Thanksgiving...finally!

Zach is done with finals which means I have my husband back! This also means that I can finally put pictures up from Thanksgiving. We drove 9 hours to Hickory, North Carolina where my brother lives and spent 3 days with my whole family. It was so much fun and well worth the drive!

My dad's Thanksgiving tradition...grilled turkey. YUM!

Bella with her oreo turkey

Our family picture taken on my brother's porch. I love their Southern home!

Tara, Mike, and Bella

My parents

The 4 of us at Grandfather Mountain

All Bella wanted to do was play with the snow at Grandfather Mountain.

Making Toffee

The morning we left we gave Bella her Christmas present early...pink Ray Bans! She loved them. I love her wild hair!

It was great to see everyone, especially Bella! She is growing up so fast and has the cutest little personality. I taught her how to do the "pound" after giving someone a high five while we were there. My dad gave her a pound and she said, "whoa Grandpa, what are those?!" (pointing to his knuckles). My dad said, "They're knuckles, look you have them too." She then ran into the kitchen saying, "Daddy, look! I got me some knuckles!" I hope our kids are as cute as her someday!

Here you go Hailey...

I was tagged by my sister-in-law and since she is always so nice by responding when I tag her I thought I should do this. Oh, I do have lots of pictures from Thanksgiving but Zach has taken over our home computer during finals so it might be awhile.

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. I can cook. I didn't really know this until we moved to Memphis. Zach is very glad I discovered this hidden talent.
2. I can measure a patient's seg height. I'm sure most people have no clue what I am talking about...it's really not that cool.
3. I can beat Zach in bowling. Recently this has not been the case but before we moved to Memphis I think he only beat me once. Thank you dad for all the bowling lessons as a kid. :)
4. I can make people laugh.
5. I can memorize random facts about art and artists. Good thing or else I would have never gotten my Bachelor's degree.
6. I can beat Zach in Mario Party on the wii. This is a major accomplishment for me. Thank you Oswald family for not giving up on my pathetic nintendo skills!
7. I can drive for hours and not get tired. I proved this by driving to North Carolina and back all but a few hours that Zach drove.

Seven Things I Can't Do:
1. I can't play guitar hero. It is pathetic to watch me even try, just ask my in-laws or Jesse and Marissa.
2. I can't stay awake during a late night movie. Late night = anytime after 10.
3. I can't stay awake and read for hours and hours. I always end up falling asleep.
4. I can't remember every patient's name.
5. I can't do a cardio workout for very long. I'm a wuss.
6. I can't do math at all.
7. I can't play Settlers of Catan without getting annoyed especially when playing with Zach and Guy.

Seven Things that Attracted Me to My Husband: (Hailey-I'm changing it back)
1. His attention to detail. If you know what his first words to me were you will understand.
2. How genuine, honest, and sincere he was from the very beginnning.
3. How nice he was to all of my friends.
4. He had goals and was very hard working.
5. How much we had in common.
6. His awesome sense for fun and laughter.
7. Last but not least, his curly blond hair :)

Seven Things I Say Often:
1. Hello, how are you today?
2. What day would you like to come in?
3. What I need you to do is but your chin in there and place your forehead on the bar. Look at the balloon. It will go in and out of focus a few time but it won't puff any air at you.
4. Okay, here is some paperwork for you to fill out. There are 3 places to sign at the bottom. Our privacy policy is in the white binder if you would like to look at it. The second page is a medical history sheet.
5. Your glasses will be ready in 7-10 days. We'll call you as soon as they are ready.
6. Okay, I want you to put your glasses on your nose where they are the most comfortable, where you will wear them all the time.
7. Dr. Powelson is here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Dr. Gerster is here on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings.

