It had to happen one way or another; either a championship win or a heart breaking loss. After a rough and tough game last night, the heart break began. We mourned briefly before joining thousands across the world in celebrating this record breaking season. And ever so fortunately for me, I was there.

When we completely destroyed San Diego State, I was there.
When Jackson Emery broke the BYU all-time steals record, I was there.
When Jimmer hit countless 3 pointers from anywhere between 30 and 40 feet out, I was there.
When James Anderson got away with practically throwing a New Mexico player off the court going after a loose ball, I was there.
When 5,000+ lined up for hours and hours and hours before games, I was there.
When Deron Williams and CJ Miles had to see Jimmer for themselves, I was there.
When Jimmer broke pretty much every record for points in a game, season, and career, I was there.
When tons of Jimmer youtube videos and songs were created, I was there.
When the BYU bookstore sold more #32 jerseys in the past 3 months than all the football jerseys they've sold in the past decade combined, I was there (but too poor to buy one).

I attended all the home games but one over the past 2 seasons and I have witnessed BYU Basketball at its best and worst. I watched the Jimmer when he had mono. I watched the Jimmer get beat up like he was a punching bag several times, with, of course, no fouls called. I remember early this season when Jimmer could go to a volleyball game and a women's basketball game without being mobbed. I was there. I saw it all and I count myself dang lucky I did. I'll still enjoy watching the awards and accolades roll in as Jimmer Fredette wins more player of the year awards, more all-american awards and ultimately, as he achieves his goal of reaching the NBA.

To say today's weather was crazy would be a huge understatement. Today's weather was phenomenally wicked gnarly weird. We had sunshine, cloudiness, cold, warmth, snow, sunshine, clouds, snow, cold, warmth, sunshine with snow, more cold, wind... I can't even describe how odd it was. It was cold enough for snow to fall, but warm enough it would melt on contact with the ground. I think in all about 3 little storm fronts moved through today, each one changing the weather a bit. I thought it was fascinating, albeit strange. At times it felt like a weird spring storms, but at others it felt like an early winter storm. So interesting.

I am thoroughly enjoying my classes this semester. Nutrition has been so much fun for me. I love the information and it's never hard to do the homework and study for tests. I look forward to them. Public speaking is also just phenomenal. I have learned so much and have developed my speaking abilities so much and I can't wait to speak in church or anywhere else so I can utilize all I've learned in a speech outside of class. I'm kind of sad that my classes are ending, but my education certainly will not end this year when the semester ends. I will learn so much this summer too and I'm way excited for that. This year is turning out to be the best I can remember and it's just getting started. If everything goes as it should, I'll end the year either in the MTC or about to go into the MTC, where my education will reach even further and deeper. What a year this will be.

Today I wanted to share a couple things that I've been thinking about this week. The first has to do with "cleanliness is next to godliness." Over the past semester, I've worked hard to keep my apartment in good order. Dishes, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, keeping things organized, throwing out clutter, and other things like that. As I have done this, I have noticed a huge change in myself. When my room gets cluttered with dirty laundry, trash, and all the other stuff I have, I change. I become lazy in all my daily activities. I get stressed quickly. My temper shortens and my mood turns sour. When my room is not clean, I stop cleaning everything and in a day or sometimes even less, dishes pile up, counters are covered in crumbs and stickiness, and the entire apartment gives off a very negative feeling. I find myself late to class or sleeping through class. I eat less healthy. Ultimately, I lose the spirit quickly. Those times are not good. I can usually only stand to live like that for a couple days before my conscious puts up a red flag and I set aside an afternoon to clean things up. As soon as things are clean and in order again, the stress is gone. I feel a load removed from me. My mood sweetens again and my tolerance and patience levels increase. The spirit is again welcome in both the apartment and in me. I encourage everyone to keep your home clean. You may be doing everything else perfectly, but I promise you the spirit cannot and will not dwell in a dirty and cluttered home.

The second thing I have been thinking about is my life. As we all do, I sometimes wonder what amazing and different things I've done in life. I hear of people traveling the world and doing so many cool and inspiring things. So, recently I began thinking of all the things I have done. I just wanted to share a few. I have experienced the people and the culture of Germany. Enrolled in what I believe to be the best schools I could have attended, I took many mind blowing field trips. I visited museums, zoos, american safaris, omni theaters, the Grassy Knoll, NASA Mission Control in Houston, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, and many other great places many people don't get to see. I've hiked the Appalachian Trail, white water rafted, seen the Grand Canyon, visited Yellowstone, hiked Zion, prepared meals for prophets, apostles, foreign dignitaries, politicians, millionaires, movie directors, producers, actors, and musicians. I witnessed tragedy as the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated directly over my head one fateful day. More importantly, I've traveled across the country with my family, visiting church history sites and national landmarks. I have camped all over the South with my father and brothers. I have walked on frozen lakes with family and friends. I once danced Pilates down the stairs of my bachelor's pad in front of my mother and sister. I sat in the San Antonio Temple with my eternal family as it was dedicated. I danced before the prophet with my brothers and sisters. I walked down Parley Street in single digit weather with my little sister. This summer I have the honor and privilege of catering a sister's wedding. I could go on and on. The point is, my life has been blessed and is every bit as exciting and amazing as any world traveler. No. It's even more exciting and amazing.



Enjoy the song of the day. It's a good one.

Time flies when March Madness is on tv for 4 days straight.

The biggest news of the past week, is of course, BYU advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament! All you doubters doubted our abilities, and finally BYU proved me right. We played the best and most complete game this year against Gonzaga. The Zags never had a chance. I think we'll play well again this week and I expect a great game on Thursday against Florida. They may want revenge on us from last year, but it'll take more than emotion to beat us.

