Cory, Ciara & Cailyn

Pre-Thanksgiving

2011-11-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Since I married Cory and moved close to his family we have gotten to celebrate A LOT of holidays. Basically any excuse we can come up with to have great food and a party is always a reason to celebrate. We pick our favorite holidays (such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July) and do two celebrations for each one.

So last night we had Pre-Thanksgiving and it was sooo worth it! We had all the same foods we do on Thanksgiving day and since Cory and I are going to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year it doesn't feel like we missed this holiday with his family.

The only downside to having Pre-Thanksgiving is that I immediately wanted to go home and put up the Christmas decorations. Since Cory has a strict "no Christmas decorations or Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" rule, I have to wait a couple more weeks. Oh well. I don't know anyone who would complain about getting two Thanksgiving dinners :)

Thankful

2011-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

In light of Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to make a list of 10 things that I am most grateful for. I believe everyone's lives are full of countless blessings but it is up to us to realize the magnitude of how greatly we are all truly blessed.

I am so thankful for this little girl in my life. She has helped me to have a new perspective on life and I just love her!

2. I am thankful for a wonderful family who supports me and loves me unconditionally.

3. I am thankful to live in a country where so many freedoms and opportunities exist.

4. I am thankful for my awesome husband who is always there for me and who gives me someone to look to to become a better person.

5. I am thankful for Christ's perfect love for me and how it gives me an opportunity to improve everyday no matter how bad yesterday was.

6. I am thankful for Christmas music, hot chocolate, and fuzzy socks.

7. I am thankful for my in-laws. They are always so helpful and they have become more like my 'real' family and not just people I am acquainted with because of marriage. They are so fun to watch with Cailyn.

8. I am thankful for an education.

9. I am thankful for Cory's brownies and cheesy potato soup.

10. I am thankful for Thanksgiving because it gives me the opportunity to think of all the great blessings in my life.

One Month

2011-10-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is already one month old. Where did the time go? In many ways I feel like it has been the craziest yet best month of my life.

Since our family loves to celebrate and will use any excuse to get together and have a party, Cory and I decided to have a fun little dinner for Cailyn's one month birthday. We had "soup night." We made a bunch of different kinds of soups and finished it off with pear crisp. Although Cailyn slept through most of it, it was still fun to get together and celebrate our little girl.

I didn't get any pictures of the dinner so here are a few recent ones of Cailyn.

First time going to church

Enjoying some tummy time

First time going to Cabella's

Such a funny baby

Rockin the leg warmers

Nothin But Cute

2011-10-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been pretty low key for me and Cailyn. We have just been hangin out getting to know each other and of course I have been taking lots of pictures :)

Baby's first bath

Snugglin with dad

Ready to go shopping

Dad ready to burp the baby

Look mom! I found a finger!

Dad adoring his girl

Cailyn's fish face

We have been having so much fun with this cute little girl and it is always hard to put her down! I can't believe how fast she is getting bigger. She has already grown out of some of her newborn clothes! Which means in order to get her to wear all her clothes I need to change her outfit more often! Love you baby girl!

New Addition

2011-10-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have greatly neglected this blog but since we have a cute little addition to write about, I am going to try and be better about blogging! Little Cailyn Marie Reschke made her entrance (and boy was it an entrance) on September 18th at 4:08 am.

Cailyn's original due date was October 2nd and Cory and I were actually taking our last trip as a couple without kids in Salt Lake. For our "babymoon" we went out to a fancy dinner at Zy's restaurant and then went back to the hotel room and watched a movie. Later in the evening we went on a walk outside of our hotel to get some fresh air. Shortly after we returned to the room my water broke. I hadn't experienced any contractions so we weren't in a huge hurry to get to the hospital, but I still wanted to get going since we had to drive from Salt Lake all the way to Provo.

On the way to the hospital, I started getting contractions which made me nervous because we were at a dead stop on the freeway because of construction. So by the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were coming every 4 minutes. The nurses hooked me up to all of the monitors and they immediately started to worry because the baby's heart rate was extremely fast. So after trying 3 different monitors the doctor finally came in and looked at an ultrasound of the baby's heart. Cailyn's heart was going 270 beats per minute which is about twice what it should be at.

As soon as the doctor saw how fast her heart was going, everyone moved into action and I gave birth about 15 minutes later via c-section. Cory had time to call his parents at 3.47 and Cailyn was born at 4:08. As soon as she was born her heart rate went back to normal and she has been healthy and happy ever since! We are so lucky to have a healthy little girl and we are extremely grateful for the awesome hospital staff who did a great job.

It has been really fun to get to know this little baby and welcome her into our lives. We feel so blessed to have had such a good experience at the hospital when things could have gone in a completely different direction.

We love you Cailyn! So excited that you are here!

Here are some pictures from her first couple of weeks.

This is the only pregnancy picture that I allowed and it happen to be the day I had her.

2 days old and looking adorable

On the way home from the hospital. She didn't quite know what to do with her hands :)

First time trying out the boppy and having fun looking around

Meeting Grandpa

Just chillin out with mom

BB & B Friends & Family Day

2009-11-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again... let the holiday shopping begin. If you have any shopping to do at Bed Bath & Beyond this year we are having a friends and family day where anyone can come and get 30% off your ENTIRE PURCHASE. It will be Sat. November 7th at 7:00 am. If you are interested shoot me an e-mail so I can make arrangements to give you my discount. It should be tons of fun and there will even be breakfast!

