Back to Stories from the Heat

I've been meaning to write for the past few weeks, but when I thought of something clever to write I wasn't in a place where I could write it. Then when I was, I either didn't have time or couldn't remember it. So, here I am again playing catch up in list form:

1. I recently won a prize from the Design Mom Give Away A Day! It is so exciting to win things sometimes! Especially the lovely Nina Handbag I won from Aster & Sage. I'm going to give it to one of my sisters for Christmas, shh... don't tell.
2. Matt took me to see The Nutcracker for my big Christmas present last Saturday. It was so much fun, and I am glad I got Matt to go see a ballet with me. Included in the present was a new dress for me. It was a really great evening, and the perfect Christmas gift.
3. I am taking 3 finals this next week. My last 3 finals ever. It will be really nice to be done with school for a long time. Maybe someday I'll go back for a Master's, but I am really happy to be done with college for now.
4. We are going down to Arizona for Christmas. I am so excited to see my family. Brooke just had her third son a week ago and we are excited to see him. My family also finished the pool a month ago, so we are bringing our swimming suits and are excited for sunny weather. Last year it was 85 degrees on Christmas Eve... hopefully it will be in at least the high 70's this year.

Last night I made sweet crepes for dinner and they were soo good! We gobbled them up. We like to make a sweet lemon, butter syrup and I also like butter and cinnamon and sugar on them. I really want some more now. My family makes crepes for birthdays and easters, and I love them. But these sweet crepes were the best crepes ever.

I'm putting the recipe on here just in case I lose the paper I wrote it down on. You can also give them a try since they're so so good.
Sweet Crepes
2 Large eggs
3/4 C + 2 T. milk (unless you want to put your favorite liqueur in like the recipe suggested then put 2 T. of the liqueur instead.)
1/2 C water
1 C flour
3 T. melted butter
2 1/2 T. Sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
(It didn't call for any salt so I put a pinch in just in case they were too sweet, and they turned out fantastic)
Pulse all ingredients together in a blender, then let sit in fridge for 20 minutes to let bubbles settle. Warm frying pan to medium add small amount of butter. Put 1/4 C batter in center and swirl around pan quickly (it cooks quick!) Heat until golden brown, then flip and cook other side until golden brown. SO DELICIOUS!
I spread a small amount of butter on each crepe as they stack up. Then when we're sitting down we serve with lemon syrup and cinnamon and sugar. For the lemon sauce I use powdered sugar and lemon juice until it's at a runny consistency, then add maybe 1/2 T. butter and warm in microwave. When you put the syrup on the crepes DO NOT drench the crepe in the lemon syrup, you only need a little.

Today was my first day of my 10-day teaching experience at Timpview Seminary. I love the class I teach. Everyone is willing to participate, so there aren't any long, awkward silent moments, and we learn a lot from each other. Our class was only 12 minutes long today! They have a late start day every Wednesday and it was a half day too. So it was really quick, but also really fun!

I love to cook, so I get really excited about the holidays. I've never been really crazy about Thanksgiving food though. I don't like green beans, I prefer stove top to homemade stuffing. I like the fake cranberry jelly tube instead of homemade cranberry sauce (they always seem to have nuts in them gross!). I also really don't like Sweet potatoes.
There are a few items that I love. I love turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes. And of course desserts.

My favorite easy dessert:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
1 (5.1-ounce) package vanilla pudding mix
1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl. (courtesy of foodnetwork.com)
Yum Yum!

I tried a lemon rosemary salt rub on our turkey roast last year (since it was just Matt and I eating I didn't bother to make a whole turkey) it was delicious. I'm hoping to make a whole real turkey this year, but we'll see. I was going to go crazy and make lobster and go really non-traditional since it's just me and Matt, but maybe I'll save the lobster for Valentine's Day.

One of the things I like best about my old roommate, Margs, is her system for picking out cereal. Margs is what we like to call a connoisseur of cereals. She knows all about them, even that there are two types- hot and cold. Margs also loves all types of cereal, she even had a cereal bar at her wedding reception. Whenever we used to go shopping together cereal was always on her list of things to buy. However, since she likes ALL of the cereals she would have the dilemma of deciding which cereal she wanted the most. So, to solve this problem she would always get the biggest box with the best toy in it. And that is one of the reasons why I like her so much.

Our Pumpkin Carving party was super fun. (Even though we didn't have as many people show up as I had hoped.) We had lots of yummy treats, including my family's fall favorite caramel brownies.
I made my pumpkin very non-traditional, and it's not because I am offended by Jack-o-lanterns or anything like that. I just wanted to do something different.

Our good friends Maegan, Elyette and Luke Millar all came.

Look at how cute Elyette is!


Good thing Elyette was here to help!


Oh. Yum!

My idea worked out pretty good for our ward Halloween party, but I am supposed to dress up for a work party tomorrow. I don't know what to do... It's gotta be something that will keep me warm, and won't make me look crazy.

Lemurs are different than both monkeys and apes. Something that's particularly cool about them is that they are ONLY found in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands which are between mainland Africa and Madagascar, but they are still pretty diverse within those regions.
Lemurs tend to have a longer rostrum (snout) than other primates.
This is a ring-tailed lemur.
Most lemurs have a very distinct look that distinguishes them from other animals. Almost all lemurs have very long tails, often longer than their body. They have both opposable thumbs and big-toes. Unlike other primates they have a very sensitive nose. They are the least closely related to humans of all of the primates. Their tail is not prehensile (they can't hang from it or grab things with it) like many monkey tails are.

