hello All! On a very late note, HAPPY NEW YEARS! I hope you had a great one! We sure did! We played Mario Bros on the Wii until 3:30am. We are so cool and I know you wish you were us! We beat the final boss and everything! :) Do we know how to party or what?
Yeah, see that big Bowser on the left side? See the tiny Mario on the right, It took us over an hour using our tiny Mario and Luigi to beat that big guy! New years was WAY intense for us!
Ok, so this is going to be one of those posts with crappy iphone pictures and me blabbing on about how much I love my family (Salvesens and Roneys)... because I do! Being away from them makes me appreciate them so much more! I think this Christmas for us was so amazing because we didn't take the time we spent with family for granted and so everything we did with them was just so much more special and so much more fun!
Waking up every morning and seeing family was so awesome. Playing boardgames with family was awesome. Watching movies with family was awesome. It was all just so AWESOME! (I realize I need more synonyms for the word "awesome").
The saying "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" is so appropriate. Obviously my family isn't gone but the convenience of having them around is something I miss tremendously.
So here are the pictures I took on my phone. Right now I'm just too tired to download the pics from off my camera but you'll get the main idea
(here are some pics. I have more from my side of the family but the computer is being lame and wont let me download them for some reason!! GRRRR)
Joseph (Tristin), Mary (Beatrix), and Jesus (Ophelia). Tristin seems stuck with the Joseph role. lol
Tristin and Ophelia!
US!
On a less happier note, Tristin will be leaving for his retreat this coming Wednesday. I will miss him for the 4 weeks he's away but I'm sure he'll learn lots and so will I. It's sort of like he's going on a Mini Mission. He can't call me, he can only write letters. I think this is preposterous but WHATEVER! I didn't write the rules, I just have to obey them the best I can. Lets see how I do with the semi-single life again. That will be interesting, I'm sure.
Tristin and I had a blast being Mary and Joseph for our Church's nativity play last weekend. It was rather fun actually. I learned a few things while practicing for this thing:
1) that I couldn't keep a straight face when rehearsing with Tristin. While he was pretending to console and warm his pregnant wife (me) he'd whisper things like "I hope you don't get hypothermia and die". (He's so romantic sometimes) Try keeping a straight face with that being whispered while you're trying to look uncomfortable and pregnant.
2) Trying to look uncomfortable and pregnant is really hard. Props to you moms out there.
3) Basketballs don't make for good pregnant bellies. They look more like over-sized tumors! And they are really hard to push out from under you're clothes once you've "had your baby".
On Saturday, before doing the nativity for everyone there, we decided at the last minute to toss the fake baby Jesus for a much cuter baby named Adalade! When we brought her on stage there was a very satifing "Awwww" from the audience. Adalade just looked around and then fell asleep, bright lights on her and everything. she was the best baby Jesus any one could have asked for (except for the real deal, of course).
I held her for at least 30 minutes after that.... She was too cute for words!
I'm really glad they asked us to help out with this nativity show. It was really a lot of fun and Tristin enjoyed preparing himself for the role.
....he was sad to shave his beard off afterward, though...
and I'm happy (But very sad babe) to mention that the mustache is now gone
Thank you to my oldest and Best Friend for being such a shining star in my life and for posting the most simple thing that can turn someones day right-side-up! Dudette, I LOVE you.
Look at what one of Santa's Helpers (named Rebecca McDonald) gave to us! Our very first CHRISTMAS TREE!
Initially we weren't going to get a tree for two reasons: 1) Money 2) We would spend Christmas in Utah and our parents have trees so we'd just take lots of pictures with theirs.
One day on facebook Rebecca asked me if I had put up my decorations yet, to which I replied no because of the reasons listed above. Sunday night I go over to their house for dinner and she pulls out this decorated tree for me from the back of her car! I was so elated! It was the sweetest thing anyone could have done for us! So now we officially have a tree with decorations!
So I would like to present to you our first and very own Christmas tree in our home!!
Thank you Rebecca! We love you!
Now I realize that I haven't blogged about Thanksgiving and I'm unfashionable late with it too but I'll just give a brief overview of our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving....
