Snowboarding

This past Saturday we packed up and headed up the mountain to Bear Mountain where we went snowboarding with my brother, his girlfriend, my sister and her boyfriend. They rode the chairlift all the way to the top while Kyle and I headed over to the bunny slope, seeing that it was Kyle's first time ever. I must say that the first 20 minutes were not pretty with Kyle falling every 3 feet. But that is to be expected the first time most people go. I clearly remember my first time and am amazed that I even attempted it again seeing how miserable I was and how hard it was.

Seeing that I had to go to the bathroom and Kyle asked me to LEAVE, I left him to his own devices for about 15 minutes. When I came back he said,"Let's go on the chairlift." I questioned him but he was determined. He then proceeded to impress the heck out of me as he made his way down the hill falling only 3 times.

My sister joined us for our second trip down the hill where Kyle made it all the way to the bottom before falling only once. I could not believe how quickly he picked it up and am grateful that we now have another activity we can do together.

Miscellaneous

Last Sunday we had a family birthday dinner for my dad's 52nd birthday I just think this is funny/cool

Kyle and I decorated Easter eggs
Guys from the LA Kings hockey team came to our school and set up a portable rink

where some of our students got to play and win hats

Tagged: ABC's

A- Attached or Single: attached to Kyle for 2 wonderful months
B- Best Friend: my sister would say that me and my mom are BFF's
C- Cake or Pie: German Chocolate Cake, a family birthday tradition
D- Day of Choice: Saturday
E- Essential Item: Chap stick, lotion and water (addicted to all three)
F- Favorite Color: Green
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Sour Gummy Worms, although Sour Patch Kids are the best
H- Hometown: Riverside, CA
I- Indulgence(s): traveling
J- January or July: January, because it is the month of my birth:)
K- Kids: none
L- Life is not complete without: traveling the world
M- Marriage Date: to be determined
N- Number of Siblings: 2 younger brothers and 1 younger sister
O- Oranges or Apples: oranges
P- Phobias or Fears: fear of failure
Q- Quotes: "Shall we shag now or shall we shag later?" -Austin Powers
R- Reason to Smile: I have a job that I love, a boyfriend who is good to me and a healthy body
S- Season: Spring
T- Tag Seven: Blinx, Holly, Erika, Brooke, Emily Kikuchi, Emily Nelson, Amie
U- Unknown Fact about Me: I used to have my belly buttoned pierced for 3 years, and yes my mother already knows
V- Vegetarian or Meat Lover: I wouldn't say I'm a meat lover but I eat it and I love veggies
W- Worst Habit: I used to bite my nails in grade school but overcame that habit
X-X Rays or Ultrasounds: haven't had an X Ray since when I broke my arm in first grade, and had an ultrasound Nov 2006 when admitted to the hospital for a burst ovarian cyst
Y-Your Favorite Food: chips and salsa
Z- Zodiac: Capricorn

Jackhammers

So yesterday I had to go to an extremely boring BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment) meeting about helping ELL (English Language Learner) students, but two funny things happened that made the day entertaining.

1. They are remodeling the building where the meeting was held and just happened to be working on the 4th floor bathrooms which happened to be directly over our meeting. This meant that for the about 20 minutes they were jackhammering the floor tiles making it absolutely impossible to hear our presenter who was standing 10 feet away and using a microphone. Good thing I don't get headaches easily.
2. For lunch I went and got tacos and Horchata. As I was getting out of my car the Horchata spilled out of the bottom of the Styrofoam cup because the mail keys I keep in the cup holder had punctured through it. Good thing Kyle details cars and was able to clean up my mess.

3 x a Winner

Kyle and I have this little competitive nature between us, which makes sports and activities fun. For example, he thought he could kick my trash at pool (and frankly I did too seeing that I'm not that great) but I somehow managed to win both games. And no he did not let me win because he was playing to win. Then there is the fact that we have now gone to play racquetball three times and each time I have won. Kyle can get a bit frustrated during play to the point where this last time one of his hits got me right in the eye. I fell to the floor in shock and couldn't believe the luck of the ball hitting me right in the eye. Kyle felt extremely horrible, as he should, but no worries because a few plays later I got him right in the eye. We were thinking we would have matching black eyes but nothing really developed, and I'm sort of bummed because I think it would have been funny.

Brandin' Iron

Who doesn't love some good ol' country line dancing on a Saturday night? I sure do. That is why Kyle and I went to the Brandin' Iron last night and got down with our bad selves while doing the Electric Slide, Crazy Legs, 10 Step, Boot Scootin' Boogie and 2 Step.

Next time I just might get enough guts to ride the bull

Motorsports Expo

When I saw a stack of tickets in the teacher's workroom with a sign that said FREE on them I snatched some of them up. Then when I actually looked at what event they were for I was even more excited. They were for a Motorsports Expo to be held Friday-Sunday at the California Speedway. Who knew I would be somewhat interested in motor sports? Guess that is what happens when your boyfriend grew up loving the sport.

Kyle and his nephew Kaleb


For all those Raider fans out there... Raider Nation!!!!

Cheryl next to a HUGE truck

Dinner & Dancing

When I found out that my friend Brooke was coming down from Utah for the weekend I decided that us girls needed to get together again for dinner. Seeing that I've cooked more in the past 2 weeks than in the past 2 months, I figured why not do it again. So last night I warmed up some frozen lasagna, served garlic bread and salad and us girls had a great time from 6-10 pm eating, laughing, and gossiping.

After dinner Brooke and I drove 2 miles to my stake center where I surprised Kyle by showing up at the regional YSA dance. He didn't know I was going to come seeing that I was hanging out with my friends, but he was surprised and happy.

I like surprises

Date: Thursday, 13 March 2008
Time: 2:30 pm
Location: my work

Phone Conversation:

Cheryl: Hey babe, what's up?
Kyle: Oh nothing, what you doing? Are you busy?
Cheryl: Um not really, it's passing period and 6th period girls are just coming in the locker room.
Kyle: Ya I know, I just heard the bell.
Cheryl: What? How did you hear.... Are you here?

So my 6th period class got a big kick out of seeing me hug and briefly kiss a boy who then proceeded to give me a single rose and some Sour Gummy Lifesavers. They were whoopin' it up with the comments and whistling, only making me turn more red than I already was.

Thanks Kyle for the surprise:)

New Art

I've only lived in my apartment for about 5 1/2 months now and I am just now getting around to putting up some art work. Oh well, I got it done and I like it.

This is a collage of pictures taken from my travels or soon to be travels.

Wish I could say I took this lovely picture of La Tour Eiffel, but alas it is a poster

I have a huge fascination with maps and this 3 1/2 x 5 foot one is perfect over my couch

Cooking x3

This is quite the miracle so I thought I would share with everyone, but within the past week I have cooked 3 times. Any of you who know me at all, know that I DESPISE cooking with a passion. I find it tedious, arduous and downright a chore.

So last Tuesday I had the Elders over for dinner along with Kyle, and we had lettuce wraps for appetizers, Kung Pao with rice and some California rolls accompanied with fire sauce wasabi and soy sauce.

This past Monday night Kyle was coming over after class so that we could go to the gym and I thought it would be nice to cook for him, plus I was starving and I had some veggies that needed to be used up before they went bad. So my roommate and I made some Chow Mein which was very tasty.

Then last night after running some errands Kyle and I came back to my apartment where I made roast beef, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Lest you think I have amazing cooking skills, which I know I don't, let me inform you that the first and third meals were more of a warming up procedure done in the microwave. Got to love Costco. But the Chow Mein I will take credit for actually "cooking". Rachel Ray eat your heart out.

Sea World

A coworker of mine had 3 free tickets to Sea World which expired Saturday, so guess where we went. Kyle's brother Cody was planning on coming with us but then had a work training meeting come up, which turned out to be a good thing because I got a call from my good friend Anne Hazen Lee, saying she was in San Diego area for the week. I couldn't be happier to see her and little man HAL while we spent the day at Sea World. Her 5 year old niece, Payton, joined us and was the best behaved girl I have ever met, and cute to boot. HAL behaved great as well and we all had a wonderful time.

Disneyland

I like surprises, giving and receiving them. So when Kyle and I planned to go to Disneyland Friday night I knew I wanted to surprise him with reservations at the Blue Bayou restaurant.

This is the restaurant that you see when getting on and off the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

The filet Mignon was really good and the salads were really cool, just a head of lettuce cut in half and put on a plate with a slice of tomato. We had the bright idea of going on Splash Mountain at 8:30 pm when it is colder out, and seeing it had been a good 12-15 years since either of us had been on the ride, we forgot just how wet you can get. The first little drop soaked us and we proceeded to get drenched throughout the course of the ride.

No Blood for Me

This is the second time I have been rejected from giving blood. I guess I should stop sharing needles with transvestites. No actually, both times it is due to my travels to foreign lands. About 4 months after returning from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan I tried to give blood and was denied. Well that was 3 years ago and I had received a notice a year after my return saying that I was clear. I traveled to Costa Rica this past summer but thought I would be okay seeing that it is one of the cleaner/safer countries in Central America. Evidently not. Actually the first 3 areas we stayed in were clear, it was that last town of Arenal we went to for 3 days that was in the red zone and caused me to be rejected again. So looks like I won't be giving blood for another year.

Young Ambassadors

Saturday night my mom had about 100 tickets, it was only 12 but still, to see BYU's Young Ambassadors at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium. I thought the first half was just okay with some of the singing not the strongest, but after the intermission things got better. Especially when they sang 3 numbers from Wicked, my favorite musical.

Sister Emily Ginn

My dear Nauvoo friend, Sister Emily Ginn, returned from her mission in Taiwan. She had a 3 hour layover at LAX so I stopped by to see her and keep her company, while anxiously awaiting that last flight home. I learned all about her mission and the fun times she had and it was fun to watch her struggle for certain words in English:)
I know she was a great missionary who worked hard and loved the people of Taiwan.

Dumont Dunes

Many of you asked, nay begged, to see pictures of Kyle. So, without further ado.....

Don't think that I have been ignoring your requests or dismissing them, its just that I haven't had the time or access to internet. Friday I took off early from work and we headed north on the 15 to an unknown place to me called Dumont Dunes, it is 30 minutes NW of Baker. Just think of Glamis, but much smaller and fewer white trash people. After settling in a bit we were off where I got my lessons in riding. It was more of a refresher course seeing that I have riden quads in Costa Rica and Hawaii, and even took a motorcyle class while at BYU, but never have I riden on sand. I will have you know that I did quite well, and Kyle was tremendously impressed. We were there until Monday just before noon and I had a great time.

Heart Day

After getting a call from the Infiniti dealership that my car was finally working and not going to cost me anymore, I jetted over, paid the $1500 and rushed back to my apartment where I speed changed my clothes in 5 minutes. Then I was off to Kyle's house where he had beautiful pink roses and dinner waiting.


We then watched I Am Legend which was pretty good. The rest of the evening we spent out back by the fire enjoying the stars.

Boot Camp

I decided to spice up my workout routine and have an adventure doing it as well. So, that is why I signed up to do a women's only Boot Camp and it started this morning, at 5:30 AM!!! And I didn't even have work today, talk about dedication. My mother signed up for the 3-day a week month long program as well, but she was a slacker today and did not show up for the first day of class. No, she was actually in Texas visiting my adorable nephew and does not get back until tonight.

This program takes place Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 5:30-6:30 am at the top of the parking structure at Victoria Gardens, an outdoor shopping mall about 1 mile from my apartment. Good thing it is close otherwise I don't know about the early morning.

Well, they split the 40+ group of women into two groups: those who have done their boot camp before and those who have not. My newbie class started out by running down to the lowest level and then halfway back up where we did high steps and then butt-kicks, and grapevines. Then back up to the top where we grabbed our weights before heading to the front of the Cultural Center/Library. Once there we used the benches to do dips and squats, a ledge to do push-ups and our weights to do bicep curls and other things I can't remember at the moment.

The last 20 minutes were spent doing ladders. This consisted of starting off by doing 10 lunges, followed by 10 bicycle crunches, and 10 mountain climbers. We then had to run about 3/4 the length of the parking structure and back. We then did 9 squats, 9 crunches and 9 push-ups before running 3/4 down and back. 8 lunges, 8 bicycle crunches and 8 mountain climbers, then run.....and so on all the way down to 1. I must brag here by saying that I was usually one of the top 8-12 to finish each time, beating many of the return boot campers.

So far I'm a little sore but I'll have to let you know how I feel tomorrow morning and then again after Wednesday class.

Update Time

So I finally have some time and decided that I should sit myself down and get my blog updated with everything that has happened in the past 2-3 weeks.

• Saturday, 26 January 2008, I went on a date with Kyle, a friend of a friend, where he took me to the Melting Pot. We then attempted to go ice skating, bowling and then to GameWorks, but due to not knowing the exact location of the rink, the alleys being packed and the entertainment center being closed for a private event, we were left out in the rain.
  
  


• Sunday, 27 January 2008- President Gordon Bitner Hinckley passed away at the age of 97. While having family Sunday dinner, my sister's boyfriend got a text message from a cousin informing us of the news. I knew it was coming sooner or later, but it was still a shock that it had really happened. I KNOW Pres. Hinckely was a prophet!

• Tuesday, 29 January 2008- I took my car into the dealership to be serviced. For the past month or two my car had been making funny noises and not running quite right. Also there were a couple of times where it would turn off has soon as I turned it on, or after driving for awhile and then parking it would just shut off. A week prior I had taken it to my dad's mechanic and he said the intake manifold gasket needed to be replaced. We called around and the Infiniti dealership was cheapest amazingly enough, (but not for long). So the dealership checked it out, confirmed it was the intake manifold gasket, but also concluded that it needed 3 new engine mounts. After three days and $1800 later, I had my car back. Only to drive it home from the dealership, park it and have the 'Service Engine Soon' light come on.



• Thursday, 31 January 2008- Kyle took me to a Thai restaurant for dinner and then we went over to the Riverside Stake Center for volleyball.



• Saturday, 2 Feb 2008- attended a wedding reception for Megan McDowell. The food was tasty and non-traditional with an In-N-Out truck pulling up and pumping out hamburgers. After the reception Kyle beat me big time at Lazer Quest.

• Tuesday, 5 Feb 2008- Kyle surprised me by taking me to dinner at the Jolly Roger restaurant in Dana Point. We then drove through the Doheny State Beach campsites seeing that we had both grown up camping at them with out families. A short drive south and we ended up at the San Clemente pier where we walked to the end and then got hot chocolate.


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• Wednesday, 6 Feb 2008- I took my car back into the Infiniti dealership to have the service engine light looked at and see what more damage had been done. Now the ECM- electronic control module was not functioning correctly, which would set me back another $850.



• Thursday, 7 Feb 2008- Went in to get my car and the new ECM was not working correctly because the throttle body was not registering and would probably need to be replaced. So pretty much everything in my car is breaking one by one. I left the dealership and cried. I don't usually cry, it's just not natural to me, not that I'm opposed to it but it's not a common occurance for me. I cried because I was tired of spending money that I don't have, I cried because I felt betrayed by my car. It is only a 2001 Infiniti I30. Granted it has 130,0oo miles (I did a lot of driving to and from Utah) but it has always been dependable and I have always been good to it, so I felt like it was turning its back on me. If more things continue to go wrong I will just give up on my car, trade it in and get myself the beautiful Infiniti M35.

I needed to get out of the IE and escape this mess so I asked Kyle to go to Disneyland with me only to find out that it closed 10 minutes before we got there. I already posted about this so I won't continue about how I barely lost miniture golf. We're both positive I won the first game but I messed up on the score card so ...

• Saturday, 9 Feb 2008- Finally got my hair cut which I love, and got myself a HUGE tv, for FREE. My co-worker just bought a new 50-something inch DLP tv and so he offered me his old 65 inch. Kyle and and his brother moved it into my apartment and I am amazed at how big it is.