Hope that helps!

I didn't get to post about my monkey last week. So I'll give it to you this week. (Which is good because we don't have to present an animal tomorrow.)

This is the Black and White Colobus Monkey:

The Colobus is mainly awesome because it looks so cool. I like the white tuft of hair at the end of its tail and its cute nose (it is an old world monkey and all of the old world monkeys have a similar shaped nose). They don't have thumbs, this is to help them be really speedy when climbing around in trees.
The Colobus has two stomach regions. The first has a neutral pH and is used to ferment all of the leaves and planty material they eat with the help of bacteria. This means that they are able to get out way more nutrients from the food they eat than we can. This also allows them to live in environments were not many other monkeys can live because they can still get lots nutrients out of poor food resources.


Okay, I don't really know what to update on, but I feel like I haven't written on here in a while.

1. I'm still graduating in December.
2. I am currently looking for a job for after I graduate.
   
3. I have applied/am applying to a wide variety of places... Private School Biology teacher to Old Navy Manager, so everything's still up in the air right now.
4. I am really enjoying my choir class, and I found out today that the concert at the end of the semester is free and my professor said the more the merrier, so everyone's invited.
5. Our choir actually sounds pretty good even though we're just a Univeristy Chorale, non-audition choir.
6. This is the rainiest fall I have ever encountered, I don't really like it. Being wet all the time is kind of dumb, and I'm pretty sure I'd never survive in a place like Seattle (sorry Matt, I think we'll have to cross that off the list--I'm sure mom and dad will be happy though, Seattle's too far away from home).
7. We are having a pumpkin carving party at our house this Friday. This is to keep up with the tradition that my family had. We had a pumpkin carving party every year, and I always loved it growing up. We have a pretty small apartment though, so we're going to take down our table and cover our living and dining room area floor with newspaper and just let everyone go at it. (Margs if you guys happen to be coming down this weekend bring some pumpkins and come over Friday night.)
8. I've decided I want a cute pumpkin this year. Maybe I'll do something boring like spots or squares, something not very traditional.
9. Our ward is having a Halloween costume party and dance this year. I am so clever and thought up an awesome costume for Matt. He has a Superman t-shirt, so I told him to go as Clark Kent with a suit on and have his dress shirt partly unbuttoned so you can see the Superman logo underneath.
   
10. I don't know what I should wear then... Maybe I could be Louis Lane, but I wouldn't really know what to do to be Louis Lane, and nobody would know who I was unless I was standing next to Matt.

Okay, that's all!

I decided that my blog isn't very popular because it doesn't have a genre. There are religious blogs, political blogs, blogs for moms, Christians, fashion, computers, families, photography, etc.
So, I am going to give my blog a weekly genre. On Wednesdays I have to present one of the mammals we are supposed to learn about that day to my mammalogy class. I thought it would be fun to show all of you my mammals as well.

INSECTIVORES:
This last week I signed up for the Pangolin (Manis spp.) because I had never heard of it before.
So I present to you the pangolin:
The Pangolin is cool because...

1. Its tongue muscles begin at the lowest rib and it can extend its tongue out 25 cm (it is an ant and termite eater).
2. It has scales made from agglutinated hair (the hair is glued together).
3. The scales on its tail are super spikey and it can use them to swipe at predators.
4. It has super tough claws that can break open a termite home (a termite home is like the hardest cement on earth).
5. It can close up its nostrils and ears so that ants and termites don't get in.

Since that was my animal for last week you guys are going to get TWO-FOR-ONE this week!!

BATS:
My mammal this week is the Western Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus hesperus) (I totally picked it because of its name):

1. The Western Pipistrelle is not as cool as the Pangolin, sorry Pipi.
2. I think Pipi looks pretty cool with his Black leathery face, ears and patagium (that's the leathery wings specific to bats) paired with a brownish gray furry coat.
3. This bat mates in the fall and hibernates in the winter. Because of this the females can carry the spem inside her through her hibernation before becoming fertilized in the spring. Also if she rouses from her hibernation (which causes her to become fertilized) in the middle of winter she will remove the sperm, so that she doesn't become pregnant before the hibernation period is over.
4. Newborns only take one month after birth before they look just like adults.
5. Newborns are taken care of by a maternal colony because the bat is short-lived (the mom might die before the young is weaned).

I get to walk home from school most days and while I was walking home today I was thinking of all of the reasons why I love walking home so much. I thought I would compile a list of reasons why I enjoy my 30-minute walk home so much.

1. I have a soundtrack to my life for each time I walk home. Matt gave me an ipod shuffle for our 6 monthiversary in February and I love walking home with it. One of the things I like so much is the variety of songs you can listen to. Today as I bounded down the stairs south of campus I enjoyed the robust voice of a big Italian man accompanied by a mandolin (I totally felt like I was in a movie). After that song it was Dashboard Confessional, Jewel, and several other genres of music.
2. I really like walking home (when dressed appropriately) when the snow or rain is really coming down. It's fun, and someday I'll be able to tell my kids that I walked to school in the snow, uphill both ways.
3. Right now I get to walk by houses with gardens full of pumpkins squash and zuccinis (I wrote about that already).
4. If I walk fast enough I feel like I'm getting a work out in.
5. After spending all day in class or working it's really nice to get outside, walk, look around and think through things on my mind.
6. I like looking at all the old homes in neighborhoods I pass through. I really want to live in an old house someday, they have a lot of character and history behind them, sometimes they seem more homey than newer ones. On Jordan's blog "Oh Happy Day" she does an affordable house of the week every week and they are always cute old homes that may need some fixing up. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share the joy of walking home. Maybe you all should try it sometime.

