Done!

Done with another semester!! This one seemed to drag on forever! Thankfully I was able to get through all the tests, papers, projects, and clinic. It was a good semester I think, just very long. Bring on Christmas break!! I was able to come home last week, and get to stay for a few. IT will be nice and relaxing I am sure!! I can't believe that Christmas is two days away. It definitely does not feel like it is that time again! I am ready for family, great food, fun candy, and seeing old friends. Should be a great break!! Merry Christmas!!

Spills and Treats

I went over to K's yesterday to help pack things up. Good thing to know: a 5 lb bag of sugar will bust when it drops from a height of about 6 feet. Yes, I found this out first hand.

I saw this recipe online the other day for a pumpkin pie milkshake. I made pumpkin cookies earlier this week and had pumpkin puree left over. I though well...I like pumpkin pie. I like milkshakes. Why not combine the two and try it out?? So I did.

Waiting to be blended...at this point I was a little nervous. Pumpkin puree in a milkshake? Hmmm I don't know about that... plus with all the spices, I was not so sure that I would like this. BUT, I blended it up. Here is the result:

Makes for a beautiful milkshake! The recipe called for a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs on the top after its all done. Looks pretty, no? As hesitant as I was to taste it, I did. The result? Pretty good! Tastes like frozen pumpkin pie! I think I found a new fun treat!!!

Halloween Preparations

This weekend, C, PJ, and I carved pumpkins. I think they turned out really well. Mine took way too long and I might have gotten a bit frustrated with it in the middle of the process, but finally I did finish and they look great!!!

Capt'n Crunch (by PJ) The Noid (by C) The Y (by PJ) Mr. Kool-aide (by me)

We also went to Cornbelly's Corn Maze. It was pretty fun! I have only been to a corn maze once, back at home years ago. It was fun to go and get lost in the corn. All total we spent about an hour and a half inside the maze, and never found the true exit. We did find the beginning twice though. Thats how we ended up getting out...through the entrance....

I also played babysitter this weekend to the cutie. I stayed with him and we had quite the great time. He was awake and happy the entire time, it was great. We even changed his diaper without any accidents. Go us! I know it seems like I only post pictures of him, but I just think these few are so stinking cute that I had to do it. Enjoy :)

All squeaky clean!

He smiled at me!!!

Just hangin out with Aunt E.

School...is going. Its hard to believe that October is almost over. That means this semester is almost over. THAT is crazy! Last week we had a huge test that I was super nervous for. Its done and over with, thank goodness. This week I have a test tomorrow. Not quite as nervous for it, but still a bit. Hope it goes alright. I feel like I am doing alright. Still can't believe that I will be out of the clinic in a few months. Not sure if I feel ready to be on my own with all this stuff! But for now, I am just concentrating on getting through the next few weeks.

By the way, don't forget to celebrate Nevada Day on Saturday!!!

Just a few more...

Yes, I know I just posted pictures of the cutie last night...but here are just a few more. Other people blog about their children....I get to blog about my nephew :)

These ones let you see his face a little bit better. Enjoy!

Cutest baby ever!!

He's here!! The cutest baby ever! I am pretty fond of this little guy already, and all I have seen him do is sleep! Everything went well, and all are doing great. I was able to go and be the food delivery girl for my sister, with the added benefit of getting to be the first one to hold him!

This is not a very good picture of his face...but he was burrowing under the blankets. Still, isn't this the cutest face ever?

Holding the cute boy

He is a cutie, and I love him already.

First picture with auntie em!! I think he enjoyed it, because I most certainly did!


In other news...today was also a test day for me at school. It went better than expected honestly. I was really nervous and worried and it felt like I had not prepared near enough. I really thought more tiny details would have been included, but thankfully it was more general that I expected it to be. I am just glad its over with, and I can sleep tonight!!!

Fun new jewlery

It is crazy how fast some weeks go by! I can't believe that September only has one and a half weeks left in it!! Man oh man. I can't say that things have been terribly exciting around my neck of the woods lately, just the normal school thing. I am having a good time with my clients this semester, it is definitely a different experience working with adults than it is working with children! I feel like now, if I HAD to work with an adult, that I would no longer be clueless and no idea what to do. Thank goodness for experience!! After talking with one of my supervisors this week, I realized that I only have 10 more sessions with one of my clients. Crazy!! It is going by fast, that is for sure.

