We made it!

Jed and I made it to our ONE YEAR anniversary! We are celebrating on a sunny beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I have a minute to reflect on the last year and it's been such an experience. We got married, three days later we moved to NYC, we both started new jobs...I started another new job shortly after that, moved into our TINY apartment, learned to adjust to married life together. Let me see here...any other life changes that I missed? Nope, I think I covered them all!
We love being married. I have to brag about my husb for a minute: he has been so patient with me during our transition, the move away from our family in Utah, complaining about the NYC heat, trying to come up with ways to make our apartment cooler in the mornings so I won't sweat as I get ready for the day (PS. he hasn't accomplished this quite yet...any suggestions??? and please don't say a fan...as if we haven't tried that :)) He has been the BEST travel companion...we share the same interests on trips/vacations. Last but not least, he has made me realize that marriage isn't a chore/responsibility, it's just two people working hard for something they believe in. (wow, that last line??? So poetic/cheesy, but it's true!)
PS. Puerto Rico/Utah pictures to be posted soon!

Small Space Baking

Jed and I had a "first" today...first time we have made cookies from scratch. Living in a small apartment has hindered us from enjoying the kitchen together. There just isn't room for us, let alone a bag of flour, sugar, eggs, mixer, cookie sheet, etc. But, we decided to try it out, bought our supplies, and here are the results:




They taste better than they look. If you think they look good enough to make, well, then here's the recipe.
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cube butter
4 cups oatmeal (I only used 2.5 cups)
1 cup plain (mini) m&m's (I didn't have any, so I didn't use any)
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups choco chips
1 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Drop on ungreased cookie sheet...WARNING: they spread a LOT, so don't put more than 9 on a sheet at a time. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (I only baked them for 9) They will appear gooey (as if that's a bad thing!)

Dancing Queen

My friend from USU, Jodie, came to visit last week. It's one good thing about living in NYC...we get lots of visitors! Each time we have visitors, we usually get to do something "touristy." This go round, we had the luxury of going to Chinatown to buy "brand name" purses. Let me paint you a picture of Chinatown: One long road (Canal street) hundreds of shops, thousands of knock-off STUFF, millions of people. Throw some humidity and you have yourself one heck of a good time.
I'm glad Jodie got to go, I remember how excited I was to haggle my way to three Prado purses.

We also attended a Broadway show: Mama Mia. I LOVED this show! We had 3rd row seats. A little too close for my liking because I couldn't see the whole stage when all the dancing was going on. BUT, it sure beats sitting on the last row! I have a newfound respect for Abba.

Thanks for visiting Jode!

Have you missed us???

Jed and I have been on a lil vacation to sunny California. My big brother Jared got married this weekend. We decided to make a little trip out of it and spent a couple of days at Lake Tahoe. It is absolutely gorgeous! It was so nice to be in the fresh air with cool weather. We did a LOT of relaxing, exploring, driving, eating, and napping.

Jared and his new bride were absolutely stunning and got married at a small little grassy park in Grass Valley (northern California.) It was great to hang out with my family and spend time getting to know my sister-in-law and her family a little bit better.

The only disappointing part of the trip were the flights...we had to leave the wedding a bit early to catch our midnight flight...and ended up sitting at the airport until 4:00am!!!

More to come on that nightmare!

Check out all the wedding pics here

Check Out This Biker Babe

Heathe's new cruiser arrived today. I put it together while she was still at work (I was what they call "working from home" today) so she could take it for a test ride as soon as she got home. She looks perfect riding it...like that bike was made for her!

A few more pics...

Welcome to Amish Paradise

Jed and I traveled to a wonderful land called...Lancaster Pennsylvania! We had a RIOT in a city where riots are unheard of. For those of you who don't know, Lancaster is the Amish Country. Very VERY different than our lives in NYC.
Some of my highlights:
1. Dairy Queen Blizzards (there are no DQ's in the city)
2. Horse and Buggy's AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION for crying out loud!!!
3. The Hershey chocolate tour
4. all you can eat breakfast...SO good!
5. Kitchen Kettle Village. I bought 2 low-sugar homemade jams (I'm a jam snob...it HAS to be homemade)
6. Free goody bag from the dirtiest hotel we have ever seen.
7. Finding Eastman Avenue in the first 10 minutes of our trip
8. All of the Amish kids waving to us as we passed
9. Getting harassed by a local (a man offered to take pictures for us, then offered to drive us to our hotel, then asked if he could join us for dinner...at that point, we removed ourselves from the situation. Overly nice. Weird nice. Maybe just Lancaster nice???)
10. Spending a very nice weekend with my husband, in a city that reminded me of Utah. Sans the horse and buggy. Although, people seem to think that my hometown is equivalent to the Amish. :)

Click here to see all the pics from our trip.

Hey Hey Mr CPA

Just got my last CPA exam score. 79. Passed by a mere 4 points...good enough for me.

At this moment, there are a few people I'd like to thank:

First and foremost, the academy.
Long Spring Garden, couldn't have done it without your General Tsao's chicken.
Entenmann's, your tasty treats made it all a little more bearable.
Brigham Young University for the second-to-none education that prepared me for this moment.
My parents for the intellect to match the challenges of the dreaded AICPA.
Most of all my lovely wife for her unprecedented skills in flash card quizzing, for her patience through all the lonely nights and boring weekends, and for telling me I passed every time I told her I failed. For all her hard work and perseverance, she can now say with pride that she is married to one of the most boring professions on the planet...ah, the sweet taste of victory.