Happy 26th Birthday

Today I turned 26 :)

I slept really well, was able to eat half a burrito last night for dinner and have good intentions of eating something solid tonight. 

Worked 10 a.m to 7 p.m. with lots of texts from family and friends wishing me a Happy Birthday which was very nice.  Facebook updates for fun birthday messages, which also made me very happy :)

Mom knew I couldn't eat very much so she got a yummy creamy cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory for me and some fun books I love - the Percy Jackson series.

You can see a little bit of the Tinker Bell Birthday Card Josh sent me, includes stickers and little flowers to color and it has LOTS of glitter on it!

A fun surprise was a Better Homes & Garden Cook Book, which I am excited to look at. 

The smiles don't look cute bc I can't always feel how my jaws and lips go so I didn't realize how stupid it looks until now, sorry :(

Josh was able to text in the day and called about 9 ish tonight on a different line bc he couldn't get service, but wanted to wish me Happy Birthday so he hiked out of their camp area after hiking ALL day to wish me a VERY Happy Birthday.  Best Boyfriend, he said he'd try and call again when he had more time on Friday but wanted me to hear it on my actual b-day.

And my best friend Kayla will be here any minute to wish me a happy birthday and drop off a little present she got me.

I am VERY blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and a boyfriend who made this day very special.  THANK-YOU!!!!

More Wisdom Teeth

These are pictures from the day I honestly thought I wanted death over living.  Little melodramatic but it was a rough day. . . 

On Saturday after the Costo nightmare I was so miserable Mom brought me back to her home and I got in her bed, asked for ice packs and something to cover my eyes bc light from their bathroom shines in on the bed.  And I was VERY sensitive to light for some reason. 

On the night stand you can see the white bucket, any time I feel nauseous I like to have a "puke bucket" nearby just in case.  More comfort than function.  

Mom had me take off the towel so you could see my puffy swollen face.  Thankfully I don't think you can see how bruised both my jaws are.  I really did have a bad time of it, 3 impacted teeth that all had to be cut and hammered out, and I think I have petite bones or something bc it HURTS!!!!

Now a week later I can look back and saw THANK HEAVENS it isn't that bad anymore.  Still can't open my mouth super wide, but definitely small progresses daily.  Trying to eat some foods that require chewing, my jaw esp my left jaw hurts the most at night, I think it is just tired from talking and eating.  Needs rest. 

Anyway these pictures made me feel better, hope they do the same for you :)

Wisdom Teeth Surgery

Last Thursday March 14th I got my wisdom teeth out, 3 to be exact, all three were impacted and need to be extracted.  I had 2 days to cover over for paid time off so I took the 14th and 15th off to also have the weekend to recover.  

I only say this bc my Dad and Josh love stories like this. I get to the medical office and check in and Kayla is kind of behind me, and she says are you Erin? I was like yeah here for my 10:20 a.m. appt and she was like are your parents here? And then she looked at my file and she was said, oh no I am sorry I thought you were 16!  I was going to say we can't do this without your parent or guardian here.  I didn't think it was funny but Kayla did and so did my Dad and Josh when I told them. 

My best friend Kayla was with me the day of my surgery and stayed with me till she had to leave for her Easter Pagaent rehearsal when my Mom came by.  My dad lent us his video camera bc Josh wanted me video taped while coming off the anesthesia bc he hoped I would be funny.  Nope, I was very boring.   

This is me right after, I look pretty silly but I didn't say or do anything really exciting.  I felt pretty normal to be honest, just a little tired. 

I had to eat after I got to my apartment so I got some pudding but couldn't feel that half the pudding dripped down my face.  Kayla said, Erin hold on, this may be the only funny thing you do. . . 

Me later that night starting to feel the not so good. 

I tried so hard to be good, Kayla bought me frozen peas saying they are great to contour to the face.  My other girlfriend Raila sewed me 3 2 sets of rice packs in purple and 2 with a Tinkerbell pattern.  Super cute.  

And this is me Saturday Night, I honestly felt SO terrible Saturday that is when I was at peak swelling and my face started to show bruising.  And the Percoset I have been taking made me a little sick bc I wasn't eating enough to sustain it.  

I was so mad, Costco told my mom that my prescription was due up, and I needed right contacts before my trip end of March to visit Josh.  And I was pretty sure my prescription was still good but I didn't argue so I made the appt for this Sat. and mom literally drags me out of bed to go.  I get there wanting to die, and pretty sure I look HORRIBLE for the Dr. to say yeah you aren't due up yet, you are good.  So we had to wait in the optical center for them to figure out what happened.  Oh my gosh I wanted to die!

Mom took me back to her house to die slowly there. . . 

Dad saw me and laughed. :(

I tied two socks together and tucked the ice packs together.  It is Tuesday Night and I went into work today, called in on Monday bc I was in no condition to drive.  I feel better, swelling has gone significantly down and I am mostly anticipating eating and brushing my teeth!!!!

