Another Boring Weekend Update...

There's really no point in writing about the weekend this time but I'm gonna write anyways. I think the title speaks for itself. Saturday, it snowed. A LOT! Cabin fever??? Not quite yet but it was getting there. One of my roommates and I decided to get out and get some lunch at Winger's Roadhouse. And you guessed, endless Sticky Fingers lunch. Plus a trip to Walmart to get some bootlaces replaced; my old ones snapped and frayed. Other than that, the day was spent working on homework.

Sunday, we had church (duh!). That followed by eating, sleeping, watching TV, including an all-day marathon of Spongebob, something I never had growing up. What's there to say? It was a boring weekend. Boring because homework is always a priority. My roommates are trying to get me to go snowboarding. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of winter sports. I appreciate them inviting me but then again, I'd be staying up late to get stuff done. One of these days though... Regardless of that, I'm finding enjoyment with the college life. It's stressful, but I always get things done. I don't how I do it but it gets done.

Oh, here's another thing that killed me this past week:

One of my favorite music groups, Celtic Thunder just released a new album called 'Mythology'. Watching the previews of their concert containing the songs that are in the album, it sounds so good! I went to Walmart and they didn't have them in stock! Now I know some of you are thinking, "Just download the mp3 from iTunes" or something of the sorts. I'm a guy who prefers to have a physical copy of the CD album. So I'm somewhat old-school, and somewhat not.

Three-Day Weekend Updates: President's Day Weekend

Well, this three-day weekend was sorely needed and I'd say it was a three day weekend well-spent. My first round of midterms started up at the end of last week and have been spread throughout the week so I've been juggling around time in order to use study time efficiently. In a nutshell, it's been a hard week. Valentine's Day was pretty uneventful as well, not that I really care about it. Our landlord called us into her office on Valentines Day to bribe us with cookies topped with pink frosting. It was all a scheme; we've been "heart attacked"!

So there were tons of sticky notes cut out into the shape of hearts each with subliminal messages pasted all over our door, kitchen, and and living room. Took me about 10 minutes to take them down and hold it for evidence. I have a sneaking suspicion on who actually "heart attacked" us. Well played fellow Latter-day Saints, well played indeed...

Anyways, on Saturday I went to Idaho Falls with my aunt and cousins after they stopped by in Rexburg to pick me up. We ate at Johnny Carinos, an Italian restaurant. Idaho Falls has just about everything for everyone in the region... After lunch, we visited my grandparents and ran a ton of errands, both for ourselves and my grandparents. I was going to cook gyoza on Sunday so we got the ingredients while in town before making the drive back to Ashton. Then, I got to work. My uncle Sam described the preparation of homemade gyoza as a sweatshop. Whiner... This is gyoza prior to cooking them:

I just realized why it's called pot-stickers sometimes. I've always known them as "gyoza"...

My gyoza is better than yours! Get used to it! Sunday came and went as I went to church with my aunt and uncle. Then it was cooking/eating time! In addition to my gyoza... Okay, rewind! When I mean "my gyoza", I mean the gyoza that my parents taught me how to make. So anyways, in addition to my gyoza, aunt Stacy made her signature soy wings and egg rolls. So this turned out to be an Asian feast:

Once you taste my aunt Stacy's egg rolls, you will never think of other variants as the same again.

Aunt Stacy's soy wings. As you might have guessed, soy sauce has a lot to do with the taste.

I had to keep the gyoza coming so I kept cooking while everyone ate. But I was fine with that because it makes me happy knowing that I can prepare and cook gyoza on my own. It also makes make happy when people like my totally 100% American relatives appreciate and love to eat foreign foods like gyoza and other Japanese dishes. This is what my plate of food looked like for the most part:

Gyoza, Stacy's soy wings and egg rolls, gyoza dip, sweet & sour sauce for the rolls with white rice. You know you're Asian when... (Finish this sentence. I dare you!)

When we were stuffed with good food (and had bad breath with a hint of garlic!), we played Pinochle. For those of you who don't know what that is, here are  the rules to the game:

There is no such thing as a "Code of the West"!

So I probably gained a couple pounds over the weekend. Big deal.

Monday was President's Day. I spent much of the day relaxing and getting the rest of my homework done with. I also had lunch with my cousin Sami and her husband Haden. We ate a Mexican restaurant (I know; surprising right?) on Main Street of downtown Ashton. I still don't care what anyone says. I love Ashton! Now for those of you who know well, Mexican food and I always had an agreement to disagree. In other words, most Mexican dishes wreak havoc on my guts and let's just say I get put out of commission... So I'm not a big fan of Mexican dishes. They serve a decent selection of Americanized dishes as well so I got a burger with fries. The ironic part about this Mexican restaurant is that their Mexican dishes are more expensive than the burger & fries meal I had! After a while, I drove back to Rexburg with my cousin Ryker and it was time to get back into the rigors of school...

