32. finally try a Doritos Locos Tacos.

This one has been a long time coming. When the Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos came out I was pretty excited. I love the Nacho Cheese Doritos but I rarely eat them considering how unhealthy they can be... especially since I have a hard time controlling the amount that I consume. Haha yeah they're just so good okay! Luckily someone always seems to bring them to barbecues and stuff so I get my semi-annual fill and remain satisfied throughout the year. Back to tacos. Seriously I can't write a post without getting side-tracked. I hope that's okay with you. I know it wasn't for Mrs. shewhoshallnotbenamed who told us to write from our own perspective. Well guess what teacha?? I just about aced your class. And you loved my projects. And my blog that is littered with my own distracted perspective now has like thousands upon thousands of readers, okay! Wah-wah jk. Haha she was actually a very cool teacher that steered away from the stereotypical BYU professor. Haha anyway, back to tacos again.

I knew that I would enjoy the Locos Tacos but for some reason I waited until just last week to finally try them. I had seen so many mouth watering commercials and heard so many deliciously soaked reviews so I don't know why I waited so long. I mean there's a Taco Bell right next to my favorite grocery store for heaven's sake. Well... the stars aligned last week. I had multiple errands to run and right in the middle of those errands was lunch time and a Taco Bell. Yesss!! The time had come! The wait was over!! I had just hit up Staples, Home Depot, Aldi, and Target so my chance had arrived!!

... tending to a small child... bee are bee.

Okie doke... resume dramatic music... and.......... my chance had arrived!! There wasn't a single car in line so I cruised right on up to the microphone and awkwardly order one. regular. Nacho Cheese. Doritos. Locos. Tacos. and... one. regular. Cool Ranch. Doritos. Locos. Tacos. (To be read with increasingly louder and intensified excitement.)

The moment was ideal. Peter was asleep in the back seat. The weather was lovely. So I rolled down the window, unwrapped the hallelujah chorus, and began my journey into the taco abyss of Doritoness!

It tasted like a taco.

What??? a taco? Like a normal hard shell taco? Yes. A normal, hard shell taco blanketed with nacho cheesy residue.

So sad... so much potential left rotting in the brain of the creator of these "mind-blowing" tacos. Where is the umph?? Where is the taste bud happy dance? Where is the immediate uncontrollable desire to turn around and order seven more?? Again, in the brain of the creator. Trapped. Why you no share with us, creator??

Hmm. Bummer.

Did I still enjoy these tacos? Yes, I did in a fast food sort of way. Matter of fact the "chip" shell was much more enjoyable than the usual tasteless yellow shell that isn't even freal Mexican anyway. It just didn't meet my high expectations. And they were high. Way high. Way waaay high.

And so there I was. Enjoying, but not floating on a cloud, my two Dorito fused tacos. Cold, stray cheese falling in my lap. One bite. It's all lettuce. Another bite. Too much meat. Looks like these tacos and Pita Pit have the same condition of I-can't-seem-to-provide-equal-portions-of-ingredients-in-any-single-bite. There's an invention that needs to happen. Something that will make tacos and pitas with appropriately dispersed ingredients. Something like a salad tosser... hmmm...

So there you have it. My less than monumental moment with the raved-about Doritos Locos Tacos. Now that I've finally tried these world famous tacos I can cross it off my list and move on with my life. I think I'll be sticking with normal Nacho Cheese Doritos at barbecues and soft tacos from real Mexican restaurants. Yum... and real horchata?? Yes, please! Definitely putting that on my list! 

And just like that, my spirits are lifted once again. (:

UPDATE: I was conversing with my good neighbor and friend, Maren, and we decided that the taco shell isn't actually a Dorito. It isn't a taco shell either... it's like a thin, baked-lay like chip with the cheesy/cool ranch covering. If Taco Bell actually made the shell out of legitimate, thick, crunchy Doritos then I would definitely try them again. Definitely.

goals and things.

