Day 1 - A recent Photo and 15 Interesting Facts

      1. Surprise, I’m going to be a momma in September (now maybe October)! more on that later….    

      2. I prefer to scrub the toilet over washing dishes.
3. Once, I swam in Loch Ness.  I am convinced that Nessie bit my foot too. 
4.  I speak English, French, Spanish and Canadian.
5.  I am a blanket hog.
6.  I confess: I have a stamp collection.
7.  I like semi-colons.
8.  I have a secret crush on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.  Shh… don’t tell Zach.
9. I met my husband while serving a mission in California.
10.  I miss trees.  Utah doesn’t have enough trees.
11.  I love to cook ethnic foods (and make Zach eat them).
12.  We have a million books – we’re stock piling for the library we want to have one day.
13.  I have been on over 45 airplanes in my life.
14. When I was younger, I went to science camp, math camp, biology camp, drama camp, art camp, sports camp, cop camp, and… clown camp.  I think my parents may have been trying to get rid of me
    15. Once, I ate frogs’ legs.  They taste like chicken.

30 Day Challenge

My sister-in-law did this and it looked like fun (plus it will give me a reason to blog more frequently...) so here goes nothing! Except I'm going to be traveling this month, so it might take me longer than 30 days... oh well...

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

Day 02- A picture of something you cannot live without.

Day 03- A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Day 04- List 15 songs that represent your life’s soundtrack.

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.

Day 06- A hobby you have.

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why.

Day 09- Something/someone you’re proud of.

Day 10- A story about a past relationship.

Day 11- A picture of something you dislike.

Day 12- A picture of your room & don’t cheat by cleaning it. Share a secret.

Day 13- Write a letter telling someone something you could never tell them.

Day 14- A picture of something you ate and 10 confessions.

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle & share the first 10 songs that play.

Day 16- Something you could live without.

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.

Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have.

Day 19- Nicknames you have & how or why you have them.

Day 20- If you had 3 wishes, what would they be.

Day 21- Share a picture from your day.

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else.

Day 23- What is something you crave.

Day 24- Share a story about your past that you are ashamed of.

Day 25- What I would find in your bag.

Day 26- Places you want to visit before you die.

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned.

Day 30- A picture of you today & 20 goals you want to accomplish

Not Pleased...

Zach Jenkins: Enemy of Birds Everywhere

My husband is an enemy to birds. He must be. After two murderous episodes, no other explanation seems possible.

Back in August, we were in Wyoming for a family reunion. And because Americans like to shoot guns in order to bond, I left Zach outside with his brothers and retreated into the house, safely away from the guns. They started shooting "clay" pigeons. A few minutes into the bonding, something went terribly awry. It was Zach's turn to shoot. The clay pigeons were fired into the air and he took aim. However, just as the bullet was about to make contact with the clay pigeon a real bird flew right into the bullet's trajectory and fell out of the sky.

Zach explained that the poor bird "got in his way..." This seems like a freak accident, right? Well that's what I thought too, until this morning.

When I woke up, he leaned over to me and said "something bad happened when I was driving home last night..." Naturally, I began to envision a speeding ticket or a small accident, but I was wrong. Apparently, as he was driving down State Street really late last night in the rain, a duck (the kind with the green head as Zach described it) appeared in the road ahead of him. He didn't have time to stop. Seconds later, he saw a bunch of feathers flying behind the car. He couldn't see a body, and it wasn't stuck under the car (I made him check this morning...)so we will never know exactly what happened, but as you can see, this is a very disturbing trend...

Spring Cleaning

I have today off work and what better way to spend it than spring cleaning our apartment? (even though it's hardly "spring" but don't get me started on that one...) I am gearing up to mop and vacuum and wipe down and dust and scrub everything... only I just don't want to wash the dishes! Can I really spring clean with a giant pile of dishes in the sink?? We shall see...

So... I have a new blog, a cooking blog, hence why I have completely forgotten to write about our lives here! Oops.. Anyways, you should look at it journeyintoscratch.wordpress.com. Now, I will update you on our awesome lives.
Zach is done working for the census - aka, he is now home well before 1:00am and only has 2 jobs instead of 3! What a trooper. He is gearing up for school to start in a couple of weeks.
We sent in my Green card papers a month ago. Now we begin the long wait. So, to occupy the long hours that I find myself with, I cook and bake and sew and write and read. I made my first skirt a few weeks ago. Last week, I finished a dress too! I'm working on writing a YA novel. I'm about half way done and happy to witness the development of the story and characters in my head. I have re-read the Harry Potter books (third time's a charm right?), read the Hunger Games (and am anxious awaiting #3...) The Giver, Holes, The Book Thief (which made me cry for 50 pages...), The Memory Keeper's Daughter and other ones that don't come to mind right now. That's that!

In Between Canada Day and the Fourth of July

The Outside of my Cake... and The Inside of my Cake

This cake is a tribute to both the Fourth of July and Canada Day (July 1st). Zach liked the fact that when I cut it, the Canadian flag was ruined but the American flag was still intact... I was just surprised that it actually worked!