Oh My Darling Clemintine

Day 333-Nov 29th: While we were wandering around the produce section at Albertson's today these wonderful clementines caught my eye! I LOVE clementines, which I didn't know until we visited Russell's mom and Doc in Angel Fire on our way home from our reception in Houston. She had them and I ate them.....lots of them. I haven't had any in a while and was excited to see them at Albertson's today. Then.....I ate three.

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my Dad's birthday today and I just wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday! I really couldn't ask for a better Dad. He's awesome!

Hope you had a great day Dad!

Thanksgiving Day Festivities

We had a great Thanksgiving day here in Spanish Fork. Caleb, Holly, and Julie came over about 11am and we just hung out while we got all the food ready to go. We ate about 2pm and then lounged for a while to digest.

We played some games, ate pie, and played quite a bit of Guitar Hero! Here's some pictures.

Russell carving the turkey.

Playing Ticket to Ride! It was Holly's first time.

Chocolate, Apple, and Pumpkin Pies! Plus a little ice cream on the side.

Holly and I (and Jack) playing some Guitar Hero

Caleb and Julie rocking out to Guitar Hero. Caleb is using his star power.

About 10pm Russell and I left to go to Pleasant Grove to a scrapbook sale that started at 11pm. They had a Silhouette Bundle (a die cutting machine, download card, and cardstock stacks) for $200 instead of $600 and I really want one for Christmas so we decided to go up and see what happened. Google gave us some wrong directions, so by the time we got there there was a HUGE line. Turns out though that there were two sales at the same place, and most of the line was there for some t-shirts from mod-bod. The line started moving at 11pm and Russell was joking about how they would stop the line before we got in. Well...sure enough....they did! Haha. We did get in just a few minutes later and got the Silhouette and were out by 11:15! Turns out they had 30 or 40, which isn't quite the "Limited Quantity" the ad said.

We got back on the highway to come home and about one exit down we came to a standstill. No one was going anywhere. We sat there for about 20 minutes, then saw some cops and tow trucks come down the shoulder. A little bit later a helicopter took off in the distance ahead. About an hour after we stopped we finally got going again. Turns out a drunk driver was going north on the southbound lanes, which doesn't work out very well. We were quite thankful that we had to wait a few minutes to get in the store.....otherwise that could have been us. Tonight on the news we learned the drunk driver died later at the hospital, but none of the other people were hurt.

Thanksgiving Week

Day 332-Nov 28th: Today while I was at work, Russell got some of the Christmas decorations out! I did tell him not to put the dragon by the nativity like last year......so I came home to this. Knights at the manger!

Day 331-Nov 27th: Today was a great Thanksgiving. Caleb, Holly, and Julie came over for most of the day. Here everyone is as we were sitting down for dinner! More about Thanksgiving in the next post.

Day 330-Nov 26th: I got my first LDS Living magazine this week in the mail! Russell's mom got me a subscription for my birthday and I couldn't wait for it to come. I've really enjoyed reading it this week and think I will definitely keep having a subscription for a while after my year ends.

Day 329-Nov 25th: We got this wonderful Lego Jello mold today and Russell is very excited to make Jello in it. Sometimes he's just a big kid! Good thing I love him as much as I do. I'm sure our kids will have lots of fun with all of dad's fun toys and will enjoy Lego Jello too!

Day 328-Nov 24th: Today was the only regular work and school day of the week for me. I tried to make the most of the day at both places so that the rest of the week could be relaxing, but alas, there was still a lot to do by the end of the day, especially for school. Here is my desk at work though, a place I spend a lot of time these days.

It's About Time to Blog

Day 327-Nov 23rd: This afternoon we dug out 1960: The Making of the President to play. We haven't played in a long time, and it's a neat game Russell won from a podcast he listens to. One person plays Nixon and another Kennedy and you have to campaign and have debates and see who wins. We enjoyed playing it again and need to remember to pull it out more often. It's hard to play games lots when there's 320 to play!

Day 326-Nov 22nd: This is what the bears do all day while we are up doing great things on Saturday's. Lazy bears.

Day 325-Nov 21st: Tonight after work we went to Walmart to get the things we needed for a great Thanksgiving feast. We got this great turkey, which is really just a breast. I didn't want to buy anything too big since there were only 5 of us for dinner.

Day 324-Nov 20th: We had the Vue back in the shop today....again. I've never had any problems with my little Saturn car, but this Vue is giving us all sorts. The brakes are doing a funny thing where it seems like the ABS comes on too soon and the car kind of jerks. Well....nothing is wrong apparently. UGH. They said they could glaze the brakes and that might help a little, but we didn't want to pay $70 so we said no. But....it hasn't happen since, so maybe they did do something, or it's just a miracle, who knows.

