Everything from talks to touch downs to turkey dinner

I have had so many things that I could blog about lately... I'm sorry that I am lumping it all into one big post but it's the only way to get it all out there.

The talks.

They went great! Thank you for your thoughts, I asked so many people for their comments and with so much input I was able to put it together without any stress at all. It really came together easily and I think people really enjoyed it.  People were coming up to me today even telling me which parts they really liked. And consequently or not, the second counselor in the relief society asked me to give a lesson in January or February. I have never done that before so you better believe I'll be coming back to you all for your help! 

Bryan's talk was like a love story to me. If you remember he spoke about making time for each other even though we are both really busy and he was saying the sweetest things about me and us over the pulpit! I was just smiling and smiling the whole time. I'm so lucky.

Pie Making.

My second love.  I made pies to take to work on Tuesday and then another pumpkin pie to take to Thanksgiving dinner at my uncle's house.  In all I made four pies: one apple and three pumpkin but I have all the ingredients to whip up another apple pie in the near future.

Fresh ingredients

Here I did have a picture of me grinning with a knife and an apple but my editor insisted I substitute it with this one so I don't come off like a "psycho murderer" 

all done

Thanksgiving.

I worked in the morning and we both had to work on Friday so we couldn't go very far but luckily we have family close. We had Thanksgiving in Orem at my uncle's and Bryan's coworker Brinda and her husband Jay joined us. They moved here from Bangalore, India 14 months ago so this was only their second Thanksgiving. It was nice to share it with them and my Uncle and Aunt were the best hosts for the four of us.

Friday.

We tried the In and Out burger in Murray. The line was insane but moved quickly. The food tasted just like In and Out is supposed to taste and the shake was good. The staking out a seat though is so weird and almost makes it not worth it. I was standing next to a mother who had her kids poised to snap up a seat just as soon as some STARTED to stand up. 

We ran into our friends Nate and Kiesha from our old ward at Harmony Square there and we ended up going to the BYU basketball game. Nate works as the sideline guy @ the cougar games for KSL so he introduced us to Greg Wrubell (the voice of the Cougars). I thought it was pretty cool because I remember my dad tuning him for all the play-by-play of BYU sports growing up.

The Holy War.

We won!  We live deep in Ute country so all the red flags and red shirts really start to feel abusive after a while. We actually watched the game on the Utah campus in their married student housing at a friend's place. As we drove home Bryan layed on the horn every time we passed one of those obnoxious Ute flags hanging out someone's house. I was a little embarrassed but it was worth it.

GO COUGS!

Movies.

Bryan and I saw Julie and Julia Saturday night after the game. It was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be and Bryan said it was better than he was expecting. Two thumbs ups - but be warned when I walk out I wanted a really big home-cooked meal!

Speaking in Church

Bryan and I have to speak in church this upcoming Sunday, something we have never done in our 2 1/2 years of marriage. We were asked to speak two Sundays ago but we had to postpone in order to attend our friend's baby blessing instead. Come to find out that Elder Oaks was in our ward that Sunday. That would have been pretty intense. Anyway, our topic is marriage, and within that context my topic is:

Bringing two family's traditions into one household happily

So while I stew over it until Saturday when I put all my thoughts together, I wanted to throw it out there in case someone has some great insight into this topic. I really appreciate any experiences or advice you have to offer.

A brief compilation

Sorry for this random post, but I'm not sure the below items warrant their own posts so maybe all bunched together they are worth it.

Recent Flix:

Bryan and I completed the Forsyte Sage this last week. It is a three DVD series of a 6 episode BBC production of the novel from the early 1900s. When he opened the first DVD and saw that I had gotten it he groaned and said that I would probably have to watch it alone. But he had a change of heart. The second disk came while I was in New York and even though my flight landed at 11:30 Friday night, it was his idea to stay up till 3:30 am to watch both episodes. He insisted. If you like period movies or novelas check it out.

Also we saw The September Issue a few weeks ago. It is a documentary about vogue putting together their big September issue. It's The Devil Wears Prada meets March of the Penguins. We both really liked it --- PLUS we saw it at the independent theater downtown that we haven't been to since we were just dating (not even engaged). It was a really nice Saturday afternoon!


Halloween:

I don't like Halloween. I don't like getting dressed up. When it comes to Halloween you either go all out or there is no point in going at all and I don't care to spend the time and money going all out. Needless to say I wasn't really looking forward to that holiday. Bryan saved it for us though. He changed our porch light to a green bulb, bought this creepy skeleton with wings dressed in rags to hang over our front steps, and then hid speakers in burlap sacks around the porch and pumped the creepiest creepiest noises and music into the street. I was a little embarrassed at first but then we got SO many comments about how cool it was. Countless times I opened the door to find our little trick-or-treaters hunched over the burlap sacks.

The odd thing was after going to all this work, every time there were little hands banging an our door Bryan would bolt for the bedroom... he said it would be too weird for the kids to see some guy sitting on the couch. Ha ha, I got such a kick out of it.

We went to a Halloween party later that night. I was a cat with ears and a tail and Bryan was a Mexican with a wig, fake mustache, sombrero, and blanket. He looked like the guy on the Columbia coffee cans.

Upcoming attractions:

It's pie making time!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE NOVEMBER!!!

Empty Trees Means Piles of Leaves

You know you are a home owner when you are buying his and her rakes...

