Gladys Valarie Steadman-My Granny

My granny passed away in the early morning of December 12, 2010. This past Friday, December 17, 2010 was her funeral. The funeral was a very emotional time, but also it was filled with joyful memories.

Granny's mind left us a long time ago. She had battled Alzheimer's Disease for about 10 years. Through that time, I felt myself slip away from her. It was very difficult for me to see both her and my grandad, who also suffered from the disease and passed away in 2006. It made me sad that my granny didn't know who I was, although I knew that she did love me. As she got worse, it was harder for me to see her. I didn't know what to say or how to act around her, but I still tried my hardest to see her.

A week before she died, I was able to say goodbye to her as she was in and out of coherency. She was able to say bye to me. A week later, she was gone and I knew that she once again knew who I was, that I am happily married, and that I do love her.

The funeral was both a happy and sad time. I learned new things about what kind of woman my granny was, and I was reminded of some fond memories of her.

• My Granny was big on manners. We always had to say please and thank you when we would ask for gum or candy or cookies or whatever other goodies we wanted.
• She made the best tomato sandwiches. I called them "Granny Sandwiches." Somehow, they were different from other sandwiches, like she had a secret ingredient for them. I have never made a sandwich as good.
• She had a beautiful voice and was always singing or humming or whistling through her teeth. She also had a song she sang to me. "Ca Ca Ca Caity, Ca Ca Ca Caity. You're the only one that IIII adore. When the mo mo moon shines, over the cow shed, I'll be waiting at the KKKkitchen door." She had different versions for other cousins as well, but she always made me feel special when she sang it to just me.
• She gave the best back rubs. She had fake nails and it felt terrific! If she came to church with us, I knew if I sat by her she would rub my back for a long time. And she usually would give me candy or gum from her purse.
• She was a very classy beautiful lady.
• She made every grandchild feel like the favorite
• She let me and my two cousins, Tifanee and Adriana, play in her room, even when we would sneak in her makeup. (I'm sure she knew)
• She was deeply in love with my grandad

I love you granny. Thank you for making such wonderful memories to hold on to.

Sap: It's what I'm good at

Today while I was at work writing the date time and time again, It hit me. As of today, Sam and I have been married 1 year and 7 months! I know. This isn't a typical celebration day. In fact, after a year you only count by years right? Well yes, that is right. But as I realized this at work, I decided I am not a normal person to count our marriage the normal way. And as of lately, I've been especially thankful for Sam.

It's amazing. Just when I think I love Sam the most I can, I realize I continue to love him even more. There is an oldies song I sing frequently to him. It says "I love you more today then yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow." And it's true. My love for my husband grows stronger by the day. I have a deeper love for him now then I did on our wedding day, when I loved him so much I could barley believe he was going to me mine forever. And I know a month from now, even a week from now, that love will get deeper and deeper. It changes frequently for the better!

Sam has been so amazing to me lately. He has been doing so much for me, without even a complaint. I can be a brat sometimes. Ok more than sometimes. And he is so patient and loving. He loves me despite all my flaws. And there are many of them. In fact, he loves even my flaws. He loves me no matter what I look like, no matter if I get mad at him for no reason, no matter if I wear sweats a lot, no matter if I complain. And I love him no matter what too.

Eating Fresh

I am the type of gal who when going to a out to eat, I get certain meals at the certain restraunt. At Applebees I get the oriental chicken wrap, at Wendy's I get the chicken nuggets or the spicy chicken sandwich, at Magic Wok I get the sweet and sour chicken and ham fried rice, and at Panda Express I get orange chicken, mandrine chicken, and chow mein.

And Subway I usually get a turkey sandwich, on parm oregano bread. Until recently.

Earlier this week, I didn't bring a lunch to work so I had to get me something. I've eaten at Subway a lot it seems in the past little while, so I was kind of sick of my typical turkey sandwich. But, I didn't want anything too unhealthy for lunch so this was basically my only choice, especially for something without a crazy high price. So I decided to try something completely new. A turkey/ham (I know, still turkey) on honey oat bread, with my choice of veggies and mayonase. I never get mayo at Subway. And let me tell you. It did not disappoint.

So thank you Subway. I get sick of making/eating the same old lunch everyday. Thank you for giving me another option. Thank you for having not one, not two, but many, many tasty choices for me to choose from.

As if I'm not enough of a freak, lets add a Tiara!!

