Update: Where the Figgats have been for the last six months

Greetings! We decided we should include an update on everything that has occurred these last few months. I ended up graduating cum laude, which was super exciting for me. Nerdy, but true. In case you didn't know, we moved to Salt Lake City, Utah immediately following graduation where I completed my student teaching assignment at Cyprus High School (Pirate Pride!). My time as a student teacher included some of the most rewarding times in my life. The kids that I taught really made a difference in my life. Also, I feel like I really found what I want to do with my rest of my life. I love being a teacher! During the few months that we lived in Utah, Adam did freelance marketing work. After our time in Salt Lake ended, we decided to move to (drum roll, please) Rexburg, Idaho. While we did not expect to ever move back to the city of our Alma Mater, we could not be happier to be back. I was offered an adjunct faculty position at BYU-Idaho, where I will teach English starting Fall 2013. Adam is continuing freelance work for the time being. Thus, it will be at least a few more frigid winters for us in the frozen tundra called Rexburg. We hope all is well with all who read these words.

Love,

Evi

Here are some pictures from our time in Utah...

first day as a student teacher

Tara & Ryan came to visit/ski with us at Canyons

We dated a lot, considering we had only a few friends and not very much time in Utah.

Love these boys, even when Jeremy farted... a lot ;)

Tuesday night was Taco Tuesday and Del Taco was the only place that we could find that upheld such a tradition

Valentine's Day: Dinner at Normandie and we saw Warm Bodies

Said goodbye to my little sister before she left on her mission

My family came to visit!

I got new skis, which I used all the time thanks to our passes at Canyons

This is Lil' Sebastian. I drove past him everyday on my way to work.

We had our two year anniversary! We celebrated by going to Texas de Brazil (thanks to Groupon). 

We went to St. George & hiked Angel's Landing.

Yeah, I climbed that ridge.

My Fisherman

I loved all of the gorgeous tulips in Utah, especially the ones at Temple Square.

Salt Lake City LDS Temple

My cousins built riot shields and shot BB guns at us. Super fun :)

We lived in East Millcreek, which gave us a perfect view of the sunset each night.

I taught the Valiant 10/11 class.  It was my favorite calling thus far.

Chilling in Grandma's basement aka home

Also, we lived across from 7-11. It was a bit of a problem. Slurpee lovers for life!

Recipe Tuesday on a Wednesday: Baked Hasselback Potatoes

Hasselback potatoes put a fun twist on the baked potato. Once again I found this on Pinterest. Pinterest is doing wonders for my cooking skills and I know Adam sure appreciates it. Click here for the original recipe. This is what mine ended up looking like!

Okay so they're not super pretty. Forgive me I'm neither a photographer or a chef, I'm an average twenty year old. Adam and I had cheese on ours and Emily (aka the cheese hater did not.) I tried a bite of Em's and can honestly say they taste great both ways!

Here is el recipe:

You Need:
Potatoes. Cook to order. (Make sure you scrub them well!)
Olive Oil.
Garlic Powder.
Salt.
Paprika.
Parmesan Cheese.
Chopped Chives.

How To Make These Beauties:
Your oven needs to be set at 425 degrees.
Slice each potato across as thin as you get it. The original recipe calls 1/8 in. between, honestly that was hard, so I just did my best. Make sure you are cutting within 1/4 of the bottom.
Do not slice all the way through or you'll end up with chips like I did.
This is where I varied from the original recipe, because I didn't want to make more dirty dishes...
Place the potatoes on the baking sheet.
pour the olive oil on your hands (don't worry it's a good moisturizer).
Rub down the potatoes, making sure you get into the slits.
Sprinkle on garlic powder to taste preference.
Do the same with the salt, paprika, and parmesan.
We baked ours with the chives inside, so take your chopped chives and insert some into the slits.
Bake for 38 minutes (ish). At this point if you want to put on a couple slices of cheese on top of the potatoes do it now (only if you have cheese lovers in your home like we do in ours!). Bake for five extra minutes or till cheese melts, if you didn't use cheese plan on cooking it for a grand total of 43 -45 minutes.
Take them out and enjoy!!
This is a new house favorite for us. :)
Have fun and good luck.

