As you can probably tell, I have been quite occupied with other things for the past couple of months hence my hiatus from the blogging world. But now there is reason to rejoice! Rejoice with me all! For I am now Weber State alumni instead of a Weber State student. That is right, my friends, I have finally graduated with my bachelor's degree. Friday was the commencement ceremony, and I had a lot of fun celebrating with all of my nursing friends. To make it even more fun, Brad graduated with me. He wasn't to keen on the idea of walking in the ceremony for his associate's degree, but I said "you're going to be sitting through the long ceremony anyway, you might as well walk." So he did. Besides, he got to wear a purple robe, and he was pretty stoked about that too. My parents took us to lunch before the commencement ceremony which was a great idea because I had to leave about 45 minutes after the ceremony in order to get to Salt Lake before call time for the Tabernacle Choir Concert. Which, by the way, was wonderful. Natalie Cole did a great job. She definitely had a different style than past artists, but I guess each artist has been quite original. She was very captivating on Friday night. David McCullough was great to have at the concert also. He seems like a very down to earth type of guy. He's a great story teller, and just has so much knowledge to share. And of course Richard Elliott gave an amazing performance on the organ. He can just fly! I can't understand how his mind can keep track of so many things! I love being a part of such a great production.
In other news, Brad has all of his pharmacy school applications in, and we are now awaiting the invitations to interviews. We hate the waiting game, but it has to be done. So, anyway, there is a little bit of catch up in our lives.

September

So, school started, and now I never post. It is a sad fact of life that school takes up time. Anyway, I thought I should at least take the time to post a least once during the month of September. And guess what is so special about September? It is my birthday month! My birthday is actually on the 3rd of September, but we have pretty much been celebrating it all month long. Brad and I actually celebrated my birthday on my birthday. He took me shopping for some new clothes which I truly needed. I had a bell recording that night, but when I came home, he had made cupcakes. The funny thing is, is that we only had one egg in the house, and the cupcake recipe called for 3 eggs. So what did Brad do? He used his awesome conversion skills that he learned in pharmacy tech class and convert the whole recipe to 1/3 the size to account for the lone egg.


The next birthday celebration was about a week later with the whole fam. We met is Salt Lake and went to this delicious pizza place called Setebellos. I highly reccomend it. Guess what my siblings gave me? New KNIVES! We have a pretty shoddy set of kitchen knives and I constantly complain about how I can't even cut a carrot decently. So thank you fam!

The final birthday celebration was on Sunday. Mom made angel food cake, and we had fresh peaches on top with whipped cream. MMmmmm... that is so good.

This month has really just flown by. We are already in the 5th week of classes at Weber State. That means we're almost a third of the way through the semester (can anyone tell that it is my last semester of school, and I am a little more than eager to be done?) . Brad has made wonderful strides on his applications for pharmacy school. He is meeting with his professors for letters of reccomendation and for guidance on his personal statement. I am very impressed with how ahead of the game he is. He is really doing great despite his very hectic school schedule. So, all is going well for us.


This is the only picture I have of all the birthday festivities. Isn't it a becoming picture? Brad's pose in the background is also one in a million don't you think?

Pictures

Hawaii 2009

Here are a few pictures from our Hawaii adventure with the whole Winter family. It was such a fun experience, and we are so grateful to Mom and Dad for planning the whole thing for us! This is Brad and me being Tahitian warriors. I know, we're fearsome.We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center while we were on Oahu. We got to go to a really fun Luau and drink mango shakes from a pineapple. We ate fresh shrimp from Remy's shrimp shack. It was literally a shack on the side of the rode. But the shrimp was fresh, and it tasted great. It was a messy meal though.

When we got to Kauai, we went on a awesome hike along the Napali Coastline. It was so lush and green and just full of spectacular views. The whole trail supposedly takes about 3 days, but we only took the first stretch. It landed us at a very pretty beach, with some severe warnings

The last day, we went Kayaking along a river after playing on the beach. The kayaking was way fun, and that is where I received my sunburn of all sunburns (see previous post). It was totally worth it though.

Wear Sunscreen.....

