Sweet Potatoes Attack!

For Mothers' Day, Sam and I traveled to Salt Lake to eat dinner with my family. As usual, I wanted to make a tasty side dish. I have been craving sweet potato fries ever since Sam and I had them at Guru's (a fun restaurant in downtown Provo). So, I decided to stand up to the challenge and make some sweet potato fries. But I wanted them to be healthy, so I decided to bake them. I tried a recipe during the week, and they turned out ok. They weren't fabulous-- they were a little soggy-- so I thought I would try to crank up the heat and see if that helped. So, Sam and I schlepped a bag of sweet potatoes to my parents' house. I washed them and started chopping. Sam peered on nervously, begging me to be careful. "Simmer down," I replied. "This knife is not sharp enough to cut me." Sam's pool of blue-green eyes gazed back at me, "just the same. Be careful, my love." I cut haughtily with my culinary skill, determined to prove my expertise with my skillful cuts and chops. And then Pride conspired with the Cosmos to my downfall. There I was, mid-chop, when the knife came down on my un-suspecting index finger. Grazing the nail's edge on to the tender flesh, the knife sliced through my digit with reckless abandon. Wedged in the golden root vegetable, the knife glared in triumphant horror. I yanked my finger away from the offender and clutched at the inured phalange. I ran from the scene, and began to run my hand under a cool, forgiving stream of water. Stomping my foot in rage and pain, I howled and cursed the heavens in futility. Luckily, my dashing mate was near and rushed to my side. At the advice of my sister Nurse Lindsay, Sam whisked me off to urgent care. With a paper towel applied for pressure, and a bag of frozen corn for pain, we arrived in a flurry of tears and laughter. In between sobs of wimp-like pain expression, I thought it comical to speculate the doctor's orders: stitches? finger amputation? arm amputation? euthenasia? The doctor saw us promptly with a stoic facade. I attempted to joke, he wouldn't have it. He set down to business with the prognosis: a band-aid. The kindly nurse descended into the room and faced the task of bandaging. With ten minutes, I was on my way with a fancy taping and wrapping of the ghastly wound.

How am I doing now? I have braced myself and faced the storm of and injured index. I have progressed to a simple finger tip band-aid and thank my lucky stars I didn't lose the tip of my blessed appendage. Though I am not sure feeling will return to the tiny tip, I am confident I will have a scar worthy of this story.

Pictures from California

The first picture is of my sisters Whitney and Amy and my nieces Lindsay and Lucy. We went to a color-me-mine type place in palo alto for Lindsay's 6th birthday.

Amy, Whitney, Sophie, and I went into the city for a day of shopping at Union Square, the farmer's market, and the cheesecake factory. Whitney and I thought these sculpture things we rather hilarious, so we had to pose with them.

Hanging out on Sunday night, me, Lindsay, and Lucy on the couch.

Now, I could have added some pictures from Sam's time alone in Utah. They would all have been him sitting in front of a computer or sitting in front of a tv.

The Trooper and The Traveler

A view into the last week of Sam and Courtney

The Trooper
Sam is the trooper this week because he has been such a good sport about being alone. Sam has watched many movies and played many video games. He told me he even cleaned the apartment he has been so bored. He has been working a bunch this week and even had an interview for a new job this fall as a student editor at the church's motion picture studio. We crossing our fingers that they could tell what a great guy and a talented editor Sam is. Sam went to play video games with my brother, Scott, and Sam is anxiously awaiting my return.

The Traveler
I have been spending the week in Palo Alto with my sisters. My nieces have grown so much since I saw them at Christmas. I was here for my niece's 6th birthday and we had a pirate-themed birthday party for her. We all dressed up as pirates and had about 25 children running around outside searching for buried treasure. Yesterday we spent the entire day in the city. My brother-in-law took my two older nieces so it was just me, my two sisters, and my youngest niece, Sophie (1 year old). We went to the farmer's market and the arts and craft fair. We went shopping for a few hours at Union Square, an amazing outdoor mall. We ended the day with an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The weather has been absolutely fantastic, and I am really enjoying this break, gearing me up for school to start again on Tuesday.

Sam is so relieved to be done with school and will be working full-time all summer. In addition to his normal job as a film editor, he is also working as the producer for the feature The Adventures of Food Boy, the full-length version of the short film he made last summer. I am going to school both spring and summer terms and starting a part-time job at the BYU bindery for spring term. Starting summer term, I will be working in the Writing Center again as the grammar tutor. I also applied for an editing internship with BYU's Intercultural Outreach, so we'll see how that goes.

I'll post some pictures of my trip and our adventures in a few days.

Last Day of School!

Today is Sam's and my last day of school for the semester! I will be working like mad over the next few days to finish projects and study for finals. Sam will be fleeing the state to Las Vegas to hear one of his editor-role models, Walter Murch, speak at some sort of film convention. I will be fending for myself for my first night alone since being married. I suppose it's fair, since I am leaving Sam for 6 days next week to go to California to visit my sisters.

We are both so excited that this semester is over. It has been stressful for both of us, but we are just that much closer to graduation: 2 terms for me and 2 semesters for Sam. Woohoo!

Best Birthday Ever

My birthday was on Tuesday and Sam was a stellar celebrator! First, he woke me up with breakfast in bed. Sam researched recipes for crepes for a couple weeks, so he picked a recipe and surprised me with my favorite breakfast food. After eating crepes together, I got up for the day to celebrate the big 2-2. I had a great day-- my co-workers gave me a birthday card, and then Sam came in while I was working with a bunch of balloons and a beautiful flower. He stayed for a while and we hung out for a little bit. He left for class and I finished work. Sam has class late most nights, so I headed home and did some homework. We had planned on getting Thai food for dinner, but didn't check what time the restaurant closes. When Sam got home, they were already closed. So, we though we'd try Chinese. That restaurant was closed too, so we ordered pizza. Sam had picked up an ice cream cake on his way home, we enjoyed the tasty Dairy Queen treat with our pizza while talked and watched tv.

I also had some calls from the family. My parents are on a road trip and called me from Idaho in the morning. My sisters and my brother called me. And I had a great message from Don and Diane singing me happy birthday (they also sent me a card), and Jen called me at work! What a treat to talk to so many people!

All in all, it was a fabulous birthday. I definitely have some big shoes to fill come July 4th!

Welcome!

I have seen a bunch of family blogs lately, and decided Sam and I should have a blog. Look forward to updates on our family!