A weekend up North

                                    Kurt and baby Max
    
                                                                    

Over the weekend, we were able to go up north and see our nephew Max for the first time for his blessing. It was so good to see everybody, both on the Gardner side       and Mikkelson side. We had a wonderful dinner at Goodwood on Friday night and then the boys all went to the Jazz game. It was Kurt's first time to see a live game. Too bad they lost, that's a bummer. While Kurt was at the game I went home and spent some time with my mom, it was nice to catch up on things and to hang out just her and I. Only because everyone else was gone. Just kidding. On Saturday, Kurt helped his brother, Troy move into his new apartment which happens to be about 5 minutes away from where my mom lives. While Kurt did that, my mother and I went shopping at Gardner Village, that was fun and it was actually really nice weather outside, which was good because you have to walk from store to store. Chad and Melinda, Kurt's brother and wife, came over on saturday night and we played games with my family.  And Sunday finally came, the day we were all waiting for! Max's baby blessing! He is way adorable and are glad that he is doing good. It was fun to play with all the nieces and nephews as well.
To make our trip more splendid, we were getting gas on our way home, and my phone fell out of my pocket right as Kurt was shutting the door for me. I always thought my phone was indestructable because I always drop it and the worst that happens is my battery falls out. Not this time, the door hit it at just the right time, it amazingly fell to the ground in one piece, but the inside screen was shattered. Goodbye phone. Luckily we were still in Draper so we went home and grabbed my old blackberry phone. We still laugh about it.

I used to love to take pictures...... :(

Last year for Christmas, I received a really nice camera. I loved taking pictures and I always wanted to take a photography class. So I did, I took a class at SLC and I loved it. It helped me learn how to use my camera and the different elements in photography. I had this dream that I wanted to have my own photography place. When I moved down to St George in June, I took a few pictures, but ever since lover boy came along, I have not really been into it that much. So yes, I am blaming this one on Kurt. Here are some of my favorite pictures: (p.s. lets just say the stg is a good place to take pics)

Firework!

As of right now, my favorite song is Firework by Katy Perry. I could listen to it all the time.

                                   Kurt making shish kebabs

We had such wonderful weather for a while, and then it got a little bit colder and now I think it is getting warmer again. We were able to go running outside and go for a bike ride. Except when we went on our bike ride, there was this ferocious wind that wanted to get us. Our bike ride was about 6 miles long and the wind would come and go. There was a point to where we were passing this girl who was walking and I think we were biking as slow as she was walking....it was that windy. It probably didn't help that Kurt was in front of me. ;)

Anyway, we went on a date with some of Kurt's friends, BC & Jewls  and it was really fun. We went to Laser Mania and played some mini putt putt....and let's just say that I need to get some lessons or something.

I made a really good recipe the other night, it was easy, it was fast, and it was a crockpot! I got it from a lady in my ward up north when I had my bridal shower. So if any of you would like to try it, here is the recipe:

6 chicken breasts

3-4 cans cream of chicken soup

8 oz cream cheese

1 packet of good seasons italian dresssing(dry mix)

Cut the chicken into chunks. Place them on the bottom of the crockpot. Pour the soup on top, cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces and add the dressing. Stir occasionally and cook for 4-6 hours. Serve over cooked rice or egg noodles.

Since I am just feeding 2 mouths, I did half the recipe, and we still had left overs. We used the rice, and it was really good. Like I said it was easy, and we basically had all of the ingredients anyway. 

