Student Loans paid off...

After many sleepless nights and fruitless arguments, Janelle and I finally reached the conclusion that accepting some subsidized student loans might be a wise choice as a financial safety net. Better to take debt on our own terms than to be forced into it when the bills pile up and necessity dictates digging deep into the federal pandora's piggy-bank. "After all," I beguiled Janelle,"We can just put it in savings and if we never need it then we will have made money on the interest." Little did we suspect just how soon those Staffords would yield dividends...in the form of All Wheel Drive and 210 watt sound system! Hee-Ya!

No offense to grandma's gold taurus. I mean, without that sweet ride I never would've dated Janelle in the first place because I couldn't have given her a ride home (I guess I could've given her a pump on my bike...but that likely would have left an entirely different impression). I think the moment she fell in love was when I not-so-adroitly attempted to 'police-slide' across the hood and permanently stamped it with a gluteal impression, but I digress. The point is: this 2005 Mitsubishi Outlander, a ksl.com acquisition, is the bee's knees. Enter sweet panoramic shot. Fin.

Happy 4th!...well 5th

This year for the 4th of July (which was really the 5th) it was just me and Spencer. We both worked late that night but we did have enough time to buy a couple of cheap fire works and light them off together. We went over to an unfinished area in our town home complex and celebrated. My favorites are the spinning flowers I think. It was fun just the two of us! Love you Spence :) Happy 4th!

Judd Cousin Vacation 2010

This year for the cousin trip we went to Oceanside, California for a week. We had a MARVELOUS time! We left on the 5th which was my birthday....ha ha, and I was thinking a long car ride might not be the most enjoyable way to spend a birthday but thanks to Spencer and the rest of the family, it was wonderful. I got many happy birthday wishes from the family throughout the entire day. And when we stopped in Barstow Spencer informed me that part of my birthday presents involved a shopping spree which was fun! When we got to our final destination and after we finished unpacking and what not, we decided to take a look at the beach. We just wanted to walk around....but that didn't really work out because everyone was so excited to be there and most people ended up in the water in their clothes! We were all very wet and very sandy. And some people were so excited that they forgot that they had wallets or phones in their pockets....Later that evening Spencer and I went back to the beach and had the sense to change into swimming suits. It was fun at night....though scary because I thought I would get eaten by a shark! I'd never been to the beach at night and now that I have I would highly recommend it. It's relaxing to listen to the waves crash against the beach. The ocean seems so much bigger at night. We just played in the waves a bit but mostly we just sat on the beach and talked. This was probably the best part of my birthday :) Well, when we went inside I got another surprise. Everyone was in our part of the condo with cake and ice cream and they sang happy birthday. It was fun and only slightly embarrassing when I didn't blow out all my candles. Ha ha ha...overall, great birthday! Thanks everyone!

For our week in California we stayed in a condo right off the beach which was the best! Usually when we went to California as kids there would be one day planned out for a visit to the beach, but with this trip....everyday was a beach day! We had fun playing on the beach, building sand castles, boogie boarding (which mostly involved getting beat up by wave after wave), swimming in the ocean, throwing  collecting shells, and taking romantic strolls on the beach :)

Me and Spence

Go Lilly!

Pretty! This was one of the many views that we enjoyed right from our condo

We were able to enjoy many of the attractions in Southern California during our stay. We were able to go to Disneyland thanks to giving days of service (or thanks to Lu Anne for making quilts and donating them for us) PLUS collecting many, many, MANY plastic bottles. In Spencer's family, when the aunts and uncles were kids their grandfather used to collect cans on the side of the road, recycle them, and use the money to take the grand kids to the county fair. Our trip to Disneyland was a recreation of this tradition. Family history is highly valued in the Judd family. They even have games to get to know the ancestors! Since I've been in the family I've had the opportunity to learn the Judd family genealogy and I've enjoyed the lessons that can be learned when we look back at history. Collecting the bottles for a grand kid visit to Disneyland is just one example of how the Judds honor and remember their family name and traditions.

Disney Main Street

I LOVE the tea cups!!!

Go Splash Mountain!

