Not again!

Do you ever have something that you keep hoping won't happen but that you have a dreading feeling will? The last couple of weeks when I have been running, there has been this sharp pain in my left ankle that will suddenly come and go. When it comes, I feel like I will collapse it hurts so much. But then it goes away, so I keep running. This is an ankle that in my early years of running I seemed to be constantly twisting and hurting. So I knew it was already weakened. I started to have these horrible pictures of twisting it again and hurting it permanently, ruining my ankle forever and having to give up running. That would be a nightmare for me. I told Eric that I was resigned to becoming a cyclist. Now this was all very much overreacting, I know. But I couldn't help worrying that I was going to hurt my ankle.

And then this morning, as I was getting on my bike to go to work, somehow (I really don't know how I managed to do this) I lost my balance and fell hard on the pavement, twisting my left ankle underneath me with my bike falling on top of me. Eric came rushing to my rescue, but all I could think of was, 'Oh no, my ankle!' All the nightmares came rushing back.

Of course, I think it will be just fine. After limping around all day, I came home and went to buy an ACE bandage and put it up to rest. And it feels much better. But I know this means no running for a few days. But, as hard as that will be for me, I will look on the bright side- at least it doesn't mean I have to become a cyclist, yet.

Life

The past couple months life has consisted of waking up very early (some weeks I have had to be at my internship by 5am), quickly getting ready, and leaving for a full, busy day. Eric gets up either the same time as me or shortly after, takes off for school and I don't see him again until the evening- sometimes not until 8ish at night.

As of last Friday, I have officially completed the first two months of my internship. This also means that I have completed my Foodservice Management portion of my internship. I can check that off now! Now it is on to my Clinical portion- which will be about 6 1/2 months long. This is the part that I have been most nervous about. I will start off my rotations with the oncology and bone marrow transplant dietitian. They aren't starting me out easy at all!

As difficult as I know it will be, I am very excited for it. This is what I have been preparing for since my first dietetics class five years ago. So, what will I be doing?

Every two weeks I will start a new rotation. The rotations include oncology, sepsis, HIV, diabetes, the burn unit, pediatrics, and the list goes on and on. In each one of those I will be paired with a dietitian. I will learn how to do nutrition assessments for each different disease state, make nutritional diagnoses, make diet recommendations based on their needs, and give nutrition education.

Since I switch rotations every two weeks, this means my schedule also changes every two weeks. Which hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be- it just makes planning anything outside of work really difficult since I don't know what that schedule will be until a week before starting the rotation. For example, I don't even know yet whether or not I will be able to get Thanksgiving off or not- it all depends on whether my preceptor has the day off.

Keeps life exciting, I guess. Busy, but exciting.

Eric has also been keeping extremely busy with school. His classes definitely give a huge workload. But he is really enjoying everything and is having some great experiences. He even got to meet with the former Commander of Central Command last week for a mock interview. He was pretty excited about that.

Between meeting former navy heroes, writing endless Chinese papers, and reading about economics, my Eric hardly has a free moment. When he does, it is usually spent by me massaging his hurting head. :)

And that is life for us right now. And we are loving it. Except for the fact that Halloween is in one week and I haven't even bought a pumpkin. Anyone who knows me very well will know this is a very sad thing.

Conference Weekend at the Andersons

With our car not working again (dead battery this time) Eric and I are pretty much stuck at home this past weekend. But what better weekend to be stuck at home than Conference weekend? I have really enjoyed being able to sit together and listen to Conference. It is really an amazing thing- General Conference. Right after another, we get to hear from our leaders, apostles and prophets, each with a wonderful inspiring message. As we were talking this last week about how we can prepare for Conference, Eric suggested that each think of personal questions that we can have in mind as we listen to the different talks. It is a suggestion I have heard before, but have never done. I have to admit, that once again, I didn't do it. But thinking of that through the week, kept the reminder that conference was coming in my mind. And as usual, I found myself excitedly anticipating it. And even though I didn't have specific questions, I have general/specific things relating to my and Eric's life and situation right now that I was hoping to receive guidance on.

Some of the things that really stood out to me as we listened was the importance of prioritizing our lives and not forgetting what is most important. Eric and I have already plunged into what is going to be an incredibly busy and stressful year. I tend to get so focused on school and studying that other things get pushed to the side. But I don't want that to happen. There is so much more that I should be doing, I need to, as Elder Uctdorf said, 'lift up my eyes and see what matters most.' And that is my husband and family, my testimony and relationship with God, and what I am doing to serve and love others.

