Evolution

I saw the top picture, and it reminded me of the bottom one.

I guess not all of us evolved from the apes. =]

Carved Pumpkin...Pie

So Zach and I worked most of Halloween weekend, so we made our pumpkin pie jack-o....face.... on Tuesday.

I told you it would be epic! I know his face isn't quite centered. But I was so excited to cut into him that I just dove in without really planning or spacing it out. =]

This is pumpkin carving at its finest: you can eat the guts with whipped cream!

Also, I don't think I ever posted this picture, did I? It's from earlier this month:


Brownies for the neighbors. She's my visiting teacher, and she was having a hard time. Also, I wanted to do a homemade Halloween food-pick. =]

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month!!!!

Goal: 50,000 words by November 31st.
Stipulations: No editing! The month of December is set aside for proofing, editing, etc. The novel must be started and finished all in November, no finishing of old drafts.

Prize: If you make the 50,000 words in Nov, you win. If you can finish editing in December, they'll print one free copy of your novel.

ANYONE can do it, ages 13+. Here's my page, or check out my widget on the right to see how far I've gotten (not very).

Give it a shot!!!

Must be Halloween

I went to make berry syrup for my pancakes, and got this:

Looks like a scene from an evil scientist's kitchen, eh?

I lit a candle to make the house smell a little better (our warmer's lamp burned out) and got this:

Pretty oozy, huh?

I cleaned out the fridge. I'll spare you the picture, but it was perhaps the scariest thing I'll see this Halloween. Spooky.

Also, I just realized I've been calling today Halloween, because tomorrow is Sunday. Silly me.

Tomorrow, for real Halloween, Zach and I are carving pumpkin pies.

That's right. You heard me. Carving PIES.

I'm so excited.

P.S. For anyone interested, the recipe that caused my Halloween Microwave Horror:

Best Ever FlapJacks

Mix the following ingredients:

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk

1 1/4 c. flour (I used white wheat flour, YUM)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 TB sugar

1-2 TB oil

Cook on a hot griddle. I like to add a little butter to the skillet/griddle when I cook them instead of buttering the pancakes later. I usually eat them with that berry syrup (frozen berries + sugar to taste + microwaved until hot) and top them with whipped cream. DELISH.

Emmons Family Update

I'm playing catch-up blog, but I'm too lazy to make separate posts. So you get it all in one big whopper. =]

In either July or August, Zach took me to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. I don't think I've posted any pictures yet, shame on me!

We had a blast!! It was my first fair ever, and I loved just soaking it all up. Zach said it was "almost as good" as the one he grew up with in CA. I guess poor Idaho has a lot to compete with.

Zach went the cultured route and had a gyro for diner, but I bought a hand-battered corn dog to feel more state-fair-ish. Right after I ate it, I saw this poster on one of the vendor's stands.

A pig dipping corn dogs in grease... made me feel super classy. =]

I think this also happened in August: to celebrate 2 years without an accident, Melaleuca threw us a party at the Rexburg Air Museum that was catered by Texas Roadhouse. Kind of a random location, but it was soooo fun. They gave us free candles and $25 (each) to Texas Roadhouse.

Zach had a blast educating me about all the planes. He knew all of their names, specs, history, etc.... As everyone was cleaning up, one of the museum volunteers noticed us looking, and had us come back where he was working. He gave Zach a tour/quiz of all the model planes and WWII plane history, etc. A night well spent!

**I would like to note that I have lost weight since that atrocious picture of me in the middle there. Hooray!**

I have been feeling super crafty. My new favorite thing to do (besides writing) is making fabric flowers! I turn them into hair clips, embellishments, headbands, etc...

The picture of my friend is her showing of the headband I made for her birthday. (Yo yo flower and buttons.) The bottom right is a card I made for some hair clips I was taking to my old roommate's baby shower.

I learned a new technique the other day (See top right photo, which demonstrates how to make most of the flowers in the top left photo) from an awesome blog... check it out HERE.

Aaaaand, as part of our mega pre-holiday excitement, we carved pumpkins with our friends John and Cassandra Beck. They were going with a Mario theme, and I was looking for a relatively simple design, so....

They made Mario, and we made one of the bad-guy-mushrooms! (I never played Mario as a kid, I think it's called a Gumba or something?) Yes, I know, theirs is a little more impressive. But we were pretty proud of ours too. =]

Last week or so, I won 2nd place in the English Department's Pre-Professional Conference (I'm still not sure exactly how to explain what that means) Fiction writing contest. AWESOME! I was so stoked and excited, and Zach was super sweet to be excited with me. He called his mom to tell her, and started the news like this, "Mom, guess what? [pause] Your precious daughter-in-law ...[increasing suspense]... won 2nd place in a writing contest!" We realized later she was probably totally expecting us to say I was pregnant. Oops! ha ha ha.

