Friday the 13th

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I REALLY look forward to my weekends now since Justin is doing school each week night. Friday nights are my favorite, a sure bet that Justin won't be doing any homework so I finally get him all to myself! :-) We had big plans Friday (the 13th) evening but I wasn't feeling so great so we actually didn't do too much. After a dinner at Costa Vida, we (Justin) decided to go back to Best Buy. Do you remember back in May when we were contemplating getting this guy? (No not the flowers or the fish....scroll down till you see this.) We had somewhat given up on that venture until a more-than-generous gift was given to Justin from his company to Best Buy (of all places..they really know his taste!) So we looked at a few more options but decided to go with it.
Here's a little comparison for you guys:
The Timpanogos Temple with our old camera (from our bedroom window):
(I know it is really hard to see but it is there, way in the background!)
And here is the same shot with our new camera:

Pretty amazing huh!? I think we made the right choice, we're going to test it out a little bit more just to make sure!

Saturday was a interesting, we woke up to what looked like a blizzard outside! Thankfully that melted away by noon but WoW was it cold out! While Justin does homework on Saturday I will pick up the apartment, do laundry and go to Wal-Mart. (We are very much creatures of habit, same routine each week, same routine each weekend). I thought it was a typical boring run to Walmart but nooo! The moment I stepped outside it was cold and windy and definitely messed up my hair which left me in a not-so-great mood. By the time I made it into WalMart from my car my eyes were full of tears from the cold wind. BBOOO on super cold weather!!! Anyway... Saturday night rolls around and Justin and I decided to go to eat at the place we went the night was got engaged. I'll give you some hints:

If you guessed the Melting Pot then you are correct! We haven't really splurged on much of anything lately (camera doesn't even count, that hardly cost anything out of pocket!), especially a nice dinner. If you haven't been you should really try it, if nothing else just go for the dessert (we ordered the yin & yang chocolate fondue / white chocolate with milk chocolate---yum!). It was a wonderful dinner and fun experience, again. Last time we went I remember my left hand was permanently propped out in front admiring the lovely jewelry Justin had just given me. It's hard to believe it has been nearly 2 years since that night!
(sorry you're so dark sweetie, still learning how to use our camera!)
After dinner we were going to stop by and say hello to my sis and bro-in-law. That 30 minute stop turned into 3 hours of contentment playing the Wii. Yikes! Justin and I (or rather just me) can quickly become addicted to playing that game. Thanks Heather and Josh for tolerating us even once it was past your bedtime!! ;-)

Now it is nearing the end of Sunday...I used to absolutely dread this time when I was in school. Now it isn't so bad but I miss my hubby during the week that is for sure! Can't wait for next weekend!

October wrap-up

I have been meaning to blog much earlier than this about different things that we've done this month...but since I never got around to it-this will be a summary :-)

We found out towards the end of September that my parents bought plan tickets to come out in mid-October. My mom was out October 13-23 and poppi was out the 15-21. So they were both out here for my birthday! :-)

Unfortunately I didn't take any birthday pics but we went out to eat the night of my birthday then came home for cake and presents. So far 23 doesn't feel any different! haha I always say that though I don't feel like I ever really get any older (when it comes to maturity...I'll always be stuck I guess in a teenagers perspective??-hope not!). Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents! I will admit that I am going through the strangest funk I've ever been in... usually I am well prepared with different sweater/dresses/coats/shoes ideas of what to get me for my birthday but this year I couldn't really think of anything off the top that I wanted. It must be because I hardly go shopping/window shopping anymore. I hope I can find things I like for Christmas so I won't give everyone a hard time when it comes to shopping for me. Anyway...

So while my parents were out I was able to take some time off work. It was lots of fun relaxing and enjoying time with my parents. I only get to see them it seems like 4-5 times a year. That is crazy to think since when you live at home with your parents you seem them every single day. We, of course, ate at Cafe Rio (they're favorite), shopped around a little bit, went to Gardner Village. Here are some photos from our trip to Gardner Village, it was the first time I'd been there when they have the witches out so it was fun to see them all.

Matt and the llama (or camel?) having a staring contest

I love Matt's face in the above picture-click on it to enlarge it :-)
And we couldn't quite get Matt to smile for the timer :-( oh well!

We also got together for dinner/pumpkin carving or painting/smores on a Thursday evening. That was a great night-thanks for providing our pumpkin Heather! Justin and I felt for whatever reason inclined to paint our pumpkin instead of carve it. I usually love to carve pumpkins, my one from last year was the best yet (see!) ! But we were still pleased with our painted pumpkin design. Justin did the ghost, tombstone, and grass and he did a fantastic job!
Friday night we went to the Pleasant Grove production of:
It's a scary move from the 60's, the plot is about this blind woman who is getting conned and broken into by these bad guys. The first half of the play wasn't too scary but towards the end it was pretty intense. The theater wasn't very large so we could see everything happening pretty up close, even the strangling and stabbing-yikes!

Last night we went up to South Towne Mall and shopped around for a bit before heading up to Brandon and Amanda's. We go to see their cute kids dressed up in their costumes after they had racked up on their trick or treating. We watched a scary movie (Dragonfly) and ate some yummy goodies. Thanks for having us up guys-it was a very fun Halloween evening!