It was SO MUCH FUN. You truly don't know what you have til it's gone, or in another state. It was so wonderful seeing out beautiful families again and spending time with them. (we miss you all so much!).
We spent Thanksgiving with both families and good friends and I got to catch up with everyone and hold babies all day long. I felt so motherly! Babies are so fun, especially when they aren't yours because you can always give them back when they start crying....or pooping.
After Thanksgiving lunch at Rick and Kim's house. I wish I took more pictures. Why wasn't I thinking?
Christmas Light!
That Thanksgiving Saturday we went to the BYU/UofU football game and it was AMAZING! I'm so proud to say that I WAS THERE and I saw everything with my own eyes! We had such a blast. Thanks for taking us Rick and Kim. Just like old times....
(Thank you Brenton for coming with us! You're always SO FUN to hang out with!)
GO COUGARS!
We can't wait to see everyone again in a few weeks time.
.... and Tristin wins! It's official, his body is a lot healthier than mine.
On Wednesday we did a Bio impedance Analysis (BIA) follow up to see how our bodies were doing and coping with our detox. A BIA is a test that measures about 15 different cellular comparments and metabolic functions within your body all in under 5 second (it sends an electrical impulse through your body and cells to measure these things-it doesn't hurt, I promise). To explain all the nitty gritty stuff about it would take an entire essay and then some so I'll break it down to what was important.
Here were our results as best as I can remember them:
Tristin: 1) Lost about 5lbs of fat and gaint 3 lbs of muscle. (Lucky!!) 2) His cells throw off toxins really easily and more efficiently now that he's gone through the detox. His cells are also retaining a healthy amount of intracellular fluid to maintain optimal function (He's so lucky!!) 3) his EMC/BCM ration (this ratio shows if the body is tearing down muscle for energy AKA sarcopenia,) or fat for energy went WAY down!
Overall, Tristin is doing WONDERFULLY! His body has balanced out really well and he is now back on all fruits and veggies without any problems what so ever! All he needed was a good "bodily spring cleaning" to function at its best!
Juanique: 1) Lost 3lbs of fat and 1.5 lbs of muscle (sarcopenia) 2) My cells are throwing off toxins but at a price! My intracellular fluid has gone way down (you need fluidity in the cells to maintain a healthy living cell.) The process of eliminating toxins is hydration. My cells are eliminating these toxins but are dehydrating themselves to do so. So, that is kinda bad. I need a lot more water. 3) My EMC/BCM ratio went up. I'm tearing down muscle a little quicker than I normally was. This is bad!
My end results, eat chicken breasts 2x a day to put more protein in my body and be extremely cautions with what I eat as I ween myself back on foods from the detox. Friday was the first day we could eat fruit again. I ate strawberries and they gave me a massive headache. Strawberries are out of the picture for now. So far this is what I've learned: the only things that don't put my body into shock are: cucumbers, chicken, white rice, lettuce, apples and green beans. So that's all I'm eating right now as I SLOWLY reintroduce one food back into my diet at a time.
So that's the detox update. for those of you still awake to read this, I hope it was somewhat interesting. As a few of you know, I LOVE to learn about health and nutrition so if I get a little carried away with my health blogs, you'll have to forgive me.
We aren't dead yet but detoxes are seriously hard! I think I say that because today is Saturday and I didn't have my job to distract me from the constant gnawing of my stomach against my skin.
"but Juanique, why on earth are you guys crazy enough to detoxing?"- This is why....
My doctor (who also happens to be my boss and who also happens to be EXTREMELY intelligent in the health department) told me the other day that I have serious health issues going on. That's a no brainer seeing as I've seen over 100 doctors in the past 10 years, none of whom could tell me what my problems were (so much for extra schooling!!). As far as my health issues go...that probably can be saved for another post. But it just so happens that I work for the one guy who could find the answers to what was causing my health problems AND TREAT THEM AS WELL! Coincidence? Heck NO!!! Heavenly Father was hearing my prayers when I was younger, and 10 years later He answered them.
Anyway, I've had A LOT of health issues ever since I was a child and no one knew why. But life went on and you eventually get used to them all.
