Random

A friend recently rediscovered this picture of me, laughed so hard that he proceeded to email it to us and call us on the phone to tell us that he felt it was a picture that encompassed "all of Rachel." This is at a friends wedding. I cannot decide what to make of it, see the face I am making...who else feels this way? (Guarantee everyone at my work does, its the oh crap I am in trouble with Rachel face)....


(PS I just did three posts at a time so go down a ways to see them all, from Halloween up).

St. George Half Marathon

The first weekend of November we went down to St. George with some awesome friends/neighbors in our ward. The pictures are more fun so I will be brief. The road trip down and back was awesome, so much fun to just talk and listen to good music with good friends. We stayed with some great people down there and made new friends and learned a new game which we really like (Katie, it's that name game you were trying to describe to me once, after playing a round I realized this is what it was, and it all makes sense now, and is super fun!).

The race was good, perfect temperature, gorgeous views. I ran with Chris ran by himself the whole way and finished first, but Marshall was close behind him. Andrea, who said she was going to run slow with me and Lisa ran with her husband John the whole time instead and he got them to finish in under 2 hours! 1:58, awesome!! Lisa and I are slow, yeah! 2:20. But I wasn't in it for the time, we had a great time just doing it together. Woosy medal, and not that great of food at the finish line, but it was fun to have people cheering you on at the end.

Other things we did: St. George Temple, AMAZING, one of the best times I have been for sure. We met this old couple who were so cool and cute, they asked where we were from and when we said Provo the old man says "Oh man, didn't we just beat them down so good today?!" meaning the football game where we had just crushed...I think UNLV...anyway, in the temple, it was hilarious. We ate more calories than we burned at Red Robin, cupcakes at 5th and Main, custard at Neilsens, and Dominos that night.

Ok, the pictures:

one the bus to the start line!
Andrea and John!
Haha, yes Marshall and Lisa, I think they are trying to do 2010...
So I am pretty sure Lisa here is asking Marshall to kiss her because she wanted all of us to take a group picture all kissing in front of the temple.
But we were the boring-old-married-for-too-long couple on the trip so we didn't participate. No spark left for us... :)

How Many Costumes does it take for ONE Halloween?

Obviously, this is quite belated. Thankfully New Years is coming up so I have a reason to resolve myself to blog regularly again :) If you go back to my January 2010 post, I say the same thing...anyway. This post is about Halloween.

Chris and/or I had many parties to attend Halloween weekend. It seemed that since it landed on a Sunday the holiday really lasted from Friday through the rest of the weekend. But the "main costume" that Chris and I wanted to do could really only be done once, so for all the other things we had to come up with alternates.

Costume #1 - Rachel at work: Pirate. Thrown together 15 minutes before leaving, but that being said it turned out pretty awesome (also shout out of thanks to my neighbor Kristi who had an eye patch!! and let me wake her up at 7:30 am for it). Unfortunately the only picture of this costume ended up in a survey for people to vote for their favorite, but pretty much it was leggings into leather boots, one of Chris's big white button up shirts with a sash, the eye patch, and a head scarf thing. Pretty cool looking also since it was 100% from clothes I just had around the house.

Costume #2 - Chris and Rachel at Church Party: Zombies. Chris suggested being this 3 or 4 days before the party, so we slowly accumulated face make up and clothes from DI, awesome second hand store and perfect for finding costumes. We LOVE the Zombie dance Kayla and Jason did in So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 (see here) so we wanted to hearken back to Jason's costume...obviously Kayla's isn't quite appropriate for the Church party! :) So we found an awesome baggy suit for $10 and a cheap shirt and cut it all up. I just found a hideous dress that looked like something a mom like mine would have dressed me in matching with my sisters in the mid-90's. But, it actually worked, and our story was "on the way to the dance when we were attacked." I got my hair to be pretty awesome, and our make up turned out great. I didn't want to be a bloody as Chris...(sometimes I think I am married to a vampire...). Check it out:


I kept forgetting what I looked like so as friends came in I would run up to them to say hi all happy and normal and it would take them a moment to realize who I was, and they would always look slightly disturbed. So that kind of made it more fun :) I was surprised how NONE of the babies/small children seemed to mind us at all. We also got the DJ to play Thriller and it was great.

