To put you in the appropriate mood...

How about a little scary story?

There was an old woman who had no family still living. Her only friend was a little white dog who went everywhere with her - with one exception. The dog loved the fireplace in winter, and after the old woman went to bed he would sometimes go and lie in front of the warm coals. Usually though, the dog slept at the very edge of the bed on a throw rug. The woman wouldn't allow the dog on the bed with her, but if she became frightened or had a nightmare, she would put her hand down to the little white dog and he would lick it reassuringly.
One night the woman was reading her newspaper just before going to sleep. She shivered and pulled the comforter up around her as she read that a mental patient had wandered off from a nearby hospital. No one knew if the patient was dangerous of not; he was a suspect in the murders of several women who had lived alone. The woman turned out the lights and tried to sleep, but she was frightened, and tossed and turned fitfully. Finally, she reached down to where the little white dog slept. Sure enough, a warm, wet tongue began to lick her hand. The woman felt reassured and safe, and left her hand dangling off the bed as she turned and settled in comfortably. She opened her eyes for a moment and looked through the open door into the living room.
There in front of the fireplace, sat her little white dog, gazing at the coals and wagging his tail. Down beside the bed, something was still licking her hand.

Halloween is upon us!

Tonight I am going over to my friend April's house and we are going to start planning a halloween party! April already has a lot of great ideas for activities and games and I am already thinking about the food. :) We'll both figure out the decorations. I am so excited for Halloween.

Actually, from October 1 to January 5 is my favorite time of year. The colors, the holidays (my birthday), just everything about the next few months is great. And then there is the great BLAH (also known as January through March).

It doesn't help that I recently got a job at Michaels (which I am enjoying) and I spend the whole time looking at decorations for these fun holidays. I have an incredible shopping list racked up in my head right now- Dave is already worried. :)

It's Fall!

Okay, yes, it's obviously fall (being that the first day of fall was last week) and also because the leaves are starting to change colors! The mountains are starting to turn yellow, orange, and red! I love it!

It's always so amazing to me how one day the leaves are all green and the next day it seems like they are all orange. :)

Tour Guide

I love playing tour guide to people who come visit me. It doesn't matter where I am- I love trying to find unique or special things to show people to help share why I love where ever I am so much. This weekend I am going to try to change my friend Manu's mind about Utah. So far he hasn't been having the most fun (it doesn't help that the hotel they are staying at has crappy service!)

I think I am going to take him up to Park City (a town that still kinda knows how to have fun), snowbird, and then maybe to This is the Place Heritage Park (mwahahahaha). Oh and maybe the Olympic Park while we are up in Park City.

Anyone have good suggestions on where to go?

Friends in town

I'm going to meet up with my friend Manu and his wife this evening. I am more excited to see them than I expected. :) Dave and I are going to go out to dinner with them this evening. They will be in town until Sunday so hopefully I'll have a chance to show them around the valley a little too!

Is everyone moving out of Hawaii?

Where are we going to stay when Dave and I finally make it out there for a visit? Who are we going to visit? First it was my family and now it is my friends...

I guess I shouldn't complain too much because everyone is moving into states neighboring mine! :)

Busy Schedule

Holy Cow! I have something planned for every night this week! Do you know the last time I had a schedule this busy? I don't. I'm sure it's only a hint at what is to come, but dang!

Last night I did my very first visiting teaching. Visiting teaching is where two women will go visit other women in the ward- usually carrying a message from the Ensign. (Usually specific companions visit specific women- it's all assigned.) I really enjoyed myself last night. So I did that last night and then I have a few more visits this evening as well. I am enjoying this, but I'm glad that it only happens once a month.

My friend Manu, and his wife, is in town for the week. So I'll probably end up seeing them on Thursday and showing them around a little bit. That will be good- I haven't seen Manu since I moved 2 years ago (!- I've been in Utah now for 2 years and 1.5 months). I've never met his wife, so that will be interesting as well.

I got a part time job in the evenings as well so that will be taking up even more of my time. I'm going to be working at Michael's a few evenings a week. It was an opportunity too good to pass up (and hopefully I'll pick up some more craft tips!).

At some point, I have to get together with my friend April so that we can plan a Halloween party together (I'm so excited- I think I'm going to go as a prom queen this year).

And finally- Dave and I are on the Activities committee so we have all the going ons that are associated with that one!

Sunday we are triple booked- There's a family part to celebrate one of the nephew's birthday, dinner with the Woodburys, and dinner for the activities committee.

Last week I went from being a homebody to wondering when I'd ever get home! This will be interesting, let's see how long we can keep it up.

