9.30.2013

YOU'RE INVITED


Tonight I finished the invite for Tyler's mom for the dinner that she and the rest of the young women stake presidency are putting on for their stake. I think all I have left to do are a banner and a label for a chalkboard eraser that they are giving to all of the young women in a goodie bag with chalk. I think it turned out pretty great; I'm glad that Suzanne asked for my help. I've really enjoyed helping out with this and doing more with my hands and creating concepts on my own. Sometimes I feel like work can be mundane and I'm not really exercising my creative side (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

9.29.2013

THANKED


A couple of days ago the father of one of the boys in our nursery stopped by to give us a massive jar of his homemade pear sauce. We graciously thanked him and told him he didn't have to do that, but he insisted; he constantly thanks us for all we do in nursery. We are just doing what we've been asked to do by the Lord and we are really having the times of our lives. Today we had a lovely nursery, but sacrament meeting was a little crazy. There was a baby blessing, so the chapel was quite full and it was tough to find a seat. We thought we sat in an empty spot, but with fifteen minutes left in the meeting, a family of five (the same ones who brought this pear sauce by) came “back” in from the foyer and we unknowingly were in their spot. They weren’t mad or anything, but they just sat in the row in front of us. The only problem was that there was already a family of four sitting in front of us; they were just also currently all out in the foyer. The daughter of the family of four, Bella (who used to be in our nursery), came back in and tried to go to the row that she had been sitting on, then our row, then the row behind us, but they were all taken. She sort of stopped, confused, looked at us and said, “But where is my place?” It was funny, but we decided we were causing too much trouble, so we just spent the rest of the meeting in the foyer. Afterwards we left to go home, and who did we see way down the street all by herself but little Bella! Tyler handed me his scriptures and put those long legs to good use to go catch her; she was WAY far away from the church, almost past our apartments! He got to her and asked where she was going; she said, “I’m looking for my mom; I’m going HOME.” Apparently, she had had enough of waiting for her parents to finish chatting. We took her back to her mom at the church, who had just started getting frantic because she couldn’t find her. It was all very lucky; I’m glad we caught her.

9.28.2013

NINETY


This is my dear old grandpa. Today he is ninety years old. I am so glad to call this man my grandpa; he is amazingly witty and always interested in each of his children's, grandchildren's, and great-grandchildren's lives. He has done so much for his country and his community and his family and his church. The cultural hall was filled to the brim with all the people he has made an impact on and come in contact with. There were display tables full of his accomplishments and life's work. The food was delicious and the company was hilarious. I asked my grandpa if I could get a photo of him and Tyler jokingly told him to hold some balloons. He happily obliged with a witty comment and smiled for his granddaughter.

9.27.2013

POTAYTO PATAUTO


Tonight Tyler had a big ol' test to study for; he needed to stay up pretty late because he got off of work late. It worked out well, because I needed to stay up super late making a massive potato salad for my grandpa's birthday party tomorrow. I've never made potato salad from start to finish on my own, so I was excited. I overestimated how much this would make and ended up having to mix it all together in our big giant soup pot. It smelled so good while I was making it, and it ended up filling two giant bowls worth. Poor Tyler fell asleep on the couch, but we made it to bed before the sun came up.

9.26.2013

TOO LEGIT


Lookie lookie what we have here. This lovely piece of paper came in the mail today and we are as ecstatic as can be. As soon as you start working as a CNA you have 120 days to get registered, so a couple of weeks ago Tyler took the written and skills tests and passed with flying colors (of course). Now that he is registered he is too legit to quit AND it means a small raise is in his immediate future. Hooray!

9.25.2013

GOBBLED


I got home from work and worked a little more on the projects I need to get done for Suzanne. To my surprise there was a knock at the door and Tyler's mom and sister were standing in the doorway. They came in and we discussed a couple of the things I was working on. Suzanne also brought us some pizza coupons and Nicole brought these delicious mounds of joy. These, my friends, are cookies made out of few ingredients: oats, chocolate chips, mint chips, and bananas. They were a bit of an experiment, so there weren't that many on the plate. Tyler got home after 10 p.m. from work and was in a whirlwind of hurry to get a paper submitted by midnight. Suzanne and Nicole left shortly after he got home and I managed to snarf down every last morsel of these. (Tyler wasn't as into them as I was, so he let me have the majority. I can't tell if that was a bad thing or not—ALL FOR ME, NONE FOR YOU!)

