Happy Halloween!

Instead of a Flashback Friday post today, you get two posts in one day instead!

Last night we went to a corn maze with our neighbors and had a great time! It surprisingly didn't take us very long to find our way out of the corn maze although at first we thought we had found the exit, but it was just the entrance to the Kiddie Land Maze. We all got a good laugh out of that. We must have crossed over something we weren't supposed to cross over??? Besides the maze there was also a field full of other things to do and see. We had a good time wandering around and spending time together! Warning: My pictures aren't very good because it was dark outside, sorry!

The maze

Big rocking chair at the entrance

Dave shooting corn at cow targets

Lost in the maze

Michelle buried in tons of corn kernels

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dave absolutely LOVES Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I've never attempted to make them for him. We ran into one of our neighbors at Costco the other day and she told me she was getting supplies to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I had to ask her what her recipe was and could not believe how easy it was. I thought it was too good to be true, but they really do taste good!

Recipe:
1 can of real pumpkin (normal size can)
1 box of spice cake mix
Semi-sweet chocolate chips (we used about half of a bag)

Mix all three ingredients together and bake for about 11 mins. at 350 degrees.

Pretty darn easy!!!

Pumpkins!

We carved pumpkins last night! Normally we get one pumpkin and Dave watches while I carve it, but this year I made him get his own pumpkin and carve it himself. I think they turned out very cute! The question is, can you tell which pumpkin belongs to me and which one belongs to Dave? I think our personalities shine in these pumpkins!

Substitute

Because we have our home study this week and I wanted to have time to thoroughly clean the house and because I knew it was going to be hot in the stadium (it was a perfect day, but in the stadium sitting directly in the sun for 4 hours leads to heat), I had a substitute go in my place to the BYU football game yesterday with Dave. He invited his brother, Zach. From what I gather, they both had a great time. It was Zach's first live football game besides high school games he has watched in the past. The game was pretty intense and very close. BYU pulled out the win in the end. I'm glad they could go to such a fun game together!!!

I requested that Dave take one picture of him and Zach at the game so I could post it on our blog. For some reason his cell phone camera is flipping the pictures and the only way I could figure out how to flip it back was to use Scrapblog and do an entire scrapbook page with the photo. I had to get creative.

Flashback Friday

Facebook has become my friend! Through this online social network I've been reunited with several good friends from the past over the course of the last year. The most recent reunion was that of my best childhood friend that I met when I was in kindergarten. With all of these recent reunions I've been thinking a lot about the past. I thought for this Flashback Friday post it would be fun to post a few pictures from my two wonderful semesters at Ricks College, now known as BYU-Idaho. Even though I was there for such a short period of time, I met a lot of GREAT people and had a ton of fun!!! These pictures have all been glued into scrapbooks so I had to get creative with my scanning of a few of them...ignore my imperfections!

Me and my roommates (Spring '99)

Me and my roommates (Fall '99)

I loved going to dances and at Ricks we had one
almost every week it seemed like!
This was a 70s & 80s dance (2/99)

Preference 11/99 (I think this was a girls choice dance)

Morp 1/99 (girls choice)

Morp is Prom spelled backwards

No apparent reason

Yesterday when Dave arrived home he had a bouquet of these beautiful flowers in tow. The only thing that I can think of that provoked this nice gesture was a conversation we had Sunday evening. We had our individual interviews this week with our adoption caseworker and in preparation for this very stressful event in our lives, we were discussing (among many things) the strengths and weaknesses of our marriage. I mentioned that one of the weaknesses of our marriage could be the fact that the amount of spontaneous fun things we do for each other (such as love letters left in vehicles or backpacks) has diminished greatly from our early years of marriage...somewhat to be expected with eight years of marriage. We both mentioned that we do miss those days and made personal resolve to do better. I'm not entirely sure if that conversation is what provoked this gorgeous bouquet, but whatever the reason, I appreciate the gesture all the same!

UEA weekend

Every year in the fall (typically October) the Utah Education Association (teacher's union) holds a conference for all teachers statewide. Because this is a two day conference for the teachers, they close down all of the schools and give everyone those days off. Dave has never been interested in attending the conference in Salt Lake City so we do something fun instead! This year we decided to see the Body Worlds Exhibit in SLC and also tile our laundry room.

One of my friends decided to attend the Body Worlds Exhibit with us. I think all three of us had a good time. We kept saying things like, "this is amazing" and "it doesn't seem real!" It is pretty cool to be able to see what our bodies look like and how complex we are. It reminded me of my Anatomy and Physiology class I took at Ricks College...but, the best part was that you couldn't smell anything and you couldn't touch anything! Perfect for me!!!

