Avatar 3D!ddd...(trailing off)

What exciting things have we done lately, you ask? How about watch Avatar in 3D 1.5 times? If that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what short of a shift of the economic tide will... That's right, we saw .5 of Avatar last Friday night, and then 1.0 of Avatar the following Thursday. The story goes something like this... When you have an 8:00 showing what time do you get there? That's right! Right before it starts, cause ya know there will be a proportionate amount of previews to balance the length of the actual feature presentation. So, following the laws of Theatorology, we arrived about 5 minutes early, finding space ONLY on the second row. A bad place to sit for a 2D production, and within disaster-striking-distance for an action packed 3D thriller. About 20 minutes into the show, even the entire plate of homemade brownies Kjerstin had smuggled into the show didn't sound appetizing. Five minutes later, she was dashing for the bathroom. Even our friends, the McArthurs, were feeling woozy. After Kjerstin spent some one on one time with a bathroom stall, we decided to call it a night, and got tickets to see the show on Tuesday. Prudently, we arrived 45 minutes early, and the theater never filled up for the showing. Bottom line- if you're goin to go Avatar 3D-style, give the screen some space, or it gets territorial. In other news, our marathon training is coming along...slowly. We ran 11 miles on Saturday, and then came home and slept about 11 hours to recuperate. Albeit inspiring to push our fitness limits, knowing 11 miles isn't the half of it is a little daunting. But, given time, we'll get there. We did run through Albertsons at mile 8 and cash in on a little free sample action. We can thank Mike Slick's Hot and Spicy BBQ rub for helping us go the distance. Well, with one more week behind us, that puts another squarely in front of us... Inspiring words...

The new bike shoes!

Thomas' sweet new BYU football!

Running shoes!

The sweet hat and scarf that Daniel made for me!

The Christmas Photos!

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe it has been over a month since our last blog update! Thanks for everyone's patience... So, we are back in Portland after our wonderful, two week vacation in Utah over the holiday break. It was great to see our families and enjoy the snow and freezing weather! Clark and I were able to go skiing a couple times and had a blast in the famous Utah pow. We celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple and had a blast spending our days with the Brinton's in Brigham and the Myers' in Ogden. It was so nice to have a break from school and work. We loved it! Tom was kind enough to take our 1st Annual Kjark Family Christmas picture as well! It was very professional. Anyways, we were spoiled like rotten for Christmas. Clark got a sweet new road bike for his daily commutes to OHSU, and I got some awesome running shoes for the Marathon! Oh and Clark got me this amazing GPS/Heart Rate monitor watch to track my training runs!

Now we are back in school and as busy as ever. Clark leaves for school at 8am and doesn't finish up until 5 or 6pm each night. Poor thing! And then he has homework on top of that! My schooling is going great. I just started my teacher observations and tutoring at Wilson High School where I help the ESL students with reading, math, history, etc. I've only been once so far but I love it! The international students are great! Clark and I started our marathon training schedule this week which has been quite demanding. I don't think we've ever been so sore! Hopefully it will get better as we keep running, but I know it will be a long 17 weeks till race time!

Hope all is well with everyone else during the start of the new year! Thanks for being so supportive. We love you!

Counting down the days!

Having fun at the zoo!

We loved the train and the sweet blue gorilla in the background!

Our First Thanksgiving as a married couple!

Hello hello! Seeing as everyone else has updated their blogs, I thought it would be a good idea to post a little something as well. Happy Holidays! More adventures and craziness abound here in Portland. Where to begin? Well, Thanksgiving was very nice and relaxing, minus the fact that Clark fractured his ring finger playing flag football with the YM in our ward on Thanksgiving morning. I don't think I've seen Clark in so much pain. He had to relocate his finger to get his ring off, and I can only imagine how much that hurt! It was horrible! Luckily I was able to talk him into going to the Urgent Care clinic on Friday to get an x-ray. The doctor found a small fracture on his finger and referred him to hand specialist. Clark had his appointment last week and found out that he doesn't need surgery! He just has to wear a splint for a couple weeks and do physical therapy each day to regain his range of motion. Its been a tough and painful road for Clark, especially because he has to use his hands so much in dental school! We are praying that his finger heals quickly though! I know Clark really wants to go skiing when we go back to Utah :)

About a week ago, Clark and I went to the Portland Zoo with our friends, Seth and Lindsey, to see the Christmas lights. It was so beautiful! Not to mention, freezing! We didn't get to see too many animals because it was dark, but the Christmas spirit was in the air with all of the lights shaped like elephants, seals, gorillas, lions, and tigers. It was awesome!

