Escape To Alcatraz

We decided to go on a little trip to San Francisco since A) I'd never been B) Dan had a four day weekend C) I had work off too! We decided to splurge a bit and stay over one night at a hotel.

Being the money saver I am, I booked us this nice hotel room using Priceline for only $50! Except I accidently booked it for the wrong day. So then we ended up going for 2 nights, making it $100. I also found out after booking that there was a $50/night parking fee. Great deal eh?
We started off the next morning with THE BEST CROISSANT OF MY LIFE. Which is saying something. I eat my share of croissants.
We decided to eat them in one of "Frisco's"(I only call it that because I read it is a punishable faux pas) many parks. You will note that Dan is happy. Lauren is not. Lauren slipped and fell in mud in said park and was covered head to toe. Awesome. I was so pissed I refused to let Dan take a picture. I should have. In retrospect it was kinda funny.

We visited the Golden Gate Bridge. Though we were both a bit down, we resisted the urge to jumb. THERE IS HOPE.

We also visited Haight and Ashbury street. Didn't see too many outrageous characters, but a lot of way cool shops such as Amoeba Music.
Lombard Street. Not that cool. But obligatory stop and picture.
China Town!
Fortune cookie factory. Pretty cool. Also, because we are bad people, we bought a bag of "Adult" Chocolate fortune cookies. They were pretty funny. By the time you figured out the poor English on them, they were more funny than dirty. Don't tell my Mom. But she may read this anyway. Sorry Mom.
Probably the coolest part of the trip, ALCATRAZ. We rode this nice little ferry over.
Walked around the Island.
And then took an audio headset narrated tour of the Prison. Dang cool in my opinion.
Nothing like an isolated Island with a troubled past for a romantic picture. Frisco is really awesome. It has the cool big city feel like LA, but cleaner/nicer/safer/gayer haha.

Warning: Lots of Words, No Pictures.

We needed a little getaway, as things have been pretty stressful lately. It was announced that after Dan’s last test, they would be cutting 6 students from the program. So we found out Thursday that Dan was one of the 6. I feel really bad for him as I know how hard he worked and how incredibly frustrating it must be. I felt really confused when I got the news too. Didn’t we fast and pray about the decision to come here and learn Farsi? Didn’t we feel it was the right thing to do? Why would God lead us down a path only to shut us down with disappointment and confusion?

Dan must soon submit to his unit what he wants to do: restart in the same language, or do French. I was at first urging him to do French because A) its only a 6 month language, and I really really want to get back to school B) I think its such a beautiful language, I’ve always wanted to learn it. But Dan has already poured so much into Farsi just to give it up, it’s much more marketable than French as well.

So were kind of at an impasse. I’m worried that if I don’t get back to school soon, I never will. I really miss it too. Dan mentioned to me the idea of me going back for a semester or two while he stays here. But being apart when we have the opportunity to be together seems unwise. We've already been apart so much, and I'm sure there are deployments in our future. But I’m worried that I will get my Bachelors done so late that I won’t be able to go to Grad school at all or establish a career – we want to have kids someday and that puts things on a timetable… No kids anytime soon though!

It’s hard to find a balance of give and take, sacrificing for the greater good, and being unselfish – But I’m thinking that’s the whole point of marriage. Inshallah the coming weeks will be filled with less questions and more answers and reassurance.

So far, So good.... Mostly

2010 has been pretty good to us thus far. We returned back to our real lives of school, work, sunbeams and various other excitements. Dan needed a back to Army haircut, and was willing to let me do it. Enough time had passed since the "incident" of 2008, where I tried cutting hair for the first time and shaved a bald spot above his ear. The haircut of 2010 was successful, partially owing to the ear edging attachment in our new costco hair cutting kit.

A quick thought on 2009

2009 was eventful. I hate living alone, but learned that I could do it when Dan left for training (though I left the light on every night). Then my kind Uncle and Aunt took me in for a few months, and I learned many things from them. Jordan was probably the biggest learning experience of my life, let alone 2009. I learned that I can go pretty far outside my comfort zone and survive. I missed my husband, family, language, culture, but I got through it. Enjoyed a lot of it. Dealt with bed bugs, made progress in Arabic, and really kind of "found myself." Cliche, I know.

