The Art of Murder

This weekend has been quite busy, but in a pretty good way. On Friday, I went to Studio 600 with some of my friends. It was actually less fun then it should have been, due to the fact that it ended up being a high school night instead of the age group we originally thought it would be. Not to mention, it was also a 'white out' night, so everyone was supposed to wear white, and you guessed it, we didn't know. So there I was in a bright blue shirt. I had a good time with my friends, but in general it kinda sucked.

Saturday was super awesome though. Jon and I went to visit our friends Eldon and Shelli!! It has been about a year since we last saw them so it was really awesome! We didn't get to stay for long, but I'm glad we got to see them before they got too busy with their daughter Chiara who is due in about a week. While we were there a friend from the mission (Jon, Eldon, and Shelli were all in the same mission) came over. He was really cool and I loved to hear everyone speaking Italian, even though I had no idea what was being said! :) Shelli is such a cute pregnant lady and she is such a sweetheart!! I wish we could go and see them more often but we live kinda far away.

That evening we had a bunch of people over. Erick and Kira, Mindy and Steve, and Nate and Joni. We made tons of sushi and then played a murder mystery game. It was so much fun!! The game was set on a train leaving Paris in the year 1940. It's so much fun to have everyone accuse everyone else of being the killer. There were lots of laughs, which I always enjoy. Kira ended being the killer. Which was awesome! She's such a doll!!


We have about 2-1/2 months left until we move to California. The plan right now is to leave on May 9th, the day after Jon graduates. We simply cannot wait to move!! It is starting to get more and more frustrating that we are stuck here, however, at the same time, we only have 2-1/2 months to spend with our friends and family and that is super sad. I'm going to miss so many wonderful people and I'm worried about how long it will be until I have friends in our new home, wherever that may be. I know we'll have friends, we are pretty social people, but it worries me that I might be alone for a while. Still, I can't wait!

My Dearest Jonathan

I cannot express the gratitude and love I have for my husband. He constantly reminds me of how lucky I am to be the one who gets to spend eternity with him. Here are a few of the many reasons why I love him so much!

He always knows just what to do for me! He is very attentive and has often given me just the thing that I wanted or needed. For example, on Valentine's Day this year he gave me a book. 'What to expect when you're expecting.' It meant the world to me! I have been worrying about whether I have been freaking him out or annoying him by talking about baby things, and he let me know that it isn't bothering him at all and that he is glad that I am getting prepared. Also, for a similar reason (me thinking I'm irritating him and him wanting to tell me that I'm not) took me on a date one day when he didn't have school. We went around to different places to get 'ideas' and thoughts about our future. He took me to the mall and we looked in shops that had pictures that we could put up in our house, shops that had baby clothes and maternity clothes, and things like that. We went to Babies R' Us to look at all things baby. We went to RC Willey to look a furniture that we like. And a few days after that, we spent the day touring model homes and getting ideas for what we like in a house (for the far future). It was so much fun and so nice to know that he cares about it just as much as I do!

He lets me know that he loves me. Jon often brings home flowers for me. Sometimes because I have had a bad day, sometimes just because, sometimes because 'he' has had a bad day. He is so thoughtful and always wants to make sure I'm happy. He'll stop his homework to come over and give me random hugs. He loves to cuddle and we often watch movies just for that reason. He just loves to give. He encourages me to be the best that I can. To work hard to finish my school, to live healthy, to do the things that I don't like when it needs to be done. He is the one who keeps me going when things get tough, he is always there to uplift me.

He works so hard in all that he does. He works super hard in school so that he can graduate, he worked hard on his MCAT to make sure that we could go to the best school possible. He keeps up with the bills, which is great because I always forget. He initiates those frustrating moments when we have to talk about something important like finances and the future. He worries about things that are going to make our lives difficult. He does so much work for us and our future and really wants the best for us. I am so glad that he is willing to the do the hard and 'crappy' stuff because it needs to be done, rather than putting it off because it's not fun.

I am so happy to be married to him. We have such a wonderful life! There are people who work or have husbands that work in dead end jobs. Some have to live with their parents, sometimes even when they are married. Some have bad health problems that need to be taken care of. Some have to spend a lot of time away from their spouse. And I'm not saying that those people aren't happy, because I'm sure that they are, but it certainly makes me grateful for my life. I get to see Jonathan at a decent hour every night, he doesn't have school on Friday so I get to see him then. He works for a summer job company so I never have to wait for him to come home from work during the school year. Because he works for said company, we have the money to get a few of the nicer things that we enjoy. We both have good health and get to live on our own. And he is working to become a doctor!! A doctor!! How lucky did I get?! I mean, isn't it every parents dream (and girl's dream) to get married to a doctor or a lawyer or other important careers? I don't know how I got to be so lucky to not only get a man who will have a great career, but one who still wants to make sure that he'll be there for me and for our family, one who loves me more than anything and who doesn't want to spend unnecessary time away from me.

There are so many things I love about Jonathan, this doesn't even begin to cover it! I am so truly blessed and I will always thank God for this gift that he gave to me. I don't know how I deserved someone like him.

SUSHI!!

I decided that I better say something about this fabulous food! I LOVE SUSHI!! It is seriously my favorite thing to eat in the entire world! It's better than chocolate, it's better than pasta (which I adore). I cannot think of a single thing that I would rather eat! It has so much flavor! Raw fish is seriously amazing! I am not the biggest fan of cooked fish, I don't normally enjoy that 'fishy' taste, but raw fish...wow. It doesn't taste at all like cooked fish! It's soft and almost literally melts in your mouth. It isn't chewy or scary to eat...it's just delicious. Not to mention, sushi is very healthy! I mean... the majority of it is fish and veggies. Sure, there are bits of it that aren't super healthy, white sushi rice, tempera frying, and some of the sauces. But wow... if you haven't tried sushi because you think "Eww...raw fish." Then you are seriously missing out and you really should try it. If you only eat California rolls... then you are seriously missing out! Try something else!!

Oh, and big no-no on buying it from the grocery store if you have never tried it, because that doesn't count and isn't very good!! I adore sushi!! I love tuna and salmon rolls the best! I LOVE different sauces (especially creamy ones) and I even enjoy the spicy rolls. I like eel, but don't really love it. I really like omelet, it adds a fun soft and sweet mix into the rolls. I don't really liked smoked fish so well...I think that to smoke it brings in too much of that 'fishy' taste, but at the same time, it's not terrible. I love tobiko (flying fish eggs). They have a bit more of a fishy taste, but they are just so cool. They look cool and it's fun to feel them pop in your mouth! (I know you're thinking it, and no it isn't gross)

My favorite sushi restaurant is called Kru and it's in downtown Sacramento. If you ever get a chance to go there, you should totally try it. Not only is their sushi absolutely stunning in taste, but also in the way they present it. Also, they have amazing service and I always feel so well taken care of! After Kru, I like Happy Sumo (Downtown Salt Lake) and The Flying Sumo (Park City). They are pretty similar in more than the name and they are both super good!!

Jonathan and I decided before we even got engaged that we wanted to try to make sushi. I was pretty skeptical at first. I didn't want to try raw fish because it is critical that you get the right kind. I was afraid to try a lot of things. Our first attempt at sushi was after we got engaged (I think) at our friends, Erick and Kira, house. And it was a disaster!! The rice had to be made twice because the first time it just sucked...that was the boys job, so it was totally not my fault. The rolls were HUGE because we hadn't practiced rolling before. And all we made was California rolls...and a lot of them!! The kitchen was a mess! Eating it was pretty good. It didn't taste like the restaurants though, but we enjoyed it.

Since then, we have made sushi many times!! For quite a while we didn't improve too much. The rice had a certain flavor, which was good, but not how it should be and because of the rice, it didn't really matter what we put inside of the rolls, they all pretty much tasted the same. Slowly we started to try more and more things. Spicy rolls, raw fish, and a few small toppings (mostly sesame seeds).

However, within the past couple of months, we have really made a jump!! We buy our raw fish from a sushi grade market online. We learned what was wrong with our rice and fixed it. We started to use and make our own sauces, one of which was completely 'invented' by Jon and freaking rocks!! We have started to use tobiko, eel, omlette, and kiaware (a type of sprout). We also are great at making rolls that are small enough to actually eat. Oh! And we started doing tempura fried rolls as well!! Our sushi is AMAZING now!! I LOVE it!!! In fact, I have officially decided that I like our sushi better than most restaurants!! Better than the Sumo restaurants even! (Not better than Kru yet, but they use stuff like lobster in some of their rolls. Talk about expensive!)

Our sushi is officially restaurant quality and I love it! It's so much fun to make! It's been a fun hobby that we have been able to do and enjoy together, and it tastes so good!! Most of our rolls we created from scratch and have even named them. I think there are only 3 or 4 that we got from restaurants! It's so great and it makes me so happy! I'm so glad that Jon was so daring and willing to try to make it so awesome!! I love inviting people over and having them eat our sushi! So let me know if you are interested because I don't know who likes sushi...

I LOVE SUSHI!!!

Waiting....

Things have been a bit frustrating lately for us. We really want to know where we are going to go for Medical School but we still have a lot of waiting to do. We have to wait to hear from the rest of the places that Jon applied to, then wait to go to second look weekend, then wait to hear about financial aid. It's pretty tiring to try to plan ahead when there are so many things that we just don't know yet. We want to start looking for a place to live, but obviously we can't do that until we know where we are going. There is so much planning we could be doing but instead we have to sit here and wait and wonder and do nothing at all...

Then, on top of that, we are waiting for school to be over so we can go to California so Jon can sell security systems for one more summer, which we also don't really want to do, only because it means we have to wait for the summer to be over. It would be SO nice to move to where ever we are going for medical school about a month or so before school starts, so we can move in and get settled and learn a little about the city and where to find the things we want and need. But instead we get to move about a week before school starts and almost half of that week we'll be driving...

I am so excited to move! I can't wait to get out of Utah! I can't wait to go to church where people are there to learn about the gospel, rather then going there so socialize. It's really frustrating, and Jon and I have had this struggle lately because we want to go to church, but we really don't want to go at the same time because it doesn't 'feel' right. Anyway, I'm just excited to get out, to find out what it's like to live on our own, without help so close. I think it will help us to grow even closer together and learn to depend on each other more. It's going to be great. Not that it won't be hard. I'm really going to miss our families and my friends and just being around for all the exciting things like weddings and mission farewells which we expect to happen while we're gone. I just hope that I can make enough money so that we can go and visit sometimes.

I just can't wait!!

Blogging?

Personally, I have never been much a fan of blogging, but recently I decided that it might actually be fun. So here we are...blogging! Yay me! Jonathan is currently on a plane on his way home from St. Louis, Missouri where he was interviewing at Washington University Medical School. It is ranked at #3 in the country!! He says that it went pretty well and that he really likes it there! He has already been accepted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is ranked at #11, and he likes it there too. He says that out of the two, he probably likes Washington better. I am indifferent. As long as he is happy, then so am I. I haven't seen either location for myself, so at the moment, my opinion doesn't really matter too much. Which is totally fine with me. We are certainly hoping that he gets accepted to Washington as well. If for no other reason, it would force Michigan to give him more money to attend their school. It's weird to think that we might have another choice to make, because for a long time we have just assumed that we would probably be going to Michigan. It feels weird to have to include another place as on option! I REALLY hope he gets accepted there...it would be such a good thing!! I am working on learning Medical Transcriptioning. It's pretty cool! I enjoy it, but it sure can be irritating at times. Doctors talking are almost as bad as doctors writing, at least sometimes! But I still like it and I hope to be done in a few more months. At the moment, Jon and I are planning to start trying for a baby in December 2009 while we are on our big Italy trip. I can't wait! I want to have a baby so bad! I feel like everyone else is getting pregnant and having babies except for me. Even people on TV, like Karen from The Office. I mean come on!! Haha. But it's not too bad, and when the time comes it'll be totally worth it! I'm just so excited!! I guess this can be the end of my first blog! Yay for me!!