4th of July

I have never really celebrated the 4th of July like most people. I don't know if it's because it's something I never grew up with, or the fact that I am not American, but I don't have the same feelings about it that some do. I've always felt guilty for not making this day exciting for Daniel, so this year I wanted to change that.

We went to the Bartlett Firework Extravaganza on Saturday. There was a live band, tons of food, games for all ages, and a few rides.

The fireworks lasted for 30 mins, and was absolutely fantastic. It was hard to capture the magic of the night, but here are a few pics anyway.

A Hogwarts Dinner

Before I start, I must tell you that we are not Potter geeks. We enjoy the books and the movies, but we are not obsessed like some people.

So, I was reading my sister-in-law, Alyssa's blog about a date they did which had an Italian theme. I thought it was really creative, and I thought about a theme date that I could do. I am currently reading the Harry Potter books, so naturally, that's what came to mind.

I started by giving Daniel an invitation to our date night.

I found an 'Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook' online, and chose three recipes. It was hard to narrow it down because there are a ton of desserts they eat in the books. I ended up making Pumpkin Pasties, English Stew and the famous Butterbeer. I put little tea candles everywhere to represent the floating candles in the Great Hall.

I set it all up on our coffee table, and watched 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' while enjoying our Hogwarts Dinner.
It was a really fun night, with some definite recipe keepers.

FHE

When Daniel and I first moved to Memphis, the LDS students in Daniel's class decided to start doing FHE together. Once a month we meet for food, games and spiritual upliftment. Each family (there are 13) is assigned a food to bring. The point is to try and make something you have never made before. Pictures are taken of you and your food/drink, and they are emailed along with your recipes to everyone in the group. So 2 years later, we have a lot of yummy new recipes.

This past month we were assigned drinks, so we decided to make Root Beer. I had never made it before. It was really exciting. Here is a little clip of what happened when we added the dry ice.

Homemade Root Beer

Ingredients

• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 gallons cold water
• 1 fl oz. bottle root beer extract
• 2-3 pounds dry ice
• 
  
• Directions

1. Mix the sugar with 2 cups water and microwave or heat on the stove to dissolve sugar.
2. Pour mixture into large cooler and add remaining water and root beer extract.
3. Carefully place the dry ice into the cooler, and cover loosely with the lid. Do not secure the lid, as pressure may build up.
4. Let the mixture brew for about an hour before serving. You can add more sugar or water for personal preference.

Makes 2 gallons

Left Behind

After 2 months of marriage, Daniel and I decided we were ready to have a family. I knew right away that we were going to have problems, but kept positive. In the mean time, everyone around us were having babies. It was really hard seeing everyone have the joy of parenthood that we so desperately wanted. But we kept positive, and kept trying. A few years later, those same people were on to baby number 2. That was really hard. It made us realize how much we were losing out on, and what we could've had.

Then all our infertile friends started their families too, and everything changes. It's hard for people to understand what it's like to be in our shoes, so we tend to pick friends who are also in our shoes. But all of them have moved on, and once again we are left behind. It's hard to keep those friendships, because they have something more important in their lives, and since I'm not a stay-at-home mom, I don't get to go on play dates or hang out and talk about our kids.

Over the past year, some of those same people who were having babies when we weren't, are now on number 3, and it hurts so bad. It's just another reminder of where we could be, and what our lives could be like. I mean, I'm grateful for all the time I have been able to spend with Daniel, and how much we have grown together. It's a good thing we get along so well, but if I could change things, i would want to be one of them. A stay-at-home mom with 3 children and piles of dirty laundry. Sometimes I just don't understand why!

1st Patient EVER!

Hey everyone, Daniel here. It's been a while since I've posted so here are a couple of tidbits for you. I finished my second year of optometry school in the beginning of May. I got a week off and now I'm back at it. This summer semester is the beginning of my third year and also the time I start to see patients. Last Friday I had my first patient! I can't believe how fast time has gone by and it's hard for me to believe that I am ready to look at a patient, understand what might be wrong and that I have the knowledge to help them, but for the most part I do.

My first patient was a great experience. She was a 63 year old nurse who has been coming to the Eye Center for a long time. She know that you get good quality exams, but that they take a little longer, since the students are doing them. That's probably why she wasn't frustrated that her exam took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to do! I'm sure I'll get faster. She was really nice and when my staff doctor came in to finalize things he asked her if she knew she was my first patient. She said she had no idea and told my staff doctor that I should get an A for the day, so I guess it couldn't have gone too badly.

This picture is of me standing in front of The Eye Center on my first day with patients. About 300 patients are scheduled there every day. I'll be seeing about 3 patients each time I am in clinic, which right now is only once a week. The next 2 semesters that will increase. Today I am going to do a "mobile" exam, where my lab group travels to a nursing home to give exams to patients in their rooms. I'm excited to see how it goes.

My Birthday and the Zoo

My birthday, was between semester break, so I took the day off work, and we went to the zoo. Unfortunately, there weren't many animals, and we had to walk around a lot just to find them. It was a little disappointing, but it was still fun.

Daniel is standing with Chief Seattle. Not sure what he is doing in Memphis.

We made home-made pizza for dinner, and Daniel made me a chocolate cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting.

It was a pretty awesome day, and I am so thankful to Daniel for making it special.

Memphis Flooding

The last time Memphis flooded like this was in 1937. We took a drive down to take a look, and it's just unbelievable. You look at it, and it's almost as if you are watching TV, because it's hard to believe that it's real.

We live 20 miles east of the Mississippi river, and so were not affected by the flood. I have a co-worker though who lives right there, and the water came within 10 yards of her apartment. I feel terrible for those who lost all there belongings in the flood. I don't know what I would do if that were me.

You're supposed to be able to walk to that.

6 years - oh my!

