It's almost Christmas!

And the best part about that is that my family is coming to Texas! My parents will be driving from South Carolina and my brother is flying from Utah. They will each be here for about a week and we have so much fun family time planned. Our tree is up.













And presents are already wrapped and waiting under the tree for my family to arrive. We have Christmas lights on the outside of our house and ribbon on the stairs. Stockings are hung and there's a turkey in the freezer. Everything looks so festive! (I really should get a picture of the outside of the house to post. But I will have to wait to night time so that you can see the lights.)

We have games planned and a trip to San Antonio. There is going to be awesome food. And I have my Christmas music all ready. I have been counting down the weeks till my family arrives and now it's only a couple of days away. I'm so excited I can hardly think of anything else!!!

In other holiday news, our ward had their Christmas party last weekend. It was a pretty good dinner and caroling and Santa stopped by. Early visit, I know, but nice of him to come.
We had a good time. People in our ward are so super nice and it's actually beginning to be fun because we know people now. And they know us. And they save us seats and say "Hey it's the Fairbanks, come sit here with us!" and we're all so merry. Two other couples have already invited us to do a New Years something with them. So, that's pretty cool too. Texas really isn't so bad after all.

I love the holidays!

This blog is for my husband's family.

They are always asking me how he is doing at work at his new job, and I'm never quite sure what to tell them. However, I received this email today from him, and in his own words this is how he is doing:

"I'm feeling pretty confident in my progress here at work. When I started, it was pretty difficult because I was not sure what I was doing. After a couple months of work, my big accomplishment was to change the value of a resistor (which is about half the size of a grain of rice). Today was another big accomplishment. I had 10 resistors changed. That's like five grains of rice! Yup, my influence here is certainly on the rise."

And that's about as much as I know and understand about his life as a computer engineer.

Our PUMPKINS !

Okay so this is one Holiday late but since I have no pictures from Thanksgiving I might as well post a picture of our pumpkins from Halloween...since I did promise one.

Asian Food!

I love everything Asian. From Asian food to Asian art to Asian babies. I want it all! :) Somewhat to my luck I married a man, who though he is an extremely picky eater, loves Asian cuisine. (Even if most of the time it's American Asian buffet style food.)

It's not uncommon to find us at the Asian market buying something creative or trying a new dish out. We often eat with chopsticks. We have different sauces and mixes in our cupboards. We had an Asian theme birthday party for my husband. And we tend to celebrate monthly anniversaries or date nights with some sort of Asian dish.

Along with the food we also often have fortune cookies. If memory serves me right, fortune cookies are not even Asian but that does not stop me keeping a stock of them in the kitchen. I have always had a delightful fascination with fortune cookies. I used to keep funny or thought provoking fortunes in my wallet...until my wallet disappeared. For our 6 month anniversary when we were dating my husband and I tried to make fortune cookies. They never really hardened. It was like eating a stiff thin pancake. It was actually pretty good. But it lacked the crunch you would expect when you break it apart to reveal your fortune.

Now as delicious as the cookie may be...it's the fortune that is coveted. This is why they exist. I have had many moments when a fortune just seemed too good to be true and others where I laughed my head off at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. And then many more moments when the fortune just doesn't quite fit...but it's like a drug, those good fortunes. I keep searching them out for that one perfect moment. Got to have my fix.

Well, this weekend I surprised Monte with his favorite dish from a take out place for date night. It came, of course, with two fortune cookies. After the meal we began to clean up. I grabbed a cookie and read my fortune to him. It was lackluster at best. Then Monte reached for the other cookie. He stood there in front of me for a moment reading his fortune silently, and then he smiled. He looked at me and grinned even bigger. "Wow, this one is right on." He then handed me the fortune and I read the message:




And then rest is really too sappy to even tell you about. :)

When Engineers Own a Dog

So, My husband sent me this YouTube video of a puppy playing ball. The email was entitled, "When Engineers Own a Dog". After I watched the video I sent it to my folks, and here is the email conversation that ensued between my father and I. When it comes down to it, I guess, the economy situation is not far from anyone's mind.

