Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday was my last day of classes before our Thanksgiving Break started. It was really nice having some time off of school to just relax (and catch up on homework) and enjoy Thanksgiving time, and starting our Christmas preparations!

I spent the week getting the house straightened up and starting some cooking for Thanksgiving. Jake and I decided in early October that we wanted to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house for any of our friends that weren't going to be able to go home to their families for the holiday. We started planning out what food we wanted to provide and what we wanted to ask others to bring, and asked around about who wanted to come. Hosting the dinner at our house was a great excuse to do a deep clean!

When the day finally came, Jake and I were up early to get started on the turkey. Neither of us had ever really helped very much when our parents had done it in the past, so we both had a lot of questions for them! It was interesting hearing how differently both our families make turkeys, and getting to choose how we wanted to combine their methods to create our own. Jake had a lot of fun sticking his hand in the raw turkey...ew. Haha! We got the turkey in the oven, did some more cleaning, and then got to relax for a few hours. 

Everyone came over around 3, and there were nine of us total: my friend Braden and his roommate Shane, our friends Tiffanie and Quinn Hugentobler, and the Munoz family. We all played Apples to Apples for a little while as the food was cooling, which was really fun. Then Jake explained a family tradition that he had growing up and we had decided to carry on: there was a bowl on the table filled with candy corn, and everyone took a piece out and said what they were thankful for. Everyone shared things like family, the gospel, the Atonement, etc except for Braden's roommate, Shane. Braden had contacted me the morning of Thanksgiving and told me that he just found out his roommate had nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, and was wondering if we had room, which of course we did. So Shane shared that he was really thankful for the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with us, because if Braden hadn't invited him he would have been alone in his room eating soup that night. It was a small thing, but really humbling for me to think about: there were a lot of people on Thanksgiving who didn't have anywhere to go, or who had very little to eat. It made me pause and realize how truly blessed we are. 

Here we are with the Munoz family and Quinn & Tiffanie

After we all shared two things we were thankful for, we had a blessing on the food and everyone dug in! We asked everyone else to bring side dishes or desserts, and we had a TON of food. It was really fun getting everyone to help with the food, since most people brought homemade things, so there were a lot of different family traditions represented. It all tasted great and we had a lot of fun sharing stories and laughing with each other. After dinner we sat around talking for a while, and then had desserts and divided up some leftovers for everyone to take home. Jake and I were exhausted from all the work, but it was so worth it! It was probably the best Thanksgiving I've ever had, and it will be such a fun memory for us to look back on.

The rest of the week Jake and I spent putting the house back together, and starting to decorate for Christmas! We even decorated our little tree, and put lights up in our front window. I'm so excited to share this Christmas with Jake--last year I spent a few days at Jake's Uncle David's house in Utah before going home for my offtrack and the holidays, and it was bittersweet since it was the last time Jake and I would see each other for three months. This year there are no goodbyes looming over our heads, just an eternity together :)

Mid November

This week was a weird one in Rexburg, at least when it comes to winter...we had some "warm" days where it was about 40 degrees, and on Saturday it was cold and rainy for a while before it suddenly started hailing HARD, and then it mutated into about an hour of snowfall. Gotta love the weather here in Idaho!

For a lot of reasons, this week was wonderful. I haven't posted on here about Jake's work situation because I didn't want to get people excited if nothing came of it, but things have turned out even better than we'd hoped so now I can share the good news! A few months ago Jake was offered full time work at Pizza Pie Cafe where he was currently working part-time, starting in late November. We were hesitant about it at first because our income would decrease a pretty good amount, but only for a few months before Jake could get a raise. However, Jake really loves working there, and we decided that we'd rather have a little less money but be happier overall so Jake accepted the offer. He put in his two week notice at Odell's Furniture a few weeks after that, and this past Monday Jake officially started working full time at Pizza Pie Cafe. He's loving it so so much, and I'm happy that he's happy!

Also it's pretty obvious (based on my Facebook posts) that these past few weeks have been very successful ones for me, in terms of my kitchen skills. Since the beginning of September I've been working on putting together a cookbook for myself using recipes from family, friends, and ones I've found online. I've been testing out a few new ones every week, and I make note of whether or not they were yummy and what I might do to improve them next time around in the margins of the book. Jake's really been loving all my experimenting, since I haven't made anything that he's hated yet!

