Hiking... Then and Now

This last Saturday we went on a grand adventure! Rexburg is a real fun place to be, but sometimes you have just got to get out and explore, which is exactly what we did. Christy, my friend from home, got a date (his name is Levi) and I took a date, Clint, and together we went and conquered R. Mountain (The "R" stand for Rexburg but we lovingly nicknamed it "Our" Mountain, because we conquered it!)
It was totally a blast! The hike was shorter than I thought it would be, it was honestly more of a hill then a mountain... but I digress.

Here we are in all our hiking glory! :)

 We look like professionals right?! 

Well, I have to say, I learned from experience! I didn't always look this good! In fact, lets flash back real quick to a time in my life when hiking really wasn't my thing....

This is me trying to put on a backpack.... Hey, it's harder then it looks!!! :)

The sad thing is I'm just about as graceful as I was then as I am now! All the way down the mountain I kept tripping and falling all over the place! Thankfully no one was there to catch it with a camera! :)

~Keep Smiling~ :)

Dear English 201 Teacher,

So... I don't know if you noticed, my dear English 201 teacher, but I wasn't in class last Tuesday. I don't really have a crazy good excuse for not being there, other than having a slight headache and a desire to sleep in a little later than usual. Anyway, on that day, I totally forgot but we had an assignment due. We had to annotate an article by Mark Twain called Corn Pone Opinions. Well, since I was not in class, I didn't turn it in and was expecting to receive a zero on the assignment. I had come to terms with this grade since it's one of the only things I've missed and I don't intend to let such a lapse on my part happen again.
Anyway, but the purpose of this post is not to apologize profusely or beg your pardon, but to ask you about something I noticed in the grade book when I looked over it today on that online sight all of us college students use to keep tabs on things (it's called I-learn) I noticed that rather than a big fat zero under that fateful assignment that I have not yet turned in, a better grade was posted. Not only did I get full credit for something that I did not do, but you gave me extra credit!!! Dearest English 201 teacher, how in the world did I get 107% on something I didn't even turn in!?!?
Not that I don't appreciate it, I would gladly love to take points for something that I didn't have to do, but I feel that it would be deceitful and evil of me if I didn't bring the mistake to your attention.
Though if you feel like keeping the grade where it is and giving me extra credit for honesty, I surely wouldn't mind! :)

Sincerely
Your favorite student,
Alina :)

~Keep Smiling~:)

Nerf War

So, we may or may not have had a nerf gun in war in the Ivy Apartment complex...
... I refuse to confirm or deny anything and everything!!! :)

Well, the evidence here is pretty condemning... a moving picture is worth 10,000 words I think, so watch and decide whether we are guilty or not guilty.

Personally, I plead the fifth

~Keep Smiling~:)

A special thanks to random citizens who acted as human shields and the Ivy Management who, though they did not necessarily support this endeavor, did not object to it either... as far as I know... :)

College Cooking 101

So, you learn in college to get very creative with your food. Oftentimes what we eat is a random conglomeration of whatever we can find in the fridge or pantry! I have eaten some very interesting things down here in Rexburg!
Anyway, the other night I had a craving for thai food and so I resolved to make some Phad-Thai. I don't have much thai cooking experience, so I did what any other person would do and googled it. Surprisingly enough, I found a fairly simple recipe by clicking on the first link that popped up. Here are the ingredients:

• 8 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 2 Tbs fresh lime juice
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 3 scallions 
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cilantro 
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts 

Well, I knew right off there was a slight problem. Being a poor college student, I don't randomly have rice noodles or scallions lying around. Part of me was tempted to turn back, to suppress my craving and move on to something else. If I was weak willed I would have thrown a cup of noodles in the microwave and called it good. But I am not fait hearted. I don't know if you know this about me yet, but I am a fairly determined person.... especially when it comes to food. So I pulled out everything I had that looked remotely thai related and sat down to think!

That's when I decided to play the substitute game!

Instead of Thai noodles, I would use fettucini noodles (they are wide and flat right?! :) 

Instead of scallions I would use onions (because scallions are basically like mini onions)

Instead of Lime juice, I would use lemon juice (lemons and limes are like siblings, both are tart and tangy)

Instead of a clove of garlic I would settle for garlic powder

Now there was nothing to be done about the chopped peanuts or cilantro, but I figured those were just extra flavor that I could live without. So I set to work.

First I boiled the noodles

Then, I mixed together brown sugar, lemon juice and soy sauce to make a Thai Sauce thing...

I then poured a little bit of oil onto the pan and sautéed some onions with a little bit of garlic and some of the Thai sauce. 

I then cracked two eggs, and scrambled them in the pan with the onion mixture until they were "set" which basically means they aren't cooked all the way but they are pretty close (meaning they are no longer runny) 

I removed the eggs from the pan, cracked open a can of chicken (the recipe didn't call for it, but I felt like adding a little more protein) and threw that in the skillet with some of the thai sauce. Once I felt like it had sizzled in the pan long enough, I removed it and placed it on the plate next to the eggs. 

