another update

So I am once again behind on my blog posts, but on a happier note I have 3 weeks left of school including finals :] Then I will be onto summer and hopefully have time to clean my house, find a studio to teach at and catch up my blog. This semester has been crazy to say the least. It has literally flown by and I am technically taking more credit hours than I ever have (10 which is equivalent to 20 in normal length semester). Plus because Lin hasn't been getting enough hours at work due to the rain I have been working my normal 10 hours at the Cannon Center and picking up a few shoots with SF17 (my old job). I am not complaining though. I am enjoying all I doing and I know that it isn't forever, but now you can see why I don't do things like blog right now :)

Dream

I forgot to mention that someday I want to attempt to learn to paint from Bob Ross. He is amazing. I love to watch his show on PBS. He is incredibly talented and makes it seem so easy to paint masterpieces. I watched him paint a mountain scene with a beautiful sky full of clouds and a pond surrounded by trees. It was incredible. While I highly doubt I could paint that well in the near future I still would love to try it out.

Ramblings

So I just felt like writing. I don't really have much to say, but maybe something will come out as I type :) I am finally getting over this cold that I have had. It will be one week tomorrow. I had forgotten how horrible it is to be sick since it had been around 9 months since I was last sick. Today was the first day my nose and eyes weren't watering uncontrollably. It was great. I could actually concentrate in class.
Speaking of school, this term (yes its only 7 weeks counting finals) is going to be interesting. I am taking 10 credits which is the equivalent of 20 credits in a normal semester. Health 100 Intro to Public Health is like taking a high school course again because it is the intro to the major and only 1 credit. Most of the class is based on attendance and readings. Health 420 Injury & Violence Prevention is so far kind of common sense. The difference between intentional and unintentional injuries and that even though they are commonly called accidents they aren't accidents because they can be prevented. Health 439 Program Planning and Evaluation is a combination of my two group work classes from last semester (social marketing and methods of health promotion). Basically we research, form, and write a proposal for an intervention of some sort figuring out marketing and cost, etc. I will be honest I am not super excited about this class I am sick of group work papers. 5-6 people is just too many without a boss farming out assignments. (I will stop my ranting there, but if you want more just call me up and ask me about group work). My last class is Health 310 Chronic Disease and Prevention,  this will probably be my toughest class because it will move super fast and is pretty technical. However sometimes really hard classes excite me. Hopefully I will be able to balance all of these and not go totally crazy, but if I disappear for awhile you will know why.
Today I was reading in the Daily Universe (BYU's newspaper) and there was an article about journal writing. It was talking about what makes a journal valuable for future readers. I have always struggled to write in a journal, but I feel that this blog is somewhat of a journal, although I don't write everyday I do keep track of events in my life both big and small. Perhaps that is why I am writing now. . . .
I feel like life is at such a weird spot right now. It can be so hard, yet wonderful. Most days Lin and I don't really see each other, and when we do, one of us (or both of us) are tired or stressed so we usually get annoyed really easily. Luckily we both know that we love each other and it isn't our fault that the other person is ornery. Yet despite this we are on the cusp of something more, something better. We are both so excited for the future. I will be graduating in 8 months and will hopefully find a full-time job, with benefits. Then we won't be living paycheck to paycheck (something that stresses me out quite a bit), and when I will come home I won't have homework (meaning I can actually relax at home). If I make enough Lin can go part time and focus on school so he can get out of his manual labor job. Then we can start a family, get a house and live happily ever after. . . ok so I know it probably won't work out exactly like we plan, but the future is so near, and I feel like school has been such a long endeavor, good but long. I am ready for the next adventure in my life.
Well if you are still reading, thanks. . .

No Homework!

So I had a brief break between Winter semester and Spring. Friday was the first day I didn't have any school work weighing on my mind. It is amazing how much I can get done when I don't have school stuff I "should" be doing. Here are the projects I finally got done on Friday.

 Organized  my closet. This shoe rack is wonderful! It makes my side of the closet so neat and tidy.

 Lin made these frames when we were first married, and I finally got around to painting them (its only been 3 years). Now we just need to get glass and backing.

I planted my peas in my garden and planted all my starters. Zuchini, Butternut squash, Onions, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Jalapenos, Bell Peppers, and Hungarian Hot peppers (they looked fun). I also started some flowers for one of our flower beds.

And finally my quilling project. Dusty Nance taught us how to Quill at young womens. I had to leave early and decided to finish mine at home. I finally got some Mod Podge and finished it. There are things I would do differently but for my first one I think it turned out pretty nice.

 And I think I am finally caught up!

School update

So school is finally over for this semester. I am amazed I survived. 3 group work classes are more than I can handle, but everything worked out, and I am glad it is over. I start Spring classes tomorrow and I have a huge load. 10 credits (yes they only allow 9, but I got special permission) my 10th credit is Intro to Public Health. This is the intro class to my major, but I have never been able to fit it in my schedule. This is my last chance because it has to be done before I can do my internship. So the next 7 weeks are going to be very full and busy with school and work, but I think I can do it (my house may be a disaster however). After that I will have a break for the end of June through the end of August. Fall is my last semester and I will have my internship with Stouffers, one class for my major that is yet to be decided (I have proposed to substitute a class and am still waiting to hear back. If it goes well I will be taking Positive Psychology. I also may take Turkish language 101. I haven't decided. I am kind of obsessed with Turkish culture (music, dance, and language). I would love to be able to understand the songs I have, and someday I want to go to Turkey. So I don't know if I will, the only reason I am considering it is because I will still be working and I would like to have the late morning shift (10:30-2:00). The Turkish class is from 9-10, so it would work out perfectly. . . we will see what happens. Other than that I have 34 weeks until I graduate!!