Costume #3 - Chris and Rachel at Cousin's Party: Ninjas. So, we didn't want to do the hair and make up again, so we made costumes AGAIN just from clothes that we already owned for my cousin Cheryl and her husband Tyler's Halloween party. We saw this video online about how to make the Ninja head piece from a T-shirt which inspired us (see here). This is not the same video but same thing.

We just so happened to ALREADY OWN a Ninja sword (technically its a Samurai sword, but I'm pretty sure only Chris could tell you the difference). I made my weapon out of a string and paper towel holder. Woot.

For some reason I thought I had 4 costumes...but I can only think of these 3. But still, that is a lot as it is. We went to another party after the cousin one as Ninjas, and Halloween night I honestly cannot remember what we did. If anyone reads this a remembers what we did please tell me. We may have watched a scary movie or something...

Also related to Halloween, for an accounting office work party we carved pumpkins:



In case you can't tell, our pumpkin is eating another pumpkin. This is reminiscent of one year when Chris and his roommates carved pumpkins and a big one started wilting and kind of fell over a smaller one and looked like it was eating it. They put ketchup on it. Also, the face of the pumpkin being eaten is reminiscent of that same year one of the pumpkins as it got older and older and more wiltly had the SADDEST face, it was hilarious.

Lastly, Chris ran the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. It started part way up Provo Canyon and ended at the Riverwoods Shopping Mall. He didn't wear a costume, though a lot of people did. He ran it in 1:48!!!

Delicious!

First, my blog is all ugly now because the back ground I was using expired from the site it was on or something and the person that helped me do that in the first place moved, so I need to find a new friend to help me make it cute again. Let me know if you can be that friend :)

Anyway, so at church we have this group in charge of "compassionate service" for those of you who are not LDS, and they head up activities of service for those that may need it, meals for those that are sick or just had a baby, things like that. Anyway, mine challenged us this past week to do something nice for our spouses that we normally wouldn't do. The first thing that came to my mind was cook dinner. Its sad, but its rare when I actually put effort into cooking a really good meal. :( So, I decided to cook dinner at least three times this week (it ended up only being twice, better than none). And, what I decided to cook on Monday was so good and turned out amazing well so I wanted to share it.

Avacado Clu Egg Rolls (Receipe from or like those at California Pizza Kitchen)

Be sure to prepare these in the exact order written, to prevent the wrappers from becoming soggy.

8 egg roll wrappers (6-inch square)
1 grilled chicken breast, diced 3/8 inch
2 large Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced 1/4 inch
1/4 cup cooked bacon, chopped (1 to 2 strips)
2 ounces Monterey jack cheese, grated
1 medium ripe Hass avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 to 3 cups vegetable oil
4 large sprigs Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

TO MAKE THE EGG ROLLS:
Place the egg roll wrappers on a flat, dry surface with one corner of each pointing toward you (i.e., as a diamond, not a square).

Distribute the chicken, tomatoes, bacon, and cheese on the wrappers in a row that is 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide and 5 inches long. Make sure that the filling is never less than 1 inch from the edge of the wrapper. Divide the avocado slices among the egg rolls, placing them on top of the cheese with the longer (skin) side toward you.

Stir the eggs in a small bowl to lightly liquefy. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and beat with a fork until evenly mixed.

Working with one egg roll at a time, lightly brush egg wash over 1/2 inch of each side of the wrapper. Fold the corner closest to you over the filling, pressing down and pulling tight toward the center. Press the left and right corners down to seal the edge. Lightly coat the 2 bottom corners with egg wash, then fold right and left corners inwards over the filling, pressing down to seal the edge. Add additional egg wash to the top corner creases and press down to seal. Continue rolling into a compact roll, pressing lightly to seal all edges.

