Nuestra Casa

Here are some pictures of our new home!

The walkway up to our house

Our yard

Welcome to our Home!

Our front hallway

Living Room

THE MONSTER SAK!!!

Home Office which is actually a walk-in closet

Finally a pantry! No more using an old freezer that's unplugged! :)

Cute mail-holder and door to right is divider between our house and the upstairs neighbors

Hallway

Bathroom...

...with His and Hers sinks

Our funky colored kitchen that I just love!

The whole "dishwasher thing" had me sold in a second

Having a huge window in the kitchen is so nice!

Bedroom

BABIES

For spring semester I took a class on Infant Development. It have been very interesting and I have learned different things about babies. But it is this little video clip that was my favorite part of the whole class;





After watching this how can you not smile?

This picture makes me smile the most though. I cannot wait to have little boys that are as cute as their Daddy was (and still is)!

How to Shrink a Thyroid

I went to the doctor last week to do "the check" on my thyroid. As I mentioned in past posts, they found a couple of cysts in/on my thyroid and wanted to rule out the possibility that they were cancerous. So I was sent to the endocrinologist, got an ultrasound, and assured that everything was alright. I just have an elarged thyroid with a lot of benign cysts and nothing greater. Thank goodness! In an attempt to shrink the cysts though the doctor has put me on a medication that resembles an arrowhead (seriously, it is the weirdest looking pill ever...haha) in attempt to shrink my thyroid and the cysts. Let's hope it works! :)

-The Aggens
P.S. We are moved into our new place-pictures to be posted soon!

Get Outta Provo

It started only a couple of months ago. My darling husband had found a jar with a couple of coins left over from his mission in Argentina and an idea was born. We were going to use this jar to put our spare change that was left in our wallets at the end of the week into this jar. The rules were simple. Nothing larger than a $5 bill, there was to be no breaking up of larger bills in order to be able to put more money in, and you could only put change in at the end of the week. We decided we would call this our "Get Outta Provo Fund" because as much as we love being in Provo, sometimes a couple just needs to escape the "bubble" and explore other places.

Donations are also gladly accepted in our house... haha :)

Since my best friend Kylea was getting married to Casey Knecht in St. George on May 15, we decided that we would use our growing fund to go down there. In total, we had $68.77, which wasn't too bad considering we were just making a day trip.

And so began our day long adventure this past Saturday. We woke up at around 7am and headed out the door at around 8am. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and we had some pit stops along the way. We ended up stopping in Beaver UT on the way down as Alex had been told that they had a cheese factory and wanted to see if they did tours. Turns out the cheese factory doesn't even run on Saturdays, let alone give tours. Slightly disappointed, Alex and I still got to experience some of the cheese factory wonder as we bought cheese curds and a child's size scoop of macadamia nut ice cream (unfortunately due to my new diet suggestions I could only indulge in this treat to a minimum). We headed back on the road and continued our drive to St. George.
We creatively experimented with fun games to pass the time. One of the most amusing was pretending that there was a glass wall between us and in order to talk to one another we had to press a pretend button on the car door, make the corresponding sound, and talk to one another in preferably a "trucker" voice. It was quite fun!

This picture is specifically for my family. It is the local grocery store in Beaver, UT called "Mike's". That is a completely different story, and if you want to know more contact Momma Joc. Enjoy the memories Sheen Family!

We arrived in St. George about a half an hour before the wedding was scheduled. Alex and I meandered through the Visitor's Center on the Temple Grounds. We watched one of the short videos they have there. It is by far my favorite. They ask young children to describe different aspects of the Gospel and their answers are just so simple, true, and CUTE! We then went into the Temple for the wedding, which was so beautiful. Kylea and Casey were married by Kylea's great-grandfather, and he was just the sweetest man ever! It was such a great experience to see my best friend and her now husband being married for time and for all eternity.

This is the cute couple once the ceremony was done

The St. George Temple is absolutely gorgeous!

This is me with the glowing bride. I think I look a bit retarded, but Kylea looks GORGEOUS!

Alex and I decided to take a photo-op. I love the flowers on the Temple Grounds!

Since we were only making a day trip, we decided to opt out of the reception that was going to be held later that night in Logandale NV, and instead go out to a late lunch in St. George and then make the trek home. Alex had been asking around at his work places about good places to eat in St. George and surprised me with a restaurant that was definitely worth going to-Basila's Mediterranean Cafe. The atmosphere was great, the service was fast (seriously, our food came out 5 minutes after we had ordered), and the food was DIVINE.

Alex ordered a spicy chicken salad, and the carrots in the salad were huge as seen in the picture above.

