Body Worlds Exhibit

I hope the picture doesn't gross anyone out (because to us it's really fasci-nating), but I wanted to share that Darwin & I had the oppor-tunity to attend Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies on Tuesday. Click here for additional information. The exhibition is in Salt Lake City until January 11, 2009, so if you get the opportunity to attend, we absolutely, 100%, recommend it. It is a little pricey, so the only reason we were able to go is because Darwin was able to get in for free, thanks to him being a Utah educator. I'm not sure if all Utah educators were given the opportunity to attend for free, and I believe it was only for that one day, but we chose to take advantage of our opportunity. I believe the tickets for adults were about $22-$23 dollars (I can't remember the exact pricing), and about $16-$17 for children, but it's totally worth it if you can scrape up enough extra money to go!

Not only is this exhibit an art exhibit of the human body, but it is extremely educational and fascinating, and it really helps you to appreciate the durability and fragility of the human body. After attending this exhibit, we came out with a greater understanding and appreciation of what our bodies can do. Life really is so fragile; it's great to be reminded of the complexity of our bodies, and how many incredible things we are able to do with it. I don't know how anyone could go to an exhibit like this, and see all the amazing details of what our bodies look like on the inside, and not believe that there is a God. I'm sorry folks, but something as grand as the human body, doesn't just evolve into something like it is without the helping hand of a Supreme Creator. I firmly believe that we are created in the image of God, and that we can become like Him. I know that God created the world and everything in it. Each serves a specific purpose in His eternal plan. I am so grateful that we were able to attend this exhibit and be reminded of the opportunity to come to this Earth and receive a body. It was a great reminder as well, that we really do need to take care of our bodies. Our bodies are meant to last us a lifetime, and if we don't take care of ourselves, they won't be able to endure the length of time they are intended to.

I hope you will all take the opportunity to see this exhibit either here in Salt Lake City, or when it comes to a location close to where you live. The exhibit travels around the world, so hopefully it will come near by at one point or another. :)

Cool School of the Week

Dar's school was voted "Cool School of the Week" and featured on Fox 13 News yesterday morning. Darwin isn't in any of the videos but click here to view the clips. Congratulations Union Middle School!

Talk about talent!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ZX5qdIEB0&NR=1
- Flute Guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUuqsSCn5g&feature=related
- Harmonica Guy

Pico de Gallo

It has been requested by our neighbor, Lisa, that I post a picture of my pretty salsa (aka Pico de Gallo) along with the recipe. I generally don't even follow the recipe. I just chop and mix until it looks good. This really is pretty tasty if you love fresh salsa. You could make it more spicy by including some of the jalapeño pepper seeds, but I don't like mine spicy. The last time I made it (this picture) I actually put 2 jalapeño peppers in it, and it doesn't even taste spicy. Just some tips in case you want to try out this recipe. :)

Pico de Gallo

6 medium tomatoes*, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
pinch of garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients in a bowl. Add ½ cup of cold water**, mix well. Let set a few minutes. Refrigerate left overs.

*It's better if you use slightly under-ripe tomatoes, when they're more stiff.
**You may not need to add water, it just depends on how juicy your tomatoes are and how juicy you like your salsa.

The story...

Being the geek that I am, when I went in for my radioactive iodine treatment on Friday, I asked the nuclear medicine technician if I could take some pictures to post on my blog. He laughed at me and told me I could, and even assisted :).

The experience wasn't quite what I expected it to be, but it was pretty cool at the same time. I'm sure you're thinking, "Radioactive substance in your body...Cool, huh, Kiara?". But I did think it was pretty fascinating.

I was at the doctor's office for about a total of 30 minutes. When I got there, the nuclear med tech had me verify my identity to make sure they were giving the iodine to the right person. I agreed that it was probably a good thing to double check for a treatment like this. Doing an X ray on the wrong person is not such a big deal, but administering radioactive substance to the wrong person could be disastrous! He asked me some questions, and then asked if I had any questions. Then he told me we were just waiting for the iodine to be delivered. So, we waited about 15 minutes....When it finally arrived, I laughed when I saw that it was inside an ammunition box.