Earlier this week I had to teach a lesson in my Fundamentals of Teaching Writing class, and I was really nervous about it. However the lesson went well with my classmates giving lots of input and cooperating with my high school level activities, and after I finished I found out that I got a 94%! Another little boost of confidence and passion towards becoming a teacher :)

On Friday night, I was suddenly DESPERATE for a s'more. But we have an electric stove here in our apartment, and I only had mini marshmallows. However, I was determined to have my s'more! So I got out a tea light candle to roast my mini marshmallows over, and a fork to stick the marshmallows on. It actually worked, but Jake just sat there laughing at me because he apparently thought it was hysterical. But I got my s'more, so I was happy!

One-Pot Mexican Skillet Pasta

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the creation of these recipes! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

One-Pot Mexican Skillet Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground turkey
2 cups elbows pasta
2 cups salsa
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground turkey and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in pasta, salsa, chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13-16 minutes. Stir in corn and black beans, and gently toss to combine. Stir in cheese until melted through, about 1-2 minutes.

THE VERDICT: This recipe...wow. It was SO good! Who would have thought something that sounds so simple would taste so amazing? It was a lot like a chili, but the noodles added a nice flavor and kind of mixed things up. I'm sure you could use beef for this recipe, but turkey was a little bit healthier and you might not get the same exact "taste" as the original recipe. This made a LOT more food than I'd anticipated, but either Jake or I (or both of us) had it for at least one meal a day, until it was completely gone.

Feminism: A Rant

As you've probably inferred from the title of this post, today's entry will not be like any you've read before. The following words are brought to you by someone who is VERY AGITATED.

Over the years I've been in community college and here at BYU-Idaho, I've participated in many class discussions on the subject of feminism, both in literature classes and history classes. Today we were starting our feminism unit in one of my English classes and I was early to class, so I sat down and was talking to some of my classmates. We were talking about how feminism is a really touchy subject for a lot of people, and some of my classmates were somewhat nervous for today's discussion. One girl, who'd been quiet up until this point, finally said: "Yeah I'm not looking forward to this, cuz I'm like...basically totally anti-feminism. I wanna be able to stay at home and take care of kids and stuff!"

The other people I was talking with didn't seem to think much of this statement and the discussion continued, but I just about lost my cool. I wanted to slap my palm to my face and just GROAN. And I also wanted to tug the wool off of her eyes and bluntly explain that guess what? 

Wanting to be a homemaker does not make you anti-feminism.

This may come as a shock to some of you, since the popular belief is that feminism=bra burning parties and being labeled a man-hater. While those standards may have been true of second wave feminists, we in the modern world are part of the third wave of feminism. 

Among many other things, third wave feminists believe that women can do ANYTHING they want to do, without being degraded or viewed negatively for their decisions. 

You want to become a business owner and take the world by storm? Great! 

You want to stay at home and raise children, cook, and clean? Good for you! 

You want to become a stripper? Congratulations! 

No matter what your decision, the fact is that you get to CHOOSE what you want to do with your life, without feeling pressured by anyone to follow a certain path.

Crockpot Applesauce

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the creation of these recipes! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

Crockpot Applesauce

4 apples (you choose the kind)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup water

Peel, core and slice apples. Put them in crockpot with all other ingredients and stir thoroughly, then cook on high for 4-5 hours stirring occasionally. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before storing in a container and refrigerating, or eating warm.

THE VERDICT: Jake isn't a big applesauce fan, but I'm OBSESSED with this recipe. I'm probably never going to buy applesauce from the store ever again, that's how good this is!

SNOW-vember

This week, winter wonderland officially hit Rexburg! Jake and I woke up Tuesday morning and looked outside to find that it had snowed about two inches overnight. At first we were really disappointed, because we had planned on taking a trip to Idaho Falls to do one last shopping haul before the new year, and with the snow it was going to be a lot more difficult. Since this was our last opportunity to make the trip because Jake's work schedule and my school schedule almost never cooperate with each other for a full free day, we decided to head out despite the weather. Jake and I accomplished a lot! My favorite part of the trip was probably the first stop we made to Target. I've definitely missed having one in the same city! The whole day was a huge blessing with how much we were able to cross off of our list and the things we were able to find, and the fact that we made the trip in safety.

Other than that, this past week was pretty uneventful. The snow made it difficult to really do anything outside or run any errands, so we're glad that we went to Idaho Falls when we did!

