Sunday, November 23, 2008

Cream of Cougar Soup

So I must say it was fantastic to see the Utes destroy BYU tonight and secure our BCS bid. I would like to give a shout out to the BYU quarterback Max Hall for throwing 5 interceptions. He definitly deserves the MVP for helping Utah this game. I also really appreciated the nine penalties that BYU received during the game. Especially all the 15 yard penalties. Those really helped us out too! Way to put the pressure on the Cougs, Utah! You definitly earned your BCS bid. All I have to say to the BYU fans who say we got lucky during some of the games this season, I think the 48-24 proved that we had way more than luck on our side. No worries though, we will still share some of our BCS spoils with you and the other teams in the conference. Go Utes!

I will post pictures from the festivities during the game tomorrow, since I am really tired. All that celebrating has worn me out. Congratulations Utah!

So here are the pictures I promised finally! I am a slacker...


Me, Aaron and Bryan cheering for the U. They are family friends that my family and I have known since I was little:) We all got our Bachelors and Masters degree's from the U. Go Utes!


Aaron excitingly watching the game and updating his facebook status. Haha


Erik hates football so he brought his psp haha


Bryan enjoying the game


My dad watching the game. The only picture I could get of him.


Erik being a good sport. He was the only Cougar fan there.


Utes 48 BYU 24 Nuff said:)

Friday, November 7, 2008

Ski Season, Here We Come!

After seeing the latest Warren Miller movie, Children of Winter, we were really excited for ski season, so we had to go to the ski swap tonight in Park City and get some gear. We went with our friends Tim and Sarah who are major skiers. They both have 5 pairs of ski's, and know a lot about ski's and boards, so it was nice to have their expert advice when picking out our gear. When we got there, we had to wait in line for half an hour, and pay $8 to get in. I couldn't believe I had to wait in line and pay money to be able to buy stuff. It was totally worth it though, cause we got some really sweet deals. I had such a fantastic time getting all my gear. It was such an awesome way to spend a Friday night. Erik and I can't wait to take our new ski's and board up on the mountain and try them out. Here are the pictures from all the fun.


Waiting in line to get into the ski swap. It is crazy that you have to wait a half an hour in line and pay $8 to buy stuff at the ski swap.

Picking out boots to go with my snowboard


Erik picking out a new helmet


Erik has decided on his new helmet and ski's.


I feel like I should be patrolling the death star. It would be a fabulous helmet if I was a storm trooper.

The helmet I decided to buy

Sarah and I modeling our new gloves


My new board, gloves and helmet. I am so excited! I have been waiting a really long time to be able to buy a snowboard.


Erik modeling his bank robbery ski mask. He decided this one wasn't going to cut it since the cops would still be able to see his face.

Our spoils! We are so excited for the new ski and boarding season! This is the aftermath of the Warren Miller movie.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Halloween Festivities

Halloween this year was spent in a true Kristen and Erik fashion, at a swing dance. The Golden Skillet swing venue was having their annual Halloween dance, complete with costume contest and Jack and Jill lead and follow contest. So we naturally could not miss it. Last year we dressed up as disco people and it was awesome, but this year we had a little more trouble with the costumes. Erik was going to go as Homestar runner, but when he tried to spray paint the white star on the shirt, he had the wrong kind of paint, so it didn't work out. I was going to go as Minnie Mouse, but the zipper broke on my Minnie dress right before the dance. So I couldn't go as Minnie. We were going to try and sew me into the costume but then thought about what would happen if the stitching broke in the middle of dancing. So we vetoed that idea. I decided to use my old stand by cat costume. It is nice to always have one of those. Erik unfortunately didn't have a standby, so he he wore normal cloths and said he was a game developer. We had a great time though and really enjoyed the dance and all the festivities.

Here are the pictures from the nights events.


Erik and I dancing our first dance of the night.


Snuggling up to Erik like a cuddly cat would


Dancing with Wolverine


Doing the Charlston


Still dancing with Wyatt, it was a long song.


Coming out of a cool spin. Our friend Tim went a little crazy with the camera and took a lot of pictures during my dance with Wyatt.


