Camping Trip

Posted on August 29, 2016 by KristynL

When I was little my dad had a really cool tent- but we never really used it for camping. We only ever used it in our back yard for my birthday party, and watched movies, and stayed up late in there- but none of us could make it through the night haha.

When we realized that Sheldon had Saturday off of work this week SO, Sheldon took me on my first real camping trip. His cousin Kelsey and her husband Scott also came with us. First thing we did once we arrived in Bloomington was find a cute little place next to a quiet little stream and we set up our tiny tent. We didn’t have any trouble with that actually and we made it cozy with lots of blankets and sleeping bags inside.

I was in charge of food, so I cut up veggies and potatoes and hot dogs for tin foil dinners. AND I remembered a delicious 4- ingredient peach cobbler from girls camp that you can make over the fire, so I brought that too! And how can you have a fire without s’mores? You can’t! So we made sure those ingredients were available as well. Scott brought something that changed the color of the fire so we enjoyed a blue-green fire most of the night. Pretty cool.

4- Ingredient Peach cobbler: Add the ingredients in this order, but do not stir them together so it can crisp up a little on top. Bring it to a boil to cook off most of the liquid, this takes awhile to cook on the fire, so just keep checking on it. It is really good to eat with vanilla ice cream, but we ate ours with thick whipped cream. still yummy!

1 large can peaches (do not drain)
1 package yellow cake mix
1 can of soda
pinch of cinnamon

We really chose the best place to camp- the stream provided nice white noise and the views were beautiful! It was a little chilly at night and the ground was a little hard, but we actually slept pretty well.

The next morning we packed up camp and went to play in the lake! (Blomington Lake, not too far from Bear Lake.) The water was cold, so I only got my feet wet, but my crazy husband jumped in with the rope swing! He loves that.

Kelsey and Scott hadn’t been to Minnetonka caves, so we did that tour again. Our guide was very intelligent and though we just did the tour last month we learned a lot more this time around.

*Unrelated to the camping trip- We are sure playing hard these last few weeks of summer before school starts. Earlier this week we also did another razor ride up Mt. Baldy and we went skeet shooting. I was so impressed because I actually hit a clay pigeon! My grandpa would be proud.

Adiós 2015 (a year in review)

Posted on December 16, 2015 by KristynL

Well I made it through another semester, another year. Its been a great one, full of surprises, tears, and memories. Here is my year in review; month by month. (links to other posts included for further reading).

January- I celebrated my birthday in the mission with my “hija”.

February- I served in Suncuan ward in the Atiquizaya stake, and went to see “Los Ausoles” as a zone activity.

March- I helped plan a talent show ward activity, and I changed areas to the Centro ward in Santa Ana.

April- We had two mission temple trips and brought the Familia Morán, I also experienced my first “quinceñera” party.

May- We went on a beautiful adventure with the Familia Melendez to cerro verde, and Raul got Baptized as my mission miracle.

June- I finished my 18 months as a missionary and flew back home to Chicago to see my family.

July- Sheldon and I reunited in Chicago after being apart for 2 years (too long) and I started a internship job as a research and development scientist at Now Foods. I also went to help at Girls camp for a day.

August- Our family went on a vacation to California; Yosemite, San Francisco, and Monterey.

September- My dad helped me move into my new apartment in Rexburg and school began. Sheldon and I did some fun hikes.

October- Dad, Mckinsey, Sheldon and I all met up for general conference. We also carved pumpkins, went to a Lindsey Sterling Concert, went shooting… And my favorite: took a day trip to Yellowstone.

November- Sheldon and I celebrated 2.5 years together, went iceskating, I had a mission reunion, My parents came to visit for the weekend, I went to the Lloyds for Thanksgiving, We took a trip to Utah to see the lights.

December- I took part in a live nativity as a shepherd girl, and Sheldon proposed! I also finished my fall semester finals and flew home to Chicago to spend christmas with my family.

A Little Place Called Grace

Posted on November 30, 2015 by KristynL

My Thanksgiving weekend was mostly spent at Sheldon’s Home in a little town called Grace, Idaho.

I got to spend lots of time with his family. Once we arrived, Sheldon took me shooting with his dad and brother in their fields. I didn’t hit the targets, but I hit the metal stand for them… its something. That first night we made home made pizzas and rented the McFarland movie. Its a good one, we all enjoyed it! My favorite part was the little fat kid that won them the race… so inspirational!

Wednesday morning I got up and started making some of my family’s favorite holiday rolls. It took a good portion of the day because they had to rise twice. Everyone seemed to like them, so I’d say they turned out pretty good. I also made his family some pupusas with a taco bar lunch. I did lots of cooking the day before so I didnt have to fight for the kitchen on thanksgiving day. So that afternoon Shel took me on a drive around Grace so I could take some pictures. I wanted to capture the beauty of this hidden little farming community. We also got some really good hot chocolate in town on the way back.

Then the next day was Thanksgiving day! All the women around the house worked together to make this beautiful relish tray to start the appetite for our big meal later on. I loved the colors and presentation in ramekins.

The Thanksgiving meal was delicious! We had big plates and everyone was so full. We had the typical turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, fruit salad, green salad, rolls, creamed peas, yams, and a few pie options. Our tummies were stuffed! That evening while the guys watched football, the girls pulled out the crafts! Sheldon’s mom was nice enough to buy each of us a little wooden christmas set to paint up. They all turned out cute!

It also snowed that morning, so I had to take a few more outside pictures with fresh snow!

The next day was Friday so we got up to drive to Utah. We didn’t get caught in any traffic or snow! We were very blessed.

We did some shopping in SLC and then went to American Fork to have lunch with Grandma. Shortly after lunch we then drove to Provo to pick up my sista and her date to go see the first season lighting at Temple Square.

It was a fun double date night. Because we knew it would be cold, we bought some hot chocolate to keep our hands warm as we walked around. It was a little colder than we all expected but for the record; ‘Kneeders’ hot chocolate is wayy good! Funny thing is that we all got there a little early and didn’t see too many people around, but once we walked around to the other side we were bombarded. It was like instantly packed like conference time there. Good thing we were early and had a nice spot staked out, because they turned the lights on 5 mins early. It was beautiful though. I can’t imagine the amount of hours spent on lighting each of those trees/ nativities. Impressive sight!

My favorite lights were the little bubble lights that floated on the reflection pool.

My sis and her date seem to have had a fun time.

So did Sheldon and I.

We ended the night with pizza from ‘The Brick Oven’ in Provo. SO GOOD! man that place is yummy, and dad treated us to dinner. Thanks! Wonderful evening.

Well we woke up Saturday morning to a delicious southern cooked breakfast of biscuits and gravy from Grandma, then we were on the road once again. But this time weather/ snow was against us….

Thankfully, we made it back safe. Sheldon and I had time to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and little star ornaments before we had to separate for another week!