November!!

One of my very favorite months has come and gone. I love the weather, I love birthdays, and I especially love the beginning of the holiday season!

Here are some fun things that happened in November!

I got to start the month with a fabulous and fun trip out to Tennessee to see a dear friend Desiree. It was wonderful to spend some time with her and her beautiful baby and super nice husband and even some other family members! It was the perfect time to go out East. Prime Fall season, huge trees and fall leaves everywhere! I loved it.

We visited a bakery called Magpies and had the BEST cupcakes ever! They have new flavors and free mini cupcakes for the tasting the first Friday of the month. It was such a treat!

(Pecan Pie, Apple Cinnamon, and sweet Potatoe! Elliott liked them too!)

We took walks, played games, and loved every minute we got to spend together. Thanks again for being the best host ever Des!

Before we cover the big holidays and my birthday, we had a little adventure right outside in our backyard. One morning after Brandon started his car (an '89 Honda Accord) and got out to scrape off the ice, the handle to his driver side door decided to break. Unfortunately, the passenger side has a separate key which has no duplicates......we then spent the next 1.5 hours jury rigging hangers and spatulas to open the door. With the help of Brandon's super strong hands, a wooden spoon and some hangers, we eventually came off victorious.

Now on to my favorite part - my birthday! I love birthdays, and I am lucky enough to be born right near Thanksgiving so I usually get to spend my day of birth with my family. It was another great one. We wore party hats all during breakfast!

It started with a delicious breakfast with my dearest friend Kate & Tommy.



Then a wonderful rest of the day with family, fun, and delicious food!

(Brandon and I celebrated early by ourselves at P.F. Changs)

(yum....the best chocolate cake ever with pumpkin ice cream!)

The very next day was Thanksgiving. Always a great day! Pics of that are on my sisters camera, so I'll have to add them later.

What a great month! And now it's on to Christmas! Celebrating, decorating, shopping, mint m&m's, listening to Carpenters on repeat, and singing Barbara Streisand's Jingle Bells as fast as I can....and counting down the days till my brother & his wife with a bun in the oven get home from Scotland. The fun just keeps on going and going!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

October Highlights

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! What a fun holiday. We trick or treated with our friends and their fun-filled 4 year old and played some Clue, which seemed like a fitting game for the day. I wish I had tons of adorable pictures of children and babies in cute costumes like everyone else's blogs, the closest thing I have to post is how much fun my little sister had on Halloween....as a Mad Scientist!

Very Mad! Very Awesome!

A few other highlights of October:

*Learning how to Knit (sort of) with Kate! That was certainly kneat!

*Celebrating the birth of my dear sister Heidi & my fantastic husband!

(sporting his new gifts) (Dinner at Cheesecake Factory) (Delicious & Pretty Dessert)

*Brandon experimenting with his facial hair.

*Discovering this song and video by Oren Lavie. It just a makes me happy, and makes me think I might do this in my dreams once in a while, by the looks of my bed in the morning some days.

*This random email that made me giggle a little

And lastly, a random persistent thought....Everyone is getting sick around me. I feel bad for them, but I also feel bad for me...well mostly jealous. I just really, really want to lose my voice. Is that so bad? Is that too much to ask? I never ever have....I've even tried getting sick sometimes so I could......but it never happens. I have gotten sick, but just never lost my voice. I don't know why it sounds so fun to try to say something and mostly raspy squeaks come out. But alas, all I can do is continue to hope!

Did I mention that I happen to love my life? Because I do!

There are also some VERY exciting things happening in November.....I will report on those before the month's out.

Time to post something...

I know it's been a month, and I know I should post something - so the best I can come up with is what has been on my mind lately....

* I put socks on for the first time today in 3 months or more. I love wearing flip flops with everything, but I am in no way against crisp weather that some shoes and socks and a light jacket or hoodie can't fix. I just hope it stays just like this for a LONG time!

* We can officially talk about the fact that my brother and his wife are having a baby! I am so excited to be an official aunt!

* Whether you are obsessed with the Twilight series or not - why is everyone posting trailers on their blogs - we've seen them! We get it....you love it!

* I missed yoga tonight and wished I hadn't - but it was fun to watch our cousins baseball game

* I have a long list of friends that I love and love to talk to, and am not sure why I wait so long in between calls, and why am I blogging right now when I should be talking to them?

