ATSU/KCOM Winter Ball

Hello! Last weekend we went to the Winter Ball put on by Ben's school. I'm sure Ben was oh so excited about dancing and putting on a suit, but it was sure fun for me and some of the girls to get dressed up for once! All in all, the food was just ok and Ben was content with a few slow dances, but it was nice to get out with the friends! Here is the crew!
Hello Benny! This was his, "So you want me to dance huh?" look.
Tiffany and Steve Hillam.

Jordan Henderson and his awesome beard that he decided to grow out. Ben was having fun with the camera catching people in the middle of doing something.
Steve Hillam and Jake Wendling
April Henderson and Tiff
Jaime Wendling and I
Me and Benny. Ben, what's wrong with your eyes!? J/K I think we caught him mid-blink. Love ya!

Thanksgiving and our DC Trip!

Ben and his sister, Lacy. We stayed at Lacy's house in Virginia for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time! I had never met her kids and it had been four years or so since Ben had seen her boys. This was also the first time he met her new little baby girl, Sarah. Thanks for a great visit Lacy!

Ben and his nephews Sean, Jace, and Kyle. Cory is the oldest and isn't in the picture. I think he was at wrestling practice.
Korean War memorial. This is such cool memorial. It is really powerful. You can see the reflection of the soldiers in a wall that runs parallel to them.
On Saturday, Ben and I went into to DC, which is about 2 hours from where his sister lives. We met up with Ben's brother, Jim, who lives about an hour and a half on the other side of DC. Jim was nice enough to take us around DC, even though he has done it a million times :) It was great to be able to see some of Ben's family that we don't see often. We went to his place that night and played games with Jim and Kathy's friends. That made for a long drive home that night :P

Lincoln Memorial. We both really like this monument.
The National Mall. It was so busy in DC that day, so many tourists! We went to the National Museum of American History and it was packed wall to wall with people. Needless to say we got out of there quickly. We like the outdoor memorials better because there was much more fresh air and you weren't running into someone every time you turned around.
Were's Waldo? I mean, Ben and Jim? Can you find them?
Ben and I at the World War II Memorial.
Ben and baby Sarah. He just LOVED being around her. Everytime he could get a hold of her, she was in his arms :)

Bowlin' the Turkey on Thanksgiving morning! Ben and his nephews went to play football with other guys in Lacy's ward. What is Thanksgiving without football? Or so Ben would say.

Holy Smokes, Ben Is Done With Finals!!!

Ben finished his last final of this crazy quarter this morning!! I can't even explain how happy I am that he is done for a week. And this was one of his hardest quarters of med school! I almost felt like I was single again this week, that is how little I saw Ben :O Anyway, he is relieved and exhausted from an insane couple of months. Thank goodness he gets a break. Only two more quarters of the in-class part of med school. We are getting closer! And Christmas is almost here! We both feel like we can breathe a little deeper now. We love you all and can't wait to see many of you for the holidays!

Tagged by Tiff!

What is your husbands name? Benjamin Wheeler Nasman
How long have you been married? 2 years
How long did you date? Hmmm...I met Ben right when I went out to college. We actually dated three different times within the year before we got married. Poor guy, I kept getting scared because I was so young. We were pretty good buddies in between dating. But when I knew, I knew! So all in all, we knew each other about a year before we got married and actually dated for about a total of 4 months.
How old is he? 26. Ben often gets teased that he robbed the cradle :)
Who eats more sweets? Ben. Can you say chocoholic? I sneak my treats in though!

Who said I love you first? Ben, and I said it back to him. I think he was reading my mind when he said it to me :)
Who is taller? Ben, by about 2 inches.
Who can sing the best? Me. Like Tiffany, I was the choir geek in school( I was a soccer jock too!) I like listening to Ben sing in the shower though ;) He is always so happy!
Who is smarter? Definitely Ben. That is why he is the one in med school!
Who does the laundry? Moi.
Who pays the bills?We both do.

