My Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving here was great. I wasn't with my family, but it was still a memorable and fun time. Thank you, Embree family, for letting me join your family for the day. It was all snowy and cold. We had dinner out in Rigby at Bro. Embree's dad's place. It's tucked away in trees and so we literally went over the river and through the woods to get there. It was great. It felt like the holidays had really begun.
I made one of the Pepperidge Farms stuffing recipes that my mom makes. It's my favorite. It has pecans and craisins in it. It's probably the best thing on the table at Thanksgiving.

And, thanks to my Aunt Cat, I was able to bake up some buttermilk pies! Just look at that scrumptious thing.

There's no place like home for the holidays, it's true. I can't wait to get through these next few weeks and head south. To Arizona!

Easy Wind and Downy Flake

I love this little house. It's hard to believe it's in town, it looks so snug and tucked away, you'd think you were out over the river and through the woods.

Yesterday, it snowed a lot. Today, it snowed even more.
I've decided that walking will be the way to get around. As confident as I am in my own winter driving skills, I have no control over the other people on the roads.

Let me tell you about my day. I went to the grocery store. The roads were slick, but I managed pretty well. I began the process of making Buttermilk pies (thanks to my aunt Cat for the recipe!). Mid-way into the mixing, I realize that I forgot to get lemon juice. I had to go back to the store. I braved the roads once more.

The pies turned out great! They could only have been better with home-made crust. I'm not even going to attempt that. I'm not that domestic.

I read a bit of Hunger Games (I'm loving it so far), did a bit of housework, and then thought I might venture out and catch a flik. So out I went. I'd seen the previews for Skyline and it looked intriguing enough. I went to watch it. I was the only person in the theater ...until the previews started. A late-comer came into the theater with a large popcorn and soda. He looked for a place to sit. He had his choice of hundreds of seats. He chose a seat one away from me. He started to chat with me. He offered me some popcorn. I politely declined. I was thinking, what in the world?

Not only am I a little taken back by the casual notions of friendship from a stranger, but anyone who knows me know that movie time is movie time. It's not chat or play or anything else time. I didn't want to seem anti-social, but who was this guy? Who knows. I'll leave it at that.

Oh, and the movie was dumb. I especially hated the ending. Totally unbelievable and stupid.

When I emerged from the theater with my "friend", I could see that a full-on blizzard was underway. This snow was the big sparkly clusters of flakes, the kind of snow that catches the glimmer of light and sparkles as you pass by. It's actually a very pretty scene, until you get on the road. I made it home safe, but I will say this: driving in the snow makes me more anxious than anything else on earth. Part of that may be that I still have lingering memories of a hellish 21-hour trip two years ago.

Now I'm in the mood for getting warm, kicking back, and maybe playing some Halo. And then maybe some more Hunger Games. And then bed. (These were pictures from last night)

There's no better picture to depict the scene outside my door right now. Okay, so there aren't any horses or sleighs, but other than that, it's a perfect likeness.

We're in the middle of one of those storms that's determined to keep snowing. I keep looking out the window to see if it might have stopped, and so far, it hasn't.

So what's a guy to do? Well, he can blog about it. And then he could get bundled up and take a walk out in it, pondering the words of Frost's poetry. He could return home to thaw out to a cup of his sister's home-made cocoa mix. He could watch a festive movie as well since, although it's not quite time for it, the weather is twisting my arm.

Today, our ward was in charge of providing a sacrament meeting service for the residents of the local assisted-living home. What a neat experience. You could sense the grateful attitude of the people there. They were so glad to have a sacrament meeting and to have some folks come visit with them afterward. It felt great to visit with them. It made this cold day seem that much warmer.

I spent some of my weekend at the movies. I saw Unstoppable and, you guessed it -the new Harry Potter movie. I loved them both. I really want to see Morning Glory and Skyline. Maybe this week.

