St. Patty's Day Breakfast & other Stories

This is what we did to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Okay, we mostly did it because it was fun and there was a good excuse to. :-) Then we did our usual Sunday morning activities: relaxing, sewing for me, and Spencer fiddling around on his computer. I've been making good progress on Hannah's baby quilt and on some fun tie dye sheets for camping. I'll put some pictures up when I get them done.

In other news, we blew a fuse in our kitchen the other day. It didn't make the lights go out, but it did end up shorting out all the plugs on two of our kitchen walls. We used an extension cord to plug the fridge into another wall and looked for the fusebox. We managed to open what we assumed was the fusebox (it took some work), but it's actually the internet box or something. Incidentally, that's why it was hard to get into. We aren't supposed to get into it. You'd think that because we're in the basement the fusebox would be easy to find, but apparently it's upstairs. We still have to catch the upstairs people home so we can switch it back on.

Last night I got together with Kyrie to make some apple and blueberry muffins (two batches, not apples and blueberries together) and study. For one of our plant classes we are having a lab on fruits so we get extra credit for bringing in food with fruit in it. I thought it was today's lab, but it's actually next week. Kyrie's going to freeze the muffins and bring them next week. So much for knowing what's going on.

That's all for now. I've got a plant classification test I need to go study for. Hooray for plants!

St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago we were at the grocery store and Spencer saw some of those tiny cupcakes decorated for St. Patrick's Day. He wanted to get them, but they were like 3 dollars for 12 teeny tiny cupcakes, so I said I'd make him some if he really wanted me to. Since then he's been reminding me that I promised to make him cupcakes on an almost daily basis. :-) So, even though we're still a few days away from St. Patrick's Day I made some with Sydney on Wednesday. I've had a slow week, with lots of free time, which is really strange for me. Anyway, I found this recipe and we gave it a whirl. 

 Best. cupcakes. ever. (unless you're weird and don't like chocolate and mint together.) 

They turned out just beautifully, and the recipe ended up making like 45 cupcakes! We ended up taking about 20 of them home I think. Spencer's worried that we'll need to make more because we don't have enough. I love that guy. But for real, we need to be healthier. Or at least start exercising to balance out our cupcake splurges and fried food parties. 

It was really fun doing something with Sydney again. I hadn't seen her in forever because of how busy things got. We've started plotting our trip to Las Vegas when the boys take the MCAT in a couple months. They'll need to get lots of sleep the night before the test, so we're going to go out and do something fun, and then maybe we can all go to a show or something the night after their test. They are taking in in Las Vegas because Provo doesn't offer it in May and they wanted some time to focus on it after the semester is over. It'll be fun for Sydney and I, anyway! 

We Love our Deep Fryer.

Last night (Saturday), we had Eryn and Kelly Mooney, and Carly and Brad Hansen over for a deep frying party! Eryn and Carly are my visiting teachers, and last month we were talking about how we should do something together. We did a deep-frying party with the Ottos last year and it was fun, so I thought we'd do that. Spencer and I made eggrolls and some mozzarella sticks. The grocery store was out of eggroll-sized wrappers so we ended using wonton wrappers.

Here's Spencer wrapping some tiny eggrolls!

And of course when people came over I forgot to take pictures. We had a fun time together just hanging out though. We may have convinced Kelly that he wants to get a deep fryer, but I don't think Eryn's on board. Carly and Brad brought corn dogs and they are like 10 times better deep fried than baked. Just sayin'.

We need to eat better.

Other things...

We made some Apple Strudel Muffins late friday night. They are so good. Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy. Someday we'll get a better camera. It's hard to tell that they are fuzzy on the tiny screen.

And... my dress! I finished this about a month ago, and here I am finally getting around to taking a picture to show you all. I'm pretty proud of it, and it's nice and comfortable. When James saw it he did ask if I was going to shorten it.... Um, no, James. It's supposed to be long. He said that was silly. I wasn't too offended. :-)

Sushi

Yesterday, as I was sitting in ecology chatting with Spencer on google chat like I usually do, he asked me if I wanted to go out for sushi. :) We go out to eat every once in a while, but usually we decide on it a few days before. This time it was like getting asked out by Spencer, and that made me happy even though he said I'm paying. haha. (He did end up paying for me.... from our joint bank account...) So, after class and work we stopped by our apartment so I could get the camera and fix my hair for my date, and went to Kyoto! I love that place. They always have 2 for 1 sushi rolls, and we've liked everything we've ordered there. We had a really nice time together. 

Our waitress didn't seem happy about being asked to take a picture, but we got one! 

And yeah, somehow we ate all 4 gigantic rolls. 

Tender Mercies

Do you ever have those moments when you think back over the past few days and all of a sudden you realize that some string of random events is actually a string of tiny (or not so tiny) blessings and answered prayers? 