In other news, according to the Stake President, my mission papers can't be submitted until 4 months before my availability date. I'm going down to the resort next weekend for a meeting and to get all the hiring paperwork out of the way before I go down to work. In my meeting I'll discuss my availability with the chef. I may just keep things how they are and submit my papers in July because I can make $10,000 if I stay through November. Things will work out right one way or another. (I did notice that 40 missionaries from Japan were sent home a couple months early because of the disaster, so I really just hope my mission papers get processed before they decide to replace those.)

The weather has been very springy. Very nice and warm one week, then cold and wet this week. That trend will continue for another month or two while everything blossoms and turns green(ish) before the summer comes and plant life dies again.

I was reminded this weekend that I am only human and that I did not have enough recipes ready to warrant a catering preview night, so I postponed it. I have 2 chocolate cupcake recipes to test out when it does happen though. One utilizes cocoa powder, the other melted chocolate. We shall see how they look and taste soon.

I would like to share a video that I think Congress and all of Washington should take into account when looking at immigration. You should all find this very well done and informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=related

This is my second post tonight, so if you didn't already read my regular update, scroll down to it and read it.

I just had to share this. Before class at 4:30 I put up a competition on my Facebook page. I didn't want to just say "beware the Ides of March", so I said that anyone who showed up at my apartment dressed as Julius Caesar between 7 pm and midnight would win my services as a chef for a day. I knew Mike and Annie would likely show up and expect a catered party for 1,000 people, so, since they get all of my greatest food from now till I die, I excluded them from competing. With them excluded, I did not really expect anyone to come. I thought there was about a 1 in a million chance. Well, I am completely surprised to announce that someone took me up on the offer and won my Ides of March Sweepstakes.

At around 10 pm, there was a knock at the door. No one was expecting anyone, so I answered it. To my complete surprise, there stood Mr. Tim Flink, a good friend from my freshman ward, dressed as Julius Caesar, with a toga, belt and even an olive branch crown thing. I admit, I was impressed. For his prize, we will be doing a double date featuring a 3 course menu for dinner.

You have to see it to believe it, so we documented it with pictures. 

My apologies for the few day break from here. Once again I have been neglecting responsibility and have been staying up much later than my body tells me I should. It will be a huge difference come about 8 weeks when all of a sudden I have to be up and working at about 6 am. Yikes!

Life is going well. My gums are healing fabulously. I did eat softer and liquid foods for the first 48 hours. Thursday night I did eat a bit of normal food as I sampled our Iron Chef recipes we were testing. But it hurt for the first few days to open my mouth more than part-way, so I stuck to smaller, softer foods. The soreness in my jaw has gone away and I can open my mouth as wide as I want. Of course, everyone always tells me to keep my mouth shut anyway, so that doesn't even matter. But, I am taking good care of my mouth and I think I will heal up without any infections or other complications, which is really good. The right side will likely take a little longer to heal and I can tell that. The left never gave me any problems. The left has been almost like I didn't get a tooth extracted. The right side is still healing better than I imagined and the whole process was WAY easier and painless and much less an inconvenience than I thought, so I'm happy.

The whole daylight savings thing was fun again this year. It's nice having the sun still up at 7 pm and I look forward to mid-summer when it's still up at like 8:30 or so. It also makes the mornings easier. With more natural light coming in the bedroom window earlier, I wake up easier.

This week will be a cooking delight. Sunday I made my asian chicken salad. It's very gingery, so most of you wouldn't like it. Thursday is St. Patty's Day and the 2nd Annual dinner at my place. The dinner and party will go perfectly with a viewing of BYU's first NCAA tournament game included. Then this Sunday, I'll be doing my catering preview, where I'll sample some recipes for comments and ratings.

As the semester draws to a close, I have to start downsizing my stuff. I have made some decisions on some things, but many, many more I have no idea what to do. I am going to try to have some sort of a sale where I can just have tons of stuff for sale for cheap. Try to make a few bucks and get rid of stuff. It's not too hard to undercut Provos' Deseret Industry prices because here everything is a few bucks more than all the other DI's in Utah.

Today was a forum address by Micheal Flaherty, the President and Co-Founder of Walden Media. He gave an absolutely AMAZING address on his experiences and how he became who he is and it was just fantastic. You should all try to see it when it replays on BYUtv or something. It was really, really good. And if you haven't seen movies done by Walden Media (which include Charlotte's Webb, Bridge to Terabithia, and the Narnia movies), you should watch them. The company's focus is family oriented media that helps people ask the big questions and grow to be better. I can't stress how great today's forum was.

If anyone in Virginia is bored, help Angela develop her basketball skills. She is at the perfect time to grow to become the Jimmer of women's basketball. Take her to the church and have her dribble down a dark hallway with people jumped out from behind doors.

Annie's birthday is next week...holy cow!

I'll leave you all today with a great poem to inspire you:

Tonight was the Iron Chef competition. The secret ingredients were phyllo dough, canned tomatoes, and honey butter. We planned on the phyllo dough and tomatoes and were ready for either peanut butter, honey butter or corn flakes for our dessert, so we were way excited.

For our appetizer, I put together chicken with spinach artichoke pyhllo cups. I cut phyllo dough and put it into muffin tins, then filled them with the chicken and spinach artichoke topping. When baked, the phyllo dough browned and retained it's shape so it could be eaten by hand, similar to the lasagna cupcakes I did a couple weeks back. We plated them like pros. I put two phyllo cups between a spread out leaf of kale. It looked like something you would pay $10 for at a restaurant and it tasted that good too. No joke.

The entree was my Rustic Tomato and Quinoa soup. We made a half gallon so we could serve the judges and have lots of samples for the audience. It turned out AMAZING and we put it in green bowls on a white square plate with parsley for garnish and home made garlic croutons. It looked, tasted and was phenomenal.

Our dessert was a banana cooked in honey butter, topped with white and milk chocolate ganache, peanut butter mousse, and candied corn flakes. It was plated on blue plates and also looked and tasted like it came from a restaurant.

Of all the groups, ours received the most attention from the audience and the people documenting the night with cameras and video cameras. Once everything was plated, it looked like we were presenting a sample of a fancy restaurant.

