Bear Lake?

For the Zohner family vacation this year we went to Bear Lake.
Bear Lake is in both Idaho and Utah, but mostly Utah.
So we went to the Utah side.
Specifically Garden City, Ut.
Here is where we stayed. 
It was super nice!
Here is a picture dump.

Cute little Abby on the boat.

Spencer.

Cameron.

Sam wake-boarding.

Christina water skiing.

Mindy water skiing.

Sam caught some air.

Spencer and Glende getting ready to go tubing.

Alan playing in the sand. :)

These pictures don't do the lake justice. It was so blue and so pretty!

The water was super warm and so enjoyable!

To see what we did last year for the Zohner vacation go here. 

A Very Long Week

Last week was a week straight from hell I tell ya. 

It was long and just exhausting.

All last week end was spent studying my butt off for the three tests that I had last week.

I studied and studied some more for head and neck anatomy. 

That test was on Tuesday and wasn't too bad.

I am sure I did okay.

Then as soon I finished that test, I had to start studying for my tests on Thursday.

Thursday rolls around and I have a quick 10 question quiz in tooth morphology.

I thought this quiz was going to be intense and really hard so I studied for hours. 

However it was really easy I would have been okay studying for like 30 minutes.

Then I went to my tooth morphology lab where we were carving the crown of tooth # nine (think the big teeth in the front on the top).

This is much harder than one thinks. 

We only had 1 hour and 45 minutes to carve it perfectly, grade ourselves and take a tooth identification quiz.

So I start carving that the time goes way too fast and at the end my tooth looks not so good.

So I only got a 79% on it. BOOOOO.

Then I have my oral histology test. 

And that fricker was HARD. Just ridiculous.

I don't really enjoy my professor for that class and he didn't test on the stuff he emphasized in lecture like he said he was.

At this point I am exhausted and want to cry. 

Then Sam and I find out that a good family friend passed away on Wednesday.

Very sad but for the best.

Last year he got in a mule accident and was paralyzed from the neck down.

Then Friday we learn that the funeral was on Saturday. 

So we drove up to Rigby to be able to attend. 

It was a really nice service.

The man that passed away is named Clyde.

And he was really good friends with Sam's dad, Alan.

And Clyde requested that Alan drive him to the cemetery with his horses and wagon. It was very nice. 

It is so sad that he is no longer here but I know that he his no longer in pain and that he is in a better place.

On Saturday after the funeral we went to Rexburg to see Jill and Kegan. 

It's always nice just to get away and not worry about school.

Especially after a terrible week.

Here's to hoping this week is better!

Until next time! 

Frank

Let me be frank with you.

Marriage is one of the hardest things I have ever done.

It is also the most rewarding.

I can't see my life without my husband in it.

But with that being said there are times when things are rough 

and I just have to cry.

It's hard being married at 21. It was even harder being married at 19.

There are times when I mourn for the days of being single and carefree with my friends.

There are times when I just want to be back in New York living with my family.

But then I realize there was no Sam in those moments. 

There was no man that loved me to the deepest levels of my soul.

And whom I love just the same.

Sometimes I think people, especially younger married people in the Mormon community, make marriage out to be a walk in the park.

And honestly sometimes it is. But sometimes there are moments when I just want to scream at my husband.

Sometimes there are moments when I wonder was I truly ready for this. 

Sometimes I am one of those people that make marriage out to be a walk in the park. 

My go to response when people ask me how married life is treating me is to tell them that it is fun.

Sometimes it's so fun to get to spend every day with Sam.

But sometimes it's not so fun.

Some days I just need my own friends and time away from Sam.

I think the biggest difficulty that Sam and I have had in our marriage, apart from living with his parents the first four months (which I would not recommend to anyone), is not having our own friends.

Our own things to do and time away from each other.

Sometimes all I need is just time away from Sam. 

Since we have moved schools and came to ISU, 

we have both had difficulty coming into our own.

It's great to have Sam to go through all of this with, 

but to be frank, I just need some girlfriends! to chat about anything and everything with.

Sometimes I get that with my friends that are at BYU-I. 

And I thirst for more of those moments.

And sometimes I need my family.

The ones that have seen me at my weakest moments and been there for me always.

It is a very hard thing to be the one in a marriage where it's your family that lives far away.

