Days Away...

Exams are starting and spring semester is coming to an end. I must say this has been such a fun 3 months!! I've had so much fun and I've actually come to love Idaho. Ok, I don't want to live here in the future or anything, I love the east coast far too much to do that. What I'm saying is that it really is beautiful. Spring term is about 200 times better than the fall, and about 50 times warmer to boot.
I love laying out with my roommates and basically getting fried in the sun. It would be nice to have a beach around here, but I'll settle with rivers and lakes.Anyways, I should be studying for my exams and such, but my will power just isn't strong enough. I'd rather be blogging anyways.
Only 6 days till I'm back in Maryland!!! Can't wait!

The Craziest Thing I've Ever Done

This weekend was such a blast!

Ok, Friday not so much, but that's a whole other story. Let's just say that it wasn't my best day ever...Saturday started off by rising early and throwing on a swimsuit and some shorts and heading out for our stake activity of going floating along some river that's an hour away. The water was actually FREEZING COLD but once you got numb, it was so worth it. It was like a 2-hour long lazy river! (basically my dream...) within the first 20 minutes, though, both Whitney's and Ben's tubes popped! It was so funny, until I hit a very small rapid and fell off of my tube. It took me about 5 minutes to wiggle back onto it while almost loosing my sunglasses three times and with Brooke's gracious assistance! The sun finally came out in time for lunch, just in time for everyone there to get a crispy sunburn. I evened out the gross one on my back with a beautiful one on my chest, legs, and half of my face. My faith in sunscreen has diminished.

On the ride home, we stopped at this little hole-in-the-wall bait shop and got this DELICIOUS ice cream!!

After an hour long drive home, we went straight to Pita Pit to see some of our friends participate in a pita-eating contest! About 5 minutes before it started, no girls had entered, so my friend Sam and I decided to sign up, eat our favorite pitas and split the prize. We were super excited for this, until 2 other girls decided to enter about a minute before the girl's competition began. At that point, I wasn't about to lose after forking over 10 bucks to compete. So, I had to put my big girl pants on and channel my dad's competitive nature and stomach down as many pitas as possible.

For not being hungry to start with, I manage to pack down a good amount of food. There was really only one girl who was real competition, and in the last MINUTE of the competition, I managed to scarf down 1/4 of my third pita! My body barely held it in, but I held it in until the time was up... at which point the pita was no longer in my stomach. The rest of the day my diet consisted of tums and water. But I still won!! It wasn't exactly my proudest moment, but it makes me unique, right?

InDependance

Independance day in Idaho. Let's just say I wasn't the most ecstatic about celebrating it here, especially being born and raised in the D.C. area, i'm sort of a July 4th snob. I still think nothing compares to fireworks in the capital mall, but it didn't stop me from having a BLAST here!!Friday we started out with a bonfire at the sand dunes, and I would've taken pictures if it wasn't for all of the sand and stuff...

But we roasted some weenies, made some s'mores and I ate a chicken heart!!! I know I know, it sounds nasty, but to be honest I've had worse! It was all fun and games until Jordan lost his keys right before we left. We ended up having to spread out and crawl up the side of the dune feeling in vain for his car keys. Turns out, they were right next to his car all along! So we headed home bogged down with sand and tired eyes, ready for saturday!

Chad won my vote for most patriotic. From his LG jersey right down to his american flag flops

Saturday Brooke and I walked in the Rexburg town parade and handed out chocolate milk! It

was super fun and I really gained an appreciation for cute little small towns like rexy!

Got Milk?

We also made the treck to Idaho Falls to see the fireworks! We packed up our lunches and

staked out our spot on the lawn right across from the temple.

Whitney and me posing in front of the beautiful Idaho Falls Temple

In the hours that followed before the fireworks went off, some of the people in the group set

up a legit hopscotch design including spinning in a circle, doing the worm, and saying the

pledge.

Just a fraction of our awesome group!

The weather was perfect and the fireworks were beautiful!

Sunday was just a day to relax and I might or might not have taken a 3 hour nap... and I made those yummy crepes!

Monday was our day off and I went down to Rigby Lake with Kelsie, Jenny, Terra, Jordan, Matt, and some others. I have been craving a day in the water by the sand for who knows how long!

Aburie and I in with my Witch's Castle and the b-e-a-utiful lake in the background!

We played some soccer and volleyball, went on the swings (I even got an underdog!) and went on the playground! Oh, to be a child again!

We successfully completed a human pyramid!!

The water was freezing, but what's worse is my SUNBURN. I forgot to put it on my back and on my left leg... yeah only me...

What's cookin' Good Lookin'?

Just some pictures from come culinary masterpieces I've created the past few weeks :)

Shrimp Stew with Home Fries

Crepes with Raspberry preserves, peanut butter and homemade whipped cream

the whipped cream fight!

Bon Apetite!

Cooking Flips and Flops

As you know, I have a passion for cooking. It gives me a chance to express my creativity and to try out different flavor combinations. It's just something that makes me feel so good, especially when I get to wear my cute apron!

I've had my share of baking flops, like the time I charred my snickerdoodles to death and when I made these Brownies the other day... Who would have thought you could ruin a box brownie recipe?! Only me...ok so what happened was I wanted to make my friend Trevor brownies for his birthday, so I grabbed the betty crocker brownie mix and started throwing in all of the ingredients. it wasn't until later on that I realized that I didn't have any Vegi oil. -ok yeah, I COULD have borrowed some from my roommates, but I was lazy and feeling adventureous- So instead I substituted it with apple sauce- no trans fats, and i had it in my pantry.

Then it occured to me that I could throw in some peanut butter into the batter and I could make some delicious peanut butter brownies!! So I grabbed my extra super crunchy peanut butter and threw it on in there. I poured it into the 13x9 and prepared to bask in the glory of my culinary genius.20 minutes came and went. I took out the brownies, which at this point closely resembled sponges mixed with (pardon my french) poop. I was a little upset about this, but in my last effort to save the brownies I threw on some hot fudge. Then they looked like poop and fudge. My gracious friends still ate them, though. they're troopers!

whoa- sorry this picture is so big...

What my brownies SHOULD'VE looked like

And now for the good stuff...

Today in cooking class we learned how to make crepes!!!! I love love love them, I don't care how bad they are for me because i'm convinced that in heaven, we will have crepes all the time. They're that good.

Anyways, I could eat them plain, but we spread some nutella on them and rolled them up and it was the BEST EVER!!!

I also learned how to flip eggs like a pro, which makes me pretty great. Please hold your applause. I'll sign autographs later.

Ok sorry this is all about food- you probably don't even care enough about it, but you will when I cook for you!!