President Hinckley

Knowing of no other prophet my whole entire life I don't think it has really hit me yet about the passing of President Hinckley. I guess ignorantly I just tried not to think about when his time would come. It's one of those things like we were discussing in class that I'll always remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out. I am a quote person...I guess that is the English major in me.

"Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press formward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain."

I am reading about Freud, a brilliant analytical thinker but a complete atheist, for my psychology of religion class. I remember him calling religion just "deep-seated wishes". Having this reading assignment over the weekend it just make me laugh at this idea when all over the news there was this man (President Hinckley) who could not have been what he was with out the lord. Although I do not have a memory of meeting President Hinckley or being near him, I have learned so much from what he speaks about...this simple faith that does enable us to be more than we ever could. "Deep-seated wishes" are not what gets us through these rough patches.

making the best impression?

My mom has never been the one to make these extravagant new meals that no ones ever made before. She has always been the type to perfect what she knows. When my friends came over my house it was always the simple traditional stuff, but man does her simple stuff taste the best! I think she sticks to traditional with my friends and anyone else because her worse fear is that she will make something someone won't like. She usually sticks to rolls, ribs, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, dip, SPAGHETTI!, lasagna, stuff like that. When she does want to make a really good meal that she knows will get alot of compliments she makes her Italian food. She is 100% Italian and so it must be in her blood because she really makes the best eggplant parmisian in the world. I did't bring the recipe with me but I usually call her whenever I attempt to make it up here at school. Unfortunately I only got half her blood so it is only half as good when I make it. The other half of my blood is from an Irish cereal pourer :) so I have to learn to compensate with lots and lots of cooking practice. In class we were talking about traditions and stuff and I was thinking that aside from the famous Thanksgiving dinner my mom always makes and the Christmas breakfast, what I always remember is when our church started early we would come home around 11:30 or 12:00 and be starving. We always knew that by the time we got dressed in our PJs (another sunday tradition) my mom would have already made those turkey sandwiches on the long french bread with all the veggies. My siblings and I would just cut it up, eat it and die on the couch :)

Blog #2

So i hear that our second blog is due tomorrow...conveniently I just got back from the Olive Garden so that provides me with a topic to "blog" about (im still not quite comfortable using that word for some reason lol). Because we were talking about our food values today in class, I of course had them in mind when I was sitting there eating dinner (hard to enjoy yourself when you are thinking about school, but I guess its better than having a math problem stuck in your head). I was looking at the menu prices and realized that this place was really expensive but that was not really a value I had because I had an Olive Garden gift card (gift cards are on my list of top five favorite things). I realize when something is free, everything is just so much better! The waitress was so nice too and she actually gave my sister and I free soup! Minestrone!

Food

My one and only disappointment :) at coming to BYU is that there is no In n Out. Over break I needed to have it at least two or three times a week so that I could have enough of it in my system to last until I take a trip to Vegas. Because of the intensity of this bad news, I thought I'd share some good news. Another food chain that I love is Chipotle and I heard yesterday that there is one in Salt Lake. So that's pretty exciting.

I have come to really love the grocery store. Something about living on your own and knowing you can put whatever you want in that cart is kind of refreshing. But then there is the downside: the register. I guess you could classify me in the group of "very poor college students." This means clipping coupons and generic brands. No more Jiffy peanut butter or Cap'n Crunch...it's Kroger and Malt 'O Meal.