Does it have to be over?

Thanksgiving break has been so wonderful. I don't want it to end! I had such a great weekend. Thursday we got up and did our annual Turkey Run 5K. It was great. Matt went to the Turkey Bowl with some of our old friends from the singles ward while I watched the parade with my fam. We spent Thanksgiving at my Granny's with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. We made it over to Matt's Grandma's later that night to spend a couple hours with them.

Friday we got the rest of the house cleaned so it can be ready to paint. Hopefully that will happen soon. And I spent a few hours just laying on the couch reading a book. It has been such a long time since I have been able to do that. And it was heavenly. Friday night we got together with Matt's family for tamales. I guess Matt's grandma used to make them all the time and now Matt's uncle brings them up from Arizona whenever he comes.

Saturday we got a bunch of errands done and went to the game. I thought it was great, and we'll leave it at that.

It really was just a much needed break and so relaxing. I even took like 3 naps. I didn't do an ounce of homework, which means the next couple of weeks are going to be busy trying to finish up my projects for the semester. Oh well, it was worth it.

And I am thankful for...

In N' Out Burger. Yup, This is Matt making apparently his bi-annual post. I just had to show though how excited I was about the opening of In 'N Out. Here are a couple of pictures to show the excitement, and a video that must certainly be watched.

Here is a pic from my car about 35 minutes in or so.


Here I am looking at the most wonderful drive through menu in the land. (Although, there is really no reason for me to look at it, cuz I have it all memorized, at least the important stuff anyways.)


Mmmm, this is the view about 45 minutes later. I kinda want another one just looking at it... I must say, it did not disappoint in the tastiness that I remember. Bear in mind for those skeptics out there, this is a "fast food" burger, not some "Crown Burger" competition. It is the best "fast food" burger around. :) Just watch my video, sorry for the poor quality it is on my cell camera.




Go to In 'N Out, enjoy, and you'll see what I mean. :)

Giving thanks

I am thankful for so many things, but I just wanted to focus on a few. First, I am so thankful to know that God is watching out for us. I know that He has a plan for us even though it might be different from what our own plan is. I'm still so amazed at how guided and directed we were in this whole layoff situation. I know that it was because God wanted Matt to be in school and for us to move to Utah County. Seriously, we were about to close on our house in Layton and Matt got laid off the day before we were supposed to close. And then he got in to BYU a week later. Some people might think it's a miracle, but I know it's because God is directing our lives.

I'm so thankful for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is true. I know there is a prophet on the earth today...just like in the times of Moses or Abraham. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that by reading it we can come closer to God and Jesus Christ and better understand our purpose here on earth. I'm thankful for the Atonement of our Savior and that because of His sacrifice, He will never give up on us and as we continue to try to follow Him, He will bless us more than we can imagine.

I'm thankful for wonderful family and friends. People mean a lot to me. I love them so much and I don't know what I would do without them. They really have influenced who I am and I love having them a part of my life.

I'm thankful for Matt. He makes me laugh and smile every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Girls Night Out

Last night I went to dinner with some of the girls that I grew up with in my home ward. We started this bi-annual tradition a few years ago and I love it! We got kicked out of the restaurant for staying too long. Oops! Maybe next time we will have to go somewhere that stays open later. :) Love you girls!

While I was laughing it up with the girls, Matt was in line at the new In-N-Out Burger that opened yesterday in Orem. He was so excited about the grand opening that he waited in line for an hour just to get a burger.

In 10 years...

You know how when you're in Young Womens or some simliar setting and they make you write a letter to yourself saying where you'll be in 10 years? Well, let me just tell you that what I wrote when I was 12, 18, and even 25 when I was coming home from my mission is not what ended up happening.

When I was in Young Womens I wrote things like go to college, get a good job, get married, be a mom--all before the age of 23 of course. And some other good goals like go to the temple, travel, be a good person, etc. When I came home from my mission, I wrote the same stuff . And a few other goals like be a writer, have a career, be active in the church, magnify my callings, learn new things, etc.

And 10 years later...I never expected to have to wait til the ripe old age of 28 to get married. I never expected to have to put my husband through grad school. I never expected to be going to grad school while working full-time. I never expected to have to wait til I'm at least 30 to be a mom with the possibility of having to be a working mom if we even do have kids before Matt graduates. I never expected to still be renting a place to live. All this wasn't part of the plan!

But I also never expected to go on a mission. Or move to Georgia. Or study abroad. Or change my career. Or run a marathon. Or have such great roommates. Or travel like I've been able to do and learn so much about other places and people. Or get masters degree. Or discover some of the talents that I have. And those things probably wouldn't have happened if my little 10-year plan had worked out.

Sometimes I just need to remember the 2nd list when I'm feeling frustrated about the 1st list. :)

Murder in the Wild West

This year's murder mystery came off pretty well considering that it was the day before we moved. The pictures didn't turn out the greatest, but oh well. It was still a lot of fun. The setting was the Wild West. I got this fun Wanted poster cutout from the party store.

But neither Matt or I was the killer.

Rebecca was Scarlett Ohlahlah, a saloon dancer.