I also loved President Monson's talk Sunday morning. Eric and are in a position right now where we definitely don't have a lot, and sometimes I start thinking of how little we have, or, 'someday when we will be able to afford or do such and such...' I shouldn't do that! We are so incredibly blessed, we have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes I just need a little reminder.

We also put our stuck-at-home time to a good use in the kitchen. We woke up Sunday morning morning and made muffins before settling down to listen to the amazing talks. And then that afternoon, we made donuts- a Hinckley conference tradition. This year we chose a new recipe to try, and a very fitting one, I thought. They are called Brigham Young's Buttermilk Donuts. Very yummy. But unfortunately, it made way too many for just the two of us! Even though we made what I thought was a small batch.

We also explored some more in the streets right near our house. We found one we hadn't one down before that was just the cutest little street. Narrow street with no sidewalks and adorable homes. We fanatized about moving over to this street- that is until we saw a for-sale sign in one of the yards that said the starting price was over $1 million. Umm, not going to happen anytime soon!

Hope you all had an awesome weekend too! Here are some recipes to enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pear Granola Muffins

from sisterscafe

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 (2 cups) pears, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Crumb topping:
1/2 cup granola

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, yogurt, and butter. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add egg mixture to well, and mix in flour mixture until just combined. Gently fold in the pears.

Crumb topping:

In a bowl, toss together 1/2 cup granola, 1/4 cup each all-purpose flour and packed light-brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cut 2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter into pieces; add to granola mixture, and rub in with fingertips until clumps form.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Sprinkle with granola topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before removing from tin. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Brigham Young's Buttermilk Donuts

From virtualgoodyplate

2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten

1 c. sugar

5 3/4 c. flour

2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 c. melted butter

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot or deep skillet (electric skillet if you have one)so that it's deep enough for the donuts to not touch the bottom. Use a candy thermometer to monitor heat (or just use an electric skillet!) - you want to get to 375.

2. In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and sugar. Blend well. Stir in melted butter.

3. Sift together dry ingredients and beat into buttermilk mixture.

4. Roll or pat out dough onto floured surface to about 1/4 inch. Cut with 2 1/2 in. cutter (make sure to flour the cutter so it doesn't stick). A donut cutter is ideal, but if you don't have one, use a biscuit cutter or glass and whatever you can figure out to cut out the hole (like a lid or tiny jar.)

5. Fry donuts and holes in vegetable oil that is 375 degrees - monitor heat between batches. If it is too cool the donuts will get too greasy while cooking; if it's too hot they won't cook all the way through. Add oil as needed so donuts don't touch bottom of pan. Flip when golden brown to cook other side. Lay cooked donuts on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Cool slightly. Dip in glaze, then lay glaze side up on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

Glaze

1/2 c. boiling water

1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. either vanilla or maple flavoring

Mix a little of the water into the powdered sugar to make a paste. Add the rest of the water. This should be a glaze, not a thick frosting. Add 2 tsp. of either vanilla or maple flavoring. Glaze only 1 size of the donut.

Diapers and babies

Nursery. It seems to be the newbie calling in so many wards. Eric kept saying that I would get it (I kept hoping I wouldn't!) and I did. Today was my first day in the nursery at church and really, it wasn't so bad. There were eleven kids and three of us teachers. We only had maybe 3-4 of them cry, two messy diapers, and one eaten crayon.

Nursery leader was my very first calling outside of Young Womens and for the 8-ish years since then I have tried to block that short period from my memory. I was the only nursery leader in there, had absolutely no experience with kids, and was terrified to death. My mom had to come to my rescue more than once. It was probably the most stressful calling I've had! But I think it will be much better this time. The other two girls working in the nursery are incredibly nice which is good. The kids are adorable and, though maybe this week was just a fluke, really well-behaved. And in what other calling do you get snack time?

We found our camera!

The reason we have had so few pictures posted lately is due to the simple fact that we couldn't find our camera. Anywhere. We tore our apartment apart looking for it, knowing that the last time we had seen it was at home. I had resigned myself to the fact that it must have slipped its way into one of the many packed boxes in our closet. Then, after almost two weeks, it decided to show up again! And where was it? In Eric's school bag. Which of course, we must have checked along with everything else a dozen times. I went to get something else out of his bag, reached in, and pulled out the camera. Quite a pleasant surprise.

