Family Dinners

I have many memories of the "Family Dinner." It was at the family dinner I learned about all of mom's surgeries and pregnancies. It was at the family dinner I learned which cow's gave birth recently. It was at the family dinner I learned about politics. It was at the family dinner I learned...and the list goes on.


This semester my roommates and I decided to have "Family Dinner." So far I haven't learned anything quite as exciting as mom's surgeries or pregnancies, or the birth of calfs, but it is interesting to get to know my roommates a little better. Each roommate is assigned a particular night, and he is then responsible for food to be on the table by 5 pm. And if you can't make it at 5 pm, then a plate is saved for you. So far this dinner thing has gone well. The standard was set high the first week with dinners such as chicken parmesan, homemade chicken noodle, shish kabobs, lazangna, and I made chicken fajitas.

I am assigned to Thursday and I decided to make chicken curry today, with kalrose rice, and a salad. The recipe was simple. I placed the chicken in the crock pot, then put the chopped sweet potatoes and onion on top, and poured the sauce which included orange juice, curry, salt, pepper, garlic, and chicken bouillon granules.

I dedicate this picture to mom:


The salad is underneath the tomatoes, cucumber and carrots. My senior year in high school I had to bake cookies for a bake sale for FBLA. I was very confused why I my mom was making me wrap the ginger bread men into cellophane bags and then tie them off with fancy ribbon. My thought was the first thing this person will do is rip the bag open and eat the cookie without recognizing the effort that went into the cookie. But my mom was insistant that it's not just about the taste. It's also about the presentation. The salad was my presentation.

First you put rice on your plate:

Then you put the curry chicken on top of the rice:


Finally you sprinkle the green onion and chopped peanuts on top of the curry chicken and rice:

We had store bought roles. I know, not very original:


For the most part I felt it was a success. I accidentally put too much salt in the sauce, so I had to add more orange juice. While family dinners in college aren't quite as exciting or revealing as family dinners at home, I am grateful to have a warm meal everyday at 5.

Bon Appetit!

Winter Wonder Land

It seems funny to me that the Christmas my siblings decide to stay home is the Christmas that La Grande looked like this:


On Christmas Eve my mom and I even sun bathed in the backyard and got a pretty good tan (and no tan lines might I add).

But last year was quite the opposite. When I arrived home from serving in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission in December 2008, this is what I came home to:

We couldn't get into the front of the house because the drift was about seven feet tall at the peak and extended from the front door to the gravel parking spot. We had to make a path through the back yard and to the garage in order to get into the house.

On Saturday--the day of the Waite Family Christmas Party and the day before my homecoming talk--we had a blizzard and weren't able to get out by driving on our gravel lane. So we had to pack up, bundle up, cut through our neighbor's fences, and drive with 4-wheel drive vehicles through hay fields in order to get out. That night we stayed at my grandma's house.

We had to leave Tony and Heather's car behind:


The next day I gave my talk and had the party. Eventually my dad cleared out the lane and Sunday evening we moved back in. Shortly after arriving back home, luck would have it, our power went out. But mom was a prepared boy scout and had her head lamp:


So if you wonder what kind of weather we will have next Christmas, just give Heather a call and ask if they're coming home. If they are, it will probably be a bad winter with many blizzards. We don't read the Farmers Almanac, we just check Heather's plans.