Mouse Tales

Today I thought I would write about what is happening in my graduate work. I am studying nutritional science, but with an emphasis in nutrient regulation of gene expression, especially cancer genes. It's more molecular biology than nutrition, and that is really hard for me, but it is a great learning opportunity. I present my perspectus next month, and am a little nervous, but it should be exciting. We are breeding mice that are engineered to develop prostate cancer, and then supplementing them with selenium and soy isoflavones to observe the effects. We dissect their prostates and tumors and look for changes in the DNA, proteins, and blood hormones. We just started a preliminary toxicity study where we feed mice different concentrations of selenium to determine the maximum tolerated dosage to use for our study. It is kind of fun gavaging the mice, except for when they throw tantrums; which happens a lot. Fun stuff!












In other news, my birthday last week was awesome. Brandon made me breakfast in bed, and that night we went to Red Robin with a bunch of friends. Saturday we skied two feet of powder all day with Jake, Ellisha, and Aaron, then went to Salt Lake and celebrated with my family. Sunday we celebrated with the Nakkens. Birthday weekend!





For my birthday I got new running shoes, tights, and a jersey, and I am really excited. I recently doubled my running distances and it feels great. I am toying with the idea of running a marathon this summer. Eesh!



A couple of weekends ago, we went night cross country skiing with Jake, Ellisha, and Eliisha's little sister Sheila. It was quite the adventure when we went off of the trail and had to pretty much slide down the side of a steep cliff on our behinds. We were frozen by the time we got down, but it was way fun! And it was a full moon, so it was beautiful. Anywhoo.....nothing else new here. Just looking forward to spring!

Valentine's Day ♥♥♥

This year we had our second Valentine's Day together. Last year we were in Jackson Hole skiing with friends and watching the Olympics. It was the perfect weekend except for Valentine's morning, when in my sleep I rolled over the Valentine's chocolates Brandon put on my bed. They melted into a big sticky mess on my back and hair. I know, I am so romantic. We decided to make it a tradition to take a little ski trip every Valentine's.




We worked super hard this week in school so we could take the weekend off. Brandon had three tests to study for, and I had a test and a research grant application to write. Our hard work paid off, because Saturday we got to go to Snowbird! It was a beautiful warm day and the snow was pretty decent. We found a fun little step up jump off of the Little Cloud chair to play on. Brandon did some awesome spins, while I was super brave and stuck with little 180s.

After skiing, we went to Cafe Rio and stuffed our faces with steak quesadillas, salad, and coconut caramel flan, then headed off to the super classy Comfort Inn next to the freeway. Hey, it was only fifty bucks a night AND it had free waffles in the morning AND a hot tub. That's all we wanted.

On Valentine's Day, Brandon had two tests, so he didn't come home until late. I cleaned the house, made fondue, and baked sugar cookies for us to decorate. We had reservations for Gloria's Little Italy, but when we got there, they wouldn't accept our gift card. So we came home and Brandon made his delicious vodka tomato pasta. We dipped candy in chocolate and decorated sugar cookies. So fun!
Brandon's parents stopped by and gave us a heart full of big juicy strawberries. They were delicious! Brandon got me the movie Ratatouille (that was the movie we watched on our first date) so we watched it after we ate our body weight in cookies and chocolate. A wonderful day! I love Brandon. Happy Valentine's Day!

Do you remember when we got in the BYU police beat?

I remembered something today that I thought was worthy of writing down. And since I don't keep a journal, this is where I will write it. Two summers ago, Brandon and I accomplished one of my college goals; to get into the BYU police beat in the BYU paper. The BYU police beat is a record of all of the criminal mischief and activity that takes place on BYU campus. Ninety percent of the time it is amazing and ridiculous. For example, one of my favorites went something like this. "A female in Hinckley Hall complained that a male student was repeatedly throwing a cat through her open window, even after she let it out of her dorm room. Police have not yet apprehended the suspect." Ours is not that good, but at least it's there.
Early that summer Brandon and I were in that "not quite dating but hanging out all of the time" stage. The evening of this particular incident we had gone to the wedding reception of a friend. After it was over, we decided to take Brandon's scooter for a ride while we were still in our church clothes. And also to take golf clubs with us. We thought we were really funny driving around Provo and pretending to play polo on the road with our clubs and in our fancy clothes. I think we were the only ones who thought we were funny. We decided to go to Wendy's for root beer floats, but we would have to stop somewhere so we could drink them. Where in Provo do flirtatious young couples go to run amok? The duck pond. And that's where we headed. I was driving the scooter while the talented and always coordinated Brandon held both of our floats. For some reason I decided to drive the scooter up onto the grass by the pond. There was a large flock of ducks just hanging out doing what ducks do. When I get nervous and giggly I don't really think well, and I was with Brandon so I was both. I decided to charge this little flock, fully expecting them to go crazy and fly away. For some reason they didn't. We zoomed closer and closer and none of them moved. I had a split second to decide if I was going to be a duck murderer or slam on the front brake. (I hadn't mastered the back brake yet) So I slammed on the brake. Brandon and I were thrown forward onto our stomachs. Then the ducks moved. Somehow, Brandon managed to keep the floats upright and nothing spilled. Amazing! A few people on 800 North pulled over and asked if we were ok, but we couldn't stop laughing.
Ten minutes later, a BYU police officer showed up and asked if any of us were harassing ducks. I didn't know what to say and kept silent. After a few seconds Brandon sheepishly replied, "not intentionally." What? What does that even mean? The police man bought it and told us to be careful and move the scooter. So we did. And eagerly awaited the next week's police beat. Here is the official article:


June 24: Concerned people reported someone chasing a duck around Maeser Hill with a motor scooter. Officers responded to the call and told the person not to harass ducks. The person complied.


Check.

MLK weekend!

Yay for three day weekends! Ours was great. Friday night started off with a little trip to Carl's Junior and then to Hale Center Theater to see "The Foreigner." My Grandma had recommended this play to us, and we loved it! So funny. And Brandon especially loved it because it was not a musical. He is so cultured. Saturday we both had lessons at the NAC in Park City. For me it was one of the best lessons I have ever had. I got to volunteer with a little boy named Landon and he loved his bi-ski. He loved the ski lifts even more. Brandon didn't have quite the luck I did. He sent his ski buddy down on a tobaggon with ski patrol. Maybe he should take lessons from me on how to be a good ski buddy. Just kidding. He is actually way better.



Sunday was great because we didn't have to teach Sunday school. And we decided to go to St. George late Sunday night. Our friends Jake and Ellisha called us and said they could come too. We stayed at Brandon's grandparents' in Cedar City and woke up to waffles and eggs. Grandparents are awesome! Then off to sunny St. George in shorts and t-shirts to do a little biking. First we biked the Green Valley trail for the boys. (They could do all of their stunts there) Ellisha and I were awesome too. We spent half an hour jumping off a little twelve inch ledge. Next we rode Bear Claw Poppy which is always bumpier than I remember it, but still way fun. We ended the day with a trip to a little Mexican Restaurant. Don Pedro's Family Restaurant? Something like that. I don't know if we'll be visiting Don Pedro again soon. Brandon said Don Pedro followed him home, and kept bothering him all night long. Fun times!

What we've been doing since....

The morning after our wedding we took off to Hawaii at 5:30 am. Everybody thought we were crazy, but we only had a couple of days before we had to get back to school, so we tried to get as much time in Hawaii as possible. We stayed at the Marriott at Waikkiki, went to Pearl harbor, snorkeled (Brandon's first time), and hiked around Waimea Falls. It was a short but wonderful two days.

We got back Tuesday morning right before classes and were

exhausted! Neither of us actually made it to class that day. All of my professors were really lenient that first week (grad school rocks), but Brandon had a bunch of catching up to do.

The first few months of marriage have been filled with lots of studying and a few adventures. Brandon's hockey season started again, and this year he is in the intermediate league! (Last year was his first year) We camped in the bed of Brandon's truck a few times, and went biking lots.
We went to Moab with my family, where Brandon and I rode the Whole Enchilada, a 26 mile mountain bike trail that starts with a long climb up to over 11000 feet, then drops all of the way down into the Moab valley. It was awesome but exhausting.

It seems more awesome the further away from it we get. The next day we rode Klondike Bluffs with my family. My mom got to ride her new carbon fiber Trek and loved it...such a fun trip!

I also went on my family's biannual trip to Yellowstone to go see the wolves. Brandon had to stay behind because he had an organic chemistry and physiology test on the same day. Sad! It was cold and beautiful and we got to see our wolves. The special treat was when we got to see them in a group and hear them howling.

For Thanksgiving, we went with Brandon's family to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to meet up with Jason and Kelsey and Nathan. We stayed in a nice, newly built lodge that had a gondola that ran right up to the ski resort. It was so fun to relax and hang out with the family for a couple of days, and to ski with Brandon and his brothers. The only bad part of the weekend was listening to the BYU game on the way home.

I try to not dwell on finals (which actually weren't too bad for me) so I will skip right to Christmas. We got our first Christmas tree, a pathetic looking thing with maybe five branches. But we loved it anyways. Right after finals, Brandon left to Tijuana for a pre-dental humanitarian trip for five days. He got to pull teeth, drill, give shots, and take X rays. He loved every minute of it (especially the taco minutes) and said it was the best way to spend a little time serving over the break. I stayed home with my family and skied. What a slacker, but we got so much snow over the break I couldn't resist. I even had a day at Sundance where the powder was up to my mid thigh! I wish I had pictures from that day.

Christmas was wonderful; like two weeks of partying. We traveled back and forth from Orem to Salt Lake and spent pretty much every day with our families. Everyone was so generous, and it was great to be with family and to share our first Christmas together. Right now we are trying to prepare ourselves for real life again.

