My 24th Year

I rolled gracefully into my 24th year with a good morning kiss and a happy birthday song from a man that loves me. 92.9 must have known that I was feeling a little old school, because as I turned on my car and proceeded to drive to school, I was graced with the presence of CHER and her jammin' song, Believe. You know, the one that says, DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER LOVE? Still not sure what I'm talking about? Please, click here and take yourself back. How can you not sing your guts out to that song. Ha! So this, I did. (sang my guts out)

My lovely first day, of my 24th year continued with me turning on the t.v. just to find, ME. Yes, me. Well not only me. It was the let's make a deal episode 1091. My episode. I mean, the episode where I was in the audience screaming, "WAYNE, WAYNE!! PICK ME WAYNE!" While wearing card board and lights in the pattern of a traffic light and sitting next to my family and friends who were also dressed like freaks. (the things you'll do for a chance at money) Click on the 'My episode' link up there and fast forward to about 23 and a half minutes. It's just before he picked the lady dressed like a santa, or elf, or something. Anyways, she's right behind me and I'm screaming in Wayne's face, but no, he picked her. My costume was cooler anyway.

If none of this is ringing a bell, then I suggest you begin following my entertaining blog. That is my birthday wish. :) And you should begin by reading the Bucket List Post. Perhaps then you won't feel so out of the loop. Back to my point. MY EPISODE aired on MY BIRTHDAY. This was meant to be.

Later in the day I enjoyed a fantastic facial and relaxing massage. It was wonderful. Zac came home with flowers and then we went out to Wingers (my absolute favorite place) with Keaton and Jen. We ended the night with the movie, "When in Rome" Which proved to be overall, humorous; especially the girl from fraggle rock. When you see it, you'll know who we're talking about.

All in all, a wonderful day.

The beginning of a good year.

NIXON

Of course this is a post about Nixon. Truly there's not much else going on in our lives right now. Sorry. :)

This is Nixon taking a nap in the back seat of

Zac's parents' suburban. We were on our way home from Rexburg, ID.

Same trip, just doing his usual head cuddle on Zac's shoulder.

I, Sarah, recently taught Nixon to crawl. He will crawl for a fairly long distance, but only on carpet. I'm fairly certain it's uncomfortable and painful for him to crawl on the wood and tile. Also, he can't get as good of a grip to push himself along when it's a hard, smooth surface.

This is Nixon on Christmas night, 3 days after surgery. He is wearing the ace bandage around his neck to protect the fentanyl patch, which was administering wonderful amounts of pain relief through his skin.

Haha! Of course, Nixon peeking over the edge of the bed. He's such a weirdee sometimes. You can't help but love him.

Now, I suggest we do a little before and after. (For all of you who care. Ha, that's probably only me, but we'll do it for the sake of things.) Nixon and Harvey (the black dog) then.

Nixon and Harvey now. Allow me to clear up any confusion you may have. Harvey did NOT shrink.

To finish up, I propose we end with two moments when Nixon is the sweetest. (In his sleep.)

The first, in the back of the car. The Rexburg trip really took it out of him. (Of course he's sleeping with his head on the pillow, don't all civilized dogs?)

And second, our little baby boy, in Keaton's arms, after a long day of home renovations. He was exhausted. (And so tiny!)

School.. And Now a Public Service Message

The break has been thoroughly enjoyed. But now we must return to school. The joyful part, at least for me, is that summer comes after this semester, meaning a long SUNNY break. Although, I have been dreading returning to school, I have come to terms with it and realized that this is basically my last 'CLASS' semester. This is my last semester before student teaching which means they're trying to teach me how to teach children, before I'm actually teaching them. Hmmm.. did that make sense? Oh, well. Just read it a couple of times and maybe it will make sense then. (I will soon be teaching your children and yet I can't make my blog make sense. HA! I probably could if I tried, but isn't it enough that I'm blogging? Must I make sense?)

I digress.

