Banana Boats!

Tonight Garrett was craving something sweet so he made a quick trip to the grocery store up the street and came home with bananas, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. I had never had a banana boat before and Garrett was feeling nostalgic for them (he used to make them as a Scout on camping trips). They were great and really hit the spot!
Banana Boats (serves 2)
Ingredients:
-2 bananas
-2 small handfuls of chocolate chips
-2 small handfuls of baby marshmallows
Directions:
Unpeel one small side of the banana (unpeel it the opposite way you normally would... you want to open the "top" of the boat). Scrape out a bit of the banana inside. Fill that inside with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Lay the peel back on top to close the banana back up. Put in the microwave for about 40 seconds (or, if you're camping, wrap it in tin foil and put it into the campfire for a bit). Eat with a spoon. Enjoy!!

You're fired!

Last Monday was an awful day! For dinner I was making some egg rolls (which I was very excited about, by the way... they smelled SO good!) so I put about 2 inches of oil in a pot and put it on the stove, then I turned around and started putting the egg rolls together. When I was done, I turned around to check on the oil and there was a HUGE fire blasting out of the pot all the way to the ceiling! It was SO scary!! I didn't know what to do and I started freaking out... Garrett wasn't home and Abby was just playing in the living room area right by where I was. Anyway, I know you're supposed to put baking soda on a grease fire, but the baking soda is right next to the stove and I didn't want to go near there! And I couldn't turn the burner off because the burners are on the back of the stove. I grabbed Abby and started running to the neighbors' house for help, but their car was gone! So... I called 911 and told them what was going on but I was totally flipping out... it's so embarrassing to think about now. But I was so scared! Finally the fire trucks came. Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR firetrucks! I was out in the driveway waiting for them, so in all honesty I have no idea if the fire was even still blazing by the time they got here, but I think it was. Anyway, the kitchen cabinets above and around the stove are ruined, and so is the fan and light above the stove (thank goodness the fan wasn't going). The ceiling also has to be redone because it's all black, and pretty much all the rooms in our house have to be repainted because of the smoke damage (there was so much smoke!). Everything in our house had a layer of soot and ash on it, and it smelled bad too. So, yeah, this has not been fun! Wednesday morning an estimator came by and assessed the damage, then a cleaning service came to clean the entire house (it was such a hassle living in the soot and ashes, so getting a cleaning servicse for the entire house was great!) I mean, this is all just so awful, but I will not mind a new coat of paint throughout the house (insurance company will pay for all this). Thankfully the estimator said that they could probably match the cabinets, so that's good. I mean, it would have been nice to get new cabinets, but what a hassle that would be! And I don't mind my cabinets too much anyway.

But now I'm really paranoid to cook anything at all ever again! But that's ok because from the looks of things, I won't even be ABLE to cook for a while! I will say that I am crossing my fingers for a new stove, though... that would be great! Anyway, I'm just glad everything wasn't a lot worse. It could have been truly awful... instead, it's just a big hassle. And it's funny because for MONTHS I have been meaning to go out and buy a fire extinguisher... now I really will! And for anyone else looking to buy one, I recommend the "ABC" ones... they are good for any kind of fire, including grease and oil fires.

Trick or Treat!

While I'm not a big fan of Halloween, Garrett LOVES it! His favorite part is his tradition of carving pumpkins. He always spends about an hour or two searching for the best pattern to carve, and then he gets to work! We even have some special tools that he uses so that he can get everything just right. Usually I carve a pumpkin too, but this year I decided not to. I really don't like doing it very much, and mine never turn out very well anyway. So I watched Garrett and visited with the friends that we had over to carve pumpkins too!

Hmmm...

I don't know about this! EVERYONE says that Abby looks just like Garrett. Maybe I should try it again with different pictures. What do you think?

Tagged!

Well, Emma tagged me to answer these questions so here we go! Emma... I copied a bunch of your answers. I really would have put these down even if I hadn't seen your answers first, I promise!

What I was doing 10 years ago...
1997 - Ten years ago I was in 8th grade at TCCA... wow, it doesn't seem like that long ago! And I guess 10 years isn't that long. Anyway, it was a really good year. I liked TCCA while I was there. It was small enough that everyone knew everyone, which I liked at the time, and all of us in our class were good friends. I was also on the basketball team, and MAN, was I bad. I think I scored two baskets the entire season. I was horrible. But we had a good time.

What I was doing 5 years ago...
Fall 2002 - My freshman year at BYU! It was such a great year. I was roommates with my best friend, and we had a great time. The only thing that I hated was that I never got asked out! But, who wants to date pre-missionaries anyway? It did go on one great date... it was with a guy that TWO different families in my home ward set me up with (neither family knew that the other one was setting me up with him... one family had met him on his mission, and one knew him before when they lived in UT). Anyway, that was my sole date that asked me out. But, freshman year was GREAT and I was so excited to be at BYU.

What I was doing 1 year ago...
Getting ready for the baby! I was so nervous about becoming a mom but it has been more wonderful than I thought possible.

What I was doing yesterday...
I took Abby to playgroup at the Church (aka, a chance for me to chat with friends). Then we came home, napped, played, went to the store, made dinner).

