productivity

hey all. there has been quite a hiatus from this blog and i intend to correct that in this glorious 3 week break i am currently in. i finished my finals last week (insert loud screams and applause here) and amazingly passed (another round of applause and sigh of relief). so today hails the first day of freedom from physical exams and cram sessions. i can not believe how productive i can be when there is no homework to be done. now these things might not sound monumental to most, but for me it is truly amazing.

1. wash, clean and detail the truck

seriously it never looked so good. i think i pulled out 50 gajillion receipts and found some pretty gross things like an old mcdonald's hamburger wrapper and several of my nice forks left from someone who shall not be named (scott). it feels so wonderful to have a clean car. i even organized the coins. i know, it's wild.

2. clean the kitchen

during the entire course of the last three months, never have the counters been clear or the sink empty. so this is pretty much amazing as well. don't mind my retro kitchen. it's not retro by choice. and as you can see, i actually went grocery shopping by myself without moaning, whining and buying ungodly amounts of ice cream, gushers or soda. stress... it's a killer :)

3. make a home cooked meal

these babies are on the menu for tonight: philly cheesesteak stuffed bell peppers. i'm basically salivating. and i know, bad wife for not cooking for three months. good thing scott is such a patient man and great chef.

i have also washed, dried and folded massive amounts of laundry and organized the above mentioned 50 gajillion receipts. so the word for today would be productivity. 

pro·duc·tiv·i·ty

  [proh-duhk-tiv-i-tee, prod-uhk‐]

noun

1.

the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods andservices: The productivity of the group's effort surprised everyone.

i hope this productivity lasts at least until august 26th. and i hope my readers have not totally abandoned me :) thanks for waiting!

revisiting 2012 resolutions

one year ago today, i listed my new year's resolutions. today i thought it might be fun to revisit them and see just how faithful i was. enjoy!

1. pay off the truck - we were successful with this goal and now have absolutely no car payments. it's amazing how much money it saves you to get out of debt!

2. remodel the bathroom - not so great with this one. we have been in our home for three years and have managed to landscape the yard and semi-remodel our bedroom. so no bathroom was demolished, but we are planning on gutting the basement in the near future.

3. cut out soda completely - this was an epic fail! i think i lasted two months cutting out soda... i just love me some coca-cola too much! i'm amending this resolution for 2013 (see below).

4. eat healthier and at home more often - the bostwick household did much better with this resolution this year. me and my crockpot became better friends. we cooked with all the abundance of eggs and beef we received from the bostwick family farm. and we cut the amount we ate out for dinner in half.

5. by completing the above two mentioned, participate in a mountain bike relay - this totally did NOT happen. i did however go on a few more mountain bike rides with scott encouraging me the whole way. it's hard stuff!

6. make more time for each other - this was completed! with scott's change in work departments, he now has a little more time at home. we've tried to turn off our electronics more and actually have meaningful conversations. i love that man more than ever!

so in a way, i completed half of my resolutions. that's way better than i usually do (yippee!). for this year, i have only a few goals in mind.

1. cut DOWN on my soda intake. I've decided that cutting something out completely for myself causes the complete opposite reaction. I binge on said thing! So I'm limiting my soda for special occasions and if i'm sick.

2. drink my 8 glasses of water a day. i tried this for a while and was amazed at how much better i felt. so here's the official statement of my goal to continue.

3. attend the gym at least three days a week. i joined planet fitness last august to combat the weight surge that everyone told me was inevitable in grad school. didn't attend very much so i am making this goal to keep myself honest. exercise (although i hate it) does help me with my stress levels and i know someone (scott) appreciates it when i keep it in check.

so there you have it. my 2013 resolutions. ta-da! best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

cali 2012

hey all. a couple of weeks ago, scott surprised me with the best trip ever over fall break. i've been nagging mentioning for 3 years that i would love to visit disneyland with just me and him. no kiddos. scott has never been to the happiest place on earth and i thought he needed to experience it once sans crying, whining and temper tantrums. lo and behold, i was gifted this awesome vacation to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary. we threw in some motocross riding and vegas for scott so it wouldn't be too unbearable for him :)

we decided to drive to cali to save a little money (little did we know that california was experiencing over 4 dollars per gallon for gas). scott is so financially savvy, i wouldn't know what to do without him. he knew exactly where to fill up so that we wouldn't have to give our firstborn for a gallon of gas. haha.

