Ever since my first semester in college I have been on the hunt for a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found one through the wife of one of the counselors in my ward at church. During one of my moves (from Autumn Winds to Royal Crest, I believe) I lost the recipe. I've been on the hunt again and finally found one that I love. It happens to be Ethan's mom's recipe. We have a picture of it on his phone, but he's not always home when I want to bake cookies. So I'm going to post it here for easy finding for myself since I really don't want to have to carry my phone around the kitchen anymore when I'm baking.
Ingredients:
1 C softened shortening
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 C unsifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C chocolate chips*
*we use milk chocolate chips with mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Beat shortening, sugars, vanilla, water, and eggs until light and fluffy. Mix flour with soda and salt; blend into shortening mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop two inches apart from a teaspoon onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.**
**we use a cookie scoop (I like to make sure there's almost too much in the scoop because I like them nice and thick) and cook them exactly 10 minutes because they come out perfect (well, to our liking) that way
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
We're Moving!
As I mentioned in the last post, we're moving to a new apartment. It's the Stonebrook complex here in Rexburg. It's a little pricier--about $60 more than what we're paying now. However, we will have to pay for our own electric, which is said to be around $50-80 during the winter. We will be able to have my kitty cat though! She'll be an extra $20 a month when we get her (probably this coming summer) and a hefty deposit of $400 (I think, I can't fully remember right now.) We should have a decent amount of time to save for that though.
But enough of the details about rent. Here's pictures of the apartment (without anything in it.) It's a one bedroom, one bathroom. And the countertops are granite!
We've moved a few items there already, but are hopefully moving completely in on Friday, the 19th. If not, it'll be the 20th/21st for sure because we have to be out of our current apartment by the 23rd at noon and we'll need time to white glove it.
But enough of the details about rent. Here's pictures of the apartment (without anything in it.) It's a one bedroom, one bathroom. And the countertops are granite!
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| The living room and hallway. Yes, the one wall is a different color. (Ignore the weird lighting at the top and the bendiness. We had to take a panorama to get the whole room.) |
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| The kitchen! Sadly, this fridge is much smaller. |
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| A dining area! And the water heater closet. |
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| The bathroom. Ethan's favorite part about it is the curved shower rod. |
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| MORE SINK SPACE! And a towel holder! |
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| Our own laundry! We'll probably hang dry most stuff to save electricity. |
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| The bedroom closet. Lots of shelves and it's a walk-in, we're pretty excited about it. |
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| A warpy panorama of the bedroom and me in the doorway. |
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
School
Most of you know that I was a math major. Half of you know that I am not anymore. Few of you know that I used to study art before I was a math major. Even less of you know I grew up wanting to be a teacher. Less than that know I decided I'd be a math teacher when I was in middle school. None of you know how much it hurts to say I'm a University Studies major.
And none of you know how or why that happened. So here's the painful (to me) story:
In 7th grade I decided I wanted to teach math. I dreamt of going to college, completely forgetting that high school had to come first. I began looking into schools with math programs. I'd settled on Vanderbilt and University of Florida. I went to high school trying to make my way up the math class ladder. Nothing was getting in my way without a fight. Until a guidance counselor convinced me I wouldn't be good enough to take AP Calculus or AP Stats my senior year. All because I'd struggled with Pre-Calc. (You learn when you struggle. I learned that here at BYUI years later. But she didn't see that.) I settled for ATM (Advanced Topics Math), which was lower than Pre-Calc and higher than Algebra II. I was bored. I hated it. I didn't like the teacher. I failed a few tests because I literally just didn't care about the class. It wasn't too hard for me, it was too easy. I wasn't challenged and I learned nothing new.
I applied for college that year. I was too afraid to apply anywhere big (like Vanderbilt and UF) because of lost confidence in myself. (That guidance counselor had told me so many lies about what I was and wasn't capable of.) so I applied to two schools--BYUI and University of North Florida. I took the ACT twice--excelling in English and Math, but not science. I got accepted to UNF and declined because only three people I knew were going there and I'd been fed lies from my then best friend that I wouldn't be able to make any new friends on my own. I got accepted into BYUI as a math education major. I accepted their offer because I wanted to find out my own potential away from those that were hindering me.
