Meatballs

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

So, in trying to think about what to write about I asked Jason what happened this week. His response: "Nothing happened this week. We ate meatballs." We did in fact eat meatballs (our new recipe of the week made by yours truly. See photo.) and apparently for Jason it was the highlight of the week. I am completely justified in my statement (cited in Jason's post last week) that he cares about food much more than I do.

But yes, on Monday we did try out a new recipe--Sweet and Sour Meatballs--from our new cookbook "Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms' Cookbook." It turned out well and Jason really liked the sauce, so I'll have to make it again sometime.

My new show this week

Jason did a lot of homework and studying for the MCAT this week which meant I had a lot of time by myself and while I could have done all of my reading for my classes and gotten ahead even, I decided to start a new TV show. Don't worry, I did get to doing my homework eventually. I started a show called Downton Abbey. It is about a British noble family in the early 1900s and what goes on in their lives and in the lives of their servants. It addresses issues of class struggle, women's rights, World War 1, and other events of the early 1900s. It's very interesting.


School is very busy for both of us, but it is going very well. We are both enjoying our classes, but I'm getting very excited to be done with classes after this semester. Then I'll just have a few more internship hours for my TESOL minor and I'll be done! I'm trying to get more internship hours right now so if you know of anyone who needs to be tutored in English, let me know.

We are slowly getting more and more settled into our apartment: getting rid of boxes, organizing things (somewhat), and turning it into a home for us. There is still a lot to do, but we're getting there.

On Wednesday, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Jason's brother, Brian and his old roommate Dan. For those of you who have never been (this would have been me before this week) this is a sports bar and grill with TVs everywhere. There were at least 5 different games being shown on the screens around the room and it was pretty chaotic. It was cool though and we had a fun time watching the Jazz game (among others) even though they got beaten by the Toronto Raptors in double overtime.

Another highlight of the week was playing dodge-ball yesterday with some friends. It was a lot of fun to spend time with some friends we hadn't seen in a while and have a good time together. Jason and I were both sore this morning from all the dodging, jumping, and running, so we'll have to see how long that lasts, but it was definitely worth it.

Well, I think that's it for this week's post. Have a great week! Happy National Puzzle Day! (seriously, check it out)

FIRE!!!!!......Plus lessons learned in the first month together

So I (Jason) was thinking about how our blog might develop, it may either turn into a weekly summary of what we have done (which may be quite boring since we are poor and are frozen in Provo), or a place where we talk about movies we like, a blog about nothing (brownie points to anyone who can name that reference...post in the comment section below), or we might draw from our vast experience as a married couple and pass that information on to the true Newlywed amateurs.  I think as time goes on it will merge into all these ideas and with time there might be recipes that I force Michelle to try because she thinks, and I quote "It's funny that you get so excited about food.  I like good food but not as much as you." So, I need to be the one now to have Michelle try something new, and hopefully we can share a new recipe with the blogging world each week.

So why fire? Well as many of my old roommates might know I have a tendency to warm up a kitchen, well, with some flames and smoke.  The problem is, and this is the truth, the instructions for making garlic bread from Smith's or Fresh Market are very flawed.  So what happens is when you put garlic bread under the gas broiler (I've only cooked with electric ovens, so gas ovens are new to me) the ends of the torn bag get really close to the flames of the broiler.  So when I checked our garlic bread for our FHE (Family Home Evening) meal the bag that the garlic bread came in was, in fact, on FIRE.  So I had to warn Michelle and Brian (my brother) that there was a fire.  It was quickly put out and the garlic bread was saved.

-I love Garlic bread, I could eat it for every meal
-yeah but you'd get fat
-why's that?
-bread makes you fat
-BREAD MAKES YOU FAT!!!!!!

Anyway, enough movie quotes.

