The First Vegetarian Wolf

Mack here, just thought I'd update ya with the ongoings of our wolf pack.  Generally things are going pretty well.  Bre is doing SO well with her job.  She is definitely in the waiting for the next management spot that becomes available.  She has quickly found out the REAL job of people in managerial positions: putting out fires.  She comes home exhausted from all of the problems of the employees and customers.  The saving grace she says, is the fact that she can now tell people to do something and they will do it.  Hahaha! Our little 5', 94 lb, Breana bossing everyone around.  Wait, whats new?

School and work have been overly hectic for me and I feel like I'm going insane.  I've got to slow it down a little bit and focus on whats more important: school.  So even though I have a great job, I've decided with my manager to step down for the time being and focus on my schooling while keeping an eye on a return to the field.  I think its for the best.  Though it was nice to have a dual income for that whole month that we had it, we've returned to our low income roots.  I'll be trying to find a job that doesn't require full time hours like my job at Medsource did, and that is also flexible with school.  (along with EVERYONE else in the world)

Thats all for now, and you are more likely to see the alpha male blogging more and more since I'll be the one that has more time and is jobless.  Oh yeah, I'm still very vegetarian.  Here is a picture of my lunch to prove it:

Salad, Broccoli, Brown Rice, Cottage Cheese

(you throw enough Cholula on the broccoli and its edible.)

These are a couple pictures I took with my iPhone that I thought were pretty cool, they also happen to be of some of my favorite people.  The top one is of my sis Cherie and niece Tess and the bottom is of sis Nikki.

Announcement of the Century

Mack here, well, I have a little somethin somethin to disclose.  I know you are all excited to hear what it is and sit in your chairs salivating for information about me so I will not procrastinate further.  As many of you know, I have been struggling with health issues over the last year that have left me in chronic pain/discomfort from head to knee.  I have also been gaining quite a bit of weight due to my thyroid issues and not being able to work out.  So I have been thinking a lot over the last few weeks about ANYTHING that I could do to really get back into a healthy lifestyle and have decided that for the time being I am going to be living a conservative vegetarian diet.  I feel that this could definitely do more good than harm for my body.  I will still be eating eggs and will be getting the necessary protein I need from whey-isolate protein shakes.  I'm not going to be super strict like a vegan level or anything, and I'm definitely not going to start preaching about how bad it is to eat an animal from some slaughter house in Texas.  Honestly, I love meat.  But it is something that I think I can sacrifice for the benefit and health of my body.  I don't feel healthy at all and I don't like that feeling. I like the way I felt when I was serious about my health and bodybuilding.  I looked fantastic and felt even better.  I look like crap and feel like it as well in the present time.  I think my choice will help me.  Let me know your thoughts.

Here is a picture of my dinner tonight.  It tasted soooo good.

   I cooked a black bean burger with tomatoes and an egg on top sandwiched by whole grain bread.  Seriously tasted really good.

盆栽!!!!

Mack here, my wife has been asking me to post for the last 6 months, so I finally obliged.  Not only do you have the great privilege of reading my post, but also getting a taste for my new hobby....BONSAI!!!  Bonsai is the art of growing trees.  It originated in China but grew popularity in Japan, where we get the word bonsai.  To my surprise, as I was learning a little bit about this, I found out that the bonsai trees are grown from full stock seeds. I thought that it was some kind of "dwarfing" mutation but it just uses long term cultivation techniques like pruning, root reduction, potting, defoliation, and grafting to produce small trees that mimic the shape and style of mature, full sized trees.  It's pretty neat stuff and I never thought I was much of a green thumb (which was a term I had always associated with the art of weeding a garden).  But I don't like my thumbs that much (thumbs are weird looking aren't they???) so I guess I'll go with the term green finger.  Especially when my nails are manicured and trimmed, they are quite beautiful..hahaha.  I digress, I'm watching college football at the same time as writing this and it seems a little bit harder than first anticipated.

 Here are a few pics of my 5 year old, 7 inch tall deciduous Ficus tree.  Breana has affectionately named her Treebeard.  Not the prettiest name but I let her name this one.  I'm saving up for either a 20 year old Chinese Elm that is only 12 inches tall, or a 18 year old, 15 inch Juniper which I will name. Gorgeous trees, go look them up.

I use a growing light b/c out apartment has no natural light.

Beautiful little thing, isn't it?

I really like this picture.  I'm constantly amazed at the quality of pictures that the iPhone 4 can take. (obviously I can see that this one is a little blurry, user error)

          Up close and personal meeting with Treebeard.

