Cousin Cocoa

Karin and I have maintained a long standing tradition of going to Baskin Robbins Dollar-Scoop Tuesdays for like 3 years. Tonight as I was walking home I was so cold I suggested maybe we should switch it up and go get something warm instead. So...

Love ya Karin!

*S'no snow day unless you have a snowball fight*

!!!!! Snow Fight !!!!!

Our ward went to the old folks home to sing songs tonight and when we came home, most of us just spilled out of the car (there were about 10 of us in Orin's car) and ended up in the quad for a

snowball fight. Excellent~

I learned years ago that

staying on the boys team often

is the safest side...so

I put on gloves and earned my

immunity by making the ammunition.

Unfortunately my roommates

stayed on our balcony which

overlooks the courtyard

and took A LOT more hits

than I did. Nice~

Look at our balcony! It was

just pelted with snowballs.

A little bit of the action with:

Abel,Dane, Orin, Zach,

Kaitlin, Rachael,Me,Brooke,

and Brock.

At one point Dane threw me over

his shoulder and ran to the huge

pile of snow and had me dangling

over it, but mercifully

held me just above it.

This semester has been easily one

of the most stressful of all. Yet,

I have been playing and living it up

like never before.

Chef A.M. Hyer

To treat myself after my crazy day yesterday (read previous post) I went to my favorite Health foods store Sunflower and bought ingredients for some yummy food. I got a Williams-Sonoma cook book for Christmas last year so I flipped through it till I found what looked good. This is how tonight's menu began...

White Beans:

Over medium-high heat warm 2 tbls. olive oil

Add one small yellow onion and

one red bell pepper (5 min)

Add 2 cloves garlic,

2 15 oz cans of white beans,

2 tbls. oregano,

1/2 cup white wine (grape juice)

and 3/4 chicken broth

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat

and simmer for 5 min.

Moroccan Burgers:

In a large bowl mix with hands...

1 lb. ground beef,

4 tbls. fresh chopped mint,

4 tbls. parsley,

small yellow onion,

1 tsp. cumin,

1/2 tsp. cinnamon,

1/2 tsp. salt

Split into 5-6 patties and grill

(I froze what I didn't cook)

Yogurt Sauce:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 tbls. mint

1 tbls. parsley

1/4 tsp. cumin

This totally makes the burgers,

plus I added Roma tomatoes on top

and broiled pita chips

I was pleasantly surprised! This was a foreign dish with some interesting flavors, but I would definitely make it again. Just something fun, new and warm on a cold night. I recommend sipping on Starbuck's caramel hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music as you cook!

It's just one of those days

Ya know, somedays I would swear the Lord pulls a fast one on us and makes the day like 34 hours instead of 24. Let me break it down for ya...

*Last night there was, shall we say, some boy drama in my life and consequently I did not get to bed until 3 am, a rarity for me.

*I then slept for a peaceful 4 hours before jumping out of bed and heading to my first class. Nothing like giving a presentation at 8 in the morning to get ya goin.'

*I somehow managed to run home (almost literally...there was a point where I would consider myself moving at somewhat of a skipping trot) to finish my next powerpoint slideshow for my evening class.

*Oh wait, lets not forget the two papers to turn in for a grand total of 23 pages. Which wouldn't have been so bad had my printer not decided to do THIS to my 4th page...

...and then jam altogether. Off to campus I ran (in high heels courtesy of said evening presentation) where I managed to slip into class only 30 min late. Hate that.

*Then it was back to the library to print off the next who knows how many pages. Lets just say that the stack was thick enough that as I tried to staple it I actually turned to the girl next to me also mid-staple and said "Where are all the strong men when you need them?"

*I basically settled for two half-way-through staples and jogged to class.

(There was a brief moment here where I called for a quick chat with mama and that was nice.)

*"Anne Marie, would you like to present first?" Oh sure, why not! I think I made an audible intake of breath when he waved the 3 minutes remaining hand cus as usual, I was giving too much detail. (Just ask mom or dad about how they used to try to have me 'summarize' my books as a kid, and when I was done they pretty much felt like they had read the book too...twice!)

*Chilly walk home in the wonderful 22 degree weather once again resembling a sherpa in the Himalayas and...

I think I still have about 8 fully functioning defrosted toes.

Guys, some days are just long. But I would SO rather be busy then not, and I feel so accomplished. I have to remind myself to be grateful for this busy learning time I am in in life and love the stress. So not always easy. At one point today when rather choice words were coming to mind about my defective printer, etc. etc. the words

"I lived in Heaven a long time ago it is true. Lived there and loved there with people I know such as you..." came to mind and I started singing them before I realized what I was saying. And I realized what a short time this Earth life is and how every minute we are blessed to experience life, and all too soon we will return to heaven again and look back at life as the briefest of moments in all the eternities~

Still...I think I'll have a word in prayer tonight about the 'special extended hours' of today and how I'm not sure how many I could take in a row. To all you mom's...props! I know your days are 'extended' probably more often than not :)

Drama!

Ok, for all you ladies out there...

let me set the scene and please say this sounds familiar:

4 Roommates all sitting in one room (one on the counter, another on the couch, another in a chair, and the forth at the table), eating chocolate/popcorn/and otterpops, half dressed in street clothes and half in PJ's that you would never dare show 'real people', convincing one roommate (with strong rhetoric) that the x-boyfriend should in fact remain the x-boyfriend, sending texts to said x-boyfriend wondering why they broke up with you then try SO hard to be your "friend", doubting the text they just sent and wondering what ever happened to face-to-face contact, dancing around the room to Michael Bublé waiting for the response and...

