Burgers & Nuggets

Yesterday was pretty great. I slept in (until like 10! it was heaven). Took my math test (88% woot!).
Then I came home and ate pizza and watched Warrior with Chris. It was a pretty good movie, which is saying a lot coming from a girl who doesn't enjoy violence or watching people get beat up. After the movie we were feeling pretty guilty about eating all of the pizza, so we went to the gym.

To be honest, it is kinda weirding me out that I am starting to like going to the gym and working out. But hey, I'm definitely not complaining. Neither is the scale (4 pounds baby!).
Then we were off on a double date with friends Jeremy and Kelly. We went to Big Judds (as seen on some TV show on the food network). We ate some really big burgers.

I was thinking I'd take my veg-head sister here. What do you think? Haha.

After dinner we went to the $3 Movie to see Footloose. I think I may have liked Warrior better...I don't know. It was 11pm (way past my bed time). Or, it may have been Julianne Hough, who I found slightly annoying. Beats me. Anywho, it was a great date night.

Also, yesterday, I was naughty and bought myself a bag of these babies:

Hershey's Nuggets. Much better than chicken nuggets- these things are the real deal. Not much can beat milk chocolate, toffee, and almonds....at least in my book.

Tomorrow is a big day- Job interview #2. Hopefully, I will not be a custodian much longer. Wish me luck!

::ciao twenty-eleven::

New Year's Eve this year has definitely been my favorite. We started our NYE at Lava Hot Springs in the mineral pools.

My Cute Husband

 After spending some time soaking...or boiling...we hit up Subway and headed to our hotel room in Pocatello.

King Sized Bed

 We took a little nap and watched a little TV and then we were off to dinner. Chris chose Texas Roadhouse- I had never been, so it was an adventure. I really liked it and I had fun watching Chris inhale his Country Fried Sirloin. That boy can eat...especially when it has to do with country cooking or BBQ. We came back to the hotel, completely full and a little sleepy. I was determined we would ring in the new year the right way (at midnight, watching the ball drop, with a kiss). I hadn't done it "right" in a few years. So, we jumped on the bed to wake up and then watched The Count of Monte Cristo. Then we opened some sparkling grape juice, watched the ball drop, gave each other a kiss and then totally crashed.

Very tired...bad cell phone photo

Happy New Year! We had a blast and are looking forward to 2012- hopefully you are too!

12.22.11-12.26.11

I didn't take my laptop down to Utah with me because I wanted to spend every second with friends and family. I knew I would be too tempted to blog every day about the festivities. Anyway, I had a great Christmas and had such a blast having Chris with me. Last year we were separated by approximately 2179.28 miles. Not fun! Our first Christmas married was a success and I can't wait for the next eternity of Christmases.

12.22.11
We drove down to Utah...very tired from work. We left as soon as we got off. About 1.5 hours into the drive I was done. I couldn't keep my eyes open! Chris relieved me of driving duty and was kind enough to let me sleep the rest of the way there. What a sweetie.
We (the Jenkins clan and our Elcock cousins) went to Chuck-a-Rama that night for dinner (which brought back Choir Tour 2010 memories...anyone?) then we were off to Zoo Lights....it was far too cold. The poor kids were trying to enjoy themselves, but were done after about 45 minutes. I was too, haha. Then it was back to our house for hot chocolate. Douglas got ahold of our iPad and I found some treasures I have to share. :)

Keep in mind there are about 30+ more. These were just my favorites.

Megan, Betsy, & Henry. Aren't those the cutest Christmas PJ's?

12.23.11
Chris and I did a little shopping on our own. Chris went to 4 pawn shops and 1 gun shop...just for fun. He loves that kind of stuff. I do my best to be a good sport. :)
That night we had a spaghetti dinner and decorated gingerbread (graham cracker) houses. It was really fun to watch Chris get all into it. His house was very elaborate....it even had Santa out front shoveling snow. Regrettably, I didn't take any pictures of our masterpieces.
We then watched some Donny Osmond youtube clips (courtesy of mom) and then watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas....a tradition.
That night Chris and I went on a double date with Megan & Quinn/Thomas (a boy with 2 names, not 2 boys hahaha) to see In Time. A good movie- I really enjoyed it.

12.24.11
Christmas Eve is a big deal in my family. We have a big family party in the party barn. It goes for most of the day- we eat, play games, open presents, and play wii. Its pure chaos....I love it.

