Summer Happenings.

Want to know my top three reasons for becoming a teacher?

June, July, and August.

Haha! Don't worry, I'm just kidding. But we have had a pretty fun and relaxing summer so far. Here are a few snapshots of what we've been up to. This summer, I have...

Spent hours and hours setting up my classroom and getting organized for the school year.

Gone on a handful of fun adventures, including getting glitter strands with Lizzie, a hike to donut falls, and swimming/volleyball at Grandma & Grandpa's pool.

Discovered a new hobby: gardening and keeping houseplants! My very first tomato plant was a success.

Gone on several dates with my handsome husband. Going anywhere with D is my favorite; whether it's to the movies, the cabin, or getting shakes at Iceberg.

Said goodbye to my little brother, and it was not fun! In case you're wondering, he's doing exceptionally well in the MTC and has picked up Spanish quickly. We're all so very proud of him!

Eaten a lot of way too much good food. The Sweet Tooth Fairy is too good to pass up, peach shakes are my favorite summer treat, and I make a pretty tasty loaf of banana bread if I do say so myself.

Gone to three beautiful weddings with great friends. Congratulations Allison, Marianne, and Maria! 

...

Events of the day.

Sorry guys! I have been seriously neglecting the blog as of late. Here is my list of excuses for why I haven't been able to blog:

1. I was busy trying to graduate from college. (Don't worry, I succeeded.)

2. I was busy trying to find a teaching job. (Don't worry, I also succeeded!)

3. I was busy laying on the beach in California.

4. I was busy riding all the rides and eating all the churros at Disneyland.

4. I was busy trying to figure out how to move my entire life from my old computer (RIP) to my new one! (I just barely succeeded on that one today.)

So, yeah. Expect some "flashback" posts in the next little while - I have a lot of catching up to do! Today, however is not a flashback. These are all events that happened today.

Event 1: The Carpet Cleaning Guy

First of all, I've been spending a lot of time lately setting up my classroom (!) and organizing all of my teaching materials for the upcoming year. In case you missed it on Facebook, I accepted a teaching position at Mill Creek Elementary in Granite District. I'll be teaching 4th and 5th grade this year, and I am beyond excited! 

Back to setting up my classroom. There were a bunch of people there today moving furniture out of the classrooms so the carpets could be cleaned. I was in my room, working hard trying to get everything put away so they could clean the carpets when one of the carpet cleaning guys poked his head into my room. He looked around for a minute, and then asked: "Hey, do you know if the teacher for this room is here?"

........um.

That is not a joke. He actually asked me that. I was speechless for several seconds before I put my little hand up and said "Um...that would be me." The poor guy felt bad and pretended like he knew the whole time, but we all know what really happened. Perhaps I need to get out my fake glasses again and start dressing more like an adult when I go in to clean out my classroom. Or perhaps it will just take me a couple of years to start looking (and let's be honest, feeling) like I'm actually qualified to do this job.

Event 2: That time I dragged my sister Allison on a 4 hour drive for milk.

Later, I got home and decided I was absolutely, positively craving these little flavored milk cartons that you can only get from one place - Gossner's Dairy in Logan. I first discovered them when Daniel's mom gave me one up at the cabin, and the addiction was finalized when we went to see the Elk at Hardware Ranch and stopped at Gossner's on the way down. I discovered that they sold the things in cases, and they came in more flavors that I ever imagined. I got a case of the chocolate ones (still my favorite to this day) and bought one of every other flavor to sample. My second favorite is the banana, third is the vanilla, and fourth is the orange cream. The root beer one is not legit.

But today, we were out of them. And I wanted them. Bad enough to drive nearly 2 hours up to Logan just to get them, and then drive the 2 hours back in the same day. So I did the only logical thing I could think of - I packed some car snacks and kidnapped my little sister to show her the beauty that is Gossner's Dairy in Logan.

We had a blast driving up there - the scenery was beautiful, and we got to hang out and catch up on each other's lives. Once we got there, we sampled everything we could and left with cases upon cases of the tasty flavored milk. We also bought some squeaky cheese, and got Gossner's ice cream cones for good measure. I had the best strawberry-banana cone of my life, and Allison went for the dreamy chocolate-marshmallow flavor.

Then, we turned around and drove home. All in a day's work.

Event 3: We are at the cabin!

That's right. After I drove the 4 hours to Logan and back, I packed my things got back in the car for another hour drive up to the cabin. Daniel and I are up here for the weekend with his sister Emily, and we are going fishing tomorrow! If you consider our last two fishing trips, I should hopefully have some stories to share.

Here's to an adventure-filled summer, and some more consistent blogging in the future!

...

Homemade Corndogs and Cheese-on-a-Stick!

Daniel and I got ambitious the other night and decided to make homemade corndogs. I have a hotdog phobia, so we made cheese-on-a-stick for me instead. You guys...it was heavenly. They tasted just like the ones you get from Hot Dog on a Stick at the mall! I'm ashamed to admit how much I love that place. But who could turn down fried cheese and cornbread? Not this girl.

You'd think we'd have to buy a million things at the store for this endeavor, but the only things we didn't have on hand were hot dogs, cheese, and yellow cornmeal. We had the oil, eggs, and pancake mix already! The mix was super easy to put together, too.

