TP or not TP...is that even a question?

Someone please tell me how an apartment of 6 girls can go through a pack of 12 toilet paper in less than a week.  CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THIS?!?!  Because I am completely and utterly baffled.  If this is a fact (and this past week, it was) it would mean each girl is using 1/3 of a roll of toilet paper a day.  I know I am certainly not going to the bathroom that much.  Is it physically possible to use the bathroom that much?  And if I'm not using my 1/3 per day that means someone else is using MORE than a third a day.  WHAT THE?!?!  Honestly, I'm tempted to put cameras in the bathrooms to see who the culprit is and what they're doing.  Do they forget a towel after their shower and need it to dry off?  Are they stuffing their bra?  Are they eating it (yeah, it really happens...)???   

WHERE IS MY TOILET PAPER GOING?!  

On a related note...remember this post from Peru regarding the LACK of toilet paper in practically every public place.  What an adventure that was...

I like Cheese.

The other day my roommate made a comment about how she never buys cheese because she will just eat it. Well that's EXACTLY why I BUY cheese!  And then it led me to some serious self reflection on how much I love and eat cheese.  I currently have six, yes six, different types of cheeses in the refrigerator. I feel like maybe that's a little excessive but I don't care.  I love cheese!  Here's how I like my current cheeses...

1. Colby Jack- In the large brick form.  Perfect for everything.  Cold slices on wheat Ritz crackers, sliced on a sandwich, and shredded for a grilled cheese are the primary uses.

2. Shredded Mozzarella- Used mainly on top of baked tomatoes.  Sometimes used in a tomato and cheese grilled cheese.

3. Shredded Parmesan- Also used on top of baked tomatoes.  A fairly new development is to bake it on top of asparagus.  Yum!

4. Sliced Munster-  Don't ask why I bought this.  But I eat it on sandwiches.  I'm sure I could have survived on my colby jack brick for sandwich cheese but this is just already sliced to the perfect width.

5. Cream Cheese- The strawberry kind.  It was purchased this weekend so Kadi and I would have something to eat on our bagels on our Sunday return trip.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now....guess I'll have to go buy some more bagels!

6. String Cheese-  Last, but definitely not least.  I'm kind of addicted to the stuff.

There you have it.  My current cheeses.  And now for a taste (pun intended) of my other favorite cheeses (consequently they are all from Peru and that's why they are not in my fridge...)!

1. Gouda- This is no "She's the Man" joke.  We bought some in Peru and it was divine! (and I realize you can get this in the states...I just haven't)

2. Queso Fresco- Another we had in Peru.  Actually we MADE our own cheese from fresh cow's milk that we milked.  It was quite awesome.  And we ate the entire batch of cheese in 24 hours.  We didn't have a fridge so we didn't have much of a choice...

3. Queso Mantecoso- By far the greatest cheese eaten in Peru!!!  It was the first cheese we tried there and at first we weren't thrilled with our choice of a new Peruvian food.  But we grew to absolutely LOVE the stuff.  We toasted it on bread, had it in sandwiches, had it on crackers, had it on cookies and just ate it plain.  It's a wonder we didn't gain more weight than we did there.  But this cheese is specific to Cajamarca so we were in it's native land.  Soooooo good.  Someone needs to bring this stuff to the states...asap.

Obviously it's the one that says Mantecoso.....

And I lived in Green Bay for eight years so here's a shoutout to my cheeseheads!!!!

What's a Pummelo? (And Other Strange Fruits)

I asked myself this very question last week as I perused the aisles of Broulims grocery store.  A large, green-yellow fruit caught my eye.  No one knew the answer.  Since they were only $0.99 per pound, I decided to buy one and give it a shot!  It kind of reminded me of Peru.  We would buy all sorts of fruits we'd never seen before and then try them.  We had hits and misses.  Sadly, some fruits I still never learned the name of.

Me and my pummelo...my pummelo and I???

Pummelos have very thick skin!

And it's pink inside!  The perfect fruit for any real girl.  It kind of tastes like a sweeter grapefruit and a hint of pomegranate...yeahhhhhh whatever it tastes like, it's good!

Peru fruit memories...on film. (Please don't judge our appearance...I apologize to Noelle and Breet for posting these without their consent.  I figured after a year we can just laugh about what we looked like....)

 What we learned to be passion fruit...but we called it the booger fruit.

