Moving Week!!!

In BYU-Idaho they have 3 semesters: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Ben and I were both off for the Fall and decided it was time to investigate the world and seek for new jobs. With out lease ending in August we prayed about where to go next and got directed back to Nebraska for Aug-December! I have been tickled pink about the idea to be close to family again for a couple months and couldn't hardly WAIT to make the pilgrimage out to the O-town. Unfortunately the first part of moving is the packing and cleaning out the old space.

I some how got landed with packing up the kitchen- we have toooooo much kitchen stuff! It came in handy that I'm such a magazine lover when I need packing materials. I'll let you know if it was a good idea or not next January when we unpack everything.

Yeah, try to photoshop those wrinkles out...ladies.

Ben hard at work packing up our living room! We try to keep most of the boxes that things originally come in.

After the first long day I was already sick of packing and cleaning. HELP ME HELP ME!!

The second day was spent making trips to the storage unit. Thank goodness Ben's brother Matt helped us. He's strong and comes with a truck! We put the picture of Christ right in front so if someone breaks in they know whose watching them. That and prayer are our best security measures.

And on the third day we scrubbed....the entire apt...I didn't think it would take the entire day but it did. Oh well in hind sight we got finished and got approved by the land lady who said she'll miss us. The one thing we completely forgot to clean was the oven- oops! They charged us $30 for them to flip a switch and clean up the ashes, lame.

I wish the drive back to Nebraska was uneventful, but it wasn't. We had just made it over the steep Teton pass when our break in both our cars started smoking. Stopping in Jackson Hole to regroup, (and hopefully catch a glimpse of Harrison Ford, no luck though) we decided to turn our journey south towards Rock Springs and stay there for the night instead of trying to cross anymore mountains. Rock Springs is, well, a small gross city with a lot of out of business buildings. At least the next morning we were headed to a better destination: Torrington Wyoming aka Grandma's house! My grandma Gregory lives in the cutest home right on top curve of main street. The best part of grandma's house is the food. We got fresh veggies from her garden, homemade bread sticks (that are to die for), mash potatoes, and homemade fried chicken- I'm getting hungry all over again just thinking about it! She is always the perfect hostess and I can't wait to get back there and see her again!

The last leg of the journey was one that I was very familiar with: I-80 across Nebraska. I've traveled that stretch of interstate so many times I think I have story about every pit stop along the way. Mostly the stories end in one of two ways: we stopped here to go to the bathroom OR we stopped here because it was storming. Ahhh, I-80, so many memories.

The problem with taking the road most traveled is that makes you homesick that much quicker! I seem to go the normal speed until I get to Kearney and want to speed all the way home! Luck for Ben and I (and our 2 cars) we got home safe and sound. Back to the wonderfully over-powering humidity and thunderstorms. Back to the good friends and delicious places to eat. Back to familiar church house and family homes. I couldn't help but keep singing, in my head and out load, 'Oh there ain't no place like Nebraska!'.

The temporary exodus signifies the next chapter in our families life has begun or at least its showing the end of previous one. I'll keep you posted on what happens next. It'll all start (again) at home.

Fun Times at the Arcade

It can be difficult to find things to do in Rexburg, but on Wednesdays at the local arcade have deals that you can't pass up! Unlimited putt putt and laser tag?! Score!!!! Ben and I got a group of Andrew and Emily Ferris and our niece Mara to go with us. This is Mara and I right after the first round of laser tag- its hard work trying to hunt down teenagers! Plus its set up with two levels that you can run around on so its a good sweaty work out. Each round is about 15mins and I think we did around 7 different rounds. Our favorite round was when a big family came and played and they had about 10 kids between the ages of 9-6. The 6 year old, who was on our team, was really into it and kept running around gleefully shooting everyone! Aw, to be young and fearless. We took breaks from the lightening killing sprees for some arcade action.

Look at all the pretty gold tokens!!!

Best 'slot machine' ever- you're always a winner!!!

Last year we took Katie and Jonathon's family here and those two ROCKED at the jump rope game. I tried it out again, that skill obviously wasn't passed on to me! I tried this game twice and failed horribly both times! Haha, oh well.

This game you had to keep waking the button to launch balls into the dog's mouth- its a great game to relieve any stress in your system!

Mara was the arcade champion for the night- she got almost double the tickets Ben and I won. I think I'll take her to Vegas next time we go!

These where the prizes that Ben and I ended up with: a green ring pop, star glasses, and a plastic heart bracelet. I'm pretty sure that adds up to be around 50 cents in prizes. If only we got prizes for our laser tag skills instead!

Mary's Bachelorette Party!