I arrived in Rexburg only to panic and cling to the idea that I wouldn't be able to do it (be a math teacher, make friends, thrive). I switched to general studies and took a couple art classes. I decided is major in that. I took a drawing class and found out I only had talent in watercolor, so I looked to a professor friend for help. He suggested marriage and family because I had loved his two family classes. I decided I could minor in art and major in that. It would be easy and I could manage to find some art therapy jobs when I graduated if I planned courses properly.
Part of the marriage and family degree is to take a social stats class. I dreaded it with all my heart, thinking I'd never make it out alive. Turns out I was wrong, I excelled and I soared. I was recommended to tutor the class. I was hired the summer after to tutor stats and various algebra. I found out where my passion truly laid, as I had suspected long ago--in math. I decided I had to study statistics! But here is where my problems snowballed.
BYUI doesn't have a statistics degree. They only have a non-math-major minor and a math-major minor and a concentration for it.
I picked up the non-math-major minor because I was nearly finished with marriage and family studies. (Plus I really liked marriage and family.) I signed up for the combined calculus class, thinking I would do alright. But here is where problem #1 cropped up. I hadn't taken the prerequisite course: Pre-Calulus. I had taken it in high school, but not in college. After some consulting with some math faculty, I was allowed to take the course with out the prerequisite.
I did okay. The homework was online and I would often forget about it or get so frustrated with the program we had to use that I just didn't finish it. Because of that and a very large mistake on a important test, I ended the class with a 78% C. I was devastated, but continued on with my math courses by signing up for a 400-level class the following semester. And thus creating problem #2.
This class was well beyond what I had studied in math so far. It was almost entirely theoretical and dealt with multiple integration--something I hadn't quite grasped in the combined calculus class. I met with my teacher about dropping the class, but when he saw my grade he advised me not to give up. I had a very decent grade for someone without any background besides introductory courses. I spent the entire semester focused on that 400-level course, often crying because it just didn't make any sense to me. I failed two out of three exams, but made it out with a 76% C. I was proud of myself. I had just put myself through what felt like a math hell and survived to tell the tale. I felt strong and capable! I immediately signed up for two more math classes (Intermediate Stats and Trigonometry) for the following semester with fire in my heart.
I thought trig would defeat me because I hadn't understood it well in high school, but it turns out I defeated trig--with high honors. (I ended that course with a 103% and awesome support from my teacher.) I happily made my way through learning R and putting some of my theoretical stats knowledge to use in intermediate stats, ending that class with a 91%. I felt so empowered by my math ability that I stepped up to the plate and registered for FOUR math classes for the following fall semester. I even switched my minor to a concentration and my major to be my minor. (Statistics concentration with a minor in Marriage & Family, for clarification.)
I walked into fall semester with huge goals--straight As and wedding planning. Problems #3 and #4 happened right around this time. (#3: I had signed up to take Calc I, which is covered in the combined calculus class I had taken so that I wouldn't have to jump through hoops to get permission to take the Multivariate Calc class that my degree now required. #4: I had my first relationship. It was long distance.) I felt too prideful to be sitting in a low-level calc class and I didn't like my teacher, so I switched to a different teacher at a class time that I hated. On top of that, I started to get burnt out because I was tutoring math and taking ONLY math classes. I opted to spend my studying time and sleeping time doing something that wasn't math-related--talking to my boyfriend. I stayed up too late and thus, woke up to too late. I have a brain-wring-malfunction-thing that makes me prefer to miss the whole class rather than show up late to a class (actually, I think that's just pride, but anyways...) I missed too many classes that led to sheer embarrassment when I showed up to class (I was too prideful and it was embarrassing to show up to class when I hadn't been there two out of the three days.) I then failed several tests because I missed so much material. I quite attending classes all together. I dropped all but the calculus class because I got so discouraged and so stressed out that I fell into a really deep pit of depression. I was embarrassed to show my face in the Ricks building because almost all the math faculty knew I was so passionate and driven previously. It hurt and I didn't know what to do. I allowed myself to fail the only class I managed to keep that semester. I even worked my way to worst tutor by the time the semester ended.