A classic quote from a classic Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries. However, I'm not here to talk about how Mia was that freak. I am here to talk about her movie beau Michael Moscovitz, or as he is known in real life and in the band Rooney Robert Schwartzman. Did I know this before? No. No I did not. I learned of this this past weekend when Sam and I ventured to Vegas to see the best friends and go see Rooney at the Hard Rock Cafe. (well actually I knew about Robert earlier when my friend told me to go to Vegas)

So, this past Saturday at 5:30 in the AM, Sam and I pulled ourselves out of bed and ventured down to Vegas. Fun Fact: There is no McDonalds from about Payson maybe to Beaver. Lame? Yes. So we didn't get breakfast till Beaver then stopped in Cedar to pick up one young Jessica Freespirit Stoneman on our way to Vegas. When we got to Vegas and had our slow motion reunion. Then we went and got our food on at Heidi's, Mel's favorite sandwich joint, then Sam went with Mel's husband Justin to a UNLV game and us lucky ladies went and saw Harry Potter (still awesome the second time) then after we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe (after trying two other places) to begin our show!

There were three opening bands, then Rooney. Now I must admit, I was sorta the wet blanket of this shindig. I was exhausted from waking up at 5:30 to travel and I was (and still am) recovering from a nasty cold. But although it may not have seemed like it, I thoroughly enjoyed 2 of the three opening bands and of course Rooney! I hadn't heard much of them before. I know my sister in law Kari loves them, and I listened to the Rooney Pandora station so I knew they were good. I do wish I would have listened to the station more then I did though so I could sing along to the music like the woman, AKA future Jess, who brought her teenage kids and rocked out like no other. Or like Jess and Mel. (like I said, I was a wet blanket) But I really did enjoy them so much! It was a great GNO!

Sunday mourning (yes spelled that way on purpose, seeing as it was the day of our departure) we got up and Mel fixed us a yummy breakfast of waffles, hash browns, and bacon then we went to her sacrament meeting. After, she was nice enough to pack us a to go lunch!

On the way home we knew there were storms the night before, but our family said the conditions looked fair. And they were...till Beaver. We left sunny Vegas and as we got closer to Cedar, it started to darken. We dropped off Jess and continued driving and then we saw a dark cloud coming our way and bam! We hit terrible weather! It wasn't too scary driving because there weren't many people on the roads at that point and Sam is a good driver in the snow. But then as we hit the canyon just outside of Beaver, the traffic and cars started to thicken and by the time we reached Beaver, we were being forced off the freeway. So there we were, stuck in the Beav for the night. At first we were worried, especially because we went to two hotels that had no vacancy till we found some at the Beaver Lodge. I was thrilled to be staying at that place named after it's town and it was a fun unexpected extension of our weekend. We got the hotel in just enough time too! We left to get something to eat and came back and the hotel was full. Lucky us!
We had to get up at 5:30 again Monday morning to get to work as early as possible, but it was a great night. Nothing was on TV, but we were able to just talk and goof off and grow even closer together. The terrible storm that kept us in Beaver ended up being one of the funnest nights we have spent together!

Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. It is the day the first half on the 7th movie of Harry Potter comes out, as most of you know. In anticipation, I decided to blog about the boy who lived. The boy who won over my heart as a little girl. I first started reading Harry Potter when I was 13. I remember not really knowing what it was about. For some odd reason, I thought Harry was the bad guy and the Dursleys were the good guys. WHAT was I thinking? I wasn't. I just wasn't. After I got over that little goof, I was hooked. Completely and totally hooked. As each book came out, I would re-read all the previous books, never getting sick of them. I still am not sick of them, and in fact I will read them all again very soon. I was sad when I read the last page of the Deathly Hallows, knowing as far as the books went, it was all over. But there were still movies to be had. And for the most part, they do not disappoint.

I have seen most of them at for the midnight showing, except the 1st and 2nd. The third one I saw for graduation, instead of going to the graduation parties. We even made shirts. I saw the 4th on and 5th one in the theaters a million times each, and the 6th one Sam and I last year went back to the theater, once it was in the dollar, and we had to leave because we both fell asleep. I guess we were just and old married couple. Now the with the 7th one, we get to see at 6pm tomorrow with Sam's company. I am going to be like a kid on Christmas eve tonight and tomorrow at work. I'll be so excited, I won't be able to contain myself.

I just love the imagination in both the books and the movies, even though when I'm watching the with Sam, I'll often pause them and explain what part they left out in the book, or what they did that wasn't in the book or how the book did a particular part. You get the picture. I'm a nerd and darn proud of it. So, in celebration of this the eve of the movie, I'm sitting on my couch, snuggling with the Husband, and watching Harry Potter 6.

So not good at customer service.

I work in a bank. Naturally, I have to help customers. At first, it was ok and was my job, but the more I helped, the more I realized how much I disliked when a customer would want foreign currency. They way their confused faces looked when they were looking for us, the way they would complain about how hard it was to find us, they way they would complain about the exchange rate and the fees, the way they thought they knew more about foreign currency then I, the master of FX, knew. I would get so grumpy at them if they gave me the least bit of grief. I don't care what they say, the customer is NOT always right.