 

ready for the roadtrip.

scott drove the whole way. what a stud.

we stayed in a really nice hotel in henderson, nv for the first night. i think it kind of spoiled the other hotels for the rest of the trip. we left bright and early for california the next day. we spent some time at huntington beach and i decided that after my retirement, i'm relocating there. it is beautiful! and there are all kinds of cutesy shops, restaurants and beach homes. my kind of living right there.

catching rays while scott body surfed.

disneyland was on the agenda for the next THREE WHOLE days! wahoo! i'm such a kid and i'm not ashamed of it, guys. we spent our first day mostly in disneyland. it was decked out in all its halloween finery and i wished i would have gotten more pictures (especially of the haunted mansion). i guess we were too busy skipping hand in hand from ride to ride (more like me dragging scott behind me to beat all the little kids to the line). we were able to see fantasmic that night and the fireworks in front of the castle with great seats both times. that show was probably the highlight of my trip. so cool! the second day, we spent more time in california adventure which is a little more of scott's cup of tea. we rode the roller coaster many, many times and i almost lost my lunch on the tower of terror twice (ah the things we do for love). we rode my personal favorite ride, soarin' over california. i want that ride in my basement. such a good stress reliever! they had a preview of frankenweenie in 3D that we watched in one of the theaters and i want to see the rest soon. scott's favorite show was the bug's life one where all manner of things are shot, sprayed, dropped on and crawl under you. so creepy, but fun! we also loved the new cars land. it was so amazing that they could replicate the town from the movie with such attention to detail. we were so dead tired every night from walking/standing that even our scary hotel's hard, lumpy mattress felt like a cloud from heaven. by the way, we survived staying in a very shady spot in buena vista with locked gates surrounding the entire hotel. no axe murderers for us!

scott on the teacups

teacups with an awesome view of the parade

part of cars land. you guys thought i was in southern utah, huh?

our splash mountain stolen photo

after the glorious days of disneyland had come to an end, it was time to leave anaheim and head to glen helen raceway. this is a motocross track that hosts some of the biggest names in the sport. scott was so stoked to go ride where all the legends go. he rode for most of the day and saw a couple of riders training for the monster energy cup. yeah, we're pretty much famous by association now. i should have gotten some pictures of him riding, but he's so dang fast! i mostly enjoyed a book and treats in the truck as it was raining that day.


we spent that night in vegas where our handy smart phones alerted us that there were flash flood warnings throughout the whole city. they weren't kidding! there was water about 2-3 inches deep everywhere and it would just cascade off the casinos like waterfalls. we got an anniversary dinner at the cheesecake factory in caesar's palace and stayed at the hard rock hotel (my favorite place!). in the morning, we were determined to find the gold and silver pawn shop to catch a glimpse of chumlee or the old man. we didn't see any of them, but apparently they were filming while we were in the store. like i said, we're famous.

shrimp pasta at the cheesecake factory

love pawn stars!

look familiar?

 overall, we had such a great trip (besides me getting lost in disneyland with no phone and navigating the extensive california freeways). i love how relaxing vacationing is and i felt so rejuvenated coming back. although i do love disneyland, this trip made me grateful to live in utah where i am sheltered, have beautiful mountains and people aren't trying to make me spend money left and right. thanks scott for such a wonderful getaway!

i have another confession to make

and it's not that i'm singing the foo fighters. hah. my real confession is that i really wish that is was fall already. i need the structure in my life that summer rarely brings. i'm ready to start writing in my planner and doing homework again. here is the part when everyone can collectively sigh, "meg is such a nerd". And yes friends, I am :)

and to bring this random post to an end is one of my favorite commercials for back to school.

