Graduation!

After four years, one of which was spent apart from K.C., I have officially graduated from Utah State University! 123 credit hours managed to earn me a Bachelors degree in Public Health, emphasis in Environmental Health, and a minor in Chemistry. K.C. was able to drive out to Utah to attend my graduation before we loaded all my stuff into the car for the long drive back home. Here are a few pictures from the graduation ceremonies that managed to turn out. We REALLY need a new camera. Stat.

The procession of graduates to the Spectrum.

Mom and me after the University-wide commencement ceremony. We definitely had a much better speaker than K.C.'s year!

K.C. and I in front of the fountains on campus.

The Bell Family after the College of Science Ceremony with Landon being the typical jokester :)

Tom's and Shalaun's family was able to come up for the College of Science Ceremony and my adorable nieces loved my funny hat and strands of golden hair coming out of it. They are too cute!

On top of the "A" in front of Old Main. I had so many great memories from living in Logan. I will definitely miss living there, except for the terrible winters that is.

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

K.C. and I had this for dinner one night when we were over at a friend's house and we absolutely loved it. Since I have been back in Logan finishing school, I didn't feel justified making a ton of soup just for me so being home for the holidays was the perfect excuse to break out the recipe and try making it for ourselves.


Zuppa Toscana
1 lb Italian sausage
1 1/2 t crushed red pepper (skip if using hot sausage)
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 c water
5 t chicken bouillon
3 large potatoes, halved and sliced
1/2 bunch kale
1 c heavy whipping cream
1/4 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1. Brown Italian sausage in a large pot along with red pepper. Remove meat from pot and drain most of the grease.

2. Put onion and garlic into same pot and saute until onions are soft. Add water and bouillon and bring to a boil over high heat.

3. Reduce heat and add potatoes. Cook until soft (our potatoes were sliced really thin (~1/8 of an inch) and I only cooked them for about 5 minutes at which time they were perfect).

4. Prepare kale by removing stem from the leaf (it is rather chewy otherwise) and tearing into salad size pieces. Add to pot and cook until tender.

5. Return sausage to pot and pour in whipping cream. Heat through making sure not to boil or else the cream will curdle.

6. Serve with bacon on top as a garnish.

You can put the bacon in the soup along with the sausage, but we found that the bacon gets soft and loses its crunch so we will be simply putting it on top from now on. We also decided to double the recipe since we had no idea what to do with the rest of the kale. It makes a ton of soup (wouldn't all fit in our 8 quart pot) but we are definitely happy to have leftovers! Enjoy and let me know what you think if you try making it yourself!

The Time Has Come . . .

I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by. The end of August always seemed so far away so I certainly I didn't expect to be at this point so quickly. Now that it has come, I am not quite sure what to do with myself. I feel like I am about to step into a strange new world and it scares me. As I pack the last few things into boxes, it is starting to dawn on me that I am actually going back to Utah, back to Logan, back to school. Here's to hoping the next 9 months fly by!

Birthday Weekend

This weekend has been a really great one and I am sad for it to be over. It started on Friday afternoon when the Bullock's stopped by our house on their way home from their family vacation in Yosemite. I hadn't seen them in several months so I had a hard time letting them go when they walked in the door. When K.C. got off work we jumped in the car headed up to Lake Tahoe. The last time we had gone up to the lake and stuck our feet in, we desperately wished we had brought our swimming suits because the water felt so nice (not freezing cold like at the beginning of the summer). So we brought our suits and spent a good amount of time in the water jumping over the small waves and trying to get away from "sea monsters" (aka K.C.) Sadly the Bullock's were able to only stay the one night with us and headed out early Saturday morning for home, but it was so much fun to have them here and we hope they can come out again sometime soon.

Since my birthday was on a Sunday this year, K.C. took me out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to a local sushi restaurant "Wasabi's" and chowed down on some pretty tasty rolls. Although it was nothing in comparison to "Happy Sushi" in Logan, it was good enough to satisfy my cravings for sushi that were plaguing me since we moved out here. Sunday morning, I woke up to some delicious cinnamon-swirl bread french toast before heading off to church. Later that night after some fun rounds of Rummikub and Mexican Train I opened the presents K.C. got for me that have just been sitting in our bedroom for a couple weeks now tormenting me! I got a candle warmer lamp, some more tupperware, new earphones, and a Pride and Prejudice piano book.

