When we were young...

Okay, not really but I was just looking through some pictures of when Robby and I were first dating, just about 3 years ago! We have had some fun adventures!

This was our ward Christmas Party in 2008... 2 months after we started dating.

At the Jazz game...Winter 2009.

Opening our Easter Package from my mom and grandma... April 2009

After lunch on the day we parted ways for a whole summer! We said goodbye so fast we didn't realize what was happening. 

But it's okay because I went to visit him... May 2009

And then he came to visit me...July 2009

Then we were reunited in Provo... Sept 2009

We went on some fun dates...Oct 2009

And then we got engaged! Oct 2009

All this in honor of next month being 3 years since our very first date. 

I love you Robby!

Labor Day Weekend

We wanted to escape the heat for Labor Day weekend, so we went to Las Vegas...haha! It was just as hot there as it was in Phoenix, but we were with family so it was bearable. We had a really fun weekend and it was nice to have a little getaway.

We spent one evening on the strip with Danielle. We walked around and ended up eating at PF Changs outside, where we could enjoy the "entertainment".  People watching in Vegas is so much fun.

We went to the Las Vegas temple...since I had never even seen it before! It is really beautiful! 

Oh and the temple and I are the same age...cool, huh?

We also ate yummy treats!

And now we are back to normal life! I just started my 2nd internship rotation at Chandler Unified School District. I will be with them until around December 22. They have the most amazing food and nutrition program! I love being part of all the new and exciting things they are doing, related to nutrition and school meals. I have spent some time in a few classrooms teaching about nutrition. Something exciting coming up for me is the School Nutrition Association of Arizona conference this weekend. I'm bummed that I can't be in San Diego at FNCE  this weekend, but this little conference will be like a mini-FNCE. The school district is paying for me to go, so I just get to show up, learn amazing things and sample new food products. Lucky me! I love being an almost-RD!

Something that bugged me today...

I don't normally blog about nutrition, but today I just wanted to put something out there. Something that I saw and really bugged me, as a future RD.  I was at the gym today and Dr. Oz was on  TV. It is hard to change the channels so I kept watching, even though Dr. Oz isn't my favorite. He has said a few things related to nutrition that I don't agree with and that are not backed up by good science, which we rely heavily on in dietetics.

This particular episode was called "Slowing Aging and Preventing Disease". Part of the segment involved what Dr. Oz called his four "superfoods". They were salmon, sweet potatoes, white kidney (cannellini) beans and kale. Now don't get me wrong, there are great things about each of those foods and I would encourage anyone to include them in their normal diet. However, the way Dr. Oz portrayed it was "Add these foods to your diet to age slowly and prevent disease". This bothers me because these four foods are not magic answers to nutrition-related health problems. Simply adding these four foods to an already poor diet won't do very much. For these foods to make a difference, they need to be combined with a balanced diet, exercise, no smoking and many other factors. The key to disease prevention is lifestyle change and what we refer to as "maintenance". That is the ability to practice those healthy lifestyle habits on a daily basis. In my opinion, it isn't enough to just add those four foods.

Part of the problem with nutrition in this country is the millions of messages we get from the media every single day related to food and what we should be putting into our bodies. What people like Dr. Oz need to promote are not just "superfoods" but an overall healthy lifestyle, including foods from all of the food groups.  Just for fun, here is the new MyPlate icon, that I love so much.

PS For the few of you that read this, thanks for letting me vent.

I'm not a food blogger....yet

Okay so maybe my dream is to be a food-blogging dietitian. Well first of all I need actual photography skills. Oh and my RD. But that will happen soon enough! Anyway, I made up an awesome recipe for dinner tonight and I wanted to record it before I forget! I didn't want to write it down so I thought I would share with those who visit my blog!

Maybe another thing I need is the ability to name recipes...lets call this Lemon Garlic Shrimp with Pasta.

 

So here is what I used.

8 oz whole wheat linguine (1/2 box)
1 pound shrimp (I used raw, frozen shrimp and let it thaw under running water)
2 T oil (whatever kind you have, I used canola)
1/2 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 t red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
parsley
pepper

Its so easy! Ready? Go....

First, pour oil in pan over medium heat. Cook garlic and onion for 3-4 minutes. Add shrimp, lemon juice, broth and red pepper flakes. Cook until shrimp is no longer translucent and is pink. Be careful because shrimp cooks fast! When shrimp is done, add parsley and pepper. Toss with the pasta.