This weekend I went down to C's and we played. We went shopping on Saturday to see if we could find some cute bathroom accessories for her and some beads for my new watch that is in progress. We had success in finding my beads, but that was about it really. It was stinking hot outside...even with the clouds. We were pretty zapped of energy by the time we were done. Because of the heat, we just had to stop by Sonic for happy hour. Nothing beats a good lemon-berry slush. So stinking good, and for $ .50? Seriously. Its like we HAD to get them :)

Last night was the first BYU home game. We watched it on tv. Disappointing? Yes. Very? YES. Sadly, I didn't even watch the last ten minutes of the game. Move on to next week I suppose. The one thing that did keep me occupied and happy during the game was this: my new watch.

Dilligently stringing beads onto the stretchy line. Only had to redo it about 3 times :)

Halfway done!!

Here is the finished watch, front side. Love it!

Backside of the watch all finished up.

The watch. I was inspired by the new cute watches that have the interchangeable bands that you just clip onto one face. I have seen them all over and decided to try making my own. I was able to find a face that I really like, and I think that the rest turned out really great. I love it!!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend! Even though I have only been in school for two weeks, it was seriously nice to get a break!! I spent the weekend down with C & P, and it was pretty good. Did some crafting, some shopping (I came out with three new shirts!! WOOHOO!!), lots of MarioKart, and eating of great food. And of course, THE game on saturday. Go Cougs!!!

P and I made baklava for the football game. It was pretty delicious! We have become quite good at it, I must say. I even think I prefer the home made to those bought at a store or those at a buffet! C made chocolate zucchini cake, as well as zucchini bread also. They both were super yummy. Definitely a fan!!!

Today we went and saw "Julie and Julia". I was pretty excited about this movie, and thought it could definitely be a fun watch. Unfortunately I was not impressed. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a horrible movie. It just was not all that great. Plus, it had some language issues that didn't need to be there. Pretty disappointed with that part of it. But...it was alright. Something to do I suppose :)

And now the big news of the weekend. I realize I just had this done about a month ago, but lately I have been looking at pictures from my graduation a year and a half ago and really liking the length of my hair at that time. I got it cut about a month ago like I said, and it was good. But I thought I would like just a little more length taken off, just a bit. C was a good sport and did it for me. I have to admit it ended up being a bit shorter than I anticipated it being. But, she did a great job and I am getting used to it more and more. I think I am really liking it, it definitely is shorter! But it is cute, thanks C!!

Tomorrow begins the grind once again. We get apprentices sometime this week. How exciting :) I have a quick 5-7 minute presentation on wednesday that I am getting nervous about. Luckily, a test that was supposed to be tomorrow got moved to next week. Always a happy thing. Just kind of bummed this long weekend is over!!

A little bit of this and that

Two weeks ago, the day I got back to Utah, K had a baby shower in Salt Lake. C and I went and kept her company. She got tons of cute things, including this ultra cute BYU outfit. Can you tell we are a true blue family??Eating lunch at the shower.

One of the games they played was guessing which kind of baby food was in a jar. We had to smell and look at them and guess what we thought it was. Why was most everything orange? And smelled funny?

I can't believe that I already have a tomato that is ready! Technically, there was one on my plant that was red and ready right when I got back from Fallon. I went to go pick it when I got back only to find someone else had already done it for me. I don't know who it was, but I never saw that poor red tomato again. Made me sad. LUCKILY, I had another one ripen up and I picked it this morning. Its still just a tiny bit hard, so I think a day on the counter and it will be totally ready to eat!!! My very own, home grown tomato!!

Here is the beauty. Just as a point of reference as to the size, it is sitting next to my cell phone. Yes, it is pretty darn small. But I grew it :)

Last weekend, C needed to decorate 100 cookies for P's mom. She enlisted my help on Saturday to turn her kitchen/house into a cookie decorating factory. They were sugar cookies in the shape of high heels. I think they turned out pretty cute when we were done.

P was assigned the duty of tying all 100 ribbons to put on each shoe. He totally rocked at tying!