When you lived in a house of 9 girls every once in a while the weddings a bachelorette parties will gang up on you! At the end of this semester we had a party for Alyssa, Erin, and Mary all in one week! These pictures are from Mary's party, the last one we had. I didn't mind, if I must party again again and again I'll make the sacrifice!
Our favorite part is the DANCING!!!!!! This me, Haylee (blonde curly), Hysen (singing along) and Mary, the Bachelorette, in front.

I don't think Alyssa (back left) was drunk, but this picture suggests otherwise. Hysen and I are wedding planners for bride Alyssa whose getting married in September. Also pictured is the fabulous Joy!

With so many of us getting married, moving out, or moving away we took the time to take pictures as one big group! Vogue baby, Vogue. Back left - right: Brittany, Hysen, Mary, Erin, Joy and Alyssa. Front: Haylee and ME!

I love these girls SOOO much! They were some of my favorite roommates I've ever had. They all have such cheerful and loving spirits. There were dance parties, late night cookies, well prepared dinners, and just sheer bliss in the house we shared. I wish them all the best life has to offer! Love you Club Hemming Sister!

A Smokey Day in Rexburg!

Ever wondered what 2500 acres on fire looked like? It looks like a cloudy purple day! The fields outside of Rexburg burst into flame and then because of blazing winds it spread like, well, wild fire!
My niece Kianna and I were packing up and I noticed the sky looked extra dark, but figured it was just an incoming storm. Then Ben texted me and said that there was a huge fire outside of town! We grabbed the camera, high tailed it up to temple point (the highest part of Rexburg), and started documenting. Remember it was a crystal clear day so the only clouds in the sky is just the smoke!
I love this picture of the lone camera man and the incoming smoke.

Here's what things looked like up on temple point.

All the purple smoke covering Rexburg down below.

And finally how everything looked right outside my apartment. It got to be so thick that it blocked out the sun! What a good day to keep my inhaler close! :P

Ok family and friends! I have found my new FAVORITE dessert to make and they were an absolute HIT at the party I took them too. They're called 'Cupcake-Pops' and they're super easy to make!
I've been obsessed with the idea of making these since I tried them at my sis-in-law's Martha's wedding reception.

Prep: I bought a box cake (you can use ANY box cake you would like) White cake is my fav so thats what I made. You cook the cake as the instructions say. After its baked and cooled you mix in one can of cream cheese frosting until its an all over gooey consistency. Take the mixture and wrap them around lollypop sticks that you can pick up at any cooking store. Then pop them in the fridge for a couple hours OR overnight like I did. Here are the my 'naked' pops the next morning.

Make sure you have all your ingredients on hand. You'll need melting CANDY chocolate. You can't use anything soft for the outer coating or else they'll just end up tasting mooshy, yuck.

The best way to melt chocolate down for candy is called double boiling. Since I don't have another pot or bowl so I just used a small frying pan that actually worked out great! Melt down the chocolate. Then roll each pop into the chocolate and try to get it as even as possible

It was HOT in our Idaho kitchen so I brought in the fan to help cool them off. Also it helped to keep the pops I hadn't dipped in chocolate yet in the freezer. This way they stayed firm while being dipped.

Half way done!!

This is what happens when you let the un-covered pops get room temp. They get weighed down and fall off the stick! I only had on die on me. It was delicious death :)

AND FINISHED!!!! Originally I planned to melt down the mint chips to decorate the other pops with BUT I ran out of time before the party. I decided to just scatter them onto the cookie sheet to spice up the presentation.

This weekend I plan to make a carrot cake with a white chocolate coating. Hope you all enjoy!!! Love you!!!

New York Trip part 1

Start Spreading the News!

It was a long trip just to get to NY. First we drove to Layton Utah and spent the night with a family whose son-in-law I taught on my mission named Chris Carty. It was wonderful to go up to that familiar old door and have brother Winager answer with a "It's my adopted daughter!"
We really wished we could have stayed longer with them, especially since Chris and his wife Mallory were getting sealed in the temple the next day,but our plane left at 7 the next morning and we had to be on it!

This is a picture of us up in there air. We were too excited to try and sleep our way there! These are my favorite sunglasses - and there were only $4!

I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures of the clouds. I just this angle of the world that we don't see that often.

After a 3 hour car trip, a 6 hour plane ride, and another 2 hour car trip (I've got to stop being cheap and buy plane tickets closer to our destinations!) we made it to Greene New York. This is the house that Ben grew up in and its pack full of stories. They've added on so many different rooms that it reminded me of the Weasly home from Harry Potter.

