Paint A Wish

A while ago, Blaine signed us up for the Paint A Wish organization at BYU. It's a program similar to "Make a Wish" - but on a much smaller scale. It pretty much assigns college kids to go do art projects with kids with diseases. We just started visiting a sweet 12 year old boy who lost part of his leg to bone cancer. We haven't been able to watch him yet, but he loves to swim and practices 5 days a week. They are a super nice family and we have enjoyed our time with them so far. For our activity last week, we spray painted shirts... Here are some pictures of that :)

Stadium of Fire

So back in March or April, I registered to pre-order Stadium of Fire tickets, which i bought as soon as they went on sale for the cheapest price available. Plus, I had told Blaine I had REALLY wanted to go, but I didn't tell him when I actually went ahead and bought them because tickets were going so fast and I had to seize the moment!

But what is Stadium of Fire, you may ask? Well, every 4th of July there is a gigantic fireworks show and concert at BYU's football stadium as part of the Freedom Festival. I'd heard amazing things about it, but I never got to go. But when I heard that Brad Paisley AND David Archuleta were singing (usually it's just one) then I knew this was my big chance. I got to see, and more importantly - HEAR - Brother Archuleta at the Mo-Tab's Christmas Concert a couple months ago and that was amazing. But I had always wanted to go to a Brad Paisley concert. He's pretty much my favorite singer, but David definitely has the better voice. Hands down. Josh Groban would be in that category also...

Anyways! Besides the music, I was also dying to go because I LOVE AMERICA! :) But seriously, I'm going to be an American History teacher. It's what I do... So here is just a sum up of some of the patriotic festivities before the music. They all gave me goosebumps...

Apparently David Archuleta, a Utah native, sang the National Anthem at the Stadium of Fire when he was like 10 or something. So this year, the National Anthem started out with a video clip of little 10-year-old David singing it from years ago on the jumbotron. THEN present-day David comes out on stage and picks up where the video left off. BEAUTIFUL VOICE! Blaine, who has no musical background or familiarity, even recognizes and appreciates it :)

Then there were 4 skydivers that landed on the field. One was all in red, one in white, one in blue, and the last one was carrying the American flag. (Side note: I went skydiving once and it was so exciting) They were coming in fast and unfortunately the last guy landed right in the chairs on the field and took out some barriers. He was ok though.

Then there was a 4 jet flyover. I LOVE FLYOVERS. I've seen a couple others at Bowl Games and I just think they're awesome. Plus, after they passed over the stadium, there was a video on the jumbotron from the cockpit of one of the planes where the captain said hi and that they were carrying a flag that had flown in Afghanistan, and wished everyone a happy independence day. There was also some clips of local news coverage of soldiers coming home...

There were also some little girls who danced on the field while red, white, and blue beach balls were bounced around the stands.

David Archuleta sang like 4 songs but was clearly the crowds favorite. Then Brad Paisley came out and sang around 8 songs. I have wanted to see him for years. He didn’t interact with the crowed very much though, which I didn’t like. And he also did not play a couple of my favorite songs that I was expecting to hear. But it was still definitely amazing.

Chad Lewis, who was in the NFL and now works at BYU, was this year’s host, which I didn’t know until I saw him on stage. But I work with him, so when I saw him the following Monday, I asked him if he got to meet Brad Paisley and I was sooooo jealous. He said something like “he is the nicest, most laid back dude”… or something along those lines…

And of course, there was fireworks at the end… for about 45 minutes… no joke… Abbie and Austin came with us. Ask them. I think Austin timed it.

As you can probably tell, I loved STADIUM OF FIRE! And AMERICA ☺

Wild Hogs

So between working, track practice/exercising, and classes both spring and summer terms, I have failed to update on the funny happenings among all that. So just a quick note on transportation. Our car had to go to the shop for 4 days (and X amount of money) but we needed a vehicle to get us to and from school and work everyday, as well as a couple random errands that come up. So my sweet cousin Michael Parkin let us use his scooter and it was quite the experience. Plus, it reminded me and Blaine of the movie Wild Hogs, which we both think is hilarious.