The Wedding

September 3, 2010 was the perfect day. We were supposed to be at the temple at eight thirty in the morning, so I got up at six so I could be ready. I was surprised at how calm I was. I was the only one awake in my family's house until about seven thirty. Because I was just getting over a fun little bout with mono, I was exhausted and I think my shower took forty five minutes. Brandon was coming at eight, so I had just over an hour to do my hair and get ready. Note to self; you should have practiced your hair before! By the time Brandon came to pick me up, I was barely ready, and frustrated that my hair and makeup didn't look how I wanted them to. When I got in the truck with Brandon, all of my frustrations and worries disappeared. We were getting married!

We got to the temple a bit late, so we were rushed through the getting ready part. The ceremony was performed by my uncle Garrett, and it was wonderful. It was so great to be there with all of our friends and family. The whole thing went by so quickly...and before we knew it, we were married! We came out of the temple to friends and family and lots and lots of pictures in the hot sun. I think everyone's smiles became less and less real as the pictures went on.

After that, we all went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to have lunch. The raspberry lemonade tasted so good! Both of our parents and Nelson (the unofficial best man) talked for a bit. Then it was our turn. I was so glad just to stand up so I could breathe in my dress better. Brandon's little talk was the best. He was so genuine and grateful.

After the luncheon, we only had about an hour and a half before we had to be back at the Lion House, so Brandon's family and my dad and brother John all went across the street to my dad's office to rest in the conference room. By this time I was exhausted. The mono was catching up to me. After a short rest and a can of diet coke to wake me up, we went back to the Lion House for pictures and the reception.

The reception was beautiful on the patio of the Lion House. There were little lights on the trees and pretty flowers in the gardens. The food looked tasty, but we didn't get to taste much of it because we were in line most of the time. However, the cake was wonderful, and I made sure to have a few tastes of that! Mmm...red velvet. The reception went by so quickly, and before we knew it, it was over. We were off to the Marriott at the airport. (We had a 5:30am flight the next morning)The whole day had been so smooth, something had to go wrong. We had misplaced the key to Brandon's truck! We looked everywhere, but to no avail. My parents kept offering to drop us off at the hotel. We.....didn't think that was the best idea. I had an extra key at home in South Jordan, so Laura volunteered to drive back and bring it to us! Thank you Laura. Everything worked out. Everyone was so wonderful and generous. We are especially so grateful to our parents who put all of this on for us and made it the best day of our lives.

Engaged

We got engaged on June 26, 2010 at Crescent Bay in California. Brandon and his friends Jonathan and Nelson went down to check out dental schools in California, and I flew out a day after so we could go to Disneyland. Apparently everybody (my family and cousins) knew that he was going to propose except me. But when I got to LAX, their car had broken down, which spoiled all of our plans. Instead of Disneyland, we spent most of the next day at car repair shops and rental places trying to figure out how we would get home. We did get to go to the beach for a little bit though. Brandon and I had planned on going on a date that night to the same place we had gone on a date the year before. The restaurant was a little burger place called Ruby's on the Pacific Coast Highway right on the beach. Brandon quelled any suspicions I had that he would propose by inviting everyone to come to dinner with us, but no one wanted to. We didn't have a car, so Jonathan and Nelson dropped us off at the restaurant and told us they would pick us up in a couple hours. All during dinner Brandon was acting a little strange and kept apologizing for how the trip had been a huge failure. I was having fun and couldn't figure out what his problem was. Stop apologizing! After dinner we wanted to catch the trolley to Crescent Beach a couple of miles up the road. But....I had a lot of Mountain Dew at dinner and had to find a bathroom quick! So we missed the trolley. Brandon said we would have to walk. I didn't really want to. Three miles? Let's just go to Laguna Beach? But he dragged me the three miles to Crescent. Once we got there, things still kept going wrong. A police man on a four wheeler was patrolling the area for some reason, so we snuck down past him. We didn't know if there was a curfew on the beach or something. Once we got to the beach, we realized it was high tide, and there was hardly any beach to walk on without getting swept off! As we walked out on the disappearing sand, the waves kept coming up closer and closer to the cliff behind us. We only had a few minutes before we would be pressed against the cliff wall. I was a little worried and wanted to go back, but Brandon wanted to stay out there. We found a little patch of dry sand that was about three feet by three feet. We stood there for a bit and Brandon asked me to tell him about the last time we were at that beach. I sighed and hurried through the story so we could get to a higher place. But after the story, Brandon still didn't seem in a hurry to go. He started to look awkward and my heart jumped. This couldn't be it! Was it? He apologized again for the trip not working out the way it was planned, but told me that he loved me and always knew he wanted to spend his life with me and asked if I would marry him. Of course I said yes! The trip didn't turn out the way we planned but I wouldn't have had it any different.