Whats the best recipe for pain? Chocolate chip cookies!

Alan had double knee surgery done on Friday. Yes double knee! Poor guy. He had a lateral release done on one knee with a little bone shave since he hardly has cartilage in his knees. He had the same thing done on his other knee last February and it's been infected so the doctor cleaned that one up. He's been in a lot of pain and he has a very high pain tolerance. He stopped taking his pain killers because they make him really sick. So he's been laying around all weekend in a lot of pain. I took this picture to put it on my blog and he quickly covered his face. I guess he doesn't feel too pretty today. ;)
I decided to make him some cookies. A little comfort food ;) He loves these cookies. We love them so much I thought I'd posted them because I know you will too. Just don't eat too many. Haha!

BIG FAT CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1-Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2-Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3-In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4-Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ALAN!!!!

THEN.....

... AND NOW

Today is Alan and my 1 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe a whole year has gone by. The first picture is from our first date. Awe! Ok, our first official date. We went on a group date to Market Street Grill. Little did I know that night I was going to married him. The second picture is from last night. Alan was being obnoxious because he didn't want to take a picture. Hence, the face. I feel so lucky to be married to Alan. He is so perfect for me in every way. I never expected marriage to be this great. I always heard when I was dating that I should only marry my best friend. I had never dated anyone that was my best friend before Alan. I really didn't know that I could. I really did marry my best friend. I'm so comfortable around him. I tell him everything. Even the things you think but would never tell anyone. We have been through a lot together and it keeps getting better.

Since today is Sunday we celebrated yesterday. It started when I got home from the gym yesterday. He handed me a CD that said "Happy Anniversary Baby. Love, Alan." I watched it and cried. Alan is not the most sentimental person. I don't mean that mean. He knows he's not. :) That's why it meant the world to me that he did this for me. He really put a lot of thought into it. He told me how he felt about me in it and he put together a bunch of pictures of us. I want to upload it but am still working on how to do it that.

After that, we went to an early movie then dinner. Pretty low key. It' been a stressful few months getting his business up and running that we thought it'd be great just do relax. It was perfect.

I love you so much Alan. You are so good to me and continue to make my life better and better. Thank you for your hard work and for loving me no matter what. Here's to many more years!

P.s. Last night we went to see my brother. I cried all night last night because it broke my heart. He's so skinny! He has no energy and just lays on the couch. The couch has become his bed since he doesn't even have the energy to go upstairs to his bed. He's been such a good sport about all this. Didn't complain once. It also meant the world to me that Alan sat with him and watch TV with him. Joking around and just giving Carlton some company. My dad called me this morning. The doctor has ruled out Sarcosis which most likely means a tumor. They are admitting him in the hospital tomorrow for observation and to keep an IV in him since he is not getting any nutrition. We are going to my parents tonight to be with him and have a family prayer. Please keep him in your prayers for us. We are really worried for him. I will keep you updated. Thank you all of you for your support.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!!!

Alan turned the big 3-2 yesterday! Birthday's aren't a big deal to Alan but they are to me. I wanted to do something special for Alan that wouldn't be over the top but would be fun to him. So I invited his 2 best friends and their wives and we went to Tsunami, one of his favorite restaurants. Best part was, he didn't know his friends were going to be there. Hehe. I'm so sneaky. I snuck a cake in the restaurant that I got from Kneaders. I was so disappointed with the cake. It was horrible. Alan loves strawberries. So I got a french vanilla cake with strawberry filling and chocolate covered strawberries on top. Doesn't that sound delicious? It wasn't at all! The filling was actually strawberry cream cheese. As in real cream cheese. Not very good! It's the thought that counts though, right?
Alan was surprised that night. I think he was happy with it. It was fun hanging out with his friends. Pretty low key night. Just Alan's style. I'm bummed though because I took pictures that night and for some reason, it didn't save it on my memory card. Any camera experts know how I can fix that?
Since I don't have any pictures from last night, I posted a few that I love. These were taken on a Mexican cruise we went on with Alan's best friend Ron and his wife Angie in April. Ron and Alan have been best friends for 15yrs! They met at BYU and the funny part is, they set each other up with their first wives. Haha! They managed to stay friends after that. ;) We love hanging out with them. They are a lot of fun. Thank you Ron and Angie for coming last night. It really meant a lot to me and I know you made Alan's day!


This was taken on the deck before dinner one night.

AWE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! THANK YOU FOR BEING THE BEST HUSBAND A GIRL COULD ASK FOR. YOU ARE SO PERFECT FOR ME. I COULDN'T DO ANY BETTER. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Our Date

Alan and I have not been out in a long time. He has been working 70-80 hours a week. That does not leave much time for us right now. Being the sweet husband that he is, he set aside his work and took me out for a much needed date. Ruth's Chris is one of our favorite restaurants so he decided to take me there. It is special to us because that is where we went the night we got engaged and also on our honeymoon. If you haven't been, you need to experience it once in your life. The salads, the steaks, the potatoes, even the bread is so good! The food is so rich that you can't eat that much but somehow leave feeling stuffed.