I am waiting for my office clock that I ordered to arrive here from Crate and Barrel and as soon as it is put up it will finish off my side of the office (Bre gets the other half) and I will post some pictures of the new HQ (playing too much Starcraft II) 

 OH YEAH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION!!!!!...........

       

      I got a new watch. It's gold plated Dolce&Gabbana.  Don't hate, or I will blind you with the blistering rays of the sun that bounce of this hot timepiece. 

Cheers,

      Big Mack

PS - since all who are reading probably think I'm a self absorbed douche, I'll tell you something that will help calm those envious feeling you inherit: Since moving to Ogden, I really miss being around my family and my wonderful brothers and sisters in law, and especially their children.  My little nephews and nieces that I can't get enough of.  Till next time.

I Love Love Love These...

You are going to think I am crazy. Well, I am a little bit. But these hats are so AWESOME. Have you heard of Philip Treacy? Maybe not, but you probably have seen his work. Does this crazy hat look familiar?

I was watching Project Runway and the designers had to make an outfit to match a crazy hat designed by Philip Treacy. I fell in love with his outrageous designs. Have you seen these crazy do-hickeys that my fav Lady Gaga wears?

               

       

Well, it turns out that Philip Treacy made these for her. (I know Lady Gaga is crazy, but I love her.) When I found out that he was the designer of these weird things it made me love him even more. I had to look up more of his creations. He has some down right CRAZY things and then he as other more elegant things that some royalty wear and other hats that would be worn at the Kentucky Derby. I told Mack I want one some day. I don't know when that day will be because his hats are like hundreds and thousands of dollars. Mack's first question was, "where would you wear it?" I said I don't know, around the house but who cares, thats not important. I've picked out some of my favorites from his new collection for you to see. Some are weird and some actually seem wearable.

                  

                               

Guess what else I found out ... he has designed some shoes!!!! Look at these lacey heels. SOO COOL! I WANT THEM!

                    

Well there you have it. I could go on and on posting more pictures of these fun hats. If anyone feels like they are in a giving mood and happen to have an extra thousand bucks lying around you can feel free to get me a hat.

You May Take Your Seats

So we have been up in Ogden since the 12th of this month, which has been 2 weeks, and we have also been without couches to sit on this whole time. When Mack and I got married my sister Nikki gave us some Ikea furniture to use till we got our own stuff. We finally got our own couches before we moved up here but they were back ordered so we just got them today. Mack and I have been sharing a chair from Ikea that is at the bottom of the picture. We would take turns sitting on the chair and sitting on the floor. You might be asking yourself why we didn't just use the furniture my sister lent us until we got our own...the answer is that we didn't want to bring it up here and then have to haul it back to Draper when we got our own stuff. (I've been reminding myself of our reasoning often).

Anywho, today was like Christmas for us. We got our couches and they are comfy and make our new place feel complete finally. All we need now are friends to come over and sit on them.

Photo Frenzy

My sisters and I just started a new website-venture together. It is called Photo Frenzy, isn't that such a good name? I like it a lot (I came up with it). Anyway, back to the website, it is dedicated to photography and artsy stuff. Each week we have a different theme and each day of the week one of us will post a picture. We're also going to have guest artists and other cool things as it develops.

This is the first week and we are introducing ourselves with self portraits. The website is ourphotofrenzy.com. When my sisters came to me with this idea I was a little scared because I am not a photographer by any standards, but that's kind of the point of this adventure. My sisters and I are all using different cameras and have different levels of photography experience.

I've posted my self portrait today so I hope you go check it out.

So here we are again...

I was trying to think of a title for this long overdue post so I went to my previous post list to make sure I wouldn't repeat a title. I realized that Mack and I have had several update posts like this where we have month absences from posting. I counted about 5 time periods where we have stopped updating and that may not seem like a lot, but considering we've only had this blog for less than 2 years I think we have a pretty bad track record. Blogging for us is like one of those things that you consistently do and then once you miss a day it gets easier to miss more and more...like going to the gym or working out. My new fall resolution is to be more consistent with our blogging. My sisters and I are starting a new blog in August that I am excited for so I think it will help me to be better with this blog.

I won't bore you with a ton of pictures from the summer because I don't have a lot. Haha. At the end of April I graduated finally.