9.24.2013

EXTRA BELATED-LY


So today was my lucky day; I finally got to cash in my birthday lunch with Suzanne. She told me we could go wherever I wanted. I am terrible at deciding where to eat because I want to try something new, but sometimes I fear I won't pick the right thing to try and end up wasting money on it. One thing I can count on liking no matter what is Italian, and I like to piggyback on other people's ideas, so I picked the place Tyler went for his birthday lunch: Buca Di Beppo. That place is a hoot and a holler of a crack-up when it comes to their decor—I loved it! Surprisingly, I wasn't very hungry (we didn't even get dessert, even though Suzanne was insistent), so I had plenty of leftovers for dinner. Thank you parents for birthing me in the summertime when everyone is too busy to celebrate, resulting in me getting plenty of belated birthday things; thank you Suzanne for the free food and free company; and thank you birthday for being all about giving me free things.

9.23.2013

VITALLY EXHAUSTING


Tonight I plucked a little more away at the invite I'm making for the "Come Unto Christ" event until Tyler got home. Boy did he have a tale to tell. He had only worked a four-hour shift, but it had certainly been eventful. The shipment of supplies comes on Tuesdays at his work, so since it was Monday night, everything was running low. Gloves, wipes, and briefs (adult diapers) in the correct sizes for his residents. They also got a new resident who speaks very little English, only Farsi, a type of Persian, and insists on standing up in spite of her broken hip. In the limited time he was there, running from room to room trying to find some gloves to wear, she tried to stand and (of course) fell, meaning he had to get a set of vitals at fifteen- and thirty-minute intervals. She went to bed, and every time she told him she just wanted to sleep, so every time he had to convince her anew. Once he finally coaxed the blood pressure cuff onto her arm only to see he had forgotten any paper, so he just scrawled her vitals on his wrist for the time being. After an exhausting short shift he came home and I asked him what the symbols on his wrist were, and got more of a story than I thought I would.

9.22.2013

LETTERING UP A STORM


I got cracking on some of the things that Tyler's mom needs for the Stake Auxillary meeting coming up where they are to announce the theme for the youth next year. She gave me three sheets of labels to write "Come Unto Christ" on that they'll stick on goodie bags to give to all of the young women. It took me some getting used to (luckily these vinyl labels are very forgiving and wipe off in a snap), but I am really falling in love with these chalk markers. After working on them for a bit, Stephanie came over and I showed her the progress I've made on her wedding announcement. She loved it, which was such a relief. It is incredible how much I stress over these things, but I really do get such a high from them too.

9.21.2013

UP UP AND AWAY


One Christmas time ago, my mother gifted a voucher for my dad to take a ride in a glider plane in ol' Heber city. Today was the day that he cashed it in and brought us all along to see his flight. We rode to the Heber Municipal Airport in the morning with my parents, Aubrey, and Jordan. They gave us the grand tour and we were in awe of all the amazing (and nostalgic) things they had to show us. Tyler did a Google hangout with Sara's and Tiffany's families so they could join in the fun while I snapped photos of anything and everything to capture the day for my Dad. Aubrey and Jordan brought their Go-Pro to strap to my Dad's head while he rode in the glider plane. The best part was my Dad got to help fly the plane as he sat in the front cockpit and this nice man sat in the back cockpit. A larger biplane towed them up into the air and, once they were high enough, unhooked them for a thirty-minute ride. My parents bought us lunch afterwards and then we took the scenic route home. In the evening we invited over our dear friend Bryan to give him the Aussie goodies we brought back for him. He was there as a missionary with Tyler, so they brought back some fond memories. Later in the evening, Tyler and I were feeling mischievous and didn't want to go to bed. We hooked ourselves up to the Wii and successfully got a perfect score on the 150 CC All Cup Tour for Mario Kart Double Dash, which we have been struggling with for a long time.