Corndogs and Cheese-on-a-Stick were a major success! We used The Pioneer Woman's recipe, and it didn't disappoint. They were so tasty. The only thing I will change next time is to use American cheese instead of cheddar cheese inside my cheese sticks. That would make them authentic Hot Dog on a Stick style!

Some more ideas:
1. This would be a super fun meal to make with a husband or friends. We had as much fun making them as we had eating them!
2. We halved the recipe (the original makes 18) and we still had TONS of leftover batter. Keep it in the fridge overnight and use it to make pancakes the next day! They are my new favorite. I put honey and butter on mine, and Daniel said they tasted great with syrup.
3. Since we made more than 9 corndogs, we definitely couldn't eat them all in one sitting. The best part is - you can refrigerate/freeze them! They taste just as wonderful the next day. Just put them on a tray in the oven and crisp them for a few minutes before you eat them. It works with the cheese ones too!
4. I learned that you are not supposed to pour oil down the drain of your sink because it can really mess stuff up. To get rid of it the used oil, we funneled it back into the bottle it came from and threw it out - so don't throw away the bottle.

I think that's about it for the corndog tips. So go out and try an ambitious recipe - it will be an adventure!

these past few weekends...

Even though she was buried alive, Baby Corolla survived another epic snowstorm! She's such a champion, even though she hates snow as much as I do. Baby and I are a great team.

We took a much-needed road trip up to the cabin with Daniel's family. On the way up, we listened to good old-fashioned mix CDs in the Jeep. At the cabin, we made a chicken pot pie, almost finished a crossword, munched on chips and salsa, and cuddled up to watch a movie. We also took in the beautiful scenery on the ATVs, had deep conversations about religion and dinosaurs, and figured out how many Sorensens it takes to change an ATV battery. I wore my raccoon hat the whole day :)

The Jazz played the Pistons, and won! Thanks to Groupon, we were there to support them. Oh, and of course the Lawrences were there too! 

 

We ate at Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana downtown on St. Patrick's day, and it was amazing. Have you ever eaten there? My sister-in-law who served her mission in Italy says it's the place to go in SLC for authentic Italian-style pizza. The appetizer we ordered looked amazing (and tasted even better), and my pizza had enough kalamata olives on it to make me one happy camper.

Oh weekends, why do you come and go so quickly? Please come again soon! 

In other news...I have less than 2 weeks of student teaching left (eep!), I'm about a month and a half away from graduating (double eep!), and life is good around here in the Sorensen house. I'm excited to have a little time to myself after student teaching is over. It's been a long, long year. Hip, hip, hooray!

Stats

Here's some of our "stats" from the past few weeks, if you'd like to see!

Number of...
new restaurants I've tried in the past month: 4
times I've gone to dinner with teacher-friends: 3
shrimp I caught in my mouth at Tepanyaki: 1
shrimp Daniel caught in his mouth at Tepanyaki: 0 (aha! i win!)
immediate family members with birthdays on March 6th: 3
days until I'm done with student teaching: 24
interviews I have in the next week: 2
books I was supposed to read for class: 2
books I read for class: 0
books I read for fun: 1
hours of sleep I get most nights: 6.5
days until I graduate: 58
days until we leave for Newport Beach: 59
pounds I want to lose before then: 10
hours we spent at the gym with Laird: 1.5
times we've had fun watching our nephews: 1
times Liam has had fun with us watching him: 0
times we've watched Nacho Libre: 1
times Nacho Libre has been quoted afterward: infinity

Things have been pretty busy around here lately. Daniel is taking some tough classes this semester, and between student teaching and work, I'm gone for about 13 straight hours every day of the week. Lately, the thing that's been getting on my nerves the most is not having time to eat good, balanced meals. Is that too much for a girl to ask for?! It's a good thing student teaching is over in just a few weeks. Although, I'm really going to miss those kids. Even if they're crazy sometimes :)

Photo: via

elk adventure.

Here are some photos from our little elk adventure to Hardware Ranch with Daniel's family this past month, if you'd like to see!

And now for some elk trivia!

1. Elk, along with moose and caribou, are members of the deer family.
2. An adult make elk is called a bull, an adult female is called a cow, a baby is called a calf, and a yearling bull is called a spike because his antlers are spiky.
3. Only male elk have antlers, but both male and female caribou (a.k.a. reindeer) have antlers!
4. The elk's antlers (along with antlers of all other animals who have them) are made of bone! They fall off and re-grow each year. 
5. Horns are a different story. Horns are never shed, and they are made of the same stuff that our fingernails are made of.
6. New antlers are covered with a fuzzy skin called velvet. It has a lot of blood vessels running through it. Because antlers are made of bone, they need to have blood flow in order to grow! 
7. The elk's canine teeth are made of ivory.
8. Cows, calves, and yearlings live in herds for most of the year while bulls live alone. This means that a cow is usually the leader of the herd! Of course, this changes during the mating season.
9. If an elk feels threatened, they make a barking sound.
10. The elk's coat makes them essentially waterproof. 

And that is the end of my elk facts for the day. If you want to see one of these guys up close, I suggest you visit Hardware Ranch! We had a blast!