I would like to bear testimony of the importance of wearing sunscreen. We were so good throughout our whole Hawaii trip to apply generous amounts of sunscreen, and because of our earnest efforts, we were not burnt at all until the last day of our vacation. But the sun had it out for me, and my legs now look like swollen tomatoes. We went kayaking the last day of our vacation, which means our legs were a perfect target for the sun, while the rest of our vacation they had been well hidden in the waves of the ocean. To make the matter even worse, I spent the whole next day on a plane where I could not elevate my feet. I wish I had a picture to show of the moment we landed in Salt Lake. It wasn't pretty. I had kankles! This picture is 4 days after the sunburn occurred, and the swelling has gone down drastically. However, I can still make polka dot pictures with the edema that remains after elevating my legs for significant amounts of time. So, yes, sunscreen does work. It prevents cancer. It prevents unnecessary pain. And it prevents kankles.

Hawaii

So we've spent about the last week in Hawaii with Brad's family. We have been having a great time, and really have not had time to sit down and post. I am just logging in to say hello since we have a little down time this evening. Let me tell you, Hawaii is amazing! We started out our trip on Oahu where I discovered what I want my new hobby to be... snorkeling! I know there isn't a lot of supreme snorkeling spots in Utah, so it wont really blossom into anything more, but I highly reccommend snorkeling. We went to Shark's cove where we saw angel fish, clown fish, a turtle, the Hawaii state fish, and all sorts of other amazing tropical fish. We got to Kauai on Sunday and went on an beautiful hike on Monday morning along the coastline near the Napali coast. Today we went to the ocean and played in the waves and did more snorkeling. This has been such a great adventure, but unfortunately, probably the only think Brad and I forgot was the memory card to our camera. I know! pretty stupid, huh? We were able to buy one, but I can't transfer the pictures to the computer until we get home, so I promise a few pictures next time. Until then... Aloha!

SIBLING ADVENTURE 2009!

So, BriAnn and Derek really instigated this whole thing. And for that, I give them a great big THANK YOU! We went camping "siblings only style" this past weekend and had so much fun. We stayed at Spirit Lake in the High Uintas and I highly recommend it. The camping trip really only consisted of fishing, eating, card games, and sleeping. But really, what could be better? Derek and BriAnn went up a day early and set up camp. Nathan, Janel, Brad, and I drove up after I got off work on Friday. Here are some of the pictures of all the fun we had.



Having fun at our campsite



Derek and Nathan being men with their fish. Derek caught 2 fish, and Nathan, I think, had 4 within his sight, but for some reason we couldn't get one in the boat for him.



Brad and the canoe.




Yes, believe it or not, I even caught a fish. It has probably been at least 10 years! Brad caught 2 fish! We were in this great little hole and caught all 3 within probably 30 minutes! I love fish cooked in the fire. It is so good. BriAnn also caught one, and we got to reap the benefits of her fine work because she doesn't like fish.



Isn't the scenery nice?



Nathan :)



Janel and BriAnn on our little hike while the men fished



Packing up



Everyone on our last day.

Yes, we truly enjoyed ourselves. We had fun improvising during the camping trip since none of us are pros at the planning part of the camping experience quite yet. We cooked pretty much anything we wanted to on a stick in the fire including rolls, starbursts, and bacon. When you're camping anything goes.

CAMPING ROCKS!


He He He.

FHE Catch Up

Tonight for family home evening, we wanted to think about our family history, it being pioneer day last week and all. And besides, we went to a family reunion this last week. As we discussed it, the thought came up how will our future generations know us. Unfortunately, since being married over a year ago, neither of us have been very good about keeping our own family history (ie we stink at writing our journals). We decided the next best thing would be to post in our blog the "goings ons" of this past month.

So.....

First off, toward the beginning of July one of my families I (brad) home teach had a bounteous crop of rhubarb. Brother Stewart, being the amazingly nice person that he is gave us a tour of his "secret garden" and also gave a a ton of rhubarb. Teri was wonderful! She used it to make strawberry-rhubarb crisp and then she made her very first pie from scratch. It was delicious! I'm glad I have her; I thought that rhubarb was a berry :)



Next on our list, can I get a little sigh from everyone? We celebrated our first year anniversary on July 12th. We knew we were going to have a super busy weekend, so I made Brad a lovely steak dinner complete with the only real silver we own, candle sticks, on Friday night. We didn't do much else, and I (Teri) will not lie, I didn't think Brad was going to remember. But he did not fail me, he just kept it a great secret. He had our neighbors keep a custom made bouquet of flowers that were similar to the flowers at our wedding, and had them sitting on the breakfast table on Sunday morning. The table was also decked out with my favorite breakfast, WAFFLES! By the way, my husband probably makes the best waffles ever.





