Feeling Scrub

I'm loving all of my classes and I'm also loving Tysen's job because it's helping me a ton in all of my classes. I'm grateful for all the help he's already given me with my homework. He's going to be such a successful man I just know it. 

Currently

Currently Tysen and I are in Coeur d'Alene enjoying our final days before school is up & running. During this stay of ours we got some really exciting news. The past year and a bit I have been in the process of getting my green card. It's been an extra long journey for us...very stressful. I gave my sister my mail key while we were away so that she could check my mail for me since I'm super impatient about waiting for stuff and I have to check every day.

On Monday I got my work/travel visa in the mail. YAY! I can finally leave the country, not that I'm planning on it anytime soon with school starting up, but it's nice to know that I'm able to. I can finally search for jobs anywhere in town rather than just on campus. That made job hunting very hard. So I spent the entire day after I got that news applying for 6 six jobs.

Then on Tuesday I got a letter in the mail specifying what day I have my interview to receive my green card. September 25th!!! Finally. It's really nice knowing a day rather than guessing.

Everything is finally coming together and I could not be happier. Also, I'm really excited for school to start. I am sure I'll regret saying those words but as of right now I'm ready to get rolling. Tysen and I went back to school clothes shopping yesterday...luckily it wasn't too difficult because all we have to wear this coming semester are scrubs. It's a dream come true for me because I really REALLY hate wearing jeans and I'm pretty sure Tysen feels the same. We're going to look so adorable in our matching scrubs. Don't you guys worry, I'll be sure to post a picture.

Ahhh.....life is great. I have no complaints.

A Little Family History

A little background information so you guys don't get confused, the Ficklin's, whom were vikings, used to be called the Fickling's. All right, so ... about a month ago my sister came across this post on Facebook. I don't know who posted it but whoever you are ... if you happen to end up reading this thanks for the post I thought it was the coolest thing! 

In advance, sorry the letter is small, it wouldn't let me make it any bigger so feel free to zoom on in. 

A man named Benjamin Fickling wrote a letter describing the characteristics of the Fickling's (now Ficklin's). This is what he wrote: 

I found this so fascinating because it pretty much described Tysen to T. From his curly dark hair, to being quick witted, and loving quick witted conversations, to being slow to anger. Obviously the Ficklin's have some strong genes because Tysen and his Dad look and behave a lot alike and from this description of them they seem to be a lot alike. 

I would be truly blessed to one day have a son just like Tysen, he is such a great man oh ... and such a cutie! 

Find the True Value of a Moment

In my personal blog I wrote a post that I felt very strongly about, yet I didn't share it because I felt like I would be judged for it.

 I took an English class here at BYUI in the winter that really changed my perspective about things, actually multiple classes I took that semester changed my perspective on a lot of things. But this class particularly I want to talk about. I read multiple essay's about the effect social media has on individuals and society. My last day of class I wrote this post on my blog, which I'm about to show you, because I felt it would be good for some people to read. 

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion, this is not what we were taught in our class, we were taught to come up with our own opinions about the things we read. This is just mine. 

In my final English class today we talked about mass media and how when people are in crowds they aren't themselves, also how this world is becoming a place where you don't live a private life anymore because everything is public.

We advertise how we are feeling, what we are wearing, where you are, what you're doing.

That kind of stuff.

I hardly posted on twitter to begin with but whilst reading twitter posts of the people I follow I noticed 90% (those aren't real statistics by the way, haha) most of the posts I was reading were people complaining, talking about all the negative parts of their life and their day. "A negative mind will never give you a positive life" The thing is half the people I followed I haven't spoken more than a couple words to them. 
The people I actually want to stay in contact with are on my phone, and if I want to know how they are doing I'll text them or call them. 

So I quit twitter. 

Think about it, when you meet up with old friends how many stories about your life are you going to be able to tell? 

I predict not many because we post everything as soon as it happens.

Chances are you won't tell that friend any exciting news because you already posted about it. 
They already know. 

The next thing you know 

We start to live and do things just so we can post about it.

So here is a challenge, you don't have to take it.

But fight that urge to post about what you're doing and make a few memories that only you and your friends or family know about, have stories to tell that are more than 140 characters long. 

Feel free to leave your thoughts, I won't be offended. 

Recipe - Zuppa Toscana

So as I said in my intro, I LOVE to cook. So I decided to share a delicious recipe!. Tysen and I went to Olive Garden for our one year anniversary and as his starter he ordered their soup Zuppa Toscana. It's his favorite. When we got home that night I did lots of research on which soups are most like Olive Garden's. I found a quick crockpot version for those long work/school days and then one that takes a little more involvement, but that's okay because it turned out perfect! 