Seven People I Admire: (in no particular order...)
1. Zach
2. Mom
3. Dad
4. Lyndon
5. Ann
6. Becky
7. Chad Bushman

Seven Favorite Foods & Drinks:
1. Cafe Rio's or Bajio's sweet pork salad
2. Ocean Water with strawberrys from sonic
3. Craigo's chicken ranch pizza
4. My dad's amazing tri-tip, I am really looking forward to that at Christmas...hint, hint.
5. Gnocchi
6. Sweet and sour chicken
7. Johnny Carino's Italian cream soda

Halloween

For Halloween this year we got together with some friends and went on a ghost tour of downtown Memphis. We thought it sounded like a fun and scary night. However, that was not the case. I'm pretty sure that our tour guide thought he was a comedian and forgot that we were there to be scared. Oh well, we had fun with friends! Anyway, before the the tour we went out to eat at a place called Big Foot Lodge. It's kind of like Big Judds except a lot more sanitary! :) They have a four pound burger that they call the Sasquatch. They have this deal where if one person could eat it in under an hour then your meal is on them. They take your picture after you eat it like at Big Judds except only three people had their picture on the wall! One kid ate it in under 10 minutes! Can you believe that?! Just for you information that means he ate a total of 12,387 calories in less than 10 minutes. Just thinking about that makes me want to throw up. Yuck. We were going to get one and share it with all eight of us but it takes 40 minutes to make and we didn't have that much time!

A not so great picture of all of us at the restaurant...I forgot the flash was off!

Jesse and Marissa, so festive in orange and black!

Becky and Buddy (Becky is the new girl I work with)

So this is random but the hand dryers in the bathroom at Big Foot are super powerful. Look at Becky's skin!
Zach and I with Sasquatch himself

The Butcher Shop is haunted according to our tour guide. I took a picture because he said that some people who took pictures of it could see weird lights in the windows above the shop. I guess we weren't lucky enough.

This sign was posted on the way out of the parking garage. I thought it was pretty funny. Oh and by the way, the machine DOES take $20 bills, you just get all your change in quarters. Just ask Becky and Buddy!

Last but not least, Zach and I carved a pumpkin for the second time ever together! Okay, so I lied, I decided what we should carve it as and Zach did the carving! Here's what it looked like when it was finished........

Yes it is a white pumpkin so we had to carve it like Jack the Pumpkin King! Zach is so talented!!

For Becky...

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

• Moved to Idaho the beginning of the summer
• Talking on walkie talkies at night with Tiff and Brian, we thought we were so cool!
  
• I had probably just enjoyed my first Spud Harvest vacation
• Being bribed by my mom to stay at school for a full week...ha ha!
• Spent most of my time at Tiffany's house doing who knows what
  

5 things on my to-do list today: (this is really tomorrow's to-do list, today's was non-existent)

• Clean the Ivies
• Exercise
• Carve a pumpkin with Zach
• Clean our apartment
• Plan my Sunday School lesson

5 snacks I enjoy:

• 100 calorie packs--I am right there with you Beck!
• Chocolate, the darker the better
  
• Chips
• Rice Cakes...Amy's fault
• Grapes, bananas, clementines, I love fresh fruit
  

5 things I would do if I were a $Millionaire$:

• Pay off Zach's schooling, I don't know how much left there would be...ha ha
• Travel all over Europe and South America
  
• Buy our summer home in Italy :)
• Pay tithing and help others
  
• Start Zach's practice
  

5 places I've lived:

• Georgia
• Kansas
• Alaska
• Wyoming
• Tennessee

5 people I tag:

• Megan
• Anya
• Brittany Chase
• Jennifer Garner
• Aunt Lisa
  

My job...

