Piano Time!

    I know I know I keep telling everyone how crazy busy, boring, and studious our lives our for this big Spring Quarter and I am sure you guys just roll your eyes thinking we are lying out of our teeth....maybe we are??? Trust me we aren't it literally sucks, but only 8 more weeks of this nonsense!  Yes, this girl here is counting down every day.  Anyways we were able to give 2 hours to some fun last weekend.  The Dental program here at Midwestern did a fundraiser for their class and since pretty much all dentists are Mormon they got none other than John Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson aka The Piano Guys to come and do a concert! IT WAS AMAZING!!! The best 2 hours ever! Ryan and I did not want it to end (not just because we didn't want to go back to studying) but the music was amazing.  Ryan is always playing John Schmidt piano songs and I have all of his cds.  If you have never heard of them YouTube them now!  Phenomenal!  John Schmidt is an amazing pianist and Steven Nelson is the most talented musician ever, he plays the cello and about 9 other instruments.

     Needless to say we have all of The Piano Guys cds now and all of Steven Nelson's solo cello cds, seriously phenomenal!  Here is a link to go and watch one of my favorite songs called Moonlight by Nelson, he plays the drums, piano, cello, and electric cello for this whole song!
   
     One of my favorite things about that night was to see the joy and emotion these guys have when playing.  Like I have said before Ryan has way more music ability then me but I can play the piano well and I tell you I seriously have never been more inspired in my life (even more inspired then to play college ball) to become a better pianist and to have music fill my whole life.  I love that it is something that Ryan and I both share and have in common.

     On a random side note, do not worry the Leprechauns came to our house to celebrate St. Patty's day and left me with this treasure.....haha Ryan and his Pot O' Gold.

The Last Fun Weekend

     Well, we conquered the first week of one of the biggest quarters for both Ryan and I.  Only 10 more weeks to go haha but who is counting?  Ryan was lucky enough to not have his usual Monday morning test the next week, so we decided to try and do as little of homework possible (enough to just prepare us for the next week) and have a fun weekend.  And folks that is exactly what we did!  The fun weekend started off on Thursday for us by going to the Mesa Temple!  This weather down here is so perfect right now and the temple grounds are beautiful to walk around.  Who wouldn't want to start out their weekend by going here?

     Then on Friday after class I got to do a little bit of sunbathing out at the pool while Ryan was still in school.....Yes family on Friday Ryan actually has to go to class (mandatory) so since I get out earlier then him I caught some rays without my books and just relaxed (it was amazing! I was actually like a Real Person at the pool! Not a student!)....

     Next, we went to the movies and watched The Vow.  Absolutely loved by the both of us!  What an amazing storyline.  Loved even more that it was a true story and that it really shows what it means to Love in every moment of life.  Yes I am a sucker for a good love story but when my hubby admits he loved it to, it's got to be a good one to see.  Love these 2 actors as well.

     After the great movie we went and topped off the evening with of nothing but the best....In-N-Out Burger!  It was so good....actually that is an understatement....Amazing.  Of course we had to get the double-double with a strawberry milkshake!  You would think with one only being a few miles from us we would be there all the time but then we would both be 2 Ton Tilly's and we don't want that to happen.

     After the fun evening, we came home to full to move and rested our tired little bodies on the coach and pretended to do some homework....failed, we just watched some TV instead and then hit the sack so we could be ready for our adventurous Saturday to come.

     Well Saturday came and it came early to get some studying down.  Ryan took a "pre-test" board exam to see how is studying is coming along and it took all Saturday morning.

     After the test, we were ready for some Spring Training and went and watched the Mariners vs Dodgers.  The Mariners/Padres spring training field is only a couple of miles from us.  We were ready to catch some rays and eat a good hotdog.  We even brought a back pack with some books to study from, but lets be honest the bag was never touched.  We just sat on the grass seats and sprawled out.  I love spring training cause there is not a "nose bleed" seat around.  Even on the grass you are way close to the field.

     After some fun baseball time, we decided it was time to go on a big bike ride.  It was so much fun to get out.  Sorry no pictures...haha.  But the night ended with some more homework and then....FOOTLOOSE!  I love the old show so we thought we would try out the new version.  We thought it was pretty good and a fun movie to end our evening.  Sunday came and it was amazing as ALWAYS.  Boy we have come to love Sundays, NO school work or even thinking about school and just time for US.  On sunday we always watch a movie from Netflix.  Ryan found a great show called The Double.  It was an AWESOME show and who doesn't love Richard Gere?

     To go with the movie, I tried out Puppy Chow (muddy buddies) recipe on popcorn.  It was delicious! You can find the recipe here if you would like to try, they also have other fun recipes for popcorn too.

     Pretty much that sums up our "Normal Person" weekend as we would like to call it.  Well hopefully we will be ready for another one in 10 weeks, cause now are weekends are long gone to school.

     Some may also think to themselves if they have been following our blog....Aren't you suppose to be eating healthy and losing weight?  Well I am still losing weight just had a bad weekend you could say haha but do not worry I am starting a "Keto-Run" diet this Monday and it goes for 2 week of no carbs at all to refocus your bodies burning on fat to really get the weight coming off!  As my mother-in-law calls it "March Madness has Begun!"  But anyways I will post about our New Year Resolutions soon and how we are doing with them.