So I work "behind the scenes" at the law library on campus. It's called technical services, which is funny because even though we work with computers to organize the library, no one in there is really technically savvy or anything like that. I mean it's not like they're/we're all a bunch of computer nerds, cause we're not. Anyway, I like working there mostly.

I have my own office at work which is really neat because none of the other student employees have an office, they're all in pitily little cubicles, ha! Okay, so I say it's my own office, but really it's kind of open to the whole library, well everyone that works at the library. My office has all of these nifty supplies in it, so other librarians are going in and out of my office all the time. There's a laminator, two drills (which I have yet to see anyone drilling any holes in anything), a velo-binding machine (I think I'm the only one that uses that, people just drop off stuff in my office for me to velo-bind), a paper cutter, a sink, three cabinets full of all kinds of library goodies, so on and so forth. I think the sink is what gives my office the most attention. If you're working with old books your hands will get dirty, you will come into my office and wash your hands. If you want to eat an apple at work you will come into my office to cut up your apple, eat it while talking to me, throw away the core in my trash, and then wash your hands; then you will come back a few minutes later to brush your teeth in my office (Yes, there is a full-time employee who does this every day, brushes his teeth... in my office).
I actually usually really like it when people stop in my office. Sometimes it adds up to several minutes of getting payed to chat with a co-worker.
What kind of environment do you work in? Do you have any funny/awkard/interesting work-related stories?

As I wrote about in my last post I'm taking a choir class this semester. Our one and only concert for the class is in December so starting with the first day of class all we ever sing are Christmas songs. It's fun getting ready for Christmas in September, it also makes me really anxious for the end of the semester though.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Christmas time, but I am really enjoying the beginnings of fall right now. I really love the weather. I love walking home and seeing pumpkins, squash and scarecrows in people' s gardens. I love the smell of fall and the feel of fall. I can't wait for October, so I can feel justified in decorating my house with fall colors and a few Halloween favorites including my Jack-o-lantern doormat.

I am really excited about this semester. It makes it really easy to go back to school knowing this will be my last semester of college.
I'm taking a univeristy choir class so that I will have enough credits to work on campus. That was the only class I had today, and it was really fun. I've never been in a real choir* before (just orchestra), so it was neat to see how things run, and I'm glad I get to do it before I graduate. I sat down with the 2nd sopranos and a young, fresh-faced girl sat next to me. I quickly found out she was a freshman, and told her this is my last semester of college, to which she replied, "oh that must be nice." Yes, yes it is.
I have a lot to do this semester. I'm not worried about school at all; I'm more worried about what happens after it's all over. I would really like to find a nice biology related job, that's close to where Matt works and pays well. I don't know if I'll get that lucky though. Oh well, I know I'll just be so happy I don't have to do schoolwork anymore.
What's one class you wish you could/ would have take(n) before you graduate(d)?

*Ward choir doesn't count, even if I was the director.

I got my hair colored on Wednesday, and I figured all the girls who read my blog might like to see the results. I decided to go brown. I think it's darker than when I did it my freshman year, but I don't have any pictures to reference it with.


I like it, and Matt likes it. I decided I'm going to keep it long for a while because I put so much effort into growing it out. Before I got it colored it was a little over half-way down my back, and I just got three inches cut off of it. I think after Christmas I will go short. It is easier to do when it is short and I think it will be better for winter time, since I probably won't wear it wet as often.

Okay, since all the guys who read my blog are probably not interested in the color and/or length of my hair I will now tell a good story.
We are having a big BBQ tomorrow because we have lots of old friends in town and thought it would be a fun way to get everyone back together. We decided on ribs because they are much easier than burgers and much tastier. Matt and I are in charge of the ribs and everyone else is bringing the extras. We have a great way of doing ribs to get 'em nice and tender and delicious. We boil them for a few hours the day before, then let them marinade in BBQ sauce over night before grilling them while basting with BBQ sauce. They always turn out great. We had a lot going on today though so we tried to get in the boiling part while we were out of the house, well we ended up staying out of the house a little too long. When Matt opened the door to our apartment when we came home smoke came billowing out of the apartment sending us both into panic mode. Matt ran over to the stove and turned it all off and then tried to bring the smoking pot out of the house. Then the smoke alarm started going off, and our house smelled bad! We opened the windows, and turned some fans on, but there wasn't much else we could do because we had to leave the house shortly after that. Right now it still stinks, but we put bowls of vinegar in every room, have two fans and the ac going, and we spray febreze on anything fabric throughout our house every thrity minutes or so. It's been super fun. The BBQ is still on though, we had to get new ribs and start over, but they should turn out good still.

So, school doesn't start until next Tuesday, however one of my professors thinks it's appropriate to be handing out assignments before class even starts. Not only are we supposed to have a reading assignment and a reading quiz done, but also a class quiz to be taken before the first day of class. I know it's college and all, but seriously I'm still trying to enjoy my two-week break. Actually in my four years of college I've never had a class give out an assignment before school started. Maybe my luck's run out.
On a happier note, my Grandparents are in town staying at my Aunt's house and I got to work on stamping Christmas cards. It was fun.

I'm not really a pink person, but I think I like pink the best of all the colors I've tried for the background. What do you think?