Love, Evi

How to do a weekend right!

This is me getting distracted at the flea market. I saw a really cute vintage end table!!

Check out the spoon I found for my mom! Lately she has been into spoons. This one has Napoleon on the top :)

So first of all to report on the whole seven weeks to a better me thing, see this post here.
I rocked it this week and the hubs got in on it, too! We worked out and watched what we ate. We still need to work on not eating out as much. Let's just say that I'm sore from this week and plan on keeping it up. I'm way excited to report I can already fit my size 27 jeans again aka jeans from high school. Problem is I probably need to get rid of another inch to make it so the zipper doesn't pull. Have I mentioned that I'm trying to lose inches not weight? Anyways, it is going good. Next week is spiritual boot camp. I bought Jesus the Christ per recommendation of Adam. I plan on reading that and we are planning a temple date. :)

So our weekend...
Yesterday we went to the Farmers Market and got some wayyyy yummy cherries and blueberries. Last night we saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It was rad! We loved it. We were worried before seeing it that that they'd kill the series, but they didn't!

Photo found here.

Afterwards we were starving and went to Ramires and ate bombdiggity Mexican food.

Today we went to a flea market, thrifting, to the lake, and then I CLEANED. Yes, I cleaned!! Our room looks glorious. I reorganized our closet and took care of the pile that has accumulated in two different portions of room over the last month. I have a horrible habit of trying something on and then throwing it on the floor. It took two hours to clean up my clothes. Anyways, take a gander at my achievement.

Told you I had issues.
Have a great Sunday!!!

Recipe Tuesday!!

Okay so not going to lie, I am becoming quite the stereotypical Molly Mormon homemaker minus the organization part, so maybe I'm not so Molly... haha. Anyways, I haven't burned anything in like A MONTH (knock on wood). All of the new recipes I've been experiment not only work, but taste great! For instance this little piece of art.

Yeah, I made that... dare I say that it is awesome.
Anyways, I've NEVER made bread before. I've watched others, but never myself.
So I present to you the EASIEST bread recipe.

Quick & Crusty French Baguettes

2 cups very warm water
1 packet yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups flour
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set the bowl on top of your preheating oven for ten minutes. Stir in the salt and add the flour a half-cup at a time, until the dough becomes soft but not sticky. Knead the dough until elastic.

Cut the dough into four even pieces. Roll each of them into four long, thin ropes. Twist together two of the ropes to form one loaf. Twist the other two ropes together to form a second loaf. Transfer both onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

You can now bake the loaf right away (if you’re in a hurry) or allow it to rise for an additional 15-30 minutes on top of your warm oven.

Now for the SECRET: Fill a large bowl with 3-4 cups of ice. Open your hot oven and place the baking sheet with the baguettes inside, then toss the ice cubes on the bottom of the oven and quickly shut the door. Do NOT open your oven for 15 minutes. Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.

Serve fresh and hot with your favorite olive oil for dipping.

(I got the recipe from here)

I did forget to do the ice cube trick, so maybe it wasn't as good as it could've been. BUT IT WAS AMAZING. I made bbq crock pot chicken and we made little sandwiches with my homemade bread and it was BOMB.

I love you all. I'm off to my piano lesson. I have a recital on Thursday!! :)
Love, Evi

Our First Home :)

So that is a sneak peak of our home. The tiny room with clearly all of our luggage and junk is a small storage room that we have. I forgot to take pictures of our bathroom which might be the cutest room in our house, so I'll have to post those later. :) Our home is plain, but it feels like home and it is our first. I love it. I love coming "home" everyday to my husband and the things that make this place our home.