Then, he pulled out another container, about the size of a soda can, that was pure lead. He had me hold it without warning me how heavy it was and I nearly dropped it on the ground! Haha. Nice joke!

You can kind of see my name printed in the yellow box :)

Then, he opened up the lead container and pulled out a tiny little vile about half the size of an old film canister. The iodine was actually inside the tiny vile, inside the lead container, inside the ammo box. Talk about protection!

He weighed the glass vile to make sure we got the right amount, and told me that he'd page the doctor to have him come witness me take it. When the doctor came in, I had to verify my identity again (better to tripple check than to be wrong, I guess!). I was told that I'd be sipping the iodine up through a straw. And that part wasn't really what I expected it to be. I guess I half expected them to just give it to me in a little sample cup like they give to you when you are administered medicine at the hospital, but I was way off on that assumption. So when he told me to sip, I wasn't sure he was serious because when I did sip, I got like 2 drops up through the straw. (He did tell me that's what would happen but I didn't really expect it for some reason.) Then he squirt a little bit of water in the vile to rinse it out and made me sip again. We did this a total of 3 times, and then he said I was done ;) He measured the vile again to make sure I got all of it. And they sent me home. That was pretty much the whole thing.

One thing I thought was interesting was that the iodine they used was just plain old iodized table salt (about 3 little granules of it). To make it radioactive, they put it in some kind of machine (this was done before it was brought to the office) that did something funky that made it radioactive. Kind of weird/fascinating at the same time. So, I'm still a little radio active, but not enough to damage anyone so I'm allowed to be around people again. I didn't feel any different (which I didn't expect to) except that my thyroid was a little sore on Saturday but it seems to be all better now. Anyway, that's pretty much the whole story. Now we're just waiting for time to pass and for all the radiation to get out of my body. :)

Mr. D loves science, see?--Thyroid 101; Lesson 1

As many of you already know, I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism back in 2000, and have been treating it with medication, and doing very well. Recently I found out though, that I should not be taking one of my medications if we ever want to get pregnant at any point in the future, so when I asked my doctor about it, he graduated me from his clinic (I'd been seeing my pediatric doctor up until June) and sent me to an adult endocrinologist who recommended a different treatment option so that when we are ready to start our family, we'll be able to do so without any risk to the baby. Here's some more on our current Deming adventure:



Sorry that we both look/sound like idiots, but we couldn't resist sharing the funniness of the situation. I'll be having the actual radioactive iodine therapy done this Friday and will be secluded to our home until Monday, when it will be safe for me to go back into the world without exposing anyone else to my radioactive body :) Darwin is allowed to be around me, but I'm going to need a 6 foot radius, which means we won't be able to travel anywhere in the car together. Also, I'll be sleeping in our spare room so I don't expose him more than necessary. Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer any that I can. I hope this doesn't freak anyone out either. It's not as serious as it might sound. Hope you enjoyed it!

Donut Falls Hike

Yesterday Darwin and I, along with Jared, Tracee, and Reagan took advantage of the nice, cooler weather and went for a hike to Donut Falls up Big Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake. Jared & Tracee have done the hike before when the falls were still snow covered, but it's a hike Dar & I hadn't experienced before yesterday. It's a really simple hike to do, and would be a great one to do if you wanted to take your small kids out to experience some nature. The reason it's called "Donut Falls" is because the water comes down through a big hole it created in the side of the mountain. It's really beautiful, and yesterday was the perfect day to do it. Here's some pictures :)

The McSweeney Family

The Deming Clan

The Ladies :)

Dar is getting really good at taking longer exposed pictures. Some of them look really cool!

The unfortunate thing is that these boulders were put in front of the falls, so in order to get a good view of them you have to climb all over the place, and it could be risky to do with kids. Luckily Reagan was in a carrying back pack Jared & Tracee got for her. But she was getting antsy and wanted to walk around on the rocks by herself.

You can see the water coming down through the rock in the background.