What a Week

2009-10-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

First I just wanna say... if you haven't gotten a flu vaccine yet DO IT! I have had the flu all week long and it has been miserable to say the least. I think I came down with H1N1 although I never when to the doctor to get diagnosed. I was stuck on the couch for 3 days straight and my poor husband starved. I missed work and internship hours.

So this is my public health plug for the month. Sick people please stay home so you don't get other people sick. People who haven't gotten vaccinated for the flu yet, you really need to do it. This year's flu is killer. And employers don't be mean to your employees when they call and tell you they have the flu. The End.

Belated Horse Show Post

2009-09-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to update our poor little blog for a while now. Since school started our schedules have been pretty hectic so I am finally getting around to it. Plus I have recently started a blog for my internship, so by the time I have time for my own blog, I'm all blogged out!

Here are a few pictures from the last horse show we went to. It was a ton of fun and it was great to get to compete again.

Sorry the picture is blurry, it was Cory's first time photographing me jumping and the timing can be tricky.

I guess Handsome didn't want to take a picture :)

The show grounds were really nice!

Our friends Justin and Talia also came to see me ride!

Cory's whole family also came out to watch me ride. Since it was their first time at a horse show it was really fun to explain all of the rules and happenings of the horse show. We also took them to their first rodeo later that night.

Here is a picture of all of us minus amanda and alex.

Weekend Sweet Weekend

2009-07-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

So Cory and I are really looking forward to this weekend because we are going to a horse show! On Friday we will be headed to South Jordan to spend a little time horsin around.

Since Cory doesn't have a good jumping horse to compete on he won't be riding with me, but it will still be fun to have him there to help me out. I haven't competed in over a year and I can't wait! Handsome has been doing great lately and I think we are both happier when we have something to work towards.

This picture was taken in Virginia during a jumping lesson.

So wish me luck and hopefully I'll have more pictures to post later!

The Need for Speed (in a VW Jetta 1.8L TDI)

2009-06-12T12:51:00.001-07:00

So Ciara and I were driving home the other day, talking about fast cars when she says, "I'm surprised this one can do 160..." I respond with, "just because the speedometer goes up to 160 doesn't mean the car can actually go that fast." Then a brief silence fell over the car, and she says, "...this one can."

At first I thought she was just joking around, I didn't imagine the little 4-banger diesel surviving anything much above 100. However, I insisted that she tell me just how she knew that our "mellow" little Jetta could go so fast. To my surprise there was a story:

Not too long after purchasing her car, she was driving through some remote part of Wyoming and her mom was sleeping in the front seat. Since the drive is not exactly exhilarating (and since her nuclear-safety-engineer mother was safely asleep), she decided to see just what her new little car could do. She pushed the pedal to the floor and listened to that little 1.8 liter diesel engine kick to life. She didn't let off until that little orange needle had settled down at the far-right side of the speedometer...160 mph. Fearing that her mom might wake up (and soon thereafter die of a heart attack), she slowed back down to a normal, remote-Wyoming-road pace.

...I'm pretty sure that was the COOLEST story I've ever heard! Does anyone have something like a BMW M6 that we could borrow for a day? I wanna pretend to fall asleep in the front seat while she's driving and see what happens!

"Crick" or "Creek"

2009-06-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend we got the chance to take a trip to good ole Challis, Idaho. Challis is a tiny town where my dad grew up on a cattle ranch and where I spent many summers riding horses, herding cows and swimming in creeks (also pronounced "crick"). We went down for my cousin's graduation where there was a whopping 36 graduates. It was the best graduation ceremony I have ever been to because it only lasted about an hour :)

While we were there we also got to see a lot of baby horses that were in the field behind my aunt's house. They were pretty far away so we attempted to get closer by bringing some carrots with us to see if the horses were interested. A family friend (who is not a horse person) decided she wanted to come with us, but instead of bringing some carrots, she thought the horses would respond better if she brought cheese. That was pretty funny because if you know anything about horses at all you would understand that horses DEFINITELY don't eat cheese!

I also had the wonderful opportunity of getting my hair dyed and touched up by my aunt. We had planned to do it the previous day so that I could pick up all the stuff. The only problem was that when the time came to actually dye it, I discovered that my aunt had been having a little too much fun and was a little tipsy if you know what I mean (my family on that side have been known to be some pretty furious party animals).

Even though she was tipsy, I decided to take a gamble and let her dye it anyway. Luckily I still have hair on my head and the dye job didn't turn out too bad either! I just might ask her to dye it again sometime... I'm curious to know how good of a job she would do if she was sober : )

Confessions of a Rehabilitated Trekkie

2009-05-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to see the new Star Trek movie. I thought it was fun and worth seeing, but it definitely threw me back to my incredibly nerdy childhood.

...I once proudly considered myself a trekkie (granted I was about 11 years old). I used to get together with my best friends Tyler and David and we'd pretend to be various characters from Star Trek. We would choose a Star Trek series (e.g. the original series, "the Next Generation," etc.) and spend hours flying around in our Federation starship fighting off Klingons and Romulans...that is if we weren't playing as Klingons or Romulans...

