bull schmidt

(Jory's old shirt)

I had so many plans for today. You know, the productive, need-to-get-done plans. All of which have fallen through from faulty computer glitches, and... things just that seem stressful.

So. All that I can stand behind today is, a long Payson day, half a load of laundry, and really great quickly made tomato soup- which I put cream in- and now those calories are starting to make me feel guilty.
So. I'm going to blog because that always makes me feel better.

So. I'm a Schmidt. I like being a Schmidt. I thought I was going to really miss being a Sargent. 'Cause really? How great is the last name Sargent? I love it. Loved. But I'm happy being a Schmidt, especially the man that made me a Schmidt.
Yes, I too have gotten the occasional, "How many little Schmidts are you going to have?" ... snicker, snicker. "You piece of Schmidt!" Just kidding, I've never got that one. But you get the point.
So. The best part of my new (er) last name?

I heard this story a while ago, and being such a new "Schmidt" I'm not sure if I'm authorized to really tell it as if it's mine. But for all the Schmidts out there, this is for you.
Jory's Great Grandmother's name was Henrietta. Henrietta Bull. She got together with a fine young Schmidt.
They had a son. And named him Frank. Frank Bull Schmidt. Frank B. Schmidt.
And Frank my friends, is Jory's Grandpa!
I wish I got to meet the man. 100 years of Bull Schmidt and still counting! Isn't that awesome?

Speaking of prosperity. Wanna see what me and Jor's are going to look like?


Little Jorys, right? I love them. There Jory's nephews and we got to have them over for a not even 24 hours.
Last week my good friend had a baby, while visiting her in the hospital, holding that amazing newborn in my arms- I wanted nothing more than to be in my friends shoes, (especially after the labor, ha) and have that baby be mine!!
And then. We babysat those rugrats (the little Jorys). Over night. A few life threatening accidents may have occurred, lack of sleep definitely occurred and instant birth control? Yeah that may have kicked in as well.
I still love them though. Aren't they adorable!?

Black Friday

As we drove around making fun of the oh-so crazy (and freezing) people standing in lines so long that even driving to see the end of that line even makes you bored ... we were sooooo glad we decided not to partake in the door busting deals. At least at that point in time.

Little did we know when the lines had all entered Kohls and we decided to actually go in... that in just twenty minutes from then we would be waiting to check out in a line that was 1 1/2 hours long. 1 1/2 hours long!!
Yes, we waited through it.
Yes, it was hard for Jory with his partial (temporary) non functioning lower back from his wonderful and of course mandatory annual turkey bowl from that morning.
Yes, we saw workers having mental breakdowns because the hundreds of people were quickly forming uncontrollable lines in directions that weren't supposed to be lines .
Yes, I was bribed 5 measly dollars by a girl in her twenties to "butt" me in line... I bluntly declined... and now wishing I would have said this to her face.. are you going to pay the people behind me, and behind them? and behind them? and behind them? Lame. Even if you have 2 pairs of shoes you're gonna wait as long as the rest of us.
Yes, our feet are still sore.
Yes, we actually got what we wanted! A kitchen aide, and some probably not so necessity items that were so easily accessible while waiting in that long check out line- for how slow it was moving- you were able to examine every stinking thing all around you!
Yes we slept in until 11:30 am the next morning (not sure that that has happened since highschool- yeah.. maybe not that long- but it's been a while, our average wake up time is about 6 hours earlier than that on an normal day ha!)
Yes, we saw the worst in a lot of stressed out disorinented people.
Yes, we may be the new proud owners of the Kohls credit card. (YES, at 2:00 in the a.m. Jor was not excited about getting that card, especially under his name, especially because he's knows it will forever remain in my wallet).
Yes it was fun, even though, every year we Black Friday shop- we tell our selves how NOT worth it all the craziness, waiting, chaos and lack of sleep is... but..
It seemed worth it after this receipt and next year.. we'll probably go out again!


But, I will never, ever, EVER camp out at Bestbuy. Let a lone any store. For any deal. Even if there was a free shopping spree for like 5 minutes like on that food game show- (I have always dreamed about doing that, how awesome would that be! Even for groceries I would love it. BUT, I will never camp out for it in November. Ever.)

Tastes like feet!

Working for a Foot Surgeon, a lot of my coworkers and my conversations tend to revolve around feet. Foot problems, the way feet look, the way they smell... just a whole lotta feet talk. Nice, right? : ) We like it.