We moved to Draper to live with my sister until we moved up to Ogden. It has been soo fun to hang out with my sister and her family. She has three cute kids that have been fun to play with. Mack was not employed for a while so he has had a relaxing summer. This is a picture of Mack who fell asleep at the table after eating lunch. He had taken some medication that made him sleepy and just fell asleep. My sister thought he was just joking. After a couple minutes she realized he wasn't and had to capture the moment.


My friend Cody got married in July. Mack and I were really happy for her and I was really excited for the chance to make my first wedding card. Don't let the white intricate patter on the card fool you. I bought the paper like that.


Mack and I will be moving to Ogden in a couple weeks and we just found our apartment. We're excited. It's a triplex and we will live in the back apartment. Below is the house and to right in the front yard is a giant viking ship thing...I know, weird. Mack went by himself to check out the place so I haven't seen it in person yet.

That is the latest with Mack and I. We hope you liked the mini update and I promise we will be more frequent with our posts.

Русская икра!!!

So for some strange reason I had this quick image of Elder Beck and I eating caviar over at an investigoators house and watching them drink vodka and fail miserably at American karioke songs. They were mostly doing Metallica which was part of the problem. So anyway, I LOVED the caviar but Elder Beck mostly faked that he was eating it (which I didn't know at the time) and when we left he pulls out 3 or4 tortillas (lavash in russian) full of caviar. I was laughing so hard.

So I informed Bre that I would be preparing some caviar for her to try. She was not in the least bit thrilled to try it but I told she had to at least once. So I went down to the local Harmons and bought some Russian Caviar and came back to make it. So what you need to do is get a couple tortillas slathered in butter with a couple crackers on the side and just spread your Caviar on and eat up! You should roll the tortilla up pretty tight before you eat it and you'll be on your way to a fabulous snack! I can just feel those little salty eggs popping in my teeth!! YUM.

Bre didn't exactly love it as much as I do, but she said that it was ok, just a little too salty. As you can see by her face, she wasn't diggin it too much. But at least she can now say that she has tried it.

All in all it was a fun exerience and I highly suggest to all the ladies and gentleman this great world has to offer. Have an egg-popping experience!!!!

I Just Need To Say...

Number 1: It's my 22nd Birthday.

Number 2: I just got home from my last class of my college career FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MORE SCHOOL FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just needed to get that off my chest. Here is a picture from my 6th birthday. I got that crown thing from school. I was so proud of it.

I Finally Have A Hobby

Well, this sounds pretty pathetic because this sort of thing I think is supposed to come naturally, but I have chosen a hobby. Mack has been telling me that I need one for a long time. It mostly comes up when he wants to buy a bunch of things for golf or the latest thing he is into. It's usually after him convincing me that I can buy myself something if he gets something that he urges me to get a hobby.

I have been trying to figure out what I could do or get into that wouldn't break the bank. I was thinking long and hard and one day a couple weeks ago it hit me. I want to make my own cards. You know like greeting cards or birthday cards or get well cards. I thought about it some more and realized that I would be good at it because I'm a perfectionist and I like that kind of cutsy stuff. I don't know, it's hard to explain why I think I'd enjoy it, but I've already started to have fun just looking online at pictures of homemade cards.

The first card I made was for my nephew Davis's birthday. I had all these grand ideas and cute paper, but after realizing I didn't have any cool tools to make it, it ended up being pretty plain. I forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it, but you're not missing out on anything there. I wanted to redeem myself and make a nice one for my Mom's birthday.

I saw this cute card online...

And this is my version of it with paper I had.

I just bought a paper cutter so I am excited to start making some more cards. Now all I need is cute paper and another birthday or holiday.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to the World's Greatest Mom!

We love you and hope that you have an awesome day.

Extra Credit

So I am taking this floral design class and sometimes our teacher offers us extra credit if we do certain things with the flower stuff we made. A couple weeks ago we made boutonnieres and we could get extra credit if we had somebody wear it. Well I tried convincing Mack to wear my boutonneire on his birthday at church but he didn't go for that. So, there went those extra credit points.

Last week we made Japanese floral designs which look kind of funny. My teacher offered us extra credit if we made a Japanese dinner and used our floral design as a centerpiece. I thought this was something I could do so I invited Cherie and her friends over for dinner.

We didn't really make Japanese food, more like Asian stuff and local food. I made lettuce wraps and Cherie made spam musibi and fried saimin. We also had some butter mochi.

I needed to take a picture for proof so the girls first took this picture. Can you see my design on the table?

Then they decided it would be even more authentic to act like Japanese tourists with their peace signs.

I used the second picture for my little report. Thanks to Cherie and her friends for helping me get that extra credit!