2009 was a pretty transitional year for Dan too. Basic training in South Carolina was a soul breaking experience. We only got to talk 5 mins, once a week - if we were lucky. He also lost 60 lbs there - pretty crazy stuff. From there he went to AIT in the middle of nowhere Arizona. We got to talk more, but by then I was abroad and the 11 hour time difference was hard. But he made it through all of that, survived, and Im proud.

We finally met back up in Monterey, shortly after our 1st anniversary - having spent most of our first year of marriage in different states/countries. The transition to living to together and being " a normal married couple" wasn't immediately easy, but has been very very good.

Looking forward in 2010

I don't usually write this much, I try to keep it mostly pictures, so if you're already bored Stop Now. I have a few goals for this new year:

1) Compare Less - to other people and my own past

My friend Stacie posted a great devotional Elder Holland gave at BYU last year. He spoke about Lot's wife, how she turned to salt not simply for simply looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah (that always confused me), but for looking back with longing. She wanted her old life back, and didn't trust that the Lord would provide her with a better future. Elder Holland emphasized that we must have faith that "the best is yet to come." I have a serious problem with glamourizing my past, thinking that my High School days were so idealic and nothing will never be as fun.

I also compare my life to other peoples, and fear that my life will never be as good as theirs. Something I definetly need to work on.

2) Eat more "Real Food" and Exercise more

I read a lot of great books on food this year, including "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

I won't blather on about it. But I commit to eat more "real food" and less fake processed food like things. I also will try to get some form of excercise every day. Be it my Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, which I love - or a just a walk.

3) Cook A New Recipe every week

I love cooking and trying new recipes. Even if they are failures, like tonight's was. I decided to try French Onion Soup from one of my jazzy new cook books. The picture is of Dan's soup bowl before dinner. It looked pretty much the same after dinner though, he could only choke down like one bite. Haha, but there's always next week!

I have about 5.7 million other things I need to work on improving in my life. But this blog has already been epically long. So I'll start with these.

Rocket Day is Awesome

My Dad sometimes has random ideas. And sometimes these ideas turn into family activites, one such example: Rocket Day. This new tradition consists of the family dividing in teams (fighting) and assembling model rockets post-Christmas. They are then launched, with the longest flight time winning.

Much care and concentration was put into the assembly process, as demonstrated by Mom.
Dan was the only loner, no one wanted to be his partner :( Probably because he talked a lot of crap. A lot. And after 3 rounds of rocket launching, it looked like he was going to win. Which was not cool.
But wait, on Kat and Dad's last launch, a Christmas miracle occured: their parachute deployed.
Dad's cool victory dance. It was really a sight to be seen.
The Winner Winner's of the chicken dinner!
In addition to the exitment of ROCKET DAY, we went to vegas. Anna decided we should stay at the Pyramid Hotel, so the Luxor it was. We saw a Cirque De Soile show, KA - it was... epic? We also went to the Atomic Testing Muesem, which we feared was Dad trying to make an othewise enjoyable trip "educational." But it was cool! And lastly, being that I turned 21 in a Muslim Country, I decided it was time for some make up Legal Adult Celebration. No vodka or Strip clubs. I opted for the (fairly) benign sin of putting a dollar in a slot, and I won $8! Thats right, a net gain of 7 bones! I know, I know - HIGH ROLLER. ( And I may look a bit faded in the pic with my winnings, but Im not, just photogenic really.)
New Years eve we played pretty safe too - I made some (virgin) Pina Coladas and a cheese ball.
Cedric however looks like he had a few too many to ring in the New Year.

REAL Christmas, not GHETTO Christmas

Compare my Parents tree to our Dollar Tree version. I was very glad to be home to a real Christmas. Christmas just isn't the same traditional thing without the Family & all that accompanies it.

