Volunteering at the prison...I mean the food bank.

WARNING: LONG POST!!

Since I will be starting the first rotation of my internship in 10 days and I will be in Seattle next week, today was the day I promised myself I would have all my homework done. I wanted to have as much done before I started as possible, to try and alleviate some of the stress and workload. My first rotation is at WIC, or Women Infants and Children. Since this is a community nutrition/public health rotation, one of my assignments was to seek out a facility in my community that has something to do with nutrition or food. I figured a food bank would be a great place to start! I called and reserved a spot in a group of volunteers working this morning from 8-12, sorting a new food shipment. So I got there and when I asked for the woman who I spoke with on the phone, the forklift driver, told me that she wasn't there and the volunteering group had been canceled. Good thing I didn't know that. Anyways, luckily another woman who worked there said that I could just jump on in with her group. I was eager to do so, since this was my last opportunity to complete my assignment before my trip and my rotation.


Here's what I didn't know. The group was 15 men, who were all doing court ordered community service for various crimes committed. They were all pretty scary looking. Doing my best to be polite and not judge, I tried to be positive and happy. However, I was pretty irritated by the time the 6th person asked me:"So, what did you do to get this sentence?" I didn't think that "I just like serving my community" would be a appropriate response. I didn't know how to tell them that I was just a good citizen, without any arrests and DUI's. (Warning: Upcoming profanity, but I think it really adds to the mood of the story) Next I was trying to mind my own business and make food bags for food bank patrons. After stepping off the line for a minute to throw something away, the guy next to me (who had been looking at me suspiciously all morning, says, "Where the hell did you go? I missed you" (Said all slow and creepy of course).  Seriously? It took all I could to not burst into tears. Oh and did I mention that the food bank warehouse didn't have air conditioning? And that I live in Arizona, where it is above 100 by 10 am? Also, the lady in charge kept yelling at the group (including me, even though she knew that I was a SEPARATE volunteer). She was not very friendly and I felt like a criminal, by the way I was being treated. Oh and of course let's not forget the man who lectured me the whole time about how the government is taking over, something about Obama, and his anger at the closing of the post office locations.

I will just say that my morning of doing community service turned into something much different than I expected. It might be a while before I brave the food bank again. At least we know it won't ever be for court-ordered reasons :)

Middle of the week date

It was a Wednesday night and Robby and I weren't having the best of days. You know the type, you're worn out and done....at 1:00pm. Well, after dinner we decided that we needed a pick me up. So, we used a wedding gift card (yes we still have those!) and went to Coldstone. There is nothing that sweet cream ice cream with strawberries and cookie dough can't fix. Then we walked to the pet store and looked at animals. Yeah, it was a fun Wednesday. We might have to make this a middle of the week tradition.

The end of an era...

This past weekend we were so excited to go see the last Harry Potter movie! We have been waiting patiently ever since we saw part 1 in Park City last Thanksgiving. We absolutely loved it! I can't wait to see it again...

 

 Us waiting patiently for the theater to open. The showing was at 11:45 am, but apparently the theater didn't open until 11:30. We thought it was weird...so weird that Robby had to make a face in our picture, oh well.

After the movie, we went to Joe's Real BBQ. We have heard good things about this place, and we knew we would like it since it is run by the same people who own Joe's Farm Grill, which we love. We were excited to eat BBQ, especially after all of the Man vs. Food that we watch!  We had such a fun lunch, talking about the movie and how sad we were that it is all over.

 Here is all of our  food. This served as our lunch and dinner for the day, it was so yummy!

We love the new crop of restaurants we get to try since moving here. We have been having so much fun!

Just call me crafty!

One of my activities this summer has been teaching myself to sew! My parents gave me a sewing machine for graduation and I was so excited to finally have time to put it to good use. It took a lot of instruction manual reading and instruction DVD watching, but I am sewing! My first project was to tackle this pillow that came with our bedding set. It just wasn't doing it for me.  I think it is a million times cuter!!

Before:

During:

After:

It is exactly what I wanted! I also love that the fabric only cost me $2! I might go sewing crazy now.

Happy 4th!

We had such a wonderful holiday weekend! Since it was a 3 day weekend, we decided to head to Vegas! We always love being able to visit Robby's family and we are grateful that we still live close enough to them to be able to do so!

