Cinnamon Life

I had never tasted Cinnamon Life cereal until I married Josh. He was a big fan and it didn't take long to convert me. I think I'm addicted! I snack on it all day -- just little handfuls about every ten minutes! Yum.

It's been such a great weekend with Jess and Jen in town. So wonderful to spend time with both of them! Beautiful Vela Amelia was sealed to Becky and Hema on Friday. It was such a neat experience to be a part of. Wow. Josh and I also enjoyed the big luau on Saturday and Vela's blessing this morning.

P.S. The art blog has been updated

Lots of New Recipes

So...this semester I was so much better at spreading out my work load and not putting it all off until the week of finals. My finals week really wasn't too bad. What did I do with my extra time? Go on a baking spree and try out several new recipes. The first was honey wheat rolls....soo good! My mom told me they would take 2.5 hours from start to finish. I'm definitely an amatuer because it took me 4 hours! Next time I think I can do it in 3, now that I've figured them out.

The next new recipe was cinnamon french toast from the Better Homes cook book. Yum! Josh and I used wheat bread instead of white and cut out the orange liqeur. It was delicious....we ate all the slices before any pictures could be taken. I also did a turkey that evening, which was equally as good! We had Jordan and Andrew (a friend in our ward who was wife-less for the weekend) over for dinner. (Note: the "turkey" was not a full size Thanksgiving turkey. It was just the little Jennie-O smaller kind. I'm not that good).

Sorry, just two more: Turkey Pot Pie! This was probably the best new recipe of the lot! I used my mom's simple pie crust and it was so so good! The picture does not do this justice. It had yummy turkey and vegetables inside. I'm making this recipe again probably next week. We couldn't get enough of it!

And the grand finale....Josh and I both finished our finals late Tuesday night around 11:00 pm. We were so glad to be done that we figured we needed to celebrate! I tried out a family recipe of Ginger Snap Cookies and they were so good! I ate 5 or 6 of them (at 11:30 pm) then hopped right into bed. Who starts a batch of cookies at 11:00 pm!? I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but under the circumstances it was unavoidable! Who can resist homemade cookies, fresh out of the oven? Not me -- even at 11:30 pm!

The downside to doing this much cooking? DISHES. I'm so much better at making the mess, then cleaning it all up!

Art update

Ever since we got a blog I've been trying to convince Josh to do a post all about me -- you know, highlighting my best attributes and achievements. Anyone who knows me well knows that I just love to be in the spotlight and be bragged about. (Ha). If you saw the past before this one you'll have seen that he finally came through. (But in all seriousness, I've got a pretty sweet husband. When he asked for our password I knew he was making a post, but I was sure it would be about the Spurs!)

Sooo....When my "Studio Space" consisted of our tiny kitchen, I mostly did smaller paintings on paper. Now that I can work on campus, I've been able to do some fun larger paintings. If you want to take a peek, click here: http://hawkinsart.blogspot.com. (And hopefully it will work. I've never added a link before).

Super Laura

I know this blog is mainly frequented by females and the occasional weird stranger. With that audience in mind, I proceed.

Okay, so I know you all know this, but my wife is the best. Sorry, she just is. She cooks the best meals (please see previous posts for examples), she is an artist (she's doing several still-lifes of me right now), and she put up with me. She's at her studio on campus painting right now. That's right, she has her own studio, but then again, why wouldn't she... I mean, have you seen her stuff? And no doubt she's being a little perfectionist and getting every little detail right, but that's just one of the many things I absolutely love about her. She woke up this morning and immediately put together an hour by hour schedule of her day. She didn't have it done last night -- I must be wearing off on her -- and it was item #1 this morning. Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout-out to my amazing wife. I love you Lar!!!
Love, Josh
PS: I don't even know what this photo is from, but she looks dang good!

A Little Update

Josh and I had such a wonderful conference weekend. We were able to attend the Saturday pm session, and run into Josh's mission president while we were there. President Clarke and his wife are such an awesome couple! What a treat to talk with them. We also loved hanging out with my family on Saturday, the Hawkins on Sunday, and the Clarke extended family Sunday night. We feel soo blessed to be this close to our families! It probable won't last forever, so we've got to soak it all in while we're still close by.

One little note to my last post: Josh will, unfortunately, be going to California alone this summer (It's actually just 10 weeks). I'll be here in Provo -- going to school, working tons of hours for Devin Durrant, preparing for my final art show in the fall, and missing my husband terribly! I know what you're thinking: we couldn't even make it a year. It's complicated why we won't both be going, but let me just say it's definitely not because we need some time apart :)

WooHoo!!! for PIMCO

Yay! My amazing husband just got an internship with PIMCO... not to be confused with PIMP-CO. That's an entirely different industry. I actually don't know much about PIMCO except that it stands for Pacific Investment Management Company and it's a really sweet internship. We've been crossing our fingers for this internship for so long that my fingers will, no doubt, be kinked forever. But it was worth it. The internship is in Newport Beach from the middle of June to the end of the summer and we're totally stoked. All these years of religiously watching the OC on TV have made both Josh and I set on eventually living in Orange County, and it seems our dreams have finally come true! Josh is so excited to grow out a shag and work on his tan. (ha!)

What's Better Than New Running Shoes!?

The shoe on the left is one of my newly retired running shoes. When I ran cross country I would get new running shoes every 6 months, but I wore these bad boys for almost two years. (Things change when you leave home and pay for all your own clothes). In their prime they were white and had traction on the bottom. But that was a very long time ago. Finally I replaced them with new Brook's running shoes (that just happened to be way on sale since they're last year's edition). My knees are soo happy. They haven't felt this much support and comfort for quite a while. I've been to the gym almost everyday for the last three weeks and I'm pretty sure it's because I have clean, new shoes on my feet! Let's hope this new excitement with the shoes takes a long, long time to wear off!

Goodbye Wedding Dress

So, I'm selling my wedding dress. Is that horrible? I think I'm supposed to hang on to it forever and pass it on for all generations of time, but I'm honestly not that attached to it. (I actually wanted to rent a dress, but couldn't find anything). It was definitely a love/hate relationship with my dress. It was the absolute perfect dress that I had wanted...but the first thing that comes to mind is sucking in my stomache and being worried about whether or not it would fit on my wedding day. Maybe I'm just selling it out of defiance.

Anyway, have any of you sold your wedding dress? Any tips on where to post an ad or are there little shops that buy wedding dresses? I posted it on KSL.com, but that's the extent of my efforts. Any suggestions....or am I the only future mom that won't have a wedding dress for my daughters to try on?