(Brad again) I really do. Anyway, moving on...
To keep this brief (too late) I will let the pictures tell y'all how much fun we had at our family reunion this last week end up in Eden.




Hot tubbing with Joely-pooh.



Me driving the boat.



Sisters chillin.



Milly blowing a kiss.



Cousins on the boat.



Teri falling down:) but with such grace!


Well that's about it. We hope you enjoyed our FHE mega post. (We switched off back and forth who was writing. Hope you got that)

Happy Independence Day Slave!

I hope everyone had as great of an Independence Day as Brad and I had. We did all the normal things you would do on the fourth, you know... shop at Walmart, pea in your parent's garden, and sit on the roof. Ok, so those types of things really aren't that "American", but we had a great day. First of all, we slept in. That is a good thing. Then we ate waffles. Yet another wonderful thing. Then we went to Walmart. Not so great. But it was Saturday and of course we had those few items that we needed before the sabbath, so we made a quick trip to Walmart. Yes, I know, what could be more American. Then we went to Brad's parents' and picked peas in their beautiful garden since they are out of town. We had a wonderful barbecue dinner at my parents house complete with homemade icecream! Wahoo! We then made the trek back to Hooper for fireworks. Ok, so instead of sitting with the hoards of people at Hooper Park like everyone else, I bet you can't guess what we did. Ok well maybe you can, but I thought it was pretty much the funnest thing I have ever done on the Fourth of July. We watched the fireworks show from Brad's family's roof, and it was probably the best seat you could have. We had such a great day, I hope ya'll did too.

Pigs Flying

We really didn't see any pigs flying, but I think Brad experienced the swine flu this week. Brad started out with a sore throat on Sunday night, and by Monday he had no energy and really was not feeling his best. We had a family party on Monday night so I enlisted Brad to the task of making a jello salad. Well, he overdid the jello and so we had 2 huge pans of jello. I guess the surpluss of jello was a blessing in disguise because he had no appetite due to his sickness, but he seemed to manage the jello, so he downed a whole 8x8 pan of it on Monday and that was really all he ate all day. By Tuesday he had a high fever, aches, chills, sweats, etc. and didn't move from the living room couch all day. He started feeling better on Wednesday, but was definitely not recovered. I tried to have him help me with the dishes, an easy enough task I thought. Well, half way through the task, he got so light headed and weak, he had to go lay down. The poor guy. Anyway, he is finally feeling well enough today to go to work. We'll see how he does. He was never really diagnosed with H1N1 influenza, but normal flu season is done and over with, so probably anyone with flu symptoms probably has the swine flu. I've never had to experience a sick husband before. Let me tell you, it really wasn't any fun. I am happy to say he is in much better spirits today.

A Shout Out to ElRay, El Rey de las Hormigas

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now, and after a little pressure form my mother-in-law :) I am finally doing it.
At the beginning of this spring our cosy little apartment was finally just the perfect temperature, but apparently it was too appealing for some to resist. Black ants started their invasion of our small home and became quite a nuisance last April. We battled them to no avail until we finally sought out the expertise of Teri's Uncle ElRay. He is entomologist who spends his days conjuring up horrible fates of insects who dare threaten the human world. We mentioned our problem and within a minute or two he handed us a small tube that would bring an end to our little invaders. ElRay we thank you. Within seconds they took the bait and then two dates latter they were no more!
We have now been living ant free for over two months now and we owe it all to ElRay, now know in our home as El Rey de Las Hormigas.
Brad

Spring and Other Things

I have had a lot of free time lately, but I have not utilized this time by posting on the blog. I decided it was about time. Weber State finished spring classes about two weeks ago. Brad has already started full swing into summer classes. How fun does that sound? I, on the other hand, cannot take summer classes, and I am worried that I might become very bored. I have kept myself occupied thus far, but only having a part time jobs provides me with a lot of free time. I have decided to read the books Brad has to read for his fiction class to pass time, I am open to suggestions for new and inexpensive hobbies.

We did plant flowers and vegetables last week. I guess you could consider that a hobby. Unfortunately, I don't know how well the tomotoes are going to do....we'll stay optimistic though. Most of our veggies and plants are in buckets and pots because we only have a 3x3 plot of dirt by our little home. I was so excited to plant some flower seeds in this little plot of dirt along with a couple tomatoe plants, but we have some sort of a bug, I think ants, that had a hay day over night, and the tomatoe plants are no more. And as soon as a single leaf pops up out of the ground from the flower seeds I planted, those dumb bugs chomp it up quite swiftly. Like I said, we'll try to be optimistic. Whatever the vermin is, it is leaving the chives alone, probably because they smell like onions and do not appeal to the bad-mannered bugs.