Line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with waxed or parchment paper. Sift half the cornstarch over the paper, and place the finished egg rolls in the dish, making sure they do not touch one another. (If you’re going to fry the egg rolls later, sift the remaining cornstarch over the egg rolls, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

TO FRY THE EGG ROLLS:
Heat the oil to 375 degrees F in a deep 10-inch skillet. Fry the egg rolls, making sure that they are not touching (you may have to do this in 2 batches), for about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn with tongs, and fry for another 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, or until the egg rolls are golden brown all over. Remove with tongs and drain completely on paper towels.

Cut each egg roll in half diagonally and garnish each pair with a sprig of parsley.

Makes 8 egg rolls (4 to 8 appetizer servings)


Ok, now my comments. First, egg rolls wrappers are located in the produce section by the bagged salads. I never would have thought to look there, maybe thats just me, but if anyone wants to make them, I'll save you the time :)

Here is the amount of food I ended up using and made 9 egg rolls (I had only planned on doing 8 but I had left over).

.75 lbs of chicken, and I cubed it up pretty small which made them easier to eat after cooked.
2 roma tomatoes was good (the rolls got stuffed pretty quick so all of the toppings, especially tomatoes, went farther than expected)
1 avocado was good, but next time I make these I will chop up the avocado too instead of putting a big slice in there (personally)
I didn't do the parsley, fyi..
I'm not positive but I would only make 1/2 the egg wash (aka 1 egg), there was so much left over it seemed a waste of an egg
I made enough bacon for half a piece per roll, and that still seemed like not enough (and was way more than this called for)...but we love bacon, so that this note with your own personal tastes...
Cheese, I didn't measure out 2 ounces, I just put some in each roll that looked like a good sprinkling

Now, for the folding of the egg roll. The above directions were slightly confusing, and the package of the wrappers had instructions with pictures of each step (yeah for visual learners!) so I followed that and it was great. I did the egg on each side like it says then after folding it all in according to the packaging I sealed all the edges with a bit more. They didn't come apart at all. Really follow the corn starch on the wax paper, I was kind of lazy with this and they did really stick to the paper. And I really only did need to cook them for a minute and a half on each side, and then flip them a few more times, and they were the perfect golden brown and crispy.

Anyway, I hope some of you try this because they were good, and Chris actually did like them, incredible!!

The Latest

So I fell off the horse again, but I am back on! Mainly because so many good friends are gone, and I know they look at this, and so I need to tell them whats been going on.

So, since the last post on the hair in July...

Beach for a week. Awesome. Ate everything I wanted, all really fatty and sugary. Yum. Beach every day. Boogie Boarding (how do you actually spell that?). Chris came for the whole week for the first in the 3 years we have gone since being married!

Birthday. I am 23. Woot. It sounds old. Free Tucanos meal. For those of you who that means nothing, I am sad and you need to come to Provo to try it. Meat meat meat. Sister baked me a cake (ode to Napolean Dynamite which I haven't seen in so long!).

Chris started his Masters Program! Where to start with this....so, kind of weird having him be back in school because now just because he is home doesn't mean he can play :( But its made me more responsible and helpful, like doing dishes and *trying* to cook every day. He is taking 4 class which is a lot for a masters but its what they recommended for their first semester. 1) Intro to Grad Studies (just about...being a grad student...useful? I will have him comment), 2) some teaching pedagogy class since he is teaching -- insert: Chris is teaching a section of English 150, the freshman English class, 20 students, he wrote the syllabus, he writes all the lesson plans, he is THE teacher, so pretty cool. I think he is kind of hard (lol!) but we will see how his students rate him come December! -- 3) workshop for writing a Young Adult Novel, so we will see what he is able to produce in this class, YA is where its at right now (and by "it" I obviously mean the money), and 4) Non-Fiction workshop, which he is actually loving, and which is good because he has never done much with Non-Fiction and his emphasis is Fiction. Overall its more than he thought it would be I think, but is really loving it.