Who mows the lawn? BEN! That is one of his manly duties that I think he doesn't mind too much. Plus, our lawn mower is ghetto and I really prefer not to use it.
Who cooks dinner? Me. And I think we btoh like it that way:) When I sometimes kid and ask Ben if he will cook, he says, "Ok. Time for cereal!" I think that he has many hidden talents though that would come to life if he wasn't so busy with med school. He sure is a great helper in the kitchen when I am in a hurry and need two more hands!
Who drives? Ben most of the time. I do when I am dropping him off or picking him up from somewhere.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Ben-he is a sweetheart. I have a serious stubborn red-headed streak. I can't stay mad at him for long though, he's too sweet! He usually just laughs at me when I am mad and it diffuses the situation. I guess it probably is really funny
when I get mad.

Who kissed who first? I think it was mutual. If I had to lean one way more than the other, then I'd say it was Ben.
Who asked who out first? Ben asked me first! He was so smooth. He was in my family home evening group and met me that way. Then he found out I was on the women's ward soccer team and went to the game to "support" the ladies in the ward. Then he kindly asked if any of us needed a ride home. I conveniently didn't have a car (which I'm pretty sure he knew). We had a nice chat on the way home. The next day he called and asked me out :) I think he knew just what he wanted. I love him for it!
Who wears the pants? I pretend to, but he knows whatever he thinks we should do is what I will do :)

The rules for this tag: answer questions about your spouse, list names of people you are tagging in your post, then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged. I'm tagging Jess, Rachel, Leslie, Jana, and Heather.
I love you Ben!!

Amazing Missouri Fall

So we have this amazing tree in our front yard. The weather has actually been beautiful the last little while out here in Missouri and this tree turned crazy yellow that last few days. I think it is just awesome. Awww, I am going to miss this cute little house when we leave.
I was having fun taking pictures of it. I know, I am easily amused.
This tree is just down the street.
So so pretty...I love fall, I just dread what comes after it in Missouri.

Pumpkins and More!

These are our pumpkins! Ben carved the spider and I carved the witch. We had fun. Ben was a super speedy carver. Seriously, he got his cleaned out before I even had the whole cut out of the top of mine!
Me and my pumpkin.
Ben and his pumpkin.
Ben and I went to our ward trunk or treat the night before Halloween. We ran the bean toss booth for the kids. We were a doctor and a nurse. Ha! Imagine that! Ben just wore what he was wearing that day, he had his cargo pants, a nice t-shirt and his white coat and stethescope on! I wore my turqiose scrubs that my mom scored for me after I had my first knee surgery forever and a day ago. Sorry, we forgot to take pictures of ourselves! These are some of our friends in the ward, Ben Adams and Najma Usmani. I just loved their costumes, the sunflower and the lady bug!!
At the trunk or treat. Nice face Ben :P
What do you think? Do I make a good scarecrow? Wait, if I am supposed to be scaring away the crows, why is there a crow on my shoulder?

A Birthday!

I almost feel silly saying that I only turned 21 on my birthday last week. Sometimes I really feel like too much has happened in life already for me to only be 21, seriously! Anyway, I just thought I would put a pic on here and take the opportunity to thank everyone for your love and well wishes. It was a great day thanks to you all. My girlfriends, April, Tiffany and Jaime, took me out to lunch and Ben came home early so that we were able to spend more time together than usual. Lots of family called as well. Thank you guys for making the day special and for making me feel loved. Ben took me out to dinner and he got me this ice cream cake, yummy... there is a funny story about ice cream cakes on my birthdays, maybe I will tell it another time :)

Almost Homeless...

Ben and I found out that we are moving to SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH next year for Ben's third and fourth year rotations!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, here's the crazy story of how this match all panned out and why this post is titled the way it is.....