Cute Sister

Grandpa ready to pass out presents

Grandkids all lined up

We have a tradition that every year we get to open one present on Christmas Eve. Chris and I were assigned to give gifts to my brothers. We decided to play a little joke on them.... inspired by this video. We filmed ours too...but its not as exciting because my brothers aren't brats like most of those kids.

For their "real" present we bought them both slingshots and amo. For their fake present we found some Disney themed underwear. We hid the real ones and had them open the fake ones first. Jackson tried to act excited and Douglas was to disappointed to say anything. When I couldn't stand it anymore we pulled out their real presents and got to watch them be excited for real.

Haha, my poor brothers. I wouldn't have been happy either. Luckily, they were very pleased with their sling shots.  

12.25.11
Christmas Day was probably my favorite day. We had a phenomenal sacrament meeting service, I absolutely loved it. I had a blast watching my little sister and brothers open presents. Then Chris and I got to Skype with his brother who is currently serving a mission in the Dominican Republic. We visited Grandparents, ate leftovers, and played more games.

We played some "Just Dance" as well...I have videos, but unfortunately one of me is saved on an online locker ready for blackmail if needed.

12.26.11
Our last day in Utah. :( We went to lunch at Zupas and a $3 movie with the family. It was a good last activity. Then we were on our way...not looking forward to the end of the workless part of the break. We arrived in Rexburg at 11pm and collapsed into bed.

Great Christmas Break? Check!

December Happenings

4 days in & December is already a pretty exciting month.

We get a Wii! We got some Christmas money and we spoiled ourselves with an early Christmas gift. We got a killer deal at Walmart and came home with the Mario Brothers Bundle.

Complete with blue and black controllers- mine is the blue one :). Who knew they made Wii in colors now?
Next, Pinterest has turned me crafty. Chris and I have had fun trying the new recipes; and I like to find the easy crafts that give me something to do. So far we have tried Crock Pot Hot Chocolate, Oven Baked French Fries, & D.I.Y. Whiteboard. Here is how my whiteboard turned out:

 

I used notebook paper as my background because I use mine on my desk- probably mostly for to-do lists and reminders. But, for now, it's my Christmas Countdown.

Last night was date night. We got all dressed up and went out for dinner and then to the BYU-I Christmas concert featuring Brian Stokes Mitchell. I was so excited. It was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go out. We hadn't been on a date-date in a while. It's a lot of fun to date your spouse. The best part is, you don't have to say goodnight! Anyway, we went to Wingers for dinner and then after the concert we went and got some frozen yogurt. It was a great night!

I can't wait for the rest of December!

Date Time

Today has been (yet another) perfect Saturday. Chris and I decided to go on a spontaneous date this afternoon. We went to Subway for lunch with our gift card. We love to eat at Subway.
Next, we drove down to Idaho Falls to return some things and go shopping so I could spend my birthday money. I must say, it was a very successful trip. Here are the sweet deals I scored:

If I could share one tidbit of info I would say to NEVER buy anything full price at DownEast. I saw the peach colored shirt in the store about 2 months ago for $35. I got it for $13 with an additional 30%. I love clearance sales. :)
Then we headed over to Barnes & Noble to look at some journals and to get some salted caramel hot chocolate, one of Chris' favorites. It was my first time trying it--sooo good! Get some before the Christmas season is over (Is it already the Christmas season?).
Finally, we went to Macy's (the department store) to spend a gift card we got as a wedding gift. We had fun looking through all the fun appliances. We found a hidden treasure on sale, bought it, and brought it home.

Ladies and Gentlemen, say hello to the newest edition to the John home...

We registered for a popcorn machine, but never got one...so we bought ourselves one. Here's to many bowls of warm, buttery popcorn (and equally as many gym trips to compensate). 

Saturday Goodness

So, I have been saving my allowance pretty much ever since it existed (Wow, that wasn't redundant at all...). Today was the day I got to spend it! I wanted some new shirts pretty bad...and there was a gigantic hole in my purse. I had only $35 dollars to spend, so we took a trip down to Idaho Falls so we could spend the rest of our Target gift card money and visit Ross for my allowance spending spree.
We scored at Target- there was a set of flannel sheets on sale for $20! We had been looking online and they were really pricey, so we were very grateful for this find helping us stay warm in the bitter Rexburg cold. We also bought a new pan.
Then came Ross. I am very pleased to say that Ross took my allowance a very long way. I found some amazing deals:

I found a bag that fit exactly what I wanted :)

Nude color heels (in hopes of lengthening my stubby legs)

And 2 cute shirts!

