Learn to Cook Something New

Hot Crash Potatoes!

Ever since my friend Jamie Coupaud posted the recipe on Facebook, I've been dying to try it.  So, when my friend Rhonda invited me over for dinner tonight with her family, I decided it was the perfect opportunity!

Here's the recipe if you're interested.  She includes tips and pictures and you just can't go wrong. :)

Next time, I'm going to boil them longer.  They were NOT easy to mash.

Before I put them in the oven...  Don't you just love potatoes?

The finished product!!

They turned out pretty good, but next time I'm definitely going to let them boil longer and I need to use more seasoning.  But, Rhonda's family said they loved them (I really hope they weren't being polite to spare my feelings) and I liked them myself.  The recipe says to use what ever spice or herb you want to, so I used garlic.  Mmmm. :)



Learning to cook something new was on my live list!

Utah-Fried Chicken and Potatoes

Okay, so it doesn't look very appetizing, but it was actually really good!

The chicken definitely turned out much better than the potatoes, but my wedges were just fine with a bit of ketchup.  Next time, I'm going to use a LOT more salt, and I want to figure out how to make them crunchy.

I didn't take pictures of myself frying them because I was a little busy making sure I wasn't frying my fingers.  Haha.  It's harder than it seems.  It was a lot of fun, though, and totally worth it.  Yummm.  Downsides: made the entire apartment smell like smoke, and the grease was super hard to clean off the stove and surrounding surfaces.

Worth it?  Yes.  Most definitely.

A very poorly documented activity from my live list.

Make a T-shirt

BYU held something called "Fall Fest," where they had concerts, tie-dying, and games.  I've never tie-dyed a shirt before, so I decided to give it a try.  I was really excited about it, but by the time my part of the 1,000-strong line got to the dying stations, there wasn't any dye left for us.  So, my shirt's pretty white.  I don't like a whole lot, but I'm hoping it'll grow on me, haha.

An item from my live list.

Make an Omelet

An item from my live list.  I've been writing a story called "Voices" lately.  In one of the chapters, my main character gets up early to make omelets.  As soon as I wrote that, I started craving them.  That's kind of an odd thing for me.  I don't really like eggs.  So, when my mom and I were talking about my vacation to Texas, I said, "Can we make omelets?!"

I didn't really know what I was doing, and neither did she.  We just kind of went off of what we'd heard from other people.  We didn't look it up or anything.  So, my omelet took about a minute to cook, and I was freaking out the whole time, saying, "Mom!  I don't know what it's doing!  What do I do?  Help me!"

It turned out looking pretty funky, but it actually wasn't all that bad. :)  Not exactly what an omelet is supposed to look like, but hey, whoever said I was a cook?

While I just put some cheddar and bacon in mine, my mom had the works.  Onions, green bell peppers, cheddar, bacon.

Hers took a lot longer to cook, and it didn't turn out exactly how we planned, either.

But, you know...  It was fun.  And it was fun to spend that time with my mom.  Normally for meals, we get our own separate dishes and sit in the living room with the TV on.

I'm so glad I got to go home for a week.  My mom and I certainly had some adventures!

Put together a really intense puzzle.

At the Caldwell Family Reunion, Jessica and I spent four hours putting together a CLUE puzzle.  There was a little booklet that came with the puzzle that gave you descriptions of all the characters, and then the story.  We were supposed to read the story, then try and figure out whodunnit.  Then, we were supposed to put together the puzzle and see if it gave any more clues as to who it was.

After reading two pages, Jessica and I gave up and just put the puzzle together.

It was really intense because we didn't have a picture to go from.  Also, because it was CLUE.  When isn't clue intense?

There were a lot of people who worked on that puzzle at one time or another, but Jess and I were the only ones who were there from beginning to end.

I felt very accomplished.

Go to Arches National Park

My mom brought me back up to school after my Spring semester home.  We had a blast!  We laughed a lot, and even managed to not kill each other.  She trusted my driving a whole lot more, and even slept in the car some.  On the second day up, we stopped at Arches National Park.  The only one I hiked up to was the double arch, which was absolutely breath-taking.

You know, I really love the fact that my mom is so supportive of my photography.  She stopped numerous times for me to take a picture, drove with her window open, waited for me for an hour, and so much more.  She really is amazing.

I used to be absolutely obsessed with rocks.  I still love them.  When I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist or a geologist.

Mom thought this one was really cool.  I think it's called "Balanced Rock."

The double arch!!!  Isn't it magnificent?

In the arch looking up.

Petrified sand dunes.  Cool.

The delicate arch!  I did have to hike a little ways to get to a viewing point to see this one.  Ugh.  That was when I realized...  I'm *so* not in shape.

NOT a very photogenic day for me.  So this is the best you're gonna get. :)

What adventure would be complete without the perfect sunset at the end?

Arches really was great.  But the adventure didn't end there!  Oh no.  We still had to get to Provo through the mountains that night.  After the sun went down, in construction, without the lines painted on the road.  Mom absolutely refused to let me drive, so I had to settle for telling her when the road curved, and watching for deer.  She was terrified, and rightly so.  It was not a good driving situation.

But we pulled through. :)

Thanks for the adventure, mom.  Love you!

Go Skiing/Snowboarding

For a joint birthday celebration, Julie and I went to Sundance!  She'd never been skiing or snowboarding before, and opted for two pieces of wood strapped to her feet as opposed to one.  I, on the other hand, have done the civilized sport several times, and chose a much more reckless route: snowboarding!  I've always wanted to try it, and this past March, I got the chance!

Matching! (sort of) Socks!

Ugh.  I hate disposables.  Luckily, Julie brought her small fantastic camera. :)

I probably spent more time on my bum than on the board.

View from the lift.

Top of the mountain!  LOVE this picture. :)

Lookit!  I look like I know what I'm doing!  This was toward the end of our run, so I definitely had learned some things...

All I need now is that Jamaican hat with the dreads from Johnny Tsunami.

Julie actually got pretty good.  Not bad for her first day!  Not bad at all!

And here you thought *I* was the photographer.  Julie's pretty awesome.

At the end of the day, we sat in the trunk of my car with our lunch boxes (Julie's was actually a box!), munching on healthy (an not so healthy) goodness and freezing our little toes off.

Julie also took this really cool picture which we're both in love with on the way up there.  Is this the best tunnel picture you've ever seen or what?

Julie in action!

The girl got me to wear pink.  Gracious.

Those pants were SO BIG I had to walk around like a gangster.  I had suspenders...?  Right, well.... umm... you know.  It just felt right.

Best hat ever?  Maybe.  Best winter hat ever?  YES.

And thus we ended with me sitting on the floor with a cup of hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows because I was absolutely too tired to stand up.  Haha.

I spent a LOT of time falling on my face (which hurts a lot more than I thought it would), falling on my bum, and falling in every direction you could possibly imagine... with a board strapped to my feet.  Julie fell a lot too, which was slightly comforting.  I definitely loved the experience and would definitely do it again.

Except, next time, I'm going to buy lots and lots of icyhot patches ahead of time. :)

Julie and I had such a wonderful time together.  And, for once, I have more pictures of me than anyone else from an event.  That's kind of cool.

What shall our next adventure hold?