The weather is amazingly sunny here, but unbearably cold. Its been around 20 degrees all week! I went running on Monday and about froze to death! But, I can't complain. I'd rather have sunshine than rain!

We are headed back to Utah for the holidays in less than two weeks which will be wonderful! We can't wait to see our families and play in the snow! Until then though, just a few more days of finals for Clark. Yippee! We love you all!

Feliz Navidad!

Bloody Buddies...

Wow, it has been quite some time since we've updated our blog! Thank you all for your patience. I know you must be anxiously awaiting news from Portland, OR. Anyways, its been an exciting and eventful few weeks!

Blood Buddy #1 - Clark and I finally tracked down and killed the beast that was living in our heat vents in our apartment. About three weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night and thought someone had broken into our apartment. I was freaking out... Both Clark and I heard the ruffling of papers and movement out in the kitchen area. We slowly crept down the hallway and flipped on the lights. No one was in sight. All we saw was a package of ritz crackers on the floor. Somehow these crackers had moved from Clark's backpack to the middle of the floor. Hmmm... At that point I knew that our "mouse problem" was not a mouse problem but a huge rodent problem. A mouse could not have dragged the entire sleeve of crackers from the backpack across the floor. I immediately felt sick to my stomach, knowing that "the beast" had ventured out from his lair in the heat vents to the outside world of our kitchen and living room. EWW!!!! Anyways, we couldn't see the creature so we turned out the lights and headed back to bed. Within 10 seconds, I heard the package of crackers moving... I rushed out to the kitchen again and saw that they had moved another three or four feet from the carpet to the kitchen floor underneath the oven. Clark investigated and found a false panel on the stove with a huge opening. We had found the location of the beast's lair! We disposed of the crackers and went to bed. The next day we stopped at the local Fred Meyer and picked up a rat trap. This was not just a wimpy mouse trap. Oh no... It was as big as my face, and it cost $1.99. We returned to our abode, and Clark added some delicious cheddar cheese to the trap and set it below the stove. We went back to our bedroom and turned off the lights. Not even two minutes went by when we heard a huge "snap!" We darted out of our room and ran to the kitchen. To our excitement and amazement, we had lured the beast out of it's home with that cheese. The huge rat trap snapped on the rat's head, but he still managed to wiggle out of it. However, the force of the trap crushed its brain and it didn't make it back to its hole. It fell over inches from the trap, blood coming out of its head. The beast twitched for a few seconds and then went still... We had killed the beast!!! I grabbed the camera and documented the event for all of you. Be warned. Those with a squeamish stomach should not look at these photos. They may cause nausea, dizziness, and possible vomiting. Anywho, after the pictures were taken, we were left with the task of rodent clean-up. Luckily we had a shovel and a large garbage bag to dispose of the creature. Clark, being the very many man that he is, got rid of the rat and the remaining blood.

Blood Buddy #2 - The second story does not involve a large dead rodent, but a hurt and bleeding Clark. This past Saturday was Clark's first annual dental school Turkey Bowl! All four years of dental student came to play each other for the coveted prestige of beating all the other dental students. Clark played great! He even caught a 50-yard pass for a touchdown! I was so proud! He is such a speedy kid! However, during one of his mad dashes to retrieve the flag of the opposing team, disaster struck... Well, not quite, but it was bad news. Clark went up against this 6'8, 260 lb third year dental student and didn't fare so well. To make a long story short, Clark veered one way and the big third year faked and darted the same way, hitting Clark directly in the face. Clark tells me he saw stars as he laid on the ground, surrounded by all of his dental buddies. They helped him off the field where his worried wife was waiting. I thought he had knocked out his teeth because of all the blood I saw. Luckily, no teeth were injured in the accident. Just cut up lips, a concussion and whiplash, a deadleg, a sore neck, and a painful side ache. No big deal... We went home, and Clark rested for the remainder of the weekend. It was a scary experience for me! Apparently two other dental students of Clark's team got hurt as well with a separated shoulder and a broken toe! Crazy boys!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed our most recent escapades here in Portland. Enjoy!