NERD FEST!! Ok this is what I have really wanted to post about the whole time :) For those of you who read current fantasy you hopefully know who Brandon Sanderson is, and if not you should read Mistborn and Warbreaker, and then you will know, and hopefully love it. For those of you who don't, brief background, LDS fantasy author, teaches a class each Winter at BYU, was doing pretty well when he got asked to finish the epic fantasy series of all series The Wheel of Time because the author died before writing the last book! But had a good outline, so Brandon is fleshing it out. The last book is so massive that its actually going to be 3 books, the first is out. Anyway, now he is WAY famous, but his own stuff is so good!! Anyway, now that he is quite established in the published fantasy world, he has released his own massive epic series, Way of Kings. There was a midnight release for the first book of the series, and since he is a BYU alumni and teacher it was in the BYU bookstore. You had to go to the bookstore starting Monday morning (some people camped out the night before) to get a number, then you came back that night and got in line to get one of the books, and signed by Brandon. The coveted thing was to get one of the first 100. Chris was like 91 or something like that, so cool for him. Here is where Nerd Fest really comes in. So we have to be back in line by 9 pm for the midnight release. We get in it about 8:30. At 10 pm we were moved inside (the whole time we were in a line outside), and then sat around in there till 12 when the book was officially released. So, 4 hours (by the time we actually got our copy) for a book. And, the whole time people are just talking about fantasy stuff, some were wearing costumes, talking about their own righting, using crazy lingo about writing, or Brandon's stuff, or whatever. Just, so nerdy, it doesnt sound like it but you had to be there I guess. At some point I realized that I was following all of their dialouges around me, even with acronyms and stuff, and I realized that it was because Chris talked about the same stuff. And I put 2 and 2 together. CHRIS IS A NERD!!!! So nerdy. He doesn't act or dress like one, but at heart he was at home in that line! I couldn't believe it. But, I also could. Any of you who already knew this, let me know how you did!

This post is already pretty long, I apologize. The last thing that is going on is my current love is Zumba. Aerobics. For those of you that haven't tried it, find it where you are, and go. Its amazing. Also we are running the half marathon in St. George in November, so we will let you know how that goes.

Also, sorry there were no pictures :(

HAIR CUT!!!!

So, many of you may have been noticing in pictures both on our blog and on facebook that Chris has been growing out his hair. It is quite long.  And by is I mean WAS!!! Because it is now shorn off.  We took some pictures showing off the before and after, of us both to show you how it was basically the same length in the back, haha, and now ta da! The new Chris! I actually like the long hair, so once we leave BYU in two years we think its going to come back.  So, for those of you who hated it you have two more years.  For those of you who loved it, just wait and it will return! :) This may seem like a lot of pictures for a hair cut, but this was epic.  He hasn't had hair this short in a year.

(OK, so no, he never actually wore it in a pony tail in public, but I wanted to see if it could be in one before we cut it, and it could! A big one. Sick.)

4th of July

This is kind of late, but I just wanted to show the flag jello I made for a family BBQ we had on the 4th.  It is creative, and I was proud of myself.  Its made of red jello on the bottom, whatever flavor you like, the big box (for a 9x13 pan).  Then cool whip, or whatever kind of whipped cream stuff you like best, spread all over, strawberries sliced in half length wise and placed as stripes, leaving a while stripe between, and blue berries lined up in a square in the top left corner for the stars.  Take a look!

We also went to the hot air balloon festival that morning.  We got up and went at 6:30 am to make sure to see them, ugh, but because of too much wind they ended up not getting off the ground till around 8! And then only 3 got off before it got bad again.  Thankfully we snagged this picture to make it look like we were at this crazy awesome thing.