Zach has been rocking out his homework like a champ. He's been swamped with tough classes and work three nights a week, so today we got a little rebellious and ran away to the Cocoa Bean when he was supposed to be in Physics. It was super fun, and brought back a flood of memories from when we were engaged. (Speaking of which, November 7th will mark one year since Zach proposed! Hooray!)

Anyway, that's life according to us so far. Maybe I'll be better at keeping this updated so you guys don't have to sit through all that again. =]

Lately...

Been having some bad dreams lately. But I figure around a certain time of the month a girl's allowed to eat as much chocolate as she wants, and that helps. Plus my sweet husband gives me plenty of hugs when I need them. And memories like this help:

Sorry, not trying to make anybody cry. It's just, most of my bad dreams have been centered around losing people. So I have to think of happy times.

Autumn is definitely here in Rexburg, and it's got me excited for the holidays! I look around and see Halloween decorations going up and my instinct is to call family. I certainly miss them. But it's also really exciting to have my own place to decorate! I'll have to post pictures soon, we have a Halloween door mat and a witch on the door, plus a rapidly-disappearing pile of candy corn. =]

Love this season!

TREAT yourself

A few weeks ago, Zach and I took a few homemade granola bars to church and were nibbling on them during Sunday School (you caught us... it was a late morning and we were starving). The lady behind us said she'd be our friend forever, so we shared. She's been hounding me for the recipe ever since, lol.

I thought it'd be pretty selfish to keep this recipe to myself.

Here's my FAVORITE homemade granola bar recipe I got from my Aunt Peggy. You're gonna love it.

Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Combine:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. honey
2 TB peanut butter
1 egg
1 TB milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine in a separate bowl:
1 c. wheat four
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Mix the two bowls together. Add:
2 c. old fashioned oatmeal
1 1/2 c. rice crispies cereal (or crush up some Chex, Corn Flakes, etc.)
1/3 c. dark chocolate chips (or chunks of white chocolate)
1/4 c. dried cranberries (raisins, craisins, etc)
1/4 c. chopped nuts

Press into greased 9x13 pan. Cut the bars before baking to make it easier later. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. They should look toasted, do NOT overcook. Cool completely, then re-cut bars in marks you made before baking. Don't eat them all at once.

I wrap these individually and freeze them, so I can pull one out whenever I need to take a snack to school/work. You can microwave them for about 10 seconds if you want a gooey treat.

The best thing about this recipe is that it's completely customizable.
-Add mini M&Ms instead of chocolate chips for the kids.
-Substitute 1/2 c. karo instead of 1/4 c. syrup and 1/4 c. honey if you're all out. (Or make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water: twice as much sugar as water, in any quantity. Ta-da!)
-Make a trail mix bar using M&Ms, shelled sunflower seeds, and several kinds of nuts.
-Add pumpkin pie spice and use butterscotch chips.
-Use chopped toasted hazelnuts, dried cherries, and double the chocolate for a time-of-the-month snack.
-Use your imagination!!! The possibilities are really quite endless.

**P.S. Post about Zach's birthday below**

Birthday Fiesta!

Zach's birthday was last Wednesday, and we celebrated on Friday with a bunch of friends.

My sister shared her awesome Bajio recipes with me --DELISH-- and they were a big hit! Most everybody went back for 2nds and 3rds. Which is okay, because I freaked out and doubled everything. (Two 3.5 lb roasts. Yeah. I'm my mother's daughter, we believe way too much is better than a little too little.)

I made my own version of Mexican Papel Picado with Zach's name on them. Took a while, as you can imagine. Right before I took this picture, I tore down the strings of crepe paper that were hanging down behind the papeles because they were flying all over when the fan was on.


I also made a bouquet of fiesta-colored tissue paper flowers. So fun! Only the female guests noticed, but that's cool with me. =]


We played Pin the Tail on the Burro! Quite hilarious. Our blindfold (which the burro is wearing in the pic) wasn't exactly cheat-proof. My tail is the one by the lock, and Zach's is the one smack in the middle of the saddle. lol.


I also passed around a wordsearch and crossword puzzle all about "Senor Emmons."

It was pretty funny hearing people guess for Clue 1 Down. (It's a quote from Nacho Libre.)

