Dear friends,

I miss you.

Tonight I was sitting eating at a table with a family, and I thought, "Gee I miss eating on the couch with 11 of my favorite people in Utah." (yes friends, you were some of my favorite people in Utah). I also miss dinner being a surprise (instead of something that I've planned and prepared, every day.)

I hope the summer is treating you well.

And if you ever end up in the DC area let me know.

I'll make you dinner!

Love,

Emily

Wild Animals and Open Doors

Sarah, we just thought you would like to know that your dear friend Cornelius and his new acquaintance Wuffalumpus the Polar Bear unexpectedly wandered their way over to our apartment. It was quite a surprise to see two wild beasts sitting in our living room when we arrived from helping your roommates move. I suppose this will teach us to not keep our doors open all the time.


Well anyways though, Cornelius and Wuffalumpus have made themselves quite at home here. Me and Kevin have had few animal friends in our lifetime so we've tried as best we know how to make them feel comfortable. As you can see in the pictures below, we think they've quite enjoyed just "being with the boys," no offense to the fairer sex intended. It's a guy thing. As Cornelius related to me just barely, "It's nice to finally have guys around. Sarah's great but she just doesn't understand my innate desire to blow things up and eat unreasonable amounts of pizza." Me and Kevin have tried to provide as sympathetic an ear as possible.

He seemed pleased when he discovered a freshly cooked pizza. I believe his exact words were "Pizza, ginger ale? What are these blessed creations never before experienced?"

Cornelius seemed to enjoy reading a book with me. As he put it "This is SOOO much better than the Book of Mormon in Arabic."

As we were watching TV together Cornelius got a little excited - "Weee! I just love watching TV while riding on my cheesemobile!"


We haven't touched Marcus' X-box for months but at Cornelius' insistence we finally pulled it out and he ended up playing several hours.

Kevin thinks Cornelius may be the snuggliest kangaroo... err dog, he has ever snuggled up with for a nap.

We're not quite sure if Wuffalumpus, our polar bear friend, is capable of speaking but he has certainly consumed prodigious amounts of pizza. In fact, we were just idly looking through pictures on Google of various sea creatures and he seemed quite excited when we showed him images of baby seals. He began smacking his lips and drooling. We're not quite sure, but we think he was disappointed we didn't have any of the real stuff on hand.

One of the pictures that seemed to get Wuffalumpus rather excited.

So it's been great having them around. We have tried multiple times to send them back to your place, but the wild little creatures keep coming back. Cornelius keeps saying something about sticking around for a few weeks, but at the rate they eat pizza and soda this could get expensive. Please come over and try to talk some sense into them.

I like countdowns...and planning

2 days till General Conference Starts

Also 2 days till the George Strait/Reba McEntire concert.

8 days until a quick weekend road trip to rexburg

13 days till the last day of school!

16 days till I jump out of a perfectly good airplane

20 days till graduation!

23 days till I leave Utah without having plans to come back for the first time ever.

In 29 days I'll have the most amazing chinese food on the planet

and in 30 days I'll fly to Colorado and inherit 2 children.

Just final papers, projects and finals stand between us and our density I mean, destiny!

See that light. It's the end of the tunnel.

Also, for your reading enjoyment (if you feel so inclined) here's my blog post from yesterday on my personal blog:

http://misadventuresofemily.blogspot.com/2011/03/extreme-humiliation.html

please feel free to laugh.

Why I Love Spring

In line with Lindsay's post, I thought I would share one of the (many) reasons I love spring. I look forward to this particular thing all year long.

PEEPS!

That's all.

Because it has been SO long since anyone's posted on this thing...

So, a few minutes ago a nice lady from a neighboring office came in and said, "We had leftover pizza, so I'm gonna leave two boxes with you guys. Sound good?" Umm, yes. Yes, nice lady, that sounds very good. We gave her appreciative, but dainty smiles and demure "thank-yous," she walked out of the office, then the six starving girls got up out of our seats and made light work of the deliciousness. Mmm... Papa John's pepperoni pizza...

That, along with the fact that it is GORGEOUS today make me think it's gonna be an awesome day! Is it a bad thing that food and good weather can have such an effect on my happiness? I hope not... It's the little things really...

Anyway, this is a really silly blog post, but I wanted to say that I hope you all have an awesome day today. I hope you enjoy the Spring weather and I hope that random nice people give you yummy food.