It was a blast to have a detailed tour of the home and see places he's talked about before. Perhaps the best part was ALLLL those baby / growing up pictures that I'd never seen before of Ben - we are going to have GORGEOUS kids. haha
We'd only been in Greene for a couple minutes when we were greeted by two familiar faces bounding towards us - Ben's nieces (who are more like sisters) Mara and Kiana. Their mom Laurie brought them over along with Mara's boyfriend Logan. If you've ever seen Modern Family they are very similar to those sisters. They are a hoot.

To truly make Ben feel at home they gathered up the sticks from the near by forest (most of which had blown into Nancy's yard by now) and start a bonfire. Everyone got at least one smore until a thunderstorm set in, which eventually knocked out the power to the house!
Please note: no one in this picture is wearing shoes! Ben kicked his off right with the girls got there. New Yorkers must have hobbit feet - my shoes stayed on.
The next day we spent time seeing, and documenting with picture, everything Greene had to offer. We wanted to get a record of everything Ben remembered while it still looked the same. This is the creek down by his house. NY creeks are NE's rivers!

Greene is such a picture-esc town tucked into the rolling hills of upstate NY. Almost all the homes in the inside of the town are all built in the colonial and Victorian styles. I was in real estate heaven. Here is the house that used to be the church house for the Branch. They now have a standard building just how Blair's used to look. Their boundaries hold the historical sites of where Joseph Smith and Emma were married and where the first congregation was assembled!

We had to stop at a local candy store - fantastic chocolates!

The next day we went to visit Ben's dad, Doug. Doug now lives in an Old Folks home were he can me monitored because he has alsthmrys and dementia. Both Ben and Doug started to cry when they saw each other and even though Doug hasn't really spoken for over a month we got a lot of words out of him that day! We felt so blessed that this visit was so positive. Ben was able to show pictures of our life together, but he didn't really understand. He knows Ben, but sees him still as a young boy. We asked doug how old he (doug) is and he replied, "I'm 35". It was really fun to see that Ben and his dad still had some of the same mannerisms. Doug is still in there, he just gets lost every now and then. We even got Doug to laugh. I said that I had eaten all of Nancy's cookies and he really smiled then. He asked when we'd be back to see him and we said as soon as possible.
I feel so blessed knowing the plan of salvation and knowing that someday Doug will be completely of all this and we'll have eternity to get to know one another. That all of our families with be together forever. With out that knowledge how do people carry on?

An update, I guess!

I haven't written in a while because I haven't really had much to write about! Its our last full week of the semester and I can't be more excited to get my classes done with. Then its off for a week and a half to NY to see Ben's family and most especially his ailing father, whom I've never met.

This past weekend was nice because Ben's brother Brad came up to visit and brought his wife Karla and their 3 kids: Ashton, Page, and Logan. They stayed with Matt and his family in Rigby and we dropped by every night they were here.

Its still hard for me to get used to the age differences. Every night that they called the kids together to go to bed a tinsy part of me would want to jump up, go brush my teeth and say goodnight. Its not that I feel so young, but more of I'm not used to being in the adult half. I was grateful for their helpful child tips and even more grateful that they didn't ask, "when are you having kids." (My new favorite answer to that query is 'never' because it genrally stops the questions in their tracks)

They brought out the game Tribond and asked if I'd played. I laughed and said yes then dominated the game. I knew I would do well when Matt said, "wow, this one is hard! A stock spread sheet, mountians, and a cheater in hide-and-seek" everyone paused as I yelled "Things that peek!" There was another pause after my exclamation, aparently their games are not as rodeo-esc as ours. Poor them.

I'm a Published Writer!!
Through a run-around twist of fate I received the opportunity to write for a wedding magazine. I couldn't believe the work that it took! I worried sick all January long. Writing, rewriting, editing, having other people edit it, choosing the write pictures (I gave them 5, one of me and 4 of the designer I write about and they used only the one of me) sending them copy after re-did copy. And then like the hushed calm after a thunderstorm I waited.

Weeks went by and I couldn't get the article off my mind. I kept imaging magazine being published only to find out they left me out. Finally while I was on my way to one of my Journalism classes I passed by the news stand. It was one of those moments where you do a double take that takes too long so you have to walk backwards a bit. I grabbed the first magazine off the stand and flipped pages too eagerly to read through the topical guide. And there it was. Page 32:


I couldn't believe the surge of pride I had for myself! I wanted to dance a jig and re-write the song "I've got a golden ticket!" My article, my words, my opinions. It was all there. The best part of all was skimming the page to see - Rachel Darling - in print.

