Sunday, June 14, 2009
Cookies, Homework, Bathrooms, and Summer Vacation!
Well, one week of my summer vacation has officially come and gone and I will be honest it wasn't too eventful. Monday and Tuesday I spent all day at REACH Training....which was the last requirement I had to fill to finish my ESL Endorsement!! Hooray!! I am SO relieved to be done with that. I wish I could say I learned something from the course, but I didn't. I will say that next year I will miss my Tuesday night gossip time with all of my ESL friends! We spent the whole year chatting and trying to enjoy the free food the program provided us.....of and attempting to learn a thing or two about teaching non-English speaking students. I probably would have learned a whole lot more had I not spent half of the year staring at a television screen, attempting to learn while all I coule see was the top of the instructors head!!! Yes, that is right, the top of her head. We spent half of the year using a polycom system, watching our teacher who was in Tooele live with them.....and attempting to include us in her lecture and discussion! It was torture!! I did get a lot of homework done on Tuesday night! Now, I have enough credits for a lane change at school, so I can get a slight pay raise at work.....which is fantastic, and so worth all of my nights spent staring at the top of some lady's head!!
The rest of the week was really uneventful. We really deep cleaned our house, caught up on laundry, did a lot of homework, and watched a few movies while listening to the sound of the rain. It really has been a pretty relaxing....which was much needed after my hectic end of to the school year!!! Cameron seems to have his head in a book, or in front of the computer all of the time now studying for Patho-physiology. I have to admit, I am super impressed with his homework ethic!! This is the sight I imagine I will be seeing a lot of for the next 2 years while he is in nursing school.
Friday, for some reason or another, I felt the urge to bake! So, I ran to the store and bought all of the things I needed to make my favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!! They are so good on a rainy day....which we seem to be having a lot lately. As Cameron was enjoying a cookie or two.....or three :), he made the comment that someday I should open a bakery. I mean I do love to bake, so the idea isn't too far fetched. Then he added that since we both like to BBQ, and eat Southern Style BBQ, we should serve BBQ at my bakery. Random, but still do able. So, then we started thinking of names for our bakery/BBQ restaurant, and came up with the fantastic name of "Smokin' Bundts.....Smokin' Meats and Bakin' Treats!!" Classic, I know!! I think we laughed about it for a good half an hour!! Who knows, maybe someday there really will be a "Smokin' Bundts", with me as their pastry chef/owner!! Since I have raved on and on about my delicious cookies.....it wouldn't be fare for me not to share the recipe with the blogging world, so here it is! The base is a Neiman Marcus Recipe that I got from Cameron's Grandma, with a few added Lindsey touches!!
Lindsey's Fantastic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!
Ingredients:
2 Cups Salted Butter
2 Cups White Sugar
2 Cups Brown Sugar
4 Eggs
2 Tbs Vanilla Extract
2 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Baking Powder
4 Cups Flour
5 Cups Blended Un-Cooked Oatmeal (Blend 1 cup at a time in the blender until it is in powder state.....it should still be a little chunky to give the cookies texture.)
1 24 oz. Bag of Milk Chocolate Chips
Directions:
Cream the butter and sugars. Add the in the eggs 1 at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Add the baking soda and powder, followed by the blended oatmeal. Add chocolate chips, and flour until blended completely. Place cookie dough in the refridgerator for at least 5 hours....I leave mine in the fridge overnight. This is the most important step!! Baking cold dough makes for better cookies!! I promise. After the dough is chilled, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into golf ball sized balls, and place on a cool (also very important!!) cookie sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes....no more, no less. The cookies will look a little doughy, but the residual heat from the cookie sheet with keep them cookind for a few minutes after they come out of the oven. Do not remove from the sheet for 10 minutes. Store in an air tight container for 7 days....if they last that long :).
Enjoy!! Cameron is bugged that I'm sharing my secret recipe with the world, but all good recipes must be shared!!!
Another event of note this weekend was our bathroom. Since we moved into our lovely little basement apartment 2 years ago, I just haven't loved our bathroom decor. I loved it at first....it was red, and we all know how I love red, but it just wasn't working for me. I decided it was time for a change.....and here it is!!
Black and white seem to be my new colors of choice, so it was a natural fit! And, Cameron even loves it too!!! Next wewek, we'll touch up the paint and my house will be like new!!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Mega Update!!!!!