P.S most pictures are courtesy of my new Iphone 4S....love it!

"US" time

     In between all of the family time in Idaho, Ryan and I were able to have some "Us" time with NO school on our mind, it was AMAZING.  We actually had time to think about life that does not pertain to school.  We had to visit Ryan's "first love" as he says, Pebble Creek.  It was such an awesome day and we hit the slopes hard, well at least Ryan did a few times, this lil' lady never fell....haha

     So on our last run of the day, I said to Ryan, "Lets burn out our legs and go from the very top to bottom with no stopping."  I started and then I thought to myself, maybe I should just make sure Ryan is behind me.  Sure enough, I looked up and saw him hiking up the hill to get his ski!  I was laughing so hard.  He had to hike a good 100 ft or more to get it.  So I snapped a picture of him hiking for the memories.

And of course you always have to have a chair lift picture!

  The other times that we got to ourselves was by RUNNING!  We love running in the cold (well at least I do)!  It was nice to actually have hills to run on and enjoy the cold air in our lungs.

     

           Boy do we love Idaho!  Its kind of crazy to say that we probably won't be back till Christmas!

Girl Time!

     It was finally time for some Sister Love!  During the later half of our vacation, I left Ryan and headed down to Utah to have some fun with my 3 sisters and Mom.  My dad came along to take care of the kiddos as we went and hit the slopes of Sundance!  Growing up my mom was a ski instructor at our local ski hill and we all were skiing by time we were 3 or 4.  Every Spring Break we headed to some hot ski resort for the week like Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee, Colorado and so forth.  It was time to re-break out our skiing abilities and hit the slopes.  It was so much fun!  We probably giggled more then breaking a hard sweat.  The weather was perfect for the first half and then as we made our way onto the BIG mountain a huge blizzard came and pretty much caused a white out and this girl from AZ FROZE!  Sad to say they closed that hill for the rest of the day.

The Clan

Our Rockin Skis

     One of the funniest compliments that we got was about our "old school" ear warmers.  One of the lift ladies told us that "she loved our OLD Threads aka ear warmers" we were all laughing pretty hard about it.

Then the blizzard hit....

It was so much fun to all be together and reminisce on some awesome skiing memories....Had to show this picture of Kodi showing us how to do the perfect "pizza"

Next we had to enjoy the fun pool and hot tub with the kids at the condo....

     Then after a long hard day, Mom and Dad surprised and spoiled us girls with some cute hats and money for shopping in the next few days.

    Of course there were times with the little ones, lots of reading, playing telephone and loving Uncle Ryan when he showed up for the last half.

Best of all, we found out it runs in the family that everyone loves popcorn, even in the little kids!

   And what always happens with family gets together?  Eating out at some of the best places like Cafe Rio....

     It was such a fun trip to be all together again as the "Hess Clan" and share tons of laughter over the memories we have created as a family.  Thanks fam for the new memories created and thanks dad and mom for spoiling us like always!

CYA in 2 Years Jordy!

     Since we had a week long break from school, it was time to go to Idaho to see Jordan one last time before he left to serve his mission!  It somehow worked out perfect with our school schedules/break to see him off.  He is such an amazing kid!  Growing up with only girls in the family, I never really got to experience what it was like to see someone really prepare to go and serve a mission.  Jordan grew so much from the first time I had met him.  He will be the greatest missionary ever!  I can't believe that when he comes back it will almost be time for Ry and I to GRADUATE!!!

     I told Jordan that I would make him his favorite treat for his farewell, so we came up with cake balls!  WE made Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting, Chocolate with rainbow chip frosting, and strawberry with strawberry frosting.  It was pretty delectable and we had a fun time making them.

The finished project, we had 2 plates full!

     We had an awesome time when Jordan came down to visit and hang out with Ry and I in AZ.  The first time I met Jordan was down in Peru, he went on the same medical mission and Ry and I.  He helped me get acquainted with Ryan...haha.  I have gotten to know the kid so well and we are really going to miss him!  The two year time span is completely different when you really know the person leaving.  I've experienced friends/cousins who served missions, but with family it is different and means a lot more.  Thanks Jordan for being such a good example to Ryan and I and for helping us be better people and for making us always laugh!  Of course we had to try and get some photos.....but as you can see looking at the photos that Ryan and Jordan never quite cooperate at the same time....family trait?

And of course Ryan always gets in trouble!

     For one last final fun expenditure with Jordan, we had to go and ride horses!  The weather wasn't to bad that day, just slightly windy for Idaho, but it was a lot of fun!  Morgan just came home from the Dominican Republic 2 months ago, so it was his first time out there.  Of course lil' Tanner man showed everyone what to do!

Ryan and Tanner with the BIG gloves

     It was such a fun time to be with Jordan and the Finn's before Jordan left!  Thanks again Jordan for all of the fun laughs!  We will miss you, but CYA in 2 Years!!!