So as some may know, I enjoy pain and school, which is why my future plans involve med school.  This semester I just enrolled in an intensive MCAT prep class with Altius.  And if I were to be a perfect Altius student and a perfect BYU student that means that I should be spending about 94 hours a week studying.  Now since I don't want to study on the Sabbath (Sunday, see Acts 20:7 and Exodus 20:8-11), that leaves 6 days of work (144 hrs total) that leaves just 50 hours a week for free time.  If I were to only devote that time to sleeping then I would get the recommend sleep of 8 hours a night.  So basically I will be spending more time with my MCAT books than with Michelle.  Needless to say I will not be winning the "Newlywed Husband of the Year" award.

So for a new segment of the blog, Things we have learned after being married for a month. (Presented in no particular order, but you might be able to tell who has learned what)

-Tree Branches and side view mirrors are not friends...this was very evident when our car had an accident with one, but duct tape works great to hold it up until it gets fixed...Update: it hasn't gotten fixed.

- There are better ways to cook Garlic Bread
-MCAT studying and Med-school means I need to learn how to make Michelle a very important priority in life
- It is perfectly fine to have a couch that you got for free on KSL
- It is best not to be starving when you go shopping (I thought I had learned this lesson when I was young...NOT!)
- When shopping at Costco, it's best to buy in bulk when it isn't perishable.  I think we go through a roll of toilet paper a week, so the 36 or 48 pack we got should last a good while
- When shopping, in general, it is good to know what utensils you have at home.  Our first night at our apartment we ended up eating hot dogs, because we didn't have plates, or utensils.  Another night we were going to open a can of beans for tacos, but realized that we didn't have a can opener, ergo no beans for tacos.  Another time we were going to eat some carrots, but we didn't have a peeler.  So it's good to know what you have.  Thankfully once we started opening up presents we found a set of plates, flatware, and a microwave to help us out.
-It's important to smile and be positive.  We don't have a perfect place but it is nice for us and we are fortunate to have a warm place to sleep at night.
-Be grateful for all that you have.  Michelle and I are in awe because of the kindness and generosity that our friends have shown us, in helping us settle in.  We have been given so much, we are truly grateful.
-Be more grateful. I don't think I have ever mentioned in a prayer that I grateful for hot water, but it is a blessing that we have it.
-Don't let your circumstances determine your happiness, you can be sad and complain about your situation or you can embrace it.  Gratitude and a good sense of humor can turn a low ceiling (which we have in our hallway) into a good joke and a conversation piece.
-Cuddling is fun :-)
-Being married to someone who shares your same opinions about early mornings makes getting up that much harder.
-Being married to someone who knows grammar better than you makes writing a paper that much easier. (Michelle grammar checks my blog posts :-) )
-It's amazing how something so common to you could be the most odd thing to your spouse.  I like to put a paper towel over my food when it goes into the microwave, Michelle says "why don't you just put a glass plate over it???" I say "because I don't have to clean the plate after and i can just throw away a paper towel after using it"  Michelle also saves our plastic lunch bags, which means it is going to take more time to go through the 500 or so we bought at Costco.
-It's important not to get into too much of a routine, you have to do something different every so often to make life interesting.
-Living on a small budget is tough but it is good for us. Thankfully our apartment is at a good price for us and we only pay for the electric and internet bill; our landlord picks up the gas, water, and cable bills.
-Friendships with our single friends are just as important as our new ones with married friends. Who says you can't call or text a good friend even if they are still single?  It's good to stay in touch and be aware of others needs.
-Marriage is an adventure and so it is good to be with someone who loves and supports you and has great faith that all will work out.
-Be humble enough to ask for advice from in-laws and siblings about life; it helps understand your spouse's point of view.
-When you read a book together, if you get a text saying "Can I read chapter 6? :-)" it's best just to say "Yes, and you can read 7 & 8"
-It's fun to watch Ron Paul make fun of Rick Santorum.
-It's fun to watch debates with Ron Paulites.  Ron Paulilans? Ron Paugans? Ronnies? People who support the old guy?
-In the relationship or in personal life, don't let the Savior take 2nd place in anything that you do, make sure he is your number one priority (this is odd to say because you'd think your spouse should be number one, but it doesn't really work out that way).
- Writing a Blog is fun and therapeutic, and it is nice to share a little more than what twitter or facebook allows in one post.

