Officer of the Month!

So a couple weeks ago Jake finally broke the news to me that he was Salt Lake City's Officer of the Month for May. I couldn't believe he waited a couple weeks to tell me. He is super humble - I would have called him the second I found out (if I were given officer of the month) and cheered to him on the phone. He said it so nonchalant, as if it were no big deal. This is time to celebrate! Jake went out of his way to make sure he solved a case that he had been on the night before. He went out and sought the guy out on his next shift. I won't go into too much detail - he can fill you in :) Anyways - he gets to go to a big staff meeting to "receive the recognition he deserves" (as said in his award letter) and he gets to go to lunch with the chief of police. Talk about AWESOME! I am very proud of him - he's such a hard worker and I'm glad he is being recognized!
Here's the website - I am not sure if it will be up much longer, but you can always hit the "archived officers of the month" if you don't see him....click here

Boy it has been a long time! I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to see what is going on in our lives! I wish I had some amazing things to tell you, but normal life just keeps keepin' on.

Some of my family and I have committed to running a 10k in September so the training begins! Today was the first day of training and it was NOT FUN. I only needed to run 2 miles, but my feet felt like lead, and my chicken fajita dinner came back to haunt me in the form of an excruciating side ache (okay not that bad, but it wasn't a good feeling). When I'm running I like to picture myself on the cover of this magazine:


I hope to someday run like this, but I am afraid to admit I look more along the lines of this:


I didn't go too slow, but I know I can improve! I will try to keep updated on the progress and will definitely post pictures when we complete our first ever 10k!

In other news - Jake did get a new truck. He loves it, which is all that matters. I am glad he found a good thing out of a not so fun situation. An image for your viewing pleasure:

We have been doing alot of fun things lately - we went fishing for my first time ever! Jake has gone before so he helped me figure out how to throw the fishing line out and sit there until a fish comes. I didn't catch anything, but I did get some bites on my bait which was equally exciting. I screamed when it bit my line, which probably scared it away. I am excited to go again - and maybe catch something. Of course I will not touch the fish or eat it - i will give Jake that pleasure. Jake wasn't able to catch anything either, but our friends did catch some small fish.

We went camping a couple weekends ago and had fun with some friends. We went up Provo Canyon and stayed at a campsite with a camp host who wore a kilt. We did all the fun camping stuff - sitting in front of the fire for hours and eating nonstop (hot dogs, smores, roasted starbursts, etc), playing games in the tent, and then hiking in the morning. I LOVE living in Utah. You can drive 20 minutes and be in the mountains to hike or camp, whatever you choose. It is great!

This past weekend our nephew was baptized. My parents flew out, and my sister came down with her family and it was wonderful! We also had another nephew have his baby blessing and were able to see Jake's family. It was great to spend time with both of our families! Nothing is better than hanging out with family. We are off to go boating and camping this weekend with some of Jake's family, and we are excited to be out on the lake. I'll be sure to take pictures!

In other news - I planted my very first garden! I planted carrots, green peppers, squash, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, and lots of lettuce. I am hoping we get at least one piece of fruit or vegetable. I will be happy with just one piece! I decided to start some seeds inside first, and after planting them I only have three seedlings left alive outside. I am guessing i wasn't doing things right because we had a neighbor come over and explain to me how i needed to soak the base of the plants with water, rather than shower them with water. We'll see how it goes!

Our friend Elisa with her prize fish!

Jake getting ready to fish!

Maureen, Austin and me before our 5k "Race for the Cure"

Cutie McKell riding a horse at Thanksgiving Point

Cutie Tyler

Cutie Austin

Grandma and Ellie watching the horses

I knew you were wondering - YES this horse is wearing sunglasses because MAN it was sunny!

Stinkin' Punk Kids...

before you read this, please know that everyone is safe and i would have not been so upset if someone had actually been hurt....

Last night was quite an experience. Jake had just left for work, I was settling in bed watching the great "gilmore girls" when all of a sudden I heard a crazy crash outside. I thought it was a garbage truck (it sounded like a garbage truck slamming it's crane down), but to my suprise I opened the blinds to see this: (click on the pic if you want to see a larger version)

the boy in the cast was NOT in the accident - he is our neighbor and I have no idea what happened to his leg.

sorry about the fuzzy picture - i'm not the best photog

That's right - there is a random car flipped on it's side, slammed into Jake's car. Jake's car was parked on the street when somehow the white car flipped over and totaled both cars. So, I ran outside the house and first came to a lady who was on her cell phone with 911 screaming at me to tell her my address. After I said it about 10 times I ran up to the scene and saw the two punk kids climb out of the driver's side window. I guess at first the driver was knocked out for a minute, but then came to and was fine. He just had a small cut on his hand, and the other kid was fine. After I saw them jump out, i ran inside to call jake and tell him to come home. Of course I didn't know how to handle my emotions and started crying the second I heard his voice. He turned around to come home.

