Use #40, Photoshop Diva

About a month before we got married I was walking on-campus. While I was walking, I stumbled upon an outdoor sale of books on clearance. I hardly payed any attention to it; however, just as I was passing the last disordered table of books, something caught my eye. It read, "39 uses for a wife." I stopped. It was the contrast that caught my attention. Nestled between piles of pale computer programming books from the 90's sat this colorful book. I picked it up, and read. As someone who would soon be getting married, I figured it wouldn't hurt to catch up on all of the 39 uses for a wife. I realized that the author was stretching his imagination for additional uses at about use #12 when it showed the couple in a canoe and the wife's use was "ballast." Well, needless to say, "uses for a wife" and "uses for a husband" quickly became a joke between Rachel and I, especially when I asked her for my potential uses and she couldn't even get to use #2 and immediately forgot what she had in mind for use #1.

For my birthday this year, Rachel must have felt bad about leaving me hanging at use #2 and getting to claim all 39 wife uses for herself. She made me my very own book to register my hubandly traits. It's titled, "22 uses for my husband." She downloaded a trial version of photoshop and went to town creating the beast. When she gave it to me, I couldn't stop laughing. Almost every page featured me doing things in my wedding suit, from mowing the lawn to doing the dishes. One of my personal favorites is use #3 "Masseur" -the page has some random lady's legs photoshopped onto the scene. The lady at the copy center helping Rachel put the book together complimented her photoshop abilities, I agree... Use #40 Photoshop Diva.

happy birthday!

today, 22 years ago, aaron was born. i haven't heard really any birthing stories about aaron yet, except for the whole incidence with his left arm--and that is probably enough of a story, at least for his parents' well beings. but as far as what time of day, whether it was snowing or not (i was wishing it would be snowing this morning, but unfortunately, i think aaron and i are the only people in provo praying for it to snow), whether he was a quick delivery or hours and hours of labor...i really don't know. those are usually the kinds of things that get talked about annually on birthdays, at least at my house, and i think for good reason. a little reminiscing is always good, even if it is the same story every time. plus, this was the start of your life, the single most important and vital event ever for your existence, since your existence was dependent on your birth. so why not know your birth story like the back of your hand? perhaps when we head up to the robison's this weekend, i can get the whole story of aaron's feeble beginnings.

well, i'm not going to post a list of things i love about aaron in honor of him. i'll just tell all those things to him, instead of make him read it through the internet. but suffice it to say that i'm glad aaron survived the journey from the blissful state of womb-living to the harsh, not-nearly-as-gooey world of the developed human beings.

and yes, we will be celebrating with magleby's chocolate cake.

"this deserves stomach acid!"

aaron got accepted into the strategy program! this is especially amazing, since when he applied for the business major when he got home from his mission, he didn't get accepted. a few weeks later, they--those hoity-toity business know-it-all's--realized they made a terrible mistake and came begging on their knees for aaron to accept them. aaron glared down his nose at them and said yes.

next, he applies for the strategy emphasis, which only takes 40 students a year. there were definitely over a hundred other students hoping to make the cut, but they were just pretending. aaron's the real deal. he wrote his application essay inspired by an article from a BYU professor (brown-nosing? maybe a little. but his aim was unique. it wasn't your typical this is why I'm great, sell-yourself essay). then, his interview a month later was with the same professor who wrote the article! they just shot the breeze for the 15 minutes they had scheduled together, and now aaron is official one of the 40 strategy students!

another awesome thing--aaron applied, technically, as a sophmore, but he'll be graduating april 2012. finishing school in three years. we are all about efficiency.

anyways, i decided we had to celebrate by getting some of our favorite foods from various places. okay, maybe this was just my attempt at avoiding having to eat mac and cheese for dinner. first, we got sweet potato fries from guru's--best in town. in the meantime, we ordered peshwari naan from the local indian restaurant, bombay house, and picked it up right after we got our sweet potato fries. we sped home, downed our fries, ran out of the delicious sauce, made dulce de leche hot chocolate, and ate our peshwari naan. mmmmm.

anyway, congratulations aaron!

home sweet home

so i am taking a class this semester called western political heritage. it fills a general requirement. we read plato's republic and learned about the allegory of the cave. basically, the idea is that people are stuck in a cave, chained down, and deceived that the shadows they continually see in front of them is the real world.

we kind of live in a cave. luckily, we aren't chained to the floor. it is pretty classic in these parts to live in a basement as a newly married couple, so we are serving our time down under, peeping out from out little windows. we, however, refused to simply succumb to our situation, and we got around to decorating the cave a little bit. there are still a few more things we want to do, namely putting up some more pictures, and getting bean bags for extra seating.

but without further ado, here is our humble cave.