Lately...

A little update:

1. I have been using this beauty. I have cooked almost every night. For those of you who don't know, it's a big deal for me to cook. I only know how to cook about five meals, I learned how to cook all of these meals on my mission. Let's just say I am not the best of cooks.

I love this candy apple red KitchenAid. She works like a charm.

2. There was a huge snow storm on Tuesday. The roads were/are plowed horribly. I got stuck, I almost had a breakdown because I didn't know whom to call. Mitch was at work and we are a one car family. Luckily the Honda pulled through like champ.

3. On Thursday, Mitch and I went and saw the play, "The Christmas Carol". It was at a barn out in the country. In the picture you can see Mr. Scrooge, who was so fabulous, and Santa. That man really looks like Santa, don't you think? I think it really might be him.

4. On Friday, while I was stopped at a stop light, someone hit our car. They hit me so hard my glasses flew off. No one got hurt, but the Honda has to go to the shop and get fixed.

5. We also went to our ward party on Friday, we made friends. I know this sounds pathetic, but let me remind you, we know NO one out here. My closest friend is in Lincoln, Nebraska, four hours away. It was the most excited I have ever been to go to a ward party.

6. Our furnace also broke on Friday. Our house was in the 40's. Thank goodness we have an awesome landlord who fixed our furnace this morning.

7. We went to an NFL football game this weekend. The Vikings vs. the Bangels. Mitch's friend plays for the Bangels and got us free tickets. Pictures are shown below. We had a fabulous time.

We come on Thursday!
I can't wait to see our beloved families,
cherished friends,
beautiful mountains
and pure, white, puffy snow!

Loves,

Sj

-7 degrees

My iphone says it's -7 degrees outside, awesome.

The high is supposed to be 4 degrees.

Welcome to Minnesota.

Go Jazz.

Last night Mitch and I went to the Jazz game against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. It's just a short drive, so we thought we would support the Jazz. (Mitch LOVES the Jazz almost more than anything!)

Too bad they lost.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Mitch and I decorated our tree on Friday night, isn't the tree a beauty?

Happy December.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I am especially thankful for Mitch!
I am also thankful for..
my family,
my friends,
my faith,
my people in Lithuania
and my life.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Loves,

SJ

Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry

I met Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, winner of the Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, on Wednesday and had the opportunity to spend about an hour with him and some legislators. (He started his research at the University of Utah.) I was highly inspired by his love for learning and life.

Watch his video here.

Mason Jennings.

Mason Jennings played in Salt Lake this weekend.

It was amazing.

His voice is awesome.

And I went with Andi and Ashley.

What a great weekend.

And oh, Mitch comes home on Wednesday.

Jake.

That's right. My little brother Jake is home from his mission in Ghana and my family could not be more excited. Welcome home! I love you.

The Pioneer Woman

The is Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.

Yes, I am obsessed with her.

She is the creator of this blog.

You should read it, her love story is amazing.

(Please make fun of me.)

Her cookbook is also on the New York Times Bestseller List.

She came to Utah to do a book signing.

I saw her and loved every moment.

Sarah and I ran into Emily & Andrea.

What a great night.

*Thanks to Andrea for the pictures.

Grand Canyon

We hiked the Grand Canyon from rim to rim two weeks ago and stayed at Jacob Lake.

We had 16 people in our group. It was fabulous!

The Time Traveler's Wife

I saw this move last night with two of my

most favorite people {Andi & Sarah}.

I loved it.

The movie was romantic.

The movie is about love.

It makes me excited to get married.

Happy Tuesday.

a n d i

Welcome Home Andi.

You have been missed.

Mitch.

Happy weekend to us.

Chasing Pavement...

This is me...don't I look awesome? Hah. Rach, Ash, and I ran the St. George Marathon this past weekend. I loved every second of the race. One of my favorite parts of running races is the first 5 minutes. If you take out your earphones and listen to all the feet hitting the pavement, you will hear beauty. (thanks to cj)

Please look at my face in this picture...it makes me laugh.

Happy weekend.