This post is LONG overdue but I wanted to show our families how much my office changed this past summer. Here is a before picture of our office...
Here is what our office has looked like since August! It's still amazing to me how much better it looks now! It doesn't look like the ghetto anymore! YAY!
The doctors decided it was time to get a better sign with all the other changes.
Anyway, this is where I spend a little more than 9 hours of my day Monday through Friday. I never really blog about work even though some pretty funny stuff happens almost everyday. This is where I hear some of the most interesting things. Really, like when a patient asks me if they need more medicine "dropped" into their glasses because it has worn off. I didn't know what to say the first time someone asked me that. I literally had to hold back the laughter. Almost everyday when we call to remind patients of their appt. they have with us the next day I hear a scripture on somebody's voicemail. My personal favorite was, "If you leave it, I'll receive it, better believe it!" I thought about changing my voicemail to say that. :)

About a month ago I answered the phone and the person on the other line asked to talk to Dr. Powelson so I asked him who it was and he said, "Oh this is Mike Meyers. WAYNE'S WORLD! WAYNE'S WORLD! PARTY ON!" I busted up laughing and he hung up. Some of our patients really say whatever is on their mind also. This last week I was told by a patient that my dimple on my chin is sexy. Zach was jealous until I told him that it was a 50 year old woman who said it. ha ha! I never knew my "butt" chin, as all my friends in high school called it, was "sexy." I didn't know what to say back to her except "thank you, will this be debit or credit?"

I never imagined myself working in a doctor's office, not really my thing. Some days are boring of course, like when all the patients decide not to show up but for the most part we stay fairly busy. I like learning about what Zach is learning at school also. It's fun to be able to talk to him about optometry and actually understand a little bit. Basically I'm just glad that I am able to work right now and have a good job! Oh, and thanks Katie for letting me steal the pics of the office off your blog!

Tagged

So Kirsten tagged me to list 6 random facts about myself. Since I figured out 6 quirks I have pretty fast, I decided to do it. So here goes...

1. I eat the shells of sunflower seeds. I never thought this was weird actually until Zach pointed it out. I just really hate trying to get the seed out and then spit the shell out. Too much effort. Plus, the shell has all the salt!

2. I absolutely cannot stand to have a messy kitchen. Even while I am cooking I will wash dishes. I refuse to let dishes pile up in the sink, and never leave them there over night. Occasionally, Zach will leave a dish in the sink and well my wrath is unleashed. Okay, it's not that bad but it drives me crazy. To go along with this also, I really like washing dishes but absolutely hate drying them. Works out well for Zach huh? Oh, and I really don't care if other peoples kitchens are messy, just mine needs to be clean.

3. This one has to do with cleaning also. I refuse to put my clean laundry in a basket to carry it from the dryer to my bedroom. Why? I know that if I use the basket I won't put the laundry away and it will just sit in the basket for days. So, I just grab all the laundry and carry it to our room, put it on our bed and put it away right then. I know that when we have a house and I have more than 10 steps from my dryer to my bedroom this will probably change, but until then, no basket for me! If you can't tell from #2 and #3 I like things to be done in a certain way.

4. I had braces TWICE in high school. The first time was during my sophomore year for about 9 months I think. When my orthodontist took my braces off the first time he didn't put the permanent retainers on before taking off the braces. In the 10 minutes between not having braces and not having a retainer my teeth shifted. So, I had braces put back on a few months later, but this time it was after I could date...yuck. Luckily, the second time only lasted a few months and he put the permanent retainer on before taking the braces off.

5. I match my perfume to what color my shirt is everyday. Example, if I am wearing a blue shirt I wear cool water perfume because the bottle is blue. If I wear a pink shirt then I wear Pink perfume. Of course I don't have perfume to match every color so if I wear a shirt that I can't match perfectly I choose what ever perfume would match the outfit. I know this is super weird. I have a weird obsession with color coding that doesn't stop at this...

6. I had a hard time thinking of a 6th thing, so I asked Zach and he came up with one right away. My all time favorite sandwich that I make for myself consists of peanut butter, lettuce, and mustard. I've eaten this since I was a kid and still have it about twice a week for lunch. Don't knock it until you've tried it!

I tag...Amy, Becky, Megan, Hailey, Tiff, and Kiera and anyone else who feels like letting everyone know all about your quirks!

SCO's Homecoming

Since SCO doesn't have a football team, Homecoming consists of games, BBQ, and beer. It is definitely a fun filled evening! Zach and I had a lot of fun jousting!