Have a good day, and the next time you buy a new refrigerator, make sure you know the dimensions of the door and of the refrigerator, or else it is even harder to move :-)...This goes out to DAVE Andelin; it was fun helping you and your family move into your new home. P.S. I think we still have a piece of it after taking it apart.

Fun in Cali

Well, it is Sunday evening and we are packing up getting ready to fly back to Utah tomorrow morning, but despite the late hour I figured I had better write something to keep my goal. This last week has been very nice. We had school and work as usual, but the week seemed shorter because the weekend came a day early. On Friday morning we woke up at the unholy hour of 4:15 and drove up to Salt Lake to catch our flight to Long Beach. We got here early and had some time to relax before having some fun in downtown L.A. We had lunch at Philippe's which was featured on Man vs. Food TV show and that was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed our French-dipped sandwiches and even tried a little of the spicy mustard. After lunch we walked around downtown and explored Olvera Street a little and grabbed some churros for dessert. That afternoon we helped set things up at the church for the Open House the next day with lots of help from Jason's family. For dinner that night, Jason & I, Jason's parents, and brother went to The Roadhouse for my birthday (which was Saturday) and I ordered the barbequed half chicken dinner and when my plate came, it was actually half of a chicken. It was very delicious. :) My family arrived that evening and we figured out all the sleeping arrangements and got some rest that night before the long busy day on Saturday.

Saturday started out pretty lazy actually. We got to sleep in a bit, but then I recruited my sisters to help me get ready and they got to work on my hair and makeup. We had a great time at the Open House. The decorations were beautiful, the food was delicious, the music was fun (we even had a rendition of Happy Birthday), the dancing was rockin', and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was a lot of fun to meet so many of Jason's friends and hear the comments about how much he has grown and to hear how much everyone loves him and what a great guy I married. I told everyone that I already knew that he is amazing and that I am the lucky one.We had a fun evening with our families--relaxing and opening presents. We are amazed at how generous everyone was. We are so grateful to have such great friends and family. Better get started on those Thank You cards. :)

Today was a very nice day as well with church and a visit to the L.A. Temple to walk around the grounds and visit the Visitor's Center and I think everyone is sad to be going home tomorrow.

Well, it is late and I am tired, so more to come on the Andersons next week. Happy Civil Rights Day!

Fun Happenings this past week

Well the first week of school as married people has come and gone. Michelle and I (if you can't tell Michelle wrote last week and I get to write this week's blog entry, which is fine for me because she is doing the dishes now) are trying to get the hang of things at the home and at school, while still having fun. It has been an easy first week. We are getting to school nice and early, from around 7:50-8:30 depending on when class starts and leaving around 6 or 7 pm. It's my fault for the late classes. But once school gets going it will be nice that we will both be on campus for a long time to have good study time there. Michelle is working about 19 hours a week and is taking 15 credits which include: Advanced Writing, French Civilization, French Lyric poetry, Assessment in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages), Literacy development in TESOL, the American Studies Capstone Course, and a TESOL internship class. So not too hard for this AWESOME WOMAN. Myself on the other hand will maybe work 5-10 hours a week (it's not my fault; Catering just doesn't schedule me) but I think I will only work an hour this coming week. But I am taking 15 credits which includes: Genetics, Spanish Literature, Gender Psychology (if anybody is reading this and doesn't know me, please guess my major now!!!), Physiology with a Lab attached, and History of Creativity part deux. Oh and I just enrolled in a MCAT prep class that will add on 15 hours of work per week. So the Andersons have a lot to do and it doesn't look like we have much down time for awhile.