At least it's only a four-day school week this week.

Boring Weekend Update

Yep. I'm not even joking. The title of this speaks for itself. It really was a boring weekend. No pictures, no exciting thing to talk about... My aunt and uncle were down in Arizona for the weekend so I didn't hang out with them this time.

 Just a simple weekend in Rexburg getting homework done and whatnot. One of my roommates had his girlfriend visit him for the weekend so she hung out with us. It was also a conference weekend for our church unit so there were meetings happening all over the place. Oh, I was craving some ice cream on Saturday so I decided to go for a walk to a place called Kiwi-Loco, one of those "build your own ice cream bar"... or was it frozen yogurt? Now I can't remember. It was just reading, then homework, more reading followed by homework, and even more reading followed by homework.

Sunday was no different. Just Stake Conference with a General Authority from Salt Lake City presiding. But a lot of good things were said. Then it was a day spent at the apartment. Our ward at a meal served down in our apartment lounge though; chili and baked potatoes. Then it was just a day relaxing. That's what happened this past weekend. I'm not complaining though, since I had so much time to get my school work done... until I get swamped again! At least next week is a three-day weekend!

Double Dip Weekends Part 2

Okay so now onto part two... It was Super Bowl weekend. My aunt Stacy picked me up about mid-morning on Saturday and we drove down to Idaho Falls together. Got a chance to visit my grandparents and it was really nice to see them. My aunt Loila was also there taking care of them so we got to spend some time with her as well. We had lunch at a Chili's and I sure pigged out. After that, we went around town doing some shopping; I gotta say, watching my aunt Stacy shop was very entertaining! Especially when she was looking at baby clothing when she would just start melting at how cute these things were. I couldn't help but chuckle. But the real reason I was hanging around is because I was pretty much the pack mule for my aunts. Go figure... After all that and dropping my aunt Loila off back at my grandparents, Stacy and I drove up to Ashton only to go back out; this time to St. Anthony to watch some basketball games with uncle Sam. I spent the night in Ashton afterwards.

Super Bowl Sunday... I think this is the first time I actually watched a Super Bowl game from start to finish. After church in the morning, we went over to the Beard family home and watched the game. Aunt Stacy made killer Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches:

Makes you hungry, doesn't it?

It was also a beautiful day and I got this view of the Teton Mountains:

I was rooting for San Fransisco but I'm glad Baltimore won. My sisters gave me crap about rooting for the "wrong team"... I was just trying to stay in the good graces of uncle Sam and the Beard family! But I was really unimpressed with the half-show. Can't say I'm a fan of Beyoncé but I sure would like to blame her for the power outage that delayed the game in the second half! Seriously! What ever happened to good ol' marching band shows??? Man, I sure do miss being in a marching band... After the game was done with, my cousin Ryker drove me back to Rexburg and it was back to the grindstone.

Double Dip Weekends Part 1

I got sick this past week so I never got around to posting any updates about my weekend adventures from last week so I'll take some time to do so now...

On Saturday (the 26th), three of my roommates and I were craving Winger's Roadhouse for lunch so we went there. Another thing I like about going to Idaho just places like Winger's:

Yes, Rexburg has one and I love it!

I had to send this picture via cell phone to my sisters and dad!

And get this: they have a lunch special for around $10. Observe:

Sticky fingers and steak fries with ranch dip!

Now I know what you're thinking: "But Mike! That amount of food is NOT worth $10 Talk about a rip-off!"
Yes, I know that. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone. The one thing that makes these portions worth while is it's all-you-can-eat! That's right you heard me! All-you-can-eat! Tabehoudai for those of you who speak Japanese! For ten bucks, you eat as many sticky fingers, steak fries, and salad as you can. Drinks with free refills included! Finished a serving? They'll bring out another round! From 11 AM to 3 PM daily!

So what else did I do? Well, to burn off some calories, we played a few rounds of billiard at our apartment lounge. Some of you may ask when I got into billiards. The answer is the Brazilians; they got me hooked onto the games played on a pool table. I won't tell you how many times I scratched the cue ball!

On Sunday (the 27th), I got sick with a sore throat so I assumed I was catching a cold (and man did it take it's toll on me!!!). So I stayed home from church and tried to get some rest. I also had to go to some meeting in the evening, which I felt was next to pointless considering I've heard all the things before. I know I'm going to a church-operated school but I feel there are some things about church in a college setting that aren't necessary. I won't get into detail about that but that's just my opinion...

On the other hand, I made gyudon (Japanese beef- bowl) for my roommates. Strips of beef, sliced onion, stir-fried into a teriyaki-based sauce served on top of rice makes for a simple meal with high calories! Some of my roommates now have man-crushes on me just because I made a Japanese dish! (Gulp!)

So that's what happened LAST weekend. And I'm just gonna say this past week was hard on me. Going to classes while being sick sucks! It's also been a little colder this week too, so the weather didn't help.