Hello again!
So far June has brought two days around 90 degrees...much warmer than I'd like. But, early next week the temperatures won't reach 70, so it won't be lasting too long!
I've completed my first rotation for my summer internship. 4 weeks of food service management are complete! It was a great learning experience and I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed it. I wasn't terribly excited about either the VA or the food service rotation, but I was proved wrong. I stayed busy with menu planning, safety and accuracy audits, meetings, plate waste studies, in-service for food service workers. and more. On Monday I begin the clinical rotation at the VA, which will be 7 weeks long.
I just began work on my Non-thesis project on Nutrition for the elite athlete. I will be proposing my project to any interestied faculty on July 20. There is a lot of work to do between now and then!
Todd just finished up school yesterday. He has signed a contract for next year and will be teaching one additional class. He will also be coaching cross country this fall. There will be practice a couple times a week starting mid-summer. Todd got some nice notes from students to thank him for being a great teacher. He certainly was a favorite teacher of many of the students!
We've both been running faithfully. Todd has decided to get in really good 5K shape once again. He is trying to ease into it slowly to avoid the injuries that he so often gets. My marathon training plan starts Monday so I've been building miles in anticipation of beginning that plan.
We've been enjoying nice weather this past month. We grilled out a few times; once at a beautiful park near our house. We decided to spend a night at Steiner State Park over Memorial Day weekend. There was a nice reservoir with a great beach, but the water was still very cold. Earlier this week Grandpa and Grandma Mitchell stopped by Salt Lake City on their way to California for the wine festival. We showed them around SLC and then they took us to dinner at a restaurant on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The food was delicious and the view was very nice. It was so great to see family!
We have a big trip coming up next weekend! We are going down to New Mexico for the wedding of David Dornbos and Jesi Hale. We are looking forward to celebrating with them and seeing many of our friends. I can't take any work off, so we'll be spending most of the 2 1/2 days on the road. I'm looking forward to some relaxing time on the road for reading more of the book my Grandma VanWyk wrote. She wrote a book using all of the letters she wrote to family members beginning after her marriage. Reading about her life in New Jersey raising 6 boys and a girl has been so interesting. Thanks for writing this book Grandma!
I think that's all for now!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Updation
Hello from Todd,
Anna is enjoying her last day off before starting her internship at the VA tomorrow by having me do the blog entry. We bought Anna a bike today from our neighbor so that she has another transportation option for getting to that internship as she has found the bus to be both a blessing and a curse depending on when she gets out of class. I had a great birthday hanging out with Anna and our friends Mark and Jenna. Thank you all for the cards/gifts. My team is getting ready for the region meet Wednesday and Thursday and we are hoping to qualify a few athletes to the state meet. I also got asked to be an assistant coach for cross country this fall as well.
The biggest news to report is of Matt and Holly's visit out this past weekend. We had a great time with them here in SLC and especially down in Zion National Park.We spent two days backpacking and a third day hiking while I played hooky from school Monday (the students were jealous). We saw lizards, frogs, a large salamander, mule deer and wild turkey but the most exciting thing to see was the scenery itself. For our day hike we went up the Narrows, which is essentially a hike straight up the Virgin River with about 70% of the hike in knee to waist water (or deeper). We rented special water boots and neoprene socks to keep our feet warm because the water was about 45 degrees. Everyone else we saw was wearing wet or dry suits but we toughed it out and had a great time. The best parts included hiking up a beautiful side canyon, standing in the wall street section with 2000+ foot cliffs on both sides, and herding some mule deer down the canyon. Anna and I will definitely be heading back because there are some great hikes in Zion that we would still like to do. Thanks for coming out to visit Matt and Holly.
Peace.
Anna is enjoying her last day off before starting her internship at the VA tomorrow by having me do the blog entry. We bought Anna a bike today from our neighbor so that she has another transportation option for getting to that internship as she has found the bus to be both a blessing and a curse depending on when she gets out of class. I had a great birthday hanging out with Anna and our friends Mark and Jenna. Thank you all for the cards/gifts. My team is getting ready for the region meet Wednesday and Thursday and we are hoping to qualify a few athletes to the state meet. I also got asked to be an assistant coach for cross country this fall as well.