Dave was General Custard, the leader of the calvary unit at Fort Dodgy. Here he is preparing his remarks.

I was supposed to be Jane Calamity, the private detective hired to solve the murder (aka...the hostess) but one of the characters got sick at the last minute so I had to take over her role as the saloon owner. If I would have known, I would have dressed the part. Oh well!

Dave was Juan Eye, the Mexican cowboy. He was hilarious! He talked in a Mexican accent the whole night and kept saying the funniest things.

Matt was Woody Box, the undertaker. He kept measuring everyone for their coffin size!

Danny was the Deputy Sherriff. I loved his mustache...it was fantastic.

Anne was Yellow Flower, a local Indian. Here she is doing a rain dance. The best part was that this costume was her 2nd grade Halloween costume!

Jay was Ace Lender, the town banker.

And Caron was Marie McCousin, a local rancher. Here she is serenading Tom. (Selleck, that is.)

Stacey was Blaise F. Glory, a bounty hunter. She brought this cap gun and scared everyone when she shot it off.

We had a great Western dinner of chili and cornbread. I even made Wanted posters with everyone's pictures on them as decorations.

And the killer was....the cheating, lying banker.

Next year I will be sure to not have the party the day before I move so I can spend a little more time preparing. I've already had a request to make it a masquerade murder mystery so that should be interesting.

It was way fun though and I loved everyone's costumes and how much they got into it!

An Ode to Our Old Apartment

Goodbye Apt. 1327...it's been great! Our first apartment was definately memorable. From the lady with the squeaky bed who had different guys over every day and the millions of dogs to the playground right outside our window and the garbage truck coming every Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. and going to the little gym and all the fun times we had there. Yay for our first apartment!

Moving Update

We got all our stuff moved into our new house. Thanks so much to everyone who came and helped out...we NEVER could have done it without you!

Upon arriving at our new place, we found it to not be in very good conditions. At all. Seriously, the people before us did not clean at all and the place is filthy. Not to mention it needs some serious repairs and painting. Our landlord is about the least helpful person I have ever met...I mean I don't expect the place to look new, but I do expect it to be clean and taken care of and that things are functioning properly.

So we are trying to negotiate with the owner that some things be fixed. I don't think I'm being unreasonable when I want holes in the walls repaired, the garbage disposal to work, the toilets to flush, and the carpets cleaned. Anyway at this point, I think I will probably have to clean and paint myself so we might be painting in the next few weeks if anyone wants to help!

At church on Sunday, we found out that our neighbors are the Greens, the Greens, and the Greens. So we live in a Polyga-house. This should be interesting. And apparently Green #4 used to live in our place! Weird! The school bus stops in front of our house and all the kids pile on the bus. It's kind of funny. But the people that we did meet at church and some of our other neighbors seem really nice. I'm excited for our ward, it seems like a good one.

I really think that once we get the place fixed up, it will be really great. I love the location and I love that we have so much space. And I'm loving the 10-minute commute to work. I went running this morning and it was lovely. It was so quiet and there are lots of hills in my neighborhood, so that will be good conditioning for me.

I also love that I live close to two of my cousins and their families. Ashley and Danny have especially been so helpful...they have fed us while we got the kitchen unpacked, let us shower at their house until we got the water heater turned on, helped us light the furnace, etc. You guys are great!

Here's to this new adventure we'll call Springville!

Moving is stressful

I am stressed. We are moving on Saturday and I have so much to do. Plus, I scheduled the murder mystery party for Friday night before I knew we would be moving the next day.

I'm worried I won't get everything packed in time, I'm worried we won't have enough help unloading the truck in Springville, I'm not happy that we have to spend a lot of money to move (renting the truck, switching over all the utilitites, buying blinds, cleaning, etc.) I'm really disappointed that the previous tenants did not clean the house before moving.

But I am happy to only have a 10-minute commute starting Monday.

Happy Halloween

Since my Halloween last year was pretty lame, I vowed I was not going to let that happen again. This year was much better. I was Minnie Mouse and Matt was a pizza. We went to our ward party and passed out candy at the Trunk or Treat.

The kids loved Matt's costume and kept coming up to him and pretending to eat him. It was great! We also played some games with the kids and had a chili cookoff. There were 4 little girls dressed as Snow White and 3 Tinkerbells.

After the ward party, we went to our friend, Ben's Halloween party. We made the traditional Ghosts in the Graveyard and played a fun game where there was an object in a paper bag and you had to guess what it was just by feeling the outside of the paper bag. There was a bag for every letter of the alphabet and the thing inside started with that letter. It was really fun.

Anne and Caron's costumes turned out great! Anne was Hannah Montana and Caron was the Morton Salt girl.

On Saturday, I carved pumpkins with Allison and then went trick or treating with my sister in law and little nephew. It was really fun!

I did not get a chance to make Halloween cookies though. Maybe this week.

Here is my finished pumpkin. Since I was packing all day and packed the candles, I had to use a flashlight to light up the pumpkin.

Some of my students dressed up as the Scooby Doo characters!

And the murder mystery is this weekend so it's not over yet! Hurray!