I had the Gyro in the above picture and it was delicious. It had a cucumber dressing that was sooooo goooood.

As we were leaving St. George and about to exit onto the freeway, my husband noted an Outlet Mall to our right. Of course, being the bargain hunter that I am, we just had to go! So we pulled back around and went to take a gander. The only things that we bought were a shirt for Alex and a sweater for myself. Overall, the mall was quite a disappointment, and I wouldn't even consider it to be a "true" outlet mall. Everything was pretty darn close to normal price, and sales were to a minimum. So, we headed out of St. George (this time with no turn-arounds) and made our way back to Provo. I would love to say that the ride home was uneventful, but that proved not to be true.

Note our smiling faces. This is before we knew what was in store for us...

St. George is gorgeous by the way, and we just had to pull over and take some pictures!

This is me smiling. Before "the event" happened.

So, you all must be wondering what exactly happened on our way home. It was quite an adventure. We had decided that on the way home we would once again stop in Beaver UT, this time for gas, as they had a Shell station and we had an unused gift card for there that we had received in the mail from our health insurance. So, we stopped at this Shell station, loaded up on gas, treats, and Burger King, and then made our way back to our car where we were greeted by one of the guys that worked at the mechanics shop just adjacent to the gas station. As we approached he said to us, in a Southern Utah accent, "Y'all know that yer tires are worn down so much that they probably gonna blow pretty soon?" Alex and I, both confused and unsure, replied in the negative. He then proceeded to tell us that he could get our car up on the lift and take a look at the tires, absolutely no charge for us. We decided that if it was free that there would be no harm to just look and see the condition of the tires. Plus, these guys were just standing around and looking for something to do, so no harm done right? Wrong. As we got our car hoisted up on the lift, sure enough in small writing our front tires read "Replace Tire Immediately." Alex questioned the workers if we would be okay until we got to Provo to replace the tires, and the workers shook their heads and said that we should replace them right now. So as our mechanic, whose name was Mason but his shirt read Adam, went to the back to look for tires for us, Alex called his mom to see if she could dig up some knowledge about the price of tires at places like Costco so we could try and barter if needed. Turned out these mechanics would do both front tires for around $230 (including labor, balancing, etc), around the same price as somewhere like Costco, and we agreed and then sat down to wait. Mason/Adam came to see us about 5 minutes later and posed a situation in which he would do all 4 tires for $500 (also including labor, balancing, etc), so that way "they'd be all the same." As I silently hyperventilated, Alex took control and got Mason/Adam down to $450 which still wasn't the best, but at least it was $50 cheaper. As Mason/Adam went back to work, I thought to myself "That is a huge dent in our 'Get Outta Provo Fund'. Shooooooot." But to look at it in a positive sense, this event may have been a blessing in disguise. If the mechanics had not decided to tell us about our tires we may have been 50 miles down the road with a blown tire. So all this was worth it, right? :)
By the time Mason/Adam was done it was 8:30pm. He handed us our warranty papers and told us that if "y'all ever back down here in Beaver, we'll do a tire rotation fer y'all fer free." Who knows-maybe it will become our family tradition to go down to Beaver UT and get our tires rotated! We continued to drive back home to Provo with a new set of tires, rocking out to good 'ol Celine Dion songs, among others. As we pulled into our driveway at 10:30pm with "It Feels Like Home to Me" blasting, we were tired and ready for bed. Both of us fell asleep right away that night, exhausted from our long day's adventures. It will be interesting to see what adventures are ahead of us with our next "Get Outta Provo" escapade, but that probably won't be for a while since the fund is clearly drained. :)

Love,
The Aggens

PS-I just got a call from the Cannon Center, and I got a job there! YESSS!
PPS. Our new favorite family entity is homemade chocolate covered pretzels-so good. In fact, I am munching on some right now...