Erik and I dancing again!


Our friends who run the swing venue "thing one" and "thing two" with Michelle. She is the best DJ ever!


Virgil and Emily, our friends who recently got married.


Sarah and I chillin after the Jack and Jill contest.


Tim and Sarah our outdoorsy friends.
We are going to the ski swap with them next Friday
in Park city.

Tim, Whitney, Julie, Thomas, and Erik after the dance.
This picture turned out very well visually.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Tag: My 8's

So I was tagged by Marissa about 2 weeks ago, and I finally got around to doing this. Here are some of my 8's.


Eight TV shows I like to watch:

  1. Heroes
  2. Lost
  3. The Office
  4. Scrubs
  5. Dancing with the Stars
  6. Smallville
  7. Friends
  8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Eight restaurants I like to eat at:

  1. The Cheesecake factory
  2. P.F. Chang's
  3. Olive Garden
  4. Applebee's
  5. Chili's
  6. California Pizza Kitchen
  7. Noodles and Co
  8. Caputo’s Deli

Eight things that happened today:

  1. Went to work
  2. Got yelled at by honory patients
  3. Treated a few patients that were in a good mood
  4. Ate 3 bites of my lunch and got sick again
  5. Took my medication
  6. Had a good treatment session with my last patient and was able to chart progress.
  7. Bought my husband some personal training sessions
  8. Took a nap since I was up all night regretting lunch yesterday.

Eight things I am looking forward to:

  1. Discharging my honory patient
  2. When eating no longer makes me sick
  3. Going to the Halloween dance at the Skillet.
  4. Being able to train with my triathlon group again
  5. A weekend away from honory patients who yell at anyone who is trying to help them.
  6. Giving my husband a big kiss
  7. The new Harry Potter movie next summer
  8. My trip to SoCal in December

Eight things on my wish list:

  1. A brand new Honda Accord
  2. Cloths, cloths, and more cloths
  3. A roadbike
  4. Matching furniture in the living room
  5. A Computer Charting System at work
  6. A new stomach
  7. Rock climbing gear
  8. To be on a national swing dance team.

Eight People I Tag:

  1. Sadie
  2. Tammy S.
  3. Becka T.
  4. April B.
  5. Tricia S.
  6. Shellese G.
  7. Nicole R.
  8. Wendy J.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Great Pumpkin Affair

Saturday night Erik and I went over to our friends Sadie and Corey's, for some pumpkin carving fun. We carved pumpkins, made pumpkin cookies, baked pumpkin seeds, and watched Monster House. It was very fun!

I was the slowest one when it came to the carving. I was too busy running my mouth. Sadie and Corey had carved all three of their pumpkins before I was even finished with mine. Sadie even made pumpkin cookies and cooked pumpkin seeds in between. So yeah, I am slow. It was sure fun though. I made a pac man pumpkin while everyone else made scary faces. We spent lots of time trying to perfectly place our pumpkins for the optimal photo. Erik spent a lot of time bossing Corey around, and I had to remind him to play well with others. LOL As far as the treats go, the pumpkin cookies turned out rather tasty, and so did the pumpkin seeds. Kudo's to Sadie!

Here are the photo's from our pumpkerific evening!


Erik going to town with his pumpkin


Sadie looking a little too happy with that knife!


Corey is the happiest pumpkin carver I have ever seen.


Starting surgery on my pumpkin


Erik giving his pumpkin a facial with windex. He likes his stuff to look pretty, and didn't want any marker showing.


Our pumpkins in all of their glory!

Finally a diagnosis

So I went to the GI specialist and found out the results of my procedures. It turns out that I have major acid reflux. I started coughing up blood last week, and then all my food started to come back up after I ate, so that pretty much confirmed it. As far as the pain in my side when I eat, they said I have irritable bowl syndrome. This is the cop-out diagnosis that doctors give you when they don't know what is wrong. I am not sure I buy it, since I neither have had diarrhea or been constipated. Just pain around my descending colon sometimes when I eat. He said that that certain foods will cause my colon to spasm. The trigger foods that cause the pain seem to fit with those of acid reflux and irritable bowl. So who knows. I may have IBS, or maybe I don't. All I know is that I still get pain in my side sometimes when I eat, but it is getting better. I am able to eat a lot more now these days, and can now sustain enough calories to start working out again and train for my triathlon. So hopefully the acid reflux medication will help, and I will continue to get better. Well that is the latest update!

