A Rolling Stone Gathers No Mossman

Hey! It's been a while since I've made this, so I don't have any pictures to include with the post...but trust me, it's yummy. My roommate Audrey used to devour these tarts. So here's the recipe....

Audrey’s Favorite Strawberry Rhubarb Tart:

First I make the crust- I use a basic graham cracker crust. Bake it in the oven at 350 for just a few minutes so it sets up nicely (I use a small square pan, or a 9x13, depending on how much you want to eat). I buy about a pound of rhubarb from the farmer’s market. Clean it thoroughly and chop it like celery. Put it in a bowl and drop 3 or 4 heaping spoonfuls of strawberry jam on top of the rhubarb. Make sure all the pieces are covered. Pull the crust out of the oven and pour the rhubarb on top, bake it 12-15 minutes. It’s great by itself or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUM...and SO easy.

Hey everyone! So if you haven't heard, Andrew and I are working as "driver-guides" in Juneau, Alaska. Basically this means that we drive buses and talk non-stop. All. Day. Long. It's great fun, we're meeting people from all over the world, but it is also very exhausting.

Speaking of exhausting, I am SOOO behind in this blog. I need to tell you all HOW we got up here in the first place.

Well, first we had to pack up our apartment, at the last minute of course. HUGE thanks to our friends Tory & April Parson and Justin & Elizabeth Dascanio. Seriously could not have done it without you. The night before we left out we finished our packing and cleaning (by the skin of our and our friends' teeth!) and sacked out on Justin & Elizabeth's couches.

The next morning we hit the road and drove straight through to Seattle, WA. Andrew and I were graciously invited to stay with the Tobourg family. They are old friends of Andrew's who used to live in TX, but have lived in Seattle for about 12 years. Rebecca was so welcoming and even served as our tour guide the next day, showing us the highlights of the Seattle area. It was such a blast! Andrew had never been there before, and I hadn't been since I was probably 9 or 10, so it was great fun being back in the area. We went to the Pike Place Market, the original Starbucks location, the Space Needle, and this great little park (can't recall the name at the moment) with a terrific view of the city. I think my favorite part was going up to the Space Needle. I remember going up there with my parents when I was younger, and I just had to go up with Andrew, and I am so glad that we did. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Space Needle, so to celebrate they have painted to top back to the original color of "galaxy gold" (aka ORANGE).

Drinking a strawberries and cream frappuccino from the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market :)

On top of the Space Needle

At KERRY Park! That was the name of it!

From there we headed ou tto Snoqualmie Falls. Secretly, this may have been my favorite spot. It was so beautiful and they had just had a heavy storm a few days before we got there so the water was fuh-lowin!
After Snoqualmie we went to this AMAZING restaurant called Thai Ginger. Perfect for me. We took the food back to the Tobourg's place, which was really nice because we got to meet the rest of Rebecca's family and talk to them for a bit.

The next day we drove to Bellingham, where we got on the ferry, but along the way we stopped at Tulip Town and took TONS of gorgeous pictures. Here's just one. There were rows and rows of tulips- it felt like we had just stepped into Holland!

After getting muddy at Tulip Town we bee-lined for the ferry terminal. The whole ferry experience was...interesting. It's not something I would like to do again, but unfortunately it is a necessary evil. I suppose it's better than swimming home, sigh. It took us 2 days and 16 hours to come out here on the ferry the first time, but on the way home (for some mysterious reason) it is supposedly going to take 3 days and some hours. Oy. Luckily that won't be until September, so for now we don't have to worry about it. We can just relax and enjoy all of the beautiful things to see and do here in Juneau!

XXOO,
M

Hey everyone! As of yesterday Andrew and I are both COMPLETELY done with this semester's finals and all of our Juneau preparations. A lot has happened this semester...but then again not very much has happened either. The past four months have mostly consisted of studying, working, driving (buses-not joyriding) and, when we had time, sleeping. Now that the semester is over we've had a little more time for fun things. For instance:

Andrew set up an XBOX360 LIVE account (did I get that right?), which means he can play video games with his brother Jared, even though they are 1000+ miles apart. Andrew has really been enjoying getting to spend time with Jared. I know he's really been missing family a lot lately. We both are. It's hard not to being so far away! We try to keep in touch though, and FB makes that much easier :)

Andrew's parents sent us an Easter care package! That was fun!! They sent us a ton of candy and a cute card. We dyed Easter eggs (haven't done that since I was about 10!) with our neighbors, the Longs, and we also had an Easter feast with them. That was fun too!

