Brooke's Utah Trip

I planned another April Utah trip this year! It's always April when I am so in need of a vacation. Although it was a super short trip, it was a great one! I arrived late Thursday night. On Friday, my mom and I started out the weekend with pedicures! (This is becoming a tradition.) Then, we headed over to my grandparents' house for lunch and to visit and see my cousins' newly built house! After that, we got pampered some more by going to get massages! It was so great. Then, my mom, dad, and I went to visit my other grandparents, and they took us out to dinner at Sizzlers. It was a wonderful day and I felt spoiled!

Getting pampered

My early birthday present from my grandparents!

The next day started out with a trip to the temple. I realized this was my first time back to the Draper temple since getting married there! Lots of wedding day memories came flooding back. My dad was working in the temple when we went and we hoped to run into him. We did, and he was surprised!

At the beautiful Draper Temple

After the temple, we headed to Provo to see the rest of the gang. We met at Magleby's for a delicious lunch. Afterwards, we went to Lisa and Travis' apartment to see their fluffy new addition! Then, I got a tour of Brittany's dorm.

Me with Winston

It was so good to see Lisa!!!

Brittany's cute dorm

We then did some shopping at the Tanger Outlets, and that pretty much concludes my trip. I flew home early the next morning to be back in time for church. It was a such a perfect, relaxing and lovely weekend, and just exactly what I needed!

Reflecting on the Past Year

A testimony in church today inspired me to reflect on the past year and how we’ve been blessed. I started outlining all that has happened this year and realized we have definitely been blessed! This has been such a great year!!! Here's the outline I came up with of this past year: 

January - April

-We lived in Wymount and were primary teachers in the ward

-I worked three jobs part time and LOVED it (preschool teacher, robotics teacher, and direct support staff)

-Ricky worked as a TA and as a freelancer while finishing school

April - June

-Ricky graduated and I finished up my jobs in Provo

June - September

-We moved in with Uncle Dean in Bountiful for the summer for a place to stay until moving to San Jose in the fall

-Ricky studied full time and completed three of the four CPA exams throughout the summer

-I continued to teach robotics by teaching at summer camps at the U of U

-I also got to know Uncle Dean really well, helping him with his life history, putting his socks on, and with many projects in the garage and throughout the house

-We had fun taking Uncle Dean to Antelope Island, Montpelier Idaho, the Gossner Cheese Factory, Pepperidge Farm, and to many local restaurants

-Ricky and I also went on one long vacation to Idaho, including Red Fish Lake and Sun Valley with my family, Meridian with Ricky’s family, and camping to see the solar eclipse in the zone of totality!

September - now

-We moved to San Jose, California for Ricky’s job

-Ricky works long hours at his various clients

-I’m working retail right across the street from where we live (until we get another car and I can get a job teaching)

We are looking forward to the rest of the year and our upcoming holiday plans!

We have had an amazing year! This has probably been one of my favorite years ever, and definitely Ricky’s and my best year together! We grew so much teaching primary together at the beginning of the year, getting to know Uncle Dean and do so many fun things throughout the summer, and now moving to a new place together.

The Provo Days are Over (Well, almost)

Hi all! We wanted to give a little update about our life and what’s been going on! We have been loving our community and ward in Wymount! We are primary teachers in our ward, and we love it! We have been able to learn a lot about ourselves and each other. Teaching primary is no easy task, and we definitely have different teaching styles and different ways of dealing with children. Although we’re being stretched through this calling, we love it and we love the kids. The calling has also helped us feel more involved in the community and in the ward (since it’s a community with lots of kids). We never had callings in our Wyview ward, so we’ve enjoyed our calling in this ward. 

