I almost killed a child

I also almost titled this post "I killed a child" but then started to worry that perhaps someone would see that and make some assumptions.  Hence the "almost."  Haha anyway, story time!

A couple days ago I decided to walk around the WILK while I was on break.  As I was walking around, I saw the cutest little boy (probably around 2 or 3) running around and making funny noises.  I laughed at him and watched him run down the other side of the hall towards me.

As little boy and I kept getting nearer each other, I started to notice that he wasn't slowing down much.  I thought that surely he would run around me when he got close enough to do so.  Oh my lanta was I so wrong.

Little boy comes barreling ahead, full speed, into my legs.  The impact was barely noticeable for me.  However, little boy seemed to think differently as he immediately bounced off of my legs on to the cold, hard floor.

My thoughts were racing a mile a minute as I bent down to help him up:

"Is he injured?"

"Did I just kill a child?"

"He's so cute, what have I done?!"

"Where is his mom?  She'll probably think I'm a hellion after she sees this scene!"

Then I looked up.  And guess who was standing there right next to me?  You guessed it:  Little Boy's Mom.

I looked at her and waited for her words.  I knew the impact of those would be far more severe on my pysche than the small impact felt on my legs from little boy.

I braced for the worst.

And then the words rolled out of her mouth:

"Do not feel bad.  He is a spaz."

And with that she picked him up, and walked off.

All that could be heard were my muffled words behind her: "Well at least he's cute!"

Good one Kim.  Goooooood one.


All my love,

Kim

San Diego

A friend and I recently took a trip to San Diego for our "Spring Day" at BYU.  It was such a blast!  We went to the temple, played in the ocean, laughed way harder then I knew was even possible, and had a great time.  Some of the pictures from our trip are below.  It was definitely such a blast, and I am grateful for good friends like her.

It's a good day for a good recipe :)

My ward recently introduced dinner groups.  Everyone that wants to be involved in are separated into different groups of 5 or 6 people.  Each person takes a turn cooking for every other person in the group throughout the week.

We have been involved in this process for about a month now.  It has been SUCH a blast.  I would highly recommend dinner groups to any ward.  I have really enjoyed getting to know the people in my group and it has actually saved me money and time as well!

I wanted to share one of my recipes for this week in my dinner group.  I love Six Sisters Stuff Cookbooks.  They have always been my go-to when I want to try something different or new.  I saw this recipe for Man-Catching Chicken and knew I had to make it.  It was a hit!  If you're feeling a little creative too, you can find the recipe below.  Happy eating!

MAN-CATCHING CHICKEN 

I also may or may not be a big fan of the title ;)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon of red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a small bowl mix together your Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and red wine vinegar.
3. Place your chicken in a sprayed 9 by 13 pan. Pour your sauce on top of the chicken and sprinkle with dried Rosemary. Place it uncovered in your preheated oven. Let it bake for 20 minutes and then take them out and flip them over.
4. Cook for another 20 minutes or until your chicken is browned and cooked through.
5. Let the chicken cool for 5 minutes before serving. Spoon some extra sauce over the top when you put it on plates.

All my love,

Kim

Assassination

A recent post published on the ward FB page:

Whilst pondering the meaning of life
Along with the latest trends,
This gentle and fair maid Brooke
Did meet a gruesome end.

'Twas half-past the witching hour
All were up and about.
When in came a house-mate, Lizzy so dear,
And her man, who had both just been out.

All that was spoken out,
'Twas simply a forward hello,
Before the brave and mostly good man
Moved in for the fatal blow.

She spoke not a word, but fell gently there,
Silent and still as the grave.
Brought to her end by a pure plastic spoon,
The rest of the ward she could save.

Explanation?  My ward recently embarked on a ward assassin game.  Each person was assigned someone to "kill" (AKA tap with a plastic spoon), and I'm pretty sure it has been the most hilarious thing I have seen since my bishop told us he felt like a mosquito in a nudist colony while giving a talk (that's another story for another day).  Needless to say, there have been some pretty creative murder attempts.  

The rules of the game dictate that no one can "kill" at any ward/church activities, on Sundays, while someone is on a date (holding hands with someone of the opposite gender that is not related), or while the target is touching an apartment building (including inside their own apartment).  Needless to say, people have begun to get pretty creative.  

On Saturday morning, one guy knocked on my apartment door to tell us that one of my roommate's cars had been hit in the parking lot.  I was assassinated pretty early on, so my roommates sent me out to assess the damage.  The catch?  There was literally 0 damage.  Just an eager assassin trying to pin one of my roommates.  

That same day, one of my other roommates got a call about a mysterious package at the front desk of our apartment building addressed to her.  The assassin even called her parents about the said "package."  Luckily, my roommate had enough foresight to call a close ward friend.  She held his hand all the way to the office where her assassin awaited.  

Another ward member texted me and several of my other roommates in an attempt to try to frame one other roommate for assassination.  That also didn't work too well.  Needless to say, we are excited to use our water balloons on the conspirator today.  

It has definitely been one pretty hilarious week.  I'm looking forward to hearing who the victor is!  Until then, hosta la vista!  

