A Solution! .... theoretically

I have a problem, and it's been driving me crazy lately. I am always freezing. No matter where I am, I am cold and shivery unless I'm wearing a sweatshirt or coat. Even then I'm still cold. And half the time when I go outside my fingers go numb. I'm not exaggerating at all. They go bone white, and I can't feel them. It's gotten to the point that I've almost considered going to a doctor about it, but they'd probably look at me like I'm crazy and tell me to wear more layers. So, with all my newly-acquired physiology knowledge, I've come up with a solution!

I need to start working out.

Ready for the physiology lesson behind this? Your cells have organelles in them called mitochondria. They are often called the "powerhouse of the cell." These mitochondria break down food into energy for your body to use, and while they create that energy they also create heat. When you exercise regularly your body requires more energy, so more mitochondria are created to keep up with the demand. With more mitochondria you metabolism increases (even while you are not exercising), which should lead to an increase in heat produced. Right? And that extra heat will keep me warmer! Theoretically. Besides, I haven't worked out since before I got engaged and I feel like a bum. Time to start hitting the gym again.

... after finals.

Thanksgiving Break! And what a wonderful break it was!

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving! Seriously, the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving break were easily the most stressful of the semester and possibly the most stressful of my life. I had 3 (!!!) big midterms in my 3 hardest classes. Chemistry, Biodiversity, and Physiology. That's 11 credits of classes right there. For Chemistry I had to memorize dozens of steps for reactions that happen in our bodies with the mechanisms and enzymes for each step (glycolysis, kreb's cycle, glycogenolysis, ect... for those that care), and understand them conceptually. I spent many hours filling, erasing, and refilling whiteboards in empty classrooms. In biodiversity we changed professors for the vertebrate half of the class. This professor is hilarious, and vertebrates are cool. If you need any cool facts about sharks, lizards, frogs, or salamanders, just ask! But a new professor means a new style of testing, and my his style of testing includes (but is not limited to) memorizing phylogenetic trees. And filling them in on the test. Again with the whiteboards. I just need to get a nice big one for my apartment, I think. Physiology wouldn't have been that bad if I had had ANY time to study, but I only got about 4 hours of studying in (for 260 slides... really?) and I'm pretty sure I got a C on the test. It's about what I expected though. I had to prioritize. My professor said he might replace one of our midterm grades with our final grade if we have an unusually bad midterm, so I'm hoping for that. It was time for a break!

Spencer's whole family was in town, and it was wonderful! Mom, Dad, and Brigham drove and got into town Sunday night, and Mikayla came down Tuesday after she was done with class. Mom and Dad needed to meet sweet little Carrina, and Brigham needed a new hat from the BYU Bookstore. ;-)

We spent tons of time hanging out. We played games, ate way too much food, watched a couple movies, wandered around the bookstore, visited the museum of paleontology at BYU, went to Joann's (the girls), and went to a basketball game on Saturday. We had FUN!


Somehow I was under the impression that even though we were eating Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment (Thanks to this nice table and set of chairs from the Waltons!), I wouldn't be doing the turkey because I had no clue how to do it. Well, we brought the turkey over to our apartment on Wednesday night, and Thursday morning everyone went to the turkeybowl football, and I stayed to sleep in a little and finish getting the apartment ready. At 11:30 I saw a text from Spencer that said Mom said I should start the turkey at about 11:00. Oh boy. So I called Dad in a panic and had a nice time skyping with him and all the kiddos at AnnaMarie's while he talked me through getting the turkey going. I knew about the bag of gizzards, but why on earth do they put the turkey neck in it? I probably would have left it in there if Dad didn't tell me about it. Anyway, I got it going and it turned out tasting like a turkey, so I guess it was a success. :-)


Dinner was so good, and I think everyone ate way too much. And we have lots of yummy leftovers in our fridge. That's the way I like it. Mom and Katy made most of the other stuff, and Dad carved the turkey. So, I didn't really do that much. I made a french silk chocolate pie to share. We had dessert at Spencer's Aunt and Uncle's in Pleasant Grove (or somewhere), which was fun. Not that I really knew anyone else there.

 

On Sunday little Carrina May Thornock was blessed in church. We went to Josh and Katy's ward to be there for it. Baby blessings are always so beautiful and touching. Josh did a great job. (Not that I've ever seen someone give a bad baby blessing.) Carrina is about 7 or 8 weeks old now, and she is so sweet. I love those tiny baby snuggles, and this week she got much better at making eye contact and she even started giving Josh some real smiles and coos. I'm happy that we get to see her grow up for a little while before we move away.

On Sunday night we had dinner at Katy's parent's house, and then went back to Josh and Katy's apartment to play games. We had a family home evening all together, except Mikayla, who had to drive back to Idaho. We each shared our favorite scripture and bore our testimonies. It was really nice. This Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for, but at the top of the list is my family, and my Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifices make it possible for us to be with our families for eternity. To seal and bind husbands to wives, mothers to daughters, grandparents to grandchildren forever. That is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only personal salvation and exaltation, but to share that with the ones you love.

Mom, Dad, and Brigham hit the road for Michigan this morning. We'll miss them lots, and hopefully we'll be able to see them again before next Christmas.

Spencer's Birthday!

Last Friday was Spencer's birthday, and we had such a fun weekend celebrating it. I had a test Friday night, but I finished a little before 5 and Spencer came back to campus to pick me up. We went home to eat a snack and so Spencer could open his birthday present. I got him a new set of scriptures. It's probably not the most exciting present, but they are a little bit expensive, so we probably wouldn't go buy them on a whim. Besides, he needed some. After that, we went to see Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. We didn't see it when it came out, but it's in the dollar theater now. We both liked it, but it was long! The movie ended at like 9:30 (started at 6:30) and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm pretty sure that's Spencer's favorite restaurant ever. It's about 30 minutes away (in Lehi), but it was fun to go. Spencer even got a free bottle of sauce for his birthday! He got the Asian Zing flavor, so we'll have to make some chicken wings some night. By the time we got back from dinner it was almost 11:00, so we went home. It was a fun night. It's been a while since we've had a real date night and haven't had to spend Friday night studying.

On Saturday we had a tie dying birthday party for him! I'll be honest. Pretty much the only reason we had a tie dye theme was because I wanted to make THIS!

Seriously, this cake was so fun to make. Plus, it looked and tasted amazing. I was a little worried since I had never tried the recipe before and I made some changes as I was going along. The original recipe didn't call for white sugar or butter. Which is weird. So I added some. It was pumpkin-chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I wish we had more of it. Can you believe I've been lucky enough to make this guy's last 3 birthday cakes??

The party was fun. Everyone we invited came, so it was a full house... basement. Not everyone brought things to tie dye, but I hope everyone had fun. The things we did dye turned out well. I love our pillowcases that we did for camping. Josh brought over his Xbox, and I'm pretty sure that was the hit of the party. Here are some pictures. :-)

Our pillowcases! Mine's on the left, Spencer's is on the right.

I added pictures the The Narrows post.

Finally. Go check them out if you want to. :)