I Glued It!

March 8-12th is glue gun week. You make anything with your glue gun. I struggled with what I could make and what I came up with isn't all that exciting or difficult but, it was very practical for me. I made these little flower magnets for my fridge. I have too much stuff on my fridge and not enough magnets so it was perfect.

First, I bought different colored felt from the store and a pack of big magnets.

Next, I drew different flower shapes on the felt and cut them out.

After cutting out all my shapes I stacked some flowers on top of each other and glued them. I added a black button to the middle of one of them and added felt leaves to the back of another.

Lastly, I glued the magnets to the back of the flowers.

It was really fast and easy. I only used a handful of my magnets so I think I am going to make some more and give some away.

I also thought about cutting out letters from the felt that would spell out our last name or possibly doing other fun things like stars or a sun.

HAPPY 24th MACK!

Today, March 7, is Mack's 24th birthday. It kind of stinks to have a birthday on Sunday because all celebrations have to be the day before or after and in Mack's case, he got to work on his birthday.

On Saturday Mack wanted to celebrate and go out for some sushi. We went to Sakura and stuffed ourselves. And yes, I did have sushi with fish. It was good, real good. After Sakura we went to see this comedian, Daniel Tosh, that Mack found out about from his friend. It was hilarious. So that was kind of his birthday celebrations.

This morning we went to church and then came home and opened his present. Then it was time for his birthday surprise. On Saturday I realized that I had no cake or brownies for him so I went to Cold Stone and got these cupcakes that are supposed to be really good. I hid them in the fridge and was so excited to surprise Mack the next day. Well I brought them out of the fridge to put the candles on and they had completely melted and gooed everywhere. I was so sad. When I got them I wasn't sure if I should put them in the fridge or freezer, but at Cold Stone it seemed like they were just in the fridge. Well I thought wrong. And I didn't read the part of the description where it said they were made out of ICE CREAM. Well, Mack still blew out the candles and then asked what these were because they were not recognizable as cupcakes. We put them in the freezer so hopefully they'll be eatable later.

Well, I'm sure it wasn't his best birthday ever, but the good thing is that it can only go up from here next year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACK!

State DEX Competition

So this semester I'm taking a Sales class and a Marketing class. Both of my teachers told our class that if we joined the club DEX (Delta Epsilon Chi, which is a global college Marketing club) and if we participated in the state competition we would be able to skip the final and the big paper at the end of semester. I thought it was a no brainer to go and compete, I really didn't even care about it at all. So the competition came closer and closer, and even though I knew what I was going to sell, I really didn't prepare any material.

I was going to sell cookies. The shortbread raspberry swirl ones that my dad and grandpa perfected not too long ago. So I get to the competition and there are a bunch of guys that are participating in the event with me. They were selling everything from flashlights to pest control to Cutco knives. I was confident in my sales skills and I was able to set up the scenario for the judges. There were 4 judges for my event and I told them that they were the owners of a European goods store. That was the setup. So it is done as a role play with the judges trying to throw objections out and seeing how well we counter them. We had 20 minutes for the presentation and frankly I killed it. I knew I had done well and was confident that I should place in the top 2.

Bre came up with me for the awards ceremony and I won 1st place! It was pretty sweet. We got a lame medal, plaque, and certificate. But we do get a free ride to the National competition. So they pay for my plane ticket, hotel, and registration for the competition which is this year in Louisville, KY. So April 17-20 I'll be close to Churchhill Downs to compete against the rest of the country. Maybe I'll throw down a few bucks on a horse or two. Wish me luck!

Happy Valentine's Day

Mack and I had a low key Valentine's Day. I had to give a talk in church...no fun. But we had gotten gifts for each other a couple weeks ago because we bought them online and they were mailed pretty quick. I got Mack a shirt and he got me a watch. He also got me some flowers and chocolates, but I think the chocolate was partly for himself too.

A week ago he said that he had an awesome idea for another present for me and he said he got it at Walgreens. I had no idea what he would've gotten me there.

It wasn't a sweater. It wasn't a blanket. It was BOTH! A SNUGGIE! And it was a special collegiate one too. (Notice the BYU on it?) Haha. We have poked fun at these in the past, but really it was a perfect gift for me. I'm always cold so I get a blanket, but I'm always doing homework so I have to drape the blanket on my back and then the front of me is cold. Such a dilemma. Anyways, Mack knew my blanket needs and got me this awesome gift.

Thanks Mack!