So I have this friend that is awesome. She also happens to be a sister missionary from Todd's mission. We met once upon a time when I was home for Christmas. My sister and I decided to go to our stake's annual Messiah Sing-In, something I have been doing for years. I was mostly going this year because I knew that I would see friends from high school and because they asked my dad to give the closing prayer... and I, being his most favorite oldest daughter, didn't want him to be all by his lonesome. So I dragged my baby sister along with me so I wouldn't be singing by my lonesome. (: We picked a couple good seats right in front of my high school choir director and his wife. Down the row from us was another girl (lady? are we old enough to be called ladies?) practically sitting in the tenor section. She caught my eye and asked if we were singing alto. I confirmed that we were indeed singing alto and she came and sat by us. Before the evening of intense sight reading began we chatted a bit and came to find out that she knew my husband from the mission field. I knew that she looked familiar and I had maybe met her at a mission reunion before but she did most of the work by recognizing me from Todd's facebook pictures. The three of us had a lovely time "singing" (hey, the Messiah is hard!) and I couldn't wait to get home and call Todd to tell him that I had met Amy Graham Harker... or Harker Graham or something like that. He thought it was pretty cool that we had met and sometime during the next month he introduced me to her super awesome mommy blog, Swag On, Momma. Her and some of her lady friends post all sorts of fun things about being a mom, wife, and homemaker. So far I have been uplifted by every single post I have read and that, my friends, is why I am writing this post today. Amy's most recent post was all about the goals that she wants to complete before her and her husband welcome another baby into their family. Since Todd and I are about 6 months behind them I thought it would be a great idea to also set some goals for myself so I can grow and feel like myself again before, as Amy put it, "baby #2 blows my mind."

I have my "to-do list" but many of those things are family friendly adventures that I want to experience with Todd and Peter. My goals are going to be dedicated to personal victories and self improvement. Something I am really in need of right now. I found that having a baby didn't just take a toll on my body... having a baby kinda took my "me" and juggled it all up too. I also blame graduating from college for this. Pretty much I didn't adjust very well after getting my degree. I've had a completely different regimen and my brain just hasn't been stimulated like it used to be. And to have a little person needing needing needing away is rough sometimes. Luckily Peter is incredibly sweet and adorable so it's bearable most days.

Recently I have really been needing to center myself and get back to that Katelyn that I actually like. The Katelyn that does hard things, the Katelyn that cares about other people, the Katelyn that is patient, the Katelyn that I used to be. I don't like admitting that I consciously know that I have digressed as a person... that is why I am consciously and publicly working towards improving my "me."

I think setting and working towards accomplishing these personal goals is going to help me get back to that Katelyn. Along the way I hope to develop new and lasting talents, skills, and personality traits that are not only appealing and tolerable to those I associate with but also to myself.

Here they are... wish me luck.

1. Run the Dances with Dirt Devil's Lake Half Marathon this summer: Believe it or not but I asked for this for Christmas. I started running in high school for the cross country team and ever since I have used running as my main source of exercise. I don't usually do races because it seems silly to me to pay someone thirty bucks to run on a road that you could run on for free any other day of the week. However, racing for a good cause or to achieve a goal is never silly. And that is why I'm running 13.1 straight miles come July, to achieve this goal. (:
2. Practice eucharisteo: I am reading a book right now titled One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Pretty much the book is about her journey toward becoming a more thankful person. She defines this "thankfulness" as eucharisteo which has all sorts of meanings depending on what language you are using and which angle you are looking at the word. Among these many meanings include to be grateful, to feel thankful, to give thanks, and grace. 
3. Personalize our home: This one was also inspired by Swag On, Momma. Right now our apartment (and really every apartment we have lived in) looks like our wedding reception. After we got married my mom let me take any decor that I wanted from our reception to decorate my future homes. Since everything at our reception was purple with orange accents, our apartment is now purple with orange accents. I am satisfied with my decorating job thus far but it has been the same for two years and I want it to reflect us a bit more... not a cultural hall. We have yet to fully furnish/decorate our bedroom so I'm going to start there and see where things go. (: (p.s. I just got off the phone with my mom and her and my dad's first few apartments were the same way... but pink)
4. Read a book a month: Oh reading for fun... something I apparently missed while I was in college but now is far less appealing. So far I've read 2.75 books so I'm a little behind but I just got some new books at the thrift store today and I have tons of books on our book shelf that need reading... I shouldn't be allowed to buy more unless I've read what I already have! The bookshelf just looks so much better when it's full of books, don't you think? Also, getting The Work and the Glory set for Christmas should help with this goal.
5. Read and learn from the Ensign every month: I know that I can get any Ensign article anywhere, anytime on my phone... but I find that if I have a hard copy of the Ensign I tend to read and learn more. Last week I renewed our subscription to the ensign and if I'm lucky the conference edition should be arriving in our mailbox next month!
6. Get back to my pre-pregnancy weight: This goal may be put off until I'm done breastfeeding Peter. Unfortunately I don't make enough milk unless I eat a lot of calories. So many calories that I just can't seem to lose those last ten pounds. Since I studied Exercise & Wellness/Nutrition in college I feel fully capable of achieving this goal. And it's not so much the "10 lbs" that I'm hung up on... there's just something about my clothes fitting well (loose even) that makes me feel so much more healthy and confident.
7. Be someone's exercise and wellness coach: I LOVED doing this for my internship during my senior year at BYU. My favorite program was "Intuitive Eating" and since I helped modify the program my bosses gave me permission to use the material when and where ever I want! I love this program and I really want to be a coach again. The program is all about rebuilding your relationship with food. So many of us grew up with the "I have to clear my plate" mentality and now we all have issues with eating. This program assesses and attempts to resolve those issues. So who wants to get healthy??
8. Play a piano solo in sacrament meeting: This is something that I am actually scared to do. Ask me to sing a solo? No problem. Ask me to play the piano? Yikes. Even though it scares me I think it would be really cool to accomplish.
9. Make a quilt: I have the sewing machine, I have a mother AND mother-in-law that are both quilting queens, and I mostly have some patterns picked out... I just need to pick a week and do it. What I'll do with this quilt once it's done?? Not totally sure yet. I just like the feeling of making and completing something pretty and usable. Heck, it may not even end up being a blanket quilt... maybe a tree skirt... or a table runner to match our soon-to-be new kitchen table!
10. Re-tile our kitchen table: When Todd and I got married we received a kitchen table from my aunt Marci. Her and my uncle received the table from my other aunt, Kayloni, when they got married. So far this table has moved from Oregon, to a quite a few locations in Utah, and all the way to Wisconsin. The top of the table is covered in white square tiles however all of the tiles are cracked and collecting all sorts of eternal grime. A while back Todd had the idea of knocking out the tiles and totally revamping the table. This summer we're going to make it happen... and it's gonna look awesome.