I showed my journalism teacher right away who replied, "That's a nice picture of you." "Yeah Brother Hicks - but I wrote the article," I clarified. "OH, Wow!" he was actually excited when you understood what was going on! I now feel like I should get an automatic 'A' in that class.

As I waited in line at the Post office the strangest feeling came over me. It was a feeling I'd felt before. When I was in high school I quickly became OBSESSED with winning a medal. I didn't care what the medal was for or what place I got - I just wanted a medal that I had won. I then medaled in a regional speech competition (second place in my division and second place for the whole competition). As I hung the medal on the wall I took out my mental "Life's to do list" and checked off "win a medal". Feeling satisfied I no longer had an ounce of care to win any more medals or do anything else with speech competitions.

The night after I was realised from my mission I felt the same way. Standing there in the kitchen with my family and in my favorite pair of jeans I took out my mental to do list and checked off "serve an honorable mission"

The Post office line went quick and a copy of said magazine was on its way to Mom and Dad in Nebraska. I took out my familiar list and checked off, "get article published." The hyped up feelings about getting published found their exits in my heart just as quickly as all my other goals had. I did. And now its done. Did you know that I have accomplished everything I had ever said I wanted out of life? That's a pretty good rap-sheet for a 23 yr old.

I drove home asking myself what I really wanted next. And came up with this: I want to be able to go to walmart and pick up an action figure of myself or the action figure of someone I played in a movie.

I guess its time to dust off my acting resume...

Happy Valentine's Day

Seeing how Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year we decided to celebrate on Saturday. Or at least try to celebrate.

Everything started off GREAT!! Ben came home from work and presented me with a dozen orange roses. As I was ooing and awwing at how beautiful they were he pulled out another dozen roses from behind his back! What a wonderful way to start the day.

We made plans to look at the puppies, then go see the movie Percy Jackson, and go to dinner at Jonny Carlio's.

We were so excited to go find a new dog. Our apartment complex recently gave dogs the ok to move in. Now OF COURSE our first choice is to have Elli here with us, but no matter how many times we've thought about getting her here we can't figure out how to do it and have it be uber safe for Elli. So our second choice- adopting a new one! Unfortunately the place only had 3 dogs left!! So our first part of the itinerary was over quicker then we thought.

Next came Percy Jackson. Which we soon found was sold out. Went to see 'Valentine's Day' instead- don't bother wasting your money.

Finally off to my FAVORITE Idaho restaurant Jonny Carino's which was PACKED!! The wait turned out to be over an hour. We skipped it and tried a new restaurant (well, new to me) which is all about steak. We had to wait about 20mins for a table and I was getting Hangry. That's right Hangry. Its a turn my roommates and I created for that feeling when you haven't eaten in a while and everything starts to frustrate you. But my hanger was fixed almost immediately by the first course and for being on a date with such an amazing guy! :)

Having our plans going awry sweetly reminded me of our first date that Ben and I had. We got lost, then lingered to long at dinner which made us late for a movie, then couldn't find a pool table, and all sorts of mayhem. BUT the important thing was that we had so much fun together. No matter what happened. That's why I started to fall for Ben because he's so good at just rolling with what life gives you and loving it.

But wait - this whole plans going all wrong didn't start with Ben. Remember when we went to Disney World and ALL I wanted to do was to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and it was the only ride closed down for the whole time we were there!

Then we went to Chicago and I couldn't wait to show my mom the Jackson Pollock. And the only part of the museum closed down for renovations - the Jackson Pollock part. Hmm, how do i fix this jinx about me?!

Our Time in Salt Lake City

(check the sweet HAT! mom made it)

This is a little late, we went to SLC a couple weeks ago, but we've been busy!

Ben and I took time off and made the three hour trek to SLC to go to a 'Brand New' concert. I'm always surprised how quick the drive feels. Every time we used to go to Waterloo it always felt like it took alllllll day to get there!

We stayed at Ben's sister Mary's house. It was great to catch up with her and her new husband Rob. We hadn't see the family since their wedding in June. Mary had 4 kids from a previous marriage and Rob had 5- that makes 9 kids in the house 12 and under. I'm surprised that TLC hasn't caught up with them to do a show!

We woke up the next morning ready to roll! Playing with the kids then off the the mall. Then we went to the IMAX to see Avatar. Yes, we saw Avatar at Christmas time, but Ben has never been to an IMAX to see a movie. It was really cool to see such an epic movie on such a large scale.

Having a more time we scuttled over to the temple and got to take a tour of the conference center. It was great to get a tour of a building you always seen on tv. Our tour guide was adorable! She was about 60-70 yrs old kept saying how cute Ben and I were together. We started to wonder if we could adopt her.

