Day 88–New Carpets

We’re getting new carpets tomorrow, and we spent the evening moving the furniture out of the rooms we’re doing first.

Hmmm…can you tell where the rug was? They came and set up everything for the installation, and our driveway looked like this all day:

Can’t wait for the carpet to be done!

Day 87–Taquitos

Tonight for dinner I made some taquitos. Specifically, Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos. That’s a mouthful! But they were pretty easy. You put into your crockpot:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
salt + pepper
8 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup water

Let those cook for like, 4 hours, and then shred and put back in the juices for a couple of minutes. Roll a spoonful of mixture into a small tortilla and add a handful of Mexican cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Delicioso!

There would be six on the tray, but I ate one as soon as they came out of the oven. These are tasty.

Day 86–Round Up

Today is the Lehi RoundUp 10K. Or, as I was told about 2 days before the race, the RoundUp 5 Mile run. For some reason, they decided to make this year a 5 mile instead of the standard and previous 6. No prob. PJ and I showed up, and noticed there were a lot less people than there usually are, but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t until they made an announcement announcing that we were in competition with Ragnar that I realized that was why. Our shirts were pretty cool this year.

I finished the race in 52:00 even, not too fast, but not too shabby. I was 3rd in my age group, which I’ll chalk up to their being so few people there. There was a girl that got first in her age group, and thus the medal, but she cheated on the race course. She was in front of us, and she didn’t run the whole course, but I didn’t know what to do when she ran, so I just let her get her medal of lies. But it was a good race, and I got to eat some waffles afterwards, which finished it off quite nicely.

Day 85–Hairless Adventures

A long time ago, I bought some Veet.

For those that don’t know, Veet is like Nair – a cream to help  you remove your unwanted hair. Because I have some of the hairiest arms ever (Which you can’t tell, really, because it’s so blonde) I wanted to try this. So, I slathered it on, without rubbing it in, per the instructions. I won’t lie, I was terrified, I’ve never done this before!

I waited the allotted 5-10 minutes (actually 6 1/2) and wiped it off. You couldn’t tell in a picture, so I didn’t record it, but it came off! My arms are now hairless! It feels so weird not having any hair on them. Every time something rubs against them, or when my hair rubs against it, it feels so cool! I want to try this with my legs, if I can wait for the hair to grow out long enough, but this was so easy and fantastic, I really dig it.

Day 84–A Thank You

Yesterday, I was just hanging out and the doorbell rang. Usually, when this happens, I assume it’s a scout, because they stop by so often, and usually, I take my time. So I went to the door, and found one of the girls that was one of my “children” on trek. She was holding a note and a small plate of cookies. She handed them over and we chit-chatted for a moment, mostly about how clean we both were, and laughing about it, and then she left. I brought it inside, and opened the envelope,

It was a sweet thank you note! She thanked us for being her parents on trek, and I thought that was really sweet. Her mother also wrote a note in there, and I felt really good, like maybe we weren’t as bad as parents as I thought (since really, we didn’t do much except just hang out with the kids, hardly disciplining or anything) so now, I think I could take care of people in this sort of situation, should it arise. And as a side note, these cookies were delicious.

Day 83–Shirley Temple Cupcakes

The other day, I saw a recipe for Shirley Temple cupcakes online, and after looking at it I thought, I can do better. So I created my own recipe. I did a ginger ale cake, topped with a grenadine buttercream frosting. Let’s break it down.

Cupcake recipe:
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ginger ale

Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground ginger; set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup ginger ale and 1/2 cup sour cream (mixture will fizz and bubble a little).  Add flour and liquid alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick. Using scoop, fill cupcake liners 1/2 full. Bake for 17-22 minutes. I got 23 cupcakes out of this. And then

:
Frosting recipe:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
3 TB grenadine syrup

Cream the butter, add the powdered sugar. When mixed together, add the 3 (maybe 4, depending on desired consistency) TB of grenadine. Adjust the syrup or powdered sugar, depending on how you like it.

I frosted the cupcakes, and then took a bite, and…

It didn’t taste like I thought it would! I tasted the ginger A LOT and I couldn’t really taste the cherry all that much. But then later, I asked Husband what he thought, and he couldn’t taste the ginger, but could taste the cherry, so I don’t know who’s right here. But it was a good attempt, I’ll just adjust things in the future, should I make these again.

