Biking CT for Education

With everything else he has on his plate Jeff is the representative for his class on the education board at QU. Through this program we got an awesome opportunity to do a bike ride across CT starting in New Haven and ending at the Massachusetts border. They called it "Biking Connecticut for Education" and it was a fundraiser of sorts to raise scholarship money for PA students. As we all know PA school is not cheap by any means and we were more than happy to participate and donate to this awesome cause. Unfortunately the bikes we planned on borrowing for the ride were not available to us come the weekend of the event so we did the walking portion instead but still had a great time. The event was split into 2 days saturday and sunday, sunday being mine and Jeff's favorite day. We took the scenic route up to Suffield CT which is just a few miles from the Mass border and it was so beautiful. We enjoyed the whole day just driving, walking and taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery and houses. I am obsessed with the houses out here. I could look at them all day and never get bored, they are all so different and have so much character. Someday Jeff and I want to design our own house after the ones we have seen on the east coast. We BBQ after the walk/ride finished on Sunday afternoon and ended up raising I believe about $4500 dollars for a scholarship. It was a great weekend!










"Big house on the hill, or oops forgot my pill?!"











a few more...








Irresistible to creatures of all kinds




Connecticut is so beautiful, I had no idea but I am so thankful for the opportunity/adventure Jeff and I have to live out here! Come visit us :)

It's DATE NIGHT... in a Jar!

Beginning a few months ago during our very long (and hard) engagement Jeff and I began to make a list of the things we wanted to do together after we got married, both to help us already have ideas that we could do when we had a free day or weekend and also to help us keep track of all the "East Coast" things we plan on doing while having the opportunity to live here. I'm pretty sure the making of the list was quite therapeutic for the both of us, giving us something to look forward to and I am happy to say now that we have been 'hitched' for almost 2 months that it is serving it's purpose quite nicely and we are loving getting to actually be together and start doing these fun things.


The jar in all it's glory

The use of the jar follows these basic ideas:
1. Each week we take turns picking a slip out of the jar and then plan on doing that activity either that week or the next depending on our schedules
2. We can add or subtract any item, idea or activity from the jar as we please
3. We can choose to re-draw an item if we don't like or want to do the one we pulled out this week or the next [this rule is mostly for me to utilize when Jeff isn't looking ;)]

Here is a quick recap of the first few items/date nights we have done from the jar thus far...

Plan and cook a delicious dinner together. We made Crepes and they were delicious! We had fun dreaming up and shopping for our crepe fillings and then whipping it all up, together of course!


Jeffrey is a pro in the kitchen when it comes to cooking crepes


We stuffed our crepes with a shredded ranch chicken, tomatoes, avocados, and cheese. And for dessert we used banana pudding, banana slices and toasted coconut. Yum!


Dinner for two, Bon Appetit!

Date night numero dos:

Tennis 101 with Jeff as the hunky instructor and Jo as the student. It went a little like this..
I suck and Jeff wants me to be really good so that he will and I quote "Actually want to play with me again." Bah Humbug. ;) I was having a great time and of course did a lot of laughing (at my own expense) but my sweet Jeffrey didn't quite find it all as amusing as I did. Oops! Long story short there were no pictures taken of the momentous occasion but we will be hitting the court again very soon and I hope to have a more positive report and maybe even some pics!

DN #3

FHE Seare style. This tag said that Jeff was to teach the lesson and Jo was to make the treat. Jeff gave an awesome lesson on scripture study and we wrote our personal goals and goals as a couple for our daily scripture study together. We read a relating article from our Ensign and then finished up by watching the Faith in Christ video just for fun. I delivered of course on my end of the deal and made a scrumptious banana bread/muffins.


The bread looks a little sorry but you'll forget all about the look when you take a bite


Banana NO nut bread and muffins with toasted coconut on top!

Next up: A picnic in the park!

The 3 Amigas (and their Princes)

Lisa and Cade Sorensen August 14, 2009


Cassie and Jeffrey Seare May 15, 2010


Erika and Taylor Davis June 21, 2010

Sistas through the good and the bad. Love you ladies, so proud and happy for the three of us finding our prince charmings and having them for eternity!

Congrats to Erika and Taylor who were just married on June 21. I wish I could have been there but I was thinking of you! You made a beautiful bride and I am so happy for you! Enjoy Cali and let's meet @ home in Utah sometime soon for some serious catching up and trouble. Love you girls. XoXo

27 years young. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFFREY!