Since school has been so calm Michelle and I have watched our fair amount of movies to pass the time. We started this week by watching "THE LAST OF SHEILA" with James Coburn, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Morning Glory" with Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams, "Captain America," and "Never Been Kissed." Michelle watched "Never Been Kissed" while making dinner on Friday night. She had her Kindle Fire propped open on the counter as she cooked.

Those movies seemed to be the most exciting things till we got home from campus Friday night to see 2 police cruisers parked in front of our humble home. When I made the turn onto our street, my heart dropped and I thought that someone had for sure broken into our home and taken everything. Luckily it was a police stop and everything was fine. The next morning we got to go clean the chapel to help our ward out. It was a good experience to get to know some more of the ward members and so they could get to know the Andersons (it sounds funny sometimes to call us that). After we had gotten cleaned up for that we got a nice visit from the neighborhood Jehovah's Witnesses, good people. I took their magazines and they left with a smile. Michelle and I then debated which one was most like our ENSIGN magazine and which one was like our Tracts that we handed out ourselves, that is to say which message was meant for the members of their congregation and which is intended for those not of their faith. Anyways, most of our day after those events was spent trying to figure out our laundry situation. We didn't have a washer or dryer and we weren't too open about going to the coin-op down the street so what did the Andersons do? We went shopping and found a nice washer for 80 bucks and bought a dryer from Dave, Michelle's brother. It took us a few minutes, a couple of calls, and a trip to Home Depot to get the washer running right, but the long and short of it is that it is working just fine.

Church was a nice break. It was fast Sunday, but it never goes fast when you are fasting. We both bore our Testimonies and introduced ourselves to a bigger crowd and I think it was good for us because a lot more people took notice and helped us around more. Hopefully it is appropriate to give a brief introduction before a testimony.

Well there isn't much more to say. Michelle and I are doing well, the apartment is getting cleaner, the cooking doesn't involve a microwave as much, it's hard to cook without any utensils or can openers or peelers and it's hard to eat without plates and flatware....don't worry we have those things now, except the cooking utensils.

Ohh I almost forgot. We had a nice discussion with the Andelins up north about life, home schooling and Ron Paul. Thanks to Quince I don't stab my ears out when anyone brings up RON PAUL. So it's a start :-).

"Don't forget to drink your OVALTINE" and say your prayers.

First Blog Post

Well, I made it a goal to write in my journal and/or blog every Sunday, so I had better start out with a successful first Sunday, but since I had to take the time to create this new blog and I am rather tired this post will probably not be very long.

Jason & I were married on December 17, 2011. We got married at 1:00 P.M. which gave us some time in the morning to pick up the wedding book at 6 A.M., run some other errands, get my hair and makeup done and get to the temple right on time. Surprisingly, I didn't really feel nervous at all. It all just felt a little surreal that my wedding day was finally here. The sealing was wonderful of course with family and friends there to rejoice with us in entering the marriage covenant. We took some pictures afterwards (which will be on here once I get them) and then went to the church for the wedding luncheon and reception later that evening. The day kind of went by in a blur, but it was a wonderful day. Everything turned out beautifully despite a few changes in plans and we are so grateful to everyone who helped make the day so perfect.

Sunset from our balcony on the ship

We flew to L.A. the next morning and boarded our cruise ship at the port of Long Beach. The cruise was amazing. We visited two different ports in Mexico where we had a chance to go snorkeling, kayaking, and zip-lining and we had lots of time to relax and explore the huge cruise ship.

We got back to L.A. on Christmas Eve morning and spent that evening and Christmas with Jason's family and flew back to Utah the day after Christmas. I've been back at work this last week and we've been moving in to our apartment in Provo. We have a bit more organizing to do, but we've moved everything to our apartment and started making it a home for us. We went to our family ward today and definitely noticed the difference in noise level between that and a single's/student ward. We are excited to start our life together and hope we can share some of our experiences here to keep a record and also to keep family and friends up to date on what's going on in our lives. Happy New Year!