The tomatoe plant that has the most hope of survival.

These are the chives. We got the start from my parents house.

I hope we get at least enjoy some of the fruites of our labor by the end of the summer. I guess only time will tell.

In other news, my younger brother, Nathan, gets home from his mission in Salta, Argentina in five days. I am pretty stoked to see him. I can't wait to see how he has changed, and of course how he has grown. He is definitely staying busy his last week in the mission. We talked to him last week on Mother's Day, and he doesn't seem to even have time to think about coming home. I wonder if he's trunky at all. Even if he's not trunky, My mom sure is trunky enough for the both of them. She has been making all sorts of preparations for his return. She decided to paint a wall of his bedroom green to surprise him when he gets home. I helped Mom pick out the color last week, and we just need to paint one more layer on before it will be ready for him. This is the only wall in my parents entire house that has a color other than white on it, quite a bold move on my mom's part. Anyway, it sure will be fun to see him on Wednesday.

Our Attempt at being Domestic

My mother provided us with a whole flat of wonderful red strawberries last week. Of course, two people cannot very easily eat that many strawberries without becoming sick before they go bad. So, what did we do!?! We made jam! Very tastey jam, I might add. We spent Monday evening learning the ropes of making our very own homemade strawberry jam. Truthfully, it wasn't that difficult of a task, and it wasn't that time consuming. We worked together on this fun project while watching a movie displayed on our laptop that we had perched on the minute amount out counterspace we have. We were so pleased with the end result of our domestic endeavor. And better yet, we get to reap the benefits of the ordeal every time we eat a peanut butter sandwhich or have a slice of toast! Yum, strawberry jam.

School

It's almost over!

Birthday & Easter

We had a great weekend. Saturday night, Dad, Mom, Janel, Brad, and I drove down to Provo to see BriAnn's students in their totally awesome production of "The Music Man." It made me a nostalgic of the good old days of junior high plays. I have so many good memories. It was a great production, and so much fun to see.

Sunday, I got the great opportunity to go play with the Bells on Temple Square on Easter morning with the Tabernacle Choir on Music and the Spoken Word. Let me tell you, there is nothing like being able to literally be in the middle of such wonderful music and sounds. The bells were positioned in front of the choir and behind the orchestra, so we were completely engulfed by the beautiful sounds created. It was such a great way to remind me what Easter is really about. Every song reminded me of Christ. We have so much to rejoice and sing about!

After the broadcast and church, we went to my parents' house to have Easter dinner. Dad, Mom, Janel, Derek, BriAnn, Brad, and I were all in attendance. We had a great dinner that was prepared by my mom, and after dinner we got to color Easter eggs! For some reason, I find so much enjoyment out of this activity. Anyway, we made some very colorful creations as you can see. In addition, we celebrated my dear Bradly's birthday. He turned 23 on April 13th. He's such great guy. I hope he had a good one. Anyway, all in all we had a very fun filled weekend. We had so much fun spending time with our family.

Conference Weekend!

Ok, I know it is now Friday, but Brad and I had a great weekend last weekend. I actually had a camera with me, so I even took some pictures. We enjoyed spending our time with family, friends, and watching conference.

Saturday night we spent the evening over at the Winter's house. Brad's dad makes really good fish, so we had a great dinner. Nella, Will, and Mari all came up from Provo to spend some time with us.

We had fun while the boys were at Priesthood. I wish I had had my camera because Milly got nice and creative with everyone's hair. She had curling irons going and wigs on everyone. She actually only cut my hair, but I think it looks great! We had delicious apple cobbler after everyone got home.

Sunday Morning, we started out the day with yours truly giving shots to family members! I love being a nurse at times like these! I actually checked up on all of my family members' immunizations, and everyone needed a tetanus shot, so I performed the dirty deed!

In between conference sessions, we drove to Sandy to visit Grandma and Grandpa Frandsen. They had a great meal for us while we watched and listened to conference intently.........

and then we all went for a nice walk in the park behind their house.

It was so fun to spend the weekend with family and to be uplifted by the wonderful words prophets, apostles, and church leaders. I am so grateful for all that we have!