Yesterday June 21 was my handsome and sweet hubbie's 27th birthday! HeyOoooooooo!
I got up early to finish his birthday cake and somewhat make him breakfast before I unfortunately had to go to my first day of hospital orientation for my new job. :( I was so bummed and felt like such a crappy wife for having to leave him home alone on his birthday and I didn't even get to make him breakfast in bed. Oh well, I guess there is always next year...
When I got off work I rushed home and we hung out a little, I even let him open one of his presents before we went to dinner. (Okay, I just couldn't wait any longer!) We had a good dinner and then once again rushed home to open presents!
A few weeks back we had gone to the mall and he had looked and tried on a couple of pairs of shoes. These shoes all had a similar look and colors to them so when I went by myself I had a hard time picking out the ones he really liked. Well, I of course bought the wrong ones (he liked the ones I got but I guess over the weeks he had decided on the other pair instead little to my knowledge) so after his presents were open we decided to take a quick little trip down to the mall. We had a good time just walking around and being together and he eventually decided to keep the shoes so we hopped in the car and headed home for some cake!
When I asked Jeff what kind of birthday cake he wanted he said ice cream. I of course was all for it but definitely wasn't going to spend $15 plus dollars on a store bought ice cream cake, so after some research, brainstorming and a trip to bed bath and beyond for a spring form pan I made my own :) It was yummy and turned out much better than I had hoped! I was quite pleased with myself and Jeff was both excited and impressed. And although it didn't make up for me having to be gone for most of the day, we had a great time and I think he had a good day.


Presents!






House season 2


new shoes


new shirt to go with his nike shoes. "Looks like an outfit!" -Jeff


when I got home these balloons were tied to the porch, the sweet office manager of our apartment remembered it was Jeff's birthday and printed a card for him and tied the balloons to the porch. She is the best, thank you Joanne!

And now for the cake. Drum roll please....


he's excited!


I know I'm lame but I had to get a picture with my cake, I was just as excited


the birthday boy eating his cake on the special plate


it was as rich as it was delicious

Happy Birthday babe, I love you!

One Fish, Two Fish. Red Fish, Dead Fish.

Since our apartment place dashed all our dreams of having a Yorkie puppy Jeff and I decided we would get ourselves a fish. The next best thing right??
As we were perusing the fish aisle picking out the golden child a couple just happened to walk by with, you're never going to guess! A 3 month old Yorkie puppy! I saw the light go right out of my poor babes eyes. We sat and talked to the couple and admired their little Ruby? Rosco? Trudy? I can't remember, what's important is that we wanted one, we wanted one bad! We spent a good couple minutes wallowing in our self pity while still standing and gazing at the wall of fish tanks in front of us before we each finally picked one. His and hers fish. Yeah we are cute like that.
After the man in the store gave us a 30 minute lecture about how to care for goldfish we were finally free and booked it out of the store with our 2 new fishies and all in one goldfish starter kit bowl.
Pierre and Belle (Pierre is mine and Belle Jeff's) were right at home in their new bowl and we sat and watched them swim for quite a while before I grew tired of them and moved on. Jeff however was very concerned and was watching the two. He said Pierre was chasing and "pecking" at Belle. Pecking? Okaaay.

THE NEXT MORNING

Wake up Sunday morning feeling good, go right out to check on the fish before I get in the shower and get ready for church. Belle is clinging for life laying at the bottom of the bowl. Are you kidding me?? It's been like 8 hours. Jeff is all upset and I'm just downright annoyed. It's a goldfish. Should not be that hard. Go to church and come home again only to find Belle, well belly up at the top of the bowl. Jeff automatically blames the whole thing on my fish. So not fair. Either way I am still annoyed. I start dinner and Jeff watched Pierre who is now constantly at the top of the bowl. He sits up there with his puckery little fish lips out of the water like he's gasping for air. ( I know people, fish breathe with their gills) but Jeff and I would both swear he is up there for air. We get worried, get rid of some of the plants, chlorinate the water, google 'why goldfish stay at the top of the bowl', change the water, dump some water out, etc. Nothing, he still stays at the top of the bowl. I get bored of him again and busy myself with other things while Jeff is still stewing over the whole mess.

8 HOURS LATER

I got up early Monday morning to finish Jeff's ice cream cake and get ready for my early orientation at the hospital, walk out to the fish bowl. Pierre is belly up. Seriously?
2 fish casualties in 24 hours. I think it's safe to say we are not fish people. I don't know what we did or didn't do but it was just not happening for us. We tried but I think we're just going to return the bowl and forget the whole thing ever happened. haha

Speaking of the bowl, it continued to sit on top of the bookshelf, with the dead belly up fish in it slowly decaying until today (Tuesday) when I couldn't stomach to walk past it one more time. I put on my rubber gloves and took the bowl to the toilet. I scooped the dead little fishy out of the bowl, all the while dry heaving from the looks and smells of it and flushed it down the toilet. The smell. Oh my goodness the smell was awful. More awful than anything I have smelled before in the hospital, I quickly dumped all the water out and relocated the bowl to the front porch. My poor sweet husband will have to dispose of it when he gets home cause I will not be able to keep my dinner down if I have to smell or look or touch that thing again, and I do not have a weak stomach. Yuck.








