2 Years!

It's hard to believe we've already been married 2 years. It feels just like yesterday we were getting married, but it also seems like we've been married forever. It has been a busy two years. Some of the highlights:

Buying Cliff (our scooter)

Running the Deseret News Marathon together

Rog being accepted to BYU and the Business School

Graduating from BYU with my BS in Accounting

Accepting my full-time job as a Staff Accountant at APX Alarm

Visiting NYC together

Cruising California with my family

Rog running the Top of Utah Marathon in under 4 hours

Placing 3rd in the Top of Utah 5k

Surviving my first surgery to remove my cyst

Working as temple workers in the Provo Temple

Tapping with my tap company

Rog becoming an uncle and me becoming an aunt (thanks Rex and Edda)

My sister getting married

Who knows what the next two years will hold! I can't wait to find out!

Anniversary Weekend

Tomorrow is our 2-year anniversary, so we celebrated this weekend by staying at my grandparent's condo in Park City. We were going to go on a hot air balloon ride, but it was very rainy/snowy. So we are going to reschedule that for another weekend when the weather is more favorable.

We slept in, explored Main Street, had lunch at Main Street Pizza and Noodle, got ice cream from Cows, watched National Treasure and National Treasure 2, snacked, finished our puzzle, had dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and relaxed in the hot tub. It was fun to spend the whole day together with no distractions or interruptions.

P.S. I was sustained and set apart today, so now I can share the news that I am a member of the Enrichment Committee! Perfect, right?! I'm going to be in charge of a monthly craft night. I couldn't be more excited!

There is sunshine in my soul today

I feel a little silly writing about this right now because as I type, there is a storm brewing outside. But I think everyone can agree that the past week has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Spring has sprung and I am LOVING it!

All week I have been mentally compiling a list of all the wonderful things about spring.

1. I have been able to ride our scooter to work without freezing to death. In fact, it has been very relaxing. What a great way to start out the day and also, a great way to unwind after work.

2. Everything is becoming green and alive again. This tree outside our window makes me happy every time I look at it!

3. Spring = the end of winter semester at BYU. Even though I will continue to go to work day in, day out like I have for the past year, this means that Rog doesn't have homework which means that he will have more time to play with me when we're not at work! To celebrate the end of finals on Wednesday, we got pizza from Papa Johns and ate it outside. I love this picture of Rog because he looks like a chipmunk stuffing his cheeks.

4. It gets lighter earlier (and is warmer in the morning), so when our alarm clock goes off it is easier to get up to go exercise.

5. I don't have to hear Rog complain about the snow anymore. And trust me, he complains about the snow A LOT!

6. The return of paid holidays. There are NONE between New Years' Day and Memorial Day at APX. And you BYU students thought it was bad not having a spring break (I know I did when I was a BYU student). Try not even having Martin Luther King Jr. Day or President's Day!

I am so grateful for the different seasons! Even though we dislike winter (some of us more than others), it is worth it because if we didn't have winter we couldn't appreciate spring. Happy Spring everyone! Oh and congratulations to all the graduates!! (I can't believe that I have been graduated for a year now. Time sure does fly!)

Am I Crazy?

Rog, my sister, Diana, and maybe my BIL, Jason, are doing a triathlon this summer. I was going to opt out because I'm not much of a swimmer... until I found out that for a sprint triathlon you only have to swim 300 yards. I think I can swim 300 yards and then the rest sounds very do-able. After the swim is an 11.6 mile bike ride and then a 3.1 mile run. I can do that, right? Or am I crazy? Unless someone talks me out of it (or our first swim goes terribly on Thursday), I'm going to sign us up for the Shark Attack Triathlon in Riverton on June 20th. I found a training schedule on trinewbies.com and we're ready to start training! Bring it on!

Crafts

Saturday after we got back from Salt Lake, Rog locked himself in the bedroom to study. I worked on crafts all afternoon and couldn't have been happier! First I finished a craft I started before St. Patrick's Day. I think it turned out very well and I wish I had finished it before St. Patrick's Day, so I could display it.

Then I made this frame. It was super easy and I have the perfect picture in mind for it. I just have to get it printed now. The blue flowers are a cover up for a mistake I made. I think they look a little cheesy, but I'll have to deal with it.

I've been in a very crafty mood lately, so there'll probably be a lot more crafts popping up on here in the near future. Well, actually let's be honest... When am I not in a crafty mood?

