Beleza

In class I learned the most accurate predictor of falls for the elderly is a previous history of falls. I never learned when someone should start documenting such falls. So, to err on the side of safety, and to avoid possible future litigation, I think it right to report the beginning of my wife's fall history. Enter with me into our pre-dawn bedroom three days ago. The window was open and a chill was in the room. There we were, with blankets over our bodies, praying to start the day, looking like two bears foraging for berries who were probably fast asleep, and therefore, motionless. When Anna finished her prayer, she got up to get ready for her 12 hour shift and I continued to pray/sleep in my bear-crouch. All of the sudden I heard a thud and looked over to see Anna lying motionless on the ground, right next to my closet. I jumped over to her and asked her if she was okay and it tooka good five seconds for her to respond. In classic Anna style, the first response from her was a long laugh. This was the first time I had actually seen someone faint and it was just like the movies. And so begins Anna's medical history of falls. Technically, fainting is outside the scope of a fall, but it still should be noted. Anna is the little engine that could. She goes, goes, and goes. I don't know many people who can work three straight 13.5 hour shifts in the hospital and still have as much energy for life as she

Go! Ok! Go!

This weekend was a fun one with the parents/in-laws. I was able to ride the El Tour de Tucson (no editing this post Anna :) with my Dad and Anna spent the day with Mom, shopping. The best part of the day was our convergence with half of the LDS Saints in Tucson to Rusty's Family Restaurant and Sport's Grille to watch the Utah-BYU game. I polled the members and found most simply opened the phone book looking for a descent place and were attracted to the "family" part of the title. Yes, there still was beer, neon lights, and waitresses that must freeze their tushes off every shift because of their lack of attire. But all eyes were focused on the game and our chicken smothered in teriyaki and pineapple. The Tour was great, long but great. The best motivation came with five miles left of the 109 mile race with a sign that read, verbatim: "Go, OK, Go!" It was so inspiring. It made me think of the scene when William Wallace rallies his troops to face Edward "Longshanks" in Braveheart: "And dying in your beds, years from now, what would you give for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and face your enemies and say, 'you may take our lives, but you'll never take our freedom!." Go, Ok, Go! No, of course my biggest inspiration was my own Anna Montana! It was a fun weekend. Always is when you can ditch the books and play a little. Another highlight of the day was Anna's awesome Minestrone. If you haven't tried it, ask for it the next time you spend an evening with her. Scrumptious.

OK, OK!

So 100% of the people we've asked have known exactly who she is and have been incredulous at the idea of anyone not knowing! Then, to add insult to injury, the book I'm reading (which takes place in Afghanistan!) talks about her and what a big deal she is. I guess I need to broaden my education of world news further than the Yahoo headlines!
Speaking of education...I finally made a (hopefully) official decision about nursing school! The last year and a half has been a roller coaster of trying to find what I want and what can actually happen. But last week I got a call from the program at my hospital offering a place in their program starting in January. It's a quick 14 month program with a job guaranteed at the end. I'm THRILLED! scared out of my mind, but thrilled. Thanks to Spence for being so dang patient with the roller coaster... Nurses (and all students out there) if you have any advice about getting back after an 18 month sabbatical, I'm open!

In a time of polls we offer..."The Poll"

In a friendly exchange on the way home from Stake Conference with Anna I mentioned something about Margaret Thatcher. The conversation continued and we ended up with a bet that the next person we saw would not know who she was when asked about her. Of course, the next two people we asked knew, and responded with a slight "do you think I'm stupid?" roll of the eyes.
So Anna and I are interested. Do you know this lady?