9.20.2013

GALLERIA


I found out today that I didn't get the job at Adobe—what a bummer. After work, Tyler picked me up and we went to the Jordan River temple. Later in the evening we went to a closing reception downtown for one of my friend's art shows. She did thirty pieces in 60 days along with two other artists for a total of 90 pieces of work to look at. It was a lovely show and I wish I could buy up all of her pieces. The other two artists also had amazing work; it was quite a sight to see. On the way home we stopped at Winger's for some much needed date night food. While we were there the Picketts tracked us down because they were in the Salt Lake area and wanted to have a visit before they made the descent back down to Provo. They were up here for a dinner with Spencer's aunt and uncle and received some European chocolate from them. They gave us a couple of bars to taste and boy was it yummy. What a culturific evening!

9.19.2013

ARRRR


Did you know that today is National Pirate Day? Did you also know that if you dress up like a pirate and go into a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and say, "Arrrr," they give you a whole dozen glazed doughnuts? Well it's all true. Sydney came to work today all dressed up and once she found out it was that easy to get enough free sweets for our whole team, we immediately hit the road. Unfortunately the nearest doughnut shop was either Layton or Orem. We made our way to Orem on our lunch break, and boy was it worth it. There were plenty of leftovers, so I brought the rest home to a much deserving Tyler.

9.18.2013

CHOCO CHOCOLATE


It's no surprise that I ate tons and tons of chocolate while in Australia. It's also no surprise that we brought tons and tons of that delicious stuff back from said Aussie land. In an effort to not finish off the whole supply we so carefully packed in our suitcases, I have been limiting myself to one square a day. Between that, counting my calories, and doing boot camp twice a week, I hope I can get back on track with my health. This summer was absolutely so crazy and I feel like all weight loss efforts got away from me.

9.17.2013

BUFFER


Today Tyler had the skills part of his nursing assistant certification test where he had to demonstrate certain things to pass. He does them all day at work, but for the test you have to do it in a certain order and verbally demonstrate each step. Again, I have a super smart husband, so I am sure he did great. Last night we made a super late run to Wal-Mart so I could buy these scary red eight-pound weights. I've been doing boot camp for almost a month now and my co-worker has upped the ante and we've all been asked to bring eight-pound weights. Today during the boot camp session I was the only one that showed up with eights, everyone else had five or less. Oh well, that just means I'll be buffer sooner, eh?

9.16.2013

HOMEMADE


Tyler took his CNA test today; he studied his little tooshie off so I'm sure he'll get an amazing score. He also got this recipe from his mom for me. It's a classic Mama Lynch recipe: no proportions, just ingredients, as much as seems right. In a couple of Saturdays my Grandpa Bush will be having his big birthday bash and all of the grandkids and aunts and uncles are in charge of specific dishes. I have been tasked with bringing a potato salad. Once I found that out, I knew just which potato salad I was going to make—the one from Kevin's farewell is one that I will never forget. Speaking of birthdays, it's my next-in-line older sister's birthday. Happy 2-9 today dear Sara, I wish you were here to share recipes with.

9.15.2013

YOU'RE WELCOME


We had regional conference this morning and went with my dad to the Conference Center downtown for the meeting. We weren't used to such an early start for our Sunday, so we came home and took a lovely nap. In the early evening we went over to Lynchland to eat yummy lasagna and go over all the things that Tyler's mom needs me to do for their dinner announcing of the youth theme for 2014. After a very delicious dinner and a quick chat, we went to Duncanville for a bit. We weren't there very long because Tyler had an essay due at midnight. While Tyler wrote his essay, I finished all the little letters and such that were to go inside the Aussie packages. One of them is this little instructional guide on how to eat a Tim Tam slam. I can't wait for them to try them; they are the most delectable treats I've ever had.

9.14.2013

BLUEBERRILY FOR TWO


We slept in a lovely amount and then worked on the packages of Aussie goodies we are trying to get sent off to our siblings. In the evening the Picketts came over to cash in their dinner from the 'dinner and a movie' coupon we gave them two years ago for Nikki's birthday. Chili's was delicious and then we did some browsing at the neighboring ROSS. We came back to our apartment for the evening and hung out a bit. We broke out our last four blueberry cheesecake pops to share and visited some more. After they left they rang the doorbell shortly after and had some white briefs at the end of a stick and said, "We found your undies." We sure love the Picketts.

