John and Maren... I mean...

JON and KATE ... plus 8

And no, this is not an announcement that we are pregnant- especially not with 8.

We had a fabulous time at Halloween party with my old high school friends. I am not on my computer so I just stole one of Chelsey's pictures. I may post the ones I took later but Chelsey captured our faces at just right the moment I think. haha!

New Favorite

YUM





And here are some pictures from recent adventures



On a hike up to Lake Blanch with Kelissa :)


Johnny perched up on a rock at the Valley of Fire in Nevada, way back in March.


At the Hoover Dam, again, in March


Some friends we met up with while we were in Vegas!


Johnny showing you the huge piece of crab meat he pulled out of a crab leg.... pretty big!

Love

I love old photos (thanks Steph), especially of my family. This is my Grandma Eves who passed away last week. She and my Grandpa were married for 63 years and were devoted to one another. What a love story.

Wishful Thinking

I am just putting out an announcement to all of my wealthy friends:

If any of you have any money you would like to donate to me to start my own bakery/cookie/goodies shop, just let me know. I am accepting checks above $5,000. I have given up the job search to give myself more time to day dream. Thank you.

LOTOJA

It has been a while... and I am also having a hard time posting on my food blog. I guess I just don't really have much to say lately. We are both currently looking for jobs (pretty much since the beginning of summer but luck has not gone our way) and getting pretty good at entering all of our work history into the online applications. yuck. If you hear of anything let us know!

I think I just get sick of looking at the computer screen looking for jobs that the thought of looking at the computer any longer would possibly kill me.

We are trying to bike a little more and have talked about doing LOTOJA next summer so stay tuned. I really should get some rides in that are longer than the few miles I am currently doing but, You need to start somewhere right? Here are a few explanations of LOTOJA



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOTOJA



http://www.lotojaclassic.com/pdf/2008.CourseMaps.pdf



I am getting excited now that I think about it!

Random thought... I have always thought that Kanye West was a pompos (sp) idiot but after last night I think he is a complete arrogant nusance to the music world... not really sure what I mean by that-- I guess there is no chance for me to ever really like him anymore.

That's pretty much all I've got (Kanye, JOBS, and biking) Maybe Johnny should do a post or two??? I think YES.

VOTE FOR TITO!!!

I put our dog in a cutest dog competition... haha! We could possibly win $1,000,000! So, all I ask of you is to give him a vote, otherwise he won't win!!! Thanks for the help!

http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=A2795B8AD920D1C7791DA8D88A70DECF

Quickly Updated

Here are some updates for you all... I know you've been dying to hear from us.

Santa Cruz and San Jose were both fun this weekend!
The river was relaxing last weekend.
I can't wait to be done with my job this week!
We still hate job hunting but are both still doing it.
We plan on getting some biking in before we leave this city...
As of right now, Utah here we come.
Tito misses his friend Jonas.
We are pregnant... just kidding. haha.
Lake Tahoe was fun a few weekends ago!
The world is our oyster!
Here are a few pictures of our fun in California.

Love Your Leftovers

I have started a new blog that was inspired by my friends and Johnny. Hopefully it's helpful to some and I think it will be kind of fun for me. I basically will post a couple recipes a week and hopefully people will post comments and suggestions so it is a win win blog. If you like it you can follow me or post the address somewhere on your blog to spread the word (the more the merrier). Thanks, and enjoy!

www.loveyourleftovers.blogspot.com

The Move

I would just like everyone to know that pools are useless. Today is about the fifth day since we have moved to the blessed town of Citrus Heights that I have put on my bathing suit with the idea I was going to work on my new, but practically still non-existent tan. I need to look like a local right? Well, I get distracted and don't actually get to make the walk to the pool too often. Someday I will not be stark white. I guess I should just think of it this way- I am avoiding skin cancer! There, that makes me feel much better. Here are a few pictures from our move. We stopped by the Salt Flats to let Tito out for a bit. Our car was full to the max, with stuff strapped on top and covered with a tarp. We also watched our friend's dog, Pipper, the first week we got here and they have an Italian Greyhound too! It was fun to see Tito with a dog just like him. I think Italian Greyhounds are becoming my new favorite dog... they are hilarious!