Pumpkin

Okay, so I just discovered the joy of pumpkin... I had a big can of it and home and knew I wanted to attempt to bake something with them... especially pumpkin bread and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And now I am a fan! And the bonus is that Dave loves pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. :)

Anyway, so the only size can that the store had was this super massive 29 oz can of pumpkin. Most recipes call for about 1/2 that much at most. Anway, with this one can of pumpkin I made 3 (!) loaves of pumpkin bread and about 4.5 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The good news- the cookies are so awesome! I'm not much of a cookie eater these days, but I've been averaging about 8 cookies a day. And everyone at Dave's work has been benefitting as well.

I love cooking for people- it's just so much better when there are people to enjoy my cooking as well.

Elephants!

I just saw elephants walking down the street. Apparently the circus still uses trains to transport their animals.

Before and After

Sorry guys, I didn't post yesterday. My goal to post everyday (Monday-Friday) has been ruined. I'll try to make up for it by posting extra this week, but I know it's just not the same. :)

This weekend I learned a lot about painting. And I learned it the hard way. I decided to paint an accent wall in our living room and kitchen (I picked the wall that wrapped from our living room into our kitchen). Dave and I had decided to do a nice bright green to spice up the living room and kitchen a little bit (well, I decided on green and then Dave and I agreed on the shade).

I learned:

*that just because you use painters tape, it doesn't mean that your lines will come out strait or that the paint won't seep below the tape and get all over the place;

* that there really is such thing as too much paint on the roller (and no matter how much rolling you do, it will still drip);

*that paint takes a while to dry- a long while;

*that dogs are very curious about paint;

*it is not nearly as much fun as it looks.

Next weekend I have a lot of touching up to do (mainly along the ceiling- got to fix those lines).

In other news... My siblings are moving the mainland this weekend! McKenzie, Doss, and Jamieson are all flying out on Sunday, September 28! How exciting! Jamiesion is going to be driving from Oregon to Minnesota so he's going to stop and stay with Dave and I the following weekend (October 4). We are so excited to have him stay with us!

Little Sneak...

So my bad habit (I've actually narrowed my "bad habits" down significantly) lately has been my love for soda.... sweet, carbonated, caffienated soda. The sight of a Mt. Dew can fills my tummy with warm thoughts.

Well, the thing is that Dave thought I had given up soda months ago and was so proud of me. Until last night. The truth came out.

At work we have a ready supply of cold Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper for $0.30. That's awesome. And it's just a few feet away so it's almost impossible to resist. All morning long I can hear the echo of soda cans opening as my coworkers indulge themselves. So most days, I do too.

Dave noticed that the pile of change in the car was diminishing and asked where it was going. I tried to play it non-chalant and avoid having to answer (it is completely impossible for me to even half lie or tell "half truths" to Dave). Finally I admitted to having hundreds of sodas- at least one a day.

Sigh.... So if I seem grumpy next week, it's me giving up soda again.

I wrote a post in my head....

On the way to work and I have completely forgotten it. I remember that it was funny and witty though.

I have to go back to the dentist today. Yesterday the whole side of my jaw hurt so incredibly bad (the side where I had my crown lengthening done last Friday). So I called the dentist last night and he prescribed me stuff to get me through the night and I'm going in to see what's going on. Hopefully the pain will pass quickly or it will be easily fixable.

Dave rode his motorcycle to work today. According to the weather report today is going to be the last of the nice, warm days we'll have for a while. That means the motorcycle is going into storage for the winter.

It's going to be a quiet weekend, I think. We don't have anything exciting planned for ourselves. I hope you all have something fun to do. :)

A Calling...

So Dave and I got a calling yesterday. We were asked to join the Activities Committee at our ward. So we're going to be helping out with that. :) As far as callings go, that's a pretty awesome one! We'll have a chance to meet a lot of the people in our ward. The first project we are going to work on is a young married couples get together and then comes the Trunk or Treat for Halloween.

I'm pretty excited!

Katydid and Emergencies

So I walked out of our condo this morning and saw the coolest bug ever- a Katydid. It looked like a leaf attached to the wall next to our door. It was so awesome.

Otherwise it has been a slow, quiet day. I did the recertification for First Aid and CPR so now if there is an emergency, there is a higher likelihood of me being able to assist you. One cool fact- there has been a major update to CPR- It's called Continuous Chest Compression CPR and it only involves compressions- no more assisted breathing. I remember my brother, Jamieson, describing this to us a few months ago and everyone was like "you're an idiot" that's not how you do CPR. I guess it's one of the ways. (You'll have to take a CPR class yourself to get all the details about when it is appropriate to use it though).

Anyway, I guess it's a good time to send a reminder that it's always a good idea to have a 72 hour kit for each member of your family. (If you don't know what that is, look it up, because they are very handy). And if you are into that thing (especially in these times), it's an even better idea to have some food storage set up.

David's Birthday Extravaganza....