We have been taking advantage of our apartment complex's hot tub! Woo hoo!

We spent some time playing with dogs at an animal shelter. We took them for a walk around the nature park and gave them names. We couldn't officially adopt them, or we'd be kicked out of our apartment complex....but it was fun to have them for a little while, even if it was just for the day.

We've been reading FOR FUN, not for class! Yes! And watching movies (Andrew surprised me just today with Return to Me, because I recently mentioned I wished I had it on DVD...as opposed to on VHS...haha).

I recently bought a new dress pattern, some pretty fabric and all the fixins, so this week I'll be sewing! Wish me luck! I haven't done it in a long time and I don't really know what I'm doing....I hope this turns out well!

Me with some of my friends/former roommates who I don't get to see nearly enough. From left to right: Emily Schulte (who skillfully took our engagement pics), Sarah Boardman, Leisl, me, Emily Reed, and Jordan (Jordy) Kirklin :) Love these girls!

We saw Hunger Games! And now I am finally getting Andrew to read it!

Our new best friend (one of 2)

Andrew bein' all happy right after he passed his behind-the-wheel test

Andrew bought me these flowers. Just because.

Can you tell I really really like them? Haha.

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to all the love birds out there! I hope you had a good day and were able to spend it with someone you love!

I have to admit something: this year was the first Valentine's Day I could ever really celebrate. Last year at this time Andrew was celebrating with his first wife :p hehehe. So with this not only being our 1st Valentine's Day as a married couple, but also my first V-Day EVER, I was really excited about celebrating with Andrew. I had mentioned this to Andrew, who claimed to not be that into V-Day. I think he was just trying to trick me into having low expectations so I would be blown away by him. It worked!

Andrew pulled out all the stops for our first Valentine's Day together. For a few days before he was acting a bit shady and making trips I wasn't allowed to accompany him on. On the actual day, I spent most of the day at work. Andrew brought me my favorite sandwich for lunch and ate with me. After I finished my shift he picked me up, and I dropped him off at home. Then I drove back up to campus to study for a few hours, and took a test that closed that day. Then I called Andrew to warn him I was on my way home. When I got there I discovered I was locked out.

I rang the bell and Andrew came out to meet me. He was all dressed up and he looked so handsome! He blindfolded me before I was allowed to come inside, then he led me back to our bathroom where he had a whole bunch of candles going and bubble-bath supplies set out for me. I thought this was an incredibly sweet gesture, because at that point it had been a really long day and I was pretty frazzled. The bubble bath was exactly what I needed! 

After my bath I put on a nice dress because Andrew was so dressed up. When I was ready he came in and got me, re-blindfolded me, and led me out to see this....



He had cleaned the whole apartment, set the table beautifully and laid out gifts for me- a beautiful bouquet of red roses (which he arranged himself! What a stud!), a bouquet of cake pops he bought for me because he knew I had been craving them but would never have broken down and got them for myself, and a balloon! :) There was a card tucked into the flowers which was so sweet, I cried.

The picture of the table was taken before dinner was finished, but when I walked out, there was food on those plates :) Andrew made an AMAZING dinner- steak, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. He even dipped strawberries in chocolate for dessert.

Andrew completely spoiled me this Valentine's Day. But I have to say, as much as I appreciate the extra effort he put into this one day, Andrew finds little ways to show me how much he loves me each and every day of the year, and I wouldn't trade the other 364 days for the one Valentine's Day. I feel so incredibly blessed to have a husband who loves me so much and is never afraid to show me or tell me. I have never been happier than I have been the past two months being married to Andrew. He's the best husband in the entire world.

I have become woefully behind with keeping this blog up-to-date. I will do a few catch-up posts soon; but for now I have decided to just go from today. You may have noticed that I gave our blog a new name, and different look. I wanted it to be more inclusive of Andrew, so I changed the name, About Me section, picture, and I even let Andrew choose our new background! He likes it because it is more simple than our previous template.

Last month I began my Junior year at BYU-Idaho. Andrew and I got off to a hectic start, and in the blink of an eye here we are- at midterms! This has been the busiest (but also the happiest) semester I have ever had!

