thanks cristi

 it's nice living with a photographer 

it's golden time

golden comments this week: 

1. "every time i bend over, i have to pull up my pants."......."well, that's better then having to un-button your pants." 

2. (kid in my primary class had his scriptures in his mouth) different kid says "look, he's feasting on the scriptures." 

golden moment this week: 

tanner coming home from his manly camp out weekend.  and here are his beautiful pictures! i hope he takes me next time :)

 he said he caught around 10 fish by using grasshoppers

 his cute camping spot

 clearly i was worried for no reason

 this one's my favorite with the utensils in place. cracks me up

goodnight world

much better

last night, i calmed my rough day down with vanilla ice-cream and mint oreos. and then i watched two episodes on hulu of modern family. and then, i slept reallllly good. 

for lunch today i went to the cutest lil ice cream place that also had soup and sandwiches. the best part of this cute lil ice cream place was all the candy. so i bought some candy sticks. and this perked my day up a bit.

then i perked my night up by going on a mini shopping spree. whenever tanner leaves out of town, i shop. i do this in hopes that he will stop leaving me :)

i know that everyone needs time for themselves and tanner decided to be bear grills (?) for the weekend and went hiking/camping/fishing all by himself and left me at home to worry about him.

but, brooks and cristi were great company and let me go to dinner with them at the cheesecake factory where i finished spoiling myself with their cajun jumbalaya pasta. (i've made it several times at home with this recipe) 

The Cheesecake Factory Cajun Jambalaya Pasta

4 oz butter
2 tspn Cajun spice mix
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 lb fresh linguini pasta
½ cup clam juice
2 oz green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 oz red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 oz yellow bell peppers, cut into thin strips
4 oz red onions, cut into thin strips
½ lb fresh medium shrimp, peeled, de-veined, tails removed
½ cup diced tomatoes

Place the butter into a saute pan. Allow the butter to melt slightly. Add the seasoning into the pan and stir together with the melted butter. Add the chicken into the pan and continue to cook until the chicken is about half done.

While the chicken is cooking, carefully place the pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente.

Pour the clam juice into the pan. Add the peppers and onions. Cook for another minute, making sure the vegetables are heated through and the chicken is almost done.

Add the shrimp into the pan. Toss the ingredients together and continue to cook until the shrimp are almost done.

Add the tomatoes into then pan. Continue to cook mixture until both the shrimp and chicken are thoroughly cook through.

Place some pasta into each bowl. Spoon equal portions of the jambalaya mixture into each bowl over the pasta.

rough morning

every once in a while i'm destined to have an off day. today was that day.. and off it was. 

my boss asked me two weeks ago to watch her kids at 5:45 this morning. 

 i had a sleepless night, waking up every hour just to check the clock. i didn't want to be late because my boss informed me that her husband is very punctual about time and will probably be waiting at the front door if i'm a minute late. 

to make a long story short.. i was over an hour late.. and her husband was waiting at the door. 

apparently my phone decided to freeze in the middle of the night so my alarm never went off. then, when i woke up in a panic, my phone decided to completely turn off and not turn back on so i couldn't even call them. 

anyways, i was greeted at the door with a polite "the kids are in bed. you can make them eggs or french toast." then he was off. 

well, i made them their french toast and got them on the bus all in one piece.

as i was driving over to their house, i tried practicing a calming technique i learned from my yoga class. i don't think it works in real life.

so instead i thought of things that make me happy in life.. 

 

tanner

 road trips

 nature and hiking. but, more nature than hiking

 ice cream

 snowboarding

 flowers

 traveling

 family

 and..

marrying this guy

over the weekend..

sooo the weekend was pretty good. friday night we went to hyde park for dinner, then listened to live music and looked at booths. everything was very on the "hippie" side. not quite my taste, but fun nonetheless.

i had work off saturday and tanner had his hopes up all week to get breakfast at kneaders because they have all you can eat french toast.. but, we were 15 minutes too late and missed it. tanner couldn't get his mind off of breakfast so we ended up at ihop. blahhh. we met up with brooks and cristi and walked around the farmers market downtown and saw all the nice local things. that night we bbq'd and watched the byu vs. utah game. no comment there.

 my secret dream: to own a vintage candy/soda shop. not a secret anymore.

 could he get any cuter?

 critst, the cupcake princess

proof

proof update: here's a little video i put together for proof's "about me" page for their new website.

hope ya like it :)

i did it!

i signed myself up for my first half marathon! my new years goal was to run a full marathon by the end of the year.. let's just say, it's not gonna happen. maybe next year i'll give it another shot. i'm running in the provo, utah halloween marathon on october 29th. 