We also used to go to the public library and check out all of the old Star Trek movies on VHS and watch them repeatedly. I would also check out as many "non-fiction" Star Trek books as possible so I could fill my little head with the dimensions and top speeds of star ships, defining attributes of various intergalactic races, how to sew your own command officer's uniform, etc.

When my mom would occasionally let me rent an Super Nintendo game, I would try to find the "Star Trek Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator" game. Also, I was ecstatic when my cousin Brian got a similar computer game for Christmas...we spent many hours cruising through the "final frontier" of space.

..We won't mention the action figures or the Star Trek badge that was frequently attached to my shirt.

Thankfully I'm well past all of that. Needless to say, I kept all of this a secret until I was already happily married and beyond the threat of having Ciara wanting it annulled.

Anyway, the new movie is lots of fun, but definitely gave me flashbacks of my dark past...Live Long and Prosper.

Credit Card Slayer

2009-05-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this last weekend we went to the Dave Ramsey seminar at the E Center in West Valley. It was really good. My dad wants us all to learn how to manage finances well and stay out of debt; so, last Christmas he got us all Dave's book Total Money Makeover and gave us all tickets to his seminar (which took place last Saturday).

I liked it a lot, he explained a series of steps that we need to take to get out of debt (and avoid any more of it), have enough money for emergencies, start a college fund, and build wealth. It was all very practical advice and didn't involve any crazy financial antics. The whole idea is not to buy something if you don't have the money for it...quite a novel idea.

It was a pretty fantastic Christmas present. Ciara and I are taking the challenge and are going to get rid of all our debt. Even though there's not all that much of it, it's something we can do without.

Anyway, check out the Dave Ramsey website (http://www.daveramsey.com). He's got a lot of good stuff on there. Nothing crazy either; just good sound advice.

A Fork in the Eye

2009-04-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Finals are finally done... I'm kind of surprised I survived them really. My accounting test was this ridiculous ordeal that took me over 4 hours (they gave us 5 to take it). It was only 35 questions long and was worth 1/4 of our entire grade. I'm not sure whose idea that was, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a fork than take another test like that.

Anyway, they're finished now. School is done, so now I can get back to my regular fishing schedule. It's been WAY too long since I've been able to go. I've got a couple months left of my fishing license, and I plan on making up for all my lost fishing time during the semester.

Other exciting news: I'm still getting into the whole horse jumping thing. Now I can ride a whole course without falling off and getting a mouthful of dirt.

Aso, Ciara's birthday is this Tuesday so we had a little celebration at my parents' house tonight. It was a lot of fun.

...Anyway, I'm kinda out of it tonight so I'm going to wrap this one up. Have a good night everyone!

Giraffe Art

2009-04-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

I wonder if this will work during finals:

Maybe it will if I draw a horse instead of a giraffe.

Pasta Recipe

2009-04-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the recipe for the yummy pasta I made last week: (I got it from this blog, which gives much more detailed instructions)

Pioneer Woman’s Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

Butter
Olive Oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
½ to 1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets and stem pieces
2 carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias
2 zucchini, sliced on the bias
1 yellow squash, sliced on the bias
½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 package white or brown button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas

1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup half and half, plus a little more for thinning sauce
1 small wineglass of white wine
Low-sodium chicken broth as needed
6-8 fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt
Pepper
Penne pasta

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Now begin sautéing the veggies in batches, cooking only 1 or 2 minutes (at most) each. To begin, add broccoli and carrots to onion & garlic. Cook only for a minute, then remove to separate plate. Add another tablespoon of butter to pan and add red pepper strips. Cook for one minute, then remove. Repeat with remaining veggies, being very careful not to overcook; veggies at this point should still be somewhat raw/crunchy. When all veggies have been removed and skillet is empty, pour ½ to 1 glass of dry white wine to pan. With whisk, begin to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen all the nice, flavorful bits from the bottom.

Cooking over medium heat, add ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1 tablespoon butter, 1
cup whipping cream, and 1 cup half and half. Add ½ cup grated Parmesan. Stir together and cook to thick, adding salt & pepper to taste. Taste sauce as you go; don’t oversalt, but don’t undersalt either! Chiffonade fresh basil leaves, and stir into sauce. Now add all the veggies, including frozen peas, at once. Stir gently to combine; if sauce seems to thick, add equal parts half & half and chicken broth to thin. Cook over low heat until warm, just a couple of minutes.
You don’t want soggy veggies! Taste & check seasoning; add more salt & pepper if needed. Dump in al dente penne pasta, stir to combine thoroughly, and pour onto a large platter. Garnish with more basil leaves, throw on some more Parmesan, and gobble it up!

Enjoy!

Pasta Envy

2009-03-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

I made this tonight, and yes, it looked just like that...

...you can be jealous now.

Our "Spring Break"

2009-03-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

So Cory and I decided to make our own spring break since BYU is too stingy to give us one. After much contemplation, Cory booked our hotel through hotwire. If you have never tried out hotwire I highly recommend it. Basically you pick what rating of hotel you want to stay at and you pay a discounted rate. However, the catch is that they don't tell you what hotel you will be staying at until after you pay. So we picked a four star hotel and ended up at the Hilton in Salt Lake. It ended up being really convenient since it is within walking distance of all the restaurants we were thinking about trying.

