Finals to home

Hello to my immense readership! It's been a long time since I posted, so we have some catching up to do...

Finals started last Friday, the 16th. I finished up my Excel class that day and studied. Saturday I studied all day for my chem final and went to take it at about 7. We won't discuss the results (although Mom did over the pulpit when she gave a talk on Sunday!). After the test I went over to Heidi's to celebrate the end of chem class/mourn the results/have a great party since we would be going our separate ways soon! We made homemade oreos and brownies, and watched the Swan Princess and Monsters, Inc. on Netflix. I got home at about 2, at which point I decided that I was going to make bread. (I'd promised Ashley, and I wasn't tired anyways...) I went over to our neighbors to borrow a bread pan and they were still awake, as were most of my roommates. So in the next three hours I made bread and homemade hash browns for a compassionate service breakfast. At five Ashley and Shyler got up, got ready, and left for California. It was sad, but not heart-wrenching. I finally went to bed.

Sunday I went to my meetings, went to church, went to a ward musical fireside, and overall had a grand time. On Monday morning I woke up and studied for my Isaiah test, which I took at noon. Afterwards I packed up a bunch of my stuff and took it to my storage unit! It was grand. Then I made cookie dough and went to dinner with Aunt Kristen (who was in town for her son-in-laws' graduation), Vance and Annalisa, Ken and Kelsey, and Jared. We had a great time, and I provided cookie dough for dessert. Then we all played frisbee and I got home after 10, realizing belatedly how much studying I still had to do...

Tuesday I wrote a paper for Islam, which took longer than I had expected but wasn't difficult. I wrote a one-paragraph essay for my Isaiah class about which scripture from the book of Isaiah was my favorite and why. Then I bundled up the cookies I'd made from the remaining cookie dough (they'd taken a while to bake because we didn't have any remaining cookie sheets, only cake pans!) and went to a Political Inquiry Review. I went from there to my Isaiah oral final, where I presented my verse and listened to others present theirs before we all ate the random stuff everyone had brought. Then I went home, finished my Islam paper, and frantically studied for my Islam final for an hour before running to class. The final itself was awesome - there were 28 questions, and a 24 was 100%. They weren't very difficult, either ;) Thank goodness for teachers who don't like taking tests and so won't inflict awful tests on you!

Oh, I forgot to mention but somewhere in there Madi and Kirsi left too, Madi on Monday night and Kirsi on Tuesday afternoon...

Wednesday I studied like a maniac for my political inquiry final, and even went to another review session. During the test, I breezed through the first 50 questions, which were about writing style and research design, but the last 50, on statistics, were just a little bit harder...

After the final, I was done!!! I walked home and it began to rain, then snow. I spent the afternoon packing up my stuff and taking it over to the storage unit. I took stuff that I had borrowed back to the Ross and Murray households, and then finished loading my car for the trip. I had been aiming to go to bed by 9, but I had just started working on my cleaning check at 10. I finished by 11:30, got checked out, and checked my conscious mind out, too! I got up at 6, because I'd arranged with Ian to leave at 7. I'd finished breakfast and packing everything but food in my car when Heidi arrived to send me off at 6:45. Then I checked my email and found out that Ian had decided to leave at 8 instead of seven. Urgh. But Heidi stayed and kept me company. She's awesome. At eight I headed over to Ian and Hayden's apartment. They were still working on packing, so I went back to Heidi's apartment and sent her off to work at 9. I went to the creamery to spend the remaining $3 on my student card, and then at 9:45 went back to the boys' apartment. They weren't even close being done, so I called mom and decided to leave without them!

The story from this point on will be told with pictures :)

These are the things I'll miss at BYU

Kirsi and Ashley and their craziness

The library (HBLL), my second home

My Relief Society and all the people in it. Also, the rest of the ward, I guess...

Y mountain

My roommates and I taking pictures together, especially the head-bang/alien abduction pose

The beautiful blossoms that are just beginning to show - and the groundskeepers!