SCHOOL'S OUT (not really) FOR SUMMER!

23 things i've learned in 23 years

1. Being too serious drags the fun out of life.
2. All the achievements in the world don’t mean a thing unless you are happy with and proud of yourself.
3. Nothing cures a bout of laziness like a warm shower, brushed teeth and clean clothes.
4. Going to sleep at 8:00pm is perfectly fine (even if your husband calls you a grandma).
5. After a stressful day, dog snuggles make everything better.
6. Birthdays are not as fun as they were when I was six years old.
7. Handwritten notes and homemade gifts always mean more than something bought in a store.
8. Using good grammar never upsets anyone. Sincerely, The Grammar Nazi
9. Reading a good book is never wasting time.
10. You can never vacation too much!
11. Three year old children are the best companions. They will always tell you like it is and frequently make you laugh until you wet yourself.
12. I should have learned to cook, clean, sew and perform all things domestic when I was still living with my mom.
13. All those bad dates I went on made me realize how lucky I am to have the guy who put a ring on it.
14. Always triple check that you’ve packed deodorant for any trip.
15. I was never meant to run. EVER.
16. There is no such thing as too many pictures.
17. Personal journals from middle school are hilarious!
18. My Heavenly Father loves me.
19. My parents were usually right.
20. Everyone should have some type of introduction to music in their lives. I don’t care if you are five or seventy three, music is instrumental (pun intended) to happiness!
21. Listening gets you farther than constantly talking.
22. Having only one or two really good friends is better than having dozens of acquaintances that don’t really know you.
23. My life is the best one for me and comparing it to others’ is pointless.

i want to ride my bicycle

rode for two miles today on the good old bike. evidently i need to ride a little more in order to not die within the first fifteen minutes :) the pups went with us and therefore scott invented a new extreme sport: riding a bike being towed by a hundred plus pound dog via leash. he held up remarkably well! i am just loving this summer weather and all the time i can spend in the great outdoors. have a great sunday evening!

my beautiful red bike

lazy summer

i wish! ever since the weather's been warm and school's been out, it has been nothing but rushing here and running there. here's a little recap...

my work put together a softball team so i've been throwing and batting my little arms off. it's pretty fun and we actually won one of our games last week! 

i've also been trying to set up a job for myself to get me through grad school relatively unscathed and stress free. easier said than done! i think i've killed three small trees in the amount of paperwork i've had to fill out between new job and school.

i put in my two weeks notice at university hospital and my last day will be next friday. it really was a pleasure working there and i learned a lot, but off to bigger and better things, right?

we took our first fishing trip this year over memorial day weekend with the nieces and nephews. no fish were caught but we caught enough mud on our shoes and worm guts on our fingers. nice!

i've also been trying to learn how to quilt. my mom is pretty much sick of me monopolizing her sewing machine, so the lovely ksl hooked me up with this antique beauty. i'm in love! i've finished my first pieced quilt top (pictures to come).

my oldest niece jorie graduated from skyview high school on thursday. she looked so beautiful and i wish i had a picture from that night but my phone was being dumb. congrats jorie!

well i think that's enough for today. hags!

behind...

well i've fallen behind in the blogging spectrum. so here's my "get back up on that horse" moment. i've still been trying to work out with my buddy, steph. i just haven't been doing weight logs because my scale is broken [and no, i did not break it ;)]. but a patient at work yesterday that has become a frequent flyer told me that i looked like i had lost some weight. kind of creepy, yes. but a little reassuring at the same time.

life around the bostwick household has been pretty run of the mill. we're both working our tails off at all hours of the day. our cleo bug is having a bad case of spring fever and gets all kinds of excited when we venture outdoors. so if you see a giant black dog booking it right towards you, don't be afraid, she's just super excited for good weather! i've also noticed that she has a serious case of ferdinand the bull-itis. cleo loves just smelling the flowers and being in the garden with mom. i'll have to get a picture one of these days.

