So Far

No introduction, no apologies for lack of blogging consistency, I am just going to dive right in.

2013 has flown by so far. Flown by! Nate and I have been busy busy busy. At the end of February we celebrated my birthday (no, you don't need to know how old I am) and it was such a fun birthday! My mom was working in Utah county that day so I got to see her on my actual birthday which hasn't happened in a long time. Nate totally spoiled me with gifts and that evening lots of our friends and family got together and we went out to dinner. The service was abysmal but we had great company and lots of laughs. In March Nate went on his first business trip to Manhattan and we had to spend 3 nights/4 days apart, by far the longest we've ever been separated. We made it through though and Nate had a good time. He has another trip to St. Paul, MN coming up next. Nate's family came into town (just before his trip) and they stayed with us for a couple nights and then rotated through the other married siblings. It was good to see everyone and during the week they were here we had 2 birthday parties, a family reunion, a baptism, and a missionary farewell. Talk about a busy week, lots of family time! Easter was a low key day (which was good), Nate made ribs for our Easter dinner and of course we had our tradition of Easter baskets. My basket was awesome, it was a new purse. Love my purse. In March we payed off our other car and so no more car payments for us! They are both ours free and clear. Nate has been busy with his master's program, only 6 more months to go! Both of us are ready for him to be done. Work has been going well for Nate. I've been busy with some new photography classes, this month's class is all about photo editing and I've been loving it! I finally scrapbooked! After months of being too busy to scrapbook anything for Nate and I, I finally got around to making some pages for our family book. I'm just about ready to order another book. I also signed up for some sewing classes which I'm really excited about. We've got our camping trips for the summer planned and now we're looking forward to summer. Gosh, I think that's about it for us. I still need to be better about taking more pictures, but here are some from the year so far.


New Year's Day at my mom's house. She made wifflers which are a family favorite that my grandma has made for years and years.


I don't have one normal picture of my brother and sister together from the last decade! They are ridiculous and either they both are adopted or I am adopted. Personally I think they were dropped off on our front porch by circus folk.



This is from my birthday. I'm so appreciative for everyone who helped us celebrate! We're missing Josh, Benji, Amanda, and Nate in this photo.





Being dropped off at the airport to head to NYC!


This is the view from Nate's hotel room.


Nate at the 9/11 memorial.


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Ugh! I always space taking pics of the whole family when everyone is in town. This is the only I took.

November 2012 Recap

I feel like such a terrible blogger. I barely posted last year. I am behind in journal keeping, blogging, and especially scrapbooking. I don't even remember the last time I got to photoshop anything for me and Nate. It was one project after another for others. I seriously think it's been about six months since I last made a scrapbook page. I am going to do better this year! So here is an attempt to get caught back up. Here are some highlights from our November.

The first part of November is always fun at our house. Keeping with tradition we celebrate the 12 Days of Nate. Since Nate's birthday falls on the 12th he gets a fun treat or small gift everyday for 12 days leading up to his birthday. We also started something new this year. I had Nate choose 4 dinners for me to make, anything he wanted. It didn't even have to be things I liked. Nate requested baked tacos, his favorite Mexican dip, and two new recipes- chicken alfredo biscuit bake, and chicken fried steak casserole. Also to celebrate, we went out to Brazilian pizza one night followed by the new James Bond movie - so fun! All in all, Nate had a great birthday.

Yes, that is hard boiled egg on the pizza. They definitely have some different combinations.

Dessert pizza. Nate was super bummed that it wasn't the hot gooey pizza he used to eat in Brazil.


It was our year to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. My sister is in Tennessee in nurse practioner school and so it was just Nate and I, my mom and brother this year. Don't worry that my brother decided this year that turkey is boring and that he wanted ham. So we had a turkey and a ham for 4 people. To say there were leftovers would be an understatement! Nate decided that there was a sale too good to pass up at a Black Friday sale. So early Thursday evening we trekked to the store to sit in line for a new tv. Nate is so thrilled with the addition to our living room. :)

The last day of November was a whirlwind. I spent most of the day in Salt Lake with my mom while she had a procedure done on her eye. Then on my way home, Nate called to let me know Brandon and Julianna invited us to go to the Festival of Trees. Of course I said yes, I love seeing all the trees, and it's a great start to the holiday season. Julianna's sister made this darling baking tree, so cute!

I love this fishing tree.

This is the tree Julianna's sister made.

Made entirely from soda cans, crazy!

What Is Treason?

It's been one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. Which is also a cute book by the way. However, the day did improve quite a bit when I knew the answer to final Jeopardy. That's always the weak part of my game.

Category- U.S. Constitution

Found in Article 3, Sec. 3, & requiring the testimony of 2 witnesses to prove, it’s the only crime defined in the Constitution.

Answer- What is treason!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Happy Birthday Nate! I hope today was a fun day and that this year is your best year yet! Love you so much.

