The Whirlwind: Work, School, Break, Work, School ...

I had this brilliant idea that I would get around to posting every week, but come on guys ... when your job is to WRITE, you just don't feel like doing it anymore when you get home.

Without going into holiday details, I would just like to show you a fun tradition I believe I will keep around until I get sick of it. I hate getting bogged down in holiday goodies, so I hoped others felt the same way I did about this. Instead of commencing holiday baking, I did some holiday blending. Salsa is red and green, you know, Christmas colors, so I thought it would be fitting. And I think it was a good pick-me-up, like a little piece of Mexico in this dreary Utah winter.

As a quick note, we had a wonderful time in Reno for Christmas, even though everyone was puking Christmas day. It was a day filled with animated movies, puzzles, ancient board games and leftover Mexican food. It was Dalton's first Christmas with the Meidell family and he handled it like a champion. Shortly after we arrived back in Utah we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. I still remember thinking he was never going to come home from his mission, and here we are! We spent a beautiful wintry night in Midway at a mansion with swans and deer. We watched movies by the fire at night, had a really fun dinner, saw an ice castle and woke up to a baked apricot scone in the quaint dining area downstairs.

And here are the quick and dirty updates on our lives (more quick, less dirty):

Dalton:

• Just started his second semester in the finance program
• Is also interviewing for summer internships as I pray that he doesn't move away
• Is started to study for the CFA exam (only 38% of those who take it pass) and even received a hefty scholarship to pay for almost all of it. We are so lucky. 
• He's still killin' it at the credit union
• Our primary kids are allowing him to practice his discipline techniques
• He still finds time to take me out on the town
• Oh, and he also finds more time to root on his Niners and hiss at anyone who gets in his way. NFC championship game BABY.

Catherine:

• Still adoring my job at Synergy. I love coming to work with a long to-do list every day. 
• Building up my running endurance. The most I can run is 6 miles. I feel like I hit a wall after that. Mostly, I just hate how time consuming it is! I am opening my door to any tips/advice.
• I'm upping the amount of reading I'm doing. So much to read with so little time is a severely underreaching statement
• I'm still volunteering with hospice. Last night I heard "Hello? Hello?" coming from the bedroom, so I went to see if the patient needed to go to the bathroom. He was sitting on the edge of his bed so I helped him get up. He took three steps and basically backward on me and I was pinned to the bed under his 6'5" body. In addition to the running I've been doing, I need to start weight training so that we both never have to end up in this position.
• Like everyone else, I have lot of side projects, but I wouldn't dream of boring you with the details
• Other than that, I just do my best to support my casanova by making him "real food" and putting the house in order

Speaking of something tasty ...

BEHOLD!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Whisk up 1/4 cup of soy sauce,  1 1/2 TBS of olive oil, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 chopped up garlic clove (I use the chopped garlic from the jar) and 2 TBS of brown sugar. I substituted 1 TBS of brown sugar for honey. Bake the salmon for 25 minutes basting it every 5 minutes or so with this glaze. 

Easyyyy. Just do it already.

The Bennett's love you and that's that.