The biggest news to report is of Matt and Holly's visit out this past weekend. We had a great time with them here in SLC and especially down in Zion National Park.We spent two days backpacking and a third day hiking while I played hooky from school Monday (the students were jealous). We saw lizards, frogs, a large salamander, mule deer and wild turkey but the most exciting thing to see was the scenery itself. For our day hike we went up the Narrows, which is essentially a hike straight up the Virgin River with about 70% of the hike in knee to waist water (or deeper). We rented special water boots and neoprene socks to keep our feet warm because the water was about 45 degrees. Everyone else we saw was wearing wet or dry suits but we toughed it out and had a great time. The best parts included hiking up a beautiful side canyon, standing in the wall street section with 2000+ foot cliffs on both sides, and herding some mule deer down the canyon. Anna and I will definitely be heading back because there are some great hikes in Zion that we would still like to do. Thanks for coming out to visit Matt and Holly.
Peace.
View from the top of the mountain that we live on the base of
Holly and Anna
Stopping for a break along the La Verkin Creek Trail in Zion National Park
Dinner at our campsite
Holly and Matt by the Virgin River
Waterfall by the lower emerald pool
Matt and Todd
Holly and Anna wearing their "water boots"
The water was DEEP at times
Anna & Todd
Holly & Matt
Holly & Matt at the Red Butte Gardens at the U of U
Making homemade pizzas
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Vegas, Spring Break, Internship, Easter, Etc.
First of all, Grant, I've switched the font for you. Enjoy!
So it's been awhile again. The time between blogs continues to grow. A lot of things have happened, so I'll try to catch you all up to speed on life in Utah.
Shortly after my last blog post, Todd and I drove out to Las Vegas to join his parents for a weekend. Neither of us had been there before. We enjoyed walking the strip, dinner in a couple delicious restaurants, and catching up with Jeff and Bonnie. We also took a side trip on Saturday to the Hoover Dam and Red Rocks National Conservation Area. We took a tour of the Hoover Dam and got to walk around inside the dam. Todd's favorite fact he learned was that there is enough cement in the Hoover Dam to make a sidewalk around the entire equator that is 4 feet wide and 3 inches thick. Wow! We did a short hike in Red Rocks and climbed around a bit. We saw a couple groups of climbers and would have liked to join in, but didn't have gear with us. It was a great weekend!
Last week was Todd's Spring Break. He thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in! He still went to track practice for the athletes who were in town. He even "coached" me during a morning workout for my upcoming half marathon. Todd recently found out that the paper he had published in undergrad after his summer research project has now been cited in other articles. The theorem in their paper has been renamed the Hays-Mitchell Theorem.
Our nutrition class put on a "$1.50 lunch" at school last week. Our task was to plan, prepare, and serve lunch on a budget--$1.50 per person. We decided to imitate taco cart food, except with a healthy twist. All guests paid $1.50 for two tacos, beans, rice, and mango rice pudding, as well as a short speech about food insecurity, eating on a budget, and nutrition. We set a department record for attendance (which got us out of our last test for food management!).
I have been given my assignment for this upcoming summer internship. After much confusion, I have been assigned to VA medical center. I will be there for the first 11 weeks of the summer (for both my clinical and food service rotation) and then will spend the last 4 weeks with the sports dietitian for the University of Utah athletes (my community rotation). Those 15 weeks make up my ENTIRE summer break. I was under the impression that I would get at least 1 week off--but that's not the case. Bummer! I'm not thrilled about being at the VA, especially because I was originally assigned to the University Hospital and the Huntsman Cancer Institute (a BEAUTIFUL new hospital), but due to some miscommunications and problems I got reassigned.
We had a wonderful Easter these weekend with friends. We invited 4 other couples over to our house for a potluck style Easter dinner. What a blessing it is to have met so many wonderful friends!
So it's been awhile again. The time between blogs continues to grow. A lot of things have happened, so I'll try to catch you all up to speed on life in Utah.
Shortly after my last blog post, Todd and I drove out to Las Vegas to join his parents for a weekend. Neither of us had been there before. We enjoyed walking the strip, dinner in a couple delicious restaurants, and catching up with Jeff and Bonnie. We also took a side trip on Saturday to the Hoover Dam and Red Rocks National Conservation Area. We took a tour of the Hoover Dam and got to walk around inside the dam. Todd's favorite fact he learned was that there is enough cement in the Hoover Dam to make a sidewalk around the entire equator that is 4 feet wide and 3 inches thick. Wow! We did a short hike in Red Rocks and climbed around a bit. We saw a couple groups of climbers and would have liked to join in, but didn't have gear with us. It was a great weekend!