Matt and I are headed to Park City for a few days. We're taking a mini vacation. I'm excited for a nice break just the two of us, and we're going to go shopping too. That's the one thing I miss about being single. If I felt like I needed a new shirt or new pair of pants I wouldn't think twice about going out and getting something. Now I feel like I am being selfish when I get new things, or I think the money could be put to better use. (I'm sure any of you married girls can relate to that.)

We have a pretty small apartment and my family mostly all stayed here when they came up for my commencement. My parents brought an air mattress, my grandma slept on the couch and Chandler slept on the love seat. It was really fun having them all here though. I always love to have my family visit, and I think it is fun having family sleep at our house.

Two days in a row I've been fed at work. I really like getting paid to eat. We had sloppy joes and pasta salad on Tuesday and muffins, fruit and juice today. I hope we get fed again tomorrow.
Well, I think that's about it for now. I am tired and can't really think of anything interesting to say.

It's our one year anniversary today, Happy Anniversary Mattie!
My family just left for home this morning, so I guess I'll be able to start posting longer, more interesting posts tomorrow (maybe).

I thought I'd take advantage of my husband's nerdy computer skills, so my blog is gonna look sweet when it's all done.

I'm so graduated right now... for reals.
Okay, I do have 8 credits left, but still I'm the most graduated person I know.
Anyway, as soon as all the partying ends I'll be able to post again. And probably a lot too. This is because for two weeks I will have nothing to do except work a measly 20 hours a week and sleep in. Those are my two definite plans for the two week break. My mom is taking me to get a pedicure tomorrow. I am so excited! I love being pampered.

Studying and writing on my blog at the same time, I am so multi-tasking right now...

As evidenced by the fact that I haven't posted anything since this term started, you may have noticed that I have been very busy. So busy in fact that I am in desperate need of a vacation. Oh wait! Just my luck, I am going on a vacation! Matt and I are heading down to Vegas Friday morning to meet up with my family. We are going to go see the Phantom of the Opera! I am so excited! We've never seen the play before, so we are totally stoked. Good thing Matt already likes The Phantom of the Opera, we went with some friends to see the movie and the other guys there thought it was boring and/or dumb.

Oh yeah and I am so excited to collect some bugs while I am down there too. Actually, I'm not that excited about it. I am for reals excited about Port of Subs though. YUMMY.
All right I have to actually study now.

So, I'm currently taking an entomology class. Every time I mention this class to my mom she's all like, "what's that? the study of Entenmann's?" Actually I was even on the phone with her when I first told her I would be taking this class. Luckily she just happened to bump into some friends back home, in the grocery store, while I was telling her about entomology. So the first thing she says to the friends in the store is, "Heather is almost graduated. She is taking a class called entomology, it's the study of Entenmann's. " (Maybe Maggie could have taken a class like that?)

My mom is really funny. and so is my dad. I think I definitely get my sense of humor from them. Matt thinks we're all crazy.

Anyway, entomology is actually the study of insects, and it's way nerdier and never as tasty as an Entenmannology class (my professor did mention something about sauteeing grubs in butter). I do get to make such a thing called a 'killing jar'. Which is a cool name. It's really just acetone soaked plaster of paris in the bottom of a lidded jar. I have to collect insects for the class, which I'm a little skeptical about. I really don't want to get stung or bit during the process of collecting. I also don't want to so thoroughly enjoy myself that my freezer begins to be stocked with insects (although in class we've learned that you should only keep your insects in a regular freezer for a couple days). It is actually interesting learning about insects. We have some kids in the class who are just taking it for fun, and are in majors that have nothing to do with biology (and Matt says I am a nerd).

Anyway, that's all I really have to say about bugs for now. I really want an Entenmann's danish or donut now.

Here in UT when it starts hitting 90 degrees they start rolling out the temporary sno-cone stands. At our local Albertson's they have one out front and Matt begged me to let us get some sno-cones after grocery shopping today.
These were some of the worst sno-cones I have ever seen. You're probably wondering "how do you mess up a sno-cone?" Let me tell you it was like a sugary syrupy drink with a bit of ice in it. I watched in horror as the ill-skilled sno-cone maker lazily poured the syrup onto the unpacked mound of ice. So syrupy I spilt it all over my pants trying to get in the car.

You see having grown up in Arizona, I take my sno-cones seriously. (Actually we call them shaved-ice in Arizona, maybe because they don't come in a cone?) One shop I frequented often was Bahama Buck's My favorite was the Pinacolada shaved ice with cream. MMMM. The cream is the secret, it's the best part. Their whole business, year-round is based on the sno-cone (they have other things like smoothies, but no one went there for those). We also have the local Water 'n Ice chains, my friend's dad owned a few of these in highschool so we used to get discounted rates on our shaved ice.

Anyway, I guess I can understand why Arizona would have superior sno-cones to Utah, but this sno-cone maker lady (the one in front of the Albertson's) created her sno-cones as if she had never seen and/or heard of a sno-cone before in her life. Do you think a shop like Bahama Buck's would do well in UT, where it gets cold in the winter? Is this the kind of treat you should be able to enjoy all year round (that is in places where it actually gets lower than 50 degrees in the winter)?

One time when I went to the mall I saw this sign:

I thought it was so funny I immediately took a photo of it with my cell phone. I am so grateful to have my cell phone so I can always remember the time I saw a sign at the mall for 'Tooting Tailors'.

P.s. For any of you who have given up on looking for new posts on his blog, Matt finally wrote on his blog.

