Update for January and February and a bit of Decemeber

Well it's not like I haven't been posting every week almost, it just all I talk about is baking. I am so glad I joined this baking group it has been fun, but it has been hard for me to keep up the blog with everything going on. So here are some of the top events of the last couple months. In December my family (Mom, Dad, Marta) came to visit for a weekend. It was a lot of fun playing games and eating with them. Then for Christmas my work gave me off a week so we could go to STG. We had a blast there with all of the Utley's visiting. The craziness began early in January as Tyler started school on the 3rd and I started work on the 1st. Yes, I commonly go into work on holidays and Saturdays because I am so busy. I love my job so much, but I have never worked so hard at any job. But I prefer it that way, I rather be super busy than checking Facebook every 15 minutes out of boredom. I also have a lot of freedom in my job to plan and create and organize. All things I love. There is only one large downside to my job. The connections I have with my boss and my office roomie. Noha is so great and so nice, but she likes to talk a lot and I like to focus a lot and those two do not go hand in hand. I find myself zoning out while listening to her because I have so much work to do and she is repeating herself for the fourth time. Don't get me wrong we do get along and I respect her a great deal, I mean she is a professor and has two master's degree and a PhD, but I prefer when she is off teaching classes. And Dr. Z my boss is very kind and considerate to everyone and has been so accommodating to me. But there is over a 50 year gap in our ages and we just don't have much to talk about except her bum knee and her grandchildren. I am not complaining about them, I like them a lot, it is just such a different atmosphere than UPB. I guess I just miss all my friends at UPB. My birthday came and went, it was bad timing because Tyler had midterms the next week, but he still managed to make reservations to the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney and we went on my favorite roller coaster California Screamin. Well moving on, Tyler is doing fantastic in school. He was on the Dean's List for Fall quarter and will probably be on it again for Winter. I am so proud of him. He seems to really be enjoying what he is learning. There was a ceremony a week ago where the fourth years receive their white coats and the first years get a Bible. It was really nice, they engraved our names on it and everything, unfortunately we had to leave a bit early because we forgot we had to feed the missionaries (Cafe Rio saved the day). For Valentine's day we didn't do anything special really, but we exchanged gifts for the first time since being married. I got his tennis and racquetball racquets restrung and we went shopping for some perfume for me. It was actually a lot of fun. Then just last Saturday we went to a dinner that the JDA (Junior Dental Auxiliary) puts on every year at the Dean of the dental school's home. It was so fun, we had Thai food and then played the newlywed game. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Tyler and I practiced before hand and we actually won a prize: Movie tickets and a gift card to a pizza restaurant here in Redlands. It really is so nice because we never go out to the movies and rarely go out to eat. Today I went into work then came home for an hour and then went to my new job! Yes, I have another job. I will start at the beginning ... Once I got my first job back in November Tyler and I started thinking about buying a home, but we knew we would need me to have a few pay stubs first before going to talk to a mortgage place. So in December we met a guy from our ward who is a mortgage broker and also the branch manager of Broadview Mortgage. He had us bring him all our papers and gave us a range in prices we should be looking at. Oh and he introduced us to our wonderful real estate agent Aida. So the beginning of January comes around and we start looking at places with Aida. We found a place, but someone out bid us by $20k so that didn't work, but then we found another and we are currently waiting, it's a short sale. So we understand we could be waiting for a long time. But back to the point, sometime when I was talking with Colin our mortgage broker I mentioned or he mentioned, I can't remember, something about yoga. He recommended The Yoga Room here in Redlands. Then a few weeks later he forwarded me a groupon where I could get 10 classes for $25. That is an amazing deal, since one class regularly cost $15. So I started going and I love it. Then one of the instructors mentions that they are moving to another building and they will hopefully have a receptionist so that the instructors won't have to check people in. That was when the light bulb in my head turned on. For a few days I wrestle with the idea of emailing the company and just letting them know I am interested. I didn't really expect a response when I did send an email with my resume saying that I would be interested in working in the evenings for them. A couple days later Shawna emails me back and wants to meet. So pretty much I got hired without even an interview because we only talked for about a minute before a class started and through some emails over the last couple weeks. But I am so excited to work there, especially because I'll get free yoga. So now after work at LLU I will go over there and check people in and then get to take the class. How awesome is that. The downside, Tyler will not being getting fresh home cooked meals every night, but I will probably cook on the weekends and he can re-heat. Oh and I am in the process of applying to grad school. YAY! But don't worry if I do get in it doesn't start till next January.

Bake 52 Week 7: Pizza

Tyler LOVES pizza. Even the gross cheap kind such as Little Caesars. So it was very appropriate to make pizza for Valentine's Day, the day of love and things you love to eat I guess. Lucky for me I made this recipe back in January and saved half the dough in the freezer. I love being able to do that. Tyler and I really love this crust and it isn't hard to make at all and it taste way better than Little Caesars. I topped our pizza with mozzarella  cheese, black olives, and red onions, oh and some tomato sauce. We are having a vegetarian week. Sunday we had black bean quesadillas, Monday we had sweet potato and bean burritos and then last night this pizza. I didn't really plan it that way, but we are going with it. I think next time I'll try to get fancy with the crust and put garlic salt on it or something. Thank you Betsy for choosing this recipe, it was easy and delicious and way way better than $5 pizza.

Tyler had me put on a few jalapenos. He enjoyed them.

Bake 52 Week 5: 7 Layer Bars

So these were...AMAZING!!! If I could pick out all of my favorite things to eat and put them all in one recipe this would be it minus the cilantro. If i already had the pecans and coconut toasted it would have been a super quick dessert too, but that is because I couldn't wait for them to cool completely and ate one warm. Thank you so much Jesse for choosing this delicious dessert. Good thing I cut in half the recipe or else I would be in a lot worse shape than I am. I just love the sweet and salty mix and then the coconut and chocolate and pecans, in fact I am eating one right now and will probably go get another. Please go visit Jesse's blog so you can get the recipes, you will not regret it.

I loved these so much I posted a picture of myself eating one.