Recap 2011 and Resolutions 2012

What a year. This year, more than ever in my life, my faith and patience has been pushed. We have stretched and grown together a lot this year. It has helped me to realize that my fears and concerns are always addressed when we put our trust in the Lord.

Last year at this time I was in my last semester of nursing school. I was about to start my preceptorship in the Oncology unit at LDS Hospital. I had just started as a tech at Primary Children's. I was terrified. I didn't know how I was going to handle my last semester and had NO idea what I was going to do after graduation. Zach was starting to think about the LSAT and still had a year and a half left of his undergrad.

Since then I tackled my preceptorship with success, graduated, and started as an RN on the Surgical unit at Primary's. I can honestly say I have my dream job. How lucky am I to be a pediatric nurse and love going to work every single day. So many blessings have come from this job.

Since then Zach KILLED the LSAT and we are done applying to schools. We have been accepted to 5 schools so far and Zach has a big interview at another tomorrow. He is starting his final semester of his undergrad at the U. I will be a proud little wife to get to see him walk at graduation this spring.

What a year we have ahead of us. This summer we will realize so many things that we have been planning, discussing, thinking about for the past 5 years. In a few short months we will be packing up our little condo (which we adore! I might cry a little bit!) and heading off for a 3 year adventure. It could be in Boston, MA or Provo, UT but we are excited for the next year and all of its possibilities.

I did pretty well with my resolutions last year. I'm a much better flosser, we go to the temple a little more, and I passed the NCLEX. I don't blog very much but that's a work in progress. In 2012 I want to:

1. Be a better wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend. I want to be more present. I want to be there for my family more. I adore them. With not knowing where we will be for the next three years I need to make time count.

2. Read my scriptures. I'm already doing better with this one but not good enough. Even if it's just a verse some days, I need to squeeze it in.

3. Lose some weight. Working those 12 hour graveyard shifts make me snacky. I just want my jeans to fit me a little better.

4. Think about being a mom. We're getting there.

5. Cook more. I love to cook but I don't make enough time for it. It'll help us lose those extra pounds too.

6. Go to the temple more. Still not where I'd like us to be.

Whew! I CAN DO THIS! See 2011 resolutions here.

The Tree

The tree is up! It officially feels like Christmas.

Thanksgiving and Toothaches

Where do I begin with Thanksgiving?

This year was a little different. My Grandma Broderick (my mom's mom) passed away the day before Thanksgiving. My mom was with her as she passed away and even though we have been expecting this, it hasn't been easy. I have lots of pictures from the funeral and that deserves its own post for later and so I won't say much more about that for now.

Despite missing my grandma and feeling a loss for her, we still managed to enjoy being together as a family. I look forward to cooking with my mom every year and it was nice to be with her during this hard time. We cooked up a feast all morning and ate with the Garrick family around noon. My aunt and uncle on the Garrick side, and my aunt and uncle on the Broderick side had Thanksgiving with us also. It was so fun seeing everyone and feeling the closeness of family. We ate in the playroom (hence many toys in the background). After dinner (or lunch, however you look at it), we headed over to the Smart's to have dessert and watch football. What's Thanksgiving without a football game?

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Jenn and baby Spencier

Aunt Judy and Uncle Boyd

Ireland, Logan, and Justin

The Coburn Fam (Ryan, Trish, Alex, Brad, and Ethan)

The girly table- my gorgeous nieces

And then, for an unexpected holiday surprise, Zach got an emergency root canal yesterday. So much for a flat screen for Christmas-- our insurance doesn't start until January 1st!!

While he has been a good sport about it, I'm trying not to be a Grinch.

Rockin' it.

1. We have applied to 19 law schools at this point, and we ARE DONE. Ahh, it feels nice. Now to sit around and wait for schools to show us some love. We have already been accepted to two schools so at least we know we're going somewhere!

2. Today was my first shift on my own as a nurse at Primary Children's. It really could not have gone better. I had two patients and it was only a half shift so it went really fast and my kids were great. As one of my coworkers says, it really is a bragging right to work at PCMC and I feel incredibly lucky to be where I'm at.

3. We went to the New Found Glory concert on 11/11/11. When Zach and I were dating, Ally Bott Bennett bought her and I tickets to the NFG concert for my birthday. On our way down to Salt Lake for the show, I won two more tickets on the radio. I called Zach up and told him to drive down and bring a friend. The four of us went to the show and it was SO awesome!! We've been wanting to see them again ever since. The Wonder Years opened for them, and they are one of Zach's favorite bands so that was a fun as well. We chilled in the back on a platform so we were higher than everyone else and didn't get moshed or sweated on. Concerts are stinky places and we're too old to get crazy in the crowd. Some photos:

4. Someone stole my burlap wreath. I'm pissed.

My Cute Fall Burlap Wreath

I was feeling crafty and pinning my life away on Pinterest when I came across this wreath to buy on Etsy. I thought, "Hey, I'm gonna buy that!" Until I saw that it was $59.00. $59.00!!! With $14.00 shipping!