"I'm never hungry after I eat"

It's funny how the brain works, or forgets to work, when fatugue sets in. Makes you feel like a pumpkin with no brains. This blog is titled with my favorite quote of the week I heard after a conversation with my esposa while walking home one dark, late night. But, she has a husband who can make anyone's brain self-destruct. Take Friday. Anna's first official day back at school to attend orientation for her the Nursing Degree. After a sweet morning, the afternoon quickly lost it's momentum when I arrived an hour late to pick her up. Following that, we drove to a place where she could complete her drug test. It was a hot, hot day and Anna was already dehydrated and suffering from the onset of a cold. But, I parked in the wrong parking lot and had to move. Only, the car wouldn't start. Dead battery. So we agreed to rendevouz after her drug test as soon as I could arrange to get a jump. Luckily I did, but she was still in line for her drug test. So I drove to Autozone to pick up a battery. After 15 minutes of awesome customer service, I finally was ready to roll. But then I remembered I gave the credit card to Anna so she could pay for the test. And the supervisor on shift at Autozone wouldn't let me leave collateral if I could leave with the battery. But 10 seconds before I knew this, my last words to Anna before her phone died while she called me from the drug test site were: "I'll come pick you up." So, Anna began the long trek home, and so did I, two miles behind her. I jogged a bit and we met at our doorstep where we collapsed on our bed. This story doesn't read as well as it played out, but it was a fun afternoon! Then we took off to the Hall's home in Mesa to spend the night in prep for Anna's first half-marathon!! It was in Phoenix, on another hot, hot day, and she did awesome!!!!!!! Battling a cold, a nasty race course, and the hot sun, she stormed through Phoenix like a bat out of our last blog. And this was the first time she has ever run longer than 10 miles. Plus she has a crazy job as a patient tech that leaves her with less than half a week to train. What a champ!!!

Tucson Fall

Fall is my favorite season. Everything about it is so comfortable and cozy. Not to mention fall food is my favorite. I was a little nervous about fall this year, seeing as Tucson doesn't exactly have seasons. HOwever, it's turned out to be one of my favorite falls yet as we've discovered "fall stuff" in Tucson. For example, the bats. There's a bridge by our apartment that for some reason becomes the home of hundreds of thousands of bats in the fall. If you go to the bridge at sunset, they all swarm out at once and fly away. It was so creepy and halloween-ish!


Fall in Tucson has also come to mean

*we can bear to have the oven on and cook again. We've made some really good things, if I may say, but my favorite were our donuts...mmmhmmm.

*windy days

*camping trips (as Spence talked about in the last post)

*General Conference!!! it's not particular to Tucson, but it means so much to have that connection to the church when I sometimes feel so displaced from it down here. Wasn't it awesome?!

*canooing in Thatcher (well, and being in Thatcher period!)

*cheap apples, and thus apple pie, apple cake, caramel apples, apple-cheese sandwiches, applesauce, apple crisp, apple cider, lunch apples, marshmallow-chocolate-apples, etc etc etc.

*high school football games....not as super seniors as you may think, but as Spencer's brother, Jake's fan club. And it wasn't just any high school football game. It was the homecoming in Thatcher, where all the families in the city gather for the big game. The stands were filled with little 7 year olds whose hair was died Thatcher High green, coaches I mean dads, and 30-40 year alums. I love football games. And I love Thatcher.

*orchard picking, which I'd never done before. If things don't work out for nursing school, I will definitely grow my own orchard and cook pies all day, just like Annie, this lady whose orchard we visited.


Anyway...it's been a really fun fall, even without red leaves or chilly nights. Even in Tucson, it's still my favorite season!
And please let us know any fun fall traditions you have that could be done in a warm desert--we'd love to try more!