* There is a part of me that is solid in who I am and loves me unconditionally - and a part of me that always wants to be like other people...more stylish, more granola, cared more, cared less, crafty, spiffy, higherly educated, has a career, is a stay at home mom.....why do I think I can be all of these things mixed into one person? How boring would this world be if we all were?

* I eat WAY more fruit and vegetables these days - and my body is happy about it. I know it likes it, and I like making my body happy.

* I want a garden someday- I want to eat food that I planted and grew all by myself.

* The best part of my day today was when I commented at breakfast with my husband that I can't believe it's already the end of September. His response was, "Time flies when you're married to your soul mate!" I guess it does........Love that man I married!

Anniversary Numero Uno

Brandon and I just got back from celebrating our 1st anniversary together on a fabulous Mexican cruise! We road tripped it to Vegas, Palm Springs to visit family (LOVED IT! Thanks again for everything!) and then off to San Diego to get on a cruise for 5 days. We loved relaxing, reading, eating delicious food and having lots of fun together.

Before and After a 16" Burrito

I love my husband so much and feel so grateful he is a part of my life. This has definitely been the best year of my life. Everyday is an adventure with him and I'm so glad he asked me to marry him so we could have this fabulously happy life together.

We got an awesome gift for our wedding that explains how I feel exactly...

"They could not remember a time until now that forever didn't seem long enough"

Grand 'Ol Grand Junction

We had a fun quick road trip out to Grand Junction to visit Brandon's sister Kara. She just moved out there and is now working as a therapist for the VA. She showed us a grand 'ol time. It was so wonderful to spend some time with her and also to get out of Utah for a bit. Below are a bunch of pictures of our adventures. Friday we strolled along downtown where there is local art everywhere...it was very cool! Had some delicious Indian food for dinner.

(me and my cute hubby)

This is a combo of the art called "Chrome On The Range"

and Brandon's imagination!

Saturday we floated in tubes down the Colorado River....My camera's not water proof so no pics....sadly. We found a rope swing and jumped off a few times. Turns out the water was a bit shallower than a tall man like Brandon imagined. He landed and hit his foot pretty hard against a rock and bruised the whole bottom of his foot and is a little bit gimpy now until it heals- but luckily it wasn't anything worse.

Then we were able to drive in Kara's beautiful Miata (a.k.a. Bebe) up the Colorado National Monument. It was BEAUTIFUL and so fun to be driving up and around those bends with the fresh air blowing and such beautiful scenery.

It was a great weekend. We really liked Grand Junction and can't wait to go back!

The 4th of July

Sorry this post will not have any pictures because I forgot I owned a camera for 3 days straight, but thought I'd report on our 4th of July in Blackfoot, ID. Brandon's grandparents live there and 2 Uncles. We had a mini- family reunion which included BBQ, swimming, sitting in the sun and talking, the ultimate fireworks on the driveway (Thanks Jeremy!) and a water balloon fight with the neighbors. Brandon brought his balloon launcher and it was the biggest hit of the weekend. We started a water fight with the neighbors of Brandon's Uncle and it was a blast! He also has this ridiculous but pretty fun game where at night you launch the water balloons straight up into the air, then everyone scatters and closes their eyes and waits to see who gets hit!

Brandon's extended family is amazing and has become a second family to me. They are so warm and loving and we just love spending time with them. His other grandparents are also in Idaho, Ririe....and we had a great time visiting with them as well. Although they tried to teach us Peanuckle and we are officially not a fan of the game!

It was nice to get away from Utah and have fun and laugh and get some sun and be with family. I made a delicious snack up there that I got from my fabulous sister-in-law Lindsey, and it was a hit (as far as snacks go). In case you've never had it.....I must share the love!

Pigeon Mix

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. Butter
2 C. Sugar
2 C. Light Corn Syrup
1 Box Ric or Corn Chex
1 Box Golden Grahams
2 C Shredded coconut
1 C Slivered Almonds

Melt Butter, Sugar and Syrup in Large sauce pan on Medium Head - stir until boiling.

Mix Cereal, Coconut & Almonds in Large mixing bowl. Pour Syrup mixture over cereal mixture. Lay our on Wax/Parchment Paper to cool.

Still on the Calendar of fun things to do this month....a road trip to Grand Junction to see my sister-in-law Kara, a tour of the largest open mines that you can even see from space, practically right in our backyard...Kennecott mines, and a super exciting California road trip and Mexican cruise for our 1 year Anniversary! Wohoo!

We'll be sure to take pictures and keep everyone up to date on our many adventures!