it's not neglect i assure you...

i have been incredibly busy this week.

no lie.

i have wanted to write! but there was always something a little more pressing on my schedule... but to make up for it i have an fantastic little playlist of goodness!

to recap the week:

i went home last weekend! (yet another reason i didn't post... i was way too busy having fun with my brothers and sisters at home!) we kidnapped our cousin and brought her home

with us... we really wanted to surprise our parents... but it just so happened that one of the guys we were bringing home with us has a very grateful mother.

i love grateful people. don't get me wrong... but not when they ruin my surprise! (she came up to my mom to thank her for her daughters bringing her son home this weekend... blast!)

so i get a text from my dad. "should we leave the front door open for you guys?" to which i played dumb and pretended not to know what he was talking about... the only thing he said back to me was, "just don't wake me up." thanks dad. love you too.

we had a basketball overload - my sister's team got 5th in state! granted, they are a 1A school,

but that's still good for us! our school got sports my sophomore year in high school, so it's still a new program... we get closer every year though!

finally i got to see one of my best friends from high school...

love this girl!

she's got a sweet little girl with one more on the way - it's incredible how fast time flies! (and here i am... still single and as clueless about life as ever!!!)

so you all know about my obsession with d.i.

i bought some ramekins there last semester, and never got to use any, so carissa and i decided that we were going to be really courageous and make something really great! we narrowed the selection down to 2 things. either souffles or miniature pies. since i had apples that were going bad earlier in the semester, i had cut them up and put them in the freezer. perfect! mini apple pies. bam. done.

i was trying to hide the fact that i parted my hair down the middle.

not my look.

and carissa pretending to have helped make them...

just kidding! love you rissa... i know you were there for moral support the whoooooole time!

...and it was gooooooooooooooood.

we did a little variation on grandma opal's apple pie (an allrecipe recipe that we made for thanksgiving this year... it has a very yummy carmel inside...)

while i was making the carmel, i got a little too much help from a guy in my ward. yes. i know how to make carmel. you have obviously not had my carmel corn before. yeah, that's right... just step away from the saucepan and you won't get hurt... so the carmel didn't get as done as it needed to. nevertheless it was still a success!

i wish i had a recipe for this one... but we basically just threw some of my frozen apples, 1/3 cup of sugar, cinnamon (i think i was aiming for like a tablespoon... but it kinda spurted out... so i'm not quite sure on that one) and a little nutmeg.

i did actually find a recipe for the crust, since i didn't want to be left with tons of crust...

we mixed 1 cup of white all-purpose flour with 6 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of col

d water. i don't know about you, but it was pretty intense in the kitchen when trying to figure that one out... ;) we used the extra crust and cut out little strips to make the cutsie lattice-look on the top.

to put it all together:

i used a bowl to cut out a circle (which still ended up being too big... i just squashed it around when i put it in the ramekin.) and then filled the crust with the apple mix. i rolled out the

leftover pie crust and cut it into little strips and laid them on top of the apples to make the lattice, and then poured the carmel over the top of the pie and threw it into the oven! voila! we threw it in the oven on 375 for about 20 minutes.

pros: you eat your pie. you don't keep going back for more slices because everyone just gets one. (i like this plan...)

cons: it runs out. no more pie. this is when you give a puppy dog look to the person sitting next to you and hope that they are merciful and give you a bite.

yada yada yada... the week continues.

not much else happened... except... drumroll please!!!

i cut my hair!

i used to have bangs.

a very low point in my existence.

picture this: (and maybe you can relate...)

young girl

shy

mayyyyyybe a little on the "fluffy" side...

didn't have a whole lot of confidence

and hated her curly hair

she had bangs...

that probably should have belonged back in the 80s.

she had them for several years. (think 3rd through 8th grade.)

and she would go through what she likes to refer to as "hair dispensations"

a year of braids.

a year of "some up/some down" (whatever that half-ponytail is called...)

and several years of ponytails.

finally, she decided that she had pretty hair (and - get this - she liked her curl! hallelujah!)

so she grew the bangs out and vowed that she would never ever ever ever have them again.

she was true to her word... until yesterday.

what do you think?

good choice?

she thinks so.

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so grateful for aubree.

the amazing hair stylist that didn't mess up my hair.

(nice to know that i am so optimistic, huh?!)