 The weekend included:

 We definitely LOVED this movie. 

We always love Raising Cane's. And the fact that one is opening in Phoenix soon thrills us beyond belief. We might just become their number #1 customers here.

We were introduced to Purple Penguin snow cones...best ever! We had mango with ice cream and cream...truly amazing!

The most exciting adventure of the weekend was when Robby, Danielle and Dan all jumped off of the Stratosphere! They did the Sky Jump-a 855 ft free fall...and LOVED it! Why didn't I do it, you ask? Well, I have a pretty real fear of heights, but I loved watching my family that did it! I was so nervous and had butterflies the whole time, and I wasn't even jumping :) Anyways, Sue and I took lots of pictures of the brave jumpers and here they are!

Getting suited up...

All smiles! 

 Robby in the air!!

 Safe on the ground...

 The happy flyer!

We also did some shopping, lounging, visiting with friends and major people watching on the strip. A big thanks to our awesome family for such a FUN weekend. We drove home Monday night and as we were coming into Phoenix we had fireworks on one side of the highway and lightning storms on the other. It was really cool. I'm starting to really love desert thunderstorms!

Tourists in our own home

We have decided that the great thing about being in a new place is that every time we go somewhere, it involves discovering something new. After seeing that a restaurant featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins and Dives was close to us in Gilbert, we looked it up and off we went! We went to Joe's Farm Grill and it was FABULOUS! I forgot to take a picture of our food, but believe me it was picture-worthy. We got a buffalo chicken sandwich and a Farm burger and we each had a little bit of both. We also had to try the garlic fries and onion rings. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! Not only was the food so fresh and yummy, but just knowing that it came right from the farm in the back made me feel good eating it. I wish there were more places like that!

Not the greatest picture, but proof that we were there! 

Oh and here is proof that flowers do grow here, even if it is 115 degrees outside. I had to see it for myself to believe it :)

I am especially loving that it is cloudy today and thunderstorms are expected for next week. This heat can take a break. We want so badly to go on a bike ride or a hike, but would rather not die of exposure doing so. Who would have thought that in Arizona you wait until winter to go outside and play? Especially after living in Utah for the last 4 years that whole idea is so foreign to me. I guess that is what comes with living somewhere new, getting used to everything...the good and the not-so-good.

Birthday, Internship Orientation and Seattle

I just got back from an 11 day trip and it was so busy! It started out on the 5th when I flew to Salt Lake City. I spent 5 days there in orientation for my internship with Utah State University. It was so exciting to finally start my internship after waiting since April 3rd, when I found out that I was matched!

The orientation consisted of a lot of getting to know you activities, group presentations, clinical worksheets, case studies, curriculum overviews, and refresher lessons on teaching/lesson plans and the nutrition care process.

However, my favorite part of the trip was spending time with my good friends from BYU Dietetics who are also in the internship. We also met up with other friends who were nice enough to drive down from Provo and have dinner with us! It was so fun! Here we all are at Old Spaghetti Factory:

Since it was the day after my birthday, they had to embarrass me and tell the waiter it was my birthday. I secretly loved it!

While walking around Trolley Square we were surprised to see that someone put tape over some fingers on the crosswalk sign. It was so creative and funny! 

One other highlight of the trip was going to dinner on my birthday with my dear friend Elisabeth! It was such a wonderful evening and I was so happy to be able to catch up with her before she heads off to Brazil! We went to dinner at Oh Falafel in Sugarhouse and had yummy falafel sandwiches! Then we drove over to Temple Square to take advantage of the beautiful evening! We walked around and had fun talking and remembering fun times. Thanks for a great birthday Elisabeth, it was way better than spending it in a hotel room! 

After orientation I flew to Seattle and spent the week with my wonderful family! The week included:

• my birthday celebration
• Emily's high school graduation 
• family dinners with both sides of the family
• shopping
• attending my home ward and seeing all my wonderful friends
• going out to lunch with both Ashley and Megan and catching up with them on their exciting lives
• spending time outdoors in the beautiful pacific northwest

 

The two things missing were my sister Megan and Robby. We sure wish they could have been with us, thank heaven for cell phones and skype! I sure am glad to be home after a whirlwind 11 days!