place is good and unless you've experienced it you really have no idea. red iguana? please. i remember the first time i went to cafe rio expecting mex like i could eat at home. forget about it.

diez~ there is an awesome paved bike/run trail that goes along the rio grande for forever. you see the pretty green area around the river as well as all the nice super fancy houses. it's where i pounded out many miles on my roller blades.

day two

2011-08-01T07:43:00.002-06:00

day two {top 10 favorite movies of all time}

01. O Brother Where art Thou?

02. The Shawshank Redemption

03. Amelie

04. Lonesome Dove

05. Napoleon Dynamite

06. Little Women

07. Brokedown Palace

08. Dumb and Dumber

09. The Princess Bride

10. Ever After

day one

2011-07-31T20:15:00.002-06:00

day one {a recent photo of yourself and 15 facts about you}

photo from an excursion to the swings with stockton a couple days ago, strangely enough i had a hard time finding a photo with just me in it, dang kid.

1- i didn't eat red meat until after chris and i started dating, now i'm addicted

2- during club waterpolo in high school, i could tread water while holding a full 5-gallon water jug straight up in the air (you're jealous i can tell)

3- i've never stayed up all night

4 - you don't have to ask me twice if i want dessert, especially if it involves ice cream, cupcakes or fresh fruit

5 - my husband calls me the horse of a different color because about every other month i feel the need to switch up the hairdo

6 - when i listen to journey's "don't stop believin" i can't help but turn up the volume

7 - i drink water by the gallon (well figuratively). i was on a date once when the waiter commented on having to refill my water more times than he had to usually refill all his guests in one night. boo

8 - i love to run, but am absolutely no good at it. i feel like i take in so much more of the world around me. it's an amazing stress reliever and emotional charger.

9 - i HATE scary movies. after watching the ring, i may or may not have shared a bed with my college roommate for a week.

10 - i love big bright pink peonies in june. i hope to have several bushes in my yard someday

11 - i'm not the best at keeping in touch with people, ok i'm TERRIBLE at it. i wish i were better, it's a quality of chris' i definitely admire.

12 - i only kissed 3 boys besides the hubs.

13 - i have to have something covering me when i sleep, preferably my big down comforter. this requires me to keep our house just above freezing at night

14 - i only wash my hair every 3rd or 4th day.

15 - i love having a tan, as bad as it is for my skin

30 day challenge

2011-07-31T20:08:00.002-06:00

i had high hopes after stockton was born that i would all of the sudden become this stellar blogger lady. little did i know how much time staying home and being a mama would take! and as it happens, any spare time i do have, turns into veg out time or exercise time or sleepy time.... basically blogging has remained on the back burner where it has been for quite sometime. anyway, my friend maren did this little ditty on her blog, and i really enjoyed reading it, so i thought it would be a good exercise to help me start writing a bit more and get back on the wagon (or is it off?)-- seinfeld anyone? :)

so here are the days if you feel so inclined to follow along.

Day 01 — A recent picture and 15 facts about you
Day 02 — Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time
Day 03 — 10 Facts about your hometown.
Day 04 — Top 10 Favorite Books
Day 05 — A habit you have that you wish you didn't
Day 06 — Places you would like to travel
Day 07 — Something that makes you happy
Day 08 — Things you'd like to do before you die
Day 09 — Pet peeves
Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 — Nicknames you have and why
Day 12 — Something you bought recently
Day 13 — Something you want to buy
Day 14 — Things you love and can't live without
Day 15 — Your celebrity crush
Day 16 — A favorite food
Day 17 — A photo of your family
Day 18 — What you like best about each member of your family
Day 19 — A fun memory
Day 20 — A hobby of yours
Day 21 — Your fears
Day 22 — Your current relationship.
Day 23 — Something you never tire of doing.
Day 24 — About your childhood
Day 25 — A favorite photo
Day 26 — Who do you admire?
Day 27 — What’s in your purse?
Day 28 — A place you love
Day 29 — A person you love
Day 30 — Where you'd like to be in 10 years

addicted

2011-07-28T13:47:00.001-06:00

the instagram app for the iphone? uh-maze-ing!! i love love love it.

love that face

2011-07-28T13:41:00.001-06:00

he melts my heart every day. i'm so lucky to be his mom!

little fishy

2011-07-17T15:26:00.003-06:00

from the day stockton was born (and probably before) i have been excited about taking him swimming. i could hardly wait for summer to get here so we could hit up the pool. during chris' two week break between 3rd and 4th years we spent a week down at my parents. we swam every. single. day we were there. it was so fun and stockton was hilarious. chris would blow bubbles and stockton would try to copy him and fling his face into the water ultimately resulting in a mouth full of water. he spent more time drinking the water than blowing any bubbles. he loved kicking his little legs and splashing around.

shoshone falls

2011-07-17T15:18:00.003-06:00

on our way home from our family medicine rotation in boise we decided to make a quick pitstop in twin falls to check out shoshone falls. we thought it might be cool with all the snow and water running everywhere and sure enough, it didn't disappoint. the water was really flowing and there was mist and wind everywhere. a couple of the pics show stockton at points where it literally took his breath away. it was well worth the $3 we had to pay to get into the park

hair cut!

2011-07-17T15:06:00.004-06:00

these pictures are super old, but i had to document. FIRST HAIR CUT! age 4 months. he's had another since then. looking back at pictures right before we cut it, i can't BELIEVE we let it get so straggly! i guess we (translation: I) was just scared it wouldn't grow back.

this is before--you can see chris in the corner plugging in the clippers...yikes!

during... chris buzzed the sides and i trimmed the top with the scissors

after-- not too sure how he feels about it. we of course think its adorable

captain one-eye

2011-05-11T09:59:00.002-06:00

since stockton was about a week old, he has had a clogged tear duct. opposite of what would make sense, a clogged tear duct results in lots of tearing and mucus out of the eye with the problem. especially when he has been asleep a long time, or when he has been crying, captain one-eye makes an appearance. we spend lots of time massaging and wiping with warm wash cloths. it is sad and cute all at the same time.