I took my final this morning, and I am done with classes for a week and a half! I thought I'd celebrate by turning some of our leftover graham crackers (we brought three boxes for smores, aparently that was a little overkill) and some delicious chocolate frosting into pooh-wiches for me. Yum! I don't really know why they are called pooh-wiches, that's what my family has always called them. Also, I found a tv station that plays re-runs of Gilmore Girls and this is pretty much the best day ever!

We had so much fun camping with my family at the Grand Canyon this past weekend. Everything was gorgeous including the weather. The camping food was super yummy too. Matt took tons of photos; I'll put a couple up here, but you can see all of them here.

Here's Matt and I, you can't see much of the canyon though.

Cotton was really enjoying throwing dirt in the air and wiping his grubby hands on his face. Adorable.


Here's some of the wildlife we got to see. We saw a deer too, but I like this cute little chipmunk better.

My mom decided Saturday would be "Family Solidarity Day", so that's why we're all wearing pink or red. You, can't see much of the canyon in this one either...


All right here's a few Matt took of the actual Grand Canyon:

It was a little hazy while we were there; you may be able to catch a glimpse of the fire that was raging along the south rim. Well, I hope you enjoy the photos!

Matt and I went on our ward campout to Payson Lakes this last weekend. It was super fun! It was really great to get to know some of the people in our ward better. We're in a married student ward, so it's hard to make new friends. Everyone's in the "I just got married to my best friend, and we already have close friends, so I don't really need to try hard to make anymore" state of mind (yes, even Matt and I). We had a lot of fun telling stories, and played the two truths and a lie game. The camping part was great, except that we had no soft mattress for under our sleeping bag so all that was between us and the rocks in the ground was the tent. This made it a little hard to sleep, but we made it through, and I took a long nap when we got home.

We decided to take it easy this trip since it was our first ever camping trip together and it was only from 6pm Friday to 11am Saturday. I packed us some Tuna salad sandwiches instead of trying to bring raw meat and stoves and charcoal and all of that great camping stuff.

This weekend we'll be going all out. We're meeting my family at North Rim, Grand Canyon NP. We are so excited! Matt and I are in charge of breakfast one day while we're there. So, we're doing a peachy dutch oven french toast, and a bacon, egg and cheese hash. Yum! I love camping food, everything tastes better when you're camping. We're also bringing chocolate and grahams for smores and strawberry lemonade and I'm freezing a bunch of strawberries to take for ice cubes in the lemonade (I really like food, so I always pay attention to little details in a meal).

We are also so excited for the trip because my whole family is coming. Matt and I are the only ones that will be roughing it in a tent, my family has one of those fold-down campers, and Brooke and Nate are renting a mini RV (I think it's mostly because she has two little guys and they don't have all of the camping equipment they would need to accommodate their whole family, plus Brooke is pregnant!) I'm sure Chandler or Hayden would love to sleep in our HUGE tent with me and Matt. I hope we will get to go down to the bottom of the canyon; I haven't been there since I was about 6 months old (so, I don't remember much about it).


P.s. Blogger is having a problem with the photos, so sorry if they don't load.

I found this place while "blog surfing" (I know I'm a total dork, but it's okay because I took a test today and I am totally on top of things right now). So, here's one of my original paintings:



And this is where you can make one yourself. You should try it, because it is fun, and cool.

I finally fixed my blog. It might be a lot of blue for some of you, but I like it. I got the background of my blog from the makers of the new Superman movie so thanks to them for helping me fix my blog. I feel very hip and very nerdy at the same time. Hope you all enjoy!

I'm working on a project for my evolution lab, and I stumbled across a creationist's website and I found this little bit on "Creation Science" funny.

"Creationism, also known as creation science, is the study of scientific evidence for the creation of life on earth by God. The courts have ruled that creationism cannot be taught in the public schools because creationism is religion and religion cannot be taught in the public schools. However, this conclusion depends on how creationism is taught. If creationism is taught in the proper way, it is not religious in nature." (emphasis added) This guy goes on to explain why it is not religious, but I think he's kind of digging himself in a hole here.

I don't know, to me teaching evidence of creation by a God seems religious to me, and I don't think you can ever get away from that being religious. My problem with teaching about the creation in the public classroom mostly stems from the fact that I wouldn't want to put my kids in a public classroom and have someone teach them religious ideas that do not concide with my own religious beliefs. I don't know who is making up all the drafts for creation science in the classroom, but I do know I don't go to their church. I don't know what kind of stuff their going to be putting in my kids heads. To top it all off, I have no problem with the way science is done today, I approve of teachers teaching science according to modern science's current views (which also happen to include the view that ID is not science).

Anyway, I hope I'm not burning you out, but I just think this is important, and people tend to treat this as if it's not a big deal when it really is.

Matt and I went to the Tulip Festival at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens a few weekends ago. I thought I'd put up a few photos. Matt took tons of photos (111 total), it was beautiful and sunny and warmy.

I'm a tulip! Oh I mean I'm hiding behind the tulips. (and don't I look amazing in those shades)

Here's Mattie and me with some more tulips and an old lady too.

Well after a 4-week hiatus, I'm back and back with more fascinating evolution and religion information! Yay! So, let's dive in then.

I want to talk about my feelings on why I disagree with Intelligent Design, and do not want it taught in the public classroom. I have a lot of things I want to say though, and I'm not really good at organizing my thoughts into a cohesive unit (unless I'm getting graded on it) so bare with me (unless you don't want to, in which case you are going to be missing out).