Mitch is home, time to celebrate.

s l o w d a y . . .

there is something so slow about this day....perhaps i got 8 hours of sleep last night, which is about 2.15 more than usual and my body doesn't know what to do with all the extra energy....perhaps i have been sick for a week and i want more than anything for this blasted cold/cough/headache to go away because in less than 48 hours is the marathon...perhaps i just miss mitch too much.

whatever it is...hopefully it won't last for too long.

happy first day of October...

Minnesota

Two weeks ago Mitch and I drove to our new home in Minnesota.

On the way we stopped to see these two in Nebraska. I miss them so much,

I can't wait to be only five hours away from them!

Welcome to Minnesota!

I am not exactly sure what this is, perhaps a water tower?

This is a picture of the city-center. It really is much cooler than it looks. Mitch is still in Minnesota, I miss him so much.

This picture is not from Minnesota...

but I still wanted to post it, because I miss Mitch.

Mitch gave me these flowers when we got engaged. They are beautiful.

Did I mention I miss Mitch?

I

vote..

we as Americans are lucky.

why?

because all races and genders can vote.

tomorrow is primary election day for city council and some smaller mayor races.

you should vote.

that way your voice can be heard.

and even if your candidate doesn't win, you can still voice your opinion, because you voted.

i love America.

i love to vote.

and i love all of you.

goodnight.

love.

sj

slow..slow..slow

today is slow.

why?

probably because i am going to minnesota with mitch today to find our new home.

we are driving.

he starts his new job next week

which means we will be apart.

sad.

we can't leave until 5:00 p.m., which really means 6:00 p.m.

tomorrow i will see the one and only lara, whom i love.

she live in nebraska...

she says there is corn everywhere...

i love corn &

i love lara=

i will probably love nebraska

i am scared to see minnesota.

i have no idea what it is like.

i am sure that it will be glorious.

love.

sj.

The Debate Goes On....

"Yes, American health care is an appallingly patched-together ship, with rotting timbers, water leaking in, mercenaries on board and 15% (47 million) of the passengers thrown over the rails just to keep it afloat. But hundreds of millions of people depend on it. The system provides more than 35 million hospital stays a year, 64 million surgical procedures, 900 million office visits, 3.5 billion prescriptions. It represents a 6th of our economy. There is no dry-docking health care for a few months, or even for an afternoon, while we rebuild it. Grand plans admit no possibility of mistakes or failures, or the chance to learn from them. If we get things wrong, people will die. This doesn't mean that ambitious reform is beyond us. But we have to start with what we have."

-Atul Guwande
"Getting There from Here," The New Yorker

I am engaged!!

Soon to married!!

I am marrying Mitch..

We are excited.

Loves.

SJ.

Missing

This is what I miss today...

The little girl that I am holding in the picture was in love with me. I had a dance-off with her older sister, who was five at the time. I did the splits and they were amazed, probably because I was slightly over-weight. During our dance-off I got a leg-cramp trying to do a backwards bend. They all laughed. I couldn't move for at least a minute or two. The mom, woman in pink, was my favorite member in Kaunas, I ate a lot of food with her. She would always let us in when we had a cake in our hands. I laughed and laughed with her. I miss her.

The picture where I look awesome in the blue shirt (I loved that shirt) is with my companion Sister Janiec, we had a good time. She thought I was crazy. We almost got attacked by a bee the size of a golf ball, seriously. Sister Janiec broke the dresser she was so scared of the bee. I tried everything to kill that bee, I think I finally hit it was a Dansko and it died. Sister Janiec saw me in the best and worst of my mission, she was my last companion. I was more afraid than anything to go home, I kept on telling myself it was never going to actually happen. She sat up with me the last night of my mission and helped me realize it was all going to be alright. Lily & Fred (story for another day) were our greatest source of entertainment during our companionship.