Saturday, October 17 our trees looked like this:


Saturday, October 24 our trees looked like this:

We we were doing lots of this...

I probably won't be posting about how fun it is to rake your own leaves in the future, but today I am going to say that it was a good time. Just me and Bryan, our rakes, and all these leaves that were all ours! I guess we are lucky we have such a small yard so that the leaves ran out before the task got old! (There is still the backyard though.)

All Done!

More Time in the Big Apple

Well so far this year I have spent more time in New York City than in Wyoming... Who would have ever thought that possible? Yet, it's true; another week in New York for work. Bryan didn't come out this time but despite his absence I still managed to have a very, very good time.

I had training on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday which was really good. Thursday and Friday I worked on the desk with our New York team and got to meet a bunch of other people I've work with for months but have never actually met.

Despite it being a work trip I still managed to do a few fun things. Shopped (and couldn't help but get my baby niece the cutest little sweater from H&M), ate Dallas BBQ in Time Square, and also had dinner at the Soda Shop. I read on a friend's blog that they have the best shakes in the city and as I am a shake connoisseur there was no way I was coming to New York without trying them. She was right - amazing shakes!! My brother-in-law makes shakes that cannot be beat, but this shake was a very close second (mostly because I don't have to fly across the country to get Sage's shakes).

Who knows when I'll get out there again so I'm glad that I had such a good time and returned safely. It is great to be home too, and especially great to be back with Bryan (it feels like we are apart too much). And don't be jealous Wyoming - I'll be there for Christmas.

Pictures:

The view of the Hudson river from the room where we were training. This was nice because when I got bored there was so much more interesting stuff out the window to keep me awake. Helicopters, ferries, sail boats, the statue of liberty. During our fourth presentation on risk management a HUGE cruise ship moseyed by.

Statue of Liberty


Soda Shop with my friend Katie.


THE BEST SHAKE!!


Dinner on the last night.


Beef ribs and a baked potato the size of my face (and yes, they serve it with the knife sticking out). Portion sizes in New York are much bigger than I am used to. And who's idea was it to put the calorie content on the menu?! Talk about an appetite spoiler - although I guess that is probably the idea.

General Conference

Sorry this is so late but I was working REALLY long hours last week. So I'll post about this past weekend later and the weekend for that now - conference! That was a wonderful weekend, wasn't it? Always uplifting and getting you recharged. This year we were able to attend a session and we had some incredible seats. We were on the far left on the 10th row. That's right the 10th row in the whole place! There were less people in front of us than general authorities on the stand. We had a straight shot to the podium and through and opening to the stand so that if their knees were shaking would could have seen!

(Please note that Bryan does not usually leave this much scruff on his face - especially for general conference. But he has been really sick the week before - wouldn't have come if it weren't for the great seats - and we had to leave the house @ 6:30 to get down to Provo to pick up my little sister and her friend and Bryan woke up at 6:20. I was luckily enough to catch that bug and be down for the count all last week.)

The tickets came from my sister's, co-worker's, grandparents, who work at the conference center. We are so grateful that she invited us along.

Bryan's Return from Texas

When Bryan and I got married I was under the impression that he was a minimalist who had taken great efforts to simplify his life - I got this impression from him, he told me so. He had two cardboard boxes, a suitcase, a garment bag, and for some odd reason, a large black office chair. That was extent of his possessions. When we left Provo for Mexico after getting married we were able to fit everything we owned under the staircase at Bryan's apartment - only filling it half way even.

Well, now that we have a home with a basement full of storage room Bryan decided that he should got back to Texas to get the rest of his things. He flew down there on the 24th and returned last week with his dad, whose truck was full of Bryan's belongings. They hadn't been here more than 2 minutes before they began unloading. I was shocked as more and more and more and MORE boxes and Rubbermaid containers FILLED my living room. I must admit that it has been a bit unnerving to have so much stuff fill our home - I was under the impression that we had already moved in and were settled. I appears Bryan has decided to move in again. I can't say that it has been a blast going through it all because... he won't let me - but it has been interesting to observe none-the-less.

My discoveries:
- Two 3'X3' wooden, hand-carved scripture scenes that he brought back from Honduras.
- A record player that now sits a top a brand new desk. When I got home from work Friday he was actually playing vinyl records.
- More toy cars than I thought it possible for any little boy to own - seriously there are probably more cars in my house right now an in all of LA or something!
- A photo album from his high school girlfriend which fortunately or unfortunately (depending on the mood I'm in) has had all the pictures replaced. Although the dedication in the front and back remain. She had such cute bubbly hand-writing.
- More vinyl records than my parents own and I'm pretty sure that it was their generation who did the vinyl record thing.
- Mission pictures.
- All the mission news-letters from his mission. They look pretty interesting but I must admit my Spanish reading ability is a little weak.
- A dancing marionette puppet - a little Mexican in a sombrero with a violin in one hand a bottle in the other.
- A couple of those creepy ventriloquist puppets.
- His violin
- And lots of other things, this list could go on for a while, but these are some of the things I found most interesting.

And below are a few of the pictures Bryan took of the State Fair of Texas that he went to with his mom. He saw Jason Castro in concert and ate fried butter!

Tram

Jason Castro
Concert stage - State Fair of Texas style
"Get Your Fried Butter Here"
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