All my love, 

Kim 

Exploring: The Salt Flats

One of my good friends from high school, Amber, has talked about going to the Salt Flats to take pictures for...well, eons now.  We all knew it was such a pretty destination and that we were sure to get some great pictures.  There was only one glitch: it's about two and a half hours away.  We were able to hold Amber off for awhile.  Honestly, our excuses were pretty top notch: "I'm studying," "I have to give a talk tomorrow," "You drive like a maniac, we'll die if we go that far," etc.  However, over Christmas break, when Amber asked us if we could go again (and promised that she would obey the speed limit) I think we all knew we were out of excuses.  I'm glad too, because even though we froze our buns off, it's probably one of the prettiest places I have ever seen.  The pictures barely even do it justice!  

After we took some individual pictures of each of us, we decided to wait until the sun went down so we could take pictures of us all being pyro-maniacs.  When Amber and I lived together, we always found that this was a crowd pleaser.  It's pretty simple and cheap for the most part too.  We bought the thinnest steel wool we could find at Home Depot and squished as much of it as we could into a large kitchen whisk.  Then, we tied a wire onto the end of the whisk.  That was it.  Our creation was ready to go.  We set the steel wool on fire and then spun it around our heads.  Bits of the steel wool always fly off and with a long exposure time, we are always able to get some pretty cool pictures.  Check it out yourself:

I'm grateful for friends who are always willing to have a little fun...even at the risk of dying in the car while Amber is at the helm.  We all still love you Amber.  Don't worry.  :)  

All my love, 

Kim

Update!

I'm sitting at the reception desk at work thinking about all the blessings and memories this semester has brought into my life and decided an update on the bloggety blog was about due (at least I waited until AFTER finals were over this time. Ha.  Once again, sorry Mom.)
 Update #1: Boston

If you know me, you know I don't travel.  Like anywhere.  It's not out of a lack of not wanting to go.  In fact, one of my biggest aspirations in post-school life is to take a trip to Italy (for more than just the food. K? K.)  I fit the poor college girl stereotype real well, let me tell you, and taking a fancy trip anywhere was frankly way outside of my budget.

A couple months into my program at school (side note: got accepted into the HR program at BYU!  They only took a third of the people that applied this year so I felt so blessed that I made the cut!), I got an email talking about this great opportunity to take a business trip to Boston with a travel stipend.  AH!  *Cue happy dance.  I applied right away.  I was overjoyed when I found out the next week that I would be going.  I had never been on a plane before, or really a big city like Boston for that matter, so needless to say, I was PUMPED.  Pictures below :)  As always, sorry for the photo dump.

 The girls I went with were all in my program and seriously the nicest people alive.  It was a trip I will never forget!


Update #2:  The Great Divorce

Amber (my long time friend from high school) and I have lived together as roommates in the same apartment for what feels like forever now!  You could say that we've rubbed off on each other a bit.  I convinced her to start wearing men's deodorant, and she's convinced me to spend more time studying.  We're one dynamic duo I tell ya.

Anyway, this next semester, we decided that it might be time for the dynamic duo to get some other experiences elsewhere to meet new people so we'll both be moving to separate apartments next semester.  She along with the Heberite's have been my go-to women for some time now, and I definitely consider them such an awesome part of my semester.  Pictures of the me and the hooligans (ok or them and the hooligan) below.  I decided to only use the *somewhat* socially acceptable pictures.  You can tell that my judgement was a bit more lax for the last couple photos.  Ha.  Turns out finding a picture of me with my friends and a normal face is quite the feat.  Also, if you're wondering why my default photo taking pose features my mouth as wide as it can go, I'm still wondering that too.  Just go with it.

 Update #3:  Women's Conference + Family + the Gospel + My Cute Missionary Brother

There are story's behind each of these pictures but basically all of it comes down to this:  the church is true and family is the fundamental unit not only of society, but of God's eternal plan of happiness for us.  How I got so lucky to have this life, I'll never know.  Believe it or not, when I start these posts, I almost never intend on ending with the gospel, but somehow it always wanders in that direction.  I know that I owe everything to it.  If you ever have the chance, and if you're still reading this (as if anyone even reads this...let alone for this long.  Ha!)  Check out this link.  Basically, it's just me spilling my guts in writing form.  What's new.

I think that about sums up the update for now!  My new goal is to actually update this more than once a semeter.  We'll see if that actually happens.  Here's to hoping!

All my love, 

Kim

Announcement: I'm an er...clothes-wearer?

So...let's be real.  What else is a blog if not prime photo-dumping space?  Here's another wonderful photo dump to brighten your day!;)

I have recently done a bit of modeling with Sister Missionary Mall.  It's nothing serious, but I'm not going to lie, it's still fun to tell people that I am a "model."  Haha.  At first I felt really weird about saying it.

i.e.

Boy:  Hey Kim, what are you doing tonight?

Kim:  Oh you know just being a clothes-wearer for a picture-taker.

Side note:  This did actually happen and I am really not kidding...someday I might learn to talk with the opposite gender but that day is not today.  

Now though, I figure that I might as well say it how it is.   

Modeling is actually a lot harder than it looks!  I always kind of thought that all modeling entailed was just kind of standing there with good makeup on.  However, after my photographer sent me a video of over 50 different poses to practice and memorize...I realized I had probably bitten off just a little more than I could chew.  Or you know, a heck of a lot more than I could chew.  

I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of it.  Here are a few photos from some of our most recent shoots!

All my love, 

Kim