I didn't take classes the following semester. I just worked and planned my wedding in hopes that I would be able to recover enough to excel in the spring. I signed up for all the same classes I had the previous fall in hopes I could redeem myself. I even switched to a different linear algebra class, thinking it would be easier on me since it was only half the semester and had less content. Three weeks in, I realized that I still felt like I was in over my head. I wasn't doing as well as I had wanted in the easiest class I had and grew discouraged again. Problem #5 then appeared--my aversion to change. I was newly married, living completely on our own now, and was dealing with some thyroid issues. Everything became too much to handle and I grew even more depressed. I slept all the time. I cried all the time. I didn't want to go to classes or work. I hated everything I had once loved. And I was writing suicide notes in my head to my husband. (Who, to this day didn't even know things were that bad.) I gave up journalling--my second favorite thing, with teaching and studying math being my first. With everything that I was feeling, I decided that I couldn't continue on with math. The classes I had been taking were harder than they should have been for me because I had skipped crucial prerequisites and I was too depressed to even try working through that. So I applied to switch to the University Studies degree and dropped all my math classes. (I switched to some online fluff classes to keep my financial aid.) I intended to do the marriage and family minor with a stats cluster and my almost finished art cluster. But my advisor told me to pick a cluster that made me more marketable for jobs--something with graphic arts, maybe. So I did. I made a custom cluster with graphic design and an upper division watercolor class. Since marriage and family is already completed, all I have left is watercolor and graphic design.
Since that leaves me only this fall semester and three more classes after that, I should be excited. But I am not because I am still dealing with problem #5. Also, we don't have the money to get me the supplies I need to take the courses I am signed up for. And, to be 100% honest, I'm not excited because none of this is math. I wanted to teach math someday. I wanted to graduate with a degree in math. I do not want to graduate with a fluff degree--my diploma will say Bachelors Degree in University Studies. I feel like it's not a serious degree and I also feel like it doesn't even begin to convey the amount of effort I have put into my college education. I feel like I am dumb compared to my husband's family. He and his sister are straight A students, while I am a complete failure so far.
Because I have failed so many classes and dropped so many classes, I am now on academic probation. This makes me feel like even more of a failure. I used to have an amazing GPA and I was a straight A student in high school (minus the three Cs: physics, precalc, and ATM.) Now I'm an F student with a GPA equivalent to almost a C.
I will graduate next year with a Bachelors in University Studies and a crushed-beyond-repair dream. But now you know the whole story, the truth behind why I am not a math major, and the reason why I cry myself to sleep some nights.
I thought trig would defeat me because I hadn't understood it well in high school, but it turns out I defeated trig--with high honors. (I ended that course with a 103% and awesome support from my teacher.) I happily made my way through learning R and putting some of my theoretical stats knowledge to use in intermediate stats, ending that class with a 91%. I felt so empowered by my math ability that I stepped up to the plate and registered for FOUR math classes for the following fall semester. I even switched my minor to a concentration and my major to be my minor. (Statistics concentration with a minor in Marriage & Family, for clarification.)
I walked into fall semester with huge goals--straight As and wedding planning. Problems #3 and #4 happened right around this time. (#3: I had signed up to take Calc I, which is covered in the combined calculus class I had taken so that I wouldn't have to jump through hoops to get permission to take the Multivariate Calc class that my degree now required. #4: I had my first relationship. It was long distance.) I felt too prideful to be sitting in a low-level calc class and I didn't like my teacher, so I switched to a different teacher at a class time that I hated. On top of that, I started to get burnt out because I was tutoring math and taking ONLY math classes. I opted to spend my studying time and sleeping time doing something that wasn't math-related--talking to my boyfriend. I stayed up too late and thus, woke up to too late. I have a brain-wring-malfunction-thing that makes me prefer to miss the whole class rather than show up late to a class (actually, I think that's just pride, but anyways...) I missed too many classes that led to sheer embarrassment when I showed up to class (I was too prideful and it was embarrassing to show up to class when I hadn't been there two out of the three days.) I then failed several tests because I missed so much material. I quite attending classes all together. I dropped all but the calculus class because I got so discouraged and so stressed out that I fell into a really deep pit of depression. I was embarrassed to show my face in the Ricks building because almost all the math faculty knew I was so passionate and driven previously. It hurt and I didn't know what to do. I allowed myself to fail the only class I managed to keep that semester. I even worked my way to worst tutor by the time the semester ended.