I was thinking about how last year this time I was just in my 2nd practicum, as a cohort in a 4th grade class. The elementary school kids were so excited to dress up and parade around the school in their costumes. Now that I am working full time in the call center for Pinnacle, Halloween was a little different but not entirely. Pinnacle did do several things for Halloween, encouraged different department to decorate and for employees to dress up on Friday, they also had trick or treating from 3-5pm. There were several coworkers that really got into the costumes and most all departments really decorated their space. I love Halloween for its decorations and costumes so it was fun to still be in an environment that celebrates as much as elementary school kids. Overall, great Halloween, great month.
On to November!

Decorating season begins!!

This time of year is VERY exciting!! I love Halloween, not sure why, maybe it is because it means my birthday is coming. But I do love it, I love the candy and the costumes and getting to dress up as some crazy character... don't worry I have retired my pirate costume that has been worn the last two years...time to find something new! But one of the biggest reasons I love this time of year is because it marks the season of decorations! I get to put new decorations in my home for the next consecutive 7 months! (Yes, I do decorate with winter items during January, Valetine's day in February and even St. Patrick's day!) But the next three months are the best! Not to mention the changing of seasons, which from what I've heard from the weatherman, it sounds like the weather is abruptly changing as of tomorrow (high only in the 50's??). I have just begun the decorating process so it is kind of on the light side now.. but I am overly ecstatic so here are some pictures!

Last trip of the summer

Justin decided that we should take a trip before the summer ends and before grad school gets too crazy just as a short getaway and who am I to oppose a trip! We realized we haven't made our annual trek down to Las Vegas so that was the destination. (A little background history... Justin and I had our first date down in Las Vegas, so it was where our relationship really started and where Justin served his mission, so albeit strange to some to go there so frequently, it is kind of a special place for us to go).

We headed down Friday after work and stayed until Monday afternoon. We tried our a new hotel this time, as we do everytime, so it was the Planet Hollywood this time. I would recommend this hotel to anyone based strictly on it's location and view! We ended up staying on the 50th floor, I know it sounds high but it jumps from 6-23 and then from 38-50, which apparently isn't a floor many guests stay on so it was quiet and relaxing.

Since we like to try out different things each time we go, we actually didn't spend much time on the strip like we have done the last 2 times. The Miracle Mile Shops were in Planet Hollywood so we didn't have to go far for good shopping. We wanted to try a Las Vegas buffet, so we tried the Spice Marked in our hotel, as well as, see a new show, which was the "V"(Variety) show in our hotel.

The "V" show was okay, it kind of paled in comparison to the Cirque de Soleil show we saw a couple summers ago. And the buffet? Well we don't feel like we really ever eat our money's worth at a buffet (especially considering this was a $30 a pop buffet -- don't worry, it was a package deal with our room so it was included!), plus the food to be honest wasn't that great. Justin even got sick right at the tail end of dinner. Maybe I would recommend trying another hotel's buffet? If you've ever had a great experience at one in Last Vegas-let me know!

Anyway--here are some pics of our adventures. Oh we also went to the Freemont Experience, another 'new' thing we tried. There are some pics of that place as well.

Rug dilemma

We have a problem! We have purchased a 5x7 rug for our living room. It's ok, the longer it is down the more it grows on me. But I kind of wanted a rug with a little attitude! So look at our living room in the below pictures... then compare it to the following two rugs.


The 3 rugs are the same size and relatively the same price. The only thing is the two on here I would have to order online...which is a little risky for my liking. Anyway, I think I am personally pulling for the ..well I don't really know. I used to like the 2nd one best but I don't know anymore. HELP!!!!

Welcome to our home!

We have been settled into our new home for just over a week now. It's crazy how much we've changed since we moved in... I can finally say it feels like home!! So now that our dining table is in (finally we have a table! A year and a half eating dinner on the couch is too long!!)--and thanks again to Ryan and Jolee for the great discount :-) ... and pictures are hung...and we have a desk...I finally feel like it's time to present our little home to the world...er...family and friends!

So here is a photo collection...we have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and some other things you'll see too.

This is from our bedroom window...we can see the Timpanogos Temple, which doesn't look very close in this photo but it's actually a pretty good view. This photo doesn't show the 2nd vanity but that is probably our favorite feature of our new place!

And the lovely sunsets we have each evening to see off our balcony :-)


We love our new home! I love the kitchen, Justin loves the HD channels. We upgraded our cable to get the dvr box thingy and it is .. well I don't know that we can ever go back to not having it! It is so great to have our favorite shows recorded (for me it's HGTV Design Star, Project Runway and the Cake Boss and for Justin, well it's any guy-movie so far) so we don't have to watch a bunch of shows we don't really care about. In the end we end up watching less TV and so we feel very good about this upgrade! Pleasant Grove is great so far, everything seems at our fingertips and we're constantly surprised at how close things really are. We can't wait to have people over for dinner and games!

Yummy banana chocolate bread!

Honestly I don't really do much that I think is brag-worthy in the kitchen. And this post isn't about my cooking abilities, or lack thereof, but rather about a pretty yummy recipe I came across!

The recipe: Two-toned Banana Bread

(I did milk, of course, instead of rum).

The result:
You can bet that this recipe was pretty easy, or else I wouldn't have had such a good outcome! Unfortunately, I have a husband who won't eat anything banana-related so I get to enjoy this bread pretty much all to myself...that might not be such a good thing! Anyway, I would give this recipe 4 stars and a vote that you should try it!