Intelligent Design formerly known as Scientific Creationism (they cleverly left out the word creationism so that people won't know they're trying to put creationism in the schools) is something that has been around since Darwin first published his The Origin of Species. In the US, in 1925, Creationists won their first battle in Tennessee, where a law was passed that outlawed the teaching of evolution in public schools. Since then states throughout the US have been trying to pass similar laws, and now we are seeing several states bringing the "new" idea of Intelligent Design to their legislature.

According to Sir Francis Bacon their are preconceived ideas that man must fight off in order to accurately interpret observations; he called these ideas idols. The Idols of the Marketplace are the semantic problems that occur when people try to communicate and use words differently. This is largely the case with evolutionists and Creationists. For a scientist the Theory of Evolution is irrefutable fact, while a Creationist would say "it's just a theory". The problem is in the scientific world the word theory has a different meaning than in every day language. A Creationist will argue that the theory of evolution shouldn't be in the classroom because it is just a theory and scientists argue about its factuality. To a scientist the word theory is structures of ideas that explain and interpret fact. So the process of evolution is fact (something that scientists do not argue about) the mechanism for the process of evolution is not set in stone (it is this that scientists are trying to figure out and are "arguing" about). This is much like Newton's gravity and Einstein's theory of gravitation, Einstein didn't argue that Newton's idea of gravity was wrong (because it is a fact that gravity is real and occurs) he simply found a possible mechanism for how gravity occurred. Anyway the point of this was to say that when a Creationist says that evolution is not agreed upon by scientists and it is just a theory, now you know what's really going on in the scientific world. There is no reason to throw a scientific fact out of the classroom, if you want to throw out the Theory of evolution as just a theory then you'll have to throw out all the rest of science with it.

All right secondly, Intelligent Design is not science. Creationists are trying to get Intelligent Design into the public school under the guise that it is a science. Science is something that can be tested, it is something that can be made falsifiable. Intelligent Design states that science can't explain the supernatural and so there has to be a Designer who created these things that science can't explain. The Creationist Duane Gish says it best. "We do not know how the Creator created, what processes He used, for He used processes which are now not operating anywhere in the natural universe. This is why we refer to creation as special creation. We cannot discover by scientific investigations anything about the creative processes used by the Creator." So Intelligent Designers also known as Creationists admit that there are no possible tests that can be done to confirm Intelligent Design as a science. I really can't see why that would be allowed in a classroom of any kind. It's basically a Creationist's doctrine that their trying to force on unsuspecting students. Let the Creationists spread their doctrine in their own churches to their own congregations.

(I would call myself a creationist, but I don't like the connotation that goes along with it. So I can simply say that I believe their is a God and that through His own means (yes, it could be evolution, some other scientific possibility yet to be discovered, or something else entirely) He organized this earth and the beings on it. I don't believe God is trying to confuse us, if something is scientifically proven to be true I believe that it was intended that way because of the laws that rule the universe and the laws that govern our existence.)


(I had help from my good friends John A. Moore in Science as a Way of Knowing: the foundations of modern biology, and Stephen J. Gould in Science and Its Ways of Knowing: Evolution as Fact and Thoery.)

I'm taking an evolution class on campus (It's funny some people are shocked we have an evolution class on our campus) along with a class called history and philosophy of biology, which basically has been discussing the relationship between science and religion through the years. Recently there was a letter to the editor written by a student at BYU to the Daily Universe. This student basically gave a creationists viewpoint of why evolution is wrong, and that it will be the downfall of our society.
I guess I just want to know if that's what most LDS and other Christians think.

The reason why I put the quotes on believe in the title is because evolution isn't something you believe in. It isn't supernatural or anything like that. It is a fact that evolution occurs; I don't believe in evolution so much as accept and agree with the Theory of Evolution. I would like to write more about my feelings on evolution and creationism and about different religious groups (Christian groups that also believe in "the creation") that accept the theory of evolution into the doctrine of their church. If my regular readers (which I think there's like two or three of you) are ok with it I'm going to be writing several installments of my thoughts on the subject. For anyone just passing by, sorry if this bores you, but it's my life.

In fact I'll even post a completely unrelated picture just to add a little bit of entertainment:
My family spent their spring break here in Utah with Matt and I: The fam and The Gianormous, and it really was, just look at Chandler's face.

It's spring time and the little bunny rabbits are prancing in the fields depositing decorative eggs for little children to find.
And while we all celebrate this season, I would like to warn you about the black beans. When you find yourself reaching your hand in a bowl full of jelly beans, don't eat the black ones, they're really gross.

Okay, so I know I haven't been posting regularly and I really should have something super cool and interesting to write about, but I'm tired and I liked reading this on another friend's blog. So this is my cop out for a real post. Hate me if you want, but at least I am doing something.

Five Movies You Can Watch Over and Over:
1. Harry Potter, any of them
2. Gattaca- you know I'm a huge science nerd
3. Winnie the Pooh- I just can't get enough of that silly old bear
4. Emporer's New Groove
5. White Christmas- I'm pretty sure Margs and I watched that in like April last year.

Five embarrassing Songs that You Know All the Words To:
1. I Saw the Sign (Ace of Base) I hope anyone who was alive in the 90's can relate to my pain.
2. Get Another Boyfriend (Backstreet Boys, I know you all think less of me because of this now)
3. Do You Believe (Cher) due to long hours listening to the radio, yuck.
4. Newsies, any of the songs I may know from that movie is embarrassing.
5. Do the Locomotion, thank you 80's (and I loved it when I was a kid)

Five Memorable Halloween Costumes:
1. Parker and Nate as "The Crocodile Hunter"
2. The M&M costume all of the little kids wore
3. my sunshine bear (carebear) costume
4. Brooke as a dead Japanese lady?
5. The millions of Napolean Dynamite's I've seen the past two years.