Christmas Cards and Cheap Gas

Day 323-Nov 19th: So these are our Christmas cards. Sorry to ruin it for some of you. I ordered Becky Higgin's Kit of the Month, which had 10 of each card plus lots of other cool things like tags, thank-you notes, and all sorts of things! Anyway, they came today and I was home feeling like my throat was going to explode so I made them up since I didn't feel like doing any research for classes. It only took me about 30 minutes to put them all together, and now we are ready to write our letter and get them in the mail! The envelopes are super cute too, so be on the lookout for them!

Day 322-Nov 18th: So today I filled up with gas for $15.03! Maverick was down to $1.89. Lately gas here is just plummeting, which is just fine with us.

Thanks for Nothing

Day 321-Nov 17th: I sent Russell, and several others, an email asking 3 questions that I need some input on for a paper I am writing and this is what I got back:

1. What would you say are my top 3 leadership skills?

You're good at getting stuffed animals to do what you want.
You are the wife and so what you say goes.
You're good at torturing people so they do what you want.

2. How do I influence others? How do I influence you?

You influence me through fear. I live in constant angst on whether
floppy with rawr at me or whether or not I will have cold feet put on
my tummy that night or not. I try to be really good and do what
you say so these things don't happen to me.

3. Can you think of any examples where these leadership
skills/influence have shown themselves?

Well, this one time I wanted to tickle you but you wouldn't let me and
let me know it was because you were the wife and then Floppy rawred at
me.

4. Are there any other skills of mine that you believe help ro could
help me to be a successful leader?

You could get more floppy bears and then you'd have a whole army of
them to help keep your subjugates in line.

Hope that helps! Love you

Now....let me tell you that Floppy is an innocent bear, can't you see that from the picture? He just lays in bed all day! And I would NEVER torture my husband, he just thinks a small little tickle is torture.

I sent him back an email telling him he had to answer again.

My New Hats!

Russell's mom is great and knitted me these cool hats for my birthday. One is for cool weather and the other is thicker for super cold weather. These pictures are mostly for her to see, but everyone can enjoy them I guess! Thanks again Mom!

Thanksgiving Point Half-Page

Here's the half-page I've done of Thanksgiving Point. I didn't have time to do the other side at Mania Saturday night, but I have an idea of what it will be. Now I just have to find time to finish it!

Just Keep Swimming

Day 320-Nov 16th: Tonight we finally got together with our neighbors to play some games. We found out they liked games when they were moving in a few months ago, and just haven't ever been able to find a time that worked for everyone to play. So after church we knocked on the door and invited them. We played Agricola and Pandemic, which are some of Russell's favorites these days. We made some Poppyseed muffins quick after dinner, and they brought some cookies, so there were great treats too!


Day 319-Nov 15th: I went to Mania tonight with a bunch of employee's and former employee's and we had a great time. It was great to see everyone again, like a reunion of sorts! I got a this wedding cake page done and half of a page from our trip to Thanksgiving Point with Caleb and Holly a few weeks ago. Not the most productive night, but lots to fun to catch up with everyone who doesn't work at Archiver's anymore.

Day 318-Nov 14th: We went to play games with Larkin and Allyson tonight, and they bought me this cheesecake for a belated birthday present! It was delicious! Thanks so much guys! We had a great time playing as always. We played Supernatural Tale, which is a halloween game. And....we even got to see William for a few minutes!

Day 317-Nov 13th: So today I bought the David Archuleta CD from iTunes with my giftcard from my birthday, and it's awesome! I haven't got much from iTunes in a long time, so it was fun to get on and browse and decide what I wanted. Hopefully I will get more giftcards for Christmas so I can do it again!

Three Days of Blah

I hope that one of these days I will have the time to come up and get some air rather than keep swimming in homework, but for now here's three more pictures.

Day 316-Nov 12th: Russell took his mug of hot chocolate into the shower tonight! What?!? Apparently, I had not given him enough time to relax and drink it before I said it was shower time and so therefore he just took it with him into the shower!

Day 315-Nov 11th: After having the canisters sit on the counter empty for a week, I decided I should put something in them. So.....Sugar, Flour, and Rice it was! I think I need a little more sugar though, all that Kool-aid makes us run out!

Day 314-Nov 10th: Tonight I went to the store and got stuff and then came home and made this chicken salad that Keera always makes for showers, etc. Mine didn't turn out as good as hers, which is disappointing, but it's still alright and provides something to take to school for lunch. I forgot the coleslaw dressing in the cart, and had to go back to the store a second time to get it!

The End of the Birthday Celebrations

Day 313-Nov 9th: This is the Tusker's elephant Caleb and Holly got me. My Uncle Gary started getting me these elephants several years ago and he got me four before the store he got them from went out of business. It turns out that Hallmark sells them though, and Caleb added to my collection this year. This one is really fun because it's a baby walking on the daddy's back, just like we did as kids to our Dad!

Day 312-Nov 8th: Tonight a few people came over for a little birthday party, which was lots of fun. We had cupcakes, opened presents, played some Wii, and ended with a nice game of Split Second. Here I am blowing out the candles on the cupcakes.....it's harder to do than a cake because they are so spread out! Now I have a great new book, giftcard to the movies, some M&M's, and a new Tusker's elephant!