P.S. I got a new calling today, but they forgot to sustain me in sacrament meeting, so you'll have to wait until next week to hear what it is. All I can say is that I am VERY excited about it!

Salt Lake City 5K

Saturday we ran the Salt Lake City 5K. We finished in just over 25 minutes which was pretty good considering we were training more for distance than speed until my knee started acting up (then we weren't doing much training at all to let it rest). I was 18th out of the 206 in my division and Rog was 24th out of the 75 in his division. It was a good first race of the year!

Easter

For Easter we went to dinner at my grandparents. We started with an Easter egg hunt. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy finding more eggs than anyone else! Then we had a beautiful dinner complete with ham, turkey, rolls, funeral potatoes, asparagus, green bean casserole, yams, and cheesecake for dessert. I spent the morning making the rolls and funeral potatoes from scratch.

Because I so lamely didn't take any other pictures, I decided to share my recipe for rolls because they are wonderful and easy.

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 cup warm water, divided
½ cup instant powdered milk
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, softened
3 cups flour

Combine ½ cup of the warm water with the yeast; set aside. In mixing bowl, mix together the other cup of water with the powdered milk, sugar, egg, salt, butter, and ½ cup of the flour. Add the softened yeast and blend. Pour in remaining flour slowly while mixing and knead for 10 to 15 minutes. *Tip: If you use margarine instead of butter, you will need about an extra ½ cup of flour. (Keep adding flour until the dough isn't sticky anymore.) Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until double in size (about an hour).

Roll out into a large circle on a floured surface and cut with a pizza cutter or knife into 12 segments.

Roll up “croissant-style” and place on greased cookie sheets.

Let rise for 15 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Busy, Semi-Lazy Week

Last week was either really busy or we were really lazy... I can't decide which. For some reason, we ended up going to bed later than our normal 10 or 10:30 bedtime pretty much every night. It was a busy week, but that isn't hugely out of the ordinary. So maybe it was a little of both.

I was determined to file our taxes, so Tuesday I was up a bit late doing that. This was the first year I didn't get every penny that was withheld from me returned, but we still are getting a nice refund. Even though I'm an accountant I dread doing taxes, so I was just glad to be DONE for the year!!

I had a tap performance at the Draper Rehabilitation Center Thursday night and then another performance Saturday night for our director's ward. I had Rog record a short clip, so that it would upload. I'm the cute blond one in the purple shiny disco shirt. Unfortunately the girl in front of me is in the way for most of it, but you get the idea.

Thursday night around 10:30 when we were getting ready for bed, I randomly decided that I wanted some fries. So we jumped right in the car and headed to Wendy's. The line was MASSIVE, so we went over to McDonald's where the wait was much shorter. When we got back to our apartment we saw Bryan and Rachel Martinez leaving to do the EXACT same thing!! I can't speak for the Martinez, but we NEVER do that. It was fun to be a little spontaneous and crazy for once.

Friday night we got together as a (former) Relief Society presidency. We decided to let our husbands tag along because other than Craig (the EQ Secretary), Rog's EQ presidency is entirely composed of our husbands. It was fun to get together! I love these girls!

It was a great week even if our schedule was thrown a little out of whack!

Defeated

by my knee... stupid IT band! I have been putting off blogging about this because I've been hoping that I would magically be healed. But unfortunately that hasn't happened. So this Saturday we are running the Salt Lake City 5K instead of the Half Marathon. I was worried this might happen, so we waited to sign up for the race until the last possible second. I'm very disappointed because this means I won't be able to accomplish my New Year's Resolution to run 2 half marathons in 2009. I'm going to modify my goal to run as many races as I can (hopefully adding up to 26 miles in total). Isn't it interesting how our bodies are all made differently? I know a guy that used to be in our ward that ran in the Beijing Summer Olympics last summer. Apparently he runs 15 miles a day. Obviously I wasn't made like that because my knee starts screaming in pain when I get up past 15-20 miles in one week. PATHETIC! I'm going to go see a Physical Therapist and see if I can learn some stretches/strengthening exercises to do. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll be able to do a half marathon. The heart is willing, but the body is weak. Such is life!

Yay for Rewards!

When we use our credit card to buy things, we get points and then we can redeem those points for cool stuff. We usually save up for gift cards to Best Buy and use them to get new games for our Wii or movies. Here is a look at our latest rewards...