In the Shoes of #3732

Three hundred ninety eight out of eight hundred sixty six. Time: two hours three minutes thirty four seconds. Distance: thirteen point one miles. Yes I ran half of a marathon, and for my first time, 398th place is not too shabby. Kurt and I have been training for this event since about the beginning of December. So we had a month in half or so to train for it, even during the christmas season. We had only run 10 miles in one day up to that point, so needless to say we were a bit nervous. We went to bed early so we could rise early and eat a good healthy breakfast 2 hours before so our food would not come rushing up while we were rushing out. We both had used the bathroom at least twice that morning, probably getting rid of our "carboload" we had the night before at Olive Garden. On your mark, get set......GO! And we were off. There were about 1500 people running this thing, and of course, everybody was running as fast as they could at the beginning. Kurt and I were getting passed left and right. We passed a few people, but those people don't really count. I had my new watch on that Kurt bought me for christmas which tells your time, your pace, as well as the distance. I was trying to keep a good pace so that we could be able to make it through the whole thing. We did the first 5 miles under 9 minutes. When I say that, it means we were doing 8 minute miles and some odd seconds. So that's pretty good, not super fast that by the time we are done with our first mile, we cant go another mile, but no super slow to where it takes us the whole two hours to do just one mile. There were a few up hills, which was not fun. Apparently I was going to slow up them that Kurt had to put his hand on my back and push me up them. By about mile 7, I felt the need that I had some left over food that I had not dropped off that morning. My hip was also starting to hurt. This was not good, we were only more than half way there! We still had 6 more miles to go! I was slowing down a lot, Kurt had noticed this but he kept by my side. I saw an outhouse and bolted for it. That may have taken 5 minutes or less of our time. What a bummer. :( We had to stop again about mile 10, but this was just to walk for a tenth of a mile because my hip was on fire! Good thing there was water and gatorade cups every so often.

The killer-----mile twelve. Sometimes you would think this would be the easiest mile. Not after you've run 12 already and your hip is on fire and your legs are ready to give out any second. This mile probably would have taken us about 13 minutes, but Kurt practically pushed me the whole way, so we made it in less time than that. As soon as I saw the finish line, from somewhere up above, I got this innumberable amount of energy and booked it to the FINISH line. We probably past 6 or 7 people on our way. Haha those losers could've gotten a better place, but they were running to slow. We or maybe I couldn't walk for 2 days. I am all better now and ready to start running again. 

Side note.....Katie, Jackson, and mi madre were able to come down for it and mother treated us to a wonderful dinner at Samurai 21. It was superb! 

School, Work, Exercise...No Play??

GOOD NEWS MINUTE: KURT & I HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 3 MONTHS. WOO HOO
I was very sad the day Kurt went back to school. We were both enjoying the little break that he had and did not want it to end. While Kurt was at school, I had a few errands to run and found myself sitting at the college in front of my counselor talking about the classes that were needed to major in elementary education. A few classes were closed due to the fact that they were full. So I thought maybe I will try adding them, and if that doesn't work, then that was going to be my decision that I was not going to school. I had no idea this was going to happen, and so Kurt obviously didn't know until he came home from school. I just told him I talked to a counselor. I think the fact that I just talked and not even signed up for classes made him fall in love with me all over again. He was so excited I got that far. That night I was looking up the CRN numbers to put on the Add cards for those classes that were full, and I got my answer that I was supposed to go to school. All the classes I needed to take were open and did not interfere with my work nor the other classes. I am taking spanish 4x a week, 2 education classes and a human development class. I have been in school for 2 weeks, and I absolutely love it. I love my classes, I am learning so much and want to just keep learning more about the human development and with being a teacher. It is also nice that Kurt knows spanish so he can help me. Its only in exchange that I will help him with his math homework. The other thing that is nice is Kurt and I both have about the same schedule so we get to ride to school together. Probably sucks more on his part because he doesn't have class until nine, but I have spanish at 8. So he just goes to the library and does homework or whatever.
I have also been thinking a lot about my job and needed to know what I should do with it. I showed my work my school schedule and I almost feel like they weren't wanting to work with my schedule. Kurt and I have been talking about it for weeks, because I'm just not happy. Well since I am in school now, I can get a job there. I did find one working at a front desk doing....something. I'm not exactly sure yet. I hope it works out and I'm really excited about. We were informed that Kurt will be moving up to full-time once this semester is over and school is out. That will be nice to get a little bit more income especially because I will not be getting paid as much at this new job or working as many hours.
About one day left until our half-marathon. Yes, Kurt and I are running 13.1 miles on Saturday! I am a little nervous. We ran 10 miles on MLK Jr Day and I was done running at 9 miles. There was no way I could've run 3 more miles. But we are excited and to be honest, can not wait until it's over! Wish us good luck!! 