So, when the Dr. had a birthday... Em and I decided we had to put our creative minds together and make a dessert into his favorite part of the body... no, not another bacholorette party bra and pantie cake... haha! a FOOT CAKE!!! Every step of the way was soooo much fun and it was a blast. Not only is this just a plane ole' foot cake... It's a SURGICAL foot cake.

Incision onto the forefoot- check
sterilized suture kit- check
pin inserted in the 3rd toe- check

All instruments used were sterilized and applied in a appropriate order and manner.

snape, snape, severous snape

Sometimes being married to a teacher is pretty entertaining. This is a little late... but right before Halloween the PTA at Sage Hills Elementary put on a Harry Potta (saying all this in a completely brilliant english accent..) night. And Jory? He was dubbed to be Snape.

Snape. Snape. Severous Snape.

The night before the big Potta night, we were up "googling" videos of Snape to better Jor's mimicking the actor for the big show. Call it crazy, but this fourth grade teacher has NEVER read any of the Potta books or seen any of the movies. I take it back, he has seen the ending of the 3rd movie. Now this fact of not partaking of any of the Harry Potta goodness may be considered a sin in the fourth grade world. He doesn't talk about it much.

As you can see below, Jory, trying as hard as he can to be serious and sound "snape-ish" - he did pretty well, but trying to think quickly and come up with creative wizard vocabulary was totally hilarious. I still can't help busting up after I watch this video.... OR... It might be one of those "you just had to be there moments.." Haha.

They had wand shops... which the kids just had to give the "wands a whirl" and see if it feels right to purchase. They got to have the mysterious hat tell them which... lodge..? (You caught me... I'm not too much of a Harry Potta watcher/reader itha (either with an again, a brilliant accent). I didn't try it, but I bet if I would have- I'd been in griffindor!

The whole Potta gang.

I couldn't help but think of Jory in highschool when I saw him in that awesome wig.... HA! What do you think??

Okay, it's not THAT similar. But kind of! Ha!

We had a night of potions and goo and spells and rats. I think we were the only people there with out little kiddos running around... we're starting to get pretty used to that lately. AND don't worry we'll do something to change that eventually...

So what were our real costumes for the big hallowofeve?

PREFACE:
Please pay attention to Jory's hat, that he so studiously tried to sew... with a real sewing machine... but then got very frustrated and upset because of that darn bobbin and ... well.. we decided that the handy dandy glue gun is probably what we needed to up grade too. He's so awesome!
I'm not in the least bit sad October is over. It was beautiful, smelled like October and even the apples tasted like October. But... BRING ON the holiday season! But, not too fast. I decided that this year, I'm not going to let the Holidays fly by too fast as it always does. I'm going to grab life by the horns and start listening to Christmas music right now. I'm going to get hot chocolate and sit and stare at my Christmas tree weekly... BEFORE THANKSGIVING. That's right. I said it. Christmas. Tree. Before. Thanksgiving. I'm gonna be crazy and do it. I'm gonna soak it all in. I advise you do it too, I have a feeling it's going to be wonderful.

First Photo Shoot

Sooo....
As you all know Jordo and Ash are engaged and I'm so in love with them both I couldn't be more excited. Since they're crunched on time I offered to do their engagements and I'm going to admit I was soooo super nervous! I've never taken IMPORTANT pictures of people before and most of the time I really don't know what I'm doing with my camera. But I've learned so much and I had a BLAST taking pictures of them!
DISCLAIMER-IMPORTANT:
They are both gorgeous, so as my dad so profoundly put it, "Don't take too much credit for these pictures- they're really photogenic people." : ) Thanks Papa. Just kidding, but he really said that.

Fall

Life is busy as of late- like everybody's is... We can't seem to keep our bed made and our bathroom is always a tissue, make up, hair-everywhere disaster area... AND WE DON'T EVEN HAVE KIDS YET. And yes the mess is usually mostly my fault, but, I can assure you if Jory was a woman, so happy he is not, then he would really be a negative addition to our bathroom too.

Jory's busy at his schools most of his days and nights, and I'm usually at work or trying to cook or clean or do something productive with my time- I sometimes hate to admit how much I have to cook and clean, I wonder how many hours in a womans life they dedicate to cooking and cleaning. Oh, I feel sick just thinking about it.
I've had all these ideas lately, how much fun it would be to a be professional photographer... caterer... or just have my own bakery, maybe even be a oil painter. I've been baking and buying lenses and the other day I even tried to sit down and paint a picture. Oil... takes forever and the first coat is still drying. I've even thought a bit about being a esthetician and wax whohas. Oh there's so many options! Now if I could just pick something and focus on it and maybe I can be good at it. : ) I love that about life, but it's so hard to actually really "accomplish your ideas".