Well since I started working where I work, I've had a lot of questions answered and a LONG road of treatment ahead of me....step one of the treatment being a 20 day detox (my body tends to tear down muscle a lot and store fat, I don't absorb nutrients like I should and I'm allergic to a lot of foods I've been eating that have been causing severe inflammatory responses throughout my body....just to name a few of my issues).
So....now we are detoxing... and I say "we" because Tristin is doing it for moral support. Isn't he the best?? Oh, and I haven't had a meal since Monday. but the good news is that we are halfway through the hardest part. Only 5 more days to go of food-lessness. But don't get me wrong, we are eating a few things that are medical-meal-prescribed, but they are in liquid form and we only have 3 flavors of the stuff so far. ugh.
So no, we aren't dying but a little bit of me inside is. It's that part that is calling out for a Cafe Rio salad and wants it SO BAD. Hopefully that part of me will completely die altogether and stop teasing me with the memories of how delicious Cafe Rio is!!! (I hope it dies SOON).
But in all honesty, I'm excited about this cleanse because once it is over I will be able to start my testing again to see how my body has balanced itself out and then we can start my other treatment. Yay for progress and health. I can also say that I haven't had a headache in almost a week now! To me, that is a BIG DEAL!!! I'm very hopeful about all this treatment. I having a feeling it will make it all worth it in the end :)
Affirmative! We do...and apparently we're getting a lot of it! (yuck). I should be more positive about winter and snow but I cant think of anything worse than going out into the cold and wet and staying out there to have "fun". Whats fun about being cold? perhaps I should invest in waterproof clothing but even when I have in the past, the wetness of snow always seems to find it's way to my body.
Yesterday
Today
Yesterday
Also, we're making friends with a few families in the area. We're so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives at this time. It's like having family away from family! The other night we were at the Gourgouris's house and they have this really cool salt water fish tank. They also have a little guy in the fish tank that looks like the shrimp, Jacque, from finding Nemo! They showed me how to feed the fish and when you do, this little guy comes scurrying all over your hand looking for food! it's THE COOLEST THING!
Family, you'll also be glad to know that we've made yet another family love (and hate) Aggravation! That game is like a drug to all who play it! Board games are SO fun!
Any way, I better get going. there's a lot of ice and snow to scrape off my car before I leave for work!
Well, the angel of Swine flu did NOT pass our door this past week. Instead the angel of swine flu decided to play a nice little trick on me! I don't even know any one who's sick, so how did I get it??!! It's a mystery. But I'm all put back together again. Yay for cleaver immune systems! Tristin still remains intact and as healthy as a hippo (I accidently typed "hippy" before typing hippo. haha. Maybe I should have left it at "healthy as a hippy").
**Side Story now that I'm on the topic of hippies: Thursday I was walking down Main Street in Longmont when 4 hippies (Yes, they were actual hippies with the long hair, glasses and clothing) walked by me. One said, "excuse me miss, I think you dropped your smile." Confused, I actually looked down (Yes, I am that blonde sometimes), realized what their motive was and started smiling at them. I guess I looked fairly serious before. I responded by say, "well I guess I picked it up because it's now on my face." I parted with them as one of them held up a peace sign. Very random....
Anyway.....
This past weekend we went bouldering up by Boulder Mountain Park. It was a GORGEOUS day and everyone and their dog was taking advantage of the sunshine up there. We went up with one of Tristins friends and his fiance. I didn't do too much bouldering myself, due to feeling sick and all but it was nice to get out to the mountains again before the weather stays cold for good.
This past week I was responsible for the Young Womens activity. We made caramel apples. GASP* That didn't go down well with my "no chocolate" policy! With $50 worth of candy, chocolate and more chocolate it was a buffet of heaven and hell for me. In the end I did have some M&M's which were followed with a massive sugar headache! I guess my policy is still a work in progress. the apples turned out really well. Those girls are extremely creative. The night was filled with apple-making, New-Moon-Movie-talking and lots of giggling girls.
Other than that life has been really good. Just busy as usual. Tristin's program is going well still and he continues to learn some amazing things....hopefully he'll post more about those things in the near future (hint hint, babe).
