THE ZOO!

For my company's summer party they paid for everyone and their families to go to the zoo, which was awesome! John and I have been talking about going to the zoo all summer so it was reallly exciting when we found out that's where my company party would be. They rented out the whole zoo so it wasn't crowded at all and they had a delicious catered dinner for us. It was a great night!

John standing underneath a tiger!

We got super close to these giraffes...they were almost leaning over the fence!

Penguins!

Zuri's (the baby elephant) mom!

Zuri! She was super cute and entertaining to watch!

Family Game Night

Last weekend we had a game night with my brother and sister. It was their last free weekend before school started so we thought we'd try to do something fun to celebrate their last days of freedom. We had dinner (and I even made a vegetarian dish for my sister) and then we played Clue. That was a lot of fun, but things didn't get crazy until we started playing Guesstures, as you can see from the photos/videos!

Fried Plantains & Other News

Lately I have been experimenting A TON with new recipes, so when my grandma gave us some extra fruits and veggies she had and there was a plantain among them, I decided to look up some recipes and see what we could do with it! I found a really good/simple one for making a plantain into a sweet treat for dessert, and all you need is oil, sugar and cinnamon!

First you slice the plantain into small pieces

Then you fry them in oil for about 6-8 minutes, or until carmelized

After the plantains are done frying, put them on a plate with a paper towel. Next, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the plantains.

They should look like this!

Finally, enjoy!

When you're all done eating, your plate should look like this!

In other news, John and I have been super busy now that I'm working. I don't have all the free time I did before to clean, cook and run all the errands, so we've had to do a little adjusting but it's been very fun. We get to do everything together now which is way better anyway! We have made time to have a lot of fun too, though.

Last Thursday we went to the free concert in the park in Salt Lake with John's friends Cody & Taylor. It was a blast! The artist there was Matisyahu--a Jewish reggae/rap artist. I've only heard one of his songs, but it was a lot of fun! We plan to all go to the rest of the concerts this summer which I'm really excited for!

This last weekend was fun as well. We went to the Salt Lake County Fair with John's mom and got lots of freebies and had lunch. We hung out with John's friend from work and his wife who are both from Sri Lanka. It was so much fun to talk to them about their culture and see how much things differ! And we had Sunday dinner with my grandparents which is always fun because my grandma is a great cook.

We are finally starting to feel completely, 100 percent settled in. Life is good!

My First Day!

Today was my first day at Nelson Labs. It was such a great day, and I am so excited to be working for such an awesome company. We were served breakfast from Great Harvest and then had a catered lunch with the CEO and founder of the company....and that's just the food! I know I am really going to like this job.

Since today was my first day, John thought it would be funny to take a "first day" picture before I left for work. That explains why I look like a first grader headed off to her first day of school in the pic...haha. But it's great that I have such an awesome husband who supports me in my career decisions. I think he is more excited that I started work today than I am!

Counting Our Blessings

Lately I have been thinking about how blessed John and I are. As most married couples know, when you are first married you are dirt poor! This is no exception for me and John. As of right now we have enough to pay all of our bills and buy food and gas, but when it comes to using money to have any kind of fun, that is just out of question.

But we're not complaining. We have had to be creative when it comes to going on dates or finding something fun to do on the weekends. Thank goodness we live in a great area! Our apartment complex has a pool and hot tub, and all through the area are several ponds and streams with lots of ducks in them to feed. We recently signed up for Netflix (a free trial) and have been using that to our advantage to have plenty of movie nights!

Luckily, I've been able to get two jobs within the last month that will really help us out. I start my main job at Nelson Labs next week where I will be a reporting specialist. I'm not sure what all my job duties are, but I just know I am writing reports for clients.

And I started my second job this week. I'm a reporter for the Valley Journals, and I am covering the Kearns area. I have already met a lot of great people and feel like I've been really involved in the community. Tonight I covered the Kearns Night Out on Crime, and although it was raining the whole time, I had fun shooting pictures of the police officers and firefighters. I don't really need a second job, but I love writing and journalism. I know this will be a great way to keep up the skills I learned in college and may even be the doorway to more journalism opportunities for me in the future.

As for John, he has been busy working (sometimes 50 hours a week!) and attending school. He is set to receive his associate's degree in November. I am so excited/proud of him because of how hard he is working. He is taking a really difficult math class (can you tell from the pic below??) that I can't help him with at all, yet he is still keeping a positive attitude.

We are really blessed for everything that has happened lately. The timing of receiving my jobs was perfect, and the community we live in is great for people who don't have lots of money to spend on fun! We are so grateful!