It's incredibly difficult for me at times to only see my family once a year.

I grew up with my ENTIRE family a thirty drive from me.

Now they are all 2000+ miles away.

I'm not saying that I don't like/love my in-laws.

I couldn't have married into a better family.

I constantly laugh because of them and they bring serious joy to my life.

But since I am being frank, Alan is not my dad.

And I love my dad more than words could describe. 

I miss him more than I could ever write.

Alan is an amazing father-in-law and I get to do things with him that I would never do with my own father, which is just awesome.

And Sydney is seriously the best mother-in-law ever.

She is my Momma Syd.

I love her.

I don't have a relationship with my own mother, so she is my mom.

She fills a void in my life. as cheesy as that sounds.

But back to this marriage thing.

It is hard.

It requires a lot of work.

I have cried more times than I would like to admit.

But my marriage is the best thing that I ever happened to me.

Sam was the best decision I ever made.

I love him more than anything in the entire world.

I wouldn't trade this life for anything.

It isn't always an easy life, but sometimes it is the best life ever.

Until next time!

Weekend Review

This was a odd weekend compared to the ones that I normally have.

I braced myself all week with the knowledge that we wouldn't get to leave the dreadful city of Pocatello.

So when Friday finally came it wasn't the most awful feeling in the world.

We had to stay here this weekend because Sam and I both had our interviews.

Sam's was Friday and he think that it went pretty well.

They send out acceptance letter March 29 and 30.

My interview was Saturday. Everything went pretty well.

They had us take a reasoning test which was super lame.

One of the questions was like this:

An ID badge or guest pass is required to get in the maternity ward.

What does this mean?

A) If you are in the ward you have to have an ID badge.

B) If you are in the ward you may have a guest pass.

C) If are were not allowed in the ward you did not have a guest pass.

And blah blah blah

It was slightly ridiculous.

But I did it and got it done.

I should hear whether I am accepted by April 1.

Hopefully we will both get in and be one step closer to finishing.

After my interview, the weather was absolutely beautiful.

So we went and got some frozen yogurt.

Then Sam's parents came down to take us out to dinner.

We went to the Red Lobster. 

It was delicious as usual!

We all love seafood, so the Red Lobster was a no brainer.

Did you guys do anything fun this weekend??

Let me know!

Seriously!

Until next time!

Peanut Butter Pie

Today I am sharing with you the most coveted recipe in my family.

The most coveted dessert at ANY and ALL family gatherings.

It's called Peanut Butter Pie. 

My aunt makes it for every holiday and makes one for my Christmas present each year, because I love it that much!

 You only need one bowl, a measuring cup and a mixer.

Here are your ingredients. 

Peanut Butter Pie

4 ounces of softened cream cheese

1 cup of powdered sugar

1/3 cup of peanut butter    

1/2 cup milk

12 ounces cool whip    

2 gram cracker crusts

Directions:

Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.

 Add the peanut butter and powdered sugar. 

Blend together. 

Blend in the milk. 

Fold in the cool whip.

 Poor into the crust. And freeze until firm. 

This may or may not have been my second piece. : )

Eat this baby and enjoy.

 I also may or may not have had this for breakfast today.

Don't tell. 

Until next time!

Christmas

I know Christmas was approximately 17 days ago, but I figured it's never too late to post about it. Just like I figure it's never too late 

for me to send my sister her Christmas presents.

Ha.

Here is a run down of my Christmas day.

We woke up and proceeded to open some presents. 

And then we ate some breakfast.

Got ready for church. 

Went to church.

Came home and started preparing our crab dinner.

Good thing we didn't prepare too much.

Because Sam then proceeded to go upstairs and get sick a few times.

He fell asleep for a while.

I proceeded to eat Top Ramen for Christmas dinner.

Pretty sad, I know. 

Then I am not exactly what I sure did to pass the time.

Went to bed. 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our Christmas.

Until next time!

Bowling

The first time I spent any real time with Sam's family was Thanksgiving 2009 and we went bowling. And I mean bowling.

As in we bowled like 8 games in two days. Back then, that was a 

whole heck of a lot of games. 

The tip of my middle finger literally went numb. For like a month.

But now a days I am well trained and can easily bowl four games.

My last game might be awful. 

And I might literally be chucking my ball down the lane. 

But at least I still have feeling in my fingers.