Back to the noodles! I drained those bad boys, threw them in the skillet with my remaining thai sauce concoction and asked them very politely to behave just like rice noodles. The noodles were my biggest gamble you see, because switching out a lemon for a lime isn't incredibly noticeable (unless you are talking about lemonade verses limeade, in which case lemonade is always better- but I digress... :) I hoped and prayed that my fettucini would decide to take a break from it's italian identity and turn oriental. 

Thankfully, my prayers were answered. I sautéed those noodles in the thai sauce

then I added the eggs and chicken, making sure to break up the eggs so that they were evenly dispersed throughout the noodles

And VOILA!!! Phad-Thai Supreeze was born! :) 

And I just want you to know, that was the best imitation Phad-Thai I have ever had! :) 

Look at what you can do if you just are willing to think outside the box! Italian noodles can be oriental if you just ask! :) 

~Keep Smiling~ :) 

Dear Mom,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Today, I don't actually know how old you are! I bet I could figure it out though if I really tried, but to me, you will never be a day older then 35!

I suppose you could misinterpret my inability to recall your age at the drop of a hat to the fact that I don't care, or I'm bad at math, however neither of these things are true. You see, I have simply immortalized you in my mind. You know how there are those fictional super heroes that never grow old and save the world on a daily basis with their fantastical super powers? Well to me, that's who you are Mom. You save my life all the time! Sure, you can't fly around the world in a matter of minutes, leap from tall buildings in a single bound and maybe you don't have a skin tight leotard hidden in the back of your closet to whip out when danger strikes, but you change diapers like no one's business, help high schoolers with math problems and your whit is faster than a speeding bullet. 

There is one way, however, that you are nothing like a super hero. You see, in the movies the villain always has a dastardly plan that revolves around destroying  Metropolis or Gotham or New York (it's always a big city) and the thing is, Superman and Batman kinda help him out with it. For when they have these epic battle scenes, there are always casualties. Buildings collapse, cars are set on fire and really, honestly, it probably would take them twice as much money (or more) as they made on these blockbuster films to rebuild what they destroyed. Yeah, sure, Joker was stopped and maybe Lex Luthor doesn't get to kill Superman, but at the end of the day, when the hero walks away, he kinda doesn't seem to care about what he accidentally decimated. Mom, you never tear down. You always build up. You have been instrumental in shaping and molding me into who I am today. 

I love English because of you. Ever since I can remember, you have always been so willing and excited to share your love of learning with all us kids. You would sit and read to us at night if we got in our jammies quickly or finished up the dishes in time. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around sitting and listening as words fluttered off the pages of beautiful classic books and filled the family room as all of us kids listened, enraptured by the story, the language and your voice. 

When I had surgery on my back in 7th grade, you would read to me until you got hoarse or I fell asleep. The drugs kinda made me a little loopy and I would forget in between readings what had happened in the story, so you would patiently summarize what we previously read and then continue with the book. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you reading to us! I think it's because of you that I got a 5 on the AP LIT test! (Which gave me some credit and college and as a result saved me money!! :) 

I could probably sing your virtues all night, but I won't, because I have to do homework and take a shower because I have class tomorrow! :) But I do want to list off just a few more things that I think are important for you to know. 

Something really beautiful about having a mom like you is that I know you love me. Even when I mess up and mess up so bad that I think there's no way for me to fix it, you still love me. One time, I was stuck, stuck soooo deep in something that I felt I could never pull myself out again. I couldn't tell you about it either because I was pretty sure I would be grounded for life! (Not that you've ever really grounded me) I wanted to tell you, I wanted soooo badly to get rid of the stupid situation but I couldn't figure out how. Here's the thing that's amazing; I didn't have to tell you because you knew! You pulled me upstairs to talk to me about it and the whole story came spilling out. And when I was done, I looked up into your face and saw love. You weren't angry. You held me while I cried and told me that everything was going to be okay. It's because of you Mom that I understand just a little bit of how my Heavenly Father loves me and all his children. Because of your unconditional love, I know that even though I don't deserve it, I am loved all the time by you, by Dad and by my Heavenly Father. You have shown me what true love really is. Love is patient, love is kind, love is long suffering and love endures even through stupidity. 

So Mom, 

Happy Birthday! :) I am so lucky to have you as my Mom. You are the BEST EVER!! 

Oh, and thank you for talking to me basically every day when I call you on the phone to regale you with all my latest exploits, even though you have eight other children (yes I know I'm not an only child, but I like to pretend sometimes okay!!! :) 

Sure, Superman and Wonderwoman save people physically, but you help save my life spiritually, and that's more important. 

I love you

Love,

Your favorite 18 year old daughter, Alina