For dinner, we walked down the street to the Hotel Monaco where they have the restraunt Bambara. It was soooo good! Plus, we stayed at the Hotel Monaco after our wedding so it was fun to go back. After dinner, we just went back to our hotel room and rented a movie. It was so nice to just be able to forget about school and work and relax, even if it was only for one night. So thanks Cory for planning such a fun little getaway!

Sex & Drugs

2009-03-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

Haha this post has nothing to do with sex or drugs (don't do drugs)! I just wanted to see how many people would look at it...but now that you're here you should look around, maybe click on the link to follow our blog.

Anyway, I've been continuing my adventures in horse jumping (and doing pretty well, if I say so myself). However, I fell off of a horse this past Saturday. I'd been trying to get a particular jump down, and was having a hard time with it. It was (supposedly) my final attempt, but something went wrong. After landing, I ended up in front of the saddle and hanging a little to the left. I tried to re-balance, but the horse gods had doomed me to fall. I accepted my fate and half lept, half fell off the horse. I must have had some good momentum considering how many times I bounced; in fact, I kind of rolled and bounced right back onto my feet...kind of.

I quite literally bit the dust. The trainer called at me to get back on the horse and "actually do it right this time." I stumble back to my semi-faithful steed and climb back on. As I line up for the jump, I can feel the dirt pouring out of my ears and can still feel the sandy grit in my teeth. I can hardly see because my eyes are also full of dirt. Apparently being nearly blind and punch drunk was the ticket: I finally got the set of jumps right. The only bad thing though: I knew that there was more than just "dirt" in the dirt...manure tastes like it smells...

REAL Lemonade

2009-03-24T16:03:00.001-07:00

Lemonade is probably my favorite thing to drink, but I really get sick of the over-sugared, frozen, concentrated junk they sell at the grocery store...it's really pretty nasty. I think it's much easier and cheaper to make make it yourself. Not to mention it tastes WAY better than anything you can buy in the store.

1 c. water
1 c. sugar
1 c. fresh lemon juice (usually takes 4 or 5 lemons)
3-4 c. of additional cold water

1. Boil 1 cup of water
2. Add 1 cup of sugar, and stir until completely dissolved (this just makes a simple syrup)
3. Stir in the lemon juice
4. Stir in another 3-4 cups of water (depending how how strong you like it)
5. Put it in the fridge until it's cold (or just pour it over ice if you want it now)

That's all there is to it. It's fantastic and super easy. Also, if you prefer pink lemonade, just add some juice from a fresh squeezed grapefruit.

Man + Purse = Murse

2009-03-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

There are all kinds of really odd people on BYU campus. Today's encounter was particularly odd.

I was in the BYU library studying away and a guy sat down next to me at the table. First I noticed that he was sitting way too close for comfort, then I saw it: a medium sized leather bag that looked oddly like...a purse. I pretend to not notice him, just to see how odd this guy will turn out to be. He pulls out his planner and since he's sitting SO ridiculously close to me, I can't help reading his schedule for the upcoming week: "ballroom dance test...yada yada yada...Grey's Anatomy."

Seriously, what real man schedules time every week to watch Grey's Anatomy. There's a couple girls sitting on the opposite side of the table (the two girls didn't know each other), and one girl had a couple friends standing nearby that she was talking to...as if the guy wasn't weird enough, he starts introducing himself to each girl one by one and shaking their hands. The then places his planner back in his murse and walks away. Seriously, where do these people come from?

FRIED

2009-03-18T14:10:00.001-07:00

The weather is nice outside there's only one more month in the semester and I'm fried. I do think that it is nice that BYU gets out of school earlier than the other colleges around. However, right now I would happily sacrifice that time for a nice week-long SPRING BREAK!

So in order to stay sane, Cory and I are going on a mini-vacation this weekend. Any great ideas on where to go or what to do?

Mmmmmmm.

2009-03-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been feeling the need to learn how to be more domestic. Scary I know, but I thought for the benefit of my future posterity I would at least try. Besides, I'm not doing anything drastic like learning how to sew my own clothes or scrap booking for hours. No offense to those of you who participate in those activities. Instead Cory and I have been trying out a new recipe at least once a week. My favorite so far has been pumpkin chocolate chunk cookies with maple brown butter frosting.Ours were not quite that pretty but they still tasted amazing! I got the recipe from this fun new baking blog I found: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
By the way if any of you know other great places to get recipes let me know!

Hope everyone is doing well! Much love!

It's Official!!

2009-02-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

I have finally put our wedding pictures up on Facebook.

A Little Update

2009-02-02T22:41:00.000-08:00

So I figured I'd better post something before the semester got so busy that I forget that I even have a blog.

The semester is going pretty well so far. Cory is taking some French classes before he gets into his major and I'm trying to get as many credits done as I can so that I can be done taking classes by the end of summer.

Cory is taking a class called, The aesthetics of crime in French cinema, which has turned out to be kinda fun for both of us because on the weekends all we do is catch up on his homework by watching old French movies. (I don't mind at all!)