For his birthday cake, I made Cheesecake Brownies.

He originally requested a big, thick New York cheesecake with strawberry topping, but I completely forgot about it until about 30 min. before the party. So cheesecake brownies it was. I felt really bad, but they were pretty darn good. We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candle (I only made him do one. Sadly, no picture of that).

For his present, I made him a wallet card (Thanks to Love Actually for the idea, and Becca for directing me there) with "love" currency, and a fake credit card to use for an MCAT prep book. He only asked for the prep book, and we're saving up a little more before we order it, so I wanted him to know I hadn't forgotten.

(Front view)(Inside view)

I also bought a little journal and filled it with 26 pages of memories from our life together so far. We don't have a lot of pictures from when we were dating/engaged, so we're going to try to record as much as we can remember. Reading the journal really melted him, it was a touching moment.

Anways, he feels like one spoiled guy, which was my goal. I'm so grateful for such a sweet husband!!!!!

Baseball Superfans

So, Melaleuca's CEO owns the Minor League field in Idaho Falls, and last night was Melaleuca Night! All of us employees got into the bleacher sections for free! Awesome.

Well, Zach loves baseball, and I love cheering at sporting events (even if I have to be told when to cheer). So I surprised him and made these shirts for us to wear:

I used Zach's T-shirt we had gotten for his softball team at work (which he only needed for a game or two) and I found MY shirt at the Dollar Store. Yes, that's right kids. I'm wearing a child's Large. It probably won't fit when I wash it, but that's okay.

And because the local screen printing shop will do good quality iron-ons for only $4.50 (and I don't have a printer), I spent most of the morning designing our tees..... only to find out when I went to the store that they had closed early for the night. Unacceptable. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought these iron-on letters. I actually like them quite a bit.

Zach admitted that at first the concept of matching fan t-shirts was pretty embarrassing... but he got into it once we were at the game. Somebody teasingly asked me the score, then told him to play ball. We had a blast. And, with superfans like us, of course our team won!!!! Go Chukars. Even if you are just minor league. =]

The only not-stellar thing about the night was the concession stand. They were doing $1 hot dogs and drinks that night, so the lines were at least 3 innings long! We never got ours, even though I ran down to check the lines twice. We settled for a snow cone, cause there was no line there. =]

We love St. Anthony's Sandbar!

Some of our friends introduced us to the St. Anthony sandbar this past week. It's our newest addiction. It's a nice, cool river with a diving board, roped-off shallow area, floating dock (Zach calls it a barge), playground, tunnel slide, and plenty of sand!

We went back yesterday after Zach got off work. We packed snacks and ate on the dock. I taught Zach how to make a sand castle Garner-style (dripping the sand into turrets), and wow-ed the people around us. A couple kids copied our technique after a while. =] It was fun to feel like a couple of teenagers on summer break.
Also, I am proud to say that I have gone off the diving board a total of 3 times. I plug my nose every time, but I think it still counts.
If you're in the St. Anthony area, you gotta check it out. It's a turn right off Main St, close to the highway.

Saturday

Sometimes I do things during the day just so I can have something to show for my time.

Example:

On Saturday Zach worked 8-5. After dropping him off, I came home and started cutting out pattern pieces for another sewing project I just started. (I'm making his and her robes for Zach and me!) That took all the way until his lunch break at 11, but I finished! After taking him back to work, I made grabbed a few groceries, ground some wheat, made bread, and did my work out video! I was exhausted, but super proud of myself. I chronicled my efforts with pictures, again, to prove I was productive.



Also... the donut peaches in the picture = TO DIE FOR. The sweetest, yummiest fruit ever. Plus they're easy to eat because of their shape; a few bites around the edge and toss the pit away!

After Zach came home, we did a walk around campus (2.2 miles!) and he worked out a little in the gym while I read As You Like it for my Shakespeare class this coming semester. We came home... and were sooooo sore. In fact, when we woke up this morning for church we both felt like we needing a good oiling, like the tin man. I couldn't stand up straight without hurting. So we slept in and found a later sacrament meeting to go to. Now I'm feeling much better, but I can't say I'm excited about how I'll feel after tomorrow's Sweat and Ab Ripper workouts... I'll probably get some more peaches to compensate. =]

Also, here's the picture of the dress I made for Robb and Karen's wedding! (I discovered Simplicity's "New Look" brand of patterns. $3.44 each!)

Ta-Da!