Here are some photos of things that are making me happy at the moment:

(Papa Johns Pepperoni Pizza)

(Me, eating Papa Johns Pepperoni Pizza)

(BYU in the Spring)

(Baby Polar Bears-- Seriously, they are sooo cute!)

(Hawaii-- I must have Spring fever because I have been daydreaming about running away to the beach a lot. I mean, A LOT. Someday I will go there... someday... and it will be awesome... sigh...)

Happy Spring! And happy Wednesday! See you at dinner group.

What you missed at Dinner Group Tonight...

Today there was a smaller than normal Dinner Group turnout. We missed you all. And you missed us! Trust me. You did.

Not only did Julie make AMAZING taquitos (and they were amazing and delicious), but we celebrated the birthdays of two of our favorite pirates:

And no pirate party would be complete with out a pirate ship:

Kim and Kevin's ages together= 50, so 50 candles were squeezed onto the cake

Maybe we ought to have taken off the action figure... But it did light up beautifully. 

Especially a delicious pirate ship :)

We missed you! See you next week!

The Cabin: Documented

Caption Contest

Please submit your favorite caption for the following picture. Winner gets... delicious food 4 nights a week for the rest of the semester :)

Cabin Weekend!

I decided to post some general information about our cabin trip on the blog to spare me the stress of passing out individual assignments and instructions to all of you. Everyone has a food assignment. If for some reason you can't bring the item(s) or you feel like your assignment is unfair, let me know before Friday so I can make other arrangements. You will need to bring enough of your item for 15 hearty eaters (We will work up an appetite in the snow). Here is the menu/list of assignments:

Friday Dinner-- Papa Murphy's Pizza
*Each person contributes $4
*Drink Mix: Emily Allred

Saturday Breakfast-- French Toast
*Texas Toast: Scott
*Cinnamon: Lindsay
*Eggs: Sarah
*Milk: Stephanie and Justin
*Sausage: Derrall
*Orange Juice: Breanna

Saturday Lunch-- BLT's
*Bread: Emily Zimmerman
*Mayo: Sarah
*Bacon: Kevin
*Lettuce: Breanna
*Tomato: Melissa
*Hot Cocoa: Lindsay
*Chips: CJ

Saturday Dinner-- An Awesome Meal Provided by our own Emily Allred

Snacks--
*Marshmallows: Melissa
*Graham Crackers: Emily Zimmerman
*Chocolate: Shaun(if you're planning on coming?)/ Lindsay
*Popcorn: Scott
*Fruit: Stephanie and Justin
*And of course you are welcome to bring any other snack food you may want to eat/share.

Also, there have been some questions about what each of you need to pack. Aside from the basic toiletries/things that you will need for an overnight activity, here are some general guidelines/things to consider:

*Pillow, blanket &/ sleeping bag (this is a must)
*Sled (if you have one that you want to bring)
*Snow Gear: coat, boots, gloves, beanie, pants that can get wet, etc.
*We take our shoes off when we're in the cabin, so you will want to pack a pair of socks for indoor cabin use (to keep your feet warm/protected/semi-clean)
*Games to play
*There is a tv with a dvd player if you want to bring a movie
*There are bathrooms with showers if people want to use them while we're up there. You will be responsible for your own toiletries if you choose to shower.

Directions--
If it's alright with everyone, I'd like to leave Provo around 4:30 pm. Let me know if there is a conflict for anyone and we can rearrange the schedule. Breanna and Emily will head up a little later (at around 6) if anyone wants to come up with them (just let me know, please). We will caravan up to the cabin, but if we get separated (or if you’re like me and you just like to know where you’re going), here are some general instructions:

*Drive up Provo Canyon until you get to Heber

*Turn left onto Main Street/UT-189 N in Heber and stay on that road all the way through (and out of) town. (We will make a quick stop here to pick up our pizza)

*Take a right on Highway 32. This road takes you up the hill to Francis.

*At the 4-way stop in Francis, turn left heading north on the 32. This road takes you into Kamas.

*Continue on the same road until you come to a blinking yellow light and see the fire station on your left. At this point, turn right onto the 150 (toward Mirror Lake).

*You’ll drive a little way out of the town. Watch for Mile Marker 3 on the right side of the road.

*IMMEDIATELY after you hit Mile Marker 3, turn right. Be careful because the turn comes up fast. I have driven to the cabin a million times and sometimes I still miss it.

*After turning right, follow the dirt road to the left until you get to an iron fence on the right side of the road. At this point, we’ve made it to the bottom of the mountain.