This semester, I have been working 3 part time jobs that I love! I started out working just at the preschool in September, and have had my 2 day afternoon preschool class this whole time. In January, after the Christmas break, I was subbing for the teacher that taught the 2 day morning class while she was on maternity leave. It turned out that she couldn’t come back to work after her maternity leave, so I took over that class for the rest of the year. It’s really nice to have that full day’s work at the preschool on Thursdays and Fridays. I was also a sub, but did not have that many opportunities to sub. So, I got my job working as an after-school robotics teacher. This was very flexible, so I got to work at that job Mondays through Wednesdays. My brother Brian applied to the job after he heard about it from me, and was working there too, so that was fun! Right around the same time I got my robotics teaching job, I also got a job working for Chrysalis. I was assigned to a home of 4 men who are disabled and I work with them in the evenings 3 nights a week. It’s been fun to have so much variety in my jobs rather than just working one full time job. I look forward to each of my jobs and never get bored! I’ve also rekindled my love for sewing, and have been sewing pillowcases to sell! My mom comes every Wednesday to my apartment and we sew. It has been so fun! 

Ricky has been working hard this semester. He has been taking three classes, working as a TA, and doing freelance work on the side. He also wrote a book! It’s a starter’s guide to earning your first $50 USD in bitcoin. Also, HE’S GRADUATING!!! 

He has a job lined up with EY in San Jose (where he did his internship last summer) starting in the fall. We are on the search for apartments in San Jose, and will be moving there in September. Since Ricky is graduating, we will soon get kicked out of our BYU housing at Wymount. So, until September, we will be living with Ricky’s Uncle Dean in Bountiful. Uncle Dean is awesome, and we’re excited to be able to live with him for the summer. Ricky will be studying for his CPA exam over the summer, and I will keep my job teaching robotics classes, but will be teaching at summer camps at the U of U. I will still be working with Brian, and it should be super fun! 

We are just so excited for what’s ahead and the new adventures that we will have!

Ricky's Fried Rice

Today, Ricky decided to give me a little cooking lesson! We made one of his signature dishes - fried rice! I think Ricky’s fried rice is unique and SO good!

Here’s how we made it:

First, get a large skillet and let the vegetable oil warm. Put the chopped ham in and let it brown slightly. Then, add the diced onion. You can add a little butter at this point if you would like. Then, add carrots and any other vegetables you would like. Let the vegetables brown. When they are as soft as you would like them, add the rice. Let the rice warm up and add dry seasonings at this point (pepper and turmeric). In a bowl, stir up your eggs and add soy sauce and a little sesame oil to them. Pour your eggs in the frying pan to add to your fried rice. Let the eggs cook with everything else. Then, add rice vinegar and a little sriracha. Enjoy!

 Apparently, just hours after Ricky's lesson, I got it all wrong. Before I was going to publish this post, I thought I would double check with Ricky and he said I was all wrong! Haha! Here is what I had written down from what I recalled us doing tonight: 

First, cut up some ham and onion and fry in vegetable oil in the the frying pan. Add a little bit of butter. Then, add carrots and any other vegetables you would like. Add your rice. Season with pepper, turmeric, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. In a bowl, stir up your eggs and add some soy sauce to them. Pour your eggs in the frying pan to add to your fried rice. There are two ways to do this: Make an area in the middle of your frying pan to scramble your eggs, and then stir it all together with your fried rice. Or, you can just pour the eggs over everything already in the pan and let the eggs cook with everything else. After your eggs are added and cooked, your fried rice is done. Enjoy!

Don't let this part confuse you. Look at Ricky's instructions if you want to make it! I just thought it was funny how wrong I had remembered it! There is no hope for my cooking skills!!!

One reason I have the Best Husband

Ricky is the cook in our family. This is partly because I always tend to mess things up in the kitchen. For example, yesterday I was going to make us dinner. Ricky literally said, “Just make something easy, like pasta.” I ended up burning the pasta sauce because I didn’t stir it enough.  Today, I made some muffins from a mix and ended up burning those too. Ricky, on the other hand, is the best cook I know. Today, he made fresh homemade salsa and quesadilla tacos.

"Quesa-tacos"

Ricky's homemade salsa was so spicy but SO good!

 I might start documenting our meals more often because they are always so delicious!!