*Note: I'm not sure why the pictures on this post are so tiny, but they should be click-able if you want to see the bigger size. *

I got crafty! I've been wanting to put our last name up somewhere in some kind of cutesy format. After hearing my Mom talk about her decorating plans for her living room, I came up with this:

Isn't it adorable? I fell in love with the "Family" piece as soon as I saw it. And it was on sale! I came up with the "Emmons" part all by myself. That's blue scrapboook paper as a background, with a slight pattern to it. Don't you just love it? Well, don't tell me if you don't, cause I do! =] It's going up over our living room window. As soon as I get the right size nails, I'll post a pic of it!

Also, here are some fun pics from our family visits:

Emmons' Visit!

Grand Teton National Park with the Emmons family! It was better than Yellowstone. We didn't see any animals there except elk without antlers. What's that about?

Zach, Spencer, and Dad Emmons. Reading about... geography, I think. I tell you, they're a bunch of smarties.

Sun going down behind Grand Teton. We decided it would be a great place to see the sunrise, with the light against the mountains instead of behind them.

Garner's Visit!

My Mom took us to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone

Here she is fighting the crowds. Hail the conquering hero! We were barely able to reserve seats online before it sold out!

After the show, "The Foreigner." It was HILARIOUS. We highly recommend it.

Picnic lunch at Park St. Park. Jillian saw the merry-go-round and asked, "What's that?" We were shocked. So the Sarah and Steph schooled her with their awesome merry-go-round abilities.

After a visit to the Cocoa Bean, Mom and I thought, "We can do that." This is a picture of our beautiful, homemade chocolate mint frappe. Ohhh yeah. The strawberry one was even better, but that pic is on Mom's camera.

We girls pampered outselves with some mud masques. Jillian didn't quite enjoy the tingling feeling like the rest of us did. She kept saying, "It's getting hard on my face! It feels too tight!" We explained that was actually what it SHOULD be doing, nothing was going wrong. =]

Stephanie and Sarah were very impressed with Rexburg's large dandelion-esque Wishers.

Now that everyone's gone, Zach and I feel like empty nesters. lol. There's lots more, but it's month-end, and I'm headed to an 11-hour shift in a little while. So, time to gear up! Love you all!

-Stacy

P.S. The frappe recipe for anyone who's interested:

Chocolate Frappe

1 envelope hot cocoa mix (we like the mint cocoa)

3 tsp hot water

1/2 c. milk

1 c. crushed ice

Make a paste out of the hot water and cocoa mix. Blend the rest together until liquified. Serve in a fudge-drizzed cup and top with whipped cream. Yum!

Fruit Frappe

3/4 c. fresh fruit, chopped (my favorite is peach)

2 T sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 cup crushed ice

Blend together. SOO delicious if you mix in some whipped cream at the end. My favorite is peach frappes.

Summer in limbo...

So, Zach let me drag him to a 1920's mystery dinner last month right before my birthday. It was a blast, and I finally got the picture they took of us there.

Turns out, I was the murderer, even though everyone suspected Zach! ha ha ha.

Well, anyway, here's an update on life so far.

• My grandmother died a week ago, and I'm having a little bit of trouble getting that to sink in. Luckily I was able to go down to the funeral and be with my family, which really helped. I really didn't want to leave home, because it was her house. It's strange, because that's the hardest part for the rest of my family, living with her memories. I think it's because I feel so far away from her memory while I'm in Rexburg.

• Our house is looking more and more like a real home! Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we have an actual bed with a box spring, headboard and everything! They also gave us a loveseat and counter-height chairs. I set up our black bookshelf in the hallway, and it makes the living room seem more cozy. Also, we found our mail keys, so I get to sift through junk mail addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Emmons. =]

• Zach has been amazing, getting up and working all day, even though he's still short on sleep from our 16 hr drive on Thursday. He's been taking a lot of time to be sweet to me, and take care of me emotionally. I am really blessed to have such a husband.

• Next week Zach's parents and little brother are coming to visit! They'll be here for a week, and the day they leave, my parents and little sisters are coming! So we'll have about 2 full weeks of family, which we're really looking forward to.

• I got to spend my product check at work today, and used it almost entirely on girly stuff. I got a $30 moisturizer, $15 mud masque, $15 concealer, and some pamper-worthy foot scrub. All for freeeeee! I'm planning on throwing a girls party for me and my mother-in-law, then again for my mom and sisters.

• I made Chocolate chip cookie bars for the first time in a while, and they were a huge hit with Zach. I splurged and used Guitard chocolate chips and white flour. Sooooo delicious.