The picture with the umbrella is with Sister Robbins, we were companions for six months. I love her, I am pretty sure God knew we had to be companions. We saw more miracles than I have ever experienced in my life. We essentially were each other's first companions. We were little, actually getting fatter by the day, sisters stuck in a big city. We found out what it really meant to love others. We laughed every day, Sister Robbins peed her pants about a billion times, seriously. She even peed her pants in my shoes...gross. It rained a lot, we liked the rain. In fact one time, Sister Robbins was laughing so hard over a puddle of rain that she peed right there in her skirt in the rain. Needless to say we were late for an appointment, we went anyway...sick. That black sweater I am wearing was a handy-down from 500 other missionaries, it was gross and awesome all at the same time. I think only sister missionaries can understand the beauty of handy-down clothes. Even though they are usually ugly, they seem to fit like a glove. Sister Robbins had to go home early and I remember the day she left the Baltics, it rained so hard. It was February and I was positive that the entire world was crying for me. I walked away on a cobble stone street in Klaipeda, I probably tripped because of my shoes, and I turned around and she drove away. I was sad.

I miss my mission, I want to go back, I was just there, I think that the people in my mission used to need me more than I needed them and now I need them more than they need me.

Goodnight.

Love,

SJ

Happy Wednesday...

Diet Coke vs. Diet Pepsi.

For most of my life I have been against drinking carbonation, except on Christmas and holidays.

When I was younger, there was a notion put into my head that carbonation will make you a slower runner or make you fat. Which is probably true, but just those two ideas made my desire to drink carbonation completely stop. I went years without drinking carbonation.

Well since I have become older, I am so old – 25 to be exact, I have succumbed to drinking Diet Coke here and there. This habit started about a year ago when I started working 40 hours a week. (In all honesty there was a little bit of Diet Coke drinking on my mission, mostly to battle the days of complete exhaustion.) I was still, and still am, struggling to find time to have a perfect social life, career that is moving forward, free time to exercise, dating and casually reading on the side. With all this and staying awake in meetings which start sometimes at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, Diet Coke was my only answer. (This is so ridiculous) I was faced and still am faced with the choice between coffee, water, and Diet Coke. Well since coffee is an automatic no and water is there for me to drink the rest of the day, of course I choose Diet Coke. This started being a “once a week” habit and slowly moved into a Monday – Friday habit. Currently I am down to about two a week. However last week when I ran 14.5 miles with my friend Molly, the only thing I wanted when I finished running was Diet Coke. I stopped at my Grandma’s one the way home and took one from her fridge downstairs.

I am ashamed to admit this, call me vain, I don’t care. But I hate that I feel like I need a Diet Coke to stay awake, however I do pay much more attention during meetings when Diet Coke is involved.

Back to my title, “Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi”. I have a preconceived notion about Diet Pepsi. I associate Diet Pepsi with people that drink soda or pop all the time. And I don’t want to be considered one of these people, not like “these people” are bad. I have lots of friends that love Diet Coke, one of my best friends who is currently residing in Lincoln, Nebraska loves Diet Coke. In fact, she informed me just the other day, that cans of Diet Coke are cheaper in Nebraska. Who would have thought? I don’t where this notion came from or exactly why I have it, but I can’t force myself to drink any form of Pepsi, not like I really need to. I think part of me is afraid of the taste, is that possible?

So, where did all this come from…there are 12 Diet Pepsi’s in my fridge and not one Diet Coke.

Are you a Diet Coke drinker?

Europe.

I have been promising to put up pictures from Europe for the last month. For one reason or another I have delayed. So, to all my loyal readers/lookers, I know there are very few of you, here you are. I have debated back and forth in my mind how to present the trip. It was incredible. I went with Rach and we met amazing people.

Here are some of the people we met...

Lithuania

These are most of the girls from the Vilnius Branch.

(Jolita, Sarah, Aleksandra, Kristinia, Marinia, an old Elder, and Sandora)

This is Alinia, she is one of my MOST favorite little girls in Lithuania.

Did I mention it rained the entire time we were in the country?

This is Giedre, she is very important to me.

I met her about 8 months into my mission and we have been very good friends since then.

We are standing on top of one of the highest points in Vilnius.