All of my health classes are going pretty well (so far). It is weird to think that this is my last real semester at BYU.

I still haven't gotten around to ordering our wedding pictures... yes, I know, we have been married for a year now and we still don't have them. I am using the excuse that there are just too many good ones to choose from. But, when I do order them, I will post some of them if anyone is still interested.

School is going good. Life is great. Save a horse, ride a cowboy.

Homemade HDTV

2009-01-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

I felt like a real man the other day. We purchased one of those new digital converter boxes for our TV, but unfortunately the antenna in our apartment wouldn't pick up any digital signal (since it's a VHF antenna and pretty much all digital stuff comes in over UHF).

I went to good ol' Wally World to buy an indoor antenna that would work (more or less a plastic-coated, "cool-looking" set of rabbit ears). No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get any kind of signal...very annoying. I even tried (to no avail) standing outside and holding it in the air and/or touching it to various metal objects around the house.

I didn't want to buy a more expensive antenna or anything, so I decided to try building one! So, after collecting some supplies I created my new antenna (aka the "Redneck Antenna" or the "Man-tenna").

It works great! I can pick up way more channels than I could with that plastic piece of junk I bought. Plus it cost me almost nothing to build!

My next project is going to make 3 or 4 of them and wire them all together to make a massive array of Man-tennas in an attempt to get even more channels and better signal. I'll keep you posted.

Wanted: French Drug Dealer

2009-01-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

Ciara's horse has a little bit of osteoarthritis in one of his feet, and was being treated with a miracle drug (called Tildren) when he was still in Boise. The drug was actually correcting the problem, and allowing regrowth of new, healthy bone tissue. The problem is that Tildren is not approved in the United States (making it very difficult to come by...especially in Utah for some reason). We've been on a quest in the past month or two to find some. We've tried to find connections through old friends, vets in Utah and Idaho, and even random veterinary college professors accross the country...all to little avail. A few days ago I had a little "Cory, you're an idiot" moment, and thought "hey...why not just call the manufacturer of the drug (Ceva Santé Animale). They'll know how to get it here...plus, you speak French if you need it." I then discovered they had a new office in the US, so I gave them a call (which led to a giant chain reaction).

The operator transferred me to Karen, who referred me to Dr. Creech. Dr. Creech sent my inquiry on to Monsieur Bartholomy, "Ceva Regional Director of North America." M. Bartholomy told me to get in touch with they're favorite distributer in the UK. John the Brittish distributer was more than happy to send us a bunch of the stuff (as long as we paid him a healthy sum and had a letter from the FDA saying it was ok). John gave me the phone number of the guy at the FDA in charge of all of that. FDA Michael said to he'd fax the needed forms to the vet, and as soon as he got the forms back he'd send the letter. Now the vet just has to fill out the forms, and we just have to shimmy back up our little chain to get the stuff shipped.

It was quite an adventure getting all of this figured out...maybe I should be a detective.

FInals, "Pre" Holidays, and "Real" Holidays (whoopee!)

2009-01-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, it's been awhile since I've written anything on here. Things got a little crazy between the end of the semester, the holidays, and the beginning of a new semester. We're back though!

Finals went really well. My programming final only took me like 5 hours to do but was a success. I (being the moron I am) did two finals for one of my classes. The professor gave us a choice between two projects for our final exam, but for some reason I thought I had to do both of them...needless to say, I spent a lot of time on it for nothing. That made me feel kinda dumb (but hopefully helped my grade)!

The holidays were nice. We went to Idaho Falls for Christmas with Ciara's family, so we celebrated pre-Christmas with my family a few days earlier.

We've begun a nice tradition of double (or triple) holidays with the Reschke gang. We celebrate Christmas in July, pre-Thanksgiving, and pre-Christmas (plus all of the real ones too). Each version is exactly like the real thing, just on the wrong date. I think we just love holidays to excess and decided to celebrate our favorites two or three times a year.

The real holidays were lots of fun too. It snowed like crazy in Idaho Falls, and we almost died a few times on the way home. Ciara is a crazy driver and scares me to death! Ok, not really. She's a great snow storm navigator; there are a lot of idiots on the road though (and snow seems to be a good catalyst for idiocy).

Anyway, everything is going well. We're getting back in the groove of things, and life is great!

How to Lose 20 lbs. in 2 weeks

2008-12-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

I was standing in line to check out at the grocery store, and was reading some of the magazine headlines in the checkout-line magazine racks. Almost all of them had some big title reading something like, "How to lose 20 pounds in 10 days," or "How I Fit Back Into My Little Black Dress."

I've never worn a black dress of any kind (nor do I want to), but about a month ago I lost about 20 or 25 pounds in about two weeks. I didn't do it intentionally, but the magazine titles have inspired me to share techniques I learned.

1. Contract strep throat - this prevents eating, and depletes your immune system (which is necessary a little later).

2. Bite your tongue really hard - bite it so hard that you have a big nasty looking cut in the middle of it. Also, a few smaller bites around the perimeter might help too.

3. Start taking some antibiotics (something Penicillin based) - this will help you recover by the end of the two weeks. Also, it will kill all the bacteria in your digestive tract, so any food will shoot right through you.