I can't believe it has already been 6 years. Time flies when you're having fun.

Daniel and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a couples cooking class at the Viking Cooking School. Each night they have a different theme, and we went on Southern Cooking night. It was so much fun.

We made southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, collared greens, skillet fried corn bread and banana pudding. My favorites would have to be the banana pudding, gravy and collared greens. It was heaven on a plate. The corn bread was my least favorite. It was really dry and had a weird taste. Overall, we had a blast. I have always wanted to do this, and I'm sure glad I did.

Nashville Country Music Half Marathon

I did it, and I'm still alive.

It was a lot harder than I expected. More hills than I trained for. I walked more than planned. Overall, I had a blast. Sure I thought it would never end, and cried a few times along the way, and couldn't walk when it was over, but I would do it again in a heart beat. It feels good to accomplish something that I worked hard for.

Daniel's Birthday

Today Daniel celebrated his 29th birthday. It's the week before finals, so unfortunately we didn't have too much fun. We had chicken taco's for dinner and German chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream.

It's Spider Season

The thing I hate the most about living in the south, are the icky bugs and spiders. There is just no avoiding them, and I hate it. This little guy was outside out front door. The keys are for size comparison, just encase you were wondering.

Training at Shelby Farms

I decided to run a half marathon. I have been training since January, and my race is April 30th. It's the Nashville Country Music 1/2 marathon. When Daniel's dad came down in December to run the St Jude Marathon, I thought to myself 'I could probably do that'. But more than that, I wanted to accomplish something. Not being able to have children makes me feel like a failure sometimes, and I wanted to do something to say to myself that I could accomplish something. So this is what I chose.

It hasn't all been fun. I basically started from scratch. I should have given myself more time to train, but my goal is to finish in the given time (4 hours), not to win.

Shelby Farms is where I love to run. They have several different trails, but I just discovered this new one. It starts in the farms, and leaves the grounds. It is an old railroad that they turned into a path. It is 7.5 miles out, so to the end and back is 15 miles. But of course you don't have to go to the end. The path is always busy with runners, bikers, roller-skaters, and people out for a walk.

The weird part is, is that it goes past the prison. It's a very nice looking prison, but it's still a little weird. Daniel comes with me and rides his bike while I run/walk.

It was a hot day, as you can tell by the buffalo chilaxing in the water.

Kebabs

We are always trying to think of new foods to eat, and exploring new recipes. This weekend, we decided to make kebabs. They were absolutely delish!!

We made beef skewers, and our veggies skewers had mushrooms, green and yellow bell pepper, zucchini, red onion, and pineapple. Definitely a keeper!

Camping and Stuff

Daniel and I try going on a camping trip at least once a year. Last year we went during the summer, and it was awful. So this year we decided to go early before it got so hot. We went to the Chickasaw State Park Campgrounds.

We made popcorn over the stove. It was our first time, and it was pretty exciting.

Daniel spent most of the second night playing with the fire.

And we found this little guy! (above)

There is a small town about 10 miles from the camp site, and so we decided to take a little drive to see what was there. We stopped at a grocery store to get something to drink, but realized that Daniel had left his wallet at the campsite. So we turned around to go back. Half way there we heard a weird noise, and stopped to see what it was.

It was 5 miles to the campsite, and 5 miles back to the town. We realized that not only did we not have money on us, but we also didn't have a spare tire, and we were in the middle of the country.

We were pretty embarrassed. Daniel called our insurance company to see what our options were, and they told us that a tow truck could pick us up, and insurance would cover. So, we waited for the tow truck, which took us 15 miles to the nearest tire place so we could purchase a new tire. We had to convince the tire place to let us drive back to the camp ground to get our wallets and then come back to pay.

Thankfully they did, and after driving back and forth, and 4 hours later (from when we first left camp), we were back at camp with a new tire, and a spare in the trunk. So our weekend was full of adventure.

Snow Day

It always amazes me how much I miss the snow. In Rexburg, there is snow on the ground 6-8 months of the year. Here, it snows 2-3 times, and less then 2 inches, so it melts pretty fast. I miss the smell of cold, the crunch of snow under your feet. I can't wait to move back north.

The nice thing about snow in Memphis, is that people don't know how to handle it. Even if there is only 1/2 inch on the ground, they shut down the schools (and my work usually copies). Love it!

New Years

Every year, I make a New Years resolution that I end up forgetting about, or that I just stop a month later. So this year I have been thinking really hard about a goal that I can actually keep, and that makes sense. 2010 was a really difficult year for us, for many reasons. With Daniel's school (studying late), my job (long hours), infertility (just not happening), it was a struggle. With that in mind, I came up with this for my new years resolution.

Be happy, and have fun!

It might sound silly, but sometimes I forget. So this year, I am planning on being happy, and having fun. To take my lemons, and make some awesome lemonade.

Christmas

Christmas was just the two of us this year. It's hard not being around family for the holidays, but we knew this was how it was going to be, living in Memphis.

When me boss heard that we were going to be alone for Christmas, he invited us to be with his family Christmas Eve. He is the youngest of 12 kids, so it was a little overwhelming to say the least. We ate spaghetti and played Dirty Santa. It was a little weird, but we had a lot of fun, and were so grateful that he thought of us this season. It was nice to be around people.

Christmas Morning! I'm still like a little kid. I jump on Daniel, begging him to wake up so we can open presents.

Both of our families have the tradition of making pizza Christmas Eve. Why drop a perfectly good tradition? But since we were with my bosses family Christmas Eve, we decided to make it Christmas Day instead.

I never would have guessed that we would have snow on Christmas - in Tennessee. It started flurrying Christmas afternoon, and by the next day, we had about 1/2 an inch. Not very much, but still nice to have a little snow on Christmas.