Carly's One Year Mark

Today is a day that I've been looking forward to for quite a while. Not because anything special is going to happen, but because of what today means and represents. My best friend Carly has hit her one year mark out in the mission field! It's amazing how much can happen in one year; how much someone can accomplish and grow and change. Carly has done some amazing things in the San Antonio Texas mission, and I know she still has more to do. Saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I knew that it was the right choice and that she was needed elsewhere for a little while. Not having Carly here to be a part of my wedding was heartbreaking, but I know that she was there in spirit and that Texas needed her more than I did!

Face-Timing Carly from Jake's phone right
before she entered the MTC

There were so many blessings surrounding Carly entering the mission field: blessings for her, her family, and for me. I had started dating Jake about a month before Carly went on her mission, and at the time he was living in Northern Utah. So when Carly flew in to Salt Lake City, Jake picked her up from the airport and drove her down to Provo to enter the MTC. This was a huge blessing for me, because my best friend was finally able to meet Jake, which we had originally thought wasn't going to be possible until after Carly returned home. I was also able to FaceTime Carly right before she went into the MTC from Jake's phone, and say a final goodbye to my little sister.

I can't wait to see Carly again in just a few short months! I'm so grateful for the opportunity she's had to serve a mission, because I know she's helped improve so many lives, including her own as well as mine, through her service. You can bet that Sister Jenkins is going to get the biggest hug EVER from me when she walks through those airport doors back into California!

Fall Fun

This week was another cold one in Rexburg, but that's not a surprise at all! The warmest day we had was Thursday, which was a high of 57! Not a ton of "exciting" things happened this week, but whenever Jake and I are spending time together it always seems like a little adventure. He makes me laugh more than anyone I've ever known, and knows how to cheer me up if I'm having a hard time. Being married is pretty great :)

On Wednesday night I went with Jake to the stake center and watched him play basketball with some other men from our ward. I haven't ever really watched a basketball game, and it was actually really fun. For someone as goofy as Jake, he played pretty well, too!

This week I added the final touches to making our home ready for Thanksgiving, at least in terms of decorations. I found an adorable little scarecrow at Walmart, which we named Henry. He's propped up on our "porch" right outside our front door now. And I put out the blocks that I made a few weeks ago at a Relief Society activity. They sit nicely on top of our entertainment center. Every once in a while I'll light our little candle that's "Mulled Cider" scent and let the room start to smell like Fall...it's great!

On Thursday I tried a new recipe; Chicken 
Fried Chicken and Romano Cheese Mashed 
Potatoes. Jake was a BIG fan!

I also made my first attempt at a homemade Christmas ornament. It's not easy sewing since I don't have a sewing machine up here with me, but at least I tried! Hopefully they'll get better with practice!

On Friday after class, I came home and curled up with a book...which I proceeded to finish. I haven't done that in ages, and it felt so good to just be able to sit and read without remembering that I needed to do something for a class, or needing to run an errand.

Jake and I had a nice weekend, even though he had to work on Saturday as usual. We relaxed and watched some TV and movies, and did some things around the house. We're getting ready to order enlargements of some wedding pictures to hang in our living room, so I'm excited about that!

Romano Cheese Mashed Potatoes

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the creation of these recipes! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

Romano Cheese Mashed Potatoes

2 lb. or 3 large potatoes, scrubbed peeled and diced large

1 tsp. salt (for boiling water)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup grated Romano/Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp. chopped chives or onion

6 cups water (for boiling potatoes)

4 cloves garlic, ends snipped and peeled

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

Salt (optional and according to taste)

In a medium size saucepan, put diced potatoes, peeled garlic cloves and water and bring to a boil. Once the water boils, add the salt and cook potatoes until tender. Drain the water from the saucepan of cooked potatoes and garlic. While still piping hot, mash the potatoes and garlic, either leave some bits unmashed (for texture) or mash until smooth. Add the extra virgin olive oil and evaporated milk and continue to mash/mix. Mix in the grated Romano cheese and season with pepper and salt, if desired. Fold in the chopped chives/onions. Serve hot or warm, with or without gravy.

THE VERDICT: These potatoes were a BIG hit!

Chicken Fried Chicken

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the recipes I post! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

Chicken Fried Chicken

Chicken Fried Chicken
4 skinned and boned chicken breasts
2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
Oil
1 tsp. salt
1 sleeve saltine (or Ritz) crackers, crushed
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 large eggs

Place chicken breasts between 2 sheets plastic wrap and flatten to 1/4" thickness using meat mallet/rolling pin. Sprinkle with half of the salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, remaining salt and pepper in one bowl. Whisk together milk and eggs in another. Dredge chicken in cracker crumb mixture, dip in milk mixture, and then back into the cracker mixture. Pour oil to a depth of 1/2" in a 12" skillet (don't use a non-stick skillet). Over medium high heat (a little more hot than medium) fry chicken, in batches, 10 minutes, adding oil as needed. Turn and fry 4-5 more minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack/cookie sheet. Keep chicken warm in a 225 degree oven.

