the blogging

welp. here we are again. me apologizing for not blogging. which, i guess, when you think about it, is really arrogant of me to do. since it assumes that you are probably all soooo interested in my tiny human life that the absence of frequent updates has kept you awake at night for months. i knew it. i'm sorry.
so. what the happ's is: i live in orem, ut. a place which i have heretofore avoided, but, as it turns out, is great. i love it. i have made lots of great friends here and i love living in "the four-plex." i have been doing all sorts of big-kid things. i have benefits. i bought a couch at a department store. heck, i bought dishes with birds on them. i have a job. i am a speech language pathologist for realzies now. i work at an elementary school and a special needs pre-school. it is SO funny and fun. AND it is 2 minutes away from my house. win. my bangs are approximately one half inch from being grown out. double win. so many good things. please enjoy this picture of my school picture.

4 things

1. 100 figurative dollars goes to the first person to tell me what is missing from this picture.

2. 100 figurative dollars to the person who comes up with the most appropriate compliment for this head band i just crafted.

3. these muffins are delicious (1 box of chocolate cake mix, one can of libby's pumpkin. bake 'em)

4. it's honey lime chicken again tonight. i told you i was going to do it again.

google maps

dear google maps,

i know you are the best, but i would really appreciate it if you would be more forthcoming when i ask you about near by hobby lobby locals. you made me drive nearly 35 minutes. there is a hobby lobby approximately 6 minutes from my house. why you gotta front?

kaity

cookies

this week is also built around mass cookie production. my dear friend and roommate carly is getting married very soon and that means that the people who know and lover her and her fiance get to eat a lot of cookies. this is what exactly one tenth of the cookies that i will make this week look like...

oh and incase you are wondering, "hey how did she get just red and blue m&ms in there? maybe she bought some of those pre-sorted individually packaged 7 oz bags of m&ms for 7$." if so, you would be wrong and also crazy to think that i would pay a dollar per ounce for m&ms. In fact, last night my good friend darcy was in town and helped me sort several huge bags of m&ms. surprisingly, there were a lot more blues than reds.

We are thinking about throwing a 70's party just so we can use the rest of the colors too. anyway, cookie dough-cookie sandwiches and my sincere appreciation were the only ways i could think of to repay her for helping with such a tedious job. thanks darcy, thanks cookie dough-cookie sandwich.

tuesday

today's marinade (and when I say marinade I really mean: things i find in the larson's cupboards as the chicken is already cooking) is a fancy tomato chipotle.

Find a can of "diced tomatoes with chipotle chillies" (I like western family, because 1. it is the only brand i have ever tried and 2. i've noticed that if, when giving a recipe on your blog, you insert your personal recommendations people will take your advice and in theory, respect you more). Continuing, put some cumin in there and some dried onions. put it on the chicken.

Ratings:

tastes: tiny spicy ones

nutrition: I think there is some high fructose corn syrup in the tomatoes. but other than that...

style: mexicano/a

presentation: looks good in a white bowl with some wheat bread

probability i will do this again: 4:5 (in ratio form) or 80 (if you like percentiles)

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

also, this song.

anniversary

This summer is the two year anniversary of my blog. I started a blog two years ago because I was home a lone for a week in logan and had gone days and days without any sort of outside human contact. not healthy. anyway, this week is very the same it seems. my "host family" as i like to call them (because it makes me either sound like a parasite or a foreign exchange student- both things i obviously aspire to) are away for the week and I am left here in the cottonwood heights. So, in honor of our anniversary, and in an attempt to not go crazy for lack of fun things, i would like to present a week of chicken marinades. this may seem strange, but if you know me well, you know that i enjoy chicken. usually i just cook it in a pan. no oil. no sauce, just a pinch of salt. but i'm realizing more and more that eventually i will have to cook for people who like food that tastes like something (wierdies).

Marinade number one: Honey-Lime

Instructions: Juice one lime. Juice one honey. Juice one soy sauce. Mix. Put on chicken.

Rankings

Taste: this taste tastes good.

Nutrition: mmm

Style: lots

Presentation: Medium

Probability that I will do this again: 100%

fourth

if only nevada was really made of strawberries...

this was one of the most fun fourth of julys ever. at first when i realized it was on the sabath, i was a little bummed, being in utah and all, i figured that there would not be much business happening. but what it really meant was that everyone in the salt lake valley picked a different day to do fireworks- friday through monday! last year i saw thee number one most amazing fireworks (in boston) so pretty much i've just consigned myself to being disappointed for the rest of my life- knowing that i will never see a more amazing display. however, the quality of last year's show was far out done by the mass quantity of fireworks we saw this weekend. i think our total firework show count was SIXTEEN. not kidding. friday night we saw 4 different shows from a grassy hill overlooking the valley. then saturday we went to sugar house and saw an AWESOME show. sunday we drove up the mountain a ways to get a good view of the whole valley- i think we saw some 10 different shows happening all at once. then on monday we went to a salt lake bees game. afterwords we sat out on the field and watched more fireworks. i have never been so close before. they were launching them from like 50 yards away. probably the highlight of the show was when we saw this huge mortar go super high, and then fall down without exploding... it landed on the grass a little ways a way from us and then went off. luckily no one was hurt. anyway- i wish i could find a way to express to you how crazy it was. mmmmaybe you could take a moment and close your eyes and imagine me saying "IT WAS CRAZY." that ought to do it. here is a picture of some fellow firework enthusiasts and myself.

quilted

I quilted this little wall hanging! it's a likeness of my house in clayton.

list

things that are trying to make a comeback according to billboards along I-15.