Tuna...yes, it's a fruit.

The forever nameless fruit...  And even though Noelle says at the end that she really likes it, she didn't.  I don't think she ever ate it again but Breet and I would always buy them. 

This is mostly a tour of our kitchen...I find it appropriate for now.  Also, it is our first Peruvian mango.  The mangoes were DELICIOUS.  I hated mangoes before Peru and still don't love the ones that are in the states, but Peruvians know how to eat a good mango.  PLUS, we could get like 5 good size mangoes for an American dollar.  It's a steal!

I love watching these all together because twice we describe them as mushy apples and pomegranates.  Also, I just cracked up laughing at how funny we are.  Funny looking, funny sounding, funny everything.  It was all so new to us and I'm so glad it's all captured on film!

Bragging and Complaining

Literally all I can think to blog about right now would be school or work.  They are seriously the only things I do with my life these days!  So I'll take a minute to brag and a minute to complain and then be done for a bit.  My apologies for never having anything fun to read anymore.  I've had the fun sucked right out of me this semester.

Brag: I'm kicking butt in my Kinesiology class.  I've got a 97% when the average is a 77%.  I have the 3rd highest score out of 63 students.  BOOYA!

Complain: There is a buttload of memorization for the class that I don't particularly enjoy.  You don't want to see the stack of flashcards I have.  Flashcards with not just a word on the back, but with multiple sentences.  It's disgusting.  But then it's kind of cool when you can answer questions like "what muscle do you use when doing a pull-up that you don't use when doing a wide grip chin-up?" and "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"  You know...the important things.  Also, the last test took me 2.5 hours.  "Quizes" take a good hour.

Brag: My job is so much better than your job.  We had a soup graze last week.  Heaven.  I looooove winter for the sole reason that it's soup season.  I also have some of the best coworkers ever.  They're hilarious.  My boss is hilarious.  I'm hilarious.

Complain: Yesterday I had a women yell at me on the phone for like ten minutes.  She kept telling me how ridiculous BYUI was and then we were screwing everyone over and no ones likes us.  I was in the middle of telling her she may want to consider a different school if she didn't like how we did things and she hung up on me.  Great first phone call of the day.

Brag: I stepped foot in Peru exactly 10 months ago today.

Complain: I stepped foot back in America exactly 7 months ago today and miss Peru and the people so much.

Brag: I have a bomb-diggity blog.

Complain: Basically I forget I have it and never write anymore and my life is going to shambles because of it.

Home, Sweet Home

I apologize for taking so long to update the story I like to call my life.  This entry is much more of a journal entry that some posts so it could get a little boring.  Apologizing again.  Feel free to just scroll through the pictures :)


I'd like to start off with an amusing picture of a man I'll refer to as Dumbledore.  We were on our way to my birthday dinner at Panera Bread when we saw Dumbledore in the distance.  From a distance, it seemed he really was Dumbledore, long beard especially.  As he neared our car, we noticed he did have a beard, but the majority of it turned out to be his open, hairy chest.  Gross.  Magic.Gone.

Dinner was lovely.  I branched out and got a turkey bacon avocado sandwich and some chicken lime orzo soup.  I usually enjoy a ham and swiss on rye.  It was delicious and I didn't even overstuff myself!  A rare occasion for Panera.  After dinner, we went to the fair to see Meredith march in the band show.  Oh, how I miss band!!  You can call me a band geek, I don't care.  This show made me miss my saxophone and miss performing.

Saturday was the fair parade in the morning.  Seth, Noah and I sat right on the curb and those people just kept throwing candy at us!  I was like "can't you see how big of a pile they already have?!  THEY NEED NO MORE CANDY!"  Nevertheless, we took home quite the stash of cheap candy.

Ohhhhh Sunday, what a great day!  One of the main purposes of this trip was to surprise two of my high schools friends, Nathaniel and Taylor, who just returned home from serving two year missions in South America.  It was a tough secret to keep because both had been asking if I was coming back to Ohio before starting school...and I lied shamelessly multiple times.  My brother ruined the surprise for Taylor and told him I was coming but I got Nathaniel good!  On Tuesday, Nathaniel and I went to Cedar Point to ride the roller coasters we haven't ridden in two years.

The Tucker grandparents came and spent a few days with us!

We have a garden this year!  There's all sorts of delicious veggies growing and I went and picked the first of the tomatoes.