C, me, and the 100 cookies. It took up most of the afternoon, and our backs and fingers were pretty sore when we were done. But it was a fun time.

This is the final product. Each cookie got a base coat of light purple icing, an outline of darker purple icing, and then topped with a dark purple ribbon bow. Looks like a high heel, doesn't it? Kind of cute!

Today marks the end of two weeks being in school thus far. It has been alright. Definitely busy with school work and clinic and whatnot. I think (and hope!) that I am starting to get a feel for what I am supposed to be doing with my clients. Goals are due next week...we shall see how that goes! Also next week we get apprentices. That should be exciting. I remember being an apprentice last fall. Totally scared, even though all you do really for the first month or two is observe through the observation room. Hopefully I won't mess things up too much and look like I don't know anything to this person :)

Good news, I heard on the news that things are supposed to be cooler this next week! The high's are supposed to be in the 80's which is so wonderful. Definitely ready for that! Labor Day weekend is this weekend, and I am excited to get a day off of school. I realize I have only been in two weeks, but it still is nice!! The only plans as of right now include shopping and watching the BYU game on saturday. Go Cougs!!!

Final Hurrah!

The first weekend in August, after school got out, the fam went to Twin Lakes to stay for a few days. It was the only weekend we could all get together and have time off from work and school at the same time. It was so nice to get away!! School for me was done on the 3rd, so I flew home that day (after literally almost missing my plane....that was stressful) and we went up on the 4th. We stayed in a cabin that was pretty close to the lakes. The weather was really nice and I had a great vacation!
Me, up in the loft area.
Looking out at the upper lake. Beautiful!
While we were there, we hiked up a trail leading to Twin Lake Falls. Here I am, crossing the bridge in style :)
These were the falls that we hiked up to. They were really pretty and very cool.
Me and a river on the way back to the cabin.
Its tradition for my family to take a family picture every summer when we go somewhere. Here we are, looking like true campers.
I really had a nice time up at Twin Lakes, and as usual, didn't want to go back. Luckily, I still had two weeks left in my three week school break. I was able to be home, visit friends, and help mom get school stuff ready. Let me just say that I am pretty sure I didn't think about school once while I was home. This semester break was SO needed!!! Near the middle of the two weeks, Aunt J and the girlies came to visit and to play. We spent lots of time crafting, making hair bow flowers out of plastic bags, making magnets, and making these fun flip-flops out of ribbons. They turned out super cute. Here are the girls and their creations:

Miss H and her beautiful flip-flops.

The other Miss H and her fluffly flip-flops. Thanks girls, for coming to visit, keeping me company, and having a fun time!!!


A few years ago, I bought this little table at IKEA. The legs are made from clear plastic and you can place different things inside of them. At first, I was changing the items in them out for all the different seasons (pink and white flower petals for february, green and white pom-poms for March, etc.). I got in a rut and didn't change the green and white pom-poms for about a year, and decided it was finally time. I went to Wal-Mart and found some fun colored and shaped pasta, so I decided to give it a try. This is not a very great picture of the legs, but I think they look really fun.


School started back up again today. It went pretty well considering. It was mainly a review day, which was nice. I didn't leave class feeling completly overwhelmed which is always a good thing. I had three meetings, that were all spaced out with about an hour inbetween them all. That made for a very long day. But, thankfully, I left each meeting feeling very good and feeling like I can actually do clinic this semester. Cross your fingers that is actually true! It really feels like I was just here last week for class, almost as if I never had three weeks off. Thankfully I did though!! This semester is definitely going to be busy and full but I am inching closer and closer to being done!! Just two semesters left and then....done!! First though...getting through one semester at a time. Here we go!!!

Late update and....finished!!!

This update is so late...about a month actually. But I thought the pictures were fun so I decided to post them anyway. These are all from the 4th of July weekend. I spent it with C & P. It was quite fun. We started off the day making some of the best muffins ever: Raspberry Pecan Strusel. So good!! They turned out delish and always look great.


This is C and I in our 4th of July shirts, taking the customary "faces squished together" picture that we always take.
We went up Spanish Fork Canyon and BBQ'd shish-ka-bobs. They were SO yummy!! We made a ton of them. We put chicken, steak, polska kielbasa, potatos, carrots, onions, green peppers, and pineapple on them. I had not had these in a long time, and they grilled up so great.
P and I preparing the sticks with all the food.