story time with daddy

2011-04-25T14:14:00.002-06:00

we've gotten into a bit of routine with bedtime with stockton where he eats and then chris reads him a story and he goes right to bed. he's such a good baby. i love peeking in and listening during story time, it melts my heart

i love how stockton is actually acting interested in this book, so cute!

playing with toys is boring

2011-04-22T12:16:00.003-06:00

stockton has been showing interest in toys lately since he's kinda figured out how to use his little paws. we like to lay him on the floor or prop him up on the couch with some of his toys. one afternoon we did just that and after a few minutes we found this:

all his toys around him and he's fast asleep. i guess we need to invest in some more exciting stuff for him to play with...

also, side note, i get a kick out of how he splays his arms out like an airplane when he's asleep. they're either out like this or he's got them up signaling a touch down. so funny.

iphone dump

2011-04-22T12:10:00.003-06:00

i try to take a pic of the little man every day... if only i always had my big nice camera with me always.

dapper dandy

2011-04-14T11:59:00.000-06:00

stockton looking more than handsome for church. the bottom picture melts my heart every time i look at it.

cousin lovin

2011-04-12T16:47:00.004-06:00

for most of the month of march, we were in boise doing part of chris' idaho rotations. he has a cousin, haidyn, who is 6 months older than him. for the majority of our time there, she totally loved being around him but was a little timid about touching him and mauling him like most little tykes are. we thought this would be a way to help her get over that.

they were both enjoying it for the most part. but we decided to switch roles, let stockton be the grown up--he is the boy after all. he didn't seem to like the arrangement to much

as you can see though, haidyn didn't seem to mind! she LOVES baby stockton.

go broncos!!

2011-04-08T13:46:00.002-06:00

i usually am the one who dresses/undresses stockton, so when on the rare occasion that chris does pick his outfit, this is what i come out to find:

{this picture is from when he was 3 weeks old}

bumbo

2011-04-08T13:38:00.002-06:00

i'd always heard about these awesome "bumbo" chairs but had never seen one. a couple months ago we were at a friends house, who's little gal is one month older than stockton. when we got there shelby was hanging out in this awesome pink contraption. it looked fun. we tried stockton out in it and decided to use some of our left over baby money to pick one up, in green of course. these were taken when he was almost two months old, but he loves it! now that he's better at holding his head up i put it in the kitchen while i'm cooking or doing the dishes and chris puts it by his desk while he's studying.

blessed

2011-04-08T13:23:00.002-06:00

a LOOONG time ago {january 30th to be exact} our little family gathered together and chris gave stockton a name and a blessing. he gave a beautiful blessing, my favorite part was when he told the little man to have a sincere and genuine heart. chris and i have always talked about how important it is to be sincere and genuine with those we interact with--it's so easy to be fake and contrived in our society--i'm so glad that stockton was blessed with those attributes.

it was so nice to have all of our loving families there to support us.

newborn pics

2011-01-20T20:21:00.005-07:00

when stockton was a couple days old, we went and had his pics taken by katie dudley, a friend of some friends of ours. she did an AMAZING job. here's a few of my favorites:

{p.s. katie's website is http://dudleyphotography.blogspot.com if you're interested}

playing in the snow

2011-01-17T15:57:00.002-07:00

we got a package in the mail this week from grandma j. along with some sweet toys and socks, there was an awesome quilted one-piece snow suit for stockton. when we were out visiting the great-grandmas and great-grandpa in the basin this past weekend, we decided to take advantage of all the snow and test out the snow suit. we loved putting him in the snow and playing around for a bit, but stockton, as you can see, was bored by the idea and slept through the whole excursion.

making a snow angel with daddy

photo shoot with daddy

2011-01-11T10:53:00.005-07:00

needless to say, chris is OBSESSED with our little stockton man. one day last week, after we bathed him, chris put some mousse in stockton's hair, and did a little photo shoot with him in the swing... you can see below how excited stockton was about this:

baby stockton

2011-01-07T18:31:00.004-07:00

every day since we've been home from the hospital, i've been meaning to sit down and type out our experience there, and every day goes by and i haven't done it. so while we're sitting here watching the jazz game and the little man is asleep in his swing i'll write out how we got our baby here.

rewind back three weeks. we went to my 38 week dr appointment and i was determined to get the doc to start me right then and there. i'd been having contractions off and on for several weeks and sleep had become a distant memory of the past. i was so ready to meet our little man and i didn't think i could stand it much longer. after checking me, the doc said that due to hospital regulations the earliest they could start me would be at 39 weeks (the following wednesday, december 22). we waited a week and while we waited tried EVERYTHING to get the little guy out here on his own. dec 22 came and we had another dr appointment. the doctor assured us that i would be back within 24-48 hours but that we could come in the following morning if we were super anxious. that night we went back and forth as to what we were going to do. we both were super ready to have the baby here but didn't know how things would go if i were to be induced. we woke up early thursday morning and decided that it would be best for us if we went in to the hospital to have them start me.

we checked into a room around 7:45. a couple residents came in to check the condition of my cervix, and i was still at a 2 and 80-90% effaced. at this point, several residents and interns had come in to talk to us and chris had worked with EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. on previous rotations. he wasn't completely comfortable with this, and while i had originally thought it would bug me as well, found that it helped me be much more at ease with the whole situation. as it turned out, my doctor was the one on that day so he stopped in told them to start me on a high dose of pitocin and to break my water. by 8:15 i was having pretty intense contractions about 2 minutes apart. this is where i gained respect for all those brave souls out there who choose to give birth to their babies au natural. going into labor i thought i had a pretty high tolerance for pain. how wrong i was! i was whining and complaining to chris and cryingthat i couldn't do it and howawful the pain was. poor chris, he kept saying how sorry he was and he wished there was something he could do for me. i appreciated just having him there with me. at 10:15 when thenurse came in to refill my IV bag and check on the babe and me i asked if it was too soon tosend in the anesthesiologist (they told me when they checked us in that they usually like you to be dilated to at least a 4 when the administer the epidural). after what seemed like an eternity later, the anesthesia resident came in and said he had good news and bad news. good news being i could get an epidural, bad news, he couldn't do it right away because he had to do a procedure first. as i breathed through contractions, the resident explained the epidural procedure. i couldn't help but thinking the whole time he was explaining that i could have had it by now!! but we listened to all the instruction, and when he left for the procedure,he came back within a couple minutes to let us know he had missed the procedure entirely and could give me the epidural now. HOORAY!! i'd be lying if isaid that i wasn't nervous about getting a giant needle in my back, i was pretty scared. but it actually didn't hurt at all and within 15 minutes i was pain free. it was an absolute miracle. the minute the resident left i told chris i wanted to kiss him (the anesthesiologist ofcourse, not chris). a nurse came in after the epidural was complete to check me. she said that i was at a 3-4 and that we'd probably be pushing around 9 pm that night. she also said that i should try to get some rest if i could because most likely when she checked me again in a couple hours i would probably have not made any progress. i got out my soduku book i'd brought and worked a couple puzzles. chris's grandparents were in town for a doctor's appointment so he decided to meet them downstairs in the cafeteria for lunch while i took a nap....