General Hitchcock

Anna and I have to run away from Tucson to see each other with our work and school shedules. The sad thing is our schedules are self-imposed. Why don't we just take our money and run to Tahiti? Or better yet, to see Edinburgh? Instead, we sign up for this medical school/nursing school mumbo jumbo and get caught in a web of commitment. Actually, we couldn't be more grateful. And as one of the faculty always points out to us nearly evey Monday morning, "for every one of you in this class there are five that didn't get in." After that dish of humble pie we can sit pretty comfortably in our Tucson garrett and dream of our future visit to the castles in the clouds.
But, we do have Mt. Lemmon. Anna and I had a great Friday night camping up in the cool Pines. We made a huge fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. We could've topped off our meal with Keystone Light that some neighbors offered to barter our firewood for, but Anna and I are already too tipsy as drivers anyway that we figured we shouldn't drive any closer to the edge on the way home. I've been sounding apostate as of late because I feel apostate for leaving my wife so often to go study at school. So, Ho ho ho, to the bottle may we never go :)
Life is great in Tucson. We're going to try and catch pics of bats tonight so stay tuned...
We love you all.
the bird and shoe fly

ONE YEAR!

Spencer and I had our first anniversary on Sunday. I can't believe it, but I can't decide if that's because it's gone so fast or because it feels like we've always been married. Either way, it called for a celebration...
We kicked it off the night before with dinner at Mimi's Cafe (where we also went for our first date...thank you Mo and Adam!). It was delicious and of course, very nostalgic (and thus romantic). Sunday we had a blessed day of rest.

For dinner, we packed a picnic and went to the prettiest sunset view in all of Tucson, possibly in all the west. As fabulous of a photographer as Spencer is, these still don't quite do it justice--it was phenomenal.
Then, we came home to, of course, eat our year-old cake. I was totally expecting freezer-burned hash. Surprisingly, it was every bit as good as it was a year ago! I couldn't believe it, and I wish we had saved more for every anniversary! PLus, it was all the better since this time we could shove it in each other's faces unabashed...


Anyway, I am so grateful for this last year, which has been the coolest of my life. Marriage has not only made every thing so much mre fun, it has stretched me and helped me grow in ways I couldn't have imagined. And I am so grateful for Spencer--for his OJs, his crazy curls, his Legolas-build and speed :), his humility, his constant love for me, even his crazy food concoctions. Spence--you are the fudge to my sundae!

Even if you don't have the ridiculous Journey obsession I do, this is awesome! I swear there will be a movie about it someday...

The 21st.

Anna's Big Birthday is tomorrow. As I combed my mind for how to celebrate, my thoughts turned to how we would celebrate a wordly 21st. After seeing the following post on the "student affairs" website for Virginia Tech, I began to see what I'm missing for marrying the worthy gal I did:

The Risks:
One-third of women experienced a blackout during their 21st birthday celebration. To avoid blackouts avoid drinking quickly.
26% of women vomited. To avoid vomiting altogether consume fewer than 6 drinks.
30% of women had an estimated blood alcohol level = .28, putting them at risk for serious complications from alcohol poisoning.
To join most students who avoid these risks, take it slow, pace yourself, and take some steps to moderate consumption.
from: http://www.alcohol.vt.edu/21stbirthday/vtdrinkingfacts.html

Anna, the grass is always greener with you...Happy Birthday!! We better raise our blood chocolate milk level to at least .28 tomorrow!

One of the funnest parts of my job is seeing the cute, faithful spouses of my elderly patients. They're always so excited to ask how long I've been married so they can tell me about their 50, 60, 70 years together. Adorable--I can't wait to get to that point. So today there was another one of those moments...sort of. We got a call from the lobby from a husband of one of our patients (wearing suspenders, thick glasses, and carrying a cane) asking if he could come back to see his wife. But our ICU gets kind of confusing because we have three units all with the same numbering. So he, with very poor eye-sight, just asked to be guided toward bed 8. He found it, rushed in, and planted a kiss on the face of the patient lying there, only to find that it was not his wife! Rather, it was a young man! He was absolutely mortified, but I felt even worse for the young man...come in to get your pneumonia taken care of, and next thing you know, strange men are coming in to your room to kiss you! Luckily, everyone involved had very good senses of humor, so we could laugh about it.