Warren Miller 's Children of Winter

Last Thursday Erik and I went to see the new Warren Miller Ski Movie. Ok so I have to say that it was incredible! I really want to buy it, when it comes out! We had a great time! We went with our friends Rod, Holly, and Rod's family. We went out to dinner at a Restaurant called The Naked Fish beforehand. It used to be called Mikado's. They had the best Terriaky stake I have ever had. After dinner, we went over to Abravenal Hall with all the other Ski and Snowboarding fanatics to watch the premier of the film. It was incredible. I really enjoyed the Utah segment. You don't get powder like that anywhere else. The rest of the movie was fantastic as well. It was hard to pick a favorite segment. Some of those skiers and boarders are crazy. All the flips and crazy jumps they did, I can see how people die making this movie. After the film, I was so excited about snowboarding season, I went out and bought a new coat. Anyway, here are the pictures from the night!


Erik after the movie with his program/awesome ski magazine.


Erik and I waiting in anticipation for the movie to start.


Rod and Holly

Rock Climbing with Sadie and Corey

I am kind of lazy and just getting around to blogging all the pictures in my camera. So here is an activity clear back from August. Erik and I went rock climbing with our friends Sadie and Corey at a popular rock climbing site in Draper. We got there early in the morning to avoid the crowd, since most rock climbers are lazy and don't like to get up early.

The spot we went to was rather shady and nice to start our morning with. All the climbs were named by a dentist so it was entertaining to read the names of each of the climbs. They had funny names like bloody impact, root canal, and names of other dental procedures. It was kind of entertaining. The climbs were mostly 5.7's and 5.8's. There was one 5.10 and one 5.11. I was only brave enough to do climbs up to a 5.8 since it was my first time outdoor climbing. Sadie only did up to a 5.8 since she was 4 months pregnant and didn't want to risk injuring her baby. Erik and Corey were very adventurous though and climbed a 5.11. They almost died a couple of times. Corey almost dropped onto a rather pointy rock. Erik caught him just in time lucky for him. That would have been rather painful! Erik almost had a near death experience of his own. haha, silly men!

It was a rather fun adventure. Sadie and Corey are great rock climbers, and it was nice to have them along to show us the ropes. Erik did a lot of climbing at the quarry back in the day, but had never done any lead climbing, so it was nice to have Corey along. We will be going with them more often hopefully.

Here are the pictures from our adventures. We only have pictures of Sadie and Corey since our camera ran out of batteries before we could get any more pictures.


Sadie making her way up bloody impact



More Sadie


Corey belaying us so we didn't plummet to our death. Corey was the most adventurous one as he did all the lead climbing during our trip.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Looking at the positive side of life....

Well after my endoscopy today, the GI specialist is pretty sure that the problem is in my Colon, so I have to get a Colonoscopy on Thursday. So I still don't know what is wrong with me. I could have ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, Crohn's disease, a tumor, or a number of other things. Instead of being frustrated, I have decided that I am going to not worry about it and count all the blessings I have. Here are a few of my blessings....

1. My husband Erik! He is the biggest blessing in my life. I am very lucky to have him as my husband. It would take me forever to list all the reasons I love him. All I know is that I look forward to seeing him every minute of every day.

2. My education. Getting my masters degree as opened more doors than I could ever imagine. I have a job which I absolutely love, great patients whom I love working with, a nice paycheck, great colleagues, and being able to go to bed at night knowing I have made a positive difference in someone's life. If God hadn't helped me get into graduate school, and provided me the tools to be successful, I wouldn't be where I am.

3. My back is healed. With help from God and the knowledge from what I learned in school, and working in rehab, I was able to figure out how to get my back better with exercise, and avoid surgery. I still have a herniated disk, but I have able to get my muscles strong enough that I don't even notice it anymore. I am able to perform difficult patient transfers now, without feeling any strain in my back. I have also been able to return to strenuous outdoor activities that I previously enjoyed. Thank you God!