After our shopping trip we came back to Rexburg and went to the temple. It was also great! I love doing things with Chris. He really is my best friend (I type this as he makes dinner for us...I'm procrastinating some homework)

Fro Yo

So today Christopher lost a bet. It was awesome. You must know that Chris is always making bets with me that he knows I can't win. He likes to tease/taunt me.

We were walking to our car from the Library in the rain. I was ready to be home (we had been on campus since about 9am and it was almost 7). Chris was walking slow, trying to be funny. We got about 10-15 feet within our car. "Open the trunk!" I said wanting to throw my backpack in it and get out of the rain, slightly annoyed at his sluggish pace.

"I bet you frozen yogurt that I will have the trunk open before you get to it." said Chris.

So I ran. And I got there just before he pushed the button and slammed the trunk shut as it started to open. I turned around to look at Chris, who was shaking his head. Victory was sweet.
We went to Twizzlberry (Utah people- its the equivalent to Yogurt Bliss). I ate 20oz of happy pink spoon yogurt.

A really, really great day....

Today has been "one of those days...." but in a good way- its been a really great day.

First of all...last night I slept very well (that always helps), and I got to sleep in until about 9am this morning. In my opinion 9am is the prime time to sleep into...you didn't sleep the day away but you get enough extra sleep to feel the effects. Anyway....we made waffles and went to a temple session. We went at a great time...not too crowded but there were enough people there to fill a session. We spent some time talking about our plans for future education and careers. It was cool to look forward and have the input of the spirit involved.
Next we went to Cragio's (actually called PizzaPieCafe but no one calls it that), an all you can eat pizza/pasta/salad buffet. This is my favorite place to eat in Rexburg. We also brought our homework with us so we were there awhile which means we ate a lot of pizza.
Then it was time for me to get ready to go to the Relief Society Broadcast. It was such a good meeting. The talks were great, the music was great, my company was great. Here are some of the highlights (for me) from the meeting:
1. Daughters in My Kingdom was mentioned in each of the RS 1st Presidency's talks. So I think you should read it.
2. Visiting teaching was also stressed in 3 of the 4 talks. I think this is important and the church as a whole needs to do better.
3. EVERYTHING that comes out of President Uchtdorf's talk is genius. I was barely able to watch the screen because I was taking notes so furiously. He really knows how to make talks seem personal to the individual. Here are some of the points from his talk:

"Forget Me Not"
Forget not...
-...to be patient with yourself: God knows we are not perfect...no one is. We tend to compare our weaknesses with the strengths of others. Weakness is part of mortality. Strengthening weakness is a long term goal.
-...the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish one: A good sacrifice is to sacrifice something good for something better.
-...to be happy now. "Remember the simple joy of the candy bar instead of only focusing on the "golden ticket." Be happy with where your life is now. We cannot put our happiness on hold and wait for "better" things to come our way. Appreciate the blessings you do have.
-...the "why" of the gospel: Routines cause us to overlook simple aspects of the gospel and of life. The gospel is not an obligation...it is a pathway. It is a light...illuminating our path. The how and what spring from the why.
-...the Lord loves you: We sometimes feel insignificant and overshadowed. We must remember that our Father in Heaven- the creator of all the earth- knows your name, listens to your prayers, and watches over you. He loves us because we are His children. Allow his love to heal you and soften your sorrow. We are closer to heaven than we realize.
Your future is as bright as your faith.

Such a great talk! I loved every second of it.

And to top it all off.....I was walking out to my car after the broadcast with my friends Merrie and Amberly, and their roommate Amanda, and we found that my car had fruitsnacks, a box of milk duds, and a box of cookie dough was taped on my car. Also, there was a note on my door that said "Love you the most." MY HUSBAND IS SO CUTE. It made me really happy. I am kicking myself that I didn't take a picture, but here is a picture of the bowl of treats I had after we got it all off my car...

48 Bags of Fruitsnacks, 1 Movie Theater-Sized Box of Milkduds, 1 Movie Theater-Sized Box of Cookie Dough

Life is good! :)