Surprise.....Jake loves the snow!!!!

So this week in Washington, everyone's been knocked on their butts. For those of you not in the know, Washington road crews are not equipped to handle snow. They usually don't get a lot of it, so they haven't really invested on the necessary equipment to handle the situation when it does happen. What this does is shut the area down completely until either the rain washes it away, it melts, or as has happened this time.....enough people have just driven on it to mash it into flat ice-like formations! Now don't get me wrong...I love it here. I am very happy we got the opportunity to move here. I love our ward and all the people I have had the chance to meet and get to know here. This snow situation just cracks me up.

When we first got Jake about 5 months ago, he was the biggest wimp. I don't know if those of you who live outside Washington know this but.....IT RAINS HERE. Sorry, inside joke. I was told that about 20 times before we moved here. Jake didn't want anything to do with the rain when we first got him. Luckily he's gotten a little used to it. He would go out of his way to avoid walking in the rain. When we would go on a walk, he would walk under the parking stall covers so no rain would fall on him. When we got to the end of one stall, he would dart to the next one. If we were walking somewhere where there wasn't anything to cover his poor little head from the mean rain, he would pull on the leash and wimper the whole time. Big wimp huh!!!!

When we got this huge snow storm, I was afraid Jake wouldn't want to leave the apartment. Boy was I wrong....he loves it!!! He'll just sit in front of our sliding glass door and beg to be taken out so he can play in it. The snow comes up to his stomach, so he basically has to jump around like a rabbit to get around. He always comes back soaking wet, but totally happy!
Here are some pictures!

Bras

As a warning to the males reading this post, just close the window now and look at something else. My husband is quite used to my "inappropriate for male ears" topics, but most others probably would like to pretend that words like bras and tampons are not even in the English language.

So, I've needed a new bra for forever. Always in the past I've bought my bras at swanky stores such as Walmart, Target or Kohls. Love these places, but they aren't really known for the feminine lingerie lines. Tom and I were in the mall the other day and passed "Victoria Secret". This is a store I visit a couple of times a year because I use their nummy smelling lotions. I decided to go in a take a look at their bras. I had no idea what I was really looking for and I hadn't really been officially sized for one before.

The lady there asked me if I'd like to be sized. And I thought why not. As I've mentioned before, I've lost some weight in the past couple of years. Ironically, my cup size has gone up while my measurement has gone down. The lady thought I was probably wearing the wrong cup size because I was wearing one too big around. I bought an expensive bra at that store in my right size, just to try it out. I really like it so far. I think it supports me better than previous bras have before.

Here's my question to all you females!!!!! In your opinion, is it worth it to buy the more expensive bra for a specialty store? Does it matter?

Halloween

It's been a while since I last made a post, so I thought I would tell you of our exciting Halloween. It's probably one of the more busy Halloweens we've ever had. For the last 3 years we had maybe 2 or 3 trick or treaters total at our apartment. This is mostly because we were living in an area of town where there weren't a lot of trick or treating age kids and we lived in a basement apartment on a little dead end road. Not a lot of traffic on a good day anyways!

This year was a little different. Tom & I both recently got new callings in our new ward. Tom got his first, as assistant to the teacher's quorum. This was very exciting for him because he loves working with the youth and he enjoys the scouting program. He gets to do both with this calling. I was really happy for him and so far he has really enjoyed it. I tease him that now he gets to work with people on his own wavelength!!! I'm really just teasing!!!! A week later I got my calling as 1st counselor in the young women. I've always wanted to serve in the young women! So, I was really excited about my calling too. One of the benefits of our callings is we end up at the same place at the same time a lot. Which is a good thing, because we still only have one car. Plus we've made some friends in our complex (Derek & Nicole Bird) that also work in the young mens and young women, so we have some alternate ride options if something ever happens.

For Halloween the young men and young women had a joint haunted forest activity that they put on for the rest of the ward. First let me say, I'm not a big Halloween person. Dressing up seems more trouble then it is worth most time and it usually costs money that I either don't want to spend or we don't have. Plus when Halloween in over you can't wear it again for another year.....well I guess you could, but people would probably look at you kind of funny! So, we had to get costumes. For those of you that don't know.....I really like vampires. Not in real life obviously, but I love to read and watch fictional stories about them. So, I dressed up as a vampire, Tom dress up as a convict, & Jake dressed up as a crab(my mother-in-law sent us the costume). The only pictures we got of course was Jake. Surprisingly, we're not very good at taking pictures. You'd think we'd be better with mister camera guy living here. Plus I hate haunted forests, houses etc. I don't like people jumping out at me and scaring me. Luckily for the night I had the job of sorting everyone that showed up into smaller groups to go through. Tom was in charge of a table he made where they stick their hands in 2 bowls of yucky stuff and then a third hole where he grabs their hand and scares them. He really enjoyed it! This happened on Halloween eve.

On Halloween we went over to our church parking lot and took part in the trunk or treat for the kids for the 2 wards that meet in our building. It was the first time since we got married that we ran out of candy! Yeah!!! I don't like to keep it in the house...it's not good for either of us. I've almost reached the 40 lb lost point in a little over 2 years. Go me!!!!

Rotini with Chicken, Asparagus, and Tomatoes

This is my most recent amazing recipe. Tom and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was absolutely delicious! Of course true to form I did change a few things in it!

