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. 

White Coat Ceremony

Since Sam is in the pharmacy program he has a "white coat" ceremony.

Which I think is essentially to welcome him into the profession.

Anyway this happened, oh two months ago or something like that.

I snapped a few photos that I thought I would share.

The best part is that Sam was randomly selected for a scholarship $250.

It may not be big money, but any thing helps!

Until next time!

Friday Favorites. Again on Saturday

1) I passed all of my QA's this week in clinic. The first one was a bit rough and nerve racking. After I finished it, I was the patient for someone and they took my blood pressure and it was like 150/90. So threw the roof.

2) Today my sister got MARRIED!!! I'm so excited for her. And so sad that I couldn't be there.

3) Playing with Pip and seeing his personality develop. He is like on crack

 ALL. THE. TIME. He is so funny to watch though.

5) Chuck took me to Red Lobster last night. It was delish and I got stuffed to the brim.

6) I got my loupes for school today. We all ordered them at orientation. I got a sweet light with mine. These babies cost $1000 and the light was an extra $500. That's right folks, I spent $1500 on flipping glasses.

OH. MY. FLIP. Make me cry.

Until next time!

Hard

Folks, this school stuff is hard.

Not actually hard hard, but hard as in "how do I balance everything?!?"

I think that should be a prerequisite course for this program.

How to balance your time.

There is soooo much reading to be done.

Before (as in my classes before the program) if I was "assigned" 

a reading, I didn't really do it.

But now I HAVE to do it.

Or I have no idea what is going on.

And I have actual quizzes on this junk.

Not only am I struggling to balance just the school work, 

but also school with life.

The first week of school, was literally just school.

I didn't do anything else.

Sam cooked and cleaned.

Speaking of Sam, the poor guy keeps asking me to spend time with him, and I don't know how to do that and get everything I need done for school.

Let alone exercise, have fun and not want to cry.

Flip flip flippity flip.

I am trying to figure this out.

I think it might just be one of the toughest things about this program.

(Besides trying to hold an actual instrument. Let me tell you that is harder than it looks)

Well my "free" time is up!

I must go read another billion pages. :)

Until next time!

Surprise

This picture kind of looks fake and like something that I found online.

But these are the flowers Sam surprised me with on our two year anniversary.

He had told me about a week before the anniversary that he was going to start a tradition of buying me one lily for each year we have been married. 

I let him know how cute that would be so I think he felt obligated to get me some flowers. However, you have to special order lilies, so he got me roses.

Which is quite alright by me!

I love that boy!

Until next time!

Friday Favorites

Someday soon this blog will be more than just Friday Favorites....

Someday....

1) I went to Mayra's baby shower last weekend and it was soo fun!

We had plenty of girl time which was awesome! Mayra- I'll send you some pictures/post them when I get a chance. Maybe this weekend, maybe Tuesday. : )

2) We also watched "The Lucky One" with Zac Efron. It was pretty good.

I had read the book last summer, and the movie followed it quite well.

3) I am done with classes!!

4) My stupid Political Science project is OVER!!! We worked on it all semester.

4) Oh! Sam and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Monday. There are limited options for dining in Pocatello that aren't too expensive, so we went to the Golden Corral. Wouldn't suggest going on a Monday night.

5) I got to talk to my sister this week! Always love that!

6) Chuck and I made super good fried chicken. Here is the recipe. The only thing we would change is using less ginger, it was a bit over powering. And Sam said in the sauce that you make, maybe use less soy sauce

 (soya sauce=soy sauce).

Well I'm off to study some more for finals! : (

Good news is I'll be finished Wednesday!!! : )

Until next time!

Friday Favorites

Haven't done these in a few weeks.

1) I crossed off some big things on my to do before the end of semester list.

Like taking my anatomy test today.

2) Speaking of that anatomy test, I am SOOOO glad that it is over. I don't know my grade yet, so I am still happy. Ha.

3) Just one more week until Mayra's baby shower.

I can hardly wait for some serious girl time!

4) I haven't had my English class since before Spring Break, which was like three weeks ago.

5) Pretty much on Monday I am done with English. I turn in my rough draft and don't really have to go to class because I can miss 6 days and have only missed like 3.