at around 1:30 chris came back from lunch and i woke up from my nap. any time i started to feel the slightest bit of pressure or heaven forbid pain i pushed a magic button that administered more drugs through my epidural. it was great. no one had been in {at least to my knowledge, i was asleep, remember?} to check me since the epidural was put in, so we were thinking maybe it would be time for a check. a nurse came in shortly later to check my progress, and i waited to hear her say, "well you're still at a 3-4". when she asked us if we were ready to have a baby, i looked at her with probably a rude face. of course i'm ready to have a baby, why else would i be here? she said i was at a 10, fully dilated and ready to have a baby. i could not believe it, and frankly neither could chris or the nurse. it had only been 2 1/2 hours ago that i was at a 3-4, how could i possibly be ready??? the ob chief resident came in to confirm that i was indeed a 10. holy cow, this baby was coming!

the resident said that we would let baby "rest and descend" for an hour. rest and descend basically lets gravity work to move baby down further into the birth canal so you don't waste a bunch of energy pushing. the nurse asked me how often i'd been pushing the magic button and i told her i'd been quite liberal about pushing it. she recommended i stop pushing the button for the next hour so i could feel a bit of sensation when it came time to push. the next hour whizzed by as i tried to relax and my nurse readied everything for delivery.

at 2:30 a couple residents and mynurse came back into the room and we went over the pushing plan. at this point, my contractions were coming every 30-60 seconds and lasting 90 seconds long. they turned off my pitocin drip to try to slow them down for pushing.... it didn't seem to do much. when it finally came time to push i was so nervous about pushing the little guy out and overwhelmed with how fast things were going that i got feeling super nauseous. i hadn't eaten anything but ice chips since 10 in the morning and so i didn't think i would throw up but i told chris i was feeling sick and they got me a puke bucket. i clutched it by my face for a couple minutes until i thought it had passed. we pushed for a contraction (we did three pushes each contraction, lasting 10 counts) and the feeling of nausea returned with a vengeance.chris grabbed the puke bucket and i emptied all the water in my system and then some. talk about feeling completely exposed and vulnerable! after that the nurse gave me some anti-nausea medicine which totally helped.

we got to business pushing. it was really ideal, because my epidural had wore off enough that i could tell when i needed to push, but didn't feel any pain. at first we tried pushing with every contraction, but they were coming to fast, i would have worn out too fast. so we stuck to pushing every other, or even every third contraction. up to this point, pushing was the best part of delivery. the four people in the room were all encouraging me and telling me how awesome i was doing and that we were getting so close. with each push i was that much closer to meeting the little man and i almost couldn't handle it. toward the end i was feeling so exhausted and overwhelmed that the only thing i can compare itto is finishing a long race. that moment when you round the last corner and you can see the finish line and all the people cheering you on.at this point, the doctor came in the room and all the while he's pacing around the bed. it was kind of hilarious. at 3:24, after a round of pushing everyone took their hands off me to take a breather between the next contraction. i felt this overwhelming urge to push and told chris this as i push and out comes baby! no one was entirely ready, i'm apologizing as the resident catches our baby boy.

after some suctioning of his mouth and once daddy cut his cord, they wrap him up, screaming and place him on my chest. he and i are both crying. i kiss his face and his hands and marvel at how perfect he is, even covered with vernix. i look up at chris who's crying as well. we are both so engrossed in the moment, our little boy, the perfection of it all, when the two resident's stitching me up tell chris it's ok for him to let go of my leg. we laugh through our tears. i couldn't take my eyes of my baby and neither could chris. we were immediately in love and it seemed right away that he was meant to be in our little family.

d-day

2010-12-15T09:59:00.002-07:00

we had an appointment this morning and doc said things are looking up (or down i guess, depending on how you look at it). if our little man doesn't come sooner, he'll be on his way out dec 22. i'm so excited i might pee my pants. the end is in sight and i have a new spring in my waddle. can't wait to meet him!!!

update

2010-12-10T13:35:00.004-07:00

so apparently me being pregnant equals long time no blog. basically i've just been busy trying to get ready for this little man to get here. but life has been pretty crazy around here the past couple months...the blurry pic of us above is no joke, life has been a blur.

UPDATE in bullets:

today was my last day as a working woman (jury is still out on whether or not that is permanent)
i'm 37.5 weeks 70% effaced and dilated to a 2, technically full-term and SO ready to have this little guy on the outside
chris is 6 days away from finishing the most brutal 24 weeks of his life, (pediatrics rotation, ob/gyn rotation, internal medicine rotation, surgery rotation)
he has more countdowns to this being over than i have to getting our baby here :)
i've successfully finished our little man's crib, bassinet, blankets, diaper bag
still have yet to finish the rocking chair
we're putting the last finishing touches on the nursery (pics to come soon)
i've packed my hospital bag
i'm about 90% done with my christmas shopping
i turn 25 in 2 days...yikes
we celebrate 4 years of wedded bliss in 2 weeks...again yikes
we are STILL mourning kyle brotzman's fail x2 (if you don't know who kyle brotzman is, well then google it)
we are hoping this baby comes out to say hello before christmas
we are looking forward to some time to get reacquainted and spend some down time with our new little man...whom we've kinda decided will be named stockton christopher....we'll see if it sticks when we meet him

embracing the belly

2010-09-02T22:11:00.004-06:00

well here it is folks, that belly of mine that seems to be growing at an exponential rate these days. there are times when i absolutely love my little pooch and all the wonderful things it means, like when chris and i lie in bed and watch the little man doing the wave under my skin or when i feel his little kicks and movements throughout the day (and night). and then there are times when the belly is not so pleasant, like when i step on the bathroom scale in the morning to see combinations of numbers i've never seen before or when the 27th outfit i try on doesn't fit or look right around my growing spherical self.