I think that's everything, people. Let me know if you have any questions. I think it's gonna be an awesome weekend. You'll want to bring your cameras!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

By popular demand, here is my famous chocolate chip cookie recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup crisco/shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

mix together thoroughly, then add:

1 1/4 cup flour
Lots of chocolate chips

Mix well. I actually like to add more flour than specified so the dough is thick and I can knead it with my hands. I think it makes the cookies bake a little thicker which I like.

Place in oven at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Pull them out when the tops of the cookies are just barely golden brown.

A Public Retraction

I like to be right. I pride myself on being right a lot. I'd like to claim that it's all genetic (I can only remember my father being completely wrong twice in my entire life) but really, I just like it. That being said, when I am wrong, I like to think that I'm a big enough person to admit it.

You see, you may remember that we had a discussion on baking. And I was quite adamant that cookies made with shortening could never be as delicious as cookies made with real butter. Then I had Derrall's cookies on Friday night when the EQ doorbell ditched us.

And this is the part where I admit that I was wrong. In fact, I may even request a copy of that recipe because, "boy oh boy" were they delicious. I suppose that on occasion, shortening cookies may equal, or, dare I say, trump butter ones.

The end.

PS:  y'all should check out my blog.. it's in it's early stages, but I like it :) In Pursuit of Domestic Goddessness

Chubby Bunny

Hello again fellow dinner group people! As many of you know, last Sunday we carried out an exciting and dangerous activity called "chubby bunny." Derrall won with sixteen marshmallows, but Scott gave him a run for his money with fifteen. The rest of us choked around eight, but Adam was there as medical support, so we felt reasonably safe. If any of you ever just really want a marshmallow, please stop by my place and pick up a bag or two (we may have over-estimated our abilities when buying marshmallows).

The beginning--before Lindsay and I had to throw the towel in.

Very cute both of you.

The top two competitors.

I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite, the dino-squirrel in action.

Playing a strategy game that continues to haunt me.

Apparently Kevin can fit an apple in his mouth.

I'm fairly certain these pictures are a firm testament to how incredibly cool we are, and how incredibly cool dinner group is--I like to think of these sorts of things as the "dinner group underground."

Happy Birthday Derrall!

The Pirates of the Dinner Group never disappoint. Thanks to Lynda, Kevin, and Sarah, we had yet another fabulous birthday dinner group celebration, complete with party hats, mood music, and cupcakes. Here are some pictures from the event:

Captain Heath, our fearless leader, fixin' to run his cutlass through them hornswaggled cupcakes!

Thar he blows!

And last, but not least, here is the awesome birthday video I was telling all of you about:

P.S. I have watched this video so many times. Something about it just tickles me. Enjoy!

Why We Should have a "Celebrate Wearing Glasses" Day

While at dinner group tonight I am afraid that some people may have gotten the impression that I think glasses are less cool than contacts. I don't think that, and I'm pretty sure people who wear glasses are incredibly amazing. To prove this I went in search of important people that wore/wear glasses (instead of doing my Arabic homework). Here are a few of my findings.



My Dad :)

My Arabic professor (and his wife, I think you get double points for that).

The Dad in Calvin and Hobbes (and only cool people read these comics).

Dilbert: Enough said.



 Elton John: I don't really know much about him, but I do like "Candle in the Wind."



FDR: Woot!

John Lennon: Exceedingly cool.

My Mom (ignore my sister and her corn, although she wears glasses too).

Sarah Palin: She knows how to wear glasses.

Me: Of course, I had to appear on this list of cool people. I'm the one in the green skirt.

Bill Gates: If he isn't cool, who is?





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My favorite stuffed animal that I have had since I was born, Cornelius, yes, he is named after the elephant doctor from Babar (see the above picture).


Well folks following that parade of extremely cool people that wear glasses I hope any confusion about my stance on glasses has been cleared-up. Maybe we should have a "celebrate wearing glasses day" and have chocolate cake and party hats and make the people who don't wear glasses sing to the people who do. 



Volunteer Fireman Day

So last week we decided to celebrate volunteer fireman day. Yes sir think of all those under appreciated volunteer firefighters out there! Quite by accident, I assure you, it happened to correspond to the birthday of Kim C. So we ended up singing to her and having birthday cake. Chocolate cake is pretty hard to beat... 

Kim blowing out the candles

Birthday cake before we ate it

Kevin and Scott

Julie and Kim

The whole dinner group

Picture of everyone is fireman birthday hats