A Wonderful Season

Hooray for twenty eleven! Kurt and I both are so glad that twenty ten is behind us, we both decided nothing good happened that year and are looking forward to the adventures and experiences that this year will bring.
As far as the last couple of weeks, Kurt is very glad to have a break from school. It was hard to spend time with him while he was studying and preparing for his finals. We are both glad to have a little break from staying up until midnight doing his homework. He goes back this upcoming Monday and I am looking forward to when he will be done again. Kurt loves his job, selling cell phones in a kiosk at Costco. It is really convenient because my work is just right across from there. We celebrated Kurt's first Christmas in 2 years.....up north. I think he was a little sad that it wasn't spent with his family, but he still had a very fun time spending it with my family. He fell in love with Harley, my little sister's dog. He so badly wanted to take her home with us. The only problem about that is his mother would not be very happy, she is not a dog person. For Christmas, I got Kurt the 6th season of the office, that is the one he hasn't seen yet, because no one had it to borrow. So we have been watching that for the last few days.
I was very excited to go home and see my family. I haven't seen them since my wedding and it has been a little hard on me. I do miss them a lot. Working at my job has been a good job. I am just a little frustrated with it lately. There is this thing called PTO or paid time off. The only way you can take a day off or even a vacation, is if you have the hours to be paid for it. There is no such thing as taking a day off and not getting paid for it. The hard part is, I only get an hour in a half each paycheck, which is every 2 weeks. So I was mad when it was time to go up north, I could only take Christmas eve off, because I only had 6 hours to cover for me. I have not taken a day off since our wedding, 2 months ago, and I don't even have the hours to take 2 days off. I am not going to quit, but let's just say I am looking for a better job. If that doesn't happen, then who knows.

 Katie's hair extensions that Kurt found.

Kurt and I woke up yesterday morning to find this white fluffy stuff all over our cars and the ground. It did snow a few days ago, but it was at night and it melted as soon as it hit the ground because it had just rain previous of that and Kurt had a fun time in both snow events. He had a snowball fight with his brothers and complained to me this morning that his arm hurt.
I may or may not have been lying when I said we want the year behind us, in fact it will be a year that we will always remember!

Oh Christmas!

I was waiting for a certain someone to email some pictures from Thanksgiving and I'm still waiting. Thanksgiving was great, most of Kurt's family was able to come down for it. We had a fabulous dinner and great week with the family.

We found a christmas tree at Walgreen's for a great deal! We went on Thanksgiving day, it's pre-light and 6 feet tall...only one Andrew Jackson. We also got some cute decorations to go with it. It's a good tree for now, although it doesn't hold all of our presents underneath it. :(  Kurt loves to pose in front of it.
We had two Christmas party's to attend on the same night. One was for my work. It was fun, we got some pots and pans because I won a game. (we already have pans, so I got a $40 credit to Ross) We also won a game called Pictionary Man. We are excited to get a lot of people and play that game. They fed us dinner, which was okay. We bailed right after dinner though, because they were having dancing and everyone was getting a little tipsy, plus we were late for our ugly sweater party with our friends.

 The one on the left is mine..the candy shop. Kurts is the right one...the Toy Shop.

We made gingerbread houses, man that was a mess. Afterwards we played a game that has been quite funny. It's called The Game of Things. Its a really fun game that one day I will purchase. 

Today is our two month anniversary. Crazy how time flys so fast! It has been a great two months, Kurt would agree as well. I went and bought Despicable Me, and we are going to watch it tonight. We haven't seen it since our first date! Kurt's finals are this week and he has one left, on Friday. Thank goodness. And now we will have some more time with one another. Next Thursday, we will be traveling up North to join my family for Christmas. We will be there until the 26th, for we both have work to get back to the following Monday. Short trip, but oh well, it will just have to do for now.