Mom: Karine
You raised the most genuinely sweet boy I have ever met!! Thank you so much for all you taught him about life, and family. You are a selfless person who puts her family first! Thank you for accepting me into your family as if I were biologically yours!! I love you!!
Here is Meg, Cort, and I getting ready for The Race for the Cure.....in honor of another AMAZING Mom......my Grandma Glenda who lost her battle with breast cancer almost 15 years ago!! Go Glenda's Gladiators!!!
Mom: Grandma
You and Grandpa have made so many sacrifices for your family! You are a true model of selflessness. Thank you for all you have done for me. You believed in me when others didn't, and helped me to become the person I am today. Thank you for always being there for me! I love you!!
Mom: Gramee
You are the glue that holds your family together! Each and every member of your family knows how much you love them, and would do anything for them! Thank you for welcoming me into your family with open arms! I love you Gramee!!
Now, onto the next May event!! Our trip to Las Vegas!! So, over Memorial Day Weekend, Cam and I were able to go to Las Vegas with Greg and Karine, and some of their friends Chris and Michelle. It was a BLAST!! We stayed in the same condo I stayed in with the girls when we went on our Viva Las Fufu adventure last summer. It was especially fun for me because I got to show Cameron around Las Vegas! I can't believe be made it to 22 and had never been there! We did the usual things on the strip, visited all of the big casinos, ate great food (I think I came close to eating my weight in crab one night at a buffet.....I seriously ate nothing but king crab legs!! It was DELICIOUS!!!), and went to see a Cirque de Soleil show!! We saw KA at the MGM Grand, and it was AWESOME!!! It was so amazing to see them perform! It was so worth the money!! Everyone should see a show when they are in Vegas! Cameron took some great pictures. Here are some of our favorites from the trip!
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Now, on to June, thus far!!!
The only real June even has been the end of the school year. As funny as it sounds, summer vacation is always bittersweet for me. In just that short 9 month period of the school year, I grow to absolutely love the kids in my class. This year, more than last! I taught so many kids with sad home stories. Spending my entire day with them really helped me get to know each of their little personalities, and personal stories! Saying goodbye to them was really hard, and came with a lot of tears, but I know they will be in good hands in 1st grade! I am happy that I am staying at Horizon next year and will get to see them next year! Cameron made me an awesome video to show the kids and parents at graduation, but unfortunately I can't post it here. But, if you want to see it, let me know and you can come watch it anytime!! I do have a great picture I got off of one of my student's mom's facebook page, so I figured I could post it here. This is me, Madison, and Nancy (my FANTASTIC assistant) after Kindergarten Graduation......I look pretty good for just crying my head off!!!
Well, that pretty much sums up the past month of our life. I promise now that I have more free time, I will update more often!
Happy Summer!!!!!
A Long Overdue Tag.....From Liz
8 things I'm looking forward to:
- Being done with my Masters' Degree (January 31, 2011!!!!).
- Being a Principal (hence the need for a masters' degree).
- Owning my own home......stay tuned.......
- Cameron being done with Nursing School.
- Having a family of my own.
- Traveling across Europe (I have a lot to see!!).
- The annual (well, not really annual, but it should be!) Gehrke Family Vacation to McCall (16 more days!!).
- Having a dishwasher....it sounds silly, but I hate doing dishes by hand!!
- Went to REACH Training.
- Finished my last requirement for my ESL Endorsement.
- Read some email during REACH training.
- Looked at puppies on KSL.com during REACH training (wishful thinking).
- Watched Deadliest Catch.
- Went to dinner with Cameron......I LOVE the Red Iguana!! Best Mexican food in Utah!
- Thought about updating the blog......obviously that didn't happen.
- Fell asleep on the couch.....I had a really eventful day didn't I!!
- Update my blog more regularly......it's summer so it should be much easier!
- Keep up on the laundry.
- Go to culinary school.
- Write a book......someday I will, maybe about all of the stories I will acquire being a school teacher.
- Make movies in iMovie as good as Cameron can.
- Artsy Crafty things.....I leave that to Liz.
- Play a musical instrument.......it'll never happen though, I am SO tone deaf!
- Fly.
8 Shows I watch:
- Jon & Kate + 8.......all of this martial turmoil is killing me!!
- The Next Food Network Star
- Criminal Minds
- Deadliest Catch
- The Office
- Southland
- Law & Order: SVU
- 18 Kids and Counting
- Jaynann
- Stacy
- Katrina
- Tayler
- Stephanie
- Tristin
- Aubrey
- Emily