Over break we went bowling a few times. 

And I FINALLY got some photos.

(I always feel weird taking pictures in front of Sam's parents)

Well here they are! 

They are pretty much all of Sam. Because he doesn't know how to take pictures. I told him that if people looked at our pictures some time, they wouldn't even know I existed. Pathetic.

So I told him his New Year's goal is to be better at documenting our life.

We will see how well he does.

Until next time!

Change of Plans

I don't remember if I told you, but because it is the

weekend before finals Sam and I were not going to go to his parents this weekend. Which would have been the first weekend since September. 

But we got super bored and didn't know what

we would do at all this weekend, so we decided to come up!

I am so happy we did! 

I am sure you are thinking we should be studying this weekend, but we studied all week for our finals on Monday, and don't have another final until Wednesday. It wouldn't make much sense for us to cram stuff for our finals on Wednesday, 

when we haven't taken our Monday finals yet.

Anyways, we are going to skiing tomorrow! YAY!

I hope you guys have a great weekend! Cause I plan to!

Until next time!

Weekend

My weekend was spent picking out and decorating this baby! Since Sam and I will be spending zero time at our apartment in Pocatello we aren't decorating our own tree. Instead we will just enjoy my in-laws. 

We also helped Momma Syd pick out a new bed for the guest bedroom. Which is a king, which I can't wait to sleep on!!!!

How was your weekend?

Until next time!

Monday : (

Obviously you all know that today is Monday. I am quite unhappy about this. I wanted my break to last a little longer and never have to come back to school. But alas break ended and here I am at school waiting for class to get over.(Yes I am writing this in class. Statistics is extremely boring.) Break was a lot of fun and a lot of travelling. There were hardly any days that I didn't travel for more than an hour. I will give you a run down of my break.


Friday 11/18- Finish school/anatomy test, pack apartment. check in at new apartment, cry because I hate it(more on that later)


Saturday- Move entire apartment to our new apartment, drive 1 hour to Idaho Falls


Sunday- church


Monday- play with the new puppy and hang out


Tuesday- leave for Bountiful, Utah 3 hours away


Wednesday- Go to Provo, Utah to visit my step sister 1 hour away, go back to Bountiful and play a billion games of Settlers of Catan


Thursday- stuff my face, go back to Idaho Falls 3 hours away


Friday- wake up at 5 am to go to Joann Fabrics (what was I thinking?!) go home, pack for skiing, travel about 2 hours to ski resort, and ski for a couple hours


Saturday- Go skiing from 10-2ish, travel 2 hours back to Idaho Falls, go out to eat


Sunday- pack everything from Sam's parents and travel 1 hour to Pocatello, realize I left my birth control in Idaho Falls and drive back there.


Folks that is 16 hours, when you count the round trips, of driving that I did over break. Yikes mcgikes. At least I only have one week of classes left, then dead week and then three finals until Christmas break. I will be completely done with this semester come December 14. Hallelujah! I can hardly wait. Hopefully Christmas break won't be as chaotic. I know that there will lots more skiing which I am so excited for. I'll post the very few pictures that I took over break later! Hope you guys had a great break(if you are still in school). 


Until next time! 

Apple pie!

About a month ago I helped my momma-in-law can a bunch of apple pie filling. When I say a bunch, I'm talking it took us two days to get it all done.

One on the jars didn't seal all the way, so I took it home,

to "test" it out. It was soo good. I wish

the crust that I made was a more flaky,

but that was probably my own fault. Sam and I gobbled this baby right up. 

Mmm thinking of pies, I can hardly wait until Thanksgiving!!!!! My favorite holiday!

Until next time!! 

Deer Lodge, Montana

A couple of weekends ago Sam and I ventured up to Deer Lodge, Montana with Sam's parents. We went there for a horse competition. It was a lot of fun. If you got 5th place or better you won some money so that made it a little more sweet. Sam's dad, Alan, bribed us with going up there by this competition called the "feed team." It is pretty hard to explain what exactly you do to win, but if you do win, it's the jackpot. The first place person get 50% of all the entry fees for that event, second place get 30% and third place gets 20%. Sam and his dad got third place which we were pretty excited about. Alan and his horses placed in quite a few other events. Sam and I had a really good time. Here are some pictures from the weekend. 

Until next time!