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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

happy birthday! mom

so it's not exactly complete but it will be! I hope you have a happy birthday!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

ward funness--is funness a word?

seriously what would i do without the church honestly...i mean really where else can you find a bunch of 20 somethings getting together for a cake competition, some bbq, and throw in the hokey pokey (clean dancing peoples---but yeah i'm not even kidding) and of course you have to include the accordian-playing-human-dressed-as-a-pig. what? yeah really----I read some of my other friends blogs who are married and they talk about vacations to they have planned to Australia or the weekend get away to Newport, RI; or they are discussing milestones their little one is making but really i know they would much rather be where I was friday night---getting sick sampling A BUNCH OF incredible tasting cakes
my method to my madness was this creation---which "allowed" me to uh..'forgo' studying for pretty much an ENTIRE afternoon (this included the grocery store trip, baking about 3 other things at the same time and then oh time for institute)
this is the coconut jelly roll with the layer of chocolate being added (yeah yeah i know i didn't "healthify" this recipe and yes i'm still mad at myself for that)this middle is the combination of raspberry sauce I made plus sugar-free cheesecake pudding and I added toasted coconut....I shouldn't have made a cake that included so many of my favorites) when I rolled it together I knew a lot of the filling would fall out but as a solution I took it with me to serve as an optional garnish et voila c'est jolie!
Oh my good tasting cakes...well the ones I tried. The taller of the fondant cakes was abbies it was fun cause I got to "help" as in all i did was make some fondant, cut out a few circles and roll a few circles but it was awesome looking. The brown thing there was INCREDIBLE it was a gingersnap, cinnamon, pecan, caramel, pumpkin cheesecake not even kidding it was amazing!
the sister missionaries obviously contributed :) this is the rest of the table the cheesecake torte was so good--it had like an oreo crust and chocolate topping. The two white cakes were almond and coconut and really i loved them both! and the long chocolate thing was graham crackers and vanilla pudding and then the circle one was a rich chocolate cake. My favorites I think were the cheesecakes and the one almond cake. this is us 'pre-balloon-hat craze' and then we had to show off the awesome balloon-animal-making talent we have

Sunday, September 13, 2009

things i've been UP to

fun title i know---it took me all of 3 seconds to come up with that one on my own :) [this will make more sense after you read the blog] this week seems like it has flown by but when I was reading about someone's labor day i thought to myself 'why are they writing about that now, Labor Day was forever ago--oh wait...' so that pretty much sums up how i feel about the this week and the fact i haven't written an updated blog in ages here goes
I saw one of the cutest movies! Disney Pixar "Up" way cute! Love it!
and this picture says it all
that is the most adorable animated boy scout i've ever seen! and so funny!
and then i studied a lot, yada yada, wrote my siblings yada yada, study, quiz, study, gym, institute then on friday got lost, but thank goodness by saturday i knew where i was going. I got to participate in the relay triathlon for the special olympics--I ran a
whole half mile :) it was well worth going though
that is Sean he was our little swimmer---and John was the biker too bad i didn't get to train with sean or anything this was acutally the first time i met him. I'm glad i got to go do this it made for a really nice break from the norm.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

...when all is said and done

okay so i spent a good portion of last sunday writing up this lovely blog---only to have it be corrupted and not post so here's attempt #2 :)
august 31, 2009
I may not have done all the things I wanted to do when I was in Utah but now that it's all said and I really had some good times ---I just wished I got to see more peoples like Katie & Reed, Madison & Mike, Rachel & Ryan, and Karen--thank goodness for the internet so I can still stay in touch!
okay lets go over all the funness! and pictures are really worth a thousand words so here goes it. . .

I had to take my peoples to the farmers market
to eat some of the amazingness that is there! this rainy day we decided on the oh so good looking pancakes---with apple-cider maple syrup they taste even better than they look!
the next week when dad came we tried some amazing tart fruit thing that tasted like coconut heaven and these leige waffles from Bruges Waffles
mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about the delicousness of the crystalized sugary yumness!
and of course I had to take a picture of the gorgeous pastries
(*side note have you ever been to flour girl dough boy---oh my I LOVE LOVE LOVE that place check it out!) and lastly the beautiful flowers I really want to have fresh flowers in my house---someday it'll happen
most of my time was spent catching jonathan and his little buddies at the lake! it was great none of the work and all of the relaxing, wakeboarding fun I needed it was perfect!
and hilarious note their faces!
okay so I wasn't there for this one but while I was home I found these photos of the day valerie went into the mtc
and I thought they were cute and entertaining! and this one is so so so adorable! minuse the wedding-photo-esque it has to it and now it was my turn to drop off the sibling at the curb
-we started the day early to visit Emoli at Kneaders for their [in]Famous French Toast ---too bad I think jonathan was kinda nervous since he only ate like 3 slices (instead of a typical 8 or 9). It was so so good to see em! I love that girl! Russ should just apply only to ASU not the U this year! I need em closer!
one of my favorites! all growed-up! and I just like this one of us.
and I just had to put on the jacket to see what it'd be like going to the mtc for reals
...lets put it this way I was glad when I was able to give the jacket back---I have a much more admirable respect to both my siblings! I miss them...
and of course what else would you do in provo when its hot and you've just kicked your last child/sibling to the curb for 2 years---
you'd go hike Stewart Falls, eat lunch and write letters to said children-----and it worked cause mom hardly cried at all (that day) and I got some letter writing time in cause heaven knows those poor kids need as many letters as they can get!
so that was my last wednesday in utah---then saturday back up another hike this time with both parentals. . .
this is me practicing my surprise face for the waterfall and this is the waterfall and this is a rock we found on the way to the waterfall and this was an awe moment dad helping mom down the slippery rock
and now back to reality. back to the reality that all 5 of us are in separate locations. back to the reality that school with its 23 credits and balckhole-esqness of time consuming capabilities begins again. back to the reality that onion days will happen without me [although last years memories will certainly get me through] back to the reality that it will be a very long time til i will be in utah with my entire family and friends. i miss it already...

September 6th and don't even get me started on fall (we'll save that for a later blog)
but I do want to add that despite my slightly unoptimistic views I had about school and life, a week later I am feeling much better. School isn't so bad---time consuming yes, but what else would better be filling my time now? and besides i forget how much I love learning! and I missed my girls more than I thought i did! I love the warmth of arizona! I missed the endorphins from Zumba! and the hollywood-esque feeling i have driving in my convertable, top down, sunglasses on, driving by a row of palm trees and ginormous houses! life is really really good right now and I hope I enjoy the ride!