8 oz uncooked rotini
1 lb skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 C slices asparagus
2 C cherry tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T chopped fresh basil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil 1/4 C crumbled goat cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-hihg heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken and asparagus to pan; saute 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic to pan; saute 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in pasta, basil, vinegar, and oil. Arrange 2 cups pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 T cheese
4 servings

***I used the noodles we had on hand and I didn't mix them with the mixture but topped the mixture on the noddles. We also used feta cheese because Tom loves it and it is easier to find!!!
Here is a picture before and after the cheese was added.

Tagged

I was tagged by both Michelle & Brittany for this blog! I'm suppose to share 7 random and/or weird facts about myself & tag 7 randam people and the end to continue the chain. Since I'm one of the most random people I know the first part shouldn't be difficult. However the 2nd part should be interesting!!!!

1. I hate the sound of nails on a chalkboard more than anything else in the world probably. Even thinking about the possibility of hearing it makes me break out in chills. When someone even acts like they are going to do it I go craaaaaazy!!! Eeeeeek!

2. I've always loved old musicals. It started when I was a kid. My Grandma & Grandpa Borgholthaus introduced me to my first loves in that field Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy. Most people have no idea who these people are. I've always loved their movies. Granted they can be a bit corny when viewed in today's world, but still thoroughly enjoyable. Of course my girlfriends and husband are not near as enthusiastic as I am, but they don't know what they're missing.

3. I'm a huge fan of useless information. I can be one of the most random people at the oddest times. Sometimes it takes a little bit to get used to. My girlfriends actually gave me a book once full of useless information! It was one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had wondered myself many of the items in the book!

4. I'm fascinated with vampires. Don't get me wrong, I would never want them to be a reality and I don't dress up like them and pretend they are a reality. I'm not that far off my rocker. But I love reading fictional books and watching fictional movies about them! I think Tom thinks I'm a little batty. He once told me he didn't think I could surprise him with the topic for one of my books. I've read everything from vampires, warewolves & witches to "normal type" books. I enjoy them all!

5. I don't have a hometown. Growing up we moved every 4 or so years. My Dad used to work for First Security Bank. We moved all over the state of Idaho as well as Clarkston, WA (for those of you not familiar with Idaho & Washington Clarkston is just over the border! If my count is right, we moved 7 times before I graduated from highschool (that would be 8 locations). Of course 2 of the locations we lived at twice. It always makes it difficult when I'm explaining where I'm from.

6. I've had a very difficult time picking a major. I am 32 years old and I've finally decided what I want to be when I grow up. Typical of me huh??? I think I've had about 6 different majors that I was sure was what I wanted to do. I am very interested in many different subjects. I had a hard time chosing which one of them I would want to do for the rest of my life. I don't know if that makes me well rounded or undecided. I've finally made my decision. Assuming I don't get pregnant, I'll start my new vocation at the ripe old age of 35 or so. I'm hoping someone will be willing to hire me.

7. I have a strange fascination for cookbooks. Even before I started really cooking, I found myself buying cookbooks I probably would never use. Luckily it was never out of control. It's not like I have a empty room full of them or anything. However I must confess that I have gotten rid of a few of them because I didn't see myself using them. Now that I actually cook I wish I still had them. Ironic huh???

Now I tag Tara, Ashley, Tom, Alicia, Janssen, Leslie, Marie, & Merrick. That's 8 people, but oh well!

My Filipino Dinner

For those that don't know (which is probably most of you) Tom's cousin Christine also went to the Philippines on her mission. However she's been home a much shorter time than I have; so she is still very fluent at Tagalog, where I am not at all!!!! Since Tom and I moved up here we've been talking about going out to dinner to one of the Filipino restaurants here. (It turns out there is quite a large demographic here that are Filipinos! Yeah me!!!!! It's very exciting for me....you probably don't understand how weird I am about this.) One day, a while ago, I mentioned to Christine that we had seen a couple of Filipino restaurants while we've been driving around.

Last week she gave me a call to propose a great idea she had! Her sister (Carolyn) recently got engaged and is getting married next month. Yep....obviously a cool girl to pick the coolest month of the year to get married (our anniversary is Oct 5th!!). We hadn't had the opportunity yet to meet Carolyn's fiance, and she wanted to take him on a ferry ride. So, Christine thought it would be a lot of fun for the three of them to ride the ferry over to our side of the pond and then we could all go out to a Filipino dinner together. The place we were going to go was already closed when we got there (don't ask me why they close at 3 pm on a Saturday???). So, Tom remembered where he had seen another one on google maps. So, we drove over there and eventually found the little Filipino Diner.

We had a great time and I totally enjoyed the dinner. We ended up treating the dishes "family style" and shared several different dishes. Unfortunately, they were out of my favorite dish so I'll have to go back again to have that!!! Bummer! My favorite (I don't even remember what it was called) was a dish I hadn't had since my mission. It had ginger & papaya in it and I pretty much inhaled it! I didn't even remember it, but as soon as it hit my tongue I remembered it in a flash. Tasty!!!

Delicious Recipes

I was told I was suppose to include the recipes for any dishes that I talk about. I don't want to include all the recipes I spoke of, so I'll include my two favorites (which were new recipes I had never made before. If you would like any of the other recipes, let me know!