And that is my list for now. As I accomplish these things I hope develop new interests and run into more challenges to take on. (:

I would love to hear about the goals that you are working on right now. How are they progressing? What about your New Year's resolutions? Have those lasted?

happenings of the last 8 months: events worth celebrating.

Here we are... the second installment of the crazy long picture filled posts documenting anything slightly exciting that has happened during the blogging black hole of July 2012-January 2013.

As you can imagine, we have had a lot to celebrate in the last 8 (really 9 by now) months. From birthdays and holidays flying left and right... to babies rolling over and sitting up and not blowing out their diapers. Obviously the arrival of a healthy and happy Peter was a huge celebration but since you've read all about that event we can move on to the many other reasons that we have to be happy... and celebrate with treats. Yum.

We start off with my baby sister, Emily, and her mad singing and dancing skills. She starred in the high school musical, The Wizard of Oz, as Dorothy. Luckily someone... cough cough um allowed?... video taped one of the shows so I got to see it. She has a beautiful voice and did such a great job!

My other sister also has reason to be beautiful and awesome... Marysa, or should I say Sister Barfuss, got her mission call! She will be serving in San Diego, CA and reports to the MTC on April 17th! We are very excited for her! (:

As any normal set of 8 months... there have been lots of holidays. Starting with Halloween... we dressed up as Han Solo, Princess Leia, and a little ewok baby. We didn't win any awards at our ward party but we totally could have had the judges been a little more educated about Star Wars as we are Todd is.

We also went to a Halloween party at a friends house (Rangers fans, woops) and couldn't help but go as Giants fans since they had just won the World Series for the second time in 3 years. (:

A week or so later Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Wes came to visit us! Peter had his baby blessing while they were here and they got some much needed Peter time.

December was packed with ,many reasons to celebrate. We started off the month with our very first donut day! I don't know how my mom does it. Of course she does have a bigger kitchen and appropriate donut making supplies... but she makes like 500 donuts! I only made maybe 60 and was totally wiped out by the end of the day. They were delicious though... so worth it. Dang, I could go for some right now... hmm....

After donut day Todd left for Houston and Peter and I flew out to Idaho for a few weeks to celebrate Christmas with both our families.

While we were there I had a lovely birthday... the big 23! 

p.s. the cake was amazing... so amazing I could probably get up right now and go make another one. Maybe not if I'm already considering making donuts though... oh the decisions that torment my life. 

We also took a trip to Logan and Salt Lake while we were in the area to visit family and attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. Peter got to meet his great-grandma and great-grandpa Preece which was very cool... he is the first great grandchild!