9.13.2013

SUBMIT


Well, I did it. I have officially sent off my resume and portfolio to Adobe; cross your fingers that I get it. I really hope I get it. My friend says I should know by next week. I am feeling pretty dumb though. I realized when I got home that I had made a mistake; I sent them a PDF with links in it so that the things that were animated (a video I have on vimeo.com and a couple of animated GIFs on our corporate site) could link out to the URL, but it turns out I sent them the one that didn't have it linked. Boo. Tonight, I was completely drained; between working, trying to get together this portfolio so quickly, and taking care of a sick Tyler, I was exhausted. Luckily, Tyler took care of me: he made me soft mashed potatoes for my sore throat and some yummy pudding to soothe the pain.

9.12.2013

HOT EATS, COOL TREATS


Stephanie and her brand spankin' new fiancee came over tonight to flesh out what they would like for their announcement. I offer to all of my friends a design for their announcement, free as a wedding gift, as long as they pay for the printing. The soon-to-be-Christiansen's have some pretty great ideas, although they couldn't decide on a blue. After I messed around a bit to get a rough idea of what they wanted, they treated me to some Chick-fil-a. We then hung out for a bit until Tyler got home from work, then we treated them to some Sonic shakes. Good times with our future married friends.

9.11.2013

HUMP DAY


Poor Tyler. Today was the worst of the worst of being sick for him. He coughed so much today and still had to go to school, write a paper, and go into work. After work he went and bought milk and cookies, because that always cheers him up—especially new flavors of Oreos. In other news, I messaged my friend today who works at Adobe. He posted on Facebook a couple of days ago that they were looking for some designers. Both Sydney and I have jumped on the opportunity, for they are in need of four designers in the next month. He seemed optimistic and I told him I'd get him a portfolio link by the end of the week. Better get crackin'—I'm so nervous!

9.10.2013

GET IN LINE


I feel like I am on the downhill of my sickness. Tyler, on the other hand, got hit hard today with the sickness. I have had the last three days to rest up and get my body back to normal, but Tyler has been busy taking care of me, going to school, and working long hours. Today was even worse for him because he went into work an hour earlier than he usually does. Once he was home, I made him lay on the couch and watch the Katy Perry documentary on Netflix (that's what I did over the weekend while I was sick) while I made him sweet potato fries and a sandwich. Tyler is way better at these fries than I am—specifically laying them out on the pan so they fit just perfect. I think I did an okay job though, yes?

9.09.2013

BEING A BABY


Work was such a blur; my cold is getting worse and worse it feels like. By the middle of the day I felt like the ultimate low-life and couldn't concentrate one bit. I opted to go home and get some rest, taking the latter half of the day to work from home. I got home and got to see Tyler a bit before he had to go to work at 6 p.m. In the evening I laid in bed reading some of my books that Tyler gave me for my birthday. I mostly just looked at the pictures (I'm completely in love with these watercolor illustrations from Shel) and glanced at the words because reading was the last thing my brain could do.

9.08.2013

CHRISTMAS SNOT


I woke up this morning in no shape to go to nursery. I felt terrible, tired, achy, full of snot, and highly contagious I'm sure. Tyler was trying to decide if he was going to go, but ended up getting subs for the both of us. We slept the whole day away, only waking to clear our heads of snot. Tyler went into work in the evening and almost ended up needing to not work at all. In the end he stuck around for his full shift and actually started feeling better. I on the other hand feel like I am getting worse. It's such a pigsty around here; might I point out the Christmas plate on the coffee table from my dinner? That's because we are so out of dishes, that we've dipped into the holiday ones we never use. Bah humbug.

9.07.2013

TWELVE MILES LONG


I was not feeling too great this morning and Tyler was pretty exhausted himself, so we pretty much rested and relaxed until the early evening. Around 6 p.m. we made our way over to Lynchland for dinner and the giving of all the Australian goodies we brought back for them. When we got there, however, Suzanne had taken Jason to the ER because he was having lung problems. We helped make dinner and then they got back. After dinner Jason went running (twelve miles, I might add), which I'm sure wasn't the greatest thing since he just got back from the ER, but nobody can talk him out of it. While we waited for him to get back, we watched some LOST to kill the time. I was not feeling super great, but Nicole did let me give her a shot of insulin—I felt so legit. Finally, Jason got back and we told them about our two weeks in Australia. Tyler's dad wanted the long version, so we gave a day by day account of all of our doings. Everyone was on their different devices, following along with the pictures we had posted on Instagram; it was quite comical. Finally, we were able to share all of the goodies and treats we brought back for them: 100s and 1000s Oreos, Cadbury chocolates, Crunchies, Milo, and Tim Tams.