but in all honesty, i can't believe how quickly this whole pregnancy thing is flying by. at first when i was constantly nauseous and while we were waiting and hoping for the time in limbo to pass, the days dragged on. i often thought that december seemed infinitely far away, it might as well been on pluto. yet, here it is, well into the 24th week of this 40 week long engagement and i find myself wondering, worrying about what the future holds and how much our lives are going to change in just 16 short weeks--or sooner! december is looming and every day slips by almost as quickly as i outgrow my non-pregnancy wardrobe.

i imagine chris is already sick of my constant pestering about all things baby boy. the crib, the nursery, the stroller, the carseat, his name, nursing, epidurals, and the list could go on forever. chris has been on ob/gyn the past couple weeks at the hospital and so people often think that this is somehow perfect timing because he's learning to deliver babies and all that goes with labor and delivery. i have to pleasantly remind them that even though my husband is 1/2 doctor, there is no way he is going to be on the doctoring end of this baby's entrance into the world. as the baby daddy he will be up by my head where the baby daddy belongs, stroking my hair and feeding me ice chips on demand. i'm not one of his patients, i'm the angel bringing his first born son into existence. and that should qualify me for some extra special attention, don't you think?

of the boy variety

2010-08-13T12:30:00.004-06:00

you know that thing called mother's intuition that people always talk about? well, as it happens, mine is actually pretty good, so far.

ever since we announced we were expecting a kiddo, people constantly ask me if i have had any inclinations as to what the gender of the baby is. i've heard of so many people guessing on the gender when they were pregnant and then getting it wrong, that i was a little hesitant at first to admit what i thought...

"i think it's a boy" i would sheepishly say. and of course the person inquiring could do nothing but agree with me, i mean i am the one carrying the kid after all, wouldn't i know if anyone did what brand of baby i was growing?

well the days to our 20 week ultrasound grew near. and as i grew increasingly excited to finally know whether i'd be buying pink and frilly or blue and rugged i also began to feel a sense of anxiety. what if i was wrong and i'd been calling our little girl a he for the past 14 weeks?

my nights were split in half by boy and girl baby dreams.

the day finally came. chris had been on call at primary children's since sunday morning at 5:00 am and so when the doctor called me back and he hadn't made it yet, i worried that he was not going to make it. i informed the receptionist and the ultrasound tech that my husband would be coming any minute and i really didn't want him to miss the ultrasound.

you could tell that they had heard this before when the tech assured me she would take a dvd of the scan so he wouldn't miss a thing. i didn't want to be a pain so i agreed and bared my bruised belly {bruised??? what? did i forget to mention that i'm on heparin? it's a twice/day shot in my belly that helps keeps the baby alive by preventing my blood from clotting as it goes through the placenta}

within a few minutes of starting, there was a knock at the door, and in popped my scrub clad husband looking very tired and frazzled at the same time. right then i didn't think i'd ever been happier to see him. he took his usual spot on my left side and grabbed my hand.

we stared in awe for the next 20 minutes as the tech measured, checkes, re-measured and re-checked all our little ones parts. when she was up by his face getting pics of his lips (to check for cleft lip/palate) we caught him yawning. it was the coolest thing i've ever seen {we may or may not have replayed it more than 10 times when we watched the dvd later that night}

right when the tech finally decided to try and see for real if i was right or wrong on my prediction, our little sprout fell asleep! i kept thinking how could he sleep at a time like this, it's practically the most exciting day in his little existence thus far!

eventually with some prodding and moving and such, we were able to get a clear shot. there was no denying the image on the screen, we were getting a little boy.

"you were right," chris said as he squeezed (squoze?) my hand. indeed. little mister it is.

this aint no etch-a-sketch, that's one doodle that can't be undid home skillet

2010-07-07T07:27:00.003-06:00

that's right. we're having a baby...for reals this time. we are 15 weeks and the baby is due december 29, which happens to be our 4th anniversary. and baby is actually coming during chris's 6 week break from rotations, which couldn't have happened any better. we appreciate everyone's prayers and thoughts in our behalf. we couldn't be more excited/nervous/happy/scared/elated to try our hand at this parenting thing everyone keeps talking about.

on a whim

2010-05-03T20:56:00.004-06:00

at the end of april, i decided to run the salt lake half marathon with my good gal pal maren. she called me up a couple weeks before the race and casually mentioned i should run it with her. i've wanted to run the salt lake half for probably like 5 years, but it always turned out to be bad timing every year. well, since i'm married to a ghost (i mean med student), i decided, what the heck. i had been in a serious running slump, so i figured this would be a good thing to get me going again. as it turned out i was crazy busy in the days leading up to the race and was able to put in one 4-miler and one 6-miler the week before. when chris asked me when he should show up to the finish line i told him i would be happy finishing under 2 1/2 hours, but i would probably not finish that fast. well race day came, maren and a couple of her sister-in-laws and i met up at the start line and headed off for what i feared would be a long and super treacherous morning. aside from the water stations being a little lackluster on supplies {three water stations we passed were OUT of water. how does that happen?} the weather was beautiful, the company was awesome and i was feeling great. we kept a pretty steady pace that was going to put us at the finish just over 2 hours. i was stoked. by mile 10 i was ready to be done until we came upon some photographers. i was jumping and flapping my arms and acting like a complete imbecile, but it gave me a little oomph to keep going. between mile 11 & 12, i decided that i needed to pick up the pace a bit or i was going to have to stop and die on the side of the road. i told maren, who'd been nice enough to stick with me the entire time, that i was gonna have to plug into my ipod and hit the last little bit hard. there was a hill coming up and i could feel the mental game beginning, if i could nip it in the bud before it got the better of me, i would end up on top. i took off and ended up dropping a minute in that last mile. my time wasn't anything to scream and jump about (2:10) but i was proud considering i'd done it on a whim.

