President's Day Weekend

Gotta love that we get a long weekend to "think about the president's and how they're so great." Mark and I took my little sister, Mel, down to Brian Head ski resort for the weekend to stay at a condo and go snowboarding. We had a great time! It was nice for us to spend some time with Mel and get to know each other a little better. We all went snowboarding on Saturday, and Mark and Mel went again on Monday while I was visiting some awesome friends in Cedar City. When we weren't out playing in the snow, we were inside playing the Wii or just hanging out. We got some sweet videos of Mark and Mel doing cool things on the snowboard, but I've only got a couple of Mark posted on YouTube. Here's the one he likes better.



Hope your weekend was as fun as ours!

Finally, an Update

Well, the bulletin is turning out really well. I got the pictures up today, but the nametags will have to wait until next week. I ran out of time before church today.


As for other things, Mark and his friend John built a snowcave this past week and Mark and I spent a couple of nights in it. The first night we were warm, but very uncomfortable because the ground was pretty bumpy. Around 2:30 am that night, we left the cave to sleep at home so that we could get some sleep. Disappointed in my experience, I told Mark that I wanted to try again. So, last night I took a bunch of blankets to the cave to layer underneath our sleeping bag. Sleep came easily last night. We were again quite warm, and this time comfortable. Last night's issue was that it's been so warm that the ceiling of the cave had sunk down about a foot and it was hard to maneuver about the cave. There was also a small fear that it would collapse on us during the night. But, lo and behold, we're fine and it didn't collapse.



Here's a picture of our snowy house.

Ask a Ninja

If you've never seen any Ask a Ninja episodes on YouTube, you ought to see this one to test it out. We think that he's pretty funny because he doesn't answer questions as you think he would. You'll understand what I mean when you watch this.



I found this video tonight while I was bored. Tell me what you think! I can recommend some others to watch if you like this one. (Disclaimer: it swears about twice, so don't watch it with children around unless they can't speak.)

Clarification

Due to Uncle Sam's confusion and a request from my husband, here is a picture of the gingerbread house Mark and I made when we were engaged. In my last post, there's a picture of us kissing and I have frosting on my face. Sam thought it was bubble gum, but it's not. So, yeah.


Ours is the one on the right. The other one belongs to our friends, the Wamplers, who just had their first child, Jane.

Old Pictures

I thank this project I wrote about for these. It's been a while since I explored my computer, but after I fixed up the pictures on my computer I was looking around at pictures and found these from our pre-married days...

New Project

Last month the bishopric assigned me the task of updating our bulletin board. In the married student wards the bulletin boards consist mostly of pictures of every family in the ward. Our current board has 10 couples that are actually in the ward; the rest have all moved out. So, it is my opportunity to use current ward pictures to recreate it in an updated way. Yesterday my friend Dinae helped me pick out scrapbook paper and a background to use with the pictures. We ended up with two shades of purple and two shades of gray/silver. After picking out the paper and deciding that the pictures will be printed in sepia, I went to Walmart to print off the pictures. I spent almost 2 hours fixing up pictures and changing them from color to sepia on their picture machine things. At the end, I found out that I would have to print out the color pictures as well, which I didn't want to do, so I canceled the order. Back to square 2: adjust the pictures on my home computer and burn a cd of sepia pictures that I can just have printed off. I'll try to take some pictures as I work on it, maybe even a before and after shot. Anyways, that's what I'm up to these days.

Surprise!

What do you think?

Productive Day "Off"

Today is called a "day off" because we don't have school and we got work off. However, we have spent the better part of our day working in the kitchen. Now we're done and we have shepherd's pie, lasagna, mashed potatoes and chicken enchiladas all waiting to be cooked and eaten. This takes a huge load off of me because now I know I don't have to do anything but put something in the oven for dinner. Now we can use our time for homework and studying (and a little game playing) instead of cooking. Ahhhh...

Testimony Booster

As you know, I'm feeling sick, tired, cold, etc. This morning when I parked my car near school, I parked behind someone on a steep hill. Since it's been snowing a lot recently, I happened to park my front wheel drive car on ice. Huge bummer. I tried for about 3 minutes turning my wheels this way and that way before I decided I really couldn't get out of that spot by myself. Mark was in class so I was alone. Not knowing what else to do I said a little prayer asking God to help me because I couldn't do it alone and I was getting frustrated and stressed out. No more than 30 seconds later, 2 boys walked up to my window and asked me if they could help. 3 minutes later and I'm still there, but another boy comes over offering to use his truck to pull me out. Unfortunately we didn't have any ropes or chains, but he still stuck around to help. 2 minutes after he showed up, I'm home free. None of them wanted a ride home so as I drove home I remembered God and his quickness to help me. I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I thought of how gracious He is.
I'm so grateful for my Savior and for His atonement. I know without a doubt that He is real. He loves me. As long as I am willing to receive His gifts, they are there for me. I thank my Heavenly Father for caring enough about me to send his Son so many years ago, and also for sending his sons to help me today.