This May Not Make Much Sense, I was in a hurry

Hello from the great state that everyone is running to get out of! We have moved in and are starting to get comfortable... well, the heat will soon take care of that. As I job search online I do get side tracked and end up on sites that definitely don't have job opportunities on them.

I came across a blog that was swearing off carbs and milk. (yes sorry this may be a vent for me) For some reason one thing that bothers more than anything else nutritionally is when people get so angry at carbs for putting pounds on their hips, thighs and buttocks. I can't stand it but have to hold it in when I hear someone went on the Atkin's Diet or use this equation : carbs = bad. People, people, people! There is such a thing as the glycemic index and there are good carbs and bad carbs! Just because you aren't sure which is the correct form to eat does not mean to leave them all behind! Honestly, do you think eating an entire diet of meat, meat and more meat, with a little veggies on the side is going to do you good in the long run?!

Ok, everyone think long term here. To avoid foods that spike your blood sugar make sure you chose good carbs! 100% whole grain, and try to avoid foods with any sort of sugar in the top 4 or 5 ingredients ( these usually end with 'tol' like 'sorbitol' or watch out for syrup) Yes, fruit may spike your blood sugar but it has so many other nutrients (esp. fiber) that you need-- long term right? It is a quick way to get a pick-me-up between meals and you can add some almonds or other nuts to add protien for satiety until your next meal.

Ok, milk. Milk is so gosh darn good for you! Vit D (you do get vit D from the sun but it is not the recommended way), Calcium, Phosphorous... Milk is fortified with goodness and the honest truth about the fat percentages is that you get the same amount of nutrients with 1% or skim milk with less the fat! OH and DON'T worry about buying milk that is not from cows that are treated with hormones... FOR REAL, rBst (the hormone they use) has been proven to poduce the exact same milk as those cows who are not treated. Some people may have a hard time digesting it but if you start with a small amount and work your way up to it, it can be possible to drink at least a glass a day. The same idea is with beans... if I ate 4 cups of beans in one day I would undoubtedtly get some gas b/c my body is not used to eating so many beans in one day. If I ate 1/4 c beans one day and gradually built up to 4 cups in one day, most likely my body would be used to it by then and the bacteria that creates that gas would not produce as much....same thing with milk. Start with some yogurt and once you are used to the yogurt, drink a small amount of milk after your serving of yogurt. You then can gradually increase the amount your body can tolerate.

One more thing while I am on my soap box... please please please do not skip meals or think that the less you eat the better. You will slow your metabolism and therefore have less energy, you will burn fat slower (b/c your body is in starvation mode)--- it is natural to feel hungry, if you never feel hungry you may not be burning anything!

Last but not least--- EXERCISE --- a healthy lifestyle includes variety of foods and moderate activity, simple as that.

I could go on forever.... but those are just some thoughts. I don't think diets are bad, they can be VERY helpful to jump-start a healthier lifestyle, but they do not work LONG TERM.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

We will be saying goodbye to Pocatello in a few weeks. John's hometown I am sure will miss him, I would not be surprised if the name Johnny Williams is household name here... everywhere I go someone has some crazy story with him from when they were younger.

As for me, I doubt the state will notice I was even here. Ever since I have moved here I couldn't wait to get out, although I did have some pretty fun times and loved most everyone I met. Five years of school-- HOLY CRAP I am so glad to be done! And so happy John is done at the same time! I get a strange feeling that I may end up missing this place, when I have been fighting for so long to get out! Good thing I stayed though, it took me a full 4 years to find my husband. We are excited, anxious and nervous to move on to the next chapter of our lives. Goodbye Pocatello, hello Sacramento.