The judges rated everything by taste, presentation, and creativity. None of the other tables had the experience I had on plating and presenting food. We easily blew everyone out of the water on that one. It shouldn't have even been close. We tasted other people's foods and what everyone in my group and everyone who was rooting for us noticed is that none of the groups had 3 good dishes. Each group had 1 recipe that was good, but many had one that was either average or in some unfortunate cases, just poor.

Anyway in the end, in what is the biggest shock I've ever had on an outcome of anything, we lost. One of the judges told us it was close, but she didn't like the tartness of the soup. She wanted it to be sweetened out a lot. The quinoa soup is a peruvian recipe and it is, by nature, a lightly spicy soup. We had half a gallon of soup and we only tossed out the soup the judges ate. Everything else was cleaned out, with people coming back and back for more. What offends me most though, is that we did win an award. The soup won "most likely to end up in a food storage cookbook." How dare they. I was so upset. That award sounds like that's a recipe that's never going to be made. Like a recipe that's going to sit on the shelf until you have to get rid of stuff. Well, first of all, every single ingredient in that soup is fresh, high quality stuff. Second of all, that soup is more likely to be served in a restaurant than ever be put into a cookbook for food storage. THERE IS NOTHING FOOD STORAGE ABOUT IT! Outrageous.

I talked with a lot of people and everyone, with the obvious exception of the winners, was surprised we lost. What's worse is we lost to a group who made a spaghetti for one of their recipes...so original, so creative, so good looking...bull crap.

I'm upset by the outcome of tonight, infuriated by my "award", but I have no regrets. I went in there and made food these people loved and were privileged to see. They likely will not see food of that quality for years to come. I am proud of my team and I am proud of myself for some of the most phenomenal looking and tasting food even I have ever had. It's unfortunate my teammates had to suffer the judging of some professors, but I told them that the food they made tonight was hands down the best. Sometimes you win, sometimes, you lose. Tonight we may not have won the title, but we definitely won the competition in my eyes.

Pictures of our amazing food to come.

My day at the dentist was possibly the easiest I've ever had. Just like last week, I never felt any pain, even when they numbed me. Last week I may have felt a really small pinch, but no pain. This week when they numbed me up, I never even knew they were sticking me with a needle, and they unleashed 4 large syringes full in my gums and cheeks. Though I credit some of this with the gel stuff they rub on before, I think the lack of pain came straight from heaven.

After letting the local anesthetic work it's magic for about 20 minutes, the dentist came back to extract my teeth. Another dentist hovered over and watched so he could learn more about soft tissue extraction. The next part went so quick I couldn't believe it. He said I would feel pressure but no pain, then a quick cut here, a quick cut there, then he grabbed his pliers, grabbed the tooth and shazam, it was out. Time elapsed? A minute at most. The right tooth was similar. It took a few minutes though because he felt a piece of a bone or something after the tooth was out he wanted to remove so it wouldn't get closed in and infect anything. The total time elapsed was maybe 5 minutes. They put gauze in, gave me instructions on how to recover properly, gave me my teeth, gave me a printout of the cost and I was on my way. I went and picked up a prescription for painkillers (just in case) and some pebble ice and that was it. I iced my cheeks for the first couple hours after being home, but there wasn't much swelling. The right side, since he did some digging and irritated it a bit, got a little swollen for a bit. As far as I could tell, the left may have got a teensy bit swollen, but really, there was minimal swelling and it has been gone for hours. I really don't think the removal of my wisdom teeth could have gone any better. No problems. So far, no complications. I'm taking it easy and not going into work tomorrow. I expect that, though I will continue to follow the care instructions through the next week or two, by Friday, I will be in very good shape, which is great because Iron Chef is Friday and after our planning meeting I went to today, it's looking like we are going to do great at that.

BYU plays in the MWC tournament tomorrow. GO COUGS!

As you should all know, by the time most of you read this in the morning, I will have my wisdom teeth removed, and with that, what wisdom I have acquired. Thus, before it is stripped from me, I must impart my wisdom and observations of life to the world. Here is what I got:

• When you find yourself in times of trouble...let it be.
• Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad.
• Don't spit...or pee...into the wind.
• Don't eat yellow snow.
• We should all stop procrastinating...tomorrow.
• You never learn anything by doing it right.
• It is much easier to get forgiveness than permission.
• A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
• That piece of junk you've had for years that you just threw away...yeah, you'll find you need it in 2 weeks.
• One thing I haven't figured out is how there can be self-help "groups"...
• If swimming is so good for your figure, what happened to the whales?
• When in trouble, always ask, WWJD? What Would Jimmer Do?
• If Jimmer swishes a 3 in the woods and no one sees it...
• Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans.
• A carelessly planned project will take three times longer to complete than expected; a carefully planned project will take only twice as long.

There are a few others stuck in my head. I guess you'll never get to hear them.

Anyway, I'm not too stoked for the actual procedure, but I am a little excited to get some prescription painkillers...just kidding...just kidding...though in all seriousness, I am glad I will have something real to help with the pain. I need a speedy recovery. Iron Chef is Friday!

The songs of the day are suitable for today's dental occasion.

When I wrote a quick update last night, it was 2:30 am, so I was quite tired and didn't really say much about the week. Thus, I decided to give a little more recap of the week since I didn't write much this week.

I have to be honest...I slacked off big time this week. Part of it was because my mouth has been adjusting to the new crowns, so eating has been difficult. With eating difficult, I didn't get as many nutrients and didn't have as much energy and motivation. So...yeah. I had things I should have done, but I didn't really do it. I'm paying for that this weekend and through Tuesday. I have to skim read a biography and write a 1 page summary on how public speaking influenced the person who's biography I read. I have to write and rehearse a 4 minute speech for class. I have to finish cleaning for cleaning checks tomorrow. I have to get my nutrients and energy so I can stay healthy and not slack off anymore.