Neglect, an Apology, and a Much Needed Post

Dear Aggen Family Blog,
I know that we have not been on the best of terms lately, seeing how I have been neglecting you, yet still have the time to read other blogs on crafts, friends, etc. I could see how you might be getting jealous and wanting to be updated as well and so brings me to the purpose of this letter. Don't think that I have forgotten you my dear confidante. While a busy life is no excuse for a lack of posts, I must explain life's situations for you to fully understand why it may cause me to be reluctant and strained for writing.
Since we last blogged, I was in the midst of uncertainty in terms of my health, and unfortunately I am still in a similar position. There has been no real progress on my thyroid dilemma, but there is a biopsy scheduled on June 3 for the cysts which is progress. There is also nothing too spectacular to report on my stomach problems, except they referred me to an allergist. There they poked my back with 43 different scratch tests and suggested that maybe I should try to go off all dairy products because it MIGHT be the source of all things stomach related. So, that means no regular/chocolate milk, cheese, or ice cream. You can bet how much I like that considering dairy is a main staple of my diet. Argh!
Since we last chatted something HUGE has happened. I officially became a Permanent Resident of the United States. It is such a great blessing that everything worked out and that it all went smoothly. I am now able to work and drive in the USA, which is quite a relief to both myself and Alex.
School ended since the last update and Alex and I are both busy. Alex is working three jobs. He continues to work for the College of Life Sciences magazine, as well as TA for a psychology class. He also has an internship up at the State Prison in Draper, where he does psychological testing of inmates. As for me, I am attending Spring semester at BYU. I also have a job, although it is only on Saturdays. I am working with a 12 year old girl who is legally blind and has some developmental and speech disabilities, and I am helping her with Occupational Therapy as well as looking after her while her Mom is at work. Finding a job for during the week has been one of the hardest things so far. All employers that have interviewed me have wanted someone throughout the year as well, which is not feasible with my class scheduling in the Nursing program. So, I am still searching and trying my best. Alex is so supportive and has even offered to pick up another job if things get tight. Goodness I love that man! :)
We also have some BIG and EXCITING news! We are going to be moving at the end of the month. While it is only two streets over from where we currently live and is also a basement apartment, I couldn't be much more excited because...IT HAS A DISHWASHER. I will never be more grateful for one in my life, and it will definitely be a blessing when school fully starts up in the Fall again and time seems to be consumed with that. I will make sure to post pictures when the move is complete.
The only downside to moving is that we will be going to a different ward for Church, which is crazy to think considering we are only 2 streets away from our current abode. But, that is what you get when you live in Utah. We will miss our 10 year old Primary class, and I was recently called as the Young Women's Assistant Camp Director and will be sorry to be leaving that.
In terms of our everyday lives, we have definitely had some fun moments. We have been lucky enough to see both sides of our families. My Mom, Dad, and sister Lindsay came down for General Conference and then Gran and Grandpa Sheen have come to our Church meeting as they are still in the MTC waiting for their visas to go to Sweden. We also hiked the Y this past Saturday morning with the Cannon Family and the Cardon's. My favorite line from that adventure was 6 year old Tommy, after he had ran most of the way UP and DOWN the steep path saying as he climbed into the van "Whew! I can hardly wait to sleep all the way home!"
Well, my handsome husband just arrived home from a long day of work at the prison and just informed me that he has come up with a new name for me when I am feeling extra "gangster." Are you ready for it? It is "Tabithug". I think I might just go give him a kiss right now.
I hope you are satisfied with this newest post, and I promise to not be so slow in my next one. Our little family has some exciting plans this weekend involving driving down to St. George for Kylea and Casey's wedding. I will be sure to tell you all the details of our adventure once we get back.
Love, The Aggens

This is Me Following Up

A note before I begin: Please excuse the fool that is in the post below. Obviously she is crazy and the outburst shown on the video is so contrary to who she really is. ;)

Anyways, Alex graciously volunteered me to blog about the recent happenings in our life and boy has it been hectic! Take last week for example. I had 4 midterms, 3 papers, and 4 quizzes. Alex also had a couple of midterms and quizzes, as well as work. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start from what I have not blogged about yet.

I realized that I have not blogged since my birthday, February 23. So I must fill everyone in on the details. I had the most wonderful 20th birthday! I had to take an Anatomy lab midterm, which was a bummer, but overall the day was great. I was done with class that day at 5pm, which is when Alex is done work. He had to finish up some last minute things for a paper and so I scurried home. To my surprise, Alex had gotten one of our friends to set up a cute display of gifts since Alex had been on campus all day. This is what it looked like as I walked into the door;




I just loved the balloons, flowers, chocolates, and the stuffed animal puppy dressed up as a bunny! Too cute. My handsome hubby then spoiled me even more as he had made reservations for the Foundry Grill up at Sundance. The food was DELICIOUS!!! Like heaven in your mouth...seriously. I then went for a little birthday shopping trip and got a skirt and a scarf. I finished off my perfect birthday by watching a crappy teen movie. It was for old times sake, as I am officially no longer in my "teen" years.

