Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Apocalyptic Sky

A fire started out by the site and burned over 109,000 acres earlier this month. Read about it here. We didn't know about it until later that evening when the light outside started looking... orange and eerie. So we went and looked around outside and the 50 mph winds were blowing the smoke of the massive fire right towards Rexburg. It was casting a strange light over the whole town. Dave and I had been engrossed in homework for a while, so I convinced him to drive up to see if we could see where the fire was coming from. So we went to the temple and this is what we saw
(Click for larger view)
It was stunning. We went out and took pictures for a while, but then I had a group meeting I had to go to, so I bequeathed the camera to Dave and told him to make me proud. And he did.

NOT PHOTOSHOPPED!!!
Heaven and Hell

Yep... Math is gonna get bombed. That's the Math building on campus. And that's a hefty meteor heading right for it!! YAY!!!



Dave is amazing.

Best Deal EVER!

So I got introduced to Bountiful Baskets last winter and I love it! You get a bunch of fruit and veggies that lasts Dave and I weeks for only $16 bucks! This is what came in the basic basket last time we got it (over a month ago)
A whole bunch of purple grapes (my favorite!)
three coconuts (still have two of them... don't really know what to do with them)
A cantaloupe (ate it for 4th of July... yum!) 
8 apples (always yummy, but we seem to get alot of them at bountiful baskets, so we didn't eat these ones as well)
A bunch of bananas (if they go bad, I love making bread or ice cream with them. Bananas are always a good choice)
10 apricots (we ate most of them, but they were pretty ripe and we didn't get to the last of them before they went bad... oops.)

AND!!...
A whole bunch of beans (I ate all of them. Dave doesn't like beans... but I do!!)
2 heads of broccoli (Ate most of it last night. Still yummy!)
A bunch of lettuce (We eat salad alot when we get lettuce like this. I love it!)
11 red potatoes (Always good)
A stalk of celery (I love it, Dave doesn't)

All of that for about $16.50!!! Can't get any better than that! I love it! We are getting one this weekend and I can not wait.



We also get 5 loafs of 9 grain wheat bread. It is delicious to the taste and very desirable.  5 loafs for only $10.00!


If you want to get a bountiful basket, click here to go to their site. You have to register and everything and the first basket costs $3 extra dollars, but it's not bad at all. Then you can go to their pick up locations to see if they have one close to you. When you order, you have to get on at 7:30 Monday night and hurry to get the basket and the spot you want, they go quick! Then print out your receipt and bring it to your spot on Saturday morning! Make sure you bring your own basket to put all of this deliciousness in it! You never know what you're going to get each week, it's a big surprise! But you do know that 1/2 of it is fruit and 1/2 of it is veggies. I love that it's an adventure every time!

Anyways, you should check it out. Even if you have a garden now, remember this for winter, cuz it's good stuff!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

My stress reflected.... in a cake...

So I wanted to make a beautiful two layer rainbow chip cake for Dave and I. It would be great to snack on between finals and I wanted some sort of desert available to those who may be staying at our apartment during Friday's graduation madness...
This is what I imagined:
(only with rainbow chips in it.)


First problem:
Didn't have any round cake pans. But I had two square cake pans that were the same size! That'll work.

Second problem:
I guess you're supposed to flour the pan if you want the cake to fall out easily. I greased the pan... but I didn't flour it. Who knew? Not me....

Third problem:
I got the cakes out of the oven an they looked delicious. I wanted to frost it right away and eat it all up! But...! I didn't! I have self control... I can wait till the cake cools to frost it. Then I'll eat it all up! So I decided to let them cool over night and then frost them after my New Testament class. But, in order to let them cool down evenly, I thought that I probably needed to get them out of the pan. So I cut carefully around the edges, and turned the pan upside down onto a dish towel.

The cake didn't fall out. It stayed all stuck in there. So I thought, well, I'll just leave the pan like that. Then when the cake is ready, it'll fall out on it's own. Maybe it's a shy cake.

Fourth problem:
So the cake fell out... but not in one piece. It ripped in the middle and left the bottom of the cake in the pan and one of the corners didn't come out and little pieces were everywhere... what a MESS! So I flipped the pan back over and put the cake puzzle back together. Maybe if I leave it in the pan until it fully cools, it will work better. I didn't flip the other cake over because I learned my lesson with the first cake.
I'll just put the ripped cake on the bottom. Then I can kinda glue it together with the frosting and put the pretty cake on the top. No one will even notice.

Fifth problem:
I came home from class the next morning excited to make my less-than-perfect cake beautiful. So I got out a glass platter that my mom gave me and plopped the broken cake down on it. It crumbled a lot more and broke into a few new pieces. Well, that's fine. Like I said, the frosting will glue it together and it'll look great!