I can't believe how fast the end of the semester is coming. I've decided to get a head-start on a few things before the inevitable load drops on me like the falling snow. I'll start packing up some of the stuff I won't need in the next few weeks. I'll review my Calculus in preparation for the final exam. I'll work on some other class projects. I'll get the Dart ready for the big trip back home. I get excited and nervous all at the same time thinking of that: excited because I'll be home for Christmas, nervous because I'm witnessing again, first-hand, the Idaho weather's potential for icing things up. I suppose I can pack the car and play it safe, find a place to stay for a night or two if I have to until the roads are good. Let's just hope that I won't have to and that the roads are good enough for long enough to let me leave. I shudder at the thought of another trip like the December of 2008.
http://several-secrets-of-steven.blogspot.com/2008/12/over-river-and-through-hell.html
Are you all ready for Thanksgiving? I am. I'll be spending it with my Communication teacher's family. I'll be calling home that afternoon. I can't wait!

Lesson

Thursday night, I started a batch of bread in the bread machine. My parents let me borrow their bread maker to use at school and I've loved it. One of my favorite parts is the smell of the bread when it's done baking.

Although this time, I was chatting with a friend as I measured ingredients into the pan. I am almost completely sure that I only put 1 cup of water in, when it should've been a cup and a half.

The result was a lumpy aggregate of dough baked into a crusty wad. It still smelled wonderful, so it was worth it. I had to sample the things before discarding it completely. Not bad, but there's no way to serve that sort of thing in a clean manner. I couldn't slice it to make a sandwich or anything.

But that's life. I'll make a new loaf, and this time I won't get distracted as I measure out the ingredients.

Let me tell you about my new addiction. I love iBooks. I have a huge library of classics that I carry with me everywhere I go. This means that any time I have a spare minute, I can get lost in the pages of a classic. It's so refreshing to do some good reading on a regular basis. And all my downloads so far have been free. I'm in heaven.

A New Look

No, I didn't shave my head.
After all these months of having the same blog template (the one I created that allowed me to upload my own photo for a background), I've decided to upgrade. The selection of blog templates online has grown considerably since I last checked, and I'm happy to report that I've found one that I love. I hope you like it too. The background is bound to change with the seasons (I love that part. It's a great creative outlet for me) but the style will remain constant.

I guess I won't be heading to Canada for the Thanksgiving Break. The family I was going to stay with decided to leave town that week. So I'll be here in Rexburg. If you want to come visit me, that would be lovely! You know you want to.

My A'capella (the group I'm in) is going to be auditioning for the on-campus Disney-themed show called "Magic Moments". We've come up with a sweet Disney medley that's really fun. I can't wait to do it. I love being able to sing again!

That about does it for now.

A Very Scary Night

I can't get enough of Halloween. I get burned out on other holidays pretty quick, but I just have so much fun with Halloween that I want it to last longer. Last year, me and my roommate Michael had what we called "Halloween: Round Two". It's a great idea. All the Halloween stuff goes on clearance and you can really make the most of the holiday.

A few of my friends got so busy that they didn't have time to carve their pumpkins. So tonight, we just might. And this makes me grin.
I'll tell the story of my Halloween this year through pictures. Ready?
We went to a Haunted Straw Maze out in a little town called Archer.

We also went to the Haunted Mill. It's my favorite Haunted attraction by far.


We also tried a new Haunted Attraction called "The Haunts of Hidden Hollow". It's out by St. Anthony and I really liked it a lot. It's all outdoors and includes a Haunted Hay ride. I'm thinking this is something we could do in Joseph City. Anything involving a tractor, I think my dad would go for it. We could combine it with a pick-your-own pumpkin patch and have a great time. Our family possesses all the necessary talents and farm equipment. I really think we should do it! People in the area would love it!

Here's my costume. I'm particularly proud of it. And HERE I give credit to my sister. Hey Eash! Remember the cloak you helped me construct? That's it. It's brilliant. Scared the SOCKS off some poor girls. Heh-heh.



And of course, we had a few Ghost Adventures of our own in a little ghost town called "Herbert".


(I added that ghostly woman in photoshop)