Anyhow, here watch the video...it's cute: Puppy Playing Ball

(P.S. PoJo is our dog back home.)



Me:
"This is sort of funny. It reminds me of when PoJo runs before you even throw the ball because he's so excited and expecting. Do you think we should get him one of these machines for Christmas. Haha :)"

Dad:
"This is cute. PoJo would probably not be willing to give up the ball after the first shot."

Me:
"Yeah, probably not. We would need another machine designed to distract him while a third machine takes his ball away. "

Dad:
"If I could afford it that would probably improve the economy, with all the manufacturing jobs it would create. We could call it the PoJo economic stimulus plan. Do you think we could get some federal money for the PoJo plan?"

Me:
"Probably not unless we can convince the government that PoJo economics is actually a failing bank. Then they will give us lots of money that we can use on a vacation and then they will give us more that we can use to put our project into the works even though in the end it will probably only make us wealthy. But that would be good, right?"

Dad:
"Since PoJo is not a bank they will probably treat us like the car companies and send us home with our tails ducked between our legs."

Me:
"True...I guess we picked the wrong 'dog' to invest in."

Health Update for the whole family.

Between Monte and myself the doctor bills are soaring. We have pretty good insurance so thus far things are bearable but it hasn't been fun.

The results are in from my blood test and really there isn't much to say. My B12 is low, my ANA is a little high, and my white blood cells are in the normal range for someone fighting an infection. But other than that...well, there is nothing really wrong. The doctor wants me to take 1000 mcg of B12 each day. A normal dose is 6 mcg a day so she's pumping me up with the stuff. I also just finished my two week course of Prednisone (the steroid) and I'm almost finished with my Gluten Free diet.

The prednisone worked wonders. Within two days of starting the medicine my joints fell unbelievably better. I could walk again. I have started exercising a little each day and I'm awake and getting things done. It feels so great to sleep again and to get little tasks done around the house. I think Monte is much relieved as well. We have been getting along better too. It helps to be feeling better.

The only thing I'm afraid of is the chance that the joint pain may return when I'm off the medicine. I took my last dose yesterday. The doctor says my blood is clear of any major diseases such as Lupus, Lyme, Rheumatoid, or Celiac but if the joint pain comes back I may have to see a specialist. I don't want to have to do that so I'm hoping that everything stays great.

This Gluten and Dairy free diet has been difficult but rewarding. I have to plan my meals out better and I have been eating a lot of fresh fruits, vegis, and meats. My stomach aches have stopped and my bowls feel great. All in all it has been very good for me. I may stay on the diet a little longer because my body has been responding so well.

Monte and I went to WholeFoods Grocery. I have never really been there before but it was fantastic. They have a whole range of gluten free foods and we bought rice pasta which fixed my craving for pasta that I've had the last week and half I was on the diet. They have so much fresh stuff and everything we bought there has been absolutely delicious! We even splurged on spinach, ricotta cheese stuffed beef tenderloin that we had for Sunday dinner. It was the most expensive piece of meat I've ever bought but it was soooo wonderfully delicious.

Besides the Gluten Free diet we have also tried to introduce a Low Residue diet these last couple of days for Monte's sake. That means no ruffage, or high fiber foods, spicy things, things that make you have gas, or lots of dairy. Our meals have been very interesting between my not eating wheat and his not eating fiber.

For those of you that don't know, Monte suffers from some bowls problems of his own. He had a colonoscopy back in April but then we moved to Texas and the doctor here decided to do another one which took place yesterday morning. The doctor in Utah told Monte that he had Chrohns disease but the doctor here informed us yesterday after the procedure that he's sure it's not Chrohns. He believes it's a bad case of Ulcerative Colitis.

Neither diagnosis is good but Ulcerative Colitis is a little better cause even though he'll have to be on medication for the rest of his life or have his colon removed at least the disease is kept solely in the colon. Chrohns tends to affect all the intestines and is harder to control with medication.