when a suburban isn't big enough for the whole family

2010-05-03T20:48:00.003-06:00

count 'em. there's eleven stick figures plus 2 pets. i sure hope they're not all crammed inside that chevy, or they're risking a serious ticket.

my sister chelsea and i caught a glimpse of this classically utah car after spending a weekend at home in the ghetto of albuqu-crazy with my mom and two other sisters. i was laughing out loud and reminded chelsea that we weren't in kansas-er-new mexico any more. is it terrible that the only thing i could think about--besides how ridiculous that many vinyl stickies on the back of a windshield looks--was the poor mother being pregnant that many times?

will exercise for a reward.

2010-03-29T18:46:00.003-06:00

it's pretty simple. i love to work out. but i got into this awful habit when we moved to slc {seriously slc, you're cramping my style!} of not working out. ever. i was lucky to go once a week or even once a month. for those of you who know me beginning in the salt lake era, let me explain...i used to be a gym rat. i NEEDED my hour+ at the gym each day and if i didn't get it, i was an ornery gal to be sure. it was normal for me to spend 2-3 hours at the gym on saturday morning or go out and run 10 miles. i love getting my sweat on and feeling good about burning calories. well, you know that little adage "use it or you'll lose it"? well that totally happened! but i found a cure. i recently started working out at the UofU fieldhouse {membership costs me a measly $8/month compared to the $35/month i was paying for a gym membership at 24 hour fitness} and the give you this little punch card to track the days you hit the gym. for 30 times you get a free t-shirt, for 54 times you get a free hoodie sweatshirt. i'm all about the free, so i jumped on this when i found out about it. i'm a little bummed because i calculated the days to the end of the semester and i'm gonna miss getting a sweatshirt by a few days, but i'll get a t-shirt for sure. hooray for free stuff and exercise!

march madness!!

2010-03-28T14:53:00.003-06:00

a couple weeks ago, chris and i were up at my grandparents house for dinner when my grandpa asked chris was he was doing march 25 and 27. since that was still a ways out, we both shrugged our shoulders and said we didn't have anything of importance going on those two days. then my grandpa pulls out tickets for the sweet sixteen and elite eight games that were going to be held at the energy solutions arena in downtown slc.

chris was immediately stoked and luckily, all three games we were able attend did not disappoint. the ball was amazing, the crowd was raucous, the food was greasy and delicious, and i had a great view of jimmer fredette of the byu sqaud and a couple of his cronies. it was so fun to be able to cheer for the underdog (butler) and watch them win not once, but twice! they dethroned the one seed (syracuse) and then a two seed (kansas state). chris told me last night he was so excited about butler, that if it came down to duke and butler (chris is a HUGE duke fan) that he might have to cheer for butler over duke...WHAT?!? i've never been hoarse from a sporting event before....but man was it worth it! gotta love march madness.

potatoes on pizza

2010-03-12T12:29:00.003-07:00

ever since we moved to the big SLC, i feel like my life has never really gotten back into the norm...or i just have not adjusted to this new norm...probably the latter. when chris and i first got married, i would fix dinner (usually a brand new recipe) every. single. night. this would probably explain why both he and i gained a combine total of 30 pounds during that first year. i love love love to cook and bake and fiddle around in the kitchen. and i've been so lackluster as of late that i decided to make a menu and start cooking again. for reals this time. i found a neato one-week menu planner with a grocery list online and i printed two copies. i spent a few hours (this is my problem....i waste SO much time searching for good recipes) and filled in both spreadsheets and made my grocery list. i made a huge trip to sam's club, and the grocery store. we've had something yummy to eat everynight...at least almost every night...for the past two weeks. and i'm happy to say i was relatively healthy too! i used a couple recipes from cooking light and concentrated a lot on having at least one green side dish and a fruit side dish. one of the dishes i was a little bit nervous about--a goat cheese, thyme, and potato pizza. holy cannoli was it ever good. {chris put a big boo on it though, he HATES goat cheese apparently. oops} it was fun because i used two ingredients i've never cooked with before: goat cheese (chevre) and fingerling potatoes (purple ones!). so if you like goat cheese or are experimental and brave in any way. try this recipe. you can thank me later.

red onion, potato, and goat cheese pizza

7 oz fingerling potatoes {i bought a mixed variety, but yukon gold and purple were best}

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium red onion thinly sliced

1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough

2 TBS cornmeal

4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese sliced)

3 oz crumbled goat cheese

1 garlic clove minced

1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

place potatoes in a sauce pan and boil for 10 minutes or until just tender. cut cooled potatoes into 1/4-inch slices. heat olive oil in a large skillet. add onion to pan and saute until tender. roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle. sprinkle cornmeal over a large baking sheet and place dough on top. drizzle crust with a little olive oil. spread mozzarella over dough and arrange onion and potatoes over cheese. top evenly with crumbled goat cheese and garlic. bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until browned. sprinkle with thyme right out of the oven.

married to a md student: #974

2010-02-24T12:37:00.002-07:00

they're training my husband to be a progammed pessimist...

i'd signed up to volunter down at welfare square for a bottling shift at the cannery yesterday. when i got down there, i was informed that the machinery was broken down and i wasn't needed, and that i could grab a bottle of Deseret Industries applesauce and head home. the applesauce was so fresh that the bottle was still warm from the sterilization. when i got home and informed chris of this awesome freebie, the first thing he says is:

"cool, but i don't wanna get botulism."

seriously? botulism for the church cannery? ya. probably not.