So, all the families put in their top 6 choices for places that they want to go to for rotations. Our first choice was Provo, Utah because I REALLY need to finish school and we would be closer to our families. There were 5 spots available for Provo and 8 people put it as their #1 choice. All of our other choices were very competitive as well. We had a few sites in Ohio, Kirksville, and Salt Lake on our list. Everyone wanted all of these sites! Anyway, from the mock matches, where they test run everyone's choices, we got Provo about 63% of the time; we thought we were doing ok. Come the real match, those people who don't match at all (don't get any of their 6 choices) or those who got their 4th, 5th, and 6th choices were called Wednesday night. Everyone was stressfully hoping that they didn't get called. Well, we got the dreaded phone call as well as four other families we know well. We didn't match at all to any of our 6 spots. That night we started to fast.

There was a meeting the next morning at 7:00 am for those who got called. They listed their top 3 spots that they wanted to petition to open a spot at and then drew a number. The number was what position you would be in for your petition choices. Thankfully, Ben drew number 1 and we were the only ones who put Utah sites down to petition. The dean over the petitioning, Dr. Suzewits, then made calls all day long trying to get the Directors over the rotation sites to open up another site in Provo as well as the sites for the other 7 seven families.

We got a call that afternoon at about 4:30 that the Director in Provo was going to have to sit down with the other Utah Directors and see what they could do. We were told to keep in mind that it wasn't sounding optimistic and that there was no time frame for how long it would take them to get back to us. At this point I was ready to break down again. I was trying soo hard to trust Heavenly Father that He had a place that we needed to be, but I was looking at the possibility of not finishing my degree for quite some time since we will be moving for the next two years and then again for Ben's residency after that. Transferring to another university would be really messy and time consuming. Anyway, to wrap things up, we were pretty upset and praying and fasting for a miracle. We ended up having an incredible experience.

After I got home from work, Ben and I knelt down to pray after fasting. We were both feeling so abandoned. About twenty seconds after we prayed, Ben's phone rang and Dr. Suzewits explained to Ben that Provo couldn't open a spot, but Salt Lake could. Seriously, what a miracle. It was one of those moments when you just think, "Whoah."

We are probably going to live in Sandy and both Ben and I will just have to commute a little ways for school and rotations, but that is totally fine! I know that Heavenly Father was watching over us; how could we ever deny it? Three other couples that we know are going to Salt Lake and a lot of our friends from med school and undergrad will be in Provo. Plus, we have family scattered all throughout the valley.

Now we are just praying for the other families that didn't match and are still waiting to hear about the places that they want to go. Good luck to all of you.

Thanks goodness for the power of prayer. Almost homeless...if not for the love of a kind Heavenly Father.

Soooo.......... SALT LAKE HERE WE COME!!! AND BYU, I HAVE MISSED YOU!!

Sorry this post is so long!

Wisdom Teefers!

After months of headaches from my wisdom teeth coming in, (we sure hope it was the wisdom teeth causing the headaches!) I finally got them pulled last Friday. We decided to just get it over with. We called the oral surgeon's office last Monday and there was an opening on Friday! It all happened so fast, but it needed to get done. Of course, we had to drive 2 hours just to get to the oral surgeon; that's Kirksville for ya. Ben was so sweet and took a lot of the day off from studying to drive me there and back and take care of me the rest of the day. He went to the store and got everything I needed and even set me up with a ton of episodes of "Gilmore Girls" so that I had something to do. Thanks so much for taking care of me Ben. Anyway, I thought I would post some pics of my fat chipmunk cheeks to give you all a little laugh today. Ben and his friend nicknamed me "Theodore" for the weekend :) I also vaguely remember Ben singing the theme to "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers" while I was in and out of sleeping on the way home from the surgery. Haha, funny funny.


I use this towel to wrap the ice in and tie it around my head. So far, it has been constant icing for my face.

Try to win a free handbag!