Sick-o

The last couple of days I've been developing a cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. My past has been accompanied by a couple instances of walking pneumonia and bronchitis, so today I went into the doctor hoping to either be treated or prevent these sicknesses. It turns out that right now I just have a cold, but if I don't take good care of it, I'll get the flu which would later turn into pneumonia. Being an asthmatic, these ailments come more easily and frequently. Consequently my doctor prescribed lots of rest, good nutrition, and keeping the air I breathe moist and warm. Plus, I'm supposed to take cough medicine. I know all of this is boring to you, but I like to read my own blog and if I write down what I have to do then I won't forget later. If anyone has any good soup recipes or ideas for warming and healing dinners, let me know! Thanks.

Chicken

I'm beginning to dislike chicken. Not because of the taste or advantages that it has, but because of a couple of experiences we have had recently. A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I decided we were going to have chicken cordon bleu for dinner. We had a couple of leftover frozen ones that we'd bought at the store. As we sat down and started munching on our dinner, Mark saw that the chicken wasn't fully cooked! I still get a nasty feeling in my gut just thinking about it. What brings this discussion up is what happened today. We didn't have time to come home from school for lunch today and we'd forgot to pack lunches this morning. Therefore, we were forced to eat at the university cafeteria. I've eaten there before and it wasn't so bad, so I wasn't too worried. Well, I pick up a spicy chicken sandwich, and our other items, we pay for it then go start to eat. Of course, when Mark tasted my sandwich he caught that the chicken wasn't fully cooked!! GROSS!!! I was disgusted. Naturally, I took my sandwich back to where I got it to request a new one. The man was pretty good about making sure my next one was cooked. However, he ticked me off. Instead of just apologizing to me and running to get a new one right away, he sat around, first, thanking me for telling him instead of his boss. I'm guessing he doesn't have a very good reputation with his boss or else he wouldn't have been so grateful. Second, he talked my ear off about how he only has time to check a couple of patties from each batch and sometimes a few bad ones slip through. That is NOT something you should tell your customer! Does he really think I'll eat there ever again? HECK NO!!! Not if I already know my food might not be safe. I was fuming. It's a good thing I didn't have much time or else I might have gone and talked to someone about the food safety situation in that cafeteria.
That reminds me of the time I was at Mount Rushmore with my family and we got ice cream cones. The naive server picked his nose with his gloves on while I was watching, then dug his hands into the ice cream, dished my cone (I saw that finger touch the ice cream I was supposed to eat) and he handed it to me!! I didn't eat that ice cream; I made someone else get me a new one. Seriously, guys, can we use some common sense?!

Boredom

It's the end of the first week of school, and I don't have any homework yet. So, while I'm waiting for Mark to finish his homework, I'll try to think of 100 things about myself. Wish me luck.

