On the first day of Christmas...

Yes. That is entirely irrelevant.

Moving on.

Last night I made the most delicious dinner of the planet. Except for not, but considering the fact that our stomachs were shriveled up in hungry agony, it tasted pretty dang good. It was sort of just mac and cheese on steroids. Which just means I'm a successful college student, right? Creative leeway with the cheap noodle stuff? Yeah. I win. :p



Skillet Chicken Mac and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 (8 ounce) package elbow macaroni
2 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped zucchini
½ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can (14½ ounce) Italian stewed tomatoes
½ cup mild cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium-high heat until no longer pink.
2. Add the macaroni, broth, zucchini, onion and oregano to the chicken in the skillet.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in tomatoes and cheddar cheese.
5. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or until heated through. Makes 6 servings.


I love cooking! I absolutely love it.

Usually.

But it's my favorite to feel like I'm little mama Shannon, bustling around in our little kitchen making food for everyone. :) It's so fun!

Also, I've decided I need to be stressed out and on edge more often. Yesterday I went on a wild spree. I cleaned EVERYTHING. I scrubbed every inch of my bathroom, I swept the tile and shook out the rugs and scrubbed the shower and the mirror, and I did all my laundry and washed bedding, I cleaned the inside and outside of the sliding glass door... I was like a crazy wild banshee!

So the moral of the story is: If Shannon's stressed- invite her over to your messy apartment and she'll probably lose it and clean stuff. :p

Also, I'm so grateful for good friends and roommates, because they're always so good to make me feel better. I love how my apartment is getting to be so close, and how we talk about everything. (We started a tradition called the "If you kiss a new boy you have to buy everyone ice cream so we can sit around and giggle and talk about it" rule. I basically adore it for two reasons. We get ice cream, and we get to talk about whats going on in our lives and 'bond'. :p And yes, it goes in that order. ;) Hehe) Caitlan McConnell is another one of my blessings here at college. (I'm finding that there are lots of those.) She's in the Relief Society presidency, and she's so incredible! She's one of the strongest, most compassionate women I know here. I love her to death! Last night after she told me exactly what I needed (but didn't want) to hear, she just listened to me rant and rave and vent about some pretty ridiculous stuff. And then when I said I felt like just breaking something she stood up, walked to her closet, brought a box out and dumped a badrillion popsicle sticks onto the floor and let me snap half of them. (Yes. I'm aware that I'm really mature. Don't worry. I'll grow up someday.)She also dumped some chocolate on the floor in front of me. I love that girl!

My mom, the twins, and Brianne are coming through E town today, and I'M SO BLASTED EXCITED!!! I miss my family. There. I admitted it. ;) I love them so so much, but I didn't think I'd miss them this much! Especially those pesky little sisters. ;) (Hehe, love you guys.) We're gonna go "feast" at the Malt Shop, and then Bri gets to spend the day with me while mom and the twins go to the ortho.

Seriously. So excited.

Anywho, I'm gonna go do something productive now. :)

(Thank goodness it's Friday!)

P.S I'm excited to get to stay here and watch conference with Caitlan :) :) Conference is going to be marvelous, don't you think? :)


(P.P.S... I think I have smileyfaceitis. Just sayin.)

The epitome of contradiction. And other such fun. :)

Going to the Temple to write in our journals (even though we sorta kinda missed Institute to do so... trust me. It was just what the Dr. ordered.), Hangin out with Tate, Tate's photography... and other such fun. :p

Girl's night and shopping for ice cream also occured today. Just in case you were wondering. Basically, I love my friends. And the gospel, and Ephraim and prayers.

Love you!
(Yup, even you! ;) )
Goodnight.
(YEah. This is the earliest I've been in bed for a while. Sad. Tragic. Incredibly stupid- but true.)

Life comes at you fast.

Shannon Heap just payed her first fast offering. Holy garbage.

Boredom busters in the town of E. :p

Sami, Caitlan and I went to do baptisms the other day. The temple workers are so adorable! I love love love it! And then there are pictures of the roses Steven gave me for helping clean up his vomit. Fun stuff eh?