a scary monster lives under my sink

2010-01-30T09:03:00.005-07:00

i have been especially lazy about doing the dishes, and this week was definitely no exception. i made a big pot of soup tuesday night and finally decided that i should probably get around to doing those dishes this morning. {we weren't out of cups or bowls yet, but we were out of spoons}. so i go about merrily cleaning, even whistling while i work. i get down to about the last couple dishes and it's time for me to run the disposal again. our disposal is kind of scary. i've always had this fear of the disposal, like it will magically turn on as i reach to grab a spoon or something and chew my whole hand off. usually when i turn on the disposal in our new apartment it sounds like world destruction and the whole counter top, sink and cupboards shake, in efforts to withstand said world destruction. the first time this happened i jumped about a foot off the ground and have been weary of running it ever since. sometimes, however, it will magically run like normal and i almost forget how scary our disposal is. but on with the story. so i turn on the disposal for a split second and it proceeds to shake and be scary. i quickly turned it off. {usually when this happens, i turn it off, wait a few moments and then resume disposal-ing} so i waited a few moments and then turn the sucker back on. again with the shaking until the thing just falls out of the freaking sink. the bang is so loud and scares me so badly i just stare dumbfounded at the giant hole that is now our sink and completely forget the water is running. i open the cupboards and see the remnants of peanut butter, brownies and soup plastered all over the walls and floor that is the below the sink area. at this point i finally realize the water is still running and yes it is going down the hole in the sink...and into the cupboard below. i'm freaking out at this point. chris has already left for school so i grab my phone and the second he answers proclaim, completely exasperated, "the disposal fell out of the sink" at which point i hear chris laughing hysterically on the other end. apparently it's hilarious when that happens. to make matters even more hilarious...the maintenance crew at our apartment doesn't believe in weekend calls unless you are flooding or have not sink access--kitchen or bathroom. so here we are, sinkless, disposal-less and helpless until monday. the moral of the story: despite being scary, disposals have feelings too. leaving a week's worth of dishes in the sink will make your disposal mad and he'll become detached.

i use the area below the sink as storage--who doesn't?

not anymore.

looking up...can you see the faucet?

TGIF

2010-01-15T17:06:00.002-07:00

in this new schedule called studying for the boards, friday night after 6pm means date night with this fella:

it's 5:04 pm and i can't hardly wait. hurray for fridays.

i almost forgot...

2009-12-30T20:13:00.003-07:00

i chopped off my hair. i am kind of a schitzo when it comes to my tresses. one minute i want long hair the next minute i want a pixie cut. i gave my sister chelsea {who's currently in beauty school in provo} this picture of sienna miller circa 2005:

and this is what i got:

i love it. it's easy peasy and super sassy. although, i still can't help but feel sad when i see someone with a long flowy mane. . . oops.

{don't mind my 'stache in this photo, it's the lighting, i swear!}

merry late christmas

2009-12-30T19:43:00.005-07:00

greetings from sunny orlando!!

we spent the christmas holiday in orlando with my parents and sistas.

we had a grand time and indulged in festivities including but not limited to 3d shows, shamu,

roller coasters, parades, churros, splash mountain, turkey legs, fast passes, tropical rain storms, rocket ship viewing,

beach sand, ron jon, temple baptisms, tower of terror, toy story, long lines,

tie dye shirts, princesses,

& mickey mouse. we are too lucky to have such great parents. thanks mom and dad for the awesome trip!

MOVING!

2009-12-02T07:23:00.002-07:00

posts have been on the light latley, because, well folks. we're moving....again. we finally got into an apartment we've been on the waiting list for since the beginning of time {or just since we moved to SLC}. we're sad/thrilled/stressed/nervous/excited about this new venture but we figured that the pros way outweighed the cons. wish us luck as we pack and scoot ourselves up the hill. i'll probably be back sometime after DEC 12.

crazy busy! {a made lovely plug}

2009-11-12T07:21:00.003-07:00

last weekend at Bijou Market, was a complete success! i came home with almost no inventory and two invitations for weekend shows over Nov 18-21! i am super excited with all the publicity and exposure that Made Lovely is getting {in case you didn't notice, i recently updated my etsy shop and changed the name}. it's awesome and makes me dream of the day when i can have a room in my home dedicated to crafty productions. but, i wanted to make my wonderful {albeit small} readership aware of these two rad events coming up next week.

FIRST: Patina Market GRAND OPENING {November 18-21}

this amazing duo is opening up a fabulous shop wherein different local artists are being featured each week. really. amazing. you have to check out their website to get the vibe. but i'm super excited to be one of the vendors at the grand opening next week. it is going to be great.

SECOND: Tom and Lucy's Art Shoppe {November 19-21}

two swingin' ladies saw me at Bijou and thought i would be a unique addition to their show. i couldn't be happier. they have a super neat lineup of crafters/artisans and i can't wait to see it all in person. check out their website or click on the button on my sidebar to see all the sweet stuff.

last glimpse of sunlight

2009-10-28T18:45:00.003-06:00

i caught this view on our drive home from boise. if i was more of a steady handed gal, it would've come out more crisp to show the trees, but as is, i love the dark contrast of the horizon against the fading light.

bang bang

2009-10-27T18:31:00.005-06:00

we were up in boise this weekend and my MIL {who's an awesome licensed beautician} was fixing up everyone's tresses. i was totally feeling left out. so here's what i got...

i have been wanting blunt bangs for awhile now but i'm not skilled enough to do it myself and my hairdresser natalie is on maternity leave. i love love them, but chris...he's not so sure. he keeps calling me staci bangs.

Bijou Market

2009-10-27T07:30:00.003-06:00

it's that time of year again folks. i'm so excited/happy to announce i'm headed to the fall Bijou Market on november 7th. it's going to be at a new location on 9th east in Provo, across the street from the Paul Mitchell school. it was so inspiring for me to be around so many creative and talented humans that i really count myself lucky to be a part of this awesome event. i hope to see you there!

{oh and check out www.jillcanblog.blogspot.com next week for a super sweet giveaway featuring treats from me!}

run for your life

2009-10-21T22:23:00.004-06:00

it's test week. and this is what test week makes chris wanna do:

let's hope we can survive the next couple days!

{this pic is from a couple christmases ago when my parents got chris a pistol...what were they thinking?!}

coveting creativity

2009-10-16T10:35:00.005-06:00

i saw this on design*sponge yesterday and i haven't stopped thinking about it. i would really really like to experiment with sunprint fabric. i love the delicate pattern the doilies made on this example. too bad we're embarking on the long gray dark winter. i'll have to hope for an extra sunny day

photo via design*sponge

big gulps huh?