The next day I definitely felt old as I had a doctor's appointment scheduled. For the past year I have been having really bad acid reflux and sometimes when I have eat it feels like the food is stuck in my esophagus. To say the least, it isn't a pleasant feeling. My Dad had problems of a similar nature a couple of years back and had to get surgery. So after being fed up with masking the pain by taking medicines, I went to the doctor in search of greater light and knowledge on my condition in the hopes that I could maybe head off this thing in case I were to end up on a surgery bed like my Dad had to do. My answer from the doctor-endoscopy. For those who don't know what endoscopy is, let me share a brief explanation. Basically, they stick a camera down your throat while you are under anesthesia, pump air into your tummy and check how things are doing in there. This procedure lasts about 10minutes, and afterwards you are totally out of it!

I got this procedure done on Thursday, the 25th, and my gracious husband worked his schedule out so he could come pick me up from the hopsital. Unfortunately for him however, that day he had bundled up due to the cold weather and the hospital was fairly warm. A couple of minutes after I came to, he began to feel overheated and fainted! Right in the hopsital! The nurses rushed to his attention, leaving me to die. Not really, but because I had no idea really what was going on due to the sedatives that were still in my system, I thought the nurses had abandoned me. I soon began to realize that something was wrong with my husband and the nurses said he had fainted! Poor guy. However, he soon recovered and they brought him a bed as well. I must say it was quite romantic being next to each other in hopsital beds. haha!

The picture below is what they saw in my esophagus. NOTE: If you get queasy easily, then scroll down really quick as not to see it. While they were poking around in my stomach they saw white plaque buildups and a totally inflamed esophagus, so they took a biopsy to better diagnose. Turns out that I have Eosinophil Esophagitis. This means that I have some sort of reaction to food and eosinophils, which are white blood cells, are trying to respond to the allergen. So I am on some sort of concoction that will help the inflammation go down and then on April 30 I go back to the doctor for a follow-up. They also mentioned that I have a slight hiatus hernia, which is what my Dad has. While it is of no concern now, it could be later on so I have to watch for that.

Here is the icky/cool (depending on your preference) picture of my esophagus;


Also I have been to the doctor for my thyroid, which is a new problem that was noticed by a doctor noting that I had quite a large thyroid. I brought this up to my primary doctor and he said that we should check it out. I got an ultrasound done as well as my blood drawn to check for TSH (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone) levels. From the ultrasound they found that I have 3 cysts, the largest one being 4.8mm. They also discovered that my TSH levels are only 0.02 off from me being considered to have Hyperthyroidism.

So, I just went to the doctor again today and they are referring me to an Endocrinologist. The doctor said that in the thyroid more cysts means that it is less likely that the cysts are cancerous (which is opposite to most other parts of the body where more cysts means concern), but he referred me to an Endocrinologist so that way they can check it out and decide if they want to biopsy the cysts. Also, I got my blood drawn again today to see how my TSH levels are and compare to see if they fluctuate. So I feel old, as my body is beginning to fall apart! Haha not really, and I am truly grateful for all the health that I do have. These are just little roadbumps!

Anyways, enough of depressing subject matter. Let's talk about the fun stuff in life right now!

Alex is amazing and has started volunteering with the Special Olympics program here in Utah. He is on the Administrative committee and goes to meetings every Thursday night. I have had the opportunity to go with him to one of the athlete practices and it is such a special place. Those with mental and physical challenges are so sweet, caring, and sensitive. I just about cried seeing the innocence of their practicing. For them it is not about winning at the Special Olympics, but making friends and just plain 'ol having fun. I wish I could be even half the people that they are.

Alex is also doing psychology research on Tuesdays to get in some clinical research time. A couple of Saturdays ago he volunteered us to participate in a study which is similar to what he does. We got EEG's done which monitor brain activity. The net for me was uncomfortable and made me a tad bit grumpy! However, we were soon done and used the money we received as reimbursement for the use of our brains to go out to dinner.

Last weekend Momma Janeen flew out from Kansas to visit the family and Grandma Jacobs, whose health is beginning to falter. It was such a fun-filled weekend and was great to be with family! Now, we are anticipating the next family visit from my parents and sister who are coming down from Canada at the beginning of April. They are coming for General Conference, as well as to get together with the rest of the Sheen Family to send off my Grandparents, who are going to Stockholm, Sweden on a LDS mission for one and a half years! It is very exciting!

Another exciting thing is that I got a scholarship for Spring semester here at BYU. I am taking Statistics 221, as well as an SFL course which goes towards my minor. SFL stands for the "School of Family Life." The course I am taking is on Infant Development and I am super excited for it!!

Last week was horrible, as I mentioned in the beginning. So horrible, that I am not even going to acknowledge it by giving it a significant place in this post. All I am mentioning is that it was CRAZY hectic and stressful, and I am sure glad that it is OVER!