Five Occupations that You Know You Could Never Do:
1. Teacher for kids under 11 years old. At that point the subject matter being taught is so uninteresting to me I would get bored of it, plus all the little kids running around. I would go crazy.
2. Any job where I don't really get to talk to other people much. I need the social interaction at work or else I get really bored, unmotivated and want to quit.
3. I couldn't work in an ER, I don't want to see people with a nail driven into their hand or any real severe bleeding or anything like that, I'd probably pass out. (Funny I don't mind cadavers though)
4. Managerial work. I like to do my own work. I don't mind being told what work to do, but I know I couldn't tell other people what to do.
5. Um, Fast food, ick.

Five Books You've Recently Read Outside of Schoolwork:
It's sad but there aren't any except the Book of Mormon, which is good a book, I just wish I had more time to read for my own leisure. Everything I read really is for school.

Five Ways to Perfectly Spend an Afternoon:
1. Doing nothing with Matt
2. Picnic and a nice walk
3. Going to a matinee
4. Sitting and relaxing after cleaning up the house
5. Taking a small trip to Park City or Salt Lake, somewhere close (I'm really excited about the Strawberry Festival in Payson this summer)

Not Your 5 Favorite Foods, But the 5 You're Most Likely Eating:
1. Something easy to fix like Mexican chicken and rice or Tortilla soup
2. E.L. Fudge cookies
3. Girl Scout cookies... Thanks Mom!
4. Cereal
5. Salad, made from whatever's in the fridge

So, that's the end. I hope you are okay with my lame excuse for a post.

Yay!
It was Mattie's big day today, too bad he had to work. I got to have half the day with my mom, sister and aunt. We went out to lunch and got pedicures. I'm going snowboarding tomorrow with my family, so I don't know how well the pedicure will hold. It's a price I'm willing to pay. Matt has to work again tomorrow, so he's really missing out on all the festivities. Hopefully it was made up for with all of the great camping gifties and a delicious dinner at Red Lobster, yum!

I don't know what possessed those people at the Testing Center to start assigning categories of greatness for how well they felt you did on a test.

Background info* at the BYU testing center after you turn in a scantron exam you can see your grade on a tv screen before you leave. The screen will have your id number, your test score and then a space next to that for them to leave their own comments about how well you performed on your exam. I'm not sure what the exact grading rubric is, but it's something like 90 - Good Job! 92 - Wow! 94 - Fantastic! 96 - Awesome! etc. I think the idea behind the whole thing is ridiculous.

I got a 96.6 on an exam I took this weekend. Right next to my score was a big "Awesome!" While a 96 is certainly deserving of an "awesome" who's to say an 85 isn't. Let's take my Molecular Biology class I took my sophmore year for an example. The first test we had was out of 140 points when we took it. The professor put a cut off of 100 points on the exam though. So if I got a 96/140 approximately a 70% the testing center would not have given me an awesome even though in reality the professor considered the score to be a 96%. The final for that class I got 124 out of 180, and since the professor made the cut off at 120 that meant I got 100% on the final. Was that reflected with an "Awesome" at the testing center? Nope.

Maybe I see this happen often because of the kind of exams I take; pretty much no one gets in the 'A' range with the exams I take for class. The professor will curve the exam after it has been taken, so while the highest score may have been an 80 they didn't get that "Awesome" at the testing center that they certainly deserved.

Anyways, what I'm basically trying to say is the testing center should mind their own business. I don't think they can properly consider how good a score really is. I mean my 29/30 on my religion exam, that got me an Awesome this weekend, was not as great of an accomplishment as the 124/180 on my Molecular biology exam, which definitely did not get awarded any title by the testing center.

Matt and I went on a picnic on Saturday. For whatever reason Utah decided to get warm all of the sudden, and I am all for it. I walk home from school usually so the warm weather has been really nice. I love a sunny sky in February (or really any other time of the year too)! Today it was warm and rainy, and we got a small lightning storm. I love lightning storms. We had them all the time in Arizona. I remember being a little girl wrapped in a sleeping bag with my sister, Brooke, peeking through the window, and watching the lightning illuminate the sky.
Also:
I think I'm the only girl in my ward who is not pregnant.
I made cinnamon swirl sponge cake, mmm it is so tasty.
My family is coming to visit me and Mattie soon. I am so excited! I really miss my family.
I took my final for my plant anatomy class today, all done!

For Valentine's day I made Matt a huge homemade valentine. One of those classic big red hearts with pink loops as a border. It says 'Happy Valentime's Mattie!' It was fun making it, it felt like elementary school. He loves cashews so I got him some chocolate covered cashews, they looked like hearts too. I got him a book that's called 365 Ways to Kiss Your Love, it's really cute there's one kiss that's called the fishy kiss and you make a fishy face and then kiss your love like that. I also got him a magnet that's purple and it says You & Me on it (we like a song that is called 'you and me') and I especially am happy that the magnet is purple. Mattie did a really good job this Valentine's day. He got me roses a day early so I could enjoy them all day on Valentine's they are really pretty roses too, pink with redish tips.


He also got me a gift certificate for a massage and an iPod shuffle - not a gift certificate one, a real one, but that was more for our 6 monthiversary (we don't usually give monthiversary gifts, but Matt was being especially thoughtful at the time).