So, here are some pictures! Yay!









The Church has a really awesome visitors center here in San Diego for the Mormon Battalion. Its only a 5 minute bike ride from our house so we stopped by earlier this week. And we got this cute picture!





Eric really can't get enough of shell hunting. He's gone three times this last week. I don't know how we are ever going to get him to want to go to class!

Settled In

Ever feel like the moon is getting mixed up and pulling you back and forth instead of the tides? Yeah, me too. This has been quite the past few weeks of settling into San Diego. First, let me say that we love it here. So far, the weather here has made me wonder whether Kiersten and I are mistakenly in Camelot (which Kiersten and I happened to watch this past week). The weather has been amazing! Never going above 80 and never going below 60. And every single every day sunny!

In the midst of this heavenly beauty, though, our car decided to have trouble, ending in a mechanic quote of at least $1500 to fix it (the timing chain). That was a slap in the face. For the first few days, Kiersten and I spent every waking minute looking for a possible replacement. However, with the budget we had (not a lot) and the condition of the cars that we were seeing, we were not happy. You know it's not good when you get out of the car you just test drove, step back into your own car that needs a $1500 repair job, and feel like you have stepped into heaven.

So, what did we do? Having seeing the options, Kiersten and I decided it might just be worth it to invest in repairing the car, especially since we had little hope that the replacement options would last any longer than our current car. The sun rose early Labor Day morning, and we were grabbing the keys to head over to a mechanic recommended by a new friend in our ward, when a quick phone call told us that the mechanic was closed on Labor Day.

That was music to my ears. Kiersten doesn't get many days off of her internship (her Christmas break doesn't start until December 27), and the thought of spending her day off at a car shop was not a happy thought. So, we packed ourselves some sandwiches, spotted a section of the beach we'd been wanting to visit, and biked nine miles (we didn't dare drive the car) to the beach. I must admit, I am in love with San Diego beaches, and our recent find of Bird Rock has made my beach visits paradise. If anyone loves tide pools and shell searching, then this is the place to be. On our way back home, we stopped by the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center (I was in desperate need of a break before the big hill). If you come visit us in San Diego, we'll have to take a swing by there for a wonderful experience. The day was then topped off with hot dogs grilled on a George Foreman, watermelon and chips and dip. A much better day than expected!

Tuesday, however, was not to be spent at the beach. Slowly I drove to the mechanic shop some fifteen minutes away. The mechanic was just as friendly as my friend had said, and he estimated the repairs at only $980, but somehow I didn't feel any less at ease. The repairs were expected to last all day, so I walked to the bus stop for what ended up being a two hour ride home. And there I waited for news on the car. You can imagine my excitement, then, when Joe (the mechanic) called and said there was good news. The timing chain was fine, and all that was causing the problem was a bad guide. Suddenly the $980 estimate became $360. And to think that we almost replaced the car!

Sadly, the car then decided to fail the smog check (good ol' California), so Wednesday morning I was back at the shop handing the keys off to Joe. This time, instead of riding the bus all the way home, I decided to only go halfway home and spent the morning and afternoon at Bird Rock scavenging for shells. The only replacement needed on the car was a vacuum tube, the car passed the smog check, and I could hardly conceal my smile as I said bye to Joe hoping that I would never see him again.

And now, life is back to normal. We have a car, it works, and maybe now we can finally go and get that trash can for the kitchen. Life is good. Very good. And did I mention that San Diego is heaven?

In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In San Diego-lot.

Another missionary in the family

My little sister Lilly has been eagerly awaiting her mission call and this past week it came! She opened it yesterday with all of the family there except for us and Ruthie and her family. We wish we could have been there too- we are only 2 hours away now, for goodness sake, it should have been possible. Darn car trouble- but that is another story. So we just got to listen over the phone as she opened the letter.

So where is she going!?!

Missouri Independence Mission! She is super excited. And we are excited for her too. It looks like she might get the chance to work at some of the visitors centers at the different LDS church sites in her mission, which would be really fun. She leaves November 3. Only two short months away!

It's crazy to think that my baby sister is going on a mission. In my eyes she is still just that- my baby sister. But I know she will be an amazing missionary. She has been looking forward to this for I don't know how long. I love you Lilly, you will do great!