it might be too early for this

but dallin and i decided to start our garden last night. we know it's too cold outside to grow anything just yet, but since it's inside, and since we have limited space, this tiny little garden should work pretty well. the humidity that seems to dwell in our apartment will make this the perfect little greenhouse!

we planted lemon basil, oregano, chives, and cilantro. these are some of our favorite herbs and we figure its something we can do to not only save money, but make the earth a greener place!

we figured we'd share our progress with you. this is our garden after day one.
we thought about getting chickens too, but i'm not so sure our landlord would love that...

Running "Barefoot"

So, I'm back! I know yall have missed my hilarious post so here is one that will hopefully benefit your health and running. As of late, there have been many discussions on N.P.R, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, and last but not least Christopher McDougal's book, Born to Run. In these discussions this question is asked, "Is running barefoot good for you?" Okay, I know what you may be thinking, everyone knows that mom doesn't let you outside without shoes, that is true. But here is a crazy idea, running barefooted is the way humans are supposed to run.

By ditching your running shoes, runners can develop a better stride, improve their distance, and greatly reduce their risk of sport related injuries. I suffer from acute tendinitis and planters fasciitis which is painful and happens when I run. The claim that running barefoot can ultimately eliminate running injuries and wont destroy your joints was good enough for me. So, I decided to try it out.

Now, there is a way that you can have the same feeling of running barefoot without worrying about sharp glass, dog poop, or nails while striding outside barefooted. The answer, Vibram Five Fingers! That's right, they totally look like hobbit feet. I have decided that since running completely barefoot is out of the question due to the weather and living in the city in Utah I've done the next best thing. So far, running has been fun; which to some of you may be surprising to hear coming from me. I have only just started and so far I love it! I would recommend this to anyone, especially those who may have bad feet or joint problems.

If you do start, take it easy, don't just pound out 5 miles on the first go. Walk around a bit, jog a half a mile and build up your endurance, for feets sake.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

As requested (by 2 of you), here is the recipe for our new favorite cookie recipe.

They are delicious!

For those of you who love cookies, you'll love these for sure!

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup Craisins
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
• Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Yield: approximately 2-1/2 dozen cookies.

(SEE MORE POSTS BELOW!)

a triple adventure

this last weekend we celebrated dallin's birthday, valentine's day, and the anniversary of when dallin proposed. dallin surprised me by taking me to stay in a castle! we stayed at the castle creek inn bed & breakfast. that night we ate dinner at EPIC and it was delicious! and the next morning, we were served an amazing gormet breakfast. it was a very fun weekend to celebrate lots of awesome things!

just some regular adventures

i've been waiting until i had something exciting to post about, but that just isn't happening, so i figured i'd just give a quick update on what is going on with us. school is going really well for dallin, he is working so hard and getting good grades as a result. he is also working everyday in the afternoon and then does homework. he works so hard and it's so nice to have him around.

since i've been working in murray, it has been fun to come home on my lunch break to eat with dallin. it's a nice way to break up the work day and to spend some extra time with my hubby!

we've had a lot of fun the past month doing lots of different things. we've been climbing of course. we hung out with dal's cousin nate and had a great time, and kati came up and spent the night at our house and watched us sing in church the next day.

my mom taught me how to make some adorbable baby blankets. i have lots of friends having baby's so i figured this would be a fun thing to learn and it's turning out really well! i can't wait to start on the next one. it's green with little frogs. i'm all pinked out for now...

we've been watching lots of foreign films thanks to our new source of free movie rentals (the library!) and our favorite so far has been a japanese movie called departures. seriously, everyone should watch it. check your library, netflix it, whatever you need to, this is great.

we've spent time getting to know our neighbors. tyler and casey live just below us and they invited us over for FHE last week, we played some fun games and just had a fun time hanging out. casey is my visiting teacher, and i've really just had a great time getting to know her. she is one of those people that is just really easy to talk to and they are both just fun to be around.

we have a new favorite cookie recipe! dallin found this recipe for white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies. they are SO delicious. we made about 4 dozen this past sunday, we gave about two dozen away, but i'm pretty sure we just ate the rest, they are so good! on the website, the tag line below the recipe is that these are quick and healthy cookies. quick, yes. health, i'm not so sure. i mean, they do have craisins and oats in them, but then they have about 2 cups of sugar and a cup of butter too, so i'm not really sure they are really benefiting our waistlines much :)

so dallin and i bought some new cereal (wait for it, wait for it friends, this story has a point. we aren't desperate enough to start blogging about grocery shopping, yet...) anyway, just check out the picture of this corn flake. no that is not a miniature triscuit, it's just a giant flake! yeah, i can see the shock on your faces now. we are officially the coolest people for capturing the world's largest corn flake in a picture at our own apartment. soak in the beauty. you're jealous, i know. it's okay.

look at my new name tag!

for those of you who don't know, i recently became the store manager for Standard Optical in Murray! it's been a really fun adventure so far!

The things I loved about our trip to Arizona.

It has been a long time since my last post. That is why I'm going to feed our fans some juicy details of our trip to AZ. Warning some of this material is not suitable for children. :)

- Kissing Becki in the airport

- Kissing Becki in the airplane

- Kissing Becki flying over the Grand Canyon

- Kissing Becki when we landed in Phoenix

- The warm wonderful weather of Arizona in the winter time. Yes, it was 70 degrees

everyday.... And yes it was wonderful.... And yes, we wish we could have stayed longer.

- Seeing my brother Ammon and his wife Jes an

d their wonderful little girl Emma. She is so cute!

- Walking around with no jacket or sweater because it was too hot in

January to wear one.

- Going on walks with everyone.

- Hearing the words :"kucky" and "dadu" from Emma every ten seconds.

- Going to the movies with Ammon

- Going to the Phoenix Art Museum

- Hiking part of Camel Back

Mountain

-Going swimming and hot tubbing outside

- Laying on the grass reading a book

- Cooking food for everyone and having food cooked for us. Thanks Jes!

- Becki got to can chicken meat with Jes, some good girl bonding time. Nice!

- Kissing Becki flying home and holding her hand while she rests

- The best part was spending time with my wonderful wife and best friend Becki. I love you babe! Thanks for making this an adventure!

There is nothing in the world like going on an adventure with the people you love. And if you haven't done something lately we would recommend going to Arizona in the winter. Like they say Arizona is for lovers!