On Thursday I received an email inviting me to sign up to participate in an Iron Chef BYU competition. Obviously, I was stoked. I immediately responded and was assigned to a 4 person team to compete with. This site gives a run down of the rules: http://cougarfacs.weebly.com/iron-chef.html

I will spend some time this week preparing for that because I don't want to just compete for the sheer fun. I want to win the competition!

By popular demand, I'm making more cupcakes on Tuesday. I'm also planning on having my catering preview night in a couple weeks. I'm going to make up cupcakes, mints, punch, cookies, empanadas and whatever else and have people sample everything, rate the recipes by taste, texture, non-messiness and such, then I'll gather comments and suggestions. This will give me a good idea of what's best and what to send to Amelia for final approval for use at her wedding reception. Only the best for this wedding.

In case you are unaware, next Thursday (the 17th) is St. Patrick's Day. If you aren't in the loop, that means you have to make corned beef and cabbage! I would add you have to have Irish Soda Bread as well. I have a SUPER easy and SUPER SUPER delicious recipe for soda bread you should all ask me for and serve with your Irish dinners.

There are only 7 weeks left until I ship off south for my job. I'm so excited to go, but this means I will finally be leaving my apartment. I'll be writing a tribute blog post in a month about my apartment. That may seem odd, but this apartment has been my home for 2 and a half years. So much has happened, I have to highlight it all. Also, look for a special, funny post on Tuesday night. Since I'm getting my wisdom teeth out, I have to share what wisdom I have before it's taken away.

This should be a good week...heck, the whole month is full of fun things. St. Patty's Day. Iron Chef. Wisdom teeth removal. Annie's birthday. The Holi Festival of Colors. Spring begins. It's gonna be fun!

Wow...the days are just a blur now. I can't believe it is already a week into March! In many ways that is good, but in a few (namely the assignments I procrastinated), it's not so good. Regardless, I'm stoked for the remainder of the semester and for the upcoming summer.

First and foremost I HAVE to show you all the amazing flash mob dance we did at the final BYU men's basketball game in the Marriott Center on Saturday. The energy was so epic. I've never seen the rest of the crowd get so excited about something. They LOVED it.

This blog has 5 different views of it. I imagine BYU Marketing, who was behind it, had it filmed in higher quality and hopefully will make a nice upload of it, but, perhaps all we'll ever have is these. Either way, this gives you a good look at it. Seeing it and being in it was just amazing. They showed it on the big screen as we were doing at and we looked up and it just looked amazing!

http://kell-dreambig.blogspot.com/

We have Stake Conference this week, so we get to sleep in a bit longer than usual. I have wisdom teeth removal on Wednesday. Friday is big for me. I'm competing on a team in an Iron Chef BYU competition! It's the Family and Consumer Sciences department against the Food Science Club. I think my team will win! It is going to be so much fun and I'll tell you more about it later.

So much going on this weekend, so little time to do it. I'll get everything done by Tuesday, just in time for me to take a couple days off while I'm drugged after my wisdoms come out. I'm just glad Amelia isn't here to see. I distinctly remember that when I made fun of her chipmunk look, she vowed to give me a hard time about my own look after wisdom teeth removal.

Speaking of looks, here is the mission picture I uploaded:

The dentist went well on Monday aside from the unexpected high cost. I went through my finances and options before and had just about everything figured out to get me through the next 2 months before real work and a real paycheck begin. I forgot to take into account that this life is real and that when things look good that means things are about to get really tough. Sure enough, the dentist bill came in and I allocated what was my rent money to pay the dentist. That throws everything a little out of sync, but I am still confident that I will make it through the next 2 months without too many problems.

I do have to commend the dentist for his work. All the silver has been removed and I have a new crown and a 3/4 crown overlay that blend perfectly with my teeth. I felt no pain at all except for when he accidentally hit a nerve or something when numbing my mouth. A little of the numbing stuff shot through a nerve or vein up my cheek and below my eye. It stung for a second and went a little numb for a minute, but it cleared up quickly. Everything else went really well. There was a little decay on the tooth with a filling but they cleaned it out and said it won't need a root canal or anything.

Starting very soon I have to begin going through things and decide what to get rid of and what to keep. Many people will benefit from me leaving as I have lots of stuff to give away. I will hopefully be able to sell a few things too. A final decision on many items will not be made until after I get my mission call. I'm still confused by some insurance questions and need to call home to figure those out, but I have my pictures on my computer and just need to upload my drivers license and passport now. Everything else is done. I know this is kind of a big deal and it's quite exciting for many of you (myself included), but I am keeping it sort of low key. I know myself and while it's helpful to have my closest friends supporting me, if I have tons of people pressuring me to finish it all I know that things won't get done. I'm trying to get everything done by tomorrow though. I have to mail the additional medical information tomorrow. Everything else will be submitted before they get that. I don't know the timetable on things, but I know they will make sure everything is correct and all that before my picture goes up in front of an apostle. So, however long that takes.

Not looking forward to getting my wisdoms out, but hopefully, if the cost isn't too much, I'll be getting that done next week.

Cougar Basketball took a huge blow with Brandon Davies being dismissed for the year. The New Mexico game and the next week will tell just how good we really are. I'm a bit nervous. But at least we stuck to our guns and didn't try to hide it till the end of the season.

What a weekend it has been. Saturday was every bit as exciting as we hoped. The men's basketball team did exactly what I thought they would and they whooped SDSU. At the women's basketball game against SDSU, we were down by 16 points 5 minutes into the second half, so we opted to leave early to have a bit of rest time before the gymnastics meet that night. Well, BYU came back and won by 4. I was a little disappointed we missed a good comeback, but I caught a sweet shirt (in my size too!), so it's all good. The gymnastics meet was good. We had a good final score but lost by two tenths of a point. We had two girls fall on the bars, and if one of them had not fallen, we would have won. But, that's ok. Our score was still pretty high (195.15).

