THANKFUL!

I'm a little bit late in writing this post, but better late than never, right?

I have so much to be thankful for it's borderline ridiculous.


I AM SO THANKFUL FOR MY FAMILY! I know I've mentioned them a time or two in the recent past, but it's with good reason! My family really are my best friends. I joke that my brothers have ruined me...that I'm not sure I can feel love unless it's through teasing--but I love them and the fun, dynamic relationships I have with each of them! I adore my sisters-in-law; they make me smile, and they share their awesome children with me. My nieces and nephews are each stellar individuals, and I almost can't believe that one day, when they come, I'll love my own children more?! Then there are my parents. My daddy is AMAZING; he's such a good man, and he's totally set the bar high for what I expect in my future husband. He's mostly a serious guy, but totally sweet, and we can usual coerce him into playing games with us. Aaaand I cannot forget my mama. My mama is fantastic! We talk and laugh and have fun, no matter what it is we're doing! I saw a quote on Pinterest that sums up how I feel about my mama: "The truth is, even if she weren't my mum I'd go out of my way to be friends with her." Pretty much...

I have stupendous friends. Seriously, I don't know how I always luck out, but everywhere I go, I seem to find really awesome, funny, caring people, and they always seem to let me hang out with them, and even like me back! We have fun adventures, sometimes traveling far away from our beloved Idaho...and sometimes making our own adventures at home. I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

I LOVE MY CAREER; I've said before that graduate school was the worst thing I've ever inflicted on myself, but that it's also the best thing I've ever done for myself. Being a Speech-Language Pathologist is totally rewarding (even if, some days, particular clients make me earn every cent of my paycheck!).

I'm thankful for Thanksgiving (and other holidays that "force" the world to focus on others, and on happy, blessed events). I spent the majority of last Wednesday in the kitchen with my awesome mama; we made apple pie from scratch, two pumpkin rolls, a broccoli cauliflower casserole, and homemade pizza, while Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CDs serenaded us in the background, and it was probably one of the happiest, coziest days of 2011 for me. Good food, good company, good tunes...*sigh*...a splendid day, indeed!

I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful to have been raised to know my that I am a literal spirit daughter of a loving Heavenly Father; I know that He knows me personally, and that He desires for my happiness. Maybe I'm not exactly where I thought I'd be at this point in my life (married with a baby or two?), but I also know that God's in charge of my life, including the little details. I'm thankful to Him for blessing me so abundantly, and I'm thankful for an open line of communication with Him in this crazy world! I'm thankful to my Savior and brother, Jesus Christ, for His selfless atonement. I love the gospel...the guidance and direction it gives, and the peace it brings! Also, I love this gorgeous world He created for humanity to enjoy (and take care of)!

first time i've ever done a lattice top. i love apple-y goodness...

pumpkin roll (with a touch of cinnamon in the icing! it's magical!)

jackson loves to be squished. i love being the one to squish him.

kayleebug was saying "cheeeeese!" right here. so cute...

kiss. my. cheeks. (done aaaand done!)

we talked dad into playing hand&foot. brent and i lost. we lost hard.

Aaaand now I'm back to real-life. My week away from reality was amazing, and a nice reminder of all I have to be grateful for!

Cheers!

Before I Resign Myself to the Kitchen...

It's been over a week since I last posted.

I'm back in Brigham with my family, and I've found LOTS of other things to fill my time with...

INCLUDING...

*Chillin' with Vance and Jane while everyone else is at work
*Going shopping with Mama
*Seeing Goose and Janel's new place
*Taking Marshall on a belated birthday date (and then lovin' on Kaylee for a bit)
*Squishing Emmett, chasing Seth, and going on a walk with Jackson
*Partaking of an awesome Slurpee (Sprite flavored, thank you very much)
*Raking the leaves into a humongous pile and then jumping into them (for the first time in something like 15 years; ah, that was refreshing)
*Fun with CamWow (with Aaron and Seth)
*Other stuff I can't remember

Aaaand...here are some of the pictures:

First: the Temple is really making progress!

Emmett and Janie

Mr. Sethington

Me and Marshall on our date

Lying in the gigantic pile of leaves

Brent wanted a turn too...

I call this one "Megamind"

Kind looks like he has a goatee...

 So. Yeah. It's been a fun week.

I'll post more later.

But for now, I think I'll get going on the apple pie and pumpkin roll...

Longest. Tuesday. Ever.

This day...?

I'm not lovin' it. Somehow it feels like Second Monday, and that hardly seems fair.

But...according to my Mama (who is really quite wise), "You find what you're looking for," so guess what? I've found a silver lining in this day. (It was actually hand delivered by Jami The Great!)

BEHOLD:




It's no secret that this ginabean loves cinnamon.

And cinnamon combined with chocolate?! EVEN BETTER!!!

These little puppies are so delicious! At first you bite into it, and you're like, "Hmm. This tastes exactly like the milk chocolate version of M&Ms...wait. Hold on just a minute...!" And then this excellent taste of cinnamon is suddenly there, and it's WONDERFUL!

Yeah. If Cinnamon M&Ms exist, I can handle this Second Monday.

I think...

Two Weeks Later...

Finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures...

I wasn't going to dress up at all, but I went to Utah that weekend and saw Abby wearing something super cool and super easy, and she totally let me borrow it...

Jami is Repunzel from Disney's Tangled, and I'm totally a Ghostbuster, with proton pack and all!

Because I took Halloween off of work (best. decision. ever.), I was able to stay another night in Utah. Which means I got to see Janie in her Halloween costume.

