Halloween

 

  

 Halloween was such a fun day. Because it was a week day Adam and I both had to work. My company goes all out with pumpkin carving contests, caramel apples and costume contests which makes it a good place to be on Halloween. The theme this year was the zombie apocalypse so to fit with the theme, I dressed up as a zombie girl scout and handed out cookies. I got up early and my sister and I went to town on my make up making me look as zombie-ish as possible, who knew Elmer's glue and frosted flakes could look so gruesome. I even won a prize for a creepy costume! Adam and I finished off the day by eating waffles and watching a scary movie. It was a great day!

 

 Zombie beauty queen, zombie bride and zombie girl scout.

 

Hope you had a happy Halloween too!!

Pumpkin Carving Part 1 and 2

Part 1:

We carved our fair share of pumpkins this year, it's such a fun tradition. We got together with friends to carve and then the next day carved with my family. Our creative juices have been flowing!

The finished pumpkins: I carved the classic Jack-O-Lantern, and Adam went with the grim reaper.
(Don't mind my dead herb garden the pumpkins are perched on)

Part 2:

With my family things usually get a little competitive. No one holds back, and we usually have some pretty amazing pumpkins because of it. This year we went with a Disney theme. Everyone got so serious, we worked away quietly on our pumpkins, occasionally yelling out threats to each other.

 (SIDE NOTE: Yes I realize I have something on my face. No, it's not real. Yes my sisters and I broke out the Halloween make up early to do a trial run before the big day. Yes I'm going to win the company costume contest. Yes I'm using a power tool on my pumpkin. Any other questions?)

 

The finished pumpkins: my pumpkin was polka dotted Minnie Mouse, Adam's was the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean, Sister's was Cinderellas Carriage and other sisters was Totoro.  

The Pumpkin Patch

 This weekend we visited the pumpkin patch. We scoured the field to find the perfect pumpkins, and had plenty of success.   

I love going to the pumpkin patch it's so...festive. The pumpkins, the fields, the company. It was a fun fall outing with my guy.

Red Leaves

I swear this has to be the most gorgeous fall I can remember. Trees are lit with so many different colors everywhere I turn, I hate to think it will all come to an end in a few short weeks. I'm trying my hardest to soak in this beautiful time of year. On Sunday I grabbed my camera and some of my favorite people and we spent the afternoon admiring the mountains.

 
My sisters book with red leaves made for the perfect fall shot.

Five reasons why October is my favorite month

1. Pumpkin muffins are the un-official official food of the month
2. Being able to coordinate my outfits with nature
3. Halloween candy - specifically candy corn
4. It's the month for all things scary (haunted houses, scary movies...)
5. Finally it's not 800 degrees out side

(Farmers Market October 2011)

The Motorcycle Ride

After a long week stuck in an office/kitchen the only thing I want to do on an 80-degree Saturday is go on a motorcycle ride with my guy.  Especially when the mountains in our backyard are as breathtaking as they were today. Simply stunning.

We rode the Alpine Loop. It starts up Sundance Canyon and ends in American Fork. The road is paved the whole way and is twisty and windy and shows off some of the best views of fall colors I've seen yet. 

If you're a Utah local jump in your car, grab some snacks and head up into the mountains because those colors are not to be missed! We had a beautiful afternoon spending time in this pretty place.

 

 

Fall

In case you're still in denial that Fall is here (cough, cough Adam - I'm going to hide those flip flops), I have some photographic evidence that may help you along:



 

Crunchy orange leaves, picked up off the side walk

 



 

A piece of spicy pumpkin pie, on a drizzly fall evening

My space heater, blowing as much hot air as I demand 

It's time - you summer lovers, to put away the swimsuit and shorts and say your goodbyes because the best season of all is here!

 

Welcome Fall!! 

Thankful

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us I thought it would be appropriate to write down a few things that I am most thankful for.

Family - Particularly my husband, he is "pretty cool" and I am so proud of him, especially right now, for going after the the things that he wants out of life. He is so driven, and determined.
But mostly I am just thankful I get to call him "mine".

Music - I am thankful for the albums you get obsessed with and play over and over and every time you turn it on it makes you want to dance. Right now for me that album would be "It's not me, It's you" by Lilly Allen.