Pretty Sleeping Beauty Castle.....Spencer wishing he could be sleeping

We also had the option of going to Sea World or Lego Land.....and which one did I choose......SEA WORLD OF COURSE!!!! Sea World is one of my favorite places to go in the whole wide world. Dolphin posters covered my walls until I moved to college. I love love love, ocean life. I wanted to be a dolphin trainer and major in Marine biology....that idea also ended when I went to college. I would ask the trainers at Sea World when I was little what I needed to do to become a trainer myself. WELL, even though I'm not as crazy about dolphins and sea life as I was before I definitely still love Sea World. We had a great time.

Feeding the dolphins is my favorite! Love it!!!

Shamoo Shamoo

Bat ray feeding....Spencer's favorite!

Shark encounter...too scary

Besides going out and having fun there was always stuff going on around the condo. We played loads of games, had bocce ball tournaments, had parties, and ate yummy food! We were all sad to go home. The trip was wonderful. Massive thanks to all who made it possible!

Facing your fears...not so fun!

So the other day after work and research and what not, Spencer and I decided it would be really nice to go for a bike ride through town. We brought a frisbee with us and were planning on finding a park to toss around. We had a splendid time becoming more familiar with our neighborhood and chatting about our days and our current books.

Well, towards the end of our ride we passed by a house that had a fenced in yard and in that yard was a little boy and a MASSIVE dog and the dog was growling and jumping on the screaming little boy and biting him. I said to Spencer that we needed to help him but Spencer said he was fine (and I later found out that this was true, the dog was just playing a little too rough....but in my mind this little boy was being mauled!!) The boy screamed a little louder and I decided to help him. I launched my bike to the ground and leaped over the fence. I grabbed the dog by his collar and the little boy was able to run inside. I remember thinking immediately what the heck was I thinking jumping in here with this dog. 1) the dog was biting the little boy, wouldn't he start attacking me? 2) what was I going to do with this dog now that I had him by the collar? and 3) I am deathly afraid of dogs!

Well, the dog did start biting me but luckily, like Spencer said, he was just playing. His bites weren't breaking the skin. So as the dog is gnawing on my arm I look around and decide what to to next. I see another boy a distance away. I asked him if his brother was ok and maybe if his mom or dad was home....all the while trying to keep dog from tackling me. He said his mom was home, and then he started going off how they had a shock collar on the dog and how he's been acting up lately. I tried to decide how I was going to let go of the dog and jump back over the fence without him getting me. When I decided that there was no hope and I would just have to hold on to this dog forever, the little boy's mom came out. She said her son said I helped him and that he was ok. I was eternally grateful when she took the dog's collar from me and I was able to get on the other side of the fence. She thanked me for helping her son and I said it wasn't a problem and tried to to get away as quickly as possible because all I could think about was the poor little boy screaming while the dog attacked him and it totally brought back painful memories of my dog attack.

When I was eight years old I was bit by a German husky. I was delivering papers for my brother Nathan because he was out of town. My mom drove me around Elk Ridge and took me to the houses on the list. Well, one of the houses I delivered to had two big huskies sitting on the front porch. I didn't see them until I got right to the door because the walkway leading to the front porch wrapped around the house. I put the paper down slowly and started to back away. The black and white one growled dangerously at me and I ran for it (not the best idea obviously, but come on, I was eight years old and scared out of my mind!) I ran out into the field in front of the house screaming and he chased me and tackled me to the ground. I remember as I was running seeing the neighbors across the street step outside their front door to see what was going on and they just stood there watching. I yelled, but they didn't move off of their front step. The dog clawed up my back to get me to the ground and started biting me, taking a chunk out of my leg. Luckily my mom came to my rescue. She kicked the dog as hard as she could (and I remember this quite clearly, her cussing at the dog ), picked me up and rushed me to the car. I don't remember this but whenever my mom retells the story she never leaves this bit out...apparently I was really proud of the fact that when the dog was biting me I put my arms over my head and neck to protect them. I told my mom this once we got in the car and she said she was very proud of me. On the way to the hospital we came across a marathon of some kind and I remember my mom threatening to run the people over if they didn't move it. I also remember looking at my leg in the car, feeling bad about the blood I was getting on the seat, and asking my mom if I would have to get stitches. She told me I would and I was even more terrified. At the hospital there were police officers called in and they took pictures of my wounds. Apparently this particular dog had already attacked someone else and they needed the photos as evidence. I thought they were pretty cool. My mom was right about the stitches, I needed 36 stitches for my leg. 25 were needed on the inside to repair the damage and then 11 to close up the wound. Ever since this happened and up to my current place in life this has been my feelings towards dogs: They're smelly, they shed all over the place, they make people have allergies, they're always trying to slobber on you and jump on you, people talk about them like they're family members which is annoying, they poop in your yard, they eat your pet ducks, oh...and they EAT PEOPLE!

