Californ I-A

More highlights from our trip:
Monterey Aquarium-








Do you see the Seahorse? haha

John and Arian spent some time playing together and recording some amazing songs. I got to join in with these wonderful musicians for a song playing violin. Fun? I think yes!




I was feeling like something exotic, so we got some delicious crepes at this little shop by the beach...




The car ride was long, especially after getting stuck in the snow storm in Utah. But at least John got some sleep...


(I have to admit, he drove most of the way, this picture is a little misleading)

Our first Thanksgiving together!

Thankful for Fall

November.
it never seemed to be particularly special month for me, but I'd have to say that this one certainly turned out to be :)


Butternut Squash Soup

Pepperoncini. THE most amazing hoagie sandwich ever

Monterey Bay, CA

us <3

Thanksgiving with the Johnsons!

We have been so blessed our first year of marriage.
Wonderful family, wonderful friends, a nice place to live, food on the table... what more could you ask for?

Narcoleptic?

This might seem strange to you.

It all started on my Study Abroad to Jerusalem. I did not realize my capacity to fall asleep absolutely anywhere. In class on the front row (with an extremely loud, snapping professor might I add), on a miserably bumpy bus, sitting on the ground in a desert, riding a camel... I literally started sleeping everywhere. My roommates would make fun of me for it. I would too, it IS quite hilarious.
Then I came home, started back to school at BYU. The sleeping spells continued. In class, church, movies... This semester, I fall asleep EVERYDAY at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon MST. This happens to be the same time as my Doctrine and Covenants class. I absolutely love the professor, he is an active lecturer and keeps you interested, but I can never seem to stay awake. I know you may be thinking, "oh, she's just not getting enough sleep.." I am! Averaging about 8 hours every night which is more sleep than I got when I was single. It seems like I've tried everything. Food, gum, wiggling toes, singing songs, holding my eyes wide open. No. No success! I don't know how to overcome these sleeping spells... Life's a hard one when you've got even a mild case of narcolepsy...

I sympathize with this poor poodle.

Aid in the Kitchen

After realizing that the Hytop bread loaf from WinCo was practically cotton candy, John and I decided we wanted to have homemade bread. We had the hardest time deciding between a bread maker and a kitchen aid. Both are absolutely wonderful, but which would benefit us most? After many consultations with experienced users, we opted for the Kitchen Aid. I think the more difficult decision though was deciding on the color. Once we arrived at the store and saw the many color options, we had to eliminate one by one... Oh dear. After all that, we came home with our Indigo Kitchen Aid, which we paid $20.76 for after all our giftcards, coupons, and such :)
And oh how it has blessed my life...







The first bread recipe I made was my Aunt Tricia's recipe that my Mom always made and of course we loved it. The second recipe we made was from the Kitchen Aid cookbook... not so good. I'm hoping to try out more recipes. So if you have any, please share! Also, any tips on shaping a bread loaf? Our last loaf resembled a butternut squash...

November is here! I can hardly believe it, yet I can't stand the anticipation for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Patience has never been an easy virtue of mine ;)
John and I signed up for Winter semester classes, and boy am I going to have a tough semester... Floral Design, Food Preparation, Violin, German, Writings of Isaiah, and Raquetball! Probably the most fun semester I've ever had, but that's what you gotta do for your last semester at BYU and right before Dental Hygiene School, right?

23, and with me

It was John's birthday October 2nd.
I had planned to surprise for him with a camping trip, but John's friend ended up giving us a late wedding gift and presented us with tickets to conference! Of course we postponed the camping trip to the following weekend and got to attend Saturday Evening conference session only a few rows back from the front. It was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to see it that close and it was certainly worth it. Thank you Nathan...




For our camping trip, we went to American Fork Canyon. It was quite a cold night, but overall, the weather was quite nice. Thanks to John's mom, we had things to make s'mores! I love s'mores, but it really bothers me when the chocolate is rock hard and not melted enough. This frustration led me to the idea of cooking the marshmallow, putting it in the graham crackers with the chocolate on the bottom, and then roasting it again over the fire to melt the chocolate. It was delicious:



BUT here's the disclaimer...



The McCarthy's were kind enough to lend us all their camping equipment. They even gave us a propane stove to make some hot chocolate. That tasted really good after waking up to a cold morning...