i've only heard good things about enduring on of these things so hopefully i'll feel the same! 

this is what a breakfast of champions looks like. peanut butter and honey toast (of course) and greek yogurt with blueberries. have you ever had greek yogurt?! today was my first try and i loved it!  i'm not a fan of regular yogurt. but, this isn't your regular yogurt. it's greek.

proof update: the boys are working on their new website which should launch by the end of the month! the person putting it together has been doing a great job and is very on top of things. 

have a great friday! 

stay golden

tanner just asked me why my blog title is stay golden. well, it's because i love wheat fields and sunsets. i especially love wheat fields during sunsets. when i was living in rexburg, and single.. there were many times when i would drive to the middle of nowhere and watch the sunset over the fields. i would get lost in my thoughts and it really was my "happy place." if you haven't seen a rexburg sunset, put it on your bucket list. 

i looked up golden in the dictionary and one of the definitions is:

full of happiness, prosperity, or vigor: golden hours; a golden era of exploration.

and that definition sums it up perfectly. 

keep your life golden. 

okay, not a field, but a prime example of what a sunset looks like in rexburg.

the davis's

mary, chris and ella came through boise on their way back to rexburg. 

oh, how i miss them.

hurry back soon!!

work

i'm working at a clothing consignment store called "again" in eagle. which is actually ironic because, you see, before i worked here i hated even going inside second hand clothing places. if i did go in, i wouldn't touch anything and i would try to hold my breath. why do these places smell bad? how in the world do people shop at these places? there is so much, stuff. but here i am, working, at a second hand clothing store. BUT, this place is decorated cute like a boutique and it smells good. i'm also learning that buying peoples used clothes isn't that bad. in fact, you can find some cute things. 

i've noticed four distinct things that go through my mind while i'm working.

1. why does my voice get an octave (or two) higher than it really is when i greet someone coming in?

2. i have a habit of looking for garment marks through peoples clothes. 

3. teenage girls are cute when they shop with their friends. i love the excitement they have.

4. i never thought "heart of gold" by neil diamond could get annoying.. but it does when you hear it 5 times a day

proof side note: they entered dell's "americas favorite small business" contest yesterday so wish them luck! the winner gets $25,000 worth of dell products as well as a $50,000 credit card from mastercard. not a bad gig. 

starbursts

primary update: we taught our 7 year olds for the second time today. and let me tell you, it was like night and day! and i think i owe it to starbursts. last week i brought cupcakes, thinking we would be the best teachers ever, but i guess cupcakes didn't make the cut. so today we tried a new tactic and gave each kid a starburst whenever they answered a question, volunteered, or had a comment. they behaved so well! and they had intelligent answers! 

(last week they answered every question with.. "easter bunny") 

last night we went to the reception of mr. and mrs. rondo! they had their wedding in san diego a week ago and then spent their honeymoon in the bahamas! it was good seeing them and we are really happy for them!

bikram yoga

i signed myself up for a 20 day bikram yoga class. in other words, hot yoga. cristi has done it for awhile and has told me how much she likes it. she blogged about her first time going and this was her reaction..

I am completely IN LOVE with this type of yoga. My mind is more clear, I feel relaxed, stretched, and when I walk out of there I feel like I just endured a marathon and am on cloud nine!

 it's about 105 degrees in this stinky humid room. i'm drenched head to toe in sweat, and like cristi, i manage to love it. today was my second day and i'm already seeing some improvement. i'm the most un-flexible person in the world and this will hopefully help!

cheers to my yogi friends!

best sandwich in the world

i've been on a peanut butter and honey sandwich kick the last few days. i've eaten one almost every meal. it all started when cristi brought home a loaf of bread from kneaders... the other night i had one before bed and somehow managed to get honey all over my hair and pants. (i can get a lil freaky with my sandwiches) 

who knows, tomorrow i might go crazy and put some banana in it.

CTR 7

tanner and i got callings in the ward to teach the 7 year olds. i was excited to except the calling because we both love kids. after today, i think we've decided to wait a looong time before we have our own.  they are CRAZY! our class consists of all boys (7 of them) who love computers, nintendo, and being obnoxious. 

i told tanner i think it's time to move..

on a better note, i had a lot of time to think this past week. my sister-in-law, cristi, took a class with her husband and one of the exercises they did was to take 5 minutes eating a raisin. the point was to notice all the detail that we take for granite. i tried to pay attention to the small details around me that i normally would't think twice about. 

 the water was glass all week!

 i wanna grow old with you

 i never really look up when i lay out, but it's really pretty

but looking to my left is prettier