Reagan started to get a little tired & grumpy :)

Dar & Jared climbed up on top of the falls to get a better view.

This is one of my favorite shots Dar got.

If you can't tell, Reagan has flowers in both hands, and she was holding them straight out. It was pretty funny. She's so cute :)

Labor Day Weekend - So Long, Sweet Summer!

Can you believe it's September already? Maybe I feel like it crept up on us because of our crazy summer but, WOW! Time sure flies when you're having fun, huh? First of all, I wanted to add another post to show you all my new hair cut :)

This is how long it was back in February before I chopped it. (I cut 11 inches off!)

This is what it looks like now (don't mind the red-eye :) And I know most of you have seen it short, but I decided to get bangs again after YEARS of not having them. Hopefully you guys will give me some input to tell me if you like the new "do" or not. Thanks, Mel, for always doing such a great job!

Second, I wanted to tell you about our boring Labor Day Weekend. Actually, it wasn't all boring. Friday night our apartment complex had a BBQ, although probably only 1/5 or less of us were there. We had a good time hanging out with our neighbors and getting to know them a little better. It's kind of funny that those of us that tend to be outside the most were the ones attending the BBQ. Hmmm....Great job on the appetizers, Lisa!! Soo delish! Saturday we did some homework and then in the evening we went to Doug Pusey's house. He's a friend of Darwin's and the guy Dar did his student teaching with at Canyon View Junior High. We watched an episode of the amazing BBC documentary Planet Earth and ate banana splits. Yum!! (*Side note: If any of you feel like you need to get us a gift at any time for any reason, we still need the Planet Earth set on DVD ;) Sunday we went to Church, as usual, and then had our friends, the Bradley's, over for dinner Sunday night. It was great to see them again because we weren't able to do our normal fun summer activities with them this summer because Dar & I were gone having fun other places. Monday was pretty boring for the most part as well. Dar & I ended up doing homework for most of the day before we went down to Mapleton to raid Mom & Dad Deming's garden to pick out some yummy veggies. We HAD to do something to get out of the house! The coolest part about the weekend was definitely being able to spend time together. A close runner up, however, was the great rain fall we got!! Did anyone else enjoy it as much as we did? Darwin tried to capture the intensity of the storm on the camera, but these pictures hardly do it justice:

Sorry about the big black slabs. Those are the stairs right outside our apartment door.

Obviously you can't get the full effect by any means. The sound of the rain was incredibile, and we were completely enjoying having ALL of our windows open so we could take advantage of the rare rain storm as much as possible. We quite enjoyed the chillier weather as well and it made us super excited for autumn and "cozy weather season" as we like to call it. Have I expressed at all how much I LOVE the rain! I admit that I wouldn't love it so much if it rained everyday, but Dar & I both decided that a good storm like this once a week would absolutely be Heaven!

The third point of this post was to get up some straggler pictures from the last few weeks of our summer vacation that didn't make it on our blog yet.

My niece, Hannah's, 3rd birthday party:

The birthday Princess, Hannah

I had to post this picture of Liam. Can you believe how big he's gotten??

At one point she had to crawl inside this bag to get her present out, but our camera was too slow to get the shot.

Hannah with the fuzzy green purse Dar & I got for her.

A cool flashlight from Gramps & Nanny

My favorite picture of the b-day girl. Leftover-ice-cream-face and all :)

Having Dad help her with her new fishing pole from Gramps & Nanny.

New & Old Friends (i.e. Misc. Pictures):

My parents got a new puppy named Roxy. We love playing with her!!! She's so much fun!

She's just the cutest little thing!

My beautiful kitty, Raz, who can't live with us because our apartment complex won't let us have pets :(

Reagan--Wouldn't this be a great shot for a Tostitos Tortilla Chip add?

Dar's first day of school. I couldn't resist taking a picture. It's tradition, isn't it?

It's a sad day.