With Monte's permission I am able share a bit about his condition on the blog here so that his family will be updated. But I promised him not to share anything too personal or embarrassing. (I wonder if pictures are embarrassing?) I find medical things of such interest but if you are squeamish...I warn you that I am about to post a couple pictures from the colonoscopy.

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A Healthy Colon (pictured to the left via internet search) is smooth, pink, and you can see the ridges around a pretty good size opening.






Monte's Colon (pictured below via his colonoscopy yesterday) unfortunately was so swollen and inflamed that the doctor almost decided to abort the procedure so as not to injure the colon any further. You can't even see the ridges and there were bumps and blood inside.

We are still waiting on the results of the biopsies. The doctor wants to make sure there is no underlying infection stemming on the inflammation. If there is no infection then Monte will start a course of Prednisone of his own to help


reduce the inflammation and he has already started an expensive regiment of pills to get the Ulcerative Colitis under control. When he started these pills back in Utah he qualified for financial help because he was so poor. The pills were almost free. But now, because he has a good job, the pills are no longer free so we have to figure out some way to pay for them. Even with insurance they are a couple hundred dollars every few months. Now I understand what is meant by middle class health care is the most expensive.

Well, that's the update on the health status of our little family. I'm feeling so much better and happier. We're just keeping our fingers crossed that everything stays good. Monte had a bad flare up last week but he had his colonoscopy yesterday and has started medication and has an appointment with the doctor again for next week. His spirits are pretty good too. I think he's more disapointed about having to take medication every day for the rest of his life than dealing with the bowl problems. Though, I am of the other thinking...and am very glad that the doctor has given him medicine. I don't like to see him in pain every evening.

Eliot

I saw an interview with a couple last Friday on Oprah. They had just had a little baby girl and were sooo happy. The felt particularly blessed because this was their second child. Their first was a little boy whom they named Eliot. Eliot only lived 99 days. He had Trisomy 18 otherwise known as Edward's disease.

I was intrigued by their story and went online to see what Trisomy 18 was and to learn why Eliot's death was inspiring so many. Apparently his parents wrote a letter to Eliot every day starting from two months before he was born right up through the 99 days that he lived. After his death they turned the letters and photos into a 6 minute video tribute that they put on their blog for their family and friends. It became a youtube favorite that has inspired people all over the nation to treasure life.

I was so touched by the video that I wanted to share it with you guys. It will probably make you cry but I loved seeing how much they loved their child. This is our real purpose here on earth.

Here is the link to the YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

Love,
Cass

Hey Guys,

So, I went to the doctor this morning. The doctor spent an hour talking to me. She ordered blood tests and check my ears and nose. She even had the nurse clean my ears out just for fun. (It's really not so much fun...I think there is still water in there.) And she prescribed a steroid and a sleep aid.

They took 8 viles of blood. The doctor said that the blood test would check for types of Arthritis, (particularly Rheumatoid), Lupus, Lyme Disease, and any other random abnormalities in my blood.

The doc also has me on a two week Gluten Free diet to try an rule out Celiac Disease. The steroid is supposed to help break the cycle of headaches, help my allergies, and relieve some joint pain. The test results should be back in three days with the exception of the Lyme test which will take a week and half.

So, I thought that while we wait...to help pass the time, it would be fun to take a vote. (I like polls.) So, go to the right and click on what you think the diagnosis might be. Don't vote for what you hope it is but what you think the symptoms sound like. Don't worry...there really isn't any wrong answer (well, I guess there is but voting is anonymous) and this is all just fun. And when I find out what's going on then I'll let you know.

I'm making a game of this so if you will, why don't you play along.


To review major symptoms:
Joint pain in upper neck, upper and lower back along spine, knees, and feet.
Fatigue
Headaches
Inability to sleep for more than an hour or two
And minor symptoms:
Hot flashes and occasional night sweats
Nausea in the mornings
Chest pain
Abdominal cramps
Oh and I found out today that my blood pressure is slightly elevated (and it's usually very low).

