Homecoming

First, we made signs:

Then, we went to the airport and waited.

 And then this guy finally showed up.

Water Guns and Sidewalk Chalk

Yesterday, 

it was water guns!

She was a [very] fierce competitor!

We all put up a good fight; and despite our {best} efforts, we all got utterly soaked.

Today, 

we put the guns away

and played with sidewalk chalk

before again resorting to guns.

This is an illustration of "The Magic Bullet."

Not sure what the story behind this one is . . . 

This one was my favorite. :] Thanks, Pookie.

I love my family! 

Going Home!

I finally made it home and am {IMMENSELY} enjoying my family!!!

This blog will be continued at a later date.  Here's a little something for ya, sugar.

A Glimpse Into The Life of a Weekend Warrior

This past weekend was WAY fun!!  I hung out with double H all day (after having a movie night at her apartment, of course) and we tried The Awful Waffle. 

American Style with Whipped Cream and Syrup (would've got strawberries, but wasn't in the mood for too much sweet stuff)

Needless to say, it was NOT awful.

Bagels aka The Only Way to Make Any Morning A Good Morning

Bagel: [bay-guhl] noun. a leavened, doughnut-shaped, firm-textured roll, with a brownish glazed surface, made of dough first poached and then baked.
see also: delicious


The fruits of my first attempt at making bagels. (It was actually kind of fun!  I made jumbo sized ones and sprinkled most of them with garlic, some of them with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.)

Garlic Bagel

They actually turned out pretty good; I didn't cook the first batch quite long enough, but that's what I get for trying a very vague recipe.


Boiled Bagels:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar

Directions:
In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast. Mix water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt together, and add to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer for half a minute at a low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl clean. Beat at a higher speed for 3 minutes. Then, by hand, mix in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.
Cut into 12 portions, shape into smooth balls. Poke a hole in the center with your finger, and gently enlarge the hole while working the bagel into a uniform shape. Cover, let rise 20 minutes.

Instead of making 12, I made 8 jumbo bagels in two batches (4 each)

Meanwhile, start a gallon of water boiling. Put 1 tablespoon of sugar in it, mix it around a bit. Reduce to simmering.
When the bagels are ready, put 4 or 5 bagels into the water, and cook 7 minutes, turning once.

They smelled way good in the water! :]

Drain them. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and eat hot or cold.

The two with the brown stuff on top are cinnamon-sugar; the one in the very back is just plain; and the one on the left is garlic (that one tasted yummilicious).

Broiling option: For a glossier surface, place raised bagels on an un-greased baking sheet prior to boiling them. Broil them five inches from heat for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on each side. Then put them into the hot water to be boiled as above. Note: do not bake broiled bagels as long as non-broiled ones, 25 minutes should be long enough. (I didn't do that this time, but I plan on doing it next time.)

New Stuff

Hey everyone!  This is just to make you all aware of some {really cool} stuff that's going on!  One of my friends just started a radio station called This University Life.  You should totally check it out!!  Right now, it's just streaming from their podcast, Love Bytes, but it's going to be great once everything really gets going!

Also, to help you find all this cool stuff and keep track of other cool stuff, I added a new tab on the right entitled (something really creative) "Cool Stuff" just for you!!!

Anyway . . . cool stuff.  Check it.  Now.

Adventures in Foreign Dining Part 2

It's time for [ASIAN FOOD NIGHT]!!!!

  

Shinjung made Bolgogi; Jordan made half of the potsickers and the chinese sausage; Amanda made the rice and seaweed; and Jeff made the other half of the potsickers (his were smaller, so they only took one bite, while Jordan's were bigger and took two bites.)

After dinner we played
SAN GUO SHA

(basically, a Chinese version of Bang)

It was way fun!!!! 

All in all, a great night!

235

• 235 is written in Roman numerals as CCXXXV.
• 235 is the atomic mass number of an unstable form of Uranium
• 235 is the number of three interstate highways in the U.S.
• 235 is the year in which a new emperor of Rome was crowned.
• 235 is the integer after 234 and before 236.
• 235 is a prime number with factors 5 and 47.
• 235 in binary is 11101011.
• 235 days ago Robin Soderling won the Paris Masters final (tennis).
• And 235 years ago, some men decided to sign their names on this piece of paper called "The Declaration of Independence" and start their own country.  

This is how I celebrated Independence Day weekend.

My adventure began with a road trip with my wonderful cousin (whom I haven't seen for thirteen years) and her family.  We drove from West Jordan, UT up to Lake Walcott in Idaho and spent the weekend with the rest of my cousins and their families and my aunt and uncle.

This is Sam.  He's one of my "little cousins" (meaning he's really my  second cousin) whom I got to see this weekend and I think he is the cutest little boy ever!!!  He's so happy and sweet and his favorite word for the weekend was "wadda."

This is my favorite aunt in the whole world (and technically, my only aunt because all the other ones are only my aunts because they married my uncles) and the grand orchestrator of this weekend's festivities.  I believe she looks very official in this picture.

And we had a parade.  Reverse, of course. {We, the audience/adults pelted the children with candy as they marched in front of us down the road.}

Quin.  {He's a big lady's man} 

ALL the little cousins (except Sam): Katie, Jason, Blake, Sean, Cameron, Natalie, Wes, Jordan, and Quin
We were pelting them with candy; [And there was much rejoicing]

I think this picture is [awe-some].
Lookin' like a boss.

Playin' at the playground

My aunt and cousins! {Note: I have seen my aunt more in the past seven months than I have seen my own mother.} All these beautiful ladies (minus my aunt) are sisters!  {Second note: Two of them I saw two years ago; the other two I haven't seen for thirteen years.  Kind of sucks being far from family.}

 On Sunday, I made it back to Provo just in time to unpack my clothes from the weekend and repack clothes for a sleepover at Hanna's apartment!  We woke up early Monday morning {6 am, early} and started making a day of it.

First stop: The field for hot air balloons

Unfortunately, the weather was all gross {and not safe for balloon riding} so only one balloon took off and they only did a tethered flight, with Ol' Glory flying by their side.

Oh yeah, we got to see a Darth Vader balloon and storm troopers.  Be jealous, all of you.

All-you-can-eat French Toast: $5 from Kneader's
SOO good.

We discovered this pretty little path with a pretty little stream  and some lovely little waterfalls.  [New Favorite Place in Provo and Reason to Move South of Campus at some point]

We also went to the Freedom Festival which was super fun where I bought this lovely purse.

Best Fourth of July Ever?  I think so.