I didn't take classes the following semester. I just worked and planned my wedding in hopes that I would be able to recover enough to excel in the spring. I signed up for all the same classes I had the previous fall in hopes I could redeem myself. I even switched to a different linear algebra class, thinking it would be easier on me since it was only half the semester and had less content. Three weeks in, I realized that I still felt like I was in over my head. I wasn't doing as well as I had wanted in the easiest class I had and grew discouraged again. Problem #5 then appeared--my aversion to change. I was newly married, living completely on our own now, and was dealing with some thyroid issues. Everything became too much to handle and I grew even more depressed. I slept all the time. I cried all the time. I didn't want to go to classes or work. I hated everything I had once loved. And I was writing suicide notes in my head to my husband. (Who, to this day didn't even know things were that bad.) I gave up journalling--my second favorite thing, with teaching and studying math being my first. With everything that I was feeling, I decided that I couldn't continue on with math. The classes I had been taking were harder than they should have been for me because I had skipped crucial prerequisites and I was too depressed to even try working through that. So I applied to switch to the University Studies degree and dropped all my math classes. (I switched to some online fluff classes to keep my financial aid.) I intended to do the marriage and family minor with a stats cluster and my almost finished art cluster. But my advisor told me to pick a cluster that made me more marketable for jobs--something with graphic arts, maybe. So I did. I made a custom cluster with graphic design and an upper division watercolor class. Since marriage and family is already completed, all I have left is watercolor and graphic design.
Since that leaves me only this fall semester and three more classes after that, I should be excited. But I am not because I am still dealing with problem #5. Also, we don't have the money to get me the supplies I need to take the courses I am signed up for. And, to be 100% honest, I'm not excited because none of this is math. I wanted to teach math someday. I wanted to graduate with a degree in math. I do not want to graduate with a fluff degree--my diploma will say Bachelors Degree in University Studies. I feel like it's not a serious degree and I also feel like it doesn't even begin to convey the amount of effort I have put into my college education. I feel like I am dumb compared to my husband's family. He and his sister are straight A students, while I am a complete failure so far.
Because I have failed so many classes and dropped so many classes, I am now on academic probation. This makes me feel like even more of a failure. I used to have an amazing GPA and I was a straight A student in high school (minus the three Cs: physics, precalc, and ATM.) Now I'm an F student with a GPA equivalent to almost a C.
I will graduate next year with a Bachelors in University Studies and a crushed-beyond-repair dream. But now you know the whole story, the truth behind why I am not a math major, and the reason why I cry myself to sleep some nights.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Our Summer Vacation
I cannot wait until I have more time to dedicate to this blog! I really want to get into it and make it fabulous. Maybe have some tutorials or recipes to go along with the things we've done. For example, if we build a new dresser or make a really yummy dinner. We can take pictures during the process and I can later write up a post letting you know how to do it too. Basically, just sharing the love around here!
Anyways. It's been quite a while since we've updated. Ethan posted about our three month-iversary and we just had our four month-iversary last Tuesday, so it's been about a month. I bet you're just dying to know what we've been up to... right??
July 23rd: The semester was officially over! We spent the day cleaning and packing for our trip to Florida.
July 24th: We got a ride down to Salt Lake City for the airport and flew to Jacksonville, FL. We had a layover in Las Vegas. It was super duper hot!!! The flight from SLC to LAS we were able to sit together. The flight from LAS to JAX we got separated :( Did I mention it was a 5.5 hour long flight?! But then my mom took us to Denny's when she picked us up and I got to see my kitty once we arrived at the house, so it was okay in the end.
July 27th: We met up with Michelle and Aunt Pamela and the siblings at church. They headed off to the beach and we went back to the house to pack. We drove to five hours to Florida City and met up with everyone again to join the Florida leg of their Mega Roadtrip.
July 28th: Key Largo! Half of us went snorkeling and the other half went on a glassbottom boat tour. (Ethan and I forgot our swimming suits so we went on the boat.) Then we stopped at Subway for lunch and drove through the bottom half of the Everglades. On the way back to the hotel we found an AWESOME fruit stand called Robert Is Here. We bought some fresh mango, fresh fruit milkshakes, some honey, and some jam. Ethan also got a passion fruit.
July 29th: Shark Valley! We all took a tram tour through the upper part of the Everglades. After that, some of us tried some gator and frog meat. (Not me! Haha I know Brienna, Zane, Ethan, and Rusty did though.) Then we drove to a beach on the gulf coast and swam in some really large waves. We ended in Fort Meyers, FL.
