PumPKins FinaLLy!

It's FINALLY time to carve pumpkins tonight.  So excited I love it!!  We wised up a few years ago and we carve the fake carvable pumpkins now so we get pretty creative and then just pack them up in the garage for the summer and bring them out the next year :)  We are going over to my parents tonight they are having a little pumpkin carving party with their bishops family, the Pectols and us.  Should be fun I'll have pictures tomorrow!   Oh and I spent the $10 in my Bountiful Basket and got the sugar cookies and icing so I'm sure all the boys will have fun decorating and eating those tonight.

Speaking of Bountiful Baskets,  so glad I split with my mom its alot of fruits and veggies what I got will last me 2 weeks,  not bad for $9.00.  I already used my broccoli last night.  Now if I can just figure out what to do with the parsnips we got in the basket ????

Oh and remember those boots I said were a steal at $68 at Urban.  I'm sticking by that I have worn them like 4-5 times now since I got them and I'm in love.

3/1 more days until we are off to Cali...Can't WAIT!

The CoRn MaiZe

I like to feed people,  I have come to accept this :) 

It seems like once a week at least we have friends or family over to eat and I realize I love it, I really love cooking for a big group of people and hoping they enjoy my food.   Monday night we had my brother and our friend Mike over for dinner, Thursday night we had some friends over for dinner and then they treated us to USwirl for dessert (Thanks Barney's!) ,  Friday night we went and met our friends Nycole and Christie for a movie we went out to dinner before the movie to celebrate 2 months of marriage Saturday we headed up to St George for the corn maze and dinner with my friend Fred and then yesterday we had my parents,  my brother and Ryan's parents over for Sunday dinner.  I enjoy when we have both my family and Ryan's family for dinner and it helps that our parents knew each other before we did so we always have good conversation.  Not that I dont love just having Ryan and I at dinner but I love a loud roudy table of conversation with friends and family.  I am sure once we have kids I will be wishing for the quiet of a dinner with just us two :)

I am on this kick about meal planning.  I got so tired of going to the grocery store every week  for little things here and there that I decided I was going 2 times a month and that was it! So we went on the 1st with our 2 week meal planner in tow and then Saturday morning I went through the freezer and pantry and made our next 2 week meal planner and I am happy to say I only have a list of about 9 things I need from the grocery store to last us the rest of the month.   Milk, eggs and rice are the 3 things we go through fast in our house.  We got a rice cooker for our wedding and I think we use it 2-3 times a week.

Saturday we headed down to St George to go to the corn maze and to stop by TaiPan for me for co-worker/neighbor christmas gifts.  We had a good time.  We got a late start because Ryan volunteered to clean the church and only him and one other guy showed up so I was grumpy on the ride up, but once we got there and got everything done we set out to do I cheered right up.  We went through 2 of the mazes and just walked around,  stopped at Tai Pan and then window shopped for cars before our dinner with Fred.  We would like to get a new car beginning of next year so we have 2 fairly new cars paid off by the time Ryan is out of school and we have to start paying student loans.  We haven't made a decision yet but we have narrowed it down. 

All in all it was a great weekend,   getting excited only two more weeks until we are in California for Halloween weekend! 

Hope all is well.  Until next time...

PiCTuReS GaLoRe!

I am determined today to finish going through our 1000+ pictures our amazing friend and photographer Rachel took for our wedding and send off my order to her.   We have officially been married 2 months today and I need to get them picked out and ordered if I want to have them ready for Christmas presents.  I was so good about sending out thank you notes right after I received a gift because I didn't want to be one of those brides that 6 months later I realized I still haven't done it yet, but I have been such a slacker on these pictures.   Not that I haven't opened them and looked at them a few times,  I have, there are just so many I like and I obviously shouldn't have more than a few up in the house or it will look like a shrine to our wedding day so I really need to study them and get crack a lackin!

Wednesday night is Ryan's late night for school classes and he normally isn't home until 7:00-7:30pm so I spend Wednesday nights with my brother and parents because we are a family of freaks and can't go a few days with out seeing one another!  So,  last night I met up with my parents, and Matt at Matt's new house to hang some pictures and shelves.  My dad was feeling great,  he had worked a full day at work,  went to a surveryor's meeting and then came over to Matt's and I put him right to work.   Hopefully he didn't overdo it and doesn't pay the price today.  We had some nice family time,  shared a pizza and just chatted.