What were we doing the night of Saturday, September 18, 2010 you ask?

This, you see. We were on a double date, of course.

In the blink of an eye...

Today I took a freezing cold shower and smiled to myself thinking of all four of the other girls who showered before me that I live with now. I got ready with their opinions and advice, helped pick out other outfits and assured others that no, their bum did not look giant in that skirt. Scarfed some wheaties, while putting pork ribs into the crock pot with a pinch of this and a dab of that (and oh, that onion soup mix needs to be used... sprinkle some of that in... ;p)and told Sami that she could make the potatos and let me eat her grapes when she said she felt bad that I always cook. ("Yes, Sami, it's fine. No, I like to cook. It's ok I promise, it just means I get to eat your poptarts and frozen grapes." :) Haha I love that girl.) We drove to church- thinking of every justification possible to our laziness- and sat together on a row, taking notes from lessons being taught by girls our age in Relief Society and sitting by guy friends who followed along in the scriptures and smiled and were adorable in Sunday School. I sat in a Sacrament meeting where my peers were there because they wanted to be, not because their parents dragged them there. I listened to speakers who already have awesome insights and smiled at my cute bishopbric.
Today I teamwork cleaned our apartment and set out flowers that my neighbor gave me for helping to clean up after he got the flu. (Remind me to tell you that story later...)
Today I called my parents and felt like a friend more than a child. I visited with my baby sister and talked about cursive and writing letters and dress shopping.
Today I felt something shifting.
Because once upon a time I got up in the morning and took a freezing cold shower and I probably threw a shampoo bottle on the ground and grumbled about it. Once upon a time I ran around the entire house because I was angry and my dad wanted to talk about it and I didn't. (Holy spunk meister?) Once upon a time I went to church ornery because I was trying to fake sick and my mom made me go anyway. (Mean mother huh ;) Thanks mom.)
... I don't remember where I was goin with this.
Oh well. My point is, Life is happening so fast! It's INSANE!

... Ok. So I got a little distracted and now it's tomorrow. Or at least "today" is now yesterday. So.
We're making stuffed crust pizza. It's basically fabulous. I'm at this very moment trying to post a picture from my cellular device. Hang on.

... Still hangin? Good. :)

Holy Yum.


Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 c. flour
1tsp salt
1tsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
3 Tbsp oil
1 c warm water

Mix dry together. Add oil and warm water, mix/knead dough for 5 min, cover bowl and let the dough rise for an hour. Press dough out on lightly greased pan. Bake at 450 for 7-10 minutes. Add sauce and toppings. Bake another 7-10 or until crust is browned. Devour ravenously ;)

P.S sorry that the picture basically stinks. Between the lighting and the fact that the cheer boys downstairs still have my camera (that got lost on the grass when Sami's date scaled our balcony when we got locked out on Saturday) so I'm using my sad cell phone camera... it's just hopeless to get a great photographer shot. ;)

Today is the day.

Except for I'm not sure what it's the day for... :p
It's going to be a short post- I have math pretty soon. But I just got up and read some cousin missionary e-mails over breakfast, and it made me so happy! Rhett is still in the MTC (pretty sure anyway) and he sounds like an awesome brand new missionary. Justin's been out for a year and it's so awesome to see the changes and growth he's gone through. He mentioned something about a brand new 19 year old missionary fresh out of high school, and I thought, isn't it amazing how The Lord sets things up? These little high school graduates- most of them rather immature- go out into the world, and come back as men rooted in the gospel, and close with their Heavenly Father. I love missionaries! So, just as a pass along, pray for all the missionaries in the world- they've got the Lord on their side, but it's nice to have the rest of the world too. :p (It was cute, Justin said to pray for him and his Persians. :) He's in the Farsi speaking Toronto Canada Mission. He truly loves those people.)

Love you all, Have a beautiful Tuesday!

(P.S the Unicorn post? You've gotta click on the YOU part. :) Just in case that was kind of obscure.)

Unicorns....

I love them.