Salt Lake

So Spencer and I just got back from a fabulous family reunion in Utah. I hope you all know I adore Tucson. Nothing beats the incredible lightning/thunder monsoons, the enormous rainbows, the desert smell, or the relaxed feeling that perpetually hangs over the city (since more than half of its population is retired) . But Salt Lake still strikes the "home" part of me because
-the mountains are so sudden and close they could almost fall on you

-the freshly cut lawns and flowers full of petunias or whatever make the whole city smell like a greenhouse
-the city is full of dogs, not cats...sorry Sally!
-December or July, you can always see snow somewhere
-it has a usable freeway!
-along with the greenhouse smell, there is always the BBQ smell in the evenings
-the tinkertoy downtown

-white streetlights (it sounds like a little thing, but they only allow yellow ones here in Tucson because of the nearby Telescope, so it always looks like the setup for a scary movie in the dim light...)
-brick or wooden houses with slanted roofs, ivy growing up the sides, a lawn in front, and a porch swing
-car radios blast country more frequently than Spanish rap
-there are actual creeks and canals, rather than creek and canal beds
-I walked to the gas station by my house for candy everyday of the summer until I was nine
-Saturday mornings you wake up to the sound of lawn-mowers
-Quaking Aspens
-the sound of crickets at night
-the view from Wasatch Boulevard
-and...not that I'm complaining, but getting above 105 is unusual up there!
Anyway, who knows where we'll end up--Tucson, Boston, Portland, or maybe Jamaica. But in addition to wherever I'm living, I'll alway call Salt Lake home...

Independence Day

Anna and I have become loners again. But we are alone together and life has never been better. After coming home from Utah I took off to Thatcher for a few days while Anna stayed to work in Tucson. After our time apart we realized how much we missed making fun of each other and have been in heaven ever since our reunion! We had a fun summer day yesterday. We woke up late, read books all day, ate watermelon and otter pops, watched the monsoon storms, strolled around the upscale "La Encantada" mall in the foothills in the evening, and watched the lighting roll across the valley. The monsoon season rocks!! We came home and I crashed as Anna stayed up till at least one a.m. finishing "The Kiterunner." Anna said she is glad to have read it, though wasn't always glad to be reading it. I felt the same. We woke up this great 4th of July at 4:44 am to go mountain biking at fantasy island. Last night's storm left the trail wet and we hopped off our bikes at the end caked in dirt! It was a ton of fun. We got home by 7:30 and had Orange Julius and are now preparing for fireworks (see pictures). Happy fourth everyone!

THE Dairy Queen

I love those moments in life that could fit perfectly into a disney animated movie. On Saturday afternoon we were finishing up 16 hours of cub scout camp over two days, in 100 degree weather, when we decided to take the cubbies out to DQ. Let me back track a little to set up the scene...
Anna had a busy week. She worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Three 12 hour shifts in the ICU with patients calling to attend to their every need, even if it meant re-arranging the pillow. But it's usually not that bad. Most of the time it involves cleaning up vomit or poop. And after her day, which involves nothing more than one 30 minute break when she must cram in lunch and all personal needs (and she still calls her husband), she then has the half-an-hour drive home in Tucson traffic. For all future visitors to Tucson, beware, this is traffic inferno. In fact, I think Dante received inspiration for his Inferno while having a vision of the future traffic in Tucson, or so the rumor goes. Anyway, Anna slept heartily Monday night and woke up at 6 Tuesday to head off to young women's camp for the next three days. She was THE leader on duty, in charge of everything and everyone in the ward. The three-day stint ended with an overnight hike out on the mountain with a furious, cold wind knocking down the girls' tents. Then she was whisked home only to jump into cub camp on Friday and Saturday. Oh, and in between this, she took a midterm for her online English course. Somethings are inherently exciting in life. Online English courses are not. So this brings us back to the story's climax of my own Dairy Queen...
With windows rolled down and the sun following suit, we headed West down Prince Road (ironic) to Dairy Queen. Unsure of its exact location, we kept a lookout. But with the week in the sun, we were simply lethargic. Kind of like when the Utes battle against Bronco's Sons of Helaman. So as we and the cubs were melting away in our four-door, pontiac grand-am, our vigilant Queen spotted DQ on the left-side of the road. With more energy than a firecracker, Anna shot out her arm and yelled out like our very own Mowgli in Jungle Book would do, "Dairy Queen!!! There it is!!!." And that, ladies and gentleman, was my golden moment in the setting sun. There to my right was my sweating Dairy Queen, who has worked harder in the last week than I ever have in my life. After pulling out the drive-thru, you can guess, we lived happily ever after...
...until our ice cream ran out.

