A Little Between Class Cookin'

Today I had some extra time between classes so I decide to actually make food! So exciting. I decided to make Alfredo and glazed carrots. I used this nifty Whisk Bliss Universal Cooking Base that only required water and Parmesan (and I added some milk to thin it a little more). I used this to make Cheddar Broccoli soup on Sunday that was really good and this stuff did not disappoint with the albedo sauce either! My carrots turned out great but I added too much brown sugar so they stuck to my teeth and left them to simmer on medium so they were slightly burned but all I could taste was flavor! Yum! Its the best way to eat your carrots in my opinion.

It was actually really hard to get a picture of me eating a carrot.

Mom, I'm using my parsley

After all my classes I have Butter Ranch Chicken in the Crock pot for dinner. This is the recipe. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Flying High

This semester I am taking 2 classes with one of my favorite teachers and at the beginning of every semester he has us draw a 15minute self portrait of ourselves. On Monday I drew the cartoon version of myself just like I normally would. But on Tuesday I decided to draw outside the box. So while everyone else draw themselves smiling, I flew!

Leaving Mesa for Rexburg (And a Day Trip)

Its that time again... and I'm super nervous. Thank goodness I have amazing parents that back me up through the entire process. We left my beautiful home Wednesday morning, journeyed into Utah and into Idaho the next day.

As we traveled through the beautiful red rock country of northern Arizona and southern Utah, I was inspired to attempt a watercolor in the car. Using my watercolor pens with water in them, I tried using simple colors to express the blue shadows cast by the yellow setting sun striking the top of the mesa (the ridge behind the paper is not what I saw when I began). 

 We parked in the Walmart parking lot in Cedar City. It was freezing, so we had to turn on the heater in the camper. The cold plus the parking lot lights made it for a rough night's sleep but it was the surprise in the morning that was really hard to swallow. IT SNOWED!!! Dad wasn't too happy and over a McDonald's breakfast inside the Walmart, we discussed leaving the camper and taking just the truck through the pass. Luckily the road conditions warmed up and we were able to continue on with the camper in toe.

It was a long day of driving through scenic Utah and though (luckily) the snow didn't follow us, the cold stayed along for the ride from Flagstaff, AZ all the way to Idaho. We parked the trailer in the dark next to Henry's Fork River and woke up to the gorgeous view you see below.

We checked in, paid my fee, and got started unpacking. After lots of command strips and a few trips to Walmart, Mom and I stood back in approval of my new room (or half a room). We tried to tone down the owls from last time and added a more Southern touch in honor of my mission.

Then as a last holiday, we took a day trip to Yellowstone, about an hour and a half from Rexburg. With the Teton Mountains in the distance, it was a beautiful if not cold morning. The wind blew strong the entire day but seeing the beautiful sights of Yellowstone helped us to forget the cold as we ooo'd and awed at the colors of the springs and the activity of the geysers and the variety of animals we saw. Animal List: (winter coated) red fox, elk, bison, deer, sandhill crane, raven, osprey hawk. Still on the list: moose and wolf. 

 

Stopping for a bathroom break, Mom saw these cute branches and asked me to take pictures.

I wore my "raven lunatic" hat and chased this guy down for a little photoshoot.

I noticed an osprey hawk while visiting the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and took a picture. Looks like I found it's nest!

After the exciting day we ended with dinner in the little town of West Yellowstone and Huckleberry ice cream from my favorite G's Dairy Creamy. Hugging Mom and Dad good-bye was really tough, but I'm so happy we had an exciting trip together before I begin my senior year of college. Wish me luck as the semester begins on Monday.