We hiked Saturday morning up to 'silver lake.' The trees were quite colorful, and the sun was beaming just right, prime conditions for a hike I'd say!





John's birthday reminded me of the days when I thought I'd never be over the age of 15. Time seemed to move so slowly at the time. My future seemed so far ahead, the time when I'd be driving, off to college, and married. But, lo and behold, 5 years later, here I am. I am married, about to start a profession, and I have a blog! Those things seem so grown up, :) Time seems to run so much faster, but I try to not miss anything as it flies by!

A wrinkle in time

The truth is... I should be studying for a test right now, but my lack of updates have been eating away at me. There comes a point in your life where you just need to drop everything your doing, and get things done on the To Do list that may not be priority, but are long past due! So this is me doing just that. Cheers to an update!

John and I got married August 20th, 2010, it was definitely the best day of our lives. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

























John and I spent some honeymoon time in Ouray, Colorado. If I were to vote for some of the most beautiful places on earth, this would be one of them.



















We moved into our first condo apartment together. Moving in was a bit of a pain, but once we got settled in, I took a liking to the place. I can't wait to decorate, of course we'll have to wait till the budget permits... ;)

Then came school.
Oh school.
In my opinion, it's never a good idea to be on campus for more than 6 hours a day. Our schedules this semester leave us no option but to stay on campus 11 hours 3 days out of the week. But we learned from our mistakes, after 2 weeks of it. We will be sure to not torture ourselves in that way next semester! But we have to bear it for now.

Our busy schedule hasn't kept us from having multiple cooking adventures. John and I do quite well with cooking meals, creative meals at that! This was a ramekin dish John invented with leftovers we had in the fridge: complete with chicken, potatoes, peas, carrots, a creamy soup with bread, topped off with sharp cheddar cheese. It was one of the most delicious things I have ever beheld:



As a result of chocolate cravings and cheap strawberries, I came up with this: cocoa whipped cream filled strawberries, with chocolate drizzled over the top:



One of the first confessions I made to John after our marriage is how much I LOVE chocolate milk. We shortly bought some Hershey's chocolate so that I could have some :) This was a photo I took after being especially excited for a big glass of chocolate milk. John wanted plain milk... Opposites attract




John is loving his Sound Recording. I am loving my anticipation to start Dental Hygiene school. Ah, the taste of satisfaction! The Goodman life is wonderful :)

Oh it is love...

Erin and John
met their first week of Fall semester.
She thought he was quiet. He thought she wasn't his type.
She thought he was handsome. He thought she was pretty.
They both lived in the "hood" (glenwood that is).
John performed at the Talent Show playing the guitar. Erin was impressed.
She realized how good-looking John truly was.
She wrote him a note.

"Dear John,

you did a great job at the talent show. I was impressed. I loved your songs. You have great clothing style too...

Sincerely,
Erin"

Erin and her roommate Sara walked down the boy's side of the apartments.

They asked if anyone would like to come to Starbucks.

John said yes. They talked intelligently and with sophistication because that's what Starbuck goers do.

Months later, Erin helped host a charity ball.
She gave tickets to his neighbors while John was in the room.
He thought he should ask her, but didn't. Instead he asked her to go sledding.
They just about broke their tailbones
riding the biggest jump ever together.
But the pain was WELL WORTH the time together.
They had hot chocolate in the morning.
He wrote her a note:

"Hey Erin,

you make great hot chocolate. And I trust you to be on my sled.

John"

They spent almost EVERY DAY together before Christmas break.
He sprained his ankle! She called him because she was worried.
But they both had to go home for Christmas
AND SOON THEY WERE IN DIFFERENT STATES.

She was supposed to go to school in Hawaii, but changed her mind.
He was supposed to move out of "the hood", but changed his mind.
They kept in touch and returned to school at BYU.
They played on the wally-ball team together. They traveled to New Mexico together.
SHE liked HIM. HE liked HER.
but they broke up, for what seemed like
A VERY LONG TIME
...it was only two weeks.
They got back together and realized they still like each other A LOT.
Maybe more than ever
in fact, you might even say THEY'RE IN LOVE!

HE visited HER in Texas and surprised her with a ring. She said YES

so it is with great pleasure to announce the marriage of
Erin Gail
to John Gordon Goodman
in the Dallas Texas Temple
FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITY
on August 20, 2010