So that's about it from this side. As of now Colorado is changing in its seasons as well as the animals that live here. It's been fun to hear and see the flocks of ducks fly south for the winter. How come I never saw that in Utah? Was I really that oblivious to it? I was able to catch a picture (a pretty bad picture) of a flock of 30 or so ducks while on my way to work the other day. They were all standing in a dried up lake, almost all of them standing very still and looking in the same direction. It was kind of cool to see. I wondered if they were contemplating how far they had to fly and if they were dreading it like how we would dread a long plane flight or car trip.
Back in the day when Tristin and I were uber cool, we'd rock climb A LOT. But now we're grown up and have to be something called "responsible". Being responsible is overrated in my opinion. If you've never been climbing before, you should try it. Go to your nearest climbing gym and just do it. It's an awesome sport that is highly addicting.
A client of mine found out that I enjoyed rock climbing and told me that she had a son who is an avid rock climber. I told her that I'd be willing to trade massages if he and his girlfriend were willing to take us rock climbing with them. They were up for the trade and so yesterday was my first time rock climbing out doors (I've only done indoor). I figured it would be similar to indoor until I remembered that the hand holds in the gym are bright neon colors where as the hand holds outdoors all look the same....like brown and gray rock. It was lots of fun though. Tristin and I had a blast even with the few issues we faced, such as the freezing cold wind (we didn't plan well for cold weather) and just how soft we'd become (we no longer have calluses on our hands to protect us from the sharp, rocky edges). We were just elated when we were done, though. It was just so much fun. However, I'd never realized just how scared of heights I was until I started to look around me while clinging to the face of a mountain with my only security being a rope tied to my harness. I found myself tugging on it just to make sure I was tied in properly. Hopefully in the near future we will be able to fit rock climbing gym passes into our budget so we can do this more than just once a year. Thanks Neely and Seth for taking us with you.
As I glanced over our blog today I realized it was looking rather dull and abandoned, so I though, "hmmmm....maybe I should do an update." Yes, I'm full of mind-blowing revealations lately. To tell the truth, there isn't much to update on. We don't have kids to motivate us to become camera-happy, we have no pets to obsess over (we tried that route and lets say we did an absolute mess of a job by losing our animals after 4 days. (I'm demoting myself to a rock again), and we are both so busy throughout the week to do anything exciting and far too exhausted trying to catch up from what was missed during the week to do anything extraordinary on our weekends. I dare say we are leading lives of mediocracy as of now (is that even a word?). But even in these times of uneventful days life has been going for us and changing every so slightly so I'll fill you in on the small details of it all.... that's if you're still reading this blog post.
Tristin started his program on the 17th of August. He seems to be loving the program and always talks about how cool the people in his groups are. Although he has about 1-2 classes a day he spends the rest of his spare time reading the assignments (He probably has about 20 books to read through this semester). 2 weeks ago (the 28th-30th of Aug), Tristin left me to go on a weekend retreat up in the mountain somewhere. it's mandatory for the entire class to go. It was the first time in 3 years that we had been parted from one another. I did not take well to this because on the first day of him being gone I got sick. So my weekend was entertained by Jane Austen movies, cleaning frantically and feeling a tad bit sorry for myself. I don't do "alone" very well.
Other than retreat, he's just busy busy busy. I'm sure he can give you more juicy details of what he's learning and what his epiphanies have been as of late.
OH I forgot to talk about the bunnies! A few weeks ago we were given 2 little bunny rabbits. Tristin named the one El Diablo (meaning "The Devil") and I named the smaller one Luna. Rabbits aren't very loving animals at first but they can learn to be. So we were in the process of training them to be loving and be potty trained....that is until one day we came home and their cage had been opened and they ran away. We had them for only 4 days. I I feel like this month is my unlucky one. Lets hope this bad luck runs out by the time October rolls by.
