a few things...

I forgot to mention...a few weeks ago (at Emmett's blessing), a little girl (maybe 10 years old) got up to bear her testimony. She compared dads to chocolate cake. It's true. She said something along the lines of, "I think God gave us chocolate cake so we can have a little taste of heaven on earth. And dads are like chocolate cake: they are awesome!" Then she talked about how stellar her daddy is. It kind of melted my heart a little bit. Also: that girl is witty! (Especially for a 10-year-old!)

Fast forward a little bit: I went to Provo to see Thriller with Lisa on her birthday. It. Was. Awesome.

Fast forward a little bit more: Brookie did my hair for our friend Beffany's birthday dinner. (Yeah...we had time to kill beforehand.)

Can you say Shirley Temple?
(She shook it out and messed it up, no worries!)

My hair does not hold curl; this tells you approximately how much product crap Brookie put in my hair! (I got lots of compliments, and having curly hair was fun for a change!)

I especially liked the back...

Fast forward just a little bit more: last weekend I went to another BYU game (against Wyoming) with some friends. We got there a bit early, and those in my car parked fairly near LaVell Edwards Stadium, but kind of far away from campus (which is where our other carload of friends parked and wanted to have lunch). Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but it was really rainy that day, so we were soaked before we even got to campus. Bummer.

But then the heavens opened and the rain stopped for pretty much the entire game! And BYU won! Hooray, they won!

Here some pictures of what went down that day...

BYU's rainy campus

Skyler, me, Keri, Brooke
(it's technically a self-portrait, so quit judging my double chin!)

Jess, Jeanna, Carl

I met up with Dad and Aaron during half-time

Me and Keri during the game...

"Go Cougs!"

Jess, me and Jeanna (at the Macaroni Grille in SLC after the game)

Keri, Brooke and Kristin

PS At dinner after the game, there was totally a witch birthday party going on at the table behind Brooke and Keri! (We even heard them talking about a coven and whatnot.) Yeah...we don't get much of that up here in North-of-Zion. (Come to think of it, I wouldn't think it's very common in Zion itself either...) That was neat.

feelin' halloweeny...

Last night for FHE, we carved pumpkins.

I brought a pumpkin along, totally hoping that someone might've forgotten to bring one, so that I wouldn't have to do the dirty work. (Let me be clear; I think Jack-o-Lanterns are stellar, wonderful little numbers that just scream Halloween. However...I do not love scooping out the pumpkin guts, and I get a bit nervous around knives and large gourds. Just sayin'.)

Turns out, my friend Carl didn't have time to get a pumpkin before FHE started, so I lucked out! (So did he, technically. Win/Win.)

My pumpkin, but Carl's Jack-o-Lantern
I love the scar for an eye...
Well done, Carlos.

This cute little guy was carved by Jami the Great.
I love him! (Jami too!)


Aaaand do you recognize this face?
It's Jack! From Nightmare Before Christmas!
(So clever to carve a watermelon, too!)
Cade carved this one...

There were LOTS of other pumpkins being carved last night, but I didn't get pictures of most of them. It was a good time, though, and it was fun to see the creativity flow!

look what i can do...

I bumped into a pumpkin/yeast bread recipe a few days ago, and yesterday I got around to trying it out It. Is. Delicious. (Thank you, Taste of Home, for the daily recipes!)


It tastes even better with a mug of hot chocolate (in my House muggy-mug Lisa got me in Ukraine.)

hello, october!

What the what?! It's already mid-October, people!

Time. FLIES.

I spent the last two weekends in Zion with the fam, which was pretty much fantastic. This is why:

Sweet Kaylee J
(she looks so much like her daddy lately!
only a pretty, feminine version. obviously)

Cute Janiebug

Marshall and Seth playing with stackin' blocks
(Seth said, "I'm making a big beautiful L!" So cute...)

Emmett!!!

The children are precious though, aren't they?