This week is the end of first block. The middle week of the semester means that first block classes have finals and final projects due, classes with 1 midterm have a midterm, and classes with 3 midterms have a midterm. I could see from the beginning of the semester that this week and into next week were going to be that time in the semester -- the really awful time that makes you hate school and life temporarily. I actually had a week similar to that about a month ago when I got sick, so I was bracing for the storm. I was so on top of my school work a week and a half ago. I started doing assignments as soon as they were assigned, keeping a running tally of everything I have that I need to be working on, and trying to study early for my exams so I'm not just cramming and panicking the night before each of them. My schedule has a Plant Classification test (my hardest class) Thursday (today), a big test tomorrow in Plant Biodiversity (close runner-up for difficulty), and next Monday to Wednesday a comprehensive Geology final and an Ecology midterm in the testing center. Plus all the assignments, quizzes, and papers on top of that. Surviving this week and a half has been a common theme in my prayers for the last little bit. This is how some things have turned out. Each one seems small, but I'm feeling pretty grateful. 

I had a 5 page paper due last Thursday, which I found out in class (after writing 4 of the 5 pages) that it wasn't due until Tuesday. HUGE lifesaver. If I had known it wasn't due until Tuesday, guess what I would have been doing all night on Monday? (Although, I wouldn't say that the extra time actually improved the paper much... just helped my schedule.)

My Plant Classification test has been moved to next Tuesday because of my professor will be out of town presenting something at a conference. That splits up my hardest tests.

My Geology final was opened today instead of Monday to accomodate some students who will be going into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) next week and were just taking block classes. I took it today to get it out of the way, and it feels awesome to be totally done with that block class. 

My Ecology exam has been pushed back until the end of next week because we are behind in our class lectures. 

Oh, and not to mention that about a third of the material on my Plant Biodiversity exam was covered on last month's Plant Classification exam, so it's review for me. 

This week or so has still been a lot of work, but I'm surviving and I'm feeling pretty happy about how things are going so far. Spencer's had a busy exam week, too, but he's pretty much done for a bit. It sounds like he did alright on his o-chem exam and he did pretty well on his Immunology exam. He's a hard worker, and a good studier. He's also good at not whining about it like me. I could learn a few things from that guy. Anyway, I need to get to bed now. It's late and I have an exam in the morning.

Valentine's Date

Valentine's Day is one of those holidays... I just don't really know what to do for it. I feel like we should do something nice, but I also kinda feel like it's just an excuse to spend money. Anyway, this year Valentine's Day was on a Thursday, so we didn't do anything for it on the day of. Spencer got me a coupon for two tickets to see a movie and to go out to dinner. I made him a canned valentine. The food science department on campus has a fund-raiser where you can bring candy or whatever and buy a can to decorate. They seal it for you. I got spencer some bookstore fudge and candies. Let's be honest, I ate at least half of it anyway. :-)

On President's day we didn't have class, so we went on our date. It was so fun. We went to see Warm Bodies, a romantic comedy about zombies, and then we went to Gloria's Little Italy for dinner. Warm Bodies was funny, and I'm glad we went to see it. Gloria's Little Italy was pretty good, and we had some 50% off coupons from BYU Hitlist so that was good! We'd never go there without them. Their entrees are about $15, which is more than we like spending when we go out to eat. The food was good though, and we even dressed up for our date! I was planning on taking pictures, but I didn't. 

It was a super fun date, and we definitely needed some time together not studying that day. :) It's been a busy couple of weeks with tests and schoolwork, but hopefully that'll slow down once we get through these next couple of midterms. Spencer's pretty much the best. 

Worst Weekend Ever?

Alright, it probably wasn't the worst weekend ever, but there have been happier ones. That cough I got on Thursday is still working it's way out of my system. I stayed home from work and class on Friday. Saturday I went to campus for a while in the morning to do a walk-in geology lab (we just go name the rocks) and study for a little bit with Benjamin. Spencer had a physiology exam and an MCAT study session with Ben. He did really well on his exam, by the way. He's a smartie. I'm pretty sure I slept for most of the afternoon when we got home. I tried my best to get some more studying in, but I'm less than productive when I'm sick and stressed out. I had a big plant classification midterm to study for, along with the geology and plant biodiversity tests this week. Spencer gave me a blessing, and that helped a lot. It mostly helped me calm down and feel less stressed about all my school work.

 On Sunday I slept in and tried going to church. We made it halfway through the 2nd hour and came home. I don't study on Sundays in order to make the day more about Christ, so I did my best not to worry about my tests. Spencer gave me some nice hugs and snuggles while I tried to sleep. I wasn't sleeping well and had spent most of night before trying to sleep in  a chair in the living room. I thought it would help my cough to be sitting up and I figured Spencer might as well get some sleep, even if I'm not. I did spend a couple hours working on my dress on Sunday before church though, so that was nice.

Monday I went to school and made it through one class (barely) before I had Spencer bring me home. I slept most of the day away, but I felt a little better when I woke up, so I got some studying in. And I managed to finish all of the random homework assignments I had to do. I seem to have a lot of busy work in a few of my classes this semester.

I slept much better last night, and I think I am finally getting better. I woke up early this morning to finish cramming for my plant classification test. It was in class at 8:00 this morning, and it went alright. It was just about as hard as I had anticipated though. I don't know what I got on it yet, but I'm feeling blessed. I really didn't have the time I had planned on using to study for it. I'm still a little stuffed up, but I'm not as exhausted as I was, so I'm very happy about that! Now on to studying for geology and plant biodiversity! Then I'll have a little break from midterms, and it will be great. I'm planning on a fun Saturday with Spencer to thank him for taking such good care of me while I was sick. He gets to pick the activities, so we might end up playing computer and iPad games all day... anything for that guy. :-)