I was so excited that there was a climbing wall! Zach and I both like to rock climb but we haven't been able to forever so it was a lot of fun. You can see in the picture how far ahead I am of Zach! Okay, so he was on the "hard" side and I was doing the intermediate...
We made it!

Anyway, Homecoming was awesome! The BBQ was typical Memphis BBQ, which I have gotten used to. I think we will be BBQ eating experts by the time we leave here.

On a side note, my friend Jana and I went to the Bartlett Festival at Freeman Park yesterday. They had a ferris wheel, live bands, lots of food, a car show, and lots of different businesses had booths trying to get you to buy something. We were at a chiropractor booth and this lady was explaining all the cool things they could do in their office to us and a few other people. They had this thing you could stand on and it told you if you leaned more to the left or right and how you held your shoulders and hips. The lady told two 13 year old girls that if they wanted to do a demonstration they would need to go find a guardian since they were under age. Jana got on the contraption first and after she was done I was about to step on to it when the lady says, "Wait, are you two related?" Jana had a very puzzled look on her face and said "no" while I just looked at her and said, "I'm 23 if that's what your asking..." The lady then says, "Oh okay, you can get on then." After she was done with me we walked away and both busted up laughing. I keep thinking that with every birthday I will somehow look older but it just hasn't happened yet. I still get mistaken for one of the young women in our ward here also. Oh well, hopefully when I'm forty I will look like I'm in my twenties, then it won't irritate me! Plus, the lady didn't tell me anything that our wii fit hasn't already told me...I lean to my left.

Zach's Birthday!

Zach's birthday was on the 9th of September, I am just really slow at posting! I won't tell you how old he is but we are exactly 2 years and 11 months apart! It was really low key this year, but that is how Zach likes it. I made a nice dinner for the two of us and a banana creme pie. Last year, Zach informed me that he doesn't want cake anymore for his future birthdays but pies instead. Anyway, I have the most amazing husband! He is the perfect man for me. It always amazes me how much we have in common but how different we are to keep life interesting. :) Anyway, I'm not as good with words as he is so here are some pictures from his birthday.

A Poem

I like to write, but I usually don't like to share with others what I write. I decided I could post this poem, though, since most people won't understand it anyway :)

La blancura de la esperanza

La blancura de la noche,
Blancura del corazón,
Esperanzas de la vida,
No sé si sencillas son.
Somos tandas de cebollas
Y ciegos sin el bastón.
Aún deseos sin objetos--
Hechos sin una razón.
La sociedad nos enreda
Si no tomamos acción.
Hay que guardar su blancura,
Porque divino es el don.

Labor Day

We went to Washington D.C. for Labor Day (thanks to T-mobile for our free plane tickets) and had a blast! We were able to go to quite a few of the Smithsonian museums. At the Air and Space Smithsonian we rode this crazy ride where Zach got to be the pilot of the ride and I was the gunner. I had to shoot all the planes that came in our sight on a screen while Zach made us go up side down a lot! It was so much fun! We walked around the National Gallery of Art for awhile which was awesome. I hadn't been to an art museum that big since Europe and I loved it! We went to the Natural History museum and saw some dinosaurs. We saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, and WWII Monument, they were all amazing, especially the Lincoln Monument. Sunday evening while we were there the National Symphony was having a free concert on the west lawn of the capital. It was really neat to hear them play, especially since they played cartoon songs. :) We ended the trip by eating at Hard Rock and finally seeing the White House. It was a very short trip but we managed to see almost everything we wanted. The best part about DC is that everything is free! Here's a slideshow of our trip, sorry about the weird captions, I didn't want to explain every picture but didn't know how to erase the picture number. There's a special picture in here for Zach's mom...let us know if you figure it out Ann! :)

St. Louis

Last weekend we went on a short trip to St. Louis, mainly to see the Braves play the Cardinals. Yes, we know how bad the Braves are doing this year but we bought the tickets back in April. Anyway, it took us awhile to get out of Memphis considering we forgot the tickets to the game and didn't realize it until we were in Arkansas and had to turn around. Then I accidentally broke our alarm in our apartment...okay, so maybe it wasn't an accident but the code wouldn't work to turn it off and it was so loud so I ripped it out of the wall. (Zach was able to fix it so it's all okay now!) Because of that incident Zach wouldn't let me drive at all to St. Louis, he said I was in a "destructive" mood, and he was probably right.