THE VERDICT: Jake was OBSESSED with this chicken. I honestly think he would have married it, if he didn't already have me. He ate his first piece before I was even halfway through mine, and gobbled up his second one almost as fast. 

Rexburg Winter Survival Tips

To all my family/friends back in California that follow my blog posts, this (obviously) won't really apply to you. However, you're free to read on if you wish! 

I'm writing this blog post for all my little freshmen/transfer friends to read and hopefully learn something from, since winter is finally starting to hit and it's dangerous to be completely clueless as to how to handle it. So here we go! Here are my tips for surviving winter in Rexburg:

TIP #1 MOST IMPORTANT TIP: CHECK. THE. WEATHER.

Like most places in the U.S., Rexburg will occasionally have a "warm" winter day. If you've spent the past two weeks bundled up like a marshmallow expecting the next snow-pocalypse, this weather will come as a rude awakening. You'll sweat yourself to death, trust me. And this of course applies for the other way around, as well--we might have a mild week and then suddenly BAM! Rexburg freezes overnight! I had roommates last fall who NEVER checked the weather and without fail, they always dressed the exact opposite of how they should have. And of course were constantly whining about it, which drove me insane. So, to keep your roommates from wanting to murder you, and for the above mentioned reasons, just check the weather every morning. It's not that complicated, I promise.

TIP #2 Layers

Some of you may have already figured this out, but for those who haven't, here you go: layers are your new best friend. Trust me. On an average winter day (a high of roughly 15 degrees) I will wear a t-shirt, cardigan, light zip-up hoodie, big coat (sometimes a snow coat, if there's actually snow), scarf, hat, and gloves. Plus flannel leggings or tights under your pants, and roughly 2-3 pairs of socks with boots. Sounds insane, right? Wrong. If you walk to class, you work up a sweat getting to your building. So, you step inside and take of your scarf, hat, gloves, and huge jacket. Then you get into your classroom and discover that the heat has been cranked up to 80 degrees. You're becoming pleasantly warm, and feeling great. Til you're not so pleasantly warm anymore. Then you can shed your other two jackets, and "cool off" a bit. As you get chillier though out your class period, you can layer things back on accordingly. But this was the first tip someone gave me when I came up to school, and it's been one of the life-savers.

TIP #3 Stretching

You're probably thinking: stretching? Really? What are we, senior citizens? Gotta "limber up" before we head off to class? Well, actually, yeah. After sleeping in a (probably) rigid position for the night, you'll wake up and have to get out of that cozy cocoon of a bed feeling like a ton of frozen bricks hit you. If you take a few minutes to stretch (touch your toes, roll your shoulders, etc) before hopping in the shower, I promise it'll make your freezing walk to class more bearable. If your muscles are already frozen stiff and then you step outside into the cold, you're going to be aching and miserable by the time you get into your classroom.

TIP #4 How to walk through snow

This honestly sounds like the dumbest instructional video ever. Because anyone who hasn't lived in snow (or anything less than a foot of snow at a time) would think: well duh, you just WALK through it. Like you walk through anything else. Buuuut...no. There are different "levels" of snow danger, so to speak, and trust me you don't wanna be that person that blunders cluelessly through campus and ends up slipping flat onto their back, papers flying, and your butt frozen and wet the rest of the day. So this tip has some sub-tips for you.

SUBTIP 1: Do not text and walk. I didn't have a ton of trouble getting used to this concept since your hands are so frozen you just wanna keep them shoved in your pockets, but there are people who do it. And EVERY SINGLE PERSON that I ever saw fall...had their cell phones out. Coincidence? I think not. This may seem dumb, but the other part of this subtip is that you HAVE to watch where you're going. Random little patches of ice can appear anywhere, and if you're texting or Snapchatting or checking Twitter or what have you while you're walking, you're gonna eat it. Hard.

