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!)