4. Use a hydrogen-peroxide based mouthwash - this will open up the sores on your tongue nicely, and hopefully (with your depleted immune system) help them to turn into some big ugly canker-like sores. Also, it might make your gums incredibly sensitive to any kind of pressure.

Note: By this time you should not be capable of eating anything more solid than Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. Also, it will probably hurt really bad to eat the noodles, thus deterring you from consuming many of them.

5. When you can't talk or eat anything at all, go to the doctor and get a nice corticol steroid (like Prednizone) - This will help the pain a little, but will also kick your heartrate through the roof. You probably won't sleep for 3 or 4 days, so a little Tylenol PM might help.

6. Slightly solid food - After taking your a week's worth of Prednizone and antibiotics, you should start being able to eat slightly more solid food (like ramen noodles, and crackers that you soak into a kind of mush).

7. Slightly more solid food - After about two weeks, you might be able to eat some pasta. Still, I'd try to avoid anything containing sugar, salt, and kind of acid, grains, etc. These will be way too painful to eat. You should now have lost about 20 to 25 pounds.

8. The follow up - After about 3 weeks you should be able to eat most solid food. Be warned, however, that since to bit off most of your sweet taste buds, most things will taste excessively salty (especially things like cheetos). Things will slowly get back to normal. You might end up with some weird looking scars on your tongue, but you still should be able to taste things like normal.

Well, I it worked for me. I just thought I'd share my experience!

Legal Disclaimer: If you really try this, you're an idiot and deserve what you get. I am in no way responsible for your pain or problems. Crash diets of any kind are stupid, and a good way to screw up your health.

Like Monkey Riding a Coyote

2008-12-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today I jumped over my first jump while riding a horse. After setting up the jump, Ike looked at me and said, "I promise that if you look down or aren't in two-point position, you will fall off" (two-point position is how you kind of stand up in the stirrups when you go over the jump). That was motivation enough for me; I wasn't really in the mood to fall off of a horse today.

I'm pretty sure I looked like a monkey trying to ride a coyote, but at least I lived to tell about it. I know (judging by Ike's reaction) that I had at least one (reasonably) good one.

Ike still pretty much told me that I suck at cantering with stirrups (which probably means he's gonna tie my legs to them). I had lots of fun today though, and am looking forward to whoopin' Ciara at horse jumping.

Naan Pizza Recipe

2008-12-04T12:13:00.001-08:00

We were at Alberton's the other day, scavenging for new recipe ideas. Ciara found this bread called "naan," which is apparently some kind of Indian (as in India, not Native American) flat bread. Ciara thought it looked like it'd make a tasty pizza crust, so we bought a couple.

Anyway, here's the recipe for it:

Crust:
1 pkg. of naan bread (there's two in a package, see the picture above to see what it looks like)

Sauce:
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes with onions
1 TB. of Olive Oil
1/2 clove of garlic (minced)
1 tsp. dry basil
1 tsp. dry oregano
Some fresh ground pepper
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar (if needed)

Normal Sauce Directions:
1. Pour the can of tomatoes w/ onions into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Mash up the tomatoes a little with a fork (I like to leave them a little chunky still)
3. Heat up the oil in a saucepan.
4. Saute the garlic a little, so it's a little goldeny brown.
5. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan.
6. Add the herbs
7. Taste it to see if it needs a little sugar (sometimes tomato based things can be a little acidic). If it needs some add a little (like a little pinch), until you think it tastes good.
8. Simmer the sauce on low(ish) heat for 15 minutes or so.

Lazy Sauce Directions:
1. Put the tomatoes in a bowl and mash them a little.
2. Mix in everything but the sugar.
3. Heat it up in a saucepan. Add some sugar if you think it's too acidic tasting.
4. Let it simmer for 10 or 15 minutes.

Toppings:
Shredded mozerella cheese
Whatever else you like on pizza

Pizza directions:
1. Spread even portions of the sauce onto each naan bread.
2. Add some mozarella and whatever other toppings you like.
3. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

I thought this stuff was great! Try it out and let me know what you think. Way to go Ciara for making up new recipes!

Raspberry Spinach Salad

2008-12-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

So I decided to make this salad for Thanksgiving dinner with Cory's family and everyone LOVED it. So I thought I'd share the recipe. It is super easy and it's really healthy too :)

Raspberry Spinach Salad

One 10 oz bag of spinach
2 cups raw pecans
1 bunch of green onions chopped
3 apples cut up in chunks
1 cup grapes, sliced in half
2 cartons of fresh raspberries

Raspberry Vinaigrette

2 1/3 cup honey
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup white onions, chopped
3 T onion powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup of sunflower or almond oil
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1 carton of fresh raspberries
3 tsp poppy seeds

Blend the lemon juice, onions, salt, onion powder, apple cider vinegar, raspberries and honey in the blender. Slowly drizzle the oil into the mixture. Blend until it is well mixed. Then add the poppy seeds and blend just until they are mixed in. If you blend them in too much they won't stay whole.

Serve and enjoy!! I love this salad recipe because it not only tastes delicious, but it looks really festive during Christmas and Thanksgiving.