Summer Tortellini Salad (This is a cold dish)
**I'm also one for using what I have, so I used regular tomatoes, regular onions, parsley out of a bottle, & I grated the cheese we had; but this is what the recipe said. I don't have a picture, but it was very pretty!

1 pkg (9 oz) uncooked refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1/4 C snipped fresh parsley
1/2 C fat-free Ranch Salad Dressing
2 T grated fresh Parmesan Cheese

Cook tortellini according to pkg directions; drain and rinse under cold running water. Set aside.

Slice zucchini, chop carrot, cut cherry tomatoes in half, & thinly slice onions.

Add vegetables to tortellini in a bowl. Pour salad dressing over salad. Grate cheese over salad & mix gently. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.


Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 Corn Tortillas (I used Flour)
1/2 C Onion, chopped
3 boneless, skinless Chicken Breast halves (about 12 oz)
1 Garlic clove, pressed
1/4 tsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp Cumin
2 cans (14.5 oz each) Chicken Broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced Tomatoes, undrained
1 can (4 oz) chopped Green Chilies, undrained
4 tsp fresh Cilantro, snipped (didn't use)
2 oz reduced-fat Cheddar Cheese, shredded (used what I had)
4 thick slices Fresh Lime (optional) (didn't use)

Prehead oven to 400 degrees. Cut tortillas into 1/2 inch strips & place on flat baking sheet or stone. Bake 7-8 min or until crisp

Meanwhile, chop onion & cut chicken into 1/2 inch pieces. Heat soup pan over medium high heat. Spray with vegetable oil. Add chicken; cook and stir 3 minutes (I just cooked them until they were done). Add onion, garlic, chili powder, & cumin. Cook & stir for 2 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes & chilis. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Snip cilantro. Devide tortilla stripps among 4 bowls. Ladle soup over tortillas & shred cheese over top. Sprinkle soup with cilantro. Garnish each bowl with line slice, if desired

**I've also had it with a dab of sour cream on top!!

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Tom & I really enjoyed them!! I made banana bread last week. A little overcooked but pretty good if I do say so myself!!! Yeah me!!!

Cooking

I've always been kind of insecure about my cooking skills. That was actually one of our first fights (if you can call it that....we didn't argue really), when Tom said something jokingly about something I made and I of course took it personally because of my insecurities. My friend, Shelli, was there at the time and quickly informed Tom that cooking is not something to tease me about. Friends are great aren't they!!!!

As some of you may know, I'm being a housewife right now while we're trying to get our puppy trained enough to be able to leave him for longer than 3 hours at a time. (At least we can go on a date and to church!!!) Because I'm not used to being home all day every day I'm trying to make myself useful while I'm here. I keep the house clean, all the housework done, & I'm trying to become a better cook. Don't get me wrong....I did cook, just not a lot. (Because I worked a lot, cooking was way down the list of things I wanted to do when I got home after a 10 hour day....EXHAUSTED!!!!) (I'm just not a superwoman like my cousins...you know who you are) Also, I generally didn't branch out a lot. I stuck to my handful of recipes that I was pretty good at. I'm a pro at stir-fry and Lo-Main. I also had a few recipes that I learned my my girlfriends when I was living there. I've also made Potato Rolls a few times (it's my Mom's recipe)....it's always a hit. If you've never had Potato Rolls let me know and I'll email you the recipe. It's one of my favorites!!!!

Most nights when Tom gets home I'm trying to either have a homemade meal or leftovers from a previous meal. I'm also trying to be better at only buying the groceries I'm actually going to use. I was horrible at that!!! Some of the meals I've made, haven't been terribly pretty but they've all tasted great. Which is really what's been important to Tom. I've made a few recipes that were great, but I neglected to take pictures of them! These are the recipes: Summer Tortellini Salad (Pampered Chef), Chili Cornbread Skillet (Pampered Chef), Chicken Tortilla Soup (Pampered Chef), Chicken Enchiladas, & Savory Chicken Squares (Shelli's Cookbook)

I was able to get a couple of pictures.....they're not very good though. They looked so much better in person.

The first picture is ChickenTortilla Soup & the 2nd one is Savory Chicken Squares (which I have cooked before)

Weekend With My Friends

For those of you that don't know my girlfriends (Tammie, Shelli, & Tracy) they are insane travelholics (is that a word?). They go on several trips a year all over the world. This benefits me because they are very sweet and bring me presents!

Before we even moved to Silverdale, they were planning their trip here. Unfortunately for my parents, they planned the trip before my parents told me they had thought of coming up the same weekend. Unfortunately for me, now I have to wait a year for my parents to visit me. They think they have to wait until the next Labor Day (why I don't know). Anyway, my girlfriends bought their tickets to come visit me for Labor Day before we left Salt Lake City. I was really happy about this because I was not looking forward to saying goodbye to them and this kind of broke it up and made it a little easier.

They arrived early Friday morning (Aug 29th). The airport is actually over inbetween Tacoma and Seattle, so I had to get up a little early in order to be there on time. Because Jake was still very little we couldn't leave him at home all day (still can't actually). He's sometimes a little difficult to control when I'm the only one in the car so Jake got to travel to the airport in his crate. He wasn't happy about this at first. He wined for a bit to let me know he was not happy. Shelli & Tracy (who sat in the back seat) entertained him for the rest of our traveling that day so he didn't have to travel like that again. That day we found our way (luckily because I had never driven there by myself) to Pikes Place Market which is one of the many famous attractions of Seattle. It's an open air market that actually reminds me a little of the Philippines. They sell fish, vegtables, fruit, flowers & many kinds of decorations. It's a lot of fun and definitely a cool experience if you've never been there. Jake got to spend a little time in his crate in the car waiting for us because they don't let animals in the enclosed building with the food. He had a nice nap, but was happy when we returned. We then returned to Silverdale and they got to see our new apartment and we met up with Tom after he got off of work. We then went to dinner at a cool harborside restaurant called The Boat Shed. We all had a lot of fun and I think we all loved our meals.
Saturday morning we left to go on a drive up the Olympic Peninsula. We stopped at several different light houses. It was a beautiful drive and we really enjoyed ourselves. As a side note, we picked up an area information paper with a note about Forks, WA. For those of you poor uninformed people....that's the location of the fictional characters in Stephanie Meyers Twilight books. They have started a Stephanie Meyers Day on "Bella's" birthday. What a hoot! Not something I would go to, but an entertaining thought!

Sunday was of course a relaxing day with church and an easy day hike. I use hike very loosely. There is this cute trail that meanders through town (however there is tons of trees so you would have no idea you were in town at all)! We took a nice leisurely walk through this trail. It was very pretty, relaxing & a nice Sunday outing. Jake also enjoyed it, but by the end he was pretty beat!

Monday was their last day here and we decided we would go back to Seattle on the way to the airport (their flight wasn't until that evening) to see some of the rest of the sights. This time instead of driving, we took the ferry to Seattle. Luckily we got one of the big ones with the open walkway on the top floor. Tom and I took one of these big ferries one night a few weeks ago. It was so cool to stand on the top floor and look at the open water in the dark night!!!! Beautiful!

For lunch we went to the world famous restaurant Ivars, my Dad has ranted about their clam chowder since he went to a business school here years ago. I wouldn't know though since I don't like clam chowder so I didn't try it. Tracy did though and said it is the best clam chowder she's ever had.

After dinner we went to the aquarium. It's a really neat aquarium. The coolest part was when we saw a octopus. We only got to show them the Space Needle from a distance because downtown was shut down for a yearly event they have every Labor Day. But it was close enough that they got to see it really well. Maybe next time we'll go to dinner there! We also went to see the Troll under the bridge that Tom tells me is in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You". I don't remember it. I guess I'm going to have to watch it again. This was also the day Tom got starstruck and saw his celebrity sighting. See his blog for more info!

That was the end of our sightseeing, but we have enough things to show them to last us maybe the next 3 trips they come to see us!!! We had a lot of fun and I hope they come again soon!

Jake Videos

My New Plates

I've mentioned before how when Tom & I got married we had an interesting group of furniture and accessories. Most of which we inherited from Tom's parents. The plate set was one of those. We had the exciting experience of getting married at about the same time that Tom's parents & my parents were moving. The benefit of this was everyone was getting rid of stuff (especially Tom's parents because they were moving into a smaller place now that their kids weren't living at home). So we didn't have to go into debt to buy a lot of furniture, but nothing really went together! The joys of being young, in love, & newly married!

One day I was visiting my little sister Ashley and noticed her plate set. It was the first time I remember seeing square plates and I loved it! I've really started loving the modern feel to a home. I decided that I had to have square plates. As a student, we couldn't afford to buy a new plate set. But as all of you know, that changed recently. We decided to wait until we moved to buy the plates so there wasn't any chance of anything getting broken. But we did get rid of the old plate set we had before we moved. Tom's brother Shaun recently got married and needed to inherit a few living items. They inherited a lot of the stuff we originally got from Tom's parents. Keeping them in the family! So we living out of paper plates & bowls for about 2 weeks. Fun times!!! It makes you appreciate the real things.

So for the past couple of months we've been looking around for a square plate set that we liked. We found a couple of options that were possibilities, but nothing we really liked. When we were staying at Tom's aunt and uncles house, they had a plate set that I loved the look of but weren't square. I thought, if I could find a square plate set just like that I'd buy it in a second. Well it didn't happen. I did however find a round set that was very similar to the set I saw at Tom's aunt and uncles house. The question was do we choose a round set that we love or a square set were unenthusiastic about. We ended up choosing the round ones and we love them!!!!
Here they are!

Our New Home

I've been wanting to write a blog about our move for a while. Unfortunately for me, my husband has been extremely effective with his blog posts since we moved out of our basement apartment in Salt Lake City. Every time I thought about making a post, I couldn't think of anything to add that my husband hadn't already blogged about. So I decided to just add a few snippets .

I haven't been very good at blogging recently. This hit home to me a while ago when I realized my cousin had bumped me from her lists on blogs. I need to do better with this, especially now that I am so far away from my family. Although, I'm sure I'll still talk to them on the phone and email like always.

For those of you that read my husband's blog, you know that we've been in the process of moving for the past month (physically) and for the past 6 months (mentally). Tom got his job offer back in January, but of course this was in the assumption that he graduated. This happened last May! So, after he graduated we then went through the exciting but unsure time of having no idea how to arrange for the transportation of our stuff. Very exciting!! Hahaha! Luckily everything worked out.

I won't go into the details of our move up here, because Tom detailed it on his blog. But needless to say, we got here all in one piece along with all of our stuff with only a couple of issues. Right after we got here we were talking about getting a puppy. We've always wanted a dog. Unfortunately (or should I say stupidly) I thought we should get one as soon as possible. I thought it would be better the longer we had him because it would give him more time to get used to us and the situation before I wanted to go back to work. I say stupidly because I had absolutely no personal puppy experience. It ended up being more difficult than I thought it would be, specifically potty training. It's being a bit of a challenge. Plus I have learned I won't be able to go back to work as soon as I wanted to. Right now we can't leave him alone for very long. He just doesn't have a very reliable bladder. The good thing though is he's doing better. Some days he doesn't have any accidents, some days he still does occasionally. But there has been a huge improvement.

Tom went to work yesterday (Monday) for his first day at work. He was very excited. We did have a minor anxiety attack when he realized he had forgotten ID badge that he had picked up on Friday and we had to turn around and go pick it up. But, we got it and arrived at work before his group went onto the shipyard! Whew!!!

The house is still in a slightly chaotic state. Due to the puppy, whose name is Jake by the way, it's taken us longer to get the house ready than it should have. We can't leave him alone in a room full of boxes or he'll leave us surprises that we don't want. We're starting to see it change and organize itself. Plus our new bedroom set is going to arrive on Friday! I'm excited to get everything where I want it to be!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Remember This....

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I (or Tom) had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. I can't wait to see what people remember.

Our Trip to Oregon

Some of you may know that we went on a weeks vacation to Cannon Beach, Oregon! It was a absolute blast. It was fun, enjoyable, and relaxing! Cannon beach is a little town on the Oregon coast about an hour from Portland. It was kind of a family reunion for the Kruger clan. I say kind of because most of us still currently live in Salt Lake City. However Tom's older brother and his family (including the only grandkids) live in Indiana. The only downside was the long drive it took to get there.

We drove up to Oregon with Tom's brother Shawn and his fiance Alicia. We decided to split the trip in two days both for the reason of not having to drive for 13 hours straight and so I could see my grandparents in Boise. Grandma and Grandpa Borgolthaus let us all crash at their house for the night. I was able to visit Grandpa Higginson and Uncle Jerry too! It was a lot of fun! I actually learned some new things about my Dad from them that I had never heard before. Later we went to Grandma & Grandpa B's house and had the fun experience of hanging out in hot Boise in a black-out! We were very happy when the electricity came back on and we could turn the fan on! I really enjoyed hanging out with all my grandparents!

The next day we took off for Oregon. The further we got from Utah and Idaho, the more beautiful and green it got! I loved all the green everywhere. Parts of it were definitely beautiful! It took us most of the day to get there, but we were so happy when it happened. Tom's Mom and Dad had rented a little house there that belonged to some women that his Mom knew. It had three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and fit our needs pretty good! Tom and I got the other queen bedroom.

We were there for a couple of days before Tom's older brother Byron, his wife Kari & their three kids James (4), Michael (2), & Emelie (1). They were a bit of a handful (just because they were kids in a new place around a bunch a people they could only vaguely remember). Overall they were really good kids and were a lot of fun to be around!

I think my 2 most favorite things about Cannon Beach were the shops down the main street & of course the beach! It was usually a daily occurance to go take a walk down the main street (picture a miniature Park City) and walk back on the beach. It was something I really loved doing! There is just something about the beach that I really enjoy. It something about the power, smell & basic feel of the ocean! The ocean part of Cannon Beach is actually what it's known for. There is a gigantic rock right on the beach that is quite well know. I've actually seen it in a number of movies.

We also took a bunch family pictures on the beach! It was a very interesting experience. Especially with 3 little kids that just don't know what it means to sit still and look at the camera all at the same time. I think the pictures that eventually ended up being picked just had all the kids looking in kind of the same direction. It was a bit hilarious! But we all survived.

The kids loved the beach more than anything! They loved the beach and flying their kite on the beach! Because the beach usually had a constant breeze, the kites flew pretty much by themselves. Which worked well for little kids flying the kites. As long as they didn't let go of it, it flew! The water was way too cold to swim in by any sane person, but whoever said a 4 year old was sane obviously has never spent any time with one! The only member of the family that spent any time in the water voluntarily with my 4 year old nephew James & one of him parents to keep him from doing a face plant when he was hit by a wave. He loved it! One time he even lost his pants due to the water making them too heavy to stay on his little hips. It was pretty funny!

We also got to go to the 4th of July parade there in Cannon Beach! This was the first parade the kids had been to that they threw candy at. It was pretty funny watching them first be confused on what to do with the flying candy and then dive into it face fist with full gusto! Most of the time they were too busy eating candy with one had to pick up all the candy around their feet with the other. We had to keep reminding them about it. It's so hard to concentrate when your surrounded by nummy goodness! The funniest thing I saw in the parade that I had never seen before were a group called something like the "Chair Clackers" They were a group of adult people that walked down the street in two rows with foldable chairs. They would stop and they would play some music and they would clack their chairs together along with the music. It was hilarious & very entertaining.

I would totally recommend this to anybody that wants a relaxing enjoyable vacation. Don't count on any swimming on the beach (too cold), but it fun to fly kites, take long walks etc.

Crazy Insane

It's been a while since I've written. This is partially due to my laziness & partially due to Tom and me madly getting ready to move. We have every weekend from now until we leave planned out. It's a little crazy, but we want to make sure we get the opportunity to do everything and see everyone we want to see before our time's up.


The good news though is we have an apartment lined up. I'm pretty excited about it. I like the floor plan and they allow puppies, which Tom and I have wanted to get for a long time! It seems like a pretty nice place. We're going to Oregon next week & we're going to come home via Silverdale so we can take an actual look at the place. It's called The Outlook Above Silverdale and it's near the mall & Costco.

The exciting part of the whole thing is the change. I've been working at the same place now for 8 years now. I like my job (most of the time), but it's very stressful and I'm excited for something different. I have 4 1/2 weeks of actual work left! Of course I'm not counting the week we'll be in Oregon because I don't have to be at work that week! I'm not counting down at all!!!!

My First Trip To Zions

Tom's graduation is right around the corner! He's very excited to say the least! We're going to be moving to Washington at the first of August. I've lived in Utah for about 8 years now, but have never been to Zions Park. This has always been somewhere I've wanted to go, but have never had the opportunity! I love red rock, I think it's absolutely beautiful! Zions Park took my breath away. You're out in the middle of nowhere, when out of nowhere these hugc mountains come out of nowhere. I loved it! We went on a couple of hikes. Tom took pity on me and gave up his wish of going on the "Angels Landing" and we went on a less scary hike. For those of you that don't know, I'm not a big fan of heights! I've seen pictures of the Angels Landing hike and all I could think about was......ahhhhhhh! Plus did I mention there was a little bit of snow? The thought of being on the little skinny rock with snow....yikes! Instead we went on another hike near the weeping rock. It was a lot of fun, with a little snow and ice. I was glad there were parts with chains attached to the rock to hold onto.


It was a lot of fun!

The Most Adorable Message Ever

Last night I got a very enjoyable voice mail right before I went to bed. I was just putting my cell phone to bed for the night when I noticed there was a call I missed earlier that night and a message to go with it. I've been getting some strange voice mails recently from lawyers looking for people that they were given my phone number to find. Very annoying, I've stopped answering them. So, I listened to the message and was very happily surprised. The message started with my adorable nephew's voice (that would be my 3 year old nephew of my sister Tara, not my nephews in Indiana or my newborn one that was born 5 days ago.

Anyway the message was very cute. I could hear Tara in the background telling him what to say and then he would relay it to me. He told me hello, that it was Austin (big stumper that one), then he proceeded to tell his mom that he wanted to talk on his own. He then got very confused when I wouldn't answer him. He just couldn't understand how he was talking to me, but I wouldn't talk back. Mom and Tara cracked up in the background with that one. He then told me goodbye and he would talk to me later.

What a cutie pie! I can't wait to see him in a couple of days along with his new little brother Tayten. Here's a picture of the two boys with their daddy.

Ode to Frank

It was a very sad day a couple of days ago at the Tom & Chelsea Kruger household. A couple of years ago, we bought a beta fish at Walmart. He's been our pet for the past 2 years and unfortunately that time has come to an end. Frank has died and been put to rest in the big toilet bowl in the sky. This picture is a good representation of his living quarters for the past couple of years, except Frank was red not blue!

Frank used to be so fun. He was so active in his bowl. He would swim around like crazy, especially when we were in the room. A few months ago he started to slow down. I knew that was not good news. I knew it was getting bad when I cleaned his bowl and he still kind of sat there not doing anything.

We weren't allowed to have a dog at our apartment, so we chose Frank instead. He's been a great addition to our household for the 2 years we've had him.

My Soul Mate Sweetie

Earlier today I read all about my sister Ashley talk about her husband David. It was a lot of fun. Since most of the people that read this blog also read Ashley's you know exactly what I'm talking about! Now I get the same opportunity to talk about my sweetie!


What is his name? Thomas Juergan Kruger

Profession? Senior at the University of Utah. He will be graduating with his Mechanical Engineering Degree in May & will be starting a career soon after that at the Puget Sound Naval Base.

How long have you been married? 3 1/2 years now! We're not really newlyweds anymore, but we still act like it! Ask any of our family!

Who is older? (this question was added by Ashley, but I kept it in) I win more than anyone I know, even though I know a lot of girls that could answer yes to this question. I am 4 years older than Tom almost to the day. Tom's birthday is only 3 weeks after mine!

How long did you date: This question is a little tricky and I had to think about it. It all started with my 28th birthday (Jan 20) and we got engaged in July. So that makes it about 6 months, but Tom was living in Seattle for about 3 months of that time. Then we were engaged for about 3 months more. I guess it's your call of 3, 6, or 9 months!

Who eats more sweets? Well, right now it would be Tom, but only because I'm on a diet. Usually we both have the same neverending sweet tooth. Nummy! I wish we didn't.

Who's taller? Weeeellllllll, we're both kind of short. I always tell Tom if we ever end up with kids they stand no hope. But they'll be cute shorties! Tom's still taller than I am though, by several inches.

Who has more speeding tickets? I think him, since I only have one. But I'm not very sure about that. He's not here right now to ask.

Who can sing better? No idea. Based on the number of times each of us gets asked to sing it would be Tom, but I've been singing longer so who knows.

Who is smarter? That would be Tom as well. I married a very talented and intelligent man. He's very smart and hard working. I'm not a slouch in that department either though, if I do say so myself.

Who does the laundry? Me usually, we've gotten into kind of habit with that. Tom helps me put it away and he does mid-week loads though. He even cleans the bathroom and does the dishes. A saint among men!

Who pays the bills? That would definitely be me. We've learned there needs to be one person in charge of that particular responsibility or things get forgotten. I do it because I have the time and I don't have other distractions.

Who cooks dinner? This one is definitely half and half. We both do this depending on who has the time and the desire. Our favorite thing though is neither of us! We both like to cook on occasion, but not all the time.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I always hate this type of question. From which direction? The right side when we're in it or facing it? When we're in it, it's me. If you talking about when we're facing it, it's Tommy.

Who drives? Tom drives most of the time because he enjoys it so much. It's one of his relaxation mechanisms. Since I really don't care, I let him do that. It's actually kind of nice when we're traveling. I get to sleep, which a driving car puts me into very quickly. And Tom doesn't mind, good for me.

Who is more stubborn? Definitely a toss up. We're both hard headed, but we respect and love each other enough to be willing to compromise.

Who proposed? My loving romantic husband. Such a sweetie.

Who has more siblings? Me. I have 2 sisters & a brother, Tom has 2 brothers.

Who wears the pants? I'm lucky enough to say neither one of us or both of us. We work more like a team. This goes back to the stubborn thing. I'm way to stubborn and hard headed to allow anyone to tell me what to do, but I will make a joint decision.

Well, that's it. Tom, you know how much I love you. You make me very happy!

Tom's Birthday Week

Many of you might wonder, why I would title this blog "Tom's Birthday WEEK". The reason I say this is because I started celebrating his birthday at the beginning of the week. I started singing happy birthday to him on Sunday even though his birthday wasn't until Friday. Luckily for me and him he's used to me making a fool of myself with singing. I do it in the middle of Walmart sometimes. He is such a patient man with me. I'm just glad he loves me!

Tom told me previously that he wanted the first season of a show called Samarai Jack. This of course is a cartoon (those of you that know Tom won't have to ask why). Tom enjoys this show, but it is not terribly common or easy to find. I had to do a bit of looking to locate it in town. I didn't really want to have to order it, because I wanted him to be able to open it on his birthday. Well, I found it and it was a hit. Buying a present is so much easier when someone requests something specific!

For dinner on his birthday we went to a place called Cafe Rio. It's one of our favorite places to go for dinner. Tom loves mexican and I love their salads. I have a salad every time I go. I was very careful this time because of my weight loss goals. I was very careful with the dressing and I didn't eat the tortilla (even though they are freakin' nummy). I had my normal Pork salad & Tom had a burrito served enchilada style. I think we both really enjoyed it.

We then headed over to REI. This is an outdoor store, that sells anything outdoorsy. It's nirvana for Tom. He loves outdoor sports and entertainment. It turned out they were having a huge sale. So Tom got to buy himself a bike riding jacket. He wants to ride his bike when it cold outside. Nutty if you ask me, but I am totally supportive of him staying healthy in a way he enjoys.

Last but not least, was our trip to the U to shoot some pool. This is an activity that Tom has always enjoyed. I've become okay at it, although I'm still far from good at it. But we had a lot of fun teasing and cheering each other on. It was amazing how much time both of us spent chasing the last little ball around the table. It was kind of hilarious!

Well, happy birthday Babe! Here's to another year! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Thaifoon

On Friday Tom & I finally had our first taste of Thai food. This is something we've been wanting to try for a long time. Ashley used to tell me how much she liked Thai food and ever since then every time I would pass a Thai restaurant I would say the exact same thing to Tom: "I want to try Thai food sometime". After 2 million times of hearing the same thing over and over he finally got the hint. Just kidding....he wanted to try it too. It was a lot of fun. Plus it is suppose to be free. Tom's boss promised to buy us lunch because of all the help Tom did with their office move. We'll see if we ever see that money.

First of all, it's very important to know how much I love oriental food. It's one of my favorite things to eat. It doesn't really matter what version of oriental food we're talking about. I love them all. So, we walk into the restaurant and they have an indoor waterfall. By waterfall, I actually mean there is falling water coming down a transparent glass wall. Guess where we got to sit. Right next to it! Very cool. I love running water. Very cool ambiance.

Then there came the food. I got to try some soup, Miso Soup. Now, I don't know exactly what was in this soup. I know there was Tofu in it as well as some miscellaneous stuff. We have no idea. I would compare it to chicken broth with other stuff. I know, I'm great at the English language! We both had different individual dishes. Tom had "Firecracker Chicken". I think the name said it all. I tried a piece and had to drink my water and Tom's water to cool off my tongue. It was a bit much for me but Tom loved it. He'd order it again in a second. I had Pad Thai, which was chicken and shrimp over rice noodles. It was very good. I enjoyed it a lot.

For those of you that visit Salt Lake City, this restaurant is located at the Gateway mall near Barnes and Noble. It was a lot of fun and the food was very good. I would recommend it. The name of the restaurant is Thaifoon.

Of course I have no idea how genuine this cuisine is.

Biggest Loser

First thing that needs to be explained before I start is a phenomena at work that we like to call the "Horizontal Shift". It's unavoidable where I work to not put on weight. #1 We sit on our butts all day long looking at a computer #2 They are constantly feeding us junk food there (not all from the company, people bring all their left overs in as well). Now some of us have more self control then others. I'm not great at this particular skill, but I'm getting better.