Matt's house is coming along I really like the color and decoration choices he is making, he really is growing up!  Next week when I go over I'll take some pictures and post them :)

We are off to the pumpkin patch in St G. this weekend so I'll be posting my amazing carving skillz soon :)

Until next time...

It's FaLL TiMe!

I love the fall, it's my favorite season!  I pretty much love everything about it the weather,  the trees, the smell of fall and especially my fall wardrobe.  I love wearing layers so sweaters, turtlenecks, jackets, boots, and scarves OH MY!  I found a great deal on boots,  these cute boots will be my favorite of the season and they are a steal at $68 at Urban Outfitters.

Ryan and I are both getting over bad colds as you can see from this picture

(he is breathing vicks vapor rub LOL)

We pretty much have been hermits for the last week but after starting to feel better we ventured out to see the new Katherine Heigl movie on Friday night which was so cute. We then went to the temple on Saturday afternoon with my parents and had the best sushi we have ever eaten Saturday night with my boss and his girlfriend at Sen of Japan on DI and Durango.  It was amazing.  We will definitely be going back.

Other than that not much is happening,  we got our tax refund back and paid off the remainder of our honeymoon (YEAH!!!) and booked our tickets to Universal Studios for Halloween weekend.  We are headed to St. George this weekend to go to the corn maze and hopefully pick out some good carving pumpkins.  I love to carve pumpkins, it's the best part about Halloween I think. 

Until next time....

So What's New?

Ryan and I are getting close to being married for 2 months now,  still getting into a routine but I am so proud of how hard Ry is studying.  I know sometimes it gets old for him that his routine is school,  work,  dinner, study and bed.  Really the only days he eases up on the studying is Friday date night and Sunday,  other than that every night he retreats to the office and I see him either when he comes to bed or if I don't wake up then the next morning.  But his hard work is paying off,  he had a particularly stressful week last week when he had 3 classes all having big tests during the same week,  but he was diligent and scored A's and B's on everything.  Hard work does pay off : )

We really haven't made any plans for this fall as we didn't really know the time schedule for my dad's transplant and wanted to make sure I was available when my family needed me,  but I think we at least know Dad will not be going up to Salt Lake in October and so we are going to try to head down to Cali and take advantage of the fact we have Nevada Day off and they don't and hit up Universal Studios over the Halloween weekend.  I'll miss handing out treats to the kids at the annual Trunk or Treat but it will be nice to get away from work and school for a weekend and just have fun.

Speaking of my dad,   he got his 2nd round of Revlimid numbers and the "M-spike"  which signifies the level of monoclonal protein is continuing to drop.  An average person would show none,  but myeloma produces abnormal protein cells which increase this number so therefore your m-spike is the number that is higher than the norm.  They watch alot of numbers in myeloma but this is the main number we watch right now as this determines when he will be ready for a stem cell transplant.  Originally upon diagnosis in April 2010 it was a 6,  August 2010 it was at a 3 and this last test shows it as 2.3 so its continuing to drop.  The transplant team would like the m-spike to be 1 or below prior to transplant so we are thinking we have at least 2 more rounds of Revlimid to go.  Earliest to SLC is looking like either end of Nov, beginning of Dec.  So for now Thanksgiving is up in the air.   We can handle it though,  like my dad says we are looking to win the marathon not the sprint. Please just keep him in your prayers that Round 3 has a big drop! 

My little brother Josh came up for the weekend from AZ so its been nice to hang with him this weekend.  I miss him and I know my mom misses his pup Addie they watched her for 4 months this summer when he had a rotation that kept him from home 12 hours at a time.  We will be doing dinner with them tomorrow night after conference.

   We also had the opportunity to go to dinner with Ryan's parents last night to a Cuban restaraunt,  it was good food and we had good conversation.  I think his parents are happy being empty nesters,  in the 7 weeks we have been married they have already re-done his room to a sewing room,  bought a new couch and are buying new recliners and a new flat screen for their bedroom LOL 

That's pretty much all for now, 'll leave you with this :P  I have noticed since starting a blog I have had more interest in reading family and friends blogs,  and as I was watching conference this morning it made me think about a post I read on my cousin Suzy's blog.  She has two little boys and they are so full of life. Thomas, her oldest, was singing Follow the Prophet and asked her "Mom,  what happens if I get in front of the Prophet?" I love kids and how black and white everything is for them! ;)

Until the next time...