Thanksgiving in California...

This year we packed up and headed down to California for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving with Patrick's mom. On our way we stopped in St. George to pick up Danielle, Chad, and their dog Rukia.
Danielle and Chad took a ton of pictures but we forgot to get them before we left. So here are a few pictures from the trip we took with our phones.

 Patrick and Chad helped Linda pick out a new computer. Then they set it up for her.

 Danielle loved Linda's dogs, especially Noki. I think she wanted to take Noki home.

 The boys played with the BB guns in the backyard.

 We took a trip to the beach.

The vegetarians decided to eat turkey because it was a holiday. So of course I had to document it.

We had a great time. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Linda, Stephanie, Scott, baby Braden, Patrick's uncle and aunt, a set of sister missionaries, and some other friends of Linda's from the ward.

Christmas is coming...

I listened to Christmas music all day and started to pull out some decorations. The wreath was a little damaged from moving but with a little hot glue it was good to go. I also bought a tree! I can't wait to decorate it this weekend with Patrick!

Surprise from Patrick...

We both always have Fridays off. Patrick typically spends the first half of the day studying with his group in the business building and most of the rest studying solo. He mentioned that his group wanted to get together for lunch with their families this past Friday. I was excited because we haven't done much with his group. Thursday night he told me they still hadn't decided where to eat so he planned on swinging by the apartment to pick me up around noon the next day. So Friday I made sure I was ready and had all of the things around the house done that I wanted to before noon. To my surprise Patrick got home and told me we were going to Park City for the rest of the day! And we'd spend the night! I was so excited!

So we quickly packed a suitcase, grabbed lunch, and headed to Park City. We stayed in The Chateaux Deer Valley Hotel.  Patrick bought an online deal for it earlier in the summer to save as a surprise.

We were not quite sure what to expect but the room was very nice. It had a fireplace!

It also had a frige, microwave, toaster, set of two dishes,and other little touches. We made ourselves hot chocolate and hot apple cider Saturday morning. Although it's not pictured there was a small container housing cotton balls and q tips packaged in little sets together. This is how Patrick knew it was a classy hotel. Don't worry I took a few sets to put in our 72 hour kits.

The heated towel rack was a nice touch. The room also had a big tub with jets :)

We spent some time checking out the downtown area before dinner on Friday.

It was a little cold so we were glad we packed warm and both wore boots.

 We had a hard time picking where to go for dinner. We could go a more practical route or live it up and go to a fancy place since many were having specials. We went big and headed to the Glitretend. This is a picture of the amuse-bouche we were served.

We decided that we should order an appetizer and I had Patrick choose. They split it for us so we each got our own plate. It is braised pork belly. It was served with apple potato pave, cider reduction, and cider air.

Those who have been out to dinner with us before know that we like to split things. This was no exception and we split the main courses. This is kobe pot roast  served with vegetables, creamed potatoes, and horseradish.  It was good and I really liked the potatoes.

 This is double r ranch beef tenderloin with crispy yukon potatoes, baby tomatoes, chimichurri, and balsamic. We both liked this best. The meat was the most tender we have ever had the privilege of eating. It was amazing! We loved our fancy dinner and were glad we splurged on it.

We  spent the whole time just the two of us. No computers or school work for a full 24 hours!

Here I am on our way out. We stopped for breakfast and to walk around an outlet mall before heading back to reality.

It was so nice to have a break and to have such a nice surprise from Patrick. We enjoyed relaxing and loved our time away together.

Being a "Big Girl"

Whenever I do something that I feel like a responsible adult would do I call it being a "big girl" or a "big girl momement". Yes I know I'm 25 and should be used to doing some of this but I still have these moments. And then I tell Patrick about them. And then tell him again.

Around the time that we moved I felt like I was having a lot of them. I was calling our different insurance providers so I could get one last appointment with my dentist, eye doctor, and more. Working in the temple made me feel like a big girl too. With working in a small temple I was able to be involved with many different ordinances and I felt like I learned a lot and got to do what usually only older adults get to do. Then after we moved interviewing for jobs and  then setting up health insurance through my work for the first time felt pretty good. Getting a paycheck where I make a nurses income was a definate big girl moment, only to have it followed up by setting up direct deposit and seeing an overtime check magically appear in our account.

This week I've had another. I can never seem to get out of work on time and have had some complaints about work. Patrick has been patient and willing to hear my every concern and complaint. He suggested that I just start making a list and set up a time to talk with my boss. So after some reminding from him I did it. And I met with her today. Although I see some problems with my work my boss is not one of them. She is very nice and approachable. She happily listened to my list, made suggestions, said she would fix some of the things she could, and is going to follow me around on Thursday so she can give me some advice on how to be more efficient with my time. While I'm not exactly thrilled to have my boss follow me for a day, I'm glad that she is going to and offer me suggestions. I think it will be worth the added stress in the long run.

While I'm not allowed to take pictures of my work  I found a few on the internet so you can imagine me at work better. I work in the new section of the building where the short term patients stay.

 This is not the nursing desk on my floor but it looks pretty similar. Usually you find everyone else but me behind it. I typically have my medication cart parked on one side.