Sixth problem:
The frosting did not glue the cake together. It made it even worse. I kept trying the smooth it on thick and not get any crumbs in it, but it just wasn't happening. OK, that's fine. I'll just save the frosting for the top layer and smooth that all out, then frost the sides all nice and no one will even noticed the nasty bottom later.

Seventh problem:
So I thought that since the second cake was still nice and whole in the pan and really cool, I could get it out in one piece and have it look really nice.
heh heh heh..... WRONG!!
I carefully prodded and eased and coaxed that cake out of the pan. I thought it was all pretty much out so I flipped it over onto the towel. Dang it! The bottom of it didn't come out of the pan. Oh well, I'll just scrape that out and put it on top of the bottom layer, then put the mostly whole second layer on top of that! No one will even know!

Eighth problem:
I carefully topped the crumbling, gooey mess with my one pretty top of a cake. That part actually went pretty well. The top was all in one piece.  So I started the frost it very carefully. The top of the cake went really well. Nice and smooth. Then I went to the sides of the cake. It was pretty crumbly from the bottom layer, so I just kinda pushed the crumbs in and hurried and frosted it. Then the crumbs would fall off again. So I hurried and pushed it back and tried to glue it again with frosting. Not working. Heck with it! I'll just frost it, crumbs and all! So I got done with two sides of the cake and.... ran out of frosting.

Ninth problem:
Great. Out of frosting... now what do I do? So I stood back and looked at my cake. GASP!! There's a big crack in the top! Why? Oh, because the bottom layer is pretty much crumbs so it wasn't supporting it very evenly, so it started the fall and crack. Hurry! Fill the crack with frosting! No one will know! Crap! There"s another crack! I need more frosting! Oh no! The corner is falling off! The cake is sliding off! Ahhhhh!!!

Tenth problem:
I attempted to make a layer cake. If I had never attempted this, then problems 1 through 9 wouldn't have existed.

Needless to say, my cake turned out horribly. It still tastes great! But it looks like the god of cakes threw up on my mom's platter.
See for yourself.

Top view

Side view (This was the side that I frosted to keep the crumbs up... so it has a lot of frosting)

Side view (Another frosting covered side)


Side view ( I didn't get frosting on this side...)


So you see... Here is the stress of my finals week, all wrapped up and served right back to me on a silver platter. Or glass... whatever.










After I got done being stressed about my ruined cake, I started laughing. And laughing and laughing and laughing. Then I went and picked up Dave from class. When he came home, he laughed at me. Then I threw a little piece of cake at him. Then he shoved my face into it. Then I rubbed some in his hair. And we laughed.


Then we took a shower.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

I might be procrastinating a 3000 word research paper right now.

It's due at midnight.



I have 400 words completed.


But I might not be procrastinating at all.


You never know.



I just had some thoughts. Some personal thoughts and a few sad thoughts. Thoughts that if I think about them too much, I get a knot in my throat.

But personal thoughts first:
  1. I love my husband
  2. I love the temple
  3. I'm graduating from college in 10 DAYS!!! And I only have a 3000 word research paper to type, a 12 page booklet to design, 4 tests to study for and complete, a few 2 page papers to type, a negotiation to figure out, a magazine to design, and a rhetorical discourse paper to write!  THAT'S ALL!!!
  4. I also have a bunch of graduation events to attend. They cost money. That's something we don't have. Oh well... you only graduate from college once, right? 
  5. I wish that a certain someone and I would please get along so we can love each other and love our family. 



Sad thoughts:
A father, friend, and husband in our ward passed away this last week. He has a 5 month old daughter. It is tragic. And even though I didn't know this individual very well, his death has deeply effected me.
I'm scared of a few things. Hospitals, Doctor's offices (including dentists, old folks homes, and eye doctors), and funerals. Since Dave had a class during this man's funeral this week, I felt like I couldn't go alone, so I didn't go. But this death and the effects of it have been haunting my thoughts.
What is his wife going to do? How can I help her? She has a tiny baby, who will help her raise the baby? What would I do if this happened to me? Why did this have to happen to her? They are so young. Why does she have to go through this? This is my very worst fear. More than hospitals and doctors, I fear the loss of my dear, good, sweet, honorable husband. I'm sure that this husband and wife planned on having more kids, planned on sending their boys on missions, planned on retiring and serving a mission together. They planned on holding their grandchildren.
Now their time is cut so very short. And it breaks my heart.

I'm so thankful for my husband. So thankful for the life we have. So thankful for the time we have. Life is so precious. Cherish it. Tell someone you love them today. Because you never know when they will be gone. I pray that Dave and I will grow old together. I pray that we will serve a mission together, that we can hold our grandchildren. I pray for time.

Please, Lord. Allow us more time.