My brain hurts

2008-12-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

0110110101111001001000000110001001110
0100110000101101001011011100010000001
10100001110101011100100111010001110011

...That's binary for "my brain is fried".

I just had to do this take home programming test. The stupid thing took me like seven hours to do. Two of those hours made me feel like a big fat idiot. I was working on a method for two text fields that worked together, but they didn't work right...turns out I'd gotten my code for text field one mixed up with text field two.

Pretty much it was like trying to figure out why your bike moves backwards when you pedal it forwards, only to find out that you put the handlebars on the wrong end.

I really like this class, but it's been kind of hellish lately. The programming slave master decided to inflict us with three projects and two tests during the last two weeks of school.

Master Procrastinator

2008-12-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

Lots of people say it's bad to procrastinate things...it's probably true, but I wouldn't really know. I am really good at putting things off until the last possible minute.

I had this group presentation in my biology class that we've had all semester to work on. I think I met with my group a total of two times before the day it was due. Both meetings ended up with us each picking an aspect of our topic (genetically modified crops), and then deciding that we had plenty of time to get things done before it was due...it was due on Monday.

Well, Thanksgiving break rolled around, and nobody had really collaborated with anyone else on their research or how we were going to present the stuff. I had volunteered to make a PowerPoint presentation. Everybody in the group went home for the holiday, and on Saturday evening I decided it was time to try calling people to ask them to send me their information. I didn't get most of the information until Sunday afternoon. Then I found out that one of our group members got in a car wreck on the way home, and wouldn't be there for the presentation (she wasn't hurt, just stranded). So she couldn't send her research until Monday.

So we decided to meet in the library at 8:00 AM on Monday; three hours before the presentation. We got all of our information together, made a fantastic PowerPoint presentation, practiced it once or twice, and headed off for class. Everyone did a great job of presenting, and it went really smoothly. Nobody in the class asked a question we couldn't answer, and the professor seemed to enjoy the presentation.

So I've decided that sometimes I'm really really good at putting things off until the last minute (and apparently good at influencing others to do the same). I should probably do something about that...

YEE HAW!! Making Progress

2008-11-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

I had another horse riding lesson on Saturday, and (surprisingly) I don't have any really crazy stories to tell. I have noticed, however, that Ike keeps making me take the horse over bigger and bigger things. It started out with one puny little pole on the ground, then two puny little poles, and now (since I'm pretty much a master horse rider) we have advanced onto a giant green pipe thing (about 10 inches in diameter).

Ike did make me canter around a lot, so I'm sore all over the place. Oh! and I had my first experience using two sets of reins! It only took him like ten minutes to show me how to hold them, and which one should be on top (I didn't really get it). Then I made the dumb mistake of letting go with one hand to scratch my ear...luckily I guessed right about which one should be on top.

Anyway, I think I'm making pretty good progress with this horse stuff. In fact it's inspired me to join the medieval club and try riding around in a suit of armor while swinging a sword...ok, not really.

Wow...

2008-11-29T21:31:00.000-08:00

Holy crap! That last post was really long...

Twilight: a Man's Perspective

2008-11-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

I made a deal with Ciara that if she went to see the new James Bond with me, I'd go see Twilight with her. So, last night I kept my word, and took Ciara and my two youngest sisters to the movie.

Now, I was coerced into reading the first book, but only got about a fourth of the way through before school started up again. Based on the minuscule amount of information I know about the series, I think the movie portrayed the book well.

The book starts out rather slow, so the story was changed slightly (at least up to the point I read) to accelerate things in the movie a bit.

What I Liked
Based on the the trailers, I thought it had potential, but feared sitting through the movie wanting to scratch my eyes out (like when I watched The Notebook...or as much of it as I could stand). Thankfully, the movie kept my attention for the whole 2 hours and 14 minutes, which kind of (pleasantly) surprised me.

The vampires were cool. They all had fantastic hair. In fact, I've decided that one day after (probably after the resurrection) I'll have some sweet dreadlocks like that Indian vampire. I thought the baseball scene was awesome! Although I think human baseball is ridiculously boring, I think I could watch vampire baseball for hours.

I liked the lighting a lot. It kind of gave everything a nice harsh contrast, and made the movie seem a little darker. Also, I thought everyone was cast very well. A few people said they didn't like Bella, but I thought she did a good job of playing a pasty white, depressive, impulsive, and somewhat hormonal high-school girl.

Things I didn't like as much
I didn't like all the staring between Eddie and Bella. It made things a little over dramatic (even hyper dramatic at times...yes, I just made up that term). Also, I thought James was supposed to be some wicked tough vampire (according to Mr. Dreadlocks), but Eddie beat him up without a whole lot of effort (the vampire fight was still pretty sweet, I just thought it went by quickly).

The sparkly skin looked a little goofy. I know they're supposed to shine, but I thought it looked a little weird. Also, the special effects while Edward was running up hills and trees and things looked a little weird from time to time.

Also, I wondered about what happened when the people in the city discovered that the vampire barbecue in the ballet studio...

Overall
Overall I enjoyed the movie, and would watch it again once it's out on DVD. It wasn't too teenage-girly, and was entertaining. There were a few goofy special effects things, and too much staring; however, the overall plot and story compensated for those slight flaws. It's an intriguing and refreshingly new story for the silver screen. Shhhh, don't tell Ciara...but I liked it.