YOU will too ;)

Truly scrumptious :)

Let me explain.
No no, that would take too long. Let me sum up.

I stayed up far too late last night, painted my (guy) friends' toe nails- no, they're not gay. Concerning? Yes, but not gay. :p So I woke up this morning on 4 hours of sleep behind me, ran to math with wet hair all pulled back and hardly any makeup (yeah, see if I ever get married at that rate ;p) and sat down at my desk only to find out to my great pleasure that my teacher, who is an on call ambulence driver or something, was gone and class was canceled. Hooray? Oh yes, I do believe so.

So I came home, shaved the amazon forests away so I could wear shorts, and actually took my time getting ready. :) Now I only have my Start Smart class, and then I'm done for the day! Hooooooorrraay!
(Speaking of class, I should get going. :) Love you all!)

Ah, life.

And I mean that in both the good and the bad way.

Good side: :)
-My new friends, and of course my old friends too
-Knowledge that brings imminent peace and love no matter what your day's been like. Knowledge of a higher power,the plan of salvation, of the atonement, of charity, and of grace and mercy.
-Ibuprofin after insane fitness for life classes
-Hot showers :)
-Cooking for myself
-Feeling at home on my own
-Feeling ready for life. Finally.
-Trust
-Families and true love. (None of that twitterpated crap. I'm talking about the real stuff where you know everything about them and you still love them because they're all your friends.)
-My roomies! :D They're so cute. We have too much fun. If that were possible.
-Butterflies
-Western stinkin swing! That was possibly the most fun I've had yet! Lots of cute scenery that knows how to dance and actually asks girls! (My roommates and I joined the Western Swing club, and it's every Wednesday evening. Seriously, I absolutely LOVED it. Even the awkward giggle worthy moments.)
-The institute. There's this feeling there that I'm beginning to crave. It's safe, and their motto is true. They really are a perfect "home away from home".
-Choir! (For those of you who don't know about this, I tried out for the Institute performance choir, and I MADE IT!!! Yeah, I know. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles. Haha, it was scary. Really. There was a table of seven people staring at me and I didn't have music here with me so I just sang a verse of 'Come Thou Fount' a capella. But I figured if I made it, GREAT! If I didn't, then well hey. I got out of my comfort zone, and grew from the experience. Luckily I got the real positive outcome huh. :p)
-Feeling confident
-Having nail painting parties with my fun roommates
-MY BALCONY! (I still haven't gotten sick of it. In fact I'm typing this out here right now. Yup. I stood out here this morning and wondered if I'd get tired of it when winter came and was freezy... I'm thinking probably not though. I'll probably wear seven sweaters and bring a book or homework and some hotchocolate- in my cute purple thermos- out here and soak it in. I'm weird. I'm aware of this.)
-Eating ice cream straight from the tub. Haha Sami, Tori and I went to Walmart to get ice cream and milk. Yes, it was a rough day. Thanks for askin.)

Bad Side: :( :p
-The sound of my alarm clock at six thirty every morning.
-Math two hours after hearing my alarm clock. Four out of five school days a week. Yup. Fun stuff.
-Playing ultimate frisbee on the football field turf. It's DISGUSTINGLY hot on that field. Like unbearably so. (But ultimate, itself, was pretty fun. I have to admit. And feeling sweaty and out of breath? Yeah, that sort of felt good too. Blast those endorphins.)
-Feeling sickly. :(
-Not being able to hit the stinkin high G in choir with all the angelic voiced sopranos. You think I'm exaggerating. Just belive me, cuz I kid you not people. They're all like... opera singing beautiful prodigees. Me? Nah, I just do this for fun. :)
-Scary men folk.
-My messy room cuz I've been too busy (and now too lazy) to clean it.
-Awkward hot tubbing adventures. Mental note: Don't go to the other apartment complex's hot tub thinking its just you and your roommates. Nope, there's gonna be guys you don't know and feel self conscious and awkward around. It's way fun. Did you hear that sarcasm? I've been practicing to perfect it's dripping tone.

Anyway. That's basically it. But: You must see some of these pictures. :)