Alrighty, Now you be the doctor!

Hey Friends,

First I would like to thank you for all you hopeful comments. I've been feeling mentally a lot better this week and my head feels clearer cause I've gotten more sleep. I'm still very ready to go to the doctor, however, as I really want the joint pain to end.

But I have been making the most of my more energized self. Yesterday my Visiting Teaching companion and I went out to track some sisters that we've never met. We have a route consisting of four sisters, three of which are inactive. It took just under three hours but we managed to drive all around North Austin. We found that two of the addresses and phone numbers we had did not belong any longer to the sister's name on record. The third, however, belonged to a nice somewhat tired looking stay at home mother of three boys ages 7, 5, and turning three on Friday. We accidentally let her dog out of the apartment so we helped her track the very large puppy down. And we chatted with her a bit. She said it would okay for us to visit in November so even if we never see her at church we will be stopping by again. She probably could use a friend. She's only lived here since February and I know how hard it can be to make friends when you have to stay at home all the time. So, I'm excited to get to know her and break out of my awkward shyness.

I feel like in my time in Provo I became very outgoing. I loved meeting people. Yet, in 4 months in Austin I have reverted back to being a very timid mouse and most of the time people ask me to repeat things because they didn't even hear what I said. I've probably spent too much time using my "inside my head voice" all day. I need to practice my "outside" voice, if you will.

Anyhow, it was still great to be out visiting even if I did feel nervous. And our last visit was with a very active woman in the ward. We have visited her twice before and she is so great. I really like talking with her and her, will be two on Saturday, little girl is so terribly cute and funny.

Since I said that I could name ten sisters in Relief Society in my earlier post I decided to see if that was actually true. It took awhile and I didn't know last names for all of them but I did manage to come up with exactly ten names. I'm pretty proud of myself. (And glad that my estimation didn't end up making a liar out of me.)

On to other news...Monte and I have come up with a good idea for a pumpkin carving so we will be doing that this evening. Maybe I can take a picture of the pumpkin when we're done so that I can post something visual on here since other pictures are not available at this time. (sniff, I miss my pictures.) Luckily, most (not the most recent wedding pics) but most pictures I do have backed up on CD. After my roommate Shiloh's computer's demise I did back up my system earlier this year. (I would thank Shiloh for her loss but I would hate to bring up sad memories.)

Monte and I are also hoping for Trick or Treaters this year. I don't know what the area is like but we're buying some candy to give out in case little kids come knocking. We will also be watching old black and white monster movies. I am planning on going to library tomorrow to see what they have. I'm hoping to find "A Portrait of Dorian Grey" but "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" as well as "Frankenstein" would be great also.

So, if you have any suggestions of good Black and White, spooky, mysterious, or monster type movies then please let me know.

Well, that's all for now.
Take care everyone.

Wow, I didn't expect responses so quickly. Monte and I got the computer all set up and I did a quick entry on Saturday to get things started. I check in on Monday and five of you have already left messages. I feel loved! :)

And just as I expected...a few of you did tell me off a little. haha So, to respond I would first have to say that unfortunately it will be some time till I can get some pictures up on the blog. We have to do a little data recovery. When the lightening struck (I wasn't kidding about that) it fried our internet cable modem as well as the motherboard on my computer. We're pretty sure that my hard drive is okay but because the hard drive is tied to the operating system on the original computer which was tied to the mother board...a bunch of licencing nonsense...we can not simply put my hard drive in this new computer and have it work so it will be a little while until we can get the information off the old system. But we are working on it. And when I have access to it again I will definitely put some pictures up from our wedding.