Day 82 - ACT

Now, I let you all know that I was taking the ACT a week or so ago. They told us that our scores could be available as soon as the 23rd, so I checked it out, and I did get my score already!

I

Got

a

23!

Yes, I know that the top score is a 36. But for a 30 year old woman, who graduated 13 years ago, that’s not too bad!

So now, I have all the materials needed to start school in the fall. Wish me luck!

Day 81–Gnome

When we got back from trek, I noticed that our lawn had been mowed. This seems to happen a lot lately. It’s not that we’re lazy, it’s that our lawn mower broke. And instead of getting a new one, Husband keeps saying that he can fix the old one. Of course, he’s so busy he never has time, and then our lawn just gets longer and longer, until the neighbors can’t take it anymore, and take care of it for us. I know, it’s a bad cycle. And if we had a working mower, it would be avoided, but you see how it circles around. So not only was the front lawn mowed (which is usually all they do) but now, the back yard had been mowed, and weeded. They really went the extra mile! I wish I knew who to thank in this case. Then, I looked a little closer at the yard, and noticed that a small guest has joined us.

This little guy, and a small light, had joined us as well! Thanks, neighbors, we appreciate the love you’re sending.

Day 80–A Trek Reminder

We had these little plaques on the back of our handcarts, to signify whose cart was whose. They let us keep our family’s afterward. I really like it.

I had a great time on trek, despite my failings with my eyes, and general unhappiness at the end. But it was amazing, and I’m so glad we did this. Maybe next time they have it, they’ll ask us again, and I’d be a little more happy to do it. Maybe.

Day 79–Last Day of Trek

Finally. last night, the last night of trek, I had a good night’s sleep. I finally had enough clothes on to be warm, and finally got a good night’s rest. Shoot. But we hurried and packed up and left. We were all really jazzed to be getting back home, and we had a long 7 miles of downhill to do. It was hard, it was dusty, my eyes were hurting again, and I wanted to be done. Finally, finally, we got back to the site, unloaded our carts as quickly as we could, and got going. Finally, in the car, I snapped a selfie to see what I had looked like all week.

Yup. My face was burned. My nose so burned it blistered (Even after applying sunblock every two hours) and I look amazing. I am just so filthy at this point, I want to get home. I got home, took off my shoes and socks, and was greeted by my toes.

This was one of the best showers I’ve ever had.

Day 78–Trek Day 3

This morning, we had Pioneer Olympics. We had knife throw, hatchet throwing, bow and arrow, log toss, tug of war, and so many others. One of the boys wanted to look tough, so he put some dirt on his face to throw the logs.

I snapped a pic of Husband throwing the knives.

Then, we did the Women’s Pull. It was hard, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I had been warned, all week, about how hard it was, and while it was hard, I will say that, it was the impossible journey I had been told. But my girls did it, and it was awesome. This is my first ward activity thing where I have to be an adult, since we’re the Ma and Pa of our family, and it’s kind of weird to have to be responsible and adult. After the women’s pull, my eyes decided that the best thing to do would be to just not work anymore. They had been burning and stinging for the last 2 hours, but after that, I could barely get them open, and couldn’t see out of my left eye anymore. They told me to hitch a ride with the stake, and not worry about pulling the handcart, so after they made me get in the car, I was resigned to waiting. But then, I learned, the stake car needed to wait until every ward left before they could. I didn’t want to wait there anymore, so I told them my eyes were better, and walked myself to the next campsite. I thought at one point that I had gotten lost, because I was by nothing, and could hear nothing, but I kept going, and finally found my ward. I took out the contacts, and did glasses for the rest of the night. After dinner (hamburgers and Iceberg shakes!) We did Singing in the Trees, which was pretty awesome. This has been really hard, and I’ve hurt myself, but I’m glad I’m doing this.

Day 77–Trek Days 1&2

Yesterday, on trek, we did 8 miles to get to the camp site. It was dusty, I am filthy at this point, and when we got there, our entire campsite was just straight up sagebrush.