4. Air purifiers. Since Erik bought the Air purifier this afternoon, I have stopped sneezing, and having to blow my nose. Allergies are tough, but they are no match for the air purifier!

5. Great In-laws. A lot of people don't get a long with their in-laws, but mine are fantastic. They are like having a second set of parents. I love to spend time with them. My mother-in Law Lark has a great fashion sense as well as an internal compass that points to sales. She is the reason I have so many cute shirts. She always goes to sales, finds a pile of cute cloths, buys them, brings them home, makes me try them on, pick out the ones I want, and she then takes the rest back. Now that is just cool!

6. The smell of Captain Crunch. My husband loves cereal, and every time he has a bowl of captain crunch, I get to smell it's sweet aroma.

7. The Colbert Report. It makes me laugh! Who wouldn't enjoy watching South Carolina's favorite son with his hilarious political satire? Without him I would never know what truthiness, or wikiality is.

8. Swing dancing. This hobby has kept my sanity throughout the years. It is the thing I love to do most, and the reason I met my husband, as he is also a swing dancer.

9. Great friends. It is having great friends that help me when I am down, and make me laugh. That itself makes life worthwhile.

10. Great family. I love my family, and they help me a lot. I especially am grateful for my little sister who teaches me about kindness and unconditional love.

11. The greatest blessing of all that I have is that God lives, and Jesus Christ is my Savior. The knowledge of Christ's teachings through reading his scriptures has helped me to be happier than I could have ever imagined. To be able to turn to Christ to bear up my burdens and lighten my load is the greatest gift I could ever have. It is this knowledge that has helped me through this trial, more than anything else could right now.

Well anyway, I could keep going, but I need to get up for work. I feel better now anyway.

Monday, October 6, 2008

The mouse that lives in my stomach....

So, since my emergency room visit, things have gone downhill. Pretty much anytime I eat, I get really sick. After I eat, I have to plan five or so hours to recover, and regret my meal choice. So I am pretty motivated not to eat much, unless I get really hungry. My meal choices have slimmed down quite a bit. Basically anything that tastes good will make me sick, so any food that I actually like is off the list. My diet now consists of plain noodles, crackers, chicken noodle soup, bread, and protein shakes. These are the only things I have found that do not majorly upset my tummy, and sometimes even these foods aren't safe. Since I eat a lot less, I have lost 6 pounds in 5 days. It has been a real treat, let me tell you. So tomorrow I get to get an endoscopy and find out what is wrong.

The GI specialist thinks that it is probably an ulcer, but also thinks something might be wrong with my descending colon as well, since I have a great deal of pain there also. I think it is an ulcer honestly, since it feels like a mouse just lives in the corner of my stomach and just is chewing away at the side. I have fondly named him Pinkey. He seems to love to come out during meal time and get a treat for himself. As much as I love Pinkey, it is time for him to find a new home. So hopefully they will give me some medicine tomorrow that will "encourage" Pinkey to find a new host.

I would like to give a shout out to my husband. Poor Erik has spent so much time at the store trying to find food I might possibly be able to eat. That has been a tough job, since my stomach is a very picky customer. He is such a good sport. He deserves a medal! He has bent over backwards to help me feel better. I am so lucky to have him as a husband. You know you married a good guy when he will drive to the gas station at 3am to try to find something to calm your stomach 2 nights in a row.

Hopefully, the test results tomorrow will end all the Drama, and Erik and I can get back to life as usual. I miss food, and I miss my triathlon training group!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Saturday Night Emergency Room Fun.

Erik likes to tease me about all my visits to the emergency room and the insta care. He says it is my favorite place. In the last year since Erik and I have been married, I have made 3 trips to the emergency room and 7 trips to the insta care. This weekend I added another couple to the tally. I managed to visit both the insta care and the emergency room all in one day. How did I do that you might ask? Well it all started with some rather mean stomach cramps.