Because summer is approaching and some people at work wanted to lose some wait before this happened, we are having our own "Biggest Loser" at work. Some of us have been trying to lose weight anyways, so we decided to join this competition to keep us from cheating while others are in it for the prize money. Here's the buzz.....we all pay $3 per week for 15 weeks. For those of you that are mathematically challenged, that is a total of $45. They divided us in to teams of two and we get to weigh in every week. They give out a weekly award and at the end of the 15 weeks the winner gets a big chunk of change to split between the two team members. This is based on body fat % not necessarily pounds. Right now the guys are doing amazingly, but I think the girls will be the ones to beat at the end of the competition! My goal is only 2 pound a week. For 15 weeks that is a total of 30 pounds! I think it's doable and healthy!

I'm not in it to win the money, I just needed the incentive to stay on the program. We can use any diet of exercise program we want to use. I just hope nobody cheats or abuses their body to much so people don't get frustrated. As long as I continue to lose weight I'll be happy!
I'm going to look HOT for that cruise!

Teppanyaki

This weekend was my birthday. Birthdays are a strange thing when you get older. It's not so much something you look forward to anymore, as something that happens. I turned 32 this year. Luckily for me, everyone who finds out how old I am are constantly shocked that I'm as old as I am. I choose to take it as a compliment to my youthful appearance instead of something about my maturity level (hehe).

My birthday fell on a Sunday this year. That means not a lot of excitement. I got to talk to my entire family though, which was probably the high point of my day. I had forbidden Tom from buying me a birthday present. There was nothing I needed and we just had Christmas a month ago. So instead he bought some lotion and gave me a massage before we left for Bear Lake. HEAVENLY!

The part of my birthday that I've been looking forward to for a while was my birthday dinner. Every year for my birthday, my friends Tammie, Shelli & Tracy come with us to dinner. The place varies every year, but the company is always the same. This year I've had the place planned for months. Teppanyaki, is a Japanese grill. It's very tastey....and definitely not a disappointment. All of us really enjoyed it. The food was good & the show was fun! For anyone that isn't familiar with this type of restaurant, everone sits surrounding a flat grill. You get your own personal chef and comes and cooks your meal in front of you. I recommend it for anyone that thinks this sounds cool. It is a little expensive, but for an occasional night it's a great bet!

My Weekend Alone

This past weekend Tom got to go to Washington for his big interview. He had his original interview a couple of months ago. About a month ago, they called him and invited him to come up (at their expense) and have a second interview. Tom loves Washington, so he jumped at the chance for a visit that he didn't have to pay for. Regardless of weather he got the job or not, it would still be a cool experience for him. The downside was, I couldn't go with him. So Saturday morning I dropped him off at the airport and returned to my very entertaining empty apartment. Wahoo for me!

Anyway, it wasn't so bad. I spent the day getting my oil changed in the Honda, watching some TV, & playing some of Tom's video games. Yeah, I know I am very exciting! That night my friend Tammie & I went to dinner at a place called Souper Salad. The specialize in Salad, Soup & all the trimmings! I always enjoy going there. Tammie's my salad buddy, so she was more than happy to join me. We then went back to her house and watched the movie "Step Up" on her laptop. Shelli was at her Winter party for work & the others were watching "StarDust" in the living room. It was actually a pretty cute show. Kind of reminded me of "Save the Last Dance".

The next morning I got to go to Ben's babys blessing (Ben is Tom's best friend). Tom couldn't be there, so I went instead. It was a beautiful blessing. He did an amazing job. It was beautiful & very moving. Their entire family was there (both sides). It was a fun experience. Ben's brother has twins & there was a moment right in the middle of sacrament meeting when his wife was outside with the girl and had to come back in and swap the sleeping girl for the screaming boy from daddy. It was kind of entertaining! Ben's dad tried to take the blame for the huge family that was visiting the ward. Ben's grandpa corrected him however and said it was all due to him instead. Quite funny!

Well, Tom is home now! Thank goodness! I really missed him and am happy to have him home. I will let him tell you about his grand adventure in his own blog! He had a great time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve & New Years Day. Mine was enjoyable for me, I don't know if anyone else would think so though. I'm one of those rare people that don't need constant entertaining. I'm very content most of the time with a good book, a good movie & the company of my loving husband!

This year, started out great because I got off work 2 hours early on New Years Eve. That's 2 paid hours off early. Always a good start to anything in my opinion! Tom convinced me to forgo my diet for the evening and go out to dinner (it didn't take a lot of convincing). Anyway we decided to spend the evening in and put together a puzzle. Tom loves puzzles! So we went over to Walmart to pick up a card table and a puzzle. We ended up finding 2 different puzzles. Unfortunately, the first one we decided to try is insanely hard. Tom even said that. He's still working on it 2 days later.

We spent the evening putting together the puzzle and watching episodes of "Friends". Tom has gotten so he likes that show as much as I do. It was a very laid back evening that I think we both enjoyed! I was very glad we weren't out in the freezing cold. There were a couple of times when we were outside that the cold went right through me. Brrrrrrrr!

2008 is going to be a great year! Tom's getting ready to graduate & then the next part of our life gets to begin. It's kind of fun to prepare for something you don't have any idea how it ends....or even starts. Makes for an exciting time.