Day 311-Nov 7th: I'm in a managerial economics class that focuses on money, banking, and financial markets, and I took the second midterm this morning. The first midterm was hard, but manageable, this one was RIDICULOUS! I kept thinking and thinking and got myself all confused, and then had to try to erase all my thinking and start again fresh. AHH! I did good though, but it was super hard.

Day 310-Nov 6th: Today we FINALLY went out to dinner for my birthday. I've been craving some P.F. Chang's for months.....probably since we left the restaurant the last time we went! I had some Honey-Seared Chicken and Russell got Mongolian Beef, and it was excellent! Then we headed over to Chili's for some Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. I think the waiter at Chili's was a little perturbed that we only wanted dessert, but he'll survive!

Oh Snow!!!

Day 309-Nov 5th: After all this great fall weather, this is what we woke up to! Luckily, tonight it is all melted. I guess I can't complain too much, since it did wait about a month longer than last year, but I was enjoying Fall so much....and then nature just grabbed it away from me overnight! I guess we need to move to Arizona or somewhere.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Day 308-Nov 4th: While it is Chicken-Lady Day, Election Day, and even the 6 year anniversary of Dad moving into the house in Houston (which is the record for the longest place he's lived since he's been married), it is also my birthday today! The picture is of two of my best presents, although I liked them all. This is one of the canisters (the largest) that Russell got me from Crate and Barrel for the kitchen, and also a pachyderm from my family!

The day turned out pretty good, I just wish my birthday was in the summer or something so I didn't have to do anything. Business Law was canceled this morning though, so I went to work early and then got a haircut! I spent a lot of the afternoon playing Trauma Center:Under the Knife 2 on my DS. Russell let me open that one this morning after he heard my class was canceled.

After Russell got home from work we opened presents quick....and lots of people called in the middle of that event....and then blew the candles out. Then I was off to conducting.

I can't wait for my birthday dinner on Thursday night. We are going to P.F. Chang's for dinner and Chili's for dessert - a birthday really isn't complete without Chocolate Molten Lava Cake!

Speaking of Fall

Day 307-Nov 3rd: Have I mentioned I love fall? If not, here's a glimpse at what campus looked like this morning before all the leaf blowers started working. I loved the sight of all the leaves on the ground after a storm like there was last night! I just wish I was a better photographer.....one of these days. I imagine even better leaves in Virginia. I'm not really sure why, but it seems like all the pictures I've seen of Virginia have been amazing fall pictures.....so maybe we'll move there. Except....it's really far away from our families. But....it does have Target, unlike Vermont.

But Don't Forget Fall

Fall is my favorite season, I love all the changing colors, and it is MUCH better here than in Houston. Each year Russell and I take some time to drive up the canyon and look at all the leaves changing, so I decided to do a layout so we can remember these great trips and colors when we move away sometime in the future. Hopefully we'll still live where there are colors, but there might not be canyons to drive through!

A whole advent calendar and a layout in four hours! My mom should be amazed!

Christmas is Coming

Day 306-Nov 2nd: After a terrible day in Nursery, I went to an employee crop, which definitely helped my morale. I wanted to make a cupcake pan advent calendar last year, but never found Christmas paper I really liked. I still didn't find any I'm in love with this year, but it is somewhat better. So that's what I worked on first, and here's the finished product.......not quite. I still have to put magnets on so that it can hang or stand without everything falling off. Then we will put little treats in each of the mini-cupcake spots.

The crop was a lot of fun, and B-Jo made me an elephant birthday cake! I didn't take my camera though, so Diana took a picture, and I'll have to post it later.

Advice Book

Here is a glance at the advice book I made for Holly from the leftover things from the baby shower invitations.

The End of the Week

Day 305-Nov 1st: Today was Holly's baby shower. Although no one RSVP'd, we had about 11 or 12 people come and had a good time. It was mostly just an open house thing, but we did play a baby memory game courtesy of Julie, and then opened presents. She got tons of cute, cute things!

Day 304-Oct 31st: I'm really not that into Halloween, it's probably one of my least favorite holidays. Except for the decorations I get to put up in my house. When Darlene showed up to work today though, I almost didn't recognize her. I think here witch costume is great!

We spent Halloween cleaning up the house for the baby shower, but we did enjoy seeing some of our nursery kids come trick-or-treating.

Day 303-Oct 30th: Tonight Rachel came over and we played a couple of Halloween games. Poison and Supernatural Tale. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see Rachel again! No Halloween treats tonight, but we did have some great Taffy from Aldura!

Day 302-Oct 29th: Today was super long. I went with Russell early this morning, because we went to the Wind Symphony concert after he taught tonight. I had class all day, then went to his class, and then we went to the concert. It was definitely not my favorite concert, but I have to go to four to critique the conductors for my class. And...there was this weird girl sitting next to me who thought she was my best friend or something. She wouldn't stop talking to me, even though it was obvious I was there with my husband!