As for me.....I work.....I clean......I read.....I try to sleep sometimes.....yup, that's it. OH, I'm learning to cook! Big shock, I know! Try not to fall out of your seat, mom! I'm also learning a ton of new and really amazing things from work. Sometimes I think my head will explode from the info overload....then I have those days when I think it already has. Either that or I suffer from prolonged brain-fog. Also, A few weeks ago I was called to be a Young Womens adviser in our ward so I've really really been enjoying that. I'll plan my lesson, thinking it's going to be an awesome lesson and realize that what I planned and what I had talked to them about were two completely different things. You never know where a lesson will go with 12/13 year old girls. They are so fun and I adore them. I miss being in Young womens. I miss being a young woman. :P
People who know me well will be pleased to hear that I've set a goal for myself....no chocolate. Again mom, try not to fall out of your seat! I'm a HUGE (HUGE is an understatement) chocolate addict. It's my kryptonite, my chink in my armor, my skeleton in my closet. I was doing so well for a long time. I was clean of chocolate for 3 weeks....and then the weekend hit and I went to walmart and bought a box of Jr Mints. My initial intention was to eat only 5 of the chocolate covered mints and give the rest to my class on Sunday but I think someone kidnapped my shopping cart because by the time I got to the cash register the box was empty. I took my class carrot sticks instead.
(Maybe I should write all this in a diary instead of a blogpost). I guess this is what happens when I have nothing useful to blog about. You get a lot of verbal diarrhea
Any how, thats about it for Colorado. I'm sure Tristin will post something more interesting and FAR more insightful than what I just gave you today. His program is very unique and interesting. I love hearing about it when he shares things he's learning or reading about.
So that's about it. We miss you all. Hope life it being good to you.
...is the coolest thing you didn't know you needed. It will change the way we use phones once it catches on and free us from the tyranny of the cell phone carriers. For those of you who don't know what it is (and if you aren't dying to get it then you OBVIOUSLY don't know what it is), it is best described as "one number to rule them all." When you sign up for the service you get a phone number that will act as a gateway to all of your other phones. You can then set it up to forward your calls to different numbers, different voicemail messages, or to a "this number has been disconnected" message for the spam you hate getting.
Got that? In so many words, you get complete control over incoming calls. For example, on my system I have one voicemail message for my family, one for my friends, another for church people, and one for my classmates. So my family gets a "hi family!" message, my friends get a "I miss you!" message, and church people get a quote from the Bible (Just kidding! But I totally should. The missionaries would think I'm the coolest ever).
Even better, When someone leaves me a message, I have a whole bunch of other options as well. Google automatically transcribes the message and I can have them text or email it to me. So I never have to leave a class to get an urgent voicemail message. I can read it right on the spot! The transcription service makes mistakes, but never so badly that I don't understand the message. I can also call into my voicemailbox and listen to the messages just like with any other mailbox. If I log into Google Voice I have still more options, such as embedding the voicemail in a blog like so...
...or I can download the message and make a trance song out of it (sorry, I haven't actually done that yet), or I can block the caller so that I never have to hear from that person again unless I want to.
Do you really really want this yet? If not, here is a quicklist of some other features of Google Voice:
FREE incoming and outgoing texts (however, if you have texts forwarded to a cell phone, you will still be charged by your service provider)
Call screening: Callers not on your contact list are asked for their name. Then you are asked if you want to accept so-and-so's call or send them to voicemail.
Voicemail screening: If you send someone to voicemail, you can listen in on the message and decide to cut in at any time.
Call transferring: If you have multiple phones set up with your account, you can easily transfer an ongoing call to one of your other phones with the touch of a button (*).
Call recording: You can record any call simply by pushing (5) on your keypad. Beware next time we are on the phone...
"Do Not Disturb" function: When activated, all calls will automatically be forwarded to voicemail. Great for times when you can't answer calls but you don't want to turn your phone off.
Call initiation from the web: You can make a phone call from your Google Voice number using any phone. Just enter the number you want to call, select the phone you want to call from, and hit "call." The phone you want to call from will then ring your phone and the number you want to call.
Smart phone integration: Palm Pre and Android phone users can get an app that essentially takes over the phone functions of the device. That means outgoing calls and texts will display the Google Voice number. It also means you can send and receive texts to your phone absolutely free of charge! No more ridiculous carrier per-text charges. Similar apps are coming for other phones in the future.