As to other news...well, it's been 4 months now that Monte and I have lived here in Austin. It's a much bigger city than I'm used to living in. I'm starting to figure out how to get around but the car situation is a bit sticky. First there was problems with my car (we're working on fixing those), then we had to transfer the title and get Texas plates for it (that took quite awhile to get done), and now the battery is dead or something cause it won't start. So, I spend all my time at home. You would think this would be conducive to writing on my blog (and hopefully it will be in the future) but with other problems going on I have been somewhat AWOL.

Besides the computer issues I mentioned earlier I have also been sort of sick. We're not sure what the problem is but it's been going on for months and particularly the last month it has gotten worse. After two months of marriage I went off the birth control I was on for fear that the hormones were causing the problems but I have been off it for two months now and I've only gotten worse. I also went to the gynecologist last week and he told me that the birth control would not have caused the symptoms I described so I have an appointment for this Friday with a family doctor.

Without listing all the weird problems that I've been having with my body, but because some of you may be interested, the more noticeable issues have to do with hot flashes and extreme night sweats, as well as all over joint pain - it hurts to get up in the morning, it hurts to fall asleep at night, standing after sitting or sitting after standing, walking up the stairs, etc. Most of the pain is in my knees, lower back and spine between my shoulder blades and my neck. Not to mention the headaches unlike any headaches I've dealt with before. I spent about two weeks not sleeping because of pain but lying in bed feel exhausted from 11 pm till 8 am and then 9 am till 3 pm and then feeling exhausted again around 9 pm. It has been terribly unenjoyable to sleep and then when I do fall asleep I usually have terrible dreams and am awaken by my whole body itching or waking up sweating with my heart beating so fast.

We tried washing and rewashing everything in the bedroom in case I was having an allergy attack. I've tried pain medications, allergy medicine, massages, and prayers. I went off the birth control. I've tried hot pads and hot baths but it's just impossible to get my body to relax. Monte will sometimes, when I'm on my stomach on the bed at night, lie directly on top of me because the pressure will help or rub my lower back till I start to fall asleep but I feel bad cause he's the one that needs to sleep as he has to go to work the next day.

So, with the lack of sleep everything seemed worse and I got really sad about everything. I also felt like a horrible wife cause my husband will get up and make his own lunch for work in the morning (which I used to do for him the first couple months we were married) and then work from 9 till 6:30 and then come home and make dinner, care for me, clean the house, and all kinds of other things (It took everything I had just to bathe). He's great...but if makes me feel bad because I want to do more for him.

I started painting again but didn't get very far before I started feeling too bad to be up so I have a canvas with some paint on it that doesn't look like much of anything yet. Monte and I purchased three molly fish about two months back. I've tried my best to take care of them but we are down to one now. One died of some sort of fungus and the other of mysterious reasons. The last it sad looking but he keeps holding on. So I keep changing his water and giving him medicine in hopes that he can pull through. I feel very attached to him and would be very sad if he died.

I still have a pile of thank you notes laying around as well. For those of you that gave us wedding presents please don't feel neglected. We have not forgotten you and I will get these thank you notes out eventually. It's just been hard to write or read. I'm worried that some people may be feeling unthanked or worried that we didn't get their cards but we got everything and we were soooo thankful so please just be a little more patient with us and we will get those notes out.

Well...
On to the good news.
Monte is doing well at work and I think he's enjoying himself.
We manage to get some parts together to build ourselves this new computer.
The holidays are coming up which are exciting. Fall is always so much fun. My parents and brother are coming out to Austin for Christmas. That makes me ever so happy.
It is cooling off here after a record hot summer.
We finally got callings in our ward.
I can finally name at least ten sisters in Relief Society so I'm getting closer to making friends.
With all the crazy first few months of marriage and issues and sickness Monte and I have become so much better about personal and together prayers and scripture study which is setting a habit in our home that delights me.
And it feels good to reconnect with you guys. I need friends right now and even though this is all electronic and everyone is far away it feels good to feel connected to you all in some way. I've been reading your blogs too and it makes very happy to hear about you all and to see how your families are doing. I wish you all the best of luck with all of life's trials. And I miss my girls. All of you. Take care of yourselves.

