Two Years!

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now...

Then...

Now... (we've graduated to the Wii ha!)

Then...

Now...

We still look pretty good eh?? :)

Jared and I will celebrate our two year anniversary this coming Monday. Why am I posting about this now and not next week?? Well Jared's older brother Brandt is getting married this weekend so we are headed up to Washington tomorrow and we won't be back until Tuesday. The past few weeks, really the past few months, have been super busy for us, so we decided that after we are both done with school this term, after all the projects, papers, thesis junk etc. is finished, then we are going to really celebrate our anniversary. Maybe we are lame, but that's our plan! Notable things from the past two years...

- We both graduated from college

- I'm doing grad school now

- Lots of mountain biking

- Learned how to cook pretty well

- Camping trip to the Oregon Coast

- Learned how to communicate more effectively with each other

- Road trips to STG and Yakima

- Created some really random nicknames for each other (that I will never repeat on this blog or in the presence of others because they are really weird!)

- Hung out alot with family

- Became addicted to white trash reality TV like Swamp People, Deadliest Catch, The Bachelor(ette), Ax Men etc.

- Jared got an iphone

- I still have my piece of junk flip phone, it's still goin strong!

- Had our car stolen, but then returned

- Watched alot of basketball on TV, I've turned Jared into a fan

- Tons of intramurals for me

- Jared has really progressed with his portfolio, it looks pretty awesome now!

- Lots of laughs

- Some cries

- No kids (much to the disappointment of both our moms) which is everybody's favorite topic to ask us about. It's probably not going to happen for a couple more years people, sorry!

There are alot of other things that have happened since then, but those are the first ones that come to mind. Sometimes it feels like we have been married forever, and other times it seems like it happened yesterday. More than anything though, it is just normal, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We don't live the most exciting lives in the world, but we are happy together in this crazy time of our lives where we are really figuring out who we are and where we are going to end up in the future. Love you babe

Road Rash (and other recent events)

Sorry Climente (Jared's uncle), this post happens to contain no pictures, but that is probably better for everyone considering the only thing worth documenting on camera from the past few weeks is the bad case of road rash I have! Jared and I were riding our bikes a couple of days ago and I crashed pretty bad, which has caused more pain to my body than I can remember in recent history (especially the part where I poured hydrogen peroxide on my open wounds, yeah that sucked)! So now I have some pretty gnarly scrapes on my shin, my upper thigh and my elbow. I seriously feel about 90 years old cause I can't even walk normally, but oh well, it happened and now I just have to wait until it heals up!

The past few weeks have been a little crazy. We are both taking spring classes right now. Jared is taking a required writing class and finishing up his senior projects while I am taking a course on evaluation. I like this class because its an elective that is offered by a different department, so it has been really nice to get away from math ed. people for a little while! Jared got offered a job at a company close to Provo a couple of weeks ago (Xango, for those of you who know the area), but turned it down because it didn't feel right and he still needed to finish up a few things on campus this spring term. It was a little scary turning it down because it really would have been an ideal situation for us considering we could have stayed here while I finish up my program this next year, but it just didn't feel right, so we are hoping that something better opens up in the next couple of months.

Jared's big brother Brandt is getting married next week up in Portland, so we are getting excited for that. It will be really fun to get together with the whole family again, and Brandt's fiance Crystal happens to be pretty dang awesome so it's going to be a great trip! Lets see. . . other things worth noting. . . Jared got an iphone as a graduation present from his parents, I inherited his old ipod as a result, I passed my thesis proposal defense this past week which is a big step I had to go through in my program, we will have been married for two whole years :) this coming May 30th, we had a fun BBQ with my siblings and Mikell this afternoon, Jared is currently watching "Swamp People" and "Hogs Gone Wild" right now (you can only imagine the amazing entertainment these TV shows provide... haha thank you Chris Weaver for turning my husband into a hillbilly!), I've been having really weird dreams the past couple of weeks that random bad guys are trying to get me, we both got sick right around the week of Jared's graduation which was not very fun, and I recently discovered an extremely delicious chocolate chip cookie bar dessert recipe I've made twice this past week! Well that's about all the randomness that is going on in our lives for now, maybe the next post will feature something more exciting like pictures! :)

For those of you who want it, here's a link to those cookie bars, they are seriously amazing!!

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/02/thick-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-bars.html

Graduation Weekend

This past weekend has been really busy, but really fun as well! Jared's parents and my family were in town for his graduation and so most of the weekend was spent hanging out with family. On Thursday night Jared had a dinner with all of his classmates from their program that we went to. Then on Friday we went to his convocation (where he walked) and then afterward we all went up to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I don't have any pictures from that, but once Whitney and Jared's sister post them on their blogs, I'll steal them and put them on here. On Saturday morning, Jared's sister Mikell went through the temple for the first time so I went to that. Sadly, Jared got really sick the night before so he wasn't able to make it, but luckily he felt better later that day so we all went out to dinner to celebrate both of Jared's sister's birthdays since they are only about a week apart. For a graduation present, Jared's parents got him an iphone that he's been coveting for the past six months or so. He is pretty excited about it, and has been fiddling with it for the the past two days now. On Sunday we spent Easter with my family up at Whit's house. We had some delicious ham and other goodness.

Now we are back to the grind this week. I have to take one spring class that starts on Wednesday and Jared needs to finish up some of his senior projects before he's officially graduated. Right now he's on his way up to a second interview at Xango which is a pretty big company here in Utah. We are hoping that he can get that job because it would be a good starting place for him to get experience. We'll keep everybody posted in the next couple of days.