Anyway, when we finally arrived in St. Louis there was a really bad car wreck that closed down the interstate. It was a crazy situation! We finally got off the interstate and found Busch Stadium somehow. We arrived at the game during the 3rd inning and it was HOT sitting in the outfield. So we bought some huge sno cones and tried not to get sunburned since we forgot the sunscreen. Then the clouds came in and made the game enjoyable. Plus, it was a close game the entire time so it was fun to watch. It started to rain during the 8th inning and then in the top of the 9th it was pouring and they had a rain delay. So after waiting for about an hour, the rain stopped and we got to see the Braves actually win!!! It was very exciting except we were in St. Louis so we couldn't act all that excited without getting glared at. Our shirts are still wet in this picture.
Right after the game we headed to the Arch
We met a really cool older couple while at the Arch and had fun taking pictures at the top with them. They have us on their video camera also, which is kind of weird..
Us at the top of the Arch...it's pictures like these when I wish that Zach had more of a neck so that mine didn't look so giraffe-like...
Up close Arch
We loved St. Louis! The city was really pretty, from what we saw anyway and everyone was really nice, even though we were wearing Braves stuff. Plus, everyone talked so normal, it was awesome! :) On our way home we stopped in Sikeston, Missouri to eat at Lambert's Cafe, home of throwed rolls. Yes, I know that throwed is not a word. Check out their website, www.throwedrolls.com.
There are these guys pushing a cart of homemade rolls and if you raise your hand they will throw a delicious roll at you. It was awesome. Plus, they have "pass arounds" where they give you free food. They sat us down and then gave us some fried okra. Later, a guy gave me some fried potatoes and onions and they had macaroni and tomatoes. So much food for so little money. It was great! We just wish it was closer to Memphis. The walls are covered with license plates from all over the country.

We have one more trip planned before Zach starts school again on September 2nd. We have officially lived in Memphis for one year! Three (or maybe just two) more to go!

Nikky's Birthday

Here are a few pictures we took on Nikky's Birthday. I surprised Nikky by hanging up the picture frame below with some pictures that I have taken over the past couple of years that are of each of the four seasons. We then went golfing that afternoon, and both of us played really well and had a lot of fun. Then we went to dinner at the Crepe Maker with Jesse and Marissa. They sell delicious, hand-held crepes which you can order with about anything you can imagine stuffed inside of them. It's one of our new favorite places to eat. The only other thing I can say is that I am one lucky guy! Every day really does get better with such an amazing wife here with me :)

Adam's birthday at BB Kings on Beale Street

Steve and Whitney's wedding!!

Yesterday our good friend, Steve Holyoak, married Whitney Tew. Steve was our first visitor in Memphis, if you remember how excited I was in that post back in April. Anyway, we were lucky enough to be able to attend their sealing in the Memphis temple. It was a really neat experience to attend a sealing again. It has been awhile since we've been to one since most of our close friends are married. Anyway, here are some pictures from their wedding day. By the way, it was over 100* yesterday!!

Coming out of the temple

Steve and Whitney with Steve's parents. Isn't his mom so cute?!

Us with Steve and Whitney outside the Memphis temple

Steve taking the garter off...

And the winner is...Whitney's little brother!!! ha ha!

By the way, the reception was awesome! It was at Whitney's parents backyard and they had lots of BBQ and amazing cake. It was really casual and probably one of the funnest wedding receptions we have ever been to, even though we didn't know anyone there! We're so happy for Steve and Whitney, they are perfect for each other! Now we just need to get Whitney to talk Steve into moving out to Memphis...