It's a great deal for us because we only use our credit card for things we would have bought anyway. We always pay it off every month. And on top of getting cool stuff, we are building our credit up for when it comes time to buy a house! Thank you Citibank!

That's right...

Pretty much my bracket ROCKED! I beat all the accountants who dared fill out a bracket. No doubt the others knew I would win and didn't want to waste their time!

A mosaic about Chief

I'm totally copying Ashley Lee on this one... She always has such cute ideas for posts. And this one was a life saver to me while I waited for my AR Aging to run. If you want to do it too, just answer the following questions and follow the directions. So fun!

1. What is your first name? Shauna
2. What is your favorite food? Oriental Chicken Salad from Applebees
3. What is your favorite color? Blue
4. Favorite drink? Water (It's pretty much all I drink.)
5. Dream vacation? Paris to see the Eiffel Tower (Although the thought of going to a country where they don't speak English as the primary language terrifies me!)
6. Favorite hobby? Crafts (almost any type)
7. What you wanted to be when you grew up? A dance teacher
8. What do you love most in life? My husband (so cheesy, but true)
9. One word to describe you? Organized

How to do it:
1. Type each answer into Flickr Search

2. Using only the first page, pick an image
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs into the Mosaic Maker

4. Save the image to your desktop and put it in a post! Have fun!

Conference Weekend

Friday night Zack and Emily came over to dye Easter eggs, play For Sale, and have lime aid margaritas (alcohol free of course). It was a fun night!

Saturday I made the most yummy treat I've had in a long time. There were multiple steps with waiting periods in between each step, so I worked on it throughout the day. It took some patience, but they turned out so delicious. And when I tasted one, all that work was definitely worth it! You can find the recipe here. I decided not to put them on sticks and just leave them in balls instead of try to shape them. There are lots of cute ways to decorate them (see here). Maybe next time I'll try something a little more complex, but this time I decided to keep them simple.

I loved Conference! We have been working on a puzzle, so we did that while listening and it definitely helped me stay awake and pay attention the whole time. This morning we went to the traditional Ririe conference waffle breakfast. As always the food was delicious and it was fun to spend time with family. It was a great weekend!

Busy Busy Busy

It has been a week since I last posted because yes, you guessed it, I've been busy busy busy! So this post will be a bit of everything.

Two weekends ago my family came up to visit because my brother had spring break and my dad had a short work conference in SLC. The highlights included golf, games, car shopping (not so fun, but necessary because we are thinking of buying a car while they are cheap), dinner at Red Robbin, and working on a puzzle with my mom while everyone else was bowling. I didn't feel like bowling because I was coming down with a cold/allergies at the same time. We had a great time talking and starting the puzzle (although we didn't even come close to finishing it).

Then this last weekend Rog's family came to visit because his little sisters had spring break. The highlights included meeting the new significant others (my SIL, KD, met up with her boyfriend who lives in Utah and my BIL, Taylor, brought his girlfriend down from BYU-I), doing baptisms for the dead in the Draper temple, and dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I particularly enjoyed doing baptisms for the dead because they don't usually allow endowed sisters to do them.

I finally got around to making a craft for Ashley from my Chain of Giving post. It was a block made of cloth for Kennedy, Ashley's cute little girl. I found the instructions here. So quick and easy! I made one for our future baby while I was at it. For now my baby, Rog, likes to play with it!

Saturday morning we did a 10-mile run as part of our training for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. It was beautiful weather for a run and we were able to stay under a 9 minute mile pace the whole time. Unfortunately my right IT band started acting up around mile 8 (which is exactly what I have been trying to avoid). So I've been icing it and resting it a bit this week. This morning we did 2 miles to test it out and it didn't bother me. Everyone please pray that it will cooperate, so I can finish the half marathon on April 18th (and with any luck, do it under 2 hours...a 9 minute mile pace).

Sunday I was released as the relief society secretary in our ward (along with the rest of our presidency). It was bitter sweet (mostly bitter) because I have LOVED this calling. Seriously it has been the perfect calling for me and I loved serving with Sarah, Rachel, and Courtenay! Hopefully I'll get another calling soon because not having one feels weird! I'll keep you posted.

Finally, today was Roger's first day of work! Because the warehouse and the corporate building aren't in the same location and it isn't warm enough to use the scooter yet, getting both of us to work is a bit of a challenge. Luckily I have an amazing coworker who goes out of her way to give me rides when needed. Thanks Toni!!