Anyways, I think that about does it. Unfortunately life is sometimes busy and I apologize for long blog posts which yourself, the reader, has to trudge through.

We love you all,
-The Aggens

P.S. if you have not already seen our famous faces on BYU-TV, here is the link to the commercial that we were in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGVfjtKsI0U

P.P.S. The other night we made home-made onion rings. Don't they look delicious???

Starting at the beginning...

She doubted herself a little...



...but the music won her over:





I must be lucky (as my wife likes to point out) since I wound up with such a babe. Look at those dance moves! Hot dang!

Tabi will post some pictures later this week!

-The Aggens

Update

Hello All!
Here is an update from the Aggen household. Things have been very busy and hence, little time has been available to make a meaningful post on our blog. However, I find myself tonight with no pressing homework, which is first, so I decided to make productive use of my free time and write a little something on this here blog.
School has picked up for both Alex and I and we are are in the midst of learning many concepts in our respective classes. There has definitely been moments where we have pondered the notion of dropping out of school and becoming explorers of the world, but finally decided against it as it wouldn't be the best life choice. :) I am loving all my nursing classes and can hardly wait until my schedule is limited to only nursing classes. My supplemental classes like Anatomy are keeping me especially busy! Alex is also enjoying his psychology classes and has begun to help out in researching tasks outside of class. Every Tuesday and Thursday evening he helps conduct EEG clinics for students and loves it! He is also involved in planning the Special Olympics in Utah.
At Church we have the opportunity to teach the 10 year old Sunday School class which is an adventure. For about 99% of the time the kids are attentive and engaged in the lesson. But we also have those "where is this coming from?" moments that get everyone off track. For example, this past Sunday we went from talking about how God created the Earth to one kid going off on something they saw on TV/a movie and it snowballs into everyone having a story that they want to share. Despite these off-track escapades, we have a lot of fun and are grateful for these children. They are such a great bunch of kids!
I just love this time of year! It is the time of year that our love began to bud, grow, and blosom. The end of January marked a year since Alex and I went on our first date. It is hard to believe that it has been only a year, as it seems like I have known Alex all of my life.
For Valentine's Day festivities Alex and I enjoyed a home cooked meal (We went to dinner the day before at Los Hermanos on Center St). And, this particular day showed me another example of why I love my man. While most husbands would have got their wives chocolate and flowers, my handsome hunny got me chocolate, flowers, and BACON. The past week I has been wanting bacon and he remembered and got me some! I just love his quirkiness and sense of humor!
Well, I think that about covers the basics. Our time of life has a filled schedule but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Christmas Break 2009

This Christmas Break was very eventful! Here is what happened;

-We registered for Netflix and have been watching old, new, funny, sad, insightful, and foreign movies!
-We got library cards from the Provo Public Library.
-Alex worked over the break. He works in the Dean's Office for the College of Life Sciences at BYU.
-For Christmas Festivities we were able to be with Alex's family. Two of his sisters live in Utah, and his parents flew out for the holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at the Cannon Home and on Christmas Day we had lunch at Jamestown, which is where Grandma Jacobs lives. In the evening we were able to go over to the Cardon home and see a home video of the Aggen family in 1992. Alex was such a cute 5 year old (and is still a cute 22 year old)--in the video we got to see him "Russian Dance"!!! It was so funny!
-We had a "24"-a-thon with our friends up in Alpine. They watched the whole season of "24" in one day. We joined in on the marathon about a quarter of the way through but it was still a long day. Definitely something to cross of the "Bucket List" and NEVER do again!
-I have been finishing off Permanent Residency paperwork and only have a couple more things to do before I submit the giant heap of paperwork! YAY!
-Alex and I got our grades back for Fall 2009 semester and were both pleased. We have purchased all our textbooks (3 of my Nursing ones cost $250--yikes) and are starting Winter semester on Monday. Oh the joys of going back into a routine!
-For New Year's we went over to the Millet's house in Orem and played Bunko. It is a fast paced dice game and is an absolute blast! We rung in 2010 to the sound of chimes, pots, and pans, and then headed off to a second party where we played Mofia and Things in a Box. It was a great way to start off the year!
-Yesterday and today we had snow adventures. We hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls which was really pretty! (pictures below) To make it more eventful, Alex lost his wallet on the way down the hill! We finally found it (much to our relief!) and then celebrated by buying Subway (Thanks Mom and Dad Sheen for the gift certificate) Today we went skiing at Sundance. It was really fun although we are a bit tired right now!!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and Happy 2010 everyone!


Our Christmas Tree


Alex found his wallet! YEA!


Bridal Veil Falls


The slopes