Reason to Celebrate

I once heard that the woman who started Mother's Day was upset to see how big the holiday became, but mom's are such an important part of our lives I think they deserve a day of "thank yous".  I know my mom deserves it.  She survived not only my sassy teen age years, but also 4 other boys.  I think the 4 boys prepared her for what was to come... a stubborn little girl.  I love my mom for the following reasons:

1. She is always pushing me to succeed.  She pushed me to get my young woman recognition award, she always said "I didn't graduate from college but you are going to", she wanted me to learn all the hymns in the hymn book before I quit playing the piano, but I resisted... I can play most of the popular ones haha, but my favorite is when I had to get in shape for soccer but was too tired to run, she would push me off the couch and get me out there. 
2. She is the best cook I know- and she always has something to share, whether it's food or knowledge.  
3. She taught me to be kind to everyone
4. She works hard to keep us happy, even if it means she has to give something up.  (I don't remember the last time she bought clothes for herself, my dad has to keep her updated because she is so selfless).
5. She is such a talented quilter-- she has worked on a quilt for me my entire life if you can believe it.... it was supposed to be given to me at my wedding but it requires so much hand stitching it still isn't done! (but its close)
6. She is creative
7. She would wake me up at the butt crack of dawn to say family prayers before everyone left the house.
8. She packed me a lunch all the way through my senior year of high school
9. She came to practically all the soccer games that she could
10. She allows her home to be a grocery store.

As you can see, she is clearly a great example to me!
I love MY mom!

and, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Close Encounter

Once upon a time there was this boy who worked for the Forest Service.  With this job includes morning workouts and one day they went on a run.  Well, this run was hard and the weather was hot and the boy got sweaty so he decided to ditch his hat.  He returned feeling rejuvenated, and he stuck his hat back on and got to work with his crew members. 

The hours passed and this boy kept feeling someone tap on his head but every time he would turn to see who it was, there wasn't anyone there.  He thought one of his  friends was playing a trick on him and he was starting to get annoyed.  His head got itchy from the tapping and so he took his hat off to scratch it.  That was when he discovered who was irritating his head; in his hat was a lizard that had been tucked up close to his head for the past 3 hours.  While he was on his run the green little lizard hopped on into his hat and went for a ride that it clearly did not expect.  The reptile, while stored for 3 hours, either ran out of air or it got sick of being squished in hair; it's hard to say why he was tapping on the boys head, possibly the little thing thought the boy was working hard and felt a head massage would do him good.

  In the end the boy was not harmed and apologized to his friends for accusing them of tapping on his head.  

The End.

Do's and Don'ts

Note to Self:

Do NOT clip Tito's toenails then wear shorts, unless you want red scratches all over them.

Question:  Why do we clip our dogs nails? They become even more lethal than before.  We need Pedi Paws (that is what John's 4 year old niece told us; their advertising seems to hit all age groups).

Do NOT leave the bathroom door open.  There is so much fun just waiting to happen in that trash can!

DO watch where you step near the potty paper, he tends to walk away while he pees. 

DO keep an eye on your plate, or any food that may be in your hand, or mouth for that matter.  

Do NOT leave old homework assignments on the ground; Tito will mistake them for newspaper and use them accordingly.

Oops

In the process of trying to be creative I lost all of our friends and links... thanks for visiting and could you be so kind as to post your address below.  As you can see our current template is looking sad.  I'll have to work on that when I am not so T.I..R...E....D.  thank you

Signs of Spring

This weekend was the first weekend in a long time that didn't look like a Tim Burton movie.  Finally Spring is coming.  To me Spring means two things.  1.  A week off of school which is coming next week. and 2.  The Grand Targhee Cardboard Race.

For the last two years Taylor, Phil, and I have entered the cardboard race.  The first year we made a guy with a mullet out of cardboard, dressed up in 80's outfits with mullets, and raced down the hill.  Unfortunately, half way down the hill our sled broke.  Crowds line up all along the course and if you are doing good they cheer, if you do bad, they snow ball you.  Needless to say that first year we got snowballed pretty good.