Let's see, what else have I been up to...?

*I just finished reading The Silence of God by Gale Sears. It's a good one. Takes place during the start of the Russian revolution. Very interesting.
*I just started reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I'm only in the third chapter, but I think it's going to be an interesting read.
*I enjoyed the heck out of General Conference. Loved it!
*I'm rather pleased with the weather of late; it's officially fall, people! That means jackets and sweaters and cardigans and hoodies! (I love dressing in layers!!!)
*I've been a champ at working out at least five days a week since I joined a gym nearly a month ago. (I need to make it a habit, or else it'll just end up being a sad waste of money...) Even if nobody can tell, my body can feel it. Really, really...
*I went to the BYU game against San Diego with Dad last Saturday (Oct. 9). Guess what? BYU won! They did! (Pretty sure they're going to lose to TCU this weekend, but still...we'll take what we can get!)
*Also, Mom had her birthday this past week. Vance and Abby made her a candy bar message. Only...the "candy bars" were actually baby carrots. (This is more than slightly hilarious because Mom calls baby carrots "orange candy bars" to try to trick herself into thinking they are as delicious as actual candy bars. Love my Momma!)

Dad and me at the BYU game...

It was a lovely day...
and BYU scored the first two touchdowns!

Although the final score was much closer than it ought to have been,
BYU prevailed, and Dad was very pleased with the Cougars...

The "candy bar" message to Mom from Vance, Abby and Jane...

This past Sunday, Emmett was blessed. It was a lovely blessing, and it was stellar having everyone together (both the F-clan and the O-clan) to celebrate Emmett and the joy he is in all our lives. (Looking forward to Kaylee J's blessing next month!)

The man of the hour: Emmett Lamond!

Action Jackson climbing on his play set...

Almost-twinner cousins...
(Kaylee was born 15 days before Emmett)

Making Jane giggle...

Aaaand then I came back to reality...

I don't particularly love Mondays. I've tried to, I assure you, but...this day always rears its ugly head and I can't help but hate Mondays. (A vast majority of them, for realsies.) But this past Monday ended well enough...

My last client of the day canceled, and I met up with Brooker at Target for a very specific purpose: you see, the previous Thursday, Brooker and I were there looking for cardigans when we saw footie pajamas. LARGE footie pajamas. In the kiddie section, actually. I said something like, "Hey Brooke, will you please try this on so I can take a picture? PLEASE?!" Brooker would have if she hadn't been in such a rush to make it to the Temple for the 7:00 session. So...my splendid idea was slashed. But on our way out to our cars, Brooker and I decided to meet up at the same location on Monday evening in order to make my dream a reality...

We headed straight for the kiddie section and I located the footie pajamas of which Brooker would don. Then she got the brilliant idea that I should grab a pair as well. I'm not one to shirk my duties as a friend, so I grabbed a purple pair and we slowly made our way back to the fitting rooms. (I was so ashamed that I had to grab some clothes on the way back so as to hide said jammies. I didn't even try the other clothes on...)

I started giggling before I even put the jammies on, people. And then when I looked down and saw my feet, I completely lost it...

The footie bottoms even have traction, people.
So as not to slip and fall, I can only imagine...

Yes, I completely lost it and fell to the floor in a fit of laughter.

(Good thing Brooke got a picture)

Let me just tell you, it was difficult to be discrete, my friends. Difficult because the entire thing was ridiculous, and when I'm faced with a ridiculous situation I tend to laugh heartily at it. "Can you laugh heartily without drawing attention to yourself?" I ask you...

Oh boy...for Brooker's detailed account of the same situation, click here.

Pretty much, these footie jammies are the least flattering pajamas imaginable. (Probably that's why you don't see such things in the lingerie department, eh?)

Just when I start feeling like I'm a real live adult, I go and do something like this...

We. Inspire. Jealousy.
Clearly.

It's all good, though. I love us.

This is all...