Amy and Kirsi. Also, the ability to just take off and go to Las Vegas whenever we want, because we're college students and we can!

Shyler, the room-roommate, and her crazy sleep schedule and fake grumpiness. How she The mountains - not the fog though

Ashley - isn't she sweet?

Crazy roommates. Again

Heidi. We have such a fun time hanging out, talking, and occasionally taking walks to the gym to try and play basketball (all of the courts are always full)

Nice roommates, going to church together

The bell tower, and the bells chiming "Come, Come Ye Saints" every hour, telling me I'm late to class

My Late Summer Honors class, and the honors program in general

Amy. She's pretty awesome.

Roommmates - getting ready to jump, and then

JUMPING!

Heidi again, and our fun times. Her roommate Sarah tags along sometimes, too

Provo canyon. That's Heidi again and her friend Emily

Inside jokes with my roommates

Amy's funky dance moves

My cute comforter and my bright fake flowers. And Heritage Halls in general. It was a good place

Brigham Young. The Honor Code. The lack of beards on attractive young men...

Shyler and Ashley watching movies in our room when I'm trying to study

My friend Michelle

Random trips to IHop at odd hours of the day and night with the roomies. Kirsi's insatiable appetite for Ihop pancakes

The Drive Home

I started out later than I had hoped to, but that was okay because the storm had passed the pass (ahaha) by the time I got to it, so I could get into California. However, it was still in full force all the way across Nevada. I was so confused. Snow in Nevada?? All the way home I listened to a collection of mix CDs my roommates had made for me. They were awesome! They kept me awake easily. I also took pictures on my way, as you cal tell. I would've taken pictures of the moving windshield wipers to show you the perpetual rain, but my camera is slow and the windshield wipers evaded me for a full twenty shots, after which I gave up. The center shot was taken when I first arrived back in California. I could tell for certain I wasn't in Nevada anymore by the presence of the trees :) And to support my hypothesis of Utah's bad drivers, here's a picture of the first driver who cut me off (completely unnecessarily, I might add, as there wasn't a whole lot of traffic around us, I'm sure you can tell) when I got to California. Yes, that is a Utah plate. The California scenery was a sight for sore eyes, and it made me happy. When I got to Manteca, I drove Dad's snazzy red car home and he drove mine, but here for the record is a picture of my awesome Volvo. Be jealous. (Oh, and we're getting the clutch on my car replaced asap, so it'll be out of commission for a few days...)

When we got home all the lights were off and the garage door was locked. We proceeded with caution through the front door, where I was promptly bombarded by nerf darts provided by my siblings' ambush. Hugs all around, a little bit of packing, and some chocolate before bed. How could it ever be better? WITH FLOWERS, OF COURSE!! (You thought that was a rhetorical question, didn't you? Hah!) Yep, they got me a beautiful bouquet. I love flowers. This just made me feel so special and loved. <3

Things I had missed about home/Things I was glad to see

First, the places.

1. The pantry. That first night I ran an inventory of the pantry and all of our fridges/freezers. We're going to be doing so much fun cooking...

2. Our beautifully remodeled study. I am so impressed with my parents.

3. The living room. And all the things that go on there, like FHE, family council, movie nights, wrestling...

4. The garden. That sign, so cutely painted, says "Houghton weeds - U-pick."

5. The back yard. Our chicken palace, which is the cutest chicken coop ever made. Our grass, the woodshed, and the horses that graze in the property above ours.

6. Sonora High. I went to the school on Friday at lunch to visit Ariel and my siblings, and to give Marta a notebook she'd forgotten. It was really fun seeing everything and everyone I've been away from for so long!

7-8. Downtown Sonora. I used to drive this road twice a day, and I never realized how homey, friendly, and cozy our little town is.