I was a little scared for my safety at first, but I always wore the sexy helmet and it turned out to be lots of fun! Most of the time, though, Blaine and I had to ride together. So he would drive, and I would have both his backpack and mine on my back, while i wore a skirt and straddled the scooter.
One time we had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some essentials, so we went to the smaller one 2 blocks away and drove very carefully. We put 1 or 2 bags in the compartment under the seat, and Blaine held the rest of the bags between his feet on the floor of the scooter. At least I didn't try to hold them in my hands off to the side of the scooter like saddlebags...
When I do my student teaching in January, we will need a second means of transportation for Blaine to get to school since we can no longer carpool. Since cars are expensive and money is limited, I think a scooter is the new way to go, but we'll have to see what happens. I don't think Blaine would like bundling up in his boots, parka, and ski goggles to drive the 14 blocks to school every winter morning...

We meant to take some pictures in our leather jackets and stuff but we forgot :(

Dental School Preview

Blaine wants to be a dentist! And he has been working so hard. We both got 4.0s last semester and are both taking spring and summer semester classes. While I still work and go to class, the spring and summer terms have been really easy for me - I've even had time to try new recipes and make dinners at a normal time. But Blaine studies all day and night. He is doing really well in his organic chemistry class and I'm really proud of him. I feel bad as I relax and watch my tv shoes online, but he's been a good sport about it. He even gave me a quick study-break massage last night. It sometimes gets difficult, though, since we don't have a desk. We've been quite innovative though in our creations. We put a box over my keyboard stand and then took off 2 legs from our coffee table to make a mock high chair for Blaine to study on.

Anyways! Blaine got a chance to go to a dental simulation course at UNLV over Memorial Day weekend. We searched the internet for the best deal on the most decent hotel we could afford in the city of sin and made the 5 1/2 hour drive. Unfortunately we ran into some unforeseen expenses on our car, but... what can ya do? : /

So it was a 2-day, 8-5 course at UNLV's dental school. I stayed at the hotel and enjoyed the luxury of television, mostly watching House and Criminal Minds marathons. We did swim and go carefully explore the strip one night, but it was definitely a business trip. Blaine really liked his experience and learned a lot. Plus he looked really cute in his blue scrubs.

Dancing waters at the Bellagio

Serendipity - I love that movie!! and that word. We didn't stop in for a frozen hot chocolate, though. I'm holding out for the real thing in New York...

Again, didn't make a wish in the fountain... holding out for the real thing in... Greece? Italy? Oh well, I want to go to both. Soon :)

Food Pictures

As mentioned last month, we love food. And i love to make food.... especially desserts, or as my dad so warmly refers to them "treats" or "goodies." :) Although, as it is summer time and we are trying to get our beach bods, I haven't made any in a while. Here are some dinners that I have enjoyed though. We had a spinach and red pepper egg strata thing last night, which was good, and then hamburgers and sweet potato fries tonight... mmmmm

 spinach, tomato, chicken, cheese penne = delicious (secret ingredient: 2 oz fat free cream cheese mixed into the spaghetti sauce)

 s'mores bars... or as mom pronounces it: "sumores" - delicious, but didn't reach their full potential because i was holding back a little. I should've gone all out. I ate most of the pan anyways...

 This is what i like to call the flexible chicken fruit dip. It's my grandma's recipe that i found in my bridal shower recipe compilation. We ate it one night in a lettuce wrap (while we watched the Justin Beiber movie) and then the next day with tortilla chips.

 As an alternative to pizza one friday night, i made pizza rolls! Mmmm.... easy and yummy... i love pizza. 

 cute picture of somewhat healthy, mini-cinnamon rolls... kind of a let down, but they looked cute - especially on the cute B plate my mom gave me for my birthday :)

spinach and cream cheese stuffed chicken... i know they don't look like much, but they were yummy as well