We did it!

He's big, he's scary but he's now defeated!!..

For Christmas we got Super Mario Brothers Wii and spent way too many hours of Christmas break playing. Once school and work started again the Wii went back in the drawer and life took over. We busted out the Wii over spring break and we finally beat bowser!! Actually I beat him, but if you talk to Sam we did it together. What a feeling of accomplishment. I will definitely be added this experience to my resume.

good deals

A couple weekends ago we went to a date night hosted by our friends Paul and Jen. They had this coupon expert come and give a presentation on how to get more for less at the grocery store. I've used coupons here and there but I have never saved 80% like she does. I took notes and decided to give it a try. She said it would take about 3 months before you really started saving a lot of money because you have to stock up initially. Basically once you have a good base pantry then you only buy things when they are on sale and a good deal.

Well I am pretty proud of myself because this week I found 2 killer deals.

This toothpaste is typically 3.50 or so, well it was on sale for 1.75 and I had a 1 dollar off coupon so I got it for .75 cents! and I had two coupons so not only did I get one but I got two for less than buying one!

I love this jergens natural glow lotion in the summer, it's a great way to make that tan stay extra long. Well bummer that it's so expensive, like 7 dollars a bottle. This week I found, 3 for 10$ and I have a dollar off coupon, but I have 2 coupons, so I get 3 for 8!. And I definitely will use all three before summer is over.

Don't you just love a good deal?!??! Nothing feels better than saving some money, especially on things like lotion, toothpaste, detergent etc etc. This coupon expert really had an easy system to make coupon shopping easy for everyone. If you are interested in hearing more let us know because we are thinking of hosting our own coupon night, it's totally free, we don't get anything from it and neither does she. We all just get the opportunity to save a couple dollars each week and that can really add up!

A change in plans

Ever since I met Sam his plan for the future was to become an orthodontist. He had a great experience with his orthodontist, which I'm still trying to figure out how it was so great he had braces twice! But nonetheless that was "the plan"


Well whenever we talked about the road to dental school and beyond it never felt quite right. It felt more and more uneasy lately as the University of Utah contemplated starting a dental school. There were lots of conversations with those around us about debt, starting your own business, insecurity of a job once school is completed, and the long road of school.
Throughout all of these conversations it just never felt right.

New options were explored but Sam just never felt like he really new the full extent of his options. He knew that he didn't like the idea of business, accounting, marketing, lawyer etc. SO he felt a little stuck not knowing where to look for a future career. You know how we automatically resort to the big name careers, lawyer, doctor, dentist etc. Well big thanks to my Erik and Lyndsay who talked with us about some of the options they wished they had considered prior to jumping into medical school. We explored these options and Sam decided to switch tracks slightly and aim for PA school. I say switch tracks slightly because most of the requirements for PA school are similar to those of dentistry. The biggest difference is the patient to patient interaction prior to PA school.

PA=physciain assistant. They are everywhere typically you specialize just like a doctor and can do just about anything, ER, family practice, Cardiology, oncology, orthopedics etc etc. They are high in demand and the demand is growing. We are really excited to switch paths and finally feel good about the path that we are on. So watch out cause Sam is on the lose and now starting to work a few hours a week as a health screener to start on his hours, he's also considering HCA and phlebotimist. If you have any other suggestions we'd love your insight!

So sorry to all the family and friends that were planning on getting a good deal for all their dental problems, we'll be paying full price like the rest of you!

birthday-part 2

Sorry to not share the rest of the story. At this point there are really only two possible endings. End 1 Sam and I are pregnant and so we can now justify having such a fine car, slightly bigger, better fit for squeezing a car seat in, fits the stroller in the back and looks like a mom car. Or end 2 Sam is the best husband in the world putting us 14,000$ into debt on my birthday. Which is it you ask?

Neither, Sam is a big tease, he went to the Ken Garff dealership and told the guy he was thinking about buying me this car for birthday and asked if he could bring it home to show me. They let him drive it off the lot and it was his for a hour. I sat in that gorgeous BMW and realized that although it had one of the best sun roofs(it was really big and extended over the passengers row) it didn't have heated seats. How could you spend so much money on something it wasn't absolutely your dream! Lucky Sam cause I didn't want that car, I wanted a nicer one! :)

Needless to say I had a great birthday weekend. Everyone in our families went to great lengths to make me feel special and loved. It was full of great meals! great desserts and great people(cheesy I know). My favorite presents were my new running shoes and anthropologie clutch. Thanks to all of you who made me feel so special all weekend long. I love you all!!

birthday

It was my birthday yesterday. To celebrate Sam took me out for a birthday date on Friday. He was acting so funny all day and said that he wouldn't be home when I got home from work, so to just get ready and he'd pick me up. When I got home all the lights were out, and I was so nervous he had planned a surprise party. I cautiously opened the door and was relieved when the house was empty. He left a note with a couple presents. The note said something like, "enjoy these presents while I'm away, I had to go get your 'big' present. " About 35 minutes later Sam showed up at the door with a big present! He told me to come outside, I was in the middle of getting ready so I threw on a jacket and my slippers and was literally speechless to see this gorgeous BMW x3!

We have been talking about how much I love this car for awhile, how it'll be the perfect car when we have kids, enough room for the kids and groceries in back, but I never expected it so soon. What a surprise!!

. . . well there is more to the story but I can't finish it now, we have one more birthday party.

to be continued...

grateful

This past Wednesday my Young Women's group had a special guest come and talk with us. The man was about 60 years old and was born deaf with tunnel vision. He later went completely blind at age 40. He is now married and his wife translates everything for him. When we communicated with him we would do sign language in his hand and then his wife would tell us what he said back.

He was an inspirational man. He has been given some hard circumstances to live under and has made it work and found joy. Listening to his experiences and life made me so grateful for the simple things in life. I am so grateful to be healthy and have a body that functions and works normal. Aren't you?

a much needed update

Happy 2010!

So far this year has been a year of change for us. As you all know I was hired as an exercise specialist at the UofU hospital. I immediately felt the effects of been a working woman when I went to work on January 4th and Sam had another week of winter vacation.

We enjoyed our winter break by having a few snow days. We made a snow man in our front yard, out of the three snowman on our street he lasted the longest and the remains of him, branches, smashed carrots and all are still out front. We especially enjoyed going snow shoeing and wandering around high in the mountains. It's always nice to get a breath of fresh air. Sam and I both have new snow shoes that hadn't been used before, it was good to break them in.

We also spent a few too many hours playing super mario wii. It's such a fun game! We had a few mornings where we wouldn't get out of bed we would just turn the wii on and play for a few hours. Talk about a waste of time I know! But I would die for a day like that now after four weeks of reality.

We also watched a season of 24. And I think I've watched too much 24 because. . . The other day I was riding Trax home from the hospital. A police officer got on the train and I automatically thought that there must be a terrorist of the train and I should get off. The train left too soon for me to exit and turns out the police officer was just checking tickets. Whoops I left mine at home, luckily he gave me a break considering I had both a student ID and work ID.

Now that I don't have homework and Sam does I have much more free time than before. What am I going to do with it?!? Well the list goes on and on. I have so many things I want to spend my time on the trick is finding the energy to do them all.