Here's a song for you all!

Follow our blog!

2008-11-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

I hope you all like our blog! Be sure to click the link on the right side bar to follow our blog. That way you know when we add new content.

In My Own Defence

2008-11-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

My previous post may have seemed a bit racy to some...it's not really my fault. Ciara was trying to add a play list to the blog, when I made the mistake of saying I should do a funny song dedication to her...she thought it was a great idea. This song came on whatever music station we were listening to at the time, so I decided to use it for my dedication.

I'd like to dedicate a song...

2008-11-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy y'all, I didn't feel like calling the radio station (and I'm a nerd, and I can't attach pictures on the radio)! So, I decided to dedicate a song to Ciara on this blog (please click play to hear it):

Look Ma, No Stirrups!

2008-11-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

So a couple lessons ago, Ike the trainer took away my reins...He decided to continue the trend, so once again I found myself in a round pen with a horse, a trainer, a missing piece of equipment, and no way out.

Apparently I have the habit of standing up in the stirrups when attempting to canter (well, technically the horse can successfully canter; the trouble, rather, is with me attempting to stay on the horse). To remedy my problem, Ike thought it best to remove the source of the problem...the stirrups. On top of all of this I was in an English saddle, which is something akin to riding a horse with a bike seat strapped to it.

For twenty minutes I sat on a horse as it ran in circles, while I attempted (successfully, thank goodness) to stay aboard. As we progressed Ike said, "Wow Cory, you're a fantastic rider when you don't have stirrups!" ...I wasn't sure quite how to take that, but as the horse started speeding up again I decided it best to chalk it up as a compliment and hold on tighter.

I'm pretty sure that the main reason I didn't fall off is because I didn't think my body would react well with the hard wall of the round pen. Either way it was pretty exhilarating and, despite the terror, I think it helped my riding ability (which I typically judge by how sore I am the next day). Watch out Ciara, cuz I'm gonna whoop ya at horse jumping (once my body recovers)!

Pre-Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

So yesterday at Cory's family's house we had Pre-Thanksgiving! Basically it is exactly like Thanksgiving just a little earlier. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffed mushrooms and all sorts of yummy side dishes. My husband even made my favorite desert in the whole world-- Creme brulee!! Needless to say it was fantastic!

In fact, it was so fantastic that we have decided to celebrate all of our favorite holidays twice! We already have Christmas in July and Pre-Thanksgiving. Now all we need is Easter in June and the Forth of July in January :)

I wish I was better about taking pictures to post, because the creme brulee turned out great and we all had a great time watching Cory torch the tops of them!

Here is a link to the oh so delicious creme brulee we made: Vanilla Creme Brulee

Making the World a Nerdier Place

2008-11-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hello again family and friends, a month or two ago I was helping Ciara pick out a new laptop. I noticed that the computer manufacturers are really good at being unclear about what you're buying and selling you useless junk.

Some people have a hard time knowing what's good and why when buying a computer, so I thought I'd start a blog about it (woot woot)! So check out my brand new nerdy blog:

interpretech.blogspot.com

Now, I know something about computer components, but I don't claim to have a monopoly on nerdy computer knowledge. SO, if anyone notices anything that I get wrong, please correct me. Also, if you have questions you'd like answered or ideas for posts, feel free to email me (reschkecm@gmail.com) or add comments!

How to parallel park a horse

2008-11-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. This is Cory, and this weekend I felt like I was in driver's ed again. Our good friend the horse trainer (Ike) decided it was time for me to learn how to ride a horse backwards. So he set up a box made up of orange cones, and made me back through them and around them...and around and through them. I'm not sure anyone will be asking me to parallel park their horse, but I did find out I'm pretty good and getting the horse to kick over cones. ...Ok, I don't think I did that badly (at least Ciara tells me I did pretty well).

This horse riding thing is lots of fun, and I think Ciara's got me hooked. Unfortunately for my current income, I think I'm now involved in one of the world's most expensive sports (except formula 1 racing...and possibly fly fishing). Anyway, I'm having a good time, and haven't broken anything yet.

Welcome!!

2008-11-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! We thought it was about time for us to hop on the band wagon and start our own blog so we hope you enjoy it! For our first post we just thought we would let you know what's been going on with us this semester.

Ciara is in the middle of her first semester of a new major and loving it! She changed her major from exercise science to public health and is hoping to graduate next December. She is still working Bed Bath & Beyond as a customer service supervisor and can't believe she has been with the company for over a year and a half already! School and work aside though her favorite thing to do lately (besides spending time with her awesome husband) has been riding. Handsome (her horsey) has been re-located to Utah and Ciara has had waaayyy too much fun being able to ride and jump again.

Cory is still in school too, trying to get a degree in information systems. He's working for BYU doing IT stuff for the Church. He's been trying (sometimes comically) to learn to ride a horse. This past weekend the trainer put him on a horse in a round pen, but took away the reins...he had to (try to) balance on the beast without holding on to much while the trainer chased the horse around with a whip. Fortunately he survived and nobody had a video camera. Other than that life has been pretty much the normal grind.