Then the day came when I got my promotion. I was told customers were no longer my concern. Oh how I rejoiced. I can now sit at my desk plowing through my work load, and if a confused customer comes up to my station and ignores my "next window please" sign (that is sitting right in front of me might I mention) and start to sit down at my desk and proceed to tell me what type of currency they want, I smile politely and direct them over a station. For they are no longer my concern. And for that I am very grateful.

Halloweeeeennn!!

I love Halloween. Maybe it is because 9 years ago was the first time Sam and I held hands. Maybe it's because candy is everywhere. Or maybe it is because I can use my imagination and dress up to whatever I want and it's not silly. I'm going to go with C, all of the above.

This year was no different. Except the costume part. Sam and I had the darnedest time figuring out what we were going to be, since I insist we go as a couple something. We first were going to maybe be Johnny Cash and June Carter, then we were going to be Two Face and Rachel, then we were going to be Harry Potter and Ginny, then Edward and Bella, finally settling on Barbie and Ken. Which left us getting the costumes the day of our party. They turned out ok, but could have been so much cooler!!We had a very fun Halloween eve though. Brigham and Kari threw their annual Tappana family Halloween party. It is fun every year, even when couples leave on the verge of divorce. (except this year) I remember when Sam first got home, I was most excited about it because it was a fun couple thing to do. I love doing couple things! The first year we went as Sonny and Cher=awesome. The second year: nerds. You bet I'm already thinking of what we will be next year. It better be good.

(blog idea stolen from my BFF mel)

Martha would be JEALOUS!!

Or maybe she wouldn't. But I have been quite the domestic kitten lately. I've made 2 more recipes out of my cook book, and made a Halloween craft, something I thought I would never be proud of, yet I love how it turned out.

The first recipe I made was Spinach Artichoke Dip. It's just made with cream cheese, artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, and Parmesan cheese. It was really easy and pretty good. I've had better dip, but it was really good.

It was made with hard work and love.

The next little treat were Halloween peanut butter fingers. You just mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, powdered milk, and corn syrup together, then you put it around the pretzle to make the fingers. Super fun to make, super disgusting to eat. Don't get me wrong, they tasted fine, but they were just too finger-like to me.

I doubled the recipe, and I shouldn't have. I ended up chucking the rest.

Lastly, here is my craft. My sister-in-law Ashley is really into crafting, so her, Kari, and I all got together for a craft night. And with Ashley's help, I succeeded in making a really cute Halloween craft!!

I'm really getting this domestic thing down.

Go Thunderbirds

I'm a little behind the times. Sam and I were able to go down to Cedar City for SUU's Homecoming. I love Cedar City, and I love SUU. When Sam left on his mission, I felt so alone and sad (I know. Dramatic) so I decided to go away to school. SUU seemed like the perfect place. And it was. I found myself and realized what I loved doing! Not only that, but I made such wonderful friends who I love and miss. But thankfully, we have our annual homecoming reunion to keep in touch!

This years was so much fun. Friday night we got there later then I wanted to, seeing as I had to work that day. But we made it down about 8 with still enough time to catch up with all the gals (and boy...Justin). So Friday we sat and talked for a while, then we decided to do Fro Yo Friday. After, Mel and Justin, me and Sam went to a very lame True T Bird night.
Thank goodness we all became true T-birds last year.

Saturday we took a walk around the campus all around our old stomping grounds, and visited the my old death 6-8 am work building, the good old Braithwait.Then we watched the awesome Homecoming parade. Afterwords we went to pastry pub to grab a bite to eat and then headed to the football game, which by the way we won! Go T-birds! Then we went to our old apt for a picture. That night we went to see Social Network.

Sunday we went to church, said bye to Mel and Justin, had dinner at Jess's place, said goodbye to everyone and then headed back to our hotel room to relax. We seriously sat pretty much the whole day just doing nothing, except we did go to park discovery. We stayed the night and Monday before we went home we stopped by Jess' office and picked her up for lunch at Top Spot. Then said goodbye to her and Cedar and headed home. It was a great, much needed get away back to my old home.

Disaster!!

So today I tried a new recipe. It wasn't from my I Do cookbook. It was a recipe from my mom. My favorite Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe. Well, the first time I made it, it was disgusting! So, I wanted to try it again, when disaster struck.