1. sizzler

2. colonoscopies

3. liposuction

4. churches with less strict commandments

yellowstone

this week we enjoyed our (first) annual nieman family reunion in beautiful yellowstone national park. it was awesome. we saw some buffalo

when my nephew carson saw these he made the comment "i think i just saw two buffalo that weren't in the same family, look at eachother and they fell in love."

we also learned about geyser saftey, (a picture which refused to be rotated)

ate some sandwiches in the parking lot,

AND, dad even let me wear his cal ranch hat.

it obviously looks much better on him...

good job niemans. we are all proud of you.

easy anti-plague formula

our relief society just made everyone these very cool emergency preparedness binders. it has lists of things you'll need in a 72 hour kit, ways to organize food storage, talks about being prepared...lots of good things that are very legit. however, i did find this recipe tucked away in the back.

Easy Anti-Plague Formula

A handful of each:

Horseradish root

White onion

Ginger root

Garlic

Habanero peppers (or the hottest you can find)

Add:

Apple cider vinegar- blend with all ingredients

Pour into glass jars, cover with wax paper and lid. The older it gets the more powerful it becomes.

How to take it? Take it be the teaspoon, or by the tablespoon if a plague comes along.

It is very strong.

So, next time the plague comes to town we will all be prepared.

granola

this is by far thee best granola i have ever had. thanks to karen and carly for introducing me to it:

Combine in a large bowl:

4 3/4 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)

1 1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup cashews

1 1/2 cup craisins and/or raisins

1 cup dried coconut

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

pretty much anything else you think would be delicious

In a separate bowl:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Stir brown sugar/spices into large bowl

Stir continuously as you drizzle

3/4 cup REAL maple syrup over mix

Spread out on one jelly roll pan,

bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes (depending on how crunchy you like things)

eat.

oh and i'm sorry about the lack of pictures going on here but i can't get my camera to upload anything. i'm working on it.

also, i think this is my very first recipe post. congratulations me.

storm

this evening i went for a walk and was surprised by the most amazing combination of atmospherical events. 1. the sun was setting, looking good as always 2. the right side of the sky was looking like spring time 3. to the left of the sun were some ominous silhouetted mountains covered in an orange-ish grey filminess 4. further left were some super scary black clouds. 5. thunder that lasted for like 30 seconds at a time 6. lightning that didn't stop for an hour! There was seriously a flash like every 10 seconds. and it was so close that it felt like someone was taking a picture with a flash. 7. behind me were some beautiful green mountains with two full rainbows arching over them. I could see were the rainbows actually hit the ground. it was amazing. and all the while it was about 70 degrees.

I was really enjoying all of this when I realized that i was standing on top of a very high hill surrounded by nothing, making me the tallest thing around. it has been a while since i reviewed any lightening safety protocols but something told me that that was not a good thing. so i hightailed it home just as it started pouring.

book

has everyone read "believing christ" already? seems like everyone has and that nobody thought it would be important to tell kaity about. so i i thought i would do the responsible and friendly thing and tell you all about it (not that it is a new or anything, I'm sure you've all heard of it). it is one of the best explanations of the atonement i have ever read. the blog seems like a not very reverent forum to address this kind of thing in detail, but if you read this i would really love to talk about it with you. probably you already have an understanding of these things- but I have learned a lot of new ways to think about and apply the atonement and to be a lot happier along the way.

recommended.

planning

i like to plan things. mostly because i like to have my expectations met. i spend most of my time somewhere in the following cycle: thinking of things to look forward to or planning things so i can look forward to them, waiting for these things to come to fruition, enjoying the satisfaction of said fruition, making a new plan. Sometimes I forget to start this cycle over and find myself with...nothing to look forward to. in which event i think of the next thing that is going to happen to me or the next obligation that i have to meet and make it a plan. this way, as i'm doing all of the things that i would normally just do anyway- everything is way more enjoyable because i planned it. but what if things don't go according to plan? typically this is when one would feel"disappointed" because the appointed activity was diss-ed, but i have learned that the quicker you can make whatever is happening to you- the plan. the less disappointment you will be living with, and the more you will be ok. i think being ok is underrated. it's important. ok.

ok i will

i'm going to start blogging again. its been a while, so just don'e expect too much and you won't be disappointed. here is a brief update of what has been going on lately...

I started the PhD program in Speech Language Pathology at Utah state

I decided that "Master" was a much cooler title than "Doctor" so I quit the program and graduated!

I moved to Sandy to live with my roommate's family- they are so amazing and so nice and so fun.

I'm have an internship at "health south rehabilitation hospital" for the next few weeks. it is good. I've been trying to start a health south frisbee league, but it doesn't seem like anyone is overly excited about this (which I am trying not to take personally so I'm blaming the lack of response on the high level of hip replacements and strokes going on around here).

I got a job in the Alpine school district!

Mostly I just spend all my time talking to old people and reading and trying to find people who will play frisbee and/or croquet with me.

it is summer time.

discovery

thank you sterling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YhlfCq1AM

such a good song.

BYU Breath

This isn't that funny, but it was fun to see the botany pond at BYU...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVvFD5JFnP4