After hacking at it, we all finally set up camp.

It got chilly, so we bundled up, ate, had some devotionals, and then went to sleep. I wasn’t warm enough, so during the night, Husband had to help me out, by laying down on my legs after I woke him up. I didn’t have a good night’s sleep, and in the morning, our stuff (and people!) were covered in frost! Gah!

We had a YW come today and only stay for today, and she happened to bring some Mtn Dew (after a helpful text to her from the YW president) after I mentioned the day before that I wish I had some – my ward is awesome. We strapped it in, and went out for the day.

Also, that’s our family’s flag. It’s awesome. We did Rocky Ridge today, which was REALLY hard, but we did it, and it only took all of my energy, and all my sweat, but we did it!

Then we set up camp, and had a boringly chill afternoon.

Day 76–The beginnings of trek!

So today, we left on trek. I had my bucket full of clothes and toiletries, and a back pack full of water and gloves. Wish me luck that we won’t die!

Day 75–Thank You Cards

I forgot to post this last week, but that’s ok. After my sister’s baby shower, I was going to give her thank you cards, but it turned out, I didn’t have that many! So we decided to make a simple one really quickly, and we made a bunch. We didn’t have enough paper to make them all out of one paper, so I had to make two different kinds.

I think they turned out really cute! And I like to know I can knock out a bunch of cards at the last minute, if needed.

Day 74–Lazy

Today, Cookie got on the couch at 9:00something and didn’t move until I made her get up at 4:00 to go to the bathroom.

She literally sat like this all day. I can’t tell if she’s depressed or lazy. Probably both.

Day 73–A Hat

This morning, I got out of the shower, and then I was doing my make up and all of a sudden, Husband called me to look over his direction. I did, and saw this:

I can’t tell if it looks like a small chef’s hat, or it looks like he had a shower and is waiting for his hair to be dried. I know we’re crazy with the Inspector, but we have such fun with him.

Day 72–An ACT Care Package

Last night, Chelle came over to drop something off, and while she was doing it, she gave me an awesome care package for my test today!

It had a banana (she risked her life to get this for me, with her allergy), a tiny orange juice, some yogurt, some string cheese, and grapes. I could bring snacks to the test, for a break, so you know I brought this stuff. I’m so grateful for her to think of me before my test! I took the test this morning, and I have high hopes. I know I didn’t do well, but I don’t think I did as badly as I thought I would. When I get my test results in a few weeks, I hope it reflects that!

Day 71–Pencils

Tomorrow, I’m taking the ACT test. Yes, as a 30 year old woman, I’m taking a high school test. Since I start school in the fall, I have to take this to get in. So I’ve been studying for the past few months, and today, I got all the supplies for it that I needed.

I chose mechanical pencils, because I just like those better. After I got home, and I was putting together all of my stuff, I looked at my list, and saw that you actually can’t even use mechanical pencils! So I had to make another trip to the store to buy some new ones. but I still really like these. I’ll use them in another capacity.

Day 70–Stampin’

Tonight we had stamp and chat, and it was awesome as always. The cards were adorable!

Luckily they weren’t too hard – I just struggled with one of them, ha. Can’t wait for the next one!

Day 69–A Baby Shower

Today was the baby shower for my sister. We kept it pretty low key, but we had some spectacular treats. I made some brownie bites, and Chelle made some cake pops.

Her mom made some delicious cheese balls, and we chopped up a whole bunch of fruits and veggies, and had a fabulous evening!

Day 68–A Baby Bump

I picked up my sister from the airport this morning. We threw her a surprise/not surprise (Surprise when we initially told her, but we had to get a doc’s note saying it was ok for her to fly this late in her pregnancy, so I had to tell her before I wanted to) and when I saw her, I couldn’t believe how big her baby bump has gotten!

All day I kept shaking her stomach while yelling “BABY” at it. Just wanted to make sure the baby knows my voice already.

Day 67–New Oreos

Tonight I went to the store, I wanted some popsicles. On my way in, I saw these little beauties.

I tried them both, of course. The PB Cup ones are delicious, and the Banana Split ones taste weird. Do not recommend. But still, I love trying all the flavors of Oreos. My favorite Oreo, is the original. Can’t mess with perfection.