This is Lucy and Maggie. They are from China. Lucy makes the best Chinese food I have EVER had. Maggie is afraid of the camera and Lucy has the strongest faith I have ever seen.

These are the girls from Klaipeda. This is a picture of Anna's wedding shower. Anna was my companion, she is native to Latvia. I picked her up from the mission home exactly one year after my mission started. She was a brand new missionary and the first thing she did was correct a grammar mistake. She is the one who really taught me how to speak Lithuania. She moved to Ireland with her husband. I love her. (Anna, Sarah, Vika, and Little Dovile)

This is Edita's mom. Edita lived with my family when she came to America before she got married. Edita's mom was so king to let us stay with her.

This is Dima and Natasha's family!! They are truly amazing. When I began my mission Dima and Natasha had their first little girl, Nikole . She is now 3 and crazy!! They had Sophie about a year ago. Rachel thought she looked just like a cupid. We spend a night with them, it was crazy and fun. Nikole cried when we left. Nikole also ate more than Rachel and me, which is pretty incredible. (Rachel, Sarah, Dima, Nikole, Natasha, & Sophie)

This is Saules and Marinia. I love them. When I was on my mission, Marinia never failed to inform me that I was gaining a little weight. She also taught Jenna and me some hilarious stomach exercises. We could never get through the exercises because we were always laughing too hard. Their daughter Emma, in the picture, was born on my mission. I can't believe how big she is. (Saules, Marinia, Emma, & Sarah)

This is Nijole and her husband. I worked with Nijole my entire mission. She fed me a lot on my mission, a lot. Rachel and I had lunch with Nijole and her husband. We ate for three hours straight. It was great, we were so full we could barely walk away.

Germany

This is Diana, Mitch's cousin. Rachel and I stayed with her in Munich.

Rachel and I went with Christian and his cousin Andrew to a bonfire to celebrate the summer solstice. Christian went to SUU to receive his Master's degree. Christian is from a little city right on the border of Germany and Austria. This was my favorite night of the trip. More details to follow..

Rachel, Christian, and I lit wax candles, walked up a hill, and lit a bonfire with 20 little kids.

It was awesome.

While at the bonfire, we met these nice German men. They were drunk and shocked that Mormons were there. They were also puzzled as to why we didn't drink. On the night of the bonfire, Christian told Rachel and me that he has never seen two girls eat so much food. Should we take that as a compliment? I think so.

Greece

This picture was taken in Athens in front of the Parthenon. These are our (Rachel and my) friends, Lilly and Matt. We met them in the airport in Naples. We were stuck in Naples for a billion hours, our flight was delayed for way too long. Good thing we met Lilly and Matt. They got engaged in Paris a few weeks before coming to Greece. We spent two days with them, they loved us.

I don't know this lady's name. But Rachel met her at church in Greece. She is from Philippians and Rachel was able to speak Tagalog with her. I thought it would only be fair to put one picture up of Rachel with one of her people.

This is us with the sister missionaries in Greece.

Austria

Rachel and I met some of these girls at the temple in Frankfurt. They were so nice to let us stay with them in Vienna. They live in Vienna and took Rachel and me on an incredible tour of the city.

(Sarah, Rachel, Ester, Lillian, Ester, and Margaret)

More to come...

Jodi & Tyler

These two love birds are tying the knot.

I have known Jodi since I was eight. We danced together at Salt Lake Dance Center and lost contact for a little while. It just so happened that we were reunited again in the MTC when we became solo sister companions. Ever since then we have been the best of friends.

This picture perfectly portrays how happy Tyler makes Jodi. I can't wait for them to be married.

Congratulations!

"500 Days of Summer"

saw the movie, loved the movie. go see the movie.

Happy Friday...

Cait & Nate

This crazy guy, Nate, asked one of my best friends, Caitlin to marry him in Lake Powell a couple of weeks ago. She was waterskiing and he held up a sign that said, "Will you marry me?" She said yes...the rest is history.

Congrats. I love you guys!

Bryce..

I am off to Bryce Canyon, haven't been there in six years. I can hardly wait to see the beauty and experience the heat.