Jane was an octopus...

Oh my heck, I love this kid...

Bwa ha! Isn't she a cute little octopus?

 Also, here are a few pictures of Aaron's family all decked out in their Halloween attire...

Seth was a bat; Aaron was Hagrid; Amy was a witch...

And Emmett was the cutest little monster I ever did see...

 Lots of people have told me I'm lame for not being more enthusiastic about dressing up for Halloween. I got into a few years ago when I dressed up as a Star-Bellied Sneetch (that Dr. Seuss was a genius!). And I thought I looked pretty good, too...

Clearly, I'm the one on the left. You know, the one who looks like a Sneetch?

Anyway...I went to a big Halloween party dressed all Seuss-y, and approximately 5 people even knew what I was. It made me wonder if the rest of the people (those who didn't know a star-bellied sneetch when they saw one!) were so uncultured that they'd never even heard of Dr. Seuss. (Apparently "Sneetches and Other Stories" is not one of his better known books?)

I could go on about how disappointed I was over that one (and I have gone on about it); I had been planning that costume for a full year. And the fact that nobody recognized my costume kinda took the wind out of my sails...

Anyway, I had fun dressing up (at the last minute) and may get more excited about it next year (but I make no promises).

My Halloweekend in Utah...

Do you ever get to feeling that, although life is fantastic and you're grateful for all the blessings and people who surround you every day, you just GOTTA GET THE HECK OUTTA DODGE?

I'm not going to lie, I get like that every so often (but I'm not gonna say how often)...

Honestly? I love my life. Maybe I'm not exactly where I thought I'd be at the ripe-old age of 29 (married with a child or two?), but my life is awesome!

*Great job? (check)
*Amazing friends? (check, a million times over)
*Stupendous family? (check, check, check, check, check, check, CHECK!)
*Dependable car? (umm...sometimes? PS After my one post, I went to get my tires rotated, only to be told it was definitely time to purchase new tires. Several hundreds of dollars later...BLAH! Oh well, safety first! Oh yeah! CHECK!)
*A lovely home with lovely roommates? (check, check)
*Lots of other stuff? (check)

You get the idea: it's great to be me!

Having said that...the last weekend in October, I was definitely at the point where I needed to get away from my everyday life and to chillax in the land of my inheritance.

Spending time with my family is about the best thing I can even think of. And I got to see every member of my immediate family (plus all their offspring!) that weekend. Win/Win!!!

Dad, Vance and Jane came with me to babysit my awesome nephews in L-Town while Aaron and Amy went to SLC for Emily and Chris's sealing (so happy for them!).

I also got to spend extra time with Abby and Jane; they came with me to drive to Provo so I could hand deliver a (belated) birthday gifty to Lisa just after she finished her half marathon (darn me for not getting any pictures of me and Lisa!).

Then...I don't even really remember what else went down. (Maybe that sounds like a wasted trip to some of you, but I think sometimes those weekends are the best!)

Oh yeah...I watched True Grit with Vance, Abby and Brent. I thought I didn't really care to ever watch that show, but it turns out I was wrong. It's really pretty good! (That Jeff Bridges is a good actor.)

Also, I went to Regional Conference with my family.

Painted mom's toe nails and visited with her until most people would think we'd be sick of it, but we weren't, and we just kept right on chatting.

Dad was offered the job of his dreams! (You are lucky to have him, Deseret Book!)

Also, I stayed in town Sunday night and took Monday (Halloween) off. Just so I could spend some extra time with my stupendous family.

Yeah. Getting out of dodge was fantastic!

The proof is in the pictures, I suppose...

This fat little Emmett? He's got my heart.

Stealing kisses from Seth. He was totally asking for it...

Jumping Jackson...

This cute little cherub loves him some french fries...

Ah, Seth is such a handsome kiddo...

Me and my Janiebug

We went for a walk...and Jane liked keeping her hand on Emmett's fuzzy head, for some reason :)

On Friday night, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle showed up at Mom and Dad's place...

And lately, this little muffin has turned into a DANCING MACHINE! As soon as she hears music, she gets this adorable goofy grin on her sweet face, and she shakes her groove thang. So cute!

Also, Goose got Kaylee laughing pretty hard.

I love the sound of her laughter!

I got a few pictures of Janie and Aaron's family in their Halloween costumes, but I think I'll save those for my next post.

I sure did love my time in Brig! Thanks, family! I love you!!!

Jackson Hole, WY (Finally!)

Throughout the summer, Jami and I talked about taking a day off and heading over to Jackson Hole just to play.

Then summer faded to autumn (my favorite!), and our trip never happened.

And that was a bummer unto us.

So we decided to take a half day off of work, and we headed on over to Jackson Hole to celebrate Jami's birthday a few days early.

It was a cold and lovely day in Jackson on October 27. We got there mid-afternoon and walked around town and around the shops. Ah, spending time with Jami is always fun...

Moooooose! Jami in a cute little moose beanie...

I'm not entirely sure what this little number is, but Jami kind of wears it well...

Yes, Jami loves hats. Even yeti hats from Eddie Bauer...

Jami totally wants a pair of Moon Boots. And I totally teased her. (But she looks cute in them!)

/Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto/ As it turns out, Moon Boots are ridiculously comfortable...

This here is a huckleberry truffle. So tasty I very nearly cried.

Jami also loved the truffles...

 After frolicking around in the shops and walking around in the cold, we had a tasty dinner and then headed back home.

It made for a terrific afternoon and evening!

Happy birthday, Jami! Thanks for the fun time!