Last week was Todd's Spring Break. He thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in! He still went to track practice for the athletes who were in town. He even "coached" me during a morning workout for my upcoming half marathon. Todd recently found out that the paper he had published in undergrad after his summer research project has now been cited in other articles. The theorem in their paper has been renamed the Hays-Mitchell Theorem.
Our nutrition class put on a "$1.50 lunch" at school last week. Our task was to plan, prepare, and serve lunch on a budget--$1.50 per person. We decided to imitate taco cart food, except with a healthy twist. All guests paid $1.50 for two tacos, beans, rice, and mango rice pudding, as well as a short speech about food insecurity, eating on a budget, and nutrition. We set a department record for attendance (which got us out of our last test for food management!).
I have been given my assignment for this upcoming summer internship. After much confusion, I have been assigned to VA medical center. I will be there for the first 11 weeks of the summer (for both my clinical and food service rotation) and then will spend the last 4 weeks with the sports dietitian for the University of Utah athletes (my community rotation). Those 15 weeks make up my ENTIRE summer break. I was under the impression that I would get at least 1 week off--but that's not the case. Bummer! I'm not thrilled about being at the VA, especially because I was originally assigned to the University Hospital and the Huntsman Cancer Institute (a BEAUTIFUL new hospital), but due to some miscommunications and problems I got reassigned.
We had a wonderful Easter these weekend with friends. We invited 4 other couples over to our house for a potluck style Easter dinner. What a blessing it is to have met so many wonderful friends!
Hoover Dam & the new bridge across the Colorado River
Red Rocks National Conservation Area
Red Rocks
Eiffel Tower Replica
Fountains at the Bellagio
Jeff & Bonnie
Inside the Hoover Dam
Climbing around at Red Rocks
Todd & I in the Venetian Resort
My nutrition class at the $1.50 lunch
The happy chefs :)
Easter Dinner
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Spring Break
Spring Break has come and gone. It was so nice to spend some time away from school! Todd's Spring Break is coming up in a couple of weeks--it will be a much needed break.
Last week Tuesday was Olympus High School's first outdoor track meet. I came to watch and help Todd with splits. He has a small team with a few talented kids, but the team is not nearly as competitive as the South Christian team was last year. He is really enjoying it though and is looking forward to their next meet tomorrow. Unfortunately, his knee has been bothering him for about a month now so he hasn't been able to run much with the team. Hopefully it will get better soon!
On Wednesday my parents arrived in Salt Lake City! It was so wonderful to have them visit us for a long weekend. I gave them a tour of the University of Utah campus and took them to see Todd's school on Wednesday. On Thursday, we drove out to Antelope Island State Park. The island is on the Great Salt Lake. We did some hiking and then drove around the island to check out the view and the wildlife. That night we had dinner at the Squatters Pub downtown and watched a very close and exciting basketball game between the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. On Friday we walked around downtown. We toured Temple Square and got lunch at the new City Creek Food Court. We also went to the new Utah Museum of Natural History. That museum is so unique! We then picked up Todd from school and drove down to Bryce Canyon National Park. Although it was cold (barely reached 40 degrees) and snowy, we had a great time hiking down into the canyon and seeing the beautiful views. Mom and Dad joined us for church and Sunday school on Sunday. What a fun week!
Now we are looking forward to our next visitors--Holly and Matt!
Last week Tuesday was Olympus High School's first outdoor track meet. I came to watch and help Todd with splits. He has a small team with a few talented kids, but the team is not nearly as competitive as the South Christian team was last year. He is really enjoying it though and is looking forward to their next meet tomorrow. Unfortunately, his knee has been bothering him for about a month now so he hasn't been able to run much with the team. Hopefully it will get better soon!