Day 66–Race Bibs

I ran the Art City Days 5K yesterday, and I just love that race. I struggled this year, the wind was against us, and the hill was a beast, so I didn’t finish as fast as I would like, but at least I had an all right time. I can improve.

Sadly I didn’t win anything in the raffle, but I still have faith that someday, I will win something!

Day 65–Black&White Card

Last night, whilst enjoying some pizza for my “carb loading” for the Springville 5K, I was also working on my second card for card swap. This card just has to be a black and white card. That’s it. No theme, just those colors. And I decided to follow the card template for this one, and here’s how it turned out:

It’s not my best card, I can admit that straight out, but it’s done, and that’s about all I can say about it.

Day 64–Taco Mac & Cheese

I made a really good dinner last night. Unfortunately, I was by myself, so it made a lot of food for just me, but I’m still digging it, and I know it’ll make good leftovers. Behold, Taco Mac&Cheese!

Now, the recipe that I got this from, had so many steps, and so much on the ingredient list for what I’m about to tell you in three steps.

Step 1: Prepare 1/2lb ground beef with a taco seasoning packet. Follow directions on there.

Step 2: Prepare a box of Kraft Mac&Cheese per the directions on the box.

Step 3 :Mix them together and enjoy.

That’s it! That’s how easy it was, I wish I had realized that before I got started, but it really was so simple. It tasted so good too, I definitely recommend it.

Day 63–Baby Cards

So, even though I’m still over a month away, I decided to go ahead and make my cards for my July card swap. I need to make 10 baby girl cards. After much soul searching (not really, just thinking of a card design that could work) I finally set on one. After a few put togethers, and the opinion of others, I came up with this:

I think it worked out pretty well! And I’m a little more at ease for next month.

Day 62–Keeping it Shiny

This morning, after taking my shower, I decided to finally clean it. Since we’ve moved in, 3 years ago, we’ve been trying to fix the stuff the people who lived here before us have done. They’ve messed up the wiring, whenever they installed something or “fixed” something, it’s actually made it worse, so now, as we’re trying to update the house, it’s more expensive for us, and takes longer to make it how it’s actually supposed to be. I’m sure they thought it would be a good idea, the way they did it, but but it’s a hellish nightmare now. So, when we moved in, taking a look around, I was pretty sure that they’ve never cleaned a day in their life. There was orange gunk everywhere, and in some places, the orange gunk had turned to black, hardened gunk. I’ve been trying to clean it, but haven’t had any luck. Then, we got these new cleaning supplies, and I gave it a go.

IT WORKED! I can’t believe it! I took pics before, and after, to compare. In one of the pics, it looks like it didn’t work, but that’s because the stuff has eaten away at the silver of the door, so it’s just black there.

Its such an improvement! And I’m oh-so-happy!

Day 61–Cuddles

Basically, Cookie will force her way into snuggling you. She’ll make you snuggle her, if she wants to.

This is her, shoving her way in there, and pressing back against Husband as hard as she can. I had to hurry over to get a pic, and I was dying laughing. If anyone wants a snuggle, just come on over, and she’ll happily oblige.

Day 60–Cute Toes

It’s been a while, but finally, I’ve gotten a pedicure. I’m going to have to get them a little more often for the time being – when they get too long, they hurt when I wear shoes, and since I’ll be wearing shoes now instead of flip flops, I’ll have to adjust some things. Which will be ok, I like to be pampered this way. Chelle and I went this afternoon, and we tried a new place, and it was such a good experience! I am looking forward to going again.

I tried all night to get a good pic, but for some reason, I’m not having any luck! This will have to do.

Day 59–New Breakfast

After running yesterday, I went and got some breakfast from Taco Bell (I know, I probably should be eating something healthy after running, but meh, I didn’t). I got the AM crunchwrap supreme. It has inside: bacon, (or sausage, make your choice), eggs, hashbrowns, and cheese. And I gotta tell you, it was DELICIOUS. Honestly, it was so good. It has a bit of spice from a sauce they have in there.

It’s a little smaller than the Crunchwrap Supreme, but I’ll be danged if it isn’t a good breakfast.