Spring snow

So by now it is old news that we have had tons of snow this SPRING but here are the pictures I took of the storm on April 2nd. For those of you who don't have facebook I posted this story on there because it was hilarious. Around 6 AM I woke up to a loud crashing noise. In my half awake mind I thought we were under attack, or that our trailer was splitting apart (that's how loud this noise was). I turned over and saw Lin hovering over me. I must of had a look of terror on my face, because thats how I felt. Lin grabbed me by the shoulders and tried to calm me down. I however couldn't understand his repeated phrase of "its ok." as he shook me. I was still not fully awake and I thought he was still asleep as well. (Lin sometimes acts things out when he is asleep, its kind of creepy). I was worried that he didn't realize he was holding me and might hit me or something (no this has never happened I was just so terrified anything seemed possible.) Finally I screamed and woke myself up. Besides losing some heartbeats we were both okay. I couldn't go back to sleep however and was lying there awake a little while later I heard a sound just like our front door opened and closed. For those who don't know our screen door sticks and is very loud when it finally opens. I jumped a mile at the noise because i was still on edge. I woke Lin up and made him go check it out. The door was closed and locked and no one was in our house. Finally I just got out of bed. Still paranoid. I looked outside and this is what I saw.

 We think these branches are the ones that sounded like the door opening

 For all of the problems it caused it still looked so beautiful.

Luckily we didn't have any damage: not on the car, no windows broken, and our trailer is still hanging strong. Here are all the branches after the snow had melted.

 These are the ones that were on the car.

This is the culprit that caused all of the ruckus in the morning. It doesn't look as thick in the picture as it really was.

That same day that all the snow melted I came home to see this in my front yard.

So beautiful and springy, like the snow was never there.

Food :)

Since I have a lot to catch up on I thought I would just put all of the food pictures together because I love cooking and I love to take pictures of what I make when it looks especially nice. So I will share it with you.
February 27th:

 This was one of the last world dinners I made. It was from Spain. It is a tomato chicken dish. It was pretty good. The sauce is different because it is thinner than what we normally consider as tomato sauce.

March 6th:

 The last world dinner I made wasn't really a full meal. Lin and I made churros. DELICIOUS!

 We didn't have a star tip for our dough gun, so they are just cylindrical. I think they would have cooked a little better if they were star shaped, but they were still so good and super easy.

These are just two meals I make often but they looked so pretty I just had to take a picture:

Taco Salad:

I just love food that is full of color.

Lasagna:

Lin and I decided to make a cake, but it was 10:30 PM. We made it and were waiting for it to cool so we could ice it. Unfortunately we wanted to go to bed so we just iced our pieces individually. This is what we ended up with.

The other great thing about food is it brings ants. . . .ok so that is not that great, but our house is infested with them. They have been here every year and come as soon as it gets warm. This year they began in our bedroom and would mostly stay in the bathroom (these are weird ants). We found a small space in the ceiling, above our bed of course, where they would come in and out. Then they would travel around the piece of wood that connects the wall and ceiling into the bathroom. Soon enough we had them in the kitchen too. Even after spraying they are still everywhere. You can't leave ANYTHING out:

I know this plate looks fairly clean but they like it still. We have figured out that if you leave out something super sugary like icing, white sugar, or something else equally full of sugar the ants go into some sort of coma. They aren't dead, but they are super slow and its kind of funny.

Update!

So it has been forever since I have written. School was taking over my life. I am on break until Tuesday when Spring Term starts. I plan to update my blog on Monday I don't know if I will get everything on there because there is a lot, but I will try to get as much as I can. I also might schedule some to post later in the week so you don't have to read them all at once :)

Quick Update

Life has been very busy so I just wanted to give you a quick update (more will come later). I haven't done a world dinner in awhile because I couldn't find any lamb anywhere (that wasn't crazy expensive or in HUGE packages) but I am going to try to do one tonight. I am counting down the weeks until I graduate. 40 :) I have a paper chain because I am still dorky enough to want one. Life is great. Lin and I are excited about the future and still as busy as ever. I know this wasn't a great update, but I promise to post more soon.

New food idea

So if you haven't figured out by now I love food! I love to eat it, but mostly I love to cook it. I am not however a spender when it comes to food. I like and buy good food, but that doesn't mean name brands. I always try to buy things on sale. This past week I decided to get ground turkey instead of beef. I have tried turkey before and liked it, but then I couldn't find it at Maceys anymore. This past week when I did my shopping I  found the ground turkey in a bulk pack of four 1lb packages for $6 when I compared it to the beef it was a no brainer that I should try the turkey and see if it worked in the meals I was planning.
I am still not sure if I will get it all the time but it is cheaper, plus it is much healthier because it is so low in fat. The taste isn't much different, but it does have a smoother texture which is a little strange. I think we could get used to it though. To try it out I made taco salad on Monday and meatloaf tonight. The texture difference was more apparent in the meatloaf because it was a lot softer and didn't crumble quite like ground beef does.
So I would recommend trying ground turkey especially if you are trying to cut down on fat or just cut some costs it might be a helpful way. Let me know if you try it!