The ingredients you'll need are:

• 1 lb Italian sausage 
• 2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half and then into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 1/4 cup of bacon bits (optional) 
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 2 cups of kale, chopped 
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 4 cups of water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 shakes of red pepper flakes 

Directions (with pictures, yay!):

Brown the sausage in your soup pot, I suggest chopping the sausage into small pieces. I have never cooked with sausage before and I didn't realize it didn't fall apart like ground beef does. So yes, slice that sausage. 

Chop those potatoes, onions, and garlic. 

Add the broth and water to your soup pot & stir. Then add your onions, garlic, and potatoes. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are done. 

Then, add the bacon bits, I like to use the real bacon bits. Real bacon would be ideal but you know, that takes time to cook and I wasn't feel all that up to it. 

Add salt and pepper to taste and add the red pepper flakes. 

Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. 

Turn to low heat.

Add the kale. 

I've never cooked with it before so I had to look up how to cut it because I didn't want to screw it up. All you gotta do it slice down the fine and then cut into about 1 inch chunks. 

Then add the whip cream. 

Let everything heat through, which means let the kale soften. 

Then ... ta da!! All done :) Mmm

 

I'm So Blessed

I just want to take a second and express my gratitude for my amazing husband. Currently we are waiting on my green card or work visa... which ever comes first. During this long LONG process Tysen has been so amazing about listening to my rants and complaints about this whole process. Currently I can't work and that man of mine is working two jobs to make up for my lack of working. In these long months I've learnt how to swallow my pride and let somebody else take care of me and it's been hard because I've felt quite useless. Tysen had this great idea that every day I should make a list of things I need to get done and next thing you know I will feel productive. Well let me tell you, he was right. I've felt very accomplished and my apartment is sparkling. Sadly, school starts again in a month and I'm willing to bet the quote "all good things must come to an end" will apply to this extreme cleanliness.

Again, I'm so grateful for all the hard work my husband has been doing these last 4 months with going to school and working at the same time and now working two jobs. I haven't heard him complain once about it. He's such a great guy. I'm so very lucky.

Him and Her

I thought it would be appropriate to start this blog off by introducing ourselves. I don't know what brought you to this blog, maybe you know Tysen, maybe you know me, maybe you know the both of us, or perhaps you just stumbled upon us. Nonetheless you guys are going to get to know us a little better.

Firstly, I mainly started this blog for Tysen and I to look back on. Like a journal ya know? I guess that's what a lot of people use blogs for. Anyways lets start with us.

Us
We have been married exactly a year ... tomorrow. A large amount of people told us before we got married that the first year is the hardest. I say false! Well at least for us, I understand all marriages are different. Then as my marriage as gone on people have asked me what the hardest part about being married is. I never seemed to have answer. So I thought I should ponder about it. Here is what I came up with. It's hard/fun to blend two families together. We were both raised differently and there was a lot of moments for us where we disagreed with each other because we both thought something should be done one way. But we figured it out and now have "our way" for doing those things. Don't ask me what the things were because I have an awful memory and I couldn't tell ya. 

Long story short about how we met, I went to Idaho Falls to visit my twin sister whom Tysen was best friends with, we were attracted to each other strangely quick. He came up to Canada to take me on our first date. We started dating long distance (seeing each other every 2 weeks or so) for 5 months. We finally ended up in the same town. A few months later got engaged (that's a whole roller coaster of a story on it's own) then August 2nd, 2013 came around and we got married. We are now both studying at BYU-Idaho. The end. I'm kind of really impressed on how quickly I summed that up. I sometimes like to add to many unnecessary details. 

Him
Tysen is an American from Idaho. He is quite the outdoors man. He loves skiing, fishing, camping, photography, videography and guns. One thing about Tysen is when he loves something it's more borderline addiction, I mean that in the most humorous of ways. He's just very passionate about his hobbies. When he's not doing those things he's doing all kinds of research about those things he loves. Tysen is the funniest and most kind person. He can make anybody feel comfortable around him with his easy going attitude. Currently he is majoring in Health Care Administration and hopefully he'll be graduating in 2 years. 

Me
I am a small town Canadian girl. I am studying Medical Assisting and graduate in April. The human body fascinates me, so much that one time I had knee surgery and asked to stay awake during it so I could watch. That was awesome. I have a borderline obsession with cooking shows, mostly the ones that involve Gordon Ramsay. He is a brilliant chef. Which brings me to my next hobbie, cooking. I LOVE to cook. If I had all the money in the world I would spend it on good food. Sometimes I have to watch Chopped to get inspired what to cook for dinner. Pinterest is brilliant, I'm so glad I live in a time where that exists or else maybe I would despise cooking. I like taking pictures as well. I wish took dance as a kid so I live that dream through watching So You Think You Can Dance. Your aloud to have a passion without actually doing that thing right? I enjoy family time. It's the most valuable time in my eyes.