*Taking a BREATH when its all over*

{and a sure sign its all over???

the amazing silence we're all sitting in now}

Props to my roommate for liberating herself and using us for support.

As dramatic as it was...it was super fun!

After all...going to college is about finding your bridesmaids,

not your husband right?!

Party

So I just wanted to share some fun times I've had recently.

Last weekend I went to Las Vegas. I just wanted to get away and go play with the family. My cousin has two little kids now (crazy) and since I was there over Halloween I saw them in their little costumes.

She made them!

(haha, both the kids and the costumes)

His name is Peter so he was Peter Pan

This little moment I had tonight....courtesy of my roommate!

Utah Fall

On Saturday, cousin Spence called me and offered to take me to the canyon again, but this time in Payson. He had heard of a waterfall you could hike to so we went searching with his roommate and friend! Turned out to be quite an adventure just trying to find the right road to take us up to the canyon, but once we found it it was a straight shot. We hiked up the little trail, climbed up and around the waterfall area, then took our time meandering down back to the car taking tons of photos on the way~~~

I was laughing cus it was like he was Chinese,

flashing the peace sign. haha!

Utah is so beautiful right now from all the fall colors.

For anybody far away...here's a taste of what

I'm blessed to see everyday!

I seem to really like up close photos.

You sometimes miss all the details from far away.

Polka dot leaves

Love this deep purple.

Even though lots of the pretty red and yellow leaves

are falling and gone now, the deep red mixed with

all the bare branches makes the mountains

look purple...always a plus.

We found an aspen grove and stopped to look around

P. S.

Sometimes it's just nice to listen to moving

water. This little river of waterfall runoff

followed us on our hike and we had to cross

over it on wooden logs along our hike. Fun~

Fall

{Me, Mark, Spence & Karin}

My sweet cousin Spencer walked me home after our cousin dinner tonight. When he found out I didn't have anything pressing to do tonight, he told me to go grab a book, then drove us up to the canyon. It was so beautiful.

I wanted so badly last year to go up into the canyon to see the leaves and just enjoy all the colors. This was better~

I liked the leaves in all the mud. Contrast.

Spence found a trail he's been to a few times and we took tons of photos.

This was the prettiest open meadow.

Can you see the moon?

We split off the main trail and ended up sitting by this little river to read. It was so nice. Mama has always liked the sound of running water (well who doesn't really) because it is so calming and you feel like taking a breath of fresh air.

It really meant a lot to me to have my cousin spend time just with me and talk with me so kindly. Sunday evenings always feel so calm and this evening was definitely that~

Roommate fun

It has been such a blessing to be living with my roommates in my new apartment. They are all such genuinely kind girls. We talk like we've known each other for years and support each other in all our school life stresses. The four of us (Kaitlin, Brooke, Jenny and I) just mesh!

Like my first weekend here in the new apartment my social roommates actually managed to get me out at night to one of the biggest parties I've ever been to. (we're talking 2,000+ people)

All beautiful girls and so kind.

{Kaitlin, Me, Brittin (friend), Brooke, Megan (adopted roommate!)}

Jenny, Kaitlin and Brooke threw me a mini party with balloons...

...and cake!

Roommates old and new took me out for

a birthday dinner at Carrabas. Anything

Italian and I say YES!

For old times sake, Kylie and I. Have we ever NOT been together? I consider Ky my sister and love her so much because she's always there for everything important that's ever happened in my life.

Aunt Molly flew into Utah to visit cousin Karin Rowan (who might as well be an adopted roommate because we see each other at least twice a week) and her two sisters. Lucky for me, they had extra tickets to the R.S. broadcast. This was my first time and I just loved the feeling of being surrounded by all those women! Jenny got in on this deal too! Afterwards, we all went to a yummy French Cafe for treats. Girls nights out are wonderful. And what a sweet way to prepare for Sunday hearing the words of our great Sisters of the R.S. as well as the ever tender words of Elder Eyring. This church is a blessing~

Cedar City

So Call has started at SUU in Cedar City for his freshman year of college and I have now been up to see him twice! One time dad was there too and we planted tons of trees on a farm my uncle is starting in Enterprise. I love having family close!

I got a really thorough tour of the campus. He took me to every class and showed me all the sports facilities, which are so nice and so clean! Really impressive actually. This campus holds Shakespearian festivals each year so he took me to see the outdoor theatre as well.

That evening we went to dinner at Chili's...his request. We were laughing and having so much fun the waiter actually apologized for interrupting us to take our orders! Then I had the brilliant idea to make brownies for him and may I just say...Gharidelli chocolate brownies far surpass the normal Betty Crocker ones. YUM! We ate quite a few...

And what trip can ever be complete without a morning visit to IHOP?

Or...happy faces out of leftover sausage and eggs?!

Then it's off back to Provo.

Even though it is a long drive it's totally worth it to see my Callie Boo.

Love you hun!

Hi-Jacking My Daughters Blog

This photo is of little Anne Marie. She is twenty-two

years old today!! I, her mother, have hi-jacked her blog

and placed this post here. To view my Happy Birthday post

to her go to: http://myheartleapsup.blogspot.com.

Or, you can click on "Mom" in Anne Marie's

list of blog sites that she follows.

SURPRISE...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY

ANNE MARIE!!