Love, Cassandra

Before you get on my case about not writing
Let me explain

See, there was this wedding...
And then a move...
Add a dose of the flu,
and a computer struck dead by lightening...

And well,
Long story short...

Once I was lost, but now I'm found.
I'm Back!
(and I missed you soooooooooooo much)

Hello my friends,

Wow, life has been one whirlwind of events recently. It's been one of the most exciting (and stressful) moments of my life and I've written nothing. It is often easier to say more about nothing then to find the time to say a little about a lot.

In a nut shell...I'm getting married. That you already know, however. My life is changing so much. I'm not just gaining a husband...I am beginning a whole new stage of life in a new state with new friends and a new house and new ideas and compromises and a new job and new experiences. The only thing I can relate it to when I left my parent's home for college. That was a new experience in a new place with new people. The difference this time is that I will not be alone in these new experiences. That will be nice. But simultaneously I will have to learn how to live with someone else.

Being slightly stuck in my ways having lived out from under my parent's roof alone the last nearly eight years, it will be quite the change. Something that I am learning about already. I can't believe how hard it is yet so very important to me try  and compromise on all subjects. Not only that but I find myself saving half my dessert to share or picking out colors for a bedroom that I wouldn't normally pick. And I love it. I love finding new ways to share and to make him smile. It is hard work but I am having the time of my life.

I know I'm making the right decision to marry Monte and even through all the nervousness I find myself excited for the move to a new state. I'm excited about our new home. And I'm excited to meet new people and find a new job. It's a lot to change all of a sudden. One day I'm unmarried living in my apartment in Utah and then next I'm married living in Texas looking for new work and new friends. Crazy. But that is life. 

It is three weeks to the wedding today. We are driving a U-haul down to TX this weekend to get our furniture moved into our new house and to set up things, electricity, internet, and such for the house. We have to register his car and find out where the doctor's offices are. Things like that. Then I will be back the next week for out last full week in Utah. Then it will be my brother's birthday, then father's day, and then my wedding. How exciting. A whole weekend of family togetherness. It is going to be wonderfully stressful but mostly wonderful. I just can't wait!

And best of all...at the end of all this madness that is wedding planning...I will go home with the love of my life to live with him forever, eternally married, as husband and wife. Isn't that the most delightful thought ever.  :)

I'm getting Married!

Well it can't be anymore official then when you finally have the ring. Plans are underway and we're happy. The wedding is set for Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 in Provo, Utah.

So, the countdown is now at 2 months and 5 days. In a very short time I will be a Fairbanks. :)

To answer some of the basic questions I've been receiving lately:

Is that your engagement ring and wedding band in one (since it’s sparkly yet bandlike at the same time)?
No it's just the engagement ring. (I will be getting a plain silver band to go with it for the wedding ring.) It's called an anniversary band but I love it cause it's small and simple...yet, it's still really glittery. :) I actually picked this ring out over two years ago and I didn’t think it was available any longer as the company no longer makes it. But Monte had it shipped in from another state. And I love it!

How old/young is Monte?
Monte is 25 (he'll turn 26 in August...so, I'm 4 months older...muhahaha)

What is his job/major?
He's a computer engineer. He graduates on the 24th of this month. And we are moving to Austin, TX after the wedding where he just got an awesome job with National Instruments.

How many siblings does he have?
He is number 5 of 7.

Where is he from?
He’s from Bellevue, Washington just outside Seattle.

Where will you be living now and what will you be doing in the future?
We are here till the 17^th of June. Austin, Texas after that. Monte will be working…I will hopefully find a cool job. Monte already made some connections with some art galleries in the area. But we’ll see. And eventually we’d both like to do grad school.

Where will your reception be?
It is going to be at the small art gallery that I work at called Coleman Studios. My boss offered to let us use the space for free which saves us like $900. YES! I love them.

How long have you two been dating?
We met in September and have been dating 6 and half months now. After the third date we haven't missed a day of seeing each other...even if it's just to say goodnight (except for Christmas and while he was interviewing in Texas, Idaho, and Colorado).