Halloween

Gabriel Park Pics

Halloween Happenins

Hey everybody! Hope your hallow-activities were as fun filled as ours... (Please reference the pictures to see our costumes) We started out our celebratory festivities on Friday night by attending the ward party for ten whole minutes. As primary teachers, we were in charge of creating a paper plate skeleton for the party. We arrived, put up the skeleton, saw the boiled hot dogs they were offering for dinner, saw an older ward member dressed as a witch tackle and scold someone else's children dressed as jedi knights for making noise and having fun, decided we had had enough bonding with the ward, and left. We continued on to the OHSU Medical/Dental school party to watch others partake of free booze. My Forest ranger find from Goodwill paled in comparison to the vintage Dream Team Malone jersey donned by Kjerstin (thanks Dad). Despite the substance subsidized high spirits of classmates, friends and associates, we actually had a pretty good time between the music, dancing, food buffet, and two other sober friends, the McArthurs. Saturday night we could think of nothing spookier than eating at a legit Korean BBQ restaurant. We knew we were in for a real treat when we walked in to find we were the only non-Korean-Americans in the entire establishment. We still aren't sure exactly what we ate, only that despite the unique textures and flavors, it was actually pretty good. Afterwards, we headed over to the Huish's house for some rootbeer floats and a lil late night Conan O'brien. Church was fantastic today; we were preparing for the Primary program next week, so we didn't give a lesson. Instead we sat on the stand and sang primary songs and listened to two liner talks for two hours. What could be better than that? This afternoon we took a stroll through Gabriel park to behold a little fall euphoria. All the leaves were a'changin, and it was quite beautiful. If you're still reading this, you have more textual tenacity than a saber toothed bookworm. And for that, I commend you.

What a week!

The road rash! Its graphic, I know... ;)

Riding the tram!

Eating fajitas at the Brinton abode!

After going to the temple with Clark and my mom.

Multnomah Falls in the pouring rain...

At the top of the OHSU tram.

Reenacting the falling (stepping) into the pond at the temple.

Another engagement picture! :) jk

My wonderful little sis...

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! It has been quite the past few weeks! My mom, sister, and friend came up to visit last weekend which was g-reat! We had a blast shopping, visiting OHSU, riding the tram, going to the temple, visiting Multnomah Falls in the pouring rain, hanging out in our little apartment, falling into the pond at the temple (go mom!), eating at the Cheesecake Factory (yummy!), walking around Gabriel Park...the list goes on! Mom took plenty of pictures too :) We all ended up buying the same outfits which works out nicely because I live so far away and we don't have to worry about matching :) It was sad seeing my family leave last Sunday, but it was so nice to be with them for a couple of days. They are awesome!

On Wednesday I had a very eventful day. I decided to start my big marathon training and go for a nice run on Terwilliger Blvd. wearing my new hot pink running shorts. It was going great until I started heading back home. I was just starting to cross the road when a car started to pull up to the stop sign. I assumed he would stop, because that is what you are supposed to do at a stop sign, and I kept running across the road. However, the gentleman did not seem to notice a 21 year old girl wearing hot pink running shorts crossing the road and did not stop at the stop sign. Before I knew what had happened, I hit the hood of his car, rolled off and hit the road, falling onto my right hand and thigh. Ouch! Luckily the man wasn't driving too fast and the impact wasn't that hard. I got up and a kind lady who happened to be running by stopped to make sure I was alright. The man driving got out of the car and said that he didn't even see me. No apology mind you... He seemed dazed... Oh well. We exchanged phone numbers using a scratch paper and pen from another nice lady who was walking by. I was in shock and having no phone or anything else for that matter, decided I should just try and run the 3 miles back home. It wasn't a very fun run back, but I made it and called Clark right away. Clark, being the incredibly wonderful husband that he is, borrowed a friend's bike (thanks Seth!) and rode all the way home as fast as he could to make sure I was alright. He spent the rest of the afternoon with me. I love him! Anyways, I have a pretty mean road rash and bruise on my leg, but no broken bones. I feel very lucky that I wasn't hurt worse, and I know that I was protected. I should be back to normal soon!

Wednesday night ended well though... Clark and I went and saw the Warren Miller ski movie, Dynasty! It definitely was a-mazing. I know Clark was dying to go and try all of the awesome ski tricks and heli-skiing they showed in the movie. I could never do any of those crazy ski jumps, etc. but it was still really cool to watch!

Well, I'll stop rambling and post some pictures of our recent adventures! Hope you all are well! Love you!

Caramel Corn Conquest

Enjoying the fruit of our labors...

Anxiously engaged and ready to chow down!

Caramel corn money-maker shot

You'll notice the sequential photos are in reverse order... now is when i say something about how I did that on purpose to showcase some metaphor on the preparation and consumption of our favorite corn based popped product. Quite frankly, that's just how the pictures arranged themselves when we uploaded them, and I am too lazy and incompetent to do ditthers about it. Anyway, this is cyber-documented proof that we too can keep up with the Manns. If you'll kindly notice, we also upped the ante with the addition of festive Kraft brand Jet Puffed Ghostmallows Marshmallows (TM) I dare ya'll to try and keep up. (Thanks Mom) Well, with that trash talk, I think we've appropriately set the mood for the rest rest of our FHE. Don't you?