I had been really sick with a sinus infection and up all night till about 4am on Friday night. I finally was able to fall asleep. About four hours later, some really painful abdominal cramps in my upper abdomen woke me up out of my deep sleep. They got so intense that all I could do is cry and moan. So I crawled to the living room to get Erik. We both knew something was really wrong, so he was going to take me to the insta care. Well, I could only manage to get from the floor back to my bed. They just got worse, so Erik panicked and called 911. The pain continued to get worse, and all I could do is scream so Erik did the only thing he could. He gave me a priesthood blessing. As soon as he finished and took his hands off my head, the pain immediately went away, and the paramedics walked in the door. Since I didn't really have much pain, I didn't see any reason to go to the hospital. So I sent them away and promised to go to the insta care. I am really thankful for the power of the priesthood. I know it was the only reason my pain stopped. It also saved me from an expensive ambulance ride (from previous experience those are about $1000). So anyway, they left, and I went back to sleep for another 8 hours since I was sick and feeling awful.

Well when I woke up, the pain started to come back but not as bad, so I tried to ignore it. My sinuses were also making me so miserable, that Erik took me to the insta care to get antibiotics. He made me mention my stomach pain, and the ambulance visit from earlier that morning. So the doctor checked me out and ran some blood tests. Since I still had a lot of pain, and my white blood cell count was abnormally high, the doctor made me go to the emergency room.

When I got to the emergency room, they ran more blood tests and palpated my stomach. The E.R. doctor had the same concerns as the insta care doctor, so he wouldn't let me leave. He made me stay for seven hours and get a bunch of tests done, to make sure I didn't need emergency surgery. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. I was really sick, I ached all over, I was blowing my nose every two minutes, I had a headache, It was really cold, the bed was uncomfortable, and I started having menstral cramps halfway through my visit. I was really not enjoying myself. But alas I had no choice, they wouldn't let me go home.

So after all the tests, the conclusion they came to, is that I most likely have a stomach ulcer. They gave me some expensive meds for my stomach to take over the next couple of months and some antibiotics for my sinus infection. They also said I need to make an appointment with the a GI specialist, to get more tests done, and see if it is an ulcer, or something else with my GI tract. Yeah, more tests. So yeah...that came out of the blue. Didn't see that one coming. Life is sure full of suprises.

So that is my latest visit to the emergency room. With my bad luck, and past history, this may not be my last E.R. post. I sure hope I am wrong though. I have had enough of that place! As much fun as Erik thinks I have there, I would much rather be anywhere else.

For entertainment sakes, here are a couple pictures to commemorate previous visits.



This is a picture from one of my two visits to the emergency room during my honeymoon. One was from complications from my herniated disk. The other was from a bad kidney infection. Apparently the insta care on Maui won't take care of these sorts of things. They sent me to the E.R. instead.



This was from a plasma donation gone wrong. This picture was taken about a week after when my arms have "healed." This one cost me a visit to the E.R. and a chest x-ray. I learned the hard way that there is no such thing quick buck.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Warren Miller Children of Winter

As a Warren Miller fan, I am so excited to see this. I have watched this trailer a million times! You would be crazy not to want to see Children of Winter. Enjoy this little snow snack!

http://www.skinet.com/action/2008-09/warren-millers-children-winter-trailer

Shark Attack...

I have recently become a member of the Desert Sharks Triathlon club. Why in the world would I do that you might ask? I decided about a month and a half ago, that I was going to start training for a triathlon. Since I don't like to do anything halfway, I thought I would start training with people that know what they are doing. So I joined the Desert Sharks. They train every Tuesday and Thursday, and there are other optional workouts throughout the week that people will post. The workouts are very intense, and will definitely increase performance levels. I am usually sore for two days after.

The sharks have been so welcoming, and I have really enjoyed training with them. Even if I am the slowest shark. Most of the people in my group have been doing triathlons between 8-30 years, so I am definitely the newbie of the group. So I don't feel bad being the slowest one, since most of them have done several Iron mans. There is one guy in the group named Ron who has taken me under his wing. He is the organizer for the Battle at Midway Triathlon, and has a lot of knowledge. He has been teaching me how to keep my rpm's constant, how to get the best leverage when peddling, how to pass people on the hills, how to use my energy the most efficiently, how to have quick transitions between events, how to pick out a good road bike, what to do to increase my speed in the pool, the best running workouts, and many other things. He really is an excellent resource, since he has helped several people train. I hit the triathlon jackpot when I ran into him. After being around all these die hard triathletes, I have decided that I would like to make this more of a lifestyle, rather than a one time thing.

