Good Times

This last weekend, Carolyn's niece got married and had Car make her wedding cake. So, she enlisted my help in making the cake. The bottom two layers were styrofoam and the top layer was real cake. We covered all three layers in white fondant, cut out circles in red and yellow, and put red ribbon around the bottom of all the layers. It wasn't very difficult but took awhile to complete. It was fun to get to practice and make the cake. We had a good time!


Covering the top layer of cake in fondant

The bottom two fake layers, almost complete

The completed cake at the reception. It turned out really cute!!




Three weeks ago the Utah State Fair was in Salt Lake. Carolyn, Paul, and I ended up going one night. It was HUGE! I knew it would be big, but I had never been to a state fair before so I really didn't have much idea of what it would be like. They had a huge carnival games and rides area, tons of little booths with things to buy, 4-H projects, vegetable growing, animals, food, a rodeo, a concert, you name it they had it! They had a ton of animals to look at and see. It was pretty fun to see them all. They had a little kids area where kids could walk through and see all the workings of a farm and how it benefits their lives. It pretty much reminded me of the farm festival back home. We walked through it, even though it was directed for MUCH younger kids, it was still fun. Here I am, being the chicken.

They had a ton of 4-H animals that were being shown. They had all the prize winners and all the not-prize winners too. They were all pretty impressive to me.
We all agreed that the pigs stunk the most. Gross. We each decided to take a picture of us by one animal we saw at the fair.
Paul with the beef cows

Me with a cute white sheep


Carolyn and a black/pink pig


Car got a crepe maker for her birthday, so we decided to try it out again. We had dinner crepes, filled with meat, cheese, lettuce, olives, sprouts. They were yummy! (we were basically trying to re-create the ones we get at European Connection which are SO good!) Then for desert we made Crepe Suzzette (not so yummy orange sauce), and then had to end with wonderful peaches and ice cream crepes. They were delish and I love making them!! So easy!!


My first test of Grad school was one week ago from today. I was really nervous, not quite knowing what to expect. I went in, took the test in about an hour. It was 4 essay questions. Thats it. Not really just read the material and spit it out memorized, but more of an application test. I think it went alright, I am relieved it is over with! I have mixed feelings over which type of test I like better. I like just knowing terms and definitions and stuf,f either you know it or you don't. But application tests....I guess its good to kind of think PAST the rouge memorization, but it is a little more difficult to apply everything. So I guess I like clear cut tests better. Who knew! I have another test tomorrow in my Aphasia class. This one I am sure will be more clear cut know the terms and definitions. I am worried, of course, but in a way I feel it might be a bit easier. Who knows!

Last night Carolyn, Paul, and I went to a new exhibit in Salt Lake that is a world-renoun exhibit. It is called Body Worlds. Basically there is a guy who gets cadavers and takes out different systems, organs, etc. in the bodies and "plasticizes" them, puts them in wax. Then all the different organs, systems, muscles, bones, everything, is put on display. It was really cool to go see! They had just complete bodies, all the different systems taken out and displayed, the brain, all the different bones and muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, EVERYTHING! They also had full cadavers placed in different poses so that you can see the different muscles used to achieve that pose. They had one skiing, one doing a back summersault on a balance beam, one hurdling, one shooting a bow, one holding his own internal organs (it sounds gross but really it was cool), just everything! They had a ton of specimens to look at, it took us about 2 hours to walk through the entire exhibit. It really was cool to see all that stuff and not have to smell or touch anything as you would in a cadaver lab. It was a fun night!!!

2 (well, almost 2) down......many many more to go

After tomorrow, I will have completed my first two weeks of grad school. Hard to believe! Overall, it has been alright. Starting out was pretty tough for me. I was REALLY nervous, not sure what to expect and how things were going to go and how hard it was going to be and just everything had me pretty worried. Somehow I made it through all the worrying and went to my first day of class last Tuesday. It was a class on Stuttering and Fluency. I think it was a good thing to have that class be the first in my grad school experience because my teacher was really nice and tried to ease us into grad school. Needless to say, after Tuesdays class I felt much more relieved and started to feel like maybe I actually can do this. I have 4 classes plus clinic time. Each class is 3 hours long....so awful! It is so hard to sit and try to concentrate for that long in one place. It is just hard! I haven't gotten used to it yet, and I don't think I ever will. Basically my schedule goes like this: T- 8:45-11:45 am Stuttering and Fluency, 12-1 Clinic Meeting, 2-3:30 Institute. W- 8:30- 11:30 Assessment of Childhood Language Disorders. Th- 8:00-11:00 am Aphasia (a type of lang. disorder) , 12:30-3:30 pm Articulation and Phonology. Somewhere in my week will be my clinic time, but we haven't been put into the clinic schedule yet so that is to come. Overall, its pretty nice having only 4 classes. The one thing that is hard already is all the reading. Seriously its like a TON everyday! I just need to try and stay on top of it so I don't fall behind. After two weeks, I can say that I am much more relaxed than I was the first day of class. Tests are already coming up, which just seems crazy to me. The sleep thing is also a little bothersome. I can't stay up late anymore, and thats sad to me. I have to be in bed by like 11 in order to be able to function in class the next morning. So sad! But, gotta do it. Well, thats school. Just keep chuggin!

Last weekend Kristin, Craig, and I went to Swiss Days in Midvale. It was pretty fun, basically just a HUGE craft fair that you walk around a buy stuff. Plus they had tons of food vendors too. We didn't buy anything, but we did try the food. They had knockwurst (sp?) and sourkraut (my favorite....not!) and I had a huge scone. Mine was delish! It was a fun afternoon even though it was reallly hot! This weekend is the Salt Lake County Faire (I think). Carolyn, Paul, and I (and hopefully kris and craig) are going to try and go to that. Should be fun, I've never been!

Oh and here is just a fun picture of me!