Belle losing her will to live


Pierre :(


the cause of the awful stench: decaying goldfish

It was a sad day in the Seare house.

RIP
PIERRE SEARE
JUNE 20
&
BELLE SEARE
JUNE 21

Sheila's her name, directions are her game

I have a new best friend. Her name is Sheila and I have a feeling we will be very good friends for a very long time! She is the best, she always listens to me when I tell her where I want to go in life and offers her advice. Even when I don't take it either on purpose or not she never raises her voice or talks back she just looks at where I am and gets me on the right track again. Now that is a good friend.


Sheila doing what she does best, me obviously needing her guidance




BFFs

Pizza and cupcakes

We have been up to a lot lately. Not me actually, I mostly have been staying home the last 2 weeks and cleaning my house, organizing and then re-organizing. Cooking, baking, exploring a little and most importantly carefully watching the progress of the pool. She has as of an hour ago (when it was still light out enough that I could see)[my neighbors probably think I'm loco. I come out of the house every few hours to stand on the porch and inspect the pool for several minutes then turn around and go right back inside] anyway.. she has 2 coats of the most beautiful aqua color on her underbelly and has been fashioned with some very shiny railings. Awesome, that's some serious progress but there is still just something missing.. oh yeah, WATER! Jeff and I were hoping that she would be swimming worthy by tomorrow but I don't think that is going to happen. Goodbye summer.

Last week Jeff and I took dinner to some of our friends in the ward who had twins about 7 weeks ago. It was great, they had dinner and we played with the babies. It made me really miss my babies (nieces and nephews) but I was more than happy for the interaction. Dinner doesn't matter but the dessert was definitely worth mentioning. I made chocolate reeses peanut butter cupcakes and they were so good! We even took a plate over to a youngish couple who live across the way and formally introduced ourselves. It was awkward. Jeff is so good and natural at meeting people, in fact people flock to him because of his easy going demeanor and more than likely his good looks but I on the other hand am quiet and shy upon first meeting new people. So we knocked on the neighbors door and it was so awkward when he answered the door, we definitely interrupted something. Something of what? I'm not sure or even implying anything but it was something and it was awkward.
A few nights later we made a garden pizza (thank you sister for the recipe) it was delicious! If anyone wants the either recipe I will gladly post them. The cupcakes.. seriously they were good.


This is what Jeffrey has been up to lately


Garden Pizza. Deeelish!

Thank You

One month ago today I married the love of my life.



Thank you Jeffrey..
for being so good to me.
taking care of me and being my personal PA.
for always having a good attitude/outlook and for helping me to see the bright side of things
for being so patient and kind when I get grumpy
for tickling my back
for being so thoughtful and appreciative of me
etc.

I love you babe, thanks for the best first month. There's not a place I would rather be than here in CT and by your side.
Here's to everyday we have to look forward to in the eternities to come. <3

No longer a desperate housewife-- I got the job

Holla! No more top ramen for the Seares. Okay, of course we haven't been eating top ramen but it's funny to think back to a conversation Jeff and I had in cancun while on our honeymoon. We were enjoying ourselves by the pool and waiting for our drinks we just ordered to be delivered to us when we began talking about how glad we were that we went all out for our honeymoon and how much we were enjoying ourselves. We both decided we didn't want to go home and then laughed at the fact that we didn't have anything to go home to. No home, no job, no responsibility.. we were going to go home and then continue to vacation for the next week as we drove across the country. We both laughed at the fact that we were spending so much money when we had no income coming in and didn't know when we would. Ha that didn't rain on our parade one bit but we did laugh.

Fast forward to today when I got the call we have been anxiously waiting for (more so me, I feel so worthless sitting at home!) I got the job! WOOHOOOOO! I start monday and couldn't be more excited. (Except for the fact that it's my man's birthday... BUZKILL!) We will just have to celebrate all weekend and then the second I get home. Done and Done.

Anyway, it's a PCA (CNA) position on a medical oncology floor of the new Smilo Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital. I am very excited and think it will be a good change of pace from EKG and ED for me, also so more and different kinds of experience for me to gain.

First day of clinicals

Jeff and I got up early and went for a run and had breakfast together, it was such a nice morning. I packed my man a lunch and then I sent this handsome devil of mine off to his first day in the ED. I missed him the second he walked out the door but couldn't be more proud of him and excited for his new experiences.


Patients are going to be lining up out the door to see him...