Nope. I decided to make it. And I'm in love with it. It cost me $5.99 for my burlap at Hobby Lobby (would have been even cheaper with a coupon), and then a free wicker grapevine type wreath from my craft partner in crime, Summ. I cut the burlap into 1" strips or so (no one was measuring here) and tied them closely all over the wicker. Tied with a Halloween bow and bam! Dressed up my door! I have a shiny red ribbon to swap out when Halloween is over so I can keep it out through November.

The Past Couple Months and Looking Ahead

We have had a busy couple months!

First, our anniversary. We had such a fun one. This was our four year anniversary and we took it easy this year. We went and saw The Help (LOVE!) and ate at El Farol which is a Smart family favorite. I got some be-yootiful flowers from my sweet hubby. I think for our five year we might actually stay somewhere. We were just content to spend some time together NOT filling out law school applications.

A little blast from the past. This was taken on our Spring Break when we were dating. March 2007.

Also, here is a link from my first blog post when we were first married. We look like kids!

Next, my birthday. Zach and I had one of the funnest dates we have had in a long time. We went to Joe Morley's and got ribs (my fav!!) and Zach got brisket. After we went to see Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. We dearly love scary movies and it was SUCH a fun one to see. I screamed out loud in the theater. And I got a gorgeous watch. With my family, we went to lunch at Sawadee (If you haven't been there, go. A reasonably priced Thai restaurant that is delicious and a fun atmosphere. We love it.) and then shopping/pedicures with my mom. Tonight we went to Macaroni Grill with Zach's parents and the waitress brought me chocolate cake and then slipped in an entire loaf of bread with my leftovers. Bless this girl. I can't wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow.


In other news, we are applying to law schools. We are still hoping to get into BYU but these are the other schools we are also applying to:
Arizona State
U of Washington
Cal Berkeley
UC Davis
BYU
Utah
U of Texas
U of Alabama
U of Georgia
Notre Dame
Ohio State
U of North Carolina
Vanderbilt

Boston University
Boston College

Florida State University

Emory University

University of Virginia

University of Southern California

We are hoping to know by Christmas. Any of these will do. I could definitely do Boston or Texas. Those would be SUPER fun. And you would come to visit, right?

I also start as an RN tomorrow on my own unit (which is the Surgical Unit) at Primary Children's. I dearly love it there and the people that I work with. I can't wait to get started, but I will also miss being a tech.

Zach is in his last year of his undergrad (HOORAY!!!) and we feel like we are moving quickly into exciting but scary times. We keep trying to remind ourselves that we will look back on this time of our lives as something that was a crossroads but so exciting and fun. We just can't wait to see what the future holds and where we will end up!

Mini Cherry Pies

I know that a lot of people out there are not cherry pie people. Or even pie people. But I love pie. Especially warm cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. I bought a ton of cherries, because they looked delish at the store and they are on sale everywhere for cheap right now. My cherries were starting to get soft and I knew we wouldn't eat them in time, so I thought....pie? Don't mind if I do.

Here's where I'm proud of myself. I used Our Best Bites pie crust and crumbly topping, but I made up my own filling and technique. I am such a Betty Crocker these days. :)

I didn't have a pie tin/plate to bake a pie in. I thought about doing the pie in a jar, but I only had two tiny jars. So I decided...why not in a muffin tin?

Here's the filling that I made:

3 Cups of Bing Cherries, Pitted (awesome tutorial for pitting cherries here)

You use a skewer or chopstick and pop it right out! Easy as pie! Ha!

3 Tablespoons of Flour

3 Tablespoons of Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Butter

A capful of Vanilla Extract

A Few Shakes of Cinnamon

I mashed up my cherries just a little as I mixed all of these together.

Then after rolling out my pie crust, I used a glass and cut out circles. I pushed the crust circles down into each muffin cup with my fingers. Then, filled with my filling and topped with the crumbly topping. I baked them for 40 minutes on 350 and the crust was PERFECT and FLAKY! The best part about pie to me, is having lots of crust. Doing them in the muffin tins makes for a good crust to filling ratio.

Easy and so good with vanilla bean ice cream. Mmmm.