9.06.2013

HE DOES EXIST


After a much needed Skyping session with Tiffany and Steve tonight, Stephanie called me to tell me she was engaged. Now, this wasn't really news to me because we have been talking back and forth about this guy and their dating situation for a long time. They actually met back in June and the way things were looking we knew she'd be married by the end of the year (just like us; you try not to be "one of those Provo couples," but it's inevitable). So, it happened, officially… tonight! I was so ecstatic for her; so much so that we decided to meet them halfway for some yummy dessert at the Denny's in Lehi (because yes, he lives in Provo). We had a jolly old time and we are so happy for them. After the drive home, I started getting sicker. We were plum out of cough medicine, so we made a run to Macey's. While there we ran into Tyler's mom and sister and chatted it up with them in the ice cream aisle. We got home very late and I felt so sick that I fell right to sleep.

9.05.2013

BLUEBERRILY


We are trying to test out more recipes to make it into our Lynch-favorite list of good things to make and eat that we both like and we could see as a traditional favorite for our family down the road. That cookbook we scored has sparked our interest and we bought the necessary ingredients to try our hand at a few. Tonights experiment was homemade blueberry cheesecake popsicles; Tyler bought these popsicle molds just for the occasion. They're so clever because they have those little straws coming out of the base so that you can slurp up anything and everything that has dripped off of the popsicle—genius. I can't wait to taste them.

9.04.2013

TOSTADA CUPS


While we were out buying birthday gifts for everyone, we got a mad deal on a cookbook at Deseret book that we absolutely could not pass up. Last Friday we tried one of the recipes in it and we are hooked, for we ate it the next night and tonight. They are called tostada cups and they are actually quite simple, but so delicious. It's lettuce, tomatoes, corn, black beans, chicken, cheese, avocados and a Mexican vinaigrette all tossed together and served in these little crispy tortilla cups. Tonight, we both feel like we are getting sick; at first we thought our throats were a little scratchy from all the cleaning supplies we were using on Monday, but tonight we feel like we're really coming down with something. Side note: we wanted to watch one episode of Psych before I went to bed and Tyler started his homework. The next episode we had queued up was about "Scary Sherry." Let's just say that after the episode there was no way I was going to go to sleep by myself in our room while Tyler was in another part of our house studying for a long period of time. Yes, I am a scaredy cat, and yes, I made Tyler bring his homework into our bedroom until I fell asleep.

9.03.2013

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL


Today was a pretty regular ho-hum day, but Tyler came home tonight wearing this shiny new tag. I'm so proud of him. He has been working crazy hours AND going to school, studying for tests and writing papers. I'm proud of this scrub-wearing CNA of mine—even though his tag has papyrus on it, I'll let it slide.

9.02.2013

#DUNCANSELFIESRULE


Yesterday while Skyping with Tiffany and Steve, we were all making fun of people who take selfies on Sunday (we just don't get it). So we declared today #duncanselfiesrule day; all day long the Cramers, the Riches, the Hamrens, and we have been taking selfies of all that we've been doing on this fine Labor Day via social media. It's been pretty comical, and a great way to see what everyone is up to today. We deep cleaned our house: washing dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, unpacking, and cleaning the bathroom. Tyler had to go to work in the evening, but we were pretty successful nonetheless.

9.01.2013

FAMILY FILLED


We went to church and left a little early to make it to my parents' house for a bit of an Aussie celebration before Tyler had to go into work at 6 p.m. We brought all of the Australian goodies that we got for my parents and for Aubrey and Jordan. We told them about all the chaos at the airport (on the way there, and the way back), all the animals we saw and learned about, and all the yummy and exotic food we ate. Later we Skyped with my siblings and their families. In the evening my parents gave us an invite for my grandpa's 90th birthday party at the end of the month. I can't believe he is 90!