I've been busy researching recipes for the wedding and in a couple weeks I'm hosting a mini reception where I'll have friends sample, rate and give suggestions on the different foods. That will be really fun and give me good feedback I can send back to the wedding planners. Let me just say that this wedding will have some of the best food you've ever had. The final decisions are up to the bride and groom (Amelia and Max), so I just hope they have good taste for the delicious foods I'm planning. Several of these recipes have already been unanimously named "the best ever" by several friends and family. I'm excited!

Took my mission picture today. I'll put it on here tomorrow. Getting some dental work done in the morning. That's about it for now. Gotta start a movie for some impatient people now so I better go do that.

Well, this week has just flown by. It's Monday, then I blink and Friday is here. It has been a good week. I had a nutrition exam Wednesday. On the first exam I accidentally missed a section to study and got 77%. I enjoy this class too much to get a score that low, so I made sure I internalized as much information as I could. I had lots of fun studying and it paid off. There were still a few questions I was a little unsure of, but I was confident through most of the test and I came out with 88%!! The class average for the first test was 82% so I was just below average. The average on this one was 80% and it was considered a harder exam. I was high above the average! Let me just say that classes you really enjoy are SO much more fun and are way easier if you have the right mindset. My mindset is that I want to learn as much as possible in this class and be able to use that information to help people follow good nutrition, so I am doing well in the class. Next week our 3rd assignment is due. That assignment will be a piece of cake. I have to make an entree and then answer some questions. The hardest part for me will be to decide what delicious recipe I'm going to make.

Today, Mike and I went to the Utah Valley Better Business Expo. It's a huge annual trade show at UVU where business people come to network and such. We had catered lunch from Tucano's Brazilian Grill and Chef's Table Restaurant, both of which had great food. Then we walked up and down the hundreds of booths, collecting swag and occasionally stopping to chat about different businesses. We came away with a good size bag of cool stuff. It was lots of fun.

This weekend is super busy with sports. Tonight was volleyball. Tomorrow is volleyball. Saturday morning is the BYU @ SDSU game. Right after that we're going to the Marriott to watch the women's basketball play SDSU. After that I'm going to the gymnastic meet (Phillip is one of the student athletic trainers for the women's gymnastics team so I go to all the meets) with my Cougarette friends. By the way, the SDSU game will air on CBS, so everyone should be able to watch it. Find an antenna or something. It will be a great game. Sunday I will definitely need a nice, long nap.

That's all I have to report. Working on finishing mission papers up. Gotta get a haircut and make sure I get the insurance information correct. Payday tomorrow so I'll stop by the barber shop on the way home from work.

I have a funny youtube video we watched in nutrition today. It's 6 minutes long, but you really only have to watch a couple minutes so you don't get annoyed. The music starts after about 20 seconds, so be patient.

Be ready to laugh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhIsJxTBsLs

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!

The end of the week and the first half of this weekend has been fairly relaxed. We had the snow on Wednesday that quickly melted and then again today we had a few inches of wet snow that quickly melted. Saturday I went and saw the Cougarettes in Concert. I enjoyed that a lot and had a lot of fun. Vocal Point performed a couple songs with the Cougarettes and also had one solo song, so that was cool. Saturday was a pretty busy day. We went to a women's basketball game, then watched the men's game, then I took a brief nap before going with Evan to a friend's for dinner and then to the Cougarettes concert. After that we went back to the friend's apartment and hung/hanged out before making a late night grocery run and then going to bed. I was pretty tired today and for the first time in several weeks I got a Sunday nap. Usually I have so much baking and cooking to do I don't have time to sleep, but today I had a simple dinner planned for just me, Phillip and Evan, so I had all afternoon to myself. After a quick lunch I slept for a good 3 hours. It was great. Tomorrow I'm heading to the Art Institute of Salt Lake with a friend from work to check out their school and their culinary program. I won't be attending soon since I've accepted a job for summer, but I want to get a better feel for culinary school and what it's going to be like. I wish I could be in culinary school now, but I'll have to wait a while.

That's really all that's happening. School is going good. I'm way excited for the summer! I'm way excited for the wedding! I'm way excited for St. Patrick's Day and corned beef and cabbage!

The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday and the first half of today were so warm you didn't even need a jacket. It got up to 50 and I just wanted to go lay outside. Sadly, I knew it would all end today. Just as forecast, 30 mph winds began blowing this afternoon, bringing in clouds and then an inch of snow this evening. That's what I love about weather. You could have had the most wonderful picnic in shorts and a t-shirt on dry ground this morning and then gone sledding tonight. Weather may be my fallback if culinary arts fails. I still am fascinated by the weather and study it well.

So I have some goals I would like to accomplish in the remaining couple months this semester. First, I will have my mission papers submitted by the end of this month. If I'm really good, I'll have everything submitted by the end of this week. Second, I'm going to read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon through. Annie read the entire New Testament last week. Not going to lie, I was impressed. Third, I am NOT going to spend money on things I do not need. With that, I'm going to be better at defining "needs" and "wants". Last summer's purchases of a love sac, projector, and ipod were, of course, needs. Those are the only big goals specifically laid out. I have lots of other things I know I need to better at that which I will be more committed to working towards as well. I know we say a lot "go to church, read your scriptures, pray, and fast and all that and life will be good". Let me just say it's so true. Being at BYU people get too religious and caught up in routine and sometimes it loses meaning, but I want to testify that doing those things with purpose and intent makes my life amazing. Just look at how I act and react when I'm not doing those things. I'm not as motivated, I'm not as forgiving, I'm certainly not as pleasant, I don't have as much energy, I can get down quickly. I hope you all recognize the importance of prayer and scripture study in your life. If not, give it a sincere try. The change will be phenomenal.

Make today a great day.

~Jon
PS- if you listen to the song today, stick around for the second verse...this is the only time it's been recorded that I'm aware of...

It has been a mostly uneventful week so far.