5 places I'd rather be...
-Mom and Dad's house in Brookville
-Palmyra
-with the whole family, anywhere
-the beach
-the Temple

5 snacks/treats I love...
-popcorn
-raspberries
-homemade chocolate chip cookies
-cheese & crackers
-sushi (snack, meal... I'll eat it anytime)

What I would do with 100 million dollars...
-invest a bunch
-donate to Church/BYU
-retire my parents
-buy/build my dream house and furnish it with things from Crate & Barrel
-travel with my entire family, to wherever anyone wanted to go
-give chunks of money (anonymously!) to people who have touched my life (yeah, I know that's six things... but that's a lot of money!)

5 Favorite TV shows...
-LOST
-The Office,
-Arrested Development,
-Seinfeld,
-any home decorating or house flipping show on HGTV,

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas... Some Travel Advice

It would be a rare occasion to have a white Christmas here in the South, which is why we are going to Utah for Christmas! I'm so excited because Mike and Shauna's baby will (hopefully!) be born while we are there, or shortly before at least. So we are very excited! But I thought I would take a minute to let everyone know about some great websites to buy airfare. I spend LOTS of time looking at airlines tickets, whether they are for us or for other people, so I consider myself pretty good at finding deals. Anyway, here are some of my favorites:
Farecompare - This website searches many of the different airfare search engines like Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, Cheaptickets, and Kayak all at one time, and tells you which site gives the best deal. They also have a "flexible dates" option that I really like.
Hotwire - This site doesn't come up on Farecompare, so you have to do it separately but it's worth a shot. I found some cheaper flights for the holidays on this site than on Farecompare.
Those are my two favorites for now, but don't forget to try Southwest and JetBlue (search engines like Travelocity don't search these airlines, so you have to do them separately). There are also some generic sites like CheapoAir and Travelation, which might be worth looking at if you have time. But beware because when you see the prices they will be REALLY low, because they don't add the taxes and fees until after you click on the price you want (this can be an additional $100 per ticket). But sometimes it's still the best deal. We booked some flights on Travelation last year and when we got to the airport none of our flights had been confirmed, which was a big hassle but thankfully the airport wasn't busy and we still got to our destinations... just make sure you confirm your flights if you have any reason to doubt.
And last but not least, I just discovered a new tool to use when booking airline tickets. BYU has a travel office with travel agents who will help you find tickets. From what I hear, this is especially a good deal if you are flying last-minute, because they can offer you prices that you might have paid even if you had bought them 14 days in advance. For Christmas we are actually going to buy our tickets through them - they have deals with all the airlines and they found us direct flights from Atlanta to Salt Lake City. They were a little more expensive than some flights I found online, but my online flights gave us layovers in Denver, which is never a good idea during wintertime... I figure that the $25 extra we are paying per ticket for a direct flight will be worth it in the long run, especially since a hotel would cost MUCH more than that if we got stranded in Denver.
So there are my secrets... now go buy some tickets!

Sign Language

Well, I have a new assignment at Church. It's not exactly a calling, because I haven't been set apart. I've just been helping out.
There is a new member of our Ward who is going deaf. She was born "hard of hearing" and recently received a cochlear implant, but it didn't work, so within a year she will be completely deaf. There is a woman in the ward who is very good at Sign Language, so she has been interpreting for her. Now, I am by no means great at Sign Language, but I did take 5 semesters of it at BYU, so I SHOULD be very good. However, it's been over 2 years since any of my classes, and let's just say I'm a bit rusty. I thought about not saying anything and just letting this one girl interpret forever, but it's a very demanding job, plus I would really like to get better at it.
So, I've been interpreting! One week I did the entire Sacrament Meeting, which was SO hard! I knew I didn't do a very good job, but thankfully the woman didn't miss too much because she can still hear a little bit, plus she can lipread, so I didn't feel TOO bad when I messed up. I figure I have to start somewhere. Thankfully it was a fast and testimony meeting, so the doctrine wasn't too deep, so I was able to remember most of the signs I needed.
Now I mostly interpret for the hymns and the prayers, including the Sacrament prayers. The sacrament prayers are hard because they say them so quickly, so I still need to practice those. But every week I'm a little more confident and I'm really happy that I'm practicing this skill. There is also a Sunday School class every week taught by the interpreter where we just learn Sign Language, so that more people will be able to eventually help out. That has helped a lot too, and I'm really enjoying it.
A lot of people don't consider Sign Language to be a "real" language because it isn't spoken. People also tend to think that it's just English, but using your hands. It's not! It has it's own grammar rules and everything. For example, if someone said in English "I can go to the store for you", it would not be signed "I can go to the store for you." ASL's grammar rules make it so that I would sign "For you, store I go can". It's a challenge to remember! It's especially difficult to interpret because you get so focused on translating a certain sentence or idea that I completely miss the next part because I'm still signing the previous thing they said. But that's a problem that all interpreters face, I think.
Anyway, so that's my new assignment. I'm still serving in YW, which I LOVE. As it happens, we are camping this weekend because that's what the Laurels really want to do. Granted, it will be in the YW president's back yard, but still... it will be great because I like sleeping outside and everything, but I also love clean bathrooms... so this is a perfect medium.