2009-10-14T15:47:00.004-06:00

what do you do when your boss puts one of these bad boys on your desk?

you drink it, that's what!!! i got back from lunch today and i found 64 oz of Dr. Pepper goodness waiting at my desk. i'm not a big soda drinker {though chris will try to tell you otherwise} and so 64 oz amounts to what i usually consume in a month or two. it was so heavy and so wide i had to hold it with two hands to take a sip and before i could even get through half of it, the ice had already melted.

would you believe there's people out there who drink one of these {or more!!} a day?!?

i'm feeling guilty i consumed my day's allotment of calories in liquid form, so excuse me while i go hit the gym.

p.s. don't mind that my bed isn't made in the background or that my hair is in dire need of a wash... it's these things that keep me from needing a double gulp in the morning!

alpine loop--can't get enough

2009-10-11T19:06:00.004-06:00

you know your med student is in some serious need of a change of scenery when on the eve before an all-day {!!} exam he asks if you'd like to take a drive through the alpine loop to see the leaves. i about jumped out of my skin when chris leaned over to me in sacrament meeting and suggested this. i of course obliged. i later found out, though that we'd be graced with the sweet sound of the pharmaceutical methods for treating Parkinson's, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder on 2x speed the ENTIRE time. my verdict? it was actually quite lovely. the most time i've spent with the husband all week {awake of course} and even though i hadn't the foggiest through most of the lectures, there were some little tidbits that were fairly interesting. chris even laughed out loud when i made comments pertaining to what the professor had said--"you're actually LISTENING to this?!?" the colors were beautiful, though i'm guessing that we definitely caught the tail end as much of the loop was high enough there was snow on the ground. we stopped at the trailhead of stewart falls and took a quick pic reminiscing when 3 years ago chris popped the question there. on our way back through provo canyon and up to salt lake we saw a semi truck that had rolled with a trailer full of sheep. thankfully i didn't take any pictures, but let me just say that the mangled body of the truck wasn't the first thing to clue us in there had been an accident involving sheep!

procrastinating

2009-10-10T13:06:00.005-06:00

so mad at myself that i waited until the end of the season to check out the downtown farmer's market! i loved checking out the interesting and unique {remember it's downtown salt lake} vendors and sampling all the uber fresh produce and food. i snagged up a giant spaghetti squash, baby heirloom tomatoes, big juicy red tomatoes, peaches, fresh honey butter and a french chocolate croissant {for breakfast}. there are two more days--this tuesday evening and next saturday--left in the season. if you haven't been down, it's definitely worth it!

"i have a perfect body....

2009-10-08T22:26:00.004-06:00

...cuz my eyelashes catch my sweat." ~regina spektor

i heard those lyrics today at work and i've been thinking about them ever since. honestly who would have thought regina would have such a profound effect on my thoughts! it's such a silly and simple concept, but i really do have a perfect body. it may not look perfect or feel perfect or even work perfect in my eyes, but it was made by someone who is perfect and it will one day become perfect.

fall foliage

2009-10-06T21:45:00.005-06:00

something about the changing of seasons is so invigorating. it's like a brand new chance to start fresh...four times a year! fall is my absolute favorite time of year, everything around you is so rich and vibrant. this change of the season has been especially so for me. the summer was particularly rough for us but as i've witnessed a new season bring its changing effects, i have come to realize that it is a perfect opportunity for me to start fresh.

anyway, my good and most adorable friend from byu, katie, had the most amazing idea for us to head up to millcreek canyon to get some exercise and check out the pretty leaves. we had a lovely time. the scenery was beautiful, the weather was fine and we were so deep in conversation we hiked for two and a half hours without even realizing it.

if you haven't yet, hurry up to the nearest canyon and check out the fall colors, they're quickly fading. if you need a hiking buddy give me a holler, i'll gladly go up again.

remembering grandma

2009-10-06T21:36:00.003-06:00

a couple weeks ago, my grandma, marie frisbey passed away. chris and i were lucky enough to be able to attend her funeral and spend time remembering her with family.

i'm so grateful for the comforting doctrine our church teaches: that we will be able to see our families again after we leave this earth, that death isn't a forever goodbye, we will be reunited with our families and have the chance to be with them forever.

fallow field farms boutique

2009-09-25T07:19:00.004-06:00

come check me out on saturday! {little lovelies} is going to be set up and ready to sell!

Date: September 26
Time: 9am-6pm
Place: 685 W. Lakeview Rd., Lindon

it should be a good time! hope to see you all there

legit

2009-09-03T14:08:00.002-06:00

i'm quoted in the Mormon Times today about an activity chris and i have been planning. if you get the deseret news it's on the front page of the mormon times {an insert} if you're not a utahn go to mormontimes.com i said "cool" and they used it. the quote looks like a teenager spoke it. nice.

happy birthday chris

2009-08-22T13:04:00.002-06:00

to my favorite fella:

happy 27!

ghana

2009-07-02T14:57:00.003-06:00

i'm so happy to report that chris is alive and well and living it up in ghana. he called me yesterday afternoon and we talked for a bit. it was so good to hear his voice though he's only been gone since tuesday morning! i'm excited because it looks as though we will get to talk at least for a minute every day or every other day. i was expecting once a week! so that was great news. anyway, he told me they had a ghanaian pick them up from the airport and the car broke down 10 minutes outside of accra so the 10 hour car journey ended up being more like 14 hours. he said it's hot and humid there and very very poverty stricken. that's all the news for now, hopefully more later!

today's the big day!

2009-06-27T08:11:00.003-06:00

chris and i are heading down to utah county in a couple hours for the bijou market. i'm so nervous! i've been preparing all week to get things looking fabulous and ready to sell. here a couple pictures i took of all my hard work. i have three wishes for today:

that people like my frames/earrings--but mostly my frames.
that people like my frames/earrings enough to buy them
that i have enough frames/earrings to last through the day

i was thinking of a cool way to display my earrings, i remembered a couple of the displays i saw at the Beehive Bazaar a few months ago that used a frame and wire or framed corkboard. i picked this frame up at DI for $5 {i think it was a dejected chapel piece of art, there was a standard churchy photo in there} added a few coats of bubblegum pink paint and chris strung the wire across. i bought mini clothespins that i'm going to use to hang my earrings with. i hope it turns out cute.