July 30th: The Florida Aquarium! (In Tampa, FL) After seeing all the exhibits there, Ethan and I left the rest of the family and "headed back." We stopped in Lakeland, FL for a random drive around (we found Publix headquarters!!!) and in Orlando, FL for Ikea.
July 31st: Our Florida reception. We spent all day preparing for the reception. Linda Stephens brought lots of lovely flowers and decorations! (I love her so much!!!) And my Aunt Alice and Uncle Robert brought all the yummy food :) The reception was from 5:00-7:00 pm and about 50 people came. It was nice to see some of my St. Aug friends!
All the days between were relaxing, sleeping, eating, spending time with family and friends, and car shopping.
August 10th: WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST CAR! A cute little Kia Rio. It's a 2002 and it's a girly green. It has 71,000 miles and we paid only $2900 for it. We're pretty dang excited! Later, we drove down to Miami to leave for our cruise in the morning.
August 11th: Port of Miami! We boarded our cruise ship, Majesty of the Seas :) [[Don't worry, I will make a whole separate post with details about the cruise!]]
August 12th: **4 months!** Nassau, Bahamas! We went to Atlantis. My Aunt Alice and Uncle Robert paid for us to do the Aquaventure, which is this really cool waterpark.
**Ethan will do a picture post soon, so I will finish this when he does that way you have pictures to go along with what I'm writing :)
Anyways. It's been quite a while since we've updated. Ethan posted about our three month-iversary and we just had our four month-iversary last Tuesday, so it's been about a month. I bet you're just dying to know what we've been up to... right??
July 23rd: The semester was officially over! We spent the day cleaning and packing for our trip to Florida.
July 24th: We got a ride down to Salt Lake City for the airport and flew to Jacksonville, FL. We had a layover in Las Vegas. It was super duper hot!!! The flight from SLC to LAS we were able to sit together. The flight from LAS to JAX we got separated :( Did I mention it was a 5.5 hour long flight?! But then my mom took us to Denny's when she picked us up and I got to see my kitty once we arrived at the house, so it was okay in the end.
July 27th: We met up with Michelle and Aunt Pamela and the siblings at church. They headed off to the beach and we went back to the house to pack. We drove to five hours to Florida City and met up with everyone again to join the Florida leg of their Mega Roadtrip.
July 28th: Key Largo! Half of us went snorkeling and the other half went on a glassbottom boat tour. (Ethan and I forgot our swimming suits so we went on the boat.) Then we stopped at Subway for lunch and drove through the bottom half of the Everglades. On the way back to the hotel we found an AWESOME fruit stand called Robert Is Here. We bought some fresh mango, fresh fruit milkshakes, some honey, and some jam. Ethan also got a passion fruit.
July 29th: Shark Valley! We all took a tram tour through the upper part of the Everglades. After that, some of us tried some gator and frog meat. (Not me! Haha I know Brienna, Zane, Ethan, and Rusty did though.) Then we drove to a beach on the gulf coast and swam in some really large waves. We ended in Fort Meyers, FL.
July 30th: The Florida Aquarium! (In Tampa, FL) After seeing all the exhibits there, Ethan and I left the rest of the family and "headed back." We stopped in Lakeland, FL for a random drive around (we found Publix headquarters!!!) and in Orlando, FL for Ikea.
July 31st: Our Florida reception. We spent all day preparing for the reception. Linda Stephens brought lots of lovely flowers and decorations! (I love her so much!!!) And my Aunt Alice and Uncle Robert brought all the yummy food :) The reception was from 5:00-7:00 pm and about 50 people came. It was nice to see some of my St. Aug friends!
All the days between were relaxing, sleeping, eating, spending time with family and friends, and car shopping.
August 10th: WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST CAR! A cute little Kia Rio. It's a 2002 and it's a girly green. It has 71,000 miles and we paid only $2900 for it. We're pretty dang excited! Later, we drove down to Miami to leave for our cruise in the morning.
August 11th: Port of Miami! We boarded our cruise ship, Majesty of the Seas :) [[Don't worry, I will make a whole separate post with details about the cruise!]]
August 12th: **4 months!** Nassau, Bahamas! We went to Atlantis. My Aunt Alice and Uncle Robert paid for us to do the Aquaventure, which is this really cool waterpark.
**Ethan will do a picture post soon, so I will finish this when he does that way you have pictures to go along with what I'm writing :)
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