Valentine's Day I went to work, then came home and installed Windows 7 on my computer. Saving all my documents, music and other stuff took a while and then the installation took just under an hour. After that, I helped Phillip do his taxes. The rest of the night I spent installing drivers and such on my computer. Today was much the same. After class I went to work, came home, went to my other class, went to the store, came home, had dinner, made more red velvet cupcakes and have spent all evening working on getting everything I need on my computer again. Tomorrow I'll finish up my computer stuff.

The weather has been amazing here. Since Sunday we've gotten up near 50. Tomorrow, it will get stormy and we're expected to get a good little bit of snow Wednesday night and Thursday.

I am a little annoyed to find that my DVD/CD drive on my computer doesn't read DVD/CDs anymore. Since I have a separate DVD player hooked up to the projector, that's no problem, but I really need my CD drive to install some software that won't work otherwise. I'm still working on what I can do to get what's on the CD on my computer.

Other than the uneventful week, things are well. With only Tuesday and Thursday classes, I don't have class after tomorrow until next Thursday, because next Tuesday's classes are going to be Monday classes. So, I'll have lots of free time to work on studying Nutrition and preparing speeches and such. Also plenty of time to get good rest, make good meals. I am very pleased to announce that I have gained almost 5 pounds and it's not a temporary gain from eating a big meal or anything. My average weight on the scale previously was around 128. Now it's around 132. At the doctor last week I was pegged at 136. If I keep this up maybe I'll have some insulation for next winter.

St. Patrick's Day coming up in a month, guess I better take down the Valentine's Day decorations and get some green construction paper.

I wish I was in culinary school right now. That is really the only thing that could make me happier right now. Today I had my cupcake night. I made red 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and then 2 dozen lasagna cupcakes, and all of it was from scratch (minus the lasagna noodles). I make a mean white sauce lasagna and tonight the white sauce was so delicious. I wanted to eat the entire dozen of those myself. I'm not as fond of my tomato sauce, but the red wine pomodoro sauce I made today was ok. I'm going to be reading up on my tomato sauce making and improving it. The red velvet was a huge hit. I topped them with the homemade cream cheese frosting and fresh raspberries. I've never made cupcakes from scratch, but they were so good that I'm grabbing a pint of buttermilk tomorrow so I can make more. There was plenty of leftover frosting, so it's a win-win. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "EWW, I THINK I'M GONNA BE SICK" and 10 being "THIS WAS SO GOOD I'M SPEECHLESS", I rate tonight's meal an 8.75. If I improve my methods (there were plenty of little obstacles I had to overcome tonight) and improve my tomato sauce, this could easily become a signature favorite of mine. I already love it. It's super fun to make, super delicious, and it just looks so amazing when you pull them out of the pan. I have a picture of them in the pan. Once we tasted how good they were we didn't think to take pictures of them on a plate, but I'll make it again soon and take pictures. I need to start documenting my food so you all can see it.

Right now I have a spare moment. After this, I likely will not have a spare moment until Monday. Today is the Utah basketball game so I'll be in line for several hours, then the game happens, then I have to run errands to the grocery store and then we'll likely be having a movie night. Tomorrow, immediately after church I am making authentic red velvet cupcakes with decadent homemade cream cheese frosting for tomorrow's dinner's dessert. Then I have to make lasagna cupcakes for dinner. I'm having a few new faces over to my apartment- my old freshman roommate and a guy in the ward who has been interested in becoming better acquainted with me ever since he saw the table all set up for the Christmas Dinner. He's been in the ward a while but we never  hang out or anything, so since at break the fast we were talking about the duck dinner and this week's lasagna cupcakes and he was interested, I invited him. Unfortunately, the Cougarettes who were also invited can't come this week.

I gotta get going or I won't get a half decent seat at the game, so I'll sign off by sharing a new favorite youtube video on Jimmer Fredette:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E3rC8p2wq0

The big news today is that Jerry Sloan resigned as head coach for the Utah Jazz. It is not surprising that he is finally leaving, but the fact that it is mid-season does surprise me. I watched the news conference where he and his long-time assistant Phil Johnson resigned and he said it was his choice, no one forced him out and he refuses to blame it on anyone or anything other than the fact that he feels it is the right time. It will be odd watching the Jazz without Sloan on the sidelines. He's been there since before I was born.

I went to the doctor today to complete my mission physical. Everything went great. I am proud to report also that my vision is better than ever. Individually, my eyes are 20/15. But together, they are 20/13. And that's with tired eyes. I'm just shy of having the highest of 20/10. But that's ok, if my eyes were that perfect, I wouldn't have any faults.

All that remains is turning my dentist and doctor paperwork to my bishop, uploading some documents, and then the most difficult thing (besides the dental work and shots I have to get), I'll have to trim my sideburns to halfway up my ear for a picture. LAME!! Thankfully, my sideburns grow faster than a magical bean, so they'll be back down where they belong in a week. Halfway up the ear ain't so bad though since everyone told me they had to be non-existent. That was so untrue. The guidelines specifically state they can go halfway down the ear. I will not be parting my hair though. This hair is not the Red Sea.

I admit I have made some poor financial decisions in life, but, thankfully I usually get a second chance at living within my means. This year's second chance comes from a plethora of sources. My state return of $127 came today along with a $330 reimbursement for tuition from dropping a course. Tomorrow, my $1500 federal return and $275 paycheck will be direct deposited. Deduct tithing and eliminating debt to the bank (mostly incurred for educational purposes), and I should be able to pay off almost half of my loan for tuition. That will alleviate a good deal of stress.

A spot of random news. Utah is legalizing "cake" fireworks, so not all of my stash will be illegal anymore...most will still be, but not all. Regardless, we have to find occasion to get a caravan an hour and a half up the road to Wyoming before the end of April so I can get rid of the 3 boxes still under my bed. I can't take them to Zion with me and I'm certainly not going to just trot down to the police station and turn them over. What kind of person do you think I am??

Anyway, life is good. The future is bright. The Kenny G is on (if your speakers are on).

Oh, and a comment element has been added to the right side again. Go ahead. Use it.