speaking of gardening, i'm sooooo glad that this weekend has rain in the forecast. i know you're all thinking, "what is this lady smoking?! rain on the weekend stinks!" normally i would agree with you, but my transplanted perennials are thanking the skies right now for such a lovely drink. my tulips opened over the last few nights, so here is a picture for your viewing pleasure (ignore the weeds please). have a happy thursday!

week 2

did pretty good this week with exercise, however a vacation to st. george this weekend might put a wrench in things ;)

week 2 (3/20) - 151 lbs

annual health kick

well folks, it's that time of year again. the time of year where i feel like something needs to be done about this body of mine. yes, the annual health kick 2012 version. i have procured an exercise buddy who is an excellent motivator yet understanding. thanks to steph for pushing me past my comfort zone and not laughing at my awkward dance moves! i'm getting back into the habit of cutting soda and treats but if any of you see me around with a coke and licorice nibs feel free to tell my husband on me. i have a coworker that keeps me honest about the no soda rule so that helps a lot when there is a coke machine a few feet away from the nurse's station. i think with everyone's help i might actually get to where i need to be regarding my health. so everyone pray that either coke and twizzlers go out of business or that i will have enough gumption to control myself!

i will be recording my weekly weights to keep myself accountable. if it's tmi, oh well don't read the blog :)

week 1 (3/13) - 154 lbs

make him infamous

i have come across some new knowledge over the past few months that i am ashamed that i knew nothing about before. it has nothing to do with math, reading or science. it is about the crimes of humanity committed against children in africa. for book group last month we read "a long way gone". it is a memoir of a young boy named ishmael that was turned into a child soldier by a government that had no right to do any such thing. ishmael's life story is horrifying and begs the reader to wonder in disbelief "how did i not know such things were happening in the world at this moment?" today i watched a social experiment video made by a man that has helped influence the education of the world on the subject of these "invisible children". i had never heard of joseph kony before. i could probably guess that most people haven't either. after watching this film, i too want to do something. i will be using my voice for these children. will you be a voice for peace? will you make kony famous or more importantly infamous? i hope we all will.

good sabbath

today was such an amazing sunday for me. little bro gave his farewell talk today in sacrament meeting. that kid has grown up so much since receiving his mission call. he spoke about finding joy in the journey which was a really appropriate subject for him. he is always laughing and joking around! his talk had so much of him infused into it, applying his favorite movie quotes and principles that had been taught to him by people that impressed him such as my grandpa, grandma and seminary teachers. it was general conference good! except for his thanking moment at the end that resembled an oscar acceptance speech, but that's marc for you ;) i'm so impressed with his testimony of the gospel and know he will be a great missionary and touch the lives of many. it was kind of funny, but during his talk i could swear i heard christian's voice in his at times. he sounded like a real missionary. the combination of speakers and music today really helped me to feel the spirit strongly. it was so nice to be surrounded by family and friends and to feel of God's love today. i imagine that is a little bit of what heaven feels like.

the field is white, elder deyoung

cleaning day

sometimes i wish the cleaning fairy would show up for cleaning day. she totally exists right? here's to a day of laundry folding, bathroom scrubbing, dish washing and more! happy friday, everyone!

m is for motivation

it's really hard to get motivated for an online class. somehow my pajamas, blanket and netflix seem more appealing today...

that's all folks.

new year, new stuff

hey all. back from my blogging hiatus and it was glorious! i have taken some time since i graduated to find out what it means to really relax and enjoy moments with family. here is a chronicle of our december in no particular order:

1. i used my lovely anniversary present to get a massage, facial and pedicure. that was heavenly and i think i might need more excuses to visit the spa!

2. we went to scott's work party where he won this little beauty... now our lives are filled with apps and angry birds.

3. i graduated!

4. we attended the annual deyoung christmas party and saw some cute reindeer sing, did a piano duet, ate yummy food and sat on santa's lap. (p.s. my sarah salad was successful unlike many of my kitchen attempts.)

5. we talked to this adorable boy via skype. he is healthy, happy and almost home!