9. The view from our front porch. Love it.

10. Not pictured, but our church. It is beautiful and full of beautiful teachings, spirit, and people.

People I missed:

Luke. One minute he's squirming out of my hug and telling me not to be so touchy, the next he's putting his arm companionably over my shoulder. I missed him.

Dad. He is awesome, as I wrote on our family calendar board yesterday.

Marta cracks me up. We've decided in the last two days that she is both cooler and smarter than me. Sigh.

We have some great times together, though! Oh, and she is also a much faster swimmer than I am, as she showed in the meet I attended on Friday afternoon.

Luke is a silly goose! This photo was taken without his permission or preparation, but I just loved his expression! And he has the same style of glasses that I bought last summer! Great minds think alike.

Mom. She is amazing. When I left BYU, I had just gotten to the level of independence where every other sentence out of my mouth didn't begin with "Well, my mom says..." I guess in August I'll start over in square one.

While I was making gourmet sandwiches on Saturday (more on that later) Levi read Eragon to me. He is so cute. He loves reading, though not quite as much as I do, and he has decided that when he grows up he'd going to be the next J.R.R. Tolkien.

I didn't have any pictures of Tess from this week yet! Lame! I'll get some soon, don't you worry, but here are the three girls at the top of Observation Point a few weeks ago in Zion's national park.

This last picture does not show what I missed, obviously. It just shows how happy I am to be home!

More on Saturday through the present later. This blog post is quite long enough!

Love all,

Eliza

Party Time!

Hello all! This post is the story of college reading days. If you don't know what they are, hold on to your seat because it's going to be a wild ride!

Basically, BYU provides us lucky students with two reading days (sometimes known as "dead" days) between the last day of classes and the first day of finals. Reading days mean different things to different students. Some use them to catch up on sleep, some to start moving out, some to study, and some to party. Whatever you do, though, these days are AWESOME.

Our last day of classes was Tuesday, and so reading days were Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday I got up early, went to an honors bagel party, and then went to rent a storage unit. My unit is 6x8, $20 a month - best deal around! After I'd listened to the rental lady's life story I got back to the dorm just in time for my compassionate service committee first floor baking party! We had a great time making pretzels, peanut butter cookies, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, and macaroons. We even distributed a little bit of the loot to people on our floor instead of eating it all ourselves! I went back to my dorm and "studied" for an hour before going to a Freshman Academy reunion (where a guy who was there with several friends in my freshman academy asked for my number - later in the evening he called and asked me out). Following that, I ate dinner, went to a donut party, and then went to Sherlock Holmes at the dollar theater with Heidi, after which we sat in the car and discussed life, the universe, and everything until almost 2.

On Thursday I got up and went to seven hours of chemistry review. It was great! I nearly shot myself... But I got out, got ready, and went to dinner at Cafe Rio and then to the Museum of Art with Jared, the guy from the freshman academy reunion. It was really fun. We found out we had the same taste in reading - between us, we came up with one series each that we hadn't both read. I had a great time. And just as he was leaving I realized I didn't even know his last name, so I asked him then. Pretty much a blind date, but it was a lot of fun. Also, I realized that I haven't gone on a single date with a guy who's not in Honors. That made me laugh :)

Thursday evening my roommates and I wrote predictions about each other that we're not allowed to open until we're engaged. We predicted each others' date of marriage, major, where we'll be in five years, and number of children, to name a few. During the process Ashley gave me a lower back tattoo with a heart around the words "Property of Prince Charming." Don't worry, it will wash off.... eventually :) I'm going to miss my crazy roommates. I finally got into bed and the reading days were finally over.

I have to take my first final tomorrow, so now I'm doing the studying part of reading days today.

<3>

Eliza

My amazing magazine

My Friday: I got up early, made eggs and pancakes for myself, my friend Jasmine, and her friend Adrienne, and then went and hiked the Y with them.

Me and Jasmine about halfway up. It's a steep climb!