Anyway, so back to my story....I felt so sorry for the poor little boy being attacked by the dog. He was so scared! So thinking about this and his cries for help and all the adrenaline from jumping over the fence and facing my fear left me in quite a state. I didn't really calm down until we got to the park to toss the frisbee around. It was kind of difficult to do this though due to a guy who brought his dog to the park to apparently train him?....I don't know he was running around and the man kept saying "stay" and "sit" Seriously....are you kidding me!?! I can't stand the things! Anyway, I did calm down eventually. This experience was not a fun reminder of my feelings towards dogs.



p.s. bonus points if you can guess what movie the dog picture is from
   

Blog Apostasy

What have we been up to the last five months?....I will tell you

Spencer finished his first year of pharmacy school! Whoo-hoo! Now he only has like 6 more years left...He's enjoying himself though. This summer Spencer will take part in two research rotations. If you care to know what they're researching you'll have to ask him. He's explained it to me but I never ever really understand what he does up to at that school of his. Though, I did enjoy seeing him run across the parking lot in his lab coat and purple gloves today when I came by to drop something off for him. Oh, and I'm still working at LDS hospital in dietary...the end

Our house is still pleasant. We've done quite a bit of decorating. We even painted our living room (picture coming soon!) P.s. frog tape stinks. Just a warning...

Recently, Spencer and I have rediscovered books and how glorious they are. We both ride trax quite a bit so we had to find something to pass the time. Spencer originally thought studying could occupy his time....but that fantasy didn't last long. So books it was. Not only do we read them on trax but we now like read them in our spare time....crazy! I got us a library card. Another cool thing I've discovered about the library is that you can also check out dvd's! We've been enjoying Amazing Race and Man vs. Wild.

With Spencer's schedule it's hard to get away sometimes, but we've managed to have a bit of fun. Over spring break we were able to go down to Moab. We enjoyed camping, biking, hiking...and the most essential of activities: ultimate frisbee. There just happened to be a tournament down there the same weekend as our trip and our Cedar team was gracious enough to let us play. Good times were had by all.

We love love love our tent!!!!

We had a pretty good spot!

Slickrock!!!

Some how I hadn't ever been to Arches before this so we decided to cough up the money to drive though. Luckily there was some opportunity to hike around so we didn't feel too much like tourists....though the hike was classified as extremely strenuous...ha ha ha...people had their hiking poles and everything....oh, funny.

Moab got rainy do we drove to Goblin valley to hike. This is Little Horse Canyon

The frisbee team!

We also took a trip down to Cedar City for Easter. The egg roll was a blast. This has been a tradition for the Judd family for many, MANY years. Basically they make a course out of sand for the eggs to race down. Very very fun! This year we also had a bridge building/breaking contest in honor of Grandpa Harl....his bridge by far held the most weight. It was so good it broke the machine!

Go Grandpa Harl!!

This is Spencer and his Russian bridge

This was my Easter egg team! Go Mario All-stars!

The trampoline

a fight to the finish

 

Spencer has just won the Cinderella race to get into the winner's tournament.....unfortunately he lost the next race and was out of it

Let's see....we also celebrated Spencer's 24th birthday. We went to Rice for dinner which is a sushi place. Spencer has been big into sushi lately...I'm not as excited about it but I don't run the other way anymore. For his birthday I got him Muse tickets so we really had fun with that. They put on a sweet show. Anyway, happy birthday to my sweetie! You're the best!!

 

Sushi!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

MUSE!!!

So basically what I'm getting at is life is grand!