Using A Bud Vase

This week in my floral class we made arrangements in little bud vases. Bud vases are those little vases with like an inch diamter for the opening. I was pretty suprised that I could fit this much in that little vase. The object is to have a focal flower, I chose a Gerber daisy, and then to have some foliage and filler flowers around it.

I love the Snapdragon in the back. It is the one with pink flowers and the top is pointing to the right. Snapdragons are geotropic flowers which means they point away from gravity. These had been laying in a box during shipping so the tops of them turn 90 degrees in the box so they face away from the earth. I liked that it curved, but now it is standing straight up because it's no longer on its side.

It's kind of an assymetrical design. Those are easier to do, becuase you can just stick anything anywhere and be done with it. Next week is boutineers.

Tips From A Florist

I am taking a floral design class and just about every week we have a lab where we put together a flower arrangment. Last week was our first lab and we learned how to wrap flowers in tissue paper and stuff. This was my bouquet. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but hey it was my first time. I had a rose, some carnations, some daisies, button mums, and some salal.


It has been fun learning flower names and foliage. I though I'd share some flower tips that I've picked up because Valentine's Day is coming up and most likely someone will be getting some flowers.

Tip #1: When cutting flowers before putting in vase, get a bowl of warm water and put the ends of the stems in that while you cut it. It helps to keep air out of the stem so it soaks up more water.

Tip #2: Cut the stems at an angle and not with scissors. Scissors just squish the stem and it makes it harder to soak up water. Its best to use a knife, floral clippers, or sheers.

Tip #3: USE THE FLOWER FOOD IT COMES WITH! I would always throw it away because I didn't think it was necessary, but it actually works and makes your flowers last at least a week longer.

Tip #4: Use warm water in vase and clean out the water every couple of days so that the bacteria in the vase doesn't kill your flowers.

I have tons more tips so the next time I have my floral lab I'll show you what I made and tell you some secrets of the floral industry.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Mack and I have been married for a year now and this is the third apartment that we've lived in. For the first time we have been able to make our home a little more homely. The only furniture we've had is a two seater couch and another chair that my sister Nikki gave us when we got married, a TV stand, a kitchen table from Mack's parents, a bed, and a dresser from Mack's parents. When I think about it, it's not a lot of stuff in our apartment.

I've always done my homework on the couch and Mack has to do it on the kitchen table which he hates because it is always cluttered with stuff. Lately it's been his protein and supplements for working out that have been taking up a lot of space on the table. We decided we needed a desk and some type of shelving thing to have more places to put our junk. Mack went to Ikea and bought a desk and this shelving thing to go with it.


You can see his supplements and stuff in the top cubbies.


We were excited to finally have more things in our house so we went back and got that painting above the desk, another frame and some fabric to put in it, a desk lamp, and a little side table so our elephant, Herman, could stand on something, oh yeah and Mack's creepy old man picture.

It definitely feels more like a home now, only a year late but that's ok.

P.S. Our living room should be in an Ikea magazine because everything but the TV stand is from there.

Goodbye 2009

I was uploading pictures from my camera and I realized I had taken some pictures of events over the last couple of months that I forgot about. I was just going to show you our Christmas tree, but I thought I might as well put up my other pictures so you can see what we have been up to.

In October was my nephew Collin's 1st birthday. We had an awesome party for him.

Sometime after that Mack, my sister Cherie, and some of her friends wanted to do this food challenge at a sub place called Sensuous Sandwhich. The challenge is that you have to eat a 2 foot sub in under 30 minutes. The only requirements on the sandwhich was meat and cheese. I didn't even attempt to try this. I didn't even finish my 6 inch sub.

Above is Mack's sandwhich. It barely fit on the table. Below is Mack all pumped up before he started and then after that is his last bite. He finished in like 22 minutes.

If you finish the challenge you get a free t-shirt and your picture on the wall.

The day after Thanksgiving Mack and I went to Park City for our Black Friday shopping as usual. This was the 3rd year we've gone. The first time we went together was the first time we hung out so we've made it a tradition. That night we were so excited to get our first tree so we went and bought just a little 6 footer. This is Mack with our tree before...

And this is after we decorated it...

We bought lights at Target and a week later they stopped working. By the time we went back to Target to exhange them all their lights were sold out. So our poor tree wasn't lit up for most of December. Oh well.

Now it is the new year and Mack and I have passed our one year anniversary. I just started my last first day of school becuase I graduate in April. Mack will continue his schooling next week and it will be a long long time till he is done.