1. I like math/statistics, and thus my major is statistics.
2. I enjoy learning statistical programming languages to complete my homework assignments.
3. I enjoy learning statistical programming languages for fun.
4. I can't stand to have my hair be the same length for a long time.
5. I designed my wedding ring and am proud that nobody else's ring will be the exact same.
6. My favorite object is my calculator.
7. Second to that is a toss-up between my phone and my palm pilot.
8. I feel naked when I don't have at least one of these 3 objects near me.
9. My favorite board game is called Power Grid, and I will recommend it to anyone.
10. I love Logan and now consider it my home, though my mother's house will always be a home to me.
11. My favorite movie is still Anastasia, because Dimitri is the hottest cartoon character I know of.
12. Mark is a better cook than I am.
13. I get baby-hungry at least once a week.
14. I really miss watching M.A.S.H.
15. Swimming is my favorite sport.
16. I like baseball purely because of the statistics involved.
17. I hate having cold feet unless I'm wearing flip-flops.
18. My job is pizza delivery and I actually enjoy it most of the time.
19. People can be really rude to pizza delivery people.
20. I'm on a diet that allows me only 1 day a week that I can eat pizza. All the other days I work I have to bring a lunch.
21. I love deep dish pepperoni pizza from Domino's.
22. I want to be a cartoon when I grow up.
23. I am unique, just like everybody else.
24. Pink is my favorite color to wear, though offensive green will always be my favorite color.
25. When I am old, I will wear purple.
26. I'm going to counseling for stress management.
27. My dad is my hero.
28. My mom is one of my best friends.
29. Marriage is the best thing that's happened to me.
30. I wish I had better fingernails.
31. I wish I wasn't tired all of the time.
32. I like dressing up in nice clothes to go out, but when I'm home I'd rather be in sweats.
33. I think it would be cool if wedding rings were worn on the right hand like in the olden days.
34. We have an awesome collection of sweet games that aren't like Monopoly or Apples to Apples.
35. I have a sock fettish.
36. I've been out of high school almost 3 years.
37. I've almost graduated college.
38. I've been married for just over a year.
39. I dislocated my elbow in high school which gave me the opportunity to join choir.
40. I'm often complimented on my voice in relief society.
41. I love having something to say during "Good News Minute".
42. My favorite drink is orange juice.
43. If I still drank pop, my favorite drink would still be Pepsi.
44. Water is my other favorite drink.
45. I have exercise induced asthma.
46. If I have the choice, I would choose a mac over a pc, but a pc over linux.
47. I really enjoy computer games like frogger, sudoku, and heroes of might and magic.
48. I was going to add a daily sudoku to my blog, but you can't actually solve them on the blog, and I wouldn't want to write it down to solve it so I didn't add it.
49. If I had a superpower it would be running really really fast.
50. I've been late to almost every class this week.
51. When I write emails or text messages I always use "..." at least once.
52. I love playing the piano, but sadly I don't do it very often.
53. I also love playing the violin, but not by myself and I usually don't have anyone to play with.
54. My violin reminds me of my great grandpa and the precious last memory I have of him before his death.
55. I'm grateful for my knowledge that I'll see him again.
56. I'm a really emotional person.
57. I cry a lot, especially during relief society.
58. One of my dreams is to travel around the world and meet as many people as I can.
59. My husband smells dang good when he wears the cologne I gave him.
60. Snow is not my thing.
61. I wish the snow would melt so I could ride my motorcycle.
62. I fulfilled my childhood dream of becoming "a motorcycle girl".
63. Ballroom dancing is my favorite type of dance.
64. I was on the USU ballroom dance team for a year, and loved it!
65. I enjoy watching Mark play video games.
66. I recently had a dream that I played a board game with Justin Timberlake from N'SYNC.
67. When I was young I had a dream that N'SYNC was in my kitchen and I was hanging out with them.
68. My favorite decorations are Willow Statues.
69. I keep old math books on our bookshelf so I can look at them with fond and loving memories.
70. I keep in touch with most of my old friends through text messaging, though I would much rather have them call me.
71. I haven't seen my maternal grandfather in over 10 years, and he's not even deceased.
72. His brother is my only pen-pal.
73. We have been writing letters for around 15 years.
74. I love jolly ranchers.
75. Sometimes I get the urge to put on some Ace of Base and dance around.
76. I have a habit of blaming myself for other people's problems.
77. Most of the time I have a special touch with babies that makes them stop crying.
78. Some of my fondest memories with my cousins are when I used this gift with them.
79. My favorite Christmas song is Silent Night.
80. Phantom of the Opera is my absolute favorite musical, ever since I was about 8.
81. My body is constantly tired.
82. Summer is my favorite season.
83. I always wished my birthday was during the school year so my friends could decorate my locker.
84. I was secretly glad on the days that my birthday was shared with Father's day.
85. My most memorable vacation was 5 days long and consisted of 3 major bad things and 2 of my best friends.
86. Lake Powell is the best lake on the planet.
87. I can order food in French, German, and Italian. My specialty word is "Chocolate Ice Cream".
88. Italian gelato (chocolate) is my favorite kind of ice cream.
89. We're going to Argentina in less than 2 months.
90. I speak very little Spanish and will not be able to be very social down there.
91. Someday I hope to get a career as a statistician working in pharmaceutical research.
92. I'm a bargain shopper, and can't buy a pair of pants for more than 20 bucks.
93. Most people think I'm older than I am; I hope that doesn't last forever.
94. I'd love to buy a house, but I would hate to move out of my current ward.
95. My hair looks best when it's crimped.
96. I've recently discovered that when you get married, bedtime gets bumped up from 1 am to 10 pm, because that's when married women are tired.
97. I enjoy playing "Guess what movie I just quoted" with my brother, sister and husband.
98. By taking biology last semester, I learned that there are other interesting fields other than math and stats.
99. I resent the fact that my parents didn't give me a middle name, even though their intentions weren't so bad.
100. Because of this, I will forever be Jessica Anderson.

First Day of My Last Spring Semester at USU

As you can read, today was the first day of my last spring semester at USU. It was a pretty good day, considering that most of the teachers only take time to explain syllabi and have everyone introduce themselves. Throughout the day I saw a lot of my old high school friends and college friends that I haven't seen recently, which was a great addition to a good day. It appears that my class load will not be overbearing this semester. In fact, it may be quite pleasant. I start most of my school days with yoga, then move on to math and chemistry. After my hour lunch break I head over to the pool for some lap swimming, then over to statistics to end my day. In my spare time, I'll do the work for my online food and nutrition class. And in my other spare time, maybe I'll crochet a blanket or write a novel. Well, that's it. I'm going to bed now.