The last gift I opened up was just full of surprises! The box was super heavy and K.C. specifically made sure it stayed right side up. After digging through lots of plastic bag padding, I found another smaller box sitting on top of K.C.'s free weights that had been taped to the bottom of the box! He certainly is super creative and it made us both laugh really hard. Inside the smaller box was another piano book with the music from Wicked! I was so happy and excited to start learning those amazing songs. Flipping through to look at the complexity of the songs, I felt a section of thicker pages but completely went passed it without thinking twice. Going back the other way I stopped and my eyes rested upon some paper K.C. had stuck in between the pages...

*GASP* "What is this?! What does this mean!?" (Yes, those were my exact words with some screams and laughs in between.) For those who did not see the answer right away like myself, here is a closer look...

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Oh. My. Gosh. My wonderful husband is taking me to San Francisco to see Wicked! Talk about a freaking amazing birthday present!! He realized that will be the last weekend we have together before I go back to Utah State and he wanted to make it a good one. Needless to say, I am just a-little-bit-a-lot excited to go. :-) Thanks babe for a wonderful 21st birthday! I love you!

Another Opportunity!

I know my last post on here was about the silhouette but I ran into another giveaway and I still really want one (especially since my birthday is just around the corner, it would be a perfect birthday present to myself!) Fingers crossed that I'll get it this time because that would be so stinking cool! If you want to enter the contest for yourself, go here. Wish me luck!

Silhouette

At our Relief Society Enrichment night this week we did some glass etching. Someone had brought a Cricut to cut out patterns that we could use over the glass. I started thinking about how cool it would be to have that machine. And then I saw this, which seemed even better (not having to buy any cartridges and all...) and my heart just leaped at the opportunity of having one someday. And then I found this, which was even better! I decided to enter this contest any way I could so here I am. I totally want one! I have so many things in our new house that I want to decorate and have fun with and this would be totally perfect! Fingers crossed!

Sick

Boy, what a day I have had! Last night before bed I was super congested and had a bit of a cough but figured after some medicine and sleep, I would be ready for classes and work in the morning. Was I ever wrong! I woke up this morning much more miserable than the night before. I simply didn't feel like doing anything. So I called in sick to work, took some more medicine and slept the day away. K.C. mentioned I haven't taken a sick day when he's known me and I really haven't! I almost never get sick, especially not this bad! Here's to hoping I'll be feeling better by tomorrow and this nasty bug won't hit me again for a long time, if ever!

Worn Out

It took almost 4 hours and four attempts with double and triple checking my answers, but I finally got full credit on my first physics homework assignment this semester.

I really hope this isn't a sign of what is to come...

But hey, at least I know I'll do well on my quiz tomorrow!

18 Months

18 months is a long time so I am hoping it really flies by! My best girl friend Abby Marshall is leaving on Wednesday to serve a mission in Brasilia, Brazil. I am so happy and excited for her to share her testimony with the people she will meet, but I am going to miss her like crazy. Even though we haven't done much together in the last couple months since I was in Logan and she was in Salt Lake, she was always just a phone call away if I needed to talk to her. Now it will be more like a week or two to communicate by snail mail. Thankfully, last night we were able to have one last sleepover which was much needed to make the goodbye somewhat easier on my emotions. She is going to be such a great missionary and I will eagerly await her return and accounts of her wonderful experiences. Here's to you Abby! I love you!

A New Dress

My good friends Kim and Katrina had me help with a photo shoot they were working on last winter for Shabby Apple. As one of the models I was able to pick out one of the dresses for free! Finally, a year later, I have chosen mine and I am so excited to get it. Take a look...

Anchors Away

It was a hard decision to make since they offer so many unique, classy and modest dress styles, but I am happy with the one I chose, especially since it is the first new dress/skirt I have gotten in years!

P.S. I know my wardrobe needs a major overhaul if I have been wearing the same things for years, but trust me, I am working on it. :)