L to the P

2009-06-14T19:00:00.006-06:00

we didn't waste much time when chris was finally done with school for the summer to let the partying begin. literally we left like 2 hours after his last final of the year for lake powell... quite possible my most favorite place on the planet. my parents were there with my sister chelsea {who just graduated} and five of her friends. grandma and grandpa brinkerhoff were there along with my mom's sister and her fam. it was a really short stay {we could only spend friday and saturday night} and the weather and water conditions were less than desirable this go round, but it was still enjoyable and a week later, i'm still wishing we were there.

chris wakeboarded, i skied, we both tubed, slept and ate a lot.

i can't get enough of the red rocks against the water.

obviously.

my parents got this sweet tube that you sit up on. best thing about it? you don't fall off. my dad put me, chelsea and chris on and actually tried to get us off {pretty hard} and didn't succeed.

my cute mom.

chris hoping that the overhanging rocks don't suddenly break lose and crush us

my dad making a pretty sweet cut.

chris catching some air {it's a little difficult when you combine no tower with a sucky wakeboard, but he's still fun to watch}

told you i couldn't get enough

cousin sydney... i love it when i catch the rays of sunshine.

chelsea and her sweet yellow aviators {not too shabby for $5 from wal-mart}

fly fishing on the provo

2009-06-13T09:16:00.004-06:00

apparently we weren't allowed to be traipsing around....

husband trying to catch a fish

me trying to get some rays on my pearly whites.

a couple weeks ago {geez i'm so far behind!} chris and i headed down to provo to see some friends. we went down early so that chris could "check out the river" and maybe with some luck catch a fish or two. i'm not a fisherwoman so i just had my camera and a book in hopes to practice my photography skills, catch some rays and relax while the mister tried his hand at fly fishing. we stopped at several spots along the highway in provo canyon and every spot was either too deep or too fast. even though chris probably spent like 2.4 minutes total in the water, it was fun walking around and driving fast with the windows down.

come one! come all!

2009-06-01T21:35:00.004-06:00

to the bijou market! i'm going to be selling my wares {frames and earrings} and there will be lots of other fun vendors offering their handmade goods. here's the details:

spread the word!

gradumatation

2009-05-23T18:02:00.002-06:00

i can't believe how slow i am at posting this. but two weekends ago {over mother's day} i went home for my baby sister's graduation. i flew home and enjoyed warm weather, lounging by the pool, eating good food and just relaxing. it was pure bliss... the only thing that would have made it better would have been if the husband could have joined me.

{my mom has made all of us a quilt as a graduation gift for our room away from home, chelsea's turned out pretty cute}

finale

2009-05-12T07:23:00.003-06:00

the 3-hour finale of my most favorite show is on tonight and i just can't wait! my top choice folks have been voted off, so i'm not even sure who i want to win, but regardless, i'm sure i'll be bawling my eyes out on the couch while i watch, like i do every week. i don't know what it is about people losing weight that makes me so emotional, but i love it! i'm still trying to decide if i should start watching later so i can fast forward through the commercials. my guess is that tara will take home the biggest loser title.... as for the at-home winner? i'm not too sure.

on being a fatty

2009-05-07T19:25:00.004-06:00

i have become super lazy as of late. i've been working so much the minute i get some spare time the last thing i want to do is cook, or hit the gym. just this afternoon while chris and i enjoyed rootbeer floats at hire's big H while waiting for our bacon cheeseburgers i get a text from julie about a yoga class. talk about feeling all the flab multiply by twenty on my body. nope. i didn't hit the gym up today or yesterday or even the day before that and here i am enjoying my 800+ calorie dinner. awesome.

lovely nurserys...

2009-05-06T09:39:00.001-06:00

no i am not pregnant, but i have this strange fascination with nurseries. i guess it's the mother in me {deep down there somewhere!} while browsing through my blog list i came across this awesome nursery post over at say yes! to hoboken via style carrot. you must skip on over there and check it out. it made me baby hungry all over again.

happy about handmade

2009-05-01T11:41:00.002-06:00

i really really really wanna go check this out tomorrow after i get off work... anybody wanna join me?

amazing flick

2009-04-27T21:21:00.003-06:00

it's very rare that i see a movie and love it enough to go out and purchase the film to keep and cherish forever. it's unheard of me to do this within 24 hours of seeing a movie...until now. much to chris' protests, we rented slumdog millionaire from the redbox at the maverick on 3rd and 5th {they usually have the best selection}. i've always had a strange fascination with all things indian. and so the minute i heard about this movie i'd been trying to see it, subtly suggesting to chris that we see it. let me just say this about the movie....awe inspiring. the cinematography was beautiful, the music was good, the depiction of indian culture was pretty spot on {in my very white girl opinion}. there were some occasional subtitles, {which are usually hard for me in movies} that were brightly colored and in untraditional spots on the screen. the story causes one to look at their own life in a new light and appreciate whatever they have and to work harder for those things they ultimately desire. amazing. truly. go see it.

back in a flash

2009-04-22T23:16:00.003-06:00

obviously i'm not as into the game as chris

becca and calvin enjoying the courtside seats

just like old times {plus baby}

chris and cal intently watching the play

tonight we were lucky enough to have {free} tickets to the utah flash game. {they're the D-league basketball team that plays down at UVU}. thanks craig and ange for the hook-up. we met up with some provo pals and enjoyed a good ball game that went into overtime. calvin was a super trooper staying out way past bedtime.

confession

2009-04-22T11:55:00.002-06:00

what do you do when you've been out of deoderant for 2+ days and haven't had time/desire to go the store to purchase more?

go to the husband's dresser and swipe some of his classic scent Old Spice.

now every time i move i catch a wiff of manly smell.... can't decide if i like that notion or not.