Go to this link below and sign up to win a free handbag. They are giving out one free handbag every hour of the day! Check it out. I know I like free stuff :)

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

Happy Halloween! A Simple and Thrifty Way to Decorate this October!

Hello Everyone! I have been getting into the spirit of fall and the upcoming holidays and thought I would post some of the fun things that I have been piddling with. I don't really have much to spend on extra things, so I had fun being crafty mostly with things that I already had around the house. I saw these cute jars at an arts and crafts fair in Kirksville a few weeks ago and my friend and I thought, "We could make those!" So I found a bunch of old jam jars I had saved, some black spray paint I had around the house, paint I had stowed away, and some extra raffia from something or another I can't remember, and made these little jars.



Then I found this glass container and these inexpensive Halloween bags at Wal Mart and created this little number. I mixed candy in with it to make it more festive :) There is candy stowed away in the jars, so if you are at our house in the next few weeks, dig in!



Then I found a chrysanthemum plant on sale at the local grocery store (most grocery stores have them on sale now, I know Wal Mart and HyVee do), and arranged it with a stool I already had, baskets I already had, leaves from our yard, a .99 cent scarecrow pick from Wal Mart, and pumpkins. Inexpensive and easy! That's how I like it! I like the seasonal feel of decorations, they add a little extra something. So just thought I would share a fun way I tried to do that without spending an arm and a leg.

Yummy Yummy Says My Tummy

Just thought I would share another recipe with everyone. You know how hard it is to find a homemade brownie recipe that actually rivals the stupefying paramount of box brownies? Seriously, I don't know how in the world they get box brownies to taste so amazing!! I have found a brownie recipe that I really like and comes pretty darn near box brownies when baked right!

5-Way Fudge Brownies

1/2 c butter or margarine
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut up
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 c flour

Melt butter or margarine and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat lightly by hand until just combined. Stir in flour. Spread batter in a greased 9 by 9 pan (I use glass). Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Spread Chocolate Glaze over the cooled brownies, if desired. Add other ingredients from variations listed below, if desired. Cut into bars.

Notes:
1. I like mixing the chocolate glaze and chocolate chunk brownie recipes, except I usually just use milk chocolate chips.
2. I usually set the timer for 20 minutes but watch and check the brownies. Usually it takes a little bit longer than 20 minutes in my oven, but it depends on the oven! Plus, I like them gooey, so it depends on how you want them.

Chocolate Glaze:
Cook and stir 3 tbsp butter or margarine, 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp milk in a saucepan until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Caramel Nut Goodies:
Prepare fudge brownies as directed, except stir in 1/2 c chopped pecans into the batter before baking. Sprinkle batter with 1/2 c mini semisweet chocolate chips and bake as directed. Combine one 61/4 ounce package of vanilla caramels and 2 tbsp of milk in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until smooth. Drizzle caramel atop brownies.

Peanut Butter Brownies:
For frosting, beat 1/2 c peanut butter in a medium bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 c powdered sugar. Beat in 1/4 c milk and 1 tsp vanilla. Gradually beat in about 1/2 c additional powdered sugar to make of spreading consistency. Spread frosting atop brownies and sprinkle with 1/4 c finely chopped dry roasted peanuts (I like it without the peanuts).

Chocolate Chunk Brownies:
Prepare fudge brownies as directed except stir in 2.2-ounce milk chocolate bar, coarsely chopped, and one 2.2-ounce white chocolate bar with almonds, coarsely chopped, into the batter (I like just using a milk chocolate bar).

Creme de Menthe Brownies:
Prepare fudge brownies as directed, except omit vanilla. Stir 1/4 teaspoon mint extract into batter. For frosting, beat 1/4 c butter in a medium bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 c powdered sugar. Beat in 2 tbsp green creme de menthe (I just use mint extract or real essential oil peppermint and add to taste). Gradually beat in about 1/2 c powdered sugar to make of spreading consistency. Spread atop brownies. Melt 1 ounce semisweet chocolate and drizzle over brownies.