I don't think I have a single picture from the Mo-Tab concert through the rest of our vacation... not even any events that happened at the Halls! I did nab this one at Temple Square though... Keith, Courtney, Lucy, and soon-to-show-up Annabelle joined us for the afternoon. (:

And here she is! Annabelle Kae... what an absolute sweetheart! Can't wait to meet her! We now have two whole nieces. (:

Fast forward a few days to January 19th... Todd turns 25! Woah! We celebrated with some extra hearty donut pancakes for breakfast, a 3 mile run that was glorious, and some good ol' homestyle fried chicken. Not to mention the homemade Ben'n'Jerry's Dave Matthew's Band Magic Brownie ice cream... seriously people, I just kinda go over board for birthdays.

The next holiday in line was Valentine's day... and it was a hit, thank you Todd for the extra love! 

I didn't get any photos from St. Patrick's day but we did spend part of it at my friends house eating delicious reuben sandwiches. You can read about our crazy fun time here. 

Here we are at last... April 2013. Easter was last weekend and it was Peter's first of course. He decided to get up at 6am on Easter Sunday so he helped the Easter bunny with his or her duties hiding Easter eggs. Here we are the evening before dying eggs.

And yeah that's kind of a smattering of pictures from the last 9 months of our lives. We've had plenty of ups and downs but we are still having fun and learning a lot. Fortunately we are still able to keep Peter fed, changed, and bathed so I'd say it has been a success so far.

As for the happenings of the next 8 months... I will make no guarantees as to how updated you will be. (:

28. Take on one of the alto arias from the Messiah.

What an awesome experience this was. It all started a few months back when I read an announcement in our sacrament meeting program saying that the stake was going to hold a Messiah Sing-In to kick off the Easter season. It also said that anyone interested in singing a solo should contact Bro. D. for more details. I had just come back from Christmas break where I had attended my home stake's Messiah Sing-In... something I have been doing since I was a kid. This time though time I only went with hopes of seeing friends from high school and because they asked my dad to give the closing prayer. I thought that after that long night of crazy runs and trills and and sheep and constant reminders of my horrible sight reading abilities that I was done with Handel until next Christmas. I was quite wrong... Handel followed me back to Wisconsin and had booked a show at my stake center! It was at that moment that I felt obligated to participate in the program in one way or another. 

How I would participate was the question. I could offer to give the opening prayer... I could pass out books... or programs, I can handel programs (hehe handel, good one)... or accompany (HAH! no. for sure can't handel that) or sing a solo or... hold up. Yes. Just sing one of the arias. You know it's your calling in life to sing upon demand so just do it, alright. The announcement in the program did say all I had to do to was ask Bro. D. And so I did. A few weeks passed and finally I quit dragging my feet just in time. I found Bro. D. at stake conference and asked him if there were any other alto arias that needed to be sung. Part of me wanted him to say all the spots were filled but part of me wanted to take on the challenge of performing a famous piece of music. I was positive that all of the spots were going to be filled, and probably by highly trained singers, so I didn't get my hopes up. When Bro. D. said that I could definitely be in the program I got an overwhelming sense of determination and confidence. I was going to sing in the Messiah! So cool! Something like this happening back home seriously was absolutely unheard of! You see... the Highland Stake Messiah Sing-In has been going on for years and years back home. It is always held around my birthday and I can remember going as a kid with my mom on a Sunday night after opening presents and eating cake and ice cream. Back then it was held in our stake center and usually everyone knew almost everyone there, including the soloists and musicians. Now days they have to rent out the university's performing arts center to put on the big show. The university orchestra plays the music and vocal performance majors do all of the solos. Yeah... the chances of me singing one the alto arias back home are so small. We're talking smaller than anything, ever. So that' s why I was sure I wasn't going to get to participate in the Sing-In here in the Madison Stake. Little did I know that this was the first time in a while since they had put on the Sing-In so they were keeping things as casual as possible. Meaning... anybody that wanted to sing got to sing. Including me. (: 

I told Bro. D. that I'm not very operatically trained so something in the alto range without a lot of trills or runs would be great. He prescribed me "Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion" and I got to work right away with my old ward's music director. She is a whiz at anything music and she helped me a ton with understanding everything technical that I needed to know about the song. (Thanks so much Ann!) About 2 weeks out I went to set up another practice appointment and she asked if my mom would like to accompany me instead since she would be in town. My mom, also a whiz at anything music, was all for it. I'm so glad she can play the piano well enough to pick up a piece of ridiculously hard music and have it totally down within 10 days. She's amazing. Someday I'll be able to accompany too... not as well as her... but well enough to be able to cross it off my bucket list. (:

Sunday arrived. I had been fighting off a cold for a week and my voice was feeling the pressure. I was able to practice the song all but twice before my voice started to call it quits. Luckily my mother and I are on the same wave length when we do musical numbers so we didn't have to practice too many times to get things together. Sunday evening showed up... I curled my hair, wore Marysa's bridesmaid dress from my wedding, threw on my high heels, and we made the long drive to the church for the second time that day. My whole family came, even Peter! I checked the program and for heaven's sake I was the first female soloist... internally I freaked out a little bit. It was kinda nice because I didn't have to worry about sounding as good as anyone before me... but not so nice because I didn't know how operatic the ladies after me were going to sound. What if this whole evening is super fancy?? And I sound less than half as good as everyone else??! I mean I can up the vibrato if I have to... being first though made it tough.... so I kept it medium-ish and as lovely as I could muster.

The opening song was song, the opening prayer was prayed. Bro. D. gave a little introduction to the program, stepped to the side of the the mic and sang the first solo of the evening. Without music. Everything completely memorized. Totally nailed it. He then stepped back and called me up to sing the next aria. Luckily I at least remembered to bring my "fancy" ripped up black binder from my Concert Choir days at BYU. The music started. I sang. And I guess you could say everything went well. I only messed up twice but really the audience probably only noticed one of them because I made a funny "I just messed up face." I'm sure there were some Messiah geniuses out there that noticed the other one but oh well. (: I took my heels off half way through the song too... ya know, to prevent myself from passing out... but my family said they didn't notice that either so really from the feedback I think it was tolerable! Wooo! High five!

By the end of the evening I had been uplifted by gorgeous music provided by brothers and sisters in my ward and stake that I didn't even know could sing or play the way they did. It was beautiful. Everyone did an excellent job and I can't wait to join them again next year to take on another one of Handel's arias. During Easter time too... such a great idea.

I had never thought of the Messiah as Easter music but after being a part of the program that evening a few weeks ago I have been reminded how much Christmas and Easter are alike. If any two days of all existence could be the most glorious and wonderful days... they would be the day Christ was born and the day He rose again to save me from my fallen and worldly state. 

I have often wondered if I was one of those angels that announced Christ's birth to the world or sang hallelujahs upon His resurrection and appearance to the Nephites in the Americas. I do know that I will be one of the saints singing praises to His name when he returns again. And maybe... just maybe if I'm lucky... I'll be the one crying out to the cities of Judah, saying, 

"Behold your God! Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

"Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion"

Oh thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, 

get thee up into the high mountain;

Oh thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,

lift up they voice with strength;

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say unto the cities of Judah, 

"Behold your God! 

Arise, shine, for thy light is come,

and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."

Spring Break with the Barfuss'

A couple of weeks ago the lovely village of Mount Horeb was graced by the presence of the Barfuss clan. My baby sister, Emily, had spring break so my mom convinced every single member of my family to get work/school off so we could have one last Midwest reunion before my other sister, Marysa, leaves for her mission to San Diego in a couple weeks. I don't think my whole family has been together on a "vacation" for quite a while... even this time didn't quite count since Todd had to work all week. I guess we did get a vacation from bathing Peter, changing Peter's diapers, or really needing to give him any attention at all.  Not that we don't enjoy time with our son... we just literally never got a turn with him unless he was grumpy. Oh well, we made up for it after they left... it took Peter a couple days to realize that the seven adults that were playing with him before was now down to one. One lonely momma that only had so much attention to offer. Sorry bud, I'm tryin'.

My family got to stay Friday-Wednesday so we packed in as much fun/relaxation as we reasonably could. Once they arrived and got settled in we spent most of our time hanging out, watching March Madness, touring State Street/the capitol, and checking out the shops in Mount Horeb. Nothing too crazy... but just enough action to keep 'em coming back. (:

Here is a smattering of photos from their visit... 

Hanging out after buying a ton of groceries... feeding 7 big kid tummies takes a lot more work and mula than feeding 1 big kid tummy and a baby.

Meanwhile the men played video games, watched basketball, and ate good food.

On Monday we toured around State Street and the Capitol... it's pretty cool, I don't know why I waited so long to visit.

The popcorn man was nice. (:

This is not the popcorn man.

Potbellies. Oh it was tasty.

Tuesday at the Chocolate House in Mount Horeb. 

Saying our goodbyes for a couple years... after I chopped my hair. 10 inches, yikes.

All in all we loved having my family in town. Our family get togethers (is that a word??) just aren't going to be the same until Marysa gets back from her mission, we are really going to miss her while she's away. Go get 'em Marsha! You take the party to CA and we'll keep it hoppin' in WI, ID, and UT. (: