Mmmmmm CANDY!

Trav and I have been busy all weekend cooking up something good. Friday night we were supposed to finish our Christmas shopping, but the weather outside was "Frightful" so we decided that it was the perfect night to do our annual candy baking tradition. We made peanut brittle, divinity, English toffee, fudge with nuts, and fudge without nuts. We made quite the team and had such a great time baking together ...minus having to redo the fudge Saturday morning since it never set up. We are pretty sure that it didn't work out because we didn't add enough chocolate chips into the mixture (FYI one regular size bag of chocolate chips is 2 cups..not 3 cups...when in doubt ALWAYS measure!)
Saturday afternoon we finished up our Christmas shopping and then came home to put the finishing touches on our candy creations. We put a little sampling of each kind onto plates and then wrapped them up with festive green Saran wrap and red/silver ribbon. We were quite pleased with the finished product and luckily we had some left to eat ourselves and share with Travis' family when we go up for Christmas on Wednesday night. Maybe instead of Travis and Sarah we will change our names to Sammy and Susie Homemaker! ; )

Quarter of a Century

I remember when I used to think that 25 was old. I can still vividly remember being as young as 2nd grade...and I am still trying to figure out where does the time go??

Yesterday I celebrated my 25th birthday and what a wonderful day it was! I woke up to Trav bringing me my breakfast and birthday presents in bed. (He got up extra early yesterday morning to make my requested meal of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast..great guy, eh!?) After breakfast I relaxed, balanced the checkbook, watched The Price is Right, ran a few errands, went to the mall, went to the gym, then came home and relaxed some more.

For dinner we went to The Cheesecake Factory with some of our best friends John and Angela. The food was good, the dessert was delicious, and all four of us probably ate way to much! I was especially excited when I opened my gift from John and Ang--The latest New Kids on the Block CD!!! YAY! I listened to it all day in my car between all of my patients! :)



Until this year, I had never taken my birthday off of work...I didn't see the point. Now I do and I can't say that I will ever WANT to work on my birthday ever again! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday messages via calls, texts, emails, cards, etc. It was a great day! :)

Never a dull moment...

As many of you are aware, Travis and I have two dogs. Roxy, is very high strung. She loves to play ALL the time. I am convinced that she dreams about her tennis ball at night. She has a hard time relaxing and when she does decide to settle down, she wants her belly scratched...and then she wants to play fetch as soon as you finish scratching. Roxy is a VERY nimble dog. She can catch a Frisbee or tennis ball thrown at nearly any height or speed in her direction.

Noobie (pronounced "new-be" for those that don't already know) on the other hand is our cuddly, tender-hearted dog. She loves nothing more than to nuzzle up to us (or anyone who is willing to cuddle her back) and curl up and fall asleep. It does not matter to her if she is in the world's most awkward position, as long as she is next to you she is happy. Don't get me wrong, Noobie loves to run and play too, and occasionally she will surprise us and catch a ball out of mid-air. Actually, as of late she has given Roxy a run for her money at the park playing fetch.

Noobie's special talent is finding tennis balls or other toys under the couch or bed and using her long legs to maneuver them out. Just last night she about pulled a lamp off of the end table trying to squeeze herself behind the couch to get a ball. (nevermind that there were already several toys within her reach in the middle of the living room floor, she wanted that particular one!)

This afternoon I was home for lunch and Noobie was following me around with the ball in her mouth. I tossed it up in the air and the ball bounced off of her nose and into the bathroom sink. This was her initial reaction to this situation:

It was HILARIOUS to watch! The whining in the background is Roxy, "cheering" her on, which she will also do when Noobie is fishing a ball out from under the couch. Eventually, Noobie realized that today's situation may be a battle that she couldn't win without an opposable thumb and so she sat down in front of me and started barking. I am sure that what she said was to the effect of "Don't just stand there...DO SOMETHING!" Of course in the end I helped her out, but not before I got video proof and a good laugh! :)

Red Baldy

My friend Brian and I joined up with another group of people around 8:30 this morning to climb Red Baldy, an 11,000 + foot peak on the south side of little cottonwood canyon. The weather was fantastic and the views were incredible. We arrived back at the trail head around 5:00 exhausted but feeling good for spending a nice day in the mountains. Here are a few photos from the trip...