6. we played with the bostwicks and took home a sweet prize from the auction... a babycakes maker. needless to say, we have an overabundance of mini cupcakes at our house.

7. i've completed two books in two weeks that had previously taken me over six months to get through the first 50 pages. it's wonderful the focus you can have when not in school!

8. i submitted my nurse practitioner application to the university of utah. it is officially out of my hands!

9. scott is heading up two different jobs for his company: one in lehi and another in pleasant view. go him! pleasant view days are my favorite because he's home at 5:30 every night :)

10. we have also made some new years resolutions for 2012 that may prove challenging (at least for me).
          - pay off the truck
          - remodel the bathroom
          - cut out soda completely
          - eat healthier and at home more often
          - by completing the above two mentioned, participating in a mountain
            bike relay this summer
          - make more time for each other

here's wishing you a belated merry christmas and a happy new year!

graduation

picking up my cap and gown today! i'm excited even though i'm wearing an "apricot" colored tassel (who comes up with these?) i want to thank everyone that has helped me on the way to earning my degree. i appreciate all your love, support and advice.

i'm attending an honors banquet tonight where each participant is supposed to take a few minutes to talk about what their education means to them. i'm nervous but glad to have this opportunity. weber state is the greatest school i could have ever attended. sure it gets a bad rap for being a commuter school and fairly small compared to other utah universities. but i'm proud to be an alumna of the wildcats! the nursing program has made the transition from school to work very seamless. i feel prepared to meet the demands of my career because of the hands-on education i received. where graduates are having hard times securing positions after school, i feel very lucky to have been trained by such an awesome faculty and to have a job. so i guess that's what my education means to me.

it will be much more polished tonight i hope. haha. have a wonderful wednesday!

a bit obsessed

so i started using pinterest one week ago. at first i was thinking "cool, but i have no idea what the point is." now i'm thinking "gaaaahhh, why have i been sucked into this pop culture phenomenon?!" i think i have spent 1/4 of my day looking at random pictures and crafts that i have no intention of completing anytime soon. but it's still cute. i did find one halloween decoration that i can complete in one day. here it is folks:

i've printed these lovelies off on semi-gloss paper and am going to make a trip to the DI for some frames that could use a little tlc. yay for semi-crafty me!

the last undergrad rant (hopefully)

i'm a little stressed right now so here is my blogging outlet. i have four major projects due by thanksgiving and i'm feeling the crunch... if i make it through this alive, the hubs may have promised to take me to disneyland (in a roundabout way, so we'll see). graduation in t minus 43 days!

on a bright note, i'm so excited this is on tonight. here's a snippet for your viewing pleasure:

day of doctors

having two "doctors" appointments today is interesting. for the record, i just want to say how much i love seeing two awesome nurse practitioners rather than doctors. hopefully someday when i have those two letters behind my name, my patients will share that same enthusiasm. thanks for all the great care you give, leanne and karen!

very merry unbirthday

so we celebrated scott's 26th birthday this weekend. i asked him what he wanted to do for his special day thinking i would hear about a party with some cake and friends and family. instead i heard "how about a work party?" at first i thought he meant to invite people he works with (which would be interesting...) but i soon found out that he wanted to have everyone come over to work on our sprinklers and landscaping and be rewarded with pizza, breadsticks and gatorade. lovely. so our family, being the awesome and selfless people they are, came over bright and early saturday morning to help us dig trenches, lay pipe, and make our yard look immaculate. we did have some birthday-ish things like cake and ice cream. nephews kept asking where the pinata was... apparently i missed the memo. all in all, it was a very successful day with lots of hard work. thank you all for your help and kindness! we hope to have laid sod by this saturday and we promise to have a yard party when it's complete to reward you better. scott told me last night that this was the best birthday ever. what an easy to please stud. love him and wish him an even better year than the last!

red velvet cake for the birthday boy

fire hazard ;)

i'm horrible about taking pictures, so you guys just get fun cartoons/pictures from google. i'll probably be better once some kiddos arrive in our house.