C putting bbq sauce all over the sticks as they were grilling. Note the serious concentrating face she has :)

The final product!! We dumped everything off the sticks and piled it onto a piece of foil and just dug in. We ate SO much food!!!

After eating, we went down the road a little ways and shot. They have .22s, so we took them, plus a shot gun (which is stinking loud) and shot targets and old cantelope. I am a pretty good shot, if I don't say so myself :) All those years of going out in the Nevada desert paid off! While we were shooting, a microburst cloud came out of nowhere. We got wind like no other, along with rain and I think even a tiny bit of hail. We weren't prepared for it, as we had all our stuff out on the ground. All we could do was collect the plastic bags, turn our backs to the wind and hold on. It only lasted for about 4 or 5 minutes and then went back to being perfectly calm and still. So weird.

After we got done shooting it was pretty dark. We took stuff for s'mores, so we decided to make them before leaving the canyon. We set up their grill and toasted our marshmallows. They turned out pretty darn yummy, I am a fan!! The bugs were so bad while we were making them though. We spent a total of about 5 minutes making and eating the s'mores, decided the bugs were out of control, so packed up and headed home.

OOey gooey goodness! It was a fun day to play around and eat some yummy food.


Last weekend, the 24th, C and I decided to go get our hair cut. It has been over a year since I last cut mine, and it was in desperate need of a change. I opted for a shorter, but not too short, style. It is slightly layered on the edges, but not too much. I really like it!

Well, it is August already. Man oh man, that means one thing: the semester is almost over!! My last day in the clinic was on Friday. Feels so good to be done!!! I have one final tomorrow morning, which hopefully will go alright. Then I have a meeting with one of my supervisors at 2. Then I have to drive to the airport to catch a flight home at 4. Talk about a filled day! But I am excited, I get almost three weeks off from school. I am taking this much needed break by going home, where everyone else has been for a few days now. It definitely will be a good break!!! Now...onto bed so I can get through that final!

Summer Days

Sadly, this summer has been flying by and I have not been able to really experience it! Summer school does that, I suppose. First off, an update. My tomato plant. I have a tomato! Only one, so far, and I am crossing my fingers that more start to grow. I have a ton of flowers on the plant, but only one tomato that is growing every day. It makes me happy to see it!!!

THE Tomato!
Also, my flower boxes have been going crazy!! They are so full of flowers, it is awesome! I have discovered that petunias are growing better and bigger than marigolds. Lesson learned. Both my boxes are packed with flowers, and they make me smile every time I see them :)


The last weekend in June my mom's family had a family reunion in Evanston. (This was the event my sisters and I made the pine wood derby cars for...). It was good to be with family and see relatives I have not seen in years. As for the pine wood derby...my car beat everyone in my immediate families....except PJ's. The zamboni killed me. But, its okay! I totally didn't even win the whole thing, but it was kind of a fun activity. The reunion was filled with talking and laughing, lots of food, crawdad fishing, watching of old home movies, and visiting. It is amazing how different the weather up there is. One day it was really pretty nice outside, and that night was the coldest night ever!!! Overall though, during the day it was really nice and not stifling hot (thank goodness!). Needless to say, we spent alot of time outside to enjoy the weather.
My red family at the park during the reunion.
The Perry Family

For the 4th of July, I spent the weekend with C and P. We bbq'd hot dogs, went to an Orem Owls game (they got beat HORRIBLY!), watched fireworks, had a bbq with P's family, played outside games, and watched more fireworks. It was a really fun weekend, and honestly, the first time that I have felt that it was summer this year. Too bad that got replaced by another week of school!!!

Speaking of school...only 3 1/2 weeks left in my semester! Holy cow summer semester goes by super fast. Out of control. On one hand, I am super stinking excited to be done!!! On the other hand, just thinking of all the stuff I have to do and get done before then is a little overwhelming. Take the bad with the good I suppose!!! Now, if only I can get through these next few weeks in the scorching heat! We are supposed to be up to 100 by Saturday. Bring back winter!!!