Well, a truly epic thunderstorm is starting up, splattering me with rain through the screen. Zach and I were thinking about going to the caves with some friends, but maybe we'll have a quiet night at home watching the lightning. Hope you all have a great weekend!

My Wonderful Husband

Last night I flooded the bathroom.

We were trying to unclog the toilet, and Zach was examining the tank. I thought yanking on the chain would empty the bowl, so I did... right as Zach yelled, "WAIT!" Turns out, yanking on the chain FILLS the bowl. And it was already full. And there was no water shut off thingy. I'll spare you the details, but it was a mess.

As I'm running for towels and Zach is stuck in about 2 inches of toilet water, I'm thinking, "Oh crap. He's gonna kill me." And he was obviously frustrated. But that sweet man I married, you know what he did? As I was profusely apologizing he said, "Sweetheart.... it's okay. I'm not mad." And the more he said it, the more true it was. After about the third time I apologized and he told me he wasn't mad, we were both mopping the floor with towels under our feet, and all the frustration was gone. He let my feelings be more important than venting his anger, and all the steam blew off on its own.

We heard a joke once that the honeymoon's over the first time the wife burns the toast. So after everything was cleaned up and Zach had a chance to shower, I said, "So... I guess the honeymoon's over, huh?" He gave me a hug and said, "No. Never."

A few months ago my missionary brother sent a letter home reminding us that letting go of negative feelings is like relaxing a muscle: you just do it. Zach has been reminding me of that over and over, being my rock and my therapist. =] I'm working harder to try and deserve his patience.

Confessions of a Married Woman

So Zach and I have been married for a full two weeks now. We're pretty much an old married couple and we know all there is to know about marriage.

Sarcasm aside, it is amazing to go back and see our single friends and see the difference between what was normal then and what our life is like now.We don't feel like anything super extraordinary has changed between us, but we're definitely growing.

(Yes, I color at work. lol.)

Most amazing of all is the fact that $3 seems too expensive, we can work 12 hr days each and feel like we're not working enough, make a meal out of just a few ingredients, eat dinner on our living room floor, go to bed at 12 only to wake up at 6.... and still say with perfect honesty that we have never been so completely happy. Married life really is the best. And we've been so incredibly blessed with families that support and love us, and very generous wedding gift-givers!


On another note, I am excessively proud of my little girl-frog. She is just about the coolest thing ever, and I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite. When I go to her bowl to talk to her, she swims out of her little cave and pretty much begs me to jump in because the water's fine. I spent about 15 minutes trying to get a good picture of her the other day, but turns out water-shots are not my strong suit.

Evangeline talkin' to me.

Evangeline being Spider-Frog.

Swimming out of the cave to check out what's goin' on with the camera flashes.

Pretty much, life is good. And it just keeps getting gooder. =] Also, I'm making a header for my blog soon. Don't judge me. lol.

Days go by...

Okay. You know I'm a fan of the list-posts. So here goes.

• I started working at the Jr. High library again, this time for PAY. I'm the Substitute Librarian while Linda is in Ethiopia for the next two months. Her daughter and son-in-law are living there, helping to start ranches, etc. They recently decided to adopt 5 of the Ethiopian kids from an orphanage. Linda is going to help her daughter and her husband is going to help with the agriculture stuff. This is her daughter Alyssa with the Ethiopian people.

• When she left she gave me the keys and said, "This is your baby. Have fun with it!" I work from 10-2. I've been having fun with the kids. One kid, and eighth grader has told on several different occasions that he's going to be a ghost hunter (we found him several 'nonfiction' books on ghosts), criminal investigator (he has his own website already), and creator of an "extreme reality video game" (the only problem there is he has to figure our how to simulate the feeling of death). Needless to say, it's a blast.
  
• I've also been working part-time at Melaleuca. I enjoy it, even though I go home exhausted. I work from 4-9. I just got my 2nd pay check this weekend, and BOY was that nice.


• I ordered my wedding dress, and it's all finished! They should be shipping it to me sometime this week. Here's a sneak peek:

• Zach and I got our engagement pictures back, and we were very happy with them! Here are two of the better ones:

I designed our announcements and we ordered them last night. Hopefully they're coming soon!

• I've been acting like this guy:

• Only not so creepy. Lol. I've been reading up a storm during slow hours at Melaleuca. I can highly recommend The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Roar by Emma Clayton, and The Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. To name a few.

• It's finally Friday!! Tomorrow is the 6 month mark for Zachary and me. We're going to have a special date night. But shhhhhh! That's a surprise.