Then grabbed a late lunch at The California Pizza Kitchen- YUM!!! We feasted and I completely forgot about how great their food was. Of course, by the late time we were eating, anything might have tasted that good!

We had some more time to go shopping- YEAH - which lead to an impromptu visit to- Build a Bear!!! Ben had never been there and has slight issues to my previous Build a Bear, Mr. Carrots. He wears a pink sleeping beauty dress. So this time we made a Mrs. Carrots now wears a sleeping beauty dress and we bought Mr. Carrots a comfy bath robe. He now looks more like Hugh Hefner, oops. Ben also made a monkey with Star Wars pjs who we named Fred.

Lastly came the whole point of whey we were there: the 'Brand New' concert! It was the first concert I'd been to years and, it was LOUD! Maybe I'm not as party hearty as I used to be. I ended up sitting down on the side where I saw fate take a hand. A girl, about the age of 16, had been drinking quickly found out that alcohol doesn't agree with more people's digestive system as it all came back up and onto the floor. I chuckled, then went over to her and her friend to see if I could help. They eventually got a ride home and left. There was no cleaning crew in sight so the mess just stayed on the ground. I started counting how many people would step in it. At around the 14th stepper a glorious thing happen. A girl- very scantly clad- slipped and fell in the unsanitary puddle. She screamed and ran to the bathroom. Moral of the story: wear more clothes and sensible shoes to concerts. :) ahh, poetic gooey justice.

My New Wife Mistake

When I thought about my new role as a Wife 4 1/2 months ago I thought about the new expansion of cooking that I was about to embark on. And with Katie giving me the idea to take the time that I had in the fall and try out all the new recipes I could find. I loved making all sorts of new and intricate meals and adding the home made rolls, and the sweet and sour sauce I made from scratch. But what started as an exploration ended in obsession.
When school started up again dinner became something of a chore instead of the fun it used to be. Even though I'm now the crock-pot cook queen I would still feel compelled to calculate the whole meal down to the side dishes and making sure I scheduled time in the day to get it all done. On Tuesday I was relieved to find out that some friends of our invited us over for dinner instead. Relieved until they called about 1/2 hour before and had to cancel!
I became flustered and panicked as to what I was going to whip up without having any ideas of plans! I got so put out and finally told Ben I was just going to make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
They took 5 mins tops and were delicious.
As I munched down on the cheesy goodness and received ample compliments from Ben I realized something - dinner doesn't have to be difficult, tasking, or new to be good. There are loads of dishes that were easy to make that I've only made once! Sometimes we need to delve into our own recipes and ignore the hot new dishes for dinner.
Tonight's meal: home-made pizza. :)

Its 2010!!!

I can't believe its been 3 months since my last post!!! For shame!!!

The holidays were terrific! I can't believe how wonderfully therapeutic going back to Nebraska was. I've now made the decision that Omaha wouldn't be such a bad place to live, as long as I could travel out of there at any moment I wished! I'll work on that second part as good as I can.

The main thing I worried about Christmas WAS: (can anyone guess?) presents! This was Ben and my first Christmas together and I couldn't stop worrying that one of us would buy more gifts for the other. And the most wonderful thing happened - we ended up getting the same exact number of gifts! Score! I didn't even mind so much getting snowed in for four days. The having to leave part was the hardest, but that just gets me more eager to get back there.

Now that both Ben and I are working full-time and going to school full-time we are busier then ever! Ben works monday, wedsnday, friday - goes to school tuesday thursday and is helping a friend of ours re-design a local computer/video game store. I go to school monday, wedsnday, friday - work tuesday thursday - have started writing for a local Wedding Magazine (their fashion and trends column, woot woot) and am in the primary presidency!!! Phew, i told ya we were busy. Some days i kiss him good morning/goodbye as he's still asleep and he comes home only to kiss me goodnight/hello as I'm asleep.

Absence makes that heart grow fonder and the texting bill up! We did however have a FANTASTIC date saturday night. We got ourselves looking mighty good and went to one of my favorite Idaho restaurants called 'Jonny Carinos'. Its really good italian food and is probably the nicest place to eat out in Idaho Falls. We had italian fire-sticks, cesar salad, warm bread, fettuccine Alfredo, and cheesecake, with a shirley temple to wash it all down. Its like grandma G says, "give her cheap food and she'll take two bites, but go to a nice place and she'll get your money's worth!" And the best part is Jonny Carinos is trying to compete with Applebee's 2 can dine for $20 so our whole meal was only $27!!! What a great date!

I'll make sure to get some pictures up soon soon soon! We're very excited for michael & cris' plus one and can't tell you how much we miss and love all of you! If you ever need anything we're a phone call away!