Andrew and I are both taking 15 units this semester. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Andrew and I are on campus from 7:45am until about 7:30 pm, with some variance depending on his Lab schedule, or if a class has been cancelled. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work at Opinionology from 8 am until 2 pm.  I do NOT enjoy my job very often, but I am grateful to have it. Saturdays I work there from 8 till noon. On Thursdays and Saturdays I go straight from work at Opinionology to my training with Alaska Coach Tours (ACT).

Oh! In case you don't know, I have changed my track from winter-spring to fall-winter so that Andrew and I can spend our summers working as tour bus drivers/tour guides in Juneau, Alaska. We could not be more excited about this opportunity, and this is why we are spending 5 hrs/week in training- we are learning to maneuver 45 ft long buses! NOT as easy as I thought it would be! Especially in reverse.

So that is what is going on with our school and work schedules. We have also accepted callings as Gospel Doctrine teachers. We teach every other Sunday, which is nice because it gives us a few weeks off from teaching, which gives us more time during the week. We really enjoy our calling and have learned a lot already!

I am really grateful for Andrew. He has helped me learn to balance my life better and he helps me manage my stress much better than I do when I am on my own. ...This may be a shocking to you readers, but apparently I am a little uptight when it comes to doing well in school. Haha. That being said, Andrew and I are both doing very well so far this semester. As of right now I have 3 As and 2 Bs; but I am NOT settling for those Bs. I have a test in both of my B classes this week and I am hoping to knock them both out of the park and raise my grade. Wish me luck! I have to go hit the books!

Today has been a loooooong day! Well, it’s because it really feels like an extension of yesterday. You see, I haven’t been sleeping well lately, and last night...I just didn’t sleep at all. Partly because I wasn’t that tired, and partly because by the time I got home and got all my preparations for the trip done it was about 2, and I had to leave my apartment at 5, so I was afraid that if I went to bed I wouldn’t get out again....I’ve been known to do that once or twice ;)  Anyway, I stayed up all night long and this morning by the time the bus finally left at 6 (30 min behind schedule!)* I was feeling a little sleepy. So I made myself as comfy as possible and snuggled in. This was one of those times that I was extremely grateful for having been a speech Geek in high school, because I was:

• Early for the bus
• Prepared for any sort of scenario
• and I was totally comfy- I knew how to travel light and change out of my pajamas into  Sunday dress quickly and without puttin’ on a show. Woo! Go speech geeks! haha.

Unfortunately the guys sitting behind me were flappin’ their gums the whole way, and being so LOUD about it that I only slept for about an hour. I woke up and read the rest of the way to Provo. When we arrived we got the itinerary from our Faculty Advisor, Sister Garner, and hit the ground running. BYU was hosting a HUGE Law School Fair today in the Wilkie. There were easily 100+ schools represented today, and I had a blast  walking up to all of the booths, asking tons of questions, and getting an idea of what to expect as I go through the process of preparing for, applying, and attending law school in the next few years. I’m trying to focus on being excited, and not anxious about it. There is a lot to do, and a lot to think about. I had always dreamed of going to UC Berkeley, UCLA, or Georgetown for law school; but now none of those schools really appeal to me. I still have a lot of research to do, and I’ll be casting a wide net as I apply (in 2013) because Andrew will be going on to grad school too, so we need to apply to schools that we can both attend, or if we can’t find a school that offers both, then one that has a sister school near enough by that offers law and a masters in psychology. So far the front runners that have my interest are BYU and Tennessee. I’m wondering what I should write my Personal Statement about...it’s a big deal. It needs to set me apart and convince the 5 board members reading it that I am special. I am unique from the other 800+ applicants (vying for roughly 150 spots), and that they should choose me. I asked an alumnist representing BYU law what she wrote about. She told me she had had experience working in Washington DC and wrote about that, and that a girlfriend of hers wrote about her experience biking across Pakistan....I have no experience in the law field (but boy I can nanny your kid, conduct a mean telephone survey and really work a fine dining restaurant!)  nor have I traveled outside of the US (except for 1 day spent in Mexico this April, but I doubt BYU wants to hear about my time spent watching other people get drunk in Mexican bars and hopping from souvenir shop to souvenir shop). So now I am worrying that I should try to do an internship or something before I apply. As I was typing that last sentence I remembered that Andrew and I might go to Alaska this summer and next to be tour bus drivers. I might be able to do something with that...let’s all pray that:


•  I can get my track switched and be able to do this.
• Andrew and I get the jobs.
• We glean some meaningful life lesson from this experience that can then be turned into a memorable, honest, and convincing Personal Statement. 
• OH! And while we’re at it: that Andrew and I get lots of generous tippers on board our buses ;) That’d be great too!