When I got back, I broiled streussel topping onto apple-cinnamon muffins I'd baked earlier (from a box, sorry!) and went to class. The muffins were for my polisci lab. After that class I went to a couple of reviews before chemistry. I had a few leftover muffins, so I texted Blaine asking if he wanted some. Of course! And he invited me to a study group after class. I realized I really need to study for my chem final... I went (briefly) to a softball game with Heidi, and then did some homework before making salmon, because I'm trying to eat more seafood and overcome that prejudice. I went grocery shopping (only like $10, because I have to use up everything in the next two weeks!) and then went to the creamery with my roommates at 10:30. We had ice cream and then Amy and Ashley complained that they hadn't had dinner yet. So I made them pizza. And then I made stir-fry for Shyler. Yeah, that's how desperately I need to get rid of food!

Saturday I got up and hiked/walked up Rock Canyon with Heidi - we saw mountain goas! Then I made the two recipes I posted earlier, and both turned out deliciously (probably because I was watching food network while cooking...:). I did a little bit of homework, took a walk around campus while on the phone with mom, and then went to see Divine Comedy with Amy and her sister Jessica. It was amazing!! I am buying their DVD when it comes out later this year. Divine Comedy is a sketch comedy group, and this was their "best of ever" show. It included skits on Avatar, Harry Potter, and the BYU dating scene. I got a great ab workout from laughing so much!

Today I've been productive and have been looking at blogs. I really like themeanestmom.blogspot.com. I was drawn to it by the name (But now I'm really confused - MY mom always said that SHE was the meanest mom in the world...) and continued reading it because it's just hilarious. You should check it out. On the blog, it mentioned a magazine that is destined for greatness. Here's its motto: "Created for women who want to be stylish, sexy, and engaged in the world while retaining high standards in dress, entertainment, and lifestyle."

Can you guess its name? I'll give you a hint - it starts with an E and ends with a liza! That's right. I was so excited when I saw the name Eliza Magazine, and it just got better when I saw what the magazine was! Now, I haven't actually read it yet, but it looks good. More on that in a later post.

Today in church we had a hymn meeting for our sacrament meeting! People got up and shared their favorite hymns and why they were so great. They got to choose a verse from that hymn and we all sang it. I chose Hymn 292, O My Father, verse 2. My second choice, How Great Thou Art, was chosen by THREE different people and so we sang three verses from it. My third choice, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, was chosen by TWO people and so we sang two verses from it. Awesome. It was way fun and I wish we could do it every Sunday. Also, I was very impressed by our pianist, my friend Ariel (aka Hermione, because I met her at a Halloween party...). She knew all of the songs and was completely okay with just playing whatever songs struck our fancy.

So, life is pretty amazing. This week, I have two days of classes left, and then two reading days (no classes or tests, just studying) that will include a Freshman Academy reunion, a baking party, and an Honors bagel party. Finals start on Friday, and I will probably take my chemistry final on Friday or Saturday, because I have no scheduled finals until Monday. Wish me luck!

See you soon!!!

<3

Eliza

P.S. You're allowed to call me too, you know. :)

Delicious Orange-Raspberry Yogurt Bread/Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 container orange yogurt + enough raspberry yogurt to make one cup yogurt total*
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 T orange zest
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
2. Sift together the flour through salt in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt through oil.
3. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (The loaf should be golden-brown on the edges)
5. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice and 2 t sugar in a saucepan. Heat until sugar is dissolved.
6. After the ten minutes are up, flip the loaf out onto a cooling rack (I used a cutting board…) While the cake is still warm, pour the sauce over the cake and allow it to soak in. (I used a pastry brush and a toothpick to put holes in it to draw the syrup in better)
7. Cool and enjoy!

Notes: The raspberry flavor isn't very strong. If I did this again, I would probably put the rest of the raspberry yogurt (1/2 the container) in the syrup.