 I went to Seth's Court of Honor on Wednesday...I may have forgotten to take my camera out until he was walking back to his seat so this is the only picture I got...

On Thursday I returned back to the west!  Here's a glimpse of my homeland.

 I met my dad in Salt Lake and we went to see Eli's BYU freshman picture be taken.

 Friday morning Dad and I hiked the "Y" overlooking Provo.

 Friday afternoon I was going to head back to Rexburg and then I thought "why am I going back to Rexburg when I don't have to work until Monday?!"  So I extended my Utah stay for a few days and crashed at my Peru roommate, Noelle's, place in Riverton.  Our Peru brother, Aleksi, just returned to America a few weeks ago and we had ourselves a little reunion.  It was great to see him again and the only thing that could have made it better would be to have had Breet there with us!  And Liz and Miguel would be icing on the cake, but they're still in Peru so it was slightly impossible for them to be there. 

 Inside joke with this picture.  We aren't totally crazy.

On Saturday we went to the Brigham City temple open house with a bunch of the YSA from Noelle's ward.  I hadn't been to a temple open house since the Nauvoo, IL temple was dedicated so it was a treat!  And I even ran into an old neighbor who is now serving as a Sister missionary in the area.

It was a great trip.  The perfect amount of relaxation and craziness.  And I didn't even mention how the airline lost my luggage and I ended spending $100 on new clothes that Delta ended up paying for. 

And None Will EVER Compare

I am seriously, majorly, completely, missing my Peru kids right now.  I just want to look at pictures and videos all night.  Actually, I just picture this big reunion in my head with me surprising them at El Bichito and 30 kids all screaming and yelling my name and vying for my attention.  It's a nice dream.  Let me just remind you how incredibly adorable my ninos are.

Ester.  We didn't see much of her, but the few times she came I just couldn't get enough of her!

Luzelena and her brother/ cousin/ nephew/ some-sort-of-relative

Erlita:  She would play Chutes and Ladders everyday if we'd let her.

Juan Carlos:  The freaking BEST dancer you've ever seen.  This kid can shake his hips like it's no one's business.

I can't even remember her name, but it took me DAYS to get her to say anything to me. I LOVE this picture.

Benjamin...o Jose?!

Aurora: Occasionally dressed like the older peasant women.  She was never far from any of us.  A quite girl, but such a strong spirit and will.

Alessandro: He wants to be a singer when he grows up.  And he sure has the voice and moves to win over any lady.  Oh, and just looks at those dimples!

Milagros (her name means "miracle" in English):  The most beautiful girl ever.  She doesn't take a bad picture.  Contagious smile.  Terrible at the card game BLINK though...

One of the happiest girls, although her eyes always made her look tired and sad.

Sonja and Fredi.  She was the best big sister to him...most of the time :)

Eli, Damaris and Ester.

I think we got a picture of the only time Fredi ever smiled!

WHERE HAS THIS PICTURE BEEN HIDING?!  Elmer's such a punk and to have a good picture of him makes me happy :)

Rodrigo:  The class clown so this picture is quite fitting.

Marco:  He's in his mid-twenties but suffers from polio and uses crutches to walk.  He loves art projects and drawing.

Antoni!  This boy was always dirty and his pants were never fully pulled up but I never saw him without a smile.  He's a little ball of energy and would yell at us from his house in the mornings.

Christian and Luzelea.  One of my favorite pictures of the entire trip.  He looks like a little man and she took care of him like an older sister...although I think she was his aunt...

Junior and Alberi.  Alberi was the spoiled, fat child that we resented...but tried really really reaaaalllllyyyyy hard to love.  He grew on us, but we had our moments of wanting to yell at him in angry Spanish.

Keiko: The youngest of three kids.  She had a sunburned face that was always cracking and her clothes were some of the dirtiest.  I loved when she's curl up with me and read a book outside in the sun.

Anna Maria:  Best friend of Luzelena.  Look how beautiful she is.  She wrote us all some of the sweetest notes and was a girly girl. 

If you can honestly say that you've met a cuter group of kids...you're lying.  No one can say that.  Ever.  These are the sweetest, most thoughtful, humble, absolutely amazing kids in the entire world.  Sure, we grumbled over a few of them and we sometimes got tired of their endless yelling of our names and needing our attention in five places at once.  But they gave me the best hugs I've ever had.  They are what made Peru worth all the time and money and struggles.