I have small dreams now...

Josh is on his Spring Break Trip leading participants through slot canyons in Utah and a small hike to the Grand Canyon but I got his birthday card last night!  A cute Tinkerbell card that has parts to color, and stickers!  It was perfect :)  

Nothing New

I have a bunch of little things that have happened, no picture really so it is hard for me to describe whats happened without pictures. . . 

Went in-door rock climbing out in Scottsdale, BIG self-esteem booster, not because I was good on the routes but EVERY-SINGLE guy in the place came up to me & my friend so flirt with us.  Not going to lie it felt good :)

Had a great day out in Anthem, we had GORGEOUS weather out here on Saturday March 2 (my cousins bday -thought of her)  and just walked around outside which was nice.  

Sunday my co-workers were a part of the Dragon Boat Race, I cannot go because the weekend of the competition I will be in Alabama so I went to cheer them on.  They did really well, didn't realize dragon boats were basically really long canoes.  Not bummed anymore I cannot be apart of that. 

Did LOTS of cooking on Sunday, made a yummy spaghetti with fresh bell peppers and crushed garlic and jalepeno stuffed sausage, Chicken Croissants, and Chicken Adobo.  First time I set off my Smoke Detector, no smoke, BARELY burned the bread crumbs on the chicken croissants & the dang thing is going off!

I don't know, first weekend in a bit that I was productive but had fun, Josh text me Saturday Night & I was just in the BEST mood.  Just hanging out in Anthem, having in-door rock-climbed, watched Modern Family with my dad while eating Chipotle, and then my boyfriend calls on Sat. saying he can Skype :)  Then to top the night off Hot-Tubbing with my Girlfriends!

Seriously best day.  

This week there isn't a ton going on for me, Tuesday is my Dad's Birthday, and Saturday I work, so 6-day work week. OOHH I do have my monthly dinner/movie night with the Seagles this Saturday Night :)

There are making some kind of German Dish for me, don't remember the movies we're watching, I think we went with something action & something funny.  

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and had a great start to the week :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

I spent all Wednesday Night baking this sugar bars to cut out hearts, and woke up Thursday morning to make the icing and frost them to deliver them to my family, Josh's family, and some of my friends.

Well I ran out of time so I did one for Mom & Dad to drop it off at there office.

This is what my counter looked like, I am messy.

I iced them quick, the icing tasted nice :)

All wrapped up in cellaphane with a pretty pink ribbon, Mom told me later very pretty, but also very doughy :(  so I just threw away what was left when I got home from work.

Josh was great he text me first thing in the morning and we Skyped when I was home from work.  He sent me a very, very sweet card.  And this year I got a personality test to take, last year it was love languages, this year a personality test and a leadership quiz.  

I've taken the personality quiz already as a senior at ASU, it will be fun to see how much I have changed. 

Brian goes through the temple this Saturday, very excited for him :)  

Susie Homaker

I've decided once a week to make all my meals.  So far so good.  Still have left over shredded beef from the burritos I made and tonight I made cream cheese chicken crescents and spaghetti with sauteed green peppers and pan cooked jalepeno & cheese sausage. 

You are supposed to notice how amazing this looks, I even made my own bread crumbs, but some bread in the little food processor I have and added some of the Italian seasoning in it, voila :)

And the end result, I am very proud of myself, I haven't taken to baking like I thought I would but I HAVE taken to cooking. 

I am going to make is a personal goal to start baking more too. 

Anyway, the only issue is I cook late, so I am eating late and from what I hear it is hard to digest food so late, you should eat like 3 hours before you go to bed. . . details.

I will try to not make this not become a cooking blog, but mostly I will try and add little posts about my prouder moments in the kitchen. 

South Mountain - Javelina Trail

This morning I went out to South Mountain with my friend Kayla, & met up with two of my co-workers.  A guy I work with is on a similar quest I am, we both want to practice wearing our packs, and especially wearing packs while hiking.  

We did a few different trails but I believe the main one was Javelina Trail at South Mountain.  It was really good, the weather was perfect, the trail not busy and it was fun :)

Good incline so we got a view but not an aggressive hike where I am dying, good gradual incline with ups and downs, and the ridge line was pretty cool.

The girl co-worker brought her dog Bella, and she did SO good.  I can't remember the breed but not a big dog, short little legs that really held up.  

Calculated we did about 5.4 miles at 2.5 miles and hour.  

There are some good trails I saw that I want to come back and check out for my bike, something really easy and not a lot of ups & downs, you know - flat :)

At Night I went to a bacherolette party, didn't stay long, it was at Cadillac Ranch and if I drank maybe it would have been more fun.  

There was a card game & I was supposed to get a guy there to ask me to marry him, and my girlfriend I went with was supposed to get a guys phone & call the last number dialed & talk to the person. 

We didn't win. . . 

Anyway good week :)  Crazy to think it is already February!!