Recipe loosely adapted from: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/lemon-yogurt-anything-cake/
Go here if you want to see options on how to make it with lemon or grapefruit or add berries.
(Here http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/01/cake-paradisi/ is the grapefruit recipe)

AMAZING granola bars!

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
A little bit more than 1/3 cup oats processed in blender to flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
2-3 cups dried fruits and nuts (I used about 2.5 cups of flax seed, walnuts, pecans, raisins, craisins, coconut, and butterscotch chips)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 t vanilla extract
6 T melted butter (or substitute oil)
1/4 cup + 2 T honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup (or a combo - I used mostly honey with a little maple syrup)
1 T water

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8x2 pan with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the sides. Lightly grease the paper and exposed pan.
2. Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together everything else but the peanut butter.
3. Toss all ingredients until it's evenly crumbly. Spread in the pan, pressing firmly - make sure to get it in the corners.
4. Bake the bars for 30-40 minutes, until brown around the edges (They will seem soft in the middle but they'll set once cool)
5. Cool the bars in their pan on a cooling rack. Once cool, cut the bars into squares (I made 1x2 rectangles, because they're pretty tall).
If they're crumbly, let them set for longer (or in the fridge)until they're completely cool, and then cut them
6. Try to make them last the week! (Good luck…:)

Suggestions for add-ins: dried cranberries, apricots, pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut, walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried pineapple, wheat germ, dried cherries, pecan, peanuts, cashews, almonds, butterscotch or chocolate chips, or whatever else you think might taste good! Cereals might also be good, but make sure to take into account the amount of sugar in them and the amount of space they'll take up (you may need to add more liquid to hold it all together)

Notes: If you want them to be less chunky, put your fruits and nuts through the food processor briefly before adding them. If you want it to be sweeter, add more sugar or liquid sweetener. This recipe is VERY flexible, and amazing!

Adapted from the recipe at smitten kitchen.

<3

Eliza

Easter Weekend

Marta, me, and Tess on the top of Observation Point.

Last weekend (well, Thursday morning actually) I went down to Zion's National Park to spend some time with the fam while they were on spring break. I caravaned down with Aunt Geniel, and we hit a snowstorm but made it in about five hours. When we got there, we hiked up to Emerald pools. For the rest of Thursday we pretty much just hung out and I had a good time being a part of the family again. It was fabulous.

The gang (minus parents) on the trail.

However, it was cold. Friday morning Aunt Geniel brought us breakfast (I'm making cheesy grits and sausage tomorrow!) and we went to hike Observation Point. It was 8 miles round trip and a climb of about 2200 feet. But it was so worth it. Every time I'm up high on a mountain, I think something along the lines of "this is what human beings were made to do." The hike was awesome, and I've decided that the solution for the unemployment problem is something along the CCC that FDR used in the Great Depression. But this time they need to take out the paving on the trail, rather than putting it in, because it really hurts your feet. So anyways.... We rode the shuttle back down to camp and I fell asleep on the bus. Friday night wasn't quite as cool (literally or figuratively!) because rather than just having family time we went to the hotel where the Woodwards were staying to eat dinner, and then we watched Lord of the Rings. Oh well. We got to take showers, which was pretty nice after two hiking days, and it's always nice to hang out with Aunt Geniel (especially if she's giving foot massages!). Mom french-braided all of the girls' hair, which was very fun and woodsy. I rather enjoyed it.