Happy Anniversary!

Mark and I celebrated our first anniversary today. We started off the day by sleeping in, then making cinnamon streusel muffins for breakfast. After breakfast and getting ready for the day, we played a couple of different games with each other, then went shopping for some new work pants. I found the cutest black pants ever, and they're good for work too. For dinner, we went to Iron Gate Grill (which is absolutely fantastic, by the way) and now we're about to sit down for a movie. It's the one that we watched on our first date: Blue Streak. Thanks for all of the cards, calls and texts!

Christmas and Park City

Last week Mark and I had our winter vacation from work and took off to Park City. His best friend, Phil, and his wife came up from St. George to stay with us for a couple of nights. The first night we just hung out, had dinner, and played some games. In the morning, we went to the Park City Mountain Resort to go snowboarding. We had a great time there, but it was quite expensive. After a long day of snowboarding, we went to the hot tub and spent the rest of the time just chillin'. For the second night, another of Mark's friends and his girlfriend came up to play games and hang out. For the third night, everyone else had gone home for work, so Mark and I were left alone. We used that last time there as our 1 year anniversary trip. I won't go into details. ;)

Merry Christmas!!!
Today is Christmas Day. For Christmas Eve, Mark and I spent a wonderful day with my parents. We played a game called Alhambra, ate dinner, and saw National Treasure 2. We also opened presents since we wouldn't be around Christmas Day. Mark and I are very grateful for all of the things we were given this Christmas. I don't want to boast about gifts, so I won't list the things we got.
This morning we woke up to open presents with a couple of Mark's nieces and his nephew. They were so cute and excited to see that Santa came! It made me really excited for when we have our own kids. One thing that I would like to incorporate into our family's Christmas is my families tradition of orderly present opening. First we sort the presents, then Dad decides who opens a present next. That is a tradition I will always cherish.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

New Floor!!!

I'm pretty excited about this. Our new floor is finally in! Here's what it looks like.


And while the kitchen is empty, our living room is full! Note the fridge, pantry thing, kitchen table, etc. The oven is in front of the bathroom. What fun!

Real Quick

I have to leave for work in 5 minutes, so this is going to be short. Saturday night, my mother-in-law invited us to go with her to see Voice Male at the local theatre. We had a great time! Those men have amazing voices and are quite funny, too, though nobody has one-liners as good as my dad's. They sang a lot of Christmas songs, but also gave us a taste of their soon to come out children's album. Those songs were very cute and I suggest buying it for your kids when it comes out. There's even a song that's supposed to put them to bed!
Today we are getting a new kitchen floor in our apartment. We've had carpet up until now and it has been driving me crazy! It's hard to clean, and it just looks bad. We're very excited for our new vinyl floor. Right now, the stove is in the bathroom, and the fridge and table and all other kitchen stuff that couldn't fit on a counter are in the living room. It's great! Hope you all have a great day! I'll take pictures of our beautiful kitchen as soon as I can.

Hairstyles

Thanks to Carrie and her friend for the suggestion, but I don't think it worked out too well. I went to a website that was supposed to help me pick out a hairstyle. Unfortunately, all pictures of me that I thought were even remotely good made me want to just keep my hair the way it is. Here are a few of the best (in my opinion).



So, what do you think? I don't think they look that great, and the other pictures were even worse. I think it's the fault of my huge honking nose!

My Friend Stephie

This weekend my lifetime friend Steph will be moving out of Logan. We have been friends since she was born (I'm older by a month and 8 days), and have been going to the same schools and living within walking distance of each other forever. Even when we moved to college, we were still only a couple of blocks away. Granted, we didn't get together all of the time, but there was comfort in knowing that she was always there if I needed her. On Saturday she moves to Cedar City, 4 hours away from here. I don't know what I'm going to do! We just went out to lunch today and were talking about how much time we have shared together through this far in life. I'm going to miss her! For anyone who has seen Steel Magnolias, well, that's our movie. We are the two old ladies who are always arguing but are the best of friends. It will be weird to have my longest time friend gone away from me. If I were allowed to tell anyone about some of the memories we have together, I could write a hilarious, sad, rude, exciting, and dull book that would include fights, parties, and pretty much everything you can think of. The book would be really long as we have spent almost 21 years of our lives making memories. It would be depressing at some points, yet overly happy at most others. I guess what it comes down to is that I'll miss you, Stepharoonie Potsatoonie.

I Need Ideas

Hey y'all. I'm going to go get my hairs cut in the next couple of days, but I always have the hardest time deciding on how to have them cut. My hair has gotten pretty long over the past year, so I'm attached to it, but it's gotten mangy. Any ideas would be awesome! If you find a picture online, just put the link in the comments and I'll have a look-see. Thanks!