Last year, we redeemed ourselves.  We came up with the theme of gorillas riding a giant bana... bananana... banana (I never know how may ana's to put).  We learned from our first year that if long, skinny sleds move the best, so we went with the banana.  We went so fast we went past the pads that are suppose to stop you and slammed into a wall of snow at the end.  Taylor and I both got bloody noses and Phil got injuries we still don't talk about.  As we were traveling down we were throwing bananas to the crowd.

This year we need your help coming up with an idea for the theme.  We want to build something long and skinny.  Respond with your ideas, and if we use yours we might give you a prize.  Please no perverted ideas (we already came up with those). 

We Cried

...because we were laughing so hard this morning. Dreams can be funny things but even better when you are physically moving or doing something while you are sleeping.  I have weird dreams, most know this, but I rarely go into motion while I sleep.  I once was caught, while sleeping over at my cousins, actually swimming in my sleep.  Naturally I was warming up for the time we were going to spend at the pool the next day- wouldn't want to pull a muscle.  Anyway, today we woke up and I started to tell John about the weird dream I had.  He then explained to me he thought of a great name while he was sleeping and he dreamt he wrote it down on a pack of gum on the night stand.  He thought it was the most amazing name but couldn't remember what for.  While in the process of writing on the pack of gum, in his dream, he was pleased and, I guess, pleasantly surprised that he had gum he could chew later (just something he could keep in mind later when he felt is breath needed a boost).  Weird. Well, the dream exchange we had was forgotten for a while and we went on doing other things (watching Live with Regis and Kelly ... we are waiting for a phone call from them to tell us its our chance to win and go on vacation).  Johnny leaves the room and all I hear from somewhere back in the house is uncontrollable laughter, I mean, pee your pants you are laughing so hard, laughter.  He then walks in the room (still laughing so hard he is bent half way over) and gives me a pack of gum he got from our night stand.  I will tell you what was written on that pack of gum.  The most amazing name you have ever heard of... (but we still don't know what for)..... Taragil or Taragul or maybe even Taragut.  It is kind of hard to see what the last 2 letters are because he wrote them while he was sleeping.  Oh, yeah, and he said he now remembers there was a last name too but he was too tired to write that down. People, this could be our first child's name.  Needless to say we googled it and there wasn't much out there. 

Pot-Belly Puppy

Johnny and I just got a new puppy.  We decided on an Italian Greyhound because of the many features they posses and because Johnny saw this kind of dog on the beach and thought it was the coolest thing... they are FAST!  They are actually greyhounds just bred selectively to get a smaller dog, they are in the toy category because they are so skinny but a little taller than what you would associate with the title toy.  Supposedly, IG's are the best apartment dogs and since we are going to be moving quite a bit the first few years we are going to have to wait for our Weimaraner. He is the cutest little thing.  We thought he needed an Italian name b/c of his breed so we named him Tito.  Tito also means 'giant'  so we found this very appropriate because he will grow to be less than 10 lbs and smaller than 16 in.  He has so much energy right now as a puppy and is extremely quirky. He is such a little cuddler, he loves to be up by your neck or sometimes, even on your shoulder.  I found that he is so skinny that when he eats, his stomach pooches out like a pot belly- haha! He is really like a little kid because we have to ask him like every 30 min if he needs to go pee.  If you forget to ask you will suddenly see his facial expression and activity freeze as if he is thinking "what is that feeling?" or "I wonder if I can get away with peeing right here instead of on the paper." He kind of does a dance if he needs to relieve himself but doesn't know where to go, then you have to hurry and point to the paper or he will just go right there. We already had some friends make fun of us for not going to a movie b/c we didn't have him kennel trained yet... we are losers.  We do have friends who are fellow dog owners who completely understand why we are so weird.  I feel that if Tito had a friend he would be better behaved while we were gone! haha like that is going to happen.  We can't wait for it to warm up and for Tito to get bigger so we can see how fast he is!