On Wednesday my parents arrived in Salt Lake City! It was so wonderful to have them visit us for a long weekend. I gave them a tour of the University of Utah campus and took them to see Todd's school on Wednesday. On Thursday, we drove out to Antelope Island State Park. The island is on the Great Salt Lake. We did some hiking and then drove around the island to check out the view and the wildlife. That night we had dinner at the Squatters Pub downtown and watched a very close and exciting basketball game between the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. On Friday we walked around downtown. We toured Temple Square and got lunch at the new City Creek Food Court. We also went to the new Utah Museum of Natural History. That museum is so unique! We then picked up Todd from school and drove down to Bryce Canyon National Park. Although it was cold (barely reached 40 degrees) and snowy, we had a great time hiking down into the canyon and seeing the beautiful views. Mom and Dad joined us for church and Sunday school on Sunday. What a fun week!
Now we are looking forward to our next visitors--Holly and Matt!
Snowy Bryce Canyon National Park
Antelope Island
Mom and Dad at the top of the hike on Antelope Island
Bryce Canyon
Buffalo on Antelope Island
Dad and I at the Great Salt Lake
Temple Square
Bryce Canyon
Mom and I on campus
Monday, February 27, 2012
Spring?
It has been SO nice lately in Salt Lake City. We've had temperatures in the 50's (and once in the 60's) fairly regularly. I love it! Todd misses the bitter cold winters in Minnesota--but I'm not complaining!
We are counting down the days until my parents come visit SLC. They're planning on coming for 5 days during my spring break in a couple of weeks. It will be great to have company again!
Despite fairly hectic schedules throughout February, we've managed to slip in some fun things! We both got the day off on Presidents Day so we went hiking with our friend Jenna. We hiked up to "the Living Room", which is located on the mountains right behind the university. Rocks have been used to set up living room furniture--sofas, love seats, armchairs. When you sit in "the Living Room", you get a great view of the valley, lake, and mountains on the other side.
Todd had parent teacher conferences a couple weeks ago. He saw parents of 88 students! After a couple of long days, he got to relax with a 4 day weekend.
I've been chipping away at my volunteer hours lately. Last Saturday, I spent 9 hours at a diabetes expo talking with diabetics about reading nutrition labels and making diabetic-friendly decisions when grocery shopping. It was a very educational experience and I'm glad I did it! Tomorrow I am teaching sports nutrition in Park City to a group of middle schoolers who are pre-professional skiers.
Last night, we had a 5 course progressive dinner with all of our avenues friends and a couple others. We started with appetizers at Laura & Jordan's, then soup at Jenna & Mark's, salads at our house, main dish made by Caleb & Amanda, and desserts at Nate & Lina's. We started at 4:00 and didn't finish until 9:00! We were able to walk between each house since we all live so close together.
Here's some pictures from our hike and progressive dinner:
We are counting down the days until my parents come visit SLC. They're planning on coming for 5 days during my spring break in a couple of weeks. It will be great to have company again!
Despite fairly hectic schedules throughout February, we've managed to slip in some fun things! We both got the day off on Presidents Day so we went hiking with our friend Jenna. We hiked up to "the Living Room", which is located on the mountains right behind the university. Rocks have been used to set up living room furniture--sofas, love seats, armchairs. When you sit in "the Living Room", you get a great view of the valley, lake, and mountains on the other side.
Todd had parent teacher conferences a couple weeks ago. He saw parents of 88 students! After a couple of long days, he got to relax with a 4 day weekend.
I've been chipping away at my volunteer hours lately. Last Saturday, I spent 9 hours at a diabetes expo talking with diabetics about reading nutrition labels and making diabetic-friendly decisions when grocery shopping. It was a very educational experience and I'm glad I did it! Tomorrow I am teaching sports nutrition in Park City to a group of middle schoolers who are pre-professional skiers.
Last night, we had a 5 course progressive dinner with all of our avenues friends and a couple others. We started with appetizers at Laura & Jordan's, then soup at Jenna & Mark's, salads at our house, main dish made by Caleb & Amanda, and desserts at Nate & Lina's. We started at 4:00 and didn't finish until 9:00! We were able to walk between each house since we all live so close together.
Here's some pictures from our hike and progressive dinner:
View from "the Living Room"
Todd, Jenna, & I
Sunset behind the Capital building
Yummy appetizers
Nate, Todd, & I enjoying pumpkin soup!
Hanging out at our place after eating salads
Lina & Ju enjoying their Chicken Marsala
Mini peanut butter pies
Todd LOVED the peanut butter pies!
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