Ode to Grechka

Yesterday Spencer and I both had the day off. While most of it we wasted just lounging around and reading, we did accomplish one important task. We went to the Russian store! I've enjoyed most of the traditions Spencer has shared with me from his mission in Russia. I must confess though that my favorite one may be grechka! What is grechka you may ask? Grechka is a cereal product commonly eaten in Eastern Europe. In English, grechka generally refers to buckwheat groats, but in Slavic countries, grechka refers to porridge in general, and can be made from any cereal, especially buckwheat, wheat, barley, oats, and rye. It is one of the oldest known dishes in the Slavic cuisines of the Eastern European cuisine, at least a thousand years old. This Buckwheat grechka is so versatile that it can be used in the morning as a cereal with hot milk or in the evening as a side dish instead of rice or potatoes

Sounds quite appealing right? We bought three bags of grechka at the store! Well, there are many ways to prepare and eat grechka. What we enjoy best is a breakfast concoction (I say breakfast but we enjoy it for any meal!) We'll boil the grains like any other recipe, but at the same time we start to fry up some ham. Once all the water is absorbed or evaporated we combine the grechka with the ham in a frying pan. Then we crack a couple of eggs into the pan and mix everything up. Then we dish up generous servings into large bowls. On our grechka we like to mix in mayonnaise and ketchup. You have to be careful though to get the proportions right. It's very delicious and filling. I recommend that everyone go out and try some grechka....or just come to our house and we'll make you some!

Happy New Year!

This New Years I ended up working a little later than anticipated so Spencer and I decided to do our celebrating close to home. We went out to dinner at Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano at the gateway mall. The food was quite delicious. Then we decided to go see the lights at temple square again....they were still there, why not?

You can't tell but this is us in front of the restaurant

On our way there on trax we ran into a guy named Nathan. He said he lost his wallet and needed some help getting home to Ogden. Spencer didn't even hesitate to help. We got off at the next stop and bought him a ticket for Front Runner. Spencer also gave him a little extra money because Nathan hadn't eaten anything for a while. I was so proud of my husband for being so willing to help someone in need. While we were both waiting for the next train to come to take us our separate ways we got to talking. Nathan said he asked a couple of people before us to help him and they all turned him down. I was really surprised by that. Nathan then asked a bit about us and seemed to come to the conclusion that we were members of the church. Nathan said he grew up in Manti a member of the church but ending up falling away. He said lately though that he's been thinking about changing a couple of things in his life and coming back to the church. We talked about that for quite some time and about the church. Well, both our trains came and he thanked us quite a bit and we wished him good luck. I was extremely thankful for the experience and the chance we had to meet Nathan. We hope that he got home safely and that some day he does end up coming back to the church.



After this experience Spencer and I shared our some of our feelings and previous experiences we had had with situations like this. I said that anytime something like this comes up and someone needs help I just think what would I want people to do if this was me or someone I cared about. I would want help and I would want others to help my family if they were in trouble. Spencer said you never know what people's real stories are. They might be scamming you or they might actually need your help. He said in the end when it's all said and done and you're looking back at your life that he guarantees that you will never regret helping someone when they were in need. It touches me when I see or hear about people going out of their way to help one another. I just think about it this way: we're all on the same team. Generally, we're all trying to achieve the same thing. When teams work together and help each other out, they tend to do better and achieve more. I hope that whenever we see someone in need that we won't hesitate to do what we can to help.



Anyway, so after temple square we started heading over to the '3VE' celebration going on at gallivan plaza. We had a fun time there. It was very crowded! There was a lot going on though so we found ways around the masses. There was a little ski slope set up and people were going down and doing tricks and what not. It was fun to watch. There were a couple of bands set up. We mostly hung out by the one that was playing swing music. Me and Spencer attempted to dance, but it occurred to me that we haven't danced together much. Ha ha ha....we got a little bit better as the night went on though. At midnight they shot off fire works right above us. Last year they had a long show, but this year they decided to cram the whole show into about two minutes! It was amazing. After everything was over we just hopped on trax and went home. We had a great time in down town. When we got home we drank some sparkling pear juice and watched the Grinch. Overall, quite a great New Years! 

Spencer was excited that there weren't going to be tons of people in the backgrounds of our pictures

Pretty Temple!!!

I realize this is what most of the pictures of us look like. You know what though, when it's just the two of you and one of you has to hold the camera out in front that's what the pictures tend to look like

Luckily someone walked by and offered to take a picture

This is the little ski hill/board park

The favorite band

Happy New Year!!!

It's officially 2010