Here is a picture from our six month date...we called it our semi-versary and we ate at Ottavio's and then went to play put put (miniture golf) at which time Monte kicked my trash. :)

And lastly...a few more pictures from our crazy golf night that really have no point.
(And my friends, If you have any more questions then please email me and I'll answer them...also email if you would like a wedding invitation.)

Put down that camera...
Hey, I said put that down!

Alright you asked for it...! See...mini golf is crazy.
:)

Hello my friends,

I know, it's been far too long since I have written, but that seems to be my way. These last two and half months have been filled with much joy and excitement as well as trials and tears. But that is life, I suppose.

I've decided to give you a quick overview of some things I've been up to, some new pictures of Monte, and a few other random fun facts. So, enjoy the potpourri.

First, we begin with Christmas...
Every year my mother sets up the Christmas village. It's tradition. What's also tradition, apparently, is that my mother adds to the village every year. I tried to help by setting it up this year and I realized there was not enough room to put everything on the table that we have now. This village has been growing my entire life. It may need to move next year...maybe to our very large dining room table. I guess we'll eat in the kitchen. The four of us don't need as much room as this mini town...I mean mini city. (And there's my bro...looking real happy.)

I got a new camera for Christmas because my other one broke on Halloween. I've been devastated that I could not take pictures and that I had to rely on the fuzzy shots of others. So, to try out my new camera I started taking pictures of everything...right away. As I was looking through some pictures from Christmas break back home in South Carolina with my family, I noticed that all the pictures taken at breakfast seemed to have a recurring theme. I've included a couple of pictures demonstrating. Do you see it?

. . .

My family is putting on a Tropicana orange juice commercial!!! This, of course, happened all my accident. But looking back it's seems pretty funny now.

Christmas went alright. New Years was better because Monte came to visit. And then we were back in Utah. The whole break went by so quickly.

In January there was still lots of snow around my apartment. My apartment tends to get really hot in the winter as we don't have control over the heat and those that do either love it toasty or have no idea how hot it gets in our apartment. I told Monte that if he was hot that he could go lay in the snow. Then I said...if you make a snow angel I will. I was just kidding. But then he did it. And he wanted me to keep my word and do it. Yeah...you can just see how that went. :)

I try my best to keep my word. Better watch what I say then.








Now on to some roommate fun. As most of you know...or will know now. My roommate, Mary, is getting married in April. She has decided to decorate her own wedding cake. Because of this we decided it was time to practice.

This was my first attempt at making and using fondant. I am thinking of doing my own wedding cake as well. It will be cheaper and I will learn a new fun skill. I've got plenty of time to practice so that's good. :)

I made blue fondant and Mary made a white batch. We actually made 4 batches cause we tried out two recipes but one the recipes was terribly sticky and shiny. The winner of the evening was a marshmallow fondant that really doesn't taste too bad.

In the back there you can also see Mary's cake. She put four circles on it and then exclaimed, "Oh no, I made a button!" and then she gave up for the evening. Haha.

Shiloh was a little disapointed because when she got home we gave her the sticky batch to work with and it didn't work. But she was good sport and decorated her cake with chunks of left over fondant. And then I got this really great picture. Who knew that my gorgeous roommate could make such a face. I think she looks like Pop-Eye, however, so I had to include the picture here.
We all had lots of fun!

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Monte and I try to go out on at least one real date a week. We have been doing that for over five months now. I have seen plays and shows and comedy teams. I've eaten many dinners and watched movies. I've listened to the phil harmonic orchestra thrice. It's been great. Here are a few pictures of a date we went on in February. We saw Mid Summer's Night Dream at the HFAC. My roommate Shiloh did the costume design for the play. It was amazing! Afterwards we looked at the art work on display. I love dating.