I need to tell EVERYONE! If you have not looked at the blogs on the side of the page, look NOW. You know, the section that says 'blogs that I love'. Specifically, our best bites. I promise you that it will become your best bites ever! This thing is full of easy and delicious recipes. Seriously, you can't screw these things up. I shall recommend a few. I tried 2 this weekend and Zac and I could not get enough.

First, Spicy Honey Chicken. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm...... Need I say more?

Second, Italian Burgers. Only make these with the Marinara Sauce. It says you can prepare it with regular hamburger stuff, but trust me... Maaariiinaaara. (True I have not tried it with regular hamburger stuff, but I can just tell.) OH! And you will look forever for Italian Turkey Sausage. I suggest calling stores before going. Only ONE store had it in ALL of Cache Valley. There were probably 4 that carried it, but everyone was out. I finally found it at the last store, where they only had ONE package left.

Anyways, so click on the blog, then browse whatever they have most recently posted, (the dessert wantons were delish too), THEN go to the top and select recipes. Then it allows you to browse by categories. The Spicy Honey Chicken is under 'Poultry'. Does it seem stupid that I have to say that? Maybe it is stupid, but I am not a chef, and I looked for the first couple seconds for a category named 'Chicken'. HA! Yes, laugh at me. And then, all of you who know you would have made the same silly mistake, thank me in your hearts for saving you from your own embarrassment. :) And of course, the Italian Burgers are under 'Beef". Yes, yes; I got that one right the first time.

I expect comments on this telling me how great those recipes are! YUM!

Bucket List

So this post is a little delayed, but I need to document this experience. I don't have a bucket list, but I may as well. December 12th, 2009 myself, and the poor souls I dragged with me, were on the game show "Let's Make A Deal" with Wayne Brady. Yes, we were ready to MAKE A DEAL!! Sadly, I have decided the game is fixed. FIXED I tell you! We dressed up as the coolest things, and yet Wayne didn't pick any of us! He was standing directly in front of me and I was SCREAMING, "Wayne, Wayne! Pick me, Wayne! I'm right here! Look at me Wayne!" Still, nothing. We were a little preoccupied throughout the day and forgot to take pictures. We snapped this one at the last minute, but everyone else had already taken off their costumes. A list of what were all dressed as, myself- a traffic light (I really lit up!), Andrew- a retired kidney fairy (the wings, the hair, a tutu, and the homemade kidney shirt), Rachel and her boyfriend were crayons (homemade by MUAH!), Daniel was a christmas tree (very creative, he looked great!), and Wyatt was a star (shining brightly, shining for the whole world to see!) So, thanks to everyone for your support in checking this item off our bucket lists. Be on a game show... CHECK! P.S. It's episode 1091 on CBS. We sat on the right side, on the bottom half.

A Little Party, A Little Bubbly, and A Little Smoochie

New Year's Eve. I always think, 'we're gonna do something big this time, something awesome to celebrate the ending of a year and the prospects of a fantastic new beginning'. So first we were going to Vegas, and we would stop in St. George so I could see my lovely friends. Then plans changed to going to Lava Hot Springs. In the end, all fell through. I was a little disappointed, because I had practically begged to get work off. Last minute, it was decided that we would have a little shin-dig at our house. So we busted out the chocolate fountain (deeelish), grabbed some bubbly (thank you mr. martinelli), and had the friends over. We thought it was going to be just a small gathering, but it grew quickly. We had a delicious steak and potato dinner, then snacked and played 'catch phrase' all night long. The boys have a way of joining together to make themselves louder than the girls, when we're trying to discuss who's point it should have been, which was a little frustrating, and yet, no relationships were broken on that night. The one thing that was broken was our couch. We understand there was a lot of excitement during the game, and Keaton is a guy that can really get into things. So, Zac busted out his manly intuition the next day and fixed the couch, it's better and stronger than ever. Nixon and Jersey (Jake and Morgan's dog) had a great time together, entertaining each other while they were trapped in the kitchen. So this year, we rang in the new year with great friends. It was a fantastic way to celebrate! Thanks to everyone that came!