Today as I sat reading my daily paper, I turned to the letters to the editor. I always read them to hear the ridiculous things that people believe and write. On this fine day, some poor girl wrote the following:

I cant walk across campus without hearing Jimmer Fredettes name a dozen times. His name comes up everywhere: in class, at work, during lunch really, people? Cut it out with the Jimmer worship. Last time I checked, idol worship was very much frowned upon in the scriptures. Dont you have a life to live? Then quit wasting it in front of the TV or in lines at the Marriott Center. At the very least, stop trying to convert those of us who dont follow BYU sports and dont care that baseball and badminton are two different things. Pushing basketball on us isnt going to make us like it any better. Im not blaming Jimmer for all this; was it Nephis fault in the Book of Mormon when his brothers worshiped him? As far as Im concerned, Jimmer is perfectly free to live his dreams. If he reaches his goals and lives his dreams, more power to him. I would like the same courtesy from his fans: let me live my own dreams in peace, even if they dont include ever sitting in the Marriott Center screaming my brains out.
Michelle

I knew immediately that tons of people would respond. What I did not know, however, is that by the time I read the letter at about 11:00 am, people had figured out her last name, found out her Facebook wall was public, and had left hundreds of comments. By the end of the day, nearly every Utah news outlet had a story about it, a youtube video had been made, and even ESPN had it on their site. Here are the ones I have read so far:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22753/jimmer-mania-gives-us-epic-facebook-thread

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

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsbyusports/51213510-65/byu-jimmer-student-doing.html.csp


 http://dreamcatchermedia.com/jimmered

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705366221/BYU-basketball-Student-letter-about-Fredette-gets-to-national-media-attention.html

http://universe.byu.edu/node/13783

I could post links all night long, but they all say the same thing: Michelle Peralta just got Jimmered like no other. You can bet there'll be signs about this come Saturday.

Oh, and you can't miss this hilarious song featuring LaVell Edwards, Chad Lewis and Shawn Bradley.

Today was everything you'd expect from a Monday. The tiring weekend I had culminated in me being completely and utterly exhausted this morning. I stayed in bed later than I've stayed in bed all semester. I got up at 9:40, splashed some water on my face and in me hair and trotted off to work. Only 1 of 3 morning guys were there, so when the one guy left, it was just me for a couple hours. I had a doctor's appointment at 2 so I had to leave around 1:30. I got nervous when none of the afternoon guys showed up either. Finally, at 1:15 someone came. The doctor visit was just peachy. Nothing to make me feel better on a Monday than getting injected with Tuberculosis, peeing in a cup, and having blood drawn. To all you naysayers who think I can't take a needle, I'll have you know I looked directly at the thing sucking my blood away. I didn't stare it down, but it was a solid 3 second look. I still hate needles.

Home from the doctor, I relaxed the rest of the day. I feel asleep to a movie for a good hour or so. I did laundry. I prepped my demonstration speech for class tomorrow. I'm giving my demo on making gift baskets. I figure with Valentine's Day next week it would be a great topic.

I just learned that if you are going to put wild rice in an omelet or burrito, don't saute it with your other ingredients. I had some onion and thyme sauteing and I threw in a handful of wild rice left from the duck yesterday. That stuff started popping like popcorn. My kitchen looks like a war zone now. I'll deal with that mess tomorrow though. I need to get as close to 8 hours of sleep as possible tonight.

Big plans for some great cooking in the coming weeks. Cupcake Lasagna. A couple different simple salsas. Butter Mints (the after dinner kind you have at weddings). Feta and Craisin stuffed Pork Loin. Something new with chicken...can't wait!

Tonight, I am extremely proud of myself. Most of the time, I don't brag about my food and I rarely call myself a great cook, but today I really did pull off something awesome and I am so excited how things turned out.

Hilary, Kathleen and I planned a meal in celebration of my Sous Chef job this summer. They wanted me to make something fancy, so, I decided to do the duck breast recipe I love so much from the resort. To make the week-long preparation story short, the duck had to be ordered fresh online and overnighted, then cured for 2 days with a secret combo of spices and herbs. We found that no one in Utah sells demi-glace, which was a crucial element in this recipe. Now, you can make demi-glace, but the real way takes 24+ hours and many ingredients which also would probably have to be made because they aren't found in Utah. Time was extremely tight and I pretty much had zero time left, so I did my research and took 3 different recipes and techniques for a quick imitation demi-glace and combined the recipes with my knowledge to create a mock demi-glace. I'll come back to that later. Pretty much everything about making this duck meal at home is different than making it in a fully stocked professional kitchen, so I had to make everything up based on my memory of the dish from 2 years ago. Ultimately, the duck came out fantastic, the wild rice perfect, the asparagus divine. The balsamic demi-glace was the crown. You cannot have this meal without the demi-glace and it was so delicious. I was legitimately concerned that not having good demi-glace would destroy all the preparation put into this meal. But, I could not believe that the recipe I made up turned out so good. I was completely blown away. The meal was great, the company even more great, and my confidence is just through the roof right now.

I truly love food. Not just like I love food because it tastes good, but I have this profound appreciation for everything about it. The flavors, the textures, the colors, the nutrients, the joy of cooking it, the joy of eating it, the really cool knowledge of where it came from...all these things and more I just love. When I get to talking about food people always comment on how excited I get and how passionate about it I am. I still don't consider myself to be some great cook, but I think I'm getting there and I can't wait for the rest of the journey.

Yesterday (Friday), was a crazy day. I was up at 7:30 to get ready for work at 9. At work I got to do something cool for once and drive to the BYU Radio Shop to get new chargers for our radios and get some parts replaced. It only took like 20 minutes, but it was exciting because usually the most exciting new thing I get to do at work is something lame like office work or shoveling ice and snow (both of which I am still happy to do just because of the variety). Anyway, I left work early to go to the dentist. My teeth are in good order, but I did schedule some work that would be beneficial to do just in case. At the end of this month I'm going in for 2 hours to get a crown replaced and to get an inlay to replace an old filling. Then, in March, I'm getting my two wisdom teeth removed. I didn't think it was necessary, and the dentist almost didn't think so either, but, he recommended we just do it while I'm young to prevent problems later. I only have two upper wisdom teeth, tooth #1 and tooth #16, and the removal won't be too bad. I don't need an oral surgeon, but they will still be cutting them out, so I will swell up a bit.