Dave spent the majority of Friday and Saturday tearing up the linoleum in our laundry room and replacing it with tile. He is always hard on himself and finds the flaws, but I think it looks GREAT! We still have to put the baseboards back up, but it is essentially done.

Me & Shandra outside the exhibit
(you couldn't take pics inside)

Posing by the sign

Dave working and NOT happy I'm taking his pic

The first row is almost done!!

Tiles laid, but no grout yet

Finished project (minus the baseboards)

Flashback Friday

It has been awhile since I've done a Flashback Friday post! Today's post is about our first trip to Alaska for Christmas in 2003. After finishing law school in Vermont, Dave's brother, Dan, got his first job at a firm in Anchorage, Alaska. Dave and I wanted to go visit Dan and his family and decided that a trip for Christmas would be perfect. We are weirdos and absolutely love the cold and snow. Plus, I was curious to see what it was like to have actual daylight for so few hours. We had a great time on that trip and could hardly wait to visit again. In fact, we took trip #2 that spring. Unfortunately though we haven't made it back since! That is what happens when you grow up and start making better financial decisions. We dream about the day that our budget will free up a little bit again and can make a return trip!!!

Sign along the highway. It says, "Give Moose A Brake" and something to the effect that 134 moose have been hit by vehicles on this highway to date.

We went to a chocolate factory and they had this huge fake moose. I am in love with moose so I had to have my picture taken by it!

Dave played in a church basketball tournament with his brother while we were visiting. He had a great time!

Family picture by the tree. From left to right: Dave, Dan, Harrison is in his dad's lap not looking at the camera, Tonya, Me and I'm holding Emery. Since then they have added two more little ones to their family.

Posing for a picture on Flatop. Off in the distance is Anchorage and the ocean.

The ocean. I got this picture while driving down the road. Pretty amazing, huh? I'm not the one who is officially driving though, just a passenger.

Moose!!! They are EVERYWHERE in Alaska.

New Table

We have replaced our dining room table. Our original table was purchased earlier in our marriage when we had a house in Newton, KS. We spent a lot of money on that table with the hopes that we would have children to sit all the way around it and that it would become a family heirloom. It has moved with us several times over the years. When we looked for new places to live our question was always, "will our table fit in this dining room?" So, after a long contemplation we decided to sell our table and part ways. We hardly used that table and definitely didn't need that big of a table. We sold it to one of my good friends a couple of weeks ago. Although I'm glad we sold it, it was hard to part ways with it. It had become a part of our family ; ) In its place we got a smaller more practical table. As you can tell from the picture below, we have much more space in our dining room now! I couldn't be more happier with our decision!!!

Old table

New table

Fall Trip to Kansas

I got back yesterday from spending a week in Kansas! Unfortunately Dave has to be the "responsible" one and wasn't able to go on this trip with me, but he held the fort down while I was gone and went to work and school. I had a great trip as always. It is good to see family and friends. The time flies by so quickly though while I'm there. Here are the pictures from my trip.

I spent time with my nieces. They are both getting so big!! This picture was almost impossible to get...Keaghan didn't want to look at the camera and I kept making weird faces. I'm in the middle of saying something in this picture, but I love the look on Keaghan's face! Laiken looks like she is in the middle of saying something too!

While in the Kansas City area I spent an evening hanging out with two good friends from high school (Mike & Erika) and their families. They both have two adorable children each. It was fun to catch up with each other and spend some time with their spouses and their children. Thanks for being a great hostess Erika!!!

While in KC my Aunt Cathy took me to the Lion King! It was such an amazing show! If you ever get the chance to see this play, do it! I was highly impressed. Thanks Cathy for suggesting this!

This picture is just one of many amazing things they do during the performance. The whole time I just watched in awe!!



Update on my mom's bathroom: Since we left in June she has had the sink and tub plumbed in. Her bathroom just looks amazing. I'm glad we could be a part of it and help make it look so nice!

On my trip home I had moments of complete boredom so I decided to take my brother-in-law's lead and take pictures of the scenery around me as I drove. Thanks for the great idea Justin! Don't worry mom, I was a safe driver!

The fall colors in Colorado

Snow!!!

Ignore the dead bugs on the windshield. This is my favorite part of the trip, Glenwood Springs Canyon, Colorado!

Welcome to Utah!! This is about 3 1/2 hours away from home at the border of Colorado and Utah.