The husband & I both LOVED this dinner. We had big yummy salads to go with it & were in heaven. Luckily it made leftovers for our lunch tomorrow!

Oh where oh where are the Boyle's?

We have been busy! During the week we are both busy, Robby at work and me at my internship. We both look forward to Saturdays, especially since we don't have to spend them at the library, like we used to at BYU. Lately we have been going to movies every Saturday. It is an easy way to escape the heat!

This is when we saw Crazy, Stupid Love. We were the only ones in the theater for quite a while, so we had fun throwing our free popcorn and catching it in our mouths :)  Then some people came in, so we had to simmer down. Lame. 

Another fun time was going out with our friends Ian and Alejandra! We went to Joe's BBQ and to Dave and Busters. It was so much fun playing the games and feeling like kids again. Although it did make us miss the Nickelcade, where we had our first date almost 3 years ago.

 As we were leaving, so excited for our date!

 Notice Robby's unhappy face...that is because I am so much better than him at Guitar Hero. No, but seriously. I am.

 Ian and Robby playing the basketball game.  (I can't remember what it is really called)

We had 250 tickets and all we could buy were sour straws and a kazoo. Best $25 we have ever spent :) 

My dietetic internship: WIC Edition

If I haven't blogged in the past few weeks it is because I have been so busy as a dietetic intern!

I put on my name badge and picked out an outfit from my new professional wardrobe and was off! (If anyone is wondering, my name-tag says USU on it because the internship is through them, but a distance one-so here in AZ. )

I have been at WIC and loving every minute of it. So far I have been to staff meetings, a professional seminar, observed countless counseling sessions, done quite a few counseling sessions myself, taught group classes about nutrition and the WIC food packages, and done anthropometrics (in non-dietetic speak that means measurements, doing the height and weight of the children who come to WIC). Measuring a screaming 2 year old is not as easy as you think. 

I have learned so much from my preceptor and the other dietitians at WIC. I have come to respect them and the passion they have for children, nutrition, breastfeeding, etc. I am amazed at the things I have been fortunate to learn. I know that my counseling skills are 10x better in just the 3 weeks that I have been with Maricopa County WIC, than what they were after BYU. It is amazing what you can learn by doing.

My favorite experience so far is a little 2 1/2 year old girl with cystic fibrosis. She really doesn't have the quality of life most of us are blessed with, but she was so happy and full of life. She was having trouble putting on weight, as do many kids with cystic fibrosis. She came up to me in the counseling session and put her head in my lap. She told me that I was beautiful and she kept trying to touch my earrings. It made my week.

I would love to work at WIC someday!

Visiting Family and My Best Friends Wedding!

Last week, I spent the week in beautiful Seattle! The weather was awesome, in the 70's and 80's. It was nice to escape the desert heat for a little bit. I had so much fun with my family and friends. Poor Robby had to stay home and work and we really missed him all week!

*We ate at Ivars and played at Coulon Park! It was such a beautiful night. Oh and the clam chowder and fish and chips are my favorite. We even did some glamour shots, just like we used to :)

 

*Next was my best friend Ashley's wedding! I am so happy for her and Brian and I know we will be friends forever! The sealing was absolutely beautiful and I was so lucky to witness it. Being a bridesmaid was pretty fun too!! Prepare for picture overload! 

My sisters and I at the temple, poor Emms had to work that morning. 

The girls

Girls with our dad!

The happy couple. They both looked beautiful :)

I LOVED her dress.

Our typical hug pictures. I love them!

Me and my dad! I love him.

Me and my Mom, I love her too.

At the luncheon. It was adorable. It was at a park near the temple, with umbrellas and picnic blankets. Each family had a basket with our picnic lunch in it. We had so much fun!

I loved the pinwheels!

Our picnic lunch. We also had cream soda in old fashioned bottles and ice cream cones.

The bridesmaids. 

 All of us back together again. It was so fun! 

Me and the BEAUTIFUL bride. 

Elisabeth and I realized this would be the last time we see each other before she leaves for her mission to Brazil! So of course we had to take a picture in the sunday school room where we met...in 3rd grade.

And a standing one for good measure.

It was also the last time I would see Rach before she goes to Brazil too!! 

Bottom line: It was a really amazing trip. So much fun time with my family, a beautiful wedding and seeing my friends all in one place.  If Robby had been there, it would have been icing on the cake!