 Here is a typical patient room. It looks pretty nice and is private. It is at least double if not triple the size of what you see here. It also has a bathroom.

 One part of the PT/OT room on my floor. All of the short term patients do rehab here.

Last day of October and guess what I haven't done this month?

Yeah... I haven't done a post this month and as Ashley's goal for me I must. I'm not sure what to share since it's been all school since the last post that Ashley did. Well, I guess the only news I have is that I won't be working at Intel this summer in an operation finance role. I spent 90% of my internship search energies to date working to get that option; so many hours, money, and effort. On the one hand I am happy just to have been selected for an interview out of 50+ other finance students applying for the one spot but I was in it to win it and I really thought I was going to. Bummer. All is not lost though, I will be applying for an internship with a different side of finance at Intel but that process won't begin until Jan/Feb and it's not directly through BYU.

So what's the plan now? I have no idea! Everything is an option now, everything!

Well, if you've made it this far, congratulations.You just read the most boring post, sorry. Seriously that's all I've got.

Traveling...

October has been a traveling month for us. The first weekend of the month we headed to Oregon. Patrick is interested in Amazon which is based in Seattle so he set a lunch meeting with a guy there for Friday. So we drove up to Devin's house and spent time with him and his family. We got there Thursday at dinner time. After eating chicken fajitas I went with Bridget to her friend's house for bead night where I made these.

Pretty cool, right? I was pretty impressed with her bead group. They get together every couple of months and the lady in charge finds a project for them to do, learns how to do it, and then creates little kits with everything you need to make it. Then you go to her house and make your bead project while talking with the other girls and eating whatever delicious dessert she made. Needless to say I want to live closer and join bead group. While I was getting my bead on Patrick got to hang out with Devin and the kids. Krispy Kreme donuts were involved so they had fun.

Friday Patrick drove the 3 1/2  hours to Seattle for his meeting. I stayed with Bridget and the two youngest kids. While Patrick was driving and talking with the Amazon man, I spent my day playing legos, sword fighting, going to the rose garden, walking around the grounds of Pittock Mansion, eating macaroni and cheese, and talking with Bridget.

time.com

Saturday was filled with watching soccer games, eating Del Taco, playing outside, chatting, and eating dinner from the food carts in town. Devin and Patrick went to pick up dinner and we ate sushi,chicken marsala, lemon chicken, pumpkin curry, another curry, a Hawaiian dish, a Thai noodle dish, and more. It was delicious. Later that night we played a few games including pass the pigs and charades. It ended with the kids having a dance party.

Sunday we drove back to Utah. We stopped in Boise to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes. It was nice to see them and visit for a little while. It was especially nice because Patrick had never met them before. After eating dinner with them we headed back to Provo. Patrick drove almost the entire trip. We got back close to 11pm and went right to sleep because we both got up close to 5am the next day to start the week.

A few weeks later we headed to California for Braden's baby blessing. We left Thursday afternoon and stopped in St. George to visit Danielle and Chad. It was so fun to see them and to their cute apartment. I think their dog Rukia was the most excited of us all. She loves Patrick and they used to play together every Sunday at my parent's house. After catching up a bit we ate mexican food and had ice cream. Then we hung out and talked and watched the show adventure time. We spent the night with them and headed out the next morning.

Friday afternoon we arrived in California. We talked with Linda, picked up Burrianos (pork burritos with a chile rellano inside) and headed to Stephanie's house. We chatted and took turns holding our new nephew.

Saturday was the blessing day. Linda and Stephanie had ordered a cute outfit for Braden to wear but when it arrived in the mail it looked like it was sized for a toddler, not a 8-15 lb baby like it was supposed to be.  So after Linda ran errands and cooked, Patrick studied, and I slept? or ate cookies? we called stores and were on the hunt for a new outfit. We got one at JCPenny's on the way to the Carr house for the blessing. Scott's parents and a couple of his sisters and their families were there. It was neat to be a part of their special day. We had lunch afterwards and Linda, Patrick and I headed to Oak Glen. It was a cool touristy apple orchard dreamland. We sampled cider and apples and had a fun time.

It is nice that we've been able to visit some family on both sides. We have decided that we are going to take a few weeks off  before heading out again.

My morning surprise...

I walked outside today to find this...

 Yes, snow in October. I couldn't believe it. And then I found my car...

...also covered in snow. I actually had to get out my scraper from the trunk to clean it off. It didn't matter though because I planned to make freezer meals today. I've made a few in the past with my mom and decided it was time again. That way Patrick and I don't spend our money eating take out burritos and Chinese food, or worse Totino's frozen pizza when we are short on time. So this afternoon I spent three hours and made:

-Pasta Bake

-Sweet and Sour Meatballs

-Chicken Fajitas

-Shepard's Pie

-Peachy Balsamic Chicken

-Cranberry Dijon Pork

-Cheesy Spinach Burgers

-Orange Chicken

 Here they are in our freezer.

I'm excited to start using them. Especially the recipes that are new. And it's nice because we'll be able to eat multiple meals from all of them.
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