Capital

So next week, I'll be headed out to Washington DC for a conference. I went there once before with a high school group and had a great time. It's been a while though, and thought I'd ask, any thoughts where I should spend my couple of evenings? What are the best things to see?

Genius!

So this is my dear, dear friend Rachelle (the one in the grey, not the small child with a tie).

We have been friends since before either of us reached the great height of 4 feet (sadly, that was in 5th grade); I think our lack of size helped us bond. (She's lucky none of my pictures of the two of us growing up are on my computer, we have some real beauts!) She is one amazing girl in basically everything including math (she has a masters in math education and even taught calculus at BYU, all before she was 23, who does that?), making things cute, being mom and is a homemaker extraordinaire.

Since we moved out onto our own, I've been impressed with her ability to cook delicious food and her dedication to cooking complete, cheap and healthy meals instead of just food. While most college students lived off of Ramen, she was always (seriously, like every day!) whipping up tasty things like homemade alfredo.

She recently decided to put her skills to good use by creating one of the best tools for those who are like me and always struggling to come up with more than the same three meals. Everyone should check out her new blog appropriately entitled letmeplandinner.blogspot.com. It's awesome! Not only does she post a new full menu for everyday of the week (minus date night), but she includes a shopping list complete with price per meal. I believe she is also going to add the items she is stocking up on for the week, so it will be easy for you to also shop the sales.

Anyway, I love Rachelle. I think everyone needs a Rachelle. She is truly one of the best people I know. She has always looked out for me and been a great example in all aspects of life. Now, maybe she can influence all of your lives for the better in just a small way that she has done for mine. (Ahhh, talk about cheesy! Pun intended...)

Rice

Way back when I was in 8th grade Foods class, we were taught how to make rice. It wasn't hard. I had always heard from my mother that rice was kind of temperamental, but as long as you did exactly what you were supposed to, you wouldn't have any problems. Once I became a rice cooker (that foods class, oh boy, what skills I learned), I learned rice really wasn't that tricky and never had a problem with it.

Fast forward a few years. Every time I make rice these days, something goes wrong! I don't know what I'm doing differently, but if I cook it enough that it isn't soupy and crunchy, it just boils all over the place and makes a big mess. What's the deal?! I guess I am being punished for my rice cockiness...

In!!!

It's been a big week for Matt. He received an email last week saying the law school dean of admission wanted to meet with him. Now, BYU doesn't do interviews, so he tried to find out what it was about, but the secretary simply told him it would be painless. He asked around to people in law school already, but no one had been asked to come in.

He went in Monday morning and was told that he has been accepted! I guess they try to bring in a small group of people who they are really interested in. That way, they can get an idea of whether or not they're wanting to come and try to convince them if they have other plans.

I'm so proud of Matt. He has worked extremely hard to make sure he has amazing grades and spent a long time studying and preparing for the LSAT (especially since he took it multiple times). But everything paid off, he was even told that he should expect some scholarship money, wahoo!

Looks like we'll be sticking around P-town for at least the next three years.

(Jeremy, Cody, Jewelyn and us celebrating Monday night)

(Me & Matt celebrating at Brick Oven)

(After being initiated into Phi Kappa Phi, meaning he's top 10% of all of BYU)

Check Out My Buns!

So Matt was really craving cheeseburgers the other day. I decided to be a good wife and make them for dinner. I decided to continue my quest to be the ultimate breadmaker and bake some homemade buns.

Last week, I made some delicious homemade breadbowls, but there was a pretty serious problem, I underestimated the amount they would rise, and they turned out barely larger than a normal roll (I insisted on using mine as a breadbowl; my spoon barely fit). This time, I learned my lesson and made the rolls almost the size of a purchased hamburger bun.

Things were going great, but then they stopped rising up and started rising out. They baked beautifully, they were just a little big (we easily fit 2 patties on 1 bun). We each ate one and decided to use the rest of them as breadbowls the next day. I was surprised the things were so big that it was a tiny bit larger than the small burner on my stove.

So now I've done one that is too small, one that is too large, so next up, I'm due for a just right! We'll see how it goes...

Yum Yum! A Poll...

Matt wants me to start a restaurant review blog for places here in Utah County. He's decided to sweeten the deal by informing me we can branch out from our usual places and try all of the new ones (what kind of reviewer would do the same restaurant over and over?). While my love of food and trying new things has me seriously considering this, I do wonder if it would be of any value to people. If so, what is everyone's vote on the name? provorestaurants, where to eat in provo or provo eating are all available (does that limit me to only provo places?). Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions for me?

We had an extremely productive Saturday today. While it is nice to have the occasional day of laziness, it sure feels good to check things off your list