Carving Pumpkins

Finally, on our sixth Halloween we got around to carving pumpkins. I have to admit, we had a blast and I think our pumpkins turned out really well. Nate only carved pumpkins once or twice as a kid, and it's something my family did each year and I have fond memories of it. We will definitely be adding this to our list of Halloween traditions. Nate wanted to carve something other than a traditional face. He found these stencils online and it was so much fun. We're thinking we'll do some themed pumpkins every year.

Photography Classes - Amazing Deal!!!

Okay, there is an amazing deal at Groupon for these online digital photography classes. I just did my first class last month and am in the first week of my second class. I cannot tell you how much better my photos look after just the first class. The classes are for dsl cameras but she does have one for point and shoot. I promise your photos will improve and you won't be frustrated with your camera any more! The class takes me about 30 minutes to read through and watch the videos each week. Then you have an assignment and you send in that photo and you get individual feedback on that photo every week. Love it! Last time when they were on Groupon, Nate ordered me the Digital 101 (which was awesome!) and Digital 102 which I am in right now. I ordered two more classes today. That is how much I like this lady! The classes are normally $97 each and they are on sale for $29 right now! The Groupon is good until December 2013 and you can pick what month you'd like to take your classes. I totally recommend them. This would make a great Christmas gift too!

Here's the Groupon link:
http://www.groupon.com/deals/dc-ifd-flying-photo-school-amarillo

Here's the link to Flying Photo School:
http://www.flyingphotoschool.com

Updates

So we've been asked a few times within the last week what's new with us. I always feel a bit pressured by this question. I wish I had some super exciting thing to share with them. something like, "Oh yeah, well we went on a safari last weekend and Nate totally wrestled this crocodile to save a baby zebra." Or I could say, " Well actually when I was in Costco last week and I was picked to win a complete home theater set, a cruise, and a giant diamond ring." You know, something along those lines. Well, truth be told nothing quite along those lines is going on with us, but there are a couple new things happening in our lives.

We've become a football family. I've watched more football this fall than I have in my life! We've got tickets for BYU football this season and we're also watching the NFL so Nate can check on his fantasy football team.

This Friday I'm having my second foot surgery. Last time I had the right foot done and Friday will be the left foot. I had the right foot done 5 weeks ago and I'm healing so well and I can totally see the improvement. I'll be immobile this weekend and next week, so if you're bored, call me and come hang out! I also need to thank so many family members and friends for their well wishes and support during these surgeries. I so appreciate it.

Nate is going to be traveling for work next month. He'll be going to San Diego. It's the first time he's traveled for work, and it'll also be the first time we've been apart in over 5 years of marriage. He's excited for this new opportunity and I'm so happy for him. He'll be gone for 4 days, so I'm thinking I need to live it up while he's gone. I'm going to make soups or pasta for dinner, Nate's not a big fan of either, and I'm planning on making some fun holiday aprons.

I'm guest posting over at Lovely Little Snippets today. I'm sharing a recipe for Asian marinated steak, so head on over and check it out! Of course I'm still posting recipes over at Durfee Family Recipes too. I'm also taking a couple photography classes this fall. I have to say, even though I'm only 2 1/2 weeks into the course, my photos are improving by leaps and bounds, I'm loving it!

Also in October, Nate is going elk hunting. He's really looking forward to it. I of course want him to be successful, but then I think about the logistics of dealing with an entire elk. So if anyone sees a good deal on a chest freezer let me know. I've also heard that elk jerky is good. We'll see. Also, he is going hunting one weekend, then will be out of town for work that next week, then planning on hunting that weekend too.

So yah, that's what's going on with us.

DTR

Dear BYU Football,

I am breaking up with you. And this time it's not me, it's you. It's definitely you. I came to your game yesterday, I dressed in BYU colors, I cheered, I took some fun pictures, I tried hard to not make fun of any zoobies. And what did you do? You burned me, you burned me bad. In all my 26 1/2 years I have never ever been this sunburned! My arms, my legs, my face. Oh my face. It is all lumpy and bumpy and the skin is puckered and when I touch on accident it leaks fluid. It is so gross and it hurts so bad! Like the kind of pain that makes you call your mom. My mom says I'll live, but I feel like it's kinda touch and go right now. I did make it through the night. Cute Nate set up the air mattress downstairs for me so I could be cooler. He's nice. So long BYU football. Call me when you have a covered stadium.

Sincerely,
Tomato Kim


P.S. My new favorite person right now is Lizzie Buhler. She gave me a tip about keeping the aloe in the fridge so it's nice and cold when you put it on. Genius! I'm pretty sure heaven is made of cold aloe.

Oh Goodness

So I may or may not have spilled nail polish on my keyboard today. I also may or may not have left a giant roast out on the counter for 6 hours yesterday. Fail. I'm kinda worried about tomorrow.

A Day in the Life

Part of a conversation Nate and I had this morning while making the bed:

Kim: "I hope Ryan Lochte wins tonight and not Michael Phelps."

Nate: "I don't care as long as the gold medal goes to USA."

Kim: "Nate! You have to have make the pillows look nice!"

Nate: "Babe. Everything I do looks nice."

Yep, just keepin' it real.