In front of the computer that he always used at school

This is the BFA lab, where Jared spent most of

his days in his graphic design program

This is how I would usually find him if I ever visited him at school

minus the gown, white shirt and tie :)

Jared's mom was really enthralled with the graduation speakers. . .

So was my dad, haha!

Congratulations baby, I'm so proud of you!

Playing Parents

Last night Jared and I got to watch my sister's cute little son Drake (who we call Biggie) for a few hours. We had lots of fun watching "Fast Cars" and the "Prince Show" (aka Tangled), walking to the store for a treat and playing Mario Kart. We love hanging out with this little dude, he's pretty awesome!

The first thing he said when he walked in

"Bah watch Fast Cars!"

(He calls Jared "Bah" and Jared loves the nickname!)

Playing a little Mario Kart

He was pretty into it! Jared always says "Cheapos!" whenever

he gets hit by a shell or something like that on the game

so Biggie kept saying "ah cheapos!" too, pretty hilarious

He really liked climbing all over

our coffee table, I think he was impressed

because he doesn't have one at home he can climb on

ha

This little video is funny, he thought that the race car in Mario Kart looked like Lightning McQueen (who Drake is obsessed with by the way) so he's saying "lightning mcqueen go fast!" He also refers to himself in third person sometimes, haha, so he was saying "funny biggie" too. Sorry about the crappy quality, but oh well!

Updates

It's been a really long time since we've updated the blog, and when I say "we" I really me "I" considering Jared only posts about once every year. Anyway, here's a quick update on what we've been up to during the past couple of months.

- I've been having fun being a TA for business calculus again this semester

- Jared has been as busy as every trying to get projects finished, he's almost done, just another few months of school left!

- We went down to STG to go mountain biking again with our friends and with Mikell. The weather wasn't the best, but it was still really fun!

- Jared has gone to a couple different portfolio reviews in SLC and he's gotten some really great feedback about his portfolio, everybody says it looks awesome. He won't admit it, but he's one of the best students in his class, and BYU's graphic design program is one of the best in the country, so he's pretty good.

- Speaking of how great Jared is, some of his portfolio pieces got selected into a graphic design show in SLC. The show is sponsored by a design group called AIGA, and every year they do a 100 Show that honors the 100 best graphic design projects that are turned in by professional studios and graphic design students from SLC and surrounding areas. It's a pretty cool accomplishment for Jared!

- I have been working really hard on my thesis this semester. I've finished my thesis proposal (which is about the first 50 pages of a thesis, not the whole thing sadly) and I will defend it in about a month, wish me luck!

- We've been watching alot of basketball lately. It was fun to watch BYU and Jimmer, but sadly the college season will be over tomorrow.

- This past weekend we spent up in Kaysville hanging out with Jared's siblings. We got to meet his brother's fiance for the first time. Her name is Crystal and she's really cool! They are getting married in May and we are exited to go up to the wedding in Portland.

This is all I can think of right now, if I think of anymore I'll add it to the list. Overall, things are really good though. We are in the home stretch of this semester, so in a few more weeks, things will be even better. Jared has been looking around for jobs in the Provo/SLC area as well as out of state, but nothing hasn't gotten an offer anywhere yet. Pray that he can find something in the next couple of months!

I Feel a Need to Clarify

In response to the comments of my last post, I (Jared) am forced to write a rebuttal on my own behalf.

Firstly, while many may believe yams to be orange and soft when cooked, they are actually most often darker than a regular potato (sometimes almost black). The fleshy parts of the inside vary in color depending on the outside darkness, but are almost never an orange tint. They can even have a purple color. They are also actually much longer than what we in the U.S. think yams are. Here is a picture as an example.

Secondly, there are 3 major varieties of sweet potatoes grown in the United States. The majority are grown in the South, somewhere down in the bayou. One variety is nearly the exact same consistency and color of a regular potato. Another has a slightly yellow color, and the third is orange. Here is a picture of traditional sweet potatoes.

Now you might be telling yourself, "Silly Jared, those are yams, not sweet potatoes." This brings me to my last point. In the South, and other areas, the orange variety of sweet potatoes are commonly referred to as "yams" (even though they actually are not). Because of this, many recipes, cooks, stores, common folk, dogs, cats, and even children refer to them as "yams". So when you go to the grocery store and buy a "yam" you are actually buying a sweet potato. Hence, my post that yams and sweet potatoes are one and the same.

My theory is people started calling them by their real name instead of yams because everyone knows that yams are disgusting, but when you say it is a sweet potato it doesn't sound too bad. Sweet potato fries are delicious, but you might as well call them "yam fries".... mmmmmmmm.

HA, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

My Rare Blog Post

This will be only the second time that I have ever written a blog post, but this experience needs mentioning. The setting was in the grocery store this evening:

Stacie (after about 5 minutes looking around): I can't find the sweet potatoes.

Jared: They are right there on the end of the aisle.

Stacie: Where? I don't see them... I don't think they have any.

Jared: They are right there, next to the regular potatoes.

Stacie: Those are yams, we need sweet potatoes.

Jared: Ummm... they are the same thing.

Stacie: Really...

The best part was after that Stacie kept trying to tell me yams weren't sweet potatoes and another dude behind her was nodding to me, mouthing the words, "They are the same thing."

On another note. I have successfully fixed three things in our apartment as of late. Our garbage can lid now stays closed without duct tape, our DVD remote works again, and I fixed our onion chopper tonight. I may have the makings for a regular handyman after all.