The dentist took a little longer than expected, so I just went the 2 blocks home to finish some school work up instead of going back to work. I finished my nutrition analysis assignment, which was very intriguing and insightful. After that was in the rest of the day was mine. The plan was to go to the men's volleyball match and then watch a movie and go to bed. Sounds like fun, but what ended up happening was way, way more fun.

Phillip and I were waiting for Phillip's Cougarette friend Amy to come so we could go to the game. Amy was with another Cougarette, Victoria, and they were hungry and wanted to do homework while we went to the game and then they'd come watch a movie. So, since Phillip and I were hungry too, we went to get dinner with them. We went to Cafe Zupas, which is a great soup, salad and sandwich cafe. We never made it to the volleyball game. You may have misconceptions about the Cougarette girls being uptight, exclusive, maybe even abrasive, but then you haven't met Amy and Victoria. After a hilarious and fun 2 hours, we left Zupas. I'll summarize the rest of the night because it was so spontaneous. We went to Spoon It Up and had some dang delicious frozen yogurt. Then, we went to Victoria's house, where several other Cougarettes live. A group of them were going to a big party and were all dressed up, so we took pictures for them and sent them off. Then we added another one to our entourage and headed to say hi to one of their friends, who is an athletic trainer. This trainer and her roommate were a riot. We almost peed ourselves laughing over there. After another hour or so, it was almost 11, so we had to get a movie going soon. The girls had to be up at 7:30 for a brutal day of practice and a performance at the basketball game, so we let them go home and Phillip and I went home, where Evan and my roommate Brandon joined us for a movie. It was by far the most entertaining Friday night we have had in a long time and when we finally got to bed at about 3 am, it wasn't hard to zonk right out.

Today was freezing cold again. So cold that the automated car wash at work froze, so we had to hand-wash the vehicles in the wash bay, and even though it is heated, when you open the door, you freeze instantly. Thankfully the wonderful sun has been shining brightly, which helps heat up the insides of the vehicles and helps a teeny bit to warm us up. The cold definitely complicates work, especially when this weekend is another super-duper busy one and almost every vehicle in the fleet is going out tomorrow. At last count there were about 52 scheduled to go out. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

I will miss a little work tomorrow for a dentist visit. Hurray.

So, what I'm really excited about is what I did for my nutrition class today. This week I took note of (almost) everything I ate for three days for our nutrition analysis assignment. It's exactly what it sounds like. An in-depth analysis of my nutrition. I inputted the foods I ate and added the closest food listed in their database. Most brand name foods are there and generally you can find something pretty close to what homemade recipes you make. It may be a little off, but when it comes to nutrition, the guidelines for intakes are broad and general in certain areas...but that's irrelevant for you to know right now anyway. After inputting my servings in for everything I ate, I could look at an analysis for tons of things. I could look at specific vitamins and minerals and see if I am getting enough. I can look at fats and see if I'm getting the right amount of calories from fats, but not too much of unhealthy saturated fats. I could look to see if I'm getting the right amounts of grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, and meats. It was super cool. From the small 3 day sample I had, I found I need to increase my intake of Vitamin A, Zinc, and Fiber. I could also benefit greatly from reducing my sodium intake. My fats were right in the range they needed to be. What's great is that you can input your food intakes every day and track your nutrition that closely. And that's just the food intake analysis part of the site. You can also input your personal info and find out how many calories you should get based on your daily exercise to maintain your weight, lose weight, or, in my case, gain some weight. I am actually setting a goal to utilize the recommendations and analysis information to help me get the caloric intake I need, coupled with the exercise I need, to increase my energy and increase my weight to a healthy level (I have been hovering just below a healthy weight for my height and age since I got sick 3 years ago). The website is run by the USDA and is:

http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

I urge everyone to become familiar with it and use it to eat and ultimately be healthy. Nutritious eating habits are vital to being healthy and you'd be surprised how lacking you may be in a vitamin or mineral you thought you were getting enough of.

Oh...and I hope you enjoyed the song of the day..."I LIKE TO OAT, OPPLES AND BONONOS!' hehehehe...classic

I was excited to change my blog up this year, but to be honest, as much as I love reading the news and following what's going on around the world, it's not as fulfilling to me to blog about it. Anyone who knows me knows I am very opinionated. I almost always have something to say and if I don't understand something enough to have a strong opinion, I go and research it until I do. So it is interesting to me that I am not finding satisfaction with sharing my thoughts on things like the crisis in Egypt. What I have noticed though, is that blogging about the daily things strengthens me. I can't really explain it, but I know that I don't get as stressed when I blog about stressful occasions. Writing about things provides a medium I think I need right now. I can share excitement about something, which provides just enough release of excitement that I don't wriggle all night and lose sleep. I'm rambling trying to describe it, but ultimately what I'm trying to say is that I enjoy sharing my life, my ups and downs, my triumphs and failures.

I would like to comment on the crisis in Egypt though. Today I watched as thousands of people were gathered in the streets with the intent of violence. For a solid half hour as I ate my breakfast, I witnessed dozens upon dozens of crude molotov cocktails being thrown at the opposing crowd. I thought it was a terrifying thing that these people were so puffed up in their opinions that they were attacking innocent people and hurling flaming bottles at each other. I wondered how someone could be in that crowd and not realize that, when these flaming bottles were hitting all around and death seemed like a very real possibility, maybe being there was not such a good idea. But if they are willing to die for their cause, that's their deal.

So, from now on I'll be posting frequently again, sharing the highlights or lowlights of my day, with the intent that I can continue to grow and maybe you can grow too...at the very least, you can be entertained for a few minutes each day.