Saturday we had AMAZING breakfast burritos made by mom. Someday I want to be just like her. I will save a long discussion of her amazingness for my mother's day post though :) After breakfast we dyed eggs. Dyeing brown and green eggs is really fun, and I really liked trying to make the eggs jewel-toned. After that we rode the shuttle all the way up the canyon and biked back down. Well, I did. Half of us rode down the first half and the other half rode down the second half! Mom wanted to see the museum movie and I didn't, though, so I rode the entire way. Fun! The "kids" (Luke, Marta, Suzannah, and I) got back to the cars early and waited for an hour or so for everyone else to show up. Then we had an Easter Egg hunt, organized of course by the ever-fabulous mothers. Levi was so cute in sharing his candy with me because I didn't collect many eggs. Kemper's actions were really confusing, though. I'm still not entirely sure why he gave away all of his eggs to Luke... Later that afternoon we parted ways and Luke and I drove down in my car to St. George with Babe ahead of us (stuffed to the brim!) while the Woodwards went back up to Herriman. When we got to St. George I was SO happy to see Grandma. We unloaded and ate dinner and the boys went to the Priesthood session of conference while the girls and Levi went Easter dress shopping. We only took two hours, but Mom, Grandma, and Levi gave up and went home before the end. On the way home we picked up some Easter essential candy that we hadn't had before and saw Dad and Luke, who had washed and filled up my car <3

On Sunday, the fam headed home. Sad times. Grandma and I watched conference, which was wonderful, and she brought me lunch outside while I read on the lawn in between sessions. It was pure bliss. She is wonderful. After both sessions were over, I loaded up my stuff (including TONS of food from the fam, which made me quite happy :) and we went to Aunt Marjorie's for dinner. Her daughter and two granddaughters were there, and I had a lot of fun with all of them. Grandma drove me over to the highway and I was on my way.... Four hours and two sessions of conference later, I was back in Provo.

That was the vacation! Boy was it fun.

<3

Eliza

Laugh for the day

Look at this and be jealous.

<3

Eliza

I'm taking a study break to watch my favorite Disney movie.

This is me now, before finals.

This is me during finals.

And this is me after finals.

See you in two weeks!

<3

Eliza

Schedule

Hi guys, it's that time of year again! Signing up for classes.... oh the joy. I signed up on Sunday night - well, actually 12:00 am Monday morning. So here is the schedule:

Physiology (PDBio 305) - Lecture MTWTh 12:00-12:50, Lab Monday 8:00-9:50, 4 credits
This class should give me an intro to some of the medical sciences. Mom and (especially) Dad have been pushing for me to take this one. I think they still sustain hope that I will be a doctor. We'll see.

Honors Econ - TTh 9:00-10:50, 3 credits
This class is a basic course that I think is basic groundwork every college student should have. As my high school econ class was a joke (governomics and politickles), I'm taking this. It will also be exciting because I'll need this class if I decide to go into Polisci or IR.

Honors Organizational Leadership (Honrs 223R) - Wednesday 9:30-11:50, 3 credits I'm taking this class for three reasons: 1) Honors credits so I can graduate with honors, 2) it will be kind of an introduction to business and management, and 3) it looks really cool.

Intro to English Language - TTh 1:35-2:50, 3 credits
This is a prereq to getting an editing minor. It is english with a linguistics flavor to it, and should be interesting.

Honors D&C part 2 - MW 1:00-1:50 (even though I haven't taken part 1...), 2 credits
It was either this or Old Testament at 4. If taking the second part first doesn't work out, I'll just switch in the first two weeks of class. Also, this should work out fairly well because my scripture reading will just be getting to the Doctrine and Covenants by that point in the year....

World Dance - MW 6:00-6:50, 0.5 credits
Exciting? I think so. I went to Kirsi's folk dance performance last week and it looked like a ton of fun. Hopefully it will be :)


I'm also hoping to get into a martial arts class and a tennis class, but we'll see if spots open up in either of those!

Oh, and I'll also be TA for Intro to IR, which is 2:00-2:50 MWF. I may also have office hours, depending on whether I'm an office TA or a research paper TA.



That's next semester's schedule. I'm also starting to look at options for winter semester. I'm interested in going on a study abroad, and my favorite options right now are looking like India and Israel.
What do you think?

<3
Eliza

P.S. Updates about my mini-spring break with the family and the last week of schooling are coming! I'm just a little bit busy, but after Thursday I will have some time to catch up!