The Simple and Beautiful

The other day Ben had the car and I asked him to pick some things up from the grocery store (being the typical wife that I am) before he came home. He came home with a rose in his hand :) Needless to say, it made me very happy! I am telling you, Ben found the perfect rose! From day one to even today (about a week later) it has been gorgeous. I just wanted to share the beauty of this single wonderful rose. It reminded me that the simple things in life are beautiful and meant to be enjoyed. I guess I could be biased with this rose because, one, I love flowers, and two, Ben got it for me :) Anyway, just thought I would share something pretty; what can I say, I'm a girl! I love you Ben and thanks you for the simple thoughtful things that you do. Props to all of you hubbies out there that are amazing! If you don't feel like you are included in this category (which I am sure you really are)... pick up a rose this afternoon :)

The World Needs More of This

I know, I know, two posts in one day! Goodness, do I have a life?! Yes, yes I really do, but I couldn't wait to share this once the idea occurred to me. I received a link for this video a while ago from my aunt. This might be repetitive to those of you who received that same email. Anyway, I absolutely loved this video and was very touched by it. The images and music are beautiful.
Just a few more thoughts. Ben and I were watching t.v. tonight and listening about the economic and energy crisis in the U.S. right now. I have been trying to keep up with everything about the upcoming election and I often get so tired of all of the slander and backbiting from the candidates that I have to take a break from reading and watching things about it for a while. There are so many issues in the world and in the country that need to be fixed and a lot of fingers being pointed for those problems.
I also look around me and see friends and family struggling with so many trials. It seems I learn of someone dear to me every day that is facing great difficulty. I am so grateful to be able to find peace elsewhere, away from all of the turmoil. This video is a wonderful reminder of where to turn for that peace. I can't tell all of you enough how grateful I am for the source of which the peace comes, the subject of this video, Jesus Christ. I really hope you can enjoy it as much as I did and I hope all of you know that I sincerely hope and pray for your well-being and happiness. May you all find strength in the trials that you face, and whether you are near to us or far away, we are there for you in your trials and your joys.

Reflections of Christ

Sharing the Goodness of Food-Continued!

Last night I went to a ladies get together for my ward. It is kind of a tradition here for the second year med student wives to put together a night where we can get to know each other and the new wives better. Since we are all in the same situation and in the same ward, it makes for a great support group during the craziness of med school. Anyway, I made something called Tomato Basil Squares to take(yet another delicious recipe that I acquired from my mom-I love you Mom!) and they were a big hit. Most people like them, that is why I chose to bring them! So I thought, since this dish is awesome(I must say so myself), I enjoy sharing recipes with others, and I want to post recipes on my blog that I love, I'm posting this one for you all. Really, if you like Italian food, especially the mixed flavors of tomato and basil, you don't want to miss out on this!


Tomato Basil Squares

1 package refrigerated pizza crust (or homemade pizza crust)
8 oz or 2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 oz or ¼ c fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fresh basil or 2 tsp dried basil
2/3 c mayonnaise
1 pressed garlic clove
4 tomatoes sliced (I use between 6-8 Roma tomatoes)
Preheat oven 375. Roll out pizza dough on rectangle cookie pan or circle pan. Sprinkle crust with 1 c mozzarella. Mix parmesan, basil, rest of mozzarella, mayo, and garlic. Layer sliced tomatoes over mozzarella. Then scoop cheese mixture on top of tomatoes and spread evenly. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Here is the recipe that I use for the crust, but I bake according to the tomato basil squares recipe, not the crust baking instructions. This crust is great for homemade pizza too!