The list could go on, but that should have interested you at least a little. It's really something you don't realize the benefits of until you have started using it. Once you start, you will wonder how you ever managed without it. It's a new standard of living, I'm not kidding. But perhaps the best feature is that no matter what you will never have to give out a new number or beg your Facebook buddies to re-send you their numbers due to a lost phone. No matter what phone you have or what phone is near you, you can always send and receive calls for your Google Voice number. All of your contacts will be kept safe in your account (which is linked with your Gmail account as an added bonus). And this is Google, so you know they will keep coming up with killer new features. Holy cow this is awesome!
Sorry for the full-on advertisement. I promise I'm not being paid to do all this brown-nosing to Google; I just really really love Google Voice. Sadly, it is currently invite-only. But they are giving away invites like candy right now, so sign up here and wait a week or two. I promise that you'll love it if you take the plunge and really use it.
Speaking of, if you want to know my new Google Voice number, just call my current number. I'll give you a hint, though: It has the word TRUST in it! Yeah, I picked it out myself. Bye!
...is the Stringray. Who knew? I learned that from the DOE (Dept of Environment) who was regulating Stingray city last week.
Last week was our annual trip to the Cayman Islands. Yes, it was amazing! I could never tire of that place. From the extreme humidity to the bipolar weather to the sunburn/peeling, I love it all! Bring on the burn, the frizzy hair, and the inability to be useful or productive for an entire week! I welcome all these things!
We drove to Utah the Friday night before we left for Cayman (our departure was Sunday). That Saturday (we arrived in Provo at 2:30am) we spent with my family before leaving. I also got to work on and catch up with a few clients while I was there.
Sunday we left Provo airport and arrived in Cayman about 9 hours later with a lay over in Texas. I've decided that Texas isn't very exciting. there are no mountains, well, non that I saw.
As soon as we arrived we ate dinner and stocked up on food for the next day. I was able to get a picture on my phone of a random rooster that was roaming around the gas station that we stopped to get our goodies at. I guess roosters roam the streets just like squirrels here do. it was kind of odd to see but entertaining.
The rest of the week we were entertained by sleeping, reading, eating (the food was divine...and the desserts...OH,don't get me started on the desserts), stingray city, snorkeling, kayaking, more snorkeling, more stingray city and borderline comatose-relaxation. Can you say *BLISS*
Stingray city was my favorite thing from the entire vacation. I finally became good at holding them. what's weird is that you get to hold these things that are meant to be wild....but they are not. They're gentle and soft (for the most part). I got a few "battle wounds" like getting smacked in the face with a tail from a stingray I was holding. They kind of swing their tails when you hold them and this one I was holding had a very VERY long tail that collided with my face. I also got a few over-eager stingray trying to suck my entire fist because I was holding squid in them. that was a little startling and left me with what looked like a small self-induced hickey on my thumb.
Funny story: Wednesday was an overcast day. Tristin and I went out on the catamaran and sailed up and down the bay. After 20 minutes it started to rain hard, as if stones were being thrown from the clouds. We couldn't run for shelter because we were stranded on the catamaran in the middle of the bay. The only shelter would have been to jump in the water. After a minute of freezing cold rain on my sunburned body, the sky's cleared up completely and it was as sunny as ever. This is what I meant by bipolar weather :)
The only complaint I have about the week was that Shark Week was playing on the Discovery Channel all week long. The thing about Shark week is that it's extremely mesmerizing. As soon as you start watching it you get sucked in and you wanna watch it even more. Seeing dismantled legs and arms and bodies on shows called "I survived a shark attack" was not a comforting thing to watch every night, especially when you're in the ocean every day BUT you still watch it. Obviously it wasn't scary enough to stop me from watching it but I probably shouldn't have because every time I got in the ocean I'd think "Hm...I hope there aren't any sharks near me today!"
Saturday we flew back to the States and surprisingly I was NOT harassed by immigrations or customs. I tend to be a target for suspicion in airports. the rest of the day and Sunday was spent with my family catching up and just hanging out with them. It was a very unreal moment when we had to say goodbye because it felt like we had never really left Utah. Our life in Colorado almost seemed like a very distant memory. It was very bizarre. But now we're back and in the swing of things again and I realized that although I left my home in Utah, I was welcomed by my home here in Colorado.
US!
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