Speaking of dating. Valentine's Day was last month as well. V-day last year was spent with my roommate Kari. I took her to Denny's because she was bummed that her fiance couldn't come and see her for V-day. The V-day before that was spent with my roommates Shiloh and Joo-Hee at Red Lobster. And before that...I don't think I remember that it was V-day. Haha. But this year was different. I had someone to celebrate with. Unfortunately he has class on Thursdays and I don't usually get to see him till 10 or 11 pm. He managed to get home by 9:30 that night and we made fortune cookies together. It was sooo much fun. They weren't as easy as I would have supposed but it led to many laughs. Just remember that wax paper burns in the oven and parchment paper does not. Do not get those two confused!

Of course, Here are some pictures. There's the two of us. And then is a pic of the chocolate covered strawberries that I made and surprised him with when he came home. Then me with the pot of roses he brought me with a heart shaped box o' chocolates. And lastly is the fortune cookies we made. They were delicious!



















Other events in February included my ex-roommate's wedding up at the Idaho Falls Temple. Monte and I and my friend Matt drove up for the wedding and reception. I was sad that I was going to miss my old coworkers' party to celebrate one person's engagement and another's new baby. A lot has been happening since I left. (And I really wanted to see a prego Lilit :( She is the cutest!) Anyhow, I could not attend the party because I was invited to my old roommates temple sealing...

Unfortunately...I did not make it. On the way to the temple that morning (Sat. Feb. 9th) we had a little car accident. The car in front of us put on his brakes because we were passing a cop. Monte then hit the breaks slightly because the car in front of us was slowing down faster than we were and we were catching up on him. We couldn't swerve into the left lane because the patrol car was parked there half way on the side of the road and halfway off. When Monte hit the breaks the car began to fishtail. Apparently there was some black ice on the road and we were coming off a bridge heading downhill. The car spun around backwards on the interstate and then into the medium where it flip up on the side. The snow cushioned the flip but it was still pretty scary and I had to climb out the drivers window above just to land in knee deep snow that burned my legs because I was wearing a skirt. It was a pretty crazy morning. But we managed to get the car flipped back over and made it to the Temple in time to see Leila come out. And she looked wonderful! Here are some pictures of her leaving the Temple and of us at the reception.

Oh and the car we were driving and flipped at 65 miles an hour miraculously had little to no damage. Two slight dents that you have to catch in the light just right to even see. It was a miracle. It was also my roommate Shiloh's car. And her car has been having some bad luck lately. She was really great and understanding about our accident in her car but then a couple weeks later her car was sitting in the parking lot behind our apartment and about 1 AM a young man backs into her car. You can see in the picture below that he mangled her license plate and broke her grill. The license plate is hanging on by one screw after being rip up and spun around. And her Toyota symbol is now sitting on her desk in her bedroom. Sad. But strange that we could roll the car off the road at high speeds and it would have so much less damage than someone backing into it in a parking lot. We really lucked out.

So, there you have it. Life up to this point. I am happy. I am still working at Coleman Studios. I like my job a lot. It's fun to be around artwork and artist. But for the last month the printer has been broken and customers are starting to get upset that they don't have their orders. That is not fun to deal with.

My roommates are good too. Mary is busy with wedding plans and Shiloh just get back from a trip to California with the Young Ambassadors. She will be traveling with them to Australia at the end of April so that's terribly exciting.

Monte and I are still doing wonderfully well. He had interviews in Boise, ID and Colorado Springs, CO last week. And next week he is flying to Austin, TX for another interview. He has also been accepted to a couple different grad schools. So, this summer looks to be full of lots of changes. It will be interesting to see how things pan out. I will indefinitely keep you all updated. I promise.

Oh, this should make Caroline and Jana proud, I found out last night that I have not lost my Boggle skills. I more than doubled most scores. It was impressive. But I was not allowed to use the word Tao. Haha. Well, that's life. I'll write more later. Take care my friends.

P.S. I know it says that this blog was published on the 28th of Feb. This is not true...it was started then...but it wasn't actually posted until today, March 10th. Oops...haha time got away from me.