Elder Cook: Mormon Message

Go HERE to watch a great, dramatized conference clip of Elder Cook's talk, "Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time."

Smoothies

Lately, I have been in the mood to make smoothies. I'm attributing this to the fact that is HOT down here and that it's a healthy way to satisfy my sweet tooth. Usually, they turn out pretty well, but once in a while, my experimenting goes awry. Here's a recipe to one of the better smoothies: Blend 8-10 strawberries, 2 bananas, a spoonful of peanut butter, and 2-3 ice cubes with a cup (more or less) of milk. This is really great topped with granola and quite a bit cheaper than the chunky banana smoothie at Jamba Juice.

Last night, however, I decided to try a recipe I actually found on the New York Times. The recipe included bananas, pineapple, and a few mint leaves. We didn't have any mint leaves, and only had two drops of peppermint extract, so I decided to try almond extract. I put in about 1/2 teaspoon, maybe more. Bad idea. But a funny one. I wish you all could have seen/heard my family's reaction when they tasted it. Try it on your own family if you're in the mood for a laugh.

Today, still remembering the faces from last night's experiment, I wondered aloud how a raisin and prune smoothie would taste. Mom's reaction: A look of horror with, "OH. Katherine." I guess that means no. Well, I probably should make something to redeem myself before I get too creative.

A New oh-so-fun Hobby!

Yesterday, I was looking for something to do and started to explore the website Tanielle and Sylvia introduced me to: picnik.com. Once I started playing around with some of the pictures I had, I couldn't stop! It was too fun. So here are some (actually quite a few) of the results. The picture behind my blog title is one example too small to see in a post, but I still wanted to share it because it's one of my favorites.

Obviously, this is Tegan (best friend and college roommate, if you didn't know.) Isn't she gorgeous?

This is Trevor, a.k.a. Tegan. She dressed up as a boy one day and walked around campus introducing herself as Trevor. Sad thing is, she actually fooled a couple guys in our ward. As she said, growing up with four brothers probably didn't help.

A picture from Ben's camera. The picture behind my my blog's title is also a great one that Ben took and we both edited. This was originally a flower.

Another of my favorites.

Self explanatory. I love these two.

I saved the best for last. This was taken when one of my non-member friends traveled up to Salt Lake while I was still at BYU. He invited to come up and see him while we went on a 'tour' of Salt Lake. Of course I said yes! What a great missionary opportunity and blessing.

Yellow Pages

Well, I think I'm desperate. So far, I haven't had much luck finding a job, until yesterday when I accepted a job delivering phone books. This job is not ideal, but is still great because I get to exercise, work on my tan, and yellow is one of my favorite colors. The best part happened today when I went to one house and saw a sign that said "No solicitors. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." Then when I got to the front door there was this huge WELCOME mat. Hmmm. After I got off of their property, I had a good laugh. The down side to this job is that it doesn't pay very well. But, even a little counts and college is worth it. I did, however, have an interview today with a Recreation Center for a job as a Youth Program Assistant. I would be supervising/playing with a groups of kids somewhere between the ages of 6-12 for a Summer Camp. How fun! This job definitely has more benefits than delivering phone books and hopefully I'll get it!

Triple-Digit Temperatures

Lately, the weather here in Henderson has been getting pretty hot. We've already had a couple days over 100°F. Crazy. But perfect for swimming! Spencer and I went out to the pool again today and had a great time. He loves to perform for the camera. These poses he calls the Paraglider, the Monkey, Flying, and Meditation (or levitation). We also thought the water looked pretty cool with the splash balls.

These are just for fun:

I thought this one was so cute of Spencer:
And what would a day in the pool be without a delicious homemade smoothie to finish it off?

Bumper Stickers

Today I was out with Mom and Spencer running some errands. As we were pulling out of a parking lot, Mom said, "Republicans for Voldemort?" I turned around and saw that very bumper sticker on someone's car. Republicans for Voldemort. Then she said, "Isn't he the bad guy?" I just started laughing and she continued, "They must be democrats." No offense is meant, I'm sure. And I'm also sure she was well aware of the political inuendo, but was just helping Spencer to discover sarcasm. Too funny. Later, we saw another bumper sticker that said, "Business is great. People are terrific. Life is wonderful." The irony behind this sticker was that it looked like it was at least 20 years old. I don't think it was intended to be funny, but it was funny to me. I agree whole-heartedly with the statement, I just realize that most people would react differently these days. So, thank you to the people with those bumper stickers. They made my day.

A Tribute to my Mom

Happy Mother's Day! This post is dedicated to every mother who reads this, but especially to my Mom, a very special lady who often doesn't recieve enough thanks and attention for all the wonderful things she does. For example, instead of having the traditional birthday party, or maybe something a little more special, she decided that she wanted her main gift to be a week at Woodbadge-a type of scout leader's training camp. We should have known she'd want to spend her birthday learning new ways to serve others. What a great example. And today, Mother's Day, she couldn't even stay out of the kitchen; she had to bake her Lion House rolls for us, which I'm not complaining about by the way. She tirelessly serves us and I hope to some day be the woman she is. I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day.

Church in the Home Ward

There are a couple things I love about being home and one of them is going to church in my home ward. Last week was my first week being back, and I was greeted with a lot of hugs and smiles, which always makes me feel great. Then, in the middle of the meeting, one of the two 3 year-old twins I know spotted me for the first time and yelled KATHWIN! I loved it! Then of course the other twin noticed me and as soon as sacrament meeting was over, they raced over, took my hands and told me I had to walk them to Primary. How cute. Kids are so funny and I missed having them at church. This week I was able to substitute for the pianist in Primary and for choir; it's feeling almost like I never left.