SUBTIP 2: Sometimes the snow is safer than the sidewalk. I know this sounds really dumb, but think about it--sometimes there will be days where it snows, and then it's just freezing for a week, and then it snows again. The previous snow hasn't melted, but has hardened into a thick coating of nasty ice. When you're walking on the sidewalk, that ice is super easy to trip on, cuz you usually can't see it. But if you walk through some of the grassy area (previously grassy, since it's now covered in snow) it's actually safer, since you have fresh snow to walk through instead of ice. So you if you see the "weirdos" walking through campus that way, you should know that they're actually really smart. Don't judge the weirdos.

Goodbye October, Hello November!

This week was filled with lots of fun adventures, as usual. Even when my week seems very simple, when I think back on it there's really never a dull moment! I'm grateful for all the opportunities I have to experience new things here in Idaho, or even to just appreciate the "old" things more fully.

On Monday I took Jake to work before heading up to school for the day, and boy was it COLD. I wore an undershirt, t-shirt, cardigan, coat, scarf, + hat for the walk from my car to class in the 32 degree wind, with very ominous looking clouds coming in. All day it looked like we'd get a storm, but I guess Mother Nature was all talk since we didn't get even a drop of rain! It's so nice being able to come home from class and get into cozy clothes and just curl up with some hot cocoa or herbal tea.

On Tuesday Jake worked his other job at the pizza place here in town, so after taking him to work I came home and did some homework for a while. Then I picked up my companion Janelle, and we set off to do our visiting teaching. We visited with Stacie for about half an hour, just getting to know her first since we'd never met, + then I gave the lesson. The lesson was on Christ being the bread of life, and even though the message I shared was pretty short, it ended up being pretty great. One of my favorite quotes from the lesson that I shared was: 

"Join in the adventure of the earliest disciples of Christ who also yearned for the bread of life--those who did not go back but who came to Him, stayed with Him, and who recognized that for safety and salvation there was no other to whom they could ever go." -Jeffrey R. Holland

After visiting teaching, I came home and worked on my midterm for my Book of Mormon class. At the beginning of the semester, our professor told us to choose a principle that we wanted to really focus on while doing our scripture study. I chose charity/service, and we were instructed to look for signs of that principle throughout our daily reading. For our midterm, we had to connect our specific principle to a certain passage of scripture that we're all studying together as a class, and prepare a short lesson about it. As part of my lesson, I found this video that I attached to the presentation.

Wednesday was another cold day, and of course I forgot to bring a scarf. I hadn't really realized how much I needed that extra warmth because walking from my car to class and around campus was MISERABLE! I'll never forget a scarf again! That night I was doing homework while Jake was at work, and my mom called. Apparently Will needed a striped t-shirt for Thursday to dress up with the rest of the baseball team at school, and Sarah had been out earlier in the day and found nothing. When I was back in California, I was constantly out running little errands for my mom, doing things like this, and she was stressing out because she missed having me there to help. So I made a few suggestions, and then we hung up the phone. A little while later I decided to look on Target's website just for the heck of it...and what do I find? A striped t-shirt. I sent Mom a picture and she sent it to Will, who apparently approved of my fashion sense, because Mom was off to Target within five minutes of me sending the picture. Even in Idaho, I'm still doing your shopping, Mom!

On Thursday I went to a meeting for my calling in Relief Society, and then came home to do some homework and scrap-booking. It's been my little escape from the stressful stuff lately, and I'm so grateful to have something to take my mind off of stuff! Crafts have always been one of my favorite ways to relax.

Friday was Halloween! I got home from class and discovered that the USB of our wedding photos had arrived, so I was SUPER excited about that! Especially since the packaging was so adorable. Another huge thank you to Danielle Armstrong Photography for our beautiful photos. We love them to death. 

That evening Jake and I dressed up as Lucy and Schroeder from Peanuts, and had a night in watching scary movies and handing out candy to the (two) trick-or-treat-ers that knocked on our door.

Saturday was the beginning of November! Since it was cold outside, I spent the day doing things around the house and some homework. I also developed our wedding photos, and started putting them together into an album. It's even better seeing the physical photos as opposed to just images on a computer screen.

On Sunday, I woke up very disappointed. The weather had predicted snow during the night, but we didn't get cold enough for anything to stick. It rained most of the day, but apparently it might snow later this week...which means the wet from the rain won't dry up, and it'll freeze over once the snow actually hits. And let me tell you, ice under snow is HORRIBLE to walk on. So please pray that neither of us break our leg while walking around outside! We went to church today as usual, and enjoyed our evening together with nothing important to do except relax. Sundays are definitely still my favorite day of the week!