6) I figured out today that I only need to average an 83 on all of my anatomy tests to get an A in the class. Holler! I can do that!

7) I got my book Heaven Is Here by Stephanie Nielson last Saturday and read it all. Seriously it is soo good! You have to read it. Have some tissues ready.

8) The weather has been super nice this week!

9) Chuck and I went to taco Tuesday at Cafe Rio and it was delicious! Such a deal. The tacos are usually $6 for one or like $8 for two. But on Tuesday they are only $1.50. Yeah!!

10) Chuck has played Skip-bo with me whenever I wanted this week.

Until next time!

One Month

Folks, spring break is over.

This means I have officially been crying buckets.

Not really, but I wanted to.

I hate school.

As I have mentioned before.

So join me as I finish up this last month of school before summer.

Just one month. 

To the day. 

Literally.

I can do this.

It may or may not be the worst month of my life with all of the tests and other work I have to do.

BUT.

I can do this.

I am sure of it.

I keep telling myself that I only need to get C's in my classes.

Which probably isn't a good idea.

But hey, C's get degrees.

Oh P.S. did I tell you that Sam got accepted to the Pharmacy program at ISU.

It all worked out how we wanted.

Unless something goes terribly wrong I have two years of school left.

EVER.

And Chuck has four years.

Yikes he is a freshmen essentially.

Until next time!

Disclaimer

My husband read my post from yesterday and said the end made me sound like I hate my life. 

So I just thought that I would throw a disclaimer out there.

I am very happy with my life and with my marriage.

I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.

I think the post was me admitting to myself and the world that marriage is hard.

And it is okay for it to be hard at times. 

Going through struggles with Sam is truly what makes us stronger and so much closer. 

And I really do mean that. 

We always weather the storm and feel so much closer to each other and stronger in our marriage. 

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!

Friday Favorites

1) Did I ever tell you guys that my genius husband was invited to the Pharmacy interview? Well he was and interviews next Friday. ALL. DAY. 

2) I was also invited to the Dental Hygiene interview next Saturday.

3) Realizing that my next week from junk is next week and not this week.

4) Buying some super cute fabric for some baby shower gifts.

5) We filed our taxes this week. I can hardly wait for March 7th.

6) I did not have English class all week because we had the time off to talk with our professor about the 1600 word paper we wrote due Monday. I better start that....

7) My political science professor pushing our test and paper back by like a week and a half. I also better get started on that paper. Yikes.

Until next time!

One Tough Cookie

My Chuck Sam has been sick for the last week.

And when the boy is sick, he is a little tough to deal with.

He just gets grouchy and whiny.

But he also becomes more of a push over when it comes to buying things.

For example, I love donuts. 

And pretty much want to buy them every day.

Or least every time we go to the store. 

Normally the boy is a serious tight wad and says no.

But this week, we bought donuts TWICE.

You read that right folks.

We bought donuts two times in one week.

The first time we bought six, and I am ashamed to say that we ate them all by the time we got home.

Do not judge me. Nor my Chuck.

Today we bought a dozen donuts and a pizza. 

The oven in our apartment is really terrible. Like the temperature is whack. 

It burns pretty much everything we try to cook.

So we cooked the pizza today and it was completely burned on the bottom.

So the unusual husband of mine said to buy another.

And we did. 

And it burnt that one. But not as bad.

The point of this post is to say that even though Chuck is grouchy when he is sick, he is a lot looser on the money front. 

His sick all pays off in the end. Sort of. 

Until next time!

Weekend Plans

So glad it's finally the weekend.

I love every single weekend. (Who doesn't)

This weekend will be kind of busy. I'm torn between a few things.

It's Sam's nephews birthday party tomorrow, 

but it is also ski demo days at Grand Targhee. 

We really really want to go to both. 

Sam probably wants to go skiing more than take the three and a half hour drive down to Utah and back for a birthday party. 

But we already agreed to go to the party. 

Maybe we will ski on Sunday. Maybe not.

But the one thing that I do know is that today we are going up to Rigby, then going to pick up my BFF Julie and hang out.

It's always super fun hanging out with Julie and her sister Jill, but Jill is working tonight so we won't be hanging out with Jill.

Sad day.

What are your weekend plans?