I know I already published a post today, but something has happened since then that needs to be marked in the history of the Luckily Got Lucky blog. As part of the center pieces for our wedding just over 3 years ago, Darwin really wanted beta fish in the bowls that the floating candles were going in, so we purchased 8 of them. 4 red and 4 blue. Following our reception, we gave 4 of them away and we ended up with 4 of them: 2 red and 2 blue. At one point Darwin named the 4 we got, although I could never remember which one was which, and now I can't even remember what some of the names were. Those fish were his babies :) It was so cute because he'd come home from work or school and talk to them as he fed them or as he changed the water in their bowls. (It was his job because he's the one that wanted them in the first place.) Well, today marks the final day of our final fish. We lost our first two shortly after our 2nd anniversary--and we were surprised that they were all living so long at that point! Then, just a few months ago, probably in March or April, we lost the 3rd one. The 4th and last one (a blue one) has hung on and entertained us with his funky swimming styles. Many times we'd look over and he'd be swimming on his side, or just chilling in the water vertically with his nose pointing out of the water. He'd also get super excited when he saw us by his bowl and start swimming all over the place because he knew it was probably time to be fed. Such a funny little fish. Sadly, just a few minutes ago, I looked in his bowl, and our last little fishey has swum his last swim. I felt I needed to mark this day because we've managed to keep at least one of our beta fish alive for over 3 years!! As far as I can tell, that's a LONG time to keep a beta fish alive. Also, as far as we are aware, this is the last of the 8 fish to leave us, so we are quite proud of the lengthy lives of all our beta fish.

Back in the groove of things, and a little overwhelmed!

It finally happened! (No, I'm still not pregnant. Sorry guys. Hehe.) I started school again yesterday after a 4 month break. Yes, I know, I was spoiled rotten for having so much time off, and I took full advantage to enjoy it to the best of my ability. But, sadly, summer vacation can't last forever, right? I was really glad and fortunate to work out my schedule so I only have to go to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (and I get out earlier on Friday's, Yay!) but the reason I did it that way is so I can stay home and work on homework on Tuesday's and Thursday's. I am absolutely, 100%, a full time student. I decided to take 16 credits this fall, which really didn't seem like a big deal to me because of my fun, successful spring semester, and I was taking 15 credits. Unfortunately, after going to all of my classes yesterday I think I may have dug myself into a hole. Aaarrgghh! My classes are definitely more difficult this semester than they were last semester, but I'm looking forward to the challenge, I guess. :) It's nice to think that when the next 15 weeks are over, I'll finally be done with my associates degree!! At Last!! I guess the purpose of this post is to warn you about future posts that might be coming as I get my frustration out over my school work. Hopefully I can take this semester and nip it in the bud!! Wish me luck!!

Woo Hoo!!

First of all, Darwin is back at school, and today is his first day with students. Hopefully all goes well. But my feelings about him being at school is not the reflection I was trying to portray with the title of this post. I'm actually pretty bummed that it's time for school again. I just want summer to go on and on so we can keep playing :)

The reason I felt like giving out a "Woo Hoo" is because this morning after I dropped Darwin off at his carpooling spot, I heard on the radio that director Tim Burton is coming out with a new version of Alice in Wonderland!! Woo Hoo!!! Darwin and I are HUGE Tim Burton fans, so a new movie of his is totally exciting for us! And, what makes it even better is that he's teaming up with Johnny Depp again (I believe). According to the radio station, Johnny Depp will be playing the Mad Hatter.

The only thing is that I have to keep my fingers crossed that the rating of this movie will be permissable for Darwin and I to go see it. I was totally stoked when Sweeney Todd was coming out and then completely disappointed when I found out it was rated R. According to the Rotten Tomatoes website this Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland is supposed to be associated with Disney, and apparently in 3-D, like the Nightmare Before Christmas (one of our VERY favorites) and the Corpse Bride. But a few other websites don't confirm that information. Alice in Wonderland is set for release in theaters on March 5, 2010, so we have a while to wait for it. Bummer. I'm a little torn between whether I want it in 3-D or with live people. The websites I visited don't seem to agree on information, so I believe maybe it's still up in the air? I would LOVE to see Johnny Depp play the Mad Hatter in person, but I've been wanting Tim Burton to make another 3-D animated movie as well. I'm sure not all of you are as excited about this as I am. Most people we run into aren't Tim Burton fans, but that's okay. We still love you :)

The Proper Portion

So, for the last little while Darwin & I have been trying to cut down on the amount of food we consume in an attempt to eat proper portion sizes (and lose some weight in the process). We've also been trying to cut back on sweets and eat healthier foods in an attempt to just be healthier. Imagine that :) We've been doing fairly well so far.