I made us an AWESOME Valentimes dinner featuring pink heart-shaped pancakes, crescent rolls with raspberry filling and raspberry jam for the pancakes. Yummy! and Cute!


I can't wait for us to have kids so they can talk about their crazy mom and how she does crazy things for the holidays, like I do with my mom.

This is me being very valentimesy:
Then after Valentime's day was over it was back to regular-not-as-fun-time's day(s). I took the first of several midterms tonight, and am really tired. Matt and I are excited for Saturday so we can sleep-in.

It'a miracle! Matt has finally written on his blog again! He wrote about our Groundhog's Day Celebration! Yay!

Many have pondered the question of which sweet confection is tastier, is it the sixlets or the M&M's?
Maggie and I have had many discussions on this topic. We are both clearly for the sixlets. These tiny candies are much tastier to me than the plain old M&M. I find that each hard candy shell has a distinct flavor. Maybe I'm just imagining that the orange candy shell has a citrusy flavor and the red a cherry flavor, but to me it's there. Then you may ask yourself, "what does the brown colored one taste like...?" I honestly do not know; it is a flavor all its own, and I love it. By careful examination of the wrapper to the sixlets I see that they come straight from Toronto. Immediately I have lost a vote from Matt, who thinks nothing good comes out of Canada.
Anyway, as I sit here in the Wilk waiting for Matt to get off of work and come pick me up, I slowly and thoughtfully eat my little sixlets.

P.s. Maggie what is carob? It's one of the ingredients.

So, this is Matt's side of the room we like to call our office...



I still don't know the answer to the question of who's the bigger dork in our family. I think part of the problem is that we're under two different classifications of dorkiness. He would be called a geek, while I would be called a nerd. So, the battle's still on. I would just like to point out the SEVEN computers on Matt's side, as well as the multiple monitors. I think this gives Matt a few more marks on the dorkiness chart. Luckily, you can't take a photo of the things that make me dorky really. You'd more have to record me talking about stuff. Although, I do think my leaf/plant collection from last semester can be used as evidence. Well, the least I can say for the two of us is: neither of us use pocket protectors and we both wear pants that are past the ankles.

I agree with Maggie. It is easier to get up the motivation to study when there are two of you needing to study. Matt's not in school, so when he gets home all I want to do is hang out with him. This means all studying must be done during the day. BUT what about the laundry, oh and I need to eat lunch. Also, I've been meaning to deep-clean our bathroom, organize the office, put away unneeded holiday decorations and put up needed holiday decorations, as well as solve world hunger and bring world peace. So, I couldn't possibly study right now.
Margs and I used to head to the library almost every night to study. We had our little nook on the first floor of the HBLL (which they've put computers on almost all of the desks there now!), Maggie usually brought some fruit snacks, and we would share earphones and im each other while sitting next to each other and studying. Funny, I actually got a lot of studying done that way. So, I'm supposed to be writing an abstract for a 39-page research paper about turberculosis for my evolution class now... But that world hunger is still looming over my head, so I think I'll work on that instead.

Each week I am required to turn in an abstract of a peer-reviewed journal article for my evolution class. I've been searching the library database for articles I can use throughout the semester. We are to compile the abstracts into an annotated bibliography at the end of the semester on a topic of interest or in our field of study that relates to the class. The topic I chose to research is bacterial resistance to antimicrobials/antibiotics. I chose this topic because it is so fascinating how the little boogers figure out how the antibiotics are working to combat them in our bodies. Then they can modify themselves in a way that makes them nearly invincible to the drugs we try to battle them with. SIDENOTE: This is evidence to why I am a huge dork. I was reading about the history of HIV for the class last night and was explaining the processes of the virus to Matt, and I don't think he was nearly as excited by the topic as I was. I mean, how did those viruses get so smart?! END SIDENOTE. So, I've been researching diligently for the past hour and I have discovered two new articles to use... that's it, just two. I hope this isn't a steady trend since I have several more weeks worth of these to write an abstract on. Ah well, such is the life of a college undergrad.
On a happier note- I really love my intro to seminary teaching class.

P.s. I wrote this post twice because BYU is stupid and doesn't allow pop-ups, so I lost the whole thing when I tried to do spell check. It was more well written the first time around, sorry.

First day back to school. I have one class today. Yes, one. I am taking four classes that add up to 9 credits: History and Philosophy of Biology, Evolution, Plant Anatomy, and Intro to Seminary Teaching. I am super excited for three of the four classes. I don't know, plant anatomy is nice and all, but I just can't get my excitement level up for the xylem and phloem, call me crazy. (Speaking of 'call me crazy' I recently acquired a pair of socks that say 'call me crazy' all over them, they were $1 at target.)
So my one class today is history and philosophy of bio. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my cramped days. I have all classes but my his/phil of bio on Tuesday and all of them on Thursday because of a his/phil of bio lab. No classes on Wednesday or Friday! This a major break through people. I have never had a semester with a single day without any classes. This semester I have 2 days, TWO WHOLE DAYS of freedom, my friends. Ok, so I still have to go to campus to work on those days, but still you are all jealous.
After this semester I have approximately 12 more credits to take, and I am graduating! Finally! It feels so good knowing there is an end to all this craziness. I love school, and I am so glad I have learned everything that I have, but a break from school life sure would be nice.
In proper going to school fashion, I ate my cup of mandarin oranges like they were gooey bugs today. Thank you, Maggie for showing me the proper way to eat mandarin oranges.