Are you celebrating Valentine's Day a little early?

Not us.

We will save our hot date for the actual day.

Until next time!

Busy

This week is going to be super busy for me.

I have two tests on Friday, and anatomy lab quiz on Thursday, I need to write a 1600 word paper by Monday and study for my anatomy test Monday morning.

It kind of doesn't seem like a lot, but it is something for all of my classes.

And the fact that we go up to Sam's parent's house every weekend, doesn't leave me a lot of room to study over the weekend for my test Monday. 

You are probably thinking that we shouldn't go to his parent's this weekend, but it is the only thing that gets me through each week.

It is seriously like a mini vacation.

I love it.

And hate going home every Sunday.

Wish me luck with getting everything done that I need to this week.

Until next time!

Friday Favorites

There is a blog that I stalk read where every Friday, she does "Friday Favorites."

Essentially it's her favorite things from the week.

I don't really know her, but we were in the same ward last year, so I kind of sort know her. I am not sure if she has any idea of who I am.

Hence why I say that I stalk her. 

I don't really think she would want me to send a bunch of random people to her family blog, so I won't link up to the idea.

Anyways here is my attempt at Friday Favorites.

1) Simply the fact that it is Friday and I don't have school tomorrow.

2) I didn't have any classes yesterday, because my anatomy lab only meets once a week.

3) I made dinner for Sam almost everyday this week.

4) I finished my polisci paper way before it was do and got a 9 out of 10 on it.

5) I also got 5 extra credit points in polisci. 

6) I got lots of good feedback about my first tutorial.

I hope that you guys have a great weekend!

Do you have any plans??

Hopefully Sam and I will be hitting up that amazing pizza joint.

Until next time!

Pizza Pizza

Remember yesterday when I complained all about my life here in Idaho?

Well I still don't have anything nice to say about Pocatello, but kind of okay city is Idaho Falls. It's the FOURTH largest city in Idaho. 

Can I get a what what?

Thanks.

Anyways, so I heard this ad on the radio about a New York style pizza joint.

And while the New York accent that was attempted really sounded like a Jersey accent, I figured I would try this pizza out.

So Sam and I went there, me being the New Yorker a little skeptic, that anyone in Idaho could replicate my beautiful New York pizza. 

Let me tell you I was converted. 

The pizza was so good. It tasted just like the pizza from my home town.

I was in love. And pretty much want to go here ALL. THE. TIME.

You may be wondering what this fancy dancy place is called.

Well I was getting to that.

Lucy's Pizzeria.

So delicious and not make you want to cry expensive.

If you are ever in Idaho Falls, you HAVE to check it you. 

I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Just plain cheese is my favorite, but they do have a dang good Buffalo Chicken pizza.

Let me know if you ever go and what you thought.

Until next time!

Remember when?

Remember when I said I was going to make a dress?

And I said I would take some pictures of it?

Well I finally did. Here they are. 

Well here it is. Sam only took one good photo.

I'm still training him. 

It's made out of knit-PONTE. I got it at Joanns on super sale.

I followed the pattern by Cynthia Rowley 0404.

It was pretty easy to work with.

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!

Long Time No Blog

Hey I haven't blogged since last year!!!

Ha that thought never gets old. Anywho, sorry for the lack of blogging. I didn't want to write a bunch of random posts telling you about things we did

when I could just wait and show you some pictures!

So to start off the new year, here are some pictures from our many trips skiing!

Here are some pictures from the top of the mountain.

I believe it is at about 10,000 feet. 

 These are taken from the same place as the pictures above, but the valley was all foggy.
It was so cool to see, it just looked like an ocean of fog. 
As we were driving up to the resort it was pretty foggy and then half way up it was a clear beautiful day. 

Sam and I in front of the ocean of fog.

These are the Grand Tetons.

Sam doing a rail.

These are my attempts at getting a picture

of his 360. Good thing I'm not a sports photographer.

Another sweet picture from when we were driving back home. 

Ha. This is me going over a big box thing. Sam does a 360 on it, I just ski right over it. Pathetic I know. 

Well that is the majority of the pictures from skiing. I'll post some other stuff from break at another time!

Tell me how your Christmas was!! I would seriously love to hear!

Until next time!