Pizza Crust

2 ½ to 3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package yeast or 2 ¼ tsp
3 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 cup very warm water
Mix one cup of flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add 3 tbsp oil and very warm water. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl. Stir in enough remaining flour until dough is soft and leaves sides of the bowl. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead 5-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Cover loosely and let rise 30 minutes. Divide dough in half and roll out. Bake at 425 for 7-8 min til partially browned, then add toppings and bake until browned and bubbly for thin crust. For thick crust roll entire dough out and bake at 375 for 15 minutes on bottom rack, then add toppings and finish.

Running in the Rain

Ben and I had a little adventure today. It has been raining in Kirksville for the past three days or so and I have been dying to get out and go run. So I decided that I wasn't going to let the possibility of rain stop me! Ben decided he would come with me and we set out to get a little exercise. About ten minutes into the run it started to pour, but it felt so good! It was around 75 degrees outside and the rain was nice. So we kept running and finished our regular run. But by the time we got home, we were both drenched! It felt like we had both just jumped in a pool of water. We stopped dodging puddles after the first five minutes :) I haven't done that in so long and I had a great time! That was one of the best runs I have had in a while, and I didn't care one bit about the strange looks people were giving me! It's nice to just do something out of the ordinary and crazy sometimes to change things up!

Sharing the Goodness of Food!

I thought that every now and again when I make something that both Ben and I love, I would share that recipe with any of you who like to expand your cookbooks. I am always looking for new recipes and thought I might share some of the things that are yummy to my tummy. Anyway, this is one that both Ben and I love, but that I frequently forget to make! It is really simple and it goes great with rice and broccoli. Easy side dishes right?

Sweet and Sour Chicken

4-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 beaten egg
cornstarch
oil
sauce (recipe to follow)

1. Dip the chicken breasts into the egg then roll them in the cornstarch.
2. In a small amount of oil, fry the chicken until just browned.
3. Place the chicken in a shallow baking pan, pour the sauce over it, and bake uncovered at 325 for one hour, turning every 15 minutes.

Sauce

3/4 c sugar (I like between 1/4c-1/2c)
4 tbsp catsup
1/2 c vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together

My mom got this recipe from The Friend magazine years ago and I love it! It is great with homemade fried rice and chow mein too. One more note. On time I cut up pineapple and green pepper and put it in with the chicken to cook to make it more like Chinese food and it was delicious. Just another variation to a good recipe! Hope you all enjoy!

One of Those Mornings

No pictures from me this morning, just me using this blog as a chance to vent a little. This morning was one of those mornings when I woke up and had to take Ben to school so he could be there before his first class at 8:00 and he will probably be there until 6:00. He gets a free lunch from a meeting on campus today so I won't see him for lunch. I miss my Ben and today is actually not one of the bad days! When tests come around, he is gone to school from 8-6 then comes home for a little break for dinner and hits the books again around 8pm til' around midnight. Then its up around 4 or 5 am for more studying for his test at 8 am. Craziness! Medical school feels like it will last forever sometimes, but I sure am happy that it really doesn't! Oh one of these days it will be over and when it is I think I am going to scream and shout for joy!

Osteostach

There is this silly tradition among the second year medical students at Ben's med school, ATSU - A.T. Still University or KCOM - Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. The second year students grow mustaches around the time that all the first year students begin to move to Kirksville, probably as an odd welcome. They call it the Osteostache! We took these pictures just after Ben and I went running so if he looks super tired that is why, even though his lack of sleep from studying for tests should probably get the credit.


Goofball!

More Improvements On Our House

We finally got around to working on the kitchen. We have been re-texturing all the walls in the house before re-painting them. We did this to the kitchen too and also re-painted the cabinets and got new hardware for them. It was a lot of work, but we like how it turned out!


Just having a little fun before I textured and painted! Love you Ben!






We got these barrels at the Joseph Smith Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. We don't have very much storage in the house so we bought them and store things like potatoes, bags of flour, and towels in them. And they match the kitchen! Actually, they are one of the first things that we got and matched a lot of stuff to them. All of the antique stuff on the shelf is either from garage sales or visiting the historic sites in Nauvoo.