I have a goal to do at least two-three triathlons next year. I had planned on doing the Lake Powell Triathlon in October, but since it took me a lot longer than I planned to get licensed as an OT and get paid at my promised salary, I don't think I will be able to afford it anymore. So am now planning on the Battle at Midway Triathlon, and the Spudman, up in Burley Idaho next year. I would also like to do the Desert Shark's sponsored Triathlon up at Crystal Hot Springs if they decide to do it again. I am going to be doing the sprint level distance, since I have never done a triathlon before. This entails a half mile swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 5k run, so it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe after another year of training with the sharks, I will be ready for the olympic level distance. Who knows!

Erik thinks I am crazy for doing this, but has been very supportive. Maybe over time, I will convert him to my evil triathlete ways. I have already convinced him to come to a sharks workout with me. It is just a matter of time Muahhhaaaaahhh. He can't hold out forever.

Monday, September 1, 2008

1st Year Anniversary

So Erik and I just recently celebrated our 1st year anniversary. I have been reflecting this last month about our first year of marriage, and how lucky I am to have him. I am so grateful to God that he chose me. He is such a wonderful husband, and every day I grow to love him more and more. He has made me so happy that I can honestly say this is the happiest I have ever been. It has been a wonderful first year with a lot of fun memories and times spent together. Here are a few pictures from our many adventures together.

Erik and I camping with some friends up in American fork canyon

Erik trying to scare away the bears. I think he has watched the parent trap one too many times. He was paranoid about getting eaten by bears the whole trip, so we teased him relentlessly.

Waiting in line to ride the Tea Cups at Disneyland. Mouse ears are a must!

Erik and I outside of California adventure.

We decided to Disco it up for halloween. Erik told everyone he was Disco Stu, but I know his real identity;)

More Halloween fun at the local swing venue's annual Halloween Dance

Disco skating with my disco stud

Carving pumpkins after disco skating with friends. On display is my very un-artistic bat pumkin.
Erik and I after my graduation ceremony. I am showing him my appreciation for his support through graduate school;)

Erik at his graduation ceremony from BYU. He graduated with a degree in computer animation in December. Turns out he could have graduated in April the year before. He went to take his last class last fall, and his advisor waived it, since he had already done a similar course at Ricks. Haha, if he had only known.

Erik and I at my pinning ceremony. This banquet marks the end of my three years in the occupational therapy program at the U.

Watching the sunset at the Great Salt Lake with my family.

Erik and I on our way to the pool during our vacation to Vegas. We all know what Erik wants to say, "I can't help it if I am ridiculously ridiculously good looking. " I believe he calls this look LaTigra.

Erik with his new Gary Fisher Mountain Bike. I got one a week later, and now we ride them everywhere! We especially love riding up city creek canyon. It is a ride we do quite often.

Erik and I canoing with some friends at Deer Creek Reservoir. We were very tired by the end of the day, but it was a lot of fun.

Djing at The Skillet (Salt Lakes Local Swing Venue) last month.

Erik getting his groove on while I DJ the music.

Rock climbing at a local rock climbing Gym. It is amazing how large my butt looks from this angle.

Erik doing what he does best. He used to have a membership to the quarry, and has spent many years climbing with his cousins. He is way more experienced at this than I am. We just bought harnesses though and will be going quite regularly.


Erik at the Wal-Mart in Hawaii. This is his favorite place, so we make trips there quite often. He loves to peruse the DVD section, in order to find new additions for his 300 plus DVD collection. Of course this was one of the first places he located when we got to Maui. He makes me laugh.

Erik and I near the beach during a Luau we attended in Maui, while on our honeymoon. It was a perfect night.

Enjoying the beautiful scenery before the sun goes down.

Erik standing on the shore. I really like this picture.