I don't want to go into all the crazy details because I start remembering how ticked off I was, but i will tell you a few key facts:

1. The two punk kids claimed that someone cut them off and they had to swerve out of the way, thus slamming into Jake's car. The two witnesses both stated that there were no cars that cut them off. (how would this happen anyways when we live in a neighborhood where no one can drive fast on the street because there are speed bumps?)
2. The mom of the driver was explaining to Jake how it was sad that this happened because the kid had just gotten his car out of the shop a couple days ago after a "hit and run accident" ( i guess the guy who hit him ran off because he didn't have insurance or something). To say the least I was not feeling one bit sorry for the car or about the money he spent to "supe" his car up.
3. The punk kids called all their friends and probably every family member to come check out the damage. Once again - I was not amused. By the time their car was towed away i think there were 40 friends and family who came to "check out the damage"
4. After Jake's car was towed away and the white car flipped back on it's wheels, the punk driver proceeds to say "Hey guys (announcing to all of his crowd) you wanna see $10k down the tubes?", then opens his hood for all to admire his "stellar" engine or whatever is under there. - once again not amused.

It stinks, but at least no one was hurt. Once again, as in probably every crazy situation, I was the one in hysterics and Jake was extremely calm. It must be that police training. I was about ready to throw some punches once I found out everyone was okay. It was nice to have our neighborhood come out to make sure everything was okay (also to investigate what had happened), and our neighbors help me and jake get everything out of the car and make sure everything was taken care of. It's nice to know that people are there to help. I think Jake's favorite thing about this whole situation is that he can now look for a truck! Oh the joys of car shopping...

Side note - the car was driving down the street the opposite direction it is facing in these pictures. It was driving the same direction Jake's car is faced. So spin, flip, and whatever else it had to do to get into this situation.

On a random note - i know you are all wondering, but I haven't eaten ANY french fries since my last post about Hawaii!

After Jake and I went shopping for new clothes for me tonight I left with nothing. Shopping for clothes always makes me sad. I decided I need to take slow steps to make shopping happier for me! Jake made a bet with me and I HAVE to follow through! If I don't eat french fries for a year (which are my all time favorite thing, besides diet coke) we will go to Hawaii, either on a cruise or trip, for our second anniversary! Starting today I cannot eat ANY french fries. Wish me luck! Hawaii here I come! (in a year)...

So i was looking at the Martha Stewart site, as I so often do when i am trying to not go to sleep, and came across some asparagus recipes. I clicked on the link and flipped through lots of recipes and it made me think... I remember when I was little and I absolutely hated certain vegetables. I hated tomatoes (still to this day - except for in salsa i LOVE them), broccoli, asparagus, green beens, basically anything green that was cooked. I hated steamed vegetables and would always pick them out of anything we had for dinner.

Times have changed....It is funny how tastes change. I now like things that i used to hate eating. I love spinach (not cooked) and like eating roast. I also suprisingly branched out and now love eating some cooked vegetables. I have my sister to thank for the asparagus. She is an amazing cook and can make anything taste good. She made asparagus with mozzarella on it and I LOVED it. Thank you Maureen! I also like it because it can make any meal feel fancy. Just look at this asparagus...doesn't it just scream fancy?

One other thing I discovered I like is edamame. I tried it first when I was at a business lunch and we went to Happy Sumo. Everyone wanted tons of sushi to share between all of us (I do not like sushi or the smell of fish for that matter), so i ate a lunch of edamame. It is the tastiest thing ever. It is the best when you have lots of salt on it, and pop the little soy beans in your mouth...yummy! I introduced it to jake a couple weeks ago when we went to Pei Wei. And the other day i found some in the store! If you haven't ever had any, you definitely should try it.


I know this is a random post, but it's just my thoughts for the night. I have some other fun things to post about later- our trip to vegas, more indoor skydiving, and a fun weekend backyard tilling adventure. But for now, I thought I'd leave all you working people out there with a thought I came across tonight....

So i decided to go to a Yoga Class at the gym this morning. I went to a yoga class at a gym when I was in high school and loved it - ever since then I have been wanting to go to yoga regularly, but i am what they call..."lazy". I went to a class a couple weeks ago and loved it! So i decided I would go this morning and was excited to feel relaxed and calm. I showed up and she said we were doing a core workout today - it seriously killed me. My legs were shaking because I haven't worked them out in so long! At the end she had us do this pose:

(side crow)

I was really proud of myself because I did it for 1/2 a second. Later today I was telling Jake about the crazy workout and then wanted to show him my side crow. This is what it looked like when i showed him:

I knew i should have practiced a little more before I showed him. I don't think he believes i even did it for one second. We both laughed pretty hard...

SKOOKIE!

My mom sent us an early anniversary present and it is wonderful! It's called Skookie. It is a cookie that you make in a cast-iron skillet, and then you put ice cream, hot fudge or caramel, and whatever else you want on top. We got it and made them the same night! They were so wonderful! They remind me of this place in Craigo's in Rexburg, ID. They an amazing dessert "the cookie monster" that was the same type of thing. I ate so many when i was up there going to school - i think that's what helped me gain my freshman 15. Here are some pictures so you can be jealous! And yes, they tasted as yummy as they look!

This is the one I made

holding both mine and jake's