Pork and Potatoes

Who doesn't love a good home cooked meal?  And when that meal is pork chops, homemade mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, you'd be crazy to turn it down.  So goes my life Tuesday for dinner.  My fabulous friends Hank and Cameron needed a nice air conditioned apartment to hang out at and they offered to come cook dinner if I'd loan mine.  I was quite pleased to do so.

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. 

Another One Bites the Dust

Okay, no one died.  BUT Alexis got married...leaving me as the last of the three amigas who's single.  I'm not complaining.  At least not at the moment.  Thankfully, my friends don't forget who I am once they get married.  We're planning a reunion at this very moment!

At the luncheon.

Jared and Whitney.

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of them...they're adorable.

The Peterson clan.

Roomies

Helping with the reception.

I just realized after posting these that I didn't put up any of Marc.  So here's one of the handsome groom and my best friend who is now his beautiful bride.

Another wedding?!

Sheesh, what's up with all my friends getting married?!  There's been sooooo many this summer!

Alexis gets married next week (post to come on the awesome present I'm making her) and we had her "bridal shower" last weekend.  It's a pretty chill group so we just went to Red Robin for dinner and then to her friend, Lindsi's house for games and a bonfire afterwards.  Some of her high school friends hadn't met Marc so he joined us for dinner and then we forced him to stay home with the future in-laws while we took Alexis for ourselves for a few hours.

Hillary, Alexis, Myself

My roommate, Jamie, from over a year ago got married a few weeks ago as well. 

Jamie and Brian Judd

And I could go on.  I think there'll be a total of 6 friends tying the knot this summer.  Crazy stuff, marriage is.

ThePianoGuys

Thursday I ditched work 20 minutes early and headed to the other side of campus for an amazing concert by ThePianoGuys! aka Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cello).  They were AMAZING.  One of the best concerts I've been to in the three years I've been here.

In case you haven't heard/ seen what these guys do, here are a few favorites from youtube... (okay, I started just putting up every one they have because I've decided I just love them all!  So watch these and then go watch the rest!!)

What Makes You Beautiful 

 The Cello Song

 Rolling in the Deep

 Peponi (An Africa spin on the Coldplay tune Paradise)

 Charlie Brown Medley

Love Story Meets Viva la Vida

A Feast for Fatties

Sunday dinners are the best.  Seriously.  After an entire week of eating sandwiches and cheese and crackers for meals, it's nice to have real food.  The meal tonight was provided by the roommates who left for the summer and subsequently left food in the refrigerator or freezer.  We basically just fried everything we could get our hands on.  I've never tried deep-frying different foods, so it was quite the experience.  We did chicken, carrots, cheese sticks, and Reese's and cookie dough wrapped in biscuits.  It was a fatty feast.  The boys did crockpot some chicken as well that was perfect with rice.  The combination of everything made for an excellent Sunday dinner!

Mmmmmmmmm!

The Reeses-biscuit combo.

Sunday Sunshine and Smiles

Brittany is graduating.  Cindy is going home.  Abigail is sad :(

So we went and took some pictures to celebrate our friendship!  Actually, we went to get some pictures of Brittany for her graduation announcements, and then decided it would be a good idea to have some pictures together.  Here are a few of my favorites :)

My paparazzi picture of Wendy (Cindy's twin sister) and her husband Matt.

The picture Brittany decided to use for her graduation announcements.

I also took a picture by this lovely little statue because I have pictures from my very first semester next to this same Greek-ish bust.  Enjoy!

Spring 2012

Fall 2009

Fall 2009