Chilean Dinners

For dinner last night we had a Chilean recipe from Nate's mission called Completos.  As we were preparing for dinner, Nate told me that he wanted to take a picture of them.  This was a hint to me that these photos could be a future blog post about something Nate is passionate about. Food, especially Chilean Completos. 

Prep: Dig a well in the hot dog buns so that you will be able to fit more in the hot dog.  You may eat excess bun.  Place your hot dog in the well and add your Guacamole (just smashed avacado with olive oil and salt), chopped tomatoes, mayo, and a spice sauce Aji.  We ran out of Aji so I just sprinkled Tapatio sauce on it.  

 Here is the proud chef with his three stuffed Completos.

For an even better view. 

Completos are good and filling. I remember when Nate and I were first dating and he made me Completos.  I had two while Nate had six. We were stuffed.  Nate commented that Completos were something that he couldn't stop eating. He managed to keep himself to three yesterday. 

We have had fun making Chilean recipes that Nate remembers eating on his mission.  Here are a few photos from the past.

Nate rolling out the dough for Sopaipillas 

 Then fry them.

Then eat them! Nate said in Chile people would eat these on rainy days.  It was snowing outside during this time, so we felt it was appropriate.  They were eaten with coffee/hot chocolate for the members, or they would dip them in honey or salsa! I liked the salsa. Oh and this was when Austin was staying with us in our one bedroom apt for a semester! Fun times!

Empanadas! These are my favorite of all the Chilean dinners we have made.  Inside the wrap there is ground beef simmered in spices with boiled egg chunks.  Then baked.

The empanadas were usually dipped in a salsa called pebre.  It is green onions, cilantro, viniger, oil, and water.  SO GOOD! I crave these often.  But when time is of the essence, completos are made the most.

Demolition Derby, Mount Timpanogos, and the Rock Garden Adventure

A few weeks ago was the Iron County fair! We get a calendar in the mail of all the Iron County happenings and the demolition derby was one of them. I told Nate that we should really go to it and he accepted not knowing how awesome demolition derby's are. 

So here is a close up of the contenders! Mater was one of them and it was too bad he got demolished to no repair in the first round.  At this derby there were three events. The demolition of the cars where they drive around crashing into each other until the last one is standing, a figure eight race course, and then a truck demolition. Our favorite was the Truck crash and the final round of the car demolition where the car named No Mercy won.  Go figures.

All of the pictures that we had people take of us were blurry.  I decided that red-necks don't know how to use cameras. 

 Nate won a FREE sandwich at Dickey's BBQ from answering a sponsor question.  He is good at paying attention! He later got me one too! Yay!

 Adventure # 2

Our adventure started at 3:00am.  We woke up and had a light breakfast, jumped in the jeep and drove over to the start of the hike to the top of Mount Timpanogos (11,582 feet). ~13 mile hike. Hike up about one mile in elevation.

We packed water, food, and our head lamps the night before so that we could get going quick in the morning. We had never hiked when it was that dark outside, but it made it very exciting! We could see the head lamps of other hikers all over the mountain.  I couldn't believe how many people did this hike this early!

This is after about three hours of hiking! If you couldn't tell.  If you look behind us you can see a trail on the left. That is part of the trail that we hiked. Our goal was to make it to the top before the sun rise, but I guess you have to start hiking at 2:00 am for that.  It was still fun to see the sun come up as we were hiking.

There is the peak! it took us another two hours to get to it! The dip in the mountain right above Nate's head is called the saddle.  It is the first time that you see Utah valley and the view is amazing.  

 Once we reached the saddle we had a snack and then continued on our journey.  This was the "final stretch" 45 min. to the top!  This last part of the hike was a bit sketchy, mostly because you were so tired and dizzy from the high elevation, and numerous hours of hiking.  Our legs were BEAT.

AT THE TOP! Whew! There is Utah Lake right behind us.  It looks so small! It was such a beautiful time to hike because the leaves were just starting to change color.  It was pretty to look down and see all of them.  It was roughly eight o' clock when we made it to the top. 

Mom and dad made it!

 This little pond usually has glaciers all around it that people slide down, but this year we didn't get much snow, so no glaciers. (back side of timp)

 Austin made it too! He was actually first.

 There is a little metal building at the highest peak of the mountain.  My grandma West said that they called it the glass hut because you could see it shine from the valley.  She says that it is harder to see now-a-days.  I told her it was probably because of all the graffiti! It was fun to hear my grandparent's stories of hiking Timp. She told me that she was scare to slide down a glacier (in her late teens) and then a boy gave a little shove and she went hurtling down (as she described it).

 We saw some mountain goats.  They were pretty far away.

 On the way back down we had a bathroom break and Nate decided to take off his shoes and give his feet a rest.  By the end of this hike all of our feet were screaming.

 The journey home.  It was such a beautiful hike.  It was fun to hike back down and actually see what we were hiking all around. Oh the beauty!  Near the end of the hike the beauty became a little less beautiful as our feet and body began to hurt more ;).  Every now and then our hike would burst in to a run when it was down hill because it was easier on our knees.  We also ran the last few miles back just to be done.  It was decided that the hike there went by faster because of the dark and then light than the hike back. Even though the hike up took four hours and the hike down took three.  

We had our up's and down's with motivation during this hike, but mostly up's.  We are pretty sure that we would do it again... maybe;)

The hike took us a total of seven hours. avg hiker 10 hours. we felt proud.

 Adventure #3 The Rock Garden

We wen up AF canyon just after it had rained.  I wanted to get a quick picture of the clouds as they were creeping their way across the top of the mountain.  It looked cool.

Anyway on Labor Day we (west family- Mom, Dad, Taylor, Megan[cousin], and me and Nate) took the side-by-side and Taylor's Jeep on a trail called Rock Garden.  Its named that because the whole trail is covered with tons of rocks! 

Mom loves the side-by-side and drives most of the time.  

Taylor enjoys testing the articulation of his jeep.  His tires are so big that they kept bursting the gas valve and his gas went everywhere.  I asked my dad if the tires were maybe too big and he said "tires are never too big, you just have to alter the jeep to fit them."  Well there ya have it. (Notice the rocks)

 Nate had a turn at the wheel! He was so excited!  I was impressed at his skill.  He drove over some pretty complicated stuff!

 Nate drove the side-by-side up the obstacle above that Taylor is rolling up.

 I got to drive too! I am pointing at the easier part of the obstacle that I wanted to drive up, but was pressured into driving up the scarier part! I though we would roll, but didn't get close.  Side-by-sides are pretty cool. Maybe we can get one someday. 

 One last flex on the way back down the trail.  It was so beautiful there.  I love the mountains just after it has rained.  It feels so clean and fresh.! What a blessing to have family so near to the mountains.  I sure hope that wherever we move to has them :)