We had a great time! When we were dating and first married, we went out all the time so it wasn't that special but last night was really special. I forgot how much fun a date can be. Sometimes I take Alan for granted and all that I have. Last night was a sweet reminder of what a blessed life I live. Thank you Alan for a fun date last night and for being such a wonderful husband!

Alan

I met Alan in January of 2007 when I was working as a nutrition and exercise consultant. He was my client. The first thing I noticed about him (besides how tall he was) was how confident he was. He really was so confident! He was also so easy going and laid back. It had me intrigued! I found myself really getting ready for work as apposed to pulling my hair back and grabbing the first thing I could find in my closet to wear. I would ask my roommate to help me pick something out to wear for the next day (the day he came in) and would actually do my hair that day. I would also block his appointments out for an hour which turned into an hour and a half.
We spent the first few appointments flirting and a lot of our time was spent getting to know each other. About a month in he decide to ask me out but wanted to make sure I was interested before he asked. So after his appointment one day he sent me a text that read 'I want chocolate cake. Help!' He wanted to see if I would respond. He didn't know me well enough to sense my sarcasm. I responded with a 'Go ahead and eat it! Get fat! See if I care.' No response. Apparently he thought I was being serious. So he ignored my text. As I was going to bed that night I sent him a text and asked if he knew I was kidding. He played it cooled and acted like he had gotten busy and forgot. We had a long conversation via text messaging. He asked me out and I said no. He was my client and I wanted to wait until he was done with his sessions (which would be in April). I was also scared. Scared because I some how knew he was the one and it scared me.
Apparently it didn't scare me that much because a week later after his appointment I asked him if he wanted to grab lunch since my next appointment had canceled. He was shocked but happily accepted. We went to subway and talked for about 2 hours! I decided I wanted April to come early. There was just something so different about him. I wanted to date him. So the next day we were instant messaging and I asked him to meet me for lunch. Then the following day was Valentine's Day and we went to a movie. Two days after we went on a double date. We had such a great time and really hit it off.
The next day he was off to Florida for business for almost a week. We talked on the phone for 3 plus hours a night. We talked about everything. I couldn't wait to talk to him every night after work.
We got serious fast! I met his family about a month later and his son about 6 weeks in. Alan is a very private person. He doesn't really introduce anyone to his family and I was the first he had introduced to his son. We started talking marriage in May and were married November 2nd.
I knew Alan was perfect for me for so many reasons! It just felt right. Our relationship was so easy! We got along so well and I knew early on he was the guy for me.
Some reason's why I love Alan so much:

1. He's really easy going. He lets most things just roll off his back.
2. He's very patient with me.
3. He knows how to calm me down when I'm mad and make me happy when I am sad.
4. He loves me on my good days AND my bad days.
5. He always puts my needs first which makes it so easy to put his needs first.
6. He really listens to me (except when watch sports) :)
7. He makes me laugh and he actually laughs at my jokes.
8. He's a great cook!
9. He appreciates me.
10. He's so smart and so hard working.
11. He makes me feel like I am the most important thing in his life.
12. He goes to see movies with me that I know he really doesn't want to see but does it because he know I really want to see it.
13. He really does treat me like gold (except when he's watching sports). I'm just kidding!
14. He's so easy to talk to. People that hardly know him tell him their secrets because he's that easy to talk to.
15. He's very loyal.
16. He would do anything for me and for those he loves. I know I can always count on him for anything I need.
17. He doesn't think I cry very much! The reason is because he doesn't make me cry.
18. He admits when he's wrong and works hard to fix it when he is.
19. He's a great dad.
20. He humor's me when I'm telling him something that I know he doesn't care about but pretends he cares anyway.
21. He puts the toilet seat down, most the time.
22. When we are driving, he patiently listens as I change the radio station 20 times a minute and I know it drives him crazy!
23. He listens to me when I complain that I feel fat and tells me I'm not, over and over and over again with out getting annoyed.
24. He speaks his mind. There is nothing fake about him.
25. He does things he doesn't want to do for me but does them because he knows they are important to me.
26. He really is a softy. He has a big heart and is so sweet. You wouldn't know that about him but he really is!
I could keep going and going about him! He really is such a wonderful husband and I am so lucky to be married to him! I love you Alan and look forward to many more years with you!

Father's Day

This weekend we had Justin. He's is such a sweet kid! We had such a great time! This morning he woke me up and we snuck in the kitchen to make Alan breakfast in bed. We also wrote Alan a card. Here is what Justin wanted to me write for him:
Dad,
Good Morning! I love you a lot. I like to ride motorcycles with you. I like to wrestle with you. You are silly. Happy Father's Day.
Love,
Justin
P.s. You are special and I am too!
I had to laugh! It was so sweet and so heart felt. As I was cleaning the kitchen, I heard them playing football and Justin started to cry. Alan said "there is no crying in football!" Justin said "it's ok to cry when you get hurt!" Alan's response was "not in football! If you want to play football, you can't cry!" He stopped crying and started playing. Tough love! We also played twister ( Justin's first time.) We had a great weekend and I sure do love my boys!

BTW, the screen on my camera broke so I can't see pictures when I take them. Some are off center but you get the idea!