Here is the story:

I was using one burner to cook the broccoli and onions. When that was done, I was getting ready to start on the white sauce, so I moved the broccoli to the back burner and reached in my cupboard to grab the flower. We keep it in a ice cream carton. I set it on the stove, turned away and smelled plastic burning. Well turns out when I switched burners, I turned on the wrong one on, and melted the bottom of the flower container. So I quickly picked it up, touching the burning melting plastic with my pinkie, and spilled flower everywhere. With my pinkie burning, I turned away to the sink, making more mess with the flower and ran my finger under cold water, then moved the flower, getting it all over the burner, which now not only had flour everywhere but plastic stuck to it, I also got it all over the floor and all in the sink. Which by the way with the water running over my pinkie made a gluey mess in the sink. So then I had to make my white sauce with one hand. Luckily Sam got home from work just in time and after laughing at the mess, helped me finish dinner since my hand burned when I took it out of the water. The Burned Container
Gluey Mess
All over the floor

It was worse in person. But, the good news is, the soup turned out very tasty! I was quite pleased with it. On other news, on my day off today I went shopping and bought some cute much-needed sweaters. Old Navy is having a super awesome sale. Also, I'm going to Cedar for our reunion in 3 days! And I have a sweet wonderful Husband!

Life is good! (besides the burn on my pinkie)

The Next Julie Powell

I've decided I need to learn how to cook/bake better, and by doing so, I am going to copy Julie Powell and cook all the recipes in one of my cook books. My cook book however, is not "The Art of French Cooking." No, I am not that good, or that commited. My cookbook is called the "I Do Cookbook for the Bride and Groom." by Celia Jolley and Judy Williams. The recipes in it are quick and easy and perfect for two. I've made a few things from it already before I started to do this, and they so far have been really good.

This weekend we had a girl that lived in an area in Sam's mission and her friends stay with us. I decided it was the perfect time to try out one of the appetizers: Apple Dip. Super easy. It's just 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips melted, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and then add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon all mixed together. I misjudged and doubled it thinking it wouldn't make that much, but it did. It's pretty good! As easy as it was, I really liked being domestic! I always make the same old things for dinner and rarely bake, so this will be a perfect opportunity to expand my horizon!

Apartment

We have recently organized and de-junked our apartment. My bestie Mel has been telling me I need to put pictures up of my place, and I figured now is a good time. My apartment is oddly shapped and I'm not great at decorating. It is still a work in progress. I'd like more decorations, but here is is so far.

Here is our bedroom.The Bathroom and closet


The livingroom and kitchen

New couch! New chair! New Friends?

When Sam and I first got married, we lived in a place that was completely furnished. When we moved a few months back, we had to buy our own furniture. We had borrowed our brothers couch for the time being, but we have been looking into getting a new couch soon, preferably in black. Today at work, I was bored so I got on the KSL website, not expecting to find anything. But I got lucky and found a great deal!! Not only did we find this great couch, but we also found this matching chair!

Both leather, both black, and both in really great condition, for only $375, with free delivery. Also, the couple that sold them, are potential new couple friends. They seem super boss. They don't know that they are being sought after for potential friends, but we'll get them. We have their number. Even if we have to buy some more furniture. Dating is so hard even after marriage, and we will stop at no end.

Fair Game.

This weekend has been great!! We've gone to 3 fairs, and though I'm all fair-ed out now, It was so much fun!

On Friday were able to hang out with my best friend from High school, Marianne, and Sam's friend from work Matt. We went to the state fair. I haven't been to this fair in years. It was fun. We saw all sorts of animals, cows, bunnies, pigs, sheep, and goats. We also saw a cute sea lion show. This is us trying to watch the show over the crowds of people. I asked Sam if we cold get a sea lion, but of course he said no. His favorite word.

We also ate some delicious, though expensive fair food. We had some foot long corn dogs and a funnel cake. This are our cute feet waiting in line for the funnel cake.We didn't play any games. We didn't want to spend any money, but we did do some fun people watching, and of course got another picture of the four of us while doing so.
After the fair, we went back to our place and, like a loser, I fell asleep while everyone else watched Sherlock Holmes. And let me tell you, the three of them were in cahoots to do something to me while asleep. It was such a fun night and so much fun to hang out with Marianne! It's been years!

Today started out with meeting our friends, Scott and Becca, at the Avenues Festival. It was pretty cool. We didn't do anything but walk around the crowds of people and see this awesome huge 130 pound dog.

We then left, got a free meal at Subway, and then headed up to Brigham city with the Cahoon's and some of their friends, for Peach Days!!
This is a very bad attempt at getting the group in the picture. We ate some delicious peach cobbler and a peach slush drink, and walked around for a while.So that was our weekend! So much fun, but we are both pooped out and are looking forward to a nice relaxing Sunday with minimal walking tomorrow!!