DITCH!

We woke up Monday to a gorgeous day, definitely too gorgeous to be cooped up in a classroom. So, as we said in high-school, we SLUFFED! We packed a picnic and stole up to Mount Lemon. We spent most the time driving with the windows down, enjoying the cooler air, but we also played in the creek, walked a "tight-rope", climbed a tree, and hiked around a little bit. The only downside was that we had to come back!

MORE BOSTON

I've completely slacked on blogging lately! We've had so much fun--and this has all been during school! We'll see what happens when school's out :)
So Spencer talked a little about Boston, but I wanted to fill in details and add the pictures...But first, I have to thank him! He is the one who made it possible for us to go, qualifying for the marathon and all. Boston is my favorite East Coast City I've been to, so it was a dream come true for me! And he did FABULOUS, finishing in under 3 hours! Finishing at all is unfathomable to me, and going that fast the whole time is just crazy in my book. He also got to run with Lance Armstrong for about 6 miles (then, naturally got bored and decided to pass him). Perhaps most impressive of all is that, after all that running and amid all the cramping, he survived the forever long plane ride home that night! What a trooper! Besides running and making the whole thing possible, he also made it just so fun. I'd have to say he's my favorite traveling partner, too!
So anyway, about the trip....these are Spencer's wonderful cousins, the Frandsens, who let us stay with them. We had a blast hanging out with them and were so grateful that they made the trip possible!

This is my favorite street in Boston, Commonwealth Ave, aka Millionaire Ave. It's all these old cool houses, lined with incredible blossoms, etc. I picked out my house for when we move there...haha

While walking through downtown (along the Freedom Trail), we ran into some of Spencer's family friends...random! It was exciting to see familiar faces among all the thousands, and we had fun catching up.

We kept getting lost in Italy, I wonder why?! (However, their amazing gelattos well compensated for confusing street signs)

We kept coming back to this part of the harbor, Long Wharf, because it was so beautiful and so peaceful.

I had never had much seafood...and what I had I've tried to forget. But, we could not leave Boston without having seafood. So we hit lunch at Legal's on Long Wharf. It was INCREDIBLE! We got an entree with swordfish, mahi-mahi, salmon, scallops, and shrimp, every one of which was divine. My plate was gone in two minutes--I think I'm forever converted to seafood! Plus, they were super nice--I nudged the bar holding up the canopy over their patio, which knocked out one of their light bulbs and sent it bouncing on other's tables and finally on the floor--and they didn't kick me out; in fact, they laughed!


We toured the US Constitution--SO COOL! If Spencer and I suddenly disappear, it's probably because we hijacked the ship and are pirates somewhere on the Atlantic...

CHEERS!(We're almost getting hit by a car as we take the picture, thus the awkward angle...)


Our gorgeous bike ride....

And finally...the champ in his silver cape! I wish you could see all the crowds in the background. Marathon Monday is a holiday, so the whole city comes out and cheers on the runners. It makes it all so exciting. And Spencer, again was fabulous! He finished in the top 1200 out of 30,000! I was/am a very proud Mrs.

Anyway...it was an incredible trip. Thanks to all who made it possible! And thanks to all who endured this forever long post!

Bean Town!!