Ugg Boots - As ugly as they are and as much as my husband would like to burn mine, I love them. I love them with jeans and as slippers, I love them in the morning and at night. I love them on my eastern flight. I love them Sam I Am. I love green eggs and ham.
(Dr. Seuss...Where did that come from?)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - I am thankful for the gospel, for the answers and the truth and peace it brings to my life. More specifically I am thankful for the temple and for the eternal perspective that I get when I go inside.

Cooking - I am thankful for my ability to create delicious goodies. I am thankful for butter, and sugar, and molasses, and chocolate chips, and bacon, and Italian flat leaf parsley, and for yeast and cream, and peanut butter, and strawberries...

Indoor Plumbing - I am thankful for Hot showers, need I say more?

Free shipping - I am thankful for all of the free shipping this time of year. Can take 5 minutes of your time to convert you to doing all of your Christmas shopping online?

Cookies - I am thankful for warm just out of the oven freshly baked cookies, any flavor, just as long as they are soft and gooey and perfectly cooked.

Plum Nail Polish - Thanks urban.

Best friends - You know the group you email back and for with, quoting movies and inside jokes. The same ones you call begging for an intervention when you realize you just ate your 8th cookie. I am thankful for my bfs.

Sweats - Or the inverse: I am thankful for not having to wear jeans/dresses/skirts all the time.

Pictures - I am thankful for memories that I can record with a device I can hold in my hands. Love pictures, love that my new canon takes reallllly good ones.

Moms: I am thankful for moms everywhere, and how awesome they are. Naturally I think my mom is the best but so do you so it's ok. I love my mom and I am so glad she belongs to me.

Little Kids: Why are they so awesome? I am thankful for every hilarious thing I have ever heard a little kid say.

That's enough right? Probably, but here's one last one: I am thankful that Thanksgiving is here, and that I get to eat pumpkin, apple, banana cream and chocolate cream pie tomorrow. Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Patch

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see. "- Linus (It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown)

Behold: The Caramel Apple

Stick em,

Dip em,

Dry em,

Eat em.
Yumm.

And so we had a picnic...

To keep up with the bucket list Adam and I took a little motorcycle ride up to the Y for a picnic dinner of turkey sandwiches and Arizona’s. It was so nice to get outside and enjoy this beautiful place that we so often take for granted.

I realized I spend too much time indoors and Adam realized that he likes the watermelon flavor of Arizona better than the lemonade.
Win-win if you ask me.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

There are few things in this world that I love more than pumpkin chocolate chip bread, in fact I could probably count them on one hand. I love it. This recipe is the best I've found, it's super moist and the top gets a little crunchy which is awesome. It's a perfect fall treat, try it out you're going to love it!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:
3 ½ cups white flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2/3 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9×5-inch loaf pans or four 6x3-inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together canned pumpkin, oil, eggs and 2/3 cup water until well combined and stir into dry ingredients, just until the dry ingredients are moistened and no dry streaks remain. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter in prepared pans.
Bake the bread for 60 to 70 minutes for large loaf and 30 to 40 minutes for mini loaves, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife gently around the edge of the bread and turn the bread out, right side up, onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Check

We crossed off one of our bucket list items this weekend!

By driving in the rain, with no GPS signal to Tooele, UT
so that we could get the bejesus scared out of us HERE




People this place has been featured on Ghost Adventures and still operates as a hospital.
It's the REAL deal.

And to get a little up close and personal with you I'll share this golden bit of info:
Last year I was so terrified in the haunted house that I peed my pants.

Straight out of the horses mouth.

This was the second year we went and without a doubt Asylum 49 (both years) was the most terrifying experience of my young life.

Fall Bucket List

Isn't fall such an awesome time of year? The colors, the wardrobe, the yummy food? I totally dig it. Unfortunately it seems like it always ends so quickly and I am never able to do all of the fun things that fall has to offer. So this year my friend showed me this cute idea she found for a fall bucket list. It has inspired me to get organized, I have made my own fall bucket list full of activities I want to do this season.

You should make one too, and then we'll all have an awesome fall!

September 19th

Tonight we celebrate two years of us.
Happy 1st Date-iversary

Summer Lovin

august is...

red striped bows, and puppies

twinkle lights on warm nights, crusty fresh bread

and fresh tomatoes from friends, new school books, 

and coconut macadamia nut cookies

i.heart.august.

True Love

This is what supporting each others interests looks like.



Give and take that's what its all about.