Trying to be cheap and creative I decided to make some Halloween decor. I am thinking that my ideas are a little too cheap and maybe I would be better off just splurging on a rod works or a tai pan sale. This weekend we went to a friend's house which was decorated SO adorably with halloween stuff and this confirmed my too cheap-o ness. Any who, here's my creations.

Just don't think of orange road cones when you look at it...

(started at a yard sale...)


Don't worry, the spider webs I put up have real life bird poop stuck in them and the little bat and ghost fall off a lot, the rafia... don't get me started on the rafia!!


And don't let me leave Jory out- he was VERY helpful with the sticks. and that awful rafia.

Jord and Ashley are engaged. (SO FUN! We helped set this cutie little scene up- Jord took her on a Sunday drive, then a walk up in the Canyon, then led her to this spot that was all decked out and ready for them to eat dinner with their favorite songs playing, have chocolate covered strawberries... and then have him pop the big question next to the fire... Oh I LOVE them!)


Speaking of Engagements. Have I told you I'm engaged? In March 2009 Jory Proposed to me. This past weekend we went up the Canyon where he did it and took some pictures. We're scouting out places to take Jord and Ash's pictures!

in 2011....


in 2009....


ahh. so fun.

Southwest Pasta Salad

Make this. Eat this. Love this.



This has become a staple in the sarahjory schmidt home.
Cilantro? Lime? Cherry tomatoes? Yes please.....This is delicious and you'll love it. (And it's pretty healthy besides all those carbys!)

I'm not in the mood to type out the whole directions so I'll just post the link where I got the idea. Of course it's Our Best Bites- they're just so cute and crafty and delish- it kills me.

Enjoy! Seriously. Make this.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/01/southwest-pasta-salad/

Also, this recipe is great on substitutions. I've used lemon juice instead of lime, I've used red wine vinegar instead of rice... different veggies and different pastas...
YUM

freckles

I have the day off today. I could barely sleep last night I was so excited. This morning I was woken up by a man with the most perfectly placed freckles on his nose and cheeks- telling me how much he loves me.
Being so excited that I didn't miss the opportunity to love the morning (I usually sleep in waaaaay to long on my days off)- I got ready. Underarmor, shoes, water bottle, ipod, check, check, check. And I was off on the Jordan River trail on a bike ride.
The sun was coming up and I literally couldn't help holding up my fingers up with my imaginary camera and snapping all the pretty shots around me. I wish camera's weren't so big, I want one built in my arm, maybe my palm. But only to appear when I need it.
It was so nice outside. The smells, the breeze, the sun peering through the trees making breath taking shadows and pictures. My favorite part though, wasn't any of that. It wasn't even the cutie squirrel who didn't move when I about decapitated him.
It was all the couples I saw. Old, young, wearing funny sweat suits... The couples that were holding hands, walking down that pretty trail. Together. It makes me happy to see people have what I have.
Another half.

life in motion

Yay for photography!

I started a beginning DSLR photography class last week and I've really enjoyed it. I was kind of nervous to start it - thinking that I would most definitely be the "most-beginner" and not know what I was doing. And.. most of the time I really don't, but I'm learning lots already and I totally love it. I've learned that our eyes make everything we see into a constant flowing movie- photography can stop this "movie" and capture views that we would normally, never see. Obviously.
Sooo... my first assignment was to show and freeze motion. Here's what I've come up with.


Yes that was I, sitting in the back of the car, next to this scooter-ing boy with my camera sticking out the window... going back... and forth and back and forth for an hour mind you- down the road, blocking traffic, just trying to get this perfect shot! It was totally worth it.

This was taken at Salem Pond (if you're feelin down about your fishing skills I highly recommend this spot to build up your fishing confidence- we know from experience). It took an hour to get one picture of this dragon fly flapping it's crazy fast wings!

This was taken with my shutter speed at 30 seconds- 30 SECONDS!


These last pictures were taken at Bridal Veil Falls yesterday at 8:00 in the am. I showed up in flip flops and holy macrol it was freezing! I was actually kind of bummed it was so freezing, I could have been there a lot longer, but after awhile I was completely miserable and my poor chubby toes could handle no more. Having your shutter speed open captures the coolest shots while shooting water!

Yesterday we also went boating with our new found friend ward-ys and we're so happy we went. The weather was amazing the water was calm- grossly green, and it was sooo nice to be outside. Ah we want a boat!
Here's some of my mans motion on the water yesterday. I'll save the worst for last.


and for the worst.... : ) this was about all the motion I got

I'll get up next time I promise. But can I just tell you?
Alotta sore for not alotta action.