Softball, Softball and More Softball

Brittany and I have enjoyed going to some of Clarke's sporting games this semester.  We've been to multiple softball games and a wallyball championship game (which they won!).  Sadly, I don't get very good pictures at games, so this one will have to do.

I'll make it extra big so you can pretend like you can see who's in the picture...

Have I mentioned recently how much I love these boys...errr...uhhhh....men?  They're AWESOME.  You should be jealous that I know them and you don't.  Unless of course, you do know them...

Egin Lake Activity

Why have I recently been posting multiple blogs on one day?  This will not become a habit, I promise.

Yesterday we went to Egin Lakes for our ward closing social.  I've never been there before and neither had Brittany so it was perfect since it's her last semester.  Basically, you drive out into the middle of nowhere for half and hour until you stumble upon these sand dunes with a rather large, shallow lake.  Now, I'm not really sure who decided it was a good idea to go swim in warm, standing water, but it's quite popular here.  You even have to pay to get in!

Well the ward fed us dinner (fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, watermelon and root beer floats) and we just chilled on the "beach".  They set up volleyball in the water near the end but none of us played.  They had people playing that could actually play volleyball and that was way too competitive for us :P  But we enjoyed making sandcastles and walking through the water.  I think I may have even gotten some sun!

Tenile made a sand hat...

The Ice Cream Challenge

Over the weekend, Brittany had a fabulous idea...eat at a different ice cream place every day until she graduates (on the 21st).  BRILLIANT!

Monday, July 9th- Root Beer floats at the ward activity (that was easy, didn't even have to pay for it!)

Tuesday, July 10th- Dairy Queen.  Buy one, get one free Blizzards :)

Strawberry cheesecake.

Reeses.  And what's on my spoon is one huge chunk of Reeses.

2 years of Bloggerness

Wow, usually I limit myself to one blog post a day.  Anything more than that is a little overzealous.  Well, today I have four.  Can you tell I realllllly don't want to start studying for finals?  And I haven't blogged in a bit and there are so many things to say!  Don't judge me.

This is a post to commemorate my TWO YEARS of blogging (the exact anniversary was actually July 2nd).  Can you belive I started this thing two years ago and have actually been a faithful writer?!  I'm telling you, if you have to decide between blogging and homework, the blogging will come first. 

Here are some fun facts from my blog:
- It has had 7,641 page views
- This will be my 139th post
- I also published 152 more posts on my Peru Blog and it has 4,459 pageviews
- I've had 76 views from Peru, 28 from Saudi Arabia, 24 from Russia 17 from the UK and 15 from Israel...
- My most viewed post was The Skinny on Skinnies which has more than double the views of any other post.

Okay, if you're bored out of your mind and are procrastinating homework too, here's a few places you can visit to waste some time :)  Embarrassing stories, funny stories, life events and good memories.  I love blogging.

- I Met A Boy!
- Operation: Something's Fishy
- Conditioner? Shampoo!
- President to President
- Food for Thought...Or Cleanliness
- How to Creep a Girl Out 101
- Blessed
- Interjections!

And here's a few from Peru...

- I Promise, there IS a Bathroom
- Mopping Floors
- Our First Field Trip
- The Never-Ending Latin Dance
- Drunks in the Park
- The Best Bike Ride EVER
- Who Cut the Cheese?
- The Sickest Post You've Ever Read
- A Mile in Their Shoes

Hands

As the suggestion of my Grandma Koch, I've decided to get pictures of my hands taken every few years.  At least every 10, but maybe more often.  Twenty years old seemed like a good starting point.  I learned there's a photography studio on campus and the man that works there was so nice!  He took almost 40 pictures for me, completely FREE.  And when he was done he walked back in his office and burned me a disk of them.  He was so much fun to talk to and he really liked the idea of my project.  He told me all about his dad's hands and the places they'd been and the stories they could tell.

I guess my goal for this project is to have a history of my hands.  They've been so many places in their short 20 years and I'm sure they'll go so many more!  I think it would be fun to get pictures of my family's hands as it grows too.  I mean, hopefully in 10 years I'll have a ring on my finger and another, more manly, set of hands to add to the pictures!

I actually didn't get a picture exactly how I wanted (I know, I need to be more assertive) but he still got some good shots.  I really wanted just a shot looking straight down on them...oh well.  He took a few portraits too, though I don't love any of them...my hair was a little wild that day and boy photographers just don't get girls hair. 

Happy 236th Birthday America!

The celebration started a tad early last Saturday.  I began the day with a 7 hour group meeting for this project.  I spent a total of 12 hours working on that project that day.  Sick.  But, here's the finished product! (actually this was a few hours before we turned it in.  We added little tabs to it which made it look 10 times better, in my opinion.)

Okay, back to American festivities.  I went over to Driggs, ID with Brittany and Hannah for their big celebration.  Pretty much all the food booths closed up before we got there so we had to head to own to find some grub.  We discovered this little sports bar that smelled delicious and decided to try it out.  I'm still not sure if it was a good or bad idea.  The food was delicious, it just took like 45 minutes to get it.  We waited FOR-EV-ER and ended up missing the first part of Jon Hunstman Jr.'s speech.  Not to be judgmental (even though I totally am) but I liked Glenn Beck's speeches the last two years 10X better than Mr. Hunstman's.  (Oh, you can read about my last adventure to Huntsman Springs for the 4th of July here (2011)) 

The party did not end here!  On Wednesday we went to the Rexburg parade, a party at Clarke House and the fireworks in Idaho Falls. 

Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts

You just have to make cute treats for the 4th of July.  Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts were my little experiment this year :)  I found the original recipe here from Pillsbury.

Original:

My version:

1. Cut out pie crust circles from store bought pie crust

2. Bake 4 minutes in a mini-cupcake pan

3.  Fill with cream cheese and yogurt mixture (recipe from Pillsbury link).
4.  Top with blueberry pie filling and fresh blueberries.

5. (as always...) ENJOY!!