Chef=Smoker?

Jason and I enjoy watching Hell's Kitchen. I made an observation this season and spoke to Jason about it. He noticed it also. Maybe we have never noticed it before, but it seems that every chef on Hell's Kitchen smokes! We can remember just a few who were on earlier in the season that did not smoke. I have never worked in the food industry. I do not know if this is very typical or not. I was just blown away.

I feel I have been lucky during my life to have been raised not to smoke. Not smoking is an aspect of my religion. Yes, I still know people who smoke and were around them. Of these that I know, two have died. My grandfather's wife passed away at age 43. She smoke 3 packs a day. Jason's father passed away at age 53. He had other health problems also, but the smoking did not help. I still love everyone the same. I just plead with those out there to reevaluate your life.

I also work at a tobacco free institution. I am happy to say that I do not have to smell smoke often in my life. The smoke really bothers me. My eyes do not like it and my throat does not like it. When Jason and I lived in California, we had seasons passes to Disneyland for a period of time. We LOVED the fact that Disneyland is smoke free. Yes, there are a few designated areas where people can smoke, but they are on the outskirts and there are not too many. Before we had passes to Disneyland, we had passed to Knott's Berry Farm. You could smoke there, but you were not supposed to smoke in line. People did it all the time and it was so annoying!

So for all you smokers: I still love you, but please quit!

30 days until...

Until I eat here...Best Mexican food EVER! I am sure we will be making an appearance at least twice.





Fly over the harbor in SAN DIEGO

Go to the San Diego LDS temple where we were married.

Visit this LDS Temple on the other side of the country after being in San Diego for one week.

Jason wants to visit Arlington Cemetery, I want to see all the beautiful buildings, and most importantly, we are coming here to for Jason's youngest sister's high school graduation (plus I have yet the meet 2 of his siblings, yikes!)

So the plan is to fly to San Diego. We will be there of a week. Then we are flying from San Diego to Washington, DC for a week. It will be a long to weeks, but we are getting so excited.

Hubby Surprises

I came home from work one day during the week that Twilight was released on DVD, and I found this on my pillow.

Jason's Birthday

Jason turned 27 on March 25th. At his work, the birthday person brings in ice cream on their birthday. Jason picked up a big thing of ice cream, but his loving wife also sent him to work with Five Chip Cookies. I made a yummy Oriental Chicken Salad that night for dinner. We never did have birthday cake, and I never sang "Happy Birthday" to him this year.


On the Friday after his birthday, we went to Thai Cafe here in Stillwater with some friends. Their food is so good.


Our friends, Tyson and Kristen, who joined us for dinner.


Here is Amy, myself, and Jason at Thai Cafe. After dinner, we went back to our place for games and birthday ice cream-Drumsticks and Heath Klondike Bars.


All Jason wanted for his birthday was a massage. I called to make him an appointment several weeks before his birthday at the massage school. They were booked until April 20th. An hour massage was also only $20! I decided I needed to do something else for him. I wanted to do something extra special for him since his birthdays are so special to him. I decided that I would do something for him each day, for 27 days (since he turned 27). It just so happened that the 27th day was the day of his massage! How perfect. He was excited for his 27 days. Some things included: love notes around the house, cleaning his car, making his lunch, neck massage, back massage, a pedicure by me (Jason LOVES pedicures), a picnic, "kidnapping" him for a snow cone. I also made him a candy gram. In high school, candy grams were my signature item. I would make them all the time for friends because they were fun and cheap. I would go to Sav-On and get normal and not-so-normal candy for 25 cents or 33 cents. Well, they are not so cheap anymore, so this was a "small" candy gram. He loved it though and that is all that matters.

I love this man so much, and I am glad that he is in my life. He has been very understanding. Today is the 27th day, and I have had to miss some days just because things have been so hectic. I plan on making them up.

Pops

After one of Jason's football games a few weekends ago, we decided to drive to Pops (a restaurant) and give it a try.

Pops is located on Historic Route 66. It is about 45 minutes from where we live. What makes Pops unique is its endless selection of bottled soda/drinks. There was a full wall of refrigerators with drinks. Decisions, decisions!

This is what happens when your husband takes a picture of you!

Jason ordered onion rings, and they were amazing.

The food was great. I am typically not a hamburger person, but I loved my hamburger.

We really enjoyed ourselves and will definitely go back.

Things That Make Me Happy

Lately, my life has been crazy (as you might notice from my lack of blogging lately). On a few occasions, I have been so stressed out and then something magical happens. Here are just a few:

• Seeing doe in a meadow
• Having a friend call up and asking me if I want to join her for ice cream (and I cried after I hung up the phone-it was what I needed)
• Being told by a co-worker that I am INTELLIGENT!
• Reflecting back on the death of my grandfather 1 year ago, and remembering the special things I did with him. This reflect all started with a Shaina Twain song coming on the radio. My grandfather introduced me to country music and Shaina was one of the first Country singers I started listening to.
• My boss telling me that God sent me to her.
• My husband calling to tell me that he was taking a day off to clean the house so I would stop stressing.
• My husband bringing me Braum's for breakfast this morning when I was craving it (no, I am not pregnant).
• Seeing beautiful pictures of Christ and reflecting on His life and the great gift of the Atonement, which leads to the greatest gift of all, Eternal Life.

I am sure there are many more, but I have been too blessed to remember every one. Just remember: When life gets tough, someone is watching out for you. A lot of these things are so simple, but they meant the world to me. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Our plans for the weekend include: Heather, Delvin, and Hunter coming in from Texas, Jason's football game tomorrow, The Cheesecake Factory with family from Texas and my sister and her husband, and good ol' bonding time.

Blogger Frustrations

For the record: I am NOT a slacker. Blogger and I are just not getting along right now. I spent four different times trying to finish one post. Once it got lost, another time I had to leave for work, then some pictures were not loading, etc. I finally gave up and deleted the whole thing. I have not tried since. I just got too frustrated dealing with it. One of the times I was dealing with it was at 4 in the morning. My body seems to think 3 AM is the new 6 AM. I have been waking up several times at 3, wide awake, and I cannot go back to sleep at all.
For a little update: Jason and I are in the process of rearranging. With rearranging, a huge mess comes. We are expecting company next week and are excited to have a new look. We also realize that we have too much junk! Our house is so bad right now, but I am looking forward to the new look.