David is now 29. :) And what a celebration we have had. :) Saturday was the big day for celebrating (it's funny how work can really interfere with birthday celebration plans). We woke up early and went out to breakfast at our favorite breakfast place (Cracker Barrel). Dave's mom and brother, Alex, joined us. Then we were off to Snowbird where Dave got pampered and massaged. It was a beautiful day up at Snowbird- I think it was warmer on Saturday than it ever got when we were there for our honeymoon. I sat outside in a spot of sunlight and read my book and worked on my crocheting (I'm getting a lot better- almost all of my lines are the same length now). After Snowbird, when Dave was so much more relaxed, we went back to town and rented some movies and ate out our favorite Indian Restaurant (Royal India in Bountiful). I love how even though we were celebrating Dave's birthday, I feel like I was spoiled that day too! So we wrapped a good day with some relaxation. Sunday was more of the same, just relaxing and kicking back- oh and going out to dinner with my friend Katie at another of Dave's favorite restaurant's- Thaifoon. (Wow- he really got spoiled this weekend!).

And yesterday was the big day itself. Unfortunately it was a Monday too. Dave's coworkers decorated his cubicle and then took him out to lunch (how fun!). Dave requested Pot Roast and cupcakes for his birthday dinner and I swear it was the best pot roast I have ever made. I don't know exactly what I did, but I hope I can do it again someday- it was fantastic!

Last night when Dave was at his soccer game I snuck out and got some decorations to surprise him with. So it wasn't much, but it was a good wrap up to Dave's birthday. :) I hope that Dave enjoyed his birthday (I know I did!).

Katie

Last night Dave and I picked up my good friend Katie and we all went out to dinner at Thaifoon (one of Dave's favorite restaurants). It was so much fun (even Dave enjoyed it!).

I think the last time I saw Katie was about a year ago. It was so good to catch up with her and hear about her life in Washington, DC. And she finally got to meet Dave and hopefully get to know him a little bit better. It would have been good to see Matt (her husband) as well, but he'll be coming out for his own visit in the next few months.

I wish that we had more time to spend together, but it just means that Dave and I will have to plan a trip out to Virginia to visit them (that's okay with me). :)

Happy Birthday David!

Whoo hoo! You're 29! :) I'm so glad that you are in my life Dave, you are such a wonderful blessing. :) I love you so much. I love celebrating your birthday with you and trying to make this day as special and as wonderful as you are. :)

Hurrican Ike

My sister in law, Sima, and her family lives in Spring, Texas, which is about 10 miles north of Houston, towards which Hurricane Ike is headed directly. Should be interesting. The news doesn't sound good for people in that part of the country (what a big storm!).

My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family (although I'm not particularly worried and it doesn't appear that she is either). Sima, we love you!

Need more pictures (soon).

So the big thing about me starting a blog was that I wanted to put a whole bunch of pictures up so that people would remain interested (yes I was planning on bribing you all to come visit my page by using cute/pretty pictures). But I haven't really had much to take pictures of. Except Dave in his pajamas and Pookie sleeping. Or me being sick. So really, I was waiting for a good opportunity to take a bunch of pictures. Like this weekend.

So yes, this is another blog post without pictures (though I am tempted to put some of Pookie up, despite the fact that it might make me look like one of those weird dog owners).

This weekend is going to be good. Saturday we will celebrate Dave's birthday. That's going to be fun once we figure out what we are going to do. :) And I'm sure there will be lots of pictures on Monday to chronicle the event. :)

On Sunday I am going to meet up with my friend Katie. Katie and I went to High School in Hawaii and then came to Utah together. We went through college more or less together (although she graduated a few years before me- I took a lot more breaks than she did). And now Katie is living in Washington, DC with her husband. Here's a fun story for you- Katie's husband, Matt, is pretty much the very first person we met after moving to Utah. He was living in the dorms as well (in the building next to mine) and we all stopped to chat. And look where that got them. :) Anyway, Katie will be in town for a short bit and I am excited to see her on Sunday. (Yes, more pictures).

Unfortunately, before I get to the weekend I have to make it through tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to go in and get oral surgery done. Back in January or February I broke one of my back molars on a bagel (yes, really). When the molar broke, it broke below the gum line so the crown that we put on has pinched the gum ever since then. I just thought crowns were always supposed to be uncomfortable, but my recent trip to the dentist told me otherwise. Anyway- Friday afternoon I am going in for "crown lengthening surgery" which means they are going to make my mouth fit the crown better (I'll spare you the details).

Last Minute (I'm so bad)

Okay, okay, okay... I'm really really bad at this stuff. Dave's birthday is Monday (He's going to be 29) but we're going to celebrate on Saturday. I was going to get him a massage/pampering thing up at the Snowbird Day Spa, but Dave isn't quite sold on that idea. So I need help. I want to do something wonderful for him for his birthday and I don't really know what to do. I just want to make him feel special... so if you have any good ideas, please, please, please let me know. (or any ideas at all).