We arrived in STG Christmas Eve day and got to see B and her darling babe! It was so fun to be able to see her and meet her little man finally. I really miss seeing my friends.
Christmas Eve Feast.
Traditional Christmas Eve Sugar Cookie Contest. Look for the worst cookies on there, those are mine. The artistic/patient/skilled gene totally passed me over.
Traditional chains to break through on Christmas Morning.
My mom got a bike and a basket. Now she can further her green ambitions by using her beach cruiser to make Relief Society delieveries.
Dan got a knife, obviously. His big gift already on his wrist, a Suunto watch! Besides telling time it has a baramoter, altimeter, compass, gives STORM WARNINGS and makes almond roha too! Just kidding about the Almond Roca, I wish.
Watching my sisters open their "teenager gifts" of trendy jeans and jewelry made me feel old. But thats okay, I love my new bakeware and cookbooks! Le Cruset rocks my world more than MEK jeans ever could.
What do you give the man who has everything. A Shaun of the Dead doll obviously. Dad loved it.
Speaking of my Dad, he went to get a pre-Christmas Hair cut at his usual Great Clips (He always balks at me and my Sister's "Fancy Cat Hair Cutting Salon" and the more than $4 it costs to get a haircut there). He asked the girl working there for an 8 on top and a 2 on the sides. Next thing he knows she says "Uh oh." Yeah, she buzzed the top of his head with a 2. But no worries, he'll still go back. They comped him the botched hair cut, and gave him three "sorry" cards, good for a discount hair cut. Perhaps he will learn you get what you pay for. But probably not.

Is that creepy thing wearing a Sombrero?

We Made it to Utah! We were on I-80 for 645 miles as highlighted below. ! I thought 1-80 ended at Tooele, I was so so wrong.

Me: I'm really thirsty, can we stop and get a drink?

Dan: Nope, don't need to. Pass up my camelback.

Me: Wait, you brought a filled camelback and you were going to leave my big christmas present because there wasn't room?

Dan: Yes
Dan drinking away from his water source. We barely made it through the 13 and half hour drive. I went stir crazy around Elko, and started poking Dan w/ a straw. He got angry "That I was bothering him!" And we didn't talk to each other for half an hour. We are 5 years old.

Dan defied the Eternal Laws of Christmas by opening a present early. But it was for a good cause: So his brother Chris could see the look of delight on his face as he opened...

Thats right, an X-Box! Thanks Chris, now I get to hear Modern Warfare going on in our living room... At least Dan is happy, make that THRILLED. Speaking of the x-box, Dan has been so busy playing it, he is neglecting his "DAN'S MUNCHY MOMENTS". So I'll have to fill in.

This beauty is the Hi Hat Diner. We pass it every time we come to Clinton, and always joke about going there. Today we made the joke reality.
How can you not want to go in a place with a scary Mexican doll holding a sign next to a siren? They really pushed that "WORLD'S FIRST CHILI VERDE OMELET" thing by the way.

This place had WINDOW TROLLS! How can it not be good?

A hand written menu w/ drawings? Yet another sign of the deliciousness to come! And here is the "WORLD"S FIRST CHILI VERDE OMELET." Both Dan and Aaron got one after the owner and waitress talked them up.

I was a bit wary of the Chili Verde, and stuck with good old pancakes.

But you'll notice in this picture of Aaron and Stacie my not so sneaky hand reaching into Dan's omelet. They were surprisingly good. In fact, everything was surprisingly good. It's like the pearl of wisdom Aaron's Grandfather gave to them on their wedding day: "Never have expectations, and you'll never be disappointed." So true.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Next Stop: STG. Huzzah!

Christmas in the Ghetto

The day after Thanksgiving we braved black friday for the first time. And Christmas came early for us! We're now "TV rich" (it was the next step after "couch rich", Dan is sure that "X-box rich" is the future. I think not). We are now the proud owners of this:

There was a certain victory in getting the very last one out of a giant pile. I felt victorious, like a Best Buy shopping champion. Next it was time to decorate our apartment for Christmas. But, being that we bought the above mentioned TV, this year will live on in history as "Our Dollar Store Christmas".

"Classy" Dollar store stockings with our names Ironed On. Ghetto. Awesome.

Beat up Artificial tree purchased at Wal-mart circa my Freshman year of college. All trimmings courtesy of Dollar Tree (which incidentally is located next to Red's Donuts in the ghetto.)

We did splurge and each got an expensive Donut ornament. We thought it fitting to commemorate this year.

These are actually from Target, not Dollar tree, but I love them. I sit and watch my fake snowflakes twinkle in the window while feeling grateful Im not Utah watching actual ones.

Today being Sunday, I finally had a day off to get back to baking. I made Peppermint Brownies. Its like Christmas in your mouth. Thankfully we will soon be in St. George at my parent's house, where Christmas is actually classy.