PREGNANT

My mom recently called me.  "Is there something you're not telling me?"  she asked.  

What?

Apparently she just received a magazine in my name about parenting, prenatals, and nutrition.  I can hear Clayton, my brother, in the background saying "Out with it Maren! Everyone is going to find out eventually!"

Oh dear.  Well, let me let everyone know I am not prego in the eggo, just in case you see my mom you can re-assure her.  This is definitely not the first time this has happened.  

A few months back, before Johnny and I were married my mother called me and said the exact same thing.  In the mail that day she got a sonogram that was post marked from Vegas with only a smiley face on it.  She claimed to have asked everyone else in the family if it was theirs but everyone denied it.  I knew right away it was my brother Mason and his wife Kim announcing another child on the way, but my mom could not believe it- just because they said no.  They do have a history of announcing in elaborate ways that they are with child.  

Apparently my mom really wants her only daughter to have a baby... she may die from anxiety from the wait if Johnny and I don't act soon! ;)  I can see her in my mind asking "Now?  Oh, ok.  Now?  No, now?...NOW?!"

Pocket Pall

Learning new things about your husband is fun... especially when its a sort of habit that he has yet to realize he does.  This particular 'habit' that your husband does is something that no one would notice unless they lived with him.  I'm not sure if it really is a habit.  It could be some kind of comfort item that he decided he needs.  Most people have blankets or stuffed animals that they can not seem to part from but for my husband, he has a hard time parting with napkins and paper towels.  He will hold onto them and wad them up while he eats and eventually he secretly, somehow, very discretely, will tuck them into his pockets.  A few times I have gone to reach for my napkin and found I have misplaced it somewhere but can't find it.  I then remember that these small paper items are very dear the man sitting next to me and I have to ask, "umm, did you use my napkin?" (of course I have now learned that it really is in his pocket, but enjoy asking anyway).  He will look at me confused but soon will reach down to his pocket where he now feels something that wasn't there when we started eating.  How cute this is when I go to put a sweatshirt of his in the wash, and I check the pockets and find a wadded up napkin.  He is funny, and I love him.

Christmas Break!

Hi everyone, time has really gone bye these past few months so I'll try to just update everyone through pictures.  We are both in the last few months of our undergrad degrees and can't wait to get out in the 'real world'.   As for now, here are some things we did over Christmas break to entertain us so we don't go too insane from just straight school work!  

We had a great time at Johnny and friends' Annual Kenny G. Ugly Sweater Party... Sexy sounds, sexy times!

We visited the Intel Museum in Santa Clara, California.  As you can see, Johnny spelled my name in binary code.

We went and walked around Stanford because we heard their campus is sweet and we were not disappointed.  

We took a drive down the PCH and stopped in Monterey because we had to check out the sand dunes.  We had fun getting some sand in our pants!  I miss the warm weather.  This morning here in Idaho it was -6 degrees! brrrr

Mason and Kim were nice enough to let us stay with them while we were in California.  We got to hang out and have fun with Addison, Connor and little Aubrey.  Connor would surprise us every other morning and jump into bed with us! Haha, he is such a funny kid!  He loved to wrestle and give Johnny a whoopin'.  As you can see from the picture he was showing us how to use the stethoscope. 

Johnny loves long boarding, so we tried to get some of it in while we were somewhere without snow on the ground.

We went up to Mason and Kim's stake property and went camping and we were the only ones there!  We got a camp site with an ocean view!  This was such a great spot!  One of Johnny's high school friends met us up there (he now lives in Sacramento).  It was nice to spend some time with him and his wife.  

We got back to our camp site after a hike the next day and down the trail comes... a mini horse and a goat. ??? So weird, but a missionary couple watches over the campground and they came down to say hello with their two pets.  Haha! When I get old, I want a really weird pet... 

There you go, that is our update... now I need to get back to my research paper!  Until next time! (who knows when that will be)