Last night at dinner, however, I freaked Darwin out a little bit. He was helping me make tacos for dinner so we could eat before I had to go Visiting Teaching. He was grating cheese and cutting up the veggies. I was cooking the meat & working on getting corn-on-the-cob in a pot of boiling water. As we were cooking we were just chatting it up, as usual, until he looked in the pot the corn was going in and saw only 1 corn-on-the-cob in the pot. He got a little nervous about it and asked me, "Do we have to share a corn? Talk about taking our diet to an extreme!!" Hahahaha! I just busted up laughing! It was soo hilarious to me! I guess he didn't realize that it either takes 4 hands, or two people to shuck 2 corn at one time. But, because I only have 2 hands, was only able to shuck 1 corn at a time and had just barely put the first corn in the pot. Once I gained some composure I was able to explain that simple concept to him, and we were able to enjoy our dinner, each with our own whole corn-on-the-cob. :) You're such a cutie, Dar! I love you!

Comforting words from a Prophet of God

I fell in love with the Ensign magazine last fall when I started reading it cover to cover while waiting for the bus on my way to school. I'm sorry it took me so long to decide to read it all the way through because now I can't get enough of it! So far I have read every issue since I made the decision to read them, but the General Conference issue takes me a little longer, so I'm still working on it. I absolutely love reading the messages that were given to us during Conference, and it's been great to read the talks from the Priesthood session because obviously I was unable to attend :) Some great words were given to the men at that session. General Conference always gives me a renewed determination to be so much better than I am, so reading the words again is a double bonus.

President Monson's talk from the Priesthood session was awesome! It is completely uplifting, and cheerful because of his great sense of humor. Sometimes I feel like I never want to have kids because of all the bad things in this world, but thanks to the encouraging words from our amazing Church leaders, it gives me hope and courage to press forward and to take on any task this world can throw at me. I want to share with you something President Monson said in his talk to the Priesthood brethren about becoming more like our Savior:

"To the sophistry of Satan, Jesus turned his back. To the duty designated by His Father, He turned His face, pledged His heart, and gave His life. And what a sinless, selfless, noble, and divine life it was. Jesus labored. Jesus loved. Jesus served. Jesus testified. What finer example could we strive to emulate? Let us begin now, this very night, to do so. Cast off forever will be the old self and with it defeat, despair, doubt, and disbelief. To a newness of life we come--a life of faith, hope, courage, and joy. No task looms too large; no responsibility weighs too heavily; no duty is a burden. All things become possible."

President Monson's words made me realize how far from perfect I am, but I was also reminded that if we are continually trying to do the things our Savior has asked us to do, He will always be there to help us and to lift us up when we need His help. I read something else that was comforting as well, although I can't find the reference in the Ensign at the moment. It was a reminder that as we continually strive to do what's right and to keep the commandments of God, Satan has a more difficult time tempting us because we are closer to the Savior and His spirit. When we have the Spirit with us, Satan cannot be there too.

Then President Monson said something else that was encouraging and hopeful about the world that we currently live in:

"We are waging a war with sin, my brothers and sisters, but we need not despair. It is a war we can and will win. Our Father in Heaven has given us the tools we need in order to do so. He is at the helm. We have nothing to fear. He is the God of light. He is the God of hope. I testify that He loves us--each one."

These are all things I have heard before from our leaders, but it is wonderful to hear them again and be reminded that if we are with the Savior, we are on the winning side. I hope that we will all try to be more kind to those around us, and become a little more selfless and we go through this test we call life.