I wanted to post my top ten reasons why Anna is my favorite traveling partner as well as my favorite partner, period.
10) She laughs a lot (Anna Nichole Smith :)
9) People open up to us and give us free things when they see her.
8) She can ride a bike with tunnel vision.
7) She reminds me that as long as your having a good time, it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing.
6) She always is having a good time
5) She appreciates little flower boxes in windows ( I don't appreciate them but she makes me want to someday)
4) She laughs a lot (and to make this one different, she loves American history) Ask us anything about the USS Constitution and she'll know it!!
3) She loves good food (this is impt. to me because when I travel alone I usually take a can of tuna with some packaged relish)
2) She's more into people and places than souveniers.
1) She has showed me once more in Boston that as long as I know she's at the end of my literal or figurative 26.2 miles, I will endure so I can see her. Love you bird!

An Ode to My Woman Warrior

<
She wakes up day and night,
The pain rises like full-moon tides.
She's the woman who will fight.
Making sure everyone else is all right.

She withholds from pain medication,
to make sure I'm having a good time,
She'd rather suffer while on vacation,
Than take Vicoden, oh, she's so fine!

She's my woman warrior,
the former ms. boyer!!

Just Because it Looks Good

Sixth Months!!

It's funny. I used to love to write, and write a lot. But since Anna does such a darn good job at bloggin' and what not, I have felt like all I do now is get in the way of greatness. She really does do it all, and does it all well. Right now she's making Chicken Parmagiani, slaving away while I relax at the desk. We've had a great weekend. We went out and bought a Mountain Bike so now we can ride together again on the great Southwestern trails. Yesterday we hit "Fantasy Island." Anna braved it down "the shaft," but after St. George this was a cake walk! It's heating up here in Tucson slowly. We're enjoying life. Anna's spending her week at St. Joseph's hospital, and I'm at school. We look forward to a great Spring Break, though it will our first week apart :(

TAGGED!

These "fill in the blank" blogs are some of my favorites to read on other people's blogs because I always learn something new about them, even my own sisters'. However, despite my love for reading other people's, I"ve never actually responded to one of the "tags". So, here goes...

Places I've lived:
-Holladay, Ut
-Provo, Ut
-Laie, Hi (two months, does that count?)
-Uganda, Africa (one month, does that count?)
-Currently Tucson, Az


Hobbies:
-Mountain biking, hiking, trying new recipes, waterskiing, reading novels, applying to different nursing schools throughout the western United States :) and music
(this was our most recent hike in the tucson mountains...we caught a beautiful sunrise!)


















Favorite songs right now:
-Anything Regina Spektor
-Antyhing Matt Wertz
-"King Without A Crown" by that Jewish Rabbi Rapper
-On Sundays, the "Persuading Jane" Soundtrack

What I was doing ten years ago:
-Thriving fifth grader: painting my nails blue, wearing glitter on my cheeks, writing notes in class, dancing, harping, reading Anne of Green Gables, listening to Backstreet Boys, and blushing when I made eye contact with boys.

What I was doing one year ago:
-Preparing for my mission-ha. I was also applying for BYU nursing, teaching Anatomy Lab, learning about anime from roomates, diving for doughnuts in the Provo dumpsters, dating a little, and rejoicing the births of three new baby nieces. There was this nice boy who often took me out, and who I always looked forward to being with--the type I might want to date seriously if I weren't going on a mission (hehe, little did I know...
things aren't always as you plan).

A few of my quirks:
-I get really nervous to talk on the phone--it usually takes a pep talk from Spencer for me to spontaneously check in on someone or make plans over the phone.
-I love to eat the powder mixes of hot chocolate, cake, brownie, jello, even Bisquick. In fact, I usually like the powdery beginnings more than the final product.
-I love FLAT root beer and Dr. Pepper.
-I am one of the few girls who rarely shops by choice.
3 things for which I am SO grateful:
-My Savior and all that His atonement means
-Spencer J!
-Good people who make my life as happy as it is...

Anyway...there's a little about me. Now I tag anyone who reads this (who hadn't tagged me first).