Anyway, after we went around to all the booths I deemed worth talking to (they are in a sensible location, won’t put me in the hole deeper than 100k, and have respectable bar passage and job placement rates), my new friend Megan and I went to grab some lunch at the Cougar Eats, which is like a food court in a mall. I must say, the whole time we were there, I was impressed with how big BYU is; but  I kept comparing it to BYU-Idaho, and I recognize that I’m a bit biased here, but I think BYU-I is much nicer. I like the size of BYUI better, and the buildings were much less crowded and they were cleaner and newer fresher-looking too. I truly do go to a fantastic school, and I am so pleased that this is where I wound up. ANYWAY (I keep getting off on tangents- sorry bout that), after I collected every information booklet on the planet and ate lunch, we headed over to the  Reuben J. Clark Law School, where we were able to sit in on a contracts class. I’ll be honest, we hadn’t been given any information to prep, so it was a little boring listening to the students discussing cases that I was entirely unfamiliar with; but I honestly think that if I had just been informed I would have enjoyed the class immensely- the teacher, Brother Smith, was very charismatic and his students were all involved and it was just a lot more fun than I thought a 1st year Contracts class would be. By the way, the students were all glad to have visitors from BYUI, they were so welcoming and interested in us, and willing to give us advice and answer any questions we could think to ask them. It was great! After the class period was over, Dean Hernandez came to address us. He gave us some terrific advice about applying to Law School and how to select the right one for us. He warned us that it’s extremely competitive to get into BYU (which I knew), but I think some people were surprised to hear just how stiff the odds are- they’re almost as selective as Yale, BYU only offers about 230 acceptances to seat a class of 150(ish), whereas most schools will admit hundreds. After we met with Dean Hernandez, we got back on the bus and then stopped off at In-N-Out to eat. Honestly, I was a little grumpy about this because I knew it would take a while to feed a group of our size, and I just wanted to get home. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they got all the orders taken care of, and...I got a surprise treat. Just as my # was being called, I ran into my old friend, Olivia Fox! I was SO excited because it’s been probably about a year since I’ve seen Olivia and I really miss her! She was my next-door-neighbor at the dorms and we all used to have so much fun staying up late, panting our nails, talking about boys, watching chick flicks and baking/eating treats. I was so excited to see her again and so flabbergasted to have run into her- I had to have a picture with Olivia, so I asked her cousin (who she was with) to take it. AfterI ate and chatted with Olivia to catch up, it was time to get back on the bus, which is where I am now. On the bus. It’s about 6:45 now and I don’t expect to be back in Rexburg until about 10:00, unfortunately. Oh well! Today was an investment in my future, and I feel much better now that I have acquired some really great advice and tips on how to snag the most scholarship money, and other good stuff. I also got a couple of free promotional pens and a chapstick out of it...so yeah. It was worth it!

LOOK OUT LAW SCHOOL, HERE I COME!

In case you haven't heard, Andrew and I are now officially engaged! I have had lots of people ask to hear how Andrew proposed, so I am finally posting it here.

It's kind of a long story though, so if you're impatient or a man, or bored by details or something like that just scroll all the way down to the bottom- I'll condense the story into a short version for you people.

For those of you who want the BBC Masterpiece edition, some background information is necessary. Here's whatchya need to know: Andrew and I went to see a jeweler when he was in CA, we had the work ordered and were told it could be ready and safely shipped to Andrew's address here in Rexburg in as little as 4 days, and as many as 14. It wasn't supposed to take more than 2 weeks. Well, by the time the ring finally came it was 2.5 weeks behind schedule; and every day it was late I got a little bit more concerned that something was wrong, and a little sadder that it wasn't here yet. I was tired of our Bishop looking at my empty hand and saying, "Huh. Just haven't convinced him yet, eh?" I was tired of making plans without having been proposed to (I felt like a crazy lady!) and I just wanted us to be ENGAGED already! Poor Andrew had his hands full, because not only am I impatient, but I am also incredibly nosy and analytical- not the easiest person to surprise. So here's how he did it...