Have a fabulous weekend.

loves,

sj

Health Care...

I have been meaning to post pictures from my trip, but they wouldn't upload on my computer...so instead you get this..... ha ha!

Enjoy!

And I promise pictures will come soon, oh so soon!

House Health Care Plan Would Boost Taxes on Rich
NYTimes, 7/14/2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats on Tuesday rolled out an ambitious $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans, with Medical providers, employers and the wealthiest picking up most of the tab.

The federal government would be responsible for ensuring that every person, regardless of income or the state of their health, has access to an affordable insurance plan. Individuals and employers would have new obligations to get coverage, or face hefty penalties.

Health care overhaul is President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, and his goal is to slow rising costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.

The plan would slow Medicare and Medicaid payments to medical providers. From big hospitals to solo physician practices, providers also would be held to account for quality care, not just ordering up tests and procedures. Insurance companies would be prohibited from denying coverage to the sick. The industry also would face stiff competition from a new government plan designed along the lines of Medicare.

The liberal-leaning plan lacked figures on total costs, but a House Democratic aide said the total bill would add up to about $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private calculations.

The legislation calls for a 5.4 percent tax increase on individuals making more than $1 million a year, with a gradual tax beginning at $280,000 for individuals. Employers who don't provide coverage would be hit with a penalty equal to 8 percent of workers' wages with an exemption for small businesses. Individuals who decline an offer of affordable coverage would pay 2.5 percent of their incomes as a penalty, up to the average cost of a health insurance plan.

With Obama pressing Congress to act on health care this summer, House leaders want to move their bill quickly through three committees and to a floor vote before the August congressional recess. But a group of moderate and conservative Democrats has withheld support, and no Republican votes are expected. The House bill seemed unlikely to win broad backing in the Senate.

Standing before a banner that read ''Quality Affordable Care for the Middle Class,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the moment ''historic and transformative.'' The bill would provide ''stability and peace of mind'' by braking costs and guaranteeing coverage, she said.
''We are going to accomplish what many people felt wouldn't happen in our lifetime,'' said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., one of the main sponsors. Obama issued a statement hailing the measure.

Democrats said the income tax increase would apply only to the top 1.2 percent of households, those who earn about one-quarter of all income. The wealthiest 4 percent of small business owners would be among them. The tax would start at 1 percent for couples making $350,000 and individuals earning $280,000, ramp up to 1.5 percent above $500,000 of income, and jump to 5.4 percent for those earning above $1 million.

The tax would raise an estimated $544 billion over 10 years.

Business groups and the insurance industry immediately assailed the legislation. In a letter to lawmakers, major business organizations branded the 1,000-page bill a job-killer. Its coverage mandate would automatically raise the cost of hiring a new worker, they said.

''Exempting some micro-businesses will not prevent this provision from killing many jobs,'' the letter said. ''Congress should allow market forces and employer autonomy to determine what benefits employers provide, rather than deciding by fiat.''

The business groups also warned that the U.S. health care system could be damaged by adding a government-run insurance plan and a federal council that would make some decisions on benefits, as called for in the legislation. Thirty-one organizations signed the letter, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable representing top corporate CEOs and the National Retail Federation.

The House bill would change the way individuals and many employers get health insurance. It would set up a new national purchasing pool, called an exchange. The exchange would offer a menu of plans, with different levels of coverage. A government plan would be among the options, and the exchange would eventually be open to most employers. Insurers say that combination would drive many of them out of business since the public plan would be able to offer lower premiums to virtually all Americans.

But backers of a public plan -- including Obama -- say it would provide healthy competition for the insurance industry.

Under the House bill, the government would provide subsidies to make coverage more affordable for households with incomes up to four times the federal poverty level, or $88,000 for a family of four and $43,000 for an individual. Medicaid -- the federal-state health program for the poor -- would be expanded to individuals and families up to 133 percent of the poverty line.

The legislation also would improve the Medicare prescription drug benefit by gradually reducing a coverage gap known as the 'doughnut hole.'

The individual and employer coverage requirements would raise about $200 billion over 10 years, the Democratic aide said.

Even before the bill was unveiled, the House Ways and Means Committee announced it would vote on the proposal beginning on Thursday. The panel is one of three that must act before the bill can go to the full House, probably later in the month.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee slogged toward passage of its version of the bill on what was expected to be a party-line vote. Another panel, the Senate Finance Committee, was striving to unveil a bill by the end of the week. But the outlook in the Senate remained uncertain.

Some House Democrats privately have expressed concern that they will be required to vote on higher taxes, only to learn later that the Senate does not intend to follow through with legislation of its own. That would leave rank-and-file House Democrats up for re-election next year in the uncomfortable position of having to explain their vote on a costly bill that never reached Obama's desk or became law.
------
Associated Press writers David Espo, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report

Elder Andy Simmonds

This is Andy, he is my brother and he is amazing. He is going on his mission to South Africa on June 24, he was supposed to leave in August, but they changed his date. This is me saying goodbye to him. I love him lots and will miss him.

Lietuva

Tomorrow I am going here...this picture was taken June 11, 2007...my last steps in Lithuania...

I am going to see my people. This is Anna, she was my companion and she is one of my people

Su meile.

Not ashamed...

I love twilight, not afraid to admit my addiction.  

found this link tonight....

http://www.twiordie.blogspot.com/

ha ha love it!!! 

goodnight to all.

The Massachusetts Plan

My boss is out of town and I have had some time to catch up on some reading I have been meaning to do around health care. I came across this article today and I was struck so strongly with this story. Enjoy.

(*On July 1, 2007, the state if Massachusetts began offering an online choice of four private insurance plans for people without health coverage. The cost is zero for the poor; for the rest, it is limited to no more than about eight per cent of income. If you were not insured you will be penalized. The state has 97.4% of their population insured.)

An extract from an article in The New Yorker Magazine, January 12, 2008

“Getting there from here”
How should Obama reform health care?

By Atul Gawande

“I am among the state’s majority that would not go back to the old system of health care in Massachusetts. For years, about one in ten of my patients – I specialize in cancer surgery – had no insurance. Even though I’d waive my fee, they struggled to pay for their tests, medications, and hospital stay.

“I once took care of a nineteen-year-old college student who had maxed out her insurance coverage. She had a treatable but metastatic cancer. But neither she nor her parents could afford the radiation therapy that she required. I made calls to find state programs, charities – anything that could help her – to no avail. She put off the treatment for almost a year because she didn’t want to force her parents to take out a second mortgage on their home. But eventually they had to choose between their daughter and their life’s savings.

“For the past year, I haven’t’ had a single Massachusetts patient who has had to ask how much the necessary tests will cost; not one who has told me he needed to put off his cancer operation until he found a job that provided insurance coverage. And that’s a remarkable change; a glimpse of American health care without the routine cruelty. “

F A C T S about H E A L T H C A R E

This is what I learned at work so far today:

Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, the inception of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997, the expansion of prescription drug coverage for seniors in 2003.

Democratic Members and staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – along with our colleagues at the Senate Finance Committee, the House of Representatives and the Administration – have been laying groundwork and preparing legislation to reform the U. S. health care system.

About 200 million Americans obtain health insurance today through their employers and the private health insurance market. About 80 million Americans get their coverage through federal and state health programs, chiefly Medicare and Medicaid.

Nearly 50 million Americans now lack health insurance, and tens of millions more hold policies – such as many sold in the individual market – that provide little real protection in the event of serious injury or illness.

To establish this new set of protections and assistance, citizens also need to play an important role. Any health insurance system, public or private, can’t workable and is more expensive if consumers wait until they get sick before signing up. That’s why national health reform requires that everyone who can afford to must sign up for coverage.

Ten million Americans need long-term services – personal care, assertive technology and other supportive services – a number that will increase to 26 million by 2050.

Are you covered?

Happy Birthday Dad..

It was my Dad's Birthday a couple of weeks ago...

Happy Birthday...I love you!!