Countdown!!

Well, this past week has been busy, well, busy for JOhn in school for sure. He has 11 finals, and is about half way down. So he is studying all the time, with hardly any sleep, and a brain that is crammed with STUFF, he still manages to pull through and get good grades, with a pretty positive attitude! I would have gone crazy by now! So he is half way down, this is his last week!! Then PARTY! Or sleep for him, I am looking forward to him having a break. So this thursday he is offically done with his first year of dental school! They have a spring extension semester through the middle of June, so he will still have school, but we hear that it is not too bad. The good thing is that even though he has been studying all the time, he has been doing it at home, so although we don't talk or touch its nice to be together, in the same room ( as long as I am pretty quiet).
Work for me has been great. Each day I feel more and more comfortable, like I know what I am doing a little bit more. I enjoy it. I am really happy at my job and enjoy the people I work with, and my schedule for the most part. The four days off a week are nice, but then I pay for it, by working holidays and sundays. Yesterday I gott to go to church and I feel so distant, I hate not being able to go to church each week. But I guess, that comes with the job.
On my days off, I keep busy by doing the neccessities around the house, clean, cook, shop( groceries) I haven't shopped for clothes in way too long! Don't get me started! I always love getting together with the girls whenever we do, it is always a fun time. And if you don't already know we do not have TV, well we have a TV, but no channels, we have borrowed bunny ears, from our dear friends, and so we get two channels, fuzzy but watchable. I have been enjoying the shows, rachel ray, martha stewart, and ellen. I also am trying to make a rug, a few baby blankets, a recipe calendar of favorites! I love to keep busy, but as you can see maybe I have a few too many things going on!? I love getting new ideas of things to cook, and make (crafts) and try to remember them so one day I can do them, when I have time.( right, like never!) I am getting anxious for a few little vacations we have planned this summer, In June we are going to Idaho, for some white water rafting, in August we are going to san diego for a week on the beach, in September my mom, dad, and grandma are coming to visit, and in OCtober I am going to AZ for a week, hopefully we can get John's family out here over the summer!! John and I also want to do tons of little trips here locally to take advantage of this time to be out here in buffalo, kid free!!

I am also getting ready to plant a little garden out in back of our home. I am excited to have pretty flowers and fresh veggies and herbs! On saturday night, my friend Missy and her husband Gary are moving to Chicago over the summer for Gary to attend Orthodontic school( he is done and moving on), that will be us in just three years, graduated!!! But she had some people over for a free yard sale, getting rid of everything she had collected and not interested in bringing with them to Chicago! She had tons of baby clothes, which I grabbed a ton, since. . . . . Ha Ha. Not really. I passed on those. as it will be a little while, but I came home with a rice cooker and a cookie cookbook! pretty cool! I have been wanting a rice cooker, so it worked out great. We will miss Gary and Missy a ton, but will definately come and visit!!


I also watched my friend Alanna's baby Cohen for an hour or so one day this week, I was having so much fun with him, and he was making the cutest faces, I had to snap a pic!

Life is good out here is buffalo, finals are almost done, and summer is hopefully just around the corner!!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, John bought some volcom jeans from steap and cheap, and they don't fit him quite right!
We got quite a laugh at them!
He must be emo!! ( with the tight "look like girl" pants)

Oh, yeah and I forgot something else. You know that beautiful mobile home we bought back in the fall. Well, we are so sad to see it go. We have washed our hands of the home, for 500 hundred!!! Yeah !!! Shopping spree!

Sunny in Buff Buff!!

You might be wondering what the big deal is. I have all these pictures of the sky, water, us girls in the park with sunglasses on! Well, let me just tell you about cold ol buffalo! This past weekend it has been warm, sunny, and in the 70's !!! It's only been 6 months, it has felt like my whole life since the sun went down and the warm weather disappeared. So, needless to say I took advantage of it. I walked to the gym, not only did I get double cardio, but I got some Vit D from the rays. One day I walked to Wegmans ( the best and my favorite grocery store ever) three times, why, just for someplace to walk to outside, and to walk around the store, Doesn't sound exciting but if any of you visit out here you will love Wegmans too!! In the pictures, Myself, and my friends, Erica (ella), Missy (bryker), Alanna(cohen), and Kristen(chase) went out to Niwanda Park, it was so fun. We packed up our babies, while everyone did but me, and enjoyed an afternoon at the park. It was so nice, we walked on the path they had, and rested on blankets, while we soaked up the sun and chatted! The water was amazing, it had huge ice chunks floating in it! I can't wait to have more of these days hopefully in the summer without too much humidity, cross our fingers!! This week its supposed to be overcast, rainy and in the 50's, so not as nice for sure!
John is busy busy busy with finals, having 4 or 5 tests in one week is crazy. He is doing well, getting through school, and still taking of me and himself! I cannot wait for summer, so he can have a break, and we can take advantage of our time together!!

Going out on the town!

First of all, congrats to Dave and Stephanie and their little son Crew!! Born late Thursday night, he is such a cute little boy, yeah little, only 6lbs, 14 oz!! They are all doing great. A few of us girls went to see her on friday and she looks so good, and both are healthy!!

This weekend was one to look forward to. First reason, a three day weekend, not for John but for me, No work on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. What a nice break. The second reason is that a bunch of our friends had a dinner date at Texas Roadhouse, yeah 14 of us, including a baby with every couple but two!! It was hilarious, everyone was wondering what a bunch of young people where doing together with a bunch of babies. Texas Roadhouse was delicious, no surprise there, and we did not have to wait. With call ahead seating, the whole group got to sit with hardly any wait. It was enjoyable to talk with everyone, and chow down!


After dinner, John and I came home, and watched the episode of LOST from wednesday, and it was pure torture, after the episode we just stop and look at each other, shaking our heads. They just leave you hanging so so bad, and it stinks having to wait to find out what is going to happen. Also we were in the movie watching mood, and since we would rather stay in and watch a movie, then go to the theaters and spend $20 we did. ( by the way, I can't remember the last time we went to the theaters, I think it was on Christmas, we have done the dollar movies or three dollar movies), anyway, we watched Meet Joe Black, I had never seen it, and it had been a while for John, so I did not complain, any movie with Brad Pitt I am willing to watch. It was enjoyable, I feel asleep part way through(surprising), so I finished it today. It is a long movie, but I enjoyed it. Today I have been completing tasks on my never ending list, avoiding some, and accomplishing others. Today was actually a nice day out, with a little sunshine! John took advantage of that, and him and a few friends went out and hit a bucket of balls. Here is John, very proud of his sweet baby blue thrift store golf bag!!


Tonight the girls are getting together and letting the guys study. The spirit of finals is here, so we like to get together while the boys do their thing!! I am sure it will be fun!!

Ok, so where should I live!

For those of you who are interested in what the website Findyourspot.com told me, well here are my top five. John and I did it separately, and we actually had a lot of similar places so that is good news!!! (sometimes I get worried because I think he kinda likes this cold, snowy stuff). I think living in any of these places would make me happy, so here are the top five!!

1- Las Vegas Nevada- Kinda cool, i was acutally born in Vegas, yeah, that might explain my wild party side, ha ha. But I think I could live here, not like on the strip, but they have beautiful suburbs in Vegas.

2- Honolulu, Hawaii- I am not complaining, I have never been to Honolulu, but Maui was awesome so I am sure Honolulu would not be bad. Beach, surfing, hot chicks! I am sure the boys perked up on that one, ha ha. Sounds like the life!

3- Albuquerque, New Mexico- Now on our eight day journey out to Buffalo we drove through Albuquerque, and I was not too impressed, but that was just a short visit, I am sure it is nice, but not my first choice!!

4- Portland, Oregon- Never been to Oregon, don't know to much about it. Besides having the reputation of having tree huggers, hippies, large gay populations, and libral views. I am not saying anything about that. I know, probably not true, and actually I think portland would be a nice place to live!

5- Phoenix , Arizona- Surprise! I think not, its just meant to be! Its number five but number one to me! The results were not skewed at all, and believe it or not, Phoenix was John's number one! So need I say more, this is our home!!!

Beautiful sunset in AZ!

Life would be rough, having sunny days everyday, laying out by the pool in AZ!

Where should you live?!

John informed me of this cool site, where you take a quiz and it matches you up to certain cites in the US where you should live, based on your answers to questions about weather, communtiy resources, economy etc. and other important things. It is kinda fun to take, you and your husband can take it separately to see if you want to end up in the same place, its really a cool litle thing. Try it out when you have a minute.

the website is: www.findyourspot.com

( sorry I tried to do the link thing, but I can't figure it out, I will have to have one of my better blogger friends help me figure it out!!)

Easter Time

Happy Easter to Everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful day. I will share about our easter. First of all, ours came a little early. We celebrated easter on Saturday due to my wonderful work schedule which I had to work today. Saturday morning we woke up to the journey of finding our easter baskets. Late friday night, we took string and mazed it through the house, leading to the baskets. John had the family room and basement, and I had our guest room and kitchen! So saturday morning, following the string through the house until we found our baskets!! I know kinda a bit much since it is just John and I, but we like to go all out and start traditions now!! I found my basket in the basement, and John's was under the kitchen sink.


Starting our search following the string!!

After the baskets, were explored, it was time for breakfast, which I made omelets and some homemade sweet orange rolls which were delicious!! I tried a new recipe and we were not disappointed at all!!

Yummy Yummy!!
That morning it was a primary activity day, and John had a role of playing the blind man that Jesus healed, so I went for moral support, and to make sure his costume remained intact!

Later in the day, we finshed off the easter traditions with the easter egg hunt. JOhn hid some for me, and I for John. John says he is not a HUGE fan of the easter egg hunt, because it reminds him of when he is looking for his lost keys which is way too often. Anyway, the hunt was successful and no hard boiled eggs went missing, so that is a good thing!


( No fair, I can't even reach that!!)
Easter dinner was a success as well, John set up the romantic table setting, and I in the kitchen prepared the following easter menu- Ritas holiday baked ham, homemade creamy au gratin potatoes, spinach and strawberry salad, steamed asparagus, warm rolls. And some yummy carrot cake, which stayed on the platter because we were too full!! Such a great night!
We sat and shared our thoughts on Easter, looking through a book I have entitled He Lives which is full of beautiful pictures of the Savior by Simon Dewey, and I gave a fun easter lesson explaining the easter story ( with 12 eggs with an object in each one describing something that happened in Jesus' life.) It was a great day to spend together!
Today which really was Easter, did not even feel like it, kinda sad I know, but being at work, I didn't realize it. The easter bunny came by, and even delivered a stuffed bunny to me! It was a slow day which is nice since it was easter. John was lucky enough to have two easter dinners, because our friends, Tyler and Rachel invited him over. I love holidays, and we had a great easter. Now onto hopefully some sunshine and summertime, that will be a cause for celebration!!

Spring Time in Buffalo

So it is April! Lets brainstorm. April is spring time, right?! When I think of April and Spring, I think of sunny days, heat from the sun, excitement for summer, flowers blooming, maybe some rain showers, things like that. I am definately thinking of that right now, which is pure torture because here in Buffalo April brings 20 degree weather and snow. And I was getting ready to plant my garden, no way. Winter is back! I may be exaggerating a little, i think it is just supposed to last a few days but still. . . I put away the snow shovel and boots, what was I thinking. I wish all you arizona people would come out here to visit to experience the joys that Buffalo brings!!

It doesn't look that bad, i know, but it was snowing all day, and windy and cold but it was not sticking to the ground!
A few days this week, we are house sitting and dog sitting, for our old bishop in our ward. Their dog is very cute, her name is Dutchess. We enjoy not only watching their dog but living in a house, a big house compared to what we are used too.

Meet Dutchess!

Meet our new house!!
And an update with the car situation! Well, you might not be aware with out troubled Civic, ever since we had the automatic car starter put in, every once in a while, which feels like every day the civic won't start. And it happens to be whenever it is wet, rainy or snowy! Circuit City checked it out, and it is fine with them, so know we need to take it in! I feel so bad for John he is the one who drives it, and half the time, he has to bum off of someone for a ride, because I am working. Frustrating!!
Last night, you should have seen us! The Civic has been stuck there because it wouldn't start. So, we are at the bishops house, which has a long inclined driveway. So the plan was at 9 o clock at night in 10 degree weather, while snow is coming down, is to push the civic off the road, up the driveway, and into the garage, to the covered garage, in hopes that it could start once it dried off a little. So I get in the maxima, which is behind the civic, John is sitting on the hood of the maxi, and his legs on the back of the civic, and slowly driving and pushing it up the driveway and into the garage! WoW! We did it! Good team work, now we just need to get to the shop to get it fixed!
The boys are just about ready to dive into finals for their final semester in the first year, so it was just the right time for a girls lunch!! Today I had friends, Alanna, Kristen, Missy, and Stephanie over to my house for some delicious food and even better chatting. It was definately a nice afternoon just to sit and talk with all us girls going through this together! I was the only one without a baby or pregnant! Stephanie is due Monday, so any day she will have her cute baby boy outside her belly! And the other babies, which are all boys are getting cuter and bigger each time I see them!! I made some chicken salad crossiants, carrot cake mini cupcakes, and a fruit bouqet! Check em out!






I hope everyone has a great easter weekend!

Welcome April!

Happy April Fools Day Everyone!! I totally forgot it was April fools day today, so I have no pranks up my sleeve to share, I have never really been a big prankster anyway.

But I did have an enjoyable week, and weekend. I will start with the week.
*Work went well this week, I have to work on easter so that does stink, so John and I will celebrate Easter on Saturday. I guess that is what I get for being low on the todem pole. As for the rest of the holidays for the year, yeah, they are gone too, probably working every one of them.
*Anyway, on another sad note, on Friday, a young 2 year old girl passed on. This was my first experience with death since I began working. She was not my patient, but I have gotten to know her since I started working, she had been there a while. She had neuroblastoma, along with lymphoma, and was the cutest little girl, it was a sad time, but she passed so peacefully. I am not even a mother yet, but I am sure you mothers understand even more how sad that would be.
* John took two tests this week, some hard core studying took place, since he did not study over spring break. He successfully got an A on one, and on the other, we are still waiting. he is doing so well. And I am proud of him, for working so hard, and still being a great husband!

This can be used as a source of late night energy when boys get together and study!
*Girls night on Thurday-Kristen and I ( and baby Chase) enjoyed a nice dinner out to the Pancake House, enjoying yummy crepes and the Dutch baby. Then meeting up with all the girls at Alanna's house to dye some easter eggs, I am not proud of mine at all, the art work and creativity were not flowing that night. But is was fun to get together and talk with the girls, while the boys studied.

* My birthday is coming up in May, and I have decided that I would love a kitchenaid mixer, with all the baking and cooking that I do, one would think I would have one already, but I don't. Just a crappy hand mixer that can't handle anything, I end up stirring the mix with a spoon because it dies half way through mixing!

* I have been looking forward to this weekend, because I had Saturday and Sunday off, it had been awhile since I had both days off, and boy was it nice. It started off, Friday night with yummy Wegmans subs and a night of LOST with my hubby! We crashed in front of the TV, hooked to Jack, Locke and the others!

Saturday, John went out early to play some basketball with other dental students and members of the ward, and we enjoyed watching general conference in the comfort of our own home on the internet. I love technology. . . sometimes. It was such a relaxing day, we wanted to get out and maybe do some shopping but that did not happen, we just relaxed. Saturday night after John got back from priesthood, we went over to our friends, Aaron and Kristen's house, and hung out. We chatted, and watched some Basketball, and saturday night live. It is always fun to spend time with friends. Sunday John and I slept in, like til 10!! I can't remember the last time I did that. We sure needed it! We enjoyed a nice breakfast, and two sessions of conference. It was a very nice weekend, and I feel well rested for the upcoming week.

It was quite an unusal weekend, with no studying, no worries, just hanging out with each other. With nothing to do, we enjoyed chatting about things going on, and spending time with each other, which is not often with dental school being so crazy!
* I can't believe it is April, already, time keeps on flying by! And I can't believe that it is suppose to snow this week, I already put away the snow shovel thinking it was done for the spring! Wrong on that one!

Spring Break Update

So the long awaited week has come and gone.
Our trip back to good old AZ was way to short, John was able to stay from last saturday to sunday, and myself just Tuesday to Friday, but am grateful for each day I had.
Arizona was beautiful! To say the least.
It was such a nice break, to go back home is torture because eventually we will have to come back here, i know I am making it sound so bad here, it is really not, but it is hard going home.
A few highlights of our trip to AZ!
Body World Three at the Phoenix musuem was absolutely amazing, it was really cool to see real human bodies like that. I had to keep reminding myself that I was not looking a a statue or manican, but a real body, just like mine. Crazy!!


Favorite Restaurant visits including Oreganos, Guedos, and Cafe Rio.
My mother and I getting pampered and the local salon, with spa pedicures, so sad but no time for a massage!
I did make and take dinners with my mom, such a great idea! Freezer to oven, so easy!
Relax, watch movies, games, and chat with the fam!
Out to dinner and watched the Suns game with all our AZ friends!! Such a great chance to catch up!

John with Crew, a new baby of Wyatt and Jenny.

John spending time helping, preparing, and carrying out his brother's eagle project, they painted 220 fire hydrants!!


Hanging out with the newest member of the fam, Johns brother got a new cute little puppy!! Baxter!


Now back to school and back to work! Reality! But we are so looking forward to the summer where other fun vacations will take place, hopefully!!!!

Post vacation!
On Sunday, I had to do sharing time all by myself, since my second half stayed in AZ to help with the eagle project. Lets just say I survived and its over. Trying to control a class of sunbeams, and teach a lesson to the rest of primary, while trying to involve the kids can be a little difficult, by yourself!! Here a glipse of what went down. Six keys to prepare you to enter the temple.



Yes you are looking at a cardboard temple, which the kids would enter following each key.
Monday night we had the missionaries over for dinner. I tried this new recipe thanks to rachel ray, it was delicious, and will keep it again to make in the future, tomatillo and